#how many notes you get how popular you are

[heich0e]

rintarou plays with a bit of ribbon left strewn across the floor, twirling it around his long, lithe fingers idly. it's green and velvety, and slips easily between his digits as he winds it slowly between the valleys of his knuckles, humming a little tune to himself.

as you approach him in the living room by the christmas tree, he looks up at you with a soft, content smile on his face.

"here you go," you say, handing him the cup of coffee you've just prepared, steam curling from the surface. it's in a novelty mug he got you last christmas, shaped like a cute little character from a sci-fi franchise you've loved since you were a kid, and he takes it with an appreciative nod—careful not to spill a drop as the cup passes from your hand to his own.

you take a seat at his side with your own cup of coffee once he's taken his first sip.

"mmm," he hums once he's swallowed the mouthful. "it's good."

"i put some cinnamon in the french press," you tell him, leaning a bit against his arm, your cheek resting on his shoulder as the two of you sit tucked together on the living room floor beneath the tree.

"festive," rinatrou says with an approving nod, shifting so you press even closer to his side, his arm snaking back around your waist.

it's been a slow, easy morning in your nagano apartment. you insisted on opening gifts first thing, because that's what your family always did growing up, and even though rintarou wasn't much of a holiday person to begin with he indulged you without question. it wasn't a grand, elaborate ordeal, just a couple of gifts exchanged between the two of you; some new headphones for rin, some perfume for you, little bits of clothes for each of you here and there. your mother had sent each of you a new pair of mittens (though your card had included an unsubtle but endearing note about how it would be a shame to cover up the new ring you've recently started wearing on your left hand) and rin's sister sent you a popular local tea from the town where she's attending university.

"did you have a nice christmas?" you ask rintarou as he takes another sip of coffee. he hums in agreement, looking down at where you're tucked into his side.

"did you?"

you echo his earlier hum.

"we should clean up," you say, looking around the room at the torn gift wrap and boxes on the floor. "i need to clean up from making the coffee, too."

rintarou dips down and presses a kiss to the top of your head. "you do that, i'll take care of this stuff."

you nod, pulling yourself away from the warmth of his side, pushing yourself back up to your feet as rintarou crawls towards the mess at the bottom of the tree.

you're just about to cross the threshold to the kitchen when you hear him say.

"oh, there's another gift under here."

"what?" you ask, turning back to face him. heat suddenly floods your face when you see him kneeling underneath the tree with a familiar gift in his hands. it's not a very large gift—a slim little package only a bit bigger than the size of his hand—so while you're not surprised it went unnoticed at first, you're mortified when you realize what's about to happen.

"it's for me," he says in confusion after reading the tag, glancing over at you.

"um," you stumble a little over your feet as you try to cross the room towards him. "what if you wait to open that until late—!"

rintarou's finger is already under the edge of the wrapping paper, though he hasn't properly ripped into it yet. he's watching you curiously as you approach him, a glint of something in your eyes that's caused you far too many headaches in the four years the two of you have been dating.

"rin, stop," you say to him, and though you make every attempt to sound firm, the demand comes out more pleading than anything.

"what did you get for me?" he asks, a lilt of mischief in his tone as he peels up the corner of the wrapping paper ever so slightly.

"it's nothing important," you insist, falling to your knees beside him and trying to cover up the present with your hands. "you can have it later."

"but it's christmas now," he counters, slipping the gift out from your hands and holding it away from you. "plus all the other presents are opened, it'll be lonely under the tree all by itself."

"rintarou," you groan, tipping yourself face first into his chest to hide your shame. the telltale sound of wrapping paper tearing tells you that as much as he might love to indulge you, he delights in tormenting you even more.

"what is this?"

you refuse to pull yourself away from his chest.

its quiet for a moment. you hear some shuffling, and you can clearly picture rintarou turning the little package over in his hands as he scrutinizes it.

"was this supposed to be for me?" he asks after a moment, clearly confused.

you don't say anything.

you don't even move.

"did you fall asleep?" rintarou teases you, rubbing at your back as you keep your face hidden against his chest.

"no, i died," you answer, but the words are muffled by the material of his hoodie.

"oh no, not on christmas. how tragic," he drawls jokingly, but you don't laugh.

"...baby..."

"...babe."

"why did you buy me a present i don't understand just to get mad at me about it?" he mutters when you don't respond to any of his beckoning.

finally you separate yourself from his sweatshirt to peer up at him resentfully.

"it is for you," you mumble under your breath, answering his earlier question. you snatch the package out from his hands, tucking it against your chest with your arms crossed over top of it. "but i'm the one who's supposed to wear them."

you watch the realization dawn on rintarou's face. if you weren't so hideously embarrassed, you might even find it in yourself to laugh at the almost cartoonish expression of enlightenment.

"oh," he breathes. "oh."

suddenly he's in your face, dipping down to meet you at eye level, his nose brushing yours.

"you got those just for me?" he asks, and you can almost taste the cinnamon on his lips.

"yeah," you answer quietly, and he kisses you to muffle the little groan the slips out of his lips at your answer.

with one hand cradling the back of your head, rintarou lowers you back onto the ground, slotting himself between your thighs as they part to welcome him. his tongue slips between your lips to meet your own, the warmth his hands gliding up over your hips towards your chest.

you don't resist as he slips the little box out from your grasp.

rintarou pulls away, and you look up at him from your position on the floor as your chest heaves. the look in his eyes as he appraises the gift lacks any of the confusion it had a moment prior, replaced now with a heady, palpable lust.

he turns the box around towards you, and you have no choice but to look at the silky sheer tights in their luxurious packaging.

"this is a very thoughtful gift," he says to you quietly, his voice low and a little strained. the bulge in his gray sweatpants, which has only gotten larger since his moment of realization, does not go unnoticed by you.

"it's easy to buy gifts for a pervert," you mumble, hiding your face under your hand.

slowly rintarou lifts your hand from your face, and you watch under heavy lidded eyes as he lifts it to his mouth, kissing your knuckles tenderly—right over the ring he put there a few days prior.

"are you gonna put them on for me?" rintarou speaks into your skin, his lashes fluttering in a way that might seem sweet if the circumstances were different. you take the package from him, slipping your fingertip under the lip of the packaging to pry it open.

you glance up at him again.

rintarou laughs breathily as he meets your gaze, and you catch a glint of teeth biting down into the plush of his lip like he's trying to restrain himself.

there's a sudden thickness in your throat. a knot in your stomach. anticipation thrums just underneath your skin, prickling up to the surface with every gentle touch of his hands.

you tilt the opened package back towards him.

"don't you wanna put them on me yourself?"

he'll be the one tearing them off you in a few minutes anyway, so he may as well enjoy them while they last.

[sungbeam]

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: thank you to @petrichor-han for tagging me in her lovely wrapped post!! i had so much fun putting this together, and my spreadsheet tracker can finally be used for something bahaha 💀 i'll be talking more about my experiences this year later in the post!

some no pressure tags: @gluion @winterchimez @winwintea @polarisjisung @thepixelelf @sorryimananti-romantic @diamonddaze01 @jinkoh @blizzardfluffykpop @sohnric @from-izzy

first fic of 2024: daybreak ☆ ju haknyeon

posted january 5th

i remember writing this in bed while being in an awful spot, mentally. in an effort to save myself from disaster, i wrote this very short fic to focus on describing something comforting.

last fic of 2024: what we make of it ☆ wen junhui

posted december 1st

i also wrote this one in bed (i've written a lot of these in bed...)!! and it was after much mental simpery over wen junhui and the pics from his new drama that i gave into the idea of general!jun (i've also been dying to write something historically adjacent).

longest fic: incantations ☆ ji changmin

i remember conjuring about four ideas for the dbn halloween event before ultimately settling on yet another demon au TT like there was a cultish monster hunter au, a fallen angel reincarnation au, and a zombie apocalypse au... i honestly didn't know if i would make it or not lol and i had @justalildumpling proofing while i wrote the ending haha i can't say if i'm completely satisfied with it, but i can say that i think my world building and plot building skills have def improved, and you can see it in that fic

most popular fic: leave the window open ☆ choi san

tbh i thought this fic was gonna be a flop at first bc it wasn't until maybe a day after i posted it that it started to get traction? i also had the idea for it haunting my brain for MONTHS and i was so glad to finally get it out into words haha suffice to say, i am still so surprised by how well it did, but pleasantly so!

personal pick: creature ☆ ji changmin

i could talk about this fic, this series, this CHARACTER for DAYS. at this point, nt!changmin is a completely different entity to the changmin you think you know LOL creature is my self-indulgent character study of a demonic being who loves a person so much that he doesn't know what to do with himself

pretty self-explanatory — i honestly have no idea how i wrote over 300k last year, but i'm still pretty happy with how much i was able to write this year! i took a lot more breaks, and more time to write, and this def doesn't encompass just how many words i've written that are still in drafting stages and not published :')

i bet at least one of these surprises you >< (it's changmin right? jkjk)

ji changmin: ~51,900

— find him in: casino royale, subtle poetry, creature, and incantations

txt choi line: ~21,600

— find them in: bird hunt

jeong yunho: ~12,600

— find him in: bedfellows and something to give each other

to my friends, mutuals, and readers, thank you so much for being by my side this year! it's been brutal out here, not gonna lie, and i wish i had been able to post and write more this year. alas, life happens. i also find that writing longer fics that are more fleshed out just satisfy my creative needs a lot better—meaning that i will likely not produce as many fics, quantity-wise, as i used to.

on that note, i hope to at least give you some idea of what you can look forward to in the new year! i have several ideas for my superhero collab, including (but not limited to): mutant angel!jeonghan, scarlet witch!minghao, and venom!changmin. i'm also actively plotting out ventures with our sebongs, particularly a dokyeom knight fic and a fake dating dino fic! as for my current ongoing wips, i am hoping to get more finished for terra nova (high sci-fi/fantasy ateez fic), birds of prey (mafia hongjoong), and other secret projects 😌

that's all from me, friends. happy holidays and see you in the new year 💖🥂✨

[strxnged]

ALHAITHAM: # magic.

My secret santa gift for the illustrious Miss Ying @mlkbwunnies (AKA Mrs. Alhaitham)! Thank you for tolerating my poetic inclinations—I can't be normal about anything including your selfship. I am so glad to have met you in the last year or so. You are truly a light in the (many) communities you contribute to! I love being in your server and getting to chat with you and seeing your life updates on my dash. I hope this coming year is full of blessings and light!

Word count. 0.9k. Genre. cozy; established relationship w. a touch of magic.

Alhaitham was roused by the sound of music.

Nascent light of a sun hinting to rise cast a gentle glow on the bed he shared with you. His gaze fell on your bare shoulder. He felt a dreamy rise of strings, a melody of chimes, and his own heartbeat swell as he leaned over you and placed a warm kiss on your cheek. Though he meant for it to only be one kiss, he saw your beautiful lashes and flushed cheeks and he couldn’t resist planting a few more. “Merry Christmas, love,” he whispered. This woke you enough that you half-hummed, half-sighed with a dozy smile—maybe at him, maybe at your dreams. Smiling, he tightened his arm around your waist and gave you one final embrace before he slipped out of bed and donned a housecoat. The music was fading.

It was only as he shut the door to the bedroom that he paused, listening. The music had suddenly stopped, leaving him in somewhat confused silence. It was only a minor hypnopompic hallucination, a common and harmless occurance of post-slumber muddlement. Alhaitham was skeptical of anything deeper than this; he knew that the space between the land of dreams and reality was only a mental trick. Even on a magical day such as today, his mind was only playing tricks on him, he was sure.

Yet he was acutely aware of a sense of wonder. Would it… come back if he opened the door again?

Alhaitham set his hand on the cold doorknob, considering. He was the only one aware of this idea. Kaveh wasn’t around to seed doubt, and you would only think that he was gazing at you one last time. This was something that, at the thought of it, eroded any other concerns. After all this time, he couldn’t get enough of gazing at you. He turned the knob. 

You were still adorably bunched up under the blankets, fast asleep as he’d left you. But the music came flooding back.

Anxiety crept through his body. Perhaps it was a confirmation bias? An expectancy effect? If he closed the door now, the plucked harp floating through his mind would stop, but only because he thought it would. So he thought, determined, that of course it would continue, because that was how hallucinations worked.

The door shut. The music stopped.

It was all Alhaitham could do to step lightly as he sped across the house to one of the bookshelves—yours, which was filled with charming fairy tales, poetry, and anthologies of holy and magical phenomena. Neither of you were very superstitious, but sometimes coincidences occurred in this world that could not be explained by the comforts of science.

He set the book on the table by the window, turning immediately to the index. Slipping his reading glasses onto his nose, he dragged his finger down the list until he saw “Christmas.” He flipped to entries which denoted werewolf children, burning shoes, baths, pudding, elves—but nothing, to his comfort, about music playing in the mind. He was about to close the book, make a coffee, and pretend that it hadn’t happened.

Music, he thought.

Guided by the index, he journeyed through several more entries until he saw one that made his heart skip a beat.

Musical Fantasy: A misunderstood phenomenon characterized by hearing beautiful music in one’s mind. Despite popular conceptions, it only occurs when the one you love is dreaming of you in the early morning. These melodies can sometimes be heard by and channeled through spiritual mediums, and thus transcribed into playable notes. It is said that hearing Musical Fantasies indicates mutual, undying desire.

Alhaitham closed the book and returned it to its position on the shelf. As he brewed his coffee his brows were furrowed in consternation. There had always been a part of him that fancied mysteries, a part that was drawn to the magic of the world. It was against his best judgement and beyond his control. To step into the murky waters of the supernatural would mean to let go of his need to understand—to let go of his impulse to feel in control. He didn’t hate it—he feared it—he was captivated by it. Despite everything, he was intrigued. 

It was not too different from that shine in your eyes that had gripped him all those years ago.

He heard your quiet footsteps like a cat’s down the hall, and he stood, his chest fluttering. Music or no music, he needed to see you, and needed to feel your gaze returned.

As you stepped into the room you seemed to hit a warm, gentle wall. Alhaitham’s hands pressed the small of your back and your hair, drawing you into a tender but tight embrace. The music rang in his head, and yet it seemed to fade into the background when he felt your skin against his. Electrifying. Profound.

His breath tickled your ear as he said in that low, alluring voice of his, “I love you.”

Alhaitham felt you melt into him. And in that unique, familiar way, magic and logic coincided to explain exactly how he knew you were his.

Author's note. I must add that I'm pretty rusty at writing romance these days, so I hope you don't mind that I added in some contemplation with the magic component. Merry Christmas, Ying! And pass it on to your husband, too. (。・ω・。)

[brainrotgoblin]

ok SO. this is a long one, I apologize in advance.

Without knowing your personal tastes in shows/media, I'm going to give my favorites.

My personal favorite anime is Bungo Stray Dogs. A detective anime where real world authors are imagined as characters with special abilities based off of the books they wrote. It's sort of a crack show that turns into a really well fleshed out story with more serious themes. Heavy cw for suicide/mental health tho with that one. For fanservice/ick levels in BSD, there's a joke incest couple (a common happenstance in anime unfortunately but its a common comedy trope in japanese media), but it's not prominent at all minus a few jokes in the first few episodes.

The Promised Neverland is a psychological horror anime, and I wont say too much about it because *spoilers* :) Its seriously amazing. For fanservice, absolutely none. However. There is a character midway through season 1 named Sister Krone, her character is fleshed out writing-wise, but her design is a racist caricature of sorts. Otherwise I recommend the show so highly, its a show i wish i could see for the first time again. (also season 1 is where it ends. i prommy. Dont watch past that if you watch TPN for the sake of your own mental health).

Moving on to Sk8 the Infinity. Another personal favorite of mine, a goofy skateboarding show with the most endearing characters ever and gutwrenching (imo) interpersonal issues between the characters. Its also heavily queer coded which is cool, and is getting a second season sometime in the near future :). Another one i wish i could see for the first time again. It's only main issue imo is it's villain being pretty heavily coded as a groomer, but the show doesnt justify it really. Come for the goofy skateboarders stay for the queer couples that are basically canon ("Reki my love... of skateboarding-" a real quote from the show btw these boys are STUPID) and the kind of insane plot. Fanservice: not much, sorta just a lack of diversity with this one. Hoping it improves in s2

Death Note. what is there to say about death note that hasnt already been said. A classic anime with extremely impressive writing depicting god complexes, and the consequences of what it means to inflict personal justice. It's another detective show but the core of it is a commentary on black and white thinking. I think about this show so often osduifjowisejf. Fanservice/ick: none as far as i remember. I need to rewatch the show but any sort of sexual comments (of which there aren't many) are used in a way to further develop existing characters and how they interact with others. No weirdos in this one just psychological horror and a pinch of existential dread <3.

BNA (Brand New Animal). A lesser known anime about furry city and societal commentary. It does do the whole animals as a metaphor for racism bit but its not the main focus of the show and has more of a focus on class struggle (..and religious imagery. for some reason) and interpersonal conflicts! A bonus to this anime is also that it's absolutely STUNNING, I love Studio Triggers art and the COLORS ough. Scrumptious. There's no icks or fanservice in this show from what I remember, the mc is a woman (and is sort of a metaphor for a mixed race kid) and we love her for that. Extremely strong characters all around. Good show :) (sidenote! BNA did get discontinued due to lack of popularity so theres a few loose plot threads that will unfortunately never get tied up. Just a fair warning).

My last anime rec. I think. Im listing off the less offensive ones, so theres not as many in my immediate list. Saiki K! A comedy anime that focuses primarily on subverting anime tropes. The main character Saiki has basically every power under the sun, and would be a typical mary sue esc character but his main goal in life is to be the most unnoticed person ever. I dont think any summary i write could do it justice so I'm just gonna promise that this show is genuinely so good and I highly recommend it. Fair warning that most of the characters aren't the most developed as they're meant to be direct characterizations of tropes and not much more than that. For fanservice and icky stuff theres none that I can remember. I haven't seen season 2 though, as theres no english dub.

(also i agree with the dunmeshi recs i just saw it recommended like 3 times so i dont need to repeat it)

There's my unnecessarily lengthy opinions :) I wish you happy anime watching, its a really fun category of media!

wanna try watching some kind of anime at some point because they look cool but a. i know there's a misogyny and racism problem and im not sure which ones are bad about it and b. i have no idea where to even start with that

[kiwibirdlafayette]

i was told once that sometimes i have trouble fittin in with other fancontent makers because im seen as a “threat” (whatever that means) but trust me when i say i am not here to compete with yall. Zero interest in fact. i dont think fandom is meant to be a game of who can be the ‘best’ fan and im here to just yknow. contribute to a community :]

If it seems like Im loud and sometimes pushy about people seein my stuff its because im passionate about and proud of a with what ive made and i want to share with the other people who are also enjoyers of that thing!!

[makiswirl]

can i just say. and this is probably a niche hill to die on. that i am so gobsmacked every time someone vaguely hints at the idea that jotaro doesn't care meaningfully for the other crusaders, usually particularly kakyoin and joseph, when those two actually tend to be the ones he reacts to being hurt the hardest

like he cares for his loved ones!!!! that literally plays into his character motives in every single part he shows up in!!! stop lying to me!!!!!!!

[pokemonfrommemory]

Chansey replacement

[daisybell-on-a-carousel]

Theyre going to think I like canon and purely canon if I keep going on like this

[paimonial-rage]

My most interacted with fics:

Cocky Bastard Vibes (Zhongli)

Tipsy Tales (Anemo boys)

Why He Rejected You (pt 1)

Telling Them Off (Ayato, Venti, Xiao)

A Sight to Behold (Yae Miko)

Obvious (Neuvillette)

Simple (Alhaitham)

What Destiny Has Brought (Fischl)

Why He Rejected You (pt 2)

Blasphemous Assumptions (Zhongli)

[britneyshakespeare]

you know i don't use amazon but something i often think about. several years ago my mom ordered me some books for my birthday on amazon and one of them i asked for was the oxford world's classics edition of the rover and other plays by aphra behn edited and with an introduction by jane spencer. it was supposedly new but when it got to me, the cover (paperback) was folded at an angle and the edges of the pages were dirty like they were left somewhere contaminated. and you see i don't mind like a not-pristine book at all; most of my books are used. but what the fuck was that.

[onebizarrekai]

okay yes technically the 'no' answer on the poll has the most votes, but if you add up all the options as intended, the zelda fans are winning by 72.5% (so far)

honestly I am THRILLED that this zelda fans have popped up already, even if they've only played some of the games. you guys know where it's at

[musical-chick-13]

Who do I feel as though genderbent mello would get girboss treatment

See, I go back and forth on this, because my instinctive reaction is that you are absolutely right. There's the whole implied Catholicism thing (people love to use that as an aesthetic, which, fair, I used to be Catholic we have some banger art and designs), there's the leather and Fashion Choices™, there's the "is a criminal who kills people but isn't The Worst One Here" and there's the "main target of their ire is an unpopular character" all of which are prime traits for fandom girlboss-ification.

The conflict I find myself having, though, is that this character is. Angry. That's kind of his Thing™. And if he were a woman........people really don't like angry women. Especially if they act out about it. If they're lucky, all that happens is they get called "crazy" or "hysterical." But most of the time they get called [insert gendered insult or death threat here]. (Remember when I got harassed multiple times irl for simply dressing up as a fictional character at a con, good times.) A female version of this character would have "conventionally attractive thin young person" to her advantage, and people are kinder to female characters if they fit into that category than if they don't. And, again, a major source of this character's anger involves their misplaced disdain for a character the fandom at large (sadly, incorrectly) does not have a ton of love for. And those things might be enough to override the general fandom distaste for destructive anger in female characters.

I'm going to go into this further in my "almost-genderbent DN" post (which is. it's coming. I just. chronic illness. words.), but I guess it would depend on how unhinged (and, specifically in what ways she is unhinged) the story makes this genderbent version of her. Some types of "unhinged" are seen as delightful or even narratively palatable, and some aren't. Because there is a general-fandom threshold between, "The crimes make her cool™" and "The crimes make her the devil incarnate" and I'm trying to fully parse out where exactly that threshold is. And once I have a more concrete idea of it, all of you will be the first to know. :)

(Another factor in whether or not she gets Girlbossed™ is probably to what extent (if any) genderbending her changes her relationship with Matt. Because they're a pretty popular ship, and if a character choice makes a ship more or less appealing in the eyes of the fandom...historically, that's going to change the general perception of that character.)

[silverhairedinu]

since sess isnt going to participate in valentine’s day, i will touch on the yōkai equivalent :  mating rituals!  instead of gifting prospective partners chocolates, or flowers for a yōkai they take a more  . . .  practical approach. at least, in part.   matches are only made possible by the pursuer proving their worth in strength first and foremost, and ability to provide.  emotions are not typically present in yōkai partners --  at least, not always / initially.  but even still, someone like sesshōmaru would still desire to prove his capabilities as a strong partner by presenting his intended with gifts he hunted.  strong beasts, other yōkai, their enemies or perhaps other suitors, to show how unworthy they were.  that is typically how it begins;  and then, depending on the yōkai, the gifts may be more personal.  handmade kimonos or garments that hold a personal touch (  in seshōmaru’s case, perhaps colors of his crest / house;  or colors / patterns he knows they prefer and that look good on them );  weapons crafted for their use and protection;  possibly small trinkets or jewelry that the one he is courting likes, not but in excess.  even he, as yōkai noble, prefers not to have much in the way of jewelry, in part due to personal taste and to be practical, given that he spends much time being engaged in battle.  these are all traits of showing strength, dedication, a willingness ( and ability ) to provide for various needs;  not only the base ones, like protection and food, but also that he knows their preferences, has watched them with a keen eye, and listened with a keen ear, and tailored his courting style and gifts to compliment them and their interests / desires, while keeping true to his own traditions and desires.

[welpnotagain]

I wrote out like two quite long posts. Anyway it boils down to:

If you post something online, especially a subjective opinion, you are opening yourself up to be disagreed with. This is to be expected. You are not alone on the internet and it is not reasonable to act like you are receiving hate and/or are "being cancelled" simply because people are disagreeing with you. If you think your opinion is entitled to stay entirely unopposed you probably shouldn't post it.

[queershakespeare]

do you ever get one too many annoying comments in the notes of one of your posts and have to white-knuckle yourself out of getting in a fight with strangers online who have misunderstood your original intention

[emotional-and-happy]

After many years of struggling to plug my phone charger in while sober I just struggled to plug it in while drunk 💜 Benadryl cucumber that one was for you