#it gets even more complicated when i factor in wanting kisses so we're not even gonna touch that right now

[fridayyy-13th]

ughhhhhhh being aroace and touch-starved suuuuuucks. i want physical affection that is usually reserved for romantic partners, but since arriving at college i still haven't quite gotten close enough with my friends to consider broaching the topic of affection with them, so i just have to sit here and bundle myself in blankets and pretend it's just as good as cuddling.

[aihoshiino]

chapter 142 thoughts!

HEADS UP: In this review I discuss fictional depictions of sibling incest as well as a brief reference to both fictional and a real life suicide. As usual, feel free to skip if you're not in the right zone and I'll see you next time.

thank you for the kind words from everyone when i was still in the Slime Era of feeling sick lol. i'm like 80% back to full power now!

I'm gonna be totally up front and say I really think this is one of the worst chapters we've gotten in a while but here's the twist: it's not for the reasons you probably think!

We're following up basically right off the back of last chapter and immediately I am kind of mad at how shitty the series is continuing to do Miyako with regards to the movie arc. She was a total non-factor in the RBKN conflict and now that Aqua and Ruby are being pressured into doing something they have both verbalized that they don't want to do she's just like well gosh i feel complicated but what can i do :(. Having the setup almost 20 full chapters ago of Miyako expressing that she wants to step up and do more for Aqua and Ruby as their mother and then having her completely failing to intervene on their behalf here is just wild.

In general, the way everything is being set up to force this kiss feels so… well, forced. Even if Kaburagi (as the story says) insisted there be a kiss scene, there are a million ways to fake a kiss that doesn't involve actors actually kissing. Body doubles! Camera angles! Putting your thumbs in the way! Unless Kaburagi said "I want 20 full seconds of Kamiki sticking his tongue down Ai's throat center frame", there is absolutely no reason "a kiss scene" needs to mean "these two blood related twin sibling actors actually kiss". The whole thing is just so incredibly contrived.

And honestly? The fact that both Ruby and Aqua have expressed a 'no' and are being forced to do this anyway is the part of this chapter making me the most actively insane. It is absolutely mind boggling to have spent half of last chapter on a Miyako monologue about how immoral and unethical it is when people's ability to give informed and sincere consent is compromised by the entertainment industry and to then follow it with a whole chapter of basically every character we're supposed to like flaunting a total lack of respect for Aqua's comfort and consent in this regard, up to and including the completely insane scene of two adult women lecturing Aqua about how he isn't allowed to have boundaries. What the fuck is going on here!!!

This is especially frustrating because I actually really like a lot of things about the scene with Yoriko and Abiko… even if there's some stuff that really kind of broke me lol. Like uh, wasn't it a really huge plot point in Tokyo Blade that a mangaka couldn't be expected to turn out an entertaining theater script because those are two entirely different kinds of storytelling…??? But whatever.

Off the bat, I have really mixed-leaning-negative feelings about the reveal that the KamiAi romance scenes we'd gotten were entirely fictional. On the one hand, I actually feel pretty validated - I had guessed that the full-immersion-flashback presentation was a hint that we were being presented with a falsehood and it implicitly confirms something I've been saying from the start that 15 Year Lie's version of events has to be taken with a grain of salt, both because it contradicts known events and facts and because so many other people have interfered with it. Having that made textual and being able to confidently say it helps a lot in discussing what this means for the story.

But like… that means we wasted a whole bunch of time on shit that was made up and didn't matter! Like, thematically speaking, I think this is potentially interesting but I just keep getting stuck on the fact that we were given a super interesting scene finally fleshing out and giving us info about both a character and a relationship we've been absolutely starved for details about, only for the story to turn around not two chapters later and go "and my source? i made it the fuck up". It just totally dashes all the enthusiasm I was feeling and it also makes it way less rewarding to try and dig into what 15YL is doing when at any time, all of this potentially interesting character work could be revealed to be total piss in the wind.

Stepping back from that… in total isolation from everything else, I do think this talk with Abiko and Yoriko about what it means to write stories is interesting from a lot of angles. While I don't think these two are the 1-to-1 author avatars for Aka and Mengo fandom treats them as, they nevertheless clearly serve as reflections of the two's experiences and viewpoints about the manga industry and specific and the art of storytelling in general, allowing the story to play around in the quasi-metafictional space it does sometimes, where it uses in-universe fiction as a method of commenting on itself.

In that sense, I think Yoriko can be understood as speaking for Akasaka here and discussing some of his feelings as a storyteller of Oshi no Ko specifically. OnK has never made a secret of the fact that it's drawing on Akasaka's real experiences in the entertainment industry but perhaps less obvious to overseas fans is the inspiration it takes from real life issues in contemporary Japanese pop culture, too. Infamously, Akane's arc very transparent drew inspiration - if it wasn't reconstructed entirely - from the suicide of Hana Kimura, not even six full months after Kimura's death. When the anime aired, Kimura's surviving mother (imo, rightfully and deservedly) lambasted the series for using her daughter's death as the fodder for entertainment without consulting her surviving family. It wasn't even that she disagreed with what the series was saying - she just wanted someone to have some consideration.

This is what Yoriko means when she talks about the responsibility a writer has to their stories. When you write a piece of fiction as highly visible as Oshi no Ko currently is, it is your responsibility to consider the impact your words will have on the world. No, fiction does not directly impact the real world in a physical, tangible way but if we are careless with our stories, we can regurgitate and perpetuate dominant cultural narratives that very much do cause real, tangible harm to marginalized people. Hikaru Kamiki isn't a real person, but there are undoubtedly people in OnK's readerbase who see their experiences mirrored in him. Airi Himekawa isn't real, but people like her exist. Akane Kurokawa isn't real but Hana Kimura was.

This discussion also serves as an interesting warning to Aqua himself, though maybe not quite in the sense Yoriko intended. Aqua's revenge has always been something treated, in-universe, as a sort of fiction in of itself; Aqua calls it his 'revenge play' and his primary method of pursuing it is to become an actor. It's a retribution narrative about real people and Aqua is its author. But as Yoriko reminds him… stories can kill. Especially ones featuring real people. Aqua has been telling himself a comfortable lie for years that only he will be hurt by his own inevitable self destruction but Yoriko reminds him that he isn't the only person involved here and that he is inevitably going to cause great pain to the people he loves if her continues down this path.

That's why this chapter is so frustrating. This is all good, meaty character work with some great thematic overtones… and it's all in service of contriving this scenario where Aqua has no choice but to tongue his sister on camera and for some reason, nobody is pointing out the million and one alternatives to this deranged scenario.

But anyway. Enough beating around the bush: let's talk about That Scene. And despite what everything I've said this post might lead you to believe… I actually really like it.

I don't know exactly what activated to make her go sicko mode but Mengo has been really on fucking fire with her art on the series lately. It really jumped out to me in 137 but she's honestly been cooking since the very start of the movie arc. It stands out especially strongly in Aqua and Ruby's talk on the balcony in ways I really vibed with. The whole scene feels like Ruby's shoujo brainrot and the cold reality of what she's tiptoeing around suggesting to Aqua are battling out for dominance over the framing. Ruby's stubbornness is such a force to be reckoned with that it almost wins entirely but there are moments where the lens cracks and we see things as they are. Aqua's discomfort practically radiates off the page this entire conversation.

Not only that but… jesus christ, Ruby. Just look at how she's framed when she first enters the scene.

That oppressive silhouette, her shaded eyes and that sinister smile… I probably don't need to tell you that's NOT how you typically frame a romantic heroine. She honestly almost looks more like a villain.

But Ruby quickly reasserts control over the framing. Or rather, what she's suggesting is such a sugary shoujo fantasy, the framing has no other option but to comply. At last, Ruby steps out of the shallow channel of plausible deniability and puts into concrete words what she has been thinking and longing for these last twenty chapters: for her to retake her role as Sarina Tendoji and for Aqua, in turn, to play Gorou for her once again. More than that - she pushes him for a concrete response to her love at last, not as Ruby but as Sarina; not only does the paneling repeatedly cover the eye with her star but in the final panel where she unambiguously propositions Aqua, the star is completely gone. This is what Ruby is offering: to completely sever her connection to Ai and the new life she has built on that foundation and to return to being Sarina, if that is what the doctor she loves wants.

This is SUCH an incredibly effective scene. It's excellently done and the art is fantastic. It finally draws out and makes explicit the underlying disconcerting subtext that has been swimming under the twins' relationship since 123. It works fantastically well… in isolation. But when taken into the context of the rest of the story it just feels so… unearned.

For the last 20 chapters, we have had absolutely no serious insight into Ruby's feelings re: the reveal of Gorou's new identity as Aqua. We didn't see her grapple with it or have to adjust to it at all. It was like a switch flipped in her brain and she was suddenly a 2010s fanservice imouto splooging about her oniichan. Her interiority in this regard is completely absent. Whenever the subject is addressed at all, it is made into a joke with Ruby as the punchline. There has been no serious build up to this moment or any meaningful time spent on Ruby's feelings about Aqua and as such, being asked to take it seriously now feels so incredibly jarring.

I've said this over and over in other places but I'll make this clear here: the handling of Ruby's feelings is not bad because Incest Is Morally Bad or whatever. At the end of the day, OnK is fiction and fiction is a space that allows us to explore ideas and scenarios that would be unpleasant, dangerous or even downright immoral to try and interrogate in real life with real people. Not only that, but AQRB's situation is so far removed from anything any real person could experience there's very little risk of it acting as a harmful reflection of a real person's life. But because OnK had the space to do just about anything with this idea, I'm so incredibly baffled that it chose to do all of nothing. This is a plot point that has been cooking since the literal first chapter of the entire series and now, just under four years and over 140 chapters past our starting point… and this is the best Akasaka can do? Dated brocon humor that reduces Ruby to a shallow gag character, denying her the opportunity to have deeper, more complex and ugly feelings and denying her the respect of examining those feelings with honesty?

It sucks. This whole thing really sucks. As someone who loves Ruby so, so much… this really just feels like an insulting way to have handled what should have been one of the most interesting and engaging parts of her series long arc.

I do think this chapter is the beginning of the end of AquRuby's time in the endgame couple race, if it was ever seriously in the running to begin with. Ruby embracing Aqua with a proposition in those final two panels echoes Akane doing the same in chapter 72 and the fact that this cliffhanger ends on the proposition and not a kiss implies to me, structurally speaking, that we are heading for a rejection. On top of that, we're pretty far away from the manga's ending still and Kana's romantic resolution with Aqua hasn't gotten its time to shine. All those factors together makes me feel pretty certain that this is the final nail in the coffin and we're just waiting to see how Aka sticks the landing.

After all - Ruby is asking for his response as Sarina. And if this is Sarina asking for his love one last time… we already know how Gorou's going to respond.

[valya-kingoftherats]

We're Together

"This is okay?" You fiddle with the cuff of your shirt. Nervous. So unbelievably nervous. And not just because of the button-up dress shirt.

You're going out for dinner. With your partner and your girlfriend. It's the first time all three of you have gone out together.

Anathema squeezes your hand, "Relax, Val. It's just a dinner date. Don't get all stressed out about it."

Easier said than done. While it's been long enough that you're sure the farm isn't looking for you, you're still on edge in public. Especially with two of the Rangers. Especially when ones the Marshal. And on top of that, the last time you were in a fancy place like this was with your Handler. Not something you'd like to revisit.

Too many factors that could make this go horribly.

You just want things to go nicely. Make sure you come off as normal and well adjusted. People know Anathema and Charge, you don't want to negatively affect them somehow.

Julia slings an arm around your shoulders, pulling you closer. Pressed right into her side. "It'll be fun! Good food, couple of drinks," she turns and winks, "great company."

That makes your heart skip a beat. If she's anything, it's endlessly charming. And reckless. And an idiot. But charming. And very pretty.

You turn your head away to fight the blush that's taking over your face, but it's out of the pot and into the fire for you. You immediately lock eyes with Themmy, and their smile is enough that you feel like you may combust.

You're done for as soon as Anathema leans over and kisses your cheek. Ready to melt then and there. They're both right. You're overthinking. You've walked up to the restaurant now, all you have to do is go inside and get your table.

You've got this.

You stand up a little straighter, "I'll go check the reservation. See if they're ready for us." You smile and release their hands. Brush down the front of your shirt. "Be right back," and you leave them in the lobby to go check the front desk.

The waiter at the front is dressed nicer than you. Blue dress shirt, black vest, and tie. Immaculate. You immediately feel more out of place than you already did.

And despite being around the same height, he's looking down on you. "Sorry, I'm afraid we aren't taking walk-ins tonight. We are all booked for this evening." He speaks with a clearly fake French accent. This isn't a French restaurant. His shoulders are squared back, and his eyes are narrowed at you.

"I have a reservation, actually." You puff out your chest. You can be big too. "For me and my partners, table for three." You gesture back to where Julia and Anathema are standing for emphasis.

"You," he crosses his arms, "and them?" You don't like that look. Arrogant. Ghostly familiar.

"That's correct." At times like these, your training comes in handy. Small and polite. No need to escalate, even if you desperately want to.

"Not a chance. That's Charge and Anathema, and there is no way someone like you is with them." He flicks his hand as he speaks. Shooing you away. Out.

"Someone like me?" Keep your temper. Remember your training. You can't make a scene or then you will be in trouble.

"Yes, someone like you." The accent is gone. Replaced by something deeper. Snarky. "Dull. Homely. They are heroes of Los Diablos. You are the scruffy barista that makes my coffee on Tuesday mornings." Oh. Fuck, yeah you do recognize the bastard. Comes in like clockwork with a stupid complicated order. And doesn't tip. "There is simply no way you would be accompanying them, much less in any sort of relationship. Now I suggest you leave quietly before I call security on you for stalking and harassment."

"I haven't done anything." You take a deep breath and grit your teeth. Behave yourself. You will not make a scene. That would only make him more right than he already is. Nobody speaks it out loud, but your boost let's you hear them nonetheless. You don't belong with them. Don't fit in. No one assumes you're all dating. Friends at best. Indulging a fan at worst. "I'd like for me and my partners to be taken to our table. Please."

"And I won't ask you again. Do leave before you make an even bigger fool of yourself." The thoughts you pick up from him are enough to make you want to jump the desk at him.

They're also enough to make you take a few steps back before turning around and bolting out the door.

You choose not to hear the shouts from Themmy and Julia. Doesn't matter. This was a stupid idea.

Just who exactly do you think you are? That you could do this? Be one of them? With them?

There's a park a little ways down the street, far enough that you aren't worried about being disturbed. Hopefully, they'll give up and go enjoy dinner themselves.

You've sat yourself down behind the big water fountain in the center of the area. The babbling is relaxing. Unlike the constant ringing of your phone. Hasn't stopped. Messages from one, calls from the other. Nonstop. For fucks sake they need to take the hint. This is NOT helping your headache. You rub your temples, a futile attempt to make it hurt less. It never works.

Nothing does.

You turn and grab your phone from beside you. And pitch it into the pool of the fountain.

Finally. Silence.

"Valya!"

Fuck.

Fuck! Stupid hero instincts are going to be the death of you. No. You wouldn't be that lucky right now.

For a brief moment, you contemplate running again. But you aren't stupid enough to think you could outrun Charge.

And just to further prove that point, Julia is kneeling on the ground in front of you before you know it. Lips pressed against yours. Hasty. Firm. Her hands are on either side of your head, fingers interlocked at the back.

You just sit there like an idiot. Cursing yourself for not being more competent at this.

You're both out of breath when she finally breaks away. Still holdIng your head. Soft brown eyes refusing to look anywhere but at your own.

"I gave that camarero de mierda an earful." Julia huffs as she slides down beside you. "Why didn't you answer your phone?"

Before you can answer, Themmy plops down on your other side. They don't say anything. They just take your hand between their own and hold it. Waiting for you to answer, you'd think.

"I got rid of it." A simple admission. Not entirely deceptive. "It was loud. Headache." You pull away from Anathema. Tuck your knees up to your chest and push your face into them until you're seeing stars.

"Where?" Even without looking, you know Julia's trying to puzzle out where the hell you put the infernal device. You felt her braid whip against your head as she swung her head.

Themmy spots it first. "You're supposed to toss change in their you know." You brace yourself as they lean against you. "Though maybe bigger offerings means bigger wishes?"

"I don't...?" Julia must still be looking around. The braid hits the front of you this time. "Oh!" There she goes. "Valya! You threw it in the pond!"

"Technically, it's a pool, not a pond." At least you can laugh about this. Expensive a stress response as it was. It's better than the running away from dinner thing. Maybe they won't bring that one up.

They both laugh at that. "So you tossed your phone in the drink." Themmy snickers. "Any other property destruction you wanna get out of your system before we go eat?"

You release your legs. Sit back up and lean your head back on the edge of the fountain. "I'm sure I can find plenty around here to eradicate while you two are gone."

"While we're gone?" Julia's face pokes into your vision as she leans over you. Not an unwelcome intrusion. Curious. Worried. Pretty.

"No. I'm uh. I'll wait here." You can't do anything about it, but you will the both of them to just get up and leave. "You guys go eat," you force a smile, "bring me some take-out or something."

"Absolutely not." Anathema is up now. Standing in front of you. Standing on your toes to be more accurate. Hands stretched out towards you, hoping to haul you up to join them. "We're all going, and there's no reason otherwise."

"I. Am. Not. Going." You spring up to your feet, sidestepping around Anathema. "I didn't think - I can't. I just. This was a stupid decision." You try to drag a hand through your hair, it's long enough at the top to do that now. But Julia excitedly dragged you along with her today, and the lady put so much gel in it that you may as well be wearing a helmet.

You wish you brought your cigarettes with you. Badly.

"I don't belong in there. Probably never will." It's fine. You are fine. "Go. Have a good time. I'm going to grab a pack of smokes at a gas station or something. I'll see you at home," you nod at Themmy. "And I'll see you tomorrow or something." To Julia this time.

"Valya, wait!" In a flash, Julia's in front of you. You hop up on the edge of the fountain to go around her. You don't feel like doing this right now. "Seriously, are you really just going to let one waiter ruin the whole night?"

You turn on her so fast that she has to take a step back. "It isn't just one waiter! You don't get it! You can't! Neither of you! You don't know what it's like to be. To be -" You gesture to your head. "This. You can't hear them. I can. I don't fit in. Not with you both. Or even one of you."

What are you thinking? Running head first into destroying the best thing ever happened to you.

Just rushing along the inevitable.

No time like the present. All dreams end when you wake up.

"We hold hands, and people think I'm a friend or a relative. We can't be together. Not like that. They think I need to quit before I humiliate myself. Don't shoot my shot. There isn't a chance." Even when looking at the three of you together in public, no one believes it. You get those thoughts and opinions first hand. Regular people don't worry about projecting. "And you're both very public figures. And you're smart, funny, charming, and -" Your head is turned away, but you try to sneak a look at them before smartening up. "Beautiful. I just. I don't want to fuck with your image. Public perception. It can't be good, being seen with someone so...." Final nail in your own coffin. Your chest is clenched so tight you think you may stop breathing. "Homely. I'm just some scruffy barista. I'm out of my league here."

"Are you done?" Anathema's voice breaks though the pounding in your head. You nod.

And then they're both hugging you. Tight. Warm.

"Sorry you have to put up with all that," Anathema speaks quietly, tightening their grip on you. "But you know that doesn't reflect our thoughts, right? C'mon Val, give us some credit here."

Julia nods. Kisses your cheek. "If anyone wants to say anything, you can just send them my way." Another kiss on the corner of your mouth. You can't help but smile. "I'll show them exactly what Charge thinks of their assumptions."

Themmy props themself up on their toes to kiss you this time. "You aren't holding anyone back or bring us down." They drop back down and take a step away, still holding your hand. Big grin plastered on their face. "And you're handsome as fuck, Valya. Give yourself some credit too."

"Thanks." What else can you say? You aren't. Aren't good at this. Learned behaviour you hope. But everything feels warm and safe and much nicer than five minutes prior. You can feel your entire body heating up as you blush.

"So," Julia steps away now, doing a little spin on her heal, showing off the skirt of her dress. "I'm starving, and it would be a shame to waste this," she fingers at the navy blue fabric. "So how about we head back?" Bright smile. No a trace of smugness.

"Sounds like a plan, Valya?" Themmy holds out their free hand to make a sweeping gesture back towards the road. Smiling. All of you. Just like that.

It's easy around them.

"Yeah. Ready." You link your arms with them both. Happy to be here. Nervous. Still unbearably nervous. But it's a work on progress, you suppose.

They make it worth the effort.

[httpjeonlicious]

✨ 💖 my favorite jungkook ffs 💖 ✨

—> the ones i’m recommending are definitely worth reading!! I’ve read these more than TWICE and i’m still obsessed 😌 --> ALL OF THESE FICS ARE 18+ MINORS DO NOT INTERACT --> show love and appreciation to the authors

—> if y’all have any recs lmk 😭

-_- i have to much free time -_- ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────── [key] ✿ - fluff ✮ - smut ⚡︎ - angst

1999 | jjk (m) by tattookoo ✿ ✮ ⚡︎ (childhood neighbors to friends to lovers)

summary: the year was 1999. boybands were wearing all-white outfits, everybody wanted an ibook or a tamagotchi, tlc didn’t want no scrubs, fight club was playing in movie theaters and you became jeon jungkook’s fake girlfriend in order to fix his reputation.

2002 | jjk (m) by tattookoo ✿ ✮ ⚡︎ (est relationship au)

summary: the year was 2002. kelly clarkson won the first season of american idol, mtv had everybody glued to their tvs, von dutch was the brand, people were total losers if they didn’t quote shrek or harry potter and you broke the distance with your pro athlete boyfriend, jungkook.

related drabbles -> may 18 | tiny

my note:

i highly recommend reading 1999 (and the related drabbles) this story is in my top 10. i've probably read the story like 4 times now... (im not even joking). both jk and y/n have a special place in my heart. i absolutely adore all the characters in the story. its so well written *chefs kiss* i truly hope you enjoy it like i did ♡ YALL I CANNOT FIND THIS FIC ANYMORE. IF U KNOW WHAT HAPPENED PLEASE LMK 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆ ☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆ ☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆ ☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆ ☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆ ☆ ★ ✮ ★

next couple of recommendations are mostly gonna be from @thvhoe because i love all her stories so much. all these stories are amazing, creative, stunning, all of the above.... they literally are the definition of chefs kiss 🤌🏻 bon appetit b1tch3s ♡♡♡ :) send her love and kisses <;/3

Fight Or Flight|jjk (m) ✿ ✮ by thvhoe (best friends brother)

summary: You want to disappear and sink into the ground—we're talking code red. As a result of the horrible events of accidentally sending your nudes to your best friend's brother, your life appears to change drastically. Beautiful, arrogant, and quickly developing into a star fighter—many factors should prevent you from falling for Jeon Jungkook. For years, you've kept your feelings for him a secret. Yet, ever since he has seen you in your underwear, it can become difficult to conceal your emotions when you see him practically daily.

Our Not So Secret Secret|jjk (m) ✿ ✮ by thvhoe (college AU)

summary: When someone learns that Jungkook has been secretly keeping a puppy in his room despite not being allowed to, he turns to ask the only other person who knows about his secret for help. And suddenly you two—who had long been bitter enemies—get very close. (i re-read this story at least twice a month this is literally amazing. highly recommend this one!!!!!)

IN THE SEOM MASTERPOST|jjk (m) ✿ ✮ ⚡︎ by thvhoe (college AU)

summary: Always the friend, never the girlfriend. Jeon Jungkook doesn't date. At least that's what he thought until he met you, a chemistry student who seemed to have it all—except for love. Meeting at a mutual friends frat party, you hit it off right away. However, due to both of your stubbornness, it has never progressed beyond being friends with benefits. The annual camping trip with your friend group was supposed to be the turning point in your relationship with Jungkook. But what happens when your best friend of 18 years unexpectedly comes back from Busan and confesses to you, further complicating matters?

MUSCLE PIG|jjk (m) ✮ by thvhoe

summary: Your winter blues lead you to join a gym, where you encounter a person you'd prefer to avoid. However, because the odds are never in your favor, you wind up running into him. Eventually, one thing leads to another, and...

THE LAW OF ATTRACTION MINI SERIES| jjk (m) ✿ ✮ ⚡︎ by thvhoe (Lawyer Millionaire Jungkook x Student apprentice Reader)

summary: Being the most prominent attorney in South Korea, Jeon Jungkook enjoys the fame, wealth, and marriage that go along with it. Although Jungkook realizes that he may have taken life too quickly and needs to slow down a bit, he finds solace in the daughter of his Boss.

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

Don't Blame Me|jjk (m) ✿ ✮ ⚡︎ by thvhoe (Neighbours to lovers AU)

summary: Jungkook is known for his good looks and is often described by your friends as "daddy material." Funny enough, he actually was a daddy. The daddy of the baby girl you babysit every Saturday. Working as a nanny for the world's grumpiest single dad should have been easy, but you can't keep your eyes off him. He's handsome, a little arrogant, with broad shoulders and strong tattooed arms. And when he decides he can't keep his hands off of you. Who are you to resist?

SPICY 'N SWEET MASTERPOST|jjk (m) ✿ ✮ ⚡︎ by thvhoe (Boxer Jungkook x shy ballerina Reader)

my note: im currently reading this mini series and let me tell u, this is so good. idk if its bc its boxer jk x ballerina y/n BUT ITS SOO GOOD. this is currently an ongoing series but its definitely worth the wait

summary: Jeon Jungkook is the perfect guy… to piss off your parents. He’s buff, inked up and the definition of their worst nightmare but hey, when love comes knocking on your door there’s not much you can do. It’s not like you planned on falling for him… it just kind of happened, and honestly, you're not even mad about it. Not at all.

☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆ ☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆ ☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆ ☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆ ☆ ★ ✮ ★ ☆ ☆ ★ ✮ ★

—>

[freckliedan]

I never knew your lore!! What was it like dating in a triad if it's sth you're comfortable talking about. Especially with someone you obviously loved a lot. What were your feelings for the other person? How did you even manage to communicate enough to be able to do that? Was it complicated at all? Was it fun/hot? Sorry if it's a lot but I've had someone proposition this to me and I just was so confused I didn't know better and said no. Now I regret it bc I feel so attracted to these people and would honestly love that (but more in a friends with benefits kinda way)! But I'm not in love with either so that made it easier for me to consider it at least? If I were, idk how I would handle it bc I'm quite insecure/easily jealous person

it's not lore i've talked the most about! but i've been increasingly open about poly stuff on here and i love the people in my life very much so i'm happy to talk about it! under the cut tho, bc this will get long.

when i was dating in a triad w/ my ex, they were actually the newest addition to the relationship—the third person is art, my now husband! and we all have different genders now than we did at the time we all three dated.

in a lot of ways it was very cool and wonderful being in a triad!!! like. they to this day are two of my favorite people in this world. it ruled loving them and being loved by them and it still does though the forms have changed.

me & art were best friends for a couple years before we started dating in 2014, & when our relationship changed to dating it was very much a case of "we're best friends and want to be in each other's lives forever, we just also want to kiss & probably have sex someday about it & to belong to each other".

(probably someday on the sex due to. we were 18 and had both never kissed anyone before. we took it slow).

ex has been one of both of our other best friends since that same point in time, & we dated him from 2017-2018. it was a very similar start to our dating relationship w ex—we already were best friends and wanted to hang out forever, we were just adding more to the relationship we already shared.

and we all had a great dynamic when all 3 of us were spending time together, but also each had individually strong relationships? me and art hung out just the two of us, but so did me and ex & ex and art. adding a new dimension to it all was the easy part?

we spent a lot of time that summer walking dogs and camping and fooling around and laughing together and getting stoned.

& yes it was very fun and hot. i shan't elaborate. but there was a point in time where i'd EASILY had more threesomes than anyone else i knew.

it was sometimes complicated and hard but not because it was hard to have that much love in our lives? i am the opposite of a jealous person and had mostly worked thru the insecurity i felt in the first few years of me and art's relationship/did not see his relationship w our ex as something that could replace what he and i have bc we're all very different people so was not insecure abt it.

it was just. a difficult time in all three of our lives individually? none of us were in a good place with mental health, & largely due to factors outside of our control. i'm not going to get into art & ex's sprcific struggles, but i was being medically neglected, freshly had gone no contact with my mom, & was just out of a toxic/abusive living situation.

(& my ex roommates were also COWORKERS of me and art. yes they treated me like shit at work bc art was full time in classes and only in like once a week. and then ex started working with us too.

one of the ex roommates had also been friends with us since high school and was our ex's ex. i had known the other ex roommate since i was 7 or 8 and she was the assistant manager. they were homophobic to me the whole time i lived with them and started dating after i moved out)

(yes the drama went fucking crazy but i have literally always maintained the moral high ground).

ANYWAYS. i think i was in the best place mental health wise of all three of us at the time. insanely enough. with that incomplete list of hell going on in my life.

but i was the only one of the three of us who had strong social support outside of our group of three, & i was the one who realized that our individual struggles were making it hard to communicate at times & that it was hurting all of us.

so i was the one who realized that if all 3 of us wanted to stay in each other's lives, we needed to break up with ex.

which sucked! a lot! it really hurt ex, but being newer in the relationship than our established dynamic was also hurting him.

he and i both walked away from the breakup feeling like it was uniquely our fault because we wanted too much. it has been amazingly healing to have maintained our connection & been able to process our breakup like. with each other. bc we both went into future polyamory w approximately the same baggage LMAO.

we moved in with each other a little less than a year after our breakup & lived together for almost 4 years! and we'd been living out of each other's pockets for the two before that—art & ex lived w their families like a five minute walk apart and i spent most of my time living out of my subaru btween the two of their homes.

so like. i don't regret it. i will spend the rest if my life loving both my husband and our ex so much it goes beyond words, no matter what form our relationships take. we would probably still be together if our relationship had started under literally any better of surrounding circumstances.

after our breakup i spent some time as a lesbian and that overlapped with ex's gender veering into man so attraction stopped there? though who knows what the future holds.

idk! i would rather my husband adopt a dog with ex and be the cool step parent that never actually takes on a parental role for the dog. i wish we were neighbors/lived near each other rather than states apart bc in a dream world ex and i would have keys to each other's homes and would just get to hang out doing our own thing in one another's room at least 3 days a week.

there's no one size fits all for poly relationships & there's definitely Other friends i want to/do blur the lines btween romantic and platonic with at this point in time.

no other triads currently happening in my life though and idk if it will happen again?

no sorries! & i'm nor sure how helpful this ramble will have been but i appreciate the chance to talk about my experiences bc it's not something that comes up a lot but it means a lot to me and has been such a significant part of my life.

if the proposition was on the table before for you, and it's something you do know you'd be down for & that you're prepared to communicate a lot about, is it for sure off the table now? if it's something that might still be possible for you and it's something you can talk about w the people in question then have that conversation!

worst case scenario, it's an awkward conversation where yall realize you have different expectations and wants out of a triad and that that means it's not something that's going to happen.

best case scenario, you get to have some fun and sexy new experiences?

i'd say it's worth it to try! & if jealousy and insecurity are a concern for you, they might be for the other two in some way, too. i think talking about whether it might come up for you guys and how to proceed if it does as an up front thing would peobably be a smart idea?

for real though! if it's something you want amd that the other two people were down for in the past, i hope it can be an option again in the now too. good luck anon and thank you for listening to me run my mouth.

[onewomancitadel]

It was only a brief remark, but when I said that slash ships comprise a large statistical chunk of enthusiast spaces (fandom!), whereas straight ships just generally tend to be more popular in the General Audience, if at all, I think that is a missing factor when discussing the motivation of fandom activity. It actually complicates most of the popular points put forward for why enthusiasts - fans - will tend towards, and historically have tended towards, slashships. Everything from 'male characters are more prominent and written better' (which is not true, and is not true especially when there are more psychologically interesting female characters getting in the way of slashships) to any other more complicated questions surrounding gender is just further complicated by the fact that fans are not normal audience members. They're just not. We're actually a somewhat unusual audience, even as the lines are being blurred by fandom spaces merging with social media and, you know, normal people.

So what explains the difference between what the General Audience generally expects and/or has no problem with - popular example: Reylo was otherwise received fine, and in fact celebrated and memed, by the GA - versus the fandom - where Reylo was otherwise treated as a blight upon fandom? Oh, there's too much stuff to get into there - militant transformation of fandom, blurring boundaries between fandom and political activism - wrong time, wrong place. To this day, being an anti-Reylo is a badge of honour for being on the right side of the ship debate. Why, this very day I saw a post with over 60,000 notes marking Reylo as one of the most horrible fandoms of all time on this website, in league with the likes of Sherlock (Season 4 conspiracy, anybody?). The offense was just liking the bad guy and the main girl together.

But clearly the argumentation for why slashshipping seems to appeal to fans by and large is insufficient. Because why is the General Audience not responding the same way, if non-enthusiasts can pick up on canon romance even before 'the kiss' which near-universally is the message This Is Romantic? It's not just because 'male characters are simply written better'. Surely that would touch the General Audience similarly, too; why and how is the psychology different?

My personal opinion is that yes, I do think misogyny potentially underscores some of it. There is a sense of evasiveness there, once you start critically thinking about something and really engaging with it. But that's not all. I think there is simply a transformative potential there because straight ships are often the canon ones - I think that a lot of fans prefer non-canon ships, even when they try to argue for canon. They are always doing so on the basis that it's not canon yet. This potential canonicity is for flavour. Fans of this calibre want to and then the text - and when the culture has been established here, fandom to fandom, website to website, fanfic archive to fanfic archive, there's a very particular type of pattern you settle into. I'm not describing the Migratory Slash Fandom here, though I suppose I sort of am; I think that this by and large affects everybody.

But then how do you explain the relative lack of female/female ships? Surely we'd see the same effect with them? Well, I think the transformative potential is inextricably linked to perceived and assigned depth of a character. I do think that slash fandom searches for characters they can cultivate character in - the idea that 'male characters are written better' is actually nonsense. Most of slash fandom, in my observation, wants to wholesale invent characterisation and will do so gleefully. It's just much harder to assign that depth to female characters, which informs that fannish practice, and with assigning apparent 'depth' you do run into the pitfalls of simply assigning stereotypes. Which you'll see passes as 'depth' in a lot of fandom: Madonna/whore who drinks everybody under the table but is the only sensible one in the room.

It's much harder to argue an F/F ship will be canon the way you potentially can for an M/M ship. It's marginal, sure, but there's more plausibility to the latter than the former on a serious canon basis. There's this tightrope fans walk between love and hate for a text, I think, sort of covetous. But for F/F ships there's a lot more complicating it that isn't just 'M/M but for girls'.

So when I think about how we talk about the prominence of slashshipping in fandom, I think that the conversation can't happen without at large considering the psychology of narrative response in general and identifying the specific oddities of fandom. Which is uncomfortable, I imagine, because I think most of us tend to perceive the juggernaut ships of fandom to be mainstream when this is rarely so the case. We just have an exposure bias.

It's also a pretty heated topic. I've seen plenty of slashshippers get mad about people like me wanting to talk about the topic this way, and whilst I do agree that there's unnecessary scrutiny on women et al. in fandom and their fannish interests, I am also a participant in fandom who really enjoys romance. So I want to think about the ways people engage with romance, because there are so many varying ways it's realised - and I'm especially interested in General Audience response, particularly when it deviates from fandom.

[aizenat]

i'm reading your post from nov 11 on heteronormativity and it's interesting to me that queer people think they can escape patriarchy just by virtue of queerness. because when patriarchy fails (it rarely does) at disciplining and punishing through homophobia it moves to subsuming.

see: marriage rights for queer people, child adoption and parenting and surrogacy for queer people.

like top/bottom discourse is the pits esp when hets start partaking but material conditions are real and queer couples soon dip into patriarchal norms wrt to who wears the pants when faced with things like income disparities

I have no idea what this ask has to do with that post. My post wasn't about queer people trying to escape the patriarchy or some shit. My point was that straight people trying to decide who likes giving and receiving in bed in gay relationships based on arbitrary things like who kisses who first in one scene, height, race, etc ARE GROSS. (lbr, Louis is obviously mostly a bottom when he has sex with Lestat, though I do get the feeling they switch enough to keep them both satisfied. Either way, Lestat is not the 100% bottom princess fans try to make him out to be)

Like, seriously, what is your point? In heterosexual relationships, you can typically tell who is giving and receiving based on gender (in terms of penetration). Our entire culture's understanding of sex is heteronormative and simplistic. I remember when sitting at the dinner table as a 9 year old, when my brother (then 8) asked my mom what sex was, she explained it simply as "when a man puts his penis in a woman's vagina." That was it. And that's what most sex ed (at least in the US) focuses on. That's the definition of sex that fuels literal laws and industries. So how does that factor in when you have two men or two women? It's obviously more complicated.

And straights have a bad habit of projecting that heteronormative idea on gay couples, and this is how you get shit like what I was criticizing in that post. Where people use arbitrary things to decide who is what role in bed. And my point is one of the benefits of being gay is that we don't have to fall into that. There are lesbian touch me nots who don't want to receive at all and only want to give. In a straight relationship, that would be a problem if the woman didn't want to receive. In a gay relationship, she can find someone who will gladly be her pillow princess. Lots of gay people have sex without penetration! That takes the "who's top/bottom" thing away immediately because we're not even talking about penetrative (PIV-focused) sex!

Like what does THAT have to do with anything you're saying? And honestly, on a post where I talk about how liberating and freeing being a lesbian is for me BECAUSE it means I can build my relationships on my own terms and not have to fall in line with gender expectations I don't respect or want to adhere to, why are you trying to come to me and say "actually, the patriarchy will make you fall in line." Like, huh? Are you the very agent of the patriarchy, talking down to me for daring to want a relationship where I don't fall into patriarchal expectations of a woman in a relationship? Are you the patriarchy anon?

[justadreamer1]

This is a complicated topic, and I'm not attempting to insult the op hear, but I disagree. I don't think bnha is queerbaiting. Queer coding, maybe, and even that's open to interpretation (I personally think it is queer coded especially on bakugo's end but that's just my opinion.) Now, the definition of queerbaiting is people blatantly taking advantage of fans needs for representation by making queer coded relationships and never making it canon, denying fans what they need and continually profiting off of it. I don't think that's what horikoshi is doing. He's already shown queer representation by having two trans characters, and if he wants to queer code characters then I also see that as a form of representation. Now, when you get into shipping, I think ship teasing is definitely a thing, especially in a cast like this with multiple characters. but that's par for the course for any show, and lots of ship including hetero ships. Now if we're talking about promotional material, there is more of an argument to be made for queer bating there. But even still, we also have to consider the difference in cultures. Japan is far behind when it comes to representation. Sometimes showing queer coded relationships is all they're allowed to do. take for example bubbline or korrasami from adventure time. Some people accused them of queerbaiting, but they weren't really allowed to do much more besides queer code the characters. Korrasami only got away with a hand hold at the end, and bubbline was only allowed a kiss at the very end of the show. And also, the way we view fictional characters relationships is complicated because so are real life relationships. If bakudeku never kissed, would that invalidate viewing them as a romantic relationship if that's how you viewed them? I'm the years before ron and hermione in harry potter got together, many viewed the relationship as romantic. If they never kissed, would that invalidate that reading? Point is, if we view a relationship as romantic, it doesn't make it less of a valid way to view the relationship. and even though we might not get a kiss doesn't mean that the creators are actively queerbaiting, and it doesn't mean we can't continue to view the relationship in a romantic lense. I do agree we should acknowledge the show has faults, but that doesn't mean it queerbates. (If anything queerbates it's the marketing and studio bones, and even that isn't technically queerbate so much as it ship teasing. This is a common practice for many shows, even with pairings that don't become canon. Besides, we'll never truly know what horikoshi thinks unless he explicitly says "ALL ROMANTIC READINGS OF THIS ARE WRONG." If he did that then and continued to write the relationship in a way that could easily be read as homoerotic, then we might have a case for queerbate, but even then there are many factors at play here. (Unlike in the us, with shows like supernatural, that actively queerbate because they make fun of the fans for reading into things, then proceed to make each season even more homoerotic than the last.) Bnha seems largely neutral to shipping, but also indulging in it with the ovas and promotional material, which I don't see as queerbate. The same is often done in animes with straight pairings as well, even those who don't go canon. Anyways, I feel like I'm kind of rambling now, I just wrote this because I felt the need to defend poor overworked harrassed horikoshi. Again, not trying to be rude to the op, disagreeing is fine and it's interesting to discuss these things. I'm not really sure how to end this, so I'll just say to have a nice day y'all who read this :)

Alright, I gotta talk about this now. It feels like everyone in the BNHA fandom is just ignoring that most of the show is clearly a queer bait. Last night, I saw someone mention that BakuDeku is "basically canon". But the thing is, it isn't, and it almost definitely never will be. Yet it's just so obvious that something is going on in that "friendship". This isn't even about who you ship, you cant deny that the storyline between Bakugou and Deku isn't completely platonic, if it were, they would've went about it quite differently. The fact that it provides so many opportunities for queer ships but doesn't portray them as canon makes it queer bait, no? And I'm not saying this to get people to stop watching the show. Hell, I'm not gonna stop watching it. But we need to be aware of this. It's ok to point out faults of media you like, just because something is problematic doesn't mean you have to hate it in order to be a good person. We as a fandom should at least acknowledge that the show has faults.