#her whole relationship to love and romance is so messed up and so fascinating

[clementine-kesh]

b’elanna is just like. no one understands my twisted klingon mind. i’m a creep i’m a weirdo what the hell am i doing here i don’t belong here. and then her deepest desire is to be a romance novel heroine

[katyusha454]

I think I've found the most tragic ship in BG3 and I need to rant about it

I've seen a decent number of people discuss and write about Dark Justiciar Shadowheart, but they always focus on what she's like post-game when she's fully committed to Shar. Which is a fine thing to focus on! Especially when you're writing smut where she's a mean domme. Post-game DJ Shadowheart is a fascinating character. But I feel like people neglect to consider what she's like during the transition phase of Act 3, where she's become Shar's Chosen but hasn't yet Done The Thing that caps off her personal questline. And there is SO MUCH potential for angst and drama during that time frame.

IMO the most important aspect of this stage of her development is that she is not evil yet. She simply made a single bad decision and now she feels like she's in too deep to do anything but double down on it. She's spent her whole life trying to "fake it 'till you make it" and she's only just now starting to transition out of that and into sincere belief. All the misgivings and insecurities she's shared with you are still there, just buried deeper. That desire to love others and do good hasn't yet been completely stamped out. In my Dark Justiciar Origin run, I try to do good things whenever possible as long as I can find a way to rationalize it as benefiting Shar. (but I still ended up saying enough evil-sounding things to make Minthara incredibly horny for me)

So where does Karlach fit in?

Well, turns out when you play as Origin Shadowheart, Shar doesn't make you break up with your partner. In fact, Shar says absolutely nothing to you about your romantic situation. This is really weird if you're romancing anyone other than Karlach, but I think it makes perfect sense for Shar to tolerate a relationship with Karlach for the time being. It's the ideal opportunity for Shar to prove a point. Karlach is dying, and no matter what Shadowheart does, this relationship is going to end in painful loss. Shar wants Shadowheart to fall in love with Karlach only to have that love abruptly ripped away from her. It perfectly demonstrates everything Shar believes about love: that it's fleeting and will always hurt you in the long run. Better to just avoid it entirely so you don't get hurt.

And Shadowheart knows all this. She's studied Sharran scripture extensively, after all. She knows that Shar is trying to teach her a lesson, she knows that the longer the relationship lasts and the more emotionally intimate it gets, the more the end is going to hurt. So why doesn't she break it off? Partly it's because she loves Karlach and doesn't want to end things; she's probably in denial at least a little bit. But I think it's also partly because she's a bit of a masochist. She thinks she deserves to suffer because she knows, at least subconsciously, that she's still not a very good Sharran. She can see the loss coming and she hopes the experience will bring her closer to Shar.

You'd think Karlach would be unwilling to put up with DJ Shadowheart's fanatical bullshit, but personally I think Karlach would stick it out for a whole mess of reasons. Number one, she can still see the good in Shadowheart and she refuses to give up on her partner. She's clinging tightly to the hope that Shadowheart can still be redeemed, even though she probably understands that it's a long shot at best.

Number two, she blames herself. When you play as Tav/Durge or another Origin, Shadowheart will have a conversation with you before deciding what to do in the Shadowfell. But if you play as Shadowheart, none of your companions says a word to you. In the context of this ship, I choose to interpret that as Karlach being too trusting. She's seen the good in Shadowheart, after all. She's so certain Shadowheart will do the right thing that she doesn't think she needs to speak up. It's not until too late that she realizes what Shadowheart needed was for someone to say "hey, are you sure about this?" So now she feels she needs to make up for that failure somehow by continuing to try and nudge Shadowheart in the right direction even though it seems impossible.

And number three, Karlach's just plain lonely. As fucked-up as this relationship is, she's still getting companionship and intimacy, and she doesn't think she has time to cultivate a new relationship if she breaks up with Shadowheart. She wants someone to be with her and hold her hand at the end, even if that someone is a brainwashed cultist.

In sum, both of them know that their relationship is extremely unhealthy; that it's hurting them now and will hurt them more in the future. But they both refuse to end it for their own reasons. And good gods, the ANGST. ARE YOU FEELING IT NOW, MISTER KRABS?

[edennill]

RoP S2E3 reactions:

It's technically not their fault but Berek means "tag (the game)" in Polish which is a bit funny...

DON'T GO IN THERE! Why are you going in there? I thought horses were supposed to be easily-scared

Ah, it's Isildur. Glad they didn't drag out this pointless mystery any longer.

I'm not even scared of (normal-sized) spiders, but Eeesh

It irks me that it's not my slightly creepy interpretation of Númenórean burial customs, but I'm semi-interested in the funeral proceedings. They cut them too short though.

Unfortunately the stupid blindness plot development is now back. If they wanted diversity points they should have made her disabled since childhood, and it would actually be interesting rather than melodramatic.

I keep wanting to remind these people Pharazon is the same age as Muriel (I mean I guess it might be weird Númenórean aging, but I feel it's misrepresenting things and I don't like it because their messed-up relationship fascinates me)

Huh, I wonder whether he'll trick her with the colours.

Númenóreans cannot choose a king at will!

They brought up stone giants; I hope they won't again. I know they're mentioned in the Hobbit (Bilbo's elaboration imo) but uhh, the movies made a poor use of them and I doubt this would make a better one.

Celebrimor's Celpatine's actor is a really kindly-looking aging man! He just doesn't fit the character at all. Wish they'd found a better place for him.

He actually reminds me of Bilbo...

Why did they have to destroy elven politics to such an extent? The real Gil-Galad doesn't rule Eregion.

Huh, I wonder if that's gonna be Isildur's love interest...

Estrid really doesn't feel like a name for a Southlander

riding horseback together, alone in the forest... 😘😘😘

So Bronwyn's dead. In between seasons. What was that plot thread even for.

Maybe they realised the issues with a mortal-immortal romance, but this does not solve them. And I bet Arondir will mention her at most once or twice more and everyone will forget about her.

Beleriand was a continent, not a realm 🤦‍♀️

Why is Theo so vehement towards Arondir all of a sudden. I mean, I guess it's not unrealistic for a teenager who just suffered great loss, but it comes from nowhere thematically.

Huh. Estrid's mark is a new development, but I still think they'll end up together. (No, I don't ship them. I have my own OC for Isildur's wife. But I know enough about tropes to suspect things.)

✨Pretty dress✨ Almost Byzantine-inspired, I think.

Miriel's speech might feel more moving if the whole battle it's about wasn't so dumb. Although I kind of doubt it.

✨Eärien's dress✨

What is it with the Palantir business🤦‍♀️

Númenoreans are hardly less "magical" than elves for that matter. They wouldn't be afraid of palantri!

Eagles aren't dumb beasts of omen you can co-opt to your purposes.

Lil Bro: And the people who chose Pharazon did not care for symbols of the Valar. Preach.

Tl;dr: A MESS

[perverse-idyll]

Thanks for tagging me, @danpuff-ao3! <3 And it's so good to see you talking about your fics again. I love your thoughtfulness about your work and the whole writing process. (And I love your work itself, of course.)

"Self-rec time! What are your favorite five fics that you've written and why? After replying to this ask, feel free to pass on to five other writers to spread the love. 💗"

This comes at an odd time for me because I feel very disconnected from my fic and deeply unimpressed by it. Every time I open the current chapter I'm working on, I think, "What an absolute slog." So maybe focusing on what I love (or remember loving) will rekindle the missing spark! Plus it's been umpteen weeks since I last posted here, and it would be good to show signs of life. (I'm not giving up on writing or my OTP. RL just kind of saps the will to live sometimes. Experience tells me this too shall pass.)

Tagging anyone who wishes to celebrate their faves because I'll be poking at this while at work, and it may take me hours*. *days, as it turns out.

I actually don't have that many fics, which is embarrassing, considering how long I've been in fandom. The same handful just keep cropping up. So I'm going to be really aggravating and mostly talk about WIPs:

The Afterlight - the Snape/Harry WIP I'm currently working/ intermittently fixated on. It's got a serial killer subplot that still hasn't kicked in after 52K words and a Denial of Feelings dysfunctional romance heavily influenced by the fact that both men died in canon and forever after have to live with that knowledge. (Here we have the author's perpetual Denial of (Snape-ish) Death on full display 😉). The fic features disillusioned!Harry, an offshoot of the angry!Harry who often turns up in my work, alongside a Snape whose feelings, whatever else they may be, are typically obsessive to the point of self-sacrifice. They fight a lot and fuck a lot and at one point Snape takes a curse for Harry. Hurt/comfort as courtship! Probably my schmaltziest ending ever, and quite likely a narrative mess, but it's got its hooks into me so I really want it to turn out halfway decent.

Year of the Thestral - the only non-WIP here, a Severus/Minerva fic I had on the back-burner for years and finally finished. It uses a dubcon relationship as a lens to examine the damage done to - and price exacted upon - all and sundry during Snape's year as headmaster. The conceit involves Minerva at the end of her life reminiscing to a biographer, finally facing the memories and meaning of Snape's actions, the layers of betrayal and inevitability of sacrifice, and the furious despair that lay behind Severus' treatment of her. It offers the possibility of forgiveness and even retrospective love, and is woven throughout with femslash feelings. For me, it's a meditation on the punishing aspects of Snape's agreement to play the monster, as well as a character study of McGonagall, undertaken as a tribute.

The Blood of Stars - possibly my favorite of my current WIPs, put on hiatus in 2014. It starts with Snape basically being kicked out of the afterlife by Dumbledore and Lily and discovering, as he searches Hogwarts' post-battle wreckage, that he can't speak to Harry. Literally, no words. Partly in retaliation, he commits an act of heartache and cruelty that affects Harry's marriage. But he also reappears at desperate moments in Harry's life to provide help. There's much to-do over an underground prison, a mutual fascination despite their problems communicating (although one might suggest that Snape's inability to tell Harry what he thinks actually improves the situation), two dramatic death scenes, and more afterlife shenanigans. It also has what may be my favorite ending for any fic I've written thus far, and I'm determined to finish it if only for those scenes alone. Oh, and it's my version of horribly romantic. Also, hubris: the entire middle section is written in first-person Harry POV, which I know will take out a chunk of my potential audience, but I wanted to try something I'd never done before. Anyway, it's next in line once I finish The Afterlight (yes, I know, how many years will that take? But hope springs eternal).

Impossible Without It - another Snarry WIP put on hiatus in 2014! Ah, I was so full of ideas then and struggling not to let the bastards get me down. Well, I haven't given up on this one, either. It's another angry!Harry fic (I do write optimistic!Harry, but really, none of my Harrys are well-adjusted). In fact, it's a memory-holed Harry who can't recall killing Voldemort and an amnesiac Snape who works in a Muggle gay bar. The story is told partly through their sexual addiction to each other, fueled by secrets and lies and out-of-control hunger, desire for vengeance and of course the question of what really happened the day Voldemort died and Harry lost that moment in time while Snape forgot crucial parts of who he is (like the fact he's a wizard). They don't treat each other well, but they become so bound up in their obsession they can't let go. Eventually Harry discovers a way to restore Snape's memories, and Snape makes him regret it. Believe it or not, this one has a happy ending! Well, depending on whether you think a rather fucked-up relationship can be described as 'happy.'

The Threefold Death, or: The Lost World (long version), Snarry, WIP. I was originally going to choose When the Rose & the Fire Are One, but I've singled it out often enough that at this point I'm not sure what's left to say. I had Threefold Death hidden in a collection for a while because I couldn't stand to look at it, but that didn't help so I've removed it from its cage. I'm still haunted by a lot of the scenes, and I love fooling around with fairy tale imagery. I also like playing with ambiguity: how much of Snape's love for Harry is his own and how much is the Forest using Snape to draw Harry into its clutches. Ditto Albus Severus, the third in their circle/cycle of debts and devotion, who can't stop setting off tragic consequences despite the best of intentions. (Well, maybe not the best.) The POV in this one starts with Harry and switches to Al, partly because I'm a sucker for outsider POV and partly because I want to examine Al as a mixture of Harry and Snape, neither as loving as his father nor as ruthless as his mentor and therefore the weakest link in this Game of Three. But it is ultimately his love for them both that closes the circle, and he's the one who ends up losing the most. (Sorry, Al! Even if it's partly your own fault.) And this is another ending with lines and images I'm rather proud of. Also a ton of bittersweetness. Ever since I hauled it out of storage, I've been having all sorts of daydreams about character moments, so this fic is definitely simmering again.

[aihoshiino]

hello!!! you have no idea how hard it is (for me at least haha) to find a blog that talks about ai even semi consistently let alone analyze her this closely so i enjoy ur blog very much! thank you for feeding my ai brainrot :D

anyways any thoughts on ai and hikaru’s relationship? or just speculation since theres not much on it rn? its pretty fascinating to me, they were both children who were abused and exploited as a whole (that and their own respective fucked up relationship and idea of sexual intimacy which might be one of the catalysts for them jumping to sex so quickly despite both (i think?) being aware of the consequences with them being relatively active in the entertainment industry and what not) so its not too hard to imagine them potentially bonding even if it never quite reached genuine love romantic or otherwise

HAPPY TO PROVIDE, ANON! <3 I fully admit that my ramblings are mostly for my own benefit because if I don't talk about Hoshino Ai at least twice a day I will turn into the Oshi no Joker but it's always so nice to hear folks are glad to be along for the ride.

Hikaru and Ai's relationship has always been really fascinating to me, though! It's kind of an interesting subversion on some of our and Aqua's ingrained assumptions about the kind of person the twins' father would be – there's this sort of implicit, unspoken understanding based on the way Aqua focuses primarily on men who were already adults when Ai got pregnant that Ai was victimized in some way which resulted in the twins. Finding out who Hikaru is and the fact that he and Ai were peers immediately casts all of Ai's decisions regarding him in a hugely different light and raises a lot of questions about things that we otherwise assumed went without saying.

That said, given that we know so little about both their relationship and Hikari himself as a person, it's kind of hard to make solid guesses! I sort of have a rough shape of what I imagine it was like in my head just based on Hikaru's emotional function in the story VS what we know about him specifically as a person – Hikaru is very clearly intended to be a sort of bad end/dark mirror of Aqua, so I like to think that his and Ai's relationship probably contained echoes of the two main Aqua romances we see play out in the present. I had like a huge and honestly kind of incomprehensible ramble here originally while I tried to define what I meant by that but then I realized the series itself already lays it out...

In Hikaru, Ai found someone she thought would finally understand and accept her.

In Ai, Hikaru saw light.

Ai is tied to stars and light constantly through the series while also being tied to Kana pretty strongly as well, so I think it makes sense for her to be the Kana/light equivalent in this relationship. Uh, of course, I think I have accidentally implied that this means Akane is paralleling Hikari, so let's move on................................

It's also interesting to take into account 45510 when trying to pick up some info about how this relationship went. The stream at the center of this story is dated just after Ai came back from her hiatus following the birth of the twins, so around when she was 16/17 years old -- closer to the latter and so likely two or three years after her relationship with Hikaru fell apart. With that in mind, Ai's words here feel kind of... I guess, accidentally revealing? In some interesting ways.

When asked to describe her ideal type for a lover, Ai says: ""I guess I'd like to be with someone who doesn't lose their cool with me when I mess things up, ‘cause that happens a lot! Someone who gets all worked up over every little thing would probably get tired of me pretty quick. It’d be unfair for them, so I'd rather be with someone who's not like that.""

And unprompted, she continues from there with this: ""Love is all about trust, isn't it? They call it... 'recipricity', I think? Like, if someone showed me they love me, I'd feel the same way about them. But, I'm a bit of a scaredy-cat. It's tough for me to really believe in words like 'love' and 'like.' I've never actually fallen in love with someone before, so I'm not even sure what it means, you know?""

This is FASCINATING knowing this is Ai on the other side of her relationship with Hikaru. We know that this is Ai's true feelings because even the 45510 narrator, who calls her a liar every time she so much as breathes, admits that she knows Ai is probably telling the truth here. If this is the case, then this basically confirms that however intense the HikaAi relationship was, she didn't feel as though she loved him, which matches with the snippets we've gotten from the DVD and the movie where Ai's parting/break up with Hikaru was centered on Ai admitting that she couldn't love him.

Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean that their bond wasn't genuine or that they didn't have real feelings for each other – I totally agree with your take that they probably gravitated towards each other as victims of abuse generally and CSA specifically and found a sort of comfort and solidarity in recognizing and licking each others' wounds. But obviously, things didn't work out and I think we have a lot of clues already what this fundamental misunderstanding was.

When Ai tells Hikaru "I can't love you" this is an apology, an admission of weakness and self-blame. What Ai is saying is I can't love you, because I'm broken and I can't love anyone.

What Hikaru likely hears is I can't love you because you're broken and nobody could.

That sense of rejection, combined with the trauma he already carried from his abuse would have been bad enough but that Ai got pregnant and broke up with him was likely hugely retraumatizing for him, ripping open the scars of his abuse at Airi Himekawa's hands. He may have even misconstrued Ai's actions as an act of abuse similar to Airi's and everything went spiralling from there.

I don't have any really solid shots to call, unfortunately! So much about Hikaru is up in the air right now, but I think he's a super interesting character and his and Ai's relationship is something I really, really want to eventually see more of.

[cctinsleybaxter]

Furiosa thots!!! Putting under a readmore since it only just came out and i don't want to dissuade people from going. I find it kinda funny I find it kinda sad (I lowkey hated it but the war rig scene made me go stupid aaaa)

Stuff I liked:

Pacing and sound design. Was really skeptical of the 2+ hour runtime but it went by quick and plotting made sense

Costuming! Any time a practical effect or something textured is onscreen (which is not always. bodes well for the 'stuff i hated' section) is awesome; I don't care if it looks stupid or doesn't make sense it's a pleasure to have in class.

Arm backstory

This car

I went in thinking 'sigh well they're never going to beat robert de niro exploding that helicopter in midnight run' and then the war rig scene happened; I was going crazy!!! I loved it from beginning to end. I actually gasped because I'd noticed the grey mass of cloth being used as a flag at the first encampment and thought 'that's my favorite thing they've shown so far' (i was going to say prop but idk that it was practical); WELCOME BACK GREY CLOTH

Chris Hemsworth was somehow my favorite performance, I felt like he nailed the combination of goofy/ridiculous and scary/threatening

Stuff I didn't like:

George Miller uses bible allegories and imagery like he's the fucking Ultraman guy (Eiji Tsuburaya.) Why make posts about how fascinated you are by 'the japanese' using catholic imagery when we got that egregious crucifixion setup. Australians are culpable.

We don't learn anything about furiosa as a person that can't already be gleaned from Fury Road. I do think this does a pretty admirable job of storytelling for a prequel, we learn about what happened to Furiosa and we (sort of) get the character development that led her to take the wives with her, but I wish it'd been a brand new character's story

I like Anya Taylor-Joy and disagree with people saying this was a miscast because she can't act and is only suited to play models (misogyny takes many forms...), but I do think she's best in roles with a lot of speaking and micro-expressions, so playing a woman who barely speaks or emotes and will later become charlize theron just wasn't it. I'm also legitimately worried about how skinny she is rn

Stuff I hated:

This movie looked like absolute garbage in comparison to the rest of the mad maxes; even the ones I think are irredeemably bad. The combination of whatever frame rate they were using and the CGI was just. Ugh.

Scene transitions (so many fades to black) and montage (specifically thinking about the sped-up footage of them assembling the rig, Furiosa's Lion King dream sequence, and 'the horrors of war') were a hot mess

Framing dementus's anarcho-fascism as worse than immortan joe's regular fascism is such a misstep it casts a shadow over the whole movie. Yeah the hedonist with the working class accent who hates art and is too stupid/selfish to run a territory yadda yadda. It's very Stephen King villain, which would be fine!, but Fury Road had such good politics it just felt tired

You're telling me that a woman who spent her childhood kidnapped and threatened with rape (interesting that said threat only comes from individual extra bad guys btw; both evil men-dominated societies accept slavery and rape but condemn pedophilia) falls for her male coworker and mentor figure. You're telling me this is a compelling relationship between two victims of the same system. You're telling me you filmed it like a YA dystopian romance. You're telling me her backstory is that she showed a guy her most treasured and vulnerable possession, a seed from the fruit she plucked before being taken from eden and losing her innocence, and he bade her keep it by putting his big-ass yaoi hand over hers, and that's what solidified their trust. You're telling me she doesn't once speak to a woman who isn't her mom. Can we die? Can we go to the wasteland?

[bbygirl-aemond]

i think a very interesting aspect of aemond's character is how much is built around him, in a sense, being raised with the understanding that he's "for" aegon. like, in stormbreak when he thinks about how he knows exactly what aegon needs from him, how to cover his defects, and how he sees it as being a given that he will always provide those things. like it goes well beyond normal familial love and it's been so baked into him that it doesn't even occur to him to resent it

(very interesting that part of what freaks him out about rhaenyra is that he can't do or be that for her as things stand, but that's a whole OTHER issue)

and i mean, generally, aemond's definitely a massive people pleaser, even if it would shock most to hear it, and so much of him goes into being whatever any given member of his family needs him to be in a particular moment, right? it's why he seems to be literally everyone's favourite. aegon even directly points it out in that first kl scene where he talks about aemond speaking and otto's words coming out, and i do have to wonder about it. it's quite a lot to have someone's entire identity built around yours, especially when you feel so unworthy of it, and i wonder if any part of him resents it. resents alicent and otto for doing this to him, resents aemond for letting them, all the while feeling so guilty for being relieved that at the very least it has turned aemond into the one person he feels can truly understand him. god FASCINATING stuff

i NEED to watch daemon and rhaenyra slowly unpick at this tabgled mess of many fucking profound psychological issues. like if they didn't hate otto, or even alicent, before..

GOD yes i have so many thoughts about aemond and aegon, always. i think such a big part of aemond and aegon as siblings is the curse of being each other's mirror; of aegon seeing everything he is not and everything he could have been every time he look at his brother. there's a lot of potential for things like envy, and resentment, and anger. but being siblings also means aegon has this unique, unparalleled understanding of what about his childhood caused aemond to be this way-- because he lived it, too.

so aegon looks at aemond, bad parts and good, and knows: if things had been a little different. just a little. that could have been me. and he knows that if they had been born in a different order, each would have fallen into the other's roles in a heartbeat.

so i think for all that aegon envies aemond terribly for his talent, disposition, and status as the "perfect son," when he looks at him all he REALLY sees is tragedy. his anger is never truly directed at aemond; only his irritation, because he recognizes aemond is no less trapped than he himself feels. and he understands the heavy price that aemond pays for his family's favoritism. his anger instead gets directed at the adults, like alicent, since he's been pretty resentful of her throughout this fic (which makes his desperation for her love and approval all the more tragic; just because you know someone fucked up doesn't mean you can simply stop yourself from loving them).

this is part of why i said in a comment that i think aegon and aemond understand each other the best out of the greens, and why they can be honest around each other in a way they can't around anyone else. aegon is the one person who is capable of understanding just what aemond has sacrificed, every day of his life.

if you reframe the narrative of this fic around aemond and aegon's relationship, i think it'll become clear just how much this is a story about brothers, even over the romance aspect (though this might only make more sense once we get into the actual crux of the power struggle haha). house targaryen broke apart because rhaenyra and alicent's friendship did not survive alicent's paranoia; their relationship was not strong enough to do so. but it will mend again because aemond and aegon's brotherhood is.

there's a whole other post to be made about the parallels between rhaenyra and alicent vs. aegon and aemond, but i'll save that for another time!

[golden--doodler]

This is inspired by a conversation I had with @drawthething yesterday, but I decided to make musical theater-related headcanons for all the Belchers:

Linda loves musicals a ton (of course) and has definitely put on some music from Dear Evan Hansen in the restaurant before, especially Waving Through a Window and So Big, So Small, and cried internally. Sometimes even externally, and Bob had to take her outside to calm her down and remind her it was all fictional. She just loves Heidi Hansen and her relationship with Evan so much.

Bob likes the Beetlejuice musical just because Adam and Barbara's relationship reminds him so much of his and Linda's, though he still won't admit he enjoys it. He especially likes the line in Ready, Set, Not Yet that goes like: "To the untrained eye it's boring, but nothing's a chore when you're restoring, apart from frustration, pain, and financial drain". That was extremely relatable to him. He was also not okay when they died at the end of that number--he was relieved when they came back as ghosts but was still upset.

Gene is obsessed with Six and his ultimate goal is to be a Queen in that show one day. He was a mess after listening to All You Wanna Do for the first time, but did not understand the innuendos in the beginning like "plucked my strings all the way to g, went from major to minor, c to d". He just appreciated the music metaphors. His favorite Queen is Anna of Cleves, though, because Get Down, in his opinion, is the most fun, most fabulous number. And because she's so sassy and full of life. As a bonus, Tina's favorite is Catherine of Aragon because she really likes Aragon's scorned lover vibes and No Way is such a bop. Louise's is Anne Boleyn because she gives off a "don't care, just wanna have fun" kind of vibe, and Don't Lose Your Head is such a crazy good time. She also finds it interesting how much of a temptress Boleyn was portrayed to be, and actually read up a lot on the woman after listening to the soundtrack.

Tina's favorite music still comes from Boyz 4 Now, but she enjoys some musicals. She likes West Side Story for the forbidden romance (she likes picturing herself as Maria and Jimmy Jr. as Tony) and the fifties setting is just really cool to her. She also thinks In the Heights perfectly captures the feeling of summer, and likes listening to a couple songs from it when the weather starts warming up.

Louise won't admit she likes a few musicals, but she definitely does. She thinks Wicked is a really interesting tale of a genuinely good person being affected by their environment (I like to think when she's older, she'll use the musical to write a paper on the whole "Nature Vs. Nurture" topic). She also loves Sweeney Todd, but NOT JUST BECAUSE OF THE MURDER SHE SWEARS. She respects Stephen Sondheim as a composer a ton and thinks Sweeney's internal struggle and emotional journey are incredibly fascinating. She definitely dressed up as him one year.

As another bonus, Teddy doesn't listen to many musicals but really likes Cats and will frequently go to war with detractors, and argue about how it's actually a good musical. Sometimes he's way too passionate and some of his arguments are nonsensical, but a lot of the time he actually makes really good, well-thought-out points on why he enjoys it so much.

[driftwithme]

The way I see the Mako-Raleigh-Chuck trio in a mix of relationships is more like Raleigh has different commitments to both of them that are equally important to him, okay?

With Mako it is a queerplatonic relationship. As important as marriage itself, with all the devotion and love and affection, but it is not predominately romantic. It's not exactly "just friends" or "more than friends" but rather is in the spectrum, you get me? It's sooo queer and out of the norm. All they know is that it's not classic romance or friendship. Complete and meaningful, with all the commitment of a long lasting bond. YET they are also free to roam around and live separately just because of that. None traditional as they are, they do answer to themselves and themselves only, so sure in their connection that they don't care about what others think. The have the one-in-a-million type of bond, wish-upon-a-star type of bond, the whole fairy tale thing.

Raleigh's relationship with Chuck is equally queer, but it's not as hard to define as what he has going on with Mako. Chuck is maybe one of the few people in the world who get what drift compatibility could mean and how the Mako-Raleigh bond makes perfect sense but not to none-rangers. He is a bit jealous, but not because he thinks Raleigh love her more or 'cause he thinks they have a deeper bond. He just wishes he could experience the drift compatibility with both of them, okay? It'd be so cool to drift with Mako or Raleigh...

And Mako and Chuck end up becoming like weird cousins, not exactly as close as siblings but still family. They love and protect each other, a fierce bond on itself that was born after Pitfall, when they had the time to spent hours working and having fun together in a safe world. They understand each other in a way Raleigh could never, the same way that Chuck or Mako could never know Raleigh the eay Yancy does, not exactly.

Mako, Raleigh, Chuck --The three of them are very passionate in a variant of ways that can range from non-sexual to really sexual depending of the duo involved in there. They are invested, unapologetic, sure of their own feelings like only a ranger with the emotional intelligence to pilot a jaeger could.

But Chuck and Raleigh?

They're more traditional romance. All the talk of love and all those rom-coms of the 2000's that Yancy adored and all the silly stories that Chuck cringes from, so deeply second-hand embarrased that he could kill Raleigh right there and then. All the sexual tension and the idiots in love and the hero worship. The mess itself of fan-to-idol to distant coworkers to strangers to rivals to reluctant coworkers to fellow rangers to friends then best friends to lovers to-- Mako watches them stumble with curiosity and fascination, helping where she can and respecting each phase, always the picture of perfect balance between support and mischief.

The love differently each of them and it does not mean they love more or less. It's not a from here to there situation, not a scale or not something amatonornative can perfectly wrap. At least for me.

[sothischickshe]

I am fascinated by your Bruby take. Have you written supporting posts for this ship and Beth’s love for Ruby already? I would love to read more detail on your view of their relationship. To me, I see Beth’s possessiveness over Ruby. She demands to be chosen, even to Ruby’s detriment. It seems like a really disproportionate relationship to me, where Ruby is expected to drop her life to support Beth. Endlessly. And on occasion Beth rewards Ruby by benevolently offering her something in return.

I want to see them how you see them.

Hey, so zerothly it's deffo not just my take; I'm gonna link to some other ppl's posts & ig haphazardly try to quote some others I can't search up (joke's on me for ever wanting to find anything on mobile I suppose🤯)

Zero point fively, the ship name is deffo buby cmon, im taking a hard line on that 🤪

So first argument in terms of shipping Beth/Ruby and/or deciding Beth is in love with ruby: why not! I just think it's fun! And it adds a lot of potential depth to many of the relationships in the show eg the brio mess, the Beth-stan conflict, the death death, the beth/rhea quasi-romance.... Plus there's really nothing I see in canon that negates it 🤷🏼‍♀️

I think this post by @nakedmonkey sums the vibe up more succinctly than I ever could!

I'd also highly rec these fics:

Almost by vibrantnymph (Ruby pov in a slightly divergent 208)

girls go to the bathroom together to kiss by makemeanybraver (aged down au, Beth pov)

(there are a few other fics tagged beth/Ruby on Ao3 too but they're also tagged beth/annie and um I assume they don't mean it)

I swear @pynkhues had some posts about Beth/Ruby and maybe kisses too but I can't find them 😭😭😭

I also super agree with the vibe of this post from @petesdragon. Particularly cos in really all the flashbacks I think Dean and boys in general are presented as life moments to achieve and tick off. Combined with ruby basically telling annie that Beth married Dean for security, I hear the comp het take ringing loudly!

Off the top of my head I'd say the biggest canon points for me are:

That I've never looked at Dean the way you look at stan line being followed by Beth's srs lingering looks at Ruby, then a bunch of loving stares & delighted giggling with the tesla stuff (I do think we're repeatedly told by the show that Beth is not in love with Dean, that Ruby is in love with stan & that Beth has some srs martyr vibes/is v willing to sacrifice herself for the ppl she cares abt)

That I would choose you every time line and really 208 in general (& actually also successful salesperson s2 Beth being willing to give up a hypothetical jayz concert to stan; basically all sales ppl are annoying jayz stans who will say insane things like 'actually if you think about it, it's impressive to get away with that many shit guest verses' right to your face)

The s2 finale callback with the actual Beyoncé tickets where Beth tells Ruby to take stan, and goes to turn herself in which IS to protect the hills (think this understandably gets buried under the rest of the finale & its silliness)

The s4 beth-stan conflict as a whole where they're essentially presented as romantic rivals squabbling for the right to Ruby's affection; beth looking distraught when she agrees to never seeing Ruby again #martyrvibes

I guess I maybe agree that Beth is possessive over Ruby, but I'd say that so is stan then? & I'm given literally no reason to think stan isn't entirely in love with ruby yet in s4 he sics the cops on her, joins in with dean's scheming against Beth thus inadvertently yet predictably throwing Ruby under the bus & ends up threatening to go on the run without Ruby in the finale. I don't think I buy that possessiveness, making demands or an idiotic approach to planning precludes Beth from being in love with ruby 🤷🏼‍♀️ (though it perhaps suggest Ruby has a type sfggfrff)

I also really disagree that Beth demands to be chosen by Ruby, at least consistently -- like yea arguably that's a bit what's going on in s2, but it also sets up her melodramatic martyrdom in both s2 & s4? And actually really the s2 conflict isn't so much abt Ruby not choosing her, as Ruby repeatedly points out, she already kinda did! I think it's more Beth losing her mind at the realisation that she's not Ruby's #1 bc Ruby IS Beth's, and I think given they're having all these srs convos abt the contrasting states of their marriages it seems for the very first time (plus the implication throughout the series that Ruby barely ever interacts with Dean) I think it's probs quite reasonable to assume that Beth is a genuine misandrist & thinks of husbands as essentially accessories, de facto incapable of being anywhere near as important as their bond. (see also that s4 line abt how no boy will ever break them up.)

I also think it's interesting in s2 that Beth does warm to rio and/or crime when Dean fucks her off (eg bathroom break) but also when she & Ruby are on the outs (eg naked feet backyard picnic bench in the sun scene).

I'm just gonna repeat: in the s2 finale Beth is trying to turn herself in & in s4 she looks absolutely shattered agreeing to never see Ruby again. I don't think Beth particularly asks Ruby to drop her life to support her? Like the girls do all do it to each other yes, but who needs the most support or is most eager to turn to an idiotic plan in order to make money ebbs and flows over the show with their different (primarily but not exclusively familial) concerns. That bit in s4 where annie & Ruby make a deal w/ rio @ the strip club while Beth's just there in the bg like helllllo can u guys hear me feels a great example.

With or without a romantic lens, I very much agree with what @sdktrs12 said about their friendship in this answer.

& I think if anything, the fact that maybe it doesn't come through all that well consistently points to a writing problem: this show did often tell us things that it didn't necessarily take pains or leave itself enough space to demonstrate clearly or repeatedly. But I do think we're supposed to understand that they love each other deeply, have been through so much together, have always supported each other and consider the other (and their family) AS family.

Do i think that we see Ruby going above and beyond for Beth more than vice-versa? Yea probs. But I don't think that's cos Beth makes or expects her do that (& in fact they even have this conversation in the s2 finale!). for example, I don't think Beth asks Ruby to stay in the series finale? I think Ruby wants to, presumably bc of Annie's arrest & understanding how otherwise lonely Beth is. & I think we get loads of examples of Beth supporting Ruby too -- the grief flashback & Ruby's speech to Jane in the cupboard both spring to mind [both a little clunky but such is life], but also Beth's concern for Sara (and indeed stan) throughout. I do think Ruby is kinder & warmer than beth; I also think she's much less damaged ♻️

If I was gonna make an argument abt Beth demanding things of or using anyone, it'd probs be annie? Idk if the show was being intentional with the nick & annie getting locked up cos of the activities of their ~siblings parallel but that does feel kinda Loud. Plus, compared to Ruby but also in general, annie lacks confidence and purpose. Also Beth's literally her big sister, and pseudo parent! Still though I don't really find this line of reasoning all that compelling. Overall I do think annie & Ruby make the conscious choice to do crime, repeatedly, to make money. They don't seem to enjoy it in the same way, or as much, as Beth, but I think we see them both get purpose or status from it too (and that that's to some extent used to display how awful capitalism is). Plus Beth no way asked or wanted annie to replace her prints on the gun!! Hmm I wonder where annie picked up this melodramatic martyring habit from.....................

Further, if I was gonna make an argument abt anyone demanding to be chosen even to the detriment of the other it would probs be rio re Beth, Beth re rio, nick re rio or Dean re Beth 🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️🤷🏼‍♀️

Given all that, I think Beth and Ruby, who repeatedly sacrifice for each other & loudly declare the importance of their bond, have a far greater claim to being a canon love story than beth and rio who repeatedly betray each other, and by the finale iyam have simply demonstrated that they like each other & don't wish to kill the other & are willing to ally against common enemies plus maybe in general to avoid getting stabbed by the other 🤷🏼‍♀️

[killerandhealerqueen]

Hi, how are you? You don't know how lucky I am to find your blog. Your user name is the same like my favorite author of devil judge's fanfics. It's you right? Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful works.

Also because of your unique user name, I tried to google it and found out about killer and healer c-drama. I loved them....Really love your "Killer and Healer" fanfics. Thanks for sharing them, they're wonderful.

Dear author, can I ask why you loved "Killer and Healer" and "Devil Judge" (especially the first one)? What makes them special to you?

Your pinned post is like a breath of fresh air, I want to start all of the others. Now that I know I prefer mlm than mlw romance. Since I was little, my mum would take me to watched with her. She loved c-drama but only the het ones (either historical royalty or wuxia/xianxia). And now she loves k-drama (again the het ones).

Not until I found "Nirvana in Fire" (my first mlm ship in cdrama) and "The Untamed" (watched the drama first then read the books).

Sorry for my rambling, hope you have pleasant day.

P.s

Do you mind if I ask your favorite danmei novels and mlm novels?

Feel free if you don't want to answer the last question.

My beloved anon, hello. I'm doing well (a little stressed because of job searching) but other than that, I'm doing well. How about yourself? How are you?

And yes, I am the same person over on ao3 who wrote all of those devil judge fics. And I'm so glad you enjoyed them. While I don't write for that fandom anymore, I'm glad they still bring people joy.

And I'm so glad you like my Killer and Healer fanfics, that really means a lot. They are all my babies and I enjoy writing them immensely.

As for why I loved "Killer and Healer" and "The Devil Judge"...oh boy. This is gonna be a long one, so buckle up.

I honestly had no intention of starting Killer and Healer until after it finished airing, but I saw a few gifsets made by @tytangfei and I'm like "Well fuck it, I can't not watch this thing if they're going to fucking look at each other like that, god damn". So I started it and I was hooked from the get-go. I'm a slut for detective/doctor dynamics so that was already promising for me but then when you watch Jiang Yuelou and Chen Yuzhi interact and how their stories intertwine and how they grow to care for each other...my fucking god if it's not one of the most beautiful and tragic love stories of all fucking time. They're so in love it hurts. I love the characters, I love the story, I love the relationships between all the characters...it's just a really good drama and it has changed me, honestly. Never gonna be the same and I don't regret it at all.

As for the Devil Judge, I watched it and thought that the characters were very similar to Jiang Yuelou and Chen Yuzhi, except Kang Yohan is more willing to bend and break the rules to get what he wants. Jiang Yuelou wouldn't go to a lot of the lengths that Kang Yohan would, but they're very similar trauma wise. Like these two boys are fucked up. And with Gaon and Chen Yuzhi, they both want to help people, they're kind, they wear their hearts on their sleeves...the only difference between them is that Chen Yuzhi is a little bit more firm in his moral standings. He's not easily swayed like Gaon is but Chen Yuzhi also wasn't manipulated for majority of his life by people he thought cared about him. (If we're gonna be real honest, Kang Yohan and Kim Gaon are a lot closer to Zhan Junbai and Yu Tangchun, if you want to make that sort of parallel). But I liked the drama because I thought the dynamic of Kang Yohan and Kim Gaon was fascinating and the way that they're drawn to each other and the way that Gaon slowly comes to find where he stands in the whole mess of the justice system because Gaon is just too nice and wants to change the world but the world isn't just going to change overnight like how the Korean elite or Kang Yohan wanted it to. It was a good time when that drama was airing.

Oh, I'm glad you like my pinned post. Some het dramas aren't bad but they just have to be written well for me to enjoy them. I just normally don't because I'm not a fan of romance dramas. I like my action dramas, my police procedurals, stuff like that. I've watched I think maybe...two actual romance dramas, Love is Written in the Stars (I really only watched it for Ian and Patrick who were in Killer and Healer but I still enjoyed it when I skipped over the romance scenes), and Secret Royal Inspector and Joy (this one I actually enjoyed because it was well written, the cast was funny, and the romance was actually believable).

If you want some good dramas to check out, you should check out my Drama/Movie Masterlist. It has cmovies, cdramas, kmovies, kdramas, jmovies, jdramas, and twdramas (taiwanese dramas) and most of them are things I think you'll enjoy. Maybe. We seem to have similar tastes in dramas.

As for your final question, I don't really read danmeis or mlm novels. I've just never gotten into them. But I can give you a list of my favorite yaoi mangas, if you'd like to check them out:

[Ougi Yuzuha] Darling vol.1 [Eng]

[Ougi Yuzuha] Darling vol.2 [Eng]

[Ougi Yuzuha] Darling vol.3 [Eng]

[Ougi Yuzuha] Darling vol.4 [Eng]

[KATOU Erena, TOTSUKI Eko] Mitsumei [Eng]

[HOSHIKURA Zozo] Mahoutsukai wa Furete Hodokeru [Eng]

[SOUTOME Emu] Tenshi no Sasayaki wa Akuma wo Otosu [Eng]

[AKIRA Norikazu] Heart Strings [Eng]

[TAKAHASHI Hidebu] Stigmata – Seikon Sousa [Eng]

[SAKURADA Kyoko] Akuma wa Tengoku ni Ikitakunai [Eng]

[KAMON Saeko] Hatsujou Animal [Eng]

[NAGI Wataru] Pheromoholic [Eng] (update c.9.5) (ongoing)

[AKIRA Norikazu] Beast & Feast [Eng]

[SERIZAWA Tomo] Hime Muko [Eng]

[AKIHISA Teo] Gang no Kaikata [Eng]

[NOICHI Mikuro] Tosca no Inu [Eng]

[Hijiki] Kanashiki Ningyo [Eng]

[NATSUMIZU Ritsu] Koishite Hoshii [Eng]

[noji] Tantei Jimusho no Kainushi-sama [Eng]

[YOFUNE Shibue] Goodbye to Loneliness [Eng]

[KAZAMI Yuki] Hakuran no Kemono [Eng]

[MINAMI Fuuko, Takiba] Light of My Life [Eng]

[SAKURA Sakuya] Hisho Ikuseichuu ~ vol.01 [Eng]

[SAKURA Sakuya] Hisho Ikuseichuu ~ vol.02 [Eng]

[Jita] Double Fake [Eng]

[Ohtako Mame] Play After Call [Eng]

[NISHIMOTO Rou] Hajime no Koi [Eng]

[Uimu] Tonari no Hana wa Kyou mo Ichiban Kakkoii [Eng]

But thank you for dropping by, anon! I adore talking to you!

[self-loving-vampire]

@moonlit-tulip said:

I'd be interested in hearing more about your thoughts here once you're more fully awake, assuming you're still feeling inclined to give them at that point.

Thanks for reminding me of this post! I legitimately forgot I even got this ask last night because I was so sleepy when I answered it.

So...

Kohaku/Akiha is a pretty popular and obvious one around these parts. The two of them have an incredibly unhealthy yet fascinating relationship where Kohaku feels compelled to kill Akiha to complete her revenge and extinguish the family but actually loves her and doesn't realize it.

She has conditioned herself into thinking she's emotionless to such a degree that she's blind to her own feelings and to the grief she feels in the scenario where she succeeds.

Meanwhile, Akiha is rather abusive towards Kohaku herself but also feels endless guilt about what her father did to her and the ways in which she finds herself following in his footsteps. This guilt means that even though she knows what Kohaku is doing, she is willing to just let it happen. She's kind of suicidal in that way.

I'm also a huge fan of bloodplay and BDSM (not the stereotypical latex version), and they certainly have that going on too.

Akiha has said that the maids (as well as her brother) are her property as the head of the Tohno family, and she drinks Kohaku's blood from the chest regularly. It's fun.

And in Kohaku's route Akiha is ultimately saved by a combination of factors, and one of the most important ones is that the part of her that loves Kohaku managed to prevent Akiha from actually killing her. In turn, Kohaku's willingness to save and forgive Akiha is what lets her reach a happy conclusion herself. She even admits that if Akiha was to die then she would revert to how she used to be before Shiki showed her kindness.

It's great.

Kohaku/SHIKI is similarly messed up, though less complex given that SHIKI is less perceptive than Akiha. Unlike her, he doesn't realize that Kohaku is just manipulating him.

SHIKI is the one who killed Makihisa because of Kohaku's scheming. He was physically the killer, but she is the one who gave him his resentment towards his father (who truly wanted to rehabilitate and release him as soon as possible) and used drugs to brainwash him into the deranged man we know him as.

But he is not necessarily an ally to Kohaku either, but a dangerous tool. Due to both his inversion impulse and the influence of Roa, SHIKI was also often violent and abusive towards her and it was his behavior that convinced Kohaku that the whole family had to go for her to be free.

He is ultimately her enemy as well (though he doesn't really realize it himself), but an enemy she keeps close even though he may unpredictably hurt her. She feels the need to continue to expose herself to that risk for the sake of carrying out her plan.

It's a fascinating (and very destructive) kind of relationship even with no romance involved, and when you consider the fact that some hints of feelings might arise in the moments where he is in control of himself and still acting kindly it becomes very interesting to think about.

Also, we get lines like this, which show a very interesting side to Kohaku and how she thinks of him:

Her other two relationships are healthier, but that's a very low bar as we will see.

Kohaku/Shiki is a relationship based heavily on Shiki's unbending devotion towards Kohaku. In her route, he actually manages to figure out what is going on with her and wishes to help her even though she is drugging him and trying to use him to kill Akiha.

He knows and accepts that she is using him as a tool, but supports her anyway. He wants her to heal, enjoy life, and smile for real.

And it turns out that, since Kohaku is not truly as empty as she believes herself to be, realizing that someone other than Hisui cares about her so deeply does in fact cause her to try and change course only for things to spiral out of her control anyway.

I am personally a bit biased towards liking this one for personal reasons. It plays on a sort of rescue fantasy of mine and the way Shiki is such a loyal supporter to Kohaku despite knowing her nature strongly reminds me of everything my husband did for me when I was engaging in my own duplicitous anti-family plot. I have a very intimate appreciation for that kind of love and support.

The ending where Kohaku tracks down Shiki's childhood home and grows a field of sunflowers there to welcome him back with a real smile is also capable of making me cry.

It's probably my favorite moment in the whole story, if I'm being honest. The fact that I managed to meet someone who loves me so much when I was in the mental state that I was in really feels like a fantasy.

Finally, we have Kohaku/Hisui. Even ignoring the rather non-canon incest threesome side story in Kagetsu Tohya, the twins have a really interesting relationship as well.

From the very start, Hisui has been something that Kohaku values more than her own life. This is obvious enough from just how she subjected herself to far more abuse than she otherwise would have gotten for her sake, but even in the present Hisui seems to be the one person that Kohaku is unwilling to hurt or kill for her plan (other than sedating her a few times).

Kohaku also first started to smile the way she does in an effort to cheer up a broken Hisui, essentially adopting her sister's previous upbeat personality in an attempt to help her regain it herself one day.

Her current self is really "Hisui from the past".

On the other side of this, Hisui seems to greatly admire Kohaku and feels a hollowing sort of guilt upon learning of how she suffered for her sake. The novel itself doesn't really portray this very explicitly or completely, but I believe that Hisui is far, far more traumatized than a lot of people realize even if Kohaku took the bulk of Makihisa's abuse.

Not just that, Hisui is currently making her own sacrifices for Kohaku's sake.

She noticed that Kohaku seemed to be enjoying her Past Hisui roleplay, so she deliberately kills off her own emotional expression so that Kohaku can keep smiling. She fears that if she goes back to her usual self, Kohaku will do the same and become silent and gloomy once again.

We learn elsewhere that even though Kohaku's smile is fake, she does indeed enjoy her act. She was having some amount of fun, and Hisui realizes this. If it brings her sister even a small amount of healing, Hisui is willing to become more like a doll herself.

Both of them are extremely protective and self-sacrificial towards each other. It's a very cute and (relatively) wholesome relationship.

The incest angle is easy enough to apply, too. After all, Kohaku is the kind of person who makes a line of robots that look like her own sister, among other things...

I thought you were a Kohakiha? Am I thinking of someone else?

[pretend this part of the ask is a really cool joke about sucking on tits]

I like them both, on top of several other pairings. I feel like Kohaku in particular has really interesting things going on with everyone else living in (or underneath) the mansion.

I'd explain what I like about each of those relationships in my usual verbose fashion but I have been falling asleep and waking up for a while now and my brain is not fully online at the moment.

[yandere--stuck]

Do you got time for a yandere Twilight Sparkle headcanon?

This is more season 1-2 Twilight, I hope that's okay! c:

---

💜 You were most likely somepony Twilight had met early on when the unicorn first moved into Ponyville. Perhaps someone she spoke with at the Summer Sun Celebration, or one of the first guests she had at the library. Either way, Twilight was eager to get to know you and expand her limited knowledge of friendship. And… It was fun. Really, really fun! Twilight had no idea that she could connect this way with another pony before! What had she been missing all these years? To make up for lost time and make the most of her research opportunities, it'd surely be for the best to spend all her free time with you. Speaking of which, were you free tonight? She just had her first sleepover with Rarity and Applejack, and it was so much fun! Though, it'd be a whole lot more fun if they had followed the rules! She'd love nothing more than to have one with you where everything is done by the book and see the results when done right!

🌌 Speaking of research, she's made her own little research book dedicated all to you! It's a little strange, sure, but it's a practice she's enacted since she was a filly. Whenever she was particularly fascinated with a subject, she'd pour all her focus on it ravenously, devouring every bit of information and putting it all down in writing and graphs and charts and drawings, all organized and sorted into categories so the information is easily understood and readily available to look over again and again and again and- well, you get the picture! See? It has different sections devoted to your appearance, your schedule, your relationships, your likes and dislikes, your special talent, what you do for a living. It's even color-coded! And it's decorated with pictures of you and her (which she laminated herself, thank you very much), and Twilight even made little drawings of you in the corners and margins! Adorable and informative - just like you - the perfect combination! But, it's a bit embarrassing, so it's for her eyes only…

💜 She was sure this was all entirely normal behavior, before her five closest friends (besides you!) gave her quite the reality check. This wasn't normal? She was doing it wrong? A cold feeling of shame and shock settles into Twilight. She had only just started her friendship studies and she was already failing? One of the unicorn's eyes twitched. She ran a hoof through her hair, messing up her mane but managing to soothe herself somewhat. Oh sweet Celestia, what would her mentor think if she knew Twilight was getting it all wrong?! The Element of Magic is only drawn out of her silent ruminations by Rarity's teasing insistence that Twilight had a crush on you. A… Crush? Twilight was already out of her depth when it came to discovering the magic of friendship, so when it came to the mysteries of romance, she'd have no idea where to begin. She was so sure everypony had an extra special friend. Hm. It sounded like she needed to do more research on the subject! All the more reason to spend even more time with you!

🌌 Hanging out with you was exhilarating! She had a feeling Rarity was right, considering what Twilight had read up on the subject. Thinking about your crush often? Check! Feeling euphoric during close contact with the object of your affections? Check! Prioritizing your relationship with that pony over all others? Check! Although, there were some behaviors she was exhibiting that weren't detailed in her readings. She found herself unable to think clearly when not around you, which was usually the opposite problem ponies experienced - in fact, it had gotten so bad that she could hardly focus even when reading! None of them seemed to include any mention of intense jealousy of others, fixation on exerting control over objects of affections (it just… Really irked her when you didn't do what she expected of you - like devoting your time to anypony but her!), following you around town when you both weren't actively hanging out. Perhaps seeking out information from a secondary source would be the best course of action? She knew Rarity had at least some knowledge of romance…

💜 Twilight left Rarity's Boutique with a messier mane and far more stress on her shoulders than she had when she arrived. Apparently, her behavior was unusual and bordering on unhealthy. Outwardly, she presented herself as understanding,  but the moment she left, she nearly collapsed in despair. Unhealthy. So, not only had she gotten everything wrong, but she was hurting you, as well! Not only was she a failure, but she was being a bad friend on top of that! But, now she was in far too deep. She had already become addicted to you, your presence… And it felt so right to do what she did. She didn't want to stop. Maybe… Maybe she wasn't in the wrong. Maybe it was everypony else that was wrong! She'd prove she wasn't a failure and that she was in the right! All she needed was research materials, the right environment for conducting the study, and her favorite pony in the whole wide world!

🌌 It's the longest time she'd spent away from you since you met, all in order to get the library set up for you. She could barely sleep, unable to think of anything but you. and the next time you and Twilight met, she's absolutely manic, her mane a mess, bags under her eyes, twitching sporadically. She dragged you into the library with her magic, talking a mile a minute and ignoring any questions or objections that came from you. She took you down into the basement, locking the door behind her before prancing around as she went on and on about how excited she was to have her first date with you, that it'd be the start of the rest of your lives together and you'd live happily ever after forever and ever! Spike, clearly uncomfortable, snuck up to whisper to you, reassuring that he and Twilight's other friends had already expressed concerns about the unicorn's behavior to the Princess. The moment Celestia arrived, you'd be set free and Twilight would come back to her senses! … At least, he hoped she would.

[toh-tagteam-au]

Is Hunter still going to be aroace in your au?

EDIT: I’m going to be sticking with Aro Hunter going forward, and I appreciate all the replies to this post! I’m keeping this up for personal reference, but just a heads up I’m no longer unsure. 

Original answer below:

----

Im glad you asked this because I've been wanting to make a separate post about this since Labyrinth Runners but I kept chickening out. Apologies for the wall of text in advance.

Full disclosure + some context before I get into it: I really like keeping Tag Team as close to canon as I possibly can. It's why towards the beginning of development I kept certain plot points open ended. I'm lucky that I didn't have to retcon any comic parts that were already posted pre-season 2b (the next few updates would have been ruined by some of the reveals in Hollow Mind, so I'm kind of glad I waited).

I never really expected Hunter to get into a relationship/hint at attraction at all back when it was season 2a, so I was comfortable having him be aroace since the chances of it being conflicting with canon were slim. I was in the group of people who were like "there's no way his character arc would have that much time/it would be rushed/wouldn't make sense if it did happen" etc. Plus, I'm aro myself. I was kind of excited to do a storyline that sort of reflected my own experiences with attraction and lack thereof. And I liked the ships that fandom brought forward, but I wasn't expecting them to move past the crack-ship category. So again, I felt secure in my canon-compliant-ness of Hunter's aro-ness.

But season 2b introduced the REALLY INTERESTING concept of Hunter and Willow actually being canon somehow. Or at least Hunter being attracted to her in some way. I was fascinated. Their actual canon dynamic is GREAT!! Teen soldier who was introduced as a hard-ass gets blushy at a school girl who can and would kick his shit in and is implied to not even think of him romantically yet. Not to mention the whole narrative catharsis at seeing a clone of Caleb, notorious husband of a witch, also falling for a girl. I love it SO MUCH!

So that brings me to an unfortunate choice I was sort of hoping you guys would help me with?

On one hand, I love Hunter and Willow. I love that they're implied to be a potential thing and that they'll have more dev in season 3. Their dynamic is my jam and it makes so much literary sense that they'd have chemistry, not to mention it just brings out the best in both of their developments in canon (Willow being a nervous shy girl with no self esteem turning into someone who can and will kick the emperor's ass to save her friends, Hunter being a heavily abused high ranking child solider turning into a blushy mess in front of a strong girl). I just love it. Nothing about his sexuality has come up in-comic so far, so I wouldn't have to retcon anything to make that a thing in TT.

On the other hand,,, I've already said that TT!Hunter is aro on this blog. I've sort of built up/mentioned this pseudo-romance arc he was going to have around the Grom episode. A lot of you seemed super excited about him being aro back when I first mentioned it, and I don't want to disappoint you guys and fake you out by being "surprise!!! he's allo!!!" I guess I could have him be Demiromantic or just ace to keep that vibe of aspec, but I don't want it to feel like a consolation prize either.

So it's this unfortunate back and forth between me really liking Willow and Hunter/wanting to keep things as canon as possible, versus sticking to what I've said out-of-universe in the past. I kind of get the sense that both options have their own baggage – I'm unsure if the aro hunter vs hun//tlow discourse is as intense as my dash makes it out to be since I try to avoid it and I generally like both options, but choosing one kind of feels like I have to choose a side. So I wanted to ask you guys what you think/want to see.

Feel free to reply to this post, say ur opinions in the tags, or send me asks on what you think. I probably won't respond to all of them, but I'll definitely read them all and take them into account.

[theneondemonx]

HOUDINI | JJK

One Shot

▽ summary: jungkook was your first and only. When he got arrested, you felt like an idiot for always believing his every word and after a few years you decided to date again. But the word somehow got to his ears in jail and he couldn’t let you be anyone else’s but his.

▽ genre: porn with some plot, criminal au, established relationship

▽ pairings: escaped convict!jk x fem!reader

▽ words: 3464

▽ warnings: mention of abusive relationship, mention of alcohol abuse, mention of underage sex, criminal activities, implied murder, possessive behavior, mention of female masturbation, spanking, fingering, female ejaculation, overstimulation, oral sex (m receiving, deep throating), unprotected sex, lots of cum, dirty talk

( ➜ Drabble 1: first meeting ) [⏵playlist]

He hit me and it felt like a kiss He hit me and I knew he loved me If he didn't care for me I could have never made him mad But he hit me and I was glad

You were still very young when you learned that love was nothing like the cheesy romances you’d see on the big screen. Well, you didn’t actually have the money to go to the movies, but sometimes you found the way to sneak in and watch whatever was there to watch. You had a fascination for those stories, for those dancing images on the screen. They were made of pure light. Literally. While everyone was caught in the enchantment of the movie, you were the one to look behind your back and follow the light beam up until its source, looking straight at the small window from which the projector created the whole illusion of life before your eyes.

Most people want to escape from reality. They want to feel like their life has meaning, like it is just one plot twist away from being interesting. I didn’t. Maybe I should have, since mine was pretty shit. But I guess this was the whole reason why I was looking for the disenchantment. It’s like watching a magician. I’ve always been the type to be more observant, to look for the trick. Cause if there wasn’t any, then it would have meant that mine was the only pointless existence.

No one in your block had a penny to their names. Everyone dreamed of going away, of starting a new life and do something meaningful. But you knew that most of them would never make it. They were trapped.

We think of the key, each in his prison. Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison.

Those weren’t your words. They were Jungkook’s. Well, not his own words, actually. He had read them somewhere. He was the type to read, although he didn’t look like it at all. And you know how people who read are: they are good with words. They can shape reality with just a flick of their tongue. And damn if he got a way with words! That’s why you fell for him.

It wasn’t just the fact that he got the looks of an angel. He also talked like one. He could talk his way in and out of everything and you were pretty sure he could lie his way into heaven if he wanted to. He was an exceptional liar, a pathological one too. But you loved him anyway.

You believed him when he told you that he was going to turn your life upside down. Why wouldn’t you? He had already done it more times than you could count. He had done it since the day you first met in that dark movie theatre. You had always believed him and everything he said. He was the only man you ever loved, the first and the last you had sex with, and eventually the one you married.

He reminded you of your father. They had the same dangerous charm. Their eyes gleamed with the same light: that of a man who was willing to con the whole world and make it his own. Your father didn’t make it, though. He became a drunk mess and ended up in prison for attempted murder.

Only a pathetic fuck goes to jail for attempted murder. Either you go down for murder, or you don’t go down at all. That’s how much of a failure he was.

But you didn’t care about him. He used to beat your mother whenever he felt like it. Jungkook, on the other hand, never did that.

So, when he told you those words – “the less you know, the better” – you didn’t question him. You just believed him. And when he came home with a bag full of money and his hands covered in blood, you still didn’t question him. You just did as he asked and bent over the kitchen table to let him fuck you senseless.

You really didn’t care about what he did. Everyone in your block was somehow entangled with criminal activities. That’s just how it is when you can’t afford an honest life. What if he robbed a bank? What if he killed someone to get that money? So what? You’d love him anyway. You’d love him no matter what.

You still loved him when you heard the sirens wailing through the block and stop outside your shared house. You didn’t care about the fact that he just ripped your marriage into pieces. You always knew he was an Icarus.

“Don’t worry, baby. I’ll be home for dinner.” He told you with a cocky smirk, while being pushed inside the police car.

And again, you believed him.

He was the only magician who ever managed to deceive you into thinking that his was actual magic and not just a trick. But when the jury found him guilty of aggravated robbery and murder, you felt like the lights had gone off and the curtain closed on his magic show. It was over. And now you were left standing in a sad empty circus, with just the distant music of the carousel to remind you of the fact that it was all a rouse. A convincing one for sure, but still a rouse.

When you saw him being taken away from the trial, you thought about those words he told you years before.

We think of the key, each in his prison. Thinking of the key, each confirms a prison.

And you smiled to yourself. Somehow, even though your whole life had just gone to pieces, you found them ironic. Who would have thought, back then, that he would end up in an actual prison? Not you for sure.

The years had passed and although you never really moved on from Jungkook, you decided it was time for you to build a life for yourself. You were still young and pretty, so it wasn’t hard for you to fool some stupid rich boy from the city. Kim Seokjin was no Jeon Jungkook, but he had money and a steady job – one that could actually pay for rent, food and vices without raising any question from the authorities.

He didn’t know you were broke as fuck, and you did your best to hide it with the means you had and the cunning that your lowlife background had teach you. You would buy fancy dresses and hide the tag when you wore them, so that you could return them the day after. You would also tell Seokjin to come pick you up at work in Gangnam. You never worked there, of course, but he was dumb enough to believe you. It didn’t really matter: you planned on sleeping with him soon enough and let him knock you up. Men always get way too excited when you tell them that they can fuck you without putting on a condom.

What you didn’t plan, however, was to find yourself with a tattooed hand covering your mouth when one night you came back home from a date with Seokjin. At first you tried to scream and free yourself from the strong grip of the mysterious man that somehow got into your house, but you froze as soon as he spoke.

“Shh be quiet, baby. You want to be the one to rat me out?”

You’d recognize that voice among millions. It was Jungkook.

How did he get out? His sentence is not over yet. He still has to serve twenty more years.

You thought that by being quiet and staying still, he would loosen the grip on you, but he didn’t.

“Fancy dress you got here, honey.” He hissed, pressing his lips against your ear and making you shiver from his touch. His hand trailed along the side of your body, caressing the expensive fabric of the white dress.

“Was your new boyfriend, the one who bought it for you?”

Your eyes widened at that question and you again tried to free yourself without success.

“Yeah.. I know. I was surprised too when Yoongi came to visit me and told me you were seeing some fancy city boy with his head up his tuxedo-covered ass.”

You knew that no matter how soft his voice could sound, he was mad. He was always calm when he was really mad.. until he wasn’t calm anymore.

“I told him: no, Yoongi, there’s no way that’s true. My sweet Y/N would never do something like that. She is a faithful wife, not some dirty whore who’s ready to sell her cunt to the first Richie Rich who comes around.”

He chuckled darkly.

“But he brought me the photos. So I guess I was wrong.”

He abruptly turned you around, pushing your back against the wall. It was then, that you saw him. His hair got longer and he somehow got some tattoos on his right arm. His dark eyes were gleaming in the dark with a mischievous light that you had never seen on him – not when he was looking at you, at least.

His fingers tightened around your jaw, forcing you to look at him straight in the eyes.

“Did you let him touch you?”

“N-no.” You muttered, with your heartbeat racing fast and your eyes wide open like those of an innocent doe who was just caught by a cold-blooded hunter.

He pressed his body on yours, breathing heavily against your lips without breaking eye contact.

“If you are lying to me.. I’ll know, Y/N.” He hissed. And you knew that those words were a clear warning.

“I expect your cunt to be tighter than it was when I left. If it isn’t..” he chuckled, slightly tilting his head to the side and licking his lips while caressing gently your reddened cheek. “..well, I guess I’ll stretch your holes so wide that there won’t be any doubt about whose little whore you are.”

He didn’t give you any time to breathe, let alone answer. He pressed his lips on yours with such passion that he sucked the air out of your lungs. And you melted.

You still loved him, after all. You still craved for his touch, which you missed every single night that you’ve spent in your empty bed. Every time you touched yourself, you always closed your eyes and think of him: his hands, his lips, his toned body, his cock, his breath, his smell.. everything. No man could turn you on like he did.

You could tell he had changed. He got more violent, more possessive. But for some reason, that didn’t bother you. Somehow, in a fucked up way, you enjoyed it. It was like you just had the proof that he truly loved you. That you were sill his.

You run your fingers through his hair, tightening your grip while kissing him deeply. A muffled sigh escaped from your lips when his tongue entered your mouth, exploring every corner of it like that was the last kiss he was ever gonna give you.

“Touch me.” You murmured, like it was a prayer sent straight to God.

The first one that was actually answered, since Jungkook’s hands quickly slipped under your dress while you kicked off your shoes. He turned you around again, face against the wall, and removed your underwear.

You gasped at his touch on your wet entrance, arching your back so that he could see your pussy in its full glory.

“Fuck, I missed you so much.” He murmured, starting to run his palm on your pussy.

You moaned, grinding against his hand in search of his touch while he steadied your hips with the strong grip of his free hand.

“Already purring like a kitten, baby?”

Another moan escaped from your lips, this time loudly, when he inserted his middle finger in your throbbing core, feeling it clench around his touch.

“Such a good girl. You didn’t lie to me.” He commented in a hiss, inserting another finger to test your tightness and starting to pump his digits on your most sensitive spot.

“So tight. Will you be able to take my cock, baby?”

“Y-yes. Yes I will.” You answered in between your heavy breaths and moans, chasing the pleasure that his movements gave you.

You suddenly let out a sharp cry when you felt his hand slapping your ass cheek without notice. But the lingering pain had the only effect of heightening the pleasure and getting you even more wet.

Hu chuckled, spanking you one more time.

“Fuck! Jungkook!”

He had always loved it when you said his name during sex, and he still did apparently, since he started pumping his digits harder inside you. The lewd sounds of your pussy soon filled the silence of the night.

When his other hand reached your clit and started drawing quick circles around it, your legs started shivering and your eyes rolled back from the pleasure. If it wasn’t for the wall, you’d probably fall on your knees when the orgasm hit you. You moaned so loud that you almost sounded like a dying animal.

“That’s it baby. Cum for me.”

His words only made it worse and you couldn’t help but feel like a fire ball hit you right in the belly. Your walls clenched around his pumping digits and soon your climax reached an unprecedented high, making you ejaculate on his hand while waves of pleasure went through your body like an electric shock.

“Oh my God!” Was is reaction to the mess you just made.

He let out a satisfied laugh, retracting his fingers from your overstimulated core just to smear your arousal on your own lips.

“Open your mouth, baby. I want you to taste yourself – the way I make you feel.”

You obeyed, and even if you were still panting and barely able to function, you took his fingers in you mouth, rotating your tongue around them and sucking every drop of your own arousal before letting them out with a pop.

“Good girl.” He praised you softly, caressing your hair. “Now get on your knees for me.”

Again, you obeyed without hesitation while he unzipped his pants and pumped himself a few times in front of your face.

You looked up at him, licking your lips. You could still taste your slick on them, but you wanted something different. You wanted his taste. And you were so eager to get it, that you didn’t waste any time.

You soon wrapped your mouth around his hard cock, sucking it like it was your last meal. But letting you have it your way was not Jungkook’s plan. He grabbed a fistful of your hair, tying them up in a ponytail that was only held by his own hand, and started thrusting inside your mouth until tears were gathering at the corner of your eyes.

A deep growl escaped from his lips at the sight of your mouth stuffed with his cock and your messed up make up smeared all over your face.

“My little whore. Always so good for me.” He said through his panting, face fucking you like there was no tomorrow.

And probably there wasn’t gonna be one. For all you knew, the police could come at any moment and take him back to his cell – this time, forever. But, if anything, the thrill just added something extra to the whole situation, making it even more exciting.

The rhythm of his deep thrusts against your throat soon made you gag. And that was it. That was what he wanted, what he was looking for.

“Oh shit! Fuck, I’m coming, baby.”

His cum shot straight down your throat, filling you with his warm liquid. You loved his taste. You always had since the first time he sucked his cock. You were only fifteen back then, and you had no idea how to do it. But he was older than you and he guided your every movement, teaching you what he liked and what he wanted. You thought you’d spit him out, but you always swallowed. You liked it. You liked the taste of his orgasm and you liked to know that you were the one to make him cum like that.

“Take off your dress and bra.”

Your jaw was still feeling numb and your legs weak when he ordered you to undress, but you still obeyed, in a daze.

“Now bend over the couch.”

Again, you didn’t raise any question. You just crawled towards the couch and rested your chest on the pillows, closing your eyes while you tried to catch your breath. You could feel your heart beating strong, muffled by the padded fabric of the couch. The only other sound was that of his steps, getting closer and closer to you until he dropped heavily on his knees, resting his large hands on your ass cheeks and parting them.

He let out a pleased moan and you could feel his gaze devouring the most intimate part of your body. You didn’t even need to look or feel him to know that he was getting hard again. And you felt proud. You arched your back and spread your legs a big wider, offering him the whole show. You loved to know that he wanted you so bad. Just the thought of his desire aroused you more than anything else.

He chuckled, spanking you again and making you gasp at the sharp feel of his palm against your sensitive skin.

“God, you’ve always loved being a slut for me. Am I right?”

You thought the question was rhetoric, so you didn’t respond. But when he gave you another spank and bent over you, pulling your hair to get your ear closer to his lips, you knew he wanted to hear your voice.

“Answer me. Whose little slut are you?”

“Y-yours, Jungkook. I’m your little slut.”

He chuckled darkly, letting go of your hair while caressing your reddened ass cheek and pressing his lips on your ear.

“Good girl.” He praised you, slowly starting to align the tip of his cock with your wet entrance.

You whimpered at the feel, arching your back even more to look for more friction. Seeing you like that, so eager to have him inside of you, was all it took for him to sink deep inside your core, filling you with all his length and stretching your walls.

“Fuck! You got so tight, baby.”

You did. While he was away, you didn’t have sex with anybody and you only started thinking about that when you met Seokjin. Not because you really wanted to, but because you felt like it was a necessary step to get what you wanted. Sure, Jin was handsome, but he was no Jungkook. Your husband, your first love, your first everything – he was the only one who could make you wet just by staring at you. He had that power – the power to make your head spin like you had too many drinks.

Jungkook hold your hips in place and started pounding you hard, making you moan at every thrust until you were just a hot wet mess at his mercy.

“Jungkook..” That was all you could say, breathless, while feeling your walls clench around his cock like they were holding to dear life.

He went balls deep inside of you, fucking you for all the times he didn’t in the past three years. It was intoxicating, and you knew you could never get enough of that feeling – of him.

“Jungkook.. cum inside me, please.” You whimpered, pleading him with a mere whisper when you felt his thrusts getting sloppier and more imprecise. Your orgasm was close too, but you wanted to make sure he didn’t pull out. You wanted to feel every drop of him.

“Y/N.. fuck!” Was all he said while he sank deep inside your core, filling you up with his cum and pumping it in to get you closer to your climax.

You came with his name on your lips and the lewd sounds of your sex filling your ears like the sweetest music you’d ever heard. Your hands grabbed the fabric of the couch and you could feel your saliva dripping down the side of your lips, parted by the intense sensation of your orgasm.

He dropped with his chest pressing on your back. You could feel his heavy breath against your skin and his heartbeat trying to get a calmer pace while the high of the climax was slowly fading away.

“We are leaving tonight, baby.” He whispered in your ear after a few moments of silence. “I’m not going back to jail. I’m not gonna let them tear us apart again.”

And again, even after everything that had happened, you believed him.

I guess this is my prison. You are. But I don’t want to escape.

“I love you, Jungkook.”

“I love you too, baby.”

[troius]

What are your favourites relationships in bleach? It’s not necessarily “what do you ship” but of course I would be glad to hear if you have any ships in bleach

I’m definitely interested in which dynamics do you find the most interesting and worth reading into?

I'm going to focus on romantic relationships here, because that's what it seemed like you were gesturing at, but I'd be happy to talk about any others in another ask! Under a cut because it’s long:

I'm actually fairly boring on this front, because the relationships that I most like...are the ones that have the most time spent on them, lmao. So you could say that I'm not actually that discriminating when comes to what I like, I just like Bleach, and I like most of the relationships there as a result.

For example, Ichigo and Orihime's dynamic is great. It's a very classic shonen manga romance (the sweet, pretty girl is in love with the protagonist? no way!) but Kubo really does a great job characterizing the two of them and developing it in a believable way. I've talked a lot about the downside of Ichigo's desire to protect, but I do think that has a certain appeal to Orihime, somebody who has very much been a victim of circumstance in her life up to this point. And while Ichigo more or less refuses to consider himself a sexual or romantic being at this point in the story, I think Orihime's effusive and unconditional affection (even when he "fails to protect people") is something that means a lot to him, even if he's not the best at showing it. I'm really interested in following it as it develops further.

Renji and Rukia's relationship was honestly one of the best parts of the Soul Society arc, and "I'm not letting go of you" might be the best moment in the whole arc. The story of how they fell apart, and Renji's long journey back to feeling worthy of Rukia, was masterfully done, and I loved every step of it, especially in how his redemption was not in fighting, but simply being there for her. But I'm sort of struggling to see where it might develop further? At this point, they might as well be together already, and if they're not it's only because they're too stupid to figure it out.

Moving on, part of the reason the Renji/Rukia stuff worked so well in Soul Society is that it heavily paralleled the Momo/Toshiro and Gin/Rangiku dynamics that were also permeating the story. And while I'm not really enamored with Gin and Rangiku's story, except to the degree it affected Rangiku's character, I find the Momo/Toshiro stuff fascinating, especially as it drags in Aizen, who I think gets underplayed here. It's a dynamic that's all kinds of messed up, because Aizen more or less grooms Momo to not just be his unthinking tool, but also as a means of screwing with Toshiro, and the damage this sort of thing does to young, developing sexualities can't be overstated! But that's sort of what makes it compelling-- you want to see if Toshiro and Momo can find their way past Aizen like Renji and Rukia did, and not collapse under his machinations like Gin and Rangiku.

And finally, I'm not sure whether this will actually go anywhere, but Ikkaku and Yumichika's dynamic is truly wild, written under so much subtext and symbolism that you could pretend it wasn't there if not for the consistency of the imagery. These dudes spend all their time with each other but suppress their powers (which as always in Bleach, are symbolic of who they are) so as to better fit in a conventionally masculine environment commanded by a man who is defined as being unable to even recognize his own inner self! These guys are absolutely in love! But also absolutely not dating, and are in fact somewhat self-loathing to a degree, and while I know a Jump manga is probably not going to have an impassioned declaration of gay love where they say screw the rules and unleash their full powers, that is the natural conclusion to everything Kubo's written up to this point, which is fascinating in its own way.