#i got quite carried away with this

[tomboxed]

drawing of my little headcanon regarding johnny doing cage fighting in his early twenties :3

[majickth]

butterfly Scar?

the loneliest butterfly

[unsat-and-strange]

alright. i know the pretty much accepted fandom standard for arthur (specifically when john has his eyes) (or john in human form as well) is gold eyes. i love it! genuinely!!

hear me out.

dark eyes. darker than the black behind the stars, darker than imagining. even a prolonged inspection couldnt show where pupil meets iris, not that arthur is often still enough for that sort of thing. its the kind of darkness that things hide in, the kind that makes you feel like things are looking back. dark enough that you are prey. dark enough that you have to look away after a moment. eyes like a hole in space has been centered in the whites of them, absorbing all light. his eyes are always moving, scanning, searching, hunting? no, that cant be quite right, he speaks like a gentleman and looks far too thin to do any kind of harm. but at the same time, he is littered in scars and youve never quite seen eyes like that on any living thing before, let alone a fellow human. his eyes are so dark.

[shazzbaa]

I wanted to do some pixels for artfight, so here's the attacks on other peoples Fallen Londons I did! Dr. Quilliam Sabethes belongs to @ollietreetime, Jack Bell I MEAN the mysterious and handsome Benevolent Rogue belongs to @othidar, and Peter Sunstram who might have a liiiittle bit of a sunlight addiction belongs to @doodledragondoll!

[spellboundcities]

They are revising the script to The Film Ever....

[juniemunie]

TEST DRIVE TEST DRIVE TEST DRI-

I have so many thoughts about this entire sequence, from the way Hiccup and Toothless get along to the MUSIC- (the music analysis is going to my tags)

.

But im gonna talk about Toothless pov again

I always think of this is like, the forbidden friendship scene for Toothless the way the actual forbidden friendship was for Hiccup

If Hiccup's scene was Toothless connecting to Hiccup through human things (sharing food, smiling, art and all that)

Then this scene is Toothless' because Hiccup connects with Toothless through flying, something I've always headcanoned to be what dragons (the ones that fly anyway) need not just to survive, but to live and bond with others.

if Hiccup's FF is the beginning of the potential then Toothless' FF is the "end", the moment where the potential is found and fulfilled, the thing that really solidifies their friendship because both has now experienced and accepted the other's unique sides

Just, yeah Toothless sees Hiccup just getting it, understanding why flying is so wonderful, hearing him cheer and whoop in joy like a fledgling's first time in the air, and seeing him at the end instinctively understand what to do-

Like that sudden spin near the end of the sea pillars- and both of them looked surprised they even managed to do that together instinctively- when just a few minutes ago Hiccup couldnt even dodge the two very obvious sea pillars in the beginning

He looks up at this human, this strange clever, brilliant little human who has somehow made this even possible, who has broken every preconception he has, who is now flying with him with a dragon's instinct but baring his teeth in that human way of expressing joy, screaming something he could not parse perfectly in his dragon tongue but understood the meaning all the same.

"We did it."

[nourtella]

Describe your ideal daddy (physical and emotional)

thank you for this thought provoking question !! my answer is below the cut, cause i understand not everyone wants to read all of that hihihi <3

emotional:

as stated in my pinned post, i love sophisticated men. men that are well read, soft and eloquently spoken. men that have a way with words, in a genuine not manipulative manner. men that have the ability to make me stumble over my own words, because of their own. men that talk about concepts or words i need to look up the meaning of. men that will keep me hooked on their every word and can keep me stimulated intellectually and mentally. men that i can learn from. men that are wise and are able to lead.

i love soft, gentle and caring daddies most. daddies that put my needs before theirs, even though i would wanna give back to them ten fold, cause they're just that loving to me. daddies who are nerds or have niche interests of some sort, that make me wanna rip their clothes off, when they passionately show me or talk to me about it. daddies whose love languages are either acts of service or words of affirmation (physical touch would be just the cherry on top). daddies who are healthily jealous and possessive over me. daddies who crave and yearn for me just as much as i am in need of them and are under no circumstance holding back to show me that. so, you could say i am into what a lot of men falsely deem as "simp behavior".

daddies who are nice and respectable gentlemen, who take the most pleasure in praising and worshipping me, rather than "hurting" me, even though it'd be consensual. daddies that are pleasure doms. daddies who give me gentle discipline, when i am acting like a bratty princess (which is like most of the time), but get off on me behaving that way regardless. romantic daddies. daddies who you could never tell are into kinky shit, cause they radiate a golden retriever energy to the outside. daddies that cum just as hard, if not harder, from jerking off to my selfies. daddies that talk me through it. daddies that can also be submissive !!!!!!!!!

physical:

i don't have a type looks wise, cause i like a lot of things ! but i do love men with very masculine features most !!

beards, mustaches or bare faced. longer hair, short hair- i love it all, as long as he's well groomed and it suits his face. speaking of hair- idk what it is but hairy men are so hot. chest hair and happy trails especially !!! he needs to be a little ugly (don't ask, it's a girls thing). tattoos are hot and so are glasses. he needs to dress well and be up to match or coordinate outfits with me occasionally. also, nice big strong veiny hands and arms !!

he could be on the skinnier side, he could be a little chubby, be super athletic and chisled, have a dad bod- you name it, i like all of those. i also do not have a criteria for his height. all that matters, is that he's a whole lot bigger than me, which is not gonna be hard with regards to how i'm built. after all what's most important to me, is that he fulfills my emotional criteria, cause then he'll automatically look like the only and most handsome man in the world to me !! <3

[darkwood-sleddog]

Somebody lost their tennis ball on our road. It’s Sigurd’s now.

[aew-regression-cove]

EVAN PETERS as PETER MAXIMOFF

(in Wandavision)

ⓘ Please do not use/repost without credit!!! If you want me to unlock the post to reblog let me know!!!

[reinedeslys-central]

"I think you should totally get in the back of my truck, actually," Leo says, linking pinkies with Jason. "What's the line? 'I can show you the world'?"

Jason stares down at where their fingers are curled together, peach on olive. He can't stop looking. "You don't have a truck."

Leo groans. "That was one time. I promise this one's legal. See?" He gently untangles their hands and slips behind the blue Chevy, returning with a slip of wrinkled paper that he triumphantly shoves in Jason's face.

LEO, I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU BREAK MY CAR WHILE I'M IN IOWA I WILL HAUNT YOU TO THE END OF TIME.

Your loving cousin, Nyssa (P.S. You can take your boy for a ride. I'll allow it. There's blankets in the back (and please help yourself to the glovebox). Don't tell me.)

Jason's eyes travel down the sparkly purple pen, catching on the note at the bottom before flickering back up. There's something that aches in his chest at the words 'your boy'.

He's not sure what expression takes over his face, but Leo, for his part, sees him and immediately ducks his head down so he can read the paper too, frowning. Jason follows his eyes down to the same line as they widen and Leo turns a raging, glorious red before hastily re-crumpling the note and sticking it into one of the many pockets of his cargo pants.

He clears his throat awkwardly while inspecting the dying grass at their feet. It looks like it could be good grass if it ever rains again this month, nice and long and thick.

..Yeah, nevermind.

He takes his glasses off and cleans them in an attempt to - what, exactly? It's not like he's got the object permanence of a toddler. It's not like looking away will stop him from thinking about red-hot blushes and bouncing curls and sharp smiles and -

Leo claps once, calling Jason's attention back up to him and the pretty blush staining his freckled nose. He looks just as awkward, laughing bashfully.

"Well, that's just Nyssa. Uh, she probably wouldn't actually haunt me, she doesn't believe in ghosts - not, I mean, if you do -" his words trip over each other, diverting the original innuendo that was definitely just meant to tease Leo since Jason's never even met her, not to mention he's not his, finally ending with - "but as you can see, it's clearly perfectly legal. So."

Jason raises an eyebrow. "Somehow I doubt that." Leo groans. "Oh, come on, dude, live a little, why dontcha?" He sidles up to him again, draping a warm arm over his shoulders and drawing him over to the car doors. "I know, you know, your dad's in California, your mom's in Paris, and your sister's at a party."

Jason opens his mouth to protest again and -

"- and before you say that you have homework," Leo scoffs, "allow me to remind you that we did our homework together yesterday, and you're already done your math homework for tomorrow, because you're a nerd."

Jason closes his mouth. "It's a school night," he offers weakly.

"Yeah, and every minute you have us waste out here is another minute we're not in the car, ergo another minute we're wasting, on a school night." Leo steps around him and holds his hands out again, eventually latching on to Jason's wrists and tugging him closer so he can peer into his eyes.

Jason may or may not forget how to breathe.

"Are you tired? You don't look tired," Leo frowns. "If you really don't want to go, I won't force you, y'know."

Jason forces his lungs to expand, contract, expand, so he can blurt out, "No, I mean, you got me. I'll go."

Leo grins as bright as the setting sun and twists around, whooping. He not-so-gently pushes Jason towards the car door before jogging over to hop into the driver's seat.

It takes a while, once they're actually on the road and leaving their neighbourhoods behind, that Jason finally goes, "You know, I'm just as concerned with how legal this is as I am with the fact that you still haven't told me where we're going."

Leo glares at him through the mirror. "Hey, if I told you then it wouldn't be a surprise, now would it?"

Jason hates surprises. "For all I know, you just kidnapped me for a surprise road trip to Toronto, and I didn't even pack my toothbrush."

Laughter bubbles out of the boy sitting at the wheel, quickly escalating into a full guffaw. "You're funny," Leo gasps, wiping away tears at a red light. "How did I not notice that you're funny?"

Jason's definitely never been told that he's funny. He might joke, sure, but being 'funny' is reserved for people like Percy, people like Leo or Cecil, who carry humour on them like sugar on a pastry, baked into their laughs and sprinkled over top with how clever they are.

No matter how hard Jason's tried, he's never been very clever.

Leo's still laughing, now more of a soft giggle as he pulls into the left lane to make a turn. He tries not to let it affect him.

"You should joke more often, dude. Bet all the girls would love that."

Jason looks outside at the trees and farms they're passing. Judging by the position of the sun, they're heading pretty much due south. There's nothing down south for them to be doing, though, especially not this late at night.

Skinny dipping, maybe. He wouldn't put it past Leo to suggest something like that and actually go through with it. But dragging him along? They barely know each other. What's a couple months on all the other people he knows?

"You wanna turn the radio on?" Leo says. Jason looks over to see him watching him with an odd smile. "Shotgun's choice, right? Don't worry, I won't judge. Even though I bet you listen to those 24-hour 'nature recordings' for fun and don't know what real music sounds like."

Jason rolls his eyes and plays with the dial until the 106.1 comes on. Leo groans. "Seriously? They keep playing, like, the same six artists over and over. Sure, Top 40's fine, but show a little variety, you know?"

He shrugs. It's like Leo said - he doesn't really know radio stations. His dad - when he deigns to drive the family places - is much more of a silence-of-doom, or failing that, an ominous-car-conversations person. "You put something on, then, if you're so set on it." He replies.

The warm light from the street plays over Leo's knuckles as he switches the wheel to one hand, blindly flailing the other one towards Jason until he hits the box behind the gear shift. "Pick a CD from here, whatever's fine. Eh, maybe not the Chopin or Metallica though. Might shift the vibe a bit too much."

Obligingly, Jason tugs at the black, faux-leather box until it comes open with a muffled thunk. Inside is a stack of CDs, spanning everything from Katy Perry to Vivaldi to Iron Maiden to Monsta X.

"Your cousin's got quite the music taste," he tosses out, rifling through the stack while giving periodic glances out the window to make sure they're not, like, five seconds away from a crash or something.

If there was anything Beryl Grace taught her kids, it was how to be a responsible passenger.

Almost on autopilot, Jason digs the pink-purple Teenage Dream CD out of the pile and then has to hastily shove the polaroids that spill out from underneath it back between the surrounding paper disc-sleeves (Mamma Mia!, he sees, and ..Heng:garæ? Whatever that means). That can't be safe for the discs, especially in a moving card, but then again who is he to judge. He doesn't even own any CDs.

They've fully left the town behind now, sailing down the open road with nothing but trees, farms, and the occasional streetlight in sight. He leans over and pops the disc into the CD drive, wondering again for the hundredth time where Leo's taking him.

Leo rolls to a stop at a four-way and watches him skip over the first two songs. "Whadya choose?"

Jason smiles. "Is now a good time to tell you I was born in Pasadena?"

The open bars of 'California Gurls' start to play, and Leo's warm, penny-brown eyes widen before he laughs, bright and a touch wild, incredulous.

It's weird. It's so weird. Maybe this is what his father meant when he said not to get any weird ideas in his head so close to finally reaching the decade-long goal of an Ivy League school. Maybe this is what his mother meant when she'd chastised him, saying hormonal teenagers got more impulsive with puberty and he should take care to keep listening to his parents, lest he lose everything he's worked so hard for.

If anyone else had tried this, he thinks, he wouldn't have said yes. He would have stayed at home, studied ahead for bond enthalpy and subjunctive Spanish, made tomorrow's lunch and cleaned his room. Adhering to routine. Acting - being normal.

You have to be normal, Jason. That's how they love you.

I will not tolerate an abnormal son.

Oh, Jason, it's like you just don't understand. What will people say? About you? About our family?

Leo isn't normal. Or maybe he is. Normal doesn't exist, when he's with Leo. He likes that about him.

He takes a risk and rolls the window down halfway so he can lean his head out and watch the sky, crisp wind tousling his hair. Leo smirks at him and switches the wheel to his right hand so he can roll his window down to match.

"Ten minutes," he says. "Look alive, buddy."

"There must be something in the water", Katy Perry croons.

also from 'burning like a glowing star', this valgrace fic I'm writing.

more stuff: Writing Directory

[soaps-mohawk]

Hey! I love your story so so much and I always look forward to new chapters!

I do have a question though. Is the whole General Shepard cameras thing still is part of the story? I feel like the buildup was so good and then it just disappeared and became unimportant. Like if the guys never find out about it, it's whatever.

I dont mean this as an insult to your writing at all, but I'm just wondering if it's gonna come back at all since it's been so long since it's been thought about by the mc.

Again, I love your work

You'll have to wait and see

[arcandoria]

Prompt: Romance

for Veilguard30, featuring Alythess Cousland and Alistair Theirin (Queen/King) on ao3 note: this one got big, sorry! reading might be better on ao3

Nightmares came for everyone, but between what he’d seen Seheron, what he’d gone through during the 5th Blight, and the actual darkspawn taint running in his blood, Alistair had enough reasons to wonder which source of his were every night. Most of the time, they’d eventually mix into one and he’d jolt awake from melodic whispers he couldn’t quite understand.

He’s in his bed in the royal chambers when he starts, mumbling a curse. The sky by the window right in front of him is still near dark, but bright gold has begun to push through enough to fend off the night.

Turning his back on it, Alistair sinks in the sea of linen sheets and fur blankets, pressing his eyes closed as he tries to get his breathing back to a normal pace.

A weight shifts on the mattress, and soon after warm, gentle fingers brush across his cheekbone, seeking permission. Recognizing her touch immediately, he reaches for them with his own hand, pressing it against his skin, fingers interlocking. Soft palm cupping his face, a thumb caresses a line by his cheek, the motion soothing his senses immediately.

Pressing his own thumb against the back of her hand, Alistair sighs quietly in relief, and gets his mind to focus on the feeling of her skin against his.

As the motion grounds him, the oniric haze gives way to the real world — the lingering smoky scent of the extinguished fireplace, the cold air biting his skin where the covers had slipped, the soft snoring of the dog sleeping somewhere on the floor by the feet of their bed. But what ultimately lulls him gently, as always, is her. It doesn’t take long for the persistent caress, the warmth irradiating from her body, and his wife’s quiet presence to set his heart at ease, his body catching up to the fact there’s no real danger in sight to fend off.

Once she’s satisfied with the pace of his breathing, Alythess leans closer, softly pressing her lips to his closed eyelid and sustaining the kiss for a precious second or two, before retracting her hand and sitting back on the bed.

It’s been a years-long ritual now, with the roles usually alternating. Although lately, it seems most of the time he was the one being comforted. Alistair didn’t know if she was just always waking up that early, or if she was simply not sleeping at all — Maker knew she had a way longer list of reasons to have unrestful nights — and any attempt of finding out led nowhere as she refused to “let it worry him”. Stubborn woman.

He’s blessed by the sight of her nude, scars-peppered back, muscles from years of swordsmanship rolling gently under her skin, half-lit by a candle nearby that confirmed she’d been awake for a while now before he was. Alythess is part-way through styling her hair, some of the brown locks still falling loose all the way down her waist as she focuses on braiding part of it, a Cousland-blue ribbon running through it, and for a few moments he relishes at her handicraft, watching as the strands slide up as she pulls them, wrap around her fingers and between each other, before flowing down again across the curves of her back, hiding marks, revealing others. Her skin being pulled taut as her arms raise to handle the locks, before relaxing again and bundling together by her waistline when they are lowered.

When watching isn’t enough, Alistair reaches towards her with the back of his hand, knuckles gently brushing on the center of her lower back. Alythess pauses for a second at his touch, before carrying on with her task.

He sees her skin pebble like gooseflesh under the candlelight, and a smile curves his lips.

Carrying on with the gesture, he inspects a dozen scars he’d already memorized by now, but still admired all the same. A gash that ran at an angle all the way up the shoulder, an unwanted souvenir from the Deep Roads. A smaller one that began close to the spine before disappearing on the side of her ribs, which she had from even before they’d met — he still recalls running a fingertip across it the first time he’d undressed her. A dozen smaller ones, newer and old and older.

No matter his persistent caress though, she doesn’t budge and leave the hair aside to join him back on bed as he had hoped she would. Which sadly meant she was set on leaving.

“Should I know what my wife is up to when it’s barely sunrise?” Alistair sighs, turning to lay on his back.

She glances at him over the shoulder, focusing on finishing the second braid on her hair before securing the two of them at the center behind her head, leaving much of the brown locks cascading down her back, contained between the two braids.

Alythess turns in place, then lays down across the bed, propping one of the legs up the mattress and resting her head on his chest, partially submerged on the furs. Despite the tiredness of those green eyes, her expression is soft.

He rests a hand on her nude side, and she interlaces her fingers on his before speaking.

“Since ‘his Teyrn is failing to take the matter seriously’, Bann Franderel reached for the Warden-Commander ‘as he trusts she will recognize the severity of the possible threat’...”

As soon the name passes through her lips, Alistair is groaning. For all their barking, fereldan nobles could sometimes be worse than orlesian gossipers, offended by everything. With Teyrn Fergus Cousland a widower, Bann Franderel was hoping the man would take interest in one of his daughters. When declined, he’d made a point to find any and all reasons to bother everyone involved. Apparently being told by the King ‘What do you want me to do, strap the man to the chantry pulpit?’ was a big motivator.

Alythess nearly fails to suppress her laughter at his reaction, and continues.

“... so I told him that my court duties were keeping me at the Capital, and that if he’s sure there’s a chance of darkspawn lurking about West Hill, he may join Arl Sighard and I at Fort Drakon by dawn so he can see if the darkspawn weapons we have in display are any close to the ones he found on his lands.”

She’s almost monotone as she talks, near mockingly, without pause. He listens to it all with his free hand fully pressed to his face, hoping he could go back to the nightmares just now.

When he uncovers his face, she remains amused at the situation. Alistair shakes his head.

“I can’t believe you’re entertaining the man just because your brother won’t budge with the marriage proposals.”

“Not quite, my love.” She snorts, running a finger from her free hand on his chest. “As much as I'd like to dismiss this, if Franderel is willing to cross the Bannorn at lousy hours it might be more than just to annoy the Queen and Denerim’s Arl over politics.”

Alistair grumbles again, rolling his eyes. He didn’t doubt it was just for that — but she was right. Besides, neither of them had pressing duties for the day until later, so Alythess had lied about that too only to gauge the man’s commitment.

“I could go as well.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t plan to take long.”

Taking his hand from her body, she brings it up to her lips to kiss his knuckles. Then, bracing on an elbow, she leans to press her mouth on his.

He takes both hands to gently hold her face, and though she’d meant to give him a quick morning peck, he tries to keep her in place for a moment longer. Maybe if he deepened the kiss…

Alythess pinches at his ribs, and he releases her with an exaggerated yelp, pouting like a child as she retreats.

“Nice try.”

He’s left alone, staring at the drapery of the bed’s canopy as he tries to accept his defeat while his wife gets dressed for the blasted meeting.

She stops by the bed once that’s done, pulling silver fur over her shoulders, contrasting on the blue dress that deliberately shares blue with the Grey Wardens armor. Cernunnos has finally stopped snoring and drooling all over the carpets, and stands at attention to follow his mistress.

“I mean it. An hour or a little over at best.” She blinks almost innocently at him. “You can wait if you’d like. Have a nice wash.”

Alistair tries, but fails, to not answer like a begrudged kid. “Sure, I can just sit here for an hour. Doing nothing. Play with a toy boat or something.”

She rolls her eyes. “What I mean, dear husband,” Alythess walks up to the bedroom’s door, unlatching it and releasing the dog first before finishing her sentence. “Is that if you happen to be at the bath when I return, I might join you.”

Oh. Alistair sits, but she’s gone already. OH.

He nearly trips off the bed as he kicks blankets and sheets aside, eager to find a servant to ask for a hot bath to be arranged, then stops for a moment — maybe… he shouldn’t do that naked. Right. Clothes first. They didn’t need to see that.

[stranded-labyrinth]

Hannibal does that nuzzle thing when he's in predator mode, which we all know is basically just Hannibal without his person suit on.

imagine Will and Hannibal's first true embrace post-fall, everything is calm and everything feels good and Will never thought they could get here but here they are and-

then Hannibal does that and he bluescreens

[jils-things]

probably one of my favorite attacks ive done! i was proud of this from start to finish 💚💚 all of the ocs here belong to my friends, (bee, nero, milo and lara) except for the green feller (me!) 😉

[actual-changeling]

okay but what are the leading theories on why aziraphale had to do the apology dance in 1941?

was it that evening? did they get drunk and go back to talking about what happened at the church just for crowley to pull out some argument along the lines of "i told you not to try being a spy you're shit at it"?

it's 3 am, they're high on wine and each other's company and the adrenaline of the evening. crowley has long but taken off his glasses and cocks an eyebrow in a way that is both teasing and challenging.

"fine, you were right."

"oh, really?"

"my dear, i really don't think there's any need for-"

"the apology dance, yes. i think there is, angel." and crowley is smiling, a real, affectionate smile, and for heaven's sake, aziraphale has also never been good at denying him anything.

so he gets up and immediately has trouble finding his balance but manages a very wobbly version of the dance. he lets out a tiny giggle during the final flourish and follows it with a breathless you were right.

crowley stopped breathing about five minutes ago and his grappling with his slipping self control because for hell's sake, aziraphale has no right looking as brightly beautiful as he does and it's driving him insane. his angel falls onto the couch instead of settling back into his chair, and crowley grabs their glasses and follows him (he always will, no matter what. he'd fly all the way back to heaven if he asked him to).

"one day it'll be your turn, dearest" aziraphale says, and his gaze is so full of something crowley does not dare to name that he has to look away. his cheeks are burning with the very same something and the new term of endearment that slipped past aziraphale's lips.

"never, angel. i don't do the dance."

and if for the rest of the evening they sit a little closer together than usual, brush against each other without pulling back, and crowley eventually drifts off with his head on aziraphale's shoulder - well, no one needs to know.

in hindsight, it's almost funny how wrong he was about not just one but two things.

or maybe it was an entirely different situation. thoughts? :)

[beanghostprincess]

Why is shanks/buggy so underrated in this side of fandom? It’s much more loved in Japanese one, one of the most popular for shanks. I feel like this one prefers other mlm options for him and I don’t get it. It got better after OPLA I think but still. Sorry for my English!

Oh! This is actually such an interesting question. I was talking about this the other day and I came to a conclusion with my friend about this. Basically, there are a lot of things to take into consideration here. The screentime, the age of the characters, the chemistry, how they're perceived by the fandom and canonically, etc etc etc.

The first thing I thought about was the screentime, honestly. Shanks and Buggy grew up together and they have a deep bond, however, we've only seen that through flashbacks (one in quite literally episode 8 of the anime, another one in Wano that isn't even about them and they're just side characters in this flashback, and in chapter 1082 of the manga. But it's not even a proper flashback because we already saw that when Shanks talks to Whitebeard about Buggy, it's just Buggy's interpretation of it) and we only have like one scene of them together that isn't even two minutes long. So, quite obviously you'd think "well, the ship isn't as popular as other ships because they barely have any screentime" and I think it's correct but also not quite. And also, this would also have to apply to the Japanese fandom at the end of the day. Fandoms don't give a single fuck about screen time if the chemistry is right, really, but there's always this factor, y'know. Lawlu has less screentime than Zolu and yet it's more popular somehow because people absolutely love their dynamic. Then, if you stop to think about it, both Satosugu (Jjk) and Soukoku (Bsd) have the same dynamic and concept as Shuggy, but they're by far the most popular ships in their fandoms. They're basically the same ships but Jjk and Bsd give them proper development and story because they're shorter series. One Piece is a long show and we still have many things to see, even if we know it's gonna end soon, so I guess that we'll still have to wait to see more of Shuggy. Once we do, I'm sure it'll become more popular. Also, Shanks' personality is very diverse because he's all mysterious and all, so I kind of understand why people don't want to make content because they still don't have him figured out.

But then again, screen time isn't really the problem. It's just one of the factors. If they had more screen time, they'd be more popular for sure, yes, but it's not exactly what makes them less popular in this side of the fandom. Otherwise, it'd be equally as popular on the other sides too. The Japanese side of fandoms is different from this one and tbh they often don't take into consideration things like cancel culture and proship discourse or the standard beauty regarding age because they just post whatever they want and scroll past what they don't like (god I fucking wish we were like that because I am so done with these things). Besides, isn't Buggy like a very beloved character over there, aside from Oda's favorite? At least from what I've seen, they take his character way more seriously than this side of the fandom does, honestly. And it bothers me because he's such a complex and great character, and people never see it because they use him either for memes or to keep saying "omggg turns out the clown is hot!! Can you believe I want to fuck a clow-" yes, Samantha, we know you want to fuck the clown. It's not weird. It's not new. Do you even like the character, at least, or you're just using him to say how kinky and quirky you are? (And I don't even care about the sexualization of characters because, again, fictional characters are fictional characters and you don't have to take everything so seriously. I have tons of characters I don't like that much but only stan because I find them hot and that's alright. But damn, it bothers me sometimes).

Anyway, with this, I wanna say that there are other things to have in mind when talking about this.

Recently (I know it's not exactly new but in fandom years? Recently) there has been a huge thing surrounding the term "old men yaoi". People are so down bad for middle-aged men and they see two of them together and they instantly go "omg they're soo married" but that's- That's it? That's just it. They don't even ship them, they just find the concept of older men hot because "omg he's such a dilf" and they want to fuck both of them. But they never end up doing anything with it. They try to be so groundbreaking like "ohh I am SO woke by shipping these two old men! See? Breaking stereotypes!" because both irl and online, age has always been a very stigmatized thing. Apparently you can't be in a fandom if you're older than 25 because then you're weird, and if there's an actress older than 50 she's instantly useless for the industry.

What I want to say with this is that most people in the fandom are young. They're young and they like attractive, young, hot people and they don't want old, unconventionally attractive men. They don't want them unless it's to give a "hot take" and to be super progressive and woke. Do you know what they like? They like Dilfs. They like Shanks because he's conventionally attractive and good with kids and he's the standard for a Dilf. Because he's hot and mysterious but also silly and quirky and "he's almost forty that is so hot something something daddy kink". And they don't want to see him fucking someone his age because God forbid this man has a personality outside being a Dilf. Younger people in the fandom constantly read y/n fics regarding Shanks because they want him to fuck them and not Buggy. And they can't project in these old men, so they publicly say "oh, Shanks and Buggy are so married" because it's just a fact the fandom made clear, but they don't really like the content. Because liking Buggy sexually, apparently, is just so weird. Or as a character. Nobody wants to say their favorite character is the failguy clown. It's a hot take when you say that Buggy is hot because people keep being all weird about it when... Uh... He's- He's just a clown. Guys. It's not weird. Or bad. Who raised you to think that? God, I find Monet extremely hot and she's half-bird. Could we please normalize these things? They're fictional characters. And also, stop reducing Buggy to his jokes or the fact that he's a clown because his character is GREAT and complex and it just bothers me so much.

This makes me think about this whole "background couple" thing. Which are basically couples that are canon or that are so popular and obvious that people, instead of making content for them (because why would you make content for a canon couple?) just place them in the background instead. There are so many fanfics in which Shuggy is a background couple. Or studies in which, instead of analyzing them, they're used only for parallelisms. This happens with, idk, Saboala? Frobin? Yamace? People don't like couples that everybody agrees on. They don't like m/f ships because they can't be woke!!!!! And queer!!!! (when they easily could but whatever). They don't like ships that everybody likes because!!!!!! They're canon already and why would you write about them???? And so, Shuggy stays a bit more as a side couple instead. For being old and unconventionally unattractive and not having much screentime, but being extremely popular. Not in a "content" way, but in a "knowledge" way. Even the general audience thinks their bond is crucial to the story, c'mon.

One of the differences that this side of the fandom has with the Japanese one, as I mentioned before, is the cancel culture and proship discourse thing. They just don't have that concept. And that's perfect, honestly, I wish we could just scroll past what we don't like too and live peacefully because the discourse is getting tiring. And also you have to admit that, because of the anti propaganda going around, now fandoms have turned into the most puritan thing in the world. Beware! Sex! Age difference between fictional characters that have a consensual and healthy and mature relationship! Oh! God forbid teenagers have sex with people their age! Ohmygodjustshutup. And so, Shuggy isn't a problematic ship. Not even close. But inside the OP world, people do say they are brothers. They keep talking about each other like that, too. And I don't even think it's the typical "we say they're like brothers so you don't think they're gay because they're both guys and guys can't kiss" (I am having flashbacks from the IT fandom). They do have the same parents. Like- We all agree Shanks and Buggy were both raised by Roger and Rayleigh and they consider them, if not their dads, parental figures at least. Right? And you're aware that doesn't make it incest, right? Both things can coexist. Foster families are a thing. Lots of people who grew up together and consider the same people their parental figures end up dating because they don't see each other as siblings. Well, most people don't see it this way and hear the word "brother" and run from it like it's a fucking virus. The Japanese side of the fandom doesn't give a fuck because they're fictional and because they're y'know, not brothers? And even if they were, cancel culture and proship discourse is so fucking stupid to them because they follow the "don't like don't look" thing. But on this side of the fandom, a lot of people see them as brothers and the other half sees them as a divorced couple and apparently nobody knows how to fucking read this manga and have a proper fandom experience without jumping to each other's throats at the minimum disagreement.

So, to summarize: People on this side of the fandom don't like Shuggy THAT much and it isn't such a popular ship in comparison to the Japanese side, because young people don't like older men together, they don't focus on unconventionally attractive characters, are afraid of any little possibility of cancelation, and also, well, Shuggy doesn't have much screentime anyway so there's not much we can do with that.