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mere-mortifer · 4 months ago

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♥ Sanji/Reader Rec List ♥

40+ fics & authors suggestions! Click here to view this on a separate web page for easier navigation ♥

Sometimes I’m normal about fictional characters, other times I become psycho-sexually obsessed with them and relentlessly look for fanworks where they get smooched and hugged into oblivion. And by characters I mean Sanji.

So here’s a non-comprehensive list of Sanji/Reader fics that I love, most of them rated Explicit. This got sooo long because I kept finding other works to add while scrolling through my bookmarks and reblogs, it goes to show how good the fandom is! (Assume, unless otherwise stated, that Sanji is more on the sexually submissive side, since I like what I like and seek out that dynamic specifically.)

Authors I love

I’m starting this list with a few mentions of my favorite authors, although I’m sure I’m stating the obvious with most of these and you all know them already. Who cares! Go re-read their stuff! Leave a comment! Give them your money!

1. One Piece Works by @onlymurphy

Not to fall into hyperbole, but I owe OnlyMurphy my life. If you’re here reading this list then surely you love this author already, so this a good excuse to re-read the entire Grow Old With Me series. Sanji’s characterization is top-notch, and if you enjoy explorations of his self worth issues and how they would affect an otherwise loving romantic relationship then look no further. Also the author is a very talented smut writer (very talented writer in general, make no mistake), and that's the greatest accolade I can give them. Imagine me putting a gold metal around their neck but I’m the one who's moved to tears about it.

Honorable mentions for the filthiest-yet-very-romantic works in their catalog:

🌶 Do That Again

🌶 Wildest Dreams

🌶 If I’m Lucky

2. One Piece Works by @citrinae

I’m linking the masterlist for this author ‘cause I really like all their Sanji-centric fics, and I’d love, love, love to see more. Sanji is so princely and devoted, just an absolute dream of a man, and he’s putting a lot of effort into making the reader feel loved. He gets stellar results in my opinion.

3. One Piece Works by @thus-spoke-lo (GoldExperience86 on Ao3)

There are three fics in particular by this author that I couldn’t pick a favorite from if you held me at gunpoint:

🌶 Let Me Help

🌶 Worth the Wait

🌶 Dear Diary

Have you ever read a sex scene so good you bypass getting horny and go straight into mourning, knowing you won’t be able to read it for the first time again? That has not stopped me from reading all these roughly a million times. Click on those links. Look at me in the eyes, listen very carefully: click on those links. I say this because I love you and want you to be happy.

You will find other fics by them in the rec list because 1) I couldn’t resist and 2) I’m pretty sure they have more things posted on Tumblr than Ao3, at least as separate one-shots.

4. 🌶One Piece Fics by @untolduttering

Author, I know deep in my soul that you love Sanji as much as I do. Fortunately I’m okay with sharing. If anything I'm glad I'm not alone in the trenches.

Check out all her fics and snippets, her writing is incredible and I’ve loved every single thing about Sanji she’s ever posted. Each time I open Tumblr and I see a new post by her, my day gets a little brighter. She writes one of my favorite versions of Sanji ever, insatiable and devoted and so, so hot. He couldn’t be more my type if he tried.

I want to single out her vampire!Sanji one-shot because I haven’t seen this trope used by anyone else and I liked it a lot! It fits so well, what with the theme of hunger and Sanji’s inability to ask for what he needs:

Hunger

The meta post that inspired the fic

5. One Piece Works by @fanaticsnail

Fanaticsnail, you’re the only one who has ever made me willingly click on a smut fic that involved Doflamingo just because Sanji was there, too, and I love your Sanji so damn much (p.s.: everyone go read it, 🌶 Seat Number Four).

One of their fics also appears in the Sex Pollen section, and since that one is particularly filthy let me add here two fluffy, romantic fics where Sanji is all cute and flustered by the reader:

Kiss The Cook

Your Flirty Chef

Yearning & Pining

The title of the section is pretty self-explanatory: fics where and the reader are not together, but God knows they want to.

6. 🌶 Wanting by @froggiewrites

This fic…holy shit. I’m genuinely writing this with tears in my eyes. The yearning & pining & longing mixed with the sexual tension so thick you can cut it with a knife makes for a truly incredible read. Only for real Sanji lovers, if you’re not nodding along at each desperate thought the reader insert has about this man then I’m sorry but you’re only a casual Sanji liker.

7. 🌶 My heart is thrilled by the still of your hand by ladyhabanera

[screaming crying throwing up] no yeah I’m very normal about this fic, I like it a totally normal amount. In the Ao3 comments I say that “Sanji is so so dreamy—a heady mix of submissive and deeply romantic”, and then if you scroll a little you find my other comment which is just me yelling in all caps at my second reread. I not only stand by both, but I’m doubling down.

8. Puzzled by @mynewblackdress

What a lovely series, and what a lovely trope…misunderstandings due to bad communication are as irritating and useless in real life as they are incredibly fun to read about. The reader is convinced that Sanji’s earnest compliments are his fucked up way of making fun of her, and it takes a while before they figure out that he means every word. Give it a read if you want a break from the sea of smut that I’ve added to this list, and you're the mood for opla!Sanji in particular.

9. Sweet Confession by @softonshanks

I have one specific weakness that I’m glad to often see in fics: Sanji getting a hug while he’s busy cooking, and he’s all cute and flustered about it because he didn’t expect the affection. And this fic has that + Sanji’s a pining mess for the reader, who he’s FWBs with despite the fact that he’s totally in love with her + she’s taller than him and he loves it. I’ve hit the jackpot. I’d love to see more Sanji fics from this author, so much so that I’m gonna ask her pretty please in Italian: Sara, ti prego, facci sognare.

10. 🌶 Your Name by @strawhatsoraya

Now, the one pining in this fic is me. Sanji and the reader are actually complete strangers, but if what appeals to you in mutual pining fics is the gut-wrenching depth of the feelings described, then I think you should check out this little one-shot. My notes on Ao3 are “Tfw when a pwp hits your id so well it bypasses making you horny and goes straight to suicidal”—do with that what you will. Also, check out the rest of this author’s fics and make a whole evening out of it.

Ft. Zoro

Get that stinky Mosshead out of my sight…no, wait, let him stay. I guess we can take turns on Sanji or something.

11. 🌶 Picture You by @froggiewrites

I don’t usually read Sanji fics where Zoro is heavily involved, but I’m glad that that didn’t stop me from clicking on this one (also, to be fair, they take turns on the reader. Well, the reader takes turns on them.) My note on the Ao3 bookmark is “God-tier sad horny Sanji characterisation”...couldn't have said it better, me from the past.

12. 🌶 Shaken Up Hearts by @lyriumcoloredskies

Okay so I lied, maybe I do like it when Zoro is heavily involved, as long as it’s a collab to team up on Sanji. Sanji gets lovingly demolished in this one, but before he gets there he’s sad like a kicked puppy about not being allowed to kiss both you and Zoro. Who am I to say no to a heavy dose of Zosan in my het Sanji smut?

13. 🌶 Nuvole e Lenzuola by redtendou

This one’s niche because it’s written in Italian. I was stunned by the author’s ability to make a graphic sex scene actually work despite Italian’s atrocious sex-related lexicon–trust me, it’s a struggle. If you’re into Zoro and the reader ganging up on Sanji and you understand Italian, definitely give it a read.

Spa day for the soul

Fics where you take care of Sanji, or Sanji takes care of you, or where there are actual spa activities thrown into the mix. God knows this man needs some TLC once in a while.

14. 🌶 My Pampered Prince by @sheerxfiction

It’s Sanji’s turn to spend some time flat on his back on the kitchen table–it’s what he deserves. If you’re craving a brilliant smutty fic where Sanji gets pampered then you've foudn it, the reader take really good care of him in this one–and I have to give bonus points for the heavy dose of Sanji’s self-worth issues and the readersinsert fighting back against his refusal to get taken care of. Get loved, idiot.

15. 🌶 Shower Time by @chibieggplant

Cute, hot, sexy–I’m talking both about the writing and Sanji in this fic. He takes a shower with the reader and spends the entire time in disbelief that he gets to tenderly wash her body, feeling quite embarrassed by how into it he is, despite the fact that this an established relationship fic. And that’s how I like my boys!

16. 🌶 Vinsmoke Sanji: Not all Men are Rats by livingonadaydream

I love, love, love fics where Sanji gets pampered…but it doesn’t hurt to read the complete opposite once in a while. A very sweet Sanji makes sure that the reader gets a very happy ending.

First Time

We'll never know the canonical sexual history for any One Piece characters because Oda is, unfortunately, a coward. However I'm not surprised that Sanji is considered by many the most virgin to have ever virgined in the history of virginity—so here's a list of fics where you pop his cherry. Be delicate, please...he's very sensitive.

17. 🌶 Say When by @venomatically

This one has to be the first I tell you about. If you go check the comments on Ao3 you’ll find me absolutely losing my mind after my first read, and there’s no quick comment I can add here to fully explain how much I love this author, her writing, and–Good Lord in Heaven–the way she writes Sanji. He’s a virginal pervert. He’s got that dog in him and it happens to be a cute little puppy. He’s so sweet and adoring he can’t bear to tell you how often he thinks about fucking you. I need someone to invent him in real life, it’s not even funny anymore. (Also, if you like to see Sanji actually get a little depraved, check out her other fic, too: 🌶 Letting Off Steam)

18. 🌶 Lust by @tetzoro

Ooh, this one’s hot. It starts so poetic and romantic, but as Sanji loses himself in the feeling the descriptions get more carnal. I love his POV here. Also it involves one of my favourite things ever: the readers starts on top but when it gets too good Sanji can't resist and he flips her over to do all the work himself. Who else cheered?

Sex Pollen

While writing this rec list I realized I have at least four sex pollen fics where Sanji eats something he shouldn’t and then…I wanna say “regrets it”, but the consequences are that he has hot sweaty sex with someone he’s really into. If he were to notice the trend I think he might start putting the wrong thing in his mouth on purpose.

19. 🌶 It’s a what flower?! by @sanjifucker42069

From the blog name alone I knew I’d found a kindred spirit. They have written for both the animanga and OPLA, and to be honest it’s hard for me to pick a favorite work. That’s a lie, this one’s my favorite. The author has a great sense of humor, and this fic in particular is both very funny and incredibly hot. I love how desperate and pathetic Sanji gets, and how hard the reader insert is trying to keep things PG before it becomes obvious they just have to fuck! Good problems to have if you ask me.

20. 🌶 a fever you can't sweat out by @cryocandy

I remember reading this one day right before work. My shift was about to start, and I was sitting by myself in the car reading the smoking hot sex scene for no good reason at all, ensuring that I wouldn't be able to focus on anything productive for the rest of the day. Sanji in this fic is so dreamy and cute and pathetic, all qualities enhanced greatly by the amazing writing. If you don’t think you like fuck-or-die fics, do yourself a favour and read this one anyway.

21. 🌶 Needy Boy by @maddddstuff

My note on Ao3 for this one was “Single-handedly made me into spanking btw, if you even care”, and I stand by it. He’s the one that gets spanked by the way, in case someone was in doubt.

22. 🌶 Someone Help Me by @fanaticsnail

Sanji’s a mess in this one. A total and complete mess, and I loved every word of it–also, since in the first part Sanji is struggling against the effects of the sex pollen all on his lonesome, this fic might also appeal to my fellow Sanji whump fans.

Dom!Sanji & Co.

Just because I have a preference for Sanji being a sub it doesn’t mean I will scoff at fics where he’s more dominant in bed. Here are the ones I stumbled upon that I’ve really liked! (Also I’m using the term “dominant” very loosely here, in some of these fics he’s simply more assertive in bed.)

23. Too Much (Take Me Home) by @secretwritingspot

This is THEE dom!Sanji series for me. There’s no sex in it, it’s more of an exploration of the sub/Dom dynamic and why someone would crave submitting to another person. Sanji finds himself in the dominant role with little warning, but he’s damn great at it in his usual adoring and tender way. I’m linking the first fic of the series, but the author has written more for this scenario!

24. 🌶 Leg Day by 1LucaCola1

The title says it all; fantastic premise for a smoking hot pwp fic. If I had the opportunity to train and make good use of Sanji’s expertise, I’d also push myself too far until my legs were shaking, and then let him do other things to me to make the shaking even worse.

25. 🌶 very professional nights by @missfrustration

Ugh, I love this one! Sanji is your superior at the Baratie, and he’s so very stern with you until he isn’t at all. Love the bait and switch of a Sanji whose professionalism makes him act a little cold when clients’ satisfaction is on the line but simply melts when he’s alone with the reader. And everything he ends up doing to the reader in this fic, I’d hardly call a punishment.

26. 🌶 Doodled Hearts by Twisted_Inkwell

Soft dom Sanji fucks you hard but he’s sweet talking to you in French the whole time. I don’t know what else to add to convince you to read this one, that should be plenty.

In the kitchen

To fuck the cook, you’ll have to look for him in his natural habitat. Then you can proceed to ruin the kitchen table for everyone else.

27. 🌶 Midnight Snack by BombasticBastard

This fic is a part of a Sanji/Reader/Zoro series, but I’m linking Part 2 where it’s just you and our lovely boy. As the title says, the reader is craving a midnight snack and goddamn, she gets the best one the Sunny’s pantry has to offer. This could also go in the Dom!Sanji category because he quite literally talks you through it, as the kids say nowadays, but he also showers the reader in compliments & he confesses his love, so overall he’s too much of a big ol’ softie to call him dominant in any way.

28. 🌶 All It Takes by mooseskulls

Reader catches Sanji being the pervert that he is, stolen underwear and badly-hidden moans included. This one has both a gender neutral version and a transmasc!reader one, I thought that was lovely–this way lots of different people can enjoy the “getting bent over the kitchen counter” scenario.

29. 🌶 Compliments to the Chef by @tigreblue

The Author says this is their first fic–if that’s the case, they’ve got a bright future ahead of them. We all know Sanji doesn’t easily accept love and gratitude, but some good ol’ finger-sucking ought to convince him. Things degenerate beautifully from there.

Dark(er)

By darker I mean that I’m adding here fics where Sanji is something other than an absolute sweetheart. You’ll understand how actually dark any of these fics are from my comments and the authors’ tags, but they all have the general vibe of “Sanji is a sleazy pervert” in varying degrees of illegality.

30. 🌶 appetite by @groubee

Ooh…this one’s fucked up. Sanji is an unreliable narrator that makes non-con somnophilia sound kinda cute, actually (it really isn’t.) In his defense he’s written as some sort of incubus-slash-sex-demon. The author doesn’t go into detail but they don’t need to, it’s all about the sickly sweet mood (emphasis on sickly) of a tender lover who’s also a horrible, horrible person.

31. 🌶 Letting Off Steam by @venomatically

He’s a freak in this one, but he’s soooo nice about it and he’s soooo thankful that you’re letting him be a complete pervert who can get away with waking you up by stroking his cock over your face.

32. 🌶 Smile for the Camera by @thus-spoke-lo

This one broke my heart and turned me on at the same time, I give it a full five stars. It’s a short and sweet one-shot where Sanji breaks down all your walls and then does the same to your trust in men…enjoy!

33. 🌶 Compliments to the Chef by @thus-spoke-lo

I realize only now that this fic and Smile for the Camera are by the same author. That’s not gonna stop me from reccing this little series, too–in the notes on Tumblr you can see that this was written for a “sleazeball collab”, which should tell you something about Sanji’s characterization. While reading this I felt like that lady in the comic about sexual harassment on the workplace…like yeah maybe I would be okay with it if the guy was hot enough. And by workplace I mean a shitty restaurant, and by guy I mean Sanji in the role of the line cook who smokes too much and is very transparent about wanting to bang you on the counter where lunch service is prepared.

34. 🌶 Use me by moosetracksandscenechanges

This fic! My God! I’m adding it here not because there are hard kinks or morally dubious dynamics between the characters, but I still think it fits. It has its sad moments due to a generally darker atmosphere and a more aloof version of Sanji (not that aloof, still recognisably himself)...but also he willingly gets tied to a bed. Sub Sanji lovers stay winning. My hopeless romantic heart hopes that Sanji and the reader will actually get together, but there’s a lot to love about the fwb dynamic they’ve got going on right now. A bittersweet read in the best way.

35. Conjugate the Ways by @secretwritingspot

Oh, Sanji has a foul mouth in this one, but he’s speaking French so he’s forgiven…also the reader has no idea what the hell he’s saying to her. It’s creepy in a cute way! The fic doesn’t include actual smut, it’s just Sanji fantasizing out loud about the things he wants to do with you, but if you’re in the mood for some good ol’ sexual tension, give it a read.

36. 🌶 Ma chérie by marriedtosanji

He lied to you! About being French, of all things! I would never forgive him. He’s really good in bed though, so he makes up for it. The smut here is so delightful it does a 180% and goes back to breaking my heart over the fact that I’ll never meet a cute stranger in a bar who wants to seduce and is also Mr. Sanji Onepiece himself.

Voyeurism

I swear this isn’t even in my top 10 kinks, I guess that Sanji’s character simply inspires a lot of authors to put him in situations where he’s staring. Watching. Ogling. Observ–you’ve got the gist of it.

37. “It’s entirely too obvious [...]” by @ofallthingsnasty

[giggling and kicking my feet] the reader makes Sanji sweat cold in this one…I love when he’s nervous, I love when he’s desperate for forgiveness! He doesn’t do anything bad, but the fic is all about him watching the reader eat and obviously liking it a bit too much. The mood is suggestive but overall it stays pretty innocent until the end.

38. 🌶 Voyeurs by snackshack

Thank you Zoro and Nami for your help in making this happen, we couldn’t have done it without you. Sanji and the reader are in a freak4freak relationship, a match made in Heaven. Very good smut and a delicious premise!

39. 🌶 Perversion by glossyjoonie

@Sanji: babygirl you suck ♥ Short and sweet fic part of a larger collection (there are other Sanji-focused chapters, check out those ones, too!) where Sanji gets caught spying on all his favourite ladies: Nami, Robin, and you. Robin sticks around for a while in this one, but in the end the reader is the one who shows Sanji what happens to boys who misbehave.

40. 🌶 Just Between Us by @mytanuki-kun

This man is always spying on you in the shower, in bed, from behind a bush or whatever…it’s about time he gets a taste of his own medicine. I adore this fic, I remember reading the first chapter and hoping the author would update as soon as possible because I was hooked. Sanji catches you ogling him in secret and he plays into it cause he’s a horny bastard and the love of my life. The writing is incredible and Sanji’s characterization is so, so dreamy and sexy and adorable.

That’s all, folks. You have enough material to survive a nuclear war, you can spend many happy decades closed in your bunker eating canned food and reading reader insert One Piece fanfiction.

My final, desperate request is this one: does anyone have the link to a Sanji fic where he’s 40 years old and he hired a babysitter (you) for his kid, but then one night the kid is somewhere else and you two end up hooking up? Please? Pretty please? I think it was part of a collection or series but I can’t find it anywhere!

#sanji/reader #sanji #black leg sanji #sanji x reader #sanji/reader rec list #sanji/reader fics #sanji fanfic #one piece reader insert

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joels-shitty-puns · 9 months ago

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Kings & Queens

Pairing: Post-Outbreak!Joel Miller x Reader

Summary: I saw a list of reverse writing tropes, one of which was "too many beds" which I thought was hilarious until my brain went crazy. So here's where my mind went when there are oddly... too many beds.

Word Count: ~900

Warnings: None! This could even be read as platonic.

Other stuff: No descriptors. It can be romantic or friendly. Choose your adventure.

To those of you who are reading this: Thank you! I know I haven't written in months. I have barely even been on here. I want that again, but mentally I just haven't been feeling like much of anything lately. That being said, I saw the trope and I had an idea and quickly scribbled this down. It is short, not my best work, and doesn't have much emotion, but I did it :) To those of you who might also be struggling, I see you! You'll get through this. I hope all my tumblr buddies are doing well. I miss you guys.

_________________________________

It had been nearly a year of patrols with Joel. A year of nasty buildings and hard rocky floors to take shelter for the night, a year of either taking turns on watch, or being stuck sharing the same sleeping bag. Or the same mattress. Your only reprieve was your nice bed in Jackson, which you knew was safe, and warm, and most importantly… yours.

Joel was… alright. You two were friendly at best. But for the most part, it was all business. He didn't like to talk much, and you became tired of receiving looks or grunts when asking about Ellie, or Tommy, or his former life. But you worked well together, you made a good team, and you trusted each other to stay safe. You had run into trouble before, and you always had each other's backs. Words were often left unsaid, but you both knew what you meant to the other.

So when you stumbled upon an abandoned shopping mall while scoping potential areas of left-behind goods, it was a breath of fresh air. Malls could be dangerous with so much ground to cover, and so many potential hiding places and dark corners for the cordyceps to fester.

But the mall could also be a light at the end of the tunnel. A plethora of abandoned items to loot and sell or keep for yourself.

After hours of digging through every nook and cranny, you managed to fill a couple of bags full of items, and planned to make it a regular stop on your raids. But as the time grew later, the long-broken clock didn't tick on, and the windows grew dim, you knew it would be an overnight stay. However, choosing a sleeping spot was becoming exhausting with Joel around.

“I saw a sporting goods store. They probably have some sleeping bags, or maybe even a tent,” you provided.

“Nah, we're indoors. I wanna sleep like I'm indoors,” gruffed Joel.

“Oookay. How about that old food place? I think I saw a conveyer belt in the kitchen, next to the oven! It looks like it was used to make pizza,” you chirped excitedly. “I bet we could set up some blankets and make it like a bed.”

“Look, I know that machinery and oven have been dead for years, but on the off chance there's some malfunction, that just seems like a Final Destination event waitin’ to happen,” Joel shook his head.

“Wow you're difficult..” you huffed. “What if we go into the old children's photography studio and make a fort! The walls are even painted to look like a sky,” you offered with doe-eyes.

Joel just looked at you before grumbling back a “no. My back would kill me. There's gotta be a bed in here somewhere.”

Upon finding an old, faded mall map, Joel studied it before picking up the pace with a clear destination in mind.

He came to a stop in front of “Royal Mattressty.”

You raised a brow before saying “royal… mattress-tea?? What?”

“It's a play on words. Royal majesty.”

“That's the stupidest thing I ever heard,” you rolled your eyes.

“No, no, it's because mattresses come in Kings, Queens, and-” he broke off at your grimace.

“You're such a dad!”

____

The two of you made your way inside, only to find nearly 100 beds. Memory foam, spring, water, reclining… the possibilities were endless.

“WOW!” You squealed, running from bed to bed. “There's too many beds. I can't choose!”

Joel stretched, moving to a bed near the back corner. “I'm gonna set up here for the night. Sleep where y’want,” he gestured.

Sitting on a few different beds, you finally settled on one. A perfect, firm yet soft bed at the far end of the store. It was against a wall, allowing you to still see the door and keep your back safe. Perfect.

____

But as the night ticked on, you tossed and turned. You weren't at your home in Jackson. This bed was nice… but it wasn't your safe, cozy cabin.

When you aren't home, you're with Joel. All this time you've been wanting space at night, but now you feel scared and alone. Even a bit cold. But Joel was over on his own bed, probably sound asleep. You wouldn't dare take that away from him.

___

Until what felt like an hour passed.

___

And then another hour…

___

Finally, it had been about an hour and a half when you gave in. You wouldn't be getting any sleep at this rate. Fatigue is a dangerous fate when you need to be alert in this world. So you swallowed your pride and walked over to Joel's bed in the far end of the store.

But he wasn't there…

You wandered back, a bit nervous, until you spotted him. Curled up on a mattress only a row away from yours, you saw him blink in the night.

“You moved beds?” you whispered.

“Yeah, there was a draft over there…”

“A draft? In a mall with no electricity and no windows in this store?” You asked skeptically.

“Mmhm…” he grunted, sleepily.

“Sure. Well… turns out there was a draft over in my corner too. Move over,” you nudged.

“Draft, huh?” He wiggled over, letting you in the bed.

“Mmhm…” you mimicked his earlier grunt, settling in next to him.

“Good night Joel,” you whispered.

“G’night,” he replied, pressing his body closer to yours in the king sized bed.

Maybe there is such a thing as too many beds after all.

__________

Thanks for reading!!! Let me know what you think, and be sure to check out my masterlist for more. Reblogs are appreciated! Xoxo

#pedro pascal #pedro pascal fanfic #pedro pascal fanfiction #a! wrote a fic #pedro pascal fic #joel miller #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal x you #joel miller x you #joel miller x reader #joel x reader #joel x you #joel x y/n #the last of us hbo #joel tlou #tlou

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xiaobaosnoona · 29 days ago

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Noona's 2024 Drama Wrap-up

Yeah, so don't expect me to make sense, I just need to gush my entire soul out about the dramas that kicked butt for me this year. Also gifs.

Atomic bomb of the year: The Untamed (2019)

The show that altered the chemistry of my brain completely and threw me into an obsession so serious I pulled several people down with me (you're welcome and I am sorry). A chinese fantasy drama that centers around a young man who wants to do what's right even if it costs him everything (and it does), and his soulmate who loved him through two lifetimes. Censored bl that feels zero censored because of the brilliancy and hard work of the cast and crew. Clearly a labour of love for everyone involved. Impossible to water down into a blurb, watch it and you'll understand.

Love blorbo of my life: Li Lianhua

No one else made me fall as deeply as Li Lianhua of Mysterious Lotus casebook (2023). This cynical, too clever, highly whumpable lying liar got me in a chokehold and has yet to let go. His love language is to push people away, but thankfully some people are hard to get rid of. Deserves to be lovingly wrapped in a blanket and fed chocolate until his sadness passes (or possibly forever).

The one I never thought I would love: DMBJ/Lost Tomb franchise (2016-2024)

Hi, hello, what the hell happened? This show kinda took over my life and I am seriously confused (standard dmbj experience). One of the queerest shows I've ever laid my eyes on featuring one of china's most famous m/m ships; Pingxie. Filled to bursting with adventure, conspiracies, tomb shenanigans, snakes and the best character dynamics I've ever seen on the small screen. Don't expect everything to make sense, just enjoy the ride. It's a hoot.

I cried my face off because of this: Fangs of Fortune (2024)

This made me suffer from dehydration, flailing arms with feet kicking, and severe gif-making-syndrome. Stunning Chinese fantasy with characters that will unapologetically roundhouse kick you in the heart. Repeatedly. Very queer and doesn't even try not to be. Did I say stunning? The cinematography and costumes are so fucking beautiful that this alone brings tears to your eyes. Just watch it, I can't possibly explain what it's about without starting to cry again.

Has a dear and special place in my heart: Oh no! Here comes trouble (2023)

So well written I want to chug vinegar because I didn't write it myself. Some of the best character dynamics known to man, fantastic stories told with a supernatural twist and (you guessed it) queer vibes that will smack you in the face. Has a wonderfully dumb and grumpy ml that will make you love him unconditionally in a very short amount of time. The drama deals with heavy topics, like grief and abuse, and balances it out delicately with ridiculousness and humour.

Favorite BL: History 3: trapped (2019)

The cutest little twink police falls in love with the mob boss he's been trying to catch for four years. Adorable low-spicy Taiwanese bl that utilizes the often seen het-romance drama tropes in a low key hilarious and endearing way. Enemies to lovers? Uhuh. Grumpy/sunshine? Mhm. Catch the love interest in your arms as they trip and fall? Yup. Everything wrapped in soft romantic lighting as you stare into each other's eyes? Yesss. And do i love it? FUCK YEAH. Actually does have a pretty solid plot as well, which made it a real home run for me.

Underrated gem: 19th Floor (2024)

A less queer version of Spirealm (but watch me try and find every queer crumb in it if it kills me). Got me on the edge of my seat most of the time, had characters I loved dearly with great development, adorable bromance with cheek smooches, and het-romance that didn't make me want to scratch my face off. FL kicks serious ass and is allowed to be unapologetically herself throughout the whole show. Also this show has Bai Shu and that is always a win.

#mysterious lotus casebook #the untamed #oh no! here comes trouble #fangs of fortune #history 3: trapped #lost tomb #dmbj #19th floor #cheng yi #noona watches #asian dramas #chinese dramas #taiwanese dramas #bl drama #noona wraps

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shorthaltsjester · 2 years ago

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if i ever have to see another thought piece on the description of the white picket fence outside of fjord and jester’s place in mighty nein reunited indicating jester’s unhappiness in the relationship i will burn the world to the ground.

a) heteronormativity doesn’t exist in exandria !

b) fjord isn’t your Typical Male Love Interest Guy. if i ever have to read someone say that shit again i’m gonna (correctly) assume they haven’t paid attention at all to campaign 2 and any of fjord’s character arc.

c) perhaps, jester lavorre, woman who was raised on the ideology of romance novels and sexuality as exchange, might just find it uh… not a terrible thing that the white picket fence is falling apart outside since… fjord explicitly does Not feel like those romance novels to her, instead he feels comfortable. the way that a brightly painted but rarely used house might, especially when the couple in question spends most of their time adventuring together… which is an essential part of jester’s motivations throughout the campaign.

d) the reason fjord and jester seem unhappy in the reunion might be because, well, uh, whereas everyone else was getting a “vacation”, jester and fjord’s life together (specifically the fact that Fjord Loves Jester Enough To Risk The World (Momentarily) To Save Her) was the inciting action for an apocalyptic demigod being released - they Were unhappy. who wouldn’t be given those circumstances. jester nearly died, and fjord felt like the god that once saved him had now abandoned him, i am so truly sorry that their romance was not satisfactory for your vision of atypical romance (which, by the way, is literally reinforcing the restrictive romantic tropes you think you’re criticizing, so good job i guess). i would be much, much more concerned if jester and fjord Weren’t clearly dismayed.

e) both fjord and jester are individuals whose entire lives and character are defined by the expectation (both external and internal) that they behave and emote a certain way. that they’re in a relationship with someone who they feel that they can show that they are frustrated with or disagree on the layout of their house with or have different ideas on how to deal with the looming threat of a demigod is incredible. jester and fjord are emblematic of a relationship in which the characters Aren’t meant to be, but they Want to be together and they want to understand and support the other person so they work at it. we wouldn’t have conversations like “you seem disheartened..” “i am very disheartened! you almost died!” if they didn’t take the time and care to communicate with one another.

f) if you want a honeymoon era joyful queer romance, yasha and beau are right there! they are explicitly horny and in love and bright about it! if queerness is your measure of “trope breaking” i am very sorry to tell you that queer people partake in white picket fences, and i’d actually argue that in terms of Lifestyle Metaphor, beauyasha are more adherent to the whitepicket fence, nuclear familyism. this isn’t a detriment to them, just, very literally, beau works a 9-5 where she comes back to her housewife who gardens and cooks dinner and their future includes explicit reference to children. comparatively, fjord wants to address some issues in his past, jester is an artist, and both of them are interested in adventure for the foreseeable future.

g) if you truly think that a single part of laura’s description of the part-time abode of fjord and jester overrides every interaction and choice that both laura and travis make towards fjord and jester caring for each other in a deep and meaningful way that goes beyond the weird fandom constructed Man/Woman characters being portrayed by a married couple i truly, Truly have no idea why you even watch the many hours of content that cr is when you could… play/write your own shit.

#usually i would simply block and ignore but! i got one of those weird twitter recommended tweet notifs #and there were far too many likes #also like. ppl talk about that home as if it is where fjord and jester are living their everyday life #they are on the ship most of the time. of course it’s downtrodden and illlooked after. they are adventuring. they’re writing their own story #fjord #fjord stone #jester lavorre #fjord + jester #fjorester #critical role #cr2 #mighty nein #cr meta #kinda #i’m not tagging this discourse because it’s stupid and against my principles if u don’t like this block me :)#the mighty nein

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lalal-99 · 11 months ago

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of timeless love {h.j.} | track 1

©March 2023, February 2024 by lalal-99

Han Jisung x afab!reader | trope: slice of life, coming of age | word count: 2.6k

Synopsis: You and your annoyingly adorable boyfriend Jisung move off to university, to make new friends, find a calling and learn how to live on your own for the very first time in your lives.

Check Chapter Overview for complete list of warnings

Note: I first thought of this story about a year and a half ago. I didn't feel ready at the time, but as I got better over the years, I picked this story up again. Updates might be slow, so bear with me please

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Please don't flag as mature or repost this story - Thank You!

You, 6 years ago, wouldn’t have bought this romantic af, straight out of a fairy-tale storyline.

You going to University? With the love of your life? Like the picture-perfect couple, smiles glued to your face? Nuh-uh. Not you. Not in this lifetime and most likely not in the next dozen—if you ever were so unlucky.

Family, love, college. All of it was bullshit. Temporary.

Nothing good ever lasted. If anything, a dark twist was already lurking around the next corner at any given moment. You couldn’t imagine a dimension in which you were ever happy. Let alone content.

Your 14-year-old emo self would never grow out of the jet-black hair. Or the countless piercings decorating your face. Or those cole-coloured ripped skinny jeans you wore like a second skin. So much you knew. Past-you only ever wanted to gloom through life in a hazy blur. Depressed about My Chemical Romance breaking up and all the other hardships life had already put you through.

That girl would have despised who you had become. Hair grown back to its natural colour. Wearing shirts without some underground metal band’s logo printed on the front. That girl would have likely made fun of you for even thinking about grades. And your future? If you ever had one, your 14-year-old self knew it would include nothing but darkness and despair.

Every teenager around you went through that phase, though you were sure it was more than that. A phase. A short and survivable part of your story. You fully and whole-heartedly believed nothing would ever change about your attitude towards life. It couldn’t, not after everything that had happened.

Overcoming that horrible chapter of your life seemed unimaginable. That you even got the chance to reach out and grab your future by its horns only had one reason. One person who was to become the most meaningful part of your life. Of the same future, he was the reason you even considered having.

Han Jisung.

A boy of innocence and noisy introversion. A boy who, despite having lived through similar trauma as yourself, had a will for life toxic enough to capture you. A boy who you became sure was the closest thing to a soulmate you would ever find.

No one could have prepared you for how hard you’d fall for Jisung. You loved him at his best, worst, and everything between. And you had fallen in love with him despite his lousy sense of humour and silly persona. Or maybe, you had fallen for him because of it. Because he had a similar story to yours but an opposite look at it.

Your 14-year-old, always-depressed, doom-certain-self could have never imagined being with someone like him. Let alone being head-over.heels. All while doing what? Watching him do something so mediocre and none-life changing as buying toothbrushes?

“I don’t know. Which ones do you think?”

Jisung presented you two indistinguishable packs of toothbrushes, waking you from your daydream. Thus, the blurriness faded and your eyes focused on the tiny words on each cover.

“These,” you decided on the left option. “Those bristles are too hard for your gums.”

“Oh, we definitely can’t have that.” With a dramatically disgusted expression, he returned the wrong set to its place on the shelf. “I want to keep at least some of my teeth.”

“Thankfully,” you agreed with a snicker. His words cracked you up more than they should have.

No doubt, your 14-year-old self would have hated yourself six years later.

“Okay. What else is on that magic list of yours?”

“Microwave popcorn and some instant ramen. And we should get some notebooks and highlighters for tomorrow. That’s it.” You listed the remaining articles off the slip of paper while crossing out the products you had retrieved from the hygiene section. “Should we split up?”

“Nah. That’s how they die in horror movies. And I’m not going out in the food court of a 7/11.”

“Fair. How about the Back-to-School aisle then?”

Jisung pondered his reply as he wandered past toothpaste and mouthwash. “Too many pens for people to draw penises on my face. The cleaning section, however? That’s a whole other conversation.”

“How come?”

“Well, there’s bleach and mops already. Also, buckets. So they can simply wheel my corpse away.”

As you walked by the pasta and other canned foods, you picked up a tray of ramen each. For convenience, if anything. Had it not been for the thinness of your wallet, you would have gone for fresher produce. So much for independent living.

With an intensive focus on your absurd conversation—Jisung listing places he would most likely die in if he were a character in a horror movie—you didn’t notice a tray of stacked goods blocking the path. It wasn’t until you bumped your shin on the square-edged tower that you finally took notice.

As a wave of pain swallowed your leg, you left out a shriek. “Gosh freakin’ dang it!”

“You good, baby?” His concern was genuine, though he couldn’t help smiling at your desperate attempt not to swear. “Let me see.”

Jisung kneeled in front of you, noticing a reddening wound once he had dragged the jean fabric up your leg.

“Just a bruise.”

“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one feeling like your skin is being dragged off your flesh.”

“No. But I can make it better.”

He rose to his feet, arms hugging your frame as he picked you up without any effort. You giggled as he heaved you into the cart, careful not to squish the food.

“What are you doing?”

“No girlfriend of mine should have to walk when she’s in pain,” Jisung explained, helping you get settled. Pushing the crushable goods out of the way, you sat on the cans. Not the most comfortable seating, but it worked, nevertheless.

“Damn, those other girls are lu-cky.”

Jisung was pleased at how casually you had joined in on his joke. A smile formed on his lips as he pushed you along the shelves of seasonal produce.

You soon reached the Back-to-School aisle. There you took your sweet time deciding on notebook formats and highlighter colours. It kept surprising you how much fun it was to go grocery shopping when done with the right people. Everything was about 50 percent less boring because of Jisung. Jisung and his ability to find something ridiculous in anything and everything.

After you had made some other critical decisions—like which folders would make organising the year easiest, the ones with dogs or flowers in front—you finished up your school-supply-run.

When you reached the cash register, you noticed the strange looks the other customers gave you. Two young adults strolling through a supermarket, pushing each other in grocery carts? Definitely side-eye-worthy.

Maybe you would have cared more had you not been so enticed by Jisung’s mindless humming of Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.

“What?” Jisung questioned your glances as he started unloading the items from the cart.

“Nothing.” You joined him, unloading all the trays of food you had picked minutes earlier. “This feels weird. Going grocery shopping together. Feels grown-up somehow.”

“We go grocery shopping once a week,” he declared with a thoughtful pout.

“But that’s different.”

After you had emptied out your purchase, he wheeled you further down the band. The woman behind the cash register seemed equally interested in you as all the customers. Soon enough, she continued doing her job.

“You mean because we didn’t have to pay for it ourselves?” He held his hand to his heart as if heartbroken. “I miss your dad, too. Always so kind, paying for all our stuff.”

You chuckled at his playful sincerity.

“No, idiot.” As Jisung reloaded the cart, you payed for this week’s necessities. “Because we’re grocery shopping on our own, living off at uni. We have officially moved out of our home, living in the big city. It’s— new. That’s it.”

As soon as you had reached the exit, you picked reached for the strawberries, unable to abstain any longer. Strolling towards his car, you handed one over to your boyfriend while sucking on your own. Like the gentleman he was, Jisung helped you jump from the car and you packed everything into the trunk.

Once you had placed the cart back by the others, you finally headed home. Or rather, the dorm room you would be living in for the next four years.

You weren’t at that point of calling it your home yet.

A comfortable silence surrounded you throughout your drive. It remained while you stacked away your half of the food back at your place and lasted until you finished. This sort of silence wasn’t uncommon these many years into your relationship—you hardly noticed it anymore.

“Man, all this talk about horror movies makes me want to watch one.” That you hadn’t mentioned this topic for over 30 minutes seemed irrelevant.

“But you’re horrible with horror movies,” you pointed out.

“Not when you’re there to protect me.”

An hour later you were sprawled out on your bed, the last sweet strawberry long gone.

With your legs entangled, Jisung’s face rested on your chest as you massaged his scalp. After minutes of fruitless discussion, Spiderman was now webbing his way through your laptop screen. In the end, it really didn’t matter what movie was playing. It never did as long as you were with each other.

Not even 20 minutes into the movie, Jisung had fallen asleep on top of you. His faint snoring was now mere background noise as you followed the plot, ehich wasn’t as simple as it sounded. Your energy was more than drained from running around all day.

Only three days ago, you had still been back home. Packing for your upcoming move to a new city, two hours from every place you had grown up in. The one thing keeping you calm throughout the stress was your sweetheart-boyfriend. To no one’s surprise. He was the only person able to keep you sane when all you wanted was to scream and cry. Had you not had him by your side, you would have drowned in all the noise your brain usually produced.

His ability to calm your nerves when you needed him to—know when to make you laugh or when to distract you from your everyday stresses—surprised you to this day. You couldn’t begin to explain how you had been lucky enough to find someone like him. Someone you loved as much as you had seen your parents do when you were younger. Let alone how he loved you the same way, almost self-destructively so.

Your 14-year-old self would have called bs. But that girl was someone else—you, but in another lifetime. You but pre-Jisung.

When the door to your room rushed open, it pulled you from your quiet slumber. You had turned off the lights earlier to set the mood but still knew the intruder was your roommate. Besides you two, only Jisung knew the code to your dorm—a decision you had previously discussed with your new roomie, of course. Seeing as he was knocked out on top of you, you could cross him off your list of possible visitors at 8 pm on a Monday.

Adapting her eyes to the darkness, she checked her surroundings before tiptoeing into the room. The light remained off as she expected you to be asleep.

“Hey,” you greeted the dark-haired beauty, making her jump in surprise at the sudden noise.

“Fu—God! You scared me.” With one hand over her heart, your roomie calmed herself from your unexpected jump-scare. Once her heart rate had settled, she slipped out of her heels and left them by the end of her bed. “Is he asleep?”

“Yeah,” you confirmed, letting your finger run along his jaw to check. He didn’t move, so you knew he was most likely out for the night. “Long night?”

She gagged with an eye roll, pulling her jeans off her legs and exchanging them for grey sweatpants. “Don’t get me started. I haven’t even started writing my thesis, and it’s already kicking my ass.”

You watched her as she also changed out of her dress shirt and into an off-the-shoulder crop top. She slipped into a pair of sneakers while making her way to her dresser where she sprayed herself in a cloud of perfume.

“You’re leaving again?”

“Yup. I spent so much time at the library today, I apparently neglected,” she air-quoted with an eye roll, “my girlfriend. At least that’s what she said.”

“The things we do to keep our loved ones happy.”

“Exactly.” Unleashing her long curls from a tight ponytail, she ran her fingers through them for a few seconds. Her beach-waves veiled her face, so she pushed them behind her ears to instead frame her near-perfect features. “Anyway, I’m staying at hers tonight, so don’t wait up for me.”

“Okay,” you agreed with a yawn, your roommate replying with a deep chuckle.

The past few days, you had mainly spent in your new room, settling in and getting ready for the start of the semester. You liked planning ahead, knowing your life was organised to a T, so you could focus on the important stuff. Your studies, and your boyfriend.

Your roommate seemed to have most of the same priorities. She had gone out every night since you moved in, be it to study at the library or spend some time with her better half. However she managed to squeeze in all the partying? You had no clue. You could only hope some of her togetherness rubbed off on you. But then again, never judge a book.

“I’m going to take you out one of these days. You are not going to be sitting inside all year. Not on my watch.”

Spending the first two days inside, you must have looked like the biggest couch potato ever.

“Sounds good.”

As she waltzed towards the door, you grabbed her attention one last time. The hallway lights blinded you with their brightness, framing her curves in a halo.

“Oh, and Hwasa?” She turned to face you, looking like she had jumped straight off a Vogue cover. How she did that without trying was a mystery to you. “Can you not tell Wheein he’s sleeping over? I wouldn’t want my first warning on the third day already.”

“Babe, as long as you’re my roommate, my dorm-supervisor-girlfriend won’t dare write you up. Just don’t set anything on fire, and you’re solid.”

With that, she waved goodbye, leaving you and your boyfriend alone. Well, apart from the ever-so-handsome Tom Holland, who somehow made full-body suits look like a reasonable choice of clothing.

Not soon after, your eyes fell close, sending you off into a deep rest.

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okaerina · 2 years ago

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⏤ ★ ENHYPEN ; love tropes ᰍ ˚.

warns ! fluff, slight angst

𖠗 HEESEUNG — brother's bestfriend ´ˎ˗

having a older brother was hectic sometimes but having his bestfriend turn your parent's house into his own abode was even more hectic than you thought. not only was he so insanely attractive but at the same time so damn flirty, he made your toes curl and butterflies in your stomach to blossom. but you shouldn't have such romantic thoughts for him, afterall he probably sees you as his little sister too.

heeseung wasn't playing with you when he would compliment you, tell you things that a he shouldn't to his bestfriend's little sister. but who was he to decide ? his heart has fallen for you long before he could comprehense.

𖠗 JAY — opposites attract ´ˎ˗

you were the literal sweetheart of the school. everybody means every single soul felt good in your presence, from those who knew you to those who had absolutely no idea about your existence were so fond of your bubbly and positive energy. therefore you were always pampered and loved. but your classmate, jay seemed to be the total opposite of you, cold, stoic and super intimidating. nobody could ever imagine that somone stoic and cold looking as jay can warm up to you.

jay thought alike. at first he was a bit annoyed as to why you have to smile and communicate with everyone, he found it rather unnecessary. so when you attempted to befriend him boy was shocked. but soon he found your bubblyness rather amusing and cute and people started to see the change in him, a change in his heart that was brought by you.

𖠗 JAKE — childhood sweethearts ´ˎ˗

you and jake were practically attached at the hip ever since you two were little. jake was your bestest friend and so were you his. you two played together, cried together, grew up together. you loved how soft and puppy like your little friend was. jake was such a sweetheart. he was so affectionate and lovely that it made you feel things that a bestfriend wasn't supposed to feel.

growing up, you two seemed to get distanced as both of you focused on your own careers. that's when you two most probably realised how much you need each other and that you two might have feelings that bestfriends don't have for each other. feelings that enter the realm of lovers. but both of you were too much worried and insecure to confess those pent up ilys. facetiming till morning, texting each other about everything wasn't enough anymore. so you two finally decided to confess, to live together as one and lovers.

𖠗 SUNGHOON — strangers to lovers ´ˎ˗

it was a chilly autumn day, you were out at a ice rink to skate for the first time of your life. skating on the slippery ice was way tougher than you thought as you constantly lost balance and kept on falling. you were in the verge of giving up with your throbbing back. but as soon as you were turning on your heels to leave, someone very generous decided to lend you his helping hand.

sunghoon was seeing your attempts from afar, finding you adorable. he had no idea he'd meet someone as silly and cute like you at his usual ice rink. but seeing you giving up he quickly reached out to you in an attempt to help you. at a closer look he found you way more loveable. it was love at first sight for him. now he might come here more often if it's for you.

𖠗 SUNOO — bestfriends to lovers ´ˎ˗

being an introvert, you’ve always had a hard time finding good friends. but when a happy pill named kim sunoo came in your life, everything became so much better. he was such a fun guy, so positive and lovely. you would talk with him all the time, telling him all your worries and secrets. you loved how he listened to everything you said so attentively. you loved him so much.

sunoo had uncountable friends. but amongst everyone, you were his top priority. he loved spending time with you more than anyone. he loved your sweet voice, your happy laughter that made butterflies dance in his tummy. he felt so giddy and in love with you. sunoo was ready to spend the entirety of his life with you.

𖠗 JUNGWON — soulmates ´ˎ˗

in a world where you live the rest of your life with your destined soulmate, jungwon found himself rather lonely. sure he had everything, good friends, nice family, popularity, love anything you can name, he had it all. but despite him having everything someone could only dream of, deep inside he felt a aching emptiness. it was prominent and subtle, it hurt him day and night.

but whenever you would come before his eyes, his heart felt happy and contented. there was a satisfaction in his heart that was brought by your soft smile, hearty laughter and that pure beauty of yours. nothing ever made jungwon feel the way you did. he was sure that all along his life all he needed was you, his fated soulmate.

𖠗 NI-KI — enemies to lovers ´ˎ˗

knowing each other since you two were in diapers, people might think you guys were the closest of the friends but oh was that true? absolutely no. nishimura riki will always have smtg up his sleeves to prick at you, constantly throwing petty comments at you and annoying till your red in the face from all the fury but all he does is laugh like a maniac "dumb tomato".

but once he started to grow up, his visions and feelings about you started to change, something new started to bloom in his chest. petty and annoying comments soon turned into cheesy compliments and flirty teasings and your heart did flips all together. you convince yourself to not fall for his stupid teasings but god knows how long you'll be able to hold yourself until he ends up confessing.

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j0hnj4ej3n · 2 years ago

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renjun: soulmates

Word count: 1.3k

Warnings: confusing emotions, y/n almost gets into a car accident, quite a bit of crying

Notes: this is Renjun's part of 'nct dream as love tropes', enjoy!

They say soulmates are highly connected on a spiritual level. You never understood what that meant entirely but you see a glimpse of it through your parents. They seem to understand each other without even having to tell each other anything. A simple glance, a smile, it’s like they really are the other half of each other. When your mum feels sad, you dad feels it before she says anything. Your dad told you when you were little, that soulmates can feel each other’s emotions. It keeps them in sync, connected. Some connections are stronger than others, it varies between every pair of soulmates. He says that’s why sometimes, you suddenly feel happy or sad even if you’re not currently feeling those exact emotions.

But not all soulmates end up having a romantic relationship, some soulmates remain best friends. Some never really get to have a relationship. Some soulmates never get to find each other at all. You’re in college now and you have yet to find your soulmate. Not that it matters to you, you weren’t too invested into this whole soulmate thing like some of your friends.

However, you quickly learned that your soulmate gets frustrated rather easily. You’d be fine, going about your day when you feel rage begin to bubble at the pit of your stomach. Sometimes, it gets so strong you want to scream at anyone who dares to get in your way. Then it fades away almost as quickly.

Renjun is rather annoyed with his soulmate (spoiler: that’s you). Because why is she always crying? This has happened ever since he was young. He was having lunch with his parents one day and he had the sudden urge to start bawling for no reason. But after a while, he stopped as if nothing even happened and continued eating. As he grew older, he got better at controlling your emotions. Whenever he feels that sinking feeling in his chest, he excuses himself to the bathroom to just let it out. But sometimes it catches him so off-guard and his friends were so amazed by it.

Him and his friends were out and having a good time over drinks and Renjun felt that same feeling where his heart sank and his eyes were immediately filled with tears. “Ah shit, she’s at it again,” he mutters as a single tear falls from his eyes. “Dude, are you alright?” “Yea, my soulmate’s just really upset over something again. It happens…” Renjun gives himself a moment for you to be done crying, holding a napkin to dry his tears as they continuously roll down his cheek. “She seems really upset…” “She’s been crying a lot lately, if I’m being honest.” “Why don’t you check up on her?” “Oh… I- uh… I haven’t met her yet.” “Oh, what? And you guys are already this connected? That’s crazy.” “It’s a little embarrassing… I just cry out of nowhere all the time.” But Renjun does worry about you a little. The last time he cried this much was when he was a lot younger, so he wonders if you’re holding up alright. Sometimes, he feels sorry that he can’t comfort you.

They say you’ll know your soulmate when you ever come into contact with them. Some of your friends said they knew at a single glance. Others said it was when they spoke to each other for the first time. The word ‘contact’ seems to come in many forms.

You’ve been really stressed lately because of finals. And also because your manager from your part-time job is a pain in the ass. She’s making you work over hours and not paying you for them. Moreover, you’re doing a lot more than what you initially applied for. You’re finally closing the cafe for the day and you’ve never been more relieved. It was one of the most tiring shifts of your life. You don’t know if it’s because it’s midweek, you had to serve so many grumpy customers today. Everyone was so impatient, some guy even shouted at you to hurry up when you were swarmed with drink orders during peak hour. Towards the end of the shift, you were careless while taking someone’s pie out of the over and burnt your hand.

The worse thing is, you can’t even sleep when you get home because you have a paper due in two days and you barely started it. Thinking about having to sit down to write an essay after one of the worst shifts of your life already has you close to tears. You’re so tired and the semester break still seems so far away.

Similar to you, Renjun is finally leaving the library after working on his essay all day. His eyes feel like they’re about to pop out and his head is pounding. Before heading home though, he decides to drop by the convenient store to grab a couple cans of energy drinks since he ran out. As he’s paying, Renjun feels a familiar ache in his chest and he reckon it’s caused by you again. Recently, chest pains are perfectly normal occurrence to him.

As he walks out of the convenient store, bidding the cashier goodbye, he slowly walks to the pedestrian crossing to begin walking home. The green man just turned red so he stops before the yellow line, waiting for it to turn green again. Renjun’s chest begins to hurt a little more and he can already feel tears starting to well up in his eyes. Just then, a young lady about his age walk past him and doesn’t stop walking.

You’re walking home from the cafe and all you can think about is the miserable day you had, how tired you are and how much more you had to do. You’re about to cross the road when a hand grabs onto your arm and pulls you back. All you hear was a loud, “Watch out!” and the loud honking from the car that zoomed past just a few feet away from you. “Shit, what are you doing? You could have died!” You’re too shocked from what happened when you finally realise what just happened.

You look to the boy beside who is still holding onto you tightly, he has tears rolling down his cheeks and you feel that boiling in your chest you know all too well. The two of you stare at each other and it clicks. Images of each other flashes in both your minds almost like you’ve known each other your whole life. He slowly lets go of your arm and the beeping from the traffic light alerts you two that the red man has turned green and it is safe to cross the road.

“So you’re the reason I’m always crying for no reason…” Renjun starts as he wipes his tears and you chuckle almost sadly, “I’m sorry…” He laughs too, this is a little awkward. No one really ever teaches you what to do when you first meet your soulmate. “A-are you okay though?” Renjun asks as he calms down, looking at you with concern in his eyes. “Not really but… I’ll survive.” You reply, giving him a liptight grin. “Why are you always so frustrated?” You ask and it’s his turn to feel a little embarrassed. “My bad, I’m not the best at staying calm…” It’s silent again when the two of you finally reach the other side of the road.

“I’m Renjun, by the way.” “I’m y/n.” “Please be careful when you’re crossing the road…” “Right, thank you for saving my life… drinks on me someday… I work at the cafe just down the street.” You tell him as you point towards the direction of the cafe. Renjun nods with the prettiest smile on his face and you already feel yourself blushing. “I’ll come by after my classes tomorrow, will you be there?” “Yea, I’ll be there.” With that you two part ways, you’ve never been more excited for work and Renjun has never been more thrilled to attend his classes. An unfamiliar feeling erupts in both your chests, it’s a warm, fluttering feeling. As you two walk home, you both can’t help the smile that finds it way to your faces.

#nct #nct dream #nct renjun #nct renjun fluff #nct renjun angst #j0hnj4ej3n

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forlix · 10 months ago

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MOOT GAME: " make up a trope for your moots and their biases. doesn’t need to be romantic. can be crackfic/funny/anything you want ^ㅇ(๑>◡<๑)ㅇ^ "

omg how fun, thank u for sending this in nonnie !!! let me see...

@astraystayyh and hyunjin would have to be some 800k ao3 slow burn about forbidden love between royal families ... the grandest and most poetic of period drama romances that persists through backstabbing and betrayal and trial after tribulation. nothing less for my artistic soulmates

the first tropes to come to mind for @rachalixie and minho are literally just. not even really tropes. established relationship. domestic fluff. slice of life. they're That Couple. nobody remembers when they weren't together. they invite me over for dinner when i've had a bad day. mom and dad

@like-a-diamondinthesky and seungmin are the EPITOME of (fake) enemies to lovers. they're the sweetest, silliest, most sinister people and i just know their dynamic would be a dream come true for each other and a nightmare for everyone else

sue is just her "eighteen" mc in my head so @soobnny and seungmin scream best friends to lovers + college au to me. seung being the best cheerleader for her while she's crazy busy :') also she flusters v easily and i think he'd get a kick out of that (ik i do)

@luvtak and felix are giving childhood friends to lovers! the sort of relationship where they know each other better than they've ever known anything; really just the safest, warmest, and kindest of affections for the safest, warmest, and kindest of people

i'm gonna cheat again and hc @sunboki and chan as a trope from august's mafia au "korea's most wanted"; augs is so creative and badass and SEXY and so is the main couple's dynamic in that fic. chan's a lucky man. DITCH HIM FOR ME 🗣️

@txtxlz and jeongin would be a multipart messy love triangle ft. jealousy and pining and so much chaos bc haz has more biases than i have fingers or toes and i love love the idea of her favorite idols going to war over her. it's what my baby deserves fr

for @2baabbies and felix, i imagine perhaps a barista au or a librarian au (hehehehe) where he finds stupid excuses to come back and pick bae's brain every day because he's utterly enraptured by her. she has that effect on people and lix would NOT be immune

@starsandrqindrops and seungmin are so fwb-coded. think suffocating chemistry every time they interact. could cut the tension with a dull machete. then inevitably complications like Feelings come into play and they dance around each other for ages before finally giving in ... mm yes all that good stuff

last but not least, @hyunnie04 and hyunjin would be so perfect for an art school!au. mira is an incredible artist so i'm picturing these two sketching each other instead of paying attention in class ,,, gallery/museum dates ,,,, maybe a sprinkle of healthy competition who knows ,,,,

#*inbox #my otps <333

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traintrainingmontage · 5 months ago

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Te's Narrow-Gauge Ships in a Nutshell

Skarloey x Neil (Neilloey):

Starcrossed lovers who decided to call themselves married the night before one of them disappears during the war. Skarloey and Neil had always been close, ever since Skarloey had arrived on Sodor. When WWI broke out, the two decided to be married, with their loving crews tying ropes around their buffers in an approximation of handfasting as Robert Sam officiated their ceremony. They promised each other that they would live through the war, but even though they both did, once the war ended, Neil's whereabouts were unknown. Luckily for both of them, Neil had ended up in the back of an abandoned warehouse, and through a series of connections, is unearthed in the modern day. He's taken by the SR, restored, and finally, FINALLY, Skarloey has his other half back, the only engine other than Rheneas he can be vulnerable around, the one who grounds him when he gets bouncy, the one who feeds into all of his schemes and jokes. Neil is grounding; easy-going; calm, kind, and collected; and just what Skarloey needs when he doesn't need to FIX the problem--just vent about it. Skarloey, for his part, is sprightly, energetic, insightful, and clever, and Neil always appreciates the joy that Skarloey brings to each and every day. His laughter colors Neil's entire world, and being back together gives them both a sense of rightness that they were both deeply missing. Expanded Neilloey thoughts here!

Rheneas x Stepney (Rhenney):

Lovers who could never last. They met in the summer of 1962 when Stepney came to Sodor and Rheneas had gotten back from the works. Stepney had just been entered into preservation and was being paraded as a mascot; Rheneas had just returned to his railway after being overhauled. Both of them feel like fish out of water; for Rheneas, the last time the line was this nice was when it was new, almost 100 years ago, and he's never had permanent co-workers before. He's home, but... home is more crowded than he remembers. Stepney gets that; for Stepney, he's not used to being on such a short line. There's a sense of adjustment that they're both struggling to navigate, and with Stepney being on Sodor, the two of them finding another engine that they can deeply relate to in this way is incredibly meaningful. It's not hard to fall in love with the other, really; they mirror each other, a standard-gauge engine out of place among his fellows, a narrow-gauge engine feeling the same. The right place at the right time. But it could never last, could never be anything more than a sweet summer fling; Stepney can't stay, and Rheneas can't leave. But for that one sweet summer, they have found their other halves, and that summer will remain etched in their minds forever, captured only in the letters that their supportive drivers pen on their behalf. This is the relationship most likely to be queerplatonic versus romantic, but I do rather like the extra layer that the romance adds, particularly if Rheneas only realizes it's love while listening to his driver read Stepney's letters and hearing the adoration buried in between the lines.

Sir Handel x Peter Sam:

Wholesome lovers who are one specific flavor of the grumpy one loves the sunshine trope, but also have depth beyond that. These two are quite sweet together--even as they're teasing each other about their various upgrades, Sir Handel can also be vulnerable around Peter Sam and knows that he can trust him with his life. He can trust Peter Sam with his vulnerabilities and fears. If he's being serious, Peter Sam won't laugh or put him down. He'll just listen and support him. And for Peter Sam, he loves Sir Handel because despite Sir Handel's arrogance and ego getting in his way (even if it eases up later), Peter Sam can see the good in him. The pride that pushes him. The ability to admit and reflect on his mistakes. The willingness to learn from other engines, such as Skarloey. The desire to do well even when he claims he hates working (and frankly, I don't think he does; I do think that as the express engine of the Mid-Sodor, he's fearful of messing up at the beginning and lets his preconceptions about what he should be able to do override the reality of having to navigate a new railway, new coaches, and new coworkers, so because he doesn't want to fail, he claims he doesn't want to work). Peter Sam has seen him become a better engine over the course of their tenure at the Skarloey Railway, and he absolutely loves that about him.

Rusty x Duncan:

Another flavor of grumpy/sunshine, but different from Sir Handel and Peter Sam. Rusty is calm and kind and has a heart of gold, as well as a strong work ethic. Duncan, of course, is rude and brash and prickly. However, once Duncan overcomes his initial distrust of Rusty, I feel that they warm up to each other quite quickly. Rusty makes Duncan feel safe in a way that he's not quite used to, but can't get enough of. He's the odd one out on the Skarloey for multiple reasons, including his factory work and the fact that he's not from Sodor, but being around Rusty makes him think that such things don't really matter nearly as much as he'd thought. He can let his guard down around Rusty; with the little diesel, he can rest. As for Rusty, I think Duncan is their closest friend in a lot of ways. Skarloey and Rheneas have been running the railway by themselves for so long, and are mentor figures to all the younger engines on the railway (including these two). Sir Handel and Peter Sam knew each other long before coming to the SR. Thus, Rusty and Duncan are the two "new engines" on the block, and this brings them closer together. Rusty also loves how fiercely Duncan both loves and lives his life, and while he can certainly be grumpy, Rusty is the only one privileged enough to see his softer side.

Duke x Stanley (Smudger in the TVS):

Another doomed love, with the potential of a redemption arc. I have often imagined that Stanley's attitude toward carelessness and spills concealed worries of inadequacy, but the Mid-Sodor management decided to give a rather draconian punishment for his actions, and he ended up abandoned in a flooded mine. Stanley was remorseful after he lost his wheels and was turned into a pumping engine, and if able to be rescued, I can imagine him trying to repair his relationship with Duke, especially if Duke was initially against him for his apparent carelessness. However, after seeing the Mid-Sodor's punishment for him and seeing how his defiant personality softened into something more genuine and remorseful, Duke decided to try getting along with Stanley and would ask to be parked near the shed so that Stanley would be less alone. After a few years of late-night talks, they became incredibly close, with Duke appreciating Stanley as an equal rather than him being another granchuff like Sir Handel and Peter Sam. It was only after Stanley was put in the mine that Duke realized the extent of his feelings for the other engine, but by then, it was far too late. It was only thanks to fate's meddling that the two were reunited in the 1970s, with Stanley barely able to believe that Duke remembered him, much less petitioned the management of the SR to rescue him. Duke's granchuffs, of course, know full well how much of a stubborn bulldog Duke can be when it comes to not letting go of his loved ones, so really, this is par for the course. But either way, Stanley is mistrustful of the SR and everyone on it at first, butting heads with some of the more fiery personalities, but once it becomes clear that the SR really is as much of a found family as they seem, he finds himself being dragged along by their pace until he feels right at home. What Duke loves about Stanley is that he brings out Duke's less elegant side. With Stanley, he can laugh loudly and let loose in a way that he's not comfortable doing in front of most others. He takes great pride in his knowledge of etiquette and elegance, to the point that it can be hard to bond with others when they want to be more casual, but with Stanley, it feels easy. He's seen the real Stanley, beneath all the bluster, and finds that this is an engine that he can truly be comfortable around. For Stanley, Duke is his confidante, his closest friend, the one who always cared about him even when he was at his worst. He didn't see Stanley's punishment and think that he deserved it; he saw Stanley's punishment and was compassionate instead.

#ttte #te talks trains #ttte shipping #ttte skarloey #ttte rheneas #ttte sir handel #ttte peter sam #ttte rusty #ttte duncan #ttte duke #ttte neil #ttte stepney #ttte smudger #rws stanley #ttte neilloey #ttte rhenney #ttte sir handel x peter sam #ttte rusty x duncan #ttte duke x smudger

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kharmii · 5 months ago

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Who are your favorite black clover characters and ships (platonic, romantic)? talk about them!

The Captain Yami x Captain Charlotte one is cute but aggravating. One wonders if it will ever work, or they will just keep acting goofy and oblivious to each other.

For maybe a split second, I entertained Zora x Neige as maybe a parallel to Dabi x Geten, but then I was like....there's no way! -But then I thought...how about Gauche x Neige? This was the one one I put thought into, like Neige sees Gauge as the replacement Big Brother for the one who died. It starts out toxic because Gauche is always rotten to him out of worry for his sister, but their relationship improves in time.

The others are relieved when Gauche gets weird about someone else besides his own sister. He ends up being a huge help to the church because on top of lavishing gifts on Neige and his sister, he also gives money to the church they save up to help the child orphans stay on their feet and build a life outside of adject poverty when they grow up. Neige and Marie also share their presents with the other children, especially since the latter gets a lot of cool toys.

After I thought of that, poor Neige has another encounter with Gauche in E.143, and it's unpleasant. Poor guy gets clubbed in the head, and then has to suffer getting chewed out because he tried to keep Marie from being kidnapped but failed.

The only other ships I'm into are the Zora ships. There's someone shipping a hetero fire/ice....well kind of rare pair that's Zora x Fragil Tormenta (Spanish for fragile storm). That's kind of interesting but with very little content. I also like Zora x Nebra Silva. Someone did a fan fic where they had, like, quadruplets and another baby. It was cute, but that pairing is hilarious. What would her family think?

Even funnier there's Zora x Kirsch Vermillion. Kirsch is one of those Narcissist tropes in the most literal sense, and he's obsessed by his own beauty. Every in the world has to pass through a beautiful lens.

No, seriously, this guy...... I've got to find a good clip of him on YouTube.

youtube

IDK how Kirsch and Zora would work, but it's a reasonably popular ship in Black Clover. The two don't get off to a good start because Zora roasts him extra bad in the Royal Knights Exam.

youtube

Side Note: I'm confused as to how Zora's ash magic translates to being able to create a cave-in. Is it more like.....gunpowder magic?

Maybe in order for Kirsch to see anything beautiful in Zora, he'd need to catch him in a moment of vulnerability. He's not a bad looking guy, but it's a good analogy they gave Zora a monster's mouth because he doesn't hold back. Maybe Zora gets badly injured and is too grateful to roast him as usual. Kirsch uses Cherry Blossom Healing Magic; Beautiful Blossom’s Caress of Life on him, and he's dreamily blurting out compliments and validating him, like, "Yeah, for sure, you are stunningly gorgeous. I want to stay conscious so I can keep looking at your beautiful face. Don't let me pass out... *rapidly blinks* You're like a perfect 10 with all those cherry blossoms circling around."

#yami sukehiro #charlotte roselei #gauche adlai #neige #zora ideale #asta #kirsch vermillion #nebra silva #fragil tormenta #sol marron

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realcube · 5 months ago

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˖°.𓆩♡𓆪 .°˖ TROPEOLOGY for @stars-tonight

𓆩♡𓆪 part of my lovers level — 3k follower event

𓆩♡𓆪 chosen character: oikawa toru

˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ YOUR TROPES ARE...

LOVE MARTYR

okay so there isn't a specific trope name for what i'm thinking of. but basically a similar dynamic to that of kiyoko and tanaka, where he is just gonna keep asking you out and you say no every single time despite actually having feelings for him that build over time. however, the difference is that kiyoko keeps rejecting tanaka for whatever reason, bc you keep rejecting oikawa bc you know he's a player and naturally flirtatious and you're convinced that he's only asking you out playfully/jokingly so you respond accordingly. but one day he makes some big grand gesture to prove that he's being serious and that's when you say yes.

FAILED SECRET RELATIONSHIP

oikawa is so convinced that because of his fangirls, y'all need to keep your relationship out of the spotlight, otherwise this random girls that think they have a chance with him with develop animosity towards the two of you. and you admittedly think he's being a bit dramatic but since he is so insistent, you agree to try and keep your relationship secret. and the funny part is that you do a good job of it, generally just avoiding him in favour of being with your friends and when you do socialise with him, it's very covert. however, despite the whole 'private relationship' thing being his idea, he's so terrible at it. he'll slip you romantic notes during class (and he thinks he's being slick about it but he's not); he'll wink at you in the hallways and blow you kisses and he'll text you constantly duirng lunch and not-so-subtly glance at you. sometimes you wonder if he's even trying. and the whole thing comes crumbling down one day, after winning one a game, out of instinct he decides to run up to you and give you a big hug and everyone sees. and when he realises what he does he expects everyone to be shocked but like.. nobody is.. because they all already knew you two were a couple lol.

LAB PARTNERS/FORCED PROXIMITY

omg this trope is so over-done and personally i usually don't like it but i think in the case of you and kawa it would be so cute. like two classmates who barely know anything about each other are paired up to do an assignment together and learn that they have more in common than they initially thought 🥺 i imagine you two would be in the library and it would the classic situation where he is more focused on you than the actual assignment (but he's not completely useless because he is actually pretty smart; it's just a matter of actually getting him to do the work). and you had already heard of him before bc he's the captain of the volleyball team n all. maybe you thought he was a vain playboy and you learn he's actually kinda a sweetie pie. he didn't know much about you but he's charmed when he finds out you're a setter and you both eagerly talk about volleyball for ages, forgetting all about the assignment you're supposed to be doing.

BODY SWAP AU!

this is kinda a random wild-card one but if you were already friends with oikawa this would be so hilarious. actually it would still be hilarious if there was an established relationship. but i imagine it would happen at the most inconvenient time, like he has a big game coming up so he has to spend every moment of his free time training you so you can compete in his body and win. and that's when his inner diva comes out because he is such a harsh coach 😩 especially because you're in his body like when y'all trained together before he body swap, yeah he was a bit strict but he was never that bad solely because there is no way he could ever say anything mean to your sweet face but now that you are in his body it's different because he is more than capable of yelling at himself lol. but overall it makes for a funny bonding and training experience. and y'all begin to understand each other better when going through life in the other's shoes.

for @stars-tonight: you and kawa are suchhh an otp!! anyway thank youu for participating in my event and i hoped you enjoyed these 🙏

#💕lovers.°˖level #oikawa x reader #oikawa x y/n #oikawa x you #oikawa tooru #oikawa toru x reader

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nataliescatorccio · 5 months ago

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Do you ever struggle with liking ships that are widely hated?

You seem to like Darklina and Daemyra and obviously they have big fan bases, but they also get a lot of hate and there’s a lot of criticism towards people who ship them. Does that ever get to you?

I also really like both of those ships but I almost never post about them or re-blog stuff about them because I’m so nervous about getting hate.

just to clarify i don't ship daemyra, i like each of the characters and find their fascination with each other interesting as i believe daemon wants rhaenyra's life and rhaenyra wants daemon's life, but i do not buy into them romantically at all.

but anyway, i think it probably just comes from being on this site for a long time, but no i really don't care what people think about what i ship. for as long as i've been in fandom there's been hate directed at a ship i love, and people who even if they are not a majority are loudly hating on what i like. i've had to deal with so many entitled people in my inbox over the years bashing my ship and trying to makeup reasons why their ship is 'better' that in the end, i just kind of switched off to it all. what i'm trying to say is no matter what you ship there will be people out there who hate it and they will insert their opinion on it no matter what. you could ship the most perfect, unproblematic ship in the word, and you can and will still get hate for it, because that's fandom.

ultimately it just comes down to ignoring it, moving on, and focusing on just what you like. why does it matter if a stranger who hides behind an anonymous face anyway sends you hate? you can't control what people will think, and there will always be those that are negative, you can only control what you enjoy. fiction is fiction and you're allowed to bond with whatever tropes give you an escapism, people seem to think it means you're 'endorsing' negative tropes in real life and then completely ignore the fact a) that you're dealing with a fantasy land which doesn't exist anyway and b) this is fiction and unrealistic negative plots will always be brought in to every single ship to create drama. find people who like what you like, even for the smallest ship there will be those out there, and enjoy it with them. that's all you need, no one else's opinion matters.

#Anonymous #honestly fandom discourse is wild #i remember the amount of hypocrisy that would fly around from people going 'how can you ship that!!'#and then you'd see them posting about their other ship from another fandom that canonically tries to murder the other asdfgh #which like you do you boo! love a bit of toxic shipping! but get off your high horse about other people's choices maybe?#the key is having a great gc with other shippers you can giggle to

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battyaboutbooksreviews · 11 days ago

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[ find me here! ]

🦇 Unromance Book Review 🦇

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

❓ #QOTD What's your favorite rom-com adaptation, & did you prefer the book or movie? 🦇 Sawyer Greene knows romance. She’s a bestselling author of the genre—or she was, until her ex left her with nothing but writer’s block and a broken heart. When she gets stuck in the elevator with a handsome stranger, she sees their meet cute for what it is: just a one-night stand. It might have worked, too, if they could stop running into each other. Actor Mason West sees Sawyer’s reappearance in his life as a sign that they’re meant to cure each other: him of hopeless romanticism and Sawyer of her writer’s block. Their agreement is simple: 1. No (more) sex, and 2. No matter how swoony the circumstances, absolutely no falling in love. It’s a foolproof plan–until Sawyer and Mason find that, once set in motion, some plots can't be stopped—and that they might be hurtling towards a happy ending after all.

💜 SA-WOON! Take every iconic rom-com that's ever stolen your heart, roll your eyes at the silly cliches (that somehow still never get old) and fall in love anyway. THAT'S what you get with Erin Connor's Unromance; a stunning, heart-warming, smirk-worthy debut that's filled with vulnerability, heart, and hope. Erin Connor, thank you SO MUCH for this book. Let's break it down:

✨ Characters: Even if you're not a rom-com writer or TV heartthrob who looks YUM in scrubs, you can easily connect with Sawyer and Mason. Sawyer is coming out of a heartbreak, unable to rejoice over love, while Mason is a heart-eyed romantic who can't take off his rose-colored glasses. Their contrasting mentalities make them the perfect pair. Everything about them is well-balanced, and not only from the romantic side of things. Mason is surrounded by friends and family but works in a cut-throat industry where it's difficult to trust and easy to get hurt, but he still keeps his heart open. Sawyer has isolated herself but longs for that connection, even though she holds herself back. They want and need different things, not only from each other, but in their lives. You root for them at every turn as they grow into people who not only need, but deserve each other.

✨ Plot and Pacing: Most rom-com stories have at LEAST a little slow burn to them, and that's often excruciating, causing the pacing to drag. Unromance defies this problem by having the characters sleep together from the start, THEN initiating a fun, sexy slow burn as they deny their feelings for one another. The plot is a fun twist on rom-com cliches, too. Instead of feeling like a carbon copy of the romances before it, this book takes what we know and love with a refreshing twist. There wasn't a single time I had to put this book down due to bad pacing.

✨ Romance: I MEAN. Where do I even start with the CHEMISTRY between these two? About 80% of my love for this book is dedicated to the wit, the sass, the BANTER. It's fun, even sometimes unexpected, and honestly one of the first books to make me laugh aloud all year. As expected, Mason falls first, and HARD, and it's SO freaking cute. You will gasp, you will giggle, you will grin and kick your feet. Mason says that reading Sawyer's book is like watching a rom-com come to life, scenes playing vividly in his head. That's EXACTLY how I felt reading this book. As you can see from the list below, there are a LOT of romance micro-tropes thrown in. It never feels exhausting or superfluous. Even with the intentional list the characters create in an effort to defy romance cliches, a few unexpected ones pop in between them. I will say, however, that the smut at the start of the book is a bit...eh. The word choice made it obvious that this book is a debut (though the rest of the book does NOT in its flawless execution), but the writing grows stronger with every page. Also, Sawyer, my bisexual bae? Her queerness is so easy, so natural, AS IT SHOULD BE! It didn't feel like a forced add-on for the sake of marketing, FOR ONCE. AND, AND, AND. The third act big gesture? UGH. To paraphrase Mason, this book has ruined romance for me in all the best ways.

✨ Mystery/Suspense: I was concerned with how Mason would reveal his little secret, because it screamed third-act break-up potential. The execution worked well, though, and the third act surprisingly did NOT make me want to toss my Kindle across the room.

✨ Tone/Prose: The writing is fun, engaging, captivating...but I do wish there was a bit more show, don't tell. There are a few scenes that would have benefited from more descriptive language, but again: every scene plays out like it would in a movie. I LOVED the "juggling glass" analogy for choosing which responsibilities matter, though, and annotated such well-penned PARAGRAPHS of this book far more than I normally do for a debut. Erin Connor, I can't WAIT to see what you write next!

🦇 This may very well be my favorite contemporary romance of the year. Recommended for fans of Will They or Won't They, You Again, You've Got Mail, Plot Twist, Emily Henry romances, or Tessa Bailey romances.

✨ The Vibes ✨ 🎞 Writer/Actor ❤ Contemporary Romance 🎞 Friends to Lovers ❤ Dual POV 🎞 Holiday Romance ❤ Fun Banter 🎞 Debut Novel ❤ Elevator Meet-Cute 🎞 One-Night Stand to Friends ❤ Bisexual/Queer Rep 🎞 Grumpy/Sunshine ❤ Romance Tropes/Grand Gestures

🦇 Major thanks to the author and publisher for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

💬 Quotes ❝ "Happy endings are my favorite brand of fantasy.” ❞ ❝ “Do not keep making sex jokes, or I will fall in love with you.” ❞ ❝ “I’m gonna woo you so fucking hard, you’ll be writing a trilogy before you know what hit you.” ❞ ❝ “Why be pragmatic when you can be romantic?” ❞ ❝ Everyone had layers, like an onion, but Sawyer was like the coconuts she always smelled of. You had to be fucking determined if you wanted to get to the heart of her. ❞ ❝ In the Venn diagram of “knowing Sawyer” and “loving Sawyer,” for Mason, it was a circle. ❞ ❝ For someone who wrote thousands of words for a living, she was not very good at them in real life. With books, she had multiple chances to get it right, to reword it, to express it all wrong, and then edit it until what was left accurately conveyed what was in her head and in her heart. It didn’t work like that with people. You weren’t guaranteed a do-over, and they were already on their second chance. ❞ ❝ "I think you might be my favorite person." ❞ ❝ With the right person, the most ordinary moments became grand. ❞ ❝ I get it now, why our mission was always doomed to fail. All those big movie moments, they would all fall flat if the person didn’t mean it. If they hadn’t fought to get there. It’s not about racing across town to find each other on New Year’s, or interrupting a wedding, it’s the vulnerability— not the act itself. It’s about showing up and risking it all with no guarantee you’ll get what you want. It’s about trying. ❞

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lovetogether · 6 months ago

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explain the diane alter theory :-)

Gets scared . (The return spoilers)

Okay ooookay so. we’ll start with the basics. So DID stands for dissociative identity disorder, aka MPD (multiple personality disorder) though that term is incorrect and outdated. We have DID! We are a system, this is why we use “we/us” for ourself, we’re very passionate about this and enjoy projecting it! We feel we hold the world in a very different way due to this nd often like analyzing things through our lens of life. Twin peaks and more specifically the character Dale Cooper was scarily accurate to a genuine depiction of plurality we’ve seen that’s not like, a canonical DID character. (This tracks as Lynch allegedly is inspired by dissociation). Throughout the original air of twin peaks, the book covering Dale’s character, and The Return there’s countless moments which draw to Dale being plural/dissociative. All this leads us to this specific conclusion that the character Diane is in fact an alter. Diane is a character originally only shown as somebody Dale dedicates all his tapes to, theres little chance an actual person is listening to these tapes, he’d have to mail them out almost every day, etc etc . In the book it even notes Dale does just address tapes to Diane whether or not she’s ever listening. The idea of Diane being just a made up person / alter doesn’t become that far fetched, also, the way in which Dale communicates to Diane is a commonly used trope in media to signify alters communicating with each other (ie: some kind of way to talk to one’s self in public that doesn’t Look Weird). Dale repeats stuff he sees and his feelings to Diane, similar to how alters may share memories. Fire Walk With Me is the first time Diane is referred to as a real person Technically, she’s never shown on camera. Then we get to The Return where Diane is introduced as her own character, this is where the territory becomes rocky and well, metaphorical. The Return introduces the concepts of Tulpas which is an old Tibetan practice, today people who usually report having tulpas are actually experiencing some form of DID (usually developing introjects of fictional characters) this is junk we don’t feel majorly equipped to talk about so our words on that ends here, but hopefully you can see why this concept being brought up is alarming. First tulpa introduced is Dougie Jones, which due to . Junk . We’ll call Dougie Jones one, so this one is replaced by Dougie Jones two which is an amnesiac alter. This isn’t really important besides establishing Dale Has Something Plural Going on. Dougie exists as a separate person but is established to be a tulpa, we think the practice is taken the most literally here, as is all forms of plurality going forward. Where essentially: alters are their own people somehow because well it’s David lynch what’d you expect. Back to Diane: towards the end of The Return we find out Diane herself was a tulpa. Which, well. Given Dougie this sorta makes things line up more. Diane and Dougie are even related in some way through family. Then the finale of the show, Diane comes back though now seemingly as a different Diane, given there’s already been multiples of alters we don’t doubt that there’s two of her as well. (Alters splintering into multiple different people is very common! So much so there’s even a term for it: polyfrag!). Dale completes the last of whatever his mission is with Diane and they hook up nd she promptly disappears the next morning, to us this solidifies that Dale is probably completely whole again, or at least all the alters aren’t well, individual people anymore. (Before anybody asks, in system dating is also normal and common, alters can have romantic feelings for each other!) we think that goes over most stuff, only other thing we’d like to bring up is one of the Diane’s states Doppledale assaulted her, to us if you overlay the lens of plurality this is very easily explained as Doppledale (or, “Mr. C”) being a prosecutor alter, aka an alter which exists to hurt and retraumatize the other alters. DID is a trauma based disorder, based in PTSD, and develops due to extreme childhood trauma.

#WE HIT THE TEXT LIMIT AUUUGHHHH #hopefully this all makes sense uhmmuhmmm anybody wanna talk or comment heh 😎#or tell us this makes sense. runs away #if people want we can write wayyyy more going over a bunch of other junk but uhm well #we. hit post text limit on this one 😭😭😭😭#ask #writing #did tag #meringuejellyfish #THANK YOU ALLISTER

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