#i guess they want to use his popularity to get more engagement but you just end up getting blocked 🤷🏾‍♀️

[jonsnowisthesexiestbastard]

I said it before and I say it again : what is the point of tagging Lewis Hamilton in a post where you don’t even mention him ??

Why do I have to see your post about your driver in his tag ??

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - We In A Slump, but help might be coming from a very strange source

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Sept 2024 Week 4

Ongoing Series - Thai

Jack & Joker (Thai Mon IQIYI) ep 3 of 12 - I don’t have a lot to say except that the plot is somewhat predictable but the show is still very engaging. War is fantastic. I’m enjoying it a hell of a lot.

Monster Next Door (Thai Thurs Gaga ) ep 10 of 12 - The second leads are getting better in this one. I understand where they are coming from, which makes their conflict so much more understandably painful, and honest to a friends2lovers trope. The main couple is kinda standard college relationship drama, but they are cuties.  

Kidnap (Fri YT) ep 4 of 12 - How is Ohm so damn gorgeous? Meanwhile, babies’ first argument. And it’s sponge bath time. Q has got to be wondering if Min is as meticulous with all kinds of care and attention to detail all......the......time. Somebody here in the hellhole said something about this being "the most BL to ever BL." And I think they’re right. At least right now. Although, watch out, we got us a new contender from the east.

I Saw You in My Dream (Weds Gaga) ep 11 of 12 - I do love the continuation of the perversion, in a good way, of the punishment trope from last week's episode. Oh, has the show finally remembered its title? NO SINGING. 

Addicted Heroin (Thai Tues WeTV) ep 7 of 10 - More kidnapping and an attack and now there’s a girl involved and somebody’s going to China and I don’t understand anything! And I don’t really care. Is this how the actual book originally went? Because it’s wild. Also TOO MANY of flashbacks. I guess they got a bit of a boyfriend era, and the claiming during the water fight was cute, but otherwise...... meh

Love Sick 2024 (Thai Sun iQIYI) ep 2 of 15 - One shouldn’t make comparisons, of course, but all I can think about is how amazing Captain was as Noh in the original series. Thus this show is mostly just making me want to rewatch the original. It’d be an interesting twist to have Aim be queer instead of a damaged cool girl slut. Was the helmet hand letting go a foreshadow of the iconic bookstore hands letting go? Also, I gotta say for the second episode of a series there are already too many flashbacks. Why are they using filler when they have so much content crammed into so few (comparable) episodes for a series? It’s annoying. Stop it.

Live in Love (Sun Gaga) ep 4 of 5 - This show has some interesting, if heavy handed, things to say about shipping and trolling, but also predatory/proprietary female behavior. It’s fascinating to see it tackled head on, if handled in a profoundly clumsy manner. I’m not sure how I feel about it. That said, most of this episode was actually an advertisement for a resort in Phuket. 

Bad Guy My Boss (Thai Sun Gaga) ep 2 of 10 - I'm getting What's Wrong with Secretary Kim? vibes from this show. Only this is WAY more bullying. It’s very old-fashioned 90’s billionaire romance novel only gay. It’s never a good sign when I’m watching two boys kiss and I really want one of them to just bite the other ones lip off instead.

Battle of the Writers (Sun YT) ep 9 of 12 - No ep this week. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Sugar Dog Life (Japan Sun grey) ep 8 of 10 - Gosh it’s so frikin adorable. Baby got sick. He has SUCH A CRUSH. And such a courageous little confession! Yay! Can’t wait for next week. 

Teenager Judge (Vietnam Sat YouTube) ep 1 - sure, yes this is, in fact, just Ba Vinh doing his thing with pretty boys again. And yet...... There is a REASON this leapt into the standings guns blazing. So it’s high school set but it's stepbrothers trope. (My, aren’t we popular this year?) I know, but I NEVER get tired of this trope. We got us Bach (BV's sullen tsundere) and Dat (babygirl meets bully). It’s GREAT how the brothers' dynamic is entirely different at school than when they're at home. My ear isn’t trained for Vietnamese, but I think Dat is using different pronouns depending on his location (his personality entirely shifts when he’s at school). I’m not sold on the Bach character, although I always trust BV to serve in the end (at least we know the kisses will be good), but Dat is utterly in love, a touch spicy, and reasonably complex. The surrounding cast is good too, my favorite pretty boy is there playing top dog (woof), and one of the besties is out gay (YAY!). The plot of the show is...... well...... absent. Nothing happened. But if we are aiming for Love Sick slice of life style BL, I'm game. Subs are appropriately terrible and confusing. But I like it A FUCK TON so far, so I’m gonna keep it in rotation. Nice to have Vietnam back in play. What a shocker.

2024 has been a year of upsets.

Love is Like a Poison AKA Doku Koi: Doku mo Sugireba Koi to Naru (Japan Tues Netflix?) 3 of 10 eps - I weirdly enjoyed the farcical music and the utter absurdity of the court case. I also liked how it highlighted what a good team these two are. Frankly I don’t mind a bit of an antihero sleazy lawyer + conman, it's engaging. I’m getting wholesome out of Thailand. I don’t really need it from Japan at the moment. Also I don’t believe for one second our conman actually is serious about the relationship. Conmen gonna con. I'm reminded of the scorpion and the frog fable.

First Note Of Love (Taiwan Mon Gaga) ep 8 of 12 - I love Orca so much. I do not love the autotuned version of Orca, but I knew what I was in for with this particular show, it's in the title after all. I did laugh a whole lot when Laing used kha. Hon, I don't think that word means what you think it means......

The On1y One (Taiwan Thurs Gaga) eps 11-12fin - I never thought I’d say this, but the pacing was off in the penultimate episode. Taiwan, and its chronic misuse of flashbacks strikes again. That said we eventually got a "lock in" trope and Wang being the biggest little flirt shit in the cafe OMG!!! Of course, you shouldn’t use a girl to torment your bf, but it was so well done, I can’t really complain. Meanwhile, teacher kisses. And now I understand exactly why they’re present in this narrative. Clever. Bummer of a burden on that ending though. I cannot see how they’ll manage to stick this landing. [That was ep 11]

AND NOW EP 12 - doomey doomey doom

Not the water bottle trope! Argh the teenage lust of it all. Just stop it. Wang is so smart he knows exactly how bad he has to be to leave the class. And his bf certainly knows that too. And......

......

So that was not an ending and I’m not happy about it and no one is surprised. Even I’m not surprised. I’m just disappointed. Even tho I suspected this was where we were headed I'm disappointed. That’s it. That’s all I got. How do I review something that was such a crushing let down?

Conclusion:

Based on a Mou Mou novel + the Your Name Engraved Herein team, this is old-school coming of age BL and it was bloody fantastic. Tsundere seme to beat all tsundere (smartest + tallest + bestest at everything but people) meets socially-ept cutie smart-ass uke. They're living together by end of ep 1 and start kissing by end of ep 2. A stellar tense slow burn stepbrothers trope that ate my life and than just belly-flopped the finale. What I'm left with is epic levels of disappointment and well...... at least nobody died? My standard "fatally flawed" rating for any BL is 4/10 so I guess that’s what I’m giving it. 

Before you ask me for the stats: Taiwan does not have a history of second seasons. I went ahead and ran the numbers and the odds are certainly not in our favor. I put the chances at 2%.

Yes, I contemplated a revenge rating of 2/10 but even I'm not that mean.

It's airing but...

The Hidden Moon (Sat WeTV) ep 1 of 10 - This is a supernatural romance (my ghost boyfriend trope) by Violet Rain (I Feel You Linger). A man is hired to write an article about an old mansion in Chiang Mai being converted into a café. He sees the ghosts of people who died at the mansion, falls in love with one of them. Was substantially recast. I loved IFYLITA except the ending so I think I'll let this one run it's course you can tell me if it's work tracking down... if they managed to land it. I have my doubts.

In Case You Missed It

Falling For My Boss is vertical format (nash) short from Korean BL about a happy-go-unlucky man who keeps losing his flower shop business because of romantically misbehaving employees (apparently it's a thing). When his best employee brings in a new boy he's worried she's falling for him, but it turns out it's his own heart on the line. He a clueless softy and The Boy is a lost broken sweetheart, making this a gentle little snippet of a show. There's a baby linguistic negotiation, some hung slinging, awkward handholds, and everyone is very pretty. For me the absence of kisses and the vertical format were more annoying than the length, which felt fine but many viewers will find too short. I enjoyed the 30 minutes of cute. All of which makes this a solid 7/10 from me. It was originally only available on this one ap in very short form with ads so I wasn't gonna bother. Then some kind soul cut it together without ads and stuck it up for download. Say thank you.

Oddball recommendation next: This podcast episode touches on some stuff we see in Thai BL so I think it's worth listening to. Journalist Dominic Faulder on the Complex History Between Thailand & Myanmar

Happy of the End (Japan Gaga) - Completed its run. A boy is disowned for being gay, dumped by his boyfriend, and ends up in a dysfunctional co-dependant relationship with his would-be kidnapper. We were due for another messy JBL and it's exactly as expected. I do not like it at all and DNFed. Gossip round the hellhole is that was a solid decision.

Marriage Equality Law has officially been enacted in Thailand...

Yes the actual law. Goes into effect Jan 22, 2025

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

Coming Oct 2024:

10/3 Fourever You (Thai iQIYI?) 16 eps - New directs Earth (UWMA, 12%) + Pond (Century of Love, 180 Degrees), Bas (Gen Y, 2 Moons) + Maxky (Why You… Y Me?) and other familiar faces like Bever. Sampler pack university BL from Wabi Sabi that looks like it's trying to be a gay Boys Over Flowers (4 older med students hot boys) and I'm not mad about it. Trailer Not sure who's distributing this but my guess is iQIYI since they had the last few from this house.

10/7 Every You Every Me (Thai Gaga) 10 eps - Jade and Chin have lived over a thousand lifetimes. In each one they somehow manage to fall in love with each other. (This pair, TopMick was piloted in a My Universe ep, that was one of the only ones I liked.)

10/10 Eccentric Romance (Korea ????) 12 eps - Silkwood’s 2nd Thai/Korean colab, that has been in production since 2022 which is a LONG time in the BL world. I'm worried but I like the concept: friends of 10 years who’ve been hiding feelings for each other enter the same university. Plus MURDER.

10/10 Gangster and His Boyfriend (Korea ????) 8 eps? - Kim Dong Bin (famous trainee & idol reality competitor, yeah that happens) stars as a fallen idol who unexpectedly becomes entangled in a gangster family. Discovers that his friend’s father is responsible for the murder of his entire family years ago. I don't know much about this one, neither does anyone else and I'm not sure where I got that release date so……

10/21 Love in the Big City (Korea ????) 8 eps - Adaptation of Booker-nominated famous coming of age novel of the same title by Park Sang-Young. Cynical yet fun loving student writer Young pinballs from home, to class, to Tinder matches. He and Jaehee, his female besie and roommate, frequent nearby bars where they push away their worries about life, love, and money with soju. As time passes Jaehee settles down and leaves Young to face his problems on his own. Young finding comfort in the arms of the series of men, including one whose handsomeness is matched by his coldness and another who might be the great love of his life. Not really BL. Stars Kim Go-eun (The King: Eternal Monarch), Noh Sang-hyun, and Nam Yoon Su (The King’s Affection). This already released as a movie and isn't very well regarded, this date is supposedly an international release as a series. I'm wary of it being BL.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

I got nothing, The On1y One drove me into a funk.

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

Sigh, Tumblr in its infinite wisdom doesn't like too many at-ings.

[lost-in-fiction-like-ur-mom]

Omega helping the reader try to plan the reader's wedding to whichever Batcher of your choosing and the batcher is in the other room overhearing everything.

Wedding Planning

Hunter x Reader

Summary- Now that Hunter has popped the question, you and Omega start planning the wedding! Little do you know, Hunter overhears and falls a little more in love. This is a part 2 to 'Marry Me?'

Part one right here! And Part Three right here!

A/N- Trust the process, romantic fluff near the end <3. Thank you so much for requesting! I hope you don't mind I took this opportunity to make a sequel to my most popular fic! To understand parts of this fic, you will need to read part one!

Word Count- 1,498

Your ring rested heavy on your finger. It wasn't anything fancy, not that you needed it to be, it was just a new feeling. While you hadn't had any jewelry allowed on Kamino- now that you had an engagement ring, you'd never go back.

"Omega wants you to finish putting her to bed, Hunter." You called to Him, entering the cockpit. His face lit up, you didn't know the real reason quite yet.

He nodded and headed back to her 'room' to put her to bed. You smiled, continuing to turn to Crosshair and Wrecker.

Though you couldn't hear them, the two people you loved most began their 'good-nights.'

"Holding up okay, kid?" He asked Omega, pulling her blanket up.

She gave a quick nod, "I... I missed you." She leaned closer, Hunter pushed back a piece of her hair.

"I think I missed you more..." She smiled, closing her eyes for a moment.

With a deep breath, Hunter started. "I know it's late, but I have to ask you something."

She found a new type of energy at his words, slightly sitting up. Much to Hunters dismay.

"What?" She was giddy, knowing it was good news from Hunters body language.

"How would you feel if I asked," Your name felt unreal on his lips, he was still getting used to having you back at his side, "to marry me?"

Her eyes grew wide, almost as big as her grin. She shuffled quickly, the blanket pooling at her waist. "Oh my gosh, yes! Please ask her!"

"Shhh, shh. It's still time for you to go to bed." He regretted asking so late, but he was eager to pop the question.

"How am I supposed to sleep after you've told me you're going to propose!"

Hunter gently guided her back into bed, pulling the blanket back up. "I know, I know. Can you keep the secret until tomorrow?"

She gave a vigorous nod, the covers resting at her chin.

He leaned down, pressing the ghost of a kiss on her forehead. Much like a father would. "I'm going to ask her tonight, but you need to try and get some rest. Promise you'll try?"

With a smile, she agreed. Even with the news, she was still exhausted.

You frequently thought back to the day Hunter got down on one knee in the middle of the ship for you. Your heart warmed every time, fidgeting with your ring.

"It's so pretty..." Omega commented. Just two weeks later you all found yourselves on Pabu. Rested and resupplied.

You were both crammed into her closed off space. You ignored the gunman seat, choosing to lay with her on the floor.

She had a grasp on your hand, analyzing the band. The twinkle in her eye matched the gem. "Thank you, Hunter has pretty good taste, don't ya think?"

She giggled, letting you have your hand back. You gave another glance at the ring you'd been staring at for days.

She rolled over, facing the ceiling, arms sprawled out. With a light sigh she began, "When will you have your wedding?"

You leaned back as well, one of your arms overlapping hers. "I...I guess I haven't thought about it too much. I'm content just finding an officiant tomorrow." All you needed was Hunter, who cares if you had a fancy wedding?

Apparently Omega, as she jumped up, "What! No, we have to have a ceremony by the shore! It'd be perfect!"

You laughed at her reaction. "This is no laughing matter!" She pointed a finger in your direction, "This is serious!"

"Omega, I have Hunter. A huge wedding will not change my love for him." She humphed and settled back down.

"What's the point of marriage if you don't have a wedding!" To be frank, Omega had never been to a wedding. Only reading about them in the books Nala Se allowed her, or hearing about them through her travels.

"I think marriage shows our devotion to each other. That we'll never part." You craned your head to look at her, she rolled her eyes at your confession. This caused you to let out another smirk.

Now, she was really getting annoyed. Giving your lips a swipe with your tongue, "Ya know, maybe having a small ceremony wouldn't be bad. But, I would need a maid of honor. Know anyone?"

Her smile reappeared fast, "Are you asking me to be your maid of honor!"

"I couldn't think of anyone better..." She shuffled to throw herself on you, giving you a big hug.

You squeezed her tight, just before a loud gasp came from her, "What?"

"The dress!" She yelled, "What will you wear! We have to see if Shep knows someone who can make you one!"

Her energy was contagious, you were starting to get excited too. "I want a ballgown dress...Oh and I could have off the shoulders lace, maybe even a train, but not too long. I'd hate to trip on it." Okay, maybe you had put a little thought into a wedding.

She was practically bouncing on her heels, now on her knees hovering over you. You still laid on your back, day dreaming about dresses.

"What color do you want your dress Omega?"

"I get to pick?" She questioned.

"Of course you can, sweetie." You could see the gears turning in her head. She was going to think on what style she wanted for a while.

You sat up, leaning against her side. "How would Batcher fashion flowers? Think she could learn to drop them? Cause I would certainly need a flower girl for the wedding."

"Yes, of course! I'll start training her!" She was excited to teach Batcher a new trick. You knew they could do it, but Omega didn't want to take any risks.

She raced out, completely missing Hunter. Who was leaning against the steps of the gunman room.

You let a breath leave you, slumping against the wall.

"Is she wearing you out already?" You jumped at the voice, immediately being comforted by the recognition of who it was.

"Hunter, when did you walk in?" You weren't bothered by it, just surprised.

He had a smug look. "I was just checking the fuel, then I heard you and Omega talking about weddings?"

You felt flushed, like you were caught doing something you shouldn't.

"You don't have to be embarrassed, I think you'd look beautiful in any dress." He stepped forward, about eye level with you. He reached a hand up, taking yours in his.

"You're such a charmer." You smiled, your head leaning back to hit the wall.

Hunter stepped up, joining you on the floor of the room.

You scooted closer to him, taking his head in your lap when he layed down.

"What kind of wedding do you want?" You asked, brushing your hands through his dark hair.

He closed his eyes, basking in your touch. "I just want you to be happy. I don't care what we do." You figured that's what he would say. You lowered your head and pressed a kiss on his forehead.

"Omega's ideas didn't sound too bad... A ceremony on the shore." He commented.

You continued to pet his hair, "Yeah, that does sound sweet. Who would we invite? I mean, I don't know too many of the natives yet." It was true you tended to keep to yourself on the island.

With his eyes still closed he responded, "If you just want it to be us five, I wouldn't mind."

"Well we'd have to send Echo a message, oh and of course Shep, Deke, Mox, Stak, can't forget Phee, also-" You ran out of fingers to count on. Opting to rest them back in Hunters hair.

He had a grin on his face, "We don't need to figure out the guest list quite yet. We can get married any day you want.." He was ready to bend at your will.

"Can..." You sucked on your teeth, changing your mind about asking.

"Hmm?" He pressed on.

"You don't have to... but," Why was this so hard to ask! "Can I wear your bandana?"

He opened his eyes, baring into yours. You struggled to read his expression.

"It's okay, it was dum-" You felt stupid for asking.

"If it would make you happy, I would be glad to let you." He reached a hand up, rubbing your side to soothe you.

"Really?"

"Yeah." He moved his hand to untie the cloth. "Here, try it on."

You snickered, gently holding the fabric. "What if I wore it on my arm?"

You tried to show him, but found it difficult to tie on your upper right arm.

He noticed and sat up, taking it into his hands. He took his time, smoothing it over your skin and tying it expertly. He only pulled away after giving you a kiss.

"I like it." You expressed.

"I love it." He stared, but not at the bandana- at you.

"I love you too..."

A/N- Thank you so much for reading! I hope it's as good as part one!!

Tags- (lmk if you want to be tagged as well!) @thethreeeyed-raven @dangraccoon @knight-of-flowerss

[spicyllewyn]

Kinktober 3. - Breeding / degrading.

Bud Cooper x F!Reader.

Tags & warnings. Breeding + degrading + age gap. (Early 20's + late 30's) (+18)

Important writers note. Since Suburbicon is set in 1959 you can guess it right, this is kinda misogynistic lol, there's a bit of dub-con with the breeding part.

Word count. 2k.

Summary. Bud is dying to make you a mommy.

Kinktober masterlist.

Bud was sweet, well, most of the time. You just weren't used to accepting the idea that sometimes he seemed to be obsessed with you.

Flowers, cards, expensive gifts. Having a boyfriend with a job was more fun than you thought, but at the same time, you had to deal with the burden of an older man with completely different aspirations from yours.

You loved him, and he undoubtedly loved you, but did you love him enough to set aside your life plans?

Attending college was a huge privilege, the idea of getting a job, your own apartment. You never saw yourself as a housewife, although you didn't judge those who made that choice; many of your girl friends were living a dream life that way.

And you weren't a fan of kids.

Oh, and weddings were too expensive to even consider.

Needless to say, it was the opposite of what Bud wanted for you. Well, for him. Or should you say, for the both of you, maybe?

"How was work?" Your arms wrapped around his neck as you kissed his lips. As usual, the only thing between you two was a bouquet of flowers. Beautiful sunflowers that matched the aesthetics of your room perfectly.

"They're considering me for a promotion." The tip of his nose rubbed against yours, making you laugh. "You should think about... you know, what we've talked about."

You pursed your lips, shaking your head afterward.

"No." You had lost count of how many times you had to repeat this. "I've already told you, love. No marriage, no engagement, no living together, and no kids until I finish college." You knew the dialogue by heart, and he probably did too.

He groaned, a little pout appearing on his lips.

"People talk," he whispered before kissing your lips again. Ah, you knew that by heart as well; it wasn't very difficult for him to distract you from the main topic.

Ever heard the popular saying "Small town, big hell"? Turns out, for the whole neighborhood, your relationship was more than scandalous. Bud already had a reputation due to his recent divorce, and you had managed to make it even worse with what everyone considered "progressive" ideas for the 50s.

You weren't married, everyone knew that, and you weren't in the process of getting married because every time you attended a boring neighborhood party, they always checked your hands and your partner's hands as a way to confirm that there was no ring yet. But still, you never hid the liberties of your relationship.

You spent whole nights at his apartment, the old lady from the house around the corner always spied on you when you left in the early hours or even in the mornings, with disheveled clothes, messy hair, and smeared lipstick all over your mouth.

The public displays of affection were on your part, although it was difficult for him to give in a little, he later understood that you did not have to be a prude in front of people, in fact, he started to enjoy the way in which people stopped to look. how you devoured his mouth against his car and how it brought moans from your throat because of the way his big hands squeezed your waist as if you were going to get away from him.

He loved your cherry flavored lip gloss and letting everyone know you were his.

"They've always talked." You lowered the bouquet of flowers, placing them on the dining table as his hands traveled the same path over and over, from your hips to your waist. "You know it's not what I want."

He sighed but gave you the same defeated smile as always.

"I know." He took just two steps closer until your body was against the table. "I've got the migraine of the century."

You chuckled. You already knew what that meant.

"And how could I solve that?"

With little effort, he sat you on the edge of the table, and your hands traveled down his chest, brushing his abdomen until they reached the edge of his pants. You tugged at the fabric until his hips were comfortably positioned between your legs.

“You know well what I want.” It was the last thing he whispered before his mouth was on yours, kissing you wetly and desperately.

It was no different than other times, you would never have guessed that Bud had a mission for that night.

While he was nibbling on your lower lip your hands quickly unbuttoned his shirt, you were never going to get tired of admiring his body, muscles and tanned skin were the perfect combination, although this time he was so focused on your mouth that you couldn't move away to do it this time.

His fingers slowly lifted the hem of your mini skirt, the one that made older women look at you with disdain in the streets, the one that he loved so much. Bud only pulled away from your lips when he wanted to, looking down as his thumb brushed the center of your panties.

"Look at that." He whispered, applying more pressure with his thumb. “You're wet from just a couple of kisses."

You nibbled on your already swollen and red bottom lip, your eyes not leaving him for a single second.

“You are such a whore, you know that, sweetheart?” You whimpered as his thumb began to trace small circles over your still covered clit.

You felt how your little pussy throbbed around nothing. 'Whore' was a word that you knew was constantly floating around town to refer to you, it was fucking hot when your boyfriend used it before fucking your brains out.

You nodded slowly and bit back the urge to smile.

“So desperate.” You felt him teasing your hole with his middle finger, wetting your underwear even more as he pressed the fabric against the exact spot your slick ran from.

You sighed and your hands rested on the table for some support while you held your legs open for him. His gaze was still fixed on his hands against your puffy little pussy lips, marking the line between them with his fingers.

“People talk.” He repeated what he had said minutes before. “They talk about what a whore you are for letting yourself be fucked without being married to me.” You thrust your hips forward in desperation when his hand finally slipped under your underwear. You needed him.

“I know y-you love it.” You whispered with a breathy voice. “Letting everyone know I'm nothing but your slut.”

That was enough for him, you knew how to drive him crazy with a flutter of your eyelashes, even more so with a couple of words. He stopped touching you, and you were about to complain until you saw him unbuttoning his pants to give you what you really wanted.

It was your hand that delicately helped him position his cock between your legs. The head pressing against your hole after only pushing your underwear aside.

"This is what you want?" No matter how much he pressed he just didn't thrust into you, a few nights ago you had realized how much he liked to push you to your limit.

“Bud, p-please.”

"Sorry?" You saw the corner of his mouth twitch with the threat of a smile.

"Please please." You whispered, your pleading eyes boring into him.

"Please what?"

“Please fuck me, please, please.” You pushed your hip further to the edge of the table, not even with the pressure of your body you could make him continue. "I need it."

“Yeah? You do?” He cooed, a mocking pout on his face.

“I beg you.” You whimpered, your high pitched voice getting more demanding.

He clicked his tongue and in one thrust he buried himself in you, fulfilling your pleas in one expert movement.

“It doesn't matter h-how many…” He stammered as his fingers dug into your thighs. “How many damn times do I try to stretch you out.” He started with a slow rhythm, strong and deep, enough to use his own hands as a method to keep your body from sliding back on the table. “You are still so fucking thight, baby.”

Your hands traveled to your breasts, squeezing them over the fabric of your sweater, giving him a bit of a show before taking it off.

Ah yes, the fact that you didn't wear a bra was also something that attracted glances on the streets.

“Look at you, pretty girl.” He leaned enough so that he could bury his face between your breasts, licking his lips before beginning to place wet kisses on your soft skin. “Fuck, I want to marry you.”

His voice almost sounded pleading as your fingers ruffled his hair and pushed him even closer to you. He took one of your nipples in his mouth, sucking on it as his hips slammed into you again and again in a desperate rhythm.

“Please, please.” He whispered against your skin. “Please, marry me.” You were too cock drunk to think or speak clearly, you just nodded even though he couldn't see you.

It didn't take long for Bud to find that spot inside you, you moaned as loudly as you wanted, your back arching as if your body was begging to be as attached as it could be to his.

“Be my wife, baby.” You recognized well the way his voice broke, he was close.

He rested his chin on your chest and looked up. His eyes looked bigger from that position, it was stupidly adorable.

“P-Pull out.” You whispered between whimpers, your forehead resting against his.

Who were you trying to fool? You both loved each other so much it hurt.

He didn't obey you, his movements became more abrupt and you heard the table creak under your body along with the slap of your skin against his.

He was fucking you merciless.

“B-Bud.” You patted his cheek, trying to get his attention. “A-Ah, shit. P-Pull out.”

He dragged his hand up your thigh slowly until he reached between your legs, he pressed his thumb against your swollen clit making you see stars.

“Bud!” You exclaimed loudly, your entire body trembling with pleasure. “Yes, y-yes, God, yes.”

“You are going to be such a pretty mommy.” His nose brushed against yours as he straightened his back, seeking to be at your height.

You wanted to refuse, you really wanted to tell him to stop but your body was at his mercy, begging for more.

Praying he wouldn't get out of you.

“You want me to pull out, sweetheart?” He took your bottom lip between his teeth, nibbling on it and giving it a little tug before releasing it. “Tell me, do you want me to?”

Only moans came out of your mouth, shouting Bud's name and the word 'more' over and over again.

"I thought so." A delicate kiss on your lips. And another, and another, and another, and another. “You want my baby, don't you?”

You weren't thinking, you really weren't when you nodded.

A smile appeared on his face, accompanying his flushed cheeks and bright eyes.

It only took two more thrusts for you both to reach the limit, for the first time you felt the pleasure of being filled to the brim by him as your walls squeezed every last drop out of him. The warm liquid running down your thighs as your insides couldn't take any more.

“You are such an…” One more thrust silenced you, the way he pushed his spend deeper inside you. “Idiot.” You whispered, closing your eyes at the sensitivity of your body.

“You should start thinking about names.” His teasing smile made you want to punch him, but the soft, slow movement of his hips made you want to ask for more. “What do you say, love?” He pretended to pay attention to your babbling. “Yes, I think so too.”

He kissed your lips once, twice, three times.

“I'm not sure one is enough either.”

Tag list. @ninebluehearts @shousha133 @unear7hly @onefinnedwonder-fm @automnepoet @lokisremainingsanity @uncle-eggy @just-a-nightdreamer @spktrgantenk

Remember to comment if you want to be on the kinktober tag list!! <3

ngl, i kinda liked this one lol

[hybbart]

Hi! I absolutely adore your work, I was wondering if you have any advice on getting your ideas and au's out there? Sometimes it feels like no matter how much you post/try to connect with others it's impossible for any posts to break out of the little tumblr interaction bubble

Well, I'm not really the person to ask this, cause any popularity I have at any point is almost entirely dependant on my current hyperfixation, and I'm not one to care much about it.

Mostly I have a good enough appealing and safe art style and good enough sense of humour that's easy for people to like even if they don't especially care about the content, and draw often enough that I don't get forgotten.

My current stuff is fanworks, which have a built in audience, so you're always going to be seen as long as you tag it properly. Especially if you're actively participating in the fandom. I also have the benefit of being obsessed with a rather popular duo like ranchers.

Basically, the notes I get are very predictable and temporary, and not really based on any intentional work. I'm good enough for casual followers to pay attention to as long as it's stuff they recognize. I'd say like 80% of my notes are from casual engagement who aren't really going to do much besides a like and maybe reblog just because they were told they have to reblog artists or they're using the site wrong.

I guess what I mean to say is, having those notes is nice and appreciated but at the end of the day I also have a pretty small little bubble. There's just a wall of passers-by around it making it seem bigger than it actually is. It very quickly dissipates when I draw anything out of the ordinary that I can't put a bunch of popular tags on. So, I'm not really the person to ask about that sort of thing.

That said, I guess all that might sound a bit cynical to most people even though it isn't meant to be, so I guess some actual tips might be in order.

Skill. Art's about communication and expression, which like anything is better done with a larger toolkit and knowledge. And also especially casual engagement just enjoys things of higher quality. Raw ideas aren't usually enough to get people to understand or care unless they care about you. To be blunt, sometimes people just aren't good enough or are too niche for a general audience. That's nothing to be self-conscious or miserable about, it's just something you have to be self-aware about enough to accept that you're not gonna attract people who aren't invested in you. If that's something you want to change by becoming better then you have to intentionally do so, talent is a lie.

Passion. It's obvious when your heart isn't in it regardless of skill level because art is about communication. And passion's what drives us to do better, it's hard to develop and spend time on work you don't really want to do. If you're enthusiastic other people will be more likely to join you in your enthusiasm. If you don't care or are burnt out people will notice. If you're doing things just to get attention people will notice. You have to want to create what you're creating.

Good ideas. To be blunt a good idea that interests people is just going to be more popular than a bad one that doesn't. Sometimes something that interests you doesn't interest a lot of other people, that's why you gotta make peace with caring more about quality interaction over quantity, and being more self-aware.

Making friends. Finding people who are as enthusiastic as you about something is going to go a long way, and people who aren't as enthusiastic are more likely to become enthusiastic or support you if you're friends and you can annoy them in their DMs with 3 hour tangents about your favourite thing. Honestly once you have someone you can do this to you stop caring about the other stuff. Art's about communication, like I said. Participating in events is a great way to make friends, but so is just reaching out to people you like.

Being friendly. This one's pretty simple. If you're a dick people aren't going to take the time to get invested in your project even if it interests them.

Being accessible. This covers anything from literal accessibility to having clean directories and tags, to anchoring/themed extra engagement. 'Do you have any questions about [character]' is going to get more engagement than 'feel free to ask me anything about my au' even if there's less questions to ask because it's less broad and puts less of a burden on the asker to come up with a prompt. It's easier to be broader later on when you have already put out a lot of information and people are more invested.

Being concise: Basically very few people are going to read this goliath of a post compared to a short, information dense, clear post. When I post art I try to avoid too much text, because I want the art to be the focus of the post. When I post writing I put it under a cut so it doesn't consume someone's dash and write something clearer above. The reason writing is going to get less engagement is because it takes more time and effort to engage with than a picture. People who aren't already invested aren't going to sift through 10 paragraphs of loose info. This goes for art, too. One piece is going to catch the eye easier than 10 unrelated sketches or a long form comic. This doesn't mean don't make this content, but be smarter about how you present it to take into account how it engages people.

Tagging things. Don't abuse tags or put irrelevant tags, but finding out what tags are frequented that apply to your art helps. There is definitely still an inconsistent limit of tags that tumblr's search actually pays attention to, so put the most important ones first. I usually put warnings first and foremost and put personal categorization tags last. Being consistent with tags lets people find stuff on your blog easier and makes you show up in a search more frequently, so you're easier to find for people who use tumblr in different ways.

Time of day. This one's finicky to figure out and can change but if you post when there's more people online... well, more people are likely to see it. Apparently other people follow like hundreds or even thousands of blogs and don't even look at everything on their dash, so for those types of people posts might as well not exist unless it's at the top of their dash. This also helps when popping up in more popular tags' most recent when people are actually looking them up. This doesn't affect posts as much as people think but it does enough to be visible. I frequently post things at like 1 am when no one's on so it doesn't get notes until later on and through notifications.

anyways, i hope something in there helps. If not, well... crap.

[lizzaneia-elizalde]

College au! Rich, popular senior who is actually emotionless but uses a faux mask to hide the fact and does favors left and right, not because he's kind and considerate but because he doesn't see anyone else worth engaging with and the only way the get rid of them is through giving them what they want, like pesky leeches. Reader however saw right through his mask into his eyes and that surprised him. Someone other than his father knows?! Should he get rid of her? But.. oh? she wants something from him? A favour? How interesting..

-🌼

Yandere! Male! College student x Blockmate! Fem! Reader

Got a bit of mental exercise on this one, since what could the favor be? Hmm... Got a bit too nsfw though, so be warned. (BTW, is this spicy enough? I'm practicing lol)

Also, I decided to do some tweaks on our other yanderes, so expect relatives amongst yanderes now!

Yandere! College Student name: Alpheus

It was the third of January now, a lot of students have come back to the University in order to resume their classes. Some got blessed and has their classes to be continued by next monday, but not for this specific college.

"Ugh..." A person bemoaned to their friend. "What the hell is wrong with our Dean? Setting our return so early-- Does she have no sympathy?"

"You said it." Another person piped up. "We may be architecture students, but we're not machines!"

"Our course is hard enough without holidays bro. I just wish she let us enjoy the new years..."

"Don't you think so, Alpheus?"

Alpheus, a man who's soft and gentle. Prince-like, and someone you could rely on. He had many... Friends... As what other people see themselves when asking what their relationship with him is.

Too bad it's one sided though.

Alpheus hummed, his blank eyes that none of these guys noticed looked up to the sky.

"Well, doesn't it make sense? We finished our first semester 1st day of December. I think it's just fair for us to go back by the 3rd of January." Alpheus' almost ghost like quality of voice came out of his soft pink lips.

The friends, who were just complaining earlier, shut up from the logic he gave.

"Uh... I guess you're right."

"Well, it is a one month vacation..."

"Yeah, we got the better end of the stick."

"Other Unis only gave two weeks as vacation."

Alpheus gave a small smile to them as they murmured their suddenly new opinion due to his quips.

"This is exhausting..."

Nobody saw through his mask, the way he held so much indignant boredom he had in his eyes when they go up to him and talk. Nobody felt the way he seems so distant and plastic-y.

Maybe he got this acting skills from his brother, Ignatius.

Both of them are the opposite ends of the bar. Ignatius as the boisterous, annoying, attention seeking actor, and Alpheus, the hide-behind-a-facade, self-important, holier-than-though, plastic friend.

Well, that's what their parents describe them anyways. Too much of the old mindset gets you to be a pair of judgmental fuckers who think that mental conditions are not real, so they didn't get diagnosed if it's something to do with their psychology.

Alpheus grew up mostly being overshadowed by his brother, but is honestly shining more when it comes to academics. Making the attention between them fairly equal.

Like how their parents describe them, Ignatius is talented, while Alpheus is a genius.

That didn't make them less terrified on Alpheus though.

When he was a child especially, he looks so dead inside and unreadable that it freaked them out. Even contemplating on calling the exorcist.

Alas, they didn't at the risk of their family reputation to fall off.

Only Ignatius got him.

When Alpheus got older, he met more people who got freaked out by how apathetic and emotionless he is.

But, with the help of his brother, he learned how to put up a mask. Albeit just the barest of minimum, people got fooled somehow.

That, and Alpheus just goes with the flow most of the time.

Just to make them shut up, he always ends up doing favors and helps the people who ask for him to do something for them.

"People... Such a bother..."

At least they're tools for him to blend in seamlessly...

"By the way, Alpheus, is your mansion available on Sunday?"

Here they go again...

It's a never ending cycle for him.

"Why? Do you want to do a party there?" He asks gently, another soft smile on his face that made that person flustered.

"U-uh yes! I mean, the last pool party we did there was crazy."

It was crazy cuz all of you thrashed my damn mansion.

It's somehow of a blessing that his family is rich. He got to move out to a new place, his brother did too, and funded all of their lavish tastes. Even if it was a way to make them shut up and not interact with their parents, it gave them freedom to do the things they want.

"Why not? We need something to headstart us for the second semester anyways." And with a princely smile, he agreed to his friend's favor that made his friend group hoot and holler.

And as Alpheus keeps a steady smile yet an annoyed glare, he wishes for something to happen in that party to shut them up.

Music blazing, party raving, drinks boozing.

It's the party of the month for the students in the University Alpheus attended.

People cannonballing in the pool, couples and strangers making out (maybe more), stragglers drinking their way to being blackout...

And the owner of the mansion?

Alpheus sits down cross legged on the couch, being surrounded by his friends. The music is pounding against his ears and worsening his headache. But he also can't sleep in his room because he knows that no matter how thick his walls are, the music will still seep into his bedroom.

He takes a sip of the bourbon on his hand, his deep eyes scanning the crowd and the mess they made.

He almost groaned. This is gonna take a while to clean.

Sure, he'll hire people to clean, but his parents' will question where the money will go to, and they will nag to him about being upright and being a rebel and throwing parties and being a disgrace and being so content being a genius that he thinks he can just throw his parents' reputation to the mud--

Just thinking about it is making him exhausted.

He watched as the woman that latched onto his side trailed her finger on his exposed chest from unbuttoning his dress shirt. She was saying something flirtatious but honestly, he doesn't care.

The headache is becoming unbearable.

"Excuse me, people. I just need to get more." Alpheus gently laid off the woman before shaking the glass on his hand, the ice clinking around.

They all nodded with a smile before Alpheus went inside.

There are some people here. Singing karaoke, some playing beer pong... And others making out and grinding.

He got to the comfort room on the corner of the first floor and sighed, splashing water on his face as he let the water trickle down his throat.

He dropped his facade, staring at himself with the dead expression that people found chilling.

Sometimes, he just needs a breather.

And that breather is his home. But now, a party is going on and he needed a bit of break sometimes.

Hey, he's emotionless, not a robot that doesn't get exhausted.

Alpheus splashed water on his face once more before he heard the door to the toilet open.

A woman.

He remembers you. A classmate, one of the few people who doesn't talk to him and ask favors, so he automatically has a positive outlook on you. As positive a person can feel for being emotionless.

He nods, you didn't.

"Y/N, right?" He asks, quickly slipping on the facade. He smiled at you, donning the princely mask once more.

You weren't buying it though.

"Alpheus. What's up with you and putting up a front?"

His forearm bulged, the grip on the counter sink tightened as the veins pulsed across his arm.

Ah, he forgot. You have this inquisitive, curious, yet hostile look on your face whenever he catches you staring at him.

"What do you mean by that?" He smiled once more.

"You know what I mean."

He cleared his throat, dropping the act and turning towards you, not facing the mirror anymore.

"Look here, Y/N. It just so happens that I get tired sometimes." He shrugs. "Social battery and that."

"Bullshit." You spat out. "You don't even feel anything. You think I won't know? It's so obvious."

A dull feeling of irritation welled up inside of him. Uncommon, but not that new.

"Really now? So what?" Alpheus scoffs and crosses his arms. "What will you do? Expose me?"

His eyes sharpened a bit.

Should I get rid of her?

"No. I need a favor also." You smiled. He sighed.

"Shoot."

"Be my pretend boyfriend."

Alpheus blinked, tilting his head in wonder.

"Huh. That's new. And what do you need me for? Why do I need to do that?" He softly chuckles, thinking of reasons why. "Are you attracted to me and are finding a reason to get close to me? Possibly make me fall for you?"

He got close to you, bending a bit to stare at your eyes.

Were your eyes always this shiny? Such a juxtaposition of his dull, dead ones.

"Maybe you have this sick fantasy in your head that you can fix me." He chuckled again.

"No. That's weird." You scoffed and swatted him away. "Ex boyfriend problem. A stalker, won't stop following me around."

He hummed in contentment. He did remember seeing a man hovering around your angered/scared face.

"That I can believe. But why me, cheri?" He asked, intrigued by your favor. "There's a lot of people, and it's kinda suspicious if we suddenly became an item."

You took a deep breath, shaking your hands.

"Don't get mad, but I sprinkled some hints that I was interested in you. Making fake convos of us..." You flushed red and fished your phone out of your pocket and showing him the convos.

The pfp is the same, so does the name, but the way he types isn't the same. Clearly fake.

"I know, creepy, but..." You gripped your hand in awkwardness. "But the other guys aren't really the best options. He got them on a hold like he's friends with them. And you're the only one available that's not close to him. I also don't know other people outside our block."

Your grip tightened. "So help me, please?"

A man in a leather jacket seethed, not being able to find you.

"Where are you, Y/N!" He grumbled under his breath.

He lost you an hour ago, and he's already on his end's wits.

Especially you're in this mansion. Alpheus' mansion.

Sure, he didn't believe that you and Alpheus were a thing. It was impossible! There's evidences, but he doesn't want to believe it.

He gritted his teeth and opened another door but to only two people fucking.

"God, get a room!" He growled out before being hit by a pillow, being yelled at that 'this is a room!'

Slamming the door closed, he got to the corner where there is a door beside an end table with an expensive flower vase on top.

He gripped the knob and swung it open, and his eyes widened.

"Alpheus..."

"Cheri, just like that..."

You and Alpheus, making out. With you sitting on the counter as your crotches grinding against each other in a friction filled frenzy. With Alpheus' large hands and fingers gripping your soft skin on your waist, leaving red marks trailing across. Your legs, wrapped around Alpheus' waist, had the dress riddled up to your chest area, exposing your tasteful underwear.

Alpheus' lips trailed across your neck, opening slightly to lick the base before biting down. It made you throw your head back with a whimper so salacious that it made Alpheus buck into you once more.

The man felt cold and hot at the same time.

It was real?

You can't even hear that your ex has swung the door open. Drunk on the "pretend" makeout' pleasure that it gave you. You just knew he's in the house, but doesn't know when he'll find you.

So, Alpheus just made you sit on the counter and started kissing you gently just in case.

Who knew it would become a full, blown out session that left you breathless and Alpheus suddenly obsessed with this new feeling?

Alpheus' dead eyes was flashing with hunger and desire in them as he glared at your ex boyfriend.

And without breaking any eye contact, he gripped your waist more, with his hips grinding harder and his teeth sinking more to your skin, marking you his.

Saliva dripped from his lips to your skin, making it glisten under the dim light.

And with a smirk, Alpheus successfully drove out your ex.

Now, he could just stop.

But what's the fun in that?

For the first time, he's feeling such pleasure from you, and your body.

You felt divine in his hold, making it impossible to separate himself from your body as he gripped your thigh and carrying you up, pushing your back against the wall to continue making out, and maybe even more.

He can blame it on the alcohol, but he knows damn well it's not.

He felt... Happy for the first time. The overwhelming euphoria from this new encounter and discovering new feelings were making him drunk. And he's drinking it whole.

It's almost selfish on how he doesn't want to let go of you.

And, before he knew it, the seed has planted inside of him.

By the next days, he finds himself unable to separate from you as you continued to introduce new emotions inside of him.

He will wish to shackle you to him, and maybe do the same as his brother and kidnap his significant other.

He will feel overtly jealous for the first time, seeing you interact with his other male classmates. Especially that architecture is a male dominant field.

He will get angry, rage, and become crazy from the sudden influx of emotions running inside of him.

But that's in the future.

And as he watches you writhe from his hold as his fingers descended down under your panties, he knew that he would do anything to keep this feeling from fading.

[thebestofoneshots]

Gilded Constellations | wolfstar x reader

Series Masterlist | Previous episode

Pairing: Wolfstar x Reader Word Count: 10.3 K Warnings: none Prompt: You finally throw the magical party that you'd been planning for Marlene. The night gets even more bewitching as you engage in a series of party games, including a daring game of Potion Pong and a spirited game of truth or dare. As secrets are unveiled and dares become more challenging, the first sparks of romantic tension begin to ignite. This IS a wolfstar x reader fic, but it's incredibly slow burn. They won't start all dating each other until we're very deep into the story, but I promise the long wait will be worth it. THIS EPISODE CAN ALSO BE READ AS A ONESHOT

Fooled Around and Fell in Love

Thanks to Peter’s retellings of the Gryffindor try-outs, you’d gone from the new girl in sixth year, to a little bit of a quidditch celebrity. Some smaller kids would go see the Quidditch Practice, and according to James, he’d even seen some of the players from other groups trying to get a glimpse at you when you were in the Great Hall. Trying to measure if the stories had actually been real or if it was all just school gossip. 

A smaller Gryffindor girl even approached you once, to ask if it was possible that you taught her how to do the triple backflip you’d done last Friday. You had to awkwardly explain to her that you hadn’t done a triple backflip, but that you would be happy to help her get more confident on her flight technique someday. She’d gone back to her friends with a huge smile, her friends squealing when she told them the news. 

“Peter made me into some kind of celebrity,” you complained to Mary as the two of you walked to the courtyard together. You had teamed up with her for your Herbology project, and you were on your way to the garden to find some dried leaves to turn into fertiliser. 

“No-uh,” she said, shaking her head “You did it yourself, love.”

“I didn’t go around telling everyone about the tryouts,” you responded as a pair of young boys passed the two of you, looking at you with wonder.

“But you slayed those tryouts by yourself! You did that backflip trick, not Peter. And he’s not the only one who’s been retelling the story all over the school. I heard Teddy tell his friends about you a couple of days ago in the common room.” 

“Well, either way, it’s hard to get used to all of this attention. In my older school, I wasn’t so popular.” 

“And you thought coming here and making friends with James Potter and Sirius Black of all people would let you blend into the background?!” 

“I kinda brought it onto myself, didn’t I?” 

“You’re gonna have to take that new-fund popularity and embrace it.” She said “Or you can just do whatever Remus does, he can somehow be a hot shot and still blend in the back when he wants to.” 

You raised your eyebrows, it was true, even when he was with the boys all the time, he tended to stay in his own little friend group rather than talking to everyone the same way Sirius and James did. 

“I’ll ask him sometime…” you said as you crossed the gates with Mary. Then leaned onto her, “Isn’t that Holden Crawford? Next to Alexander Wood?” 

She nodded, “you should invite them now that they’re together.” 

“Yup,” you said, giving her a small pat on the back and walking towards the Hufflepuff head boy. 

“Hey Alex,” you said with a smile. 

He turned to you, and smiled when he identified you “Gryffindor, aye?” He pointed at your tie. 

You nodded “I guess so,” you replied “I wanted to thank you for being so nice to me on my first day.” 

Holden, who stood next to him, raised one of his eyebrows “Ahh.. so you must be the infamous (Y/N) everyone’s been talking about.” 

“Infamous? Hope not!” You teased with a smile and handed him your hand to shake “(Y/N)(Y/LN), nice to meet you.” 

“Holden Crawford,” he replied, shaking your hand. 

“The Ravenclaw… seeker?” You asked with a bit of a smile. He raised his eyebrows in response “James told me all about the other teams. Gotta know who you’re going up against.” 

“And… you’ve done your homework.” You nodded. 

“Anyway, I gotta go…” you said pointing at Mary, and after a couple of steps, you turned back to them “Actually boys–“ you said walking back towards them “–this Friday the Gryffindor Tower is having a party. I’m helping plan it. It’s for Marlene’s birthday.” 

“Your beater…” acknowledged Holden. 

You nodded eagerly, Holden knew Marlene, that was perfect. “Yeah exactly! Anyway, I’m in the planning committee along with Mary over there,” you pointed at your friend “and I think it would be great to have you guys there. You know the more the merrier,” you said that last bit with a smile.

“I’ll come if you come,” Holden said to Alex. Who seemed to be thinking about it. 

“Come on,” you animated him. “It’ll be super fun, I promise! I’ll help pick the music out.” 

Alex finally nodded “Ok, we’ll see you there.” 

“Brilliant! 8 PM, Gryffindor Tower. Don’t miss it!” You chimed “Anyway, I am in the middle of picking up some dried leaves for herbology so I’ll leave you boys to your things,” You said before walking back to Mary. 

“So...?”

“They’re coming,” you said with a proud smile. “And Holden knows Marlene. As in, he instantly identified her as Gryffindor’s beater.”  

“Oh, she’s so gonna shit herself when she sees him at her party.” 

You nodded and the two of you walked inside the small green area to pick out some dried leaves, levitating them from their place on the floor and placing them on the satchel Mary had brought. You then walked together to the greenhouses and started the spell that would turn the leaves into a very potent fertiliser, even if it took some time. Professor Folly would evaluate you based on how efficient the fertiliser was in the end. And you’d found the recipe on an old book in the library, that promised to both potentiate the growth of plants and maintain them. 

September 10th, 1976

When the day of the party arrived, the air buzzed with anticipation. You were in the Gryffindor tower, along with Remus and Beth, attempting to decorate the area. Beth had asked her mom to send some streamers and she was magically sticking them all over the ceiling. You sat on one of the coaches and used your wand to blow some balloons that she’d also gotten from her mom. You had the idea to fill some of the balloons with glitter, and you’d blow them up when she arrived, leaving a trail of sparkly glitter all over her, and everyone else. 

“We’ll be finding glitter in our dreams after today,” said Remus as he sat down next to you with a box of tapes. You finished timing one of the balloons and leaned over the box to take a look at the stuff he had. Led Zeppelin, Bowie, The Clash, Queen, Abba, they had it all. 

“What will you choose?” You asked him, he pulled out a cassette with Sirius’s elegant handwriting and handed it over to you. “Marauder’s mix tape?” You asked. 

“It’s what we call ourselves,” he said “Sirius invented it back in the third year, it’s still a thing now.” 

“Fitting,” you said with a smile. And turned the tape to take a look at the songs. Smiling when you saw Rebel Rebel in the list. “

“He made this one over the summer,” he said pointing at the cassette, “and he brought a music player too,” he stood up “I’m going to go get it now, wanna help?” 

You nodded and stood up, walking behind him towards the boys’ dorm. “Excuse the mess,” said Remus as he let you into their room. He was being silly, there wasn’t much of a mess. Maybe some candy packaging on the floor and one of the beds wasn’t done. You saw a Queen poster on top of said bed. 

“Lemme guess,” you said pointing at the bed “That’s Sirius’.” 

Remus nodded “It was an easy guess.” 

You took that as a challenge and started scanning the rest of the beds, the one to the left of Sirius’ was well done, and it had a hard case for glasses on the nightstand, you pointed at it “James’” Remus nodded, with his eyebrows raised. You kept looking. Now there was a bed lousily made and one that was neatly done. The lousy bed had some parchments on top, along with a bag of chips. The other bed had a nightstand with some books, and a sweater folded over near the pillow, very neatly placed as well. You pointed at the one with chips “Peter’s, and the neatest one is yours, obviously.”

“Almost perfect, I’m next to Pads.” 

“But the glasses case?” You asked confused. 

“They’re for reading, my eyes get tired at night.” He then walked towards a dresser “Mind giving me a hand?” He asked, you nodded and walked toward it. It looked slightly heavy, but you placed your hands on the other side, ready to help him pull “Just make sure nothing from the top falls, m’kay?” He then pushed the dresser, with an ease that had you stunned. Maybe it just looked heavy. Behind the dresser, there was a small hole in the wall, filled with all sorts of things. From hand-rolled cigarettes, to prank supplies, and scary-looking vials with labels on them. 

“You’ve got a secret stash?!” You said surprised, kneeling down to look at it better “How? Does my room have one too?” 

“James blew up the wall while practising bombarda in 4th,” Remus explained “We didn’t want anyone to find out so we rearranged the furniture to hide it. Sirius figured it’d be a good place to hide stuff.” 

“Do you mind?” You asked, nodding towards the little hole, he shook his head and you grabbed one of the bottles “Shrinking solution?”

“We brewed it last year, Prongs and I stole it from Slughorn’s office.”

You grabbed another one “And…” you looked at the label “Vanishing Solution.” 

“Sometimes you gotta get rid of the evidence.” You laughed, Moving some things around, you found some dungbombs, neatly stacked. And behind them found a box of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder. “Oh, and you’ve got some good stuff in there too,” you said as you grabbed a Magazine with a very dotted young woman –with nothing to cover her chest–, she had a seductive stare and blew kisses at you. 

Remus snatched it from your hands “Sirius must’ve put it there,” He said all too quickly, throwing the magazine under a bed.  

“Hey! I don’t judge,” you said, raising your eyebrows “It’s a boys’ secret stash after all.” 

“But I don’t–“ 

“–you don’t need to excuse yourself, Remus.” You said and pointed at the back “That’s it, isn’t it? the cassette player?” 

Remus nodded and pulled it out, dusting it off “We left it here all summer.” You helped him put all the things back in their place. Except for the dirty magazine that was still under the bed somewhere, and stood up, going back to the side of the dresser to push it back to its place. 

You tried to push it before he grabbed onto the side. But it was impossible, the dresser was heavy. At least for you, for Remus, who pulled it with ease back onto its place, it seemed like lifting a feather. You stared at him as he turned to grab the cassette player, he was tall, the tallest of the group, and he did have nice broad shoulders. Again, the sexy pirate analogy came to mind, but he didn’t seem particularly strong. He didn’t have thick muscles like James or Teddy. Which completely clashed with what you’d just seen him do. You shoved all those inconsistencies to the back of your mind and followed him towards the door. 

The two of you walked downstairs again, finding Beth still working on the streamers, as Remus went to set the cassette player on the farthest section of the recorder you went back to your balloons, levitating those that were ready all over the common room. As you were doing, you saw Lily and Mary arrive, they both carried snacks and other food things in their hands. Mary had a huge bowl and she placed it on the table Lily was arranging it, and she set herself to prepare a punch. “It’s Mary’s signature punch,” explained Lily “She makes it for every party, everyone loves it.” 

“I’m looking forward to trying it,” you said with a smile. When you were done with the balloons you rushed towards Lily and helped her finish the refreshments area.  

Sirius and James arrived later. Carrying several bottles in their hands. “Are you sure those are safe?” Lily asked, frowning at the bottles.

“Yes Lils,” said Sirius rather exasperated and turned one of the bottles around for her to see the label was still on “They were purchased in Hogsmeade.” 

“By who did you say?” 

Sirius smiled, “Nice try Evans, it’s still top secret.” 

“When is Marlene getting here?” You asked as you helped James with some of the bottles. 

“Tom is distracting her,” said Beth from somewhere. “She’ll be here at around 8:30.” 

“Well then, everything looks ready,” Sirius said with a clap of his hands “Imma go put on some nicer garments.” 

James, who was still wearing some Quidditch gear from practice, also left the room. You’d been allowed to skip after saying you felt bad, that way James entertained Marlene and you could focus on decorating the common room. 

Remus was already wearing casual clothes, while Lily, Mary and yourself went up to change. 

Once in party clothes, with glitter all over your eyes –that Mary had insisted you had to put on–, you went back down, finding some people were already making it to the party. You identified a couple of kids from your classes that were from other houses. Holden and Alexander were both already in the party too, which made you smile, nudging Beth so she was aware too. Then she smiled wickedly and leaned into you “I’ll go make some arrangements for later,” she said before disappearing in the swarm of people.  

“What’s she up to?” Asked Sirius, who somehow had ended up beside you. 

You shrugged in response “I wish I knew,” you said and saw him drinking from a black mug. “What you drinkin’?”

He licked his lips “Mhm.. this?” He asked, raising his cup “Wanna try?” 

You raised an eyebrow and grabbed for the mug, feeling his cold rings as your fingers brushed over him to take a hold of the mug, and pulled the mug up to your lips. You winced once you’d taken a sip, you were not expecting for the liquid to be straight-up iced vodka.

“You didn’t even try to water it down,” you complained, handing the mug back to him. 

He just shrugged “I like it, cools your throat down.” 

You rolled your eyes and pushed him gently “At least put some juice on it or something.” 

“It’s the expensive stuff, you’re not meant to water it down.” 

You rolled your eyes at his remark when Mary came out of nowhere and pulled your arm "Sorry Sirius, I’m taking her with me,"

You raised your eyebrows at that but followed alongside Mary, "What’s wrong?" You asked her preoccupied. She looked like she’d been running and had a blush on her cheeks, well perhaps running wasn’t it, you thought as you noticed her slightly dishevelled stance. 

"Nothin’," she responded casually, "I brought you here because I wanted to introduce you to someone," she pulled you into a corner "he was at the bleachers when you were on tryouts. I got good word he’s been wanting to meet you ever since."

Your eyebrow rose, yes the try-outs had been the talk of the castle for the past week, but someone wanting to befriend you after it… perhaps it wasn’t so incredible "Who is it?" you asked.

You felt a looming presence from behind and the two of you turned around, a very tall boy, probably as tall as Remus, was there, with a huge smile on his lips "(Y/N), this is Minho Yun, Minho this is (Y/N)."

You smiled and held your hand out to shake his, "Nice to meet you.”

He shook your hand “Nice to meet you too.” 

He started to talk again but Tom came rushing through the door like a madman “Everyone HIDE!” He roared as he jumped behind one of the coaches. No one moved, he stood up again “Marlene’s coming you whackheads, find a freaking hiding spot!”

“Shit,” you said before running towards a small closet-like spot hidden behind one of the wall rugs you’d found a couple of nights before after your quill sharpener fell out of your hands. But once inside you found yourself sharing the spot with someone else. “Puppy?” You asked when you smelt the same cologne you’d felt before. 

“(Y/N)?” He asked “What are you doing here? This is my spot!” He whispered-yelled. 

“Well then, move over so the two of us can fit comfortably,” you retorted, he adjusted himself a little, and you managed to fully enter the small space “Shouldn’t be long.” 

You could feel his hot minty breath near your forehead “So… how’s your potions essay going? Remus a good partner?” 

You nodded, realising later he probably couldn’t see you. “Great, he’s brilliant, I don’t regret switching with James.”

“You switched with James?” He asked shrugging “But Slughorn said–” 

“–We switched before,” you explained. “didn’t make a fuss about it like you. Sorry, you got paired with Slime-head tho. How’s it going?” 

“We split the tasks,” he sighed. “That way we don’t have to see each other more than necessary.”

“And quidditch practice today?” You asked. 

“Oh good, we missed you though.” 

You nodded again, perking your ears to see if Marlene had already arrived. Nothing. “Do you mind if I ask you why they call you Pads?” 

“Short for Padfoot.” 

You raised your eyebrows, looking up at him with “Yeah, I remember that was your nickname, but why?” 

“Sort of an inside joke, can’t really tell you without the boys all agreeing on it.” 

“Oh,” you said with a nod, turning your head back to the door, “must have to do with everyone’s nicknames then.” He nodded. You took a deep breath. You did not expect Marlene to take so long to arrive. “Do you still have the–?” 

“–here,” he said, handing over his mug, "you took a sip, and then another. 

You gave him back his mug and exhaled “Sorry to take your spot.” 

He shrugged, you did not see it, but you felt him, that’s how close you were standing “No problem,” he said honestly “I don’t mind you being all over me,” he teased. 

“Sirius!” You reprimanded, he chuckled. 

“But, in all honesty, love, I’m really happy that you came to Hogwarts.” 

You looked up at him again “I’m really happy I came too. You weren’t joking when you told me how amazing your friends were.” 

He bit his lips as he smiled, god he was stunning, even in the dark “They are, aren’t they?” 

And then you heard the portrait door open, giving Sirius a complicit look as the two of you jumped out of the hideout, alongside everyone else, Marlene was taken aback by seeing so many people “One… Two… Three!” You counted. 

“Happy Birthday Marlene,” everyone screamed, you waved your wand and half of the balloons blew up, sprinkling glitter over every single person in the room. You smiled when you realised the stunning shower of glitter. Some of it fell over Sirius's hair, he shook it off, like a dog would, causing more to drop over you. You closed your eyes tightly and nudged him “Sirius! It’s gonna get on someone’s eyes.” 

He gave you a look “Remind me, love. Whose brilliant idea was to have glitter shower over every single one of us?” 

You averted your gaze, annoyed, and nodded “Just be careful!” You said before running towards Marlene, holding her gift in your hands. You’d gotten her a Holyhead Harpies jersey, you remembered she’d mentioned it being her favourite before. 

When she looked at you, all filled with glitter she pointed an accusing finger “You weren’t sick!” You shook your head with a smile. 

Remus, who had walked closer to the two of you, smiled and placed a hand over your shoulder “She helped with the decorations.” 

“And Potter just… let it happen?” She asked. 

“He didn’t have much of a choice,” you said with a half smile “Happy Birthday Mars! I hope you have lots of fun!” 

Both you and Remus hugged Marlene and then retired to allow the people who were crowding her to give her their own hugs and gifts. You walked towards a less crowded area alongside the boy, and when you turned to him, you realised he had a piece of glitter over his lash, so you placed a hand over his shoulder, “something wrong love?”

You shook your head, “Lean down a little, yeah? You’ve got some glitter over your lash…” he complied and bend his knees until he was about your height, you carefully grabbed his head with one hand, to steady him, and used your other hand to take a piece of glitter away from it, looking at Remus so close, you realised how pretty he really was, he had beautiful chocolate eyes, with golden sparkles, that looked absolutely surreal, inhuman almost. He wasn’t pretty like Sirius who had a very ethereal, fae-like look to him, he had a more haunting and enigmatic look. But after a second, he gave you a questioning look, as if to ask if you were done, you nodded and pried your hands off him with an awkward smile “It’s done!” 

“Thanks.” 

After that some girl took Remus away from you and you went to sit alongside Lily, who was talking to Peter. 

“I think we succeeded,” you said sitting next to Lily, who scooted over to give you some space. 

“Totally!” She smiled, “Peter said he’ll bring the cake at 10:00 pm,” 

You leaned over to look at your friend “Need any help with that Pete?” 

He shook his head, “This… This 5th-year girl will help me, actually.” Both you and Lily rose your eyebrows. 

“Oh… Our Pete’s got a date…” you teased. 

He instantly went red “It’s not a date…” 

Now you shared a look with the redhead “Want some advice?” She asked, placing a hand over his forearm. 

“No… don’t worry about it,” he said, almost thinking if he should ask “We’ve been talking a bit, that’s all.” 

“That’s how it starts,” you said. 

Lily leaned back on the couch “Ah… young love, how beautiful it is.”

You laughed “What are you, 80?” You teased, “What about your young love?” 

“I don’t have any young love,” she said, standing up straight and turning towards you. 

“Yeah sure,” you scoffed. “There isn’t a messy hair, hazel-eyed boy pining for you at all.” 

Lily went red now “(Y/N),” she said, dragging out your name “We don’t talk about that!”

“But we should,” you told her, “don’t you like him back? He’s handsome! Not my type of handsome but handsome nonetheless.” 

“Oh yeah,” she teased “I know your type of handsome all right,” she said, eyeing Sirius, who was talking to Remus.

“Evans! Don’t you dare change the subject!”

She laughed at that “He’s just so… sometimes he can be exasperating!” 

You laughed, in the short time you’d known James Potter, sometimes might have been an understatement. He had his mind pretty much set most of the time, he was thick-headed and maybe a little unhinged, but he was kind, and so full of love for his friends it was hard not to imagine him making a lovely couple with Lily. 

“Hm… maybe he can make up for his bad traits in another way,” you suggested, the other way implicit in the tone you used, and she right up hit you with one of the pillows. 

“All right guys!” You heard Beth shout as she came down with a box in her hands “It’s playtime!” 

“Oh no,” you heard Lily whisper.

Beth finally reached the bottom of the stairs and placed the heavy box on a long table that you set out with some drinks “It’s time to play potion pong.” 

“Potion Pong?” You asked Lily, who looked distressed. 

“All right, gather up, we’re making two teams of four people “Marlene Love, you’re the birthday girl, so you’re playing yes or yes.” She then turned to you “(Y/N), this is your first time in a Gryffindor Party, so you’re also in. I’m playing duh, and Evans,” she said to Lily “You playing today, yeah?” 

“Last time I got a vomiting potion!” She complained. 

“No vomiting potions this time, don’t worry about it.” Beth said dismissively “Potter, you’re in, cause you let lovely (Y/N) out of practice to help with decorations, you, Ravenclaw boy,” she said as if she wasn’t well aware that Ravenclaw boy was Holden Crawford, Marlene’s crush “You’re playing too!” She looked around then, “Minho? Where you at? You said you wanted to play last time in the first round, yeah?” She asked out to everyone “He actually holds the resistance of potion pong title,” she explained, “and… Sirius? Wanna play?” She asked last. Sirius nodded, and you all gathered around the table. Beth divided everyone into two teams, She, Marlene, Holden and James, against Minho, Sirius, Lily and you. 

“All right, the rules!” She said as she started setting the table, bringing lots of vials with different colour liquids out of the box, opening and placing them in a triangle position in front of each side of the table “Simple game, each turn a player gets a ping pong ball, and you have to try and make it enter one of the vials with potions by bouncing it on the table at least once. If it goes in, someone from the other team has to drink the potion it fell on.” 

“What kind of potions–˝ you started to ask.

“–Well if I tell you then where’s the fun?” She said placing her hands over her hips in a reproaching manner “The team that drinks all the potions first loses. If a player is disabled, for whatever reason it might be, he still has to take a shoot in his or her turn. There’s no skipping players, and no cheating, so hand over your wands.” Everyone complied with her demand and she placed them all in a jar on the mantel. “Excellent, if we don’t have any questions, let’s get started.” She pulled out something from her pocket and opened her hand in front of everyone “These are magic beans, each of you gets one of them, you can take it if you can’t stand the effects of the potion, but only after you’ve spent three turns with the effect on you. And… you only get one,” she said with a wicked smile “so if you use it up with a potion that’s not that bad, then you’re gonna have to suck it up and deal with the next potions by yourself, sorry.” 

“And how did she come up with the game?” You whisper-asked to Lily. 

“Beth is pretty well known for her party games,” she responded, leaning into you “and she has the resources to make them all happen too.” 

Everyone walked closer to the table and picked a bean from her hand. Since you didn’t have where to put it, you handed it over to Sirius “Mind keeping this for me?” 

He nodded and placed it in his pocket. Beth spoke then “All right! Witches, wizards, It’s time to start. Mars, it’s your birthday, which means you shoot first.” 

Marlene nodded and grabbed the pig pong ball, shooting it towards the table and having it bounce very close to one of the vials, but failing her shot in the end. 

“It’s ok Mars, not everyone gets it in the first round,” Beth reassured her.

Minho took the ball next, bouncing it and shooting straight into a cup with light blue liquid. He smiled cockily while everyone who was watching cheered. “It’s gonna be you, love,” he said pointing at Beth “It’s only fair since you brought the game.” 

Beth shook her head with a bit of a smile and gulped the mixture down in one go. “Hic–“ she started, “I think it’s –Hic.” 

“Hiccup haze,” you concluded. 

James raised an eyebrow at you and mouthed “How do you know that?” 

“I used it on a teacher I disliked once,” you said with a shrug. 

Lily looked at you with her eyes open wide and her hands covering her mouth “Please remind me not to make you my enemy!” She said and you laughed. 

It was now James’ turn. He grabbed the ball and had it bounce against the table twice before it landed right on a cup, he made a small victory dance and looked straight at you, “Bottoms up, darling.” 

You rolled your eyes but picked up the pink-coloured cup from the table and took the potion in one go. Soon enough all the content in your mouth was turned into jelly, along with the liquid of the potion, “Uggh, I hathe thees slimy feelin’. ”  

Everyone laughed, it was your turn now, so you bounced the ball on the table and somehow scored. “It's payback mopherfugher!” You said pointing at James, who took in the yellow potion in one gulp.

Out of literally nowhere, James Potter turned into a cow. You laughed historically as you heard him Mo, almost choking with your jelly mouth. “Thers a coow pothion?” You asked in between laughter.  

Everyone in the room was laughing along, except for Lily next to you who looked mortified and James –the cow– who just mooed pathetically. And he would have to stay like that for a while. 

Beth was next, she didn’t score. Sirius followed, and he didn’t score either. Marlene’s turn came again and he finally scored, having Minho take the potion this time. He got a potion that made his voice come out in a series of high-pitched squeaks and chirps, like a bird. You giggled along with everyone. 

Sirius shot next and scored, having Holden take the potion, he drank the greenish liquid and shrugged, shaing his head as if nothing had happened. But when he opened his mouth a bubble floated from it, popping after it was just above everyone's head “I don’t think It had any effect,” the bubble said, finally letting Holden’s voice out. Everyone laughed. Then it was James’ turn. Beth moved a little to let the cow close to the table and placed the ball in its mouth. He let it go and it rolled pathetically on the table.

You pulled a face to him and grabbed the ball “Zorthy djaaames!” You said with a shrug and shot. You didn’t score. Beth took the ball and shot herself this time, scoring.

“You’ve-hic– been safe so far Lils –hic,” he said “Go –hic– ahead love!” 

Lily looked at the yellow potion with a frown and reluctantly drank it. Then she started staggering, as if drunk “Everything’s spinning,” she complained, so you walked towards her to hold her. Maintaining her steady. She grabbed the ping pong ball and somehow scored, this time Marlene drank the potion and she started glowing, literally glowing, shining like a lightbulb. 

A bubble came out of Holden’s mouth and popped “Wow Marlene! You really are the star of the party!” You laughed, your mouth was finally getting back to normal, and James turned human again, ending up sitting on the floor and mooing as he turned human. 

He quickly stood up, stretching slightly before he grabbed the ball and shot, having it go straight into one of the cups, he then looked at Sirius “You haven’t taken anything, have you Pads?” You exhaled, thinking he would target you after you made him turn into a cow. 

Sirius looked to the side but grabbed the vial with the black draught, drinking It in one sip. His hair suddenly turned red. He looked at James with an extremely distressed face “What have you done to me Prongs? You ruined my hair!” 

Everyone stared quietly and you handed the ping pong ball to Minho, who probably tried to say thanks but chirped instead. He shot and missed. Beth took the ball next, and shot, right into a purple draught. He gave you a look. “How’s the jelly mouth love?” 

“Almoth gone.” 

“All right, go ahead then.” 

You grabbed the mysterious looking potion and downed it in one go. Your face instantly lit up. giggle brew, you thought as a giggle escaped your mouth, you’d felt this before. A ticklish sensation spread all over your body, which caused another giggle to come out. Lily, who was still dizzy, turned to you with concern. 

But her concerned face looked so hilariously amusing, that it caused you to burst into fits of giggles, too difficult to contain. Then, then you saw Sirius, the beautiful Sirius Black with his hair bright red, oh he’d hate it if someone took a picture. Someone should take a picture, you thought and looked around trying to find someone who would. And there you saw it, Alex, your Hufflepuff friend, had a Polaroid in his hands. So you turned to him with a smile and shouted “A picture–“ you said, bursting into a breathy laugh in the end “Take a picture Alex,” you said, turning to him, holding Lily and having Sirius and Minho turn to the camera. By the time Alex clicked on the camera button to snap the shot, you had managed to place Sirius’ arms over yours and Minho’s shoulders, your cheeks flushed with joy, and eyes sparkling with mirth. 

When Alex handed you the picture you laughed again, you felt so much joy. The picture was absolutely hilarious and you laughed again as you looked at it. “Who’s turn is it now?” Asked James. Sirius grabbed the ball from your cup and took a shot, it landed right on a cup, splashing the two other cups left on his table, and you giggled again, finding it amusing. 

“Who’s drinking it?” Asked Minho, he’d finally gotten his voice back, you giggled remembering the squeaks and chirps. 

Beth did, and suddenly she was in slow motion, every movement seemed like it’d been slowed down, which only made you laugh even further. She took a shot and failed. Minho took the next shot and it landed on one of their cups. Marlene drank it and her tongue suddenly transformed into that of a snake. Hissing as she tried to speak. You tried not to laugh, you really did, it was her birthday after all, but you couldn’t suppress the wave of amusement that’d hit you and bursted into laughter again. 

Lily shot and missed. Beth shot, in slow motion, and it hit right on the cup. You laughed again. Minho downed it since he was the only one not affected by a potion at the moment. Well, Sirius only had colourful hair, but he was making a drama about it. Minho started tap dancing the moment he took the drink and you giggled yet again. 

Eventually, it was your turn again, and you landed the shot, effectively finishing the game. Beth walked towards you and placed a potion-shaped pin on your shirt. It said “Potion Master,” you giggled as you imagined yourself in Slughorn’s clothes, you couldn’t help it, all you felt was a state of sheer merriment and delight. 

Everyone started to take the beans Beth had given them at the beginning. Lily went straight to sit down to try and get a sense of stability and Sirius’ hair turned back to normal. You got close to him and grabbed a strand. “It was cute in red too.” 

He rose an eyebrow cockily, of course he would “Was it?” 

“Yeah,” you said in between breathy laughs. 

He grabbed your jaw in between his hands, you giggled when you felt his cold rings against your skin. “Open your mouth,” he ordered. 

“Kinky!” you responded with a smile, but complied “AAAhhh.” 

He instantly put the bean inside. You munched on it. Finally coming down from the high the potion had you in. 

Then Sirius leaned closer, still with his hand on your cheeks “Now love, do you still want me to be kinky?” 

You playfully pushed him back and used your finger to warn him “Don’t play games with me Black,” you said before walking towards Lily on the couch. 

When you were finally sitting down you saw Peter coming in through the portrait with a huge cake in his hands. A girl making sure he didn’t trip accompanied him. 

You smiled and started singing loudly “Happy birthday to you…” 

Everyone started to sing along “Happy Birthday to you… Happy Birthday dear Marlene, Happy birthday to you…” Marlene hadn’t taken her bean, so she was still glowing like a fairy as she blew on the candles with everyone around her, you noticed a flash from the camera and once everyone was back in their seats as Peter and Remus helped cut the cake, you took the photo they’d taken during potion pong again. 

You stared at it for a while, you looked so bloody happy it was insane “Did you like it?” Alex asked, approaching you. 

“I absolutely love it!” You told him with a smile “ You can really tell I’m drinking giggle brew tho.” 

He frowned, “I don’t think so,” he said, pulling out another picture from his pocket and handing it over. In this picture, you weren’t holding Lily yet, James was a cow and Sirius’ hair was black. Definitely, before you took the potion, but your smile, it was just as bright as in the other picture. You blinked a couple of times, looking at the picture and back at Alex “I regretted not being chosen to play,” he told you “You guys were having so much fun.” 

“I’ll make sure Beth picks you next time. Can I keep this one too?” 

“Hold up,” he said, grabbing it from your hands “Gemino,” he whispered, the picture split in two, creating identical copies. “I need to keep them for the yearbook.” He explained. 

But you looked at him surprised. “You just… you just used a Gemino Curse.” 

He smiled proudly, “You’ll see it in charms on 7th, It’s sooo useful.” 

“I bet! Is it too hard? Could you teach me now?” 

He seemed to think about it for a minute and nodded. Eventually, Mary came looking for you and dragged you to the table to get some more pictures taken along with the rest of the Gryffindor gang. 

Once the party was over, most people were gone except a few of the older kids. That’s when Beth came down with another small box in her hands. “It’s time for the last game of the night,” she said with a smirk and pulled out a potion from the box. 

“Is that… Veritaserum?” Asked Lily. 

Beth nodded “Welcome to truth or dare, where absolutely no one can lie.” 

Your draw dropped in shock “For real?” You asked, and Beth nodded. 

“Come on, we’ll sit in a circle.” she said with a smile “Those brave enough, of course.” 

“HOLD UP! What kind of dares?” You asked. 

Lily turned to you. “Any kind of dare. Last time I had to levitate every single one of the objects in the room.” 

“Yeah, this time might be a bit different. See everyone will write 3 dares and 3 questions on a piece of paper. And we’ll place them in these bowls,” she lifted a blue and a red bowl. “Then each turn you’ll choose truth or dare and pick one.” 

“Aha,” you said and walked towards her “What’s your plan?” You mouthed. 

“I’m playing matchmaker today,” she replied mischievously and nodded towards Marlene and Holden who were talking in the corner. 

“I see,” you said with a smile, you decided you’d become her accomplice, making sure all the dares and questions you wrote were relatively romantic. Little did you know your matchmaking would bite you in the back. “Who else is playing?” You asked.

“I’m in,” said Lily walking to fill up some papers “Mary, Marlene?” 

“We’re coming,” said Mary. Holden stayed by Marlene’s side and took some paper to fill out as well. 

“I wouldn’t miss a good truth or dare,” said Sirius, pulling Remus along with him. 

James and Peter joined you next, and eventually around 12 people had gathered along, all sitting in a circle. You sat right in between Lily and Sirius. Beth grabbed a glass and poured all the veritaserum inside, taking a sip and handing it over to the person next to her so they could do the same. Once everyone had taken a sip, the game started.

“Marlene, you’re the birthday girl, which means you go first,” she said looking straight at your friend, “truth or dare?” 

Marlene, who was sitting in between James and Holden responded “Truth,” and then went to grab a paper from the red bowl “It says, Which Deathly Hallow would you choose if given the chance: the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, or the Invisibility Cloak?” She seemed to think about it for a minute. “Easy, all the other brothers died, I’ll take the invisibility cloak.” She turned to her right “Holden, truth or dare?” 

“Dare,” he said and grabbed a paper “Take a sip from the mystery potion left over from Potion Pong… How do I find that?” 

“Oh,” said Beth pulling something out of her pockets “Here it is,” she handed it over with a smile. 

Holden grabbed it and did what the potion told him “I think it did nothing,” he said, but then Marlene accidentally brushed her arm on his and he started laughing “Oh, stop, please! No tickles!” 

Everyone looked at him confused and once he finally stopped laughing Beth spoke “Oh, Maybe it was Ticklemania.” She then turned to Tom, who sat next to Holden “Truth or dare?” 

“Dare,” he responded and grabbed a piece of paper “Make a floating sculpture with items around the room, All right then, not that hard,” he said and started lifting random objects until he made a floating dolphin. “Your turn Beth.” 

She went ahead and grabbed a dare “Take off a piece of clothing and switch it with the player next to you.” She nodded and took off her scarf, switching it with Lily’s headband.

Lily grabbed a dare “Kiss the player to your right –on the mouth– for 3 seconds.” She then turned to you “To kiss… to kiss her?” She asked, shocked. 

Karma, you thought, you’d written that one. But if you called this one kiss off then all dares could be called off and your matchmaking would fail. So in order to succeed in this ordeal, you would have to kiss Lily. Not that you minded too much, Lily was very pretty, and she always smelled really nice too. 

“It’s what the dare says.” 

She exhaled but nodded “Ok,” she turned to you “Are you sure you’re ok with it?” 

You nodded and you both leaned in, locking lips together. It was over quite fast and all you could think of after, to lighten the mood, was to joke about it “Great kisser Evans.” 

She scoffed and lightly hit you in the arm “And you expected me to be bad? I’m offended!” You both laughed along after that. But it was your turn now. 

Everyone seemed to be avoiding truth so far, and to be honest you also wanted to avoid it, especially since you’d written some of these questions and you definitely did not want to respond them. So you went for a dare. “Perform a spell or charm that can entertain the other players in the room.” You nodded and used a spell to puncture the balloons, causing them all to make a funny sound as they blew all over the room, you leaned down when one of them passed over your head. You smiled when it was done and made a bit of a bow before sitting back down. 

“Sirius, Truth or dare?” 

“Truth?” He said before grabbing one of the papers “Have you ever used magic for personal gain or to break the rules at Hogwarts? If so, explain the situation.” He laughed right after reading “Which one do I even say?” 

“Oh, tell them about the clock,” said Peter. 

“No, tell them about the time you got Peeves to help on a prank.” 

“Yeah guys, go ahead please, continue telling everyone about ALL the pranks we DIDN’T get caught doing. What could go wrong?” Remus said exasperated. 

“I know,” said Sirius “One time, we created a rainy cloud and enchanted it to follow around some disagreeable Slytherin students.” 

Minho, the only Slytherin in the room, laughed first “Oh! That explains so much. Severus was so pissed that day, but he had no way of proving it was you.” 

Sirius nodded, surprisingly, even if Minho was a Slytherin they seemed to be pretty good friends. Maybe it was because they were both beaters. What you didn’t know is that Minho had been the one to help them get the alcoholic beverages, since he was in 7th and had already turned of legal age, all the Marauders had become his friends like that. 

“All right, Moons, your turn,” Said Sirius. 

“Dare,” he responded without beating an eyelash and grabbed a piece of paper “Give a 10-minute foot massage to the person on your left?” 

You laughed when Sirius threw him a teasing look. 

“A FOOT MASSAGE FOR PADFOOT?! WHO EVEN WROTE THIS DARES?”

“Who cares? I get a free massage,” said Sirius as he was unlacing his boots. Remus sighed. Finally, Sirius took his boot off, showing a pair of colourful Gryffindor-themed socks. That’s what you call commitment to a brand, you thought. Sirius then turned his feet towards Remus and let his head fall on your leg “Do you mind?” He asked looking up at you, you could see his dark lashes framing his stunning icy blue eyes, but also noticed how he asked after he had already gotten himself all comfortable.

“No really,” you replied, and he nodded in response, closing his eyes as Remus started rubbing his feet. And damn were you a little jealous as you saw Remus pressing his strong hands on Sirius’s feet, he was clearly, really good at massaging. Sirius’ face told you everything. 

Then it was Imogen’s turn, a Hufflepuff girl you’d shared classes with before. She was very smart, you remembered. She picked truth and grabbed a paper “Fuck, Mary, Kill: Slughorn, Kettleburn and Nightshade.” She said, “Ummm… I’d murder Slugorn, fuck Kettleburn and Mary Nightshade.” 

“You’d fuck Kettlebrun?!” Asked Beth shocked. 

“Between him and Slughorn? Every single time!” Imogen responded. 

“And you’d marry Nightshade?” Asked Peter. 

“Who wouldn’t marry Nightshade?” 

You nodded to what Imogen was saying “No, no, Imogen has a point,” you said pointing a finger at her “Seraphina is stunning.” Sirius looked at you with a raised eyebrow, he still lied his head on your right leg “She has this grace to her, she’s like a ballerina.”

“She was a ballerina,” Said James as he munched on something.

“Really? How do you know?” 

“She’s friends with our parents,” explained Peter, and grabbed a paper himself. He also chose truth “Do you like anyone? If so, say who it is.” Peter was instantly red and looked around as if checking if a particular person was still in the room, he took a deep breath once he was sure, and let himself speak “Yes there is, it’s this very pretty Ravenclaw girl from Fifth called Annabeth.” 

“Annie Doxon?” Beth jumped from her seat “You have a crush on my cousin?!” Peter nodded, still shy. “Ok then, you break her heart, I break your nose.” Peter nodded, he knew Beth wouldn’t be too excited about it anyway “But I’m happy, at least you’re a good guy, I’m sure you’ll treat her well,” she cheered “Potter, you’re up.” 

James grabbed a dare and after reading it out loud he tied his shirt over his belly and started belly dancing as best of his ability allowed him. And surprisingly, he was actually pretty good at it, which had everyone laughing. You leaned over to Lily, careful not to disturb Sirius, whose hair you’d started playing with at some point and whispered “Bet he’s got some sick moves in the bedroom too,” she gasped and hit you lightly, turning red as a tomato. Which just caused you to laugh even more, Lily was definitely going to end up with James Potter. And they’d probably have the cutest children. 

Eventually, it was Marlene’s turn again, she chose dare and ended up giving Holden a massage, and Holden had to hold hands with her for the rest of the game when he got his dare. By the time Mary was taking her paper, the sand clock you’d set to measure the 10 minutes Remus would rub Sirius’ feet was over and he shoved Sirius’ feet off his lap.

“Oi, a bit more careful there Moony!” He complained as he finally sat up straight again. 

“Yeah?, well I’ve had enough of your stinky feet,” Remus retorted. 

“Take that back, My feet are NOT stinky!” He then turned to you “Are they Love?” 

“Sirius, no matter how much I appreciate you, I will not be smelling your feet.” 

He pouted and was about to speak again but got interrupted by Mary “Fuck James, marry Remus, Kill Sirius,” she said carelessly. 

“Who put our names in the–“ Remus started. 

“–You’d kill me? But I’m beautiful!” Sirius gasped. 

“I wouldn’t wanna deal with the drama,” she responded simply. 

“And I’m certain I’d be a better lay than Prongs too.” 

“You wish,” James snapped and threw a pillow he had at Sirius’ face. 

“LOOKS LIKE IT’S MY TURN!” Said Tom with his hands extended to the sides to get everyone's attention. He took a truth as well. “Name a teacher you’d hate to see naked and a teacher you’d like to see naked. WHO WROTE THIS?! You guys are sick. I’d hate to see Slughorn naked. I’d like to…” he shuddered “I don’t want to see any teacher naked.” 

“You have to name someone,” argued Imogen. 

“But–“ 

“Name it, Name it, Name it,” everyone started to choir. 

“Professor Spellman?” 

“Profesor Spellman!?” Asked Peter confused. 

Tom shrugged, “I bet he’s ripped under those robes.” 

Everyone laughed. On Beth’s turn, she had to do a cartwheel and then it was Lily’s turn, she went straight for a dare “Kiss for 30 seconds, whoever is in front of you,” she said looking up from her seat and discovering it was none-other than James Potter. 

You tried to hold a laugh. And patted her on the back, she turned to Beth distressed “Can’t I just Kiss (Y/N) again?”

“Can’t stop thinking of me, huh?” You teased with your eyebrows raised, Sirius’ personality was rubbing on you. She gave you a reproachful look, as if asking for help. 

“Rules are rules love,” said Beth and motioned for Lily and James to get closer together. She awkwardly did, James just stood in his place, frozen in shock. 

“I– I’m gonna start, m’kay?” She asked James.

He nodded awkwardly, and in an instant, they were locking lips. Their kiss was nothing like yours and Lily’s, just a peck and then done, no, they were kissing. James had even grabbed Lily by the waist and pulled her closer at some point. Those thirty seconds were up, and you were sure they were still kissing. But eventually, Lilly broke this kiss off, clearing her throat and crawled back to her seat next to you. 

You turned to her “You good?” You asked with concern. She nodded a slight blush creeping onto her cheeks. You smiled and grabbed your paper. 

“Sit on the lap of the player to your right for the rest of the game.” You read, with a bit of a frown “Seat on the lap of–?” 

“–Sirius Black.” Finished Lily. 

“Don’t you…?” You were about to ask, but Sirius had already accommodated himself and waited for you with open arms and a welcoming smile. Of course Sirius wouldn’t mind, he was Mr. Flirt after all. “Kay then,” you said and moved to his lap. He held you by the waist and set his head on your neck. 

“Mind passing over a dare paper?” He asked. 

You leaned in and grabbed one and opened it for him “Let a player draw something on your arm,” you read. 

He shrugged and handed you his arm. “There you go love, draw me a Picasso.” 

“I could just draw a dick,” you teased. 

He nudged you with his head “Draw something nice, would ya? I’ll leave it on all week if you do.” 

You raised an eyebrow and nodded as you used your wand to bring your quill and ink closer, dipping your quill in the dark ink and drawing on Sirius’ arm. 

“We’re almost out of papers,” said Beth as she leaned over the two bowls. 

“We should probably end soon anyway,” Lily said, stretching her arms, “It’s getting kinda late.” 

“What’s it gonna be Rem? Truth or dare?” Asked Beth. 

“Dare,” he chose again, not even thinking about it, he leaned over and grabbed a paper, looking visibly pale as he read. Not that you noticed, you were very focused on Sirius’ arm. 

“Well then? What does it say?” Asked Beth. 

Remus didn’t say a word. Imogen grabbed the paper from his hand and read it “Kiss the person to your left for one minute straight.” The second those words left her mouth your pen went completely sideways, leaving a straight line in the middle of your drawing, you looked up, alarmed. 

“But… there’s two people on Remus’ left,” Imogen continued. 

“Three people kiss?” said Beth as an option. 

“Three people kiss? What on earth is that?!” Asked Remus alarmed. 

“It’d be too awkward for a minute straight,” said Imogen as she shook her head with a soft tsk, she wasn’t convinced. 

“Pick one then,” Beth said with a shrug.

“Well, it’s obvious, (Y/N), she’s the girl.” Said Peter. 

“But I had to kiss her too, that doesn’t matter in this game,” argued Lily.

“And Sirius was to his left originally,” chimed Holden.

Remus’ eyes darted from one person to the other, looking further mortified at the second. “Let’s just wand, potion, spell it,” you intervened “Destiny chooses instead, how does that sound?” Remus looked at you and nodded. 

“Well then,” you shifted on Sirius’ lap so you could see him directly, “Ready?” 

“Do we do it in the first result or two out of three?” He asked.

“I– I don’t know… Rem?”

“Two out of three.” 

“Well then, it’s settled.” 

The two of you positioned your right hand on top of your left “Wand, Potion, Spell.” You said together. Sirius’ hand turned into a fist with his thumbs up, Potion, beating your extended palm, spell.

“Ok, again,” he said. 

“Wand, Potion, Spell.” You repeated this time you chose spell, beating his wand. 

You gave him a look, Remus was still holding his breath right next to the two of you.

“Again.” 

“Wand, Potion, Spell.” You both choose spell. “Wand, Potion, Spell.” You both picked wand. 

“Sirius!” You complained. 

“Not doing it on purpose luv!” He argued back. 

“Ok, this is the one, ready?” He nodded. 

“Wand, Potion, Spell.” Sirius chose spell, you chose potion. 

“(Y/N) Won,” said Beth, “It’s settled then, go ahead.”

You threw her a look “I’m gonna end up kissing the entire circle with this game,” you complained as you tried to move off Sirius, but he tightened his hold on your waist. 

“Gotta stay here till the end of the game, remember?” He asked, not allowing you to budge. You turned to him with a frown. 

“He’s right, if you get off you’ll get a penalty,” agreed Imogen. 

You gave him a confused look and he just shrugged, “Rules are rules.” 

Remus moved closer instead “You sure you’re ok with it?” He asked, sincerity in his voice as he stared at you, faces inches away from each other. You nodded and closed the gap between the two of you. 

As your lips met Remus', you instinctively placed your right hand on his shoulder to steady yourself, Sirius' hands remained securely wrapped around your waist, you could feel his subtle shifts beneath you as you continued to kiss his friend. The nature of the situation made you wonder if you had ever found yourself in such an uncomfortable scenario before. No, not that –it was weird– but it wasn’t particularly uncomfortable, in fact, Remus’ kiss was quite nice.

It was delicate and it was sweet. Remus tasted of chocolate and rum, and you let yourself enjoy the moment, you were sure Sirius was intently staring at the both of you, you wondered what he was thinking as you felt the muscles of his tights tense, and relax. As you explored the gentle rhythm of Remus’ kiss, any apprehension dissipated, replaced by a growing sense of ease, even with Sirius staring at the two, it was strangely enjoyable. The gentleness of Remus' lips against yours seemed to resonate both affection and curiosity, you wondered if he was being gentle because that was in his nature, if he was being gentle because it was you he was kissing, or perhaps because you were in the middle of a dare, and that’s what would be expected of him. 

Eventually, the last drop of sand from the hourglass reached the bottom, and it emitted a soft sound. You and Remus finally separated, looking at each other with breaths slightly heavy, both attempting to regain your composure. Once you caught your breath you decided you had to do something to ease the situation, or something. So you channelled your inner Sirius Black and reacted as he would, you smirked; “Well then Remus, thank you for that delightful kiss, love that you put in an effort even if it was just a dare, anyway, who’s next? I really can’t be the only one who keeps kissing everyone around me, can I?” People laughed at your reaction, Remus was shaking his head with a small smile slipping from his lips, maybe he had kissed Sirius in the end. 

Sirius leaned into your ear, whispering “Smooth way to divert the tension luv,” he whispered as Imogen grabbed a paper, and you gulped as Sirius' breath brushed your neck. 

“It’s me,” said Imogen, still processing how you’d been so brave to kiss a boy while sitting on another’s lap. She wanted to be like you when she grew older “It says: If you could be anyone in this room, who would it be?” She seemed to think about it for a second “I mean… right at this moment? (Y/N), she’s gotten the most action tonight.” 

You laughed, reclining against Sirius unconsciously, “Well, then, switch with me,” you told her as a joke, but you felt Sirius’ hold tighten, as if reproachful. 

Peter leaned in for a paper “Give your best friend a lap dance.” He read. “What?! Who wrote this?” You laughed, at least you hadn’t gotten that one.  

“Get up Jaaaames,” you heard Sirius say in a sing-song voice from behind. He pulled a chair with magic to the centre of the circle and set the record player to “Love to Love You Baby” by Donna Summer. 

James sat on the chair with a smile as Peter stood up, walking in front of James and started to dance. Peter was not vibing with the song or the dare for that matter. But he pulled through, even with Sirius’ constant teasing “Come on Pete, you’re not getting tips tonight if you don’t put in an effort!” 

You eventually joined the teasing too, whistling as Sirius continued talking. Once the song was over Peter went instantly back to his place, hiding his entire face between his hands and questioning all the life decisions that had led him to that moment. 

There was only one paper left, and it was James' turn. He leaned in and grabbed the truth paper “Have you ever had a crush on anyone in this circle?” He read, and then he nodded “Of course I have. But you all know who it is already.” 

Lily coughed several times “Well, game’s over,” she said as she stood up and pulled Marlene towards the fire with her “We should sleep soon, so go ahead, time to open the gifts.”

Marlene raised an eyebrow at her, she just shrugged. You, like the good friend you were, decided to tease her further, finally leaving Sirius’ lap and walking behind her “Wow, Lils, never seen you run from a situation faster than that.” 

“Shut it, luv.” She Told you and pulled you to sit on the sofa, the rest followed you seconds after, all walking towards the comfortable living room-like setup in front of the sofa. Once everyone was comfortable, Beth urged Marlene to sit on the rug in front of everyone to open her gifts. She’d gotten a quill set from her parents, a magical chess set, an enchanted journal, some fun jewellery, the Jersey you’d gotten her and many other things. 

You all sat comfortably in front of the fire as she continued opening her gifts.   

You leaned down next to her when she opened a box with bright red wrapping “Is that quidditch polish set?” You asked with a smile “That’s brilliant!” 

“Thanks,” said James, of course, he would have been the one to give her that “now you can be the fastest beater.” 

Sirius looked at him with a shrug and hit him on the arm with the back of his hand in a reproachful manner “Way to drag your friend down, mate!”

“Hmmm… there’s only one way to find out,” Marlene said with a shrug “A race…” she smirked at the last bit. 

You looked at her and then back at Sirius, eyebrows raised slightly and nodding along with Marlene “AND you know, Sirius Black does owe me race…” 

He looked at you with an amused look on his face, his eyes shining at the dare “You’re on.” 

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Raead more Marauders Fiction

A/N: I swear this has been one of my favourite chapters to write so far. What was our dear Sirius thinking when he stared at you? What was Remus thinking? So much drama I love this sm. Some interesting things are coming soon, stay tuned lovelies <3

[babybluebex]

BEX I HAVE A THOUGHT

so there’s this Photo from when dommy went to the sag awards this year:

and all i can think about is your blurb abt “the scene” and like

What If yall’s film was nominated for an award and y’all are on the carpet . the look he’d give you as he’s watching you get interviewed n stuff?.? like the proud smile AGH

anyways this is the thought from 1am my time gn <3

oh yes, i can see you guys being in a very steady and good relationship ever since your first night together, but not announcing your relationship to the public, and that's pretty much your "fault", you wanted to try to get people in the industry to take you seriously and not think you're just some little girl who falls in love with the first guy to look at you, and dom understands your reservations, so you two haven't announced anything

but that definitely doesn't mean that you escape suspicion, you're always spotted out at lunch or at pubs together, basically attached at the hip the whole time, and paps notice the way dom will play with your hair or your skirt, basically the way he can get handsy, and somehow the popular narrative becomes that you two are fwbs and not actually dating

but YES the movie starts to get a lot of critical acclaim, but most of it is pointed specifically at YOU, people LOVE your performance and say that it's the best performance they've seen in years, and you're getting nominated for a bunch of "best actress" awards at various shows and you start WINNING?? and you're always sitting next to dom, and he has to REALLY exercise control when you win, he wants to just grab you and kiss you but he knows you're not comfortable with that yet, so it's just a gentle hug and good-natured pat on the back

but he's pulling THAT exact face in the bg of you being interviewed about your historic run of wins, like he's not exactly in frame of the camera but people find another angle of the interview that shows him better and he's just cheesing up a storm

and oh my god, the night before the academy awards, you're nominated for best actress and dom is for best supporting actor, and the odds are looking in your favors, but you're crying on dom's chest, so terrified about what will happen if you win, you're scared that it means you've peaked and will never have anything like this again

and dom shushes you and kisses your teary cheeks, "shh, honey, it's ok... look, i got you a present, do you wanna see it? i wasn't gonna give it to you until tomorrow night, after we've both won, but i can give it to you now" and he rolls out of bed and pulls his pajama pants up his skinny hips as he goes to his luggage, and he grabs a small box from his suitcase and gives it to you, and you sniffle as you open it, and you first come across a flannel buttoned shirt, and you instantly recognize it "... this is the shirt you wore—" "to the bar our first night together," dom nods, "what was that... two years ago, i guess? but i hardly wear it because it used to smell like the perfume you wore that night... it doesn't so much anymore, but it's still sentimental to me. but i want you to have it" "oh, dom, i can't—" "yes you can" and he nods at the box "there's more in there, go on"

and you move back into the box and push aside the paper filling up the empty space, and you find a delicate box in the bottom, obviously a jewelry box, and your mouth goes dry, bc it's a small square box and you know what that means and you sorta whisper "dominic?" and his eyes are sparkling as he gently takes the ring box into his hand and opens it, and you gasp

the ring is beautiful, your dream ring, and you harken back to a few months before, when bella had asked you to help her pick out an engagement ring, and you had given opinions the whole day, but under the pretense of helping her, what cut you liked and what gemstone, and it suddenly clicks into place: bella, the absolute sneak, had colluded with dom to figure out what your perfect engagement ring was "oh my god, dommy, yes"

"i didn't even ask you anything" dom smiles with playfully narrowed eyes "but i know what you're gonna say, and fuck, yes" you sob and grab him tight and draw him into a hug, and he kisses you and fumbles blindly to put the ring on your finger

and the next night, you're all dressed up for the oscars, and vanity fair is there to make a video on dom getting ready, and they tell you that it'll come out after the awards show, and you and dom are free to be a cheesy annoying engaged couple because you've already decided exactly how and when you're going to announce it that night

and it comes time for the awards show, you're all sitting together, you and dom and your director (who was nominated for best director), and best supporting actor comes up first (not the first award, but out of the nominations y'all have, it comes first in the night), and your heart is in your throat as they flash up clips from the movies of each actor, and you notice the cheering is just a little louder when dom's clip is onscreen, and you think you actually pass out when the announcer calls out "dominic sessa!" but you're drawn right back to reality by dom grabbing you and hugging you, and your mouth is just gaping like a fish, unable to form words as you grab his face and tear up, and you want to kiss him, but you can't, not quite yet

he gets up to the stage, and he does his little gasping laugh "oh wow..." gazes lovingly at the oscar statue in his hand "this thing is heavier than i thought it would be..." and the whole audience laughs "but um, this is an honor... i sorta stumbled into this field— literally, actually, i stumbled, i fell and broke my leg and couldn't do sports, so i decided to try acting on a whim, and— whatever, but this was never the plan for me, but this award is... it means a lot..." and he takes a breath and squints in the stage lights to find you and he smiles "i think actors are defined by certain roles in their lifetimes... pacino as corleone, schwarzenegger as the terminator... and even though this role will always have a special place in my heart, the role i think most defines me... is the role of husband. and for that, i have to thank my beautiful wife, and by extension, our director and screenwriter and casting director, if you guys hadn't put her in my life, i wouldn't have her, and that role means more to my heart than anything else does... oh, shi— crap, they're telling me to wrap it up, haha. anyway, yeah, um, wife, director, crew, my other actors, the academy, and, um, is ryan gosling here this year? yeah, you're cool too"

and he gets offstage and comes to you, and you finally FINALLY get to kiss him, and you see the cameras starting to swarm you, and you take care to put your hand on his face, to let everyone see the ring

and now that the cat's out of the bag, you're not afraid to be loving and cute together, and your director wins her award, and you get a notification on your phone that your movie is trending online, associated with "SWEEP!!", and suddenly the pressure starts to gnaw at you and your stomach turns, but your fiancé is luckily very in tune with you, and he gets up and leaves for the bar in the back of the room and quickly returns with a small glass of ginger ale and rubs your back as he whispers "hey, you're gonna be ok, it's all gonna be fine" "dommy i don't wanna win" you whimper and he shushes you "well, honey, i'm gonna be honest here, i think you are gonna win" dom tells you "i don't think you have a choice, so what you're gonna do, when they call your name, all you gotta do is just go up there, and look at me. don't look at the cameras, don't look at margot robbie or anyone, just look at me" "what happens if i puke?" you whisper "i'll clean it up" dom says instantly, without a single thought "wh-what happens if i can't talk up there?" you ask, and you're certain dom's patience is wearing thin, but if it is, he's not letting it show even remotely "i'll talk for you" dom says, and gently urges you to sip your drink to calm your stomach "look, you are amazing, you deserve this award— if they gave my untalented ass a fucking oscar, then you are way more qualified to win than i am— and winning doesn't mean you've peaked. it means it's just beginning" and he shifts a little closer to you and pushes your hair behind your ear, and he whispers "tell you what— if you get on that stage and thank only the academy and then immediately leave, if that's all you do... i'll eat you out in the car on the way to the after party. deal?" and you sniffle and give a weak laugh, but you nod at him, and he grins "i mean, i'd do that anyway, but if that's the incentive you need..."

and the lights dim to signal the end of commercial break, and you feel sick the whole time as they're announcing the nominees for best actor, and you're so acutely aware of the big camera rig next to you, capturing your every reaction, and you go hot when they flash the clip of you and you notice the louder cheers, just like before

and you must have been too busy trying not to throw up that you didn't even hear your name announced, you just hear the cheering, and suddenly dom's got his hands on you, pulling you out of your seat and hugging you, and you just feel numb, but your feet work you up to the stage and you're handed the statue, and you look out past the lights and the audience full of industry giants, and you lock eyes with dom and you swallow thickly "... why is this so goddamn heavy..." you mumble and there's laughter "baby, you could've told me" and dom grins and shrugs "i just... really don't know what to say... um... thank you to the academy, who thought i'm worthy of this.... and my husband said that's all i gotta say, so i think i'm gonna go before i puke everywhere"

and you get back to your seat, and you feel a lot better now that it's over, and dom kisses you so sweetly, and you two goofs continue your goof streak and make your oscars kiss like barbie dolls

(and dom makes good on the promise he made hehe)

[olderthannetfic]

When m/m writers say "women DNI / don't read" on a platform like here or AO3 that's majority female, what's the thinking behind this? Are they insecure in their masculinity and trying to preemptively block fujo cooties from getting on their fiction? Are they trying to meet people for RP or dating through engagement with their fics? That I can maybe understand. But if it's the former, there's a culture mismatch. "Women DNI" writers mostly aren't writing stuff that's popular on Space Battles, Sufficient Velocity, Royal Road or even ff.net, which gets more of the "malebrained" (sorry) game nerd stuff with sexless shonen-like characters levelling up or solving problems with "hard magic." Those spaces also have a concrit culture where you can be a little mean and mocking, and the "women DNIs" only want praise and clout. It always makes me think of Married with Children and Al Bundy's NO MA'AM (National Organization of Men Against Amazonian Masterhood) club.

Anyway, it's extra odd when I see this kind of clout goblinry in a market context where most of the sales are to women. I've seen gay dudes (cis and trans) lightly threaten that a big conversation about what gets popular in paying m/m space was coming soon (spoiler: it never came). And it's always someone who doesn't have the kind of career they want despite doing lots of marketing. I think it's OK to vent, but the gay men who are doing numbers in m/m space don't threaten women's careers or disparage their own readership.

--

Are they insecure in their masculinity and trying to preemptively block fujo cooties from getting on their fiction?

Yes.

No, really. That's it.

Ask any trans man who's been on T for a few years and has supportive friends and family what he thinks about this dumb behavior vs. a scared trans boy who just figured it out in his own head and whose entire experience of living openly as a man is being rude to strangers on twitter.

The pro version is just professional jealousy.

If Jordan L. Hawk can come out and stay at the top of the heap (despite, sorry not sorry, a bit of a career slump lately due to Life), so can other trans dudes, and there are plenty of cis dudes who write in a BLy style and sell just fine to BL/slash fandom type readers.

Dudes who are secure don't need to pull this shit, and good marketers know not to insult their paying customers in public because it's bad for business.

TBH, when I find out a m/m author is a guy, I'll usually try one of his books. I don't think fujoshi culture is ~appropriation~, but i guess I do think it's nice to give a guy a shot. I have pretty universally been underwhelmed (in the Sturgeon's Law way, not the men can't write way). But I doubt I'm alone in this behavior. A dude who's not a whiny little bitch about having a chick audience can use this to his marketing advantage. Instead, a lot of losers want to shoot themselves in the foot.

[heliphantie]

¡Feliz cumpleaños, Dolores!

She happens to appear in my fanart quite frequently… Hardly underrated character, and I can see why. She’s an expressive, fairly “toony” character, very Disney kind of supporting heroine (while not as significant, I’ve compared her to Charlotte La Bouff once). Though, as with many Encanto-related things, she’s more interesting due her potential and conceptually, than what we got of her in completed movie. For one, she was supposed to be a wallflower and lot weirder than she appears in the end, but it was, presumably, toned down to not take from Bruno’s status as misfit, for him to stand out more drastically, I guess? Even then, I’ve found things to appreciate about her with that little material that is out there.

To be honest, I’ve never found convincing that popular fan theory of her covering Bruno all that time, it always appeared to me she was just genuinely startled with being able to hear him somehow (or having impression of such), as a sign of his mysterious supernatural presence, nothing more (naturally, it was debunked by director eventually – too big misconception to leave it vague, it seems). Heartfelt idea, probably, but there is other thing in canon to judge her good will: she is briefly shown to be friendly with Isabela, and even despite having valid reason to keep grudge against her – she *was* actually about to take away from Dolores something she cherished – she never seems to act hostile to her cousin, openly or not, or was hinted scheming against her, or badmouth her, even though she seems to have taste for a gossip. Compare to our protagonist. (Every time I have to address Encanto, it has to come down either to subject of Bruno, or Mirabel dissing.) Nevertheless, I like hypothesis I’ve seen once, about Dolores using the secret of prophecy to her advantage, as means to (somewhat justified) sabotage Mariano’s proposal, as it become the last straw to hold onto in the face of terminal loss of faint hope. You can’t blame her, as what was awaiting her is much worse than regular failure in love: not just getting unable to recover and move on, but oversee (and overhear) her beloved one set in relationships with another before her very eyes for the rest of foreseeable life. Enough to drive one crazy, and being doomed for it, she seems even more benevolent and humble toward her rival. But what with said sabotage and that small scene of her little addendum to Mariano’s words she quotes about him wanting “five kids”, just to see Isa losing face for a moment upon hearing it? This, I think, is evidence she knows her cousin far better than younger generation does (again, Mirabel who’s in the dark for beginning of the story), and aware about her keeping façade at all times and having lot of bottled free will and emotions. She, most likely, knows or realizes reluctance on Isa’s part in all that situation with marriage, even as it’s not clear if either of them has been open about it. So, she occasionally attempts to crack that façade and get Isa to deal with her honest feelings. And compare the messed-up proposal with the story of Pepa’s wedding (which recalling, probably, not by accident precedes the matchmaking dinner and leads to it). Even natural (well, kinda) disaster wasn’t enough to call off marriage arranged out of true love, and Mirabel (in honest case of fair reasoning) wisely notes the ruined engagement is *not* a legit reason to state Isa’s chance for marriage is failed. It’s just forced interruption in predetermined process that launched her powers out of control, and then they manifested her denial to go through with it, for once confirming she lives a lie. That way, actions of Dolores seem to come across as these of trickster, not unlike ones by Bruno (judging by Pepa’s story, anyway), ultimately setting record straight and for better. (And, as it’s hinted and ultimately confirmed by director, the strength of miracle is fueled by unconditional love, so one can wonder what a damage an involuntary marriage based on unrequited love may occur.)

The romance of Dolores herself is something I wasn’t looking deeply at originally, as it seemed to be a footnote to me, last minute hook-up to tie all dangling ends together in record time. Mariano himself is something of “McGuffin” character, and a joke on archetype. The development is brief, and we get just a short summary of it (I assume as with all musical numbers, it’s an artistic license and in “reality” there was more time for relationship to blossom). So, nothing really of substance to chew on. Until I realized the love match does, in fact, not need much of development because it’s foreshadowed by another one shown through the movie. As many noticed, there is certain semblance between Isa and her Tía Pepa: powers of both are influenced by their emotions, both are bottling up their emotions to keep said powers under control and maintain pleasant façade, both have thorny relationship with younger sibling… But it seems, if we look at Dolores, she also has personality similar to that of her Tía Julieta: she’s soft-spoken, caring, gentle, and both niece and aunt have heart symbol somewhere in their costumes (Julieta’s apron embroidery and Dolores’s earrings) to signify their empathetic personality. And their respective love interests both are men of tall stature, implied to be quite intelligent, well-mannered, and somewhat accident-prone. Maybe, comparison is subtle (and arguably not even intentional, to be fair), but can be used to justify one match over another as more natural, fateful one. At last, it’s also implied that Dolores is only one who sees value in Mariano’s good qualities (hence her empathetic core), his kindness and intelligence, while at first it seems only the status of his family and his looks do matter for anyone else (we don’t get proper impression, but it’s what can be taken from what is shown). And probably, she, as somebody to whom vision is not main or trustful canal of perception, doesn’t even care what he looks like, but who he is on inside, which falls into the central theme of the story: looking deeper with your heart to find true connection with loved ones.

[lxmelle]

Do you think there's a way/chance Gojo might still return.

I very very very much don't want that but some theories around here started getting to me.

For example the fact that we don't know Kenjaku's technique and how it works, also in the recent fanbook in Gojo's timeline the airport scene was referred as "a certain place" not afterlife.

Also his end was uncharacteristically 'happy' for jjk. Yes, his body is still used but his soul escaped the exploitation.

Soooo I'm curious as to what you think?

Hi, Anon 😊

Thanks for submitting a question - I don’t get many of these! What an honour that someone wants to hear my thoughts 😆 You’ve opened the floodgates of my mind, so proceed with caution 🙈

I’ll preface by saying that I generally feel that people can believe what they want to, so I don’t typically go out of my way to impose my opinion if I disagree with someone about their views. It’s just about being respectful I guess? I kinda wonder what theories there are out there about his revival, because I don’t engage with the content-makers much at all.

I will say I’m not ignorant to them, and do sometimes come across some posts on twitter & Reddit of that nature. Nobara and Gojo seem to be the most popular for revivalists. I get the impression that these posts dissect phrases / how things are described, or focus on the symbolism of specifics like that of lotuses’ regarding rebirth… but I think it doesn’t change what cannot be changed. Gege has hinted at his stance of them not returning for some time with how the story has been unfolding. Correct me if I’m wrong, and I know satosugu fans also do this for their “ship”, the only difference I perceive is that theorists exclude evidence that refutes their opinions (i.e. cherry picking things that become twisted into conclusions) and therefore it becomes a confirmation bias.

For example, the lotus symbolises many things, including purity due to how the blossoms grow in the murky depths of muddy water. Not necessarily rebirth in isolation. The lotus also carries some meaning in enlightenment. Resolve for growing despite its conditions. So... ince again, it’s not necessarily just rebirth.

In terms of the permanence of death… The have been too many reiterations of the narrator and reactions of characters that describe Gojo’s death for it to not be fact. I know this will disappoint those hoping for a comeback, and I think this question wouldn’t be posed if there wasn’t a sliver of hope that Gojo would “return”. I dunno, I guess I have mixed feelings about this because why just Gojo? Because he was the strongest, therefore he “deserved” to live again? His students need him? But… What about Choso? He didn’t get to be more of a human. And Nobara? Was that all her young life amounted to? What about Yaga? Didn’t panda need his dad? And Nanami? He didn’t get to go to Kuantan or retire with his riches he slaved for as a salaryman. Countless others, really. And let’s not forget Geto. He deserved to have a better life too. Did he not? (I, for one, would love for Gojo to come back on scene if Geto could as well... but... yeah. Alas. 😔)

So I guess I naturally have to ask: If it was so easy for the dead to rise again, why was it not possible for others who have died before Gojo? Also, unlike others, Gojo didn’t seem to reject the possibility of his death, so unlike Sukuna who had an interest in becoming cursed objects to extend his life or Kenjaku who body hopped, of Tengen who erased people... Gojo had no such wish, and felt he would “win either way” whether he lived or died in battle. This was his philosophy that was akin to a Military General. He was, to his core, very objective and accepting. It was both a strength and a weakness - just as Gege described in his character book.

Speaking of being a character… within Jujutsu Kaisen, Gojo Satoru was just one person. Gege spoke about his process behind Yuji as the main protagonist over Megumi and how Gojo’s role as the sensei was sealed after JJK0, whereas Yuta could be omitted. What remains true is that Gojo wasn’t the lead protagonist of the series. It would narratively be a disservice to Yuji, Megumi, and Yuta as members of the new generation.

What remains also true is that he was loved as a character. His legacy had been left. He made a significant dent in combatting the biggest threat to humanity. His role has been fulfilled... as fans we can continue to love him and recognise his impact. I think Gege depicting him in so many flashbacks is an ode to him in many ways. I don’t think it would be done like this if he were “returning”. It just does not make sense.

If we also think about what Gojo wanted as a character, or as an individual - I think he also found his own fulfilment. He didn’t want to return. I’ve come across some interesting perspectives of international fans who opened my eyes to a different perspective too: that Geto was happy to support him “as long as he was satisfied” and wasn’t going to urge him to go back - if going back was even possible in the first place. Because Geto prioritised Gojo as a person and not as the role of sensei or role as the strongest. So if Gojo was satisfied enough, Geto was satisfied that he was there to stay in the afterlife.

Let’s talk about directions too. North, according to Mei Mei, seemed to mean... rebirth. To become someone new. No where does it say that returning back to life was a possibility. Was she even right in the first place? Was the plane actually going to take off? So many questions. Whatever it was… Gojo also said he wished that the airport scene was not a figment of his imagination. The strongest sorcerer. Praying? I mean... why shouldn’t he get his wish? 😪 I think Gege said that the airport scene was like a reward for those who died. There is a better word for it but I can’t remember what it was. Will edit this post when I can remember.

I mean, these are my personal views and I guess people will believe what they wish to believe and hold onto different pieces of what’s shown to justify their beliefs. I suppose I wonder what has begun to sway you if his comeback isn’t something you particularly want? Is it a hope that he can continue something that you feel has been left unfinished? Is it out of love for him?

Hmm… I guess I feel like the baton had been passed, and he’d done all that he could possibly do, as the strongest

…even to the point of letting his body be used once he could no longer use it.

I know it is disturbing on many ways. However, within the series itself, it was a necessary strategy from the perspective of those not knowing how things would transpire.

Everyone there experienced a desperation to survive - to find any potential way to defeat Sukuna without the umbrella of safety that was Gojo Satoru. And Gojo cooperated - he never bothered with collaborating with to others since he always fought alone. This was character development too. This was for the next generation too. He couldn’t fight all battles for them. Some things, they needed to do themselves. Just as how he and Geto, as teens, were assigned to a mission that nearly got them all killed. This was the screwed up jujutsu world.

Ultimately, Gojo did his best in the battle. He did his best before the battle. Killing the higher ups included.

We may not know what Kenjaku’s CT is, but only Yuta can body-hop now… Gojo’s body, without Yuta in it, will not have a functional brain. Remember: he was also brain damaged from the fight with Sukuna.

It isn’t possible to survive without a brain. We don’t know how they’re keeping Yuta’s body fresh and how fresh the body needs to be in order for Yuta to return to it. These are the strange questions we can only speculate since we also don’t know how Kenjaku managed to enter the body of Geto in the state he was in, and then regenerated his heart and arm. Gojo’s body was stitched up in preparation for Yuta, for example. Yes it is mysterious. But. As it stands, again, only Yuta can hop. Gojo... I’m sorry to say 😪😢 is lifeless.

I think some theorise that it’s about the soul. But honestly, I believe Geto’s body with Kenjaku in it did not have Geto’s soul in it. It’s not a “Megumi’s soul co-existing with Sukuna” situation. Nor was it “Yuji with Sukuna”. Geto’s body was imbued with his CT and his memories, just like a cursed tool would - e.g. Nanami’s weapon. So Kenjaku can pilot it and receive information from it as part of his CT. It’s like a humanoid mecha.

It reacted to Gojo’s voice like a “dragonfly without its head” - it was merely a physical reaction.

Just like how a human body will twitch and move even after the person has expired.

Like the tail of a lizard that twitches even if detached from its head. It is involuntary. A residual instinct.

Kenjaku’s perspective of how the body and soul is one directly contrasts with Mahito’s view. So I don’t think we should pick one interpretation as more correct than the other when they both agreed that it was dependent on Cursed Technique in the end.

So... I guess those are my views. I really like how you phrased it - as his soul escaped exploitation. I suppose I see this as being true, since we saw Gege describe Gojo in this kind of “afterlife” that he doesn’t try to explain. I mean, this is an afterlife specific to Gojo, so who knows where it is?

Gege is funny like that I think. Multiple characters have been shown to hold conflicting views, and even as the story creator, he doesn’t play God who knows all and sees all that is able to describe a definitive afterlife. It’s both poetic and frustrating at the same time imho.

Honestly, I also find it challenging to accept. A part of me wonders if he wanted it to be an actual delusion, but I’m reminded of how he talked about souls and reincarnation - so I know in the verse that souls exist and that what Nanami said about his death was something Gojo couldn’t have just imagined in his dying moments.

Sorry it took a while to respond! Hopefully it’s... thorough enough? If you have something else to follow up, please drop me a comment or another Ask!

[cursedvibes]

I went on @epickiya722 blog and ranted all about how I think that the womanizer characterisation of Gojo by the fandom does not make sense. The points I gave to why this man can not even be in one relationship were:

Trust issues. Gojo does not trust a lot of people due to being the target of assassination attempt since his birth.

Self isolation. He does not feel like others truly understand him or can relate to him. So, he does not truly give himself the opportunity to be close to anyone.

I could go in more detail but I already saturated, the previous blogger ask and I do not want to trigger a hypefixation that will make me write a 2000 words essay on " Gojo got no hoes: this man has a negative rizz".

Also, I'm new to the fandom, so my interpretation could be lacking a lot of elements from the manga.

What do you think? (This is a bait for you to write a loooooooooooooooooooong answer)

I forgot to add. I don't think that most Jujutsu Sorcerers are in the mental headspace to be in a relationship with all the things they have to deal with. Maybe if it is for politics, as in getting married to someone because of their abilities and how it can be beneficial for your clan.

Well, I wouldn't really say I'm an expert on Gojo, but he's definitely not a womanizer. The only reason this is even such a popular perception of his character is because of some misinterpretation of a comment Gege made before Hidden Inventory started, where they said Gojo wears sunglasses when meeting girls/a girl (Riko). And I guess fans assume because they think Gojo is hot, he must be swimming in pussy. In canon, most people seemed to be turned off by his personality and status though. Yuuta (guy who still runs around with the replica of the girl who made a pinky swear with him in elementary school) even teases him about how ridiculous him having a significant other is. Gege said that at least when they were teenagers, Geto was the more popular one. Can't say I understand that because the guy seemed like an absolute bore and always looked down on the people he considers weak just like Gojo. Gojo was being straight-forward about it and not pretending he's a nicer person than he actually is, which I can respect much more than Geto's slimy attitude.

I agree that a big problem for Gojo is the self-isolation he puts on himself that comes with being considered The Strongest. People might be intimidated, but fundamentally there is nothing keeping him from forming close relationships with others once he knows them better. He sees himself as entirely removed from others and not even having/being the same existence.

He is the one who put himself up there and who thinks that only someone on a similar pedestal like Sukuna or previously Geto could understand him because he considers them separate from other humans and closer to himself. The label "The Strongest" is a necessity for him to think he could ever form a truly equal relationship with someone. That way he is very similar to Kashimo and Yorozu, also people who tried to teach Sukuna about love and desperately tried to relate to him because they thought he was the only person who could understand them (he doesn't and he isn't) and that way they only managed to close themselves off to people who could've actually helped them.

Vulnerability also plays into it to an extent because it's no coincidence that Gojo has his Limitless on almost constantly. The thing is, to form a real personal bond with others and have a close relationship with them, he needs to make himself vulnerable and also step down from the pedestal he put himself on to meet them at eye-level. You see that very well with how Takaba and Kenjaku's fight ended. Kenjaku also used to separate themselves from others for safety reasons, suspicion and just general habit. They craved friendship, but had trouble forming the truly equal relationship friendship requires for them. In the end, Kenjaku allowed themselves to fully engage with and get involved with Takaba and that vulnerability led to their death, but it also made them happy and as they said, was one of the best moments in their long life because it fulfilled the base wish/desire that was behind all the wild experiments and merging of people and curses and whatnot.

You could say Gojo is similar and had a similar death in that he was made vulnerable, but it wasn't so much that he stepped down from his pedestal to connect with the people who were already trying to reach him and cared about him, instead he made himself vulnerable by antagonizing someone who also stands on a different pedestal. He doesn't lower his guard, he seeks out someone who could overcome it by force. Unfortunately, that person doesn't actually care about him. If he had tried to connect more with the people already next to him, he might've been happier or more emotionally fulfilled, even if that means he would have to give up his strength or lower his defence. Instead of making children into weapons in hopes of some of them also climbing on that pedestal, he could've left his. There is pressure for him to be in that high position, no question, but he is the one who separates his existence and status as a living being from others. He would've needed to unlearn that thinking first.

All in all, the last thing you said in the second ask is most important. Sorcerers, especially the ones at Jujutsu Tech, generally just don't have romantic relationships or close relationships in general. Not the type the "womanizer Gojo" people are thinking about at least. Gege avoids talking about couples, but the only sorcerers who might be in a relationship are Kirara and Hakari and they aren't part of Jujutsu Tech anymore. Yaga is divorced and we don't know anything about the others except that most of them are very lonely and depressed. Some sorcerers, particularly those in the big clans, are married, but they don't seem that happy. Maki's parents don't look like they love each other or have any joy in their life really. So if we go by canon, no sorcerer is in a committed and/or loving relationship as far as we know (like I said even Hakari & Kirara are up in the air), which makes sense because most of them will soon die anyway. Maybe some of them have sex on the side, but probably more as coping mechanism. With how hung-up Gojo is on Geto aka the closest relationship he had in his life, I don't see Gojo being one of them. Not saying he's crying into his pillow 24/7, but getting close enough for sex with others seems difficult. Plus, ideally the other person also has to like him enough to agree to do it with him and finding someone like that isn't easy either.

tldr: I agree "Gojo got no hoes: this man has negative rizz"

[danandphilplay]

*just want to clarify that by short form I mean youtube video uploads not youtube shorts. like videos to the channel not to the shorts/tiktok like content bit.

my answer to this is kind of one long yap. also did not put a third option for no preference bc ik a lot of answers will be ill watch anything from them and whilst i get that i want to see if there is an actual preference between the two so pls pick which u like/prefer or even engage with more

I think generally I prefer long content but it is also very dependent upon what the video is about. what I am trying to get at tho is I would love to see dan and phil play some different longer game series. yes I am thinking about life is strange AGAIN but I really would like a series like that and I genuinely would not mind if the wait between videos was longer than more frequent short form videos

just my opinion tho bc obviously we have no say over the dnp games channel but I feel long form game series may be a popular move?? but at the same time people may not have the time to watch and keep up with long videos/series. in the example of life is strange I guess the actual first game is quite old now but I still see people playing it on youtube for the first time and it’s still a popular game so I don’t really think that is an issue. obviously dnp know what sorts of games and uploads get more views and engagement (not saying that that’s the most important thing about uploading but it is definitely important to consider) so that impacts what they play too. hmmm I don’t know how to phrase it so I hope it sounds alright buttttt I do wonder if long form content or just a new series would do better on the channel and bring in new viewers? there is obviously a huge nostalgia factor with dapg and there’s still the core fandom that engages but I wonder whether content length impacts any growth in new viewers?

there is clearly the issue with long form content simply taking way longer. it obviously takes longer for dnp and their editors but also for viewers to have the time to spend on a series so maybe long form is not a popular move bc of that reason

nowww this also leads to a 4th option I wanted in the poll but I took out is whether people would want dapg youtube shorts. because reallllly super short content like shorts reels tiktok whatever else is so popular atm and so many highlights or funny moment clip things exist I wonder if that is a direction dapg will go in. I know dan isn’t rly a fan of all that especially tiktok but imo some of phil’s youtube shorts on lessamazingphil are still funny I just wonder if dapg shorts will ever become a thing and not even necessarily new content just like highlights or idk outtakes of a video like the ones anthony posts from his interviews. the highlights of the vid with dan seem to have got a lot of engagement too although ik anthony is a very popular creator still and his rebranded content continues being popular so I just wonder if dapg will ever have that kinda shorts thing going on??

I also think the times they’ve used the community tab to do polls or just general discussion has been fun and it just kinda gives the channel more personality imo!

again I just wanted to yap there is like 0 seriousness in this or what dapg should post bc I do watch whatever they put out I just wonder if there will be a shift in content and if that would impact the channel overall. idk!!

[sea-lanterns]

Hi I’m hoping to get some advice with this: so on my alt blog I’ve been wanting to get back into writing like a lot of the blogs I like (yours included ☺️) but well I never know what to write cause I don’t get any interaction. I know I should learn to write for myself but idk I guess what I’m trying to ask is, if you’ve been in this situation, what do you do when you wanna write stuff but don’t know what to write?

Well, for starters I will suggest writing for what you’d like to see yourself in first. A lot of the stuff I write is purely for my own indulgence and desires, so a lot of it is actually self insert stuff disguised as x readers (that’s why so many of my fics have a sub reader lol) if you are delusional enough to imagine that you are actually in the place of the Reader, you will find the drive to write for these made up scenarios you make up for yourself 😌

I will also recommend not taking requests. I see a lot of writing blogs take requests for fics, but do remember you are not obligated to take all of them. Requests can be good for inspiration, but it can also be overwhelming to write for so many of them at a time. I don’t take requests for fics because I like to write at my own pace without the stress of hurrying for someone’s fic, and that makes writing a lot more enjoyable and easier imo

Thirdly, I will also recommend going outside. I actually take a lot of my inspiration for fics and thirsts from going outside, seeing places, and imagining unique scenarios that take place in them that inspire me to envision them with the characters I love. An example of this is my very popular pool smut fic, which was inspired from going on vacation with my family last summer.

I guess some extra advice I could give is:

- For more interactions on your blogs, use big, main tags for posts that are relevant. Even if the post is small, like a small Drabble of a Ningguang x Reader thirst, tag it with Ningguang x Reader. If it is relevant to the tag, you can tag it. Don’t be shy.

- To keep up engagement within your blogs, try to post at least 3-5 times every day and interact with your readers in your inbox. It sounds like a lot, but I’ve been doing this method for a while on at least one of my blogs at a time. I have 3 blogs in total, but I will almost always update at least once or twice a day on one of them.

I hope this advice helps you and any other writers who wish to build up momentum! I’m no expert, but this is just what I’ve been doing for the past year 😅

[viburnt]

Heyyy loved your Izuku story, made me want to request one with the prompt "How could I do that to him/her?" Maybe someone is flirting with adult Izuku but he already has a partner and is very loyal OR maybe having an interview where the host makes a joke/insinuation he should go and take advantage that he is famous to meet many more people

Whatever you prefer 💖thank you

I hope I managed to convey the feelings you expected, Anon! Have some loyal dog Izuku *smooch* Also Pro-hero!Izuku is a smart crowd pleaser, he knows how to play his cards and outsmart malicious people. Also you didn't specify any gender so I went with gender neutral.

-Viburnt

𝐈𝐳𝐮𝐤𝐮 𝐌𝐢𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐲𝐚 || 𝐓.𝐕 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐬

— Welcome, everyone! Today, we're here with Japan's latest big shot and number one pro-hero, Deku! We are so excited that you were able to have some time for us, darling.— The model serving as a hostess said, her body language exaggerated, and her outfit provocative to gauge higher ratings for the show.

Izuku hadn't really planned to participate in the program, but after you convinced him to do so, he agreed; you'd always supported his career, so you encouraged him to engage with his fans often.

Izuku just wished it had been with a less slimy host, feeling uncomfortable with the frequent lascivious looks the model would throw at him.

—Thank you for having me.— The man said with his classic charming smile. —It's a pleasure to be here with you guys.

—Say, Deku, you've become quite an icon lately. Your popularity is almost as high as mine!— The woman joked, eliciting a slight laugh from the live public. —Have you grown used to being a groundbreaker?

Midoriya bashfully looked at her, feeling her eyes checking him out from head to toe as she spoke.

—Well, the hero life is a difficult path, I have to admit that.— He started, trying to formulate an answer that would suffice. —But it's something I love, and I'm trying to be the best at it.

The model nodded in understanding, allowing her hand to roam to the muscles of his arm.

—Absolutely! We are very alike in that aspect, you know?— She commented, giving a slight squeeze to his biceps. It was getting on Izuku's nerves. —It wouldn't be too far-fetched to be together as a couple.— He heard her say with a wink, the audience having mixed reactions to her blatant flirting.

—Don't you think we'd make a picture-perfect power couple?

Midoriya felt disgust towards the hostess, feeling overwhelmed by her constant indecency. "Talk about basking in reflected glory," he thought, wishing he could get away from her.

—Haha, well, I appreciate your interest, but I'm afraid I'm not available.— He answered with an unfaltering grin; even if it hadn't been long since he had first debuted as a pro-hero, he'd learnt a thing or two about managing his looks while facing the public eye.

The model pouted, pressing the matter even more.

— Just think of the headlines! We could be an 'it' couple.— She added to her desperate attempt to convince him. —Besides, wouldn't you prefer to change your old partner for a brand new model? You'd be the envy of your colleagues.

The public awkwardly laughed at the hostess' behavior. It was funny the first time, they'd guessed, but after a while, it just felt uncomfortable– Even they could sense the uneasiness in Izuku through his charismatic facade.

—How could I do that to them?— Midoriya answered, shaking his head. —I love my partner; they are the best. I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world.

A loud wave of clapping and cheering soared after his answer, moved by the vulnerability and sweetness behind those words. Izuku swore he'd heard a man scream "I love you" at him.

—Hey, baby, if you are watching the show like you promised, wait for me for dinner.— Izuku said to one of the cameras, referring to you as he took his leave from the scene.

For a few weeks, the whole interview fiasco had spread on every social media platform, but every single post had one thing in common: they all agreed that Izuku was loyal to you.

[cosmicjoke]

Im so tired of this fandom. I really think I’m done with it honestly, people have completely ruined this show for me. Levi is one of my favorite characters in all media and I’m just tired of logging on and seeing people go to Levi blogs like yours to hate on him. I’m sorry you have to deal with that. These people go out of their way to hate on something people enjoy and it’s awful. And they are just vile with their comments because they can hide behind anon. I’m sick of seeing certain character fans hate on Levi because they’re upset he’s popular. Newsflash to them: it doesn’t make us regard their faves any higher!! And I know this may sound stupid but I see this happening so often lately that every time I think of aot I think about this shit and it has severely diminished my enjoyment of this work. I can’t imagine getting asks like this constantly. I’m so sorry :( I’m so tired of the idiocy and lack of media literacy people have in the fandom. I’m sick of the superiority complex certain character stans have. And I’m sick of people attacking others for just liking a character like Levi. After a long day I just want to login and see art and meta from people who share a love for Levi.

I totally feel you. I get unbelievably sick of the crap I see go on in this fandom, and the constant bullying and harassment that takes place, on top of the way you aren't even allowed to fight back against it without someone else coming at you for saying something they supposedly find offensive, really does make being in this fandom exhausting. When you end up being attacked for defending yourself against bullying, it really is easy to become discouraged. So I thank you so much for your support, truly.

And yes, that anon really is a vile person, truly just disgusting. I honestly don't even know what their agenda is, other than wanting to make other people miserable, and I guess that says it all about the kind of person they are. That they've now resorted to trying to degrade Levi by using slurs and ableist language about him also says it all. Well, I refuse to let them do that to me, or allow them to ruin my enjoyment of AoT or Levi. Fuck them, I say. The harder they try, the more I'm just going to keep engaging and talking about how great Levi is, lol. I think that's the best revenge. And truly, they expose themselves anyway every time they open their wretched little mouth for the insecure twat that they are, lol. The fact they'll only send their messages on anon also speaks volumes about their pathetic cowardice.

So yeah, I totally understand where you're coming from, and wanting to just leave the fandom. But for me personally, I won't give these clowns the satisfaction of driving me away. Every time they say something to me, I'm just going to remind them that they're the ones who can't seem to stop talking about Levi and his popularity. Because at the end of the day, they only prove how popular he is by being unable to move past him, trying so hard to deny how loved a character he is, while themselves literally obsessing over him. It truly is the definition of pathetic.