#glorified set prop LOL

[bechloesupercorp]

Ava had never seen the stars so bright. Twinkling against the dark sky. She stared, senses dulled, thinking about how she would've killed to see this as a child. Did Bea ever do this? Lose herself in the stars -- the insignificance of each life in the endless expanses of the world?

Ava would have to ask. A soft breeze brushed over her skin, hairs raising in turn. She'd never been this cold before. Not since she'd gotten the halo. Bea was always the cold one. Wool sweaters and layers over t-shirts. But now she felt boneless, sinking into the warmth pooling beneath her and away from the brisk wind.

Her side had stopped aching some time ago. It was hard to tell, with each second passing like sludge. At least they'd won this time, before Bea crawled to her side in the dewy grass as she set off a tracker. The fields smelled like flowers and Bea's shampoo with a tinge of iron. Ava floated, like she was up amidst the stars. They danced in front of her eyes, blurring in and out of focus. She tried to reach for one, imagining the warmth it would radiate against her rapidly cooling hands. Incandescent. Bea would like that word.

Bea.

Bea was like the stars. Ever-present and steadfast. Waiting to guide her home. Bea shone like a star too. Always the brightest of the batch, silent but warm. Bea was Ava's star, and she wanted to touch.

A single life might be insignificant, but Ava cherished it. The early mornings, late nights. The gleam in Bea's eyes after a sneaky attack, and the toothy smile when she was most relaxed. Ava would live this life a thousand times over, and love it every single time.

She wondered how long it would take for them to get here. The signal must've gone off a while ago. Bea would just give her a smile and rub the soft pad of her thumb against her hand with a murmured, "Patience." Time was hard. So she brushed her hand against the soft grass and smiled.

A thunderclap tore the silence, accompanied by the scent of burnt metal. "Ava?!" a fuzzy voice called.

"'m over here-" she forced out, voice sounding farther away than she'd expected. She turned, tossing a hand on her lover. "Bea," she breathed with a dopey smile. "They're here."

Beatrice didn't as much a flinch, face pressed against the grass.

"Bea, wake up," she repeated, willing her hand to move as the darkness ebbed at the edge of her vision. "Bea."

Her heart picked up, unopened eyes taunting her. "Bea," she said again, with more conviction. "They're here." Limp arm flopping against Bea's stagnant sternum. "Bea!" Her heart ripped out her chest. If Bea was staying, she'd leave it here with her.

"Ava!" Hands flipped her back over, snatching Bea from her grasp. "Bea," she groaned, voices growing further and further away with each second.

"We have to get them back to Cat's Cradle-"

"She's still alive!"

The stars shone so bright. The ground shifted, carrying her to the portal. One in particular shone the brightest, pulsing in time with her heart. It was proof. This life was significant. This was the life she was meant to live. As everything faded away, that star sparkled. With a mumble, she prayed, "Take me home, Bea."

[erosiism]

OBLIVION | YANDERE CROWN PRINCE X M!READER

prompt: very lazy (oblivious) reader x yandere crown prince who basically does everything for him. reader is clueless about his friends disappearing around him, historical setting where MC is a pampered son of a noble family 

character(s): yandere crown prince, lazy!reader

warnings(s): mild violence, yandere themes. still considered rather fluffy and sfw

note(s): male reader, second person, present tense, as far as this goes this guy is too green to be really called a yandere lol. his possessive and violence tendencies are not to be glorified regardless, loose use of magic, not beta read 

Your biggest enemy is hard work, and your favorite hobby is sleeping. You can’t help it—you are spoiled, no doubt about that, and because you got lucky enough to be born into a prestigious family who dotes on you. Your social life is almost non-existent, but ever since you were young, your friend has stuck next to you. 

Your friend, who happens to be a crown prince.

People say he’s scary. You doubt that highly—is His Highness Cassian not the one who has brought you sweet treats from young? Is he not the one who littered your skin with tiny kisses because he likes showing affection? Is he not the one who allows you to laze around or nap? Rumors tend to be untrue, and you feel almost sorry towards the prince for having to deal with that.

(“I heard that if you mess with him, His Highness has the ability to kill! Haven’t you heard the disappearances lately?”)

You asked the crown prince questions regarding the rumors. All you got was a surprised, flippant reply: kill? That’s ridiculous, [Name]. I haven’t even mastered my mana skills yet.

So you don’t trust the rumors. It makes sense for people to be jealous, after all: he’s the crown prince. He has objectively good looks, and he’s an amalgamation of everything someone would covet: wealth, prestige, brilliance, and skill.

“You slept in class again?” A voice tears you out of your thoughts. You’re lounging on the bench in the school garden, and your legs are propped up on the sides. Your bag is thrown loosely to the ground. Inwardly you wish you had the physical capability to be agile enough to scale up a tree—because god, the place up there looked amazing—but unfortunately, you didn’t.

You face him. Cassia raises an eyebrow, and his fingers reach out gingerly to touch your cheek gently. You don’t recoil. It’s become normal.

“I can see words imprinted on your face. How long did you sleep? Or rather, how long was your class?”

It takes a few moments for you to process the prince’s words, before you squint your eyes. There’s a red smear on his cheek that seems hastily wiped off. It’s not too obvious, not to others, anyways, but you’re so used to Cassian's face looking normal that you immediately notice it.

“What’s that red thing on your face?” You ignore the question. You know that he can guess the answer.

“…Red thing?” Cassian immediately narrows his eyes, pausing. His fingers leave your face and go to his own. It looks like blood; which is odd, and definitely not possible.

“Is that…” you mull it over for a second. It can’t be blood. Or lipstick.

Cassian, though having received multiple marriage proposals, didn’t seem to be settling down any time soon. 

Strange, it doesn’t even seem like he likes women. So the only plausible thing is—

“—were you drinking tomato soup earlier?”

Cassian blinks his eyes, before a look of realization dawns on his face. And if you see correctly, there’s almost the tiniest hint of relief. Cassian’s lips tug up into a smile—he laughs, the prince laughs, the sound bright and mirthful and irrevocably fond. Your parents have teased you once about the prince nursing a crush on you. But this is how he has treated you for as long as you can remember.

“Tomato?”

“Looks like a tomato,” You furrow your eyebrows. “Hey, do they serve tomato soup in the academy? I really want tomato soup. It’s easy to drink, and…”

“I’ll get you some later,” Cassian says affectionately. He ruffles your hair, and you relax. “Don’t worry too much, alright?”

You shrug loosely. “Alright.”

.

.

[ before ]

He stares at the dead body on the ground. There aren’t a lot of rumors of you, but your laziness is well known. Some see it fondly, almost endearingly, but there are the rare few who view you with disdain because of your apparent lack of diligence.

Caspian doesn’t like that. He’s fine with rumors of his own—but of you? But of sweet, innocent, lovely you? He loathes it.

“Stop talking,” he smiles. “…You can do that, can’t you? After all, you’re already dead.”

A head lolls about and blood drips off a blade.

What, Cassian thinks with that sweet softness he has reserved for you, smiling gently, should I get for [Name] today?

shitpost since i had this lying around. lowkey cringe

[meandmyechoes]

I probably overhyped myself knowing too well how many props they could've put in the exhibition and now seeing the media reports of the actual place. 😅 I very much forgot it's just a glorified hmv display and my occupational habits are acting up thinking how it could be better set up. Go easy on them because of site restrictions...

I should just channel that energy into designing my own in-universe tours, a contemporary one and an artifacts one and a diplomatic one for regular Earth 🤡

The props selection is fine. Not a lot but the most iconic ones and you get the actor's recommendation as an indispensible factor, so good call. Frankly Kings of Kings is a better catalogue lol.

I don't think the thrones are a bad idea - and it'd be impractical in terms of crowd management if visitors are actually allowed access - but at least one of them should've been in the photo spot even if simplifed? Or they could've let us pet Moffun like the pop-up shop.

The costumes and thrones should've been in separate areas. It was a little bizarre when I first saw a faceless mannequin wearing my kings' clothes. Not to mention the ultra stupidity to have Jeramie's costume crunched in a ball??? I was fully expecting Kaguragi's haori to have its own rack and we'll finally see the bell-sleeved shrit and vest underneath. Also it's disappointing there's only the Ch2 costumes instead of both looks.

Just looked up last year's site tour video and I guess we did get it slightly more this time that justify the 200yen raise.

[lizzybeth1986]

I don't think you play TRR/TRH anymore but you should see what they did to Kiara in the newest chapter. It's so dumb and makes me so angry, especially considering the current climate of events. I've already seen people on Reddit be like "but we helped her overcome her trauma" (we didn't lol) and someone called her the c-word, very classy. Honestly PB's been low key racist in the past but all the stuff right now makes it high key...

(Apologies for the long post and not being able to place this under a cut)

I'm pretty glad I got these anons because truth be told I wasn't sure how many people - besides the few that I already knew were constantly speaking about Kiara's treatment in the books - would care enough to ask any questions about this. Most of the posts I saw expressed a disturbing eagerness to throw her under the bus, without exploring nuance or asking questions, and at this point I'm not very surprised.

I've always maintained that the treatment for Kiara is what happens when both the writers and the fandom are heartless, and these past few weeks have only been proof of that.

There are questions you could raise about this finale re: Kiara - questions almost no one seems to bother asking. I have three:

1. In this Coventus Nobilis...how is it that I see four Heads of House, and only one heir? 

2. If Kiara - who is not head of house - is supposed to represent Castelserraillian instead of her father Hakim (who presides over that estate), why do I not see Madeleine? Why do I not see Penelope? 

3. Why are we suddenly seeing Adeleide  popping up out of practically nowhere to rep Krona/Fydelia, and Landon conveniently rep-ping Portavira?  

Some of the answers to these questions lie in the questions themselves. Why else would Madeleine and Penelope not be present in this meeting - if it weren't to purposely distance them from this awful moment? After all, both of them have inbuilt subplots ready for the next book that would require interactions with the core group. How else do you think the writers could ensure we kept coddling them and pandering to them in Book 3, except by distancing them from this "betrayal"?

Why else would the narrative choose to pit Kiara - the lone woman of colour we'd been shitting on for most of this series - against Olivia - the white woman who has been given innumerable individual PoV scenes and her own mini-book (and whose reputation we had to help rebuild in said mini book whether we cared about her stupid duchy or not). 

Why else would they force Kiara to alert us mere minutes before the meeting begin, if not to distract us with crumbs ("See? At least we wrote her as warning you. Of course we don't hate her!"). 

Why else would you have Olivia and Kiara pitted against each other like this - if not to show these two women side by side, on opposing ends -  and compel us to believe that the white woman we spent 4.5 books propping up and pampering, is the most loyal one.  When in fact we have done absolutely nothing to deserve any fucking loyalty from Kiara or her family to begin with! (Ezekiel and his white bride notwithstanding).

What we finally got as a result, was a narrative that (as @queen-of-effing-everything summed it up when I discussed this with her) in one full sweep "glorifies Olivia, shields Madeleine and Penelope and sets up Kiara". Very few of us even noticed. And even if we did notice, is there any guarantee that we would care??

Remember how I mentioned in my last ask that I wished we expanded the same energy that we did with Aurora, to speak up against the ill-treatment of other black characters? Kiara was undoubtedly one of those.

After this, we as a fandom will speak very easily now of her "betrayal". We will call her the b-word and the c-word. We will boast of how we will "take her down" along with Adeleide and Landon and Bartie Sr. We'll boast about how we "never liked her" to begin with, as if doing so required some...idk exemplary foresight. We will make memes about how Olivia was "the only bitch we ever respected". We will make huge, sweeping claims about how Kiara was our "friend" and how (as you've mentioned, anon) we "helped her overcome her trauma" (!!!!) and claim by that token that  we were entitled to good treatment from her. I'm pretty sure when TRH3 finally comes out, her every word and action will be screenshot, put up on blogs, mocked and torn down just so we can write essays on how awful she is. 

Yet I saw very little of this energy in Book 3, where the MC could first emotionally manipulate her into supporting the Unity Tour, and where we actively suspected her  at a time when she was traumatized. At most there was some lukewarm acknowledgement of how she "deserves better", all while people still continued to write fanfic that positioned her as creepy and obsessed and villainous.  Almost no one had a problem with Savannah not acknowledging Kiara's earlier support of her, and in fact I'd seen posts that clubbed her with the other ladies of the court who likely "treated Savannah badly". Her father Hakim was made to join the tour alongside her by default, without the expectations that Landon/Emmeline and Godfrey/Adeleide were allowed to have, and the fandom was mysteriously silent about Hakim being made to "bow to his knees" in a way the others did not have to. Very few people even bothered to  notice or talk about how often Penelope was allowed to hold the MC's baby, or how Kiara was never really allowed to hold her even once. Which "friend" treats someone like this??

When I finally published this essay on the treatment meted out to Kiara especially in Book 3, what I got was a lot of neat, but ultimately hollow, little platitudes about how Kiara "deserved better" (How and in what way? Who knows, who cares). Out of those many many people who reblogged and responded, only a handful held the MC and Drake in particular (and Maxwell, who thought it appropriate to joke about "one suspect down") accountable for choosing to suspect and interrogate just her, and for showing ZERO remorse in forcing her to reopen those wounds. How is it that we can judge Kiara for this latest "betrayal", yet pretend that the MC and Drake had nothing to do with the pain THEY caused to her? How is it that this fandom was so fired up over her comments, yet would have such a weak, muted, carefully-generalized response to the screenshots where Drake was openly suspecting her and optionally  minimizing her trauma? 

Following that, why should we be entitled to good treatment from Kiara when we never really gave her even half as much?? Why is it so easy to divorce characters from their words and actions in Drake/MC/Maxwell's case, but so hard for a character like Kiara? (One may claim this is because Drake and Maxwell are potential co-protagonists, but the aforementioned essay already proves that you as a main character can get punished for not treating a mere side character with kindness).

Another thing that fascinates and repulses me even further is how the fandom has created myths around this one character, and how PB has constantly leaned into these "characteristics" even though the text itself tells an altogether different story:

1. Kiara is a snob. This is especially hilarious considering that she is established in Book 2 as being the only person who befriended Savannah before her departure and cared about what happened to her when she left. Never once in the books has she looked down on us for class-related issues, or outright mocked people for not knowing the languages she knew. In fact, she was the first person to acknowledge our skills if we showed any before Lythikos in Book 1. On the other hand, Penelope can be uppity and look down on us in Book 1 (there is even a dialogue option in Chapter 10 that leads to her calling us a "commoner wench") if we don't do well, and yet she's a cinnamon roll.  Olivia can engage in snobbish , entitled behaviour without the fandom having a problem just because she's their favourite. Madeleine can look down on us and pretend for 3/4ths of the social season that we're not worth her time yet somehow Kiara is the snob. Okay. Okay. 😐

2. Kiara is "obsessed with" Drake and constantly comes on to him. This is said by the same group of people who saw Olivia fucking Nevrakis plant a WHOLE FUCKING SMACKER on Liam's mouth, and said..nothing. Kiara on the other hand, has admired Drake's abs once, mentioned she'd always liked Drake once, spoken normally to him about his sister once, flirted with him once (Paris tea party), and ordered a wine from him when he was bartending. In the next book she either looks at him wistfully or admires his suit. Yet somehow she's the creepy, annoying, stalkerish. Okay. Ooookay. 😑

(This one was particularly damaging, because post the TRR3 hiatus, all efforts from PB were focused on reversing Kiara's position as an alternative LI. This included "confirming" on livestream that her affections were one-sided, at a time when Olivia was finally allowed to have some romantic moments with a single Liam, pushing forward a buildup scene to Drake's eventual secret wedding that had him acting extremely rude and confrontational to Kiara mere minutes after suspecting her (while she was expressing joy at his upcoming wedding in his playthrough!!!), and involving a subplot where he openly and by default suspected her. Sure, he spends a minute to be nice to her and chat about trauma if the MC chooses. But that's like a drop of sewage water floating in an ocean of shit).

3. Kiara Pretended to Be Our Friend And Then Dropped Us: This is false. Kiara only ever promised to put in a good word for us to the rest of the court, no more, no less. And she fulfilled that promise. Otherwise she never pretended to be friends with us nor made friendly overtures either way. In fact if you're going to accuse anyone of duplicity, you have Penelope and Madeleine. Yet somehow Kiara is the dishonest one. Okay. Okay. 🙃

4. Kiara Was Insensitive To Penelope and Didn't Understand Her. I'm not sure how Kiara is supposed to magically understand something that her friend isn't telling her. Plus this argument deliberately leaves out the fact that she stood up for Penelope when people chose to be mean to her, and even explained to the MC that she employs "tough love" because she can't always be around to protect Penelope. It also leaves out how one-sided this friendship is and how Kiara is made to do most of the heavy work in this friendship. Meanwhile, at Kiara's most difficult time period, in Castelserraillian, Penelope says absolutely nothing as the MC forces Kiara to join the Unity Tour, while making bedroom eyes at Kiara's brother. In fact the only reason Kiara's brother even exists is to give Penelope a love interest. The Kiara-Penelope friendship practically revolves around Penelope. I have never really seen Penelope look out for Kiara or attempt to actually support her in any way, and Kiara was the one who got the knife wounds. Yet somehow I'm supposed to believe that Penelope's the better friend of the two. Suuuuure. 😡

And this steaming pile of crap doesn't just make its way into shitposts and short opinion posts. It creeps into fanfic and fandom opinions. It finds its way in the tags and in other social media. It eventually even finds its way into the books, even though nothing in the earlier narrative ever really supported these extremely stale takes. 

Because PB didn't care for Kiara the way they cared for their white characters, they had no problem framing her narrative the way this fandom so desparately wanted it. Book 3 has the MC claim behind her back that Kiara is stuck-up and acts like knowing ten languages makes her better than everybody else, even though this is not backed up by the text, and in fact you will never see any acknowledgement of how Madeleine forced Kiara to make herself sound "exotic" in Book 2, or of how Madeleine and the MC (optionally) could downplay or question her skills unless they wanted to use her. Also, Penelope is never allowed to be talked about like that no matter what she's done. PB even had a scene (in the Hana playthrough) where they aggressively retconned the events of Madeleine's bachelorette party, where Kiara supposedly shouted at Penelope until the latter cried, and Madeleine was the one "having fun". Kiara was literally being thrown under the bus to make Madeleine look better. Madeleine. Imagine that. Madeleine.

Given how desparate the fandom was to nitpick and overdramatize everything Kiara said and did, is it any wonder that the team got away with the writing they gave her in Book 3? Considering that all the false arguments I stated above have made a resurgence in the past few weeks or days...is it any wonder that the only "support" this fandom is capable of re: Kiara, is lukewarm platitudes, cold takes and rank hypocrisy??

Yes, we can hold PB solely/largely  accountable for the treatment meted out to Kiara now. They made these choices over and over, and continue to do so, while tossing us occasional crumbs of faux-sweet behaviour from the MC. And they did this in insidious ways, which were so hard to catch that even a Kiara stan like me had to observe multiple playthroughs just to unravel even half of what they'd done.

But let's not pretend a huge chunk of the fandom was just as responsible for this - with their unfounded opinions, their disgusting bias, their favouritism of white characters, their refusal to observe anything besides their favourites, and their godawful fanfiction where Kiara is a creep or evil or killing the virtuous main character. Out of the huge body of fanwork that I've seen for TRR that features Kiara - at least 90% of it features her stalking Drake, or harming the MC (particularly the Drake MC), or in cahoots with the villains, or generally being referred to as a creep (why Olivia, who kissed Liam without his consent in Book 1 and was entitled enough to be angry about him not returning her feelings in TRH1, never got this sort of writing - I fail to understand). There is a tremendous gap between the vitriol dumped on her when she does something the MC doesn't like, and the milquetoast response when harm is done to her. There have been times when I've had to comb through pages and pages of hate just to read even one positive post on Kiara in her own goddamn tag.

When the next book arrives, I know you folks will continue to gas up the white women in this book every chance you get, and mask your racist vitriol for characters like Kiara (and Hana, let's not forget the way y'all treat Hana) behind the same self-righteous judgements and the same tired, stale takes. I know that PB - despite what I will still believe is their hollow promises today - will write every single one of those stale takes into existence. All because it will be "justified", because Kiara is a "bad person" or "untrustworthy" or "fake". Whatever. Y'all can stick to Olivia The Black Hole and babysit Madeleine and Penelope, I guess. Kiara always deserved better than these writers and most of this fandom anyway.

[bumblebaby]

coffee bean kiss

hi i finished this a little bit late but that is okay because i’m actually kind of proud of it lol. this is my gift for @s-onora for the secret santa hosted by @itfandomprompts! hope you enjoy it hehe

reddie / 2.6k words / good ol fluff / no warnings apply

Evidently, nothing about them has changed since old times. Not the humor, not the bickering, and… definitely not Eddie’s feelings. It shows in how they continue to bounce banter off of each other the entire way there, and it shows in how Richie holds the cafe door open for Eddie, giving him a bow and a “M'lady” that prompts the classic-Eddie response of rolling his eyes and suppressing a smile, and it shows in how the small action that was meant to be taken platonically still makes Eddie’s heart skip a couple of beats. 

read it on ao3

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 

The winter months are overall bittersweet if Eddie had to describe them in one word. Finals have been clawing at his mental state (and admittedly his physical state; the constant greasy takeout gives him the worst stomachaches) to the point where he’ll often pass out at 2 AM with a face-full of textbook. But the enjoyable parts of winter have mostly made up for it. He likes spending time with his friends, he likes the new Starbucks hot drinks, he likes giving gifts, and he likes receiving gifts – call him greedy for that, but the mini vacuum his mom got him last year that is perfectly dorm-sized has brought so much joy into his life it’s almost embarrassing.

The ’whirr’ of that vacuum makes its way around his earbuds and Freddie Mercury’s high notes as Eddie tries to clean up the mess that has begun to build up from a lack of care on both his and his roommate’s part. For how long Eddie has been cooped up in this room, he sure hasn’t been taking care of it. He never learned to juggle, and that was especially true of having to juggle his grades, his health, and his tidiness. But it’s whatever. He’s on break now. A twenty-minute break, but a break nonetheless.

He doesn’t hear the knock at the door, despite how loud and repetitive it is, and “Bohemian Rhapsody” continues to play on while Eddie stays distracted from the original vacuuming task and gently bounces on his toes and mouths the lyrics. It’s not until he notices the movement out of the corner of his eye that he turns around and flinches at the sight of Richie standing in the doorway.

Eddie plucks an earbud out and furrows his brow. “How’d you get in?”

“What?”

The vacuum is still going. Eddie turns it off and repeats his question.

“Your door isn’t locked,” Richie answers.

Dammit. Eddie props the vacuum against the wall and tosses his phone onto the desk. “I don’t have money to go grab lunch today. I’m on a crunch this week.”

“I wasn’t gonna ask to get food, actually,” Richie says, giving Eddie a tight-lipped smile and raises an eyebrow. “Am I not allowed to just want to hang out?”

“I dunno, man.” Eddie huffs and drapes himself over his desk chair. “Sometimes I wonder if you just use me for lunch money. Like a glorified high school bully.” Richie takes a seat on Eddie’s bed and the first thing Eddie notices is the mud all over Richie’s sneakers and how much he brought into the room. So much for vacuuming.

Richie chuckles at Eddie’s remark. “You say that like I didn’t try to crack Henry Bower’s kneecaps with Stan’s baseball bat senior year.”

“Keyword is ‘tried’.”

“Whatever.” Richie sighs and flops back onto the squeaky mattress. “There’s actually a new cafe a little ways downtown-”

“Did you forget the entirety of what I just said?”

Richie raises his hand. “I’ll pay, relax.” He strains his neck to look up at Eddie. “Maybe the nice, warm coffee will loosen up that stick in your ass.” Eddie scrunches his face at that. “It’s a short walk.”

“I have to study,” Eddie argues.

“Didn’t look like you were when I came in. You can spare an extra twenty minutes.”

“Okay, well, it’s freezing cold outside and I don’t feel like walking anywhere today.”

“…I’ve got to go awayyy-”

“Please don’t start singing.”

“I can be the Idina Menzel to your Michael Buble.” Richie stands up and takes Eddie’s hands, pulling him up from the chair. “I’ll hold your hands-”

“Richie-”

“They’re just like ice-”

“That should be my line,” Eddie finally laughs, letting his hands go limp in Richie’s.

Richie grins. “You sing it then.”

Eddie’s stomach flutters as he stares up at him. Glasses smudged with fingerprints, a couple of crooked teeth, light scruff spread across his jaw.

Shit.

Richie continues: “I ought to say no, no, no-”

Eddie giggles again and pushes against Richie’s shoulders, but the other pulls Eddie into his chest. “You are intolerable,” Eddie mutters against his jacket.

“We either stay here and sing a duet together or you can come grab coffee with me.”

Eddie squints at him, but there’s a faint smile stretched on his lips. “This a date, Tozier?” It’s joking, but… he wouldn’t be opposed to it-

“There’s only enough room in my heart for one Kaspbrak, and, I hate to break it to ya, it’s not you, babe.” Eddie gives a disgusted groan. “Come on,” Richie says, finally releasing Eddie and walking over to the door. “You still need a jacket?”

Eddie knows for a fact he has one of his own. “Sure,” he says.

-

It had been snowing all week up on campus. The few inches of what was leftover from last night’s storm crunch beneath both Eddie and Richie feet as they walk down the street, passing through the part of town with all of the small businesses. Eddie’s never been particularly fond of snow; it’s wet and it’s cold and his fingers go numb and having to warm back up is such an inconvenience. But he does have a lot of fond memories involving it. He remembers seeing the losers running up his porch steps after school was canceled for the day, and getting bundled up and going out to build a snowman after ignoring his mother’s protests about how he’ll get sick and to come back in as soon as his nose starts to run. His nose is running a bit now. He doesn’t give it a second thought.

Also, Richie’s sweatshirt is, unsurprisingly, too long. Like, way too long. The sleeves are a good couple of inches past his fingertips and the bottom hem is halfway down his thighs. It’s funny because Richie is ridiculously skinny, just ridiculously long. Eddie can hear the dick joke in his head. He’s glad he didn’t say anything out loud.

“Cold?” Richie asks him, his voice followed by a cloud that Eddie isn’t quite sure whether it’s from his breath or the cigarette dangling from Richie’s lips. Probably both.

“Duh,” Eddie replies, shuddering. He lifts a hand to take the cigarette and drop it into the snow, seeing Richie shaking his head out of the corner of his eye. “You told me you were quitting.”

“I said I was working on it,” Richie grumbles, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Eddie bumps Richie with his shoulder. “Don’t get cranky with me. I’m looking out for you.”

Richie bumps him back. “The whole point of college is to be able to do whatever you want.”

“Not with me here.”

“Well, maybe I should’ve gone to California.”

“Pfft. You wouldn’t survive without me.”

Richie wraps an arm around Eddie’s shoulder and pulls him into his side. The extra warmth is graciously comforting. “You give yourself too much credit, Eds. I’m a big boy.”

“Yeah, right.”

“In more ways than one.”

There’s the long-awaited dick joke. Eddie smacks the hand dangling over his shoulder and Richie yelps in response.

Evidently, nothing about them has changed since old times. Not the humor, not the bickering, and… definitely not Eddie’s feelings. It shows in how they continue to bounce banter off of each other the entire way there, and it shows in how Richie holds the cafe door open for Eddie, giving him a bow and a “M'lady” that prompts the classic-Eddie response of rolling his eyes and suppressing a smile, and it shows in how the small action that was meant to be taken platonically still makes Eddie’s heart skip a couple of beats.

They take their seats at a small booth by the big windows at the front of the cafe. There’s a good amount of people strolling through the streets, and Eddie notices a few couples, holding hands as they walk together. He has to pry his eyes off of them.

Richie sits with his back against the window and his legs sprawled across the entirety of the booth seat, propping the menu on a raised knee. Eddie gives him a funny look for it and only gets a shrug from the other in response.

“Whatcha gonna get?” Richie asks him.

Eddie skims over the options. He’s not really the type to branch out coffee-wise. “Mmm… the cinnamon latte looks good,” he answers.

“Lame.” Richie closes his menu and slaps it down on the table. “I’m getting a strawberry milkshake.”

“…It’s 9 in the morning and the middle of winter.”

Richie gives him a blank look. “And?”

Eddie lets out a long breath and places his menu on top of the other. “By 'big boy’ you meant twelve years old and not an adult man.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.” Richie sits up normally and leans on an elbow. “So how’s that studying you mentioned earlier going?”

Eddie shrugs, sinking into his seat. “Hard, I guess.”

“You always do just fine.” Richie reaches over the table to pat his shoulder, and the touch buzzes through Eddie’s skin. “Fuckin’… smart cookie.”

“Thanks,” Eddie says with a forced smile.

The waitress takes their orders and then sets down their drinks after a couple of minutes of waiting. Richie asks for another straw for the milkshake, and the waitress initially gives a confused look but pulls one out of the apron pocket and slides it in Eddie’s direction before walking off.

“I didn’t want any,” Eddie tells Richie, pulling his mug towards him.

“Just in case.” Richie doesn’t bother with the straws at first and instead takes a sip from the rim of the glass, leaving a stripe of bright pink across his upper lip. “Can’t have you drinking from my straw. Too many germs.”

“Well, your mouth just touched it so you’ve technically already contaminated it.”

Richie wipes his mouth with his sleeve, but there’s still a bit stuck to the pitiful excuse of a mustache he has growing there. “That’s unfortunate.” He unwraps both straws and puts them in the drink. “It’s good, you should try it.”

Eddie shakes his head. “I’ll pass. You could be sick and that is the last thing I need right now.”

“I don’t feel sick,” Richie says.

“Yeah, well,” Eddie replies as he lifts his cup from its saucer and stares down into the foam, “You can still carry bacteria or viruses, or both, even without showing symptoms.”

“Thank you, Dr. K. They teach you this in med school?”

“You would not understand a word of what I learn in med school,” Eddie giggles, sipping from his drink.

“I don’t understand a word of what you tell me already,” Richie says. Eddie looks up at him from his coffee and he’s staring at Eddie with this… look, with a faint smile and raised eyebrows.

“What?” Eddie questions.

“What?”

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Cus you’re too smart for me, Eds.” Richie breaks the eye contact and stirs the whipped cream into his shake with one of the straws. “You’re gonna… go and be a doctor and do some great damn things. I mean, who knows what I’ll end up doing.”

“Rich,” Eddie murmurs, setting his mug down and giving Richie a gentle look. “You know you’re smart too, right?”

Richie shrugs. “Yeah, but… not in, like, a useful way.”

“Define a 'useful way’.”

The other lets out a strong exhale. “I’m not gonna be a doctor, or a lawyer, or any of that shit. I’ll probably end up a fuckin’ starving artist while the rest of you are out making six figures.” When there’s a pause of silence, Richie just shrugs again and leans back into the seat. “Whatever. Sorry to kill the mood.”

“You don’t have to have it all figured out right now,” Eddie tells him. “And I’ll be here every step of the way while you do figure it out.”

Richie looks up and warmly smiles. “See? You’re too smart and too wise for me. You got a coffee in winter and I got a god damn strawberry milkshake.”

Eddie laughs, reaching for shake’s glass. “You know what, maybe I will try it just to make you feel better.”

“That’s the spirit.”

-

They finish their drinks and begin the walk back to Eddie’s dorm. Eddie got a cheesecake slice to take with, since he thoroughly believes he deserves it after how hard he’s been working.

As they’re making their way up the sidewalk that leads to to the building, Eddie secretly prays that Richie doesn’t ask about the sweatshirt, as he’s realized through the thirty minutes of wearing it how comfy it is. It smells a little bit like weed if Eddie buries his nose far enough into the collar, but the faint scent of the cheap body wash and deodorant Richie uses is pleasant, Eddie guiltily admits to himself.

Eddie leads them up the steps and turns to Richie with a smile. “That was actually fun. Thank you for taking me,” he says.

Richie shrugs and returns a smile of his own. “Would’ve brought the others with, but they were either busy or asleep.”

Eddie chuckles, but he knows deep down how much he appreciated getting to hang out with Richie outside of a group setting.

There are a few seconds of silence alongside eye contact that Eddie knows holds something with meaning from how heavy it is. He can feel himself subconsciously start to lean towards the other.

“Richie-”

“Are you gonna kiss me?”

Eddie immediately recoils and he can feel his stomach lurch. “What?”

Richie’s shoulders visually stiffen. “Are you- are you gonna kiss me?”

“Why would I try to-”

“B-because like if you’re gonna kiss me I just-”

“-kiss you?”

“-wanted to warn you that I, um, I probably have cigarette breath and-”

“Richie-”

“-I have mints on me, if you… if you want to kiss me. If you want to.”

They’re staring at each other again. Eddie has a deeply knitted brow and the panic in Richie’s fair is clear as day.

Richie clears his throat after a few moments and begins to turn away. “I should, uh, probably… go.”

No, no, no, don’t leave right now!

The adrenaline spike is almost painful.

“Do you want me to kiss you?” Eddie chokes out.

Richie turns his body back towards Eddie, giving him a worried expression. “…More than anything,” he says.

There’s another pause. Richie blinks at him. Eddie takes a shaky step forward and places his hand on Richie’s cheek, the skin warm underneath his numbingly cold fingertips.

“More than anything?” Eddie echoes, looking up into Richie’s deep brown eyes.

Richie nods, and Eddie connects their lips.

The air is fucking freezing, and Eddie is dying to get inside. Regardless, he wraps his other arm around Richie’s shoulders. There’s a hand on his waist and another on the back of his neck, and when Richie pulls back a mere inch, his breath is hot against Eddie’s face.

“Your mouth really does taste like cigarettes,” Eddie quietly tells him. Richie tilts his head back and lets out a loud bout of laughter. Eddie giggles himself before peppering kisses along Richie’s jaw while Richie reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a little box of Tic Tacs, opening the lid and pouring way too many into his mouth.  

“Can we go inside?” Eddie asks, snaking his arms around Richie’s waist. Richie waggles his brows in a suggestive manner, and Eddie punches his arm. “Not like that, stupid. I’m cold.”

“Can we kiss inside?”

Eddie rolls his eyes with a grin. “Yes, we can kiss inside.”

And so they do.

[alteregowo]

Hi! I love Dan and Phil, individually and together, but I think they're not trying to hide a romantic relationship. Don't you think that after ten years, they'd finally come out if they were? I mean there are a lot of gay couples on youtube and it would not be that big of a deal today than it was in 2007. Just wanted to hear your opinion on that. Have a nice day!

before i answer, disclaimer: i have ADD and this post might get messy since i find it difficult to concentrate and phrase myself properly (and english isn’t even my main language!)

well, i’m not gonna try and force my own views down your throat or anything but let me ramble a bit about why i wholeheartedly believe dan and phil are in a relationship;

i think i’ll start with the very fact that they recently moved to their third shared home together. say whatever you want to say but if they were indeed just friends, considering they’re in their mid 20s and 30 dont you think they’d want to move out separately and get going with their lives? and dont you think they wouldn’t be so keen on making comments about keeping living together in the long run (or forever….  a forever home say whaaaat). 

now, you might argue with the good ol’ “but they benefit from living together regardless of relationship status”. fair enough. however, let me point out that it has became as clear as day especially in 2017 that they share a bedroom. i don’t know about you but i don’t think two strictly platonic friends who just moved into a duplex would want/ need to share a bedroom unless they’re uhhh mayhaps in a relationship and love to cuddle? i know a wild concept…….

and i’m sorry but if you want to argue against the shared bedroom fact with the shoebox phil claims is “his room” i have nothing to say but shake my head. no way phil actually lives in that room that has no windows and no space to move around and why is the entire room crammed in this one corner… where is the rest of the room……. and why is that room has no personal touch to it…. it’s literally just AmazingPhil props and things……… feels much more like a set to me than an actual bedroom. (also we saw phil’s mirror and hair straighter in the moon room aka “”dan’s bedroom”” which i think we can all collectively agree is simply “the bedroom”)

another thing that strikes me is how dan joins phil’s family vacations (especially in 2017) and how he seems to become part of the family much more than anyone who’s classified as “platonic” to phil would have. dan is just as much of a lester as cornelia is? dan joins the lesters just as much and as frequent as a spouse would. in fact, dan joins the lesters so much on their adventures that if im not wrong, the longest dan and phil spent apart in 2017 was not more than a weekend? that’s whack!

now these were just three things that were very prominent in 2017 regarding the belief whether dan and phil are in a relationship or not that were “behind the scenes”as in going on in their personal lives, kind of? i mean sure we see the  shoebox on AmazingPhil and the moon room in some liveshows and we get pictures from their shared vacations but now i will move on to what we see on screen across their channels

i’ll start this with a throwback to the boncas bc i think that damn speech is enough to debunk any “uwu platonic” argument, ever. i don’t think phil would have done THAT if dan didn’t mean a whole lot to him and i think saying the universe would rip in half in they go apart is a concrete proof that they themselves can;t and don’t want to imagine a life in which they are not joint at the hip. 

moving on to gamingmas, which i will forever find so significant?? they broke a lot of boundaries during that month regarding of invading personal space, a bit of a more mature humor (esp on phil’s account), casual touching and a whole lot of flirting and a lot less (almost none at all) looks straight into the camera to show they are aware this is filmed or to do a “wtf is this lol” kinda thing. gamingmas was a turning point. i will forever firmly believe they did all of that in an attempt to normalize this kind of behavior on screen (and it definitely worked!)

dan and phil continued the vibes of gamingmas well into 2017 and the casual touches, lingering gazes and flirting (as well as expressing affection towards males in specific) is now the normal running theme over at dapg to a degree where we don;t even lose our shit anymore. we joke and meme but nothing strikes us as overwhelming bc we are “used” to it, which i think dan and phil aimed for i genuinely think they wanted to get to this stage of showing more comfort and more intimacy on screen without everyone and their mothers going whack over “pHaN iS rEaL!!!!!1″ and for it all to come across as oh so casual and chill! 

so now you ask, “they go through all that why not just come out lol”

WELL, in my honest opinion, dan and phil will never officially come out as a couple. and you know what, maybe things would have been different if The Video didn’t leak and get spread around (twice, mind you.) but things happen and one thing lead to another and after all they have been through and how they were shaped as people and their experiences with guarding and protecting themselves and their privacy any sort of statement about whether or not they are a couple or just friends or even paid actors  (let alone labeling themselves and their sexuality bluntly) is highly unrealistic. so if you are waiting for a coming out video or whatever to convince you that won’t ever happen i’m afraid. 

dan and phil value their privacy and they have every right to do so.

so yes, maybe in the early days of 2009/10 they were very flirty all across social media and on camera and maybe just maybe you need to consider the few following things regarding why they stopped with that:

The Video leak. like honestly? can’t and won’t find any more justified reason to feel the need for privacy and shielding yourself and making comments on how ‘het’ you are  for instance just to brush off the most intimate thing imaginable that since has been glorified and memorized by millions(?) of people who were never meant to even know this video and that declaration of affection even exists. is it scary. and i fully understand the “no homo howell” phase and how awkward they appeared together on camera for awhile, very very proud of how far they;ve came esp in 2017 though. 

the radio show! is it a little tied to The Video leak since the second leak happened when the radio show was still fairly new but before they moved to london (into their second shared home coughs) they weren’t all that big, you know? but with the popularity of the radio show came the increasing popularity of their youtube channels and their followers/ subscribers count went up and up and their content became exposed to a much larger range of audience and these new audience/ fans were not familiar with the past (at least not at first glance) and dan and phil needed to leave “good” impression (not that being flirty and dumb wasn’t good impression but it wasn’t all that professional and now they’ve grown big enough to be in need of professionalism.)

these two things were a turning point to how dan and phil view themselves on camera and their content itself (phil sticking to the AmazingPhil PG persona) (dan with his struggles with creativity and integrity zzzz) and really, considering their story  (and how well known the early days are, and how dan and phil are aware to that…) it suddenly makes perfect sense why dan and phil aren’t in any sort of rush or need to ever come out.

however though, i think that the “post baking universe” as in the halloween 2016 baking video, the boncas speech, the european leg of tatinof, pinof 8, and gamingmas were a prep to this switch in dynamics we have seen in 2017 and that keeps very steady so far. feels as if late 2016 was so “wild” bc they were testing the waters and our reactions to see if they wanna pull through with this change. 

so, even if they will never officially come out, their dynamic both on and  off screen screams that they are literal boyfriends and they don’t need to spell it out for us to know and see. anyone who cares enough about their relationship status and look at their content with it in mind can very obviously and easily see how in love these two dorks are. same love from the early days of 2009/10 only now it has shifted into a steady, secure, safe, most wonderful thing and you can see that their love towards each other in filling their hearts with pure joy.

so yeah, dan and phil are definitely in a relationship and that doesn’t seem to change anytime soon, if ever at all.

(THAT WAS SO MESSY IM SORRY BUT I HOPE MY POINT CAME ACROSS?)

[strawberrypoundcake]

What I will and won’t draw. (normal commissions) An ongoing list for reference! If you’re thinking of requesting something more complicated or questionable than usual, just check this list first before asking me.

I will gladly draw:

Animals, furries, anthros, half animals, monsters, mythical creatures etc. - These are all okay, but I will not, however, draw sexualized drawings of certain creatures. Please check the “I will not draw” section for details.

NSFW and Nudes - However, these cost more and have their own rules. Please check the seperate NSFW commission post here (NSFW link, obvs) and the ref list on my comforts for NSFW here.

Any props - Unless they are clearly troublesome items like swastika flags or something (nazi furries please leave me alone!) it should be no trouble. Guns and weapons are fine too as long as in the drawing itself they are not currently being used to commit an act of violence. (unless cartoony violence)

I will not draw:

Backgrounds - I am not confident in backgrounds so I will not be doing them for now! Your character can still interact with an object free of charge, such as a chair, but note that they and the object will be drawn against a void. :p

Mechas or Heavily Armored Characters - These take me too long in both skeleton and detailing! Simpler or android-like robots are fine, it’s really just when it gets to too many details that I have a hard time.

Incest - Includes characters that are not related by blood but consider themselves family or relatives.

”Safe” fetishes like clothed tickle torture (lol) - Even if they look innocent, and are wearing clothes, I would still be drawing something that is meant for arousal and therefore this counts as an NSFW drawing. Please go to the seperate page for NSFW commissions here (obviously NSFW link) for more info.

Sensual romance or ‘sexy pose’ type drawings with underage characters - This includes any characters or creatures that are ‘supposed’ to be adults but look too close to being underage. (akin to TERA’s Elin race, god don’t google that) If you request these types of drawings with a character that is mostly canonically underage, like certain Homestuck characters, or Fuu who I personally always draw all the time, I will assume by default you want me to draw them aged to adults and I will draw them as adults, no refunds if you weren’t satisfied with that! NOTE: Non-sexual and innocent romance (kissing) is allowed with underage characters as long as the characters involved are both/all underage and within a close age! If you request such a thing with a character that is not yet an adult, and a character that is already 18 or over, (Fuugen is an example of this) regardless of how close they are in age, the same rule as before applies and I will assume you want the underage character aged up, (I will attempt to reflect this in the drawing including likely aging the other character to confirm a time lapse has happened) otherwise I will reject the request. All of these things will be communicated with before outright accepting or rejecting your request, including how you would like the younger character to be portrayed as when an adult, but just be aware of what I generally do before thinking of commissioning a certain ship/romance.

’Sexy pose’ type drawings with animal characters that aren’t furry - I can draw furries in sexy settings, (in a sfw way for these types of commissions) but this restriction applies to animal characters that are human in speech and behavior but still have the bodies of or resembling animals. Ponies and most Pokemon are an example of this. I am fine drawing them in general, but I will not draw them in sexy pin-ups, for example! Your animal or creature has to be humanoid enough before I draw them like this. I will let you know, in any case.

Anything violent and/or that depicts gore - The only exception is if you’re gonna request a solo person covered in blood or something to that extent or comical cartoony violence. But besides that, no exceptions. Even “reasonable” violence, like someone punching a nazi (lol) I cannot do, because I’d rather not cause a stir that can be traced back to me.

Anything political - For similar reasons as above.

Anything offensive toward a minority group - For example, something that can be seen as mocking, pushing an agenda, glorifying cultural appropriation, (such as a clearly white girl wearing a sexy poncho and sombrero outfit, which I have been asked to do before : | ) or fetishizing/objectifying them. (this includes fetishizing fat characters!)

Not everything may be listed here and I may reject the request or ask that you request something else if I’m unable to or am uncomfortable drawing it. I will always message you if there is a problem with your request!