#i am genuinely fond of him but we don't work as a couple

[femcharlemagne]

i can't stop thinking about my ex boyfriend but i cannot for any reason, good or bad, text him. and that's that on that

[yazthebookish]

Hello my loves❤️!!

I've said that I do not intend to discuss anything HOFAS-related since I haven't read the book and I only know a few details I specifically asked.

But I read the beautiful, beautiful Bryce, Nesta, and Azriel Walmart chapter and I need to just gush about something. It's not the whole chapter but just small parts of it mostly relating to Azriel.

Disclaimer: I have no interest in engaging in ship discourse (annoy me and it's an immediate block) nor do I want someone to change my opinion because it will not be changed. I stick by what I read and interpret in these books and am quite happy and content with it 😉

⚠️ Bryce, Nesta, and Azriel Bonus Chapter Spoilers Ahead! ⚠️

And with each mile onward, she could hear Azriel humming softly to himself. The rolling, wild melody of "Stone Mother" flowed off his lips, and she could have sworn even the shadows danced at the sound.

Do you realize that the entire time Bryce was playing the songs on her phone, she made no comments on Azriel's shadows but towards the end when her phone's battery died and Azriel started humming to himself, then she made a note of the shadows dancing at his sound.

They did not dance to her songs, they dance to Azriel's humming and I find that so endearing!!

It proves my point again at the instances we get descriptions of Azriel's shadows singing are with positive connotations. Their dancing is not written to be nefarious or odd.

Pray tell, in the entire series when Az's shadows are described to be dancing, which scenarios triggered those actions? Mostly when it comes to Gwyn because if you search in every book you won't find a description of them dancing around someone except Gwyn. This is a point I've been making since ACOSF came out and I'll highlight them below:

• These excerpts are from Azriel's bonus chapter

"How was the party?" Her breath curled in front of her mouth, and one of his shadows darted out to dance with it before twirling back to him. Like it heard some silent music.

Gwyn wasn't singing here, they were reacting to some silent music... which we can suspect as much is the mating bond? A bond Sarah described in ACOSF as music between souls?

Azriel entered the warmth of the stairwell, and as he descended, he could have sworn a faint, beautiful singing followed him. Could have sworn his shadows sang in answer.

His shadows sang in answer. We don't know for sure if Gwyn was singing or it was something else but I'll bet on the latter since she was training and one of his shadows earlier darted out to dance with her breath as if it heard some silent music. It still reaffirms to me that it can hear the music between souls, the mating bond.

• This is from ACOSF (pg. 623) and keep in mind this is post-Solstice/Azriel's bonus chapter

Azriel clapped his hands, and all the females straightened. "You'll work in groups of three."

Gwyn asked Az, her teal eyes bright,

"What do we get if we finish the course?"

Az's shadows danced around him. "Since there's no chance in hell any of you will finish the course, we didn't bother to get a prize."

One of the things I absolutely love when it comes to SJM's romances is she creates a common ground for the couple and gives them some things to bond and connect to.

In this instance, it's not only about Azriel's shadows but the fact that he also is fond of music. He doesn't express his fondness through dancing like Nesta, he hums to the tune. He sings.

Who else adores music and sings? Gwyn.

Who made Azriel admit that he sings? Gwyn.

These are not a coincidental connections.

And the author is a big fan of music so I think it's such a beautiful connection to create between two characters that have had such a dark and tragic past and are still processing the trauma they experienced.

The chapter did not give us much in terms of ships or who is Azriel into, but it did elaborate more on Azriel's fondness for music. It did elaborate on the genuine reactions of his shadows which were sometimes always framed in a negative way.

It also kind of proved my cute headcanon about whenever Azriel sings, his shadows dance around him.

I honestly can't wait for his book!! But first we have to tackle HOFAS so look forward to my reading updates in a few days!

[cringefailvox]

we all know that personality =/= bedroom dynamic/preference (or is not always the case) but i genuinely am curious on what makes you read alastor as pillow princess/bottom would you care to elaborate? (this ask is brought to you by your radiobelle post that i just found and read)

i do love a lot of different dynamics and can really swing for anything, but i'm particularly fond of pillow princess alastor just because it highlights a couple different traits about him: he likes to be pursued or at the very least to invite curiosity (posing for vox's cameras, teasing zestial about where he's been, getting irritated when carmilla isn't interested in his absence), he's lazy in a really lackadaisical way and gets easily bored (tossing up a bunch of shadow puppets to fix the hole in the wall, not caring about pentious enough to even entertain a rivalry), and in general he kind of passively lets things happen around him most of the time unless he's given good reason to try. i think he's the same in bed -- he needs to feel wanted, chased, and the star of the show, but he's not really interested in reciprocating sexually unless the other person makes it worth his while or entertaining enough to capture his attention. it's why i really enjoy prince's specific interpretation of the way alastor is willing to top or dom in 666 live on air, where he's thoroughly uninterested in sex if he's topping and having to put in work, but can enjoy having things done to him in very particular contexts (contexts which, in my interpretation of charlie, i don't think she'd enjoy very much or be able to do in the way alastor would need to be into it sexually)

[itsvenera]

I am one of the seagulls that recently arrived HELLO 🫡

Im not sure if this is a real request or not (like if u don't wanna elaborate then I'd be okay with u just replying whatever u think about it ;) but if you do then a short fic works too!)

everyone knows that Sasuke is far from being forward about his "romantic nature" so I can totally see him taking advantage of 'pretending to be a couple for XYZ reasons/to hide somewhere' and he'd be pulling excuses just to be close and like "we need to be careful at all times or they'll be suspicious" knowing damn well there's not a SINGLE soul near the CLOSED room him and his "S/O" are staying

Wait, wait, wait - this is actually BRILLIANT!! 😭 Idk if I have enough brain power rn for a fic (and also every time I try to write short fics, they go waayyyy over the word limit lol!) but I'm going to share what came to my mind once I've read your message.

I totally see this as a potential "enemies-to-lovers" story.

As we all know, after the war Sasuke is contanstly travelling, eliminating any outside threats to Konoha. Now, let's imagine a threat is made to Konoha and another village (for the sake of the story, let's say Suna) at the same time. Naruto will surely send Sasuke to deal with it, while Gaara will send a Sand spy to make sure no further complications arise.

Both Sasuke and the Sand ninja are used to work alone and naturally, at first, they won't be very fond of each other. Additionally, given Sasuke's reputation and past, there would be a lot of mistrust and hostile behaviour from both of them, but especially his "s/o".

Personally I find "forced proximity" and "fake couple" to be a little bit hard to write - just because the tropes themselves are hard to be justified realistically for many characters - but in this case I think it may work great. I imagine they would try to go "undercover" investigating or something, so they pretend to be newlywed couple on their honeymoon or on a trip, celebrating their anniversary.

I genuinely believe that despite barely tolerating each other’s presence, from the very beginning Sasuke would be the one who would consider every single move and action they both make. His s/o probably wouldn’t take this whole “fake dating” that seriously, eager to just get the job done and go back home. Sasuke would be the one who would always pull their hand in his in public, hissing in their ear that they need to get their act together, or taking them around town on “dates” so nobody gets suspicious of the real reason for their visit.

It won’t take long for the dynamic to shift and I do think Sasuke would fall first. He would start finding more and more reasons for him and his s/o to have close contact, including holding hands, hugging and a few times even light pecks on the kiss.

I think it would be these little gestures that would make his s/o fall in love and they would definitely fall harder. I imagine they would be kore playful so they would use any opportunity to tease Sasuke while playing ignorant at the same time!

This is actually such a good premise for a fic (7-8 chapters long) I am actually considering creating an AO3 account just so I can write it haha x

[k-s-morgan]

Hello i hope that you are doing well! I actually had a question regarding Alphard. Feel free to ignore the question if you have to spoil parts of the story that you are not comfortable with sharing!

For some reason i am in the habit of sympathising with alphard just like harry. How does Alphard feel about harry and will their relationship become more like a friendship in the future? Harry attempts to stick out his neck quite a bit for him, and It also seems as though Alphard retained some sort of fondness for harry (atleast before ch 5!).

In canon alphard is disowned from the family, and he actually leaves a small amount of gold to sirius. It seems that he either was defiant like sirius or something else is going on. Have you taken this into consideration when you wrote alphard in atlwetd?

I know it seems oddly specific for me to focus on alphard and harrys relationship, i just think i feel bad for harry and it’s my weird way of coping with it. Hopefully harry will get some better relationships in the story. I personally think i’d go insane if i spent even a day in the house of slytherin (the toxic dynamics are so well written, keep up the good work!!)

Thank you so much for your time. I have been an avid reader of your works for at least five years, and your stories have been a comfort to me during hard times (even though they tend to be dark!). You are so talented and amazing at writing.

P.s Fuck putin! I wish you safety and peace in these trying times, you are incredibly strong and inspiring! 💛💙

Hi! Thank you so much for your lovely words - and no worries, I don't mind answering these questions at all!

Harry and Alphard's relationship will definitely deepen and become close to a real friendship at some point. I can't promise a long-lasting and happy bond between them, but there will be some serious development on Alphard's side.

Right now, he's torn between genuinely liking Harry and worshipping Tom. Tom is the embodiment of power, cunning, and success in Alphard's eyes, and he got so addicted to being able to touch this greatness even with one fingertip that he can no longer live without this feeling. Harry has brought something more solid and authentic in his life, but their relationship is still new, and Tom's roots go deep, so Alphard keeps choosing the familiar old toxicity for now.

And yes, I took what little we know of Alphard from canon into account - I think Harry even mentions it a couple of times. In the last posted chapter, Tom said:

He hasn’t pledged himself to anyone yet, not fully, but once he does, his loyalty will be unwavering.

In this context, in canon-based universe, Alphard ended up pledging himself to Sirius, so he left inheritance to him with no care for the consequences. In this time period, Alphard is going to make different choices under Harry's influence, which will lead to a different kind of future. But either way, Tom's words are going to be prophetic, and I actually can't wait to get there because this will be a breaking point for Tom and Harry's relationship as well.

Oh, and I agree with you, being surrounded by toxicity all day long is incredibly difficult. I admire Harry for being able to withstand it.

[bengiyo]

A Boss and a Babe Ep 2 Stray Thoughts

Last time, this got off to a really solid start! I'm glad to have Force and Book back in roles I think work really well for them. It's also nice to see New Siwaj getting to work on a production with a solid pre- and post-production budget. We met Cher, a new intern at a gaming company. He catches the eye of the boss right away, and the two of them have bonded over the boss's love of ASMR and Cher's manic pixie dream boy persona. The rest of the coworkers are fun, and Fluke Pusit is romantically paired with another newbie named Ohm.

"Do you promise to video chat with me every night until I fall asleep?" Sir!!

These girls continuing to beef with Cher don't want this smoke!!

Love the call-out for BL fans who don't support queer issues.

I am a fan of 30+ year old queer perspectives entering the conversation lately. I am with Gun that we can't spend all day fighting every person talking shit about us, or we'd never get any rest. We also are subject to so many rude and invasive questions.

Love Cher. "I do dislike you, but not for gay reasons."

They always make Drake play antagonistic characters, but he's such a sweetheart.

Cher is like those white women on TikTok grabbing dangerous creatures and trying to help them while holding a phone with the other hand. Just insane levels of compassion with disregard for their own safety.

Gay people in love can indeed be insufferable, but it's still cute.

Okay, inviting the boss to dinner was a risk, but that was endearing. Gun seemed to genuinely enjoy seeing a gay couple be comfortably affectionate in front of their friends, and was not expecting Cher to feed him at all.

I'm with the friends. That whole thing with the boss was hella gay. Cher should understand what he's doing with his boss and proceed with his eyes open.

"You must talk to me before bed every night until I'm tired of you." Again, SIR!!

Interesting inclusion with Jack having mental health struggles, and Aoi choosing to respect his privacy.

Okay, Yard is genuinely funny as Aoi. Incredible screen presence. Reminds me of Justina Machado.

I like the way fond looks on Force.

What is up with people in Bangkok blocking each other in parking lots?

Book is really fantastic in this role. I'm having a lot of fun with Cher and Gun.

So, as a lonely queer, how do I get a manic pixie dream boy to show up and change my life??

Seriously, Force is doing so much work with his eyes in this show.

I also like the backing track for this balcony scene.

Force and Book have a really special chemistry. The neck grab, the "You can't control me," and Force's surprised arousal into a really solid first kiss delivers an incredibly satisfying scene. I really like this two a lot.

This is definitely the right comedown show after My School President. I was unsure about this, but I'm feeling like I'm regaining my center after the last 12 weeks of shows. This is such a satisfying experience on a Friday. Amazing how it feels like we got this because of these two clowns screaming, "FORCEBOOK FOREVER!!"

[mirandahamilton]

what were your thoughts on seven kings must die?

LOADED ass question lol

controversial mayhaps but i liked it well enough! in the sense that i was entertained, and i did get some satisfaction from my viewing experience.

positives:

i really loved the updated intro/credits!

finan's narration was a cool change

the acting! it was all hitting for me :) i think harry especially did a great job, imo he had the most character work to do and i really felt his conflict (maybe this is gay bias but idc). the new actress for eadgifu did a really good job as well, her character was consistent and i enjoyed her interactions with uhtred

the action sequences were very well done and i loved the battle

sets, costumes, hair/makeup...all looked great!!

the ending! loved the callback, and although i wish we'd seen more charcaters in valhalla ik most of the actors weren't available so it's cool. really enjoyed the ambiguity. althoooooough unlike most ppl i don't think uhtred went to valhalla at the end (would love to chat/debate on this one)

uhtred getting stabbed at the final battle....lowkey i was emotional esp when sihtric and finan found him and he was serving cunt dead

aethelflaed shoutout :( miss my wife and i think they did the female characters so dirty but i would have turned it off if they went to aegelesburg without even namedropping the queen

i really enjoyed osbert & edmund being besties (BUT their stories should have been more developed)

i go into my critique below lol but i won't apologize for unironically vibing with the catholic guilt evil homosexual drama. in many ways it hit for me and i shan't be issuing an apology

i loooooooved the new locations, especially the shetland islands

problematizing the christians 🙏

negatives:

WHERE the abject fuck were any of the women characters???????? STIORRA? hild? aelfwynn? aelswith?? eadith???????? like??? not even a shoutout????? make it make sense. this was the most offensive thing for me and i won't be getting over it anytime soon thanks

i wish we'd heard something about cynlaef and aelfwynn!!! wasn't he like besties with aethelstan?? would have been so easy to make it work smh

pacing :/ it was impossible to tell how the story was meant to be moving through a concrete sense of time. a quick look at the wikipedia for king aethelstan shows that there were years between his coronation and the battle of brunanburh, yet the movie makes it seem like from beginning to end the story takes less than a year? and it's also unclear how much time has supposedly past since the end of s5. it started off pretty slow, but regardless i was admittedly engrossed by the halfway mark

sloppy evil gay drama :/// like in some ways. listen. i am not complaining lol. but i think it would have worked much better with more breathing room. ingilmundr was just so clearly intro'd as a villain, and i would have preferred seeing some more subtlety and cunning over a period of time, plus some actual internal conflict for him. by his last line ("i grew fond of you, but my love for my people prevailed") it seems as though he did have some genuine affection for aethelstan, and even though he completed his mission in the end i wish there'd been more depth there.

also, fwiw and as other people have said, unhinged to go 5 seasons with no queer characters only to haphazardly throw a couple in the follow up film...and have them be villains!!! gay people CAN be villainous lmao but idk how intentional they were being about any of this

overall just felt rushed. there were a lot of parts that would have benefited from some breathing room and dramatic build up. plus we didn't get to connect with a lot of the characters, and the writers were relying on viewers to care based on the tv series -- mostly fine for our mains like uhtred & co, but a real disservice to the newer characters. even finan and sihtric didn't do much besides follow uhtred around, which is par for the course but i wish they'd had individual arcs. ingrith's death didn't hit that hard bc she barely had lines. aelfweard's too, and he needed to be built up as more of a threat (even tho his death is mainly supposed to serve as a character moment for aethelstan).

hollow villains! i wrote abt ingilmundr above, but anlaf and astrid were so 1 dimensional. and the writers could have tried a little harder lbr. and let astrid SPEAK

ALDHELM. ok. his death was such a waste. james did an incredible job, but it felt so meaningless. oooh ah uhtred was upset. but he was upset already? and it didn't make him turn his back on aethelstan????? so tell me quickly what did we accomplish

aethelstan's redemption....i feel like he went from being a villain to back to besties with the squad in 2 seconds and i think it should have been fleshed out more. like i'm fine with them reuniting and i was rooting for it but i think we could have gotten more of aethelstan realizing his mistakes and showing remorse, and demonstrating that he has changed -- uhtred will probably always have his back, but besides Realizing Things he didn't really do anything to show that he has grown and prove that he's different and better than edward -- this was an issue throughout the movie, but it stands out the most with him since his actions drive most of the plot

no offense but where tf did uhtred get his little army from

[tobiasdrake]

Can't enter the Mystery Labyrinth until after work, but I've done a lot of thinking and I've reached a decision.

On a scale of "Makoto did nothing wrong" to "I'm gonna fuck up Makoto", my personal stance falls far on the "fuck up Makoto" end of the spectrum.

I still don't know what his endgame is. Why he went to such elaborate lengths to bring the Book of Death here and get himself pulled into the Mystery Labyrinth.

But reflecting on it, I don't think I care.

As weird as these words feel coming out of my mouth, I. Kind of. Agree. With Yakou?

Not in the way he expressed it: Men exist solely for women, so you need to put Kurumi above all other considerations!

But more specifically, he isn't wrong in a more general sense, when he expresses that the relationships we have with each other are what drive us forward. That we need to stop and thinking about what's best for the people that we care about when making our choices.

The Trolley Problem of feeding WDO-apprehended criminals to Kanai Ward is... complicated. I genuinely don't know where to stand on that, though I'd have a higher opinion of it if Makoto hadn't ended homunculus research and was instead trying to find a permanent solution instead of this stopgap.

But to make this happen, Makoto also killed a lot of people who unambiguously didn't deserve it. Some of whom I liked. He took two besties from me as well as several other characters I was fond of, and a couple I was less so. I can't overlook that. I want blood.

I said before that it made me feel proud to help Yakou carry out Huesca's assassination and avenge his wife. If that's what he needed for closure then I was happy to help him do it.

Now I feel like I'm in his shoes. Makoto killed Halara, Vivia, and Fubuki - and yes, even Desuhiko. His plan is responsible for the deaths of Aphex, Real Zilch, Melami, Zange, and Pucci. He paved this road in blood.

I don't believe in punitive justice. I don't think the function of a well-reasoning legal system should be to hurt people. The focus of the state should always be on rehabilitation.

But at an individual level, I also don't believe that cold, dispassionate logic is superior to raw emotion. The ability to feel is what makes us alive. I stood by Yakou because he was a man undergoing intense grief, produced by Huesca in an attempt to conceal Huesca's own financial misdeeds.

Like the Theater Girls, justice was denied to Yakou, leaving revenge as his only possible avenue for closure. I could never hold that against him. The emotional wellbeing of a victim far outweighs the physical wellbeing of an abuser. I will never blame a victim for doing what they need to do to feel whole again, even if it comes at a cost to their life.

Now I feel like I'm standing there in those same shoes. It is not justice to retaliate against Makoto. It was not justice to assassinate Huesca. But like Yakou and the Theater Girls, I am not of sound mind and cool head. This isn't about justice. There is no avenue to justice. I want revenge.

[atticoratticus]

Hello it's been a while, time for a rant about Tokyo Revengers because I binged the entire thing in the span of like 2 days a couple weeks ago and I'm literally obsessed (slight manga spoilers below)

So after I got caught up to jjk I just decided to pick up TR for the sake of reading something. I tried the anime a bit before that because a lot of my online friends loved it, but the anime just didn't do it for me. I especially wasn't fond of Takemichi because of how much secondhand embarrassment I got from him.

For me the manga was so much easier to work through, even though in the first half there were still a lot of moments where I was bordering on throwing my phone across the room (not an issue with the story itself, just me being dramatic).

I feel like for me personally TR was a relatively slow starting series in the sense that it took a while to fully hook me on the story, which was kinda frustrating at times. The writing is kinda inconsistent at times and a lot of the plot points get sort of jumbled, especially towards the end, but in a weird way it works??? Idk man.

It's very much a story where you read for the characters first and plot second (at least in my experience, idk if anyone else feels the same there), which personally is something that works very well with my taste in manga. Some of the characters are pretty flat and only really have one or two defining traits, but all of the major characters are well developed and fleshed out.

I am a raging Mitsuya and Draken simp. I'm not gonna sugar coat it shhfbbdbs

Like I am SO down bad for both of them it's actually insane, they're just... omg. And it's weird because I went into the series fully expecting for Mikey to be my favorite, when after finishing he's not even in my top 5 characters.

Takemichi is a character I'm relatively conflicted on. He has a hell of a lot of development throughout the series which I loved to see, but it always felt like there was something lacking in a way? But then again, that does work pretty well because he's meant to be an underdog character who no one really expects much of at first

I will say that Taiju is hands down my least favorite character. Just for personal reasons I can't bring myself to like him, though I do appreciate how his character wasn't watered down to make it more digestible. Honestly I think part of the reason why I like Mitsuya so much is how he dealt with Taiju during the Christmas battle, I absolutely cried reading that.

SPEAKING OF CRYING. oh my god, I have not cried this much while reading any series in actual YEARS. the ending had me bawling like an absolute baby, it just hit so hard. Even rereading the ending still has the same impact on me, it's actually insane. The rereadability factor is through the roof.

The last 70~ chapters were both extremely necessary and unnecessary at the same time. Going back and getting a happy ending for everyone was such an overwhelming moment for me, but I feel like it definitely could have been cut down a fair amount just to keep things from dragging on. It would have been cool to see an ending that still had some level of loss, because while everyone surviving and being happy was super nice to see, it didnt really fit with the themes of the rest of the series. But hey, we also got to see Mitsuya with long hair so thats why it was so necessary (/hj. Maybe. Idk he's just overwhelmingly attractive to me)

I promise I don't only have criticisms I promise, bear with me-

The twists were genuinely so well done most of the time, like I was clutching my pillow with an iron grip for most of the series. I think the only ones that didn't really land well for me was that Mucho (the 5th division captain) was a traitor, and that's mainly because we never knew who he was prior. It sorta felt like it came out of no where? But then again we got to see way more of Sanzu so it's all good akfjjdjs

Pretty much every character was made well enough where you genuinely cared about what happened to them, and for a good amount of the antagonists you could at least understand why they acted the way the did (even if that takes a fair bit of mental gymnastics, but yk). Whenever a chatacter died, even if they weren't immensely important to the plot, you felt their death in your soul because of how heartwrenching those scenes were as well as how others characters reacted to it. If you say you didn't cry at least once during the series, I simply don't believe you.

I have a lot more thoughts on the series because I barely covered most of it, and the characters too I feel like I can talk a lot more about, but I don't feel like writing a whole other character analysis essay like I did for jjk, so I'll leave it here for now.

Overall the story was a huge surprise for me, because I didn't expect something to immediately rocket to becoming one of my top two series in general. Jjk has better writing in my opinion, but I enjoyed reading TR way more. I already have reread the series once, and I'm on the verge of reading it again for a third time already sjdjfn

I love this series flaws and all, because it doesn't need to be perfectly written to have such a great impact

[basingstokemercury]

Zarabattleaxe is best ship

Or, why I am totally normal about them and they are the best couple in canon

I doubt anyone with more than a cursory understanding of G&S thinks there are many truly healthy romantic relationships in the canon.

At best, there are couples about whose relationship the narrative doesn't make snide jokes - putting aside delivery, most have little chemistry besides "we're in love".

And that's fine, because these are comedies, many of which poke fun at romanticism and the way excessive focus on love and marriage can harm (can you tell I'm typing this while Patience is paused in the next window).

But then, we have Utopia, Limited. With a certain soprano, and a certain tenor.

Who might be insecure about his singing, but has no reasons to be so about his engagement.

We'll start with the reasons I like Fitzbattleaxe - Zara is wonderful, intelligent, and the driving force behind the entire narrative, but it's him I really want to shine a light on because of how his character is portrayed.

The military character with a tender-hearted, sentimental nature is nothing new to the canon - see the policemen, the dragoons, perhaps even the crew of the Pinafore to an extent. The difference?

Those are treated humourously.

The "brave" policemen who quake at the thought of battle, the soldiers who wear a uniform to attract girls and are shocked when their type of masculinity is rejected...

And here the second act opens with this valiant warrior distressed because his singing voice is out of sorts (which is a comic song, but is responded to with serious reassurance in-universe), and perhaps the most tender and beautiful romantic duet in the canon.

And if that weren't enough, he's quick-thinking and intelligent (Rival Admirers' Clauses Consolidation Act), and... but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go to why they work as a couple.

Of course, we have the personality traits I described in both, that work perfectly together; romantic affection is a given in most G&S tenor/soprano pairings, but somehow even the standard pieces seem to work better than usual for these two. Could just be my bias though.

While the aforementioned ploy is Fitzbattleaxe's idea, Zara is quick to catch on and support it - she has only one line in the affair, but the couple's verses in the following song show she knows exactly what her partner is driving at.

The true clincher for me, though? Perhaps the most underrated love song in the canon?

"Oh, Admirable Art!". Verse 2 onwards.

The second verse and most of the third seem like a standard duet in the slightly wry Gilbertian vein ("Were You Not To Ko-Ko Plighted" is close) - but then it's subverted, and not in the way Gilbert usually subverts such things.

We don't have a ludicrous remark that makes sense to the characters ("In 1940 I Of Age Shall Be"), or a sudden attack of sensibility breaking a romantic moment ("If We're Weak Enough To Tarry"). This is the characters themselves, genuinely in love, being playful with each other.

it's Zara making a joke, and Fitzbattleaxe following it up.

I wouldn't say they're "teasing" each other because that term seems to have weird connotations in romantic contexts sometimes, but it's something close to that if softer and more mutual. And I love it.

In conclusion:

Some years from the opera's ending (hopefully not too few because I am fond of good old Parry too), Queen Zara and Prince-Consort Arthur will bring Utopia into an era of prosperity unmatched even by the glorious Government By Party era, bolstered by their enduring love and mutual brilliance.

[chrispychanniem]

BL Title: My Secret Love

My honest opinion:

This is one of the best series I have watched so far. Not only does it have electrifying chemistry between the couples, but also the bonds between the characters seem rather genuine and beautiful. For example, the bond that Mek, Bear and Park share makes you feel as if they have genuinely known each other since the start of their university. Also, the friendship between Kimhan and his friends is really sweet. The plot is rather easy to grasp and is really enjoyable despite having a fair share of cringey and cliche moments.

The MekKim couple sure had their ups and downs but all's well that ends well right? Even though I didn't like Mek in the beginning, I eventually started growing fond of him once I realised that he was simply a fun loving teenager who didn't have bad intentions but rather just wanted to have some childish fun. To be honest, his character reminds me a lot of Xiang Hao Ting from "History 3: Make Our Days Count". As for Kim, I love how he simply accepts the situations that are beyond his control and is always up for challenges and doesn't back down easily if ever.

Next couple is Bear and Bomb. True to his name, Bear is indeed like a giant cuddly bear who has nothing but only good intentions. He is protective of his friends, caring and really compassionate. I love how he always prioritised Bomb and even when he was too busy to celebrate their anniversary, he simply apologized and tried his best to make Bomb happy once again. That's exactly how a relationship works. It's not about holding your ground, it's all about finding a common ground. As for Bomb, let's all agree that he is a cuddly teddy with clothes on and a total Daddy without them. LoL 🤣, I am cringing at my choice of words. Anyways, his character sure is rather calm and charming. And I guess that is exactly what balances out Bear's super energetic and enthusiastic aura.

The ParkLee couple is one of the only few couples in a BL series, that stuck around each other from beginning to end. There are just some couples whom you look at and simply feel like they belong together. ParkLee are clearly that couple. Them being together just makes sense. Yeah, I really don't know how else to describe it. But they are my favourite couple.

Last but not the least, we have TimMai. Unlike Third from "Theory of love" who let's his crush have his way, Mai is a rather strong personality who doesn't take shit from no one, not even his crush. He is strong, protective, attentive and really supportive. As for Tim, I feel like the writers are trying to make us realise the difference between reel and real life. In his reel life, Tim is a Mr Perfect and many aspire to be like him. While in reality, he is an idiot who doesn't understand his own feelings and only realised his mistake when it's almost too late. But in the end, he did redeem himself and ended up becoming the best version of himself.

All in all, I loved the series and I highly recommend watching it.

[rinadragomir]

You asked for my opinion, here we gooooo

Charles x Alastair: burn it burn it burn it, canonically an adult creeping on an underage kid, Charles is trash, the Carstairs siblings fucking showed him, I hope that Thomas beats him up in CoT

Thomas x Alastair: death from cute 🥹, I’m currently on a reread and their talk in the sanctuary almost killed me… again. I just hope that they can figure things out in CoT, they’re my wholesome/unproblematic OTP

Cordelia x James: honestly kinda torn, I want to love them wholeheartedly and every time Jaime calls her Daisy I feel like I do, but it’s just so angsty and I think with Matthew being my absolute favourite I just can’t handle the situation, I am praying that Cassie finds a satisfying ending for them🙏

Cordelia x Matthew: actually I am surprisingly fond of the ship, they’re amazing friends at the very least, just with how well she can read him and how much he trusts her, but on my reread I’ve noticed Cordelia gushing over Matthew quite a bit, and idk how they could ever work out but I wouldn’t be mad

James x Matthew: look, I really really really loved Will and Jem, but something about these two gets me, they’re my favourite Parabatai, and I even ship them, though obviously they could never be canon. But they have so many tender moments that break my heart every time🥹😫❤️ no matter how, I just want them both and their relationship to be okay after CoT but something is telling me I won’t get that

Ariadne x Anna: I have a crush on Anna, so personally I very much feel for Ariadne. Their scenes are always a delight to come across, despite the angst. Anna just needs to jump over her own shadow, but apart from that they’re giving power couple energy ⚔️

Lucie x Jesse: our unproblematic straight relationship😇 as far as raising your boyfriend from the dead can be unproblematic🤫 I‘m rooting for them but I’m not as invested as some other ships.

Cordelia x Lucie: I am freakin‘ mad that we won’t get their ceremony within the TLH series😤 they’re so sweet and exude Giel power when fighting together, but are underwritten at times in my opinion. I just need them to trust each other fully again😩 As for romantic shipping, any AU with them would slap, but I don’t feel it in the books.

Kit x Grace: they had like 2 scenes together but I am so invested in this ship! They both deserve someone who genuinely understands them. Kit could give Grace something to have purpose and confidence, and she could be the Marie to his Pierre🥹❤️ obviously she needs to be forgiven first, and she might not be ready for a relationship right now, but I feel like they would build trust slowly, and Kit would take forever to court her 😆

Matthew x Claude: okay so, unpopular opinion but I have a weird fascination with Kellington and he’d have me wrapped around his finger if I ever were to enter the Hell Ruelle. Pretty sure he’s an ass, but since we don’t know his age I wouldn’t straight up say he’s as terrible as Charles. though obviously to Matthew he’s dead and fucking should be. (still curious what happened between them exactly) And I hope to GOD that he won’t bite Math. Couldn’t forgive that 🙅🏻‍♀️😡

Grace x James: omg, not just terrible but actually magical sexual assault. he might’ve genuinely cared for Grace before he wore the bracelet but what happened after was just🤢 I like Grace as a character with a redemption arc but whatever is Grace/James needs to be burnt with heavenly fire. (in another timeline they’re really cute childhood friends.)

Pretty sure I covered the most important relationships, and I hope you don’t regret asking😇😂

Ohhhhh I LOVE IT YES YES SHARING THOUGHTS TIME💅🏻🌟💞✨

1) I don't think anyone ships them at all. The only thing I'm curious about is that chot snippet where Christopher believes Alastair came to the Fairchild house to meet Charles 😒like.... THEY'RE NOT TOGETHER AGAIN RIGHT?!

2) YesYES Alastair just needs some time. It's one of those rare times when I'm 100% they're an endgame.

3) I can't take healthy criticism at this point. I ship them since 2014 so🥺

3) as not a fan of Matthew I'm trying to be an neutral as possible BE PROUD OF ME! so they definitely have a chemistry, but they just like "cool to hang out, but not good for each other in the long term". For now they're just unhealthy distractions for each other. For Cordelia - Matthew is a possibility to run away of herself and her problems. And for Matthew - Cordelia is an illusion of a healthy happy life.

4)Ohhh James and Matthew. I remember that before COI someone (quit famous on here, but I forgot who😭) was 100% SURE Matthew's in love with James. And they made like 134551 essays why it's true. So you're not weird. They definitely have a strong bond and I REALLY HOPE that CC won't make Cordelia an obstacle to their friendship. The only thing I love about Matthew in COI is how much he genuinely cares about James. It's obvious even when they're mad at each other 😭✋

5)Yes, and since I ship these two for 4 years GAY hehehehehe I can tolerate all this shit Anna keeps doing to Ariadne, CAUSE I BELIEVE Cassie will make them....you know...TALK and deal with all their bullshit

6)my baby ghostwriter, the only thing that keeps me going 🥺😭✋just let them hold hands and attack each other with nose kisses CC please

7)Like....they don't actually develop any bond or sth. Like okay they were writing each other for years but it was all about "now I'm gonna tell you about my summer", then they interacted a few times and it was all about "oh hi glad u came, now let's hang out with boys", aaaaaand.... that's it🙃🙃🙃 even if Cassie will let them perform a parabatai ceremony in Chot, it's gonna feel empty. It's not me not wanting them to become parabatai, it's about me ASKING FOR AT LEAST 2 OR 3 PROPER DIALOGUES BETWEEN THEM😤😤😤

8)Oh oh YesYES you're absolutely right. Even if they get together, they're gonna do it very slowly and in the end of chot. I also shiped them since 2014, but now we have almost no hope and I just have a feeling CC added those scenes just for people like me who were kinda waiting, and they're gonna be just friends.

9) Ohhhhhh I see I see👀👀👀NO no biting pls☝🏻

10)NOOOOO no NOW it's not a ship at all. But I'll tell you sth: as an old fan I remember some hints from CC that Grace and James were supposed to be a real thing without any magic involved. If you find some old posts or YouTube videos (from 2014 to 2019) you'll see that actually lots of people were invested in this pairing. And somewhere in 2015, even though I shipped Jordelia, I was really curious about their dynamic. And then CC decided to change the majority of the plot, which is okay cause so much time has passed, but I'm still upset about it. I believe the original Grace/James was far more interesting.

Thank you for your thoughts, it was so entertaining ✨💞💓🌟

[sapphireplums]

              𝐌𝐲 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥 -𝟑-

     。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.

𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 / 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐨

Description: When Bucky Barnes is captured by HYDRA, his life has one meaning: being a weapon. But what happens when HYDRA kidnaps a little girl for them to experiment on? Will he grow fond of the child? Or will he just ignore her and follow the orders of his handlers?

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Daughter!Reader / Child!reader

Warnings: angst, some fluff, the murder of the stark's.

Word count: 1.6k

Author’s note: I genuinely apologize for the lack of updating this series, but here we are! Hope you all enjoy this chapter. 

Even though Y/n has been on many missions with her papa, she had a bad feeling about this one for some reason. 

She couldn’t point it out, but she just knew. 

Bucky kept his eyes focused, trying to find the car that he was supposed to assassinate.

He felt a cold gust of wind go over him, not even letting it bother him. The Winter Soldier saw that Y/n was shivering, so he put her closer into his flesh arm, hoping to keep her warm. 

“Thank you, papa.” 

“Of course, babydoll.”

Y/n started to feel sleepy, so she buried her head near the soldier's shoulder and cuddled as he put his right arm comfortably around her. 

“Get some rest, my angel,” the Winter Soldier said in a soft, fatherly tone. 

Y/n nodded her head and placed her head back in her father's shoulder

                                · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.

After what felt like minutes, Y/n was woken up abruptly by the sounds of the Winter Soldier's motorcycle revving. 

“Papa, where are we going?” Y/n asked confused and tiredly. 

“Don’t speak, doll,” the soldier said quietly and sternly.

He started to chase closely behind the car that drove in front of him. 

He clipped the car and it started to swerve out of control until it finally hit a pole, clearly damaging the car and the people inside.

Y/n stared at the damaged car, seeing the two older people in it. Their faces had blood on them and Y/n’s heart slightly dropped at the sight of them. Blood was not really a part of Y/n’s forte and it made her slightly lightheaded. 

The Winter Soldier got off of the motorbike, gently placing Y/n down on the seat. He walked up to the older man and grabbed him by his hair, making him wince in pain. 

“Sergeant Barnes?” A hint of Bucky came back in the Winter Soldier’s mind, but that quickly faded away when he remembered what his mission was. 

Extract. No witnesses. 

The Winter Soldier repeatedly hit Howard Stark in the face, knocking him unconscious.  

Y/n covered her eyes with her tiny feeble hands, hearing the cries of the people in front of her. The soldier started to go to the other side of the car, but this time, Y/n ran to his side pleadingly.

Кукла, что ты здесь делаешь? Вернитесь к байку.

Doll, what are you doing here? Go back to the bike.

Y/n shook her head no and proceeded to stay in her place. The soldier sighed and carried her back to the bike. 

In his arms, Y/n turned to see the woman giving her a small smile. So small it was almost invisible. 

Если я не завершу эту миссию, они причинят вред не только мне, но и тебе.

"If I don't complete this mission, they won't only hurt me, but you. I don't want that to happen."

“Don’t hurt her, papa.” The voice of Y/n made the Winter Soldier's heart drop, but he knew he had to complete his mission to please his handlers. 

He placed Y/n back on the chair then went back to complete his mission, executing the couple swiftly and emotionlessly. 

Grabbing the woman’s neck, the Winter Soldier killed her by asphyxiation.

He put the woman back in the car then went to the back trunk to grab a suitcase filled with over a dozen blue super-soldier serums. 

He grabbed the suitcase then proceeded to strap it on the back of the bike, making a curious Y/n look at him.

The Winter Soldier looked at the child and smiled slightly which was something he rarely ever did, considering the life he has to go through, but Y/n made it more manageable for him.

“What are you looking at, papa?” Y/n smiled widely, admiring her father figure. 

“Nothing, come on, let’s go.” Bucky put Y/n back on the bike and sped away back to the HYDRA base. 

                               · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.                   

Back at the HYDRA base, Y/n was shaking in fear and grabbed her father’s pant leg tightly, digging her dirty fingernails in it. 

“Mission report.” Karpov stood in front of the soldier, glancing at him to get an answer. Y/n has always been scared of the man and the Winter Soldier noticed her body tensing up. He picked her up gently and buried her head in his shoulder, refraining Y/n from looking at Karpov any longer. 

“Убит, свидетелей нет.“

“Killed, no witnesses.” 

Karpov nodded his head in approval and then talked to the other doctors there to examine the Winter Soldier's arm, fixing any technical difficulties it had. 

For the first time in a while, Y/n was able to feel some sort of peace as she was resting her head on the Winter Soldiers chest. Her heartbeat was starting to slow down peacefully, almost falling asleep. 

The small child soon fell asleep on the Winter Soldier's chest not too long after, making him feel like a part of hope was still alive. 

He wished that someday, and hopefully soon, he and Y/n were able to finally escape this hell hole. 

But that was too much of a risk, knowing his handlers will kill him and worse, Y/n. 

He cared too much to let this happen to his precious daughter. 

One of the doctors that were working on the Winter Soldier’s arm, was about to pick up the sleeping child to let him examine any other cuts on his body. However, the Winter Soldier quickly noticed and swiftly grabbed the doctor's hand, refraining him any further from letting the stranger touch his daughter. 

“Не трогай ее. Оставь ее там.”

“Do not touch her. Leave her there.”

Being notoriously frightened by the Winter Soldier, the doctor vigorously nodded his head and proceeded to leave the child on his chest. 

The Winter Soldier turned his hard glare away from the doctor and once his eyes landed on Y/n, his mood immediately became brighter.  

Smiling at his sleeping child, the Winter Soldier kissed Y/n’s head slightly, careful to not wake her up. 

“Спи спокойно, мой ангел.”

“Sleep well, my angel.” 

                               · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.

                                             𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟗                                     𝐇𝐘𝐃𝐑𝐀 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞

After the moment back in 1991 where the Winter Soldier completed his mission, he and Y/n were pretty much immediately put back into cryo freeze. 

For over 18 years, Y/n hasn't seen her papa, until now, where she felt the recognizable sensation of the fresh air flowing through her chamber as it opened. 

Fluttering her eyes open, Y/n saw her father, fighting and breathing furiously as he took out several guards that were trying to calm him down. 

"Где она?! Где мой ребенок ?! "

“Where is she?! Where’s my child?!” 

Y/n ignored the doctors that were trying to help her down and immediately ran to her father. 

“Papa! Papa! I’m here! I”m here!” 

The Winter Soldier whipped his head, finally calming down at the voice of his daughter. Y/n jumped in the Winter Soldier's arms, immediately comforted by her father. 

“I see your deep care for the child.” Y/n and the Winter Soldier turned their heads to the unfamiliar voice. Even though Y/n just met this man, she could tell he was not a good guy and he was higher in power.  

The Winter Soldier stayed silent and attempted to hold his daughter tightly, protecting her at any costs.

“Sorry, let me introduce myself. I’m Alexander Pierce and I will be your new handler since Karpov is older and retired.” The Winter Soldier loosened his grip slightly on Y/n, but still firm enough to protect her, not fully trusting this man yet. 

Pierce diverted his vision from the soldier to the little girl in his hands. He smiled devilishly, which made Y/n put her head back on her father's shoulders. 

"Do you really take out the child to missions?" The Winter Soldier stared at the man for a while before nodding his head slightly. Pierce chucked darkly then went off to talk to the other HYDRA agents, leaving the pair alone in the eyes of the guards.

"Papa, do we have to kill other people?" The Winter Soldier looked at his daughter with slight sympathy before answering.

"Да, кукла."

"Yes, we do, doll."       

Y/n just nodded her head, sad that other innocent people have to die just because HYDRA thought they were a threat.

"What if they-". Y/n started to make fighting and implosion motions with her hands, indicating that the Winter Soldier would have to get hurt during these missions.

"Не волнуйся, куколка, я сильнее этих людей."

"Don't worry, doll, I am stronger than those people."

Y/n knew her father was strong, but there were still times where she was petrified of the thought of the soldier dying. She just couldn't think of that thought.

On the other hand, the Winter Soldier mentally promised himself that he will stay alive and obey his orders, only for Y/n and to hopefully escape the hands of HYDRA one day.

The sound of dress shoes clicking on the hard cement floor grabbed the attention of the pair.

"Soldier, good news, you and your...pet have a new mission." The Winter Soldier wanted to rip the man's throat out for calling his daughter a 'pet', but that was suicide when they were in the hands of HYDRA.

Pierce handed the soldier a new file which he skimmed quickly due to his enhanced diligence. Curious about what the file read, Y/n slightly looked towards the files, not reading much except for the words 'nuclear' and 'engineer'.

"Assassinate the engineer. No witnesses." Closing the files, the soldier picked up his daughter, her hands caressing his neck, and started to walk to a room where they would get their gear to get ready for a mission.

Just another normal day of killing people, Y/n thought to herself. But little did the child know, a certain Russian red-head will change her life forever.

please like, comment, and reblog!!

𝐌𝐘 𝐃𝐎𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

@lunaticbarnes @mo-onstarrs @tvckerlance @wastefulsushi @peachyprincessss @soldier-42 @rachaelswrites @smileyishere92 @bonkybarnes107 @appaair @that-gurl-who-rants @spookybooisa @obsessedfangirl101 @cipheress-to-k-pop @illyrianprincess @play-morezeppelin @emo-space-tea @amonrawya @leilonely

𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐌𝐘 𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐊𝐒

@tvckerlance @lozzypoz321 @princess-evans-addict @rebellious-desires @amelietheslut @captain-america-is-bae

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐕𝐄𝐋 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

@beverlyparkerr @mischiefsemimanaged @bonkybarnes107 @appaair @martellsmultis @tomhollandsstan @spookybooisa @salty—bones @sylvie-writes

[pftones3482]

THIS IS SO OBVIOUS BUT I JUST SAW UR ASK GAME. AND UH. YOU CAN JUST PICK ONE IF UD RATHER BUT CANDACE JEREMY AND STACY? BC HEHEHEH FAVORITISM AND ALSO BC I FEEL LIKE ITS ME AGAINST THE WORLD IN "OH YEAH THE TEENS ARE MY FAVORITE PART OF PNF" (LIKE BARELY BUT STILL)

*cracks knuckles* oh no I'm doing all three

How I Feel About This Character:

Candace: P obvious but I love her to pieces. I think she's been misunderstood by a lot of the fandom and if you don't like her, you're wrong. I really relate to her as an older sister, and as someone who genuinely feels at times like she's not good enough for the people around her.

Jeremy: Only blonde boy I respect /j. No but as a character he's such a sweetheart, and I really believe he loves Candace with all his heart. Also Mitchell Musso as his VA? Could not have done better tbh.

Stacy: My underrated fav, I would die for her. She is my favorite recurring side character, I love her dynamics with literally every single character, and I will forever be salty at the fact that she was not utilized more in the show overall.

Romantic Ships:

Candace: Canderemy is the number one, but Candace/Stacy and Candace/Vanessa are close second and thirds. Also am fond of Candace/Stacy/Jeremy where Jeremy and Stacy are for the most part platonic but just both dating Candace and very chill with it.

Jeremy: I really only ship him with Candace tbh. We don't really see enough of his friends to see any potential chemistry between them.

Stacy: Actually love her and Coltrane together, I think they're cute. And obviously as a secondary I ship her and Candace. I also think she and Jenny would be a cute couple, but like...a casual relationship.

Brotp:

Candace: Candace and Stacy, full stop. But if we're not talking the other teens, I love??? Her and Buford's relationship, I think it's hilarious. She def considers him a little brother but like. Significantly more obnoxious than her own (in a loving way)

Jeremy: Jeremy and Stacy, brotp for life. I LOVE their stupid little scene in CATU in the fuckin Slushy Dawg truck like come on

Stacy: See above lol (but also her relationship with Phineas and Ferb, 10/10)

Unpopular Opinion:

Candace: I like the idea of her becoming a lawyer. I know a lot of people rejected it because it came from AYA (ew), but it just makes??? So much sense for her character. Like trying to prove people wrong, finding evidence, research??? It's just right up her alley, it WORKS.

Jeremy: I like Jeremy and Candace together. I'm like...stunned that's an unpopular opinion in parts of the fandom, but I genuinely think he's a great boyfriend and that he and Candace have the healthiest relationship in the whole show (and one of the healthiest across all media tbh). I don't understand the people who don't like him, I really don't.

Stacy: Stacy is a more fleshed out and well rounded than almost any other recurring character in the show and the people who think she isn't haven't paid attention.

One Thing I Wish Had Happened:

Candace: I kind of wish, just once, she had been able to show her mom something the boys did (and not have it backfire on any of the kids). It's something that I think would have brought a little bit of closure to the show as a whole, and I really think Candace deserved to be believed after all that time. She also deserved an apology from her mom for all the things she said about her tbh.

Jeremy: I wish we could have seen his relationship with his band members more. I know he's obviously not one of the main characters, so we got to see him through Candace more often than not, but it still would have been fun to have a Jeremy-centric episode in a similar way we did to Stacy.

Stacy: I mean.....we've heard me rant about the Perry and Stacy plot more than I'm sure anyone wants to admit, so I'll pick a different one lol. But I wish we had gotten to see more of her heritage in the show. There were small little bits thrown in, like her eating with chopsticks, but it would have been nice to see Stacy take Candace and the boys to like...idk a cultural Japanese event in town or something. Very plausible within the realm of the show. And it would have made up for the.....hmm. the song in SBTY that like...looking back on is p cringe.

Okay that was all very longwinded and took forever but here we are. Thanks for the ask!!!!

[robin-nightwing-agent37]

The idea that relationships in fiction have to portrayed as “good and moral” is so absurd. I don’t think Dick and Barbara are toxic, but I do think that they are a match that I don’t care too much about reading. Their relationship conflicts are less interesting than other conflicts between other relationships and their confessions for one another are just bland. Because this is comics and characters are not making their own choices, it is up to writers to be the ones who are making creative decisions and when it comes to these two you can tell the well is dry. I’ve come to be more open about the Jason and Barbara pairing, but not really as a last resort pairing or “well I guess if she has to date someone then make it Jason” way. I would be open to seeing them having a relationship where they can love each other enough while bearing witness to what the other has become. Both these character being prickly and honest with each other but also not feeling as judged because they both make messed up decisions. But DC fandoms and especially Batfamily fandoms are so against change that it is no wonder that there continues to be so much racism and other problems that DC continues to have when so many writers and fans are still clinging to writing and dynamics that no longer exist or are outdated.

I AM SO SORRY I AM JUST NOW SEEING THIS! Please forgive ♥♥ If you want to come off anon so I can apologise properly you can xD

I do agree that relationships in fiction don't have to always be portrayed as "good and moral," however you don't put oil and water together and call it a match. If a relationship is supposed to be good and moral, it should be portrayed as such. If a relationship is supposed to be a rollercoaster with negative energy, it should be portrayed as such. You don't portray a good and moral relationship as one that is a rollercoaster with negative energy and vice versa. For me, this part is about context.

I don't read their content because I am not fond of them, but lately I do find myself speaking up more about it largely because it's the current plot in Nightwing and it keeps popping up. I dont think there is really anything else worth talking about with Nightwing right now. And I do blame TT for that because he specifically forced a Batgirl and Nightwing run on us lol. The well is dry AF for Nightwing in general. Imma need him to get some new and interesting content ASAP.

I love how you interpret Jason and Babs. I understand Nightwing and Red Hood fans are destined to be at war for all eternity, but we do need to start putting more respect on Jason's name. lol he is not taking Dick's sloppy seconds nor he is a last resort. He has just as much right as Dick to date around. If a genuine connection happens with Jason, what is the issue with that? Don't we want Dick, Babs, Jason, Bruce, ect ect to be happy? If Jason and Babs are happy, why ruin it? And before someone says 'Dick and Babs are happy," yes Dick and Babs are happy. But the difference is that there are more times Dick and Babs were not happy together vs times that they were. And Dick and Babs were both perfectly happy with other people before being torn apart from them and pushed together. The difference is that Jason and Babs don't have that history. Writers literally have a clean slate with Jason Babs as a couple to work with.

I think fans are more open to change than most realise. I think it just depends on how the type of change is and how it's implemented. I think the onus here is more on the writers refusing to live outside their nostalgia and forcing everyone to relive their favorite periods over and over again. Tom Taylor really had a chance to do something unique and different with Dick, but what does he do? He did the same thing that Dixon, Grayson and Seeley did with Dick. DC is going downhill fast and the only thing that will save it is likely a hard reboot with A LOT of new original content.

And lastly, Dick should be with someone outside the Batfam not in it. Same for Babs and Jason.

[deathishauntedbyhumans]

Hi, don't know if you're still accepting crackship requests, but I saw that Cassidy/Ed/Ricky pic you reblogged and I have ~feelings~. Can I please request some of that? Thank you!

Sorry it took so long, Nonnie!! Hopefully you see this!!

Read on Ao3

“How is he?”

Cassidy glances up from the book she has perched against her legs in front of her, and looks first towards the sleeping Ricky beside her, then to Ed standing in the doorway.

“His fever broke about an hour ago,” she answers quietly, reaching over and laying a hand over Ricky’s forehead. He’s warm now, but not overtly so. It’s nothing like the one hundred-and-two degree fever he’d had when they’d all woken up that morning. “He hasn’t eaten much today.”

“I imagine not,” Ed says thoughtfully, stepping fully into the room. He walks over to their closet, loosening his tie as he goes and tugging it over his head to hang it up. “Thank you again for taking the day off for him.” He unbuttons his vest, glancing guiltily over towards the bed. “I would if I could—“

“Hush,” Cassidy interrupts, though not unkindly. “We both understand the part you play. I’m never going to hold your work against you, and neither will he.” She picks her hand back up and uses it to gesture to Ricky to emphasise her point. “So stop beating yourself up over nothing and come join us.”

Ed looks, for a moment, like he’s going to say something else… But ultimately, he keeps his mouth shut. Instead, he nods once, jerkily, and continues to shimmy out of his suit.

Cassidy marks her place in her book before shutting it gently and laying it down on the nightstand beside the bed. As she settles back down, Ricky shifts beside her and then makes a pitiful groaning sound.

Half-naked, Ed immediately turns to look at them. Cassidy is only vaguely aware of his gaze, though; her attention is more focused on Ricky than anything else around her.

“Ricky?” she murmurs, and he groans once more, eyelids fluttering. It feels like it takes an eternity before his eyes fall open and stay that way, and even longer for him to focus his gaze upon her instead of roaming the ceiling with uncertainty. “Hey there, baby. Welcome back to the land of the living. How’re you feeling?”

“Awful,” Ricky mutters. He clears his throat with a wince. “My mouth feels like I licked a cactus.”

Despite herself, Cassidy lets out a huff of laughter. “You did throw up twice today,” she points out. “But your fever hasn’t come back yet, at least.”

Ed slides into bed on the other side of Ricky, now fully dressed in his night clothes. “Cassidy’s been playing nurse for you all day,” he adds, leaning over to press his lips to Ricky’s forehead.

Cassidy’s lips upturn into a fond smile at the way Ricky’s eyes fall closed again at the kiss.

“I can get you some water, if you think you can keep it down?” she offers. One of Ricky’s hands, the one that’s closest to her, reaches out weakly in her direction. She takes it immediately, and slots her fingers in against his. “Mm… I’m guessing that’s a no?”

“I can get it,” Ed offers, but before he can move away, Ricky finds one of his hands with his free one, too. Ed stares at their fingers for a moment, and Cassidy can see him doing the thing that he always does, the thing where he’s surprised that they want him here, where he’s shocked that he’s a part of this.

She can’t ever fault him for it, not really, even though it makes her sad. She can’t deny that she has her own insecurities, her own doubts and fears about their relationship. How could she possibly blame Ed for his?

They are so broken, all three of them. They are finding ways to fix themselves, separately and together, but the healing… It never comes as quickly as any of them would like.

“Oh,” Ed says. When he looks up at Cassidy —because Ricky’s eyes are still closed— she offers him a soft smile and then mouths we love you slowly enough for him to understand it. She can see the second it hits him; his face flushes the way it always does when they talk about their feelings openly, and he casts his gaze back down towards Ricky to avoid continuing to meet Cassidy’s.

That’s okay. He knows it, and that’s what matters.

“Stay with me?” Ricky finally says. His voice is barely above a whisper; it’s obvious that despite the lack of a fever, he still doesn’t feel very well. Cassidy squeezes his hand reassuringly, but it’s Ed who answers first.

“We’ll be here,” he says softly. “You’re in good hands.”

“Couldn’t ask for anyone better,” Ricky replies, yawning halfway through the sentence. He squeezes Cassidy’s hand back lightly and then tugs both her and Ed’s hands up onto his chest, holding onto them both the entire way and keeping them trapped there once he’s relaxed again.

Within minutes, Ricky is asleep again, his chest rising and falling steadily. It isn’t quite enough movement to jostle the clasped hands atop it, thankfully. And above him, his partners settle carefully around him, their bodies curling towards him to offer him comfort and support while he rests.

Cassidy offers a tired smile to Ed over Ricky’s sleeping form once they’re both comfortable. “Thank you,” she says in a low voice, quietly enough to keep from disturbing Ricky.

Ed looks a little taken aback. “For…?” he asks, matching her volume.

“For being here.”

“…you don’t need to thank me for that.” Ed pauses, but he looks like he has more to say, so Cassidy doesn’t interrupt. Sure enough, he continues after a moment of thought. “I love you both, very much. So much that it surprises me sometimes. I would do anything for you.” He smiles wryly, even though his face has once again taken on a pink hue. “Lying with him while he’s sick is only the tip of the iceberg of the things I would do for him. For either of you.”

If they were closer, Cassidy would reach out and touch him. Or kiss him. Or… something. As it is, with Ricky asleep between them, it’s all she can do to try to convey how much she cares with a single look.

Ed offers her a genuine smile— it’s small, but most of his smiles usually are. “You should get some rest, too,” he tells her. “I know you have to be exhausted.”

Unfortunately, he’s right. Cassidy can feel herself growing more sleepy by the second, with the warmth of the bed and the warmth of Ricky beside her seeping into her bones. And as much as she wants to stay awake to make sure that Ricky is okay… She trusts Ed. He’ll wake her if Ricky’s fever comes back, or if something else happens. And he can handle any minor emergencies that come his way.

“I am,” she admits. She snuggles into Ricky’s side, who doesn’t even budge at all at the feeling of movement beside him. “Wake me in a few hours, even if he’s still asleep? I’ll heat up some leftovers for dinner.”

“I can heat up leftovers,” Ed protests.

“Ed…”

He huffs a laugh. “Alright, alright, fine. I’ll wake you in a couple hours. Now go to sleep.”

Cassidy gives a hum of assent and closes her eyes. She falls asleep with a smile still on her lips to the sound of Ricky’s steady breathing beside her, and the feeling that she is —despite everything— in love and loved in return.