#like i know they banged but nothing in the episode was more romantic than this

[booklove22]

I just….

I’m never going to get over the fact that TIM BRADFORD IS SO FAR GONE that he would literally light the job he loves on fire rather that see Lucy less often than 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

[hungiehipo]

Macdennis timeline

Macdennis

The 16 season long situationship filled to the brim with sociopathic tendencies, mutual abuse, and disorganized attachment between a man burdened by Catholic guilt who doesn't want love unless it hurts and a deeply dissociated man who can't be authentic unless he's immersed in a facade. And they were roommates.

What can be said that hasn't been said before? Probably nothing... still here's this.

S1-S4 PRE-MACDENNIS

This is before Mac and Dennis find themselves unwittingly thrust into a relationship neither is aware of. There is a homoerotic undertone, albeit usually as more of a joke than anything else. Neither has realized that their feelings for the other goes beyond friendship.

(Season 1 ep 1) Famous tequila scene.

(season 3 ep 4) Mac says I love you to Dennis.

(season 3 ep 15) gang dances their asses off macs dance pantomiming blowing Dennis.

(season 4 ep 1) Man hunters. Dennis puts his balls in Mac's mouth when he's sleeping, and mac shaves his pubes and glues them to Dennis' face.

(season 4 ep 4) Charlie asks Dennis if he still gets the feeling Mac wants to bang them, and that's why Mac makes project badass, Dennis agrees.

(season 4 ep 13) Nightman cometh. Mac gets a boner when Dennis' character pantomimes sex with him in the play. Dennis rips macs heart out (this comes back later)

S5-S7 MACDENNIS INTENTIONAL

Season 5 Macdennis hits like a truck. Dennis has feelings and they are BIG. We the audience witness a masterful display of homoerotic desire wrapped in a stunning amount of cognitive dissonance until "breakup" where Dennis is forced to confront the reality of his feelings. Following this crucial turning point, we are treated to a series of back and forth assertions of no-homo, feelings getting hurt, and lashing out. In order, we get Dennis introducing the dennis system, mac fighting gay marriage, Dennis getting married and kicking Mac out of the apartment, and finally Dennis getting a divorce.

Things are notably different between them post-divorce, marked by a mutual retreat from both Mac and Dennis. There's a shared reluctance to appear overly invested in each other romantically. This dynamic persists into Season 7, where Mac and Dennis noticeably maintain a considerable distance compared to previous seasons. In my honest opinion, this season exhibits the least Macdennis of any. Dennis being unhappy with Mac's weight gain likely contributes to this.

(Season 5 episode 1) Dennis suggests that they pretend to be gay married realtors. Some will say that being gay married was not essential to the scheme. Some would even say that to sell the being married thing Dennis did NOT have to be that touchy touchy. Source of baby boy nickname that has penetrated every corner of AO3 macden fanfiction.

(season 5 episode 8) PADDY'S THONG DUDE!!! PADDY'S THONG! I'm not wearing these because I'm comfortable I'm wearing them cause i wanna turn YOU on, you know what I'm saying??? you get it???

Mac jerks off a shotgun and blows its load in a kneeling dennis' gaping mouth.

(season 5 episode 9) They break up. In the podcast they say that this is a romcom. Dee points out that they act like an old married couple. Realization dawns on dennis's face and he proceeds to freak the hell out. Why? I mean... he knew it was true. We learn that they have a weekly movie night. Mac is jealous of video store clerk guy. We learn that they check in. Deleted scene at the end has Dennis blurting out that Mac has "beautiful lips" and again looking horrified.

(season 5 ep 10) Immediately after break up Dennis introduces his fool proof system for attracting WOMeN with big BIG BOOB for SEX.

(season 6 ep 1) Mac goes on a rampage against gay marriage after just last season being fake gay married to dennis. Dennis immediately gets married and kicks Mac out of the apartment. (Dennis also says he doesn't "have feelings", which Mac internalizes and it comes back in season 12)

(season 6 ep 2) dennis immediately divorces said woman and lets his boy toy (his words) come home.

radio silence all of season 7 except....

(season 7 ep 1) They go to the doctor, mac tries to carry dennis out bridal style. Dennis eats a chimichanga with Mac (romantic).

(season 7 ep 6) cold open, Dennis is holding Macs forearm while they watch the TV.

-season 7 we also learn that Mac slept with Dennis' prom date and it was very easy.

S8-S9 The kiss, the date, and the platonic naked wrestling shower scene

I believe this is the point where Mac starts to get the feeling something is off. (Again, Dennis realized in season 5). Mac has far more dissonance about it though, he like just wants to be best bros with Dennis for life, cause Dennis is like soooo cool. He is definitely not in love with Dennis he just loves Dennis like, as a blood brother. HE IS NOT GAY BECAUSE THAT IS A SIN. HE SERIOUSLY LOVES GOD A LOT.

In Season 8's Dines out Dennis delivers a speech wherein he admits that he thinks of Mac as a man who knows exactly who he is. Season 9's Mac day shows the total elimination of this belief after a full day filled with Macs self hating homophobia contrasting with his out and proud cousin "country mac".

(Season 8 ep 2) Whelp, God only knows how we ended up here after a drought like season 7, but 8 kicks off with a bang with an out of nowhere kissing attempt from Mac… right in front of Charlie too. By the look on Dennis' face I'm going to guess this has never happened before. I genuinely wonder what compelled him to do this…. like….is he just always thinking about it and forgot hes not supposed to do it for real? was it instinct?

(Season 8 ep 6) Dennis deals with emotional numbness, and nothing he tries makes him feel anything until the end of the episode where he feels too much after seeing his dead mother. This is not overtly macdennis but I think it demonstrates how he struggles with emotion and why Mac believes that Dennis does not have feelings.

(season 8 episode 9) Mac and Dennis are going on a fancy dinner date every single month. Monthly dinner and weekly movie nights.... anyway. Mac is upset that Dennis won't say something nice to him so Dennis does a speech to the whole restaurant. Yes he did kinda do it to dunk on frank and charlie. Yes he loved the attention. I think he meant what he said.

(season 8 episode 10) Dennis gets turned on by Mac totally intellectually dominating him while giving his anti science presentation. Also in the car at the end Mac was flirting.

(season 9 episode 3) Mac day. Praise God. Dennis is drowning in a sea of Macs delusion. Mac believes himself to be totally badass and not at all gay while repeatedly demonstrating the opposite. Country Mac shows Dennis what Mac could be if he was all the things he said he was and just embraced that he was gay. Dennis resents Mac.

(season 9 episode 6) saves the day. Macs fantasy involves Dennis wailing over his corpse, proclaiming his love. Dennis' fantasy is interesting, revealing his fear that Mac would abandon him the moment his sexual appeal fades. He envisions the possibility of being loved for more than his sexual abilities, yet his declaration of love precludes Jackie being hit by a car, leading to the loss of her breasts, and Dennis choosing to leave her. Lot to unpack here.

(season 9 episode 8) Mac and Dennis are trying to catch a rat. Mac tries to bash the rat, but Dennis says that its not about brute force, its about seduction. He turns on some romantic music and they both sway back and forth, looking into each others eyes, Mac takes a step forward, but Dee enters the room and the second dennis sees her he spins around and walks away.

I also feel the need to point out that Mac and Dennis went to high school together, and Macs nickname in high school was....well... Ronnie the rat.

(season 9 episode 9) Mac writes into the script of lethal weapon a scene where he and Dennis, I kid you not, wrestle naked in a shower. If you can call it wrestling... though it's more accurately described as an opportunity for an intense, naked embrace.

(season 9 episode 10) Cute food fight scene. Their apartment burns down.

s10-11 Out of their natural environment

Following the incineration of their shared home, macdennis moves in with Dee and all three of them hate it so so much.

(season 10 episode 1) Dennis looks at Mac like he wants to eat him (4 min 24 seconds) Mac says wait Dennis don't go and Dennis turns like he's expecting.... I don't know.

(season 10 episode 5) Mac and Dennis take turns watching and jacking off to creampie videos. Some will say they could just find their own porn, however I think this is one of the numerous creative ways they've found to have a sex life with each other.

(season 10 ep 3) Dennis is diagnosed with BPD.

(season 10 ep 6) The gang embarks on a journey of independence, only to discover that their lives are intricately woven together. For better or worse they will never escape each other, and will likely live this way until they die.

(season 10 episode 10) Dennis creates an entire fake cult to get Mac to do things he wants him to do. Says Macs been looking so good so sexy lately *manipulative*

(season 11 episode 4) Mac turns off the video Dee made about Dennis being raped by the librarian.

(season 11 episode 5) Macdennis play house. Mac asks Dennis if he can hear the beep too, Dennis gaslights him and says no, meanwhile getting increasingly agitated by the pool filter. It's already been explained more better by others but basically this is a metaphor for Mac wanting Dennis to acknowledge what has been happening between them, while Dennis adamantly avoids doing so. Instead, he channels his frustrations into unrelated problems.

Dennis hates going to work alone all day and Mac hates staying home, which could easily be fixed by having Mac come to work with him. Instead, Dennis' solution is a "honey-do list" (a list of chores a man would give his wife) and a dog, which Mac names DENNIS JR. (parallel to Dennis' real kid who is named Brian Jr. ) This kind of relationship paralleling is a recurring theme; for example in gets romantic, double life, and celebrity booze).

In the beginning of the episode Dennis wants to listen to Bryan Adams in the car. At the end of the episode Mac confronts him by saying "everything I do I do it for you, and everything you do you do it for yourself". (referencing the title of a very romantic Bryan Adams song)

dennis says he hates him

(season 11 ep 6) Mac asks Frank if he thinks Dennis hates him, because he just wants him to think he's cool and he puts so much work into this relationship and *unintelligible* (seriously if anyone know what Mac is saying when Frank spaces out please message me)

(season 11 ep 8) Dennis also knows about the gay bar

(Season 11 ep 10) 🎵 Amazing Grace how sweet the sauce 🎵

Mac comes out. When they play fake dinner Mac talks about him and Dennis' future home where they will have dinner parties and touches Dennis' hand. Confused, Dennis questions the idea of it being "their" home, seemingly operating under the misconception that he and Mac might eventually part ways and not continue living together.

Mac prays to god that they be saved and after being rescued he goes back into the closet.

s12 Mac claims to be gay and Dennis leaves the state of Pennsylvania

Season 12 is my favorite season!

Mac comes out, has a gay dream, gives Dennis a present, tries to insert himself as 2nd father of Dennis' child, and is swiftly abandoned.

Things start to get a little too real for Dennis, and hes just a little too vulnerable. Perfectly it turns out he has an opportunity to live the typical nuclear family lifestyle he's envisioned for himself and escape all his troubles.

(season 12 episode 6) Gay Mac rules! rich gay Mac!

The watershed moment wherein Mac comes out as gay for real this time. Dennis is beyond shocked.

(season 12 episode 7) Mac fully grasps that his feelings for Dennis are romantic after having a dream where Dennis kisses him. Upon waking he goes to find Dennis. Again Dennis dances towards him and leans in, Macs eyes light up thinking that his dream is coming true but Dennis slams the door in his face.

(season 12 ep 8) Dennis wants to completely ignore Valentines day because he doesn't think he has anybody who really cares about/loves him. Everyone in the gang openly states that they don't think he has feelings.

At the end of the ep. Mac has Dennis open a crate, which turns out to be an RPG (something that Dennis thinks is awesome and talks about all the time), and he tears up, he's incredibly touched. When Mac says there is no rocket (rendering the gift effectively useless) Dennis says he doesn't care, he loves it. Mac figured out the one thing he wanted more than anything else in the world and got it for him. This is likely not referring to the RPG but instead to the fact that he wanted someone to show him that they love him/care about him.

(season 12 ep 10) Dennis is revealed to have a son with Mandy, a woman who he had sex with on his layover from the wade boggs episode. To get him out of this jam Mac suggests they pretend to be in a relationship. Dennis, reluctantly going along with the plan, tells Mandy he sleeps with women but he is emotionally invested with Mac. When she is fine with it and says she wouldn't mind Brian Jr. having two dads, Mac enthusiastically agrees to parent Dennis' kid with him. When Dennis asks Mac why he would agree to that, since they are not a couple, Mac replies that he thought they could just keep pretending.

Mac wins a bet and gets to refurnish the apartment. He surprises Dennis by recreating their old apartment down to the last detail, save his own bedroom, which he leaves empty. He only buys Dennis a bed because he is hoping Dennis will go along with continuing to share a bed like they did at Dee's.

At the end of the episode Dennis announces he is leaving to go raise his son in North Dakota with Mandy. Nobody tries to stop him.

S13-14 DENNIS IS COMING BACK HOT

Dennis' 2 most angry/upset seasons.

In the season 13 promos Dennis is like a ghost, watching the gang laughing and talking without him. At some points they seem to notice that he's there, but just don't care. He is the only one spooked by the weird things happening around the bar.

In season 13 Dennis' returns and feels as though he is not important or needed by his friends. Mac has a journey of self-discovery, coming to terms with his sexuality and finding his identity as a gay man. Mac relies on Dennis to tell him what to do, desperate to please him, but Dennis wants Mac to take control and take care of him. Dennis only wants the illusion of control.

(Season 13 episode 1) Mac orders a sex doll of Dennis and swears he isn't blowing his loads into it. Dennis comes back.

(Season 13 episode 2) Mac finds a heart shaped lock clue whilst doing an escape room. Dennis says they should keep it between themselves.

(season 13 episode 4) Dennis holds a seminar where he publicly declares his own heterosexuality and lack of interest in Mac.

just gonna leave these quotes-

dennis- "some of you just haven't been careful enough, so youre asking yourself what can I do to save myself now. You gotta clean up your act otherwise you're going down, and you're gonna take me down with you and I ain't going down. You understand? I've been telling you this for years but you refused to listen"

----

mac- "and we should probably stop harassing them"

dennis, replying to Mac- " uh well you know, one step at a time we don't want the whole system to collapse" (but Macs only crime was being too open with his feelings for Dennis)

(season 13 ep 5) Dennis opens the floor for questions about his absence. He totally gets that everyone was giving him some space and respecting his privacy, and he's ready to talk about it now but...they just don't actually care....at all... (including Mac)

(season 13 episode 7) Its my personal interpretation that all of clip show happens in Dennis' mind in an episode of dissociation. He imagines that Mac decided to come with him to north Carolina. He imagines being confronted about why he would want to live with Mac if he "hates" him so much.

(season 13 episode 10) Mac comes out to his father in a beautiful interpretive dance and is rejected.

(season 14 episode 1) Mac tries to get into Dennis' good graces again by staging a scheme to get Dennis laid just like old times. Interestingly, Dennis isn't all that interested in banging. When its not working out with the woman, Dennis decides that it's because the leads are actually Mac and the husband. They can't seem to figure out that the leads are really each other.

Mac and Dennis are paralleled by the married couple while Charlie and Frank are mirrored by the father son duo..

"If you'd just give us a chance, we could tell a love story for the ages, a gay GAY ass love story". WE ARE READY AND SO WILLING

(season 14 episode 5) "Bathrooms at zoos are, like, big Grindr spots for closeted dads." (also refer to Macs super long pining text messages)

(season 14 ep 6) "all that for a whistle, I wonder what you'd do for a biscuit" I really don't understand how but apparently this episode really did happen and it wasn't in someones dream or anything like that??

(season 14 episode 10) Dennis says to Mac it's time to end the game. This could be interpreted as being about their 14 season song and dance, and would be backed up by the fact that the next season shows Mac completely backing off.

s15-s16 Acceptance and regret

mac tries to move on, Dennis misses his baby boy

(season 15 episode 1) We get some cute broke back mountain Macdennis. They play guitar and sing a love song they wrote together, looking into each other's eyes.

(season 15 ep 4) There's a subtle moment that's easy to miss. Dennis pats Mac's hand when they are talking to Charlie and Mac looks down at it, taking a deep breath.

(season 15 ep 5) Dennis has COVID and Mac isn't concerned, in fact he is irritated that Dennis wont admit he's sick. This is a big change from the last couple of seasons where Mac is desperate to take care of Dennis.

(season 16 episode 1) Mac and Dennis throw away all of their furniture including their beds. They now share an inflatable bed/couch and sleep together in it (just a couple seasons ago Dennis was absolutely refusing to sleep in the same bed as Mac). They are touching so much in the bed. Dennis is concerned for Mac because he has been continuously consuming nuts that he is allergic to (there's a metaphor here) and is heavily wheezing. Dennis gently places two fingers on Macs neck to check his pulse.

If Dennis did not want to sleep in the bed with Mac he would have gone and bought another inflatable bed. He would have made Mac sleep on the ground. He would have gone to sleep at Dees house. He wanted to be in that bed with Mac.

(season 16 episode 4) Dennis creates a fake dating profile under the alias of "Johnny". He buys Mac extra large anal beads to put inside of him at all times, and turns them on to signal to Mac to meet him at a hotel. He says he did it to....get him out of the house? and to get Mac to....buy him crab?

Dennis looks so devastated when Mac says he's in love with Johnny. I kinda wonder if it's the idea that Mac could love someone else that upsets him... or if he's reacting to Mac telling him he is in love with him to his face?

This is also the episode where we learn that Dennis has a fool proof method for attracting men. When Mac and Dee ask why he has this system he just shushes them.

(season 16 episode 5) The relationship between Malcom and his dad is a parallel of Mac and Dennis's relationship. The speech at the end to me seems like its hinting that Mac knows more/ has more control and power than is let on.

NEW INFORMATION JUST DROPPED I have just been made aware of the actual parallel between Malcom and the dad possibly being Dennis and Frank.

(season 16 episode 8) Nightmare! Nightmare! Nightmare!

Dennis takes a mental health day. Some people really hated this episode but I really liked it. Mac is putting coal in a pressure cooker to make diamonds. Dennis rips the CEO's (who is wearing a Hawaiian shirt like we've seen Mac wear) heart out, and squeezes it so hard it turns into a diamond and he eats it. This is a direct parallel to the nightman cometh where he also rips Macs heart out.

*edit to add* The director of this episode (who did not write the ep but still was involved in its creation obviously) Heath Cullens, in a reddit QA when asked if this was a nod to dayman replied "Nope. I think pretty much a coincidence." which I think is a total missed opportunity tbh.

This was all in Dennis' mind, and it seems to me that the Mac "situation" has left him with a sense of powerlessness. He feels isolated, trapped in an endless nightmare of his own creation, and he has nobody he can count on to help him, there's nobody he can rely on, he can only trust himself. Compressing the coal into a diamond represents Dennis molding everything to be exactly as he wishes, and by swallowing it he reclaims absolute control.

Always sunny book- : the 7 secrets of awakening the highly effective four-hour giant, today

"Mac for instance is also a 3 in ugly, so even if this exercise we're going to try fails, you'll have some company at your ugly parties. For the record, on the ugly scale charlie is a five, frank is a six, and Dee is a nine." - Dennis

[wen-kexing-apologist]

Episode 12: Ties

I wanted to give a massive massive thank you to @wanderlust-in-my-soul for her generosity in making me so so many gifs over the last two weeks. Especially because I have not made it easy, and have had you doing a lot of the heavy lifting based off my write up rather than being nice and giving you time stamps. 

As such, here is the tie scene break down you requested!

___

all gifs by @wanderlust-in-my-soul

Alright, we start off with Qian looking comfy cozy in his outfit as he heads out from the day, clearly something on his mind, his eyes initially cast downward as he starts walking at a pace initially that feels like maybe he was gonna walk home. As he pulls his attention upward, he slows almost to a halt as Yuan comes in to his view, and Qian looks at Yuan similarly to how he did in Episode 7 when Yuan returned from abroad in that he gives Yuan a once over, starting at his feet and working his way up. 

Slowly a smile starts to spread across his face, not a huge one, but Qian is not really a wide grin type of guy. He looks happy here, though to me it feels like Qian is trying to restrain his smile a little bit initially. But his smile grows bigger the closer to Yuan he gets, the more he has time to process that Yuan is here and that Yuan is wearing that. We give a shout out to Chris’ dimple we catch in the light as Qian finally comes to a stop in front of his boyfriend. 

“What’s the matter? What’s got you smiling like that?” 

Yuan. You know exactly what’s got him smiling like that, but I appreciate the attempt at getting Qian to express his honest emotions. 

I mean, Qian has already more subtly checked Yuan out about twice in the time it took him to walk those twenty feet. And now that he is here, he takes yet another opportunity to very obviously take in the view. Qian gives a breath of laughter, looks down at the ground, shakes his head, and then looks back up the smile still plastered on his face as he reached out towards the lapels of Yuan’s jacket. 

“Nothing.” He says, fidgeting with Yuan’s jacket, tugging at it, smoothing out the shoulders in a way that feels caring (similarly to how Qian fixes Lili’s bangs later on in the episode) but also in a way that allows Qian to get rid of some of that nervous energy, and touch Yuan in a way that feels romantic but has plausible deniability to any potential onlookers. 

He takes in a breath “I just feel good” He rubs Yuan’s arm over and over and over again “to have a handsome who dresses nicely to pick me up from work,” Yuan lets out a breathy chuckle, Qian is still smiling, I do not know if this man has sustained a smile this long in the entire series so far. Yuan breaks eye contact for a moment, which gives Qian another chance to look down towards Yuan’s chest, taking in the outfit he is wearing and how handsome he looks in it. Yuan is back to looking at Qian in seconds. 

Clearly Qian’s refusal to look him in the eye after his initial confession has made an impact on both of them, because they do not break eye contact with each other for very long. Like even when Qian isn’t looking Yuan in the eye, he is still looking at Yuan. 

Qian makes a show of looking at Yuan, eyes flitting upward slowly still. He stops touching Yuan’s arm in favor of adjusting his backpack strap, but attraction is oozing from Qian in every motion, especially in the way he sucks in a breath. It feels awkward. In a good way. In a “I am having strong feelings and don’t really know what to do way.” It comes as absolutely not surprise that Qian starts to look around for any witnesses. We know what is coming next. 

What I do take note of with that action, the looking around is when and where Qian is comfortable being public about his relationship with Yuan. At the restaurant on their date, he has no problem being lovey-dovey, no problem flirting, no problem feeding Yuan, no problem asking for wine, or music; no problem being kissed. At work, Qian was obvious enough about their relationship, constantly touching Yuan, letting Yuan hold the hand that Qian had placed on his shoulder, that Xiong immediately picked up on it. Qian had no problem there, though he started on a speech under the assumption Xiong would not approve. Regardless though, he doesn’t seem to stressed about being obvious. 

Which is generally (but not entirely) the case here. He and Yuan are out in the open, they are currently interacting in public, and Qian is comfortable enough to check Yuan out, to be touching Yuan, to flirt with Yuan. But that’s partially because there isn’t anyone around. In this public space, Qian actually does check to make sure that there are not witnesses to what he is about to do. To the acknowledgement of their romantic relationship. But, why? Random strangers on the street are not going to know these are brothers turned lovers. Maybe it’s just a lack of public PDA thing, maybe it is a slight nod to their potential to get hate crimed should the wrong homophobe see them. 

Regardless, I find it ironic that the places where Yuan and Qian are more likely to get flak for their relationship, that being at the restaurant and at the office in front of friends and coworkers, are the places where they are more comfortable engaging in PDA. Which I think might be a strange sort of safety in being open around the people you know, rather than the people you don’t even if that place is a private (office) public (meeting) space. Maybe it is protective in a way, to gauge the reactions of the people whose opinions they would have a little more interest in, and know how much damage control they might need to run. But the show is rushing at this point, so it’s all the more likely just a decision they made to show everyone is on their side. 

ANYWAY 

Qian gets a bit more serious, checks his surroundings for potential witnesses, while Yuan looks on casually, and then Qian gives one short flash of a smile and then grabs Yuan by the tie to pull him in for a kiss. Yuan blinks rapidly as they pull apart and looks at Qian, the way he exhales makes me believe that Yuan is feeling electric. Like kissing Qian takes his breath away. Qian has a very small, very quick upturn of his lips and then reaches out to grasp Yuan’s face like he has done countless times before. Except this time everything is different. 

Qian stroke’s Yuan’s cheek with his thumb, Qian unsuccessfully fights off a smile, and closes his eyes for a second to find the words he wants to say. “Thank you.” he whips his head up, looking Yuan directly in the eyes as he says it “Thank you for not giving up on me.” Qian gives Yuan a small smile, and Yuan gives him one in return and they share one last little private moment for themselves before Qian slides his hand down Yuan’s cheek, across his shoulder, and then finally off of Yuan’s body completely and walks away. 

Which leaves Yuan smiling like a dork, incredibly happy with everything that just happened. He looks down for a second, breathes, and then turns to get in the car, running a finger along his lip as he does so. Because Qian just kissed him, and (while it is perhaps to wipe any saliva off) he needs that tangible reminder.

[prince-liest]

I’m a sex-repulsed ace, and reading the latest chapter of 666 (as well as your analysis here on Tumblr) made me realize that I have been subconsciously thinking about MY OWN sexuality from an allo perspective? And that it has kinda been messing me up?? Like, ever since I learned that sexual attraction was actually a Thing and that it’s Important To People, I had been carrying around a fear of being deficient in some way and not being able to love to the same extent as allos. (1)

Even though I know logically that’s complete garbage and totally untrue, I felt left out of the loop because people seemed to care strongly about this thing I couldn’t even imagine. Whenever it looked like a relationship might happen I panicked for a reason that I couldn’t understand. But now I’m starting to realize that it’s because I was subconsciously terrified of an ‘ulterior motive’ behind the other person’s reasons for wanting to be with me. (2) That part of the reason they even cared was because of something I don’t experience. So thank you, because this realization just clicked into place while reading your work. The thing is, this way of thinking was just internalized in such a way that I didn’t even realize it was there until literally this week. And I think you’re right; one of the main reasons behind that is because I’ve always consumed media written from an allo perspective. (3) If ace/aros are shown at all, they’re depicted as “lacking” and their character development usually revolves around being “fixed” by the story. When I was ~10 years old my mom sometimes let me watch the Big Bang Theory with her (looking back, maybe not the best decision). Anyways, there was one episode deep into the series where Sheldon (who for the past nineish seasons was probably the closest thing to mainstream ace rep) has sex with his girlfriend for the first time. (4) Afterwards, he says something along the lines of “that was better than I thought it would be”, and it’s presented as a Very Good Thing and a big step in their relationship. I think a lifetime of stuff like that makes it very easy to internalize aphobia and feel like the lesser part of the relationship. Or to feel like the other partner is making a huge sacrifice to be with you. That got wayy too long, sorry. All that was just a lot of words to say that I appreciate you. Take care of yourself!(5)

The portrayal of asexuality that you see in media being almost exclusively as you described is very tedious to me because it presumes that something is inherently lacking in aro/aceness rather than that feeling of "lacking" being something that is induced by societal norms. Actually, one of the things that I find additionally alienating is that fandom spaces specifically have been getting better and better about ace characters - but got damn does fandom not jive with aromanticism. Like, a character doesn't want to fuck? That's becoming a liiiittle more fine, it's 2024, we stan consent. But not shipping someone romantically?? Not so easy, now.

I'm glad that my work has been something that resonated with you in this respect! Alastor cares a lot about his reputation as a demon but is pretty blatantly a person who could not possibly give less of a shit about being "wrong" for not being experiencing romantic or sexual attraction. The explanation Viv gave at one point for his own understanding of himself (that he thinks he's just "waiting for the right woman") actually stuck out to me a lot because it's a very "well, nothing is wrong with me for not feeling anything, it's the world that's failed to produce a suitable person" perspective.

But having that kind of confident perspective of your own rightness in the world is really not often portrayed in media, or even in fandom, which even ten years ago was still in the throes of standardizing "Oh, no! Me, gay? These feelings are so wrong!" style m/m content and is honestly not that far off from essentially that for aro/ace characters.

Anyway, all of that is to say that there's not yet much out there that doesn't frame allo/amatonormative values as the default that "even aro/ace people can (and should want to) achieve," and that it's really fun to write a fic that is unequivocally from the perspective of a character who is aroace and doesn't see it as even remotely a fault in himself. Does he have moments where he's a little confused and trying to process how things fit for him? Absolutely. But he just doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who thinks he owes romance to Vox of all people, hahaha. I've written him trying to conform to allo/amatonormativity more with Mimzy, because I think the social standards of their time could push him into it, but Vox? Absolutely not, he does not respect Vox enough for it to even enter his mind.

And then, on the other hand, writing it from an aroace perspective centers the way that romantic and sexual interest can feel like a betrayal of a good thing. With a character like Alastor, it frames romantic and sexual attraction the same alien way that we usually see aromanticism and asexuality framed as.

In the end, this is just one of a plethora of different experiences that aro/ace people can have, but it's one that I really wanted to see represented more, so I'm very happy to write it. I'm glad that you're enjoying it!

[ecargmura]

Cherry Magic Episode 11 Review - Good Progression For Both Couples

Good progression for both couples! I love how each of them revolve around the mind-reading magic, but use it differently. Adachi is reliant on it and eventually makes a positive change in his life because of it, but still has some ups and downs when it comes to himself and his relationship with Kurosawa. Tsuge, on the other hand, doesn’t really use the magic all that much—only in a few occasions—but it did help him develop feelings for Minato and eventually experiencing a world he never dreamed of until now.

With Kurodachi (or KuroAda in the Eastern fandom), they are dating, but are experiencing some issues. Fortunately, Kurosawa is reflecting on his behavior from the previous episode. I like how Adachi takes Tsuge’s advice and writes his heartfelt feelings in a letter. I think that letters are super underrated and I’m glad that he did so. Sometimes, words and text messages can’t convey feelings as well as a letter. The letter left such a huge impact on Kurosawa that he legit went to Nagasaki to meet up with Adachi. Talk about down bad. I do like that they did apologize. Adachi realizes that he really likes Kurosawa as he states some of the things he likes about him in order for his partner to not feel too regretful. The way they kissed afterwards was super sensual. I legit had to cover my face while still peeking because it was hot. If you’re wondering, yes, they did bang. That means Adachi’s magic is no more. Please don’t be upset over the censored sex scene, it’s mainly due to television regulations in Japan, I believe. The moaning, though… there is a reason why the BL genre is so popular because some voice actors know how to moan…Kobayashi is one of them…

Speaking of which, I learned from someone in the Cherry Magic discord that Adachi has a palmaris longus muscle on his wrist. It’s the little nerve/muscle thing that pops out on the front of the wrist. Only 14% of the population have it, apparently; I have it too! Apparently, the muscle can be a bit sensitive, when touched, so…think of that what you will.

On the Tsugemina side, Tsuge wanted to get over Minato, but couldn’t. He tried writing, but nothing came out. His feelings for Minato are just too strong. He eventually attended Minato’s concert where he gifted him a new pair of shoes, which caused Minato to rush out and find him. They eventually confess their mutual feelings for each other and it seems that they finally are getting together! Congrats! I really like how Tsuge’s so poetic, befitting an author. I loved his quote, “No story compares to the real you.” Man, that was SMOOTH. While Tsuge did have ulterior motives and it did bother Minato, Minato didn’t mind it too much as he likes Tsuge a lot more than he realized and even told the older man to not give up—words that Tsuge told him before. What I like about the Tsugemina pair is that Tsuge isn’t too reliant on the magic. While he did fall for Minato’s inner voice, he made his own effort to get closer to him as best as he can and it worked. The only time he used the magic significantly was to help Minato patch things up with Rokkaku. That’s about it.

This was the most romantic of the episodes by far, but the wonky animation does take some romantic value away from it, but it’s only noticeable in the non-romantic scenes. I wonder if next week is the finale. I do wonder how everything is going to end. There’s a lot of content for Cherry Magic, so I do wonder if there will be a second season planned. The day the episode aired was the day before  Adachi’s birthday, which is March 21, today’s date. Happy birthday Adachi! What are your thoughts on this rather romantic episode?

[azure-firecracker]

ATLA Live Action Episode 6: Overall Thoughts.

I have mixed feelings about this one. It made the least changes from the original, which means I have nothing really to commend it on that the original didn’t already do, but at the same time, I don’t have anything to complain about either. In isolation, it is a very good episode of television. In isolation, it’s the best episode yet, but I have a harder time crediting it because most of the good stuff in here is from the original. Onto the specifics:

This episode continued the trend I don’t love of Aang being just a vessel for cliché heroic lines. I get that the show is supposed to have a more mature tone, and maybe some of Aang’s more childish traits wouldn’t have translated well, but they could have at least put SOMETHING interesting in there.

In terms of the Aang/Roku scene, I didn’t love it. I don’t like this “the avatar must not have friends” dilemma the show is pushing. It’s tired. We’ve seen it in every fantasy show. A variation of this could work as part of Aang’s work, but it doesn’t work as his central conflict. It’s too overdone.

Also, Katara wasn’t in this episode, so I couldn’t get annoyed at them for butchering her character. Definite plus.

Another plus was June! Didn’t love her flirting with Iroh but she was fun and entertaining. Arden Cho did a wonderful job. I hope they bring her back more, she’d be a great recurring fun character to have around.

I did love all the stuff with Zuko. I loved the juxtaposition between younger, idealistic, naive Zuko and current, hardened Zuko. Even though live action Zuko is softer than animated Zuko, this episode really did a good job of showing how he has been hardened by his experiences, relative to what he once was. I liked his conversation with Aang, and how the two clearly have a connection despite their circumstances. I generally like it when those types of stories are played out in a non-romantic context because it’s so rare. A lot of the lines between them were a bit cliché, but they worked (except for the line going right into the flashback where Aang was like “You can’t have always been this way. That one was a little heavy handed).

In terms of the flashback itself:

Younger Zuko seems softer and more naive than animated Zuko, which works with the way we see Zuko here. He had a lot of good lines, especially his line about giving the weak a chance. I know some people didn’t like that he fought back against Ozai in the Agni Kai, but to me it worked. It showed that he was still trying to please his father, and just how willing he was to sacrifice his morals to do it (though not willing enough for Ozai).

Speaking of Ozai, I find it interesting how he’s portrayed here. The original show portrayed him as very uncaring, willing to banish Zuko for disobedience but not really caring if he came back. Here it almost seems like he genuinely thinks this is good parenting, like he genuinely believes this will make Zuko stronger. Obviously he’s still horrible and abusive, but I actually think it works better than the original. It goes hand in hand with how he seems to really think he’s doing the right thing for the world with the FN (because newsflash…that’s what imperialism is!) A villain who really thinks they’re right is always more interesting than one who just wants power and is horrible. I think they could do interesting things with him and I’m intrigued.

Iroh was really sweet in this episode. I liked that he tried to stop Ozai from having the Agni Kai, and that he was with Zuko afterwards. It always puzzled me why he didn’t do that in the first place, and while Iroh having flaws makes sense (he should have flaws!) that particular flaw didn’t seem right, so I liked that addition.

And rounding out the fire family flashback (haha alliteration!) we have Azula. She didn’t really do anything here but the bangs were a great choice! I found it a bit weird that the camera kept zooming in on her expression during Zuko’s burning, but her expression was very neutral. It’s another change I like from the original. I think Azula smiling in the original works and is super interesting, but this show is clearly taking steps to make her more humanized right off the bat, which I appreciate as an Azula stan who has to deal with…many people who don’t see her as human. I’m not sure what to make of her expression, but I did notice that it’s the same one she used when Ozai burned the spy in episode 3 (good job Lizzy Yu!) It seems like a mix of fear and joy and detachment, like she’s trying to relish it but also she knows it could happen to her, but she doesn’t want to admit that, and also she just wants to detach from what’s happening. It can be interpreted in many ways!

One minor thing: I didn’t like that this Agni Kai was outside. The really dark, all red, fiery throne room looked a lot more menacing. And they literally already have that set! Having it outside made it look so much more mundane.

Back to the present:

Blue Spirit escape sequence was great! Again, basically torn from the original so no surprise there. I appreciate that they didn’t feel the need to change everything, and the mask looked great. I also loved Iroh’s last line about the mask being the real you. That’s a theme that could come back for a number of characters (Aang, Zuko, Katara, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee…) And I did get this spoiled, but the addition of Zuko’s crew being the 41st was great. Lovely. Super sweet. A wonderful way to pull at the heartstrings.

I’ll give this episode a 9/10. A very strong episode of television, but I can’t give it a 10 because the strongest stuff is plucked from the OG.

[ryuuseini]

yusei

OOOOH MY BOY YUSEI FUDO OMG - aight lets Do This

Why I like them/why I don’t

GOD I LOVE YUSEI - so it's really funny, because 5Ds was a series that I, at age 13, hate watched. All of it. So initially I really didn't like anyone, and that included Yusei, but i think after realizing 150 episodes in I did enjoy 5Ds, I got more curious about Yusei's character development? I remember going through the early episodes, up until his win against DS!Kiryu, and just stringing together that this is a guy who is, for the most part, a Complete Person who is riddled with guilt for not being enough for his friends. He's a martyr, but in the sense of "being a martyr just to be a martyr does far more harm than good" and I love that about characters??? It's so interesting too, because unlike, say, Yuma, Yusei understands his place in the world, how the world works, and how to take care of others. He is firm in his core beliefs, but those core beliefs also say that he's nothing more than the fixer - he has no purpose otherwise. Like... I think about how Stardust Dragon has the effect that sends itself to the graveyard to protect the monsters on your field for an attack... and just. How every time... Yusei's ready to do the same for his friends... but he comes back, no one lets him die... and it's just. God this is so unorganized but Yusei's a character i love so so much because i love his character type a LOT

What I like about their appearance

So uh. I really like his hair to the point that it made me realize black and yellow is a BANGER color combo and that i need to dye my hair as such. Yusei hair forever (oh and his jacket. I want his jacket)

Do I prefer their dub names or original names?

man... Fudo Yusei or Yusei Fudo... such a hard decision /j (it doesnt apply i just really wanted to make this joke)

OTP

It's treason (Yusei/Kiryu) AND tool (Yusei/Bruno). I just. Accidentally really fell in love with both of them.

NOTP

So kingcrab (Jack/Yusei) is one of the only two ships in total (as in, across all my fandoms) that is a NOTP. I'm not entirely sure why but like... I feel like their relationship in a romantic sense feels... wrong but i really can't put it to words because like. I support Kizuna (Yusei/Jack/Crow) in the sense that Jack/Yusei is a queer platonic relationship and Crow gets to do whatever, but man. I really don't got a reason for this, but respect to all the kingcrab shippers out there. Enjoy your food.

OT3

I don't know if Bruno/Yusei/Kiryu has a name and I'm too lazy to look it up but i think they're all dating in that weird way where Bruno and Kiryu don't even interact, they're both just dating Yusei, Bruno has no baggage and is just holding Yusei's, Kiryu's baggage is on fire alongside Yusei's, everyone's pretending this is Normal and Fine and This Is How Relationships Should Be - everyone just. At a point in their life where "I'd die for you" isn't a silly little test of how much you love someone but actual trauma that no one wants unpack and just set on fire instead.

Favourite card they use

man... honestly his OG deck before Stardust was banging. Loved me some Junk Warrior and then him using Scrap Scarecrow to avoid damage.

Favourite moment they were in

Yes (especially when he tried to sacrifice himself to save the world as per Z-One's wishes, and then Z-One pushes him aside with the last of his strength so Yusei could live. That was his last attempt at martyrdom... omg)

Least favourite moment

If Yusei is in a scene, is it really Not Peak?

Would I fuck, marry or kill them

... give me about 1000 years to get back to you on this. I'm debating between fuck and marry and i can assure you, i will not have an answer ever

[silviakundera]

Empresses in the Palace ep 16

"And now she dares to take away my Persian Ink!" Hard agree, my darling Hua Fei. Screwing your man is one thing, but fucking with your brows is another!! ✊

but babe, why u want to live with a baby??

Lmao look I know its A BABY but it's a fictional one and I'm amused that her palace is so crap at taking care of it. My career girl is just NOT the maternal type. Drugs the kid with crushed sleeping pills; "It works just fine on me." lmaoooooo

ffffuvk she's looking ragged in front of the emperor GURL let that baby go. Neither of you are having a good time.

Zhen Huan, I know the emperor is your dad's age but this fickle dude that might kill you or your besties someday is not the DILF protector you need, in metaphorical OR literal thunderstorms.

Empress savoring the new girl being humiliated by the new new girl 💅

While Zhen Huan plans for the long game by serving up Ling Rong. She's in it to win it now. Definitely feeling disconcerted about matchmaking her friend with her husband but willing to do it so they have a stronger backing in the palace. The first sign for me tbh that she could be empress material. And tbh for once the Empress isn't laying it on thick. LR truly has a celestial voice. Consort Yu supposedly was admired for her pipes but she has nothing on LR. The way she looks back. Yaaaasss always leave them wanting more.

That half-sister is gonna become a real problem.

me trying to picture how u draw eyebrows "like distant mountains"

ep 17

Prince Guo is not hot but not grandpa. He's also not the source of humiliation & suffering for a busload of ladies. I'm sold! yeah, I ship it. Please bang in despair at your wasted lives at least once, thx.

Hua Fei taking a big swing to frame up Zhen Huan by poisoning the favored baby. But it's not actually that risky, because her brother is impeccable armor.

Duan Fei is the real MVP. Everyone knows she's lying but the emperor clearly respects her and isn't willing to embarass her. No more than he's willing to severely punish my gf Hua.

Hope Duan gets her revenge.

Ep 18

So the emperor totally knows Hua Fei posioned the kid that he actually likes, but General Nian's skills trump all.

I'm honestly not sure if Zhen Huan should be trying to push the emperor to not reward Hua Fei. He's gonna do what he thinks he needs to.

Half-sister Huanbi is getting on my NERVES. And finally ZH's, thank god.

Prince Guo is so chill. He just strolled by like, hey crying servant, what's up? oh, somebody dissed your look? you're doing amazing sweetie, don't worry be happy. (Exit stage left.)

I think I love him.

Our protagonist with a BIG WIN. (crowd sounds) 👏 👏 proved half-sister is a traitor and her nemesis finally annoyed the emperor enough that she'll miss a promotion.

Girl, u know I love u. You're the only one for me. But Hua Fei, darling, you really need to properly space out your scheming. It's too much. The man needs some time, space, and calm to properly ponder how much he loves & appreciates your brother.

Ep 19

This episode should be subtitled "The Tale of Two Loves' or '2 Ships For The Price of One'.

First she risks it all to sneak in to hold hands longingly and shed tender tears with her Mei Zihuang. Then romantic coincidental rescue by Prince Guo and a late night boat ride with poetry & literature musings.

And I'm winning because I ship both of them.

Not sure how I feel about Half-Sister Intervention. Huanbi's situation is fucked and in a different drama she'd be the revenge-seeking protagonist. But she's also dumb as hell to want to join the harem and give up the chance to escape to a normal life. She's seen what a hell this place is. Ultimately, she has reason to resent ZH and their family. And she has a dangerous secret. What if she flips again? Just get rid of her ASAP. It's life & death struggles over here, no space for second chances.

[homewrecking-lore]

Putting this rant under a cut because it is just me banging my head against the wall over season 3 and how much I despise this show lol, I PROMISE this is my last Picard post.

I don't know if it's because I didn't really know or care about TNG until like...a couple of years ago, and so don't have any nostalgia connected to it, but even the scenes that should get me emotional in Picard season 3 just...don't.

Like seeing Data with his pipe and the Tasha holo statue and Spot...okay, I recognize all those things...now what? Why should this strike a chord with me right now, in this story? "Spot taught me how to love." And not...your daughter? Your daughter didn't play a role in that too?

But the worse thing besides the pure amount of nostalgia bait is that everything happens without literally ANY weight or consequence. 8 hours in and nothing feels like it's really moved.

Ro Laren returned!! And then BLEW UP right in front of Riker and Picard's eyes. Remember when that happened??? And that's it. That's that. She barely spoke to Riker, never spoke to Beverly. You could cut her entire appearance and really the show would remain the same. Which is a shame cause her performance is incredible, but her death was stupidly cheap, and it kind of dilutes any emotional depth her appearance should have.

Picard tells Geordi about Data's SECOND DEATH completely off-hand and Geordi's reaction? Not even to acknowledge it. He's just learned of this. Did the rest of the crew not know as well? Wouldn't this be...fairly big news? You know...besides the fact that he is back AGAIN?

Beverly disappeared for TWENTY YEARS. Then she's suddenly alive and well, in front of them, with a grown ass man for a child, and the most we get is one argument between Picard and Bev, and then it's pretty much settled. What about their romantic relationship? Their friendship? Their professional respect and trust? So much more was lost than just a secret love child for two decades!! Show us!!!!

And almost all of the dialogue around Jack being their kid is also solely WITH PICARD. Riker doesn't talk to Bev about it onscreen, nor does Geordi or Worf. Deanna mentions her disappearance almost...casually. Which would work if it hadn't been for TWENTY YEARS. You just found out she was hiding a child she had with your captain/friend. Talk to her!!! Why couldn't she trust Picard with this? Why couldn't she trust all of you? ASK HER! I AM BEGGING! Yes the show is called Picard, but the whole selling point this season is that it's the rightful TNG crew send-off. Then just...do that!

Almost everything is solved with a single conversation, except for whatever is happening with Jack. Geordi's fractured relationship with his daughter because...*checks notes* she's a pilot like he was, but not an engineer like he...later was? One big blow-up and then it's solved. Cool. Jack approaches Picard as a stranger in a restaurant and asks if he wants a real family...buddy, why would this man tell you his innermost thoughts? And yet this one conversation is the reason he doesn't connect with him? Really? For a show that's supposed to be serialized instead of episodic like TNG, it really doesn't carry most of its plot or character development forward.

Apparently Kestra is a Starfleet cadet ('cause...what else would legacy off-spring do). Wouldn't Riker and Troi be especially worried about her since Starfleet is completely infiltrated with changelings? They've already lost a child. Wouldn't this be at the forefront of their thoughts?

Why is this a better ending for Data? Because he has a really, really human-like body this time? He's died twice. Commit to that. Give the other characters the chance to properly mourn. He's already had the emotion chip (which is a plot device I don't even like but it effectively does the exact same as this new body does). I just...this doesn't feel like growth for this character. Honestly it feels more like Brent Spiner's acting exercise. Same with Geordi and Data - I love them, I'm a sucker for Daforge - but I watched their scenes completely dry eyed. I just couldn't get pass the amount of awful story decisions that got us to this point.

What was the point of bringing in Moriarty, Lore, and Vadic? You could almost cut them out entirely and barely anything would change. The main cast didn't really spare them a second thought. Besides a backstory flashback, Vadic didn't really up the stakes. The conflict in episode 8 was the same as episode 2. Moriarty might as well not have been there. Lore could've been an example of the struggle of morality ("do we sacrifice our belief in android sentience to gain back our friend") but then we're given the most embarassing hokey scene in the show so far where they...merge. Okay. Plus they openly discuss how they would just erase Lore from existence if they could RIGHT IN THE OPEN and then are SHOCKED that he'd take control and kill them. What did you expect??? What happened to exploring androids as individuals with rights? Where is the narrative weight of "losing your compass" (ugh) when it comes with no consequences or is promptly forgotten about? Why isn't all this taking a greater toll on Data, losing out on two decades of changing and aging and life moving on without him?

Weren't B-4 and Lal and Altan also memories (although in their first scene they are all full-on separate entities)? Why didn't absorbing those memories change Lore and Data's personalities? How come only Lore gave Data...contractions and sass? (The dumbest sentence I've had to type.)

As for Seven and Raffi....seeing people FREAK on twitter about the mere implication of Geordi and Data, who are explicitly straight and platonic on the show and don't even bother to hug when they reunite...you just know the showrunners were playing it safe by sidelining the only actual queer relationship in the show so they don't get accused of being 'woke'. 8 whole episodes and they barely look at each other. It's weird...and again, never said why.

(And that's not even touching on how awkward Wesley's absence has been this whole time. That's a whole other post honestly.)

In the end, I just feel like I'm watching the cast reunite rather than the characters. They're a great cast and insanely talented (Levar and Gates and Michelle especially shine when they have an emotional beat), but when scenes come off as just the actors hanging out - it makes me wonder why they didn't just film a two hour round table of discussion instead of...this. No send-off is going to be universally perfect or touch on everything it's supposed to, but this is probably one of the mishandled seasons of television I've ever watched. I really wanted to like this season as I've only recently gotten into TNG, and it sucks to just...hate it.

Anyway. Picard and the 300 spin-offs you're trying to set up stay away from these characters and do something original

[theoncomingdoo-dah]

DW SERIES 6

We did it boys.

The series premiere was a bit disappointing (and confusing and convoluted) but well, um, we watched it.

"You're trying to turn me into you."

Best episode(s): It's a tie! Between The Girl Who Waited and Closing Time.

TGWW had an amazing concept and setting (I freaking LOVE the idea of the Two Streams Hospital!) And my god the character writing was on POINT. Best moment and the moment that rocked me to my core had to be where Rory told the Doctor

I mean, damn. That's on par with series 1's "You would make a good Dalek." And not to mention, this episode holds no punches. (Neither did The God Complex, but this one is a better episode in my opinion) when it comes to how manipulative the Doctor can be. 11 can be a goofy, silly little guy but at his core? Cold ass mother fucker.

And I LOVE that. It shows how fucked the events in series 2-4 made him. Time Lord Victorious does things to a mf.

Closing Time is not a super deep episode but it is funny and charming. And I could not stop smiling while watching it. I love Craig. I just do. I love how he's not even a companion but he's aware of what's going on with the Doctor. I love how the Doctor and him have this weird partnership going on and neither of them are like "ew gross" when they're mistaken for a couple. I love how it's implied that Craig actually *really likes* the Doctor (bicon!). I ABSOLUTELY ADORE the scenes with the Doctor and Alfie, especially with the galaxy lights. I'm using that in fanfiction, make my words. This episode was just fun. Simple as that. A nice little one off.

Also the part when the Doctor saw Amy and Rory from afar, that was really sweet. 🥺

I LOVE the relationship between the Doctor and the "human" TARDIS in this episode, it is so damn adorable. And the episode was written by Neil Gaiman! Yay!

Best thing about this episode? It's reminiscent of RTD Era present day Earth episodes. And God, I missed them!

Most surprising episode: The Doctor's Wife.

Look at that title. Look at the title and tell me what you expected this episode to be about. It's not! It's not that! Rory punches two Nazis, including Hitler but it's a fucking River Song centric episode. Lame. So fucking lame. Also that ending. Ugh....

Most Disappointing: Let's Kill Hilter.

We get 11 in coat and tails and a top hat though so not a complete loss.

The Wedding of River Song and A Good Man Goes To War.

Worst Episode(s): Another tie...

First, I'll say that the series finale is better than Big Bang. Because I could actually follow what was going on for the most part and it kinda(?) made sense(?) But besides that?

UUUGGGHHHH. So bad. So much bad.

At least i know what the hand tying thing looks like now. So I can use it in fanfiction. But I'd like to point some things out. Rivers statement about how no one loves the Doctor "no more than me"? Fuck. You. 1, nice assumption. 2, The TARDIS would like to know your location. Ugh, I HATED that line!

Also, also! This nice, romantic scene? ABSOLUTE MANIPULATION. The Doctor 'married' River to basically be like "There, I'm your husband now. Do what I say." Fuck this fucking scene. This romance. This plot line, END ME.

A Good Man Goes to War, is not as bad, but still pretty awful. Yet again, amazing title, terrible execution.

We got to meet some neat characters! ...and they're all dead. (But I'm assuming we learn more about them in other episodes)

I went into this knowing who Melody Pond/River Song is. But my partner didn't. So when it was revealed who she is, my partner's response was the following-

"EWWWWWW."

And that's all I have to say about that. Also River being conceived on the TARDIS gave her Mary-Sue Time Lord powers and Rose literally absorbing the Time Vortex did what...? Nothing?

Please no. I want Bad Wolf Theory to be true. please.

Compared to last series that really only had 1 episode that felt was worth the watch and was actually really amazing, series 6 had a few that I genuinely enjoyed but everything else was either meh or FUCKING AWFUL.

Series Rating- 6/10

So overall better series but Flesh and Stone doesn't hold a candle to the awful/awkwardness that is The Wedding of River Song.

Series 7 next. We already watched The Asylum of The Daleks which was a lot better of a series premiere than The Impossible Astronaut. (BTW, if I haven't mentioned it, I really could not care less about this era's overarching plot.)

Not looking forward to Day of The Doctor. Just being honest. I feel like the scenes between 11 and 10 will be fun but ill just be thinking about how

no nine

no eight

Rose is here despite not being her and Moffat not liking her unless he can use her as a plot device

But the two twinks interacting will definitely help in the crack fic I want to write.

[nysocboy]

Gemstones Episode 1.7: Keefe is in love, Scotty is hard, and everybody s*ks dick

This is the censored version of the review, with no nude photos or explicit sexual discussion. Link to the nude photos

Title: "And yet one of you is a devil."  From John 6.70. Jesus is complaining that he chose 12 disciplines, and one will betray him.  I guess we know who the devil is.

Prayer Power: A flashback to the Prayer Power Convention in Atlanta.  Gideon comes into the hotel room, upset: he was planning to have dinner with his Dad, but Jesse ditched him to play drinking games with his crew.  Jesse insults him, ridicules his upcoming internship and "California dreams," and orders him out.  On the way, Gideon sets his camera to take the video he would use for blackmailing.  So he didn't run away; the family knew that he had an intership set up. Why did Jesse act as if it was a big mystery.

Gideon the soul-winner: In the present, Scotty is having dinner with the family.  He explains that he came to South Carolina for a stunt job, but he "got banged up" and had to drop out. Then he says that he came to see Gideon, who brought him to Christ. The family is so overjoyed that the "prodigal son" has become a soul-winner that no one notices the contradictions.

Uh-oh, Jesse recognizes Scotty from somewhere!  His cover is almost blown, but Scotty claims that he had a recurring role as a rapist on CSI Miami.  Rapist -- interesting choice, since CSI is about murder (you gather forensic evidence from the crime scene).  Scotty is painting himself as a sexual predator. 

Amber insists that he stay with them. Gideon protests, but Scotty touches his hand, and he consents.  So, Scotty, do you want a guest room, or would you prefer to share Gideon's bed?

We cut to a scene of Eli giving the siblings their Easter assignments; Judy will sing during the collection, Jesse will preach the sermon, and Kelvin has to lead a youth group song and dance number, which angers him (he's the youth minister; what did he expect?)

Shirt on, shirt off:  In the morning, Scotty and Gideon stop at the security station on their way out of the compound.  Hey, Scotty has his arm on Gideon's shoulder.   Everybody who sees them will think that they are a romantic couple.   Scotty flirts with security guard  Brock: "If you get to L.A., I'll get you an agent."  But he needs head shots, shirtless shots, and so on.  This is way more than Scotty needs to get access to the compound.  He just wants to see Brock naked.  

I'm gonna be...um, aroused: Cut to the guys having dinner (score: three dinners for Scotty/Gideon, none for Kelvin/Keefe).  They discuss the plan: on Sunday morning, after the offering is counted, Gideon and Martin will take it down the service elevator to the vault.  Scotty will be waiting, wearing his devil's mask, and rob them.  How will he get out of the church, with thousands of people milling about?

"As soon as the elevator door opens," he promises, "I'm gonna be..."  He'll be aroused  

"Nothing too big," Gideon cautions.  He can't help his size, dude.

To make it believable and not implicate Gideon, Scotty suggests tying him up, and using a few P-whips. This term is not defined online.  Could it mean penis-whip?

Scotty has more news: He got the sex tape fixed, so he can do the original blackmail plan in addition to robbing the church. "This is what you always wanted," he says. "We destroy your old man."  Gideon is not so sure that he wants Jesse destroyed.

Tell TJ to walk out: Cut to Judy announcing to Baby Billy that they will be performing during the Easter service. But Baby Billy doesn't want to: "too little, too late."  BJ protests, and Billy orders him to leave.  Judy agrees: "You're making me look like an idiot.  Go outside!"  Uh-oh, disrespecting your boyfriend.  Since the Kelvin/Keefe plot runs parallel, we should be expecting some discord in their relationship soon.

Part of the Family: Jesse takes everyone  out on his yacht.  Scotty complements the family on how close they are,  His own dad is in prison.  Jesse offers to be his Daddy, and hugs him.  Eli never once hugged Keefe.  Of course, it's just an act; Scotty waggles his tongue at Gideon over Jesse's shoulder, a vulgar gesture similar to what Keefe experienced at the sports bar. 

Or is it all an act?  Scotty seems to like being part of the family.  The background song tells him: 

The days are getting brighter – the sunlight feels like gin.

Juices punch and cider shiver deep within

You don’t have to be alone, when we’re having so much fun.

Don’t be alone

The Prayer Circle: Just before the Easter service (17,000 people in the Salvation Center, six million world wide), Eli, the siblings, their partners, and Martin have a prayer circle, Kelvin/Keefe are holding hands and praying.  Scotty is holding Keefe's hand and glaring.  Why isn't he standing next to Gideon, his "friend"? 

I Have to Be a Man:  We see a few moments of Levi's Christian rock number, then switch to Kelvin leading the teens in their song-and-dance.    Keefe, working security in the bleachers, seems to be making an "I love you" gesture. 

Meanwhile, Gideon is in the bathroom, throwing up, and Judy rejects Eli's offer of singing during the offertory.

Cut to Judy's dressing room.  She criticizes BJ for asking if she's ok.  He counters that he is not even religious, but he has always been there for her.  She continues to berate him for attempting emotional support until he's had enough and leaves: "I have to stand up for myself.�� I have to be a man." He starts crying and runs away. Judy throws her engagement ring after him.  .

My Gay Son: While the opening numbers are going on upstairs, Gideon decides to "come clean."  Except Jesse thinks he means being gay, and exclaims "I love my gay son."  Before Gideon has a chance to respond, Martin drags him away.  There has been no indication to this point (or ever during the series) that Gideon is straight.  Maybe viewers are supposed to conclude that he actually is gay, thus drawing attention from Kelvin and Keefe.

Cut to Jesse's sermon: We hear a lot about Christ's suffering, but what about the suffering of Judas?  Most people think that he was driven by evil, "perhaps guided by the devil himself," but maybe he was driven by pain. Imagine his agony, knowing that he had betrayed his friends and loved ones.  

The most obvious parallel here is Gideon betraying his Dad, guided by Scotty (wearing his Devil mask), driven by pain rather than evil.  But what about Scotty? Isn't he betraying his friend by forcing him to participate in this wild robbery scheme?  

Feeling guilty, Gideon decides to back out of the plot; he ditches Martin and the money, and goes down the service elevator alone to explain.  Scotty is irate, and starts insulting him.  Gideon has had enough of his abuse..  They fight.  Scotty puts him in a sleeper hold saying "Go to sleep, you little cute c*ck sucker." Interesting choice of words.  Adding "little" and "cute" implies that the two have actually had oral sex.  

Gideon eventually manages to best Scotty and walk away, calling him a fraud.  You are not who you pretend to be: this will be repeated later, with Kelvin and Keefe.   Scotty pulls a gun, but can't bring himself to shoot his friend.  

[ninjakittenarmy]

There was this one show called Defiance that was all in all a very solid sci-fi series with the glaring exception of the fact that the show seemed to be on a mission to find any excuse to have as many characters fuck as possible regardless of whether it made any sense or gelled with any previous characterization. There was this arc that lasted maybe three episodes of someone sleeping with the main character, who was many years her senior, to get back at her ex, despite there having been zero instances of sexual tension between them. This is portrayed as sexy. This sort of thing has multiple times in the show. More than I could sum up.

Agents of SHIELD had an issue where they did a thing where two agents started sleeping together. These agents never expressed attraction to each other before and the whole plot was going on for like half the season, but only got mentioned three times if that and immediately ended once one of the agents turned traitor. There was a fair bit of drama with the traitor thing but this relationship was dropped immediately and only ever brought up once as mid-fight banter. This is the main example from that show, though there were some others.

There was this one but in The Walking Dead back when I still watched it where Glen and Maggie were supposed to be keeping watch together. You know, because there’s a crazed warlord planning to attack them, and also the hordes of undead, and they for some reason decide that rather than do that, they’re gonna bang in the prison watchtower. This has NO effect whatsoever on any events later. Their abandoning their post doesn’t lead to any negative consequences. It’s just really dumb.

God of War is pretty infamous for this. Gratuitous sex and nudity is something that series is infamous for. There’s at least one character (an oracle I think) who wears nothing but see through pieces of fabric while giving completely serious exposition. One of the games has a sex mini game with Aphrodite which yeah, that’s in character for her but what the fuck is the point of having an offscreen sex minigame represented by a series of quicktime events?

There’s Quantic Dream’s games. Fahrenheit has two of the main characters have sex in a subway box car after like, 5 lines of dialogue between them max. One of these characters saw his ex wife (whom he still loved) fall to her death literally a day ago and has also been reanimated. He is noted to have no body heat. Heavy Rain meanwhile has two of the four main characters screw in a motel room. There IS buildup romantically to this but they’re kinda looking for the guy’s missing son, who has very little time left to live if they don’t hurry, and while he needs to rest too, he’s also covered in countless horrific injuries. And that’s to say nothing of the random shower scenes the dev is obsessed with adding.

There’s Metal Gear Solid V which has Quiet, a character who inexplicably has to be almost naked to breath through her skin because she was burned to near death and healed with photosynthetic parasites that somehow allow her to photosynthesize in lieu of breathing. I shut you not. Despite this her outfit uses tights. There is a scene of her naked in the rain so she can absorb the water. For context, the first character with these parasites was a hundred year old man. He did not need to be naked for them to work. He wore a full ghillie suit.

This is notably NOT an exhaustive list of media I have seen where sex scenes impeded the story, pacing, or characters. It happens far too often for me to cite every example. I legitimately have no idea how you hear “this is a big problem” and think “cite every single example that you’ve ever seen” is a sensible request. If I could list every example off the top of my head, it wouldn’t be that big a problem and we wouldn’t be having this discourse in the first place. Nonetheless, they are the most egregious examples that come to mind at the moment.

my advice for the sex scene averse crowd ultimately is the same as my advice for the long movie haters: just don’t fucking watch it man idk i’m not your mother

[yibennianyaji]

So Bride of Re-Animator is kinda hard to find on any streaming service. I snatched a DVD, so I am taking the opportunity to live blog it. For science

HILL’S HEAD IS FLOATING IN THE DARK LIKE THIS IS THE ROCKY FREAKING HORROR SHOW. CLASSY. Clearly a step up from those neon anatomical drawings in the original. Please forget that bit where it was messily crushed to death in the original. Forget a lot of things.

“You killed my girlfriend and now you want to go to a Peruvian warzone? MY MULLET AND I ARE ON BOARD.” 

DAN WE ARE EVEN MORE DIRECTLY BEING FRANKENSTEIN NOW WHY DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND. 

“Let’s go home.” 

Oh no I take it back we’re just going to plain REDO the floating Grey’s Anatomy credits from the first flick. Now with….floaty romantic music? BECAUSE LADIES?

My name is Doctor Daniel Cain, and I cannot maintain proper doctor/patient boundaries. This is my associate Doctor Herbert West, who does not approve of me being in the same breathing space as women. 

AND NOW. Exposition with the obvious greedy bastard and some guy we don’t really care about. 

LOL BODY PARTS KEEP DISAPPEARING FROM OUR MORGUE NBD THOUGH

THAT LAUGH. THAT LAUGH IS A DELIGHT ALWAYS

HERBERT MAKES BAD PUNS. DAD PUNS. THAT IS CANON THANKS TO THIS MOVIE. 

This chest of drawers will SURELY protect us from the undead I’ve been experimenting on next door! I SAW IT IN A ZOMBIE MOVIE, DAN. 

Paper Mache iguana has nothing on hilarious puppet cat.

DAN. DAN LOOK AT MY ARTS AND CRAFTS. DAN. DAN IT’S VERY SCIENCEY. DAN WHY DON’T YOU LOVE MY EYEBALL PET. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE MOVING OUT.

I’m so disappointed I hadn’t seen this before that Steven Universe episode.

HERBERT DON’T BRING UP THE DEAD GIRLFRIEND THAT IS RULE ONE. 

“LOOK I SAVED YOU HER HEART WILL YOU LOVE ME NOW”

Oh wow, Dan and Herbert have a nice lil place. It probably came prefurnished, but I like to think of them arguing over curtains.

There is an eyeball hand skittering around and it looks like a scene from MST3K AND I AM PLEASED. 

How do pacing.

Ohhhhhhhhh doctor dude you can’t play with the green ooze. ONLY WEST CAN PLAY WITH THE GREEN OOZE STOP FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR LIFE

See, now he’s being attacked by wires. 

Dan and Herbert’s brilliant corpse stealing scheme involves Weekend at Bernie’s sunglasses. Of course it does. 

Let’s all have a hilarious comedy of errors about hiding our reanimated body parts! 

Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime heaaaaaaad

OH FRANCESCA HONEY. DON’T DO IT. You seem nice, and nobody makes it out of kissing Dan alive. RUN. 

Dean Halsey: the only one who didn’t make it out of this retcon alive

Isn’t a sequel supposed to be LESS ponderous and slow than its predecessor? 

THE DEAD CAN SENSE THE PLOT DEATH ON YOU. RUN.

Can this whole movie just be Dan and Herbert sciencing over low-end practical gore effects? These scenes are fun

Ahhhh, Herbert’s paranoid now about his work being stolen. A shred of character continuity!

Aaww, Herbert’s so cute when he smiles about living, disembodied limbs. Then immediately glares up when he realizes Dan has left him to see this alone. 

Aaaaaaand that’s a foot-hand. Fand.  A walking fand. That’ll…show him?

Oh hey, Dan owns the perfectly white sheets found only in that “Total Eclipse of the Heart” music video!

Herbert no. Do not jealously spy on Dan having sex. That’s weird. That’s not going to help your wooing. Why are you wooing him with corpses.

DON’T KICK HIM WHILE HE’S DOWN, DETECTIVE CREEPO

That is some REAL GOOD SEX if Dan doesn’t hear all this shouting and banging around down in the Lab of Secrets

I mean technically he does a lot of self defensive murdering and using of natural corpses. Cinnamon Herbert 2023?

YOU KNOW WHAT THIS REMINDS ME OF. YOU KNOW WHAT. HERBERT IS MRS. LOVETT AND DAN IS SWEENEY TODD. HOLY SHIT. IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW. 

Smol scientist gets tossed around a lot in this’n

DAN HE BEATS UP LADIES IT IS TOTALLY OKAY TO KILL HIM AGAIN GO FOR IT

FRANCESCA YOU WERE A DOCTOR IN A WAR ZONE SURELY YOU HAVE BETTER PRESERVATION SKILLS THAN THIS

NO NOT THE DOG. FUCK YOU, MOVIE

“Hey Dan I reanimated your girlfriend’s dog do you love me now? Does this count as a Good?”

“YES I gave him a human hand, what did you not want me to IMPROVE him?”

Whaaaaaaaat do you mean that caused her to leave you well I GUESS THAT MEANS WE CAN GO BACK TO SCIENCING NOW.

Why won’t he talk to me I AM CONFUSE. 

every second of Herbert West, Confused Scientist Courter is gold

“Y’see, terminal patient, I sort of like to think of you as my dead girlfriend. That’s not creepy, is it?”

Oh movie. You had to put literal blood on his hands, didn’t you.

….Have you actually left that room in these several days, doctor whose name I didn’t actually catch?

Remember how Hill could control the dead in the first movie and it made the least sense? WE’RE BRINGING IT BACK WITH LESS SENSE NOW

YES. PUT HIM IN THE TRASH. BUT STOMP ON HIM FOR GOOD MEASURE.

REALLY FURNACE SCHMUCK? Surely West’s GROSSLY RAMPANT MISOGYNY is pretty apparent at this point

AH THERE IS THE GAY I HAVE BEEN MISSING. Sad puppy eyes Herbert. Just wants Dan to SCIENCE with him like they used to.

Herbert this is the worst seduction speech ever. YOU STOLE HIS PILLOW TALK TO USE ON HIM

Well this is officially the best scene. Good job Jeffrey Combs

WHY IS HILL EVEN IN THIS MOVIE

Uh…..yeah Dan. We have rats. just rats. Totally not my experiments

And there’s a thunderstorm. Of course there’s a thunderstorm

“OH MY GOOOOOD HE WANTS TO PARTICIPATE WE ARE GONNA BE SUCH GREAT DADS TO THIS CORPSE.” 

There is a head with bat wings for ears. It is flying around the living room

Just

thought you might all like to know that

Also undead abuse victim is getting her reanimated revenge on undead dickwad cop. So….that subplot happened

All of the budget went into the makeup work on the Bride, didn’t it

I mean it’s a pretty lovely guro design

Dan please don’t try to bone her she was just born what are you doing she doesn’t know what consent is

What is your fascination with the undead old lady, movie

Herbert does not know how to empathy. That is not how you treat the newly sentient

Herbert you wouldn’t have this problem if you didn’t leave so many zombies running around

Whoaaaaaaa Dan has skipped merrily right off the deep end

“MY GOD. THEY’RE USING TOOLS.”

FUCK YEAH COMBS DOING MONOLOGUES

Ah, he’s gone from /I/ created life to OUR girl. And then to “dead tissue.” Whatever will keep Dan on his side, I suppose.

DAN THIS IS NOT HER FAULT WHY ARE YOU BEING A DICK

The recurrence of the spurned lover offering the heart as a gift. Poor Bride. Poor Herbert, even if he’s also a terrible human

Okay now, this is just a poor excuse to have a corpse party

Ooooh, nice decomposition effect

Head. Bat wings.

AND the zombies are poorly lit. Boooo

I believe this is what they call hubris, Herbert

THAT IS THE WORST ENDING. GO BACK AND TRY AGAIN. 

Pacing’s poor, flabbiest 90 minutes I’ve ever seen. But I DID enjoy the bits where Dan and Herbert got to play off each other again (and wow is Herbert the jealous type). Worth watching for that. 

[thinkatoryprocess]

Girl Kendall/Naomi? Girl Kendall/Nate? Girl Kendall/Lukas? Girl Kendall/Rava?

Does she still have kids?

What a buffet of options.

Beneath a read more so I don't destroy people's pages by writing a whole goddamn fanfic under there, but I address all of the above.

Kendall dips in and out of her relationship with Stewy because more than once she's broken up with him in the middle of an episode and decided to justify herself post facto by finding someone else. Now it's not really a secret that Kendall is a hot mess, but she doesn't actually commit to anyone who treats her like total trash, so she winds up with some decent relationships in the midst of the ongoing thing with Stewy - and, to be clear, only one or two of these people think that they can ever compete with Kendall and Stewy's whole thing. She'll go back to him. They're just here for the ride while they can get it.

Kendall dates Nate when she's young and in the heat of a long manic episode, and Stewy is a fucking mess about it. They're a surprisingly good match, if nothing else because he can keep up with her and will head into those dark and crazy places with her while not being a dirtbag. She's too embarrassed as she comes down to admit she wants to go back to Stewy, but Nate realizes how sad she is and forces a breakup on her behalf. He's not usually that nice, but he's not interested in trapping her in a thing with him, either.

Kendall's relationship with Rava is her first queer relationship, and she is desperate to keep it under wraps. Rava's being totally reasonable about things, but Kendall is in rough enough straits with Logan as it is, so she's terrified of blowback if it all comes to light. It did work some of the time, and could've worked long term, if Kendall had been less scared of anything seeing the light of day.

Kendall's relationship with Naomi is her second queer relationship, and by this point she's older and more willing to risk a little more. Also, Logan already threw rumors about her being a lesbian in her face, so what the hell at this point. Naomi and Kendall are both addicts and they both care about each other but they also have the same kind of stare-death-in-the-eye thing going, which is not great for both members of a couple to have if their continued walk in a sane and reasoned direction can be expected. Eventually Stewy actually intervenes and there is a very dramatic thing where Kendall flips out at his intervention only for her to break down and leave with him without hesitation.

Now we come to Kendall/Lukas. When Kendall meets Lukas, she and Stewy are in talks about getting back together after a fight about the freezing of embryos. Neither of them can figure out if having kids is a good idea, and neither of them wants to say no, but neither of them is ready to make a decisive yes, either. It's a painfully long fight and they put some distance, at which time Kendall meets Lukas at Argestes. He makes a pass at her, but he's so weird, but so intense, and she's immediately intrigued. The problem is he lives across the Atlantic. She isn't sure she's ready to go back to Stewy - some things were said that everyone still needs to recover from - but also starting something new feels like a bad idea, too. All this kind of goes flying out the window when Lukas says something that only someone with that kind of deathspiral in their head would find romantic or arousing or both, and Kendall says nothing as she drags him up to her hotel room to bang his soul out of his body. They date and absolutely adore each other but everyone around them knows this is a very bad idea. Stewy's stuck watching this from the sidelines, but Logan cuts in with Kendall before he gets a chance to. You're too old to be this embarrassing, he says. Get your shit together. Kendall lashes out at Logan before she realizes what she's doing, he hits her, and Kendall immediately drops everything, figures her shit out, and goes back to Stewy without ever explaining what happened. She cries a lot for a day or two, then she's back to normal.

Kendall goes into treatment after leaving Lukas and returning to Stewy, and is placed on medication in the process. She and Stewy are in their mid-to-late thirties when they marry, and 40 when they have their first kid via IVF. (See, Dad? She's totally stable now. Everything's fine.)

[sailoryooons]

Welcome to this week's episode of Haliween recs, brought to you by the wonderful stylings of Jai. I mean this entirely when I tell you that this is one of my favorite writers of all time, both in fanfiction and just fiction in general The way that Jai's mind works always manages to capture me and I'm just... so often taken away with their skill in writng.

This is literally so indulgent in the best way possible, and when I say that I want to read something with sexy, dark vampires, this is exactly that. Full stop. This is EXACTLY my desires for the mysterious vampire smut I want every Halloween.

Full review with spoilers under the cut.

Honestly, something about everyone except reader being wary of Taehyung is so.... right for this. It's a little bit of a mix of them being awful but also, maybe instinctually knowing that he is a predator and I sort of love the juxtaposition between reader knowing his is misunderstood but still knowing he's a predator.

Also, the subtle art of intimacy at the beginning of this is one of my favorite things. As a reader, one of my favorite things a writer can do is create tiny little sub-intimate moments - Taehyung checking in on her, touching her waste, in general just being attuned to reader in a way that is not inherently sexy or overtly flirting, but is still enough to make my heart flutter. Like it's just... more than normal and I really love instances like here.

Another one of my favorite things are relationships between roommates that always blur the lines. Like damn I never cuddled with my roommates like that (well.. no I did but whaoijrogirsj you get it) but like. I love that there is already a blurring of an emotional line. There is also something... like you can tell that Taehyung covets reader, even though he's not doing anything super possessive. The hey love and the gentle touches. Like is literally a killing machine but he is so delicate with reader it makes my head spin.

My god the smut. This. This. I am such a full send for like - if we're talking about vampires and fucking, make them drink blood. Commit to it, literally give us what we are all thinking and you did it and I never see this done and I love you so much for it. It is such a divine and like erotic scene and I love that there is nothing gross or weird about it. In way, you sort of honor the human body here and Taehyung feels the same way. I really love that even though he obviously like - wants to bang - he also does it in a way that doesn't make reader feel weird about having a body that bleeds.

And the desperation. My god someone call batman I need help. This fucking scene wrecked me, and then it devolves so quickly into madness and something that we don't expect - it actually is the perfect Halloween fic because we go from like... thinking this is romantic to absolute terror and gore and is he going to kill her? I love a yandere/possessive reveal when the predator was always a predator, even if he was soft on the love interest.

This is a knockout for me, one of my favorite things I've read this year, and once again I'm just. So impressed by you. I love you, baby bat. Bye.

blood on the sheets | kth

Despite what some people may think, your roommate isn't a monster. You know Taehyung; he'd never hurt anyone.

↳ pairing: vampire!taehyung x human!(f)reader

↳ rating/genre: BTS | 18+ | fantasy/supernatural | roommates to... lovers? | dead dove | smut | angst

↳ wc/date: 4.7k | October 2023

↳ warnings: blood, biting, blood drinking, (technically temporary) character death, homicidal tendencies, vaginal fingering, cunnilingus (face sitting), period sex, unprotected vaginal sex, blood as lube, emotional manipulation, possessiveness, yandere, dubcon blood drinking, dubcon sex, vampire venom is intoxicating, mc and tae complain about men who are rude toward menstruating people and ik that some men do menstruate so pls know that they are referring to cis men in this context

↳ notes: this is for @taehyungcentral for halloween 🦇 i hope it's everything you wanted bby. you nasty whore

↳ more notes: this is very unedited i'm sorry jhskds i also REALLY wanted to keep it at a normal drabble length and i obviously failed. so i'll try to do better with the rest of the halloween drabbles lmfao rip

↳ masterlist / taglist

↳ what was jai listening to? this vampire kpop playlist hali showed me  

Halloween 2023 Masterlist

“Doesn’t he, y’know, creep you out?” 

Robin takes a sip of her cocktail with lips so accustomed to being pursued in snootiness that little wrinkles have formed around the edges of her mouth despite her young age. It’s a shame, but the look is fitting. Sometimes, a person’s ugliness on the inside does reflect on the outside. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” you ask with thinly-veiled irritation. 

You haven’t known Robin for a long time, though you suppose it wouldn’t have mattered if you knew her for a day or an entire year. She’s the type of person you could spend hours talking to and walk away knowing nothing about her. You’re simply coworkers, and that’s enough for you.

Robin shrugs and tosses her blonde hair over her shoulder when she turns to blatantly stare across the room. The bar isn’t big, just large enough for a few tables and booths lining the walls and a small dancefloor in the middle of the room. It’s intimate, so your coworkers picked it for the office’s monthly night out. Alcohol, catchy pop music, and hipster bars are perfect ingredients for morale-boosting activities, but Robin doesn’t know how to not be nasty. 

You follow her gaze, and a small smile lifts the corners of your mouth despite her rude question when you see who she’s looking at. 

The cup in Taehyung’s hand is colored glass. In the dim lights, the cup appears to be a dark forest green that pairs prettily with his fire-engine red hair and the contacts that turn his dark eyes a mossy color. You helped him pick out the contacts while the two of you got ready for the work outing. The green are just as alluring as the other colored contacts he owns, but they’re less intimidating than his favorite gray ones. 

The colored cups are the bar’s effort to hide the deep crimson liquid inside. Supposedly, it’s for the comfort of all their patrons, but everyone knows what passes through Taehyung’s plush lips when he brings the cup to his mouth. 

You watch his throat bob as he swallows. The v-cut of his shirt exposes his elegant neck and collarbones, not that you’re looking or anything.  

“He eats people, for Christ’s sake. How could you live with something like that?” 

Your vodka-cranberry drink is down to the ice, and your patience for Robin has melted with it. 

“Fuck you,” you snap. “Taehyung doesn’t eat people. And he’s not a thing; he’s a person.” 

It’s so unlike you to be this aggressive, but something mean twists inside your stomach whenever you’re forced to interact with people like Robin, who use their prejudice to infect everyone around them. Vampires have been integrated into human society for decades with very few incidents, yet there are still humans like Robin who hold onto the horror stories of the past. 

Besides, Robin doesn’t even know Taehyung. You’ve brought him around your coworkers before as a plus-one to work events, but Robin doesn’t actually know him. She doesn’t know how kind he is, how he looks after you when even your friends rarely do, how he goes out of his way to prove that just because he’s a vampire doesn’t mean he’s a monster. 

The pounding of your heart is enough evidence that you aren’t used to this hostile behavior. You nearly knock over your chair when you stand, and your hands are too shaky to pick up your drink from where it sits on the table before you. 

Robin glares at you with eyes that pierce through your tough facade. Her cherry-red lips part to expose teeth more dangerous-looking than a vampire’s fangs, but whatever she has to say dies on her tongue. 

“Hey, love.” Taehyung’s fingers skirt your lower back, and the cold of his fingertips bleeds through your thin shirt. “You okay?” 

“Yup!” You give Taehyung a slight smile that doesn’t quite reach your eyes. “I was just telling Robin that I’m going home. Is that alright?” 

Taehyung hums in understanding, his fingers now pressing against your hip bone. The pressure is light, but it’s enough to force your body to turn slightly to face him rather than the table where Robin still sits. 

You naturally gravitate toward him regardless. When you first became friends and shortly before you decided to live together, you’d playfully accused Taehyung of using his vampiric charms on you. 

“I don’t need magic to make you fall in love with me, baby,” Taehyung had replied with a lopsided grin, no fangs in sight.  

Admittedly, you spent far too many of the following nights replaying that comment in your head. 

“Of course,” Taehyung slips his index finger through one of your belt loops and tugs on it absentmindedly, “I’ll leave with you; I’ve lost interest in listening to Seokjin’s passionate rambling. There’s only so much video game lore I can handle.” 

Robin mutters something snarky under her breath that you can’t hear, but your heart hurts because you know Taehyung can. You’re sure it’s his superhuman hearing that set him off to rescue you from Robin’s bitchy attitude, considering how your heart is beating at a worrying pace. This situation is yet another example of how kind Taehyung is. 

Robin doesn’t know shit.

Going home is a good call for more than just escaping Robin’s bitchy behavior. From the time it takes Taehyung to drive home, your lower stomach begins to hurt with such extreme stabbing pain that you can barely walk upright once you arrive. Taehyung has to wrap his arm around your shoulders and slowly guide you up the elevators and down the hall to your apartment's front door. Once he enters the passcode, he helps you inside and leads you into the kitchen. 

“You weren’t supposed to start for another week,” Taehyung comments off-handedly as he fetches you a glass of water. He speaks with the casualness of discussing the weather or your weekend plans. 

It makes your cheeks warm, and you stare at the water in your glass once he hands it to you. “How do you know that?” 

“I pay attention to you, love,” Taehyung murmurs. You should think it’s weird when he inhales deeply through his nose, but you only feel warm as goosebumps scatter across your skin. “I can also… smell it.” 

With a gentle grip on your waist, Taehyung draws you closer to where he leans against the kitchen counter. Once you’re standing directly before him, he slips his hand beneath your shirt to press his cold palm against your lower stomach. The gut-wrenching pain is still there, but in the mix of the pain, butterflies are swirling about, and the cool of his skin feels good against your too-hot body. 

Some of your friends have commented on how you act with Taehyung - or, more so, how Taehyung acts with you. He's touchy, and personal boundaries mean very little. For some, it would be off-putting how Taehyung initiates touch without asking, but you find it comforting. You don't mind; if anything, you're endeared by it. It means he's comfortable with you and knows you trust him.

Trust, you're quickly learning, is important for vampires in a world that distrusts them.

“I’m sorry. I’m sure that’s really gross.” 

“Gross?” Taehyung rubs his thumb along the sensitive skin of your stomach and watches you intently with his mossy green eyes. It should be unnerving, but you’re too captivated by Taehyung to think anything of it. 

“All my ex-boyfriends never even wanted to talk about periods, let alone…” You’re too shy to finish your sentence; repeating what Taehyung said seems too embarrassing. It’s embarrassing enough that you’re comparing your roommate to your ex-boyfriends. 

You let out a quiet sigh when Taehyung removes his hand from beneath your shirt. He takes your empty glass from your hands and places it on the kitchen counter. Letting Taehyung take care of you feels nice, especially when your period cramps make breathing difficult. 

“Humans are strange,” Taehyung murmurs as he gently turns you around by your shoulders to guide you to your bedroom. “There is nothing dirty or disgusting about blood. It is natural. A life source, in more ways than one.”

After changing into a new pair of underwear and comfy pajamas, you slip into your bed and patiently wait for Taehyung to finish getting ready for bed.

It isn’t unusual for you to spend time together at night, especially since you don’t have much time that overlaps due to Taehyung being nocturnal. He doesn’t sleep all day, but getting all covered up is a hassle just to brave the sunlight, so Taehyung prefers to spend his days inside. 

You get cuddled in your blankets with a heating pad pressed to your lower stomach. At the same time, Taehyung sets up his laptop on your bed before you, pulling up your favorite reality TV show because he knows you’re too sensitive to handle anything emotional. 

Taehyung is dressed in a loose white t-shirt and form-fitting grey sweatpants. It’s a deadly combination, and you hate that he can hear your heart flutter when he climbs into bed with you. You’re close enough that your shoulders press together, and Taehyung’s cool temperature seeps into your body, contrasting nicely with the heating pad resting on your stomach.

Sometimes, you wonder if Taehyung has figured out that he’s the reason you're a jittery mess. You wonder if he knows that your heart races around him, not because you’re afraid of him but because you’ve considered what it would feel like to let him sink his fangs into your flesh.

He probably has no idea, you think as you appraise him out of the corner of your eye. He's charming and naturally flirty. He probably thinks you're just matching his energy.

You're terrible at flirting anyway.

Clearing your throat, you adjust the blankets and try to focus on the TV show. However, it’s difficult to concentrate with Taehyung snuggled against your side. He’s being more affectionate than usual, likely because you get more sensitive when you’re on your period. You can’t complain. It feels nice to have his strong arm curled around your waist and his large hand resting against your hip. 

“Comfortable?” Taehyung turns his head to the side to speak against the curve of your ear. His cool breath against your skin makes you shiver. 

“Mhm,” you hum. “Are you?” 

“I’m with you, aren’t I?” 

“Shut up,” you hiss and give Taehyung a sharp slap to the leg that you know won’t hurt him. 

You slide further into the blankets to rest your head on Taehyung’s shoulder. There’s no reason for you to be whispering, but you do. Perhaps it’s the atmosphere, your bedroom dark except for a single bedside lamp casting a shallow yellow glow, and Taehyung’s laptop lighting up your bed sheets a pale blue. 

After a few minutes of silence between the two of you passes while the show plays through, Taehyung begins thrumming his fingers against your hip. 

“Were your exes truly mean to you about something so natural?”

“What?” You twist your torso slightly to look up at him. “Like, not wanting to talk about periods and stuff?” 

Taehyung nods. He’s no longer wearing his contacts, so you can see the lamp’s yellow light reflect in his deep red eyes, making them burn orange. Having known Taehyung for a year now, you’ve learned that the color of his eyes changes pretty regularly. You aren’t sure what the colors mean, though you’re pretty sure they have more to do with his mood than his hunger levels – contrary to what vampire films and novels might lead you to believe. 

“Well, yeah. Guys think periods are gross. A lot of people do, honestly. Because of blood, and also, y’know, misogyny and all that shit.” You shrug, having come to terms with these facts long ago. “Like, one time I told my ex about this article I read that said orgasms can temporarily relieve cramps, and he went on this whole rant about how period sex is disgusting. It made me feel like I was disgusting, honestly. But whatever.” 

Throughout your explanation, Taehyung’s face slowly contorts until he looks legitimately upset. It startles you because why should he care about any of this? 

Sweet Taehyung is too empathetic for his own good, you think. 

“Human men are pathetic,” Taehyung finally says with a snort. “Period sex sounds fun.” 

You struggle to swallow with how dry your mouth and throat have become. Why did you bring up sex while you sit halfway leaned against Taehyung’s chest in your bed, with the lights off, quite literally Netflix and chilling on a Friday night?

“W-well,” you start to stutter but quickly try to pull yourself together, “I wouldn’t know.” 

Taehyung hums and then falls silent again, so you assume the topic is dropped. That is until a few more minutes pass with Taehyung’s fingers playing with the hem of your t-shirt, and he eventually leans toward your ear again. 

“Would you like to find out?” 

This time, you turn around to face Taehyung. He keeps his head bent, which positions his face to be level with yours. You can smell the woody notes of his cologne that make you salivate. 

“What?” you squeak, but you hear him more clearly than you hear your own thoughts.  

“You still have cramps, don’t you?” You nod. “I could help you, love. You need not suffer.” 

Blood rushes to your ears, causing your heartbeat to throb inside your brain. The pounding has a ripple effect, creating beating waves that roll throughout your entire body. It's as though you've become a giant heart trembling and pulsing from the prospect of having sex with the man you've desired in secret for far too long.

Likely noticing your body falling into distress, Taehyung cups the side of your face with his free hand. Using his hold on you, he tilts your head slightly. His eyes bore into yours with such intensity that you don’t think it’s physically possible for you to look away. 

“Are you afraid of me?” 

"No," you respond without hesitation. You aren't.

Your response pleases Taehyung, and you're reminded of the importance of trust. When he smiles, you think his canines look slightly pointier than usual.  

"You know," Taehyung begins slowly, his gaze dropping from your eyes to your slightly parted lips. "Humans drown themselves in shame. I have never understood it. What is so reprehensible about pleasure, hm? Is it so wrong to seek it?"

"I don't know," you admit through a breathy exhale when Taehyung brushes the pad of his thumb across your bottom lip.

"Your ex made you feel ashamed, didn't he?"

You nod, rendered speechless from how Taehyung trails his fingers along your jaw and neck. Gently, he presses his index and middle fingers against the soft spot of your throat where your heart panics beneath your skin.

Taehyung wets his lips.

"I could make you feel good."

All it takes is a light tap of his fingers against your hip, and you're leaning into Taehyung's chest. His large hand slides from the side of your neck to the back of your head, pulling you into a bruising kiss. It's deep and demanding, sending your head spinning as you struggle to keep up with Taehyung's soft lips.

You moan when the tip of his tongue flicks against your mouth, coaxing you open for him to taste. You fall apart for him willingly, ready to bear your soul if he so much as whispers the request against your lips.

Taehyung could kiss you forever; he doesn't need to breathe. You have to force yourself to pull back to gasp for air when you begin to feel lightheaded, and you struggle to register that you've somehow ended up in Taehyung's lap. You straddle his firm thighs with your knees on either side of his hips and your fingers digging into his broad shoulders. It's embarrassing, the feeling of suddenly having no control over yourself, but Taehyung squeezes your hips when you try to get up.

"Will you let me?" His eyes are a deep red, nearly black, as he searches your face for your answer when you don't immediately respond.

Your entire body throbs with anticipation. Sleeping with Taehyung is everything you've forced yourself not to imagine - out of shame because what is more shameful than thirsting over your roommate who has no interest in you?

Except he does. You can feel his hard cock underneath you, and when you subtly scoot your ass against it, his fingers dig deeper into your hips.

"Please," you whisper. The word barely leaves your lips when you're suddenly tossed onto your back.

Taehyung's nimble fingers slip beneath your t-shirt and push it up, murmuring, "Lift your arms, love," and discarding it onto the floor in one sweep. Leaning forward, Taehyung kisses each of your now-exposed nipples, flicking his cool tongue over them until they're hard and wet.

You moan and instinctually arch your back, pushing your chest against his open mouth.

"Can't wait to taste you," Taehyung groans into your skin as he slips his hands into the elastic waistband of your pajama shorts. The fabric easily slides down your legs. Taehyung flings them onto the floor, where they melt into a pool of blood-red silk. "You smell delicious. Always do."

Understanding Taehyung's praises is difficult when he lights up your nerves with every kiss and harsh suck of your skin into his mouth. You don't feel anything sharp for now, but you want to. Again, it's shame that squanders the urge to admit your desires to Taehyung. All you can do is tangle your fingers in his pretty red hair and stare into his eyes as he sucks wet kisses down your stomach.

Your thighs are already slightly wet with your arousal and, unfortunately, blood. It's hot and sticky. You try to close your legs, but Taehyung keeps them propped open. To your horror, you watch him drag his hands up your inner thighs, smearing the little traces of arousal and blood that have rubbed off onto your skin. It leaves light pink streaks on his palms.

With dark eyes, Taehyung holds your gaze as he brings one hand to his mouth and licks up the entire length of his palm.

"Fuck," he lets out a shuddery moan, eyes fluttering closed. "Goddamn, love."

It shouldn't be hot, the feral look in Taehyung's eyes when he opens them again. It shouldn't be hot, the way his fangs naturally drop. He snaps his mouth shut, and you watch his throat bob as he swallows a few times. His fangs are gone the next time he opens his mouth.

"Sit on my face."

You nearly choke. "Excuse me?"

Reaching behind his head, Taehyung pulls his t-shirt off with one hand. Smooth, unblemished skin glows honey gold in the dim lighting. Possessed, you can't stop yourself from reaching out to run your hands down his chest. His abs tense and contract when you caress them. By the time you reach the waistband of his sweatpants, you've lost the little bit of courage you had.

"I want you to sit on my face." Taehyung's voice is thick and gravelly. There's a dangerous edge to it that you can't quite name.

"O-okay," you whimper.

A thrill pulses through your body when you remember what Taehyung is.

He's a person, not a monster. But he's dangerous all the same.

Taehyung lies on his back and holds his arms out, coaxing you forward. His large hands squeeze your thighs, just below your ass, to haul you further up until you're hovering right over his face.

"Are you su-"

"It is impossible for you to understand how painful it has been to wait for this moment." Taehyung holds eye contact with you as he slides his hands up to squeeze your ass cheeks and pull your pussy down onto his mouth.

"Oh my god," you moan, scrambling to grab the bedframe to steady yourself.

Taehyung licks a stripe from your entrance to your clit, lapping up the mouthwatering mixture of arousal and blood gushing from you with every pulse of your pussy. Using the tip of his tongue, he swirls your clit, flicking it repeatedly until he gets tired of that and sucks it into his mouth instead.

Your thighs quiver, and chants of Taehyung's name flow from your lips like honey as he tongues your entrance. His mouth is relentless, nipping, licking, and sucking your clit until you're trembling so severely that Taehyung has to prop his arms up to hold most of your weight. It only gets worse when he presses his tongue inside your pussy, fucking into you as he devours your sweet blood and juices with the moans of a starved man.

"T-Taehyung," you gasp, reaching down to dig your fingers into his hair. Your nails scrape against his scalp, and the rumble of his moans into your pussy is to die for. "I'm gonna come, oh my god, oh, pl-, ah, please d-don't-"

Your eyes, which had fallen shut as you focused on the feeling of Taehyung's mouth on your pussy, fly open when something sharp presses into the inside of your thigh. You look down to see Taehyung's fangs buried into your flesh, just at the crease of your inner thigh, where the skin is soft and supple. The pain quickly morphs into mind-numbing pleasure, so white hot that it feels like your brain is melting out of your ears when you finally come.

You slump forward with your face pressed against the wall and your hands weakly gripping the bed frame as your body convulses in Taehyung's hold.

"Tae, Tae, Taehyung, oh god." It hurts how deeply he bites into you, but the longer he clamps on, the more intoxicated you become by the venom all vampires carry in their bite.

It's distracting, the way you feel like you're floating. Your eyes flutter as you feel Taehyung pull you onto the bed on your back. He hovers over you, the bloodied face of a fallen angel closing in on you.

"I'm your first," Taehyung states the question, already knows the answer, but you nod your head to confirm. Taehyung is the first vampire to bite you. It's why the effects are so intense; your body has no built-up immunity.

He's smug as he leans forward to kiss you, shoving his tongue into your mouth to force you to taste yourself on him. It doesn't taste good, but you aren't thinking when you stick your tongue out to lick the blood and cum off his lips. You lick and suck his lips, cleaning them off just to let him dirty you up.

"Fuck, love, you're so fucking sexy," Taehyung growls once you release his bottom lip from between your teeth. "Mine. All mine. You're mine."

You give him a sleepy smile and loop your arms around his neck. "Yours."

Taehyung nuzzles his face into the crook of your neck and runs his tongue along the crease, swiping back and forth between wet kisses. 

"Gonna fuck you now, baby." He rakes his fangs down your neck, drawing blood in thin parallel lines. "Mark you, ruin you. Do you want that? Want me to make you feel good?"

Blood trickles down both sides of your neck to pool in your collarbones. Eventually, the pools overflow, sending rivers of red cascading down your chest, past your hardened nipples, and the hickeys Taehyung sucked into the skin of your abdomen. Between your legs, a giant black bruise spreads in your inner thigh, and blood trickles from the multiple puncture wounds there. 

“Please, fuck me, please,” you beg, eyes half-closed. Your head lolls to the side to watch Taehyung remove his sweatpants. Red splotches cover the grey fabric like a homemade tie-dye. 

“Look at you,” Taehyung’s voice is saccharine. He kneels in front of you on the bed and squeezes the thigh he bit into. With a yelp, your entire body jerks from the pain, though the haze of Taehyung’s venom makes the discomfort temporary. “So pretty.” 

Your blood drips from Taehyung’s fingers and follows the lines in his palms down to curve around his wrist. Something stirs inside your stomach as Taehyung smears your blood all over his cock, using it as a lubricant to jerk himself off. His skin turns slick and shiny red. 

With his free hand, he cups the back of your knee to hike your leg up, adjusting you into the perfect position for him to swirl the head of his cock in the blood on your thigh. Gathering more on the tip, Taehyung gives himself one last squeeze before positioning himself between your legs. 

He isn’t gentle when he enters you, sinking his cock into you in one bloody thrust. How his hip presses into the crease of your thigh hurts, applying pressure to your wounds that still bleed, but the pleasure of Taehyung’s thick cock pounding into you is enough to block out the pain. You’re so high, your soul barely attached to your body as Taehyung fucks you, each stroke fast and deep. His grip on you is supernaturally rough. Bruises immediately bloom across your skin, and his blunt nails dig crescent cuts into your skin. 

More blood. 

“Feel good, love?” Taehyung’s voice is on edge. He practically growls, and his words are slightly slurred from his fangs dropping down once again. This time, he doesn’t try to retract them. When he kisses you, you feel them press against your lips like cold daggers. One slices a small cut in the corner of your mouth, and blood collects in the creases of your lips until Taehyung sucks it all up. 

“Can’t, fuck, get enough.” Taehyung punctuates his sentiments with a snap of his hips. Pleasure rolls off of you in waves, dragging your mind deeper and deeper into a blank void. Taehyung is dizzying, so pretty with his bloody mouth and wild eyes. 

Your eyes flutter shut when you feel his lips press against your neck, leaving kisses far gentler than the way he fucks you. The coil building in your stomach is so hot and tight that you don’t even feel the pain of Taehyung biting your neck. You immediately come, your orgasm ripping through your body as Taehyung’s fangs rip through your flesh.  

Taehyung moans through his teeth as he comes inside of you, filling you up at the same time he empties you. 

“Taehyung,” you try to whisper, but your mouth hardly moves. 

He’s drinking too much. 

The realization hits you too late. There are bite marks all along your neck, the inside of your thighs, your tits, your wrists. Taehyung has his lips latched onto one of your bloody nipples, lapping up your skin. Your bed is flooded in red, soaked through the sheets and into the mattress.

“You’re mine, love.” Taehyung runs a bloody hand down your face, leaving streaks along your temple. “Fuck those bitches you work with. Those pieces of shit who think you couldn’t possibly love someone like me. They’re wrong, baby—all this shame. Humans drown in it, but not us. We won’t drown.” 

Red tears stream down Taehyung’s high cheekbones. You want to comfort him but realize in a panic that you can’t move. With wide eyes, you stare up at Taehyung in a silent plea. 

“Shhh, it’s okay, love. You have to let go. Let go for me, and then I’ll keep you safe. Forever, I’ll keep you safe.” Taehyung brings his wrist to his mouth. There’s a sickening crunch, and thick, black blood slides down Taehyung’s forearm like tar. 

His elegant fingers squeeze your jaw, forcing you to keep your mouth open as he presses his bleeding wrist to your lips. 

“Mine,” Taehyung repeats as he smears his black blood on your lips and lets it leak onto your tongue. “And I will be yours, just like you wanted. No one else's.” 

Leaning down, Taehyung digs his fangs into your throat one final time and drinks until your last breath dies in your lungs. 

Halloween 2023 Masterlist

all rights reserved © gimmethatagustd on tumblr & AO3

do not copy, repost, modify, or translate any of my work

[jennana501]

A Case for Rexsoka

I’ve been around the block when it comes to ships. I’ve seen people obsess over them, and I too have been driven mad by obsession. I was a hardcore original avatar fan and I was OBSESSED with shipping Toph and Sokka together. Any time they so much as made an interaction I over analyzed it and picked it apart looking for clues that somehow would prove that my hunches were correct. It was because I related with both characters, and I loved their chemistry. I wanted them to have a romantic relationship because it would feel like some sort of personal validation.

I’m an adult now and nothing has changed. But it has been a while since I’ve desperately shipped two characters together that are not obviously romantically involved with one another, or who could be romantic behind the scenes or beyond the story shown.

Until Rex and Ahsoka.

And I’ve seen people be adamantly against it. 

“No no no it’s just a brother/sister relationship.” 

“No it’s gross she is a child”.

And of course being disagreed with on the internet can drive a person crazy, and instead of individually arguing with dozens of people online, I’m making this post once and for all to explain why I think Rex and Ahsoka have romantic feelings for each other. Especially Rex.

The argument I’ve seen, that their deep passion, commitment, love, admiration, and respect for one another (which are all so obvious you’d have to be...silly to not see it) are felt in a platonic fashion. Which, for the first 6 seasons and 8 episodes, I would totally agree.

But then Ahsoka comes back. And let’s face it. She is a woman. Age wise, she’s around 17, but everything from the maturity of her Lekku (which weirdly don’t get all that longer, especially compared to other Tagrutan women) to her poise and confidence, to her prowess as a warrior, a user of the force, and her ability to command soldiers as well as control her emotions points to her being an adult woman. She’s no Snips anymore; she’s no child. She’s grown up. And how her peers react to her illustrates how they now view her as an adult.

First there is Obi-wan. Obi-wan has always been a mentor to her, a sort of second Master. Obi-wan never hesitated to guide and Ahsoka or offer his council. He is proud of her when she succeeds, and will admonish her when she makes mistakes. When she returns and he sees her as a woman, he changes the way he treats her. He acknowledges her maturity by addressing her as an equal. He doesn’t admonish her. Instead he discusses with her, challenging her ideas and letting her offer an argument for them instead of putting them down and telling her how she should think or act. He also comes to her in his time of need, trusting her to help him with Anakin.

Then there is Anakin. We all know of Anisoka shippers, and they are perfectly able to ship and enjoy said ship, but we can all acknowledge that it is a crack pairing with no basis in the canon. Anakin portrays the perfect kind of brotherly love. He is excited to see Ahsoka, and is stunned by her unexpected reappearance. Things are harder for Anakin because he is used to their fun banter and sibling-like companionship. He’s constantly shut down with her business like manner and he struggles with coming to terms with the fact that she isn’t a little kid sister anymore. She is an adult with a mission and a plan. When he looks at her, he is endearing. He loves her. Admires her. And he can’t wait to pick up where they left off. There’s joy and adoration in his face. He is proud of her and what she has become, but he also feels alienated and even hurt because of how her adulthood has changed their dynamic.

Then there is Rex. When he first sees her, he wants nothing more than to reassure her that she still belongs. The clones had accepted her into their family. As far as they were concerned, she was one of them. When he looks at her for the first time, he’s beaming with the same adoration as he had had for her before, but also with a solemn awe at what she has become and what she has grown into. He welcomes her back into his life without hesitation.

But then there is a moment things shift so drastically that I paused the show and re-watched it half a dozen times. We all know it and love it. This face he gives Ahsoka. The Look.

What we see here is something we have never, EVER seen in Rex for 7 whole seasons. And it is my opinion that this is the first time Rex has been able to feel and express that he is attracted to Ahsoka. In other words, Rex has a sexual awakening.

Up until this point, Rex has been a sexless character. Nothing he does is flirtatious, sexy, or at all suggestive that he has those feelings inside him at all. Every sexual being has a moment where they are first animalistically drawn to another being. Characters who have already had this moment are easy to pick out. Obi wan. Anakin. Ventress. These characters have already experienced their sexual awakening. Ahsoka has too. Lux was her first object of attraction.

But Rex has never had this moment. Until this reaction.

I know some of you might be thinking “but Ahsoka gives a very similar look to Anakin, does that mean she is sexually attracted to HIM?” It’s a very good point. Ahsoka and Anakin share some cheeky playful looks during “Old Friends Not Forgotten”. We see many characters give similar looks to other characters, but does this mean it means the same thing as when Rex does it? The short answer is no.

When animators design a character, they establish the “range of emotion” for that character. You can easily see this when you look back at how many times you see Rex break from his stoic, captain’s face. He rarely laughs, smiles, or emotes in any way. This is why when we see him emote it is exciting to us as an audience. A character like Ahsoka or Anakin commonly show a wide variety of expressions. Ahsoka is much more likely to give a cheeky look than Rex is. So “the look” for Rex, means a lot more when he is doing than it does when another character does it, say Fives or even Obi-Wan.

Which means the writers are trying to tell us something about this moment. 

This moment has changed Rex’s and Ahsoka’s relationship. 

Now does this mean that they are going to go bang each other immediately? Does this mean the second they are alone after “Victory and Death” they start an intense, sexual relationship? Of course not. That’s not what this ship is about at this time. But the reason many of us ship it is because suddenly they don’t feel like brother and sister anymore. It isn’t entirely platonic. And the show does a good job to further emphasize this as they come closer and closer both emotionally, and physically during the finale.

Blocking is a huge factor in visual storytelling. During the finale, Rex and Ahsoka are blocked in a way that makes them as close as physically possible on the screen. This communicates to the audience that they are closer now than they have ever been. As Jedi and Clone Trooper. As friends, and as companions, their bond forged in the fires of war, struggling to find meaning in life as soldiers.

In contrast, look how Ahsoka and Anakin are blocked in their scenes. There is nearly always a gap between them, illustrating that they are distanced from each other emotionally. Rex is even visually inserted into the gap between them in several instances. Anakin and Ahsoka are growing apart, but she and Rex are growing closer.

We get to experience Rex and Ahsoka engaging in actions and conversations that we had rarely seen before. From casual banter, to moments of intense intimacy, to emotional peaks, Rex and Ahsoka interact more in these four episodes than in the previous six seasons. Part of this is because their maturity gap has closed. Ahsoka is finally Rex’s equal in experience and maturity. It is also in part because it is a unique dynamic. No Obi-wan. No Anakin. Rex and Ahsoka are equal leaders of the 332nd. There’s also the fact that they are put into life threatening situations and have no one else but each other.

But there is that “look” that is given at the beginning of all this that suggests something else, that as their bond undoubtedly becomes strong as beskar, there is an element of it that takes their relationship from the platonic to the romantic.

I feel every detail, moment, and piece of dialogue in the finale tells the story of this bond. 

Many instances of their strong emotional bond have been spread throughout the internet, with most ready to acknowledge that they have a connection unlike any other, one that may even be described as a “force” connection. These last four episodes are so exciting because we see two friends reunited, but then we get to watch as their relationship transforms.

Even disregarding their implied attraction to each other physically, they dive into each other and hold on tight. Ahsoka shares deep personal worries with Rex, and Rex and her are shown opening up to each other in ways they have never opened up before.

We were all floored and dumbfounded at scenes such as these that show these characters at their most vulnerable. But they decide to be vulnerable together. Is it because they are all that is left of their 501st family? It part, this is definitely true. But by being this vulnerable they transform their relationship into something very different from what they had before. It will never be the same again, and it will be near impossible to back out of the emotional intimacy that these two have participated in. Once you have formed that kind of an attachment with someone, there is no going back, and as is seen in rebels, these two maintain that strong connection even after years of being apart.

This goes beyond their sexual desires or needs. They’ve forged a bond that cannot be broken. They have shared minds, shared pain and agony that only the other can understand. They’ve been isolated from the world, and all they have left is each other.

And at the end of the series, when we have Rex and Ahsoka broken, their world flip upside down and everything they ever valued or cared about lies in ruins before them, the idea that they still have each other is that beautiful seed of hope Star Wars is so good at preserving. Those of us who believe that their relationship could be romantic want good things for Rex and Ahsoka. We want them to have that love and share it with each other. Maybe only for a few moments, but having known it would be better than both of them living and dying without having that experience. 

When we see the two in Rebels, for me it confirms that these two love each other deeply. But their lives can never be lived in a normal fashion. They cannot even be together as partners in life. The Empire has stolen this from them. The tragedy of this ship is that it can never be the way we want it to be. Rex will age and die long before Ahsoka is even halfway through her own life. They cannot live with one another. They cannot wake each morning with each other, at least not at the point we see them in rebels. 

But they continue to love each other. Even over distance, even knowing that mortality will claim them with only a fraction of the memories that they deserve with one another. 

So please, the next time you see some art or a fic, or a post like this, think of what I had to say. Rexsoka is about two adults, their lives destroyed at the hands of Sidious, but in defiance they still forge a bond that he could never break or take from them. And that to me is beautiful and something to celebrate.

Side note: I spent a ton of time making gifs but they never would work and so I had to use screenshots instead :(

EDIT: At the request of the OG poster of a few gifs, I have replaced them have also made some grammatical changes.