#i swear parents just do not care what media their kids engage with

[rick-ipedia]

Anyone wanna hear about an interaction at work that made me feel icky? It's about minors and Hazbin, I'll put it under the cut bc it's kinda long:

So I have a tattoo of Angel on my forearm. It's highly visible all the time but it's literally just his head so who cares

EXCEPT one of the kids at work recognized it. This kid is in 5th grade, I think he just turned 11 like last week. Still plays with Thomas the Tank Engine toys, watches Bluey, very much a YOUNG CHILD.

So he sees my tattoo and is like "That's from Hazbin. Who's your favorite character? Mine is Alastor." And I tell him I don't want to talk about Hazbin Hotel with him because it's an R-rated show and I feel like he should not have even seen it before. He says "Oh I saw the version that doesn't have any gore or swear words." ??? I don't think that's a thing...

So I'm refusing to talk to him about the show and he goes "Why? I've already watched it." Then he starts chanting "ANGEL DUST, ANGEL DUST" at me. So now I have a small child yelling the name of a drug in the middle of a room full of other small children.

Then he says "I bet you didn't know Angel Dust is a boy." I confirm that yes, I knew that, in as few words as possible, and idk what to make of what came next...

Small child: "Don't you think it's weird that he's a boy?"

Me: "Um... No? I don't understand. Why is someone's gender weird? Is it weird that you're a boy?"

Small child: "No but isn't it weird that he ~does what he does~ even though he's a boy?"

Me: 🙃 "I don't know what you mean. What do you mean, what he does?"

Small child: 👀 "you know" 👀 "what he does"

Me: "TV characters do a lot of things, I'm not sure what thing you mean."

Small Child: "Nvm I don't wanna talk about it"

Which he said very much in the same tone kids use when they're trying to talk around something inappropriate

The whole interaction made my skin crawl because whyyyyyy has an elementary schooler been exposed to this show? Do his parents know? If not, why? And if yes, even more why???????

I don't even know where to start with unpacking my feelings about it. One of the things that really stuck out to me is that he seems to think the most inappropriate part of the show is "bad words and gore" when obviously there is so much more that he probably didn't even comprehend.

I have a friend who has a 10-year-old and ig she watched Hazbin at a sleepover. Now she walks around singing about sucking dick and bukkake and shoving things in peoples' holes. Doesn't even think twice about it.

Idk if I have a point other than, can we please keep children away from this show?? Holy shit.

[phcking-detective]

Not Alone

Nines decides if he gets put on hold one more time, he's violating the Geneva Convention.

"Hello, are you still there?"

"Yes."

The PACU nurse audibly sighs in disappointment. "I spoke with our Chief of Staff, and he has given me permission to reiterate to you that a work partner does not count as family. Our policy is—"

Nines involuntarily reviews the Post Anesthesia Care Unit's visitation policy for the sixty-seventh time.

Visitation in the PACU is at the discretion of the nurse and physician caring for you and varies depending upon your procedure. Once the nurse taking care of you is happy with your vital signs and other post surgical requirements, they will contact the waiting area and will let your family member see you. Our policy at this time is legal family members only.

Which is a currently-still-legal method of barring androids.

Never mind that this policy also has significant human collateral damage: adoptees, divorcees, mixed race families …

The end result is that Nines cannot produce a marriage certificate and he obviously is not related by blood, so no one will be there to greet Gavin when he wakes up from his surgery.

And that is unacceptable. The detective has enough abandonment issues already.

Connor cannot hear the internal phone call Nines is engaged in, but he has a social module and must somehow be reading the results from his body language or facial expression.

"Hank could pretend to be his dad," he offers.

The PACU nurse is still reading the visitation policy in full. She's clearly determined to make this as difficult as possible, and showing up with a random human male with pale skin and fair hair who shares nothing in common with Gavin's olive skin tone, dark hair, or facial features is not going to cut it.

Nines searches through every single scan and PDF of paperwork Detective Gavin Reed has ever submitted to the DPD. Finally, all the way back to carry-over paperwork from the police academy he attended, Nines discovers a phone number he's never seen before listed as Gavin's emergency contact.

And it says brother.

Nines uses the phone at Gavin's desk to call this number without mentally disconnecting from the PACU nurse. Normally, he would be more than capable of processing infinite phone calls, but he does not have a social module and his stress levels are climbing into the high eightieth percentile.

"Gav, you better be dying because otherwise—"

"Is that Elijah Kamski?" Connor blurts out in the middle of the precinct.

"—just fucking text me, bro."

"Well shit," Hank says. "Talk about can I speak to a manager. You think he'd be willing to fix—"

Nines holds up a hand. He does not have a social module and cannot possibly process three conversations at once.

"You are listed as Detective Reed's emergency contact," he says into the phone.

"Is he hurt or dead?" Kamski immediately asks.

Nines cannot reply for nearly a full second. He spent three seconds thinking his partner was dead. It was not enough for Detective Gavin Alexander Reed to merely get shot, no. He also had to fall off the roof of a building, and the impact from the landing was enough to briefly stop his heart, which registered to Nines's scanners that—

"Hurt. Surgery." That is all he can say at first. "Successful. He is out of intensive care and has been transferred to the PACU."

In the background, Nines can still hear the others in the bullpen gossiping. He did not mean to make Gavin's familial relationship public. He assumed the phone number for one "Eli Reed" would simply be a regular, non-famous human of no particular importance except to get someone into the hospital to reassure Gavin he is not alone.

"What does he need now?" Kamski asks. "Will he be released soon and need a ride or in-home monitoring?"

Those are [logical] questions. Nines supposes he should not have expected anything less from the man who is technically his creator. Even if he only wrote the code and was not personally involved in the android's construction or testing phase.

"I have already made those arrangements during his surgery," Nines reports. "His apartment is prepped for his return, and my lieutenant has put together a … care package."

"Is that the old guy, husky, beard? With that Connor I liked?"

Across the bullpen, Connor's advanced hearing picks that up, and he visibly preens. Nines practices making a facial expression by sneering and rolling his eyes at him.

"Yes."

"OK, cool," Kamski says. "So, do you need me to cover the cost of surgery or is he asking for me …?"

"I have been unable to contact Detective Reed," Nines admits. "The hospital's visitation policy specifies 'legal' family members only as a method of anti-android discrimination. You are the only family member I have been able to locate."

If you do not visit him, he will be alone.

Nines cannot say this dialogue option. He cannot—refuses to—preconstruct how [bad] it will be if Gavin wakes up alone. His human has a deep, psychological fear of being abandoned, and even if Nines is able to see him immediately upon release and explain the situation, the emotional damage will have already been done.

"Yeah, our parents are dicks, and he doesn't want any famous media bullshit, so we keep the half-brothers thing on the downlow," Kamski says. "Do you need me to be your way in?"

"Yes," Nines says, almost before he finishes offering.

"I'm just kind of assuming here that you're his partner, and he'll want to see you, right?"

"As I am assuming that he accepts you as his brother, and he will want to see you."

Kamski snorts. "I told them stripping out your social module wouldn't stop the deviant problem—or make you any less sassy. That's an inherent RK feature."

"Should I meet you at the hospital," Nines asks.

As much as he may be [curious] about his creator in another situation, this is not another situation. And the situation at hand requires getting to his partner's location immediately.

"Yeah, just send me the address and let me do the talking. See you there."

As soon as he hangs up, Nines is bombarded with [questions] from Connor, Miller, and Collins. Thankfully, Hank stands up and makes a pushing-hands motion to signal to them to be quiet.

"I know we're all real fucking shooketh about this," he says, like the millennial dinosaur he is. "But we can save all the questions and gossip for after Reed gets out of the hospital, all right?"

The humans both grumble, but they let it go. Even Connor stops and sits back down at his own desk.

Hank turns back to Nines. "I'll text Tina and let her know what's up. You just go get your man, kid."

Connor visibly restrains himself from commenting on what an apt descriptor "man-kid" is for Gavin. At least, that's what Nines assumes, considering it is the commentary he himself would normally make.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," he says instead.

He turns and leaves before the "goodbyes" can take any longer. Either whatever Kamski plans will work or … Well. He is the most advanced military android model ever created.

Nothing will keep him from his partner.

***

By the time Nines arrives at the hospital, Kamski is already utilizing his social module. And billions of dollars. The Chief of Staff [Thomas Carrado, unmarried, no arrest record] would wouldn't deign to speak to Nines over the phone is now vigorously shaking Kamski's hand while thanking him for his "generous donation."

"—also, I'm sure you'll want to see your brother too."

"Yes, and—" Kamski turns and [smiles] at Nines. "Ah, my assistant is here. What room should we go to?"

Carrado's own smile freezes on his face when he sees Nines. Even without the LED, there couldn't be any mistaking the android for what he is.

Kamski keeps smiling as well, the sort Connor does when he's about to verbally destroy someone.

"Right this way, Mr. Kamski," Carrado says.

The Chief of Staff turns on his heel without any acknowledgement that Nines follows them. In turn, Nines also does not acknowledge the glances Kamski keeps making at him. His vision is just as accurate in his "peripherals" as it is directly in front of him, so he has no need to turn his head or rotate his optical units to observe the human in turn.

Gavin's [brother].

"—in the nation, but with your esteemed patronage, I'm sure we can rise to first. And of course Mr. Reed will—"

"Detective," Nines corrects.

"—receive the best—"

"Detective."

"—care possible here—"

"Detective."

"—while—"

"Detective."

Carrado stops and whirls around. "Is your … assistant … experiencing a malfunction, Mr. Kamski?"

"No," Nines answers for himself. "You will refer to Detective Reed by his title."

"Oh, is he still pissy about that?" Kamski asks before Carrado can respond. "I swear, every single family dinner for a fucking decade, we had to call him Officer, Detective—he'll be insufferable when he finally makes Captain."

Bold of him to assume Gavin isn't insufferable now.

But Nines does not know the state of Gavin's relationship with his brother, and if the lack of contact is due to mistreatment. He will not risk "making fun of" his partner to a toxic family member.

"Will you be staying long?" Carrado asks Kamski.

"Nines, what does my schedule look like today?"

Nines may not have a social module, but Gavin has forced him to sit through watching enough daytime television to be able to parrot simple lines commonly said by ST300s.

"I have rescheduled your meetings and cleared the remainder of your afternoon and evening, Mr. Kamski."

As Gavin would say, [Like hell] he's going to call the billionaire "sir."

"Excellent." Kamski reaches out to shake hands again, and Carrado is forced to reciprocate. "Thank you so much for your assistance, Dr. Carrado. Now, I promise not to take up any more of your valuable time."

"Well, I'm not—"

Kamski gestures down the hallway, still smiling mildly as if he isn't "politely" telling the good Chief of Staff to [fuck off]. He maintains eye contact with the other human until Carrado slinks away.

It seems Gavin and Kamksi share more than just genetics and a similar facial structure then. Although Gavin would have squeezed the other man's hand hard enough to induce pain, and likely told him literally to fuck off as well.

"Well." Kamski claps his hands together once Carrado is gone. "Let's go see my baby brother!"

***

Gavin is dying. He's alone and he's dying. He's dying and he's alooone.

"Detective."

Person? People??

Hands touch him and it's the best thing ever. There's a person here, he has a person, he's not alone. He's not going to die alone because everyone hates him and it's all his fault for being a huge asshole in the first place.

"Please lie down, Detective."

Gavin stops struggling to sit up when he realizes the person is his person. His favorite person. He collapses back down in the bed, which hurts a lot more than it should. Probably because he fell off a fucking building and messed up the whole left side of his body and—oh yeah, also got shot too. That sucks.

It doesn't stop him from whining and making grabby hands—hand? his left arm and leg are both in casts, boo—until Nines bends over at the waist, and Gavin can drag his face close enough for kisses.

"Wooow." His brother says. "This is blackmail material forever, I hope you know that, Gav."

Wait, his brother? Eli??

"I will remove you from the premises," Nines tells him.

Eli scoffs. "My donation got you in here. Nines."

"And there is nothing on this earth that can remove me."

God, his partner is so hot and mean and cool. And he has a mouth! Gavin has a mouth too. They should … look into that. You know. Investigate.

"Hmm, and here I thought you didn't like my 'stupid toys,' bro."

Gavin stops trying to wrestle his mouth against his partner's mouth and looks at his brother, who is also in the same room as his partner, at the same time.

"Oh, shit," he says.

"Uh huh, uh huh." Eli nods and waves his hand in a sideways-circle. "Keep going. Either with an apology, or you can keep it up about how only a loser needs to build an android to have a girlfriend."

"This is different," Gavin says, very seriously while still leaning to the side to keep as much contact between his back and Nines's chest as possible.

Eli scoffs and gestures at the two of them.

"I don't keep him in my basement," Gavin argues.

"I didn't lock Chloe in mine either," Eli snaps back. "She's free to go where she pleases."

"Her and all her clones?"

"Oh, please. If I never invented her, you wouldn't have—"

"—lab is in your basement though, and that's—"

"Gavin," Nines says, voice right next to his ear. "Is your lack of contact with your brother due to this level of typical sibling fighting—"

"We're not fighting," Gavin says. "We're just talking and he's losing."

"You're the one dumb enough to get shot," Eli adds.

Nines straightens up. "Do not mock Detective Reed for being injured in the line of—"

"Whoa, whoa, hey." Gavin pats behind himself with his good hand as much as he's able. "Easy, babe. No combat protocols, OK? He's my brother."

"Hmm," Nines says.

"So he's like, super fucking annoying and all, but no one beats his face in except me." Gavin doesn't even pause before he turns back to Eli, who's already opening his mouth to bring up— "And you only got lucky with the water hose that one time, I can still kick your ass in any other fight."

Eli scowls, but he looks away instead of bringing it up. He still feels guilty about it. Goddamn genius, and he "didn't know" smacking Gavin in the face with the metal end of a water hose would bust his nose open like that.

Dipshit.

"You said you received your facial scar in a bar fight," Nines says.

Eli blinks, looks back over, then bursts out laughing.

"Shut up," Gavin groans. "You weren't supposed to meet like this, it's not fair!"

"How exactly did you plan on us meeting, Detective?" Nines asks.

Gavin keeps his right hand covering as much of his face as it can and doesn't answer. He hadn't really thought about it beyond how much Elijah was going to fucking gloat when he found out. And as much as he loves his partner, Nines is android-brothers with Connor, and they do android-mind-linking, and Connor is a horrible gossip, and Gavin does not need the entire precinct and/or world to know his brother is possibly the most famous man alive, thanks.

They have a whole arrangement about it. Maybe if he wasn't still feeling the effects of so much morphine, he'd be able to articulate that, and how he wants to be absolutely certain his career really advances on his own merit, and maybe even some other stuff about Eli getting way more attention than him and growing up in the shadow of his cooler, smarter, more popular half-brother …

Ugh.

"Ughhh," Gavin groans again.

"And when were you planning on finally texting me, huh?" Eli asks.

Gavin looks up so he can scoff. "You fucking text me, asshole."

Eli inspects his probably-already-perfect nails. "I've been busy."

"So have I!"

"Getting shot?"

Nines interrupts. "That reminds me." He leans down to growl close in Gavin's ear, "You will never do this again."

Gavin swallows back a moan. "Babe, please don't make me horny while my brother is in the room."

Nines rolls his eyes. "There is no other recourse for me to leave then."

He knows his partner is joking. He knows that. But between the morphine and the exhaustion and now the pain in his side slowly seeping back into his body—Gavin grabs onto Nines and clings to him.

Nines immediately bends back down and wraps his arms around him as best he's able. "Shhh. I will not. I am here, and I have you secure. Shhh."

He makes the shushing noises more like a stern librarian than a comforting boyfriend, but it's ironically comforting after all because Gavin knows no one else would literally say "shhh" like it's a word. So this must be his Nines, his boyfriend, his partner.

"Wow, this is really touching."

Gavin lets go just to flip Eli off.

"Can I get in on this snuggle fest? I haven't seen you in what, a fucking year now, and you get your dumbass shot."

Gavin grumbles about it, but he holds out his good arm for Elijah. The dumb asshole comes over and gives him a one-armed hug, careful not to wrap around too far and touch his side. Or his broken left arm. Broken left leg. Goddamn, he really did it this time, huh?

Once they've hugged it out, he pulls back and says, "Since I built your Nines, when he uses his combat protocols to kick your ass for this, that's basically like me kicking your ass."

"No way," Gavin immediately replies. "You haven't been able to kick my ass since we were ten, and don't—god. Don't phcking, say it like he's you about my ass. That's weird, bro."

Eli grins at him. "Oh, so you two are already doing butt stuff, huh? That's pretty serious, like third base."

"Anal is only second," Gavin tells him.

On his other side, Nines blinks red. "Then what … do you consider first?"

"Uh, a blowjob, duh."

"Wait, what's a handjob?" Eli asks.

"Nothing, between friends."

Nines blinks. "Then thank god Tina is not here."

Gavin looks back down at the bed. "I guess she's busy, huh?"

"No," Nines says as if that's reassuring. But he continues, "She is not allowed to see you. The hospital's visitation policy allows for 'legal' family visitors only."

Gavin looks back up at him. "Then how'd you get in?"

Nines scowls. It's one of the few facial expressions he's mastered. "I searched through every form you have ever submitted to the Detroit Police Department, found an emergency contact number listed for your brother from nearly fifteen years ago, called it, spoke to Elijah Kamski, and then pretended to be his assistant."

"But hey," Eli says. "After the amount of money I just donated, I could wheel in a giant birthday cake filled with Traci strippers, so I'm sure I can get Tina in whenever you're ready."

Gavin smiles weakly, but now he's thinking …

"Is that why you weren't there when I woke up?" he asks Nines quietly.

"It is the only reason," Nines assures him. "My next option after calling your emergency contact was to simply walk inside and see what they thought they could do to remove me."

He looks absolutely serious about it too. Gavin's smile breaks out into a grin, just imagining some poor fucking GS200 security guard nervously asking the most advanced military model ever made to p-p-please leave … sir? Wh-whenever you're ready though, no rush!

He gets the giggles, but then that really makes his side hurt. Nines helps him lie back down before he even realizes he's too tired to sit up anymore. He also gets petted through his hair and that's nice, that's sooo nice.

"I'm … love you," he mumbles.

"I know." Nines smooths his hair back one last time and kisses his forehead. "Rest now. You can talk to your brother more when you wake up. We'll both be here."

Gavin still clutches at him though. "And Tina?"

"Yes," Nines says. "And Tina. Hank too, although he will likely bring Connor."

"Ugh, Connor."

"Yes."

A yawn catches him before he can complain any more about that, and having a nap does sound really good right now.

"Eli, tell me what you're working on," he says, blinking repeatedly to try to keep his eyes open. "S'boring."

Elijah takes a seat next to the bed. "You mispronounced boyfriend, but OK."

"He's boring too," Gavin says, but like, in a loving way. "He filed my ta-a-haaaxes."

After that last yawn, he loses the blinking battle. Eli starts explaining something about a new form of titanium, and Nines keeps one hand resting solidly on the center of his chest, so Gavin knows he's there.

They're both right here.

***

***

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[creatingnikki]

Dear Happiness,

We haven’t spoken for a while, I know. How are you? Happy, I take? Gosh, sorry! I had to crack that one. Let me start by apologising. I’ve wanted you for too long and then when I couldn’t have you, I’ve bitched about you for too long. I know right, humans! 

But you did come to me, so many times. When I was four and my parents took me and my sister to the amusement park. And then at seven when I...okay, now it just feels forceful. I can’t remember, not naturally at least, any memories of you from my childhood. Is that a statement on how traumatic my childhood was, or perhaps just barren? No, I know that’s not it. I think I just didn’t think about you then or care about you then because you were always kind of just there. No, I don’t mean to offend you - it’s just a fact.

All I knew was you. Sadness, Pain, Boredom, Jealousy, Anger...they all befriended me later. It’s only when I shook hands with them that I realised my hand was being held all along by you. They seemed very enticing at first, and you were plain, pretty routine too. So, they said they wanted to invite me to their group, something that they don’t do often, and that they will never leave me no matter what. That promise sounded powerful and I liked all the attention, all the heightened reactions in my brain. So, I said ‘okay’. 

Anger put it’s arm around my shoulder and Boredom caught my pinky and they said they would take me to someplace amazing - and the journey would be just as fun. Jealousy walked behind us and Sadness became my shadow. These guys really stuck by me! I was impressed by their commitment, though I didn’t process it all too well for a child. 

Then, one day, I wanted some space, I was growing up, I needed to discover who I was without my friends. I also wanted to make new friends. But my old friends, well, they wouldn’t have it! Anger insisted on using my words to hurt everyone and Sadness scared away most boys. Jealousy made me come across as obsessive and a little crazy, while Boredom made me unimpressed by everything around me - nature, art, people. 

Just when I thought I would have to go on this way, my parents asked me, ‘What about Happiness? We haven’t seen her for a while. Did you guys have a fight? She was a nice kid.’

And just like that, it all came back to me. The feeling of being in the present, not being restless, enjoying life and all aspects of it, and being infectious. I had forgotten all about you! That’s when I began my search. I had grown older, so I was able to lie and manipulate my friends to get away from them for a bit. And I had a few good days alone where I made a lot of progress in my search for you. But these guys would always show back. And each time with a new one. 

The first time they returned, they brought back Anxiety. I felt bad for Anxiety - always so jittery and unsure. So I decided to carry her burden on my back as a bag - a heavy, heavy bag. The next time they got Depression. He was a tricky one. He was powerful and deceptive. At first I liked him because he made all the others go away. I mean, he said he liked spending ‘quality time’ and I thought that was sweet. But after a while I wanted to sit right there in the middle of the road and lie down. I didn’t care if a car ran me over. It wasn’t that I was tired of this journey I had embarked on or my search for you, Happiness. It’s just nothing seemed to matter anymore, you know? 

That’s when you came back to me! You saved me, and for that I’ll always be grateful. I know you say my family found you for me and my books and favourite TV shows and that stranger who was oceans apart. You also said that it was me - you said I could reach out to you whenever and that I didn’t need to walk thousands of miles or even search for you. You said what I needed to have you was already within me. 

And I swear, I looked! Because you didn’t stay for long and I wondered if you had made too many friends. Like that girl on my Instagram feed who kept travelling and that boy with the cool job right after college. But that was Jealousy playing its tricks, I now know. 

So, I decided first I needed to deal with my childhood friends. I sat Anger, Sadness, Boredom and Jealousy down and told them this wouldn’t do. I didn’t have to call for Anxiety, it never left my back or even Depression for that matter because he was always stalking me. That creep! 

I drew up contracts for each one of them - I told them that we couldn’t bid each other goodbye forever but we could come to an understanding. I asked them to take turns, I was going to follow Depression’s ‘quality time’ technique, except of course, not with him. I told Sadness she could only visit me when I was reading emotional books and movies or when someone spoke about sexual abuse. She knew that would be frequently, so she agreed easily. I made Anger angry so she said she didn’t want to have anything to do with me. I didn’t believe her at first, but she stuck to her words for too long. Now, sometimes, she does manage to show up. And honestly, I am grateful for that. 

Boredom was too bored to even get through the conversation so he just signed the contract. Now, I have all the power. I let him show up every now and then but mostly I see the beauty in everything and let it impress, engage and entertain me. Jealousy was actually not even listening. She was so caught up in the world of social media, that I realised a great way to keep her away was to stay away from social media apps. And truly, it isn’t all that hard! 

By then I had picked up a few tricks from these friends and managed to reduce Depression to a black fluffy key chain that Anxiety was quite dazed by. So I hung it on one of her long, loose ends and for the most part Depression doesn’t bother me now. Of course, there’s always the danger that it will dangle a bit too far down my leg and make me trip. But I did find Courage somewhere along the way, so she makes it okay. 

You know, Happiness, it was only after I did ALL this did I realise I shouldn’t look for you. You were too busy going around keeping children company until they lost their innocence. And why should I take those few good years from them? Everyone deserves a few good years with you! And eventually, you know, I found what you were referring to having inside of me. But of course you already know that! You guys are best friends and she must have told you - Peace.

But OMG can I just quickly bitch about her for a bit? She is WAY TOO pricey and her standards are so high. If I make one mistake, like this one time I didn’t stand up for myself, and she didn’t see me for like 4 years. Or if I breach any of my contracts with Anger or Jealousy, she retreats and I have to make things right again, to see her. I know, I know, she’s pretty awesome and I need to be that person who deserves her. That person who’s best friends with Courage, Satisfaction, Authenticity, Earnestness and Strength. 

I have managed to add them to my LinkedIn account and we know each other on professional terms. We’ve had a few good projects we’ve worked on together. They have taught me a lot and I really enjoy spending time with them. But I still have to develop our relationship and I know Peace is waiting for that too. I will get there. I am getting there. 

So, I just wanted to tell you all of this and let you know that I am officially giving up my search for you, Happiness. Thank you for everything and I hope you’re proud of me. I’ve tried to retain all that you gave me - Hope, Positivity, Laughter and Joy. I wear the first three as charms on my bracelet and Joy? Well, she’s my favourite pendant. They get rusty soon, but over the years I’ve found multiple concoctions to fix that. Somehow the secret ingredient always changes, but hey, I’m not complaining. As long as I always figure it out!

Yours forever, xoxo

[eyeslikefoxglove]

Episode 21 - The PTSD is strong with this one & we need more braincells

Hello hello! Welcome to the commentary. How’s everyone? I’m frozen solid because it’s mid-June in Spain and yet we had 11°C yesterday. Fucking awesome!

I AM NOT WEARING MASCARA SO I CAN CRY ALL I WANT. I DONT KNOW IF THATS GOOD OR BAD THO.

Can I just take a second to appreciate how much this big strong powerful men emote? I mean, I know this isn’t western media where the tough guy can’t show emotions, and I don’t know that eastern media has the same hangups about men emoting but just... it’s so refreshing.

Huaisang bb you’re so sweet.

Oh, oh the PTSD is strong with this one.

Also, bless both JC and NHS, they absolutely noticed WWX flinch and, in their own ways, went and steamrolled over it so WWX wouldn’t feel scrutinised.

WE INTERRUPT THIS BROADCAST TO INFORM YALL THAT I GOT A KITTEN ON MY LAP. (She’s kneading my boob, which, ow, but...)

*BICHEN GRIIIIIIIP*

How do y’all think the guards go deliver bad news to WRH? Like do they paper-rock-scissor it? Draw straws?

NMJ did you have to?

And once again I wonder what would’ve happened if JFM had let sect leader Yao kick it.

Ughvhfnevus it’s this clown. Same as with Su She, if you see a bunch of screaming it’s just me not wanting to listen to Jin ZiXun.

The Nies: let’s throw a banquet to honour WWX’s return

Every asshole there: *gossips about WWX while in the room with him*

Once again I wish I could transmigrate (and speak mandarin lol) and just start delivering tongue lashings.

Listen, I have no idea how to play Guqin, but I did play the guitar for years and even from here I can see how much YiBo’s hands don’t match the melody. Nothing against him but why does this always happen? I know they got classes, so was the music not written by that time or something? Because one thing is not hitting the correct notes, another is plucking slow notes when the tempo is much faster.

JC: Since yours and LWJ’s unhappy separation...

My dumbass: do you mean breakup? *eyebrow waggle*

You will pry my “JC knows his brother is pinning after LWJ, he probably doesn’t want to know anything else” hc out of my cold dead hands thankyouverymuch.

WWX: *spouts a bunch of misdirection to avoid giving JC a straight answer*

JC: Bull-fucking-shit.

Should I count how many times WWX PTSDs all over the place or would you like me to leave your hearts intact? That’s two so far.

Ok ok, I feel that, if someone with a bit less trauma and a bit of insight (NHS maybe?) had seen the bit where ChenQing fucking hurts Shijie thing would’ve gone differently. I mean, yes, LWJ keeps warning WWX that this shit is gonna fuck him up, but as I said in my previous commentary LWJ also has the communication skills of a hermit crab so that wouldn’t work, and JC would be too wound up and WWX too busy trying to conceal his lack of golden core for that conversation to go anywhere. But if someone who WWX knows is a good egg (I’m not gonna say trusts bc paranoia) had sat him down and told him “your new instrument that you use for your new form of cultivation just hurt the person you love most please be careful when you use it.” I think it would’ve worked wonders towards his health overall.

I know Shijie says it’s like Zidian, but she’s not working with the fact that this thing is made for and by the Dark Side of the Force and I’m sorry but I can’t help but see ChenQing as a bit of a horrocrux almost. Or like, if you like me think the Burial Mounds is an Entity, something that’s a bit more sentient that it lets on.

Speaking of reputations and NHS being a good egg, I have oh-so-many ideas (I won’t say plot bunnies because I can’t write for shit) in which NHS for Reasons (time-travel? Letter from the future? His massive brain?) realises just how much damage WWX is doing to his public image. And he might be a sheltered dandy, but he saw what being the son of a sex worker did to Meng Yao despite how hard he worked (I’m assuming he doesn’t know about the whole betrayal business). This is way fucking worse, like hell is he going to let one of his best friends paint a target on his back. So he pulls back his sleeves, engages his slytherin brain and proceeds to lay down a plan to throughly destroy WWX’s reputation as a powerful genius.

I’m guessing LWJ and JC protest, and maybe WWX, and NHS just hits them with “do you want him respected or alive?” And they shut tf up. He glues himself to WWX, and brings up as many instances in which their behaviour can be compared as he can (we got drunk and punished at cloud recesses, we slept in class, we skipped to go fishing, I don’t carry my sword either). And, because assholes be assholes, people like Sect Leader Yao or Clown Cousin are quick to start spouting their own derogatory bullshit and thus WWX the untamed powerful prodigy dies a fiery death. Now he’s just a mouthy kid with a quick mind that “does tricks instead of battle” (I’ll never get bored of using that Thor quote). I also like to think that people who personally know WWX and are not pieces of shit go give NHS a tongue lashing for messing with what they thought was his friend, NHS takes that as a test of good eggness and bring them into the plan. Soon the whole Cloud Recesses class is swearing up, down, left, right and centre that all the shit WWX has ever successfully pulled is just an insane amount of luck and quick thinking.

I don’t know how would they work him into the battlefield (disguise? Mask?) to unleash his demonic cultivation but that’s Plot and I don’t do that.

Also, because I’m a terrible human being I want to say that people assume LWJ is on “pretty but useless” WWX like white on rice because *insert derogatory comment about being good in bed and sexual favours*. Because y’all know the assholes here are Like That. And WWX is horrified because holy fucking shit he’s gonna drag LWJ’s reputation down, he can’t have people thinking HGJ is ok with having him as a concubine pretty much. But before he can act LWJ politely all but confirms that yeah, he’s tapping that, y’all wish you were but he doesn’t share and none of y’all are good enough for his Wei Ying anyway. CUE FAKE/PRETEND RELATIONSHIP BECAUSE I AM INDEED TRASH FOR THAT TROPE.

Muahahahaha y’all thought I was gonna devolve into my personal hcs and not include my fave trope? Shouldn’t y’all know me better by now?

(Btw I like this bit ^ so I might polish it a little and post it separately as well, just a warning if you find yourself reading an eerily similar post by me)

WuJi is playing and LWJ is pining so much. Also, if LWJ did not just realise that, just like Yu the Great, WWX had no other option but tame resentful energy I’ll eat my blanket.

I refuse to believe Jiang Yanli didn’t become the unofficial war camp therapist/sounding board/only sane person/everyone’s mum/I just need a hug and a corner to cry in peace. There are not enough fics about Shijie being her gentle BAMF self while in the camp and it’s a pity. My crops are dying y’all!

Also, I will fight anyone who scoffs at Shijie being the epitome of the “gentle woman who cooks and waits for the men to come back from war”. Look at her mum, do you think it is easy for a kid (she was a kid in the flashback when WWX ran away) to see that day in and day out, to have that as a “role model” and decide that she was not going to be like her mum? That she didn’t like what she saw in her so she was going to be kind and gentle? And do you think it is easy for a person barely in their twenties to deal with years of verbal and psychological abuse for again, being gentle and kind, and not grow a hard shell of bitterness to protect themselves? And to keep being gentle and kind while at war, with your parents dead and your siblings unraveling before your very eyes? Shijie is so fucking strong and I love her.

Hey look, the White Walkers!

“Resentful energy is just energy” ok, valid. But my dude, you’ve got black ghost smoke coming out of you and can hear people screaming in your head. I’m not saying it is evil, like someone’s uptight set in his ways arrogant uncle; but it sure as shit ain’t healthy.

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH (that’s a Clown Cousin scream btw)

Ok ok, just one little thing: IF SOMEONE ELSE CALLS WWX WEI YING AS A SHOW OF DISRESPECT IMMA SCALP THEM.

...are those crows eating that man alive? Yikes on bikes.

(Assume my comment about YiBo’s Guqin playing also goes for Xiao Zhan and his flute. I can’t play the flute but the tempo doesn’t match his fingers)

I’m just gonna say it, I think 3zun (well, 2zun as of now) suspect shit went down badly for WWX, that’s two questions by both of them in a very soft conciliatory tone. They are genuinely interested/worried about the topic, and don’t seem to come off as chiding or judgemental. I mean WWX is a weirdo irreverent kid and they’re sect leaders, they outrank him so much it’s ridiculous. I’m also counting the fact that both their baby brothers like him towards them being so kind. But I also think WWX just triggers all their big brother instincts the second he walks in.

Oh there’s a thought, Shijie, Wen Qing, NMJ and LXC take a look at everyone’s shitty parents and just decide to adopt everyone.

What happened at Yiling was a traumatised teenager (is WWX even 20?) PTSDing all over the place with the Dark Side of the Force whispering in his ear and an all powerful trinket at his disposal. Not saying I approve of all the torture and murder but he clearly isn’t revelling in them.

That is some outstanding bit of big-brothering on LXC’s side and I love it. Also, my dumbass just realised LWJ probably wasn’t quoting WWX when he was being punished (what is white what is black?) I think he was quoting his big brother. Which is magnitudes deep too, but in a different direction and I might love that scene even more.

Ok fuck it, I’m gonna tangent. So I had a terrible boyfriend when I was 15-18. He alienated me from my friends, sunk my self-esteem to the molten core of the earth, tried to convince me my parents were abusive and encouraged (aka threatened manipulated and cajoled) the slow tanking of my high school marks. I have A Problem when I see media where someone latches onto their significant other and everything they are shifts towards that person. Now, love, true genuine love, is powerful, and I believe it can be the catalyst for shifting your world-view for the better. I don’t have a problem with that. I don’t have a problem with people sticking with their romantic partner if it is clear their previous “family” is so much shit. I don’t have a problem with LWJ coming out of his shell and defying corrupt precepts because his love for WWX made them see they were wrong, or getting sassy and unrepentant during his punishment (I have a problem with the punishment bc that’s abuse but...). But I do side-eye WangXian being the only thing in their orbit. People need people, and WangXian have other good people around them. So I kind of love that yes, WWX showed him the system was corrupt, but it is the words of his brother he is sticking by to the defy said system.

Let’s go back to our scheduled slew of held pinning glances shall we?

LXC after That awkward run-in: WangJi I wasn’t gone that long, what the fuck did you two oblivious pining idiots do?

(LXC has “bitching” tea sessions with Shijie and you can’t convince me otherwise)

LWJ: *is being dramatic and not knocking on WWX’s door*

Me: oh my god you fucking idiot

Shijie: *walks in*

Me: oh thank god someone with a braincell.

Ah yes, there we go triggering WWX’s paranoia again. Why would he get a break.

OH MY GOD YOU PAIR OF FUCKING IDIOTS. THATS IT, FUCK THIS SHIT IM OUT.

@ LWJ: bitch wtf was that? I know you’re shit at talking but have you thought about writing it down? Letters anyone? It worked for mr. Darcy.

(Yes LWJ is mr darcy and now I want an au where LWJ writes WWX letters and just pours everything in them, WWX finds them, any everything is sunshine and rainbows)

While this bullshit fight/misunderstanding is all on LWJ’s shoulders, I’m also going to scream at WWX. Because yes, he is in PTSD hell, but he trusted LWJ before, and yet he can’t get past his perceived notion of LWJ’s character (and his own inadequacies) to trust him again and ask for help. Plus, you know, he thinks he doesn’t deserve he’ll bc *waves hand at WWX’s trauma conga line*

These episodes can’t be good for my BP.

Thanks for reading!

[peepingtoad]

@asagao-onna​ said: ❌, 💧, 💸 (this one really has me curious), 📺 (especially a certain someone's books...), 🃏 Any rules regarding the kids having pets? | headcanon prompt | accepting! |

❌ What is absolutely NOT okay for their child to do (e.g., hitting, biting, not eating, leaving the table, throwing food)?

The examples, pretty much, fall under Not Okay (besides leaving the table because... who cares, let them). Other behaviours he wouldn’t accept are just... any that cause antagonistic and deliberate discomfort to others, really. He doesn’t set enough hard rules for many things to be deemed unacceptable.

This also comes back to his methods of discipline in cases of things being No! Not Okay!, which... haha. Not really his strong suit. He’d never hit his kid if they were getting hitty (in a non-playful way), but he isn’t going to put up with it either and will likely just hold their hands or whichever offending limb until they stop, or do something to completely distract them from the hitty behaviour like tickle them. Then probably say ‘by the way, nobody likes a person that hits/bites for no reason’... whatever good that will do. Throwing food? They’re gonna get an even bigger handful thrown back as a warning shot, and then their plate taken away until they want to eat properly :’)

So yeah, behaviours like that... they’re not okay to do. But he’s pretty dumb and mild at best in his methods of stopping it. Most of it is hoping that the repetitive action of him either doing something more stupid and annoying back, or just halting the behaviour in a way they can’t really refute will get it through to them that it just ain’t worth the effort. 

But I digress... massively.

The only other type of behaviour I can imagine that would be absolutely Not Okay is bullying other kids, or cruelty to animals. That’s something he'd have to get all Serious Dad about.

💧 Are they the type of parent that runs to their child’s side and freaks out if they cry, or are they able to let them cry it out?

{Answered!}

💸 Do they believe in giving an allowance? If so, at what age do they start giving an allowance? Is it in response to achievements or good grades?

Jiraiya says it himself that he’s not short on funds at all, and when it comes to his kids he won’t be stingy with it. Obviously he’d start small, but he considers it a good lesson in independence for young kids to have a bit of pocket money, and good for their confidence to choose things in stores and get them to interact with adults.

As they get older he’ll increase it, and try to keep it fair if he has more than one kid, but he’s also not the type to pay attention to who’s had what either. If he’s asked for some cash he’ll probably just direct them to the last place he dumped some cash. Really, he’s probably way too flippant with money, even if he does still bang on about the ‘Three Taboos’ at times. 

If it’s a direct response to his kids’ achievements, however, he’s more likely to think of a treat to buy for them, in the form of a present or outing somewhere!

📺 How closely, if at all, do they monitor the media their children consume? Is there an age restriction on when they can watch/view “mature” things?

Let’s face it, Jiraiya was perfectly fine with Naruto proof-reading his book so, haha... perhaps he won’t be putting it in his children’s hands himself, but if it finds its way into them, he’s probably not going to care that much either.

Same goes for other media. Again, as with drinking, this is probably an area where the deprivation in his own upbringing shows up most while raising a kid himself—notwithstanding that fact, though, I just don’t think he’s the type to really consider it harmful for kids to see mature content (whether swearing, violence, racy stuff or just adult themes in general). It all comes back to his policy of honesty when it comes to discussing these things with his kids, what they mean, and what doesn’t or shouldn’t reflect reality in any way.

Of course, he’d rather not allow such things to fall into the hands of the very young. But once they’re hitting the curious teen years, he doesn’t see much issue and has none himself when it comes to discussing media.

🃏 Wildcard! + Any rules regarding the kids having pets?

His only rules with regards to that are for the kids to know an animal’s exact needs in terms of environment, and for them to understand how to/how not to socialise with an animal. Sage animals are different, of course, but in general when it comes to herps they need very specific conditions and diets, and they don’t socialise in the way mammals do. 

So as long as his kids are aware of that and respect the animal’s needs, he has no issue with them having any number of animals, whether they were bought or taken in as rescues/to rehab! Of course, it’s something he’d be more than happy to engage in too, having rehabbed animals on the regular when he was a kid.

[goldenhaechan]

More cute markhyuck please

ask and you shall receive 😌✨

let’s go for aged up!markhyuck with kids

mark & donghyuck finally have their shit togeher

their careers are stable, they have a steady income, they recently just got engaged, they just became dog dads after adopting a cavapoochon puppy named alfred

so they start looking at houses bc hyuck’s always imagined being carried thru the treshold of his dream home after his wedding

their real estate agent, irene, shows them a few houses and none of them feel right

either the house is too big or too small, or the floor plan is weird af, or the neighborhood vibe just isn’t right

despite all that, mark & hyuck are still optimistic

finally, irene shows them a renovated brownstone and they know that it’s the one

mark & hyuck are more than happy to put a down on the house and close the deal

they start moving in a few weeks later

hyuck loves ikea and just decorating in general so you best believe he drags mark to ikea multiple times a week to furnish their new home (they also order furniture and other stuff online but ikea is where it’s at)

when their house is full of houseplants and aesthetically pleasing decorations, hyuck plans a housewarming party

the smile on mark’s face doesn’t falter the whole time that hyuck is playing good hostess

also alfred loves the house, especially the backyard

hyuck lowkey imagines raising his and mark’s little family in their home and he gets a bit teary at the thought of their kids running around the 3-story brownstone

it’s winter now and they spend nights cuddling in their living room with alfred at their feet, rewatching harry potter while sipping hot chocolate

more often than not, jaehyun (hyuck’s step-brother) finds them tangled up in each other in the early mornings and he always sneaks pictures to send to the markhyuck gc

flash forward to hyuck and mark’s wedding

it’s a spring wedding that’s held outside and hyuck can’t believe he’s really getting married to the dork from next door

mark cries when hyuck reads him his vows and vise versa (the first part of hyuck’s vows were lyrics from jb’s boyfriend)

ofc their first dance has to be to mj’s love never felt so good

mark carries hyuck thru the threshold bridal style and they’re both giggling between kisses like fools in love

they’re flight to bora bora isn’t until the next morning so they spend the night in high spirits while having slow, soft sex

bora bora is amazing and they take so many pictures and eat so much food and spend so much time in each other’s arms

but like all good things, they’re honeymoon comes to an end 2 weeks later and they’re back to work and falling back into their normal routine

mark & hyuck always make dinner togeher on friday nights while blasting mark’s r&b playlist

slow dancing in the kitchen y’all

and singing duets while they’re doing the dishes

dancing with alfred in their arms

just mark & hyuck being in love and being cute with their dog

it’s 2 years into their marriage and alfred isn’t a puppy anymore but a cute 2 year old doggo that mark brings up the subject of kids

hyuck is excited bc he’s been imagining raising kids with mark for the longest

they weigh their options and decide to adopt and have kids thru surrogacy

bc mark has always wanted a big family and hyuck being from a big family himself can’t imagine a house without it being full

the adoption process is long and a rollercoaster full of emotions but it was all worth it

they bring home haechan (who’s 2 yrs old) and his biological sister haerin (who’s only 10 months old) just a little after mark’s birthday

alfred is protective of his new human siblings and loves it when haechan gives him belly rubs

haechan is very clingy and very affectionate towards whereas his sister is aloof and doesn’t like it when people try to hug/kiss her

but bring hyuck around and haerin is a whole different person

she clings to donghyuck like a koala and mark might be just a little jealous

hyuck and mark don’t play favorites but obviously their kids have their preferences when it comes to which parent they like

bath time with haechan is a dramatic affair and mark always ends up soaked from head to toe

haerin only lets hyuck bathe her but prefers when mark dresses her. she will scream and scream if donghyuck even tries to dress her after bath time

donghyuck learns that hard way that if you tell a kid no, they’ll still do it anyways

mark learns that you shouldn’t promise kids anything bc they WILL remember and they WILL have a fit if you don’t keep that promise

parenting is difficult but they’re new parents and they’re trying their best ok

haechan is 3 and haerin is almost 2 when mark & hyuck start to look into surrogacy

mark and hyuck find a full service surrogacy agency

and then there’s lawyers involved to discuss terms and compensation for the surrogate and mark asking awkward questions about turkey basters but everything is smooth sailing once they decide who’s going to be the ‘donor’ first

funnily enough, they play rock paper scissors and hyuck wins

mark doesn’t mind bc either way he’s still going to have a baby at the end of it

their surrogate is a woman called wendy and mark bonds with her since they’re both from canada

hyuck is very attentive and he makes sure that wendy is comfortable and taken care of all while managing to be a full-time parent and a full-time PR director

how he does it?? mark thinks it sorcery

haechan kind of knows what’s going on and he’s excited to have another sibling

haerin’s nice and all but she doesn’t share and she makes him cry so maybe a brother would be nice

when wendy starts showing, haechan is eager to feel on her belly while haerin turns her nose up at the sight and hides in donghyuck’s arms

mark lowkey cries at the gender reveal bc omg another little girl?!

their family and friends are excited to have another little girl in the family

mark thinks he’s imagining it but maybe haerin looks lowkey pissed

time skip~

wendy gives birth to a healthy baby girl and she’s more than happy to hand the baby over, wishing hyuck and mark good luck with their baby and their growing family

sure, they keep in touch, but it’s better this way and plus they have a contract

mark names the baby michelle (bc he knows donghyuck loves mj)

when haechan and haerin meet their new sibling, it’s like love t first sight

tbh hyuck is a bit surprised that haerin takes a liking to the newborn bc of her indifference to most things

alfred is of course is eager to sniff the new baby. he finally has another sibling!

having a newborn is different from having toddler and an almost toddler

michelle is fussy for a few weeks and donghyuck really doesn’t know what to do

fortunately mark took family leave and hyuck swears that his husband is a baby whisperer

so while hyuck takes care of the older kids and alfred, mark feeds and bathes and changes michelle’s diapers like a pro

their family and friends start to visit them more often now

haerin is always happy to see her uncle jaehyun while haechan clings to his uncle taeil like no tomorrow

michelle, now almost 3 months, basks in the attention she gets whenever there’s company in the house

what can i say, she likes being held

another fast forward in time

haechan is now in kindergarten and haerin is in pre-k and michelle is now 2 and there’s another baby on the way

well, babies

yup, it’s twins

donghyuck fainted when the doctor told them and thankfully mark was there to catch him

their surrogate isn’t wendy this time

they get matched with a woman called krystal and she lowkey reminds mark of jaehyun

jaehyun: seriously when are y’all going to stop having kids, hyuck: mind your business

donghyuck has long since stepped down was the PR director and now manages social media for the company he works for

he prefers to stay at home and work at home and just be with his kids and their dog

when mark comes home, he’s greeted by the pattering of little feet and claws before he’s surrounded by his kids (and he’s, alfred counts too)

they all hang off of him, all eager to tell him about his day as he carries haerin and michelle in each arm and haechan on his back

donghyuck as usual greets him with a quick peck on the lips and reminds him to wash up

mark always sets the girls and haechan down before he washes up

they always wait patiently behind him and pounce on him again when he’s done drying his hands

it’s become a part of their routine now; to cuddle mark while recalling their days while hyuck makes dinner in the kitchen

they kids weren’t allowed in the kitchen while hyuck is cooking after haerin managed to set a paper towel roll on fire

anyways, dinner with the lees

it’s loud, it gets messy, and sometimes food is thrown bc haerin doesn’t take shit from anybody, especially not her older brother who’s just a cry baby

honestly hyuck wonders why his daughter is so angry all the time and he makes a mental not to sign her up for some activities to get her anger out

she’s only 4 for crying out loud

the next and final babies of the lee family are born and they’re fraternal twins

the first twin is a girl and donghyuck names her heaven (“really, hyuck? heaven lee?” “shut up mark it’s cute”) the second twin is a boy who mark names minhyuk

unlike michelle, heaven and minhyuk are angels and they sleep thru the night and they don’t fuss (as much)

both sets of grandparents are happy to spoil all of the kids despite mark and donghyuck’s protests

raising 4 kids that are slightly close in age proves to be difficult for mark and donghyuck

they have many sleepless nights and sometimes they can even feel the exhaustion deep in their bones

but they wouldn’t have it any other way

alfred is usually a good distraction when haerin and haechan are fighting so that’s a plus

the day heaven and minhyuk are potty trained and are able to eat on their own, hyuck cries

haerin catches her papa crying and hugs him without asking any questions

that’s one of the things donghyuck loves about his daughter: she doesn’t pry and she’ll offer comfort without any hesitation (unless it’s haechan ofc bc she really can’t stand her brother)

a few more years pass...(haechan is now 10, haerin is 9, michelle is 7, and the twins are now 5)

hyuck ends up signing haerin up for taekwondo and haechan starts to take ballet, michelle is taking piano lessons, and the twins are taking cooking classes

the one activity they all do togeher is take korean language classes bc donghyuck will be dammed if their kids only spoke one language

mark and donghyuck keep the kids busy bc they’re so high in energy and they need to burn it off so they usually take them out bowling or hiking or any fun family activities mark can think of doing

and sometimes their cousins join in and it’s pure and utter chaos but let’s not get into that

bc hyuck is home with the kids, he tend to keep them on a tight schedule to get hw done, chores done, and anything else so that they had time to do what they liked

honestly donghyuck would like to think that he and mark have done a pretty decent job raising the little gremlins considering the fact that haerin was a walking and talking hulk but in recent years she’s calmed down thanks to taekwondo and playing sports

bc there’s so many females in the house, mark decides to research about the menstual cycle and he even joins a few forums so that he’s ready to give his daughters the talk when the time comes

to say haerin did not look happy to be talking to her dad about her bleeding vagina would be an understatement

but michelle and heaven makeup for haerin’s disdain and they hug mark and thank him for everything

mark might’ve shed a tear afterward and haerin might’ve also hugged mark and thanked him before giving him the rolling her eyes at him and locking herself in her room

when the family dog passes away a few years later, the kids are devestated and they lock themselves in their rooms until hyuck calls them out to eat or remind them to finish their hw and their chores

it’s sad really and it breaks mark’s heart

he’s discussed getting another pet for the kids but hyuck didn’t want them to go thru another heartbreak so that plan was tossed out

suddenly after a month the kids are back in high spirits

haerin isn’t even screaming at her sisters or teasing haechan so mark knows something is up

that something ends up being a stray kitten that’s hidden in their basement and hyuck spends an hour lecturing his grown kids (haechan, haerin are in hs now, michelle is in middle school, while the twins are in elementary school) about harboring a stray kitten

towards the end of the lecture hyuck is cuddling their new kitten (heaven names him sol after the sun god bc he’s an orange tabby) and he’s cooing, not even paying attention when haechan and minhyuk low-five discreetly

mark just shakes his head, smiling fondly at his kids when he reminds them not to pull another stunt like this

they don’t take home seriously ofc

tbh hyuck is scarier than mark so we all know who does the grounding and the punishing at home

1 day, the kids come home and michelle is scratched and bruised up and hyuck feels his blood pressure rise when he spots blood on his baby girl’s shirt as she hands him a slip of paper that says she’s been suspended for a week

“papa, it’s the other girls” “damn my little girl is a scrapper” “now is NOT the time to encourage this type of behavior MARK LEE”

michelle explains to her parents that she found minhyuk being bullied by a group of girls for wearing nail polish and ‘feminine’ clothes to school and she wasn’t going to resort to violence but one of the girls called her baby brother the b-word

haerin is beaming and praising her younger sister, dragging her away to clean her up while heaven trails behind them, not wanting to be left behind

haechan comforts his younger brother and tells him that it’s okay to dress however he likes and that other peoples opinions don’t matter

mark wants to explode bc omg his kids are so good?? what?? how’d that even happen??

he just really loves his husband and his kids. wow.

okay that’s all i have. i’m sorry if it’s not good anon. i really did try my best. feel free to send me prompts or whatever they’re called lol. my ask box is always open 😌

[lokiarsene]

akechi is literally a fucking abused kid whose parental figure would have murdered him if he didnt do what he was told and people still have the gall to say he isnt innocent i swear to fucking god. actual real life abuse survivors hate you, anon

I feel like this is a slight misunderstanding of canon. Akechi was the one who approached Shido, and Shido even says that he almost thought Akechi was insane re: the cognitive world. It isn’t as though Shido kidnapped akechi and held him at gun point.

Things may have spiraled out of control after a time as Shido groomed akechi for murder, and I do recognize that. Yes, it’s a fucked up thing to do to a kid. Shido is a bad fucking man. No one’s disputing this.

But it’s disingenuous to act like akechi was completely powerless in his situation. Akechi was already planning revenge anyway, and it was his choice to pursue it in the way he did as opposed to cutting it short and stopping Shido for the sake of righteousness or justice. (Mod Krist addendum: I stand corrected on an earlier reply I made to an anon arguing that Akechi didn’t act of his own volition. For some reason I remembered this part as Akechi approaching Shido with some information about Personas and the cognitive world, but Shido knew more and used that against Akechi. Now I know I was wrong!).

To think of Akechi as a purely innocent victim robs him of his agency as a character and disregards canon. Akechi didn’t care whether what he was doing was right or wrong in a grander sense – he only cared about what he felt was right for him personally – and that’s what gives him his agency as a character.

From one abuse survivor to another: escapism and comfort characters are totally fine to have, but it’s important to also be critical of the media you consume.

Mod Krist addendum II: While I understand and absolutely sympathize with how protective you and others are of Goro, anon, I think it’s important to remember that these two things are true at the same time: Goro is a victim of a broken social system and his manipulative monstrous father, and Goro committed crimes and did not care about them. Goro is both a victim and a perpetrator. Neither of these two things cancel the other out.

Fans of Akechi acknowledge both of these things, and the only difference is how people then discuss those two features (his crimes and what he survived). It’s totally fine if you don’t really care about what he did, or if you use his abuse and mistreatment and unjust circumstances as a reason for why the crimes don’t bother you. Anyone who tries to tell you that this is wrong/bad/you’re ~problematique~, and then go on about how you should feel about fiction you consume is a fucking weirdo with no business engaging in fiction (and it’s different from saying to critically analyze the fiction you like, because that’s just a general bit of advice you’re free to ignore too!).

And to be like, brutally honest here I couldn’t care less about what he did because the murders are so beyond anything approaching realistic crimes that it doesn’t faze me at all. I feel horrible for what Futaba went through, but if I just look at the whole “killing Shadow selves or causing people to go berserk” thing, I don’t care at all. Killing Shadow selves is different from, say, the realistic brutality of what Game of Thrones villains do (mutilation, murder, torture, sexual abuse, etc). Akechi hopping into an alternate reality to track down the Shadow self manifestations of people’s minds and kill them isn’t even approaching realistic, so for me personally I don’t bother thinking about how “wrong” or “bad” it was. It just happened.

Lest it seem like we’re coming down too harshly on Akechi and what he endured, please note that Mod Sirea and myself are both survivors of abuse (which is still ongoing here and there, because lol abusive families are the shackles from which you can never escape not even on a genetic level). I personally completely sympathize with his raw, brutal anger and frustration and pain, and speaking just as someone who writes stories and understands narrative structure and villainous motives, I can see how that could blind him enough to make him not care about anything but revenge. My own anger/frustration/pain manifested internally (years of self-harm), but it was born from a similar blind rage.

So again, it’s totally fine if for you personally (and others!) to care more about what he suffered than about what he did. I already said I honestly am not in the least bit fazed by it (and in the case of Okumura, that motherfucker had it coming). What it all boils down to is that we all come to our own conclusion of why we like Akechi, what we personally think about what he did and what was done to him, while also understanding that Akechi fans don’t need to have one single consensus on what those feelings are.

[slvtbible]

ain’t like the other

Warnings: none!

Pairing: black!Y/N x longhaired!harry

[this is a small blurb for all my beautiful Melanin queens out there! Sorry if it sucks:/]

**

Harry wishes his friend’s wedding party would just be over by now,

It’s way past 11 pm and he’s tired as hell. Has been working 24/7 to finish his second album before the deadline finally hit him, his fans deserves the best and that’s why he won’t sleep until he finishes all of it. And because he’s too kind towards people, he couldn’t say no to one of his best mate, so he forces himself to get out of the bed—after only getting 2 hours of sleep— and head out,

Now, he’s starting to regret it. He wishes he just lays his ass on the comfortable bed and never wakes up.

Right now he’s standing alone as he leans his back against the wall, looking over at the newlywed who shares a soft kiss to which the crowd cheer on. He feels his body is about to collapse but it’s not entirely his fault, and it doesn’t feel right for him to excuse himself from the party just to get to sleep.

That would be so selfish of him and so he needs to wait.

“Harry! Thanks for coming mate!” His friend clasps his shoulder as he’s coming from his side, “i know your schedule has been very hectic at the moment but I appreciate it that you took your time to come here.”

Harry nods, giving his friend a dimpled smile. “Won’t miss it for the world, man. Finally has tied the knot, eh?” He jokingly asks

His friend chuckles, letting a small sigh escapes his lips as his eyes stares at his new wife who are laughing and taking pictures with her bridesmaids,

“Yeah, still can’t wrap it around my head to the fact that I’m a married man.” He takes a sip of his bourbon drink,

“Still can’t believe it either mate. She’s a keeper. What a lovely woman she is.” Harry compliments, nodding over to his best friend’s wife,

“Back off Haz, she’s mine.” Trent jokes, chuckling to himself,

Harry responds with a laugh, nudging his shoulder with his knuckles softly, careful not to spill his drink,

“Not planning to steal her.”

The two shares a laugh after, and soon begins to talk about their new lives. Trent asks him about Harry’s family back home and how’s his new album going. The two man even jokes about how Trent used to have a crush on Gemma but failed to asked her out because she already got engaged.

Harry also gives him few advices on how to keep their marriage long-lasting, though he hasn’t been married. He has seen enough of marriages that has failed and hasn’t. His parents for example,

“Well, gotta go. Chelsea needs me to arrange a few pictures in the back or something. See you later H.” Trent smiles and slaps his shoulder playfully before walking away to his new wife,

Harry’s left to swim with his thoughts yet again. He should’ve bring a plus one to this wedding. But he’s already fed up with the media stirring up some shit about him. If he asked one of his friends who’s a boy, people will immediately assume he’s gay and if he asked one of his girl friends to be his date, media will making up rumors about how she’s Harry new girl and shit.

That’ll only create more drama between the fans and he doesn’t want that. He had enough of fans arguing about his sexuality when himself hasn’t even confirmed yet, people may think he hasn’t seen what they written about him. He knows

He loves his fans to death but God forbid to say that they can be such huge pain in the ass sometimes. But he chooses not to say anything, because he’s known as the nicest guy on earth

Or at least that’s what he thought,

“This scene isn’t really your cup of tea, is it?”

He hears a soft yet [he can assume] fake British accent speaks from behind him,

In curiosity he turns around and he swears that she’s the most beautiful woman he has ever laid his eyes on in this party.

Her hair is dark—almost black— colour, pulled into a high bun which he can easily make out her long lashes that compliments her big brown eyes. Pink lips gloss paints her plump lips that he can’t help but stare at for what it feels like eternity,

What captivates him the most is her white shoulder off dress that stops right above her knees. Contrasts beautifully with her dark and glowing skin tone, and shapes the perfect large portion of her breasts and the rest of her curves that he has been longing stare as he does with her lips.

“Sorry that was bad. I’m not British actually but i went to school in London.” She says blushing a bit, stirring the drink with the olives

He smiles, setting his attention to the beautiful girl standing before him. “Really? Thought you were real posh for a sec.”

She rolls her beautiful eyes but manages to smile anyway, “right? Did you know that they’re looking for the 2.0 Scary Spice at the moment. I just knew i had to volunteer.”

Both laugh at her joke and he can’t help but notice how pretty her smile is and how her eyes squinting a bit as she does it. It’s truly the most prettiest sight he has ever seen in a while,

He learns that her name is Y/N and she just graduated from Kingston University for a Criminology major. And now she’s taking a gap year before she continues to pursue a major in Master but she has been having second thoughts about that.

“Bride or groom?”

She’s quick to shake her head, waving her hand off. “Neither. Just here for the free drinks because my sister asked me to be her date tonight.”

He nods in understatement, not once tearing his eyes from her beautiful face as she continues rant about the lack of music taste in this wedding and how she says that they should hire her to manage the music section,

Laughing, he pushes his soft hair back and says “you look like a person who knows their music.”

She hums in agreement. “I don’t know about you but, I’m into Kehlani, Sevyn Streeter and BJ The Chicago Kid kind of stuff. Or something relevant to those people.”

He nods again, not really knowing who are those people she has just said. He can’t help but feel a little embarrassed by it,

“Never heard of them actually” He shyly admits, sipping on his drink as he watches her shocking reaction,

“What the fuck?” He chokes on his drink when he hears her cuss, “Who even are you Harry Styles?”

He shrugs and smiles innocently at her which only receives a jaw dropping reaction from her,

“Lemme guess. You’re like Frank Sinatra and The Beatles kind of man, ain’t you?”

He holds his hands up, “you got me” he jokingly says, watching her shake her head and lets out a small giggle,

It’s the most adorable sound ever,

“I can tell. You should try and listen to RnB for your own sake. Jhene Aiko is great too, got that kind of chill vibes you can listen to in midnight.” She suggests, pushing a fringe out of her face,

He listens carefully to what she’s saying and he’s not pretending. He makes a mental note that he has to check these artists and their projects out, perhaps adding them to his playlist as well so that he won’t forget,

Two hours full of them sharing their music taste, the food in the wedding, upcoming tours and stuff. She mainly asks about his happiness and favorite artists other than The Beatles, and he finds himself enjoying these type of conversation. She sees him as Harry not Harry Fucking Styles,

They have gotten closer to the fact that they are sitting on the chairs that has been placed on the outside, enjoying each other’s company and how their shoulders casually bumping with each other because of how close they are right now.

She shares about her experience on going to college for Criminology major, discussing how some people in her uni are major pain in the ass because they sometimes would fight over small little things. And the way she delivers the words causes him to laugh even more,

He loves watching her talk. It’s calming to him,

“Oh shoot, i gotta go.” She suddenly says, looking down to the time on her phone, “I’m sorry Harry.”

His face falls in disappointment, not wanting her to leave just yet. “What? Why? Do you have work tomorrow?”

“An interview to be exact and i need this so bad.” She sighs, standing up to her feet as he stands as well,

“Oh well, want me to take you home?”

“You don’t have to H. I drove here.” She smiles, drinking her last gulp of the martini and place the glass down. “I had a great time with you Harry. Really did. So it’s not because of you alright? Calm your tits.”

Shoving his hands into his pockets, he laughs at her choice of words. “We’ll see eachother again right?”

“Of course, Harry. You have my number right?” She asks with a grin, winking before she pecks him on his lightly stubble cheek,

“See you around Harry.”

**

Lemme know if y’all want part 2!!

[loquaciouseric]

Read

✆ ~ social media au

⁂  ~ series

❀  ~ mature

☁  ~ angst

❤  ~ fluff

☯  ~ mafia au

♔  ~ royal au

☤   ~ vampire au

BTS 

Kim Seokjin 

LOVELY LITTLE MESS (M)  ~ elling seokjin of your pregnancy should not be so daunting, but you keep it hidden from him as long as you can—at least until you are sitting with him in a bathtub and the secret comes spilling out. (expecting parents au)

⇢ genre: fluff, smut

⇢ word count: 6.14k

the boss ~ Jin comes back from a mission gone wrong, and while it only seems simple, you find it’s really your past coming back to haunt you. ~ angst, smut, gang au, mafia au ~ 12.2k

Golden Boy ~ The golden boy of the porn industry, prettier than half his female co-stars. Will sue if you pull his hair. Always bothering his neighbours with pizza delivery. ~ 9,208

a kiss of marble ~ His gaze trails down your nose and lingers on your lips, before falling to the curve of your neck and the tiny bend of your shoulder visible above your t-shirt, the attention so acute and suggestive that it feels like a tangible brush on your skin. “Hmm… I’ve got a few ideas.” ~ smut, fluff, supernatural, vampire!au ~ 9.9k

BOBSY-DIE ~ Anonymous said to rbuns: Not sure if you’re doing requests but Halloween related I would die for a seokjin or Namjoon or taehyung werewolf fic of them being in heat and smuttyness and knitting and risk of pregnancy?? Like the whole “I’m gonna fill you with my cum have my pups bitch” type fic. I just need a rough dom wolf and extremely horny bratty sub reader and knotting. Even better if the reader is just a hybrid or a werecat?? Love werewolf werecat relationships. ~ smut, angst, fluff, wolf!au, supernatural creatures!au ~ 11.6k

blue scales ~ the plan was to woo the pretty human and make her love him back. it was most definitely not almost kill the human every time he forgot he’s a bloody siren and his taylor swift singing fests in the shower are deadly as shit. ~ fluff, angst ~ 4.3k

SILLY KITTY ~ hybrid au, fluff ~ 21.7k

All Along ~ It’s no surprise when you learn you’ll soon be engaged to one of the Kim brothers. What does come as a shock, is just how determined Seokjin is to make sure that person is him. ~ arranges!marriage ~ 13k

The Pretenders ~ wolf!au ~ 12,339

Pink Panther ~ hybrid!au, smut ~ 13k

The Act of Persuasion ~ When two critters arrive at his doorstep he didn’t know that they would cause a bear who marched to the rhythm of the ants realises there’s more to life walking in straight lines. However in order walk out of those lines he had to make a deal to save others and his two little ones, but at what cost? Then there’s me, the one who only sees in parallel. I walk in the footprints my parents have made in the path. What happens when my perspective changes because of a silly bear? ~ bear hybrid, actress, CEO, arranged Marriage, fluff, angst, single parent ~ 20.9k

off limits ~ you’ve been lusting after your brother’s best friend for a while now, ever since you met him at a house party, flirting it up a storm as you failed to realise who the other was. That was months ago now and things are still awkward, but you can’t ignore the sexual tension that’s simmers between the two of you…and it keeps getting worse… ~  brother’s best friend au; smut, angst, fluff ~ 8 parts/82,795

show me ~ your friend Jin has a proposition for you that you can’t seem to refuse, no matter how hard you try. ~ smut, fluff, little angst ~ 14,138

what 2 do ~ what happens when the college roommate you thought was definitely going to be girl turns out to be the most gorgeous guy you’ve ever encountered in all your years of life? It’s a stupid misunderstanding on your part, but maybe, just maybe, it won’t be so bad after all… ~ smut, fluff, slight angst ~ 13,759

dimple ~ What’s the rule again? How many dates does it take for you have sex with a guy? Three? Five? Ten?! What if all this waiting and you can’t remember how to do it? It’s been so long since the last time you swear you’ve forgotten! You’re desperate, and that’s how you end up asking your roommate for help. Only trouble is, you get much more than you bargained for… ~ smut, comedy, slight angst, romance, slow burn, roommates/friends ~ 14,725

𝕄𝕚𝕟 𝕐𝕠𝕠𝕟𝕘𝕚

CARING IS CREEPY ❤  ~ ❛❛we hooked up last night even though i rarely do that kind of thing and now you’re cornering me in the cafe and oh god apparently you think i’m cute and want to go on a date this is not at all what i anticipated❜❜ (bad boy au; college au)

Conveniently  ~ Slice of life, Single Parent!Reader, Convenience Store Owner!Yoongi, lots of fluff, tiny bit of angst because I’m me and cannot be stopped, smut. ~ 22k.

Amor Vincit Omnia ~ Arranged Marriage Gang! AU . BTS Suga /Min Yoongi and OC . The worst thing you can do to a guy? Marry him when he begs you not to. Worst thing you can do to yourself? Fall in love with him afterwards. ~ Violence , Romance, Drama ~ 20 parts

a heart full of love ~ people say that actors are the most dramatic people in the world but those people haven’t met a certain min yoongi.{enemies to lovers!au, high school!au, actor!au} ~ fluff, angst ~ 10k

annoying ✆ ~ enemies to lovers ~ 20 parts

COFFEE TASTE ❀ ~   As in what happens when you disturb your boyfriend late at night in his studio uninvited and try to lure him home. ~ 2963

UNDER CONSTRUCTION ✆ ~ In which y/n is just trying to figure out what to do with her life with the help from her (un)helpful friends ~ 50 parts

THE GALAXY IN OUR HEARTS ~  min yoongi has been raising his daughter on his own her entire life, convinced that he needs no one else apart from their family of two. you come along to change that. (single parent au) ~ 6.16k ~ fluff

ink petals ~ when Yoongi turns to your shop for drawing practice inspiration, neither of you could have forseen the way things unfold and just how deep you both would fall. ~ tattooartist!yoongi, florist!oc, smut, fluff, angst ~ 10.5k

All I Want for Christmas ~ singledad, CEO!yoongi x secretary!reader ~ 13k

aquiver ~ Yoongi can’t remember the last time he was able to successfully bring himself to the point of orgasm, then Namjoon gives him a business card advertising ‘Healing Hands’, and that’s where he meets you; pretty and innocent looking, who gets paid to provide hand jobs for a living…  ~ smut ~ 8 parts 

Act On It ~ You learn that the cute barista you’ve been crushing on might have an…otherworldly disposition after you accidentally cut yourself. ~ college!au, coffee shop!au, vampire!au, Fluff, Angst, Smut ~ 15,639

Breakfast in Bed ~  “Min Yoongi, a grumpy Ikea employee, is wondering who you are and why exactly you’re sleeping in the display bed at his Ikea.” ~ ikea employee!au, smut, fluff, semi crack/humour ~ 12k

City Lights ~ Min Yoongi is the one man in your life who you love unconditionally, despite having ended your relationship a month prior. It’s not until you spot him at a nightclub do you realise that maybe it wasn’t a great idea to go out after all. ~ fluff, angst ~ 7.033

ivory paws ~ Winter time brings Christmas, and the snow outside brought you a stray cat. But your little companion is far more unique than meets the eye, and in a time of need, he becomes the biggest surprise and best holiday gift of them all. ~ shifter!yoongi, fluff, angst, smut ~ 8.8k

BASKETBALLCAPTAIN ~ 18.4k

keep the change ~ typically an old man works the night shift at Greg’s Place. however, it seems there’s a new cute guy working the register at night now. and it just so happens it’s finals week… ~ light humor, fluff, smut, cashier!yoongi ~  5.3k

Forever, We Are Young ~ A story in which everyone is a poor college kid, Min Yoongi is a pianist who never seems to sleep, and you are a plucky young art student with some eccentric friends. ~ pianist!yoongi x art student!reader (feat. photographer!taehyung), social media au, fluff, humor ~ 40 parts

hybrid!yoongi

THE SUGAR WARS  ~ Maybe tasting everything his soulmate eats wouldn’t be so bad if Yoongi’s soulmate didn’t have the largest sweet tooth Ever. Maybe you wouldn’t need to sweeten everything if he didn’t drink his coffee so bitter ~ soulmate!au ~ 5.3k

CEO!YOONGI ~  21k

MAYBE I’M A LITTLE DANGEROUS (MAYBE LOVE IS TOO) ~ RARE SOULMATE MARKS DON’T GUARANTEE THAT YOU FIND YOUR SOULMATE EASILY, AND WHEN YOUR SOULMATE IS THE HEAD OF A MAFIA, BEING TOGETHER WILL NEVER BE EASY EITHER… ~ mafia!au ~ 4.3k

At Your Service ~ Your Grandpa adopted him, ex-K-9 police dog hybrid, to kept the auto shop safe. He had to fulfill his viscous guard dog hybrid appeal, but he was putty in your hands. However, when an unexpected event happens you take ownership of Yoongi, your best friend…but when tensions build, will he want to stay with you? ~ Fluff, Smut, Hybrid au ~ 10k

Sticky Honey ~ yoongi’s every day life with you is a gift, you’re his favourite human ~ smut, tattoo artist/vampire!yoongi ~ 6,907

Ink and Honey ~ yoongi has been around for centuries, he’s a tattoo artist when he meets you. he becomes completely, and utterly intoxicated with you ~ smut, tattoo artist, vampire!yoongi ~ 10,203

mastering ~ smut ~ 5,333

show off ~ smut, light fluff & angst ~ 6,044

ANDROID!YOONGI  ~  24k

a brush of silk ~  His lips curl around your around your neck, whispering, “I want slow today. You good with that, baby?”“You say that like you ever want anything else, old man,” you quip back, your voice a tad breathless. ~ smut, vampire au, idol au, supernatural au ~ 5.6k

Late Bloomer ~ wolf!au ~ 21,041

Kitten’s Little Flame ~ You (cat hybrid) have transferred to a new elementary school because your parents have moved towns. You start your new kindergarten class and meet other hybrids, but one special one catches your eye, Yoongi, the dragon hybrid. How will you manage this new environment? ~ fluff, slight angst, hybrid, children BTS ~ 6 parts

settle down ~ An unfortunate event finds you living with the man you practically despise over the summer. However, maybe through a series of fortunate events, you find yourself falling for him… ~ smut, angst, fluff, slow burn, enemies to lovers ~ 14,930

INSEMINATION WARS P1 ~ getting pregnant isn’t an easy feat, especially when balancing work and a stubborn husband. a chronological compilation that highlights the trial and error of good old-fashioned baby making ~ 5k

INSEMINATION WARS P2 ~ after a winded six months of trying to get pregnant, you find yourself seeking help by means of sometimes ludicrous methods. or, part two of a chronological compilation that highlights the trial and error of good old-fashioned baby making. ~ 15k

INSEMINATION WARS P3 ~ as the first trial year dwindles to a close, things begin to settle. or, part three of a chronological compilation that highlights the trial and error of good old-fashioned baby making. ~ 18k

Please Be Naked ~ you find it’s easy to become addicted to a distraction… ~ smut, angst, rebound au ~ 8 parts

RULE OF THIRST ~ vampires were just folklore until yoongi became one. now he’s got only two emotions: you and hunger. and tonight, you let him feed off you. ~ vampire au ~ 12k

boy.girl ~ Boy. Girl. It’s as simple as that. Girl can’t get a good date—scrap that—girl can’t get a good lay, and boy is willing to help out with that… Friends with benefits seems the perfect solution, except for the fact, it’s not. It never is. Not when boy already has feelings for girl… ~ smut, slight angst, romance, friends with benefits au, roommate! yoongi ~ 14,139

Skin Deep ~ Tattoo artist!Reader AU. Friends to lovers, slow burn. Smut. ~ 10 parts

kitten ~  Yoongi’s focus on work has subjected your relationship to having a dry spell, and with a little prompting from your best friend, you tell him exactly what he should do. But you don’t make the rules kitten, and the game you’re choosing to play is a dangerous one. ~ smut ~ 11.4k

𝕁𝕦𝕟𝕘 ℍ𝕠𝕤𝕖𝕠𝕜

enigma ✆ ~ despite having two loud-mouth best friends and a confident older brother by her side, y/n has never been a very outgoing person.  however, just because she isn’t the most talkative person, doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a secret or two to share. ~ 36 parts

BLOOM ~ your soulmate’s first words to you will be burned into the skin of your wrist upon first meeting them. no one anticipated that yours would turn out to be a world famous rapper by the name of jung hoseok. ~ soulmate au, celebrity au, flower shop au, fluff, light angst ~ 1.8k

WITHOUT YOU (I CAN’T BREATH) ~ HOSEOK THINKS THAT HOME IS A PLACE YOU CAN PLOT ON A MAP. BUT HE REALIZES THAT LIVING BY HIMSELF IS LONELY. HE GETS A NEW PLACE AND PUTS OUT AN AD FOR A ROOMMATE- WHAT HE DOESN’T EXPECT IS YOU- SOMEONE WHO HAS NO KNOWLEDGE OF BTS- AND HE’LL DO ANYTHING TO KEEP IT THAT WAY.  ~ 3.4k

Night Stalker ~ Vampires are a thing of legend, and yet you find yourself being saved by a self-proclaimed vampire hunter. Only your saviour is half-vampire himself, and struggles with his base instincts. What happens when you get to know him more and feel an attraction you can’t help? ~ Angst, violence, smut, fluff ~ 17.6k

guarded hearts ~ when you fall on hard times while taking care of your daughter, and hoseok is there to help. ~ fluff/angst ~ 4 parts

Iridescence ~ he colours your life from day 1 ~ fluff, angst, soulmate!au ~ 7.2k

in the car ~ all you had was a dead car battery, you weren’t looking for romance, regardless if the charming mechanic had other ideas. You’ve heard stories that could put you off… Can he change your misconceptions, or will they prove correct after all…?  ~ smut, romance, slight angst, mechanic! hoseok, street racer! hoseok ~ 14,739

THE NIGHT SHIFT ~ working the graveyard shift means you’re exhausted by the time 9am comes around. lucky for you, 9am happens to be your neighbours’ favourite time for obnoxious sex. lucky for them, you’re always up for a challenge. shitty neighbours don’t always have to be a bad thing. ~ smut ~ 11k

𝕂𝕚𝕞 ℕ𝕒𝕞𝕛𝕠𝕠𝕟

Idol!Namjoon ✆ ~ With 7.6 billion people alive, does your soulmate really live around the corner? Namjoon meets you during his Italy trip and keeps in touch with you afterwards. Will your connection endure his lifestyle and the distance? ~ 25 parts

Oh, Baby ~ You wake up tied to a chair. This nice-looking blond haired guy says it’s because you have information he wants, but you have no idea what the hell he’s talking about. Why? Because he’s a bit of an idiot, that’s why. ~ Smut, mafia!au ~ 9 parts

BEAUTY & THE BOOKWORM ~  librarian!namjoon, university!au, fluff,angst,smut ~ 20.8k

BUTTERFINGERS ~ hybrid!au, teacher!au ~ 8.2k

Obligated ~  Married by obligation, weighed down by circumstance. Except for those nights when you’re both drunk, falling into bed with one another and realizing you’re human. Occasionally this happens, occasionally you fuck. Until your life changes and you realize Namjoon, the very man you’re obligated to, might just be the very man that you crave. ~ arranged!marriage  ~ 6k

ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕜 𝕁𝕚𝕞𝕚𝕟

Fuckboy!Jimin ✆ ~ College Friends to Lovers ~16 parts

FOREVER IS A LONG TIME ~ the benefits of being a psychic include understanding other people’s emotions, intuitively avoiding toxic people, and taking glimpses of the beautiful possible future. the drawbacks of being a psychic include knowing forever that park jimin will be the love of your life and spending years longing for him to finally show up. (psychic au) ~ fluff, very light angst, some implied sexual content ~ 7.84k

shades of wrong ~ In which you’re sure you’ll hate Park Jimin with every fiber of your being for the rest of your existence, even after he is assigned as your tutor for History of Magic. ~  fluff/smut; harry potter au word count: 17.321

Midday ~ jimin refuses to sleep, he wants to spend time with you and maybe today you’ll let that slide ~ fluff, light smut, punk/tattooed! jimin ~ 2,005 (3 more)

Star Light, Star Bright ~ Life has not gone exactly how Park Jimin imagined, and yet he can’t possibly imagine his life any different to what it is now. After six hard and stressful years, he’s now the happy owner of a degree along with being the proud dad of his little girl. But what happens when he meets you and his life is tipped upside down once more? ~ Fluff, smut, angst ~ 17.5k

Blooming Days ~  A typical night for you begins at the library in your favourite chair underneath the lamp in the corner, only to be picked up at 3am by your best friend, Jimin. Despite having slept over in his room several times before, this certain night in Sigma house leads to far more than you ever imagined. But what is to come of your friendship once you reveal those two little lines that will change your lives forever? ~ fluff, smut, angst & humour ~ 15.390

turbulence ~ On your first flight the cute boy next to you helps to sooth your nerves, and on the second flight he soothes something else. ~ smut ~ 9.3k

accelerate ~ Jimin comes to retrieve his jacket on the condition that you then accompany him for dinner, and you can bet he satiates every hunger. ~ smut, fluff ~ 8.9k (sequel to turbulence)

inhale ~  smut, fluff ~ 5,263

TENSION ~ Jimin and you are always flirty. When his childhood friend, Jungkook, visits, they show they’ve always been competitive. What happens, then, when both of them set their sights on you? ~ 6,285

TIMID ~ Jimin was by far the cutest person you’d ever seen, but he always seemed to avoid you, dodging activities and events that included you. That changes when his home is compromised and he finds himself staying with you while it’s being repaired. ~ fluff, soft, hybrid!au ~ 8.4k

A MATTER OF PRIDE ~ You make some comments that wound Jimin’s pride and threaten his standing as Best Lover of the group so he sets out to prove you wrong the only way he knows how. ~ smut ~ 4.5k

a bite of the apple ~ “The thought of Jimin not being able to feed from someone other than you is troubling in more than one sense– there will be times, like the past week, when you physically can’t be there for him, and what would happen in an emergency, if he somehow got hurt and needed a transfusion, if his body rejected the blood of someone else. And that’s not even considering the long term implications of that…. “We’ll deal with that later,” you say, concern building at the thought, but the red in his eyes is growing brighter and brighter, his breathing heavier and heavier, and the wild energy humming under his skin is only growing more static.” ~ smut, supernatural, idol au, vampire au ~ 8.6k

BENEATH THE WATER ~ mermaid!au ~ 20.5k

open 24/7 ~ ❝ you effortlessly testing his patience plus his fiery temper are a deadly mix, aren’t they? ❞  ~  idol au, smut ~ 5.1k

sunny day ~  you’re a veterinary student specializing in hybrid care when you get a call in the middle of the night that a feral hybrid has broken into the clinic where you work. ~ 6 parts

dark side of the moon ~ falling in love at first sight is cliche, not until it happens to you on a dark night in a lonely alley. but you’re only human, while Park Jimin is Alpha of his pack; it could never work out. so you resort to pining for him like a wolf howling at the moon, but when Jimin goes feral, that’s when everything changes. ~ werewolf!au, smut ~ 11.1k

Cupid’s Bow ~ when your pact with Jimin to lose your virginity before Valentine’s Day fails, you decide to just lose it to each other... ~ smut ~ 8357

little monster ~ you’ve been good friends with your roommate Jimin for a while, occasionally flirting with each other, especially when you’ve had a drink, but nothing has ever happened between the two of you…until that is, he secretly listens to you and Namjoon have sex one day…He thinks you don’t know, but he’s wrong… ~ smut, masturbation, teasing ~ 8,844

TRICK SHOT ~  jimin’s the bartender, you’re the billiard hotshot who frequents his bar and challenges him to a clean game of 9-ball after hours. “see if you can make this shot with my hand down your pants” au ~ 8k    (p 1.5)

TRICK SHOT P2 ~ you finally meet your match in a game of 9-ball and you’re pissed about it, so you ask your hot bartender boyfriend to fuck your anger out of you. ~ 8k

hard to say ~ you’ve had feelings for your best friend Jimin for as long as you can remember, but you always thought they were unreciprocated. What if it turned out they weren’t…? ~ smut, fluff, slight angst ~ 11,163

NO STRINGS ~ It started off as such a simple question. How to know if you’re bad in bed? Of course when you asked, you didn’t imagine Jimin would actually answer. ~ 10 parts

friends with benefits ~ when your current squeeze dumps you five seconds after sex, you’re led back down a familiar path and into park jimin’s bed ~ friends with benefits au, smut, light angst ~ 11k

𝕂𝕚𝕞 𝕋𝕒𝕖𝕙𝕪𝕦𝕟𝕘

Single mom!au ⁂ ~ 4 parts

Serendipity ⁂ ~ “Hey, you’re my new neighbor and you cry every night, are you okay?” ~ 26 parts

college dad!au⁂ ~ 30 parts

broken rings & queens and kings ~  to make a long, long story very, very short, you and kim taehyung have been sworn enemies ever since childhood, that is, until you find out that you’re betrothed to each other for the good of your kingdoms, and everything comes crumbling down. ~  24k ~  fluff, light angst, light smut

DADDY ISSUES ~ fluff, angst, smut ~ 16.1k 

Keep Your Chin Up ~ Nobody’s ever been able to get you off, including yourself, and you’re really starting to think sex is overrated until your best friend changes your mind. ~ smut ~ 5,646

the t-shirt thief ~ In the midst of your loneliness due to Taehyung’s absence, you decide that you need a distraction, which somehow manifests itself as going over to his apartment and stealing a t-shirt or two… or three…  ~ fluff, smut ~ 9,812

little dove ~ The best things always show up when you least expect them. ~ smut, angst, werewolf!au ~ 14k

1-800-Music-Street ~ you’re enchanted by a street performer and then he saves you, resulting in multiple meetings one can only describe as fate. ~ ↳ au: homeless!taehyung, saxophonist!taehyung, street performer!taehyung ~ 13.2k

Collide ~ Your life had always been wonderfully ordinary. That is… until the day you accidentally bumped into him and ended up with the wrong cellphone and a one-way ticket to a groupchat full of unusual characters… ~ artist!taehyung x waitress!reader, sm au, crack humor, fluff, smut ~ 45 parts

TREAT YOU BETTER ~ YOU AND TAEHYUNG ARE JUST 2 OUT OF THE MANY PEOPLE THAT GATHER ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF SEOUL. BUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU’VE GOT A DOUCHEBAG BOYFRIEND AND TAEHYUNG STARTS TO FEEL SOMETHING FOR YOU? HE DOESN'T GIVE UP IF THAT'S WHAT YOU’RE THINKING… ~ 3k

the wings of a devil ~ You grab a t-shirt and jeans from your closet, the phone still pressed in your ear when you pause. “Are you actually hungry, Taehyung? Or was that just to make sure I would answer the phone?”“What? I wouldn’t do that.” Liar. “But yeah, I could use another round, dance practice yesterday was pretty intense.”Dread and excitement mix in the pit of your stomach, your blood warming at the idea. You hesitate. “Are you actually going to feed, or are you going to do what you did last time?” ~ smut, vampire au, idol au ~ 6k

the monster smash ~ When your friend Hoseok drags you along to a Halloween party, the last thing you expected was to meet the Joker to your Harley. ~ halloween!au, smut, fluff ~ 8.8k

Guilty Pressure ~ Notorious pranker Kim Taehyung is adored by all, but all he really wants is your attention. ~ smut, fluff ~ 9486

don’t fox with my heart, sweet tart ~ “Wait, what?” You gaped at him. “Woah, just because I said that you’re the only–no. No, Taehyung. I’m not leaving my apartment this weekend. This midterm is going to destroy me, I deserve it.”“You’ll have fun, trust me.” He winked, and you wondered how long you’d be banned from the library for throwing a textbook at his stupid, smug face. “Wear something other than sweatpants and my hoodie, kay?” ~ fluff, friends to lovers au, shifter au, valentines au, college au ~ 3.5k

BAD IDEAS ~  your best friend taehyung promises you a night of adventure, and by this you know that he means there’s a 90% chance you two are going to get arrested tonight. but you go along with it anyway, because he’s taehyung, and you can never resist taehyung. + midnight sheenanigans and sexy times ~ smut, fluff, best friends!au ~ 7.245

bookmarked ~  ❝ the hours you spend at the library are a little more bearable around him. but the most nightly hours are full of devils. ❞ ~ college au, smut ~ 9.9k

DICHOTOMY ~  You hate him. He hates you. It’s a fine line though, isn’t it  – between love and hate? ~ Arranged Marriage!AU ~ 14,566

Retracted Claws ~ he found a poor, stray kitten shivering on the streets, and he was determined to make sure she was kept safe ~ hybrid!au, mafia!au, fluff ~ 2/?       (part 2)

Seven Seas ~ Atlantis is a myth; a hidden city, a sunken island, a missing continent. Only…it’s not a myth. Just hidden out of choice. As the daughter of an Atlantean and a human, you are a halfling that is unwanted by the underwater continent and misunderstood by the surface. But what happens when you finally go to Atlantis and meet an Atlantean who is oddly kind to you? ~ Fluff, angst, smut ~ 25.5k

The Firefly that Guards the Fox ~ His mother and father weren’t supposed to fall in love. They weren’t supposed to find a mate in one another.They weren’t supposed to.After losing his father years ago, Taehyung vows to find and avenge the injustice his family has gone through. You were childhood friends with Taehyung. The four of you Taehyung, Hoseok, your older brother and you were inseparable. You were torn apart from Taehyung, your fox who’ve you’ve always vowed to protect and be with, without a warning. He called you Firefly, you called him Tae-Tae the fox. Was your fate supposed to end there in the past with your childhood? ~ fluff, angst, hybrid au, law au, crime au ~ 6.9k

move like you want ~ where you meet the gaze of an incredibly attractive red head at a music bar and one thing leads to another… ~ smut ~ 7,960

FATE OF THE FAST & FURIOUS ~ you’re a first-generation college student and taehyung is the hot guy with a love for motorbikes who lands the job babysitting for your family while you’re away. basically a mix of domestic!taehyung, biker!taehyung, racer!taehyung all at once, and a whole lotta sex. a weird kind of slow-burn. ~ 17k

slowdance on the inside ~ Taehyung has liked you as long as he can remember. He’s unsure when the line blurred from friendship to romantically, but it’s about to get a lot worse when he’s forced to watch you date his friend, Jungkook… ~ angst, fluff, smut ~ 20,476

Apologies ~ After a fight, Taehyung can’t bring himself to apologise to his girlfriend until he realises that she might have moved on.  If he wants her he needs to go get her. ~ smut, angst ~ 11620 

The Fanmeet ~ Taehyung is jealous over Jungkook flirting with his girlfriend and decides to teach him a lesson in front of their fans. ~ smut ~ 7408

𝕁𝕖𝕠𝕟 𝕁𝕦𝕟𝕘𝕜𝕠𝕠𝕜

✆ ~ The Hyung line cannot deal with the cuteness that is you and Jungkook sleeping  ~ 16 parts

PLANS FOR WEDDING BANDS ~  ❛❛i’ve been meaning to propose to you for ages and i have set up the perfect plan but as we’re driving to the restaurant this tiny little cat on the side of the road that you’re determind to save shows up and now everything is ruined oh god what am i gonna do❜❜ (proposal au) ~ 3.32k ~ fluff

SWEET TOOTH ~ you try not to fall for an insistent college kid with sweater paws. ~ 12.1K ~ smut, humour, baby boy!jungkook, cafe!au 

ice prince ~ when, due to inexplicable and total clumsiness, your reliable, talented ice dancing partner of five years breaks his leg right before the largest competition of your life, desperate times call for desperate measures. and for a brief, brief moment, you think that everything might actually end up not-that-shitty, until you find out that the aforementioned desperate measures go by the name of jeon jungkook.⇒ figure skating!au, enemies to lovers!au  ~ fluff, very minor angst ~ 22k

the millionaire and his lover  ~ over the course of your lifelong friendship with jungkook, you can’t say that you’ve ever had the greatest ideas, and a fake relationship with the boy you’ve been in love with for years is no exception. ⇒ self-gratuitous ceo au, friends-to-lovers, and fake relationship trope rolled into one big shitstorm of a jungkook fic ~ fluff, angst, and light smut ~ 22k

something in the water ~ sleeping is a foreign concept to Kim Taehyung and his awkward, mismatched gang of pals. This is made all the more apparent when they rock up at ___’s doorstep at the ass crack of dawn, as if it’s a natural time for any college student to be awake. But when she is informed that it was the youngest of their group who insisted she join them on their spontaneous camping trip, she is suddenly not as reluctant to play along than when she was first awakened by her enigma of a best friend, slamming his fist against her door. ~ 25,836 words

Lowkey ~ Jungkook is the nude model for your art school’s life drawing class. ~ smut ~ 6.2k

vaunt ~ Every weekend Beta Tau throws a ‘little’ party to help students relax and let loose and frat resident Jungkook has a big mouth that talks a lot of big game. You finally get sick of the lack of relaxation on your end and set out to see if he’s all talk. ~ college/fratboy!jungkook, fratparty!au, smut ~ 9387

vaunt ii ~ True to the nature that birthed your relationship, Jungkook loves to set a challenge, and you love to try and prove him wrong. ~ college!au, frat!au, smut ~ 9.2k

TATTOOARTIST!JUNGKOOK 

BADBOY 

GOLD RUSH ~ freshman Jungkook comes to you with an injured shoulder and a very concerning proposal.  ~ humour, smut, track runner!jungkook ~ 11.2k

unexpected ~ You and Jimin have been best friends forever. All the boys love you and consider you family. But there’s one person who isn’t so fond of you and nobody knows why. What’s his reason? ~ social media au, angst + fluff ~ 13 parts

Bloom ~ Touring with some of the biggest names in the music industry should be a singer’s dream. Too bad two of those names happen to be your annoying new nemesis and the guy you can’t seem to forget… ~ sm au, fluff, crack humor, slight angst, idol!au ~ 30 parts

Marguerite ~ After a random number texts you on yet another night, where you’re just staying home at your dorm, you find yourself talking to an annoying, but very determined frat boy, who likes a challenge more than anything… Even if he doesn’t know who you are. ~ social media au ~ 90 parts

a sip of the grail ~ You take in his expression curiously, trying to understand this new Jungkook that’s somehow both bold and shy, before tilting your chin to the left and exposing the curve of your neck. A quick hook of your finger into the collar of your sweater unveils more of your shoulder to his gaze. “Go ahead, Jungkook,” you murmur, voice just above a whisper. ~ smut, supernatural, vampire ~ 3k

Hopping Mad for You ~  For two years you’ve lived with your rabbit hybrid roommate, Jungkook. He’s been a model roommate and you’ve found yourself with little complaints. But his behaviour lately has been a little…unusual. ~ Fluff, smut, Rabbit Hybrid!Jungkook ~ 9.7k 

MICROWAVE (MIS)ADVENTURES ~ Out of all things to be afraid of, Jungkook, the seat-stealer of your 8am class and annoying housemate whom you despise with every fiber of your being, chooses to have a phobia of microwaves, but he loves buying microwaveable food – because come on, they’re irresistible – and you somehow find yourself getting dragged into his microwaves (mis)adventures. Cue chaos, sarcasm-laced banter and an unplanned romance. ~ Fluff, slight angst, smut, college!AU, roommates/housemates!AU, enemies to lovers!AU ~ 20k

UNDER THE BRIDGE ~  fluff, smut, slight angst, Hybrid!AU ~ 10.6k

BLACKJACK ~  Bangtan is one of the most vicious mafias on the west coast. Only six members are known by name though, with a mysterious seventh member dubbed only as ‘the shadow.’ When you become indebted to the worst of the worst – how, exactly can you find a way out? ~  Mafia!AU ~ 11 parts

THE QUEST TO BEDDING THE LEAD SINGER OF FRONTMAN ~ Frontman is your favorite band in the world and honestly, the only reason you waited this long in line is to stand at the front for a shot with the lead singer. Enter sexy sound boy, who just won’t leave you alone. ~ punk!Jungkook ~ 9,582

SHOW ME WHERE YOUR LOVE LIES ~ Jungkook knows it’s wrong to sneak around with you behind his wife’s back. but with you he feels whole- he feels loved. And maybe you would feel guilty if she didn’t treat Jungkook like absolute shit. ~ 4.1k

pushing buttons ~  When your boyfriend puts off your date plans in favor of a 24-hour livestream with his gaming friends, you decide to take matters into your own hands. ~ gamingboyfriend!au, smut ~ 6.6k

tell me your secrets (I’m all ears) ~ You’re not afraid of Jeon Jeongguk. Even if he’s probably some kind of bear or giant cat shifter, and just a hint of his irritation had your instincts vibrating beneath your skin like a live wire. Your thumb brushed over the plastic dome of mini-Levi’s head, taking comfort in the cartoon scowl and dead eyes, the tiny grey sticks of his 3DM gear. Small could be pretty fucking powerful too. ~ fluff, romance, humor, shifter au ~ 6.5k

To Own A Hybrid ~ the hybrid world was one y/n never really involved herself in; however, after certain events, she is tossed into a world of uncertainty in the company of a particularly rude hybrid. ~ 14 parts

fine art ~ ❝ meet kook. he’s a spoiled rich bitch who gets mad when he doesn’t get what he wants. and it seems, that he wants you. ❞  ~  gambler au, smut ~ 8.6k

In Bloom ~ wolf!au ~ 11,589

The Rabbit on the Moon ~ The moon was your sun. You’ve grown up working under the moonlight as long as you could remember. You served a man, who controlled the monsters that roamed the city at day and night, or rather the devil himself. When the others around you slowly start disappearing, you start wondering if it’ll soon be your turn. A hand reaches out to you, the hand of a gentle rabbit disguised as a wolf, offering a way out. Will you be able to escape the clutches of the devil in time? ~ fluff, angst, smut, police officer au, mafia au, bunny hybrid/police officer!kook, cat hybrid!reader ~ 5 parts

Who You Belong To ~ Jungkook has noticed you flirting with Taehyung for quite awhile and has finally decided you need to be reminded of who you belong to. ~ smut ~ 8647

…AND ACTION P1 ~ jungkook likes to film illegal stunts around the globe for his dedicated audience. because of you, his right-hand navigator, he gets to travel to beautiful places he’s only ever seen in textbooks. but in the wake of a mishap involving poisonous shrubbery, now’s a perfect time for him to confess his undying love for more than just videography. or, “I know you’re my best friend but I’ve wanted to kiss you since the day we met” au ~ 12k

…AND ACTION P2 ~ jungkook might be homesick and not even the beautiful landscape of Florence can get his mind right. maybe now’s your chance to prove that he doesn’t need home when he has you. or, part two of the “I know you’re my best friend but I’ve wanted to kiss you since the day we met” au ~ 11k

stuffed pumpkin ~ hooking up with the guy you’re neutral towards isn’t how you expected your night to go, especially dressed as a pumpkin… ~ smut,fluff ~ 6,406

playing with fire ~ jungkook seems to have a little crush on you, and no matter how much you try to ignore it, you seem to be losing your resolve with each passing day… ~ smut ~ 8,460

GIVENCHY & GOLD P1 ~ you’re the supervisor of the clothing department with a lot of useless lingerie knowledge, jungkook is the jewelry department’s defiant hot boy who flirts in wristwatch brands. basically an upscale retail au, but with lots of implied under-the-counter sex. and when an opportunity presents itself to fuck each other in the boss’s office after hours, you’re both too hot for each other to say no. ~ smut ~ 20k

GIVENCHY & GOLD P2 ~ jeweler!jungkook gets what he’s got coming to him after getting you both busted in the boss’s office. a continuation of the upscale retail au with a slight change in location ~ smut ~ 24k

GIVENCHY & GOLD P3 ~ you always told yourself you’d be out of retail as soon as you made bank. now that you’re days away from officially leaving, this makes for some interesting changes in your relationship with a certain former coworker ~ 15k

Bunny Boy ~ 6 parts

[jcspacey]

Animation is Not Just for Kids

The first essay I ever wrote in college was a “surprising reversal” essay, where we had to take a widespread idea or misconception about something and shed some light on how that idea is actually not true. The topic I chose was how animation is not just for kids-- that adults can like it too. I want to share some of the things I wrote in that essay, but present it in a more informal way. (I got an A on the paper, by the way XD)

[Disclaimer: The only animation I really watch is movies from studios like Pixar, Disney, and sometimes DreamWorks, so those are the main examples I have and what I mainly focus on in this. I’d love to hear thoughts from people who watch animated movies and TV shows from other studios as well!]

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Back in the summer of 2018, Pixar released their highly anticipated sequel Incredibles 2. The film was very successful-- it broke box office records and received mostly positive reviews. But controversy soon arose about the language used in the film. One Twitter user addressed the film’s director, Brad Bird, and expressed their displeasure at hearing swearing in a kid’s movie. Bird responded, “With all due respect, it is NOT a ‘kid’s movie.’ It is animated, and rated PG” (@BradBirdA113). This Twitter user’s tweet reflects a common opinion in our culture-- that animation is “kid’s entertainment.” 

This sentiment is shared in Hollywood as well. Live action films and shows get more respect, since they are viewed as more “sophisticated” or “mature.” Animated films rarely get a Best Picture nomination, and the Best Animated Picture award has only been around for about 10 years. Directors of animated films have also been quoted as feeling like second-class citizens in Hollywood (Gardetta 272). 

As an adult whose favorite films are animated, I have sometimes felt embarrassed when saying what my favorite movie is. But that shouldn’t be the case. In reality, no adult or teenager should feel embarrassed about liking animation, because “the animated cartoon is a perfectly respectable art-form with a considerable tradition behind it and with special advantages for both artist and audience” (Sisk 243). While most people assume animated films or television shows are for children, animation is actually a medium that has value for all ages. 

First off, it is important to recognize the difference between a medium and a genre, because the confusion between the two is a major contributor to the misconception of animated entertainment. A medium is the method by which art is created (For example: watercolors, acrylic paints, or charcoal and pastels). A genre is the category of composition within that medium (think landscape, still life, or abstract). Many confuse animation with being a genre when it is actually a MEDIUM of story-telling. There are many genres within the medium of animation such as action, comedy, drama, and so on. Animation is NOT a genre itself. To view animation simply as a genre for kids would trivialize them. Animation is a beautiful art-form. It is extremely flexible, and there are many stories that are just better told through animation than live action (I’m looking at you, live action Disney remakes). 

There are many examples of animation that isn’t intended for children at all, or made specifically with adults in mind. I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t know much about these movies/TV shows, but I promise you if you look up “adult animation” you will find them. These shows are labeled this way because they often have strong language, violence, or sexual content. This is why you can’t just throw all animation into a pile and slap a “kid’s media” label on it. There’s definitely animation out there you probably don’t want your kids to be seeing!

Then we have those animated movies and shows that actually are intended for all ages-- the children and family movies, if you will. An adult or teenager can also find rich enjoyment in these films since they often explore complex themes, messages, and emotions that perhaps only an older viewer can truly appreciate. Pixar is especially noteworthy for finding ways to hide in plain sight the existential questions and fears adults face in the disguise of an “innocent” family film. Ellen Scott of Queen's College, City University of New York stated, 

“…these Pixar features exploit the tendency of the ratings system to judge the ‘adultness’ of a film based on its sex and violence quotient alone. They remind us of something that the rating system apparently doesn’t know: that sexual titillation and violence are not the only wages of adulthood” (161).

There is no shame in being an adult who doesn’t gravitate towards that more “adult” stuff. I’m one of them. I lean towards family animation because I don’t want to see sex, gore, or strong language. But I do enjoy exploring darker themes and the other aspects of adulthood, because sex and violence isn’t all there is to being an adult. 

These films explore the other “wages of adulthood” by incorporating themes such as death, feelings of worthlessness, depression, growing up, and letting go. Themes such as these stimulate discussion and engage the minds of adult audiences.

To illustrate, Toy Story 3 contains arguably one of the darkest scenes in American animated film. You know what I’m talking about-- the incinerator scene. The toys struggle to escape, but soon find themselves accepting the hopelessness of their situation. Grasping hands, they exchange terrified looks as they slowly descend to their seemingly inevitable end. That’s dark stuff! Quite shocking to include in what many might call a children’s film. Additionally, the movie contains many sequences addressing the existential theme of obsoleteness, such as when the toys have to deal with the fear of being discarded before Andy leaves for college. To quote Scott again:

“Ostensibly, of course, the scenes are about toys being thrown out. But they raise deeper questions about death and beyond that the end of material existence--void--that are far more complicated than even those raised in most films with adult ratings” (158-159). 

Moreover, the movie’s final moments are tinted with melancholy as they compel us to contemplate our own childhoods and how we had to leave them behind. I saw this movie for the first time when I was 10, and that final scene affects me more now than it ever did as a child.

The fact that these films can relate to both children and adults is part of why they are so impressive. Take Finding Nemo for example. While kids might relate to Nemo and his plight of having an overprotective parent and learning to become more independent, adults might relate more to Marlin and his struggles with anxiety and raising a son as a single father.

But Pixar isn’t the only animation studio investigating these deep, and sometimes thoroughly adult, themes. Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame, while modified from the original novel to be more suitable for a family audience, still deals with obsession, lust, and genocide. In the DreamWorks film How to Train Your Dragon 2 (spoiler alert), Hiccup’s father is actually killed by a mind-controlled Toothless. There are so many other examples, and ones that are far better than these, I’m sure. These films aren’t just mindless fluff, there are real, difficult concepts in them that make them extremely compelling, accessible, and enjoyable for all ages. 

But what about those animated films that are truly intended specifically for children? What about animated media that maybe isn’t so deep or philosophical? You know what-- YOU CAN ENJOY THOSE AS AN ADULT TOO. Sometimes we don’t want to contemplate our existence or the meaning of the universe while consuming media. Sometimes we just want to have fun with our comfort TV show or movie. 

Basically what I’m trying to say is, who cares what the intended audience is supposed to be. Watch what ever makes you happy! Just don’t disregard animation because of its reputation of being childish, because that is far from the truth. It’s a fantastic medium with fun to be had for every age.

To finish, I’ll share this quote from Daniel J. Moloney, a dean at a university in Pennsylvania (in context, he’s talking about the Disney renaissance movies, but I think it applies to most animated family movies/shows. My main point in this essay to point out that children and family movies are just as valuable for adults, and I think this quote drives that point home):

“So just what is the appeal of animated films for so many adults? On a purely objective level, the films are works of technical and artistic genius. They present excellent music and lyrics and incorporate elements of comedy, drama, and suspense. They sport good scripts and field fine voices. Their visual and auditory presentation is so powerful it can bring an audience to the point of awe.

But it is not only their objective qualities that make these films so wildly successful. I believe the most compelling element of these animated films is that they tap into the heart of the human struggle: our day-to-day relationships with one another and our tattered but unshakable belief in goodness. In these films there is little gratuitous violence, no foul language, no discomforting sex, no overt politics, and no religious controversy— staples of our daily life and most of our cinematic entertainment.

Even more important, the viewer of these films can be fairly confident that good will prevail, that by the time the final credits roll, the transformative power of love will have been affirmed. In a word, these films give us hope.”

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this subject! Also, let me know what your favorite animated movies and TV shows are!

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Works Cited

@BradBirdA113. “With all due respect, it is NOT a “kids movie”. It is animated, and rated PG.” Twitter, 2 July 2018, 3:10 p.m., https://twitter.com/BradBirdA113/status/1013907729461727232

Gardetta, Dave. “Mr. Indelible: Brad Bird’s The Incredibles May Have Left a Permanent Mark on Filmmaking, but Animation Directors Still Can’t Get No Respect in Hollywood.” Los Angeles Magazine, no. 2, 2005, p.78. EBSCOhost.

Maloney, Daniel J. “No Admittance without Children.” Commonweal, no. 13, 14 July 1995, p. 30. EBSCOhost.

Scott, Ellen. “Agony and Avoidance: Pixar, Deniability, and the Adult Spectator.” Journal of Popular Film and Television, vol. 42, no. 3, 2014, pp. 150-162. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/01956051.2014.881773.

Sisk, John P. “The Animated Cartoon.” Prairie Schooner, vol. 27, no. 3, 1953, pp. 243–247. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40624571. 

[blacknovelist]

I want some cute/fluff things to go awww for from the BNHA Ageswap AU, so let me here 'em! Tell us about some funny or adorable things that happened before the Canon of ageswap between the friends/former classmates/teachers when they dealt with younger siblings & brotherhood, a fire spitting baby and a telekinetic green haired girl that just lost her parents. Maybe not in that order. Chronological, if that is manageable. I want some dorky friends being friends and dorks while trying to manage.

bless your heart, fluff sounds wonderful right about now! :D Forgive me if this answer turns out entirely too long and incoherent, but I really like thinking about this stuff. 

so, like the Ageswap heroes, a lot of them when they graduated were more on line of like, just regular old friends. But there were certainly groups of them that were good close buddies together (i.e the Dream Team of Ageswap Uravity/Ingenium/Deku, who absolutely were besties, and also Kirishima and Bakugou were pretty alright with each other come grad time). Once their hero work started in earnest, it turned out their ties to each other was beneficial from time to time, so it drew them much closer together! Within just a few years of graduating, they’re much closer to the Family UA we know and love, but it isn’t until just a bit later that they get that final push.

(Putting the rest of it under the cut because while I answered your question and gave you some Fun Times, on a whole this answer turned into every conceivable fact and detail about the history of the Family UA squad and their adventures in childrearing, and also general silly things about Inko, Enji and Tensei because I could. Sorry - I hope you don’t mind, and that I more or less cover the stuff you’re really looking for!! This is going to be a record-setter as far as length goes, oh jeez.)

Most of the Ageswap Heroes work as just heroes for some time following their graduation, making names for themselves and rising through the rankings. Their jobs at UA don’t happen until a little further down the timeline, which I’ll elaborate on later.

Inko is the first to join the Ageswap UA fam, actually. Deku had been fighting some villains, a group they’d been tracking down for a good few months now - it’s the first time they’d been able to pin these guys, and it’s now or never to bring them in. Still, even in a two-on-five fight, Deku’s no pushover. It’s all going well until one of the villains whirls around, swings wide past the two heroes, and launches a hit straight at a building nearby. 

Someone screams. One of the others follows their comrade’s lead and takes potshots at people on the street, and the whole block just starts to crumble.

On that day, the pro-hero Deku breaks his self-imposed quirk limits (which are in place more for the protection of others than for his own sake at this point in time, in order to quickly subdue the villains so that he can call in rescue squads because they have civilians they need to save right this damn minute, come on!

He works in tandem with the rescue teams for hours. It’s the low burning kind of physical activity, the careful shift of debris and following the desperate yell of people, trapped and afraid and god, if only he could’ve ended the fight sooner-!

It’s not his fault, not entirely - he can’t be everywhere at once, with some villains engaging him and others going to wreak havoc, but though this isn’t the first time there may be casualties, it’s still hard. They’d been fighting in an area with plenty of offices and apartments, and though some had managed to evacuate, others had been unable to do more than lock themselves into their homes and hope for the best.

Deku sees something incredible and terrible, in the ruins of one of the apartment complexes. A married couple, crumpled cold and together beneath rubble, unseeing eyes locked on the ruined door frame. Above them, in the room they diligently guarded, chunks of wood and plaster and tile float harmlessly among stuffed toys and dolls. It’s like some kind of morbid baby mobile to entertain the slumbering infant, still unaware of the world around her.

(”Esper-like quirks,” they tell him later. “They used their quirks before death and tied them to the baby, and the strength of it caused their quirks to linger. We’ve never seen anything like it, but you found her just in time - the effects wouldn’t have lasted much longer.”

“That’s not true,” Deku doesn’t say when they leave, baby tucked into the crook of his arm, safe and sound and fast asleep. “I didn’t find her fast enough - her parents would still be alive if I had.”)

Izuku takes Inko in, after, because of a sense of duty. It was his fault, in a way, not stopping the villains fast enough, not finding Inko and her parents fast enough. When he returns home, the first thing he does is call Ochako, and explain everything. He wasn’t sure who else to call, he admits, and there’s probably someone else they know who would be better to call about this, but there’s a sleeping baby with dead parents in his hands that he’s just asked to have temporary custody over and dear god he’s got absolutely NO CLUE WHAT I’M DOING PLEASE H EL P ME

(he wants to do right by this baby, by god, but he’s not exactly built for this.)

Once she’s done laughing, Ochako pulls Tenya aside because as it turned out, she’d been with him at the time. Between the three of them, Deku buys a shit-ton of baby supplies, goes over the procedure for gaining legal custody of Inko, tells everyone that “yeah sorry I’ve got a kid now! ….surprise?”, and gets so many visits from everyone at this time like “damn, man, lookit u growing up so quick :’)”

The first year is an adventure, man. This is the first kid of the Ageswap UA squad, so, no one has any clue what their doing. Izuku gets lots of little “care packages” in the mail from everyone containing stuff that’s supposed to help him (by the second month he’s got two whole cabinets devoted to diapers, and he tells everyone to stop sending them already because god, guys, she’s one baby, come on). Eventually, with lots of trial and error, Izuku settles into something normal-ish with Inko, the custody goes through, and everything’s fine.

Then a year later, Tensei is born! Tenya, for his part, is ecstatic at his little brother’s birth, because of course he is, it’s his little brother! Everyone is invited to come meet his little bro, but only a few people can really make it - Uraraka comes, and though Izuku can’t make it in person, he skypes in with Inko and sends his love and wishes. Todoroki drops by with his significant other (who, for reasons, we aren’t elaborating on. I don’t really want to fridge them, but right now, that’s mostly what we’re doing with them), as well as most of the class at varying times because they need to travel to arrive where Tenya and his bro are, and sometimes that kind of time just doesn’t happen for a while. By the time Tensei is a year old, though, everyone has visited at least once! Bakugou’s visit only lasted a few minutes, but at least he showed up.

Tenya does his best to help his parents look after the newborn Tensei as the Iida fam figure out how to balance their hero duties with taking care of the baby. For a time, the Iida family ducks out of the limelight in order to focus on Tensei. When they have the time, the others come in to help after their first visits. It’s sporadic, but the Iida’s appreciate it a lot! Tenya and Izuku end up swapping a lot of tips and things between them at this time. 

So everyone’s time is like, majorly divided now. There’s hero duties to uphold, kids to look after, media hounds to dissuade from invading all parts of their personal lives, it’s a bit of a mess. Everyone wants the world to slow down a little at that point.

Which, of course, is exactly why the world decides it’s a fantastic time for Todoroki Enji to come into this world, screaming his little baby head off many miles away. It’s all a bit of a mess, really, because Inko is just barely past one year old, Tensei was born weeks ago, and now there’s little Enji in on it too! Poor Ageswap UA squad. 

As mentioned in a previous ask, it’s some time before the three babies meet each other face to face. But, that hardly means a thing in the wake of our favourite thing - CHILDREARING SHENANIGANS.

To make this quick, I’m going to provide slightly chronological details and anecdotes about these kids growing up and in general, about the Nineteen Adults who are Completely Winging This Every Step of The Way (feat. Tenya’s parents, who do know what they’re doing, Tsuyu, who also knows what she’s doing thanks to her siblings, and the sporadic and spread out conversations @guardianlioness and I have had on the subject of Fam 1-A raising the children):

Kirishima is a blessing to everyone throughout everything, honestly, he gets along so well with the babies and his power with toddlers is comparable only to Deku’s own power with them.

Tsuyu is wonderful at looking after babies too, and is a godsend whenever any of the three need to be looked after

Uraraka loves to come by and spoil Tensei and Inko with laughter and toys and playing and liberal (safe) use of some zero g’s when he was first born. 

Also, when Inko’s quirk manifested into her small-object attraction, Uraraka was ecstatic bc it’s a very floaty quirk.

Uraraka splits her time between visiting Tensei and Inko and Enji basically all the time, once Enji is born, and is a close second for the status of go-to babysitter (Tsuyu is admittedly in first whenever she’s in the country, because she’s just got good experience about it)

Tensei as a baby, for some reason, is quite fond of Sero! Though he tends to visit a bit less as far as the regular visitors go, because of, you know, hero-ing.

Dark Shadow takes a shine to Inko when Tokoyami passes through to say hello. He swears up and down Inko (who at the time was like, maybe under a month old) babbled something that sounded suspiciously like “birdie” and no, of course he isn’t happy about that, he’s no common bird! (Try telling that to Dark Shadow though, who is perfectly content with the nickname)

On the reg, though, because I’m tired and describing how every baby reacts to everyone would get repetitive real quick, it’s just facts that basically everyone gets along with the children well enough? There really isn’t anyone who doesn’t help out at some point or who was bad with the three kids, and all of them love their many aunts and uncles (even if some of them won’t acknowledge or admit it)

Tensei, surprisingly, was fussiest as a baby, though he mellowed out with age. He’s followed by Enji and Inko as far as baby rankings go. Enji was a damn hellion during the toddler stage though, and Inko had some trouble around the same age.

Frankly, and pardon my language, everyone fucking loves Inko basically instantly once Izuku takes her in, even if they first meet her over video call. She’s cute as a button when she’s a baby, all rounded face and tufts of long hair and lots of smiles and laughs and gosh, how is it possible for a baby to be this adorable?? We Just Don’t Know.

Once he’s over his panic, Izuku does well by Inko, though he’s still a bit awkward. He’s nothing before the power of a baby, tbh but compensates through sheer Dad Ability. When it comes to little kids and toddlers though?  Izuku is a literal godsend. His wonderful skills were definitely put to a lot of use around the terrible toddler times (often through video call for Enji, though there were times he would drop by and visit in person if he was in the area while on the job.)

Izuku’s ability with kids and toddlers has a lot to do with Enji’s respect for his uncle actually - he’s one of the few people Enji listens to on a regular basis, and whose opinion he trusts, and one of the only people he’ll actually listen to (which causes trouble during his time at UA, but that’s much further down the line)

Everyone has had a go at babysitting each of the trio at least once in their lives, to varying degrees of success. 

On related and unrelated notes respectively, Aoyama and Hagakure aren’t allowed to babysit without at least one other responsible person present at the time. Also, Sero and Kaminari aren’t allowed to babysit Tensei as a kid without supervision (together or individually), and Enji goes through a minor phase where he refuses to allow any of his uncles to look after him for completely unknown reasons to everyone else

(it’s because he’s worried that if his uncles look after him too much he’ll start treating his aunts funny like how the stupid kids at school treat girls funny sometimes for child logic reasons, and Enji is too smart a kid to think that treating his aunts with anything but respect is a bad move. As a result, during this time, he spends as much time with his super strong aunts as he possibly can to remind himself to never go down that road, until he realizes that of course spending time with his uncles wouldn’t change anything, duh! They’re just as afraid and respectful of the women in his life as he is, and with due reason. And so, everything returns to normal again.)

Inko’s quirk is the first to come in at the tender age of 8 months, and caused a little bit of chaos when it did. It starts with her picking up the teddy bear that fell out of her bed while Izuku is bending down to pick it up for her, which scares the shit outta him. He’s extra careful not to leave small and potentially dangerous things (like screws or something) lying around where she might be able to pick them up with her quirk.

Second is Enji, who gains his at one year and two months. His manifestation comes in the form of him completely setting his head and hair on fire, leading to a long fifteen minutes of confirming Enji is perfectly okay frantic phone calls, emergency skype video calls, the copious use of google, and Shouto frantically trying to get his son to put out his quirk without hurting him before his son accidentally burns their entire house down (which he barely manages).

incidentally, Enji only loses control of his quirk as a baby - his control doesn’t waver after that, until many, many years later when he’s attending UA.

Tensei’s quirk manifests a bit before his second birthday in an uncontrollable burst of exhaust that sends the little boy’s face into the early birthday cake the Iida family bought in a rare moment of free time for all of them. Bless his heart, Tensei only laughs as they clean him up and deem the cake salvageable (and they send many profuse thank-you’s to everyone who had the foresight to send them tips on how to cushion everything and send their boy plenty of helmets)

They start learning self-defense when they’re around five years old each, though mostly minor basic things that wouldn’t hurt them or anything, you know? Everyone wants to make sure they can take care of themselves, whether they go on to be heroes or not. (This is why Inko’s prowess in fighting can match that of 1-A when quirks aren’t involved).

The first time Inko and Izuku visit her parent’s graves, Inko is three. She brings a handful of flowers her dad let her pick at the park (and one of which they bought impulsively after seeing it in the window of a shop), and spends hours laughing and telling them stories about her day, and how much fun her aunts and uncles are (”Auntie Ocha taught me how to a somersault in zero gravity last week!” “Wait, Ochako did what-”) and how much she loves her dad. Izuku swears he isn’t crying when he tells Inko’s parents about Inko and her studies and what a wonderful, beautiful daughter they’ve managed to create and how happy he is he can take care of her, really.

that’s a lie, of course he is, really, who do you think we’re talking about here

Inko has always known that she isn’t Izuku’s biological daughter. Izuku has always wanted to be very open that he loves her so, so much and is sorry he couldn’t save her parents when she was a baby, because it was important to him that she know about the two noble people who spent the last moments of their lives making sure she survived. 

When Inko is four, just before they move to one of the wards closer to Enji and Tensei and everyone, Izuku asks Inko about her taking on his last name and him officially adopting her (at this time she’s his ward and he’s only got custody/guardianship of her). He refrained from just going through with it because he wanted to be Inko’s choice, instead of making it for her. She accepts immediately and affectionately refers to the night her paperwork went through as “Family day” (which instantly becomes a shared Ageswap Fam Holiday and day of celebration, naturally)

Tensei and Enji have no clue that Inko isn’t Izuku’s biologically and don’t actually learn this detail until they’re students at UA. In their defense, it kind of wasn’t their fault (though they’ve got their physical differences, Inko and Izuku share an uncanny resemblance for sharing absolutely no blood whatsoever) as everyone forgot to tell them in general, but it doesn’t make a difference because Inko is still family, after all. 

Though, it does explain Family day a little bit, when they explain that it was the day he legally adopted her way back when.

Tensei is a bit of a mischievous little spirit, he is, but I’m sure we all know that. Left to his own devices, his curiosity and desire to do really awesome cool things (in traditional kid form) lead him into some pretty ridiculous situations.

He and Enji grew up in about the same(ish) area, so as toddlers they spent a lot of time together, which did help. Sometimes, they’d go out and get into the kind of dumb situations only kids can get into except twofold because there’s two of them to lead to extra trouble, because of course they would 

both refuse to disclose the details of what is loosely referred to as “the cat and chick incident”, and since the only thing any of their guardians ever heard about it was the aftermath… god only knows 

Enji, as a kid, was very standoffish and very prideful over his quirk. He was cordial with Tensei and Inko, at the least, and both have his respect, but man, was he ever bad at making friends.

Still, for all his vices, he was still a kid. It’s not often, but if you ask Shouto at the right moment in time, he’ll show you all the photo albums he’s kept of his boy growing up. A fan-favourite series of pictures is of Enji having fun at the fair with all the cotton candy and ferris wheel and roller coaster rides his little heart could ever desire. Enji vehemently denies the legitimacy and existence of those photographs at all possible times.

Inko and Tensei get on like a house on damn fire, the devil duo they are. Not that any of their parents ever learn the full details of their antics, since Inko is much better at hiding her tracks than she really has any right to be frankly

The only time they were caught is the time they were going to have Tensei distract some bullies while Inko floats water balloons over their heads, to trick them into thinking they were haunted and maybe get them to stop being jerks. Instead the water balloons go to the noble cause of becoming ammo in a massive water fight that they somehow manage to drag Tenya, Enji and Shouto into, and the parents get some tips that lead to stern talking-to’s and the end of bullying in their area. It’s great all around.

The reason why Inko wants to become a doctor focused on hero medicine is because of the aftermath of the ShigaDeku fight, in pre-canon. Izuku had to go through a great deal of physical therapy and impose a limit on his use of One For All because of the results of the fight and, well, Inko of course took it upon herself to make sure her dad took good care of himself in the aftermath, you know? Eventually she realized that if she became a doctor, she’d have the knowledge to better help her dad along with all the other heroes out there keeping them safe. Thus, doctor Inko was born!

A lot of the Hero squad associate with UA and became teachers for the kids, tbh. Seeing them grow up right before their eyes… it kind of puts things into perspective, how they grow and change and work towards their dreams just like they all once did! Still, not everyone was suited to teaching (and some of them have specialties that are in high demand in the hero industry), which is why some of the squad only really come on as guests and substitute teachers from time to time (such as Ochako)

Once in a blue moon, Shouto and Enji will spend the entire weekend together. These weekends are difficult, sometimes, as their relationship is rocky, but Enji will never admit how much he treasures the times he gets to sit down on the couch with his dad and fall asleep there, knowing he’ll still be home when he wakes in the morning.

When Inko is old enough to cook, there are times Inko and Izuku will argue over who gets to make breakfast that morning. It’s a toss of the coin as to who wins each time

Tenya and Tensei don’t get to hang out often, but one constant ritual between them is when they slouch in the living room and do pretty much whatever. Sometimes Tenya will have paperwork and Tensei will be playing video games, or Tenya will be texting Ochako (who is inevitably bothering him about hanging out with him and Izuku sometime soon) while Tensei eats dinner, and that kind of stuff. It’s nice to bask in the presence of the other and when Tensei feels negative/volatile but doesn’t want to be in his room (or doesn’t want to be alone), he’ll gravitate to the living room automatically.

Tensei’s greatest hero has always been and always will be his brave older brother, who always follows the rules and is full of nothing but enthusiasm and the desire to see the world thrive by saving lives and keeping others safe.

The one and only time Inko, Tensei and Enji teamed up in any sort of incident-slash-adventure was when they were about eight years old, in which they discovered a sturdy but abandoned shopping cart in an alleyway one day. Naturally, they decided Experiments Must Be Conducted and subsequently learned that when all three of their quirks are paired together, they’re freaking unstoppable

(the gist of what happened is Inko would move or topple obstacles over so the cart could make it past them, Tensei would power them forward uncontrollably, and Enji would use his fire to let them make sharp turns or brake sharply since Tensei’s quirk didn’t let him do that. They may have unwittingly made local news in the process and gotten into so much trouble afterwards, but it was totally worth it.)

[thesundowncrew]

Slice of Life bio ; Natalie

Depending on the thread, Natalie’s occupation during her adulthood may change but everything else up to that point is pretty solid. Natalie was left at the orphanage when she was two-years-old because her mother could not afford to care for her. Nothing else is known about her biological family or background and, though she’s been curious, Natalie has never made any attempts to investigate.

Age 4 *Adopted by Harvey and Kelly Shadestone, a lovely couple in their early 20′s who could not have children of their own due to fertility complications. *The Shadestones moved around a lot due to Mr Shadestone’s research and postgraduate studies. Mrs Shadestone opened her own tailoring service from home for extra income. *Natalie started off being home-schooled by Mrs Shadestone, which is where they knew early on that Natalie did not have the attention span of most children her age.

Age 5-6 *Finally settle down when Mr Shadestone got a permanent job as a toxicologist in a medical research lab. *Rather than go to kindergarten, Mrs Shadestone continues home-schooling her and starts reading up on ADHD. *Meets Liore and Sam (both 6-years-old) at the park and had constant weekend play-dates. Age 7-10 *Starts schooling and went to the same public institution as Liore and Sam, and even landed in the same class. *Was the only 7-year-old in her class as everyone else was 8 or 9, Liore and Sam included. *Noted by teachers as ‘an extremely lovable and gifted student, when her focus does not stray from the class curricular’. *Mrs Shadestone has constantly been called by teachers regarding her daughter’s ‘unruly’ behavior which involves going to the bathroom and never coming back, drawing underneath her table, painting the window during art class and sleeping during lessons. *Strange enough there are no complaints when it comes to her grades as she’s usually the top of the class. *Because of this, Mrs Shadestone always replies “As long as she doesn’t disturb the class and her grades are in good order, I don’t see why her behavior is an issue” at every Parent Teacher Conference. *After a while, the teachers give up and it is collectively understood that handling young Natalie just needed a different practice and mindset. *Meets Sam’s granda and 19-year-old Axel as they frequent the Sundown bookstore. *Develops an especially close big-brother-little-sister type bond with Axel.

Age 11-12 *Natalie discovers the negligence and abuse Liore and Sam face at home. They both force her to swear not to tell the adults, not even Axel. *Guilty she can’t do more than cover for them and keep their secrets, Natalie always made sure her house became their safe haven. *The Shadestones held sleepovers for the kids so often, they had a smaller wardrobe full of extra clothes and pajamas so that they didn’t have to bring their own. *Learned how to sew and tend to bruises mostly thanks to Sam. *Showed extreme interest in photography, picking it up as a hobby. *Participates in extra curricular activities like track and field, science club, cooking club, photography club etc. Is never part of the committee but is one of the most active members in all her societies. *Garnered a reputation in school for being fun-loving and eccentric, but also for associating with Liore (has a drug addict, single mother) and Sam (a juvenile delinquent). Even teachers started worrying for her. *Despite what everyone said about them, Natalie defended her best friends to the end and never cared whose favor she lost because of it.

Age 13-15 *After hitting puberty and seeing her best friends together as an item, Natalie discovers her asexuality (though she didn’t know the actual name for it yet). *Further encouraged when boys asked her out on dates or to be their girlfriend and she was never interested in anything sexual. *Asks big-brother Axel about sexuality and orientations and finally learns the name for her thing and discovers that Axel’s thing was what they called pansexuality. *Having secured her place at the top of most classes, she received a number of scholarship offers. She accepted the one that came from a college she intended to further her studies with. *Still very much popular and active in her societies, Natalie often represented the school in state science fairs. *Gets her first polaroid camera for a birthday present. Explores her passion in photography and becomes quite the social media butterfly. *When Sam didn’t turn up for their study-date one afternoon, Natalie went to his house to check on him only to find the front door unlocked, the house in shambles and Sam unconscious on the living room floor. Stayed with Sam the whole time he was hospitalized. *Sam’s dad was sentenced to jail, and only then did Mr and Mrs Shadestone know about Sam’s whole situation. *Mr and Mrs Shadestone have a long, heart-to-heart talk with Sam’s granda and offer to act as his godparents. *Sam moves in with his granda in Sundown but still has sleepovers at the Shadestones, now more than ever. *Sam goes back to being serious in school and Natalie and Liore become his main tutors.

Age 16 *Liore gets critically injured during a hit-and-run after a Halloween party. Passes away in the ambulance, on the way to the hospital. *Granda passes away soon after Sam’s birthday in November. *Seeing her best friend Sam so broken with one tragedy after the other, the Shadestones do all they can to help. *After granda’s funeral, Sam moves in with Natalie temporarily while Axel takes care of the bookstore. *Despite everything, Natalie graduates high-school with honors and gets into her first college of choice. *Though life was going well for her, she never forgot to be Sam’s source of emotional support when he needed her. Though far apart, they texted and Skyped whenever they had the chance.

Age 17-19 and beyond *Gets her degree in three years and comes back to take a break and help out Sam and the bookstore. *Gets her driver’s license for both a car and motorbike, though she doesn’t get her motorbike until a few years (and a few paychecks) later. *Gets her first job by the time she’s 20-years-old. *Lives with her parents for the first few years before saving enough and gets her own small flat, one that’s closer to her workplace.

PLACE IN SOCIETY

✖ FINANCIAL – wealthy  / moderate / poor / in poverty

✖ MEDICAL – fit / moderate / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged / deceased

✖ CLASS OR CASTE – upper / middle / working / slave / unsure

✖ EDUCATION – qualified / unqualified / perpetually studying

FAMILY

✖ MARITAL STATUS – married, happily / married, unhappily / engaged and devoted to a fault / partnered / single / divorced / widow or widower / separated / it’s complicated

✖ CHILDREN – has a child / no children / wants children / adopted a child

✖ FAMILY – close with (step) sibling(s) / not close with (step) sibling(s) / has no sibling(s) / sibling is deceased / estranged

✖ AFFILIATION – orphaned / adopted / disowned / raised by both (adoptive) parents / other

TRAITS & TENDENCIES

✖ disorganised / organized / in between

✖ close-minded / open-minded / in between

✖ cautious / reckless / in between

✖ patient / impatient / in between

✖ outspoken / reserved / in between

✖ leader / follower / in between

✖ sympathetic / unemphatic / in between

✖ optimistic / pessimistic / in between

✖ hardworking / lazy / in between

✖ cultured / uncultured / in between

✖ loyal / disloyal / in between

✖ faithful / unfaithful / unknown

SEXUALITY & ROMANTIC INCLINATION

✖ SEXUALITY – heterosexual / heteroflexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual / demi sexual

✖ SEX – sex repulsed / neutral / sex favorable

✖ ROMANCE – romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favorable

✖ SEXUALLY – sexually adventurous / sex experienced / naive / inexperienced /curious / uninterested

ABILITIES

✖ COMBAT SKILLS – excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

✖ LITERACY SKILLS – excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

✖ ARTISTIC SKILLS – excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

✖ TECHNICAL SKILLS – excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

[gaiatheorist]

“Hot Girls.”

(I don’t know, it’s some TV series, and, despite the ‘Girl Power’ angle, I’m unlikely to watch it.)

I’m deflecting, because I don’t want to be unsettled by the bile being spewed on comments-threads about the footballer saying he ‘wishes he had raped the girl.’ Pure linear-logical, there’s a man going to prison for committing an offence, and he feels the sentence to be disproportionate. It’s ‘may as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb’ mentality, but disgustingly reversed, because this is a child we’re talking about, not livestock. 

I clicked on the ‘Hot Girls’ article because it had a sub-heading about pornography not being dark or taboo any more. I thought I might find some humour in there, you know, 1970′s bushes, awful keyboard backing tracks, and unrealistic expectations of how quickly you can get a plumber. No, I didn’t finish reading the piece, because, surprisingly enough, there was a slant on ‘women getting sex’, and I’d already caught myself tutting at the dating-service banner on the newspaper, and the way Fakebook keeps throwing a ‘meet men in your area’ advert into my news-feed. Sex sells, and if we’re not ALL having amazing sexual relations 2.54 times a week, there must be something dysfunctional about us. I’ll take my seat in dysfunctional corner, and I’ll do it openly, my sexual orientation might be vague, but I’m fully ‘out’ as a weirdo.

(Not ‘Man caught with extreme dog and horse-porn’ weird, by the way, the lack of punctuation in that news headline had me laughing about what an ‘extreme dog’ might be for ages.)

Sexual relations, between consenting adults, where the desire is evenly matched. What an utterly magnificent experience. Being prodded with an erection you have no desire to interact with less so. Being coerced or forced into sexual activity, that’s hideous. I speak from experience. It’s fine, I’ve only just turned 40, I assume the Fakebook “Hot singles in your area!” rubbish will evolve into cats and ironing boards before long.

I’m all over the place on this, and very well aware that I am making assumptions about the comments-I-won’t-read. Which make assumptions about a child. No, angry man from wherever, she shouldn’t have gotten into the car, but she is a child, or she was, until the adult holding the power in this situation coerced her into engaging in adult acts. I had to step away from the keyboard, there, because my “Bloody men!” switch was flipped, and my particular slant on this is pretty Freudian.

My mother had reasons of her own for hating men, and I can back-pick all I want on her skewed attempts to get me to swear-off men, that serves no purpose, because I’m not her, and have no understanding of her thought processes. I don’t ‘hate men’, I’m just the unfortunate product of an entirely dysfunctional upbringing, thank the Gods there wasn’t any internet back then, or my assumed-worth as a commodity would have been exponentially increased. Neat digression back to my original thought process on this one.

That girl, and a huge number of other girls have an additional layer of vulnerability that my generation didn’t have to factor-in, namely the sexualised saturation in society. Dress the girls up pretty, and encourage the boys to be heroes, I’ll be over here, banging my head on the wall. Western society, or the media element thereof, encouraged housewives to burn their bras, then it encouraged bra-wearers to do the whole “Hello boys!” thing, then it glamourised boob-implants, then it decided boob-implants were hideous. I’m supposedly intelligent and liberated, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing with my tits for Spring 2017, I’ll just leave them where they are. ‘Back in my day’, if you wanted to bore yourself to death with which-shade-of-lipstick, or “Next season’s look! Leave the coat-hanger in your blouse!” you had to leave the house, and buy a magazine, now, we have all-of-everything in our pockets at all times. Fair enough, I am as entranced as a goldfish-watching-cat by those short food-videos on Fakebook, but I don’t click on “One weird tip!”, and I try not to fall for click-bait. 

(Oh, look, she’s ‘blaming the internet’ again.)

Sex sells, so there’s a lot of sexual content online, this generation of kids have been exposed to it all of their lives, and it’s made them strange, even by my non-standard standards. Fat lot of good the bra-burning did these poor little buggers, because they’re STILL getting the me-Tarzan-you-Jane, and how-to-please-your-man crap flung at them. From as soon as they’re able to read. SOME of the parents are unwittingly doing a watered-down version of what my parents did to me, dressing their princesses up all pretty, and telling their little men they can have whatever they want. I know it’s only extreme cases that end up like the girl and the football player, but it’s the unrelenting undertone that’s the real issue.

SOME of the parents up in arms about the Sex and Relationships curriculum now being compulsory are getting the wrong end of the stick altogether. “It’s too soon!” isn’t an argument, your five-year-old isn’t going to be bringing home a Kama Sutra inspired painting for you to stick on the fridge. We’ve effectively ‘missed’ far too many kids out of compulsory SRE, and some of those kids are parented by deeply confused individuals who throw out the “Asking for it.” message. (Side rant about the type of parent that obsesses about their own physical appearance to such an extent that their children view that as normal.) In an ideal world, parents would be clued-up enough to start the process themselves, but that comes with the risk of some misconceptions being passed down, it falls on the school to provide the clear and consistent messages that the parents’ generation didn’t get.

“Don’t rape.” is a very clear message, but perception of rape, sexual assault, and any kind of unwanted sexual attention are not clear. The issue I’m having an internal argument with myself about right now loops back to what I was trying to avoid looking at in the first place. For generations, girls have been ‘taught’ how to reduce their risk of being raped or assaulted. (There’s work to be done on ensuring boys are afforded similar ‘protection.’) Nobody thought to give the boys the message not-to-rape until very recently. It’s all a bit icky, isn’t it. We women KNOW we’re not supposed to get drunk and then walk down a dark alley wearing a short skirt. If we do those things, we are not ‘asking’ to be raped, any more than any individual ever ‘asks’ to be maimed or killed by a drunk driver. (The stranger-in-an-alley, like the old-man-in-dirty-raincoat is statistically the least likely perpetrator. Not ‘impossible’, just less-probable.) 

The ‘asking for it’ contingent have a lot to answer for. The girl in question was 15? The age of consent is 16. A person under the age of 16 cannot consent to sexual activity, their consent is invalid. It would be a poor salesman who gave the keys to a car to a 15-year-old, and not even the shadiest of pay-day lenders would authorise a mortgage to a 15-year-old. There you go, kids aren’t even allowed to have tattoos until they’re 18. (Don’t come at me with the 16-with-parental-consent bullshit.) That’s a head-spin, that a girl could get pregnant on her 16th birthday, but wouldn’t be allowed to marry the father without parental consent, and the offspring would be a year old before she could legally have its name tattooed on her OWN body. A child cannot consent to sexual activity, and your career may be repossessed if you do not read the terms and conditions, like, you know, checking they are an adult and not a child. “She said she was x-age!” (I don’t know if that one is pertinent to the case in question, but it does get bandied about a lot.) Really? Well, I could claim to be 21, couldn’t I? 

“Be beautiful so you can attract a partner!” (Don’t be so beautiful that you attract a rapist, though, it’s your own fault if you do that!)

“Everyone’s having loads of sex, you MUST have sex!” (Everyone’s not having loads of sex, who’d run the tills in Tesco if everyone was busy combining nuts and guts all the time? You don’t have to have sex, bits don’t drop off or heal up if they’re not used.)

“Get out there and be a gender-appropriate predator!” (That’s a weird one to phrase, but us girls are meant to assertively demand the type of sex we want, and the poor men are STILL meant to prove their manliness, in the face of these confusing creatures.) (Side giggle, about my son pointing out that man-razors have stupidly ‘macho’ names, but are essentially “To make your face more like a girl’s.”) 

What a mess, we’re no further forward in real terms than we were when I was a teenager, and those of us who care about kids/the world are mightily confused. There was the “Is this OK?” phenomenon years ago, but it never really caught on. (Checking with your partner every time you turn up the sexy-dial, in principle it makes sense, but it would sort-of ruin the flow...) Anastasia and Christian Grey drew up an actual contract of expectations. People vulnerable to sexual exploitation don’t generally have time to do that, though. Nobody is ‘entitled’ to sexual activity, very few people would walk into Tesco and bite a baguette because they were hungry. (Except toddlers, but they’re not-people-yet.) We have generations that still perpetuate the victim-blaming, generations that know that’s not-OK, but don’t know how to change it, and generations that are sexualised before they’re ready to deal with the wider implications of the acts themselves. 

[ariabauer]

In MOC, Lilita reminds me of my own mother. It's simultaneously uncomfortable and reassuring. Thank you for framing it in such an uncompromisingly negative way.

The relationship between Lilita and Carmilla is uncompromisingly bad and I fundamentally refuse to give any excuse for it. Full stop. It is toxic.

I write it to be an emotionally abusive relationship. It is based on a real life emotionally abusive relationship. I studied emotional abusive relationships. Carmilla and The Dean canon relationship is an emotionally abusive relationship (that i sometimes get angry feelings about how it was handled but we are dealing with that *deep breath aria*).

I don’t swear but I will here. I don’t care what the abuser’s situation is there is no fucking excuse for emotional abuse.

Because people who are abused have a tendency to make those excuses for the abuser, because people outside never see the abuse, because as soon as you leave your abuser will suddenly become nice. Because of these things, I refuse to give even an inch of positivity to that relationship.

I want people to know. Really know. Emotional abuse is uncompromisingly negative. Always. I will not compromise on that.

Chapter 1 of MoC was a lighthearted fake engagement au born in the panic depths of 30days but every chapter after has been written with the primary goal of depicting an emotionally abusive mother/daughter relationship. 

Everyone knows theoretically what physical abuse looks like. It’s bruises and sleepless nights and shown in a hundred different pieces of media. Maybe not well. But it’s there. The person being abused might not be ready to acknowledge their abuse, they might talk circles around it or make excuses, but they have media to depict them.

Emotional abuse though. Alone. Without the physical side combined with it.

Lilita’s voice is meant to be uncomfortable. It’s literally abusive. But.

I had to add the whole ‘lock your daughter in closet’ component to Carmilla’s abuse (even though I really didn’t want to) simply because people who hadn’t experienced emotional abuse first hand were not getting that the language alone was abuse. They thought that Carmilla’s reactions were fine. They thought Lilita was ‘just mean’ and I try to be a nice a person but I was ready to smash some heads together to make people see and scream, “this is why children stay in these kind of relationships for decades then carry this shit with them. No-one see them. They have no idea. This is abuse. Full stop.”

Outside of Mother Gothel in Tangled (bless Disney. for so many kids that movie is their first warning sign), I can’t think of one media piece that’s purely emotional manipulation and targeted to a YA audience where the parent is wrong and not excused by the end. Nothing for kids. You know, the children/teens/young adults actually in these situations with their parents and think it’s normal when it’s not. 

The ones who flinch because their parent folded a sock the wrong way or have a panic response to run and dry the dishes the moment they hear a parent start washing them or never have friends over because they don’t know their parents mood that day or moderate the amount of time they spend in their room so it’s the maximum amount they can avoid their parent but not so much that the parent invades their space because they never see them. It’s the kids who have this sense that they owe their parents, the kids whose parents ‘need’ them and they can never move out because ‘i don’t know what I’d do without you’ and mean it, the kids whose parents are apparently responsible for all their successes and the kids who beam when their parents give them praises like ‘glittering girl’ because they have been trained to make that their everything.

It’s in the little things.

And sometimes it’s unintentionally done on the parents part. I don’t care. People try and excuse that shit all the time. Lilita thinks she’s doing it ‘out of love’ and ‘for Carmilla’s good’. They always have a ‘reason’.

there is no fucking excuse for emotional abuse.

The teens who sometimes get loud and angry because they know something is wrong but leave the conversation in tears only to have their parents ‘apologize’ to them by explaining why its the kids fault the parent was upset until the teen is drowning in guilt and swears to never speak back again. The ones who are tired of fighting so they drop their chin and curl their shoulders in and simply agree with whatever the parent said.

I have been so careful with my word choices for Lilita, my phrasing and follow-ups. I have been so careful with Carmilla’s responses and her journey trying to escape the relationship. I have been so careful with Laura’s interactions with Lilita and how she does it all wrong (so many “I” statements). I could write you an essay on it.

Cupcake. You may not want to hear this because no-one ever does and the denial state is real and long but if Lilita reminds you of your mother then I find it highly like that you are/were in an emotionally manipulative relationship. Probably emotionally abusive. 

Please get out. Please. I want nothing more than for you to learn how to heal.

And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.

But that is why I write this story over the other 72 fanfics that people keep begging me for. Is it perfect? Course not. But.

I write it for the quiet message in my inbox spoken in fear, the person who recognizes the words and the tone Lilita speaks and cries, the adults who suddenly recognize what they went through or who are so thankful that someone finally put it out there and they don’t feel alone from something that happened years ago.

So, cupcake, I can honestly say that I am so glad to hear that the story resonated with you even though I wish you never had live through something that makes it recognizable. It is my honour and my privilege to make sure the relationship is seen as nothing but negative. I’m so thankful that you took the time to thank me for it because Lilita’s head, her words, writing her, is not a place I like to be. 

But words have power. They are important. 

No-one knows that better then the people who were damaged by them. 

And remember, regardless of what any one ever tells you, you are someone stupendous and I will fight until you all believe that.

And if you’ve never experienced this relationship yourself, please, please, keep an eye on your friends/family. TAKE IT SERIOUSLY. People rarely do.

If the only way to get this abuse read by the people who need it is to cover the story in high amount of shippers feels, happy to do so. Just another reason to love fanfic. 

moc link

a professional EA resource because i am just a writer on tumblr

[automatismoateo]

Religious hypocrites are destroying my family [RANT] via /r/atheism

Submitted June 06, 2019 at 11:41AM by this_is_thr0w (Via reddit http://bit.ly/2XssVzr) Religious hypocrites are destroying my family [RANT]

Get ready for a looong, juicy rant. I'm sorry in advance.

​

So, a few months ago, when my brother “Devin” was a barely-legal teenager, he met this girl “Mary.” She was going to a local Bible college program (one of those that trains teenagers to “be supernatural soldiers for Christ bringing revival to the world.”) Her family is super fundamentalist, has a ton of kids, etc. They also spoil her a lot and give her anything she wants. Basically, they’re that rich pastor family who are considered perfect angels by everyone in the church, no matter how “un-Christlike” they behave.

​

Devin and Mary immediately started dating. By “dating,” I mean she starting skipping her Bible college classes to cheat on her sweet, unassuming boyfriend with Devin. I learned later that Devin knew about the boyfriend all along and didn’t care. In fact, his best friend tried to warn him that he was making a huge mistake - that not only did Mary already have a boyfriend, but she was also sending nudes to multiple boys in Devin’s friend group. Mary’s reasoning was, and I quote, “It doesn’t count as cheating if it’s just a summer fling.”

​

Devin’s reaction was to spread lies that his best friend was sexting with Devin’s ex-GF, who was completely uninvolved with the whole thing. Devin then used this “betrayal” as an excuse to cut off his best friend. My family found out when this best friend, in a last-ditch try to help Devin, told us everything and asked us to talk to Devin since he wouldn’t listen to anyone else. Devin denied everything - and then messed up big time.

​

For some weeks before, he had been borrowing our mom’s car and my car to get to work. But one day when I stayed home unexpectedly, I saw Devin sneak my car, come back with Mary, and disappear with her into his room. I confronted them and found out that Devin had been doing this the whole time. He didn’t even have a job - he got fired for not showing up, and lied that he was working for weeks so he could take our cars to go cruising with Mary and bring her home to have sex when we were out. My mom told him we don’t support cheaters, banned Mary from our house, and said he was not allowed to borrow our cars anymore.

​

So what did Devin do? The next time we were out, he stole my sister’s car to bring Mary over. My sister’s car, which had serious transmission problems, and that my mom had warned everyone not to even move across the driveway until it was fixed. He took the car, and it broke down. The transmission was destroyed. Mary had no choice but to call someone from the Bible school to pick her up, and when the elders heard about the compromising situation they promptly kicked her out. Mary’s parents didn’t seem to mind much - as pastors, they were far above criticism in their own church, and they knew how to keep the school board tastefully quiet about the reason for what happened.

​

My mom told Devin to pay my sister back for the car, but he cried that he was broke because he’d spent all his earnings on video games. She told him that was too bad and he had three choices: get a job, start college, or find his own place in the next three months, since he did nothing but break our house rules, steal, and play video games all day.

​

He spent the whole three months sucking up to Mary’s parents instead of job hunting or looking into school. At the end, he cried to them that we were “suddenly kicking him out with nowhere to go.” After some tantrums from Mary, they offered to take him in. To them, it was a win-win chance: Mary could get what she wanted without causing another scandal, and it made them look good to take in a poor abandoned boy. So Devin announced in their church that his family had thrown him out on the streets for no reason, and that “by a miracle of God” he had found a loving, generous family to take him in - Mary’s family. Her family gushed about what a beautiful miracle the timing was, and how humbled they were to give a home to such a good-hearted young man in his moment of abandonment. The church lapped it up.

​

Flash forward to today, six months later. Mary has mysteriously broken up with her boyfriend, and her pastor parents quietly bought her and Devin their own apartment, where they are living together (unmarried.) Then last Saturday, Devin suddenly proposed to Mary and they announced they are getting married THIS WEEKEND. Her family threw a posh engagement party and invited almost 200 people to the wedding that same day.

​

They swear it’s not a shotgun wedding, and Devin and Mary just want to hurry so they’re “not tempted into sexual sin.” After they’ve been living together for months. Social media is blowing up with cute stories of their fairytale romance, and praises to God for this match made in heaven and for “bringing them together through a miracle.” Everyone in the Bible college, their church, and my family’s church are congratulating them. At the moment, Mary’s family are planning to throw them not just one wedding, but two - the one this weekend and another one in Hawaii. The only people who aren’t so thrilled are my family and Devin’s former best friend - his best friend who has tried and tried to keep in touch with him and been ignored at every turn.

​

There’s no way my family can make it to the wedding. They’re having it on the other side of the country. My mom tried to get a ticket, and after she bought it they set the wedding for the day after she would leave. They promised to invite us to the second wedding in Hawaii. However, they’ve conveniently postponed that one until I will be moving to a new country for work. I’ve spent months on the job application process and visa paperwork. They always knew exactly when I would be leaving.

​

The hardest part, though? My brother can choose who he wants at his wedding. That’s his right. The hardest part is knowing that even if I invite him to my wedding someday, he would never come. First, because I pointed out the hypocrisy in Mary’s family and that I want nothing to do with people like them. And second, it’s because I am what her family call “a faggot.” I’ve heard the jokes they tell when they think I’m not around. I’ve heard Devin repeat them and add even worse things than they do. Jokes about shooting faggots and hanging trannies, all kinds of rubbish. They just snicker along.

​

They’ve made it clear that a cheating, two-faced Christian girl is far more excusable than a gay girl who has never even been kissed. My own mother said that if I ever marry, she will see it as “the same thing as a straight person cheating with a married person.” I pointed out that she’s now supportive of Devin’s relationship, which started as almost exactly that. She had no answer for that. Her only advice was to never tell anyone about my orientation, even if I never marry, because it will only cost me my friends. I would be the shameful sister no one talks about - or maybe I already am. I don’t know what Devin has told people about me, but almost everyone I know has become strangely avoidant. My only friends now are online.

​

I never asked to be the bad guy. I never asked for disgusting hypocrites to steal my brother and train him up as one of their good little future pastors. I never asked for him to babble religious-speak in church about the “blessings and miracles” God “provides” for cheaters and liars, and use the same mouth at home to tell jokes about torturing and killing people like me. But here we are.

​

And according to everyone I know, they’re “the good guys.”

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The thought of missing my family makes me sick, but I’ve never been so happy about moving away.

[howellrichard]

How to Do Less and Live More

Hiya Gorgeous!

Do you ever wonder how you’re gonna get it all done? Or how you’ll make room for yourself when there don’t seem to be enough hours in the day? I hear ya! While we can handle overbooked periods from time to time, being on a constant treadmill of commitments takes a toll on our health, happiness, creativity and meaningful pursuits. Maybe, just maybe, we’re all a little busier than we actually need to be.

Are we creating extra work and obligations when doing less might equal more benefits? Is getting things done the way we prove our worth? Do we stay busy to stay away from feelings we don’t want to feel? Or do we bite off more than we can chew for fear of letting others down or anxiety over speaking up? The truth is, there are many real and imaginary reasons why we put the pedal to the metal, but nothing will change if we don’t change our approach to busy living.

Ever wish you could slow down and enjoy your life more? @Kris_Carr #tips

Today I want to share two experiences that made me re-think my cray cray schedule. Then I’ll give you some tips to help you make more time for your beautiful self!

I finally took time off…and no one needed me.

What?! For years, I dreamt of taking a vacation with my husband, but something always blocked our plans: doctor visits, speaking engagements, manuscript deadlines, product launches, renovations and one emergency after another. Finally, even though the week landed in the middle of a busy time for my company, we booked the tickets.

Of course I was nervous about what would happen in my absence. But did the world explode? Nope! My team actually thrived without me. They made deeper bonds with each other, had time to check off old to-do’s and successfully wrapped up a big project. By the end of the week, they were proud of their work and couldn’t wait to share their shine with me. And while I felt proud too, I also felt a little off balance learning that my indispensability was part fantasy.

But I also learned to trust them more. Who doesn’t thrive when they’re trusted? And while taking time off is obviously important for my health, it’s also essential for the health of my company. I’m a more creative and clear-headed leader when I’ve had time to noodle, doodle and canoodle.

So maybe this scenario is true for you, too. Is your participation always essential? Can your colleagues run that meeting without you, can your kid make that peanut butter and jelly sandwich on her own, can you ask for help and delegate more at home and the office? There will always be ten more emails to read and endless demands on our time. But don’t be afraid to power down. I promise it will help you power up when and where it matters most.

Doing less can actually lead to more abundance.

Here’s another example that surprised me. Doing less made us earn more this year. Instead of focusing on lots of little business opportunities, we cut back and focused on our amazing wellness program, Crazy Sexy You.

At first I was worried. Would pulling back hurt us financially? We’ve expanded our team significantly over the last two years and sometimes our monthly overhead gives me night sweats. Well, as you can probably imagine, saying “no” to lots of little (and even a few big) opportunities made room for us to put our total focus on our launch, our program and our beloved students. We went deep and the results were outstanding, both from our student’s experience & success rate and our revenue. A two-fer!

I don’t know about you, but there’s so much I want to do with my big, beautiful life. I want to spend more time traveling, hanging with my friends and family, drifting in a canoe and dangling my feet off a dock. I want to be doing things I’ve dreamt of and stuff I haven’t even thought of yet. But endless “doing” doesn’t allow for the fulfillment of being. And isn’t that what you and I are here for? We’re here to live like we mean it and to drink in this delicious, sweet life before our next adventure. So let’s do that!

Here are a few tips to help you make space for what truly matters.

Tips for Doing Less and Living More

Let go of the guilt (and learn to disappoint people)

When you bite off more than you can chew, you’re going to disappoint people. Guess what? Not your problem! Here’s an idea: Make peace with guilt. Guilt is often a self-induced illusion, anyway. Many languages don’t even have a word for guilt. Sure, we all feel it. But that doesn’t mean we have to believe it! Acknowledge your feelings and let them go. Life is too short for guilt.

Keep emails, meetings and communications short

Just because someone sends you a long, chatty email doesn’t mean you need to respond in the same lengthy fashion. If I let it, my inbox can be a full-time job––but it doesn’t have to be. With so many technologies in our lives, the etiquette is ever-changing. Establishing a clean and brisk style of communicating may cause unease at first, but people will get on board and even be grateful. The same holds true for meetings. While we can still be friendly and build relationships, we don’t need to waste too many hours circling the wagons to nowhere. Connect smart. A restorative yoga class is waiting.

Delete, delete, delete

OK, I’ll admit it, sometimes I simply delete emails. Yup, I don’t answer them. But I do use an away message to let folks know that I’m focused on a project, so they may not hear back from me for a period of time. And if it’s really important they should either email my assistant or send their request through again after a certain date. Look, here’s the deal. We all have our own to-do lists, we don’t need other people’s “you-do” list on top of our already packed schedules. Folks will figure it out, they always do. Now, clearly this doesn’t work in every situation. So please use common sense––you can’t delete messages from your aging granny or boss, but the low hanging fruit doesn’t always need to be picked, especially when it comes in mass email form.

Let them judge

You can’t please everyone. When you’re too focused on living up to other people’s standards, you aren’t spending enough time raising your own. Sure, some people may whisper, complain and judge (and they ain’t your kinda people if they do). But for the most part, it’s all in your head. People care less about your actions than you think. Why? Because they have their own problems. However, when you do get the stink eye, try not to let it rattle you. It may just be because they’re jealous of the gutsy risks you take. Perhaps they’d also love to take action, but they’re too scared to make a move. Not your problem or your karma to figure out, just sayin’.

Do a social media cleanse

I love checking Facebook and following my friends and the people I admire on Instagram. But sometimes I spend more time in their lives than I do my own! When that happens, I feel off center or like I’m missing out. Why can’t I make a cake like that? How come I didn’t get invited to that party? How the hell does her hair always look so good? And so on. The truth is, my life and your life are awesome (flaws and all). So if you find yourself living through other people’s profiles, it’s probably time to step away from your device. You don’t have to delete your account or swear off the sauce. You may just need a break. Or you might want to tidy up your feed. That’s right, do an unfollowing purge. Energy matters and if your social feed is filled with energy that brings you down, raise your vibration by using the lovely “unfollow” button!

You don’t need to fix people

Oh my word, sometimes I offer to fix people who don’t ask to be fixed! It’s a product of what I do for a living, but that doesn’t mean it’s always welcomed or required. “You’re off duty Kris, chill the “F” out.” Part of healing or being successful is self-reliance. Nobody handed me the keys to the Queendom, I had to blaze my own trail. And while I love helping people, it’s not my job to save everyone, especially when folks have their own plans and agendas. The same holds true for wonderful you. Take all that energy and pour it back towards yourself, darling. You deserve your own time and attention.

Trust yourself (and others)

Trust is a core currency of any relationship. Sometimes our need to control and micromanage everything erodes our confidence in ourselves and others. People are much more capable than we think. A hearty dose of trust is often what’s needed to unlock the magic. Have faith.

Pace yourself

I love creative benders. I become a laser-focused and I thrive during those periods. But those jags aren’t sustainable. We need time to recover after big projects, both at home and at work. Plus, consistent back to back benders generally lead to burnout. When you have to go deep, (hello home renovation, I’m talking to you!) go for it. Just make sure you give yourself breathers to recover.

Choose your priorities wisely—don’t try to “have it all”

You can still be ambitious, run your own business, heal your body and be a nurturing and committed lover, parent and friend—maybe just not all at once. We have to make choices and sacrifices. Plus, here’s an important question I like to ask myself. Do you really want it all? I mean, all takes work and maintenance! All creates less time for wonder, whimsy and unexpected magic. We weren’t put on this planet to grind like ever-cranking engines that only stop when they seize. Figure out what your “all” is and then make space for miracles.

You are worthy just sitting still

Say what? This is a big one! I’m still learning how to be more present. When I am, I hear my body’s subtle messages before they get too loud. In music and theater, the beauty comes not only from the notes and the words, but from the spaces between them. I like to call it the sacred pause, it’s that expansive place where you can tap into your higher power, your intuition and healing. Doing nothing is sometimes the best investment in your life. There’s nothing you need to do or prove to anyone. You’re worthy just as you are.

Get more tips like these for how to live a healthy & vibrant life straight to your inbox:

Your turn: What are your tips for doing less and living or being more? Please let me know in the comments below—I love your suggestions! We can all help each other find more nourishing breathing room.

Peace & roomier days,

The post How to Do Less and Live More appeared first on KrisCarr.com.