#i already have ideas floating in my head but i won't ramble too much in the tags bc i really do wanna get some of those asks done :' ))

[quietlyblooms]

we interrupt chiyo being terrorized by a weird lil creature to say tara from l.ove and d.eepspace?? maybe i'll add her to fatelcved. as a lil treat <3

[localcanadiancreature62]

I will finally write that "Fellas is it gay to be stabbed by your ex in the abdomen in a suggestive way?,while you're also stabbing his face in an equally suggestive way?. The answer is yes" fic idea aka BILL AND FORD TRY TO FUCKING KILL EACH OTHER. @aria-greenhoodie you were the first witness of this fic idea and now i will make you suffer with murderous old man yaoi. I only made this because i was thinking of Billford ideas to write as i NEED THEM BADLY since i have been making aus for my current hyperfixation which you all know what that is (gravity falls),but then this popped into my head the SECOND i came up with entirely different ideas as i forgot this idea existed. Anyway ramble over,actual fic beneath.

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Title - Love & Fear + Attempted Murder

Ford arrives at the Nightmare Realm after finally perfecting the Quantum Destabilizer by putting safety precautions on it as it needs to be activated to be in use inserting the Nowyouseeitnowyoudont-ium from Parallel Fiddleford required for actually blasting anything as well as cool lights,entering the rift that leads to Bill's whereabouts as he prepares himself to kill his former muse. He then busts down the door that prevents him from capturing his muse after beating up the Henchmaniacs with his bare hands. Bill then grinned as he saw the man basically hand himself over to him on a silver platter. "Bill!,say your last words now before i change my mind about letting you say goodbye before i destroy you." Ford says as he then prepared to shoot the triangle with the Quantum Destabilizer,Bill hearing the weapon whir as it powered up while being aimed at him.

"Oh Fordsy. You were THAT desperate to see me,huh?. Based on the fact that you literally beat up my Henchmaniacs and made a whole weapon to kill me,how cute. You flatter me,Sixer. You really missed me,didn't you?." Bill remarks as he then tried to float away before the plasmic blast hit him but it was too late as the gun already hit his hat,his eye widening in shock as he didn't know that Ford was capable of actually hurting him. "I have missed you. But my aim is getting better. And enough of your games,i have come here to finally end your iron grip of me once and for all,not to chitchat." Ford replied as he then powered up the Quantum Destabilizer once more as he reloaded it,the gun luckily having enough fuel to spare as he aimed it at the triangle again. Bill then glared at his genius as the man made it clear that he didn't come all this way to get back together with him,he then turned red with anger as he prepared to blast flames at the researcher.

"Hah. I can't believe that you just went over here to destroy me. A laughable decision,really. You of all people should know not to start something you won't be able to finish." Bill says as he laughed bitterly,secretly being hurt by the fact that his #1 pawn didn't come over to make amends with him. Then he threw a flame at the man who dodged immediately by jumping onto a broken platform. "Oh i KNOW full well that i can finish this,Cipher. I actually managed to create a weapon that won't just give you a scratch. Now,prepare to die." Ford remarks as he then moved the gun along with his moving triangular target who was actively throwing fire at him as he struggled to dodge,some of the flames managing to hit him as he gained burn marks from them.

"Well,let's see who makes it out alive. It'll definitely be me though,you fleshbags can only endure so much." Bill says as he then began to blast more flames at the man who kept dodging as he then managed to hit him a second time,damaging the triangle's bowtie as it failed to regenerate along with his top hat that got hit earlier. Ford realizes that he has to distract the triangle in order to keep him still enough to keep hitting him with the blasts until his physical form disintegrates. He then walks over to the triangle who's still blasting fire at him as he went over to give the triangle a small peck straight on the eye mouth,slipping his tongue inside long enough for the isosceles to get distracted by blushing from the gesture. "Mm- Mmph- You're still a good kisser even after all these years." Bill says while a bit muffled from the kiss as Ford then pulls away,aiming the gun at him as the triangle realized that the kiss was actually a trick. "I know. That's why it's the perfect distraction~." Ford replied as he then blasted the gun at Bill who pleaded for him to not make him blind but it was too late.

"WAIT WAIT NO NO NO I WON'T BE ABLE TO SEE YOU AS YOUR GUN WON'T LET ME REGENERATE!-" Bill exclaims but the gun already hit him in the eye,rendering him perfectly blind as he can no longer regenerate anything hit by the Quantum Destabilizer with Ford smirking as his plan worked. This made the triangle absolutely FURIOUS as he felt even more betrayed by his genius hurting him like this as he then turned into a human form as he realized that they're having an unfair fight,ignoring the fact that he wanted to strangle the man for doing such a thing. "This is unfair. How about we don't use guns or powers?,how about we fight in a boring human fisticuffs way?." Bill asks as he realized he would die immediately if they kept going at this,thus trying to negotiate with his genius in order to stay alive. Ford then considered the triangle's proposal as he DID want to permanently destroy him although letting his anger out by beating the creature over and over does seem like a better idea,so he thought about it before agreeing. "Fine. Although,don't complain when pain stops being hilarious by the time i'm done with you." Ford says as he then dropped the gun and cracked his knuckles while walking toward the now human triangle,as he has waited his whole life to finally get revenge against his abuser.

"Oh it's YOU that shouldn't complain when i-." Bill boasts but then he gets punched straight on the nose as he stopped himself from finishing his sentence to process the pain. His pointy nose emitted a black static-y substance upon being hit as he wiped th liquid off with his sleeve while Ford smirked at him. "No talking in a fight,Bill." Ford remarks as he then dodged the triangle person's lousy kick as he tackled him and pinned him to the ground while punching him in the face over and over. The triangle person then starts laughing with every hit,seeming to enjoy being utterly destroyed by his genius. Ford then got angrier as his punches seemed to have no effect when he secretly wanted the triangle to grovel at him and apologize as part of some twisted fantasy that he thinks will give him closure regarding his abuse with Bill. He then got up and grabbed the triangle person by the neck aiming to throw him on the ground as Bill then summoned a knife that went straight into the man's stomach as he telekinetically made it fly into him as he made the knife sink in deeper,the man coughing up saliva in response to getting stabbed.

"You cheater!. No one brings a knife to a fistfight!." Ford says as he then roughly dropped Bill while clutching his abdomen. The triangle then kept laughing as he saw the man in pain,getting up after discovering the bruises on his body from being thrown. "Ahahaha!. You fleshbags may not do that,but i do. I just wanted to see how you'd react to me doing that,you should've seen your face!." Bill remarks as he laughed merrily while pretending to wipe a tear from his human form's singular eye. Ford then clenched his fists as he saw the triangle treating a serious fight like some game,he then grabbed a laser dagger from his coat and rushed in to stab Bill in the face,hoping to wipe off that smug smirk off of his stupid face with it. Bill didn't move an inch as the man tackled him again and proceeded to stab him in the eye,his ridiculous grin widening to inhuman proportions as he let himself get stabbed by the genius.

"I wish i could slit your vocal cords open so that i won't have to hear your annoying voice ever again." Ford says in frustration over the triangle making a mockery of what he deems to be the most important event in his life which is finally killing Bill and becoming free from the triangle's clutches,in this very moment. Yet he's playing along in his former muse's game while he hesitates to actually destroy him. "But Fordsy,i don't HAVE vocal cords. You couldn't shut me up even if you tried. 'Sides,if i lost this vessel's vocal cords,i could just regenerate them." Bill remarks as Ford then slaps him hard in the face in response. "Every word you say is a mockery of me." Ford says coldly as he then sunk the laser dagger into the triangle person's eye even deeper,causing the black substance to spill out once more as Bill then telekinetically made the knife stab deeper as he made the blade thrust into the man's stomach in a rhythmic motion as Ford began to cough up blood which spilled all over the now human triangle's face.

"I know. I LOVE pissing you off just to see how you'd react,IQ. And doesn't this stabbing remind you of our fun times before all of this mess happened?. With me making you scream as i put our pelvic areas together~." Bill teases as the man blushed in response despite still actively coughing up blood from his stab wound. "This isn't ANYTHING like that. Shut up before i shove this dagger into your throat." Ford remarks as he brushed off his flustered feelings over being reminded of his bedroom activities with the triangle while he kept shoving the dagger into the triangle person's eye as more black substance spilled out. "What if i put my member in YOUR throat?." Bill flirts once more as he alluded to putting his cock inside Ford. The man then grabs the dagger and slits the neck of Bill's human form,startling the triangle as his human vessel died and he suddenly got forced out of the body as he turned back into a triangle,with Ford doing this as he's done with his muse's game. Already having his fill of tormenting the triangle.

"That's enough. I don't have time for this,if you aren't going to die then i might as well give up. Plus i need to patch myself up after what you did to me." Ford says as he then got up from Bill's vessel and walked away while clutching his abdomen,coughing up more blood as he did. "Aw,leaving so soon?. I haven't even gotten a goodbye kiss yet~." Bill remarks as he then puckered up his eye mouth for a kiss once more but then Ford punched him in the eye,startling him as it regenerated. "Stop it. I don't- Think of you that way anymore. I have to get home to my dimension,i just wanted to stop by to see if i could finally destroy you. But i seemed to get ahead of myself as i didn't think you'd distract me with another game of yours." Ford replied as he then kept walking away,leaving Bill angry and bitter again as he knew that his genius will never want him around like he used to.

"Fine. I don't need you. I don't need anyone. Go home to your dumb dimension." Bill says as he looked distant while the man ignored his comment,secretly feeling bad for leaving the isosceles to his device as he truly did miss him like he said earlier. Bill then sighed and kept working on his plans for Weirdmaggedon as he saw the man leave through the rift in the Nightmare Realm, knowing that he'd probably end up be coursing through dimensions once more before actually managing to get to his home dimension.

[curlyheadangie]

The making of an Alpha..

“Yooo, the boss wants to speak to you for a minute,” Cy says apprehensively, “He doesn't look too happy..” 

“Ughhh what does that jerk want now, it's always something. Did he at least say what he wants to see me for?” y/n inquires hesitantly. 

“Nope, he just said he needs to see you… like… right now, sounds pretty serious.” 

y/n sighs as she gets up from a swivel chair that's probably older than she is. 

“Wish me luck, I'll probably need it knowing O’Hare.” 

The click clacking of her plain black heels echoed throughout the empty hallway as she made the trek to Aloysius’s office. She could already tell her ass was about to be handed to her by her short tempered asshole of a boss. Working for Aloysius O’hare leaves very little room for error. 

After what seems like an eternity, y/n finally reaches the door to his office. After hesitating for just a second, she raps the door with her knuckles, twisting it open with her other hand, “you wanted to see me sir…” 

Aloysius glares at her from his hi-tech floating desk creating an intimidating atmosphere. “Have a seat dollface” he says with a tone of condescension 

“Y-yes sir- t-thank you sir” Y/n scrambles to plant her ass on one of the pleather chairs Aloysius gestures towards. In her head she knows this charade can't continue between the two of them, and yet she can’t stop the pulsing between her thighs. 

“Tell me hon, why do you think I called you here”, he says eerily calm. 

“I–uhmm, it could be the…” she frantically tries to search her thoughts for the right answer to appease Aloysius, the pulsing sensation in her pussy growing stronger by the second. 

He rises from his chair, effectively shrinking a couple feet in the process. He scampers close to where y/n is trembling in her chair. Hands behind his back as if to restrain himself he saunters remaining only a few feet away from y/n. 

“Do you think im stupid” he scowls, his voice dangerously close to a growl, the sound sending chills up her spine, seemingly echoing in her tight walls.

“N-n-n-no sir, I would never say that! I don’t know where you got the idea that I would ever say that about you! You know I respect yo-” just as y/n begins rambling her apologies, O’hare quickly cuts her off. 

“There’s no other explanation, you must think im fucking stupid. Do you think I don’t see the way you flirt with Cy like a fucking whore of the street?” Aloysius glowers at y/n restraining himself from fully unleashing his rage on her, also feeling the beginnings of A HARD ON.. 

The pulsing sensation has now become a full on hammering! Her pussy is begging for Aloysius’s three foot long cock. (we should probably mention the fact that y/n is quite tall, maybe bordering on six feet… okay pretend like we didn't just break the fourth wall *wink wink*.)  

“Aloysius please, it was a one time thing! It means nothing!! You know i'm your good little kitten~” 

Furiously unbuckling his belt Aloysuis groans from relief, finally getting to physically unwind his three foot long fat uncut girthy cock with a pink tip. This is without a doubt his favorite part of the day, it’s too bad his kitten is behaving so badly. “Sadly” this means he’ll have to punish her. 

“Bend over the fucking chair NOW.” he leaves no room for compromise.

“Yes, Daddy alpha” she says wiggling her office siren mini skirt off her fat skibidi fat GYAT. To any outside observer this clearly isn’t y/n’s first rodeo. 

“Look at you, you’re drenched for me.” he whispers grabbing her ass with both hands scratching her pussy before giving it a deep inhale, #scratchnsniff. 

The action makes her SQUIRT only adding to the tsunami that is her pussy. 

“Ahhh now that's my good little omega, but sadly for you that little trick won't get you out of this.”

She whimpers, pleasure rippling throughout her body, she comes to terms with the fact that theres not much she can do in this situation and that her alpha will be tearing her ass up. 

He whips his belt out from the loops of his pants and begins restraining y/ns hands. And if you’re reading this right now and wondering how the skibidi is Aloysius gonna tear that ass up? Just you wait.. 

#parttwo? Maybe? Maybe Nick Wilde cameo idfk. I'm so high right now. I should also note this was a two-man job @stankilicious

[mellicindi]

Hello! I was wondering, how do you plan fics? I remember reading Life is Not a Hallmark Movie and thought the storyline was amazing. So I was wondering if you could explain your process for outlining?

Hi! Thanks for the ask~

I wish I had a more helpful answer, but the truth is that I didn't have an outline for Hallmark fic. I published each chapter as I wrote it, without really knowing what would be coming in the later chapters. (There were a few notable exceptions that I could talk about in more detail in another post, if you're curious.) I've tried tons of methods of outlining before for other stories, and would consistently find that even if I was really excited about the outline, the characters just wouldn't behave according to my plans. If I forced them to, the writing fell dead in the water. Hallmark was sort of an experiment for me, to see what would happen if I tried flying blind. I was honestly shocked at how much easier it was for me to write when I didn't plan ahead. That said, I think there were a couple factors that helped me actually finish it:

I had a very clear intention of the feelings I wanted to evoke. That being, a story about two people who are very lonely in different ways, overcoming their hangups and falling in love. Bittersweet, but ultimately heartwarming.

I was already familiar with the structure of romance novels. So, though I didn't outline, I knew that the general shape of the story would be: meet cute --> characters grow closer --> point of crisis forcing the protagonist to acknowledge his feelings --> getting together --> some sort of betrayal/crisis that tears them apart --> reconciliation and true happy ending.

I had a lot of tropes to work with. Because it was a parody of a Hallmark movie, there were a few scenes I knew I wanted to include, even if I didn't know the details of how/why they would unfold. (ie, a fancy Christmas party, an airport reunion scene, etc.)

I JUST LOVE BINGQIU SO GODDAMN MUCH. Seriously, I just want to dissect Shen Yuan's brain, and I myself am already in love with Luo Binghe, so writing about falling in love with him was natural sldghidfgh

So, I had an emotional core, a general structure, key scenes, and characters I was madly desperately unhealthily obsessed with.

After that, I focused on storytelling principles. The first is always following a chain of causation. Another is the +/- method. These are useful for pacing, and keeping even simple scenes engaging. I love rambling about storytelling principles, so hmu if you're interested in a write up about anything!

I also had a document called 'vague future ideas' that was just that: either potential plot points or snippets of dialogue that were floating in my head. Some made it in, some didn't. I tried to keep it to short bullet points as much as possible, just a collection of vague things that could happen, but not getting too deep into any of them. This was mostly helpful in figuring out which things should not happen, tbh XD Like, at one point, I was thinking LBH would actually succeed at getting on the airplane, and there would be some sort of time gap, and rather than LMY explaining about LBH's past, SY would have to like, go on a sleuthing spree and figure out where LBH ran off to, and... uh, yeah, glad I dropped that in the brainstorming phase lol!

So yeah, sorry if that wasn't super helpful for the question you actually asked. But, as for outlining methods I used in the past, here are a few that helped me the most (keeping in mind that I tend to prefer looser methods, which certainly won't be the case for everyone!):

One Page Plotting, which is quite similar to the Story Circle

Both of these break down the story into 8 major beats. I find thinking about stories in quarters more intuitive than in thirds or fifths, so I prefer these over the 3-act or 5-act structure.

Flashlight Method

A nice middle ground between plotting and discovery writing. Probably best used if you're familiar with the conventions of the genre you're writing in to use as a mental map.

I also want to shout out Ellen Brock's youtube channel. It's a treasure trove of useful writing advice from an editor's perspective. If you're into really intensive outlining, I'd recommend her videos for methodological plotters. Her ongoing series on story structure is also wonderful.

Thanks again for the ask! LMK if there's anything you'd be interested in seeing me go more in-depth about. I'm just a big 'ol storytelling nerd lmaooo

[dreamesamu]

todoroki shoto as your crush with his small gestures make you flustered

genre: headcanon, fluff, sets in high school.

ame's note: ah sheesh, my first mha hcs with this man, I'm obsessed with him.

⤿ crush ▴ boyfriend

❅ intense stare when you're talking with someone else

known as an introverted person, shoto todoroki would rather stay silent when someone interrupted the conversation he was having with you and patiently waiting for them to finish before he could continue his own.

"l/n-"

"hey there l/n! I've got something to tell ya."

"...hmp"

after the impolite conversation you have with that person, he would be looking at them with the 'go away' words floating everywhere in his background, his gaze hidden the disgust like 'how dare you steal my precious time with them?' and you were trying hold back laughter.

or on the other way, he says nothing but observing your facial expression, sometimes your eyes flick on him, he is sitting with his chin rest on this palm, flash a small smile that tells you he's still waiting, and your heart swells at the scene immediately.

❅ gives back the book he borrowed you with a small note attached to it

"l/n, here's your book, thank you to let me borrow it."

with that, he turns around immediately to hide the blush, too fast to see your lighthearted grin displayed through the corner of your lips. while you're confusing about what happen, you notice the small piece of paper protrudes out of the pages.

you become stutter due to the cute note he left, glance back at the corridor where he disappeared, flowers radiate around your head while dumbfounded daydreaming in the daytime which confused the classmates.

'I notice some cute notes you draw in some pages, I'm not sure about this but I'll leave the note here, Arigatou gozaimasu :)'

"y/n, stop being weird, shoto is here-."

"Uraraka, he left the note here, right here, and it's so cute-"

you point at the small note glued to the thin material, eyes sparking with an enthusiastic smile, rambling with the duos.

"we know, that's very cute, isn't it? but we should stop being so revealing." Midoriya agrees with the brunette in speechless, eyes glance to the icy hot sitting in the background with a sigh, you're attracting too much attention, including Todoroki.

to be unnoticed to you, shoto is secretly holding back his smile while looking at you from afar, and I'm sure he's somehow flustered, too.

❅ walking behind with you while moving with the classmates

don't blame me, you could be chaotic somedays, and todoroki knows that, but for some cases is an exception, for instance is today. todoroki would like to silently watching you poking fun of the classmates so endearingly, either he'd love to walk with you from behind them whenever you feel like not in the mood, so here we are.

you sigh, eyes glancing at Kirishima chitchatting with the friends but can't help to giggle, todoroki notices how off you are today and decided to ask.

"why are you not catching up with them? is something bothering you, l/n?"

"oh yeah, I don't feel like doing that is a good idea."

"I see, is it because Aizawa sensei is too strict with the training test?"

"how do you-"

you look at him in disbelief, but he shut you down instantly with a head pat and a tongue click.

"don't worry about that, you still have so many chances."

butterflies rebelling in your stomach and you shut your mouth all the way to wherever you guys going with a clumsy way to keep your heated face away from him, already know it won't work. the group never stop stalking you two from the beginning, oh and of course, they started to make fun of you when you're just embarrassed but happy with that.

lol, what is this- I-

reblogs are appreciated ♡

[skellebonez]

Who Do I Go To? (Monkie Kid Fanfic)

I totally did not accidentally post this early before I edited it or added everything from my wip file... no... but anon, you gave me so much FREEDOM with this that I just went absolutely off the rails. This is not only set in a post S3 scenario where everyone survives and most of the villains have some kind of at least semi-redemption (except LBD, rip), this does feature a crackship or two of mine (you can read the tags to see the ships before you read)! Sun Wukong also has all of his immortality and some of his powers, I am writing this with the idea that he transferred most of them to MK and some of that was permanent once LBD was defeated and MK got his own back.

So... what if Sun Wukong did start communicating with the others in S3... but still has been bottling up his emotions about the past for so long he doesn’t feel he can talk to anyone because of their shared experiences? And what happens when that guilt and grief finally has someone willing to listen?

“What are you doing here, Si-SUN Wukong?” The Demon Bull King asked slowly, stumbling over his usual insult for the one once so close to him. They still weren’t close, and it was doubtful they would ever be as long as the sworn brothers they once were, but they were no longer at each other’s throats anymore.

That didn’t change how bizarre it was to see The Great Sage Equal To Heaven just... sitting outside his new home with no warning.

“DBK!” Wukong exclaimed, more startled than the larger demon was expecting as he jumped up and turned and if he didn’t look like he’d been hit with a truck metaphorically DBK didn’t know how to describe the way his fur stood on end and the redness in the other’s eyes. “I. UH. Was. Just stopping by to say hi!”

“No you weren’t,” DBK said, face falling into a deadpan glower. “You don’t do that. Even after 500 years I know you don’t.”

“I can start!” Wukong defended, crossing his arms and looking away with a wide teeth showing smile.

Too wide.

Even after everything that happened between them, from Red Boy to what happened when he needed his wife’s fan to sealing him in the mountain and everything that transpired with the Little Thief, he recognized that unhappy nervous smile.

“You can,” DBK said with a nod, gesturing to the smaller being. “You can also be here for a reason. Like what I heard you muttering to yourself behind the door.”

“And that’s my cue to leave!” The Monkey King announced as he turned to walk away before a large hand, with shocking gentleness for the one attached to it, wrapped around his shoulders.

“If you need to talk-”

“No, haha, I most certainly have no need for that!”

“-you know we’ve already made peace. I-”

“You don’t need to do anything,” Wukong insisted, struggling only a little before freeing himself from the other’s grip with an even wider nervous smile.

“-am willing to listen.”

“Don’t have to!”

“Are you at least talking to anyone?”

Neither of them said anything, The Demon Bull King staring down at The Monkey King with both frustrated annoyance and genuine concern in his expression.

The former he could deal with, but the later was so new again that...

Sun Wukong panicked.

“.... OKEY BYE!” He yelled, jumping and allowing his cloud to catch him and take him off.

"YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM YOUR FEELINGS FOREVER SUN WUKONG!"

"I HID FROM THE WORLD FOR 500 YEARS AND I TURNED OUT JUST FINE, I THINK I'LL MANAGE!"

“He turned out fine, he says,” Princess Iron Fan called from behind her husband as she emerged from their home. “So fine that it took him losing his invincibility and his successor nearly being killed for him to admit he needed help.”

DBK grunted, nodding in agreement at her words.

“He needs more, still, my dear. Even I can see that.”

“Let’s call in some reinforcements then, darling. I think there are two people who may be able to get through to him.”

~

Sun Wukong sat on the beach of Mount Huaguo’s island home, clearly trying not to think about what had just transpired.

“Hey.”

“How did you even know to look for me here?” Sun Wukong asked, not nearly as startled this time. He’d heard the footsteps coming for a long time, the other apparently wanting to make his presence known.

“Bull King called Pigsy’s asking for MK. MK called me since he’s working. I remembered where you like to sulk. Hence: I’m here.”

Wukong groaned, wrapping his arms around his knees and burying his face in them. “I shouldn’t have even left the house today.”

“But you left,” Macaque said with a shrug, watching the other stew in his frustration at himself. “And you went to see DBK... and I guess Princess Iron Fan too? But you ran off. Why?”

“I can’t check up on an old friend turned enemy turned less enemy to ‘not exactly friend but we’re not trying to kill each other’ without being questioned?” Wukong grumbled into his arms.

“Not when you make him sound as worried as he did when he talked to MK,” Macaque continued, voice becoming more tense. “You didn’t go to apologize or explain anything, I was there when all that went down. So... did you finally go to talk about everything e-”

“No.” The word was said with such coldness that Macaque knew it was put on. It wasn’t out of malice but something else, something more worried and fearful. “No. I can’t talk to him about... I told him everything that explained what happened. I apologized. I don’t need to talk more.”

"I don't understand why you're so opposed to to just talking about, you know... how you’re doing," Macaque said with a concerned frown. It almost felt odd on his face. Almost. He was still getting used to the whole "not being mortal eternal enemies and now being friends and kinda sorta caring about each other again" thing. "I know it's been centuries and all and you're out of practice but like... it's been centuries."

"I just... can't, Macaque," Wukong rebutted as he refused to lift his head from his arms. "I just can't."

"Why?"

"Don't."

The single word stayed in their air between them, heavy and hard and meaning more than the immortal would ever admit to.

"Come on, there has to be a reason," Macaque insisted as he sat down beside the other immortal. When no response came he sighed, tail flicking absently and flipping over some of the rocks on the beach as they sat in silence for few minutes. "You know... I started talking to someone."

"What?" Wukong turned his head, just enough to look at the other monkey from the corner of his eye.

“Sandy’s a good listener,” Macaque continued, falling back down to lay flat on his back and gaze up at the clouds. He remembered that Wukong felt better, sometimes, when you looked away when talked to. Didn’t know why, but he remembered. “Not exactly the kind of therapy he thinks I need, but he lends me his cats and he lets me talk and sometimes asks if I want advice. Sometimes I say yes, but when I say no he understands. Sometimes I just want to rant at that one little one eyed cat he has and she listened to... I think. She’s a cat so I wouldn’t know. He thinks I should see someone more experienced, an expert. Maybe he’s right, I dunno, but this helps enough for now.

“... who are you and what have you done with the Six-Eared Macaque?” Wukong asked with a soft glower, one that was clearly in jest from the tiny smile the other could see.

“Same Macaque,” the other said with a laugh, sitting back up with a theatrical flourish. “Just realized that talking to someone isn’t as dumb or useless as I made it out to be in my head. A lot of the stuff I thought about alone wasn’t exactly the best. Or healthiest. But now I can get that out there and sometimes it makes Sandy look like he ate a whole lime which probably means it’s good it’s not in my head anymore.”

“You ramble a lot,” Wukong said with a chuckle, tail swishing softly beside him before nudging against Macaque’s. He tensed before it slowly wrapped around the other’s. “It feels odd, having you try to cheer me up again after... everything.”

“Bad odd or good odd?”

“Good.”

“That’s.... good,” Macaque said, squeezing Wukong’s tail with his own. “Feels odd for me too. Like I’m out of practice too. But it’s good odd...” The two sat in silence for a moment, just enjoying each other’s company before he continued. “I do think you should talk to someone. Anyone.”

“I don’t know who, though. Every time I try I just... clam up and run away. I’ve put so much on MK already,” Wukong said, tail squeezing around Macaque’s loosely in return. “And Pigsy and Sandy... After all that came out, that Sandy is Sha Wujing and Pigsy is Zhu Bajie’s reincarnation... I just... I can’t talk to them either, even though Pigsy doesn’t remember anything at all. And you... DBK... everyone... who do I go to that knows enough about me to know what they’re in for but I won’t have those memories floating around in the back of my head toward making me run away?”

“Well, you could have Sandy help you get a therapist. Prepare them in advance. Or, if you’re not ready for that, you could talk to Tang?” Macaque suggested with a shrug. “He listens to me when I’m not talking to Sandy... but that’s probably because we’re dating, that’s what it is now instead of courting, right? So he kinda has to I think? Pigsy and MK talk to him too but with me I think it’s different.”

"I don't think that's how it works," Wukong said with a half hearted chuckle as he finally raised his head all the way. "Besides, I've known Tang longer."

"By like 3 months."

"3 months more is still enough to know that if he doesn't want to listen to you he won't. The man knows how to make a speedy exit."

"Guess that's one more thing that sets him apart from his great-great-great-great-great-whatever uncle," Macaque admitted with a shrug and a chuckle of his own. He squeezed his tail around Wukong's, smile softening when he felt it being returned.

“Feels... weird though,” Wukong said with a shrug. “The two of them looking so much alike.”

“Yeah, but that’s it,” Macaque rebutted. “He’s Tang Sanzang’s great-whatever nephew 5 times removed or whatever and he looks like him. Other than that? He knows pretty much all of your history. He’s mostly out of the hero worship zone but he still respects you a lot. Aside from everything that happened with LBD and MK you two have the least history out of everyone so maybe whatever’s in your head making you clam up might not stop you. And it couldn't hurt to try. It’s not therapy, it’s just talking about something that’s bothering you. Worst that can happen is you get nervous and fumble and he takes the opportunity to ask you 40 questions about the times you were almost incinerated by a baby."

"That was one time!"

~

“Uh,” Tang started, staring out the open door with wide eyes at the being before him. “Hi. I didn’t exactly expect to you see today.”

“I didn’t exactly expect to be here today,” Wukong said awkwardly, nervous smile taking over his face as his tone became far too jovial for what he was about to ask. “Macaque sent me to... talk to you. About me?” His smile drooped bit by bit as he said these words, slowly starting to lose his determination to go through with this. “Oh second thought, maybe I should-”

"No," Tang said, reaching out to put a hand on the immortal's shoulder. It was nothing, really, not to someone as strong as he was. Not when he could brush it off and walk away. Go home. Just sit on his couch and watch Monkey King The Animated Series again and just think about how no one deserved to be saddled with his problems anymore. But Wukong didn't. "Whatever it is, we’re going to talk about this now. I know I’m not trained like Sandy is, but I know how to listen. And if you need someone to listen to you, I can. You wouldn't have come here to talk if you didn't."

“... ok...” Sun Wukong said, letting Tang wrap his arm around his back and guide him inside his shared home with Pigsy and Macaque.

It was... odd. Being inside this place for the first time. He’d been outside of the door more than once, invited in as well. But never inside.

“Make yourself comfortable,” Tang said, stopping his guidance once they reached the sofa. “I’m no Sandy, but I was making myself some tea and it is a batch of his own anyway. I’ll grab us some snacks too.”

“Snacks would be great,” Wukong admitted, watching the other disappear into the house’s kitchen before he sighed and gripped his thrashing tail and muttered to himself. “What am I doing..? I shouldn’t put all this on Tang... I should have gone with Macaque’s first suggestion, I’m-”

“Do you prefer lychee or persimmon?” Tang asked suddenly, startling the immortal for the second time that day. “We’re out of peach bao, but MK’s been making them out of lots of fruits and we have so many that I was planning on eating them myself.”

The scholar returned, faster than expected, with a full tray in hand. Teapot, two tea cups, and a steamer box that presumably held the buns he was asking about.

“Uh... persimmon,” Wukong answered, and he watched as Tang poured each of them a cup of tea and removed some clearly fresh (or at least made some time earlier in the day and freshly steamed), pieces of fruit laden bao to put on a plate for his guest before taking a seat in a chair across from him. “You were... getting lunch?”

Tang shrugged, laughing as he took a bite of one of his own. “Just wanted a snack. But,” He smiled, gesturing to the Monkey King. “We’re not here to talk about snacks. What’s on your mind?”

“Awfully forward start.”

“I try to be forward with the people I consider my friends.”

“... You consider me... a friend?” Wukong asked slowly, turning the bao over in his hands. It was well made, perfect he would say. You’d think MK would have been making them all his life, not that he’d learned how to on the drone ship while on the run from an evil super demon bent on erasing his mentor from the world.

“After everything we went through, how could I not?” Tang said, putting his food down to sip his tea and then putting that down as well and looking at him seriously. “You’re here because it’s the anniversary of the day you sealed away the Demon Bull King, aren’t you?”

The bao in his hands wasn’t perfect anymore. Instead the red lychee inside dripped from his claws from where they punctured it in surprise.

“How did you-?”

“My specialty study is your history after all,” Tang said, smile returning with a sad tint. “I’ve known the date for years but I felt it was something to keep to myself. For some reason. Now with you and DBK back I think that was a good choice. It feels too personal to have out in the open for everyone to make a spectacle of.”

“Is it selfish of me to be thankful for that?” Wukong muttered, gently placing the bao on the plate to lick his claws clean.

“I don’t think so,” Tang answered.

“I feel selfish though,” he continued, not managing to take note of how Tang sat up straighter and turned more toward him. “I went to DBK’s to... I don’t know. I wanted to apologize again? But I already did and he accepted it and it feels selfish to want to again. Then I just. I froze.”

“Why?” Tang asked, scooting closer.

“It felt wrong.”

“Because you would make him feel awkward?”

“NO!” Wukong groaned, burying his face in his hands. “I just. I feel...” He took in a shaky breath, claws digging into his skin slightly.

“Don’t,” Tang’s voice came soft and closer than Wukong expected, as did the hands on his own slowly pulling his claws away from his face. “Don’t hurt yourself. And don’t bottle it up. I’ll listen to you. No matter what it is. It’s not selfish, feeling things isn’t selfish.”

“I miss it,” Wukong breathed out, shaky and choppy as his throat tightened as the words started to pour out of him. “I miss him. How things used to be between us and Iron Fan. I miss that I never got to meet Red Son when he was Red Boy. I miss Beng and Ba and Ma and Liu and how things used to be. I miss Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing even though they’re here. I miss my Tang Sanzang. I’d been alone for 500 years and I missed so much and I did that to myself and it’s selfish to miss like that...”

He didn’t realize his cheeks were wet until his hands had been let go and one of Tang’s rubbed a cloth against them. Tang cupped his cheeks softly before wrapping his arms around him and tucking the Monkey King’s head into the space between his neck and shoulder.

“No... no it’s not. You’re allowed to miss things, Sun Wukong. Just like anyone else.”

Sun Wukong started to feel better.

He didn’t know why that was what did it, but the dam broke. It broke and his tears came pouring out as he hugged the man who reminded him so much of his Master. He didn’t know if anything he said in the mean time made any sense, if he was just blubbering and finally letting himself mourn what he’d lost and never had, but Tang didn’t ever chastise him. He let him weep and hold him and for the first time in years...

~

“Oh!” Princess Iron Fan startled as she opened the door to see who had knocked, finding herself face to face at sunset with one Great Sage. “You’ve returned.”

“Are you and DBK free?” Sun Wukong asked, smile no longer too wide. “I... kinda just wanna talk with you for a bit.”

“Well... I think that would be lovely.”

[spiftynifty]

How come it seems like lm and jds can talk more candidly about their intentions regarding other ships like allurance and even k/l but not sheith? I don't understand why they can clarify things like allurance and how it was there from the beginning or flat out state that they never intended for k/l to be a thing, but when it comes to the topic of shiro and keith they won't just clarify what they did or did not intend/want their relationship to be? I'm confused by it. :(

Ooof this is an excellent question and I suspect a complicated one. 

First off, they can be candid about Allurance because 1) it’s a hetero couple (and therefore “acceptable” to executives and conservative parents) and 2) it was strongly implied and built up for almost the entirety of the series before they officially, canonically, became a couple. There’s no ambiguity there. They can be candid about kl because Allurance technically “kills” the ship by virtue of existing, but more importantly kl is the fanship that they have been directly asked about on more than one occasion and probably straight up badgered about it more times than we’re aware of. When your production studio gets blackmailed in the hopes of making k/l canon, that ship is being brought to your attention. 

Also, Afterbuzz is run by kl fans who have anti-like tendencies. They angle kl questions in nearly every interview, and I was pretty miffed by the way in this interview they heavily, heavily implied that only Sheith fans hated s8 “because their ship didn’t become canon” and yet in the same breath talked about how Allurance wasn’t good and came out of nowhere (something JDS delightfully shut down). In the live chat for the recent interview, people from all ship alignments kept begging the hosts to ask about why SK’s friendship wasn’t included in the final season. In the saltiest tone you can imagine, one of the more vocal kl hosts decided to answer the question (”they helped each other grow and evolve and since they’ve done that, we don’t need to see their friendship anymore, it got lots of screentime in other seasons”) and never let the showrunners actually speak on it, instead moving swiftly to another topic that aligned more with the hosts’ own interests. It was almost like she was afraid of what the answer would be. Was she afraid they’d say “well actually, on the matter of that, Sheith was our intended endgame” or was she trying to save them from having to talk about something NDAs prevented them from talking about? 

So why CAN’T they talk Sheith? I have a few theories. This gets long and a little rambly, so I’ve thrown it under a cut. 

1) Don’t ask, don’t tell. Except for post-s7, the showrunners themselves have never been asked about Sheith’s relationship in an interview. I think most Sheiths were afraid of rocking the boat and potentially upending a SK endgame by drawing too much attention to it. We were/are definitely the quieter side of the primary vld ships and honestly most of us were not expecting our ship to be canon. 

But vld ships and the ship wars are notorious across geekdom for vitriol and death threats, and the creators didn’t want to add any fodder to either side. In the middle of production it would have benefited no one for the EPs to say, “yeah sheith is meant to be viewed romantically” or “no, we can’t go back and change the story to make that true”. Either one would have resulted in an uptick of harassment from antis towards them, towards other fans. And nevermind the production side where DW/WEP weren’t ready for even a hint of m/m until right before s7 dropped. It was only AFTER they got the greenlight on gay Shiro that showrunners could finally be vague and say “some people will interpret [sk] as brothers, others will say it’s 100% confirmed they’re in a relationship”. Which is, in my opinion, a pretty interesting way to respond to that question. But again, if that interviewer hadn’t been brave enough to ask it, I highly doubt it’s something that the showrunners themselves would have ever brought up.

2) Sheith was actually intended to be romantic, but was blocked. We know now that Adam being greenlit as Shiro’s boyfriend happened right before (like a week or less) before s7 dropped. This was a show that had been in production for almost 4 years by this point, and the showrunners stated they picked Shiro to be their rep early on in the process. When they planted that idea in executive’s heads is anyone’s guess, as is when the proper fight for it began. I suspect their immediate team of directors, writers, and in-house producers were well aware and supportive, but kicking that up the chain was another story. I also have a suspicion that it wasn’t until season 6 was complete that the matter was brought up because greenlighting everything we got in s6 knowing Shiro was gay the whole time puts a lot of eyes on Keith. 

And really, it was Keith who was the problem all along. 

In every version of Voltron, Keith is the main protagonist. He’s the leader of the team, the primary “image” of Voltron, and thus, certain things about him need to be maintained. I’m not sure if this is sheer coincidence or not, but he is the only person on the team who stayed visually the same to his OG counterpart. All of the other paladins have gone from white dudes (and a white lady) to POC, or have had a genderswap. There is much debate about Keith’s race with people creating their own headcanons but ultimately Keith can pass as white. While the handbook states Lance is Cuban, Hunk is half black-half Samoan, Shiro is Japanese and even Pidge gets “Italian”, Keith is just listed as... human. Which is a surefire way to not upset fans who have HC’d him as POC while also not-NOT saying he’s white. Everybody “wins”. 

In addition I’m confident a major stipulation of the OG Voltron owners (the “gatekeepers”, as a few of the VAs and the showrunners themselves have darkly alluded to) was that Keith could not be LGBT. We know now he was meant to end up with Acxa, a fact that was already obvious to many of us from their Weblum meetcute. But that relationship was never scripted. 

Setting aside the fact that the OG Voltron owners (WEP) didn’t want Keith to be LGBT, I’m sure executives at Dreamworks would have struggled with the idea as well. Shiro stans can come at me all they like about this but Keith was always meant to be the primary protagonist of the show, of every version of Voltron, and making the main, masculine hero of a well-trodden, oft-rebooted franchise gay/bi would have been an ENORMOUS move for animation. Making him end up with the other main, masculine hero would have honestly broken the internet and the minds of countless conservative executives, and been a major benchmark not just for cartoons, but ALL media. Animation often trails behind TV and movies in terms of social progress because something something “protect the chillllldrennn”. And right now I’m struggling to think of a popular live action TV show, or movie, with an older audience, where the main masculine hero is lgbt, and in a relationship with the other main masculine hero. Feel free to offer me examples in replies but the fact that I’m struggling to think of anything is pretty telling. In short, if this revolutionary move still isn’t happening for the live action 13+ audience, asking for it to happen on a cartoon with a 7-11yo boy demographic is like asking for the moon. Keith couldn’t be gay, because immediately it would have been obvious to anyone that he was already very much in love with the other LGBT character on the show. Hell, it’s already pretty obvious in canon that this is the case, and dodging the question about his sexuality is dodging the confirmation that he’s in love with Shiro. 

I’d like to believe that one of the solutions to the Adam Problem that was proposed was that KEITH ends up with Shiro, but they were laughed out of the office. The pair’s incredibly close bond aside, it would have been the absolute easiest fix production-wise. They already have their shared history doing most of the legwork, all that’d have to be changed is:

-adding Shiro to the L/K scene in 8x01, just sitting there as Keith encouraged Lance.-Re-recording a couple of Shiro’s lines in 8x05 to make him seem at least somewhat upset that Keith was kidnapped-Showing Keith and Shiro hanging out in the video episode. You could just use the shot of Keith and Pidge but replace Pidge with Shiro.

And the best part is, you could change just one or two of these and then do the wedding epilogue you always intended (but write something that doesn’t insist Shiro retired) but with Keith instead of Rando. Not to mention, there is a slight, slight possibility there was a S/K scene (or two) cut along the way. I strongly disagree with the theories that have floated around about the “massive edits” done to s8, but I think there could be truth to the idea that a Sheith scene was cut to make room for Crew Member, or an effort made to downplay the Sheith friendship that comes off way more intimate than any interaction Shiro has with [man]. It’s more likely that SK scenes never existed at all in this season as the showrunners had to cave to pressures to “have more action”, had no idea what to do with Shiro besides relegate him to a stiff cardboard general, and perhaps had to follow strict instructions about the kind of friendliness an out & proud gay man could show to the men he’d enjoyed good interactions with before. 

All this to say, the Sheith battle is messy. It’s fine for the showrunners to say “getting the greenlight for Shiro was a battle” because it’s a battle they won that makes everyone look pretty good. It makes Dreamworks look like they Learned Something and are going to be more open to LGBT content in future properties. It makes WEP look not-terrible because they can add “allowed a character who wasn’t really an OG Voltron character to be gay” to their list of “generous” things they allowed for this re-envisioning of their property. It’s self-congrats all around.

Blocking Sheith has the opposite effect. It reveals that WEP is homophobic because they could allow Pidge to be a girl and Allura to be black but making the hero a non-straight man? That’s TOO FAR. It reveals that Dreamworks higherups are homophobic because they weren’t ready for two LGBT protagonists, just one plus a background character with 3 lines who is literally never named. No one wins, and to be asked about Shiro and Keith and be honest about it could potentially be the showrunners saying, “god, we wanted to, but we were blocked at every single turn”. And thus DW and WEP are the outed villains of the story.

3) Shiro and Keith were never meant to be read as romantic. The showrunners don’t say anything because there’s simply nothing to say. Sometimes the most incredible ships are happy accidents. Sometimes people genuinely don’t realize what they’re doing. I felt a little disheartened watching the AB interview because the way they talked about wanting to include more [man], or how they “hoped viewers would read between the lines” re:Shiro/Curtains, was so casual and flippant it was like they genuinely thought most people would be fine with Shirando if only there had been more scenes between them, as though completely severing Shiro’s relationship with Keith and instead only showing scenes of Shiro bonding with a new character would come off as a good move rather than a baffling (and somewhat hurtful) one. 

I do believe that certain directors were absolutely fans of the pair and angled in what they could. Chris Palmer is behind the famous “shiro loves you baby” art and responsible for the eps that include Shiro’s gay panic, the Sheith hug, “As many times as it takes”, Shiro falling into Keith’s arms, and “We have to stop, Shiro’s out there!!” among others. Steve Ahn was the director behind 2x01, 3x01 with heavily grieving Keith, Blade of Marmora, and the episode where Keith screams Shiro’s name so loud he astral projects and then Shiro holds his hands over the controls. He also got really soft when he talked about the pair in an episode of Form Podcast (before JDS kinda hastily shut him down). And even Eugene Lee, he directed The Black Paladins which is an episode so Sheith I still can’t believe it’s real, and 7x01, the other episode so Sheith I can’t believe it’s real. All three of these guys were the original series directors, which is pretty inchresting. 

But that doesn’t mean the showrunners were necessarily onboard. Maybe it was really important to them to show a positive male friendship since that never happens in media, just as they felt having Allura sacrifice herself was a powerful feminist move. However the thing I keep circling back to is JDS’ early interview about The Winter Soldier and how if he ever got the chance to do that, he hoped it would be in the future when things could be more progressive, hinting that he wanted to throw more overt romantic undertones if he himself ever got a fight like that to write or direct. It’s pretty interesting that he wrote the Black Paladins, which mirrors the Stucky fight in Winter Soldier so much that it actually rotoscopes one of Bucky’s moves. I’d also point out that JDS’ favorite characters are Shiro and Keith, and I find it impossible to be a fan of both and not also be a fan of how much they love each other, and how much that love straddles the line between romantic love and friendship.

This got long, but I hope it was helpful. The likely final-ever showrunner interview will be on Let’s Voltron sometime this month, and I do hope that now that the series is over someone is brave enough to ask them, “so... what was going on between Shiro and Keith? In a perfect world, what would have happened there?”. In a way it doesn’t matter though. There is always the risk of them saying “nothing was going on there” and us agonizing over whether that was a lie to protect their careers or bald-faced honesty in the face of an NDA or fucks-given that might have expired with their contracts. 

But I think the best we can hope for is the same situation that happened with the Avatar creators and that live action movie: 3 years from now when the NDAs are well and truly expired, JDS & LM may come out and say, “SO, on the matter of Shiro and Keith, it’s time to come clean.”