#imagine your otp tho

[misscrazyfangirl321]

Romance between the unreliable narrator and the one character who can break the 4th wall

[incorrectquotesideas-deactivated]

Person A: You’re sel-

Person B, interrupting them: [backs A against a wall] Yes. I’m selfish, egocentric, a coward, and a little mean. I don’t give a fuck. You got anything more interesting to say about me?

Person A: You’re… [sighing in frustration] …kinda hot.

Person B:

Person A:

Person A and B: [start making out violently]

[simp-for-long-hair]

click for better quality

menu for my fav fanfic café

[seresuns]

Anyone But You first image [via sonypictures]

[welcometothewoes]

Long angst-ish university AU prompt for your OTP

I keep thinking of a scenario where the inseparable high school sweethearts A and B end up going to different countries for university/college, and make the effort to keep in touch despite the long distance between them.

At first, they both keep spamming each other with pictures, finding the cultural tidbids endearing and fawning over their respective campuses, dorms and sightseeing spots, basking in their newfound independence - but as soon as classes start, they find less and less time for each other, and don't really have the time to keep tabs on one another anymore.

A has always been more outgoing of the two, so they fit right in from the start - they truly feel as though they've started LIVING, they rave about every lecture, they're constantly tagged in pictures of outings on social media and they find a part-time job as soon as the circumstances allow them to. They visit every nearby city in their new region, their Sunday nights go by as they (try to) study with their colleagues, sharing snacks and childhood stories as a bonding ritual. They miss B - they really do - but they truly believe that the self-reliant B is having a similar, maybe even better experience.

Whereas... the shyer, more timid B is quickly pulled back from their honeymoon phase into reality within as little as three months. Their new colleagues are nice and polite, though they don't feel themselves clicking with most of them; the lectures are fine but overwhelming, and getting shitfaced in a loud crowded club is deifnitely not as fun as they thought it would be. The one potential friend they made drops out before the end of the first semester, claiming that this education program was not what they expected. And really, B is FINE, the exams go FINE, the new environment is FINE, EVERYTHING IS FINE, B tells themselves one April morning as they contemplate staying in bed and skipping lectures for the fifth day in a row, fully in denial about their own depression.

So when A and B finally reunite after an year for the summer vacation, the bright-eyed, vivacious A has so much to tell that they don't know where to begin, seemingly reborn by their newfound independence and lifestyle, as if... happier. Without B.

A takes their dear B's silent discouragement as their usual timid reluctance, so they invite them to speak out first, curious to see what experiences the detail-oriented B has had, unaware of their inner turmoil. But really, having spent the last few months in a grey, desolate haze, alternating only between the echo of the lecture halls and the confined, narrow space of their own door room, what can B even say?

[medicallista]

Hear me out: Psydea Tangled AU???

Psyche and Rapunzel being locked up all their lives for their special powers, and their arcs about overcoming their gaslighting abusers

Medea and Flynn wanting to be more than upbringings and seeking power, meeting their unlikely match. From a hesitant friendship/alliance with them to the love of their life

Also that moment where Rapunzel thought Flynn betrayed her cuz of her mother's manipulation feels very much like Psydea falling out cuz of Eros' manipulation, even if it's reversed.

Also, imagine Psyche getting her hair braided with flowers by children and they all love her. Medea staying in the sidelines at first and smiling fondly, but eventually being pushed to dance and Psydea end up dancing together at the center of it all. Them on a boat with lanterns all around and just gazing into each other's eyes at "All at once everything is different now that I see you" AASDNFNJKSSADF

[dracxula]

shuffle your On Repeat playlist and list the first 10 songs that play, then tag 10 people ✨

i dont got a 'on repeat' playlist so i just used my general music playlist but its still a good sum up of the stuff i listen to constantly

tagged by @feypact! hii! :]

Re: Your Brains | Jonathan Coulton [song ive listened to since i was 10 ngl]

Don't Mess With Me | Temposhark

Riot | Vo Williams

Bad Mood, Bad Year | Familypet [ok cant lie i have been listening to this one a TON recently]

Take Me Nowhere | Maggie Lindemann [love her music but esp when she does stuff with siickbrain]

Sooner or Later | Jeff Lynne [hooray for music from electric dreams! watch electric dreams]

Hook Me Up | The Veronicas

Hands Up | Mark & Kremont ft. DNCE [i think this song is so outta place here but i have listened to it so much recently]

Hooked (Addicted You Might Say) | Eleisha Eagle

You're So Creepy | Ghost Town

tagging: @neopuff @painfully-unoriginal @calliepoppingoff @eievuiisms its not ten ppl but hey its my friends yippee

[reallyhappycrown]

My current dilemma: my coworkers won’t stop laughing at me cuz every time I see my work-crush I get nauseous for the next 15-65 minutes along with shaky legs and uncontrollable laughter and peppy-ness. I hate this. Why does anyone get crushes??

[saiorse-irvyne]

ready to start my tumblr era with a bang

[angstandhappiness]

NICE

metropolis nights 🌙 (kal-el ver. under the cut) original "template" by @/K0TTERl

[dangermousie]

Hey dangermousie some time when you're feeling up for an ask: what are your favorite webnovels? Like danmei, bg, general fiction, anything. You've shared so many intetesting sounding novels in other posts so I was curious what some of the top favorites are? I remember Sha Po Lang, Ever Night, and The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir (which I'm reading because of you ToT)

I love this ask! I am gonna limit myself to 35 novels or we will be here all night. The usual caveat is - this is very personal. You will see that out of 35 (well, 36) novels, there is only one modern, there is a lot of angst and things like noncon and unhealthy relationships don't bother me. But I dislike harem infights and protags who are too OP.

35 I Became the Older Brother of the Heroine in an Abusive Novel by Liu Gou Hua (danmei) - a lovely novel where one half of otp is healthy and wholesome and the other abused feral wreck who melts under sanity and care.

34 After the Disabled God of War Became My Concubine by Liu Gou Hua (danmei) - our MC is a modern person who transmigrates into a historical bad guy who apparently married a captured and crippled general who eventually healed, escaped and committed a lot of murder to avenge his humiliation. Poor historian MC transmigrates right before the wedding and is desperate to avoid the fate of having his head hang on the city gates for three years in the near future. Good luck! This has such a wholesome (yet not boring) OTP. Proof that healthy doesn't have to be dull.

33 You've Got Mail by He Dan Bai (danmei) - the sex in this one is gonzo and biologically questionable but the love story is wistful and sweet and somehow both hilarious and involving two rather damaged people.

32 The Blue Whisper by Jiu Lu Fei Xiang (het) - the novel is a bona fide angst masterpiece, which really delves into what it feels like to be imprisoned or to love and what makes you you. I sniffled throughout.

31 The Paranoid Emperor’s Black Moonlight Shizun by Chen Sensen (danmei) - a really screwed up disciple and a really decent master have some insane entanglements. To say more would be to spoil but if you want some intensity, angst, groveling and utter codependency and did I mention ANGST? this one is for you!

30 Demon King's Repayment by Gong Xinwen (het) - another delicious Gong Xinwen tale with a powerful ML dedicated to capable FL. This one is a great fantasy plot (I keep imagining it as an animated series) and a sprawling cast of amazing secondaries (and secondary OTPs - there is, I swear, an OTP that is Dong Hua x Feng Jiu done thru GXW lens) to boot.

29 Accompanying the Phoenix by Jiu Lu Fei Xiang (het) - the one that just got adapted into The Legend of Shen Li, this is high adventure and cottage core and funny and tragic and powerful ML being putty in the hands of capable FL and just EVERYTHING.

28 The Counterattack of the Cannon Fodder Chambermaid by Jia Mian De Sheng Yan (het) - I remember starting this and loving the realistic feel and the heroine and wanting to stab the hero. Yet the end I was on board with both the hero (who was abused and is rather autistic-coded) and the OTP. Anyway, heroine is a servant who was a concubine in the last life and got killed as part of a rich family’s harem intrigues. In this life, she just wants to keep her head down but her life gets derailed anyway. She gets sold away and eventually made a servant in the household of an exiled prince who takes a fancy to her and she endures it because what choice does she have? All she wanted was to serve out her term and become a small time merchant. This is quite realistic about lack of options for women, especially lower class women or upper class male attitudes (ML is never vicious or mean to FL but it does not initially occur to him to wonder if she fancies him or enjoys being his concubine or w/e.) It is a DELIGHTFUL slow burn tho as they grow to love each other and grow together and become one of the most wholesome cnovel couples out there.

27 The Black Moonlight Holds the BE Script by Teng Luo Wei Zhi (het) - so fucked up, so good, with monster hero who learns to love and be human and heroine who learns to love and be human (but from the other side, her tower of perfection), with a complex plot and no easy outs.

26 The Grand Princess by Mo Shu Bai (het) - a husband and wife who really drifted apart and ended up killing each other (or did they?) get a second chance as they are reborn as their younger selves. This has a great plot, a competent set of protags, and slow burn with complexity and trauma and somehow yet lightness. Plus awesome secondary OTPs!

25 Copper Coins by Mu Su Li (danmei) - a monk and a dragon? More likely than you may think. This is smart and wistful and made me cry; the romance doesn't kick in for the longest time and it doesn't even matter.

24 The Golden Terrace by Cang Wu Bin Bai (danmei) - two smart and principled (yes, they both have principles different though they may be) men navigate their arranged marriage, their past friendship and their past break up, become a super couple (one of the healthiest danmei couples I’ve ever read and proves healthy doesn’t have to be boring), save the country and bring down the emperor or two and just generally this is my rainy day book.

23 Long Wind Crossing (Destined) by Mo Shu Bai (het) - two functional lovely people fighting the world and growing up together and forming an amazing marriage.

22 Mistakenly Saving the Villain by Feng Yu Nie (danmei) - so underrated. A perfect h/c fantasy with the most functional MC and fucked up ML that never puts even a toe wrong with a premise that could go seriously bad so many different ways, instead telling a funny, moving story of love helping you heal.

21 I'll Be the Male Lead's Sister in Law by September Flowing Fire (het) - one of my all time favorite novels. Heroine is made to marry a disabled nephew of the emperor. He used to be a victorious god of war but went mad and now is basically locked away and kept as a beast. GOD I LOVE THIS NOVEL SO MUCHHHHH! So much hurt/comfort and awesome OTP and after he eventually recovers, all he wants to do is to fight and murder things and dote on wifey. MMM. He’s honestly one of my fave MLs.

20 The Rebirth of a Star General by Qian Sha Cha Ke (het) - not a typical QSCK at all, this one has a heroine who wakes up after being killed by her awful family; in her past life she was a general whose glory went to her cousin but here she chooses to start anew. Revenge is secondary to her - forming a new life and healing are really the focus. Also the OTP (FL and a male general with his own tragedy, and her former schoolmate) is just EVERYTHING!

19 Nan Chan by Tang Jiu Qing (danmei) - it reads like poetry crossed with a nightmare. One of the most unusual novels I've read and with the most alien set of protagonists I've ever read and believably so (a personification of a sword and a cannibalistic fish), I can't even describe this in any way other than a deity-centric paean to atheism.

18 The Rest of My Life by Mo Shu Bai (het) - the sole modern on this list, this is a novella about an aftermath of a regular office worker with a regular life and a regular husband being raped. It's a hard hard read but it's amazing.

17 To Rule In a Turbulent World by Fei Tian Ye Xiang (danmei) - gay Minglan is my elevator pitch. Well that or "what happens if you stick cottagecore and crucifixion in one novel."

It’s a BL novel but honestly, it’s a slice of life period novel with fascinating characters and setting that happens to have a gay OTP, not a romance in a period setting per se. It’s meticulously written and smart and deals with character development and somehow makes daily minutia fascinating (I never thought I’d find daily farming things interesting but here I am.) Farming, politics and the sudden horrors of war all intermingle perfectly.

Our protagonist, You Miao, is the son of a fabulously wealthy merchant, sent to the capital to make connections and study. As the story starts, he buys a sex slave on a whim from his friend (OK, wait wait wait don’t go, why are you bailing :P) Basically You Miao sees his friend’s servants beating someone to death, feels bad, and buys him because, as we discover gradually and organically, You Miao may be wealthy and occasionally immature but he is a genuinely good person. Let's back up - You Miao - our protag. He is the main reason I love the novel. It’s hard to write a character who is wealthy, kinda spoiled, sometimes immature and still make him eminently likeable. You Miao is also smart, pragmatic, funny, surprisingly laid back, a people person, and with a stubborn streak a mile wide. He is not perfect in any way but he is a real living breathing person I came to love.

Anyway, the ostensible sex slave he buys is a barbarian from beyond the wall, named Li Zhifeng. It’s touch and go if the man will survive but eventually he does and You Miao, who by then has to return home, gives him his papers and lets him go (not before they have some pretty explicit sex because hey - You Miao is all ‘why not, might be fun to try’ and LZF is “dude saved my life, why not.’ One of the things I love about the story is that there is no instalove - both sex and love make sense in the way and the order they happen; the two bang on a semi regular basis long before their feelings fully develop into love, which is pretty gradual and realistic.) However, LZF decides to stick with You Miao instead, both out of sense of debt for YM saving his life and because he genuinely likes him. One of the pleasures of the novel is watching LZF slowly transform from a piece of wood automaton into a genuine person who allows himself joy or temper.

So meticulously written, so smart, so vivid, such a cast of secondary characters (that friend who was beating LZF to death ended up being one of my favorite, most tragic characters in the novel because the author gets people are complex.)

16 The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System by MXTX (danmei) - a pastiche parody of web novels that somehow is both witty and makes me genuinely feel desperately for the protags. Go read!

15 Dandere General and His Lord by Gong Xinwen (het) - God, I love this one. Heroine transmigrates from modern world into a brutal slave-holding world at war (think something like Warring States era.) Our heroine transmigrates into the body of a noblewoman who just hung herself. When she comes to, she discovers that woman’s twin brother was the ruler of a city poisoned by a rival claimant and the besieging army of said claimant is about to take the city and original occupant of the body and the rest of the family chose suicide as a way to avoid dishonor. Our heroine refuses, schemes with advisors to pass as the brother and rally the troops. Once the invaders are defeated, she keeps on the masquerade and rides off to one of the never-ending wars “she” is summoned to. Our hero couldn’t be farther from this. A slave and a son of a slave, he’s escaped a horrific, starving childhood during which he narrowly avoided being murdered or raped, and ended up in the army. When the story opens, he distinguished himself in battle and as a reward, he and a few of his fellow slave warriors are invited to a banquet, where they are given some alcohol and to be playthings of any nobles who want them. One of them does not survive this but ML is lucky - heroine feels terrible and so “claims” him for herself. Instead she just tends to his wounds and sends him back. She does not fancy him or anything, she is just a human being with a conscience. And the story goes from there.

14 The Marquis Is Innocent by Peng Lai Ke (het) - this is the set up of very beautiful yet utterly cold-hearted woman marrying a ruthless, powerful man who eventually ends up on top of the murder pyramid. And a relationship that starts as a political arrangement with the husband not caring for her but then the ruthless scheming murder machine falls hard for her while FL actually does not, not yet. It takes a long time. This is such a glorious slow burn (I think by now you realized I love slow burns) and it takes her a very long time to open up or for him to realize that is what he wants (he's a very believable period man who finds it hard to admit he can actually have his happiness based on a woman) and there are steps forward and back and it's glorious, glorious!

13 Thousand Miles of Bright Moonlight by 罗青梅 (haven't seen it transliterated) (het) - one of my ultimate favorites, this would make such an epic drama! A smart as hell but cautious and wounded heroine, a hero who is a monk and a warrior but also terribly ill and such a vivid world and amazing secondary characters (heroine’s brother is possibly my favorite supporting character of all time) and so much angst and happy ending. Both the protags are such intense, good people longing for happiness but not daring for it. This has an amazing romance but it’s not romance-centric if it makes sense - ML doesn’t appear for a while. But once he does, it’s worth it!

12 Mountain and River Pillow by Mo Shu Bai (het) - a tender intense and tragic slowburn which shows the limits of knowing what will happen and the fight to reestablish the family with an amazing amazing OTP. Heroine transmigrated into her past self; this time she chooses to go through with her arranged marriage instead of running away for love (it ended badly) but her knowledge fails to prevent her new sweet husband and his whole family murdered in battle and framed for treason. All that is, except for her husband's youngest brother, barely adult and left with an almost impossible task. In the past life he managed but it hollowed him out. In this one he has a sister in law to assist so...Anyway, both the protags are smart, good, intense and amazing people and I love them separately and as an OTP. By far my favorite MSB novel.

11 Those Years In Quest of Honour Mine by Man Man He Qi Duo (danmei) - another really underrated gem, it’s funny and heart-breaking and made me laugh and sniffle within pages of each other. Its two protagonists are both walking wounded but also good people, and watching them find happiness despite all the horrors the world threw at them, watching them take care of each other is so lovely. Also, someone once described the ML as “Lan Wangji gone feral” and that is just A++++

10 The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by MXTX (danmei) - we all know that one is there even any point describing it.

9 Nightfall/Ever Night by Mao Ni (not romance centric but het) - so long but also so smart and unusual and bloody and tho it’s not primarily a romance, you will never see another ML who loves his FL as much as Ning Que does his Sang Sang. And the worldbuilding and the plot and the characters and just so so bleak.

8 Wu Chang Jie by Shui Qian Cheng (danmei) - are you an emotional vampire? I am and this novel is a banquet. In a highly fantastical setting, we meet our protagonists - the sunny Xie Bian and the intense and surly Fan Wushe. Xie Bian is a human who assists his master in conveying souls to the underworld and making sure no mishaps happen. Bian is concentrated sunshine in human form and to meet him is to love him. When the novel opens, his drunk master brings back another human to be his shidi and assist with duties - said human is uncommunicative, intense and surly Wushe. Bian is excited to have a shidi but little does he know that a story dealing with the horrors of past lifetime is about to start.

Anyway, why WCJ? So many reasons. It has such a dark bleak worldview - this world is a horrifying system where powerful cannibalize each other’s cores for an impossible chance to ascend, where gods have sealed off their realm and all that’s left is neverending human misery and hell (the only way you’d see a deity is if they’d been sent down to suffer over and over and over), where even reincarnation doesn’t fix things and bad acts are often unpunished. And the novel then asks - is it worth being a good person in such a world? More, is it worth being a good person in such a world when nothing good has ever happened to you and you have been repeatedly betrayed due to your goodness? And the answer, on Bian’s part, is an uncompromising yes.

Ah yes, the other reason to love this novel - the protagonists and their fucked up fucked up relationship. Bian (who was Prince Ziheng in the past life) is so genuinely good. But he is that rare thing - good but not saintly, noble but not cloying. So much of the novel is his getting taken apart over and over and barely able to put himself back together every time but his soul is still as amazing as ever. And then there is Wushe (who was Prince Zixiao in past life, Ziheng’s not-bio-related brother.) Wushe is not a good person. He is a monster. And he loves Bian/Ziheng more than his life and his soul and the entire world but he’s also the one who hurt him more than anyone else ever could and did it over and over. His love survived a literal century of torture in the worst kind of hell and refused the usual memory loss of new life. But it also humiliated and broke Ziheng down to his constituent parts.

One of the things that is so fascinating to me about this novel is the question of what can be forgiven/what should be forgiven/what kind of expiation is enough/can you ever love someone who you loved so much and then he hurt you so badly and is now repentant? And it never sweeps trauma under the rug or hand waves it away but deals with it head on. If you want healthy relationships, you should stay far away from this novel but if intense insane ones with a feral barely human one capable of destroying the world leashed by love and guilt to the sane deeply good one is your bag, come right in. There is also the world building and the fact that yes, the big fall out between Ziheng x Zixiao is based on not knowing all the facts but it’s not “why can’t you talk?! This is dumb!” But is totally in keeping with both events and their characters. It’s reasonable for Ziheng to do what he does and for Zixiao to misunderstand and decide Ziheng is now his biggest enemy (but still one he’s fixated on) and for Ziheng to never be able to clarify. Anyway, once again this is trigger warning central so please heed those, but if they are no issue, this one is wonderful.

7 Stars of Chaos (Sha Po Lang) by Priest (danmei) - so smart and so much clever world building. There is enough politicking to satisfy a Qiang Jin Jiu fan, it’s steampunk, and our two protagonists - Gu Yun, the empire’s most powerful general, who’s loyal to the empire despite being badly wronged by it, and Chang Geng, a cursed prince with barbarian blood and horrifying childhood - are wonderful separately and together. This is a huge slow burn but it’s totally worth it! They fall in love with each other’s hearts and brains and ability as much as anything. (Yes, this is the one with the yifu thing. Gu Yun is made Chang Geng’s foster father when he rescues him and brings him back to the capital as a way to keep CG safe in imperial strife. They are 12 and 19 at the time so clearly it’s never a parental relationship.)

6 Heaven Official's Blessing by by MXTX (danmei) - I love it’s sprawling narrative and cast, I love its inventive setting and picaresque story. It’s hilarious and can make me cry. But the novel’s place on this list is due to Xie Lian who is part Kenshin part drama WWX part pure goodness wrapped in heartbreak and trauma wrapped in sunshine.

5 (tie) The Emperor’s Beloved Ugly Girl by 一味相思 (haven't seen it transliterated) (het)- Our heroine is the unlucky laundry maid A’Chou. She is a di daughter of an upperclass family but her family got destroyed in one of the political upheavals of the time and A’Chou, only a small child at the time, was the only survivor and was made an enslaved laundry maid. Due to various events, at the start of the novel she is a laundry maid in a minister’s household and the minister’s beloved daughter is having a fit because she’s supposed to marry the former Crown Prince which may have been great a few years back but Crown Prince had since been deposed, tortured, imprisoned and now is living in the middle of nowhere under conditions that are too meager to be called house arrest. And he’s seriously crippled too. Understandably, the young lady doesn’t want to marry him! She’d rather kill herself and so she does. And so, a desperate plan is hatched - why don’t we pretend the laundry maid is the di daughter of the minister’s household and send her off? And so A’Chu is sent as the bride. She arrives to discover a broke, seriously injured man on the verge of death…and we go from there. This is so gorgeous and tender and slow in just the right way and like AAAAAA! Secondary OTPs (one of which is MM) are also epic.

5 Wishing You Eternal Happiness by Peng Lai Ke (het) - this is almost tied with Dreamer as my favorite het web novel ever though it couldn’t be more different from Dreamer, with its hard-edged and hard-souled protagonists ruthlessly cleaving their way to the world and, eventually, each other, its smart cynical air. Except in one thing - the world of Wishing is just as bloody and dark. Its two protagonists are gentle, deeply wounded souls who may find salvation in each other but even something as basic as safety almost seems out of reach. Jliafu, our heroine, is neither a modern-day transmigrator, nor some exotic princess or demoness. She is very much a period woman of her time, from a weathy merchant clan, whose beauty is her curse. You can tell the novel’s tone from that utterly bleak opening chapter where she, a favorite concubine of a capricious dying emperor, is ordered to be buried alive with him and is not even given the “grace” of white silk but slowly suffocates in the coffin, scrabbling at the lid. There is no grand threats of vengeance on her part, not dramatic opera events. Just despair and death. The whole introductory chapter is haunted by emotional ghosts - the empress’ unrequited love for the monster on the imperial bed (turning into desire for Jiafu’s suffering after he dies), the emperor slowly dying in his prime after waging too many wars, and his fear of being haunted by Pei Youan, a brilliant if sickly minister who died of illness long ago on one of imperial campaigns. There is no triumph for anyone, only loss.

When she wakes up as still a young woman, all she wants is to escape the same fate. There are no plans for power or revenge, only a desire for survival. And so she latches on asking for help from Pei Youan, the only man in her past go-around who showed any consideration and desire and ability to protect her, though he barely knew her. Pei Youan is probably my favorite het web novel ML. Despite his brains and ability, he drifts through life. In modern terms, he clearly has depression. One of the biggest, best joys of the novel is watching these two very good, very quiet, very wounded people discover happiness and love with each other. I sort of want to cry just thinking about it, tbh.

4 Ballad of Sword and Wine (Qiang Jin Jiu) by Tang Jiu Qing (danmei) - a dense political tome that takes a while to get going but then it’s a runaway train. In a fictional dynasty, Shen Zechuan, the only remaining son of a disgraced aristocratic family and Xiao Chiye, the younger son of a family of generals guarding the border join forces (and then something else) to get power and pull down the dysfunctional system.

This is so elegant and smart (a rare web novel I’d recommend to anyone who just loves solid period fiction) and you probably need a notebook to keep track of the politics and military strategy. These characters are very very smart not just because the author says so.

As to the characters, there is a large cast and I love many of them, but for me the novel is made by Shen Zechuan and Xiao Chiye. SZC is gorgeous and delicate and icy and can kill you before you have time to blink. Saddled with the sins of the family he had no pleasant interaction with, he claws his way out of hell (seeing the sinkhole he was trapped in, literally as well) to take down those who wronged him but also to amass power so all the tragedy and corruption won’t happen again and the whole rotten system comes crashing down. XCY is a military genius who is trapped as a hostage in the capital because the court doesn’t trust his family. He longs to return to the plains of home and to take his rightful place. The two men start out as bitter enemies, then reluctant and sniping allies, then as friends and eventually as one of the most gorgeous, tender, swoony OTPs. Anyway this is one is a bona fide masterpiece, equal parts smart and emotionally intense.

3 Dreamer In the Spring Boudoir by Bai Lu Cheng Shuang (het) - my n1 het novel on this list, smart and fierce and don’t really read this for romance because it does not start until really late, but ice cold heroine x ice cold hero both of equal brains and ruthlessness is everything. I went from loathing the ML to finding him fascinating to adoring him (and yet he softened around the edges only for FL, he never became “nice”) and loved FL throughout; secondaries are epic. If you read only one non-danmei web novel, make it this one.

2 Stains of Filth (Yuwu) by Meatbun Doesn't Eat Meat (danmei) - another novel by the author of 2ha. Clearly she just pushes all my buttons every time. This one is much shorter and has a plot that is twisty but less twisty than 2ha. Still, all that means is that intensity and the pain are more concentrated. Aristocratic Mo Xi and former slave Gu Mang were both legendary generals of the empire and lovers. But Gu Mang betrayed the country and switched to the enemy. Now he is back as a peace offering by that country and Mo Xi has to deal with the fact that his feelings are as strong as ever.

This novel!!! So much pain and intensity!!! So many amazing plot twists and supporting characters. The same bleak world view, the same unjust society, the same protagonists doing right things despite the cost. Mo Xi’s intensity and inability to let go (he’s imprinted on Gu Mang and that’s it) is romantic, bone-shakingly intense, and tragic all at once. And oh Gu Mang! So many times I just wanted to reach into the book physically to protect him. The novel deals with unjust societies, memory versus personality, what it’s like to be good in a bad universe etc. And it both made me sob and giggle, repeatedly, and sold me on literally death-defying (but not honor-defying!) love. Oh, and special shout out to the fact that like 2ha, you may start out hating some characters and end up a rabid fangirl (cough Murong Lian!)

1 The Husky and His White Cat Shizun (2ha) by Meatbun Doesn't Eat Meat (danmei) -my n1 forever and ever.

Taxian Jun, the horrific cultivation emperor of the world who razed cities and destroyed sects, is surrounded on his mountain. The righteous sects are terrified to confront him but tired of living, Taxian Jun consumes poison and dies by suicide at the age of 32. And opens his eyes as 16 year old Mo Ran, Mo Ran long before he became Taxian Jun, Mo Ran who is excited at a chance to save the one person he loved and lost. Oh, and to deal with his loathed shizun, the unapproachable and strict Chu Wanning, his past life’s biggest enemy.

I have no idea if it’s objectively the best on this list but it hits every trope I love, its bleak worldview (the world will change only incrementally but that’s enough, average person will not appreciate the sacrifice but it’s still worthwhile, and love is worth everything) mirrors mine, and the sheer complexity of the plot and cascade of plot twists each of which is insane and yet completely logical, is amazing (this is a rare novel where it’s even more fun to reread than read for the first time because you keep seeing all the hints and trail crumbs laid out that you did not see the first time.)

And the characters!!! I mean, this novel has multiple universes/timelines, a side trip to the Underworld AND the demon realm, a plot more twisted than a store’s worth of pretzels and yet the thing that hits me the most are the characters. Mo Ran is my favorite web novel character of all time and I love Chu Wanning so. All the secondary characters are wonderfully written (and some of them made me bawl) and they are all complex. My opinion of all of them changed many times over; the novel doesn’t make it easy to love some of them but then you do and it’s so worthwhile! That slow change is one of the delights of the novel - I started out disliking the unpleasant, superior Chu Wanning and cruel, callow Mo Ran and then I loved them so so hard and cried for them so so hard and was in awe of their heroism and sacrifice and selflessness and capacity to love.

Oh, and the fact that this novel does something almost impossible - it has its protagonist start out as so clearly irredeemable and then slowly and painfully and thoroughly redeems him (without ever letting the reader forget what it is he needs redemption for.) Also, for a novel that made me cry so hard I felt ill, this book is just so damn funny with the most sarcastic sense of humor imaginable (the serious angst doesn’t even kick in until 90+ chapters!) Anyway I should stop or I will write a dissertation. But this is the one web novel that I would put in my top 5 not just web novels but any novels in any shape or form. The plentiful trigger warnings are there for a reason so stay away if they are an issue, but if not, if anyone hasn’t read it yet, what are you doing with your life?!

[sophsicle]

it's so weird reading king/pirate fanfiction as a history student because i keep wondering if the most autocratic of dictators and the biggest, cruelest idiots who have ever ruled monarchies had secret side flings whose love "transcended space and time.” like LOL imagine if tsar nicholas ii had a gay side boo. i wonder if his relationship would more closely resemble jegulus or wolfstar or rosekiller. hard to imagine but i cant help it. nicholas x rasputin my otp!! LMAO this is the type of stuff your writing inspires in me.

k but they literally did tho

like Elizabeth I and Robert Dudley? grew up outlaws, basically loved each other until the day they died but just couldn't be together because of timing and politics (she also fucks around with a pirate for a bit, i love her so much)

King James I / V and his lover the Duke of Buckingham who becomes a second father to James's son Charles, is there for him after his father dies and then is murdered by his political opponents???

Frederick II whose father forces him to watch as his male lover Hans Hermann von Katte is BEHEADED (jesus christ)

Alexander the Great and Hephaestion, childhood friends, who make offerings at the alters of Patroclus and Achilles, and then Hephaestion goes and dies and Alexander is destroyed and follows not too long afterwards basically from a broken heart

William of Orange was definitely also fucking around with his bffs from Holland, I'm pretty sure he builds like an addition to Hampton court for one of them but I'm too lazy to fact check that

ANYWAY i always think if you want to be a writer you should study history, cause there are so many stories right there

[hellonerf]

what are your fave ships outside of caname? it doesn’t have to be limited to hetalia. do you think there’s a pattern in your tastes? xoxo

i actually made a drawing of this before to try to figure it out! the ones not under #otp are not romantic but i think theyre important in me figuring out a pattern in what i tend to get interested in. i might be missing some ships here but in general i guess i like a genki character and a more subdued character dynamic, tis a fun contrast always ☺️ but theyre not all created equal... i get a little picky with what ends up being an otp. so its not set in stone what i end up liking 🤔 i can chew on alot of ships but have little attachment to them 💔 like in haikyuu... lol... even tho i was rly invested in haikyuu during that time.

other pairings i find to be dear from me but theyre straight from romance/yuri manga so i wouldnt put them in a ship list is majime and shijima from shimeji simulation, and also aono and yuuri from i want to hug aono kun so bad i could die. ☺️❤️

i think in general i like characters i can imagine in mundane scenarios. not necessarily domestic. more like a mundane care or a mundane misery or anything... im thrilled with codependence. im also thrilled with really real conflict and disagreement... i love love love contrast! so who knows with the pattern but thats the themes in the pairs i generally like to chew on

[s0upjuice]

5, 6, and 9 for the ask game?

thank you for the ask!!

5. whats a pokemon you would like to play as or with?

I think an obvious pick for me would be zorua (have a lil eevee/zorua team going on) but on the offchance we actually get a new pmd game with the dex up to gen 9 (pls) i think some good hero/partner nonstarter picks would be mudbray, rockruff, wooloo, yamper, pawmi and fidough.

6. how do you interpret gengar and gardevoir's relationship post game?

as depressing as it is, I always thought that after saving gardevoir from the curse, gengar truly just lets her go and probably disbands team meanies to move away from pokemon square. Its the last time we see him, but I think he'd consider it giving gardevoir the gift of freedom of having fun as a rescue team without feeling indebted to gengar. After spending all that time under a curse bc of him, I think he'd want her new life to be something completely different, even if that means a life without him. Gengar finally understood the value of Gardevoir's devotion to him, and how much that meant, so I think the most selfless and devoted thing he could do in turn is just swallowing his pride and desires to start again and just let her live as an independent explorer. He'd turn over a new leaf too, and live as an honest explorer somewhere else, or maybe just travel around to find a new purpose.

I do like the idea of gengar and gardevoir starting completely fresh tho. He'd never tell her about her past life but they'd have a far more respectful and equal-sided friendship.

9. what do you ship in the games? just like. in general

HERO X PARTNER FO LIFERSSSS! Across all games, their relationships are just so wholesome and meaningful. I'm not a huge fan of predestination and 'soulmates' but i think the hero/partner connection is so beautiful, and how many times, they have to fight the universe into being together. I like to see them as rewriting fate itself in order to reunite post game, like in GTI and PSMD, where you or your partner has to actively go on a quest to bring the other back. I think its even sweeter if you choose to imagine its always the two same souls being reincarnated over and over again whenever the world is in peril, always great partners and friends who will get the job done bc they just work perfectly together. Platonic or romantic, its just quite lovely. Throughout all of the teams ive made while replaying the games, whether i imagine them as friends or something more, its also just great fun to picture their little conversations, how their personalities mix, and side adventures they go on.

ahem. besides hero x partner, i quite like wigglytuff x chatot for being annoying gay dads, as well as power couple umbreon x espeon. but of course the real otp is team tasty!!

[splashstar01]

Love letter to Merthur (11 year anniversary🎉💐) TW: suicide, spoilers for end of the show

Okay so it's been 11 years since Merthur has been my OTP. Since they've entered my life I've literally felt like I've been in a relationship with their relationship if that makes sense. For a little while until I met my spouse, I even identified as aegosexual, which for me meant being asexual except for attraction to other people's relationships such as my OTPs. 

I came into the fandom end of 2013 and became interested because they were all over my tumblr dash. I know, the show ended at the end of 2012.. I'm not sure why Tumblr had a sudden influx of merthur content. Maybe due to the slash tourney?

But I kept seeing the final end scene all over my dash and I kept seeing a ton of articles celebrating that merthur was now canon (imagine my surprise when i found so many in the fandom don't see it that way even tho it was literally confirmed……………………..). 

I knew literally nothing about the show and assumed it was a serious adult show about the Arthurian legends. But I shipped them anyway due to the ending, particularly with Merlin waiting 1500 years (I didn't even realize Arthur was also waiting)!

At the time I had just got into shipping for half a year, so I was super new to all this slash stuff. My slash OTP at the time was very quickly replaced by merthur after I began watching the series bc merthur was just way more touchy-feely and had actual boyish fun around one another, not to mention waiting 1500 years for ea other! That is EPIC LOVE!!!! Their dynamic was the opposite of my previous OTP. 

With merthur I got really, really into my feelings. I've literally bled for them. Rest assured, I have never cut in my entire life. it's only due to me becoming so emotional and hyperventilating in joy that I bit my fingers and bled a little bit. Like, the amount of blood i lost was akin to literally a paper cut from my teeth lol. Because I cover my mouth when I hyperventilate… I think most people cover their mouths when they do this. Lol.

But when I hyperventilate over Merthur, it is EXTREME. like, i have almost out-of-body experiences. i’ve literally cried from being so happy thinking of them having sex. One time in the shower I was thinking about them and I was so happy I nearly blacked out and fell into the shower curtains. 😂 But even when I cry over Merthur/Arthur, im still having fun. Because I know it's not real, so it’s only a pseudo-grief but its NOT psuedo-joy!!! LOL. It's kinda like going on a roller coaster. You’re screaming but you dont actually fear for your life. It’s psuedo-fear. 

At the time, I was severely depressed in my non-fandom life, but Merthur never actually contributed to that hurt, because i could see the lines of reality vs real shit i had to be upset over. Merthur gave me an outlet. With merthur I felt free to cry and fall apart whilst at the same time, as I always tell my ppl, "they're not real, THANK GOODNESS!!" so I can grieve bc I'm not really crying for anyone!

At the time, I wasn’t seeing anyone for my severe depression/anxiety because I thought I could handle it and i was self-medicating with psychedelics since they've been proven to be able to heal mental health issues. LSD at parties healed my c-ptsd, since I had gone to see someone for my ADHD & ended up being diagnosed w c-ptsd! I thought it could heal my other issues too.

But then I took a 7-year break from merthur due to my attempted suicide.

My life was going so well too. I literally seemed like i had the perfect life while in college. Just landed a good-paying 1-yr temp job, I was majorly popular and partying every weekend, I had a long-term partner (we’re now married), I had a 4.7 GPA, was in 9 different school clubs. I seemed to be thriving. But I’d been battling severe anxiety/depression since I was 12.

How the fandom saved my life….. Literally. 

Before I was going to do it, I had to say goodbye to the fandom bc I always felt like the merthur fandom was like my family.

I wrote a goodbye post on Tumblr that I set to queue and I had assumed it would post much later. But ig i somehow miscalculated and it posted too early. So someone managed to find my Facebook which is just insane bc blogs are essentially anonymous. I didn't post any personal info on Tumblr. It should have been impossible but they alerted my sister and I was found 45 min away.

The doctors declared me brain dead and it was this huge thing. I had to relearn to feed myself, walk, etc. It took me 6 months just to have the strength to use a walker because my leg muscles had atrophied so much. 9 months later and I was able to walk again on my own. Now it's been 7 years and I'm still physically disabled but in a much better place emotionally. After my attempt, a limelight was cast on my mental health and all a sudden i was seeing all sorts of therapists. I was medicated for the very first time, and i felt so much better. I’m no longer actively suicidal.

So….. enough about my sob story. 

Merthur will most likely always be my OTP!! I did find book!Drarry 8 months ago, and boy did i go wild for them too. (Like, i stayed up 36 hours straight because i couldnt stop thinking about them and i’m the author of the Drarry Bible, a 98k doc of all the drarry book moments along with meta proving that in their universe, they are in love and soulmates lol. Drarry is such a huge ship that I was honestly so surprised that there wasnt already something similar to it!!)

But even with Drarry, I always knew Merthur was OTP!! I never once questioned that I loved Merthur more even during my Merthur hiatus. ^-^ I’m not sure why i took such a long hiatus after my suicide attempt. But I recently got back into Merthur just 6 months ago due to this video by imaginedragonlords: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4zDknYGf0s. The video reminded me of why Merthur was so amazingggggg. Like i always knew they were but ig the passion was gone after the suicide attempt. (Gone but not forgotten lol! :D)

I wont promise the passion will always be here. Like in any relationship, passion sometimes ebbs and flows (happening rn w my irl partner lol i mean, they’re great n all but they like to interrupt me when i write fanfic 😂), but I’ll always know that Merthur will never be replaced. Because at the end of the day, there will never be another love as epic and with as much chemistry as these two gayssssssss<33333 i did find another ship I love that i feel has a more healthy love for ea other than merthur and also waited a whole lifetime for one another, but they dont have AS much chemistry……………)

I love Merthur SO DAMN MUCH!!!!!! And i love my Merthur fandom. <3 I can always rely on fandom to give me my drug of choice: that MERTHUR DOPAMINE HIT!!! I’ve grieved Arthur’s death way longer & more intensely than any irl person/pet’s, & I blame the fandom for that! Each gifset or post will bring all the feelings of pseudo-grief back in full force, plus I cry EASY when it comes to fandom. I can smile a genuine smile after my grieving session is done, because thank SOURCE THEY’RE FICTIONAL! 

And anyway, they’re so obviously going to end up married with so much sex once Arthur finally returns from training with the Sidhe and being granted immortality so that Albion (Merlin) won’t ever be in such crisis (losing his mind from grief) ever again.

I’ve also cried from looking at a gifset of Leon just being Leon (this one literally tagged ‘literally crying’ & i only use that tag for stuff that has me actually crying with real tears).

And he’s not even one of my fave knights!! This gifset wasn't meant to be sad either. lol. I dont know why i cried. It just be like that on Tumblr.

Back before my hiatus, I literally had a Kleeenix box next to me whenever i went on tumblr bc I’d cry over every little thing. This was bc i was bound to see some sad merthur gifset/post/etc, cry, and after i cried once, anything else made me cry……..

Even gifsets of Leon just being Leon lool. x’D I would get soooooo overly emotional. 

My spouse once said, “All you ever talk about with ur fandoms is ‘they’re so gay.’” YES. THAT IS THE MAIN POINT, WHAT ABOUT IT 😂 like im now in the Harry Potter book fandom & i literally dont give a shit about the book plotlines [I barely remember them], but i can write up a whole Bible about Drarry……. It’s PRIORITIES! I have a very 1-track mind with my ships lol.

Ok this was way longer than intended. 

Tldr;

merthur (fandom) literally saved my life during my suicide attempt by alerting my family,

grieving Arthur’s death is a safe outlet bc i know he’s not real so none of my grief is real.

I dont cut, never have, never will—I just hyperventilate way too hard in fits of joy, usually crying “they’re SO GAY!!!” & bite my fingers a tad too hard on accident at times..... i get really super emotional and i love it becos that free dopamine hit is on another lvl fr lol def up there w real drugs, like my out-of-body experience sometimes xD

I feel like im dating them due to being partly aegosexual. and i love them <3 :D So my 11 yr anniversary fr feels like my 11 yr anniversary w an IRL lover lol XD

[karliahs]

for the character ask, midoriya and shinsou !!

thanks anon!!! two of my fave little guys....

midoriya:

favorite thing about them

it's that determination & kindness combo...i talked about this recently but i think the exact moment when i fell in love with this character was the sports festival todoroki fight where he uses his goddamn mouth to angle his shots because he's already broken all his fingers and couldn't snap them anymore. like...christ. this is what happens when you dial compassion & determination & resourcefulness all the way up to the point where it breaks the scale, but forget to put any self-worth in.

i love him. he fights so so hard all the time, and he does it because he cares so much. even about people who didn't ask for it. even about people who have hurt him very badly. it's insane (positive) to me that his defining moved-without-thinking saving someone moment was to save the person who literally that day told him he'd be better off dead. kindness!! determination!! beyond all fucking reason. we don't deserve this boy

least favorite thing about them:

hmmm...i do sometimes wish he were given more space to be a little imperfect. get a little mad. a little tired. but then i'm still very far behind in this show and look forward eagerly to the yellow scarf era of sadness for maybe providing this content. and it leaves a great space for hurt/comfort fic!

so i guess maybe it's that i get secondhand embarrassment very easily so he does ping this sometimes. i.e. i had to mute the scene where they're practicing hero interview skills lmao

favorite line

hrrrrr i cannot pick one. i love when he says that being a hero means meddling in things even when you aren't asked to, during the stain arc. love my little meddler who is so full of compassion and can't leave anything alone.

i am still thinking about the sports festival todoroki fight and i absolutely adore when he's like you haven't even put a scratch on me yet! bc all his wounds are...self-inflicted. he's fucking insane. imagine, your weird little classmate breaks all his bones at you and then brags about you haven't hurt him at all yet. i love that he gets kind of mean in this fight bc he is genuinely mad! that he has fought so so hard for this and todoroki is hamstringing himself! while also again being deeply motivated by compassion.

and last one i promise but i love when he says he wants to be strong enough so that no one will have to worry about him anymore. again the compassion of it all but also the...weird backdooring his way around having an actual sense of self-worth. just like yeah it does seem to upset people when i injure myself and put myself in deadly situations :/ guess i'd better cut that out...

brotp

gestures again to the number of aizawa & midoriya fics i've written...but also this boy is an unstoppable friendship machine and i love his dynamics with eri, the whole dekusquad, all might, mirio...never too many friends for my little guy

OTP

shindeku....again i enjoy them equally as a platonic dynamic but ahhh. i crave for these two to understand and support eachother like nothing else.

i do also enjoy tododeku tho that one suffers a bit from fandom oversaturation for me

nOTP

sorry bakudeku enjoyers, you're valid but i can't engage with it

random headcanon

hmmm...i think after he gets into UA he doesn't have time to keep up with his normal fanboy activities anymore, hero forums and online analyst youtubers etc, but every so often he'll stay up way way too late and have a deep dive into all the stuff he's missed. and it's kind of a weird bittersweet nostalgia thing, bc that was such an unhappy time but this was the one thing that could always make him light up, and now he's always weeks behind on stuff that used to be his whole world, but also he's seeing news and analysis about heroes who are now his teachers and sometimes his colleagues. taking these moments to once again look at the world he's belonging to more and more every day from the outside...and then the next morning everyone is like goddamn midoriya you look like death, please sleep!!!

unpopular opinion

hmmmmm i fairly often see him written as swearing a lot in his own head or too quietly for anyone to hear, and i just don't see it. i think he's too polite even when no one is watching. i think he says one fuck per quarter and it's deeply, deeply, impactful and also a tiny part of his brain still worries his mom is disappointed in him every time

i also don't think he has physical scars from his bullying era for numerous reasons but this is already way too long to ramble about all of those

song i associate with them

many determination songs ping as izuku to me, a key one being i'm gonna win by rob cantor

favorite picture of them

this habken art, specifically his big beautiful smiles on the 2nd and 4th pages...i love he!!!

shinsou under the cut. sorry shinsou. i'm too verbose to live

shinsou:

favorite thing about them:

it's determination again but this time the bitter flavour of determination. i think he makes such a fun character foil to mido partly because there's this anger there that we never really see izuku express. i love that he does wild shit like openly challenging the entire hero course in a corridor, both because provoking people helps his quirk so he's smartly laying the groundwork, but also because he's mad!! he's been overlooked and maligned and passed over and he's angry.

and i love that the bitterness seems to ease a bit once someone takes a chance on him and once he sees that everyone else, even these chosen hero students, are working incredibly hard also. and then you just get that incredible determination - i love all the lines in the joint training arc when he talks about how he's not going to stop until he catches up.

least favorite thing

give my boy screentime...please, please, please. on the one hand it's important to his character that he was excluded from this space but also i would have killed for him in class A earlier. the shinsou content drought oppressed Me Personally

favorite line

"You can't help the things you long for."

it's just so...like how limitations can be really good for art, i think sometimes when you tell a story faster you tell it better. and this is just such a simple encapsulation of that thing both midoriya & shinsou go through where all they want is a place in this world that has decided they don't belong there. and whenever i think of it i see that little cherry blossom petal floating through the air...those couple of eps that establish shinsou as a character were just so fucking good

broTP

the aizawa mentorship and comparisons between young aizawa and shinsou is everything to me. also him with class A in general bc it's so cute to me how much they all immediately like him and want him to be their friend. it's what he deserves!!

OTP

once again gently cradling shindeku in my arms

nOTP

don't have one!

random headcanon

i see him as a big reader! like he's a serious studious little guy, there's that line in the light novels about how he basically studies all weekend, and i think reading is one of those hobbies where it kind of feels productive enough that he can let himself do something relaxing for once. and i can so easily see him as one of those kids reading under the covers way way too late. plus i think he would enjoy the escapism...idk why but he pings me as a sci-fi enjoyer specifically

unpopular opinion

hmmmm i don't know if i have one? shinsou enjoyers produce so many excellent varied shinsous. i do read him i think as a little more serious/less jokey and relaxed than a lot of fanon shinsous, but that's partly bc many of those i think were produced before joint training arc was a thing, and also it's contextual - in an environment where he feels accepted and has chilled out a bit i could see him as an absolute menace

song i associate with them

i have no shinsou songs!! if you do please give them to me

favorite picture of them

this art is so so beautiful to me...the expression, the flowers, the tattoo. canon suffers from horrible lack of shinsous, but there is so so much good shinsou art to bless us at least