#i don't know how to exist without people. which is so funny bc for so long i've acted like i'm so invulnerable and independent and don't

[byfulcrums]

been rewatching rtte

toothless is called T multiple times, but the letter T doesn't exist in the alphabet of this world

i think hiccup was also called H???

hiccup went to the wedding of the man who tried to kill him and his family multiple times. no wonder he thought he could change drago's mind

snotlout is canonically a theater kid

"you're so small and cuddly" "please never say that again"

the twins are really smart, but they're also just stupid

hiccup straight up disappears when he's working on something

heather had a super noticeable crush on astrid

fishlegs got a love interest!! a plus size main character actually has a cool, badass love interest!

it was super hetnormative but it was cute

there was an island full of flying women who were implied to regularly commit cannibalism

hiccup taught all the riders how to fly with toothless, that's so sweet

everyone is a flat earther except for the twins

hiccup almost directly killed a lot of people

and killed a LOT more when destroying their ships

“scalding– cal..ding--" "toothle, plama bla!" was pretty much the funniest part of the entire series

dagur was bullied as a kid by a guy 8 years older than him who literally tattooed an imagine of him beating up little dagur in his arm??? What was that all about

actually we need to talk about how messed up everything about dagur is and about how the things that could've/did happen(ed) to him may be the reasons why he's Like That

just why was he imprisoned by the outcasts??? he didn't do anything to them directly

oof my brain is spiraling. "he loved you" "ig now we'll never know" what do you mean he didn't know if his dad loved him

there's a technically musical episode

tuffnut became hiccup's defense attorney and immediately got him the death sentence

hiccup regularly jumps off cliffs

he also jumped off a boat, with his arms tied and without toothless. just where did he think he was going

snotlout's annoying attitude is actually because spitelout pressures him too much and he feels like he has to be perfect for his dad :((

THE 'HICCUP'S EVIL MIRROR' VILLAIN THEME DONE RIGHT YESS!!!

viggo is the best httyd villain change my mind (you can't, swords at sundown, you may bring backup but i will win on my own)

skrill comeback skrill comeback SKRILL COMEBACK!!!!

"COMEEE TO DADDY"

what is a boar pit???

oh my god i had missed this series so much. it has no right to be this funny

this was my childhood. it has forever shaped the way i am

berserker heather the unhinged >>>

actually good disability rep! yay

hiccup complains about his peg leg pinching him

he straight up cannot walk without it and it is shown many times

"well, there are the benefits of a metal leg" after it got caught in a bear trap

funny moments, like snotlout trying to steal it to use it as a weapon

the jokes!! toothless laughing at the jokes!!! hiccup being so fucking done with the twins, who are always making the jokes!

there's an episode where everyone is so sleep deprived they actually start spiraling

astrid becomes a happy go lucky girl, hugs snotlout and tells him he's handsome

the fucking mood swings snotlout got were insane

the twins were straight up just hallucinating

"i sent them to wash their dragons, how could they mess that up?" cut to heather falling on her face with a bucket full of water in her hands

fishlegs becomes so paranoid, he's yelling at everyone all the time

"don't you know the trapper's trap can trap the trapper?? ...oh gods, i must be losing it, i'm quoting dagur"

YOOOO VALKA!!!! it's so nice to see her

hiccup tried to murder dagur to stop him from getting to toothless, which is scary bc it shows just how far he's willing to go for his bff, but also funny because hiccup. that was not going to work

oh the hiccstrid slowburn, how i have missed you

the twins's made up language

there was a beach episode turned murder mystery and a musical episode held at gun point

hiccup has a whole little speech that he periodically gives astrid to remind her that the twins serve a purpose

[oh-no-its-bird]

Actually so attached to the mental image of team ro Tenzo, Shisui and Itachi trailing after team captain Kakashi like a trio of lost ducks.

Tbf, it's mostly Tenzo and Itachi projecting the lost duck energy, but Shisui also delights in being there. So it's like,

Itachi and Tenzo: Genuinely trailing behind Kakashi like lost puppies.

Shisui: Trailing behind Itachi and Tenzo projecting the same aura but mostly because he thinks this is the funniest thing ever

Kakashi: Denying to his dying breath that these guys are wet eyed ducklings trailing behind him like he's their mother (except Shisui, who he will occasionally acknowledge the behavior of only because he KNOWS Shisui is doing it to fuck with him. However he knows the other two are serious about it and will thus refuse to admit this is his reality ever.)

I think when they hang out or train out of masks together, it's in secluded or private places (probably in compliance with whatever ANBU privacy/subtlety rules have to exist about what context teams can hang out together under) So very few people have the proper context of seeing them all together. Especially bc, during this time, Kakashi is in that 16-18 year old doom spiral. He's starting to ease out of the depression, but his title of Friend Killer Kakashi still follows him, and he works overtime to avoid people and crowds.

So anyways that means no one really knows ab his little entourage, which means funny realization moments when people DO see them in public together.

(Someone remind me later to do a '5 times someone realized Kakashi had become a teen mother + 1 time Kakashi realized himself' fic later, that'd be so fucking funny)

The only one to be fully aware of Kakashi's little ducklings is Gai, who's been lucky enough to spot them all together more than once (mostly bc he's one of the only people Kakashi will willingly exist around for more than 10 minutes at a time when out of uniform) Otherwise, there's a handful of people who know of team Ro's attitude towards KKS (separately) Like Genma (subject to Shisui and Tenzo) and Kurenai (subject to Itachi)

"Kakashi," Kurenai asked. "Why are you hanging out with a toddler?"

Kakashi cocked his head. "I don't know. Itachi, why am I hanging out with a toddler?"

"Mother asked you to give me advice on working with my elder teammates." Itachi responded without missing a beat, and Kakashi nodded in approval.

"There you have it."

In general, I think Kakashi is probably spotted with Tenzo the most out of anyone on the team. He's like, basically his handler once he's out of ROOT, very invested in his personhood and general existence for several (political and personal) reasons, and has taken to trying to teach him how to be a real boy and whatnot now that he's in the real world. They're also close in age, and unlike Shisui (who's also close in age), Tenzo is very quiet and genuine in his respect for Kakashi. So Kakashi can genuinely just enjoy existing near Tenzo in silence without worry.

Tenzo is probably the lowkey favorite, which Itachi and Shisui are NOT bitter about, they promise.

(Shisui is actually p ok w that, he thinks Tenzo deserves it after all the shit he's been through and is happy for the clear comfort Kakashi brings to his life.

Itachi refuses to admit he's jealous ever, but years later when he is an actual, literal terrorist who hasn't seen his teammates in years, when he sees Tenzo again, he will hit him extra hard w a genjutsu special with a vague sense of satisfaction and the specific thoughts of, 'being captains favorite won't save you now, will it.')

Anyways the entire point of this post was that I want someone (possibly Genma) to refer to the members of team ro as "Kakashi's ducklings" because it'd would be funny to me personally.

That's it, end of post. Thank u for ur time.

[h1biscusgal]

ASKS IN A BUNDLE BC IM TIRED : PART 3

YESSSS FOR EVERY QUESTION MY LOVE.

NAH ITS OK, WHENEVER THIS HAPPENS? LITERALLY BE DELULU (ik some people say it's bad to say be delusional, i meant don't feed further into it and take it as a funny shit)

i literally know and been there, i have every proof but my mind wants the material, i simply go by my logic where "i don't see oxygen but it's a fact i breathe it, so the same with my DR."

oh my god i'm sorry what the fuck??? first of all my deepest apologies, are you fine now? i seriously get you and understand what you mean, have you confronted him? tell the school if he's in the same school as urs or actually alert someone about it on higher position to take actions, hacking is no funny business no matter how much "ashamed" your posts are (WHICH ARE NOT, NEVER BE ASHAMED MY LOVE, FUCK THEM). keep calm in the meantime and don't panic at all! affirm continuously that everything is under control, and don't let real life threats mix with your mind, good luck!

MWAH I MISSED U MOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, YESSSSS THIS IS COMMON, it's a state where your mind is actually entering UNAWARE OF ITSELF, but once you say "omg i'm entering" your body will hold u back saying "wtf we are entering? that's not allowed, this only happens when we are unaware." focus on a point or count backwards and simply do WHATEVER you want as long as you keep your mind off it, simply exist and whenever you get the symptoms? be like "oh yeah that's nothing."

OK EASY THING I USED TO DO AND HELPED ME SM: daydream.

no fr, i love daydreaming and imagining scenarios like i'm bayonetta or sm shit (i fucking love netta) anyways, distract yourself gently, feel your body getting pulled back to your senses? be like "oh wait there's another scenario hol up" and go back to it for fun, IGNORING in the best way, but if you're really wanting to get in it without it all, wake up in the dead of the night and try.

I ADORE U SO MUCH MWAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ML

THAT'S BEFORE HYPNAGOGIA, hypnagogia is where even when you are numb or see colors, YOU'LL FEEL TRIPPY AND KINDA HIGH.

that's my experience yall, don't come for me,

like i feel being pushed pulled rolled and literally being done everyshit to me, i seriously understand the boredom part but trust me, this time? go and go, affirm and affirm no matter how much it takes, feel bored? imagine what will you say when you wake up and send me a success ask about how you entered and got in! good luck!

FOR REAL UGH, Y'ALL THAT'S LITERALLY IT.

IT IS ACTUALLY MANIFESTING CALLED REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY TECHNIQUE.

hate, negativity, fear, and whatnot is actually a very VERY big metaphor that helps people get their desires bc of how powerful it is once you KNOW how to use it, and no i don't mean go hate yourself, but since this anon KNOWS that whatever she says the opposite happens, it actually applies to her reality. i used to say "ugh i hate apple juice so much"

and then for some fucking reason i keep drinking it.

my mother wanted to go to med school so bad, but she kept saying "i fear engineering, i can go anywhere but never there."

guess who's there then? she PULLED this to her life instead of telling herself she's already in med school.

IQWUEGFYEWQ FIRST CONGRATS BBY, OK TO BE AWARE IN IT, you can either ask yourself thru the day "am i in the void?" so much to the point you'll ask yourself that when you're there, or just repeated "i always stay aware in the void" before sleep like a mantra and that can help a lot, BUT GOOD LUCK DARL I KNEW YOU CAN DO IT.

OMFG GIRL IF YOU STAYED A WHILE LONGER YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN THROWN IN THE VOID.

THAT WAS HYPNAGOGIA BEFORE YOU DECIDED TO WAKE UP FROM IT, i get the fear tho like it is TRIPPY as FUCKKKKKKKKK, BUT CONGRATS YOU WERE SO CLOSE MWAH.

oml you always are in the hypnagogia already-

when you're there, that's the point, throw every anxiety aside, you're literally one second away from everything, stop the "i can't" and flip it to "i can."

watch the thoughts like you're watching tv, at the end every thought will go away and leave a blank tv, there we go, that's the mind clearance, do that before entering, GOOD LUCK.

SYMPTOMS ARE NOT SIGNS MOST OF THE TIME, THEY R JUST YOUR BODY SENDING SIGNALS WHEN SOMETHING NEW IS HAPPENING, when you enter a pool, your body goes cold first, right? that's adapting, same with symptoms, continue as though you already have them bc having them or not having them have no meaning at all!

nah shifting time is in your hands, frustrations are a food to the belief that you need time to shift.

to shift, you have to THINK from your DRSELF, not AS your DRSELF, credits to someone on youtube i heard from, but either way, shifting is not by time, it's by decision, it's not about the method, not about the time, not about the duration, it's simply about you, ACCEPT YOU CAN SHIFT, acceptance is when even when you did not shift, the ability to wake up being like "nah i still shifted, that was fun." that's acceptance y'all, shifting is in your hands darl.

HI LOVE, it's not "reaching" it's just being aware when you reach it, bc every functional human gets it before sleep, and yeah you actually can feel your body bc hypnagogia is not the void!

sit somewhere, and just talk with yourself, why are you scared? what's holding you back? argue with it, tell it to leave, do whatever, but you are the one in control, you overthink it too much, shifting is just being and the void is just awareness, that's all my love.

because once you change yourself, reality will follow.

ITS OK ML, hell yeah you can manifest them with u! you can simply manifest them to be in your timeline as though everything was that way, good luck!

HI DARL, ok so that's actually such a good idea, BUT I CANNOT PROMISE IF I CAN AT THIS MOMENT, but i can promise you whenever i have the time to instantly make one, alr? GOOD LUCK,

hi doll! first of all, i hear you and i understand you, i know how it can feel.

but reality can NEVER fail you, once you decide, it has been decided already, this means changing EVERY thought of the exam, not just "oh i have xyz grade".

it means feeling and KNOWING what you answered was already correct and you know it is, you know you have it and you won't even have one ounce of anxiety, it's like you ordered something and laid back to watch it come to your doorsteps, NOT: didn't order it but i tell myself i have ordered it.

yk?

time does not dictate it, start FRESH and start new, throw all the victimization off, you can do it!

HOLY SHIT YOU'RE ALREADY A MASTER MANIFESTER WHY U LIMITING YOURSELF BBY.

there's this block in your path about it, THROW IT AWAY, and nah it's not ab ignoring or to "have faith".

actually stop giving a fuck and know you'll have it, get doubts, tell yourself "but i literally manifested xyz." omfg my hand hurts.

[burningcheese-merchant]

It's so cool to see CRK getting popular again, it feels so refreshing like so much new quality fan content dropping that we couldn't even DREAM about a couple of months ago, but it hurts my very soul seeing new players being interested in beast x ancient ships, in their dynamics, asking is it okay to ship it and getting slapped in the face with another "IT'S ABUSER X VICTIM IT'S A PROSHIP IT'S A DARKSHIP" (which is just not true) killing off all the fun, bc apparently enemies to lovers, AUs and what-ifs doesn't exist anymore and everything that isn't pure fluff is illegal now. "IT'S NOT ENEMIES TO LOVERS, BEASTS ABUSED AND TORTURED THEM" yeah THAT'S WHAT ENEMIES DO??? What else do you expect from a villain honestly??? Like in ANY media??? Beasts still got their ass beat in the end as they totally deserve BECAUSE ANCIENTS ARE NOT SOFT INNOCENT SMALL BABIES THAT NEED TO BE PROTECTED, they're grown ass IMMORTAL ADULTS with huge responsibilities, they rule kingdoms, they hold a huge power in their hands, they're imperfect and not innocent. They can stand for themselves, they can fight, they can destroy, they can lie and they WILL if they need to.

I can SMELL that a shit tonne of people in this fandom secretly enjoys beast x ancient as a guilty pleasure, a forbidden fruit, but they will never admit it just because they're afraid of being harassed and bullied and it's just sad how normalized it is to hurt actual people over shipping some mobile game characters, who are adults, doesn't have power imbalance between them and aren't related.

And allat coming from ME, who doesn't ship a single beast x ancient ship

It's sad lol. Sad for the Beast x Ancient community and honestly kind of pathetic for ardent detractors at this point. I've seen sooooo many Beast x Ancient fans get harassed and even sent death threats, it's not even funny (not that it ever was in the first place). Don't you have better things to do than get this mad about video games lol. Like a job or school or a hobby or something

You're right, the Ancients are not helpless widdle babies and I'm kind of sick of how often they're infantilized, in general and just for the sake of tearing down BxA. They're grown adults who are thousands of years old. Two of them are parents, whose children are grown adults themselves. 4 of 5 founded entire nations. 1 is an active ruler still (Cacao), one seeks to rule again (Golden). Let's not kid ourselves, they've probably all got blood on their hands (not to the degree the Beasts do, but still. You don't live that life without having to make tough choices). Stop treating them like porcelain dolls lol. Yes, the Beasts attacked them, but they're villains. That's what villains do. Go play Animal Crossing if you can't handle heroes and villains fighting each other lol

And then I get a laugh whenever those same people who screech about toxicity and abuse and yadda yadda turn around and ship H*llyt*ya or Sh*dowSp*ce. The former is BxA in a different costume. The latter... Man. You know. Because TWO deranged maniacs, who are fundamentally incompatible in every way and do not make sense at all and absolutely would hurt each other and bring each other down I hate that ship so damn much. Do not ask me abt it I WILL ramble and nobody needs that. Zero beef with fans though, we're coolio! Just a difference of opinion!, is such a better option, isn't it lol. Hypocrisy.

I'm sure you noticed that ep 7 + 8 brought out a whole lot of new ShadowVanilla fans. I agree w/ you, I can feel that there are a fuckton of BxA fans lurking in the darkness, waiting for an excuse to poke their heads out (like 7 + 8 lol), only hiding because they don't want to attract lunatics. Even YOU sent this ask anonymously. Most of my inbox is stuff from anons, and I look at them all and wonder, "how many of you are just afraid of backlash for expressing any joy in BurningCheese or any of the other BxA pairs?" It's ok, guys. Don't listen to them. Be you. I'm being me right now, as cringy as I am. I am Extremely Normal about BurningCheese and I'm not ashamed :) they're video game characters at the end of the day, just have fun. Why can't we all just be bros, man, what does any of this matter

[vyxcondessa]

── Coming In Hot; 3/9

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ03. DON'T LET GO NOW

PAIRING: Bucky Barnes x F!Reader

WORD COUNT: 7.9k

SUMMARY: "You're early," says Bucky, stopping his work to give you a small smile.

"The crew was ready when I got there," you shrug, doing a weird little dance blow with your legs when he smiles back pleased at you.

Bucky laughs at you, entirely delighted. It makes you blush, but he's become quite good at that, even if he doesn't know it.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎✎﹏﹏﹏﹏

It takes you a few more days to organize everything you want, but once everything is set and ready, the photos you take for your page that week can be easily classified as some of the best work you’ve done so far.

Thanks to tricks taught to you by a photographer friend and the few videos you gathered the patience to watch on Youtube years ago, transforming any space — small or big — in a good scenario for pictures came easy to you, and that definitely helped you build up such a clean, “professional” image.

Artistic bullshit aside, the shots were stunning.

You spend a good hour hyping yourself up to the fact that these are the same shots as before, but it’s evident in the lighting, the posing, the sheer sensuality that each of them owns.

You were inspired.

It was impossible to deny when the evidence was frozen in time.

Pictures of your foggy breath against the bathroom mirror, bathtub pictures with water dripping on your skin, and a few props around the house and you had enough to content to last you at least two months.

Between one scenario and another, you catch yourself thinking about a stain of grease running down your back.

Maybe on your cheekbones, matching the black lace covering your body.

Fuck.

That was a dangerous road and quickly, you shook yourself out of those thoughts.

Bucky has nothing to do with this is clearly the first bullshit you try convincing yourself of, but as soon as you do, you flop back onto your mattress with a defeated sigh.

The fact that you wanted to take that excuse in said it all.

At least whatever flame Bucky lit up under your skin resulted in all those nice shots.

You may not have a model’s body, but your page, as well as many others that you followed which did the same work as you, did wonders for body acceptance and positivity, unlike what many people would expect.

The point was that the more you felt sexy in your own skin, the more others tended to do so, too.

You meant what you’d said to Sarah when the two of you met—employing other people with the job of liking or finding beauty in you never existed in your dictionary.

Your life’s biggest blessing was, perhaps, that you enjoyed your own company.

After you finish editing, saving in their respective folders, and creating a schedule for posting them, you sit on your kitchen counter still in panties, bralette and a robe, a sandwich in one hand, and a lecture being played on your ear pods.

The heavy textbook on your hand is a good reminder of why making an extra few hundred bucks (nearing a thousand, depending on the month and your inspirations) every month meant everything.

You had a long way to go, and unfortunately living on this earth costs a lot, all the time.

Until the end of the week, you’d have another large bill to pay and you’d rather be able to do it without having to live off of noodles for the foreseeable future.

(Buying a new gloss since yours had ended before you saw Bucky again didn’t sound half bad, either.)

◦➳◦

i have something extremely important to ask u

that sounds ominous and v serious. is it srs

bc i’m under a car rn and i dont fancy hitting my head

are u abt to hit me with existential crack again

i havent had coffee yte hold on

lmfao theres no need for coffee

i was about to ask who on earth typed

those first messages of yours to me. ‘cause it sure

has hell wasn’t you. proper punctuation, capital letters and all…

do u use siri sometimes or what

i’m curious

…

i’m sorry that’s so funny to me somehow???

how tf do u notice these little things is beyond me lol

it was peter. i was under a tight spot in a car and

asked him to type the messages for you

ah! makes sense.

speaking of the young padawan: has he

solved my riddle yet?

no and i am loving every sec of this lol

he went from ‘riddles are just LoGiC , BuCKy’ to

‘why is lady bullet allowed to write things on the

office board through you, anyway???? no one else

is allowed to do that’ and today morning he was screaming inside my office ’

THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE I REFUSE

TO BELIEVE THERE’S AN ANSWER’ so yeah

thanks for the entertainment

you all figured it out, right? :D

yup. gabe was the last one. now he passes peter and

laughs under his breath like an asshole

it’s awesome

i think the kid might have a heart attack soon if we dont tell him the answer

let him marinate for a little longer!

as paramore once beautifully put

‘that’s what you get’ <3

you know, when i asked u for a tip on how to punish

him for calling my favorite book dumb i didnt think you’d

actually find something but i am glad you did

it’s hard to find someone as smart as peter

me n all the boys all thank u v v much.

he needs an ego trim every now n then

happy to help, sarge :D

◦➳◦

Some people thought what you might hate the most in the subway was the crowd and the dirtiness — everywhere you looked, it seemed like a health hazard — but instead, it was the fact that you were under the ground.

Small or confined (or heaven forbid, both) spaces were not your thing.

“Thanks for coming with me, S.”

Sarah adjusts her coat on the seat by your side and gives you an easy smile. “Duh.”

Standing in front of you, AJ turns his GameBoy screen to you.

“Like this?” He asks.

You analyze the game screen and note with excitement that he followed your instructions and got himself in the hidden spot you were so familiar with. “That’s it!” You lifted your hand for a high-five, which he gave with a smirk. “Nice job, kiddo.”

“Thanks, TT.”

“Can we go for ice cream before you two drop us off at uncle Sam’s?” Cass asks, bumping his sneakers into your boots.

“Your ma and I told you we’re taking you both for burgers and milkshake before we go to work, mister,” you smack your teeth at Cass, and squeeze his cute little chin for good measure. “This is what you get for walking around with those damn pods all day and not listening to us.”

“Hear hear.” Sarah eyes Cass with ’I told you eyes’. “He knows very well what’s gonna happen if those things seem permanently stapled to his ear very soon.”

“I’m sorry, I was watching the new One Piece episode,” Cass shrugs apologetically, and you and Sarah exchange looks at his sheepish and adorable face trying to gain sympathy with pleading eyes.

“Am I a bad TT for buying him those instead of that book I know he was gonna like?” You ask Sarah with a pout.

“Nah, he just needs to learn how to use his present without excluding himself from the world, which we’ve talked about for the last time last night, right?” Sarah asks Cass.

Cass nods dutifully, and AJ shares a look with you above the exchange, then goes right back to his game.

Those small little looks are one of the things that make you feel the most at home in the city that feels too big for you sometimes. Truly being Sarah’s friend meant being close to her kids, too, and being her best friend came with the benefit of being seen as an “auntie” for the cutest kids you had ever met.

“I can listen to music on the way there, right?” Cass asks, buttering up a sweet smile.

Sarah rolls her eyes. “Duh.” Cass puts the ear pods back on and Sarah looks at you, sensing that their attention is fully on their little world now and she can go back to the conversation. “So—what was the reason again? The excuse you were giving me about why you can’t invite him to your celebration day?”

You sigh deeply, feeling that anxious flutter inside your chest at the coded hidden question about Bucky.

“S. He’s a life-saver and we’re definitely… acquaintances, but that doesn’t mean he’s gonna want to come next month to a barbeque to celebrate ‘little old me’.” The last bit is a jab at Bucky’s constant reminders of how much older he is than you, but Sarah doesn’t know that.

“Why not? He’s super close with my brother, you two now know each other,” she prompts with an indulgent tone.

“Would you invite Amree for your birthday?” You ask her in return, changing your tactics.

Sarah was about to talk but stops with her mouth half-open at the mention of the handymen from her building.

You’d seen him the last time he was there, exchanging googley and dopey eyes at her.

The way she stuttered in the kitchen looking for the ingredients despite claiming she “doesn’t need help to bake some cookies, babe, please”.

“That. Is a completely fair point.” She shuts her mouth and looks ahead of the subway.

A little part of you feels bad for being so surgical to get your point across, but Sarah was the only person in your life currently able to see right through you.

The only reason she still threatened waters around you to ask about Bucky, despite having seen on your face the clear signs of a crush, was because you were logical and as far she knew, you and he were mere acquaintances.

For some reason, how much you two have been talking is something you keep to yourself.

You nudge your arm against hers. “He’ll just forget about me and my pretty car as soon as we’re outta there today, S.” You make an effort to sound playful, and not downright disappointed at that fact. “I don’t wanna invite him for something he’ll feel outta place in weeks. You told me he likes company that he knows, right?”

Sarah nods, a small pout on her face. “Yeah.” She pulls AJ out of the way of a musician walking with an instrument and almost knocking it on the boy’s head without meaning to.

Supermom.

“I’ve only seen him around the unit.” Sarah looks at you. “He always comes to stuff Sam asks, but that’s probably ‘cause he’s best friends with Steve and Sam and Steve are… well. You’ll see.”

You recognize in her scoff and tone that this is something you must see or speak of when not in the presence of already sentient and smart younger ears.

“But even then I’ve heard him say he’s not big on parties.” Sarah sighs. “Guess you’re right, then.”

An announcement for a cool super-hero movie pops up in one of the screens close to you both, and the rest of the way is a pleasant and fun conversation about movies that at some point, AJ and later Cass end up joining.

That’s how you four arrive at Barnes Auto—nerding out, bundled up in cozy jackets for the chilly October air and with flushed cheeks from laughing.

The first one to see you guys is Peter who, this time, is standing at his working place.

“Sergeant! Incoming for you.” He yells loud and clear, smiling at all of you. “Steve, get here,” he adds in a voice a little lower, but loud enough to be heard through the noises of the mechanic shop.

“Hi Peter!” you say, echoed by the same greetings from Sarah and the boys.

He’s coming around from behind the receptionist counter to say hello to the boys when you finally get to properly meet the infamous Stevie.

Out of the room behind the reception comes a blond man as tall and built as Bucky, with a thick beard and beautiful sand-blond hair.

His smile is contagious, and he waves excitedly at Sarah and the boys before pinning his piercing blue eyes on you.

After cleaning his hand on the rug on his shoulder, he extends it. “You must be Y/N. Nice to meet ya, I’m Steve.”

“Neet to meet you, Steve.” You shake his head, ignoring the hollering and laughter coming from behind you from Peter and the kids. “Last time I dropped by you were stuck under a beautiful 60s Camaro with a painting gun on your hand, so I didn’t wanna bother.”

“And also Buck told you to ignore the idiots in his shop, so,” he points at himself with a doofus-grin.

Before you can find a way to reply to his teasing, the boys come to wrap around Steve’s legs.

“Hi uncle Steve!” says Cass.

“Uncle Steve, Y/n taught me how to pass that phase I told you about, d’you wanna see?” AJ asks excitedly.

“Of course I do, little guy!” Steve gives you a nod with raised eyebrows that kind of says ’nice one, Y/n’ and then he’s guiding both of the boys back inside the reception room, keeping up with both of them speaking at the same time.

When you look at where Sarah and Peter are still standing, both of them stop their conversation to look at you.

“Oh! Sergeant’s waiting for you, Y/n.” Peter smiles at you. “You remember where it is, right?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“I’m gonna catch up with Peter, you go ahead,” Sarah tells you when you direct your gaze to her.

With a nod to the both of them, you turn around and walk further inside to the back patio you’re growing used to.

Madeleine Peyroux is the first thing you listen to as you get close to the place where you know Bullet is parked.

That’s from your pen-drive, and you know it.

When you finally cross the arch separating the shop from the open back, you can see Bullet shining on the left side, and Bucky sitting behind the open door of an old Volkswagen beetle.

His eyes widen at the sight of you, and you smile up at him.

You’d texted earlier ‘it’ll be at least a couple of hrs till i’m there. gonna stop by n get S and the kids!’ But once you got to Sarah’s house, everybody was dressed and ready to go, already, which meant you were at least an hour earlier than he expected.

“You’re early,” says Bucky, stopping the work he’s doing to give you a small smile.

“The crew was ready when I got there,” you shrug, doing a weird little dance bowin with your legs when he smiles back pleased at you.

Bucky laughs at you, entirely delighted.

It makes you blush, but that’s something he’s become quite good at even if he doesn’t know it.

You turn around to Bullet, thankful he probably can’t see it from this far. “I see you’re still enjoying my sound system,” you gesture towards your car blasting Etta James now at full volume.

Bucky’s garage is well-built enough that the rooms feel like separate atmospheres.

On the reception and the first two areas of the shop all you heard was modern rock’n’roll that you, unfortunately, failed to recognize, but here at the back, Etta singing “Stormy Weather” was all that could be heard.

“You have a really good taste in music,” Bucky nods and kind of bows to you with his upper body. The approval over your music makes you giggle.

“I can’t lie, that’s a pretty straight-up fact,” you nod back at him.

Bucky laughs again, his eyes crinkling at the corner. You start moving closer to Bullet, wanting to take a better look at her.

It’s clear the boys had washed and pampered her up.

“I had a pretty good crash course with her, I think.” Even without seeing him, you can feel Bucky getting up from behind the car he’s working and start moving to where you are as well. “I saved all the new artists I heard on her on my playlists.”

Tracing your fingertips over Bullet’s hood, you look back up at him.

“Many new choices?” You smile.

“Many,” he stops right in front of you, and opens that side-smile that makes your heart a little weak. “I listened to pretty much the same stuff since I was kid before I went overseas, then I spent a good few years without listening to the top 40s if you know what I mean, so I was really out of the loop.”

For someone who, according to others, loves being in silence or keeps as short as possible, Bucky sure seems willing to offer you a lot of information, willingly.

“Not anymore.” You knew from all the back and forth you two have had the past week that Bucky absolutely adores Paramore, Hozier, Frank Ocean, among many other artists.

Bucky nods along to you, a smile intact on his face until he seems to remember something and exclaims. “Oh! Steve’s not trapped under a car today. He said something about talking to you about your good car choices, so don’t leave before I’ve gotten a chance to introduce you two.”

“He was at the reception room, I just did,” you chuckle. “AJ and Cass have stolen him, unfortunately.”

“Ah.” Bucky smacks his teeth. “Their Uncle Stevie has to give them attention before he’s allowed to spend time with the adults.”

“They seem to really like him.”

“They do. Steve won them over before they learned how to talk,” Bucky scoffs, looking fondly in the direction where they all are. “I still remember the first time they called him uncle Steve,” he adds with a far-away tone, smiling turning softer. “That man was so happy.” Bucky scoffs again, chuckling to himself. “Punk.”

Sam and Steve are… well. You’ll see.

Ah.

“Oh!” you exclaim out loud, a pin suddenly dropping in your brain, connecting one snarky comment to another.

The memory of Sarah on the first year you two met each other, sitting on a balcony staircase during a party and telling you all about her stupid brother and how he and his stupid best friends were stupidly in love with each other, but blind as a bat to that fact.

Bucky snaps his head to you.

“It’s him!” You stage-whisper, leaning closer to Bullet and to where Bucky is. “When I met Sarah at Nila’s party she was talking about her brother’s best friend, who he served with after Riley decided to drop out of the course, and who—” you stop talking, altogether, shutting your lips tightly together. “I’m not going crazy, right? It’s Steve?” You whisper to Bucky.

Bucky’s looking at you with a funny expression, and when he answers, it’s in a whispering tone, too. “His best friend who…”

“C’mon, you know,” you giggle.

Bucky licks his lips, and looks away from you with a chuckle. “Everyone who knows those two knows, yes.” When Bucky looks back, it’s with a know-it-all smirk. “One day they’ll figure it out.” He shrugs his shoulders. “And I’m Stevie’s best friend.”

You roll your eyes at him. “God, I can hear the fights you and Sam have had about this,” you chuckle.

“Only a couple. Until one of them decides to leave the idiot zone and smack the other in the face with a kiss, he’s gotta be content with being best friend number two,” Bucky widens his smile at you. “I met him first.”

“Called dibs on him, did you?” You tease.

“Sure did, darlin’.” Oh, lord. There it is again. Darling. “Plus—one day Sam will be ‘husband’ and I’ll be the one having to deal with his smug ass and his husband dibs, so I’m getting my fill while I can,” Bucky adds with a snicker.

“How long have you and Steve known each other?” You ask.

Bucky hums and leans with his back against Bullet.

“I… have lost count.” He chuckles, quickly locking eyes with you. “We met when we were kids, then I moved with my dad for a while, but I went back to my ma’s and since then Stevie and I have had each other’s six.”

Even if you wanted, you couldn’t help but melt a little at the sweet and hidden smile in Bucky’s eyes from talking about his best friend.

They sound like the kind of friendship anyone would dream of having in a lifetime.

“Adorable,” you say.

Bucky laughs under his breath, and turns around to your car, clasping his hands together. “Alright. Lemme tell you everything that she’s been through.” He places his hands on the hood, and your throat dries a little watching the shine of his metallic left hand against the black shining painting. “Then we can go to the office, ‘cause I gotta show you something,” he adds in a serious tone.

When you look up at him curiously, you see the same glint in his eyes from when he recorded himself listening to Paramore for the first time.

There’s a playful mirth hidden in Bucky’s looks — and comments — that you noticed.

“Go head, Sarge.”

Bucky explains to you calmly and very thoroughly about the three main repairs he had done on Bullet, and where the problem had originated from.

He also says, “Ah, and I changed your battery ‘cause it was shitty, and I did spend the whole week listening to music on Bullet while I worked, so it was only my duty.” He throws you a half-smile over his shoulder. “I’m letting you know ‘cause you might notice if you open the hood, but you won’t see it on the bill ‘cause I am not charging. I ran it to the ground, I changed it, you’re welcome.”

The tone he uses and the pointed look state to anyone willing to listen that this topic is not open for discussion, so you lift your hands up in surrender.

Seeing your compliance, he gives a tiny satisfied nod. Then, he points to the inside of the shop.

“Shall we?” He chuckles. “You’re gonna like what you see.”

Bucky leads you through the shop and right to the main office, then closes the door behind you two.

This time, your eyes roam around the place a little bit.

You can see pictures of what you identify from afar are a bunch of soldiers, there are spaceship prototypes, and a bunch of books you hadn’t seen before spread everywhere.

It turns out, the thing Bucky is so secretly giddy to show you is the answer to the riddle you had texted him days ago and he’d written on the board:

You know my thunder comes before the lightning. My lightning comes before the clouds. My rain dries all the land it touches. I’m…

Right under the riddle, there was the answer.

You point at it, smiling with your jaw fallen. “Is that Peter’s?” you ask.

A burst of laughter comes out from Bucky.

“You bet.” He comes around the table and sits on his chair. “Took him a while, but he got it.”

You burst out laughing, too, thinking of scrawny and tall Peter furiously writing the answer on the green board in big, block letters.

The board is quite a masterpiece, you notice.

When you look at Bucky, you allow curiosity to peek its head out again. “Can I?” you point at it.

Bucky lifts one eyebrow, just like Sarah does. “Of course,” he smiles at you, and gestures for you to go forward.

When you step closer to inspect, you see that the big — wide and a little tall — green board contains all sorts of messages.

Right on the center, there’s a neat and talented spreadsheet with all of this month’s dates and important car deliveries.

“Who’s the bookworm of the shop?” you ask and start roaming your eyes around the rest surrounding the center spreadsheet.

There’s the Santa Claus dick you recognize from Bucky’s picture, a bunch of things in german and spanish thrown sporadically, and what you notice are book quotes.

Or maybe poems.

“Me.” You spin around at the answer, and Bucky points at all the books. “These are mine.”

There are so many books, and you look at all of them with growing satisfaction.

There was a time when you used to eat books like meals.

Reading pleased you immensely, but you rarely had time for it anymore.

Bucky watches your expression go from excited to melancholic, and his calm look turns into a frown at the same moment.

“What?” He asks softly.

“Sorry,” you laugh, a little caught by the emotions. “I was thinking about how much I used to read. I love books. It’s just… I stopped a little before I got into school and once I did—” you scoff.

It’s not like you had much time to look up recommendations now.

Bucky watches you for a few more heartbeats, then points at the board again.

“What’s your favorite quote from there?” He asks.

You’re pulled out from your blues with the question, and turn around to read all of them again.

Then, your eyes read on a small footnote on the right side.

The handwriting is elegant, yet messy.

It reads:

could recognize him by touch alone, by smell; I would know him blind, by the way his breaths came and his feet struck the earth. I would know him in death, at the end of the world.

Your heart seems to forget how it is that it beats, and you feel your jaw dropping one more time.

Your body turns around slowly towards Bucky, eyes almost glued to the quote, not wanting to let go. “Where is that from?”

Bucky looks in the direction you’re pointing, and his eyes widen. “Oh.” He looks up at you with the saddest smile you’ve ever seen on his beautiful face. “That’s the best and the saddest book I’ve ever read in my life,” he tells you in a low voice, emotion dripping from every word, as if he’s feeling the power of the story webbed into his heart strike him right there. “I can lend it to you, but it’d break your heart.”

It seems like the world stops for a second for you.

Bucky’s sitting there in the morning light streaming from the glass walls, looking at you expectantly and all you can think about is whether this man was carved from gold or your dreams.

Was he real?

“I haven’t read a book in ages but, yeah—I’d love to,” you laugh, surprised at his offer and how happy the simple question makes you.

Happy and seen, somehow.

Bucky Barnes has known you not even for a full month and yet, here he was, making your inner child feel giddy and more pleased than in a long time.

“Hold on,” he gets up with a smile and goes shuffling around his books, then walks to you with a small and well-cared-for example of a book called The Song of Achilles.

You read the summary at the back with hungry eyes, and when you’re done you look up at Bucky. “Oh my god.”

He laughs again. “I know.”

“This is your favorite book?” You confirm with a smile, twisting the book around like you’re touching something precious.

“Yup.” He goes back to his chair and turns on his computer. “What’s yours?”

“Love Is A Dog From Hell,” you answer with a square smile. “I was really into Bukowski when I was a teeanger, but that one really stuck.”

Bucky’s jaw drops a little, too. “You like that book?”

“Uhm, yeah?”

Bucky smiles. “There is a loneliness in this world so great that you can see it in the slow movement of the hands of a clock…” his voice drifts off, and then he shakes his head. “That one fucked me up for a long time.”

Recognizing one of the poems from the book, you take a seat in the chair in front of his desk.

“Isn’t he a bastard?” You ask with passion.

One question is all that’s needed for you two to start a conversation about the numerous reasons why Bukowski can make you drunk on feelings you’ve never felt.

In only a few minutes you realize Bucky’s just like the friends you used to have back in high school, the ones who shared a cigarette with you under the bleachers and talking about things most teachers were too old to even consider.

It’s so nice to speak with someone who listens intently to your point before sharing theirs, and you noticed while talking to him that apart from Sarah, no one else in your life now has a talk this nice with you, this easy.

He laughs numerous times at your smartass comments and adds plenty of his own.

When you ask him, “Oh—you know I won’t be able to finish this soon, no matter how much I want to, right?” sheepishly shrinking your shoulders. “I really lost my touch and my focus is piss poor lately. That on top of the fact that I fall asleep on top of books now like I went to school for that, and—”

“Y/n,” he interrupts you for the first time. “You’re a busy woman. It’s fine.”

The ‘woman’ and the certain look he gives you makes something inside of you quiver.

“Okay.” You pocket the book, then ask him to continue his point with a hand gesture. “Go on. The similitudes between Madeline’s depictions and Iliad…”

With a quick scratch to his nape, Bucky goes right back to talking.

Time slips by through your lines about your favorite stories and his points on the poetry that never left his mind.

Steve is the one to burst your bubble.

Bucky notices him first through the glass window, and when he enters after a couple of light knocks, he stops under the threshold with a surprised expression.

“Sarah said something about you two getting early dinner before work?” Steve asks you with curiosity.

Why is he mentioning early dinner?

You take your phone out of your pocket and when the time stares back at you, space and time disappear from under your feet for a second.

“We just spent an hour talking,” Bucky echoes your thoughts behind you.

With a glance, you see he’s checking his computer’s clock, too. “Shit.” He looks at Steve. “Is Marcos here already?”

“Not yet, but he will be soon,” answers Steve.

“Alright, I’m—we’re wrapping up here.” He gives Steve a nod. “Tell Sarah and the kids I’m coming to say hi in a couple of minutes?”

“Sure.” Steve looks from Bucky to you. “Is it true you’re into Harleys?”

Well, it seems Bucky’s been sharing your conversations with his best friend, or least some of it.

“Yeah,” you answer.

He enters the office and through the glass window, points at his station that’s a few meters away across from it.

Your eyes follow the direction his finger points and finds it—a Harley Easy Rider painted almost entirely in baby, soft pink.

“Oh my god.” Who the fuck would do that to a Harley? “Are you responsible for this sacrilege?”

That seems to be the appropriate answer, because Steve throws his hands up in the air and almost yells. “Thank you!” He turns around to point at Bucky. “I told you this goes beyond taste. No one should be allowed by law to do this,” he whines a little.

Bucky laughs at you two. “Well, she paid you good—no, she paid you a great amount of money for this to be done, pal.” Bucky leans back against the chair. “You better get started on that coat of gloss paint and make that Barbie ride real smooth and shiny. Pink, glossy, shiny.”

“God, I hate rich people,” Steve sighs. With a final look at you, he opens a sad smile. “Good to have someone else around with common sense on their shoulders, ma’am.” He turns around to leave and right before closing the door, adds in a sing-song voice. “Don’t take too long!”

You and Bucky share a look. We really got lost in our own world, huh?

After the smile returns to your faces, he opens the door he had initially gone through when he first got here.

“Shall we?” he pulls up a book and you sit down, ready to start paying him for his hard work.

He shows you the paperwork, runs you through all the needed things briefly one last time and you pay just like you two discussed, one-third of the money now, and the other two-thirds to be paid in debit in a fortnight, then another fortnight after that.

Bucky asks no questions about where you get all your money from or makes any jokes and you appreciate it—your anxiety whenever paying for things can eat you up enough without someone prodding into your windows.

When you two leave his office, you’re clutching your backpack closer to you, thinking about the new addition in it.

Bucky said you could return it until one of the last payments, so at least two more times you were ought to see each other, even if for a brief payment transition.

Sarah and the kids all gush and hug Bucky when they see him, and you stand at the side watching the interaction with a smile on your face.

Bucky has to bid you all goodbye sooner than later because another client of his arrives.

The look he gives you and that shy, slow-wave right before you leave the shop’s sight stays burned behind your eyelids all weekend as you work.

◦➳◦

had your coffee yet?

not yet hold on

okay. go

“you would not be displeased, i think. with how you look now.”

my face grew warm. but we spoke no more of it.

bucky!!!!!!!!!!

BUCKY!!!!

yeah i know lol

this whole scene is beautiful

the love?!?!? and the soft tenderness?!?!?!??!?!?

can you IMAGINE greece’s biggest hero and warrior

BLUSHING at the soft touches. i am SPEECHLESS

i ?!?!?!??!?

y/n

yes?????

how much coffee have you had

did you get any sleep??

wow would u look at the time ! i must be on my way ! have a brand new car to drive to school!

y/n. get back here

oh my god if you faint from the caffeine and the alck of sleep im gonna feel sofucking bad

please eat something

awn.

filed attached:

ah. you’re eating

good.. that’s good

i’m glad you’re liking the book, darlin

please get some sleep today tho

pretty sure i won’t have a say in it

praying i dont fall asleep while walking

say amen, buck

amen

say u wont drink any more coffee today pls

im genuinely worried for ur heart

no more caffeine today

pinky promise, sergeant!

cool

thanks, lady bullet

now

have you ever heard of anne sexton

◦➳◦

What you imagined was:

Bucky would deliver you the car, answer your final texts and after that, communication with him would slowly come to an end. The messages would get further and further in between (as it had happened with many acquaintances, potential friends and not) and that would be it.

Only polite nods and professional talks when you eventually did see each other.

What happens is:

The topic of literature steals at least two hours of sleep for the next two days, and when that changes to the current industry of entertainment, you find yourself texting even during lectures sometimes (only in the subjects where you’d covered the reading beforehand, naturally).

October ends with you getting to know Bucky and one single thought growing in your head: you had told Sarah inviting him for your birthday made no sense given how you two didn’t talk, and now all you did was that. Talk to him.

By the time the second week of November rolls around, you can’t imagine not inviting him for your day. You want him there.

You two didn’t spend the whole day talking, you were both busy adults and thankfully, Bucky wasn’t the type of person to be bothered by hours of silence and sudden subject changes. Still. You didn’t talk all day long, but you were talking almost daily.

You had to tell Sarah.

The opportunity presents itself through a picture and one of his texts.

why do we like the wilsons again?

god the dramatics

file attached: a picture of Steve leaning against the reception counter with a happy grin on his face, Sam leaning from the other side with the same expression on his face.

i wonder why 🙄 sam keeps thst old bike 🙄

sure it was a great gift from steve but 🙄

whY kEEp It 🙄

You snorted looking at the screen.

Sarah lifts her eyes from the notebook, then glances back down with the hint of a smirk on her face.

“S?” you call, typing away an answer.

“Hm?”

“Remember how I said Bucky would probably stop talking to me?” You send the answer (cause they’re nice n funny, and they’re great cooks) then look up at her. Sarah’s typing away, only the glint of curiosity on her face giving away the fact that she’s listening.

“I do, yes.”

“We’ve been talking.” When she looks up at you, you’re biting the side of your nails, smiling sheepishly behind your hand. “Friendly talking, you know. And now I wanna invite him for my birthday. It’s not too late, is it? Is it weird? I mean. He’s friends with your brother, and your brother’s kinda my friend already which is why he insists on taking over a grill for my day even though I didn’t ask, and—I could ask him, right?”

Sarah’s smile on the corner of her lips turns it into a full smirk.

“Just ask him, babe.” She looks back down at the computer, typing away again. “He’ll say yes.”

“Really?” you forcefully put both your palms on top of the books to stop taking your anxiety out on your poor fingers. “Cause you said he’s not big on parties.”

“He isn’t, yes. But mostly cause of their crowds.” Sarah shrugs. “Your party will be at Sam’s place and that’s basically one of his homes. There won’t be many people.” She looks up at you kindly. “He seems to enjoy your company if he’s still talking to you—he’ll say yes.” Her next chuckle is accompanied by a teasing smile. “Maybe I’ll even get to see some of that funny Sergeant you and Sam got to meet but I rarely ever see.”

You look down at your phone.

true but your wilson is scary in the kitchen

bucky

that’s me

are you intimidated by sarah 😏

…. maybe

she threatened to cut my balls off once

it was a misunderstanding but still

she wasn’t jk

i know she wasn’t

You have to stifle your laughter behind your hand.

“He’s intimidated by you, S.”

Sarah stops typing again. “Ah.” Her smile grows again. “Still?” She goes back to her essay with a giggle. “I’ll make sure to smile at him next time.”

“Which will be on my birthday,” you announce, deciding right there that you will muster up the courage.

Sarah looks up from her notebook and smiles at you. “Yup.” Her eyes glance towards the piece of paper that’s lying between the pages of my book. “Ugh. You already finished yours, didn’t you?” Rolling her eyes, she answers to herself before you even open your mouth. “Of course you did.”

You throw her a cheeky wink and let her go back to her own essay, keeping your phone inside your purse for the rest of your studying time.

Once Sarah finishes her own paper, you two close all your textbooks and spend the last hour of the day before Sarah picks up her kids from the other Sarah’s house — Steve’s mother — talking in hushed whispers about all the latest gossips and random things that pop up in your phones and in your heads.

Although you sounded very sure when stating to Sarah that you would invite Bucky, as soon as you’re away from her bright persona and brave, encouraging smile, the usual nasty little thoughts start creeping their heads in.

What if he doesn’t like you that much? What if he doesn’t wanna hang around your friends? Bucky can find you a weirdo for inviting him to a party after knowing him personally for so little.

You clutch the steering wheel of Bullet, trying to shame those insecurities back into a drawer, back them into a corner of your brain.

Salvation comes in the form of Hozier.

Lost in your own negative thoughts, you’d missed the beginning of the song, but the moment you notice, it’s like a surge of braveness.

You know better, babe, you know better babe than to smile at me like that…

His coy smile, barely lifting the corners of his mouth, but still managing to call the crinkles on the corner of his eyes pops up in your mind.

Before you realize what you’re doing, you’re pulling up on the side of the road and taking your phone out of your pocket.

The twilight of this particular Tuesday paints the sky in the prettiest colors. You notice that while biting the corner of your nails, listening intently to the ringing of the phone.

You lower the sound system, as Hozier continues.

I warn you, baby, each night, as sure as you’re born… You’ll hear me… howling outside of your door…

You hear the click of the sound coming through and you feel your palms start sweating a bit.

“Well, this is new.” Bucky greets you. “Hello, darlin’.”

Shit.

“Are you busy? Is this a horrible time?” There’s only so much of your anxiety you can rail in at a time. “I’m sorry I didn’t text before I called, I know you’re busy with—”

“Y/n,” he interrupts you. Bucky’s been getting better at noticing your rambles of anxiety and cutting them short, much to your pleasure (and less embarrassment). “I’m not busy, no. I mean. I’m still at the shop, but it’s just me and Steve finishing up a few things. We kinda like it here.”

There’s that breathy chuckle on the other side of the line you love so much, and you take a deep breath with the ease and calm tone of Bucky’s voice.

“So you can talk,” he concludes his thoughts. You think you can hear the sound of the wheels of Bucky’s mechanic creeper, but you could be wrong. “What’s up?”

“Well. Hozier started singing your favorite song and I ended up pulling up at the side of the road as an impulse.”

One of the tools you learned in therapy was to channel your anxiety and let your words flow—the unsaid bothered you plenty, and what if scenarios could drive you insane if you bottled things up too much.

Bucky didn’t seem to mind. Most of his chuckles and head shakes came from the things you blurt out, just like now.

“It Will Come Back is a good reason to watch the sunset.” The sound of the shop fades and changes, and you imagine Bucky walking towards the back patio for some reason. “When it isn’t cloudy I can always notice this time of the day ‘cause the whole light of the shop changes.”

“That must be pretty,” you muse.

“It is,” he answers lightly. “I don’t think you called me to watch the sunset together, though. And it definitely ain’t for that beauty you’re driving ‘cause I know I did a good job. Unless—is it her?” He adds with a worried tone right after.

It’s your time to chuckle.

The sky’s turning the loveliest shades of blue, dark orange and pink.

“Nah, Bullet’s good.”

“Oh—okay. Thank god,” he chuckles.

“Yeah.” You take a deep breath. “I did have a question.”

Bucky hums on the other side of the line. “Never heard you worried before askin’ something before.”

“Well—” you clear your throat. “It’s an invite, but I don’t want you to feel pressured or anything ‘cause from what I’ve heard, you’re not the biggest on… celebrations.”

Bucky’s silent for a second, and his next hum sounds a little confused. “Uhm… isn’t it a bit early for Christmas parties?” He tries, and his tone says he was going for a joke.

It makes you laugh. “It is, silly. But my birthday’s in a couple of weeks, so…” you trail off, then smack your teeth. “I’d like you to be there. Dunno if you heard it through the grapevine yet or not, but Sam apparently likes me enough to wanna host a barbeque for me. It’ll be me, a couple of friends from university, my younger sisters and actually a couple of teachers of mine I’m really close to, but that’s it.” You breathe again before continuing. “You could invite Steve, too, and the other boys if they’d like to come. Y’all know Sam so it could be fun for you all, too. I’d love to get a chance to talk to them. No need for presents or anything—maybe some beer? But yeah. You guys would be very much welcome.”

Very much welcome. God, why does She let you ramble?

“You’re very cute when you’re nervous, you know.” The way he states it makes it seem like not a question, and before you can pick up your heart from Bullet’s floor, he adds with a happy voice. “‘Course we’ll come. Sam had mentioned something about being busy in a couple of weeks but hadn’t said why. I just imagined he was gonna cook Steve another delicious and ridiculously nice dinner or somethin’ like that.”

“Oh.” You open the eyes you hadn’t noticed you closed. He’s coming “Yay! That makes me happy,” you giggle, holding your desire to clap at how delighted you are that Bucky not only agreed, but did so that fast.

Bucky laughs a little on the other side. “Good. I don’t mind parties where I’m wanted that much,” he jokes.

“Good. Just don’t forget some alcohol and you’ll definitely be wanted there,” you tease back.

It works—the heartwarming laugh you love so much comes through the line.

“Duly noted: I’m only wanted if I bring offerings.”

“Indeed, Sergeant.”

“Well—I’ll be there. I’ll extend the invitations, too, and I’ll text you if any of them confirms it, kay?” Bucky tells you, sounding almost as bright as you felt right now.

“Sounds wonderful.”

The sunset sky had been prettier, but for the first time, you enjoyed a conversation more than you did watching your favorite time of the day.

“See you then, darling,” he adds in a lower voice.

“See you, Sarge.”

When you two hang up, you have to sit there another moment now assimilating the fact.

Bucky will be at your party.

Oh.

Well… fuck.

ㅤㅤㅤ. series masterlist ;

ㅤㅤ. next chapter (July 11th);

ㅤ. tip me ☕

[woman-respecter]

On the topic of tankies,

THEY HATE AO3 SO MUCH THAT THEY TREAT IT LIKE THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL AND IT NEVER FAILS TO MAKE ME LAUGH 😭

Pre October 7th, most of the blogs I followed had always been very political but seemed normal for the most part.

Now, they're all constantly rage posting about AO3 like it's the most of everyone's problems 😭 it's giving 4chan talking about Jews every second and bringing us into everything not gonna lie.

"You evil queers support Ao3 but question Palestinians on Tumblr, racist genocidal zionazis 🤬" these people are sooo insane. People donating to Ao3 bothers them so much that whenever anything happens now it goes back to Ao3..it's giving Trump blaming everything on the libs

Whenever any sort of injustice trends on here the response from tankies is automatically "you use/donate to ao3 you guys are evil monsters" ???? 😭🤨

Oh and don't forget the constant "this is tumblr staff's fault". They're sooo extremist that suddenly whenever anyone gets banned it's prejudice from the staff. Like girl! You posted blatant antisemitic shit straight from mein kampf but you being banned is somehow *checks notes* a result of the staff silencing Palestinians? 🤨 if you cannot criticise tumblr without immediately diving into batshit crazy conspiracies where every move the tumblr staff makes is bigotry and an attack on minorities idk what to tell you.

Idgaf about anyone hating ao3 but it's very strange to watch how they decide to hate it in the most extremist way possible lmao.

Also obsessed with how they go so left they end up right. Popular responses from leftists about the fake Palestinian scammers was "you people are always poor and ebegging but you draw the line at giving Palestinians money" 😐

Wow being classist towards the people you don't like will surely show them! Also obsessed with how only Palestinians matter in this case. They are allowed to say these things and then get cheered on by many (these posts get thousands of reblogs and likes lmaoo) because Palestinians are experiencing the Worst Thing in The World which means only they matter and anyone who supports them are allowed to say whatever they want in support. Therefore making fun of poor people who ask for money on Tumblr is progressive actually because it's in support of Palestinians.

Funny enough tankies are also homophobic when it comes to hating ao3 and everyone who dares to use that evil website but they're #gay so it's okay 😭😭😭 they'll say shit like "you queers have money for ao3 and never Palestine" first of all targetting gay people when I know many straight people who use ao3 is insanee. 2) where do they get this info from because they are always saying this but i only ever see queers donating to palestinians 😭 are they seriously making shit up to be angry about ? they talk about it like every gay person in the world is donating to the evil ao3 instead of palestine when it's a much smaller number than they exaggerate it to be.

i made a post in like 2021 (which got like 30k notws but i can’t find it bc tumblr search function sux) about how tumblr users would act like its evil to donate to ao3 instead of people’s (like fl****s******e) personal gofundmes but once again you can just replace personal gfms with palestine scam asks this time. really nowadays donating to anything that doesn’t have to do with The Omnicause is seen as EVIL. like chill, people can care about multiple things. plus i bet most of these people raging against ao3 still spend many hours on the site and get free entertainment from it so its like. do u want this site to exist or not because servers cost money and it can’t exist without donations.

[zzalina]

One day more or Sale el sol? Los Mis 2010

Okay so yesterday I made a post about Los Miserables 2010 and discovered there's more people who love it??? Someone asked me about the spanish translation of les mis and it was the straw that broke the camel's back for me to finally make a post. You have NO IDEA how long I've wanted to talk about this. Anyway, today I'll be talking about the 2010 spanish translation BUT I already have in my drafts a post comparing the spanish 1992, spanish 2010 and the original english versions (Edit: not in drafts anymore, here it is!). Without furhter ado, here are my thoughts about Sale el sol:

First things first: the title. "Sale el sol" means "The sun rises". I didn't use to like the translation because they could have gone with "Un día más" (as they did in 1992). It means exactly "one day more" and fits the music almost perfectly (you just have to pronounce it a little bit weird but nothing that isn't a common thing to do in songs). But then I saw this tweet:

"The phrase the sun rises instead of one day more to speak about resilience in a country in which the sun was used by fascists makes one feel mental peace, feel justice, feel art and revolution, it feels like recovering the light and coming out of the shadows"

A little bit of context: Spain was in a fascist dictatorship until 1975. There is a famous song from that time called "Cara al sol" ("Facing the sun"). It was the anthem of the Falange, a political party, but it's still used today by fascist groups. In this context, claiming the sun for a message like the one this song sends is really poetic justice and I just love it.

They also use the idea of the sun rising in "La canción del pueblo/Do you hear the people sing?" (I'll make a post about that one too) so it really links the two songs together in a very beautiful way. I could speak about the title for hours, but let's go to the lyrics:

On the left you have the original english lyrics, then the 2010 spanish ones and then the translation to english so you can see the differences. Pretty similar tbh

Marius being so dramatic in every langauge

Éponine's verses are always so sad but there is something about her feeling like she doesn't even exist for Marius that breaks my heart even more 💔

There's a lot I could say about Enjolras' part related to the 1992 translation but that will be a different post. Now take a moment to appreciate how Daniel Diges sings this lines pls look it up I love him

As you can see, in the translation we sadly lose the repetition of "one day more" 😔 Also Javert saying that the revolution will be born dead conveys to me the certainty that he had that it was not going to work. The army won't have to do much because the revolution will die by itself (and he was right, the people didn't join 😔)

Honestly I don't fully understand the Thenardier's part in english so I can't properly compare it, but they're so caothic in both languages, this part is so funny.

My favourite part of the song 😭 In english "Do you hear the people sing?" is the title of another song but since that one is called "La canción del pueblo" ("The people's song") they couldn't keep the verse exactly the same. But it's the first verse of The people's song

Just Javert's part bcs it's different, the others are kept the same than previously if I'm not wrong. Once again, there's no repetition in spanish 😔

I find it funny that since the original one talks about dawn at the end they translated it to "un día mas", doing the opposite of what they did with the title. It made me wonder for years why didn't they use it for the whole song since it fits the music. But now I know and you know too.

If you made it this far thank you for reading the post. If you liked it, there'll be more and if you didn't like it I'm sorry but there'll be more because I have a lot to say ✨

[t00nyah]

SO! A THING ABOUT THE ART CHALLENGE I TALKED ABOUT IN MY LAST POST...

we ended up trading characters. LMAO. it was so funny how we just were like WAIT CAN I GET THIS ONE PLEASE PLEASE

SO. ABOUT MY COOL AND AWESOME IDEAS.

if you're an old t00nyan...you know splatoon changed me as a person.

but there's one particular thing i really like making characters based off...

SEA SLUGS. (please stay till the end the final artwork is the best thing i ever drew and is like the equivalent of me learning splatoon style AND there's umm something cool you need to know.)

so. literally everyone knows i love sea bunnies for looking so so so cute and silly. i always say white lizards are like sea bunnies to me. and as you all know i love gathering a lot of facts and applying them to the character.

first, i've decided to make it somewhat atypical to what people are more used to see...as far as i know yellow sea bunnies are more common than white ones. and it works! the character looks way better than when it was white haha. speaking of appearance, of course they're small, sea bunnies are teeny tiny!!!!!!!!!

from what i've read for this challenge, apparently sea bunnies use jellyfish stingers for self-defense, huge if true bc that's why this fella holds a jellyfish. they highly depend on stunning predators to outrun them in my vision. also, um. wiki mentions that the sponges sea bunnies feed on contain toxins that can be used in cancer treatment, so you know what that means. in MY concept it's like... them being a rotting iterator's last hope or smth, which would be funny because being toxic also equals to being a little shit personality-wise. imagine your last hope is a creature that won't stop throwing jellyfish at you.

next one is a cabbage slug! it's a very pretty one!! i actually have a splatoon oc Elysia based on them haha.

this particular photo was my reference for the blueish palette but they can be veeery colorful and veeery pretty...

i don't have anything in my head for this one, i just felt like i HAD to make an elysia crispata slugcat. they're just nice, herbivore, love sunbathing and just enjoy being here!

so. last one is like my MAGNUM OPUS. at first i didn't even consider it. i wanted to make an octopus based one for branding reasons but then i saw this shitter.

im sorry im not actually mean to them but. this guy is a blue dragon. i randomly saw them and went 'oh yeah they exist, wonder what they'd be like. could be a cool design.'

THE RESULT...

IS THIS GUY.

so. blue dragons, apparently, prey on bigger predators and then store their most dangerous venom to use it on their next prey. but it also ends up even more deadly that the predators'.

so i went okay. if that's not a cool concept, i don't know what is. and then...things went kind of too far.

introducing to you: The Weaponeer.

food requirement: 8(10) [quite obviously eats corpses with 1/4 pip from blue fruit and stuff]

they're fast, (NOT as fast as rivulet, but faster than hunter, probably like 1.45x) have bigger lung capacity (~4.25x, a lot, but not as much as rivulet has) and have a 'special ability' of sorts

the Weaponeer is a master in self-defence and knows well how to utilize its' predators' weapons as their own. they can deshell overgrown(!) centipedes, demask vultures and steal king vultures' harpoons (without needing a spear, practically like a maul but it only works for this and only due to the Weaponeer just knowing how to do that more practically)

their base damage is 1.0, BUT using harpoon spears multiplies it to 1.5 (although i think it lowers throwing skill considering it's heavy and giant, they can't exactly throw it, it's more of a melee weapon. it probably slows them down too?)

i have a little campaign idea too! so, wiki mentions them being washed up on the shore sometimes...and that felt like an idea.

the Weaponeer is a capable and very confident slugcat, but they are lost far from home in Deserted Faraway - a result of some poor planning of the Ancients. once a river, now a cavern full of adapted to new circumstances living beings. the region has two subregions, one of them being a cave system and the other being the remains of the iterator that was doomed right from the start. when the Weaponeer arrives to Deserted Faraway, it's already its own blooming ecosystem.

im really proud of how this menu art turned out! i hope i will get to draw more artworks like that someday...when im not that busy, haha. it did take me an entire DAY to finish this one.

i intended to sell them initially just bc they ended up pretty cool so...THAT'S WHAT I'M DOING. i sadly can't really...actually...sell them for money...which is very fucking dissatisfying.

BUT. but. if you know me you know i'm desperate for OC fanart, so if you really want them trading for art is an option!!! my dms are open :]

but yeah, thanks for looking at this, it took me a while and im actually proud of this project!!

[wisteriasymphony]

Warning im gonna ramble: I’m happy someone is saying it out loud! This is always a trend when it comes to feminine men I think- I’m not a man, nor have ever been one myself, but when it comes to deconstructing male mental health and how we view femininity, I think making Adrien transfem/genderswapping them only works in a context where they are slowly regaining agency or are the ones regaining autonomy! More of marinette’s role in the narrative if that makes sense. And while it can be funny, I dislike it when it’s portrayed that Marinette will be the one to realize that they’re trans tbh. Like??? This guy is oblivious, but he’s also always stuck in his own thoughts? Let him be the one to analyze himself and conclude her own gender! This is true for any genderfluid Adrien tbh, even transmasc. I know ur a deathnoter, so I’m gonna draw on a death note fic here; “I think I was born blue” by anon (it’s fantastic give it a read if u want!). That fic has a lot of the repression that I think Adrien would struggle with esp as a trans person. Throw the sentimonster stuff in there and there’s no way in hell he’d confront it unless he had truly mentally reclaimed himself from the order to be his parent’s perfect boy. Same also applies to cis-swapped Adrien! When you make her a girl, you also have to appropriately grapple with the implications! (This is also ignored with Kagami, if to a much lesser degree.) If your female characters existence survives on the idea that she cannot live for herself and your story still claims to be centered on promoting feminism, that’s weird! I like knight princess yuri a lot, think rev girl utena, but the princess cannot just stand there and be a doll! The princess must also have thoughts! Also- how come Adrien gets this the most? I know it’s partially bcs he’s a “feminine pale boy “twink””, but even when you suggest characters like Nathaniel could be trans, it rlly just doesn’t pick up! I am a certified fudanshi and love yuri, but I need ur yuri to allow both female characters to participate in being people with a mind! TLDR: I love transdrien and I love yuri <3 (kiss ur girlfriends ppl), but analyze why one specific guy gets the fem beam! Analyze why a guy can’t show “feminine” traits and still be messy and masc and not get hit with the purity beam! Analyze why when a person is without agency why they are seen as a perfect partner! And if ur gonna write transfem Adrien, pls be more creative with names y’all! “Adrienne” is lame she would name herself either something simple (Marie idk) or smthing cool af ( Ysée). Ok thank you for the soapbox I will be back if that’s fine :3

You're welcome! I think some of the people I've talked to tend to say that Adrien would keep the name "Adrien" regardless of identity, which I think is cool as fuck. "Adriana" is also popular but I'm not a fan of it because it's so transparently just "Adrien + a" (as in common feminine modifier in English names). Like, come on guys... At least Adrienne is French.

I do think going the route of examining how repressed Adrien is and directing that towards transfem Adrien is an extremely cogent interpretation and also super valid. Like you said, it would just have to coincide with some self-reflection that the show only lets Adrien have in breadcrumbs.

I don't know, I'm aware that calling these things into question can be seen as trying to "debunk" theories or headcanons and I don't want to ruin anyone's fun, which is why I am so hesitant to discuss it. That's never been my intention. I just want people's ideas on them to be good and thought-out. That includes picking up on the implications and broader context.

God. Okay I'm finally over this I don't want to discuss it again. Every single time I feel like an awful person for bringing it up

[this-is-krikkit]

hello Kit

i just read 'mouthy' and i can tell you that you made my evening with this fic <3 thank you for writing such good and sweet t4t levihan

this truth and dare game sounds fun! how about 🍓 🛼 🍄 (maybe for erurihan?) 🍅 🐝 🎨 ?

i hope it's not too much though... (❀ˆᴗˆ)

oooh Victoria thank you!! i'm very happy you liked it 🥹🥹 thanks for letting me know ♥️🥰😘

-> wanna play writer's truth and dare with me?

🍓how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

well, i started writing when i was huh...... ten i think? and i wrote fanfiction back then, i just did not know what it was (and definitely didn't post it hahaha). i got into it on purpose when i got into my first online fandom, through discussing ideas with other fans and reading their fave fics!

🛼 describe your latest wip with five emojis

hummmm let's see. i think this is the wip i'm closest to posting right now (when i get a minute to work on it ughh):

🏢🪽💢🚬💑

🍄 share a head canon for one of your favourite ships or pairings

for erurihan as you asked: i like to think they took FOREVER to get together, not because they're a tryad, not because they're busy af in canonverse or any AU i imagine them in, but because they're, all three of them, the absolute fucking worst motherfuckers alive. hange is oblivious as fuck, levi's sure both of his crushes are unrequited, and erwin's the most repressed asshole on earth who took one look at his own feelings and went "NOPE" and closed that door (or did he?)

writing them is painful in fics when they aren't established (which i know i haven't shared any of those actually sorry for the tease lmao), but it's also very Them x)

🍅 give yourself some constructive criticism on your own writing

sure!! here goes my one biggest criticism i give myself each and every day: i don't think i'm very good at conveying intentions when it's not like with one strong line of dialogue or one crucial point in the fic. i feel like a lot of my fics are... unbalanced in that way, as a result?with strong moments that i love to reread that make me feel stuff (and hopefully my readers too), and "filler" moments that i cringe at without fail each time bc im like, dude did you even try?? so, i need to work on breaching that gap of quality i feel exists within most of my fics... i'm just not very sure how.

also, sometimes i try to be funny, and when i reread my stuff, i realize smth i thought was hilarious at the time of posting is actually pretty lame. so i should either stop trying to be funny, or get better at it x)

🐝 tag your biggest supporter(s) and say one nice thing about them

honestly, anyone who comments on my fics or leave me any kind of feedback and people who send prompts, all of you i consider a huge support and i thank you all so much for it!! ♥️♥️

now i do have to mention @nube55 as not so much my biggest supporter, but definitely the #1 victim of my overly enthusiastic ass and the dozens of new wips i come up with in a week's time 😁😁 honey (yes 🍯 that's right), you're always happy to listen to my ideas and chime in, so just know i love you and how much support we give each other (in fandom things and others 💜)

🎨 link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it

i can't actually do that as my all time levihan fave art was shared through dms and i was told not to post it publicly! but this one is another one of my faves, here (don't thank me, just give op some love!!):

[halliescomut]

Love Sea Ep 3 watch along

Okay, but that little reminder text is a perfect example of showing you care without saying you care. 🥹

Okay but sometimes Mame is unexpectedly very deep and very good with words.

P'Vi confuses me. I do like the blunt honesty her and Rak have though. That's important in friends.

Mook is so absolutely adorable. If Vi makes her cry I will figure out how to kick the ass of a fictional character.

So it seems their dad did worse than just leave them based on that convo between Rak and his sister. (I think I remember discussion of that from where ppl were discussing the novel on Twitter, but I did make the decision to not try and read the novel first.)

I kinda wanna know where all of Mut's button-up shirts are from. I really like them.

Rak being all depressing and Mut and ....shoot I forgot his name again... going diving.

Mut(Fort really) is just so cuddle shaped.

On iQiYi the OST lyrics overlap with the actual captions and it's annoying as fuck

This fucking nosey ass 🤣🤣

The difference in aesthetics for their clothes here is so wild. I will say though that I like that there's wardrobe repetition. That's not always common in TV, and it really fucks with the believability. I know it's more common in Thai BL, but that's mostly bc so many involve ppl that wear a uniform of some sort (looking at you University BLs).

Interesting...very interesting. I talked.... somewhere... About how the social power dynamics at play here were dangerous because they were going into this whole thing without being honest (with themselves or each other) and it was going to have fallout.

I don't know if I'm surprised Mut took so long, or if maybe I expected him to take Rak's verbal abuse a little longer.....

A beautiful scene. It's a lovely bit of physical acting how Rak sort of melts into Mut.

I do think it's so funny how Mut always says he's so simple (and in some ways he is) but people seem to take it to mean not smart or clever, and he's very obviously both. I can't tell if he truly sees himself that way or if it's an attempt to have people underestimate him....maybe it's both.

Well now I'm just depressed. Thanks a lot Rak. But seriously, I do appreciate the clarification of the family dynamics. I'm also a bit surprised Rak is opening up so soon to Mut about this. Idk if it's because it's at the front of his mind, or if Mut's kind of easy acceptance of everything makes it seem easy...idk.

Ruh-ro raggy .... Rak thinks this is gonna be a failed experiment because he truly doesn't think real love exists, but I fear he will be wrong (this is a romance after all).

I'm curious about Mut's motivations though. I believe he believes in love. I also think he wants Rak to, or maybe just for Rak to have some peace? Idk. He's surprisingly hard to read. As much as I think he likes Rak (both as a person and a sex partner) I don't think he's fallen in love with him at this point.

While I do love a fake dating storyline ... I'm still on the fence about P'Vi.

I feel like Fort had to carry Peat for a long time for this scene. I bet his arms were killing him. (Though we've seen the gym pics, I know he's been working out.)

That's so cute.

Oh yeah...slow mo pushing the hair back. Very Baywatch

Are we doing more beach sexy time?

I Guess Not. We're back at the keyboard.

You're gonna sit here and tell me that's not a goddamn puppy in human form??? LIES!!

He's goddamn adorable. I'd want one for myself if I wasn't Ace and had any idea what to do with one other than feed it and take it for walks.

Peat's got nice hands 🥵...send tweet.

That was such a sharp poke. OMG 🤣🤣

Okay but this is practically a still from the PaiSky fanfic I wrote. Linked here.

Rak likes cuddles. Cute little bean.

Palm ....that's his name. I was thinking Pond earlier, which is close. And now he's being nosey again.

Mut's face when Palm waved back🤣🤣🤣 Like bitch I ain't waving at you

I do think it's sweet how determined Palm is to be a good wingman though.

I do appreciate the love bite front and center. But what are our thoughts on whether it's makeup or a 'practical effect'?

"A dog in rut more like." "Well then his owners is as well." 🤣🤣

Mut's nervous to take Rak to his home. Sweet, but legit if Rak were to judge him for his home I would vote for kicking him to the curb, no matter how much I like him.

Ahhhhh.....so Ja is VI's costar...okay. God I forget how fucking tall he is. Mans practically a redwood.

Is this like Wedding Plan, but make it straight???

I know that bunny purse is entirely impractical for the person I am, but it's so cute.

It really is weird people would be claiming boob job when I think Vi is a B cup on a good day.

Very impressive just fully ignoring the sexuality question Vi.

Mook, babes....you gave in way too fast.

"I'm not bi." I know a lie by omission when I see one. That statement does not equal that you are straight.

You are a damn liar Rak. This little visit has nothing to do with inspiration. You want to be nosey and learn more about Mut.

I like the environmentalism aspect woven into the show. It's good.

As if I couldn't hate your dad more Mut. Calm down Satan.

So we know why Mut left. But really how can someone make their living from nature but not care enough about it??

Okay exhibitionist Rak.

Idk why but there's something about Rak straddling Mut that just....

Well.....we can tick off the Fort's nipple obsession of on the bingo board.

And we're returning favors. Very egalitarian.

Two condoms....well. You certainly had plenty of energy there didn't you....

There's a couple wrappers on the floor, but those do look unopened.

Also vaguely off topic: while the sheets are not the Slutty Geometry Sheets™️, I think my sister has the same kind.

Hmmm....now this is a juicy conversation. Rak being so intentionally honest here telling Mut to ask him to stay. He's afraid to take the leap, but he wants to.

As a side note....I cannot tell you how much I love them showing Fort's physical 'imperfections'. The kind of farmer's tan he has going on, you can see the stretch marks on his upper arms. He's an absolutely gorgeous man, but so often that stuff gets filtered out, or covered in makeup. I love seeing it. We need this more.

OMG I'm crying.

This is important though. Rak needs to know that his answer will have consequences.

That was the right answer. (Though the shabby hole comment about his house was a bit much. I'm hoping that's more a translation issue.)

I suspect the country mouse shall go to the city in next week's episode.....

Awwww Rak in Mut's tank top. Cute.

I really thought Rak was bare-assed for a second pulling a Pete, but no, he's in khaki pants.

So cute and sweet 🥹🥹🥹. Also, I love the bed net. Malaria is no joke.

So next week are we looking at just an NDA or is that contract for like a full Sugar Baby position??

Also end credits change-up again. Now MutRak are walking together....symbolic.

Well that's all for this watch along. I don't think I'll have 4k words to say about it tomorrow, but we shall see.

[imperiuswrecked]

Time to read Namor (2024) #1

I personally think Namor would rather die than ever admit his weakness to enemies.

Aaron has never been able to write Namor's noble arrogance & pride correctly.

S.M. 39 - Sub-Mariner 1939 (creation year)?

I want to physically slap Namor out of his depression so hard that my hand breaks on his perfect cheekbones.

Someday, a writer will remember Prince Byrrah exists and then the toxic royal cousin rivalry will be back on! He def would have been at the forefront of this misadventure to lead Namor into trouble.

Finally a bit of in character-ness, Namor being annoyed that the humans weak prison and ripping through the bars like it's nothing.

I can't recall, was it that awesome Namor fanfic that first introduced Namor gaining strength through blood (aka the Blood-Mariner) or was it in a comic? I'll come back to this point later to check.

Action/art in this book is great, I do love the artists so much.

He's so sad, a depressed mess.

Stingray??? This man is always around when Namor is beat to hell and tied up by humans, I swear. Except the last time he was put on display and not in a hospital bed, and it was Walter who captured Namor. (Sub-Mariner 1969 #19)

I mean the fish never spoke to you before Namor but that's ok, I know you've been knocked on the head a lot of times in your life. (Kidding aside, The fish in the Marvel universe don't talk, that's Aquaman's thing. Namor has a mild telepathy that let's him persuade/command them)

Which is the better sea pun? World War Sea or Searebro? Vote below

The thing is the Atlanteans have always been treated that way without anything to stop them?? Like the kids who were left to die on the shore in Aaron's Avengers, what repercussions did the international world instigate when that happened? It was only ever Namor who stood up for his people, and tried to implement change in the surface world's governments. Heck he finally got Atlantis/the ocean into the UN back in 2018. It's not like the humans have ever cared about the oceans or Atlanteans, so while I get the urgency Walter should have just said "Attuma said your ass looks fat and you're an ugly skank, and he insulted your mother" bc then Namor would have been rushing to beat him up. lmao.

Sorry it's just really funny to me that Namor in the past would have left everything in an instant the moment Attuma even glanced at Atlantis. The (Defenders comic? need to check) scene where he just fucks off back into the ocean always lives in my heart.

While I see what Aaron is trying to do, I don't trust him enough to carry it out because while he's set up Namor to be sympathetic in the past by the end of his use of Namor in Avengers/Enter the Phoenix, Namor is the one who was blamed for everything without any acknowledgement of the help he gives to humans, etc.

Here.

This is where I really feel that Aaron doesn't get Namor. I understand a lot of people see Namor as this cruel character but he's not. He can be capable of cruelty but he really did not start being so cold until he was an adult. It's not until after WWll, after the deaths' of his mother, Fen, his wives, Dorma & Marrina, and finally his younger cousin Nita, that Namor really changes into today's modern interpretation of the character. You can actually see his character progression into what most people know him as in the 2000s and beyond comics, but younger Prince Namor?

Prince Namor is arrogant, and brash, and prideful, but he was also kind and selfless. He was happy once.

Compare Aaron's flashbacks to Busiek's in Namor: King in Black and there is a world of difference in how they are written. Aaron's has never shown that he has the writing range of being able to write Namor's less mean side. I should say more innocent side? Because he does have one, one that believes that he should be a protector of his people. This kinda behavior is something I expect from Prince Byrrah, who was always selfish and cruel and put a lot of emphasis on him being the Heir to the Throne. This isn't the first time Aaron's written about Namor's younger self, in his Avengers, he also wrote him like this, but killing a shark just for fun.

*sigh* I knew it was coming bc of the preview of coverart but we really are back in the old suit. I do like how the artist added some flair, but I will be honest that I already miss his slutty fish net pants. Of course I wouldn't be complaining if we got Namor back in his speedo.

The worst of it was just how right I was about how Aaron really fails to grasp Namor's character. That's always been my complaint about the writer.

If the setup was in the hands of another writer I would love it bc I love Fantasy Court intrigue & battles.

However I do have to say the artists have been really great and I can't wait to see what they do next!

[rosesocietyy]

Brilliant people have said everything that needs to be said about this much much better and I don't got anything substantial to add but I just have to get this off my chest cause y'all I'm still in disbelief

like this is a grown ass person btw oh I simply have to laugh😭

this perfectly exemplifies literally everything cringe af and wrong with these "assigned welcomers". this is just my scapegoat but there are way worse I've seen

First of all, get a job. how, at your fossil age, do you have time to spend all day scrolling through every single iwtv related post and arguing with people who say anything even slightly damning about lestat (which mind you, is literally just objective facts about things he did). I'll dm you a McDonald's application hell I'll even put in a referral for you out of the goodness of my heart.

Second, Lestat is not a real person. he's fake, a made up character, the figment of someone's imagine, non-existent, people hating him will not affect your life in anyway shape or form. He didn't assign you as his PR agent I promise you'll live. "They'll never accept him" ok and?!?

Question, and I'm genuinely asking, is this their first time in a fandom? why is someone having a different opinion about a character they love enough to send them into hysterics like?? 13 year olds on anime twitter have a better grasp on reality that y'all do get a grip!

And like the above posts have talked extensively about, I most definitely noticed whose posts a specific bunch of them love to go under to share their dog shit "explanation" that nobody asked for. When a black person sees Louis being brutalized by his white lover what do you expect their reaction to be? oaur wow this white french slut is so pussy cunt slay period queen? "but louis is flawed too" do you hear yourself? do you listen to yourself when you speak? can you activate the barest hint of brain activity to understand why we would react differently to what we're watching than you would and that knowledge of the source material has nothing to do with it? Just because you read those shitty books and posses no empathy for black people in media doesn't mean you gain some higher understanding of "gothic romance ".

"No but the thing is you don't understand this is a gothic romance and they're supposed to be monsters and lestat has suffered saur much and he's also the real main character so you must love him" so now how exactly does that negate their point about him being an abuser? quickly! sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up when black people are sharing their thoughts on the show cause who the fuck are you fr and what convinced you that you have the right to argue with them about THEIR experiences. that tweet that said white people act like God left them in charge, yeah.

Funny enough, half the people that are so gung ho about him now didn't even fw him at all when they only read the first book. wow it's almost like you were allowed to sort out your feelings about him on your own without insects disguised as people in your mentions calling you slow for not licking his feet.

I despise so much in this fandom. From the bottom of my heart I really truly do. I don't know what I was expecting, I guess more common sense and maturity because the average age in the fandom is quite high compared to other fandoms I've been in but nah, just mfs screaming and crying bc ppl don't jump up and down and scream yipee! everytime their white fav commits abhorrent, disgusting crimes.

I was so caught up in the euphoria of an anne rice property finally being given to skilled creators who'll pick it apart and say something poignant with it that for a moment, I forgot I lived in a world where majority of its audience would sadly be the anne rice crowd.

[starcollectorsilas]

I love seeing people compare music to their favourite characters and go like 'oh yeah this verse might be this character... and then this one is the other one... and then this little bit here is them both honestly. Or something like that' because I HAVE gone through every taylor swift song on evermore and folklore and compared it to skk. Sorry to be autistic on the writing account, but this is a fanfic writing account and I'm writing my second novel length fic about them so what did you expect.

folklore/evermore are very canon skk, and verge into fanon and some songs are the reason for very specific head canons, or some of the ways I write the way they perceive each other. 1989... DON'T GET ME STARTED OMFG HAVE YOU EVER LISTENED TO BLANK SPACE? I THINK IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO NOT HAVE AND OMG IT'S SO SKK CODED LIKE WTF. I HAVE VERY FIRM OPINIONS ABOUT WHICH LYRICS ARE THEIRS. Also the vault tracks literally exist what more do you want from me. 'i think about jumping off of very tall somethings just to see you come running and say the one thing I've been wanting' okay dazai pack it up you did that already, beast exists. 'i call my mom sister she said that it was for the best remind myself the more i gave you'd want me less' yeah yeah chuuya we know he left you get over it, it wasn't personal(think that line could go for either of them but the other line 'the way you faded till i left' feels more Dazai personally). Plus suburban legends. For personal reasons I struggle to listen to song without SPIRALING FUCK YOU THAT ONE PERSON SEHDHSSJNS but very skk as well 'we were born to be national treasures' is very soulmates of them. And out of the woods screams them in fanfic when they try to get better. Red, straight away all too well. They both remember it all too well. All too well skk cover with switching vocals anyone? The last time. The one with gary lightbody. Underrated song, is my favourite on that album, and SO THEM. 'this is the last time you tell me ive got it wrong, this is the last time i wont hurt you anymore' because they're fated to be together and are constantly drawn to each other and yet keep HURTING EACH OTHER RAGH. also 'we are never getting back together' is pretty funny and nice when applied to them. also state of grace. any taylor song with a mild drop of religious imagery is them cause yeah. but 'i never saw you coming, and I'll never be the same'... okay pack it up, we don't have time for your yearning. 'you were never a saint' (dazai abt chuuya) 'and i loved in shades of wrong' (bc hes toxic and doesnt know how to healthily like people) 'we learned to live with the pain, mosaic broken hearts' (bc they continue anyway and stick it out, living with the pain of being bad for each other because of how deeply they care). I almost do. Dazai after leaving. moving on to more religion, holy ground. 'for the first time i had something to lose' 'and i guess we fell apart in the usual way, and the storys got dust on every page' AAAAAA IT'S THEM. Can't really speak on debut- but I've listened to our song and picture to burn and if picture to burn isn't a vengeful chuuya idk what is. BOY OH BOY SPEAK NOW.

excuse me. one moment.

Mine- literally a skk au

Sparks fly- 'the way you move is like a rainstorm and im a house full of cards, you're the kind of reckless that should send me running' that entire verse screams dazai's fascination with corrupted chuuya, and the whole song is well yeah

back to december- dazai when they reunite just trust me on it just trust me on it. the repetition was intentional, that's how serious i am. 'i go back to december all the time' 'I got back to december to make it all right'

speak now- might just be me but it really makes me think of teen skk in fanfic harbouring urges to ruin the others relationship for 'some reason. I don't know, seeing him with her just... irks me'.

the story of us- first verse is chuuya, second verse is dazai, and the third is them both because they're LOSERS and they LOVE EACH OTHER and FUCK I'm CRYING NOW. 'id tell you i miss you but i don't know how' EMOTIONALLY CONSTIPATED BASTARD.

enchanted- self explanatory. for more context, i really think it's from dazai's pov in this case, could probably be both, but dazai fell first and harder so it's really like god he's been in love ever since he got kicked into that wall he wants him around forever. He held Chuuya's hand in the fight with rimbaud and then had all those close moments in the manga and went home to lie on his bed kicking his feet and giggling don't lie. (god im still crying this isn't helping)

better than revenge- they're both pretty vengeful idk it makes me think of iwsynttr for some reason

haunted- chuuya pov. 'i thought i had you figured out, something's gone terribly wrong' 'stood there and watched you walk away from everything we had' they're so sad, but the general idea of chuuya thinking he has figured out dazai and knowing how he thinks and then dazai just leaves suddenly and he's like 'Wow! I thought i knew you. How do i forget this'. 'wont finish what you started' bringing chuuya into the mafia then leaving it.

last kiss- 'you told me you love me so why did you go away' chuuya pov again oh god it hurts why am i doing this to myself? 'never imagined we'd end like this, your name, forever the name on my lips' yep yep ow.

LONG LIVE.- LISTEN. TO. THE. SONG. AND TELL ME IT'S NOT DAZAI AND CHUUYA. I COULD DO A WHOLE ANALYSIS ON JUST THIS SONG. 'promise me this, that you'll stand by me forever, but if god forbid fate should step in, and force us into a goodbye...please tell them my name, tell them how the crowds went wild, tell them how i hope they shine, long live the walls we crashed through, i had the time of my life with you' FUCK IT'S DAZAI AN HE'S IN LOVE WITH CHUUYA AND DOESNT KNOW ODAS GONNA DIE YET, JUST THINKS HE DOESNT GET TO KEEP ANYTHING HE WANTS. FUUUUUCK. THEY'RE IN LOVE AND DAZAI WANTS IT REMEMBERED PLEASE I'M SO SAD.

anyway, i can't pretend I'm normal about skk anymore i haven't even covered fearless, reputation, lover or midnights please somebody encourage me to actually write full things dedicated to each album and the most fitting songs from said albums please i'll do it and plus i need to actually gather proof for my autism diagnosis appointment so this would be a good way to to that probably. anyway yeah this'll never make it out my drafts lol

[pynkhues]

https://www.tumblr.com/fishjellylou/766623772774137856/yall-white-mfs-need-to-stop-speaking-on-louis?source=share

As a disclaimer, I swear I'm not trying to start something, but this person is clearly talking about your post. The only reason i bring this to ur attention is bc

1. They seem to be purposely misinterpreting a lot of what u said and

2. It sums up a certain attitude in fandom that's been bothering me.

You always back up your interpretations with textual evidence and seem very open to other people's interpretations as well, so this type of reaction seems very hostile to me for no reason. And I feel like this readiness to call racism over any differing opinion on Louis only manages to reduce his character and discourage people from exploring his complexities or engaging with the character at all.

At least for me, it makes me scared of sharing any opinion, because people in fandom don't seem to be open to debate and conversation, they just claim one interpretation as the only valid read of the show and anyone who disagrees is suddenly racist.

I guess i just wanted to get your take on it and ask for advice on how to deal with this type of backlash when it comes to engaging in character analysis. Your insight is always appreciated <3

Oh! Yeah, I mean - - they certainly seem to be referring to me without @'ing me!

And mmm, yeah, I'd say it reads to me as a bad faith interpretation of my posts, especially as I certainly wouldn't describe how I wrote about Louis today as a 'diabolical jezebel' - in fact, I think it's lowkey the opposite given I think he's a character who has a healthy sexual appetite which sometimes manifests in the wrong direction as a result of trauma and circumstance, as opposed to the puritanical virgin some would depict him as - and literally, explicitly said that I don't think Louis' a liar, but rather has the normal response of trying to paint himself in a better light in his memories, but y'know, they're allowed their interpretation of my posts, just as they're allowed their own readings of the show.

As someone who's been around the fandom traps for more than a decade, I can't say this isn't something I'm used to, and I kinda think it's important to be okay with it? I make these posts publicly (even if I do try to avoid using main tags lowkey for adjacent reasons to this one), so people can respond to me publicly. That's okay! I've kinda been doing the same with the l*slou fest, so I'd be a huge hypocrite to have an issue with what they do when I'm doing it a little myself, haha.

But to me posts like this also just try to weaponise the idea that being called racist is worse than being racist, and as a result is a way to shut people up, like you said. I'm open with the fact that I'm white and Australian - arguably the worst type of White, haha - and I know that I have race biases that I'm working constantly to unpack, and I work in DEI at my theatre company, so trust me when I say I've done a lot of 'official' training too, which feels stupid to talk about here in this context, but is a reality of Things I've Done.

I engage and read and listen a lot, which is all to say, I suppose, that I do try to be very conscious and present in how I exist in these conversations, and it's a funny thing to come back to fandom spaces where people do want white people to take on a cultural load, want them to engage particularly with characters of colour, want them to create fanworks involving POC - all things fandom is notoriously bad at! - and then ultimately - - y'know. Weaponise race in an attempt to shut down conversations they don't like (and I include a lot of white people in that too). It too often feels like race becomes a moving part to keep characters under certain fan interpretation ownership, which feels symptomatic of broader fandom entitlement.

I don't know. I hear you, basically, and I get your nervousness about engaging, but at the end of the day, conversations won't happen if they don't happen. Sharing your thoughts and knowing - and being able to articulate - your intent while keeping an open mind to criticism and an eagerness to learn is always a positive, at least to me. Some people are going to engage in bad faith - that's kind of inevitable these days, I think - but there are going to be a lot of people who engage in good faith too, and I don't know. A lot of people tell me I have a bit of a crap nose for it, haha, and tend to engage more of the bad faith than I should, but I always try to take things optimistically and in good faith. I like to trust that people mean the best, and when they don't - - well, that's for private chats, haha.

[pleucas]

this is said with no malice towards you i love your art!! i like you!!

also not capitalizing chuuya's name even tho i have better humor than this

this is going to be loooong but i never read a more stupid ask….

i don’t hate skk bcs i use my brain and see that they’re actually good and a fun ship when someone isn’t ruining it. what i hate is most skkers being unfunny towards Dazai and the continuous mischaracterization of him just to make chuuya look better (mostly chuuya stans but also dumb Dazai stans are guilty of it)

and no Dazai isn’t the worst and chuuya doesn’t deserve better in fact i think yall can’t handle a person with mental illness and a fake persona he clearly put on people always demonize him so i think saying he’s the worst and chuuya isn’t proves my point. they both EQUALLY did the same bad things Dazai isn’t more toxic than chuuya it’s more like Dazai is the one who’s going back to a toxic ex (mind u chuuya was ready to hurt or maybe even kill some of the ada members people Dazai obviously cares for)

the skk hater? who loves chuuya and hate Dazai because they know chuuya’s character will never be as important or as impactful on bsd universe as Dazai’s noted.

if you love chuuya and hate Dazai your opinion about Dazai is immediately invalid like i think they just know no bsd character can be better written and more interesting than Dazai he's what keeping bsd good (and Fyodor i liked him in the last chapters even more)

imo if chuuya keeps appearing he'll just get boring🤷‍♀️ because most of his storyline is over

Dazai on the other hand always entertaining and deep and there’s a reason he’s involved in everything and never forget everything he did for chuuya stormbringer would be nothing without Dazai helping chuuya from the shadows and chuuya knows it but i guess people will still makes him the bad person in skk when he’s the one trying to change and be better person

also Dazai is someone who’s storyline is still on going as well as we know almost nothing about his past or what actually goes on in his brain i can say three things about his backstory and that’s it.

sorry for rumbling i can’t take that level of stupidity

pls don’t block me im not evil…..

holy shit we got cross-ask beef. this is insane

i'm gonna lowercase Both their names because i think this is the reasonable next step. LOL. & i'll also ramble a bit to match ur freak!

i will strive to clarify that me agreeing that dz=worst chuuya deserves better was, as i specified, "on a generalized scale" — on a very, very, VERY surface level this is a jokey way i've seen a lot of skkers talk about their relationship. more of an inside joke atp ig? idk. srry if that wasnt clear

but i do think it's valid to dislike a ship because you don't like one half of it. i totally get how dz's character can piss ppl off, esp if ure missing lns and mangas (which rimu wasn't, but they watched the anime first so the precedent was set). i found the first part of their thesis to be pretty funny actually, just (again) taking it at face-value.

it's also understandable that they try and dissect dz then miss the mark by a mile LOL. but again, can't be blamed if you hate the guy and thus don't read into him too much, which i think is a reasonable way to consume media... probably more reasonable than me. hence why i didn't respond with my own thesis paper. overall idk man it's not that deep, i've been having fun with rimu and i'd advise y'all to also be silly w/ ur Budgeted RPF Dead Author Yaoi, it'll make things a lot better

abt what you've said, i think dz and chuuya can't exist as true characters w/o each other, unless you fundamentally change their truth. a lot of their good & bad (& inbetween) sides are exposed through their relationship, which i believe is asgr's very interesting way of employing "show-don't-tell." i don't think chuuya's storyline is over, because dazai's isn't, and vice versa. this doesn't mean i don't think they have their own arcs, just that these arcs Must involve the other — if dz's main conflict is good/bad + the mafia, chuuya is his biggest amiable tie to it, and if chuuya's conflict is his self + power, dz must be there for corruption. there's more to say there, but again i don't want to feed rimu's claims of us all being dormant essayists LOL

we got dz glazer and rimu, D1 dz hater. and cheese anon.