#like if you can read Sam as romantically in love with Frodo you can read the Arrangement at Bag End as queer it’s not hard

[parkercore-69]

thank you J.R.R. Tolkien for writing the most devastating romantic subplot in your lotr books without even realising it

[rivendell-poet]

*･༓˚✧ ❝𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 '𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮' (𝐋𝐨𝐭𝐑)❞ ‧͙⁺˚༓˚✧ « scenarios »

○ Aragorn ○ Legolas ○ Frodo ○ Sam ○ Merry ○ Pippin ○ Boromir ○ Faramir ○ Éowyn ○ Éomer ○ Bard ○ Thranduil ○ Lindir ○ Haldir ○ Elladan ○ Elrohir ○

GN!Reader | Wordcount : 2.9k (each individual around 180~ words) | Read on ao3

TWS : Power imbalance touched on in Thranduil's scenario

This work is not chronological to the scenarios/these take place at different times

« 1, 13, 14, masterlist »

𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐧

✧ Aragorn believes in elvish love, so from the moment he confesses he knows that he loves you.

✧ He sees how much he does in everything, from the few dates you can steal in Rivendell, to the smiles you exchange while walking with the Fellowship.

✧ But he’s not sure when to say it, as he knows just how much of a milestone it is. And how much he wants it to mean to you.

✧ Keeps trying to get it in a specific place, a specific time. But every time he just enjoys your company, and never ends up saying it.

✧ You notice his love, however. So obvious in how he’ll stare at you, offer to help with something or simply spend time with you.

✧ Eventually, it happens only a few days before the Fellowship is to leave Rivendell.

✧ The two of you are stargazing together, and he just about hears a yawn you fail to stifle.

✧ Laughing, he moves closer to you and wraps you in his cloak - the two of you cuddling together.

✧ As you rest your head on his chest, and he looks up at the stars, he thinks about how perfect this is.

✧ Gently, he bends his head to be near yours before whispering. “I love you.”

✧ Feeling you look up, he simply smiles when your gaze becomes more questioning.

✧ When you say ‘I love you too’ you can immediately see his grin, and he gently places a kiss on your forehead.

𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐬

✧ When an elf confesses, the idea that they love you - utterly and completely - is an undertone that’s carried with it. It’s Legolas’ unspoken promise to you, as soon as he’d asked if you would court him.

✧ But actually saying it to you is another matter.

✧ He’s not scared, he’s just… a little scared. And a little intimidated. Because he doesn’t want to mess anything up, and he wants what he will give you to be perfect.

✧ So Legolas actually takes a long time to say those words, although you know how he feels about you for a while.

✧ Legolas also confesses just before you leave Rivendell, although his is more planned out.

✧ He spends almost two days beforehand looking over all of Rivendell, in sunlight and moonlight, trying to figure out what place is perfect for you.

✧ What place is worthy of you.

✧ Eventually, he decides on a shaded pavilion surrounded by trees, one that reminds him of Mirkwood. Except here flowers grow all around, and he can focus on being romantic with you.

✧ When he invites you to join him you suspect something, although the sight of your prince surrounded by flowers is still breathtaking.

✧ Waiting until you join him, he tries to hide his nervousness by rubbing his finger over the flowers he’s holding for you.

✧ And then you’re right in front of him.

✧ “I love you.”

𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐨

✧ Frodo first says he loves you when he confesses to you.

✧ (“(Y/n). I know we’ve been friends for a long time now, and I’m very grateful for that. But - I don’t just want to be your friend. I want to be more to you, I want you to be able to love me like I love you.”)

✧ But that doesn’t make his feelings any less genuine, his love for you any less sincere.

✧ When he says those words to you he means it just as much as anyone else, he’s just slightly more in tune with his emotions.

✧ Because he knows you well enough that, as much as he wants to make a grand romantic gesture out of these words, he simply wants to tell them to you more.

✧ (Besides, the sooner he says it for the first time the sooner he can say it again.)

𝐒𝐚𝐦

✧ He’s embarrassed about how he’s going to say it. Not because of you, of course - he knows he loves you wholeheartedly - but because he doesn’t want to mess anything up.

✧ So, to make sure he can properly confess to you, he practises.

✧ What he says changes slightly each time, there are too many good qualities to pick. And although some staples remain it often changes to encompass what the two of you had done together, like how beautifully you look when you smile, or how grateful he is that you’ll help him.

✧ When Sam finally has the perfect time to say what he wants, he realises he’s slightly at a loss for words.

✧ You can tell he wants to say something to you, the way his throat hitches and then he relaxes. Taking a deep breath.

✧ Noticing your eyes on him, Samwise decides that now is the time to speak.

✧ “I- I love you. More than I’ve ever done with anything, more than I do with the Shire, or the flowers out in the garden. Because, you’re the person who truly makes me happy. You’re the person who I can truly be myself with, you’re the person whose smile lights up my heart. The person who knows how to make me feel better, the one I can trust.”

✧ “And, for that. I really do love you.”

𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲

✧ Although he’s overt with his affections, Merry doesn’t immediately say these words to you. He wants to earn them. To prove to you that he is a good boyfriend, and then he’ll be fully worthy of your love.

✧ At least, that’s how he sees it. (And somehow doesn’t see that he two of you are completely enamoured with each other.)

✧ It’s a little after your third date, when the two of you are sitting together and laughing, that he realises he needs to say it.

✧ He waits until the two of you have stopped, with only smiles gracing your faces. But he can’t wait longer than that.

✧ “I love you!”

✧ The admission rings in the otherwise silence, and then he sees you smile. And he realises that he is worthy of all of this.

✧ Merry eagerly leans into the hug, burying himself in your arms before whispering it again, this time with a grin on his face. “I love you.”

𝐏𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧

✧ You actually say it first, while the two of you are walking in Rivendell together. You’re on a more secluded path, and as Pippin asks about your day - and listens - you can tell he truly is absorbed.

✧ There’s passion in his eyes as he listens to you, nodding and asking the right questions, and you realise this is the time to say it.

✧ As an elf you knew you loved Pippin when he confessed to you, and that you would always love Pippin, but you were never sure when you would say it.

✧ As you stare at him, Pippin realises something’s happening and he turns to you with a quizzical look.

✧ “I love you.”

✧ It’s only three words, but Pippin lights up as though you have promised him the world.

✧ “Really?” The grin he gives is incredible, “I love you too!”

𝐁𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐫

✧ When Boromir confesses to you he’s says almost exactly that, just not using these words.

✧ For him there is something almost sacred about them, a bond more powerful than anything else.

✧ He is also worried about saying these words, and again it’s because he doesn’t want anything to go wrong. He wants to continue being worthy to you.

✧ So, when he confesses how much he loves you, he decides to do it properly. Asking you the day before if you’d meet with him, going to the market and hand picking flowers.

✧ Coming to where he is, you can recognise when he first sees you. Freezing slightly as he looks you up and down, almost as if he can’t believe you’re here, before smiling and welcoming you.

✧ At first it’s just talking. There’s romantic undertones, of course, and then he swallows and you realise he’s going to say something important.

✧ “I… I love you.” He says it proudly, “For all of you. I love you so much, my heart.”

𝐅𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐫

✧ Also afraid of confessing his true feelings to you. Although not just because he wants it to be perfect, which he does, but because of more self-worth issues.

✧ That his times with you are some of the best he has, and he doesn’t want any of that to change. He still wants to be able to laugh with you in Gondor, to kiss your hand goodbye and see the smile you give him in return.

✧ He isn’t sure why his mind thinks telling you that would put you off, but it’s a large enough part that he’s slightly hesitant.

✧ As the two of you walk along one of the top segments of Minas Tirith, he turns briefly to look at you. At how perfect this moment is.

✧ And he realises he needs to ask.

✧ “Can I tell you something?” His voice is soft, almost as if he wishes you not to hear it, but you pick it up and give him permission.

✧ Fully turning to you, he takes your hands in his. “I love you.”

✧ The way your eyes light up, and you immediately say it back, washes away the doubts he has.

✧ The kiss you lean into, light but reassuring, helps as well. Just another small gesture of how deeply the two of you feel for each other, and one he will never tire of.

𝐄𝐨𝐰𝐲𝐧

✧ (Éowyn’s eyes drift to the Paths, the rest of your company waiting, before she takes a deep breath. “Then we shall both swear not to fall in battle. We shall both fight to protect who we love.”)

✧ She is another who says how she feels in all but those exact words. And neither of you get a chance to say those words to each other until you’re in the Houses of Healing.

✧ As much as she wants to say it the second you’re awake, she shows some restrain. Waiting to make sure that you’re mostly ok.

✧ The conversation flows decently, but both of you know what she wants to say.

✧ And then the conversation stops.

✧ “I love you!” She blurts it out, and then instantly looks embarrassed. But your grin reassures her, and the red on her cheeks go from blush of embarrassment to a blush of love.

✧ As to not aggravate either of your wounds, she instead holds your hand as tightly as you will allow.

𝐄𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫

✧ Éomer can think of quite a few times when he’s wanted to say those moments to you (and, in all honesty, he could have said them from the moment he confessed.)

✧ But instead he tries to wait, waiting for the perfect time. And then, as he’s sitting at home and watching the fire die down, he realises that there will be no perfect time with you. Because every time is magical, in its own way.

✧ So he resolves to only until he sees you again.

✧ But, as the fire turns to embers, Éomer realises that will be too long of a wait.

✧ It’s almost eleven at night when you hear a knock on your door, and you open it to see him outside, looking up at you.

✧ As soon you open the door he hug you, burying himself in your arms. “I love you. And I should have told you earlier, but I love you.”

𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐝

✧ Bard wants to try and take things slow in the relationship, to fully appreciate each day (and even each moment) that he gets with you.

✧ That doesn’t mean he hasn’t thought about how he’d say those words to you, or potentially how they would sound falling from your lips, but it isn’t something he wants to rush.

✧ It’s something he wants to happen organically, as a product of your relationship rather than a given day.

✧ But still, when he finally confesses, it almost just slips out.

✧ You’re just saying goodbye to each other, and you turn back briefly before you leave, as if waiting for him to say one final remark.

✧ “I’ll see you later, love you.”

✧ The words slip out of his mouth before he can stop them, and he can feel himself blushing once he realises what he’s said - once he sees you frozen in space.

✧ “Did you…” You come slightly closer, “Did you actually just say that?”

✧ Looking into your eyes, he sees his own love reflected back at him. “Yes, I did. And I do.”

𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐢𝐥

✧ For all the elves, the act of saying ‘I love you’ is the largest commitment they will say, in their entire life.

✧ Those words will become like oaths, have them bind themselves to you for all of time, and that can never be taken lightly.

✧ The gift of love is the most meaningful of all, at least to them.

✧ But for Thranduil the weight of those words means even more. It also offers you a kingdom, a new family, and (most importantly to him) he does not want to pressure you.

✧ While sitting together, you can sometimes so clearly tell that he wants to say this to you. The elf will catch you, either over a book or glowing in the sunlight, and he just begins to speak before switching the conversation.

✧ And you catch on to why he hasn’t said that.

✧ Then, it happens again, as the two of you are talking over the fire together and he does that now familiar start of a conversation.

✧ Looking him in the eye, you place your hand over his, “Tell me.”

✧ “Are you sure?”

✧ “Completely.”

✧ “I love you.”

𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐫

✧ Despite being a minstrel, his words seem to fail him when he looks at you and tries to confess.

✧ He can write something down, yes. An epic poem or a song that details how he feels about you - but it's never quite enough. There is always something missing from it, something that does not show his love for you properly.

✧ Lindir recognises that it’s because it lacks spontaneity, he’s tried to polish and perfect it to be worthy of you but lost the raw emotion that gives it so much meaning.

✧ Which is why, after he puts down the pen for the third time that evening and thinks, he realises he should just tell you.

✧ There’s a quiet knock on your door, and when you open the door you see Lindir - blushing profusely.

✧ “I love you. I love you more than anything, enough to give up this immortal life, to give up the moon and stars. Because, for me, you are worth more than their light, than their radiance. Even a single smile from you is worth a thousand suns, because you are you. And I love you.”

𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐫

✧ Surprisingly, Haldir says those words to you when he confesses to you.

✧ He’s worried, for many reasons, and one of those is the weight that those words carry. That they may be too much, too soon.

✧ But he resolves to try, and that - on the eve of battle - it wouldn’t be wise to have regrets.

✧ (“I must say something, before this happens.” He reaches out, fingers gently touching your hand and breathing in when you fully embrace it. “You are the one my heart has chosen to fall in love with. Forever. And I apologise for the awkward timing, for not saying something sooner, but I need you to know now. That I love you.”)

𝐄𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐧

✧ As good with words as the twin is, the idea of putting all his love for you into three simple words is terrifying.

✧ And, frankly, he doesn’t think it sums up how he feels for you well enough. How can three words encompass all the happiness you give him? All the smiles he has gained because of you? The comfort he has gained because of you? The infinite ways his life has become better?

✧ Then the two of you are together, when you let out a small yawn and he pulls you close.

✧ Cuddling into his chest, you stare up at him for a second, “Thank you, Elladan.��

✧ “Of course.” He doesn’t mean to add the next words on, “I love you.”

✧ Elladan feels when you tense for a second beneath him, then the smile on your face as you look up and whisper, “I love you too.”

✧ Until now, Elladan didn’t understand what those words meant. But now he does, and how much they carry. How obvious it is, when you say those words for him, that you care.

𝐄𝐥𝐫𝐨𝐡𝐢𝐫

✧ Surprisingly, Elrohir struggles to say the words as well. Not because he doesn’t love you - he’s more sure about his feelings to you than he is most things in his life - but because he isn’t sure what you’ll say.

✧ There’s a degree of elven versus human courting fighting inside him. That, although he’s been clear with the fact he loves you (even jokingly asking you to marry him) that perhaps you thought it was just that, a joke.

✧ That he hasn’t done any of this the correct way, and what if you don’t feel the same way.

✧ You find it slightly odd that, with long days into your relationship, and no words past your lovers lip - that neither of you acknowledge it.

✧ But, although you can’t be sure, you think you start to recognise the problem.

✧ So it’s you who says it to him. “I love you.”

✧ “Really?” Instantly all his attention is on you, cheeks slightly flushed and eyes hanging onto your every word, “Do you really love me?”

✧ “Yes.”

✧ “Meleth nîn, you are my world.”

A/N : Casually drops this after disappearing for three weeks. Well, not disappearing, just not working on these. Sorry for the delay, life's been happening. But I hope you enjoy! Also, here's the remains of my original author's note : (the taglist issue still has not been fixed, so I welcome help!)

First of all, for some reason my taglist isn't working. It's just only tagging the first five people soo... I will try my hardest to fix that. Not sure what's going on with it. Also, the getting flowers was inspired by a drabble recently (can't remember name of author) but the thing that amused me was when they wrote about the flowers matching your eye-colour. Like, my eyes are brown. I'm sure it's supposed to be romantic, and it was very well written, but that just made me laugh.

« first scenario, previous scenario, masterlist » thank you for reading *･༓˚✧ Taglist : @howling-medic / @celestialhole / @starwars2222 / @xiaoseminence / @withasideofmeg / @ferns-fics /  @fleurdemiel-145 / @chewgazellechew / @nilintakan / @stormchaser819 / @raikan624 / @wordbunch / @killermarionette / @bespectacledhuman ✧ wish to be tagged?

[crowleysgirl56]

Ok, so I wanted to do a deeper dive into this particular passage of Good Omens:

For context, this is at the climax of the book, they’re at Tadfield airbase, the horsemen have been dispensed with, Aziraphale has his body back, and Satan is about to claw his way out of the pit.

In most of the proceeding chapters involving Crowley it talks a lot about how scared Crowley is. He is very scared of Hell.

One could perhaps say maybe he is scared of them due to The Arrangement, but that is never explicitly stated. I think it has more to do with Hell is bad, and Crowley has spent the majority of the book being yelled at by some entity through the radio or TV telling him how he’s going to be in super amounts of trouble when they get their hands on him. He is just scared of what will happen. When he comes across the book shop burning he doesn’t cry for his lost friend. He curses Aziraphale, and I think it’s because the one person who may have been able to keep him safe and protected from Hell is now gone.

So when he thinks to himself (as shown in the above screen shot) that there is now nothing left for him to lose, this is why I never thought (upon reading the book the first time that is) there were any romantic feelings between him and Aziraphale. I know that technically he had already lost Aziraphale. But by this point he was back again, and back in his body. If there truly were romantic thoughts between them surely the idea of losing him again would come up.

I have read so much fanfiction, some old, some new, and what they all have in common is the detailed inner monologue of Crowley’s turmoil over his feelings for Aziraphale and how he doesn’t feel like he can act on them. In the book we get nothing of the sort, from either character. Even when they’re separated there is hardly ever any description of them thinking of the other except occasionally to frame a short reference to something. Reading the book I never got the impression that there was anything more than two ethereal beings spending time and proximity to each other and doing work for each other for no other reason than they’re essentially a bit lazy.

I think they’re only queer coded for the fact that there’s the line about Aziraphale appearing “gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitric oxide”, and Crowley is, well, very Freddie Mercury coded. Them being seen as gay together and all the gay slurs in the awful racist scenes of Aziraphale body hopping about in culturally indigenous people after the bookshop fire has more to do with the very typical 80’s/90’s trope of “being gay = comedy gold”, than them actually being together romantically.

I think the reason why they were shipped so much after the publication however is for the same reason we ship so many male couples (or female couple) in modern media, why we’ve always shipped them: because of the complete and horrid lack there of, of proper queer representation.

If you’ve ever seen the magnificent Russel T Davies TV series It’s a Sin, there is a wonderful scene where the character Ash starts a job in a school library and the headmaster asks him to go through all the books and find any book that has queer love scenes so they can be removed. Ash then gives a most beautiful and impassioned speech (albeit it turns out the speech is just in his head) of how there is nothing. Absolutely nothing. There is nothing to the point where they are nonexistent. They are invisible. They are not seen. (Or like, something to that effect. I tell you though, it’s bloody brilliant).

So I think that’s rather the point really. You have two iconic characters, albeit supporting bit characters practically, and I think a lot of our minds automatically get drawn to wanting to put them together because of the sheer lack of queer couples. People have been doing it for years from Frodo and Sam, to Harry Potter and Draco (or Ron I guess), to Sherlock and Watson (even before the Benedict Cumberbatch show. Also as an aside let’s not get into how obsessed people got about Sherlock Holmes back in the day when those books were first published. The obsession was the reason Doyle killed the character off the in first place, then after getting letters from people telling him they were literally going to kill themselves, the reasons why he resurrected him again. Don’t tell us that modern day nerds are weird and obsessive. We’ve ALWAYS been like this).

It’s for this reason why queer representation is so god damn important. Why I still support the idea of Good Omens season 3. Because regardless of how the characters were originally intending to be represented in the book, it’s very clear now that they are so much more than “Just friends”. And we NEED that! Whether you subscribe to the idea that they will be physically intimate with each other, the fact remains is they love each other. They love each other immensely. And that comes from years of Terry Pratchett (and the other guy) accepting that canon and telling fans that it’s true. Because Michael Sheen made a choice and held a belief about how he saw his character and then David Tennant followed suit. That literally tens of thousands of fanfiction writers have decided the same.

So that’s my take. I don’t think loving each other was ever intended that way in the book, but in the last 35 years their story has morphed into the ineffable husbands that we now know.

What are your thoughts? Have I rambled on long enough to make any sense? Do you agree? Have I missed something completely obvious and gotten it all wrong? Keen to hear thoughts.

[shirefantasies]

Congrats on 100 followers!!

What are some of your lotr headcanons?

Thank you so much 🥳 Ooooooh good question 👀 lessee *cracks knuckles* I’m going to do some regular one & some romantic ones, enjoy 😘

Some of my LoTR Headcanons!

*General*

✧ Aragorn may have worn Boromir’s bracers, but he also kept a drawing he found in his pocket. Turns out Faramir had drawn it one day when they were boys and his older brother held onto it until the end of his days.

✧ Legolas is so soft around little ones. He tries to act all like a wise guide but devolves into letting them climb him and carrying them up to rooftops for starlight stories. Doesn’t even care if they grab his hair or his ears, he’s still smiling so gently at them.

✧ Pippin is what would be called in modern days neurodivergent, more specifically with autism and ADHD. His parents and Merry were the most understanding ones, the ones who knew what he needed to hear and how he would process it best when others didn’t always understand.

✧ Legolas and Aragorn had the habit of singing together at fireside, quiet elvish songs, until one evening Gimli decided to put a stop to it with a dwarvish drinking song. In the end, the others find it so funny they learn it and join in, all three of them leaving their troubles for one night of song.

✧ Lord Elrond? Elrond of Rivendell??? Makes the best cup of tea in Middle Earth, fight me.

✧ Faramir teaches Pippin his favorite childhood game, probably something akin to chess, not really expecting the hobbit to enjoy it but Pippin ends up beating him out of sheer luck

✧ Frodo, Aragorn, and Legolas could have totally talked some shit in Elvish to each other and I firmly believe they did

✧ Arwen thinks of Lindir as a friend, but he’s so formal that in his mind such a lady could never see him so casually, leading to comical differences in the way they address each other

✧ Pippin wants a shit ton of kids some day. Sam is happy with around three, Merry wants a boy and a girl, Frodo isn’t sure he even wants children at all, but Pippin? He’s down for five to ten no problem, and he will be best friends with every single one.

✧ Eowyn teaches Faramir a bunch of horse riding tricks and he falls in love with riding as a sport, smiling as he takes in an act he only performed in war during a moment of pure joy and prosperity.

*Romance*

✧ Merry and Pippin are both such passionate kissers. OMG you will be breathless

✧ Elrond is the gentlest lover, handling his partner so carefully as if they were like gorgeous blown-glass in his hands and could break.

✧ Boromir is the type to grab his partner’s booty when they’re kissing in private

✧ Frodo’s ideal partner is not the smartest person or the most well-read, but someone with lighter spirits than his, someone who can never fail to bring a smile to his face and a laugh out of him.

✧ Faramir absolutely adores surprising you with flowers, so get ready to find them everywhere.

✧ Legolas is incredibly shy, inexperienced, and unsure with romance, so he prefers you to lead so that he can respond in kind, learning and studying with each touch, each act. He discovers his favorite thing is tracing a hand up and down your spine as you embrace.

✧ Gimli likes to act so rough and tough for someone who, in modern terms, would be called a massive simp, practically rolling out a red carpet for his partner and worshipping the ground they walk on, kissing them almost reverently unless the mood shifted deeper.

✧ Eomer is so good at giving massages, his partner will feel like royalty whenever he helps them relax

✧ He doesn’t look it, but Sam 100% would be the type to hold you up against a wall as he kisses you

✧ Aragorn enjoys being little spoon quite frequently. Fight me.

[velvet4510]

I ship every canonical Tolkien couple - except Aerin & Brodda, Aredhel & Eöl, and Tar-Míriel & Ar-Pharazôn. Those poor ladies deserved so much better than those pathetic a-holes. And of course, no Turambar and Níniel, NOOOOO. (Honestly anyone who does somehow ship them needs some serious help.)

I also kinda think Melian could’ve done better than Thingol.

These are the “non-canonical” Tolkien pairings that I ship, since nobody asked.

Frodo x Sam (it’s literally canon, period, forget the “non-canonical” category, it’s right there, it’s real)

Frodo x Sam x Rosie (Sam being shared during that year in Bag End; also all but spelled out)

Bilbo x Thorin (obviously; even in the book, it’s subtextual, but it’s THERE)

Fingon x Maedhros (Beren/Lúthien + Frodo/Sam parallels are no joke; yes yes i know i know they’re first cousins and that should be a dealbreaker, and for a while it was for me, but technically they’re HALF-cousins, they only share one grandparent, and it’s not like they can procreate together, so it’s very different from what it would be if one of them was female)

Túrin x Beleg (also, obviously; just read their scenes and you can tell - ALSO the fact that Túrin never mentions Beleg again after Glaurung’s attack … do y’all realize that Glaurung is canonically a memory-eraser … that dragon wiped his memories of the love of his life and the reason he was triggered into romantic feelings for Níniel was because he saw a blond person lying on the ground under a flash of lightning which was also the way he saw Beleg for the last time and his heart remembered that even though his mind didn’t!!!!!!)

Mablung x Nienor (he just did so much for her and never gave up on searching for her until he then had to live with the knowledge that she was dead and he failed her … she lost all her memories of him and married her brother … the idea that they fell in love in Doriath before all this makes for a practically perfect tragic love story. Best part is he knew and loved her for her real self, whereas Turambar and Brandir both fell in love with an amnesiac shell of herself.)

Finrod x Bëor (yes, Finrod loved Amarië too …BUT look at how Bëor gave up everything to spend the rest of his life with Finrod, and how Finrod lost Bëor to mortality but then laid down his life for Bëor’s descendant; the angst is just too juicy to ignore)

Maglor x Daeron (two nasty but guilt-ridden minstrels who deserve each other, perfect)

I do not ship Merry and Pippin at all; not only are they full blooded first cousins, but since Merry is an only child and Pippin only has sisters, they very clearly fill that “brother” role in each other’s lives.

After a lot of thought, I’ve decided that queerplatonic Legolas & Gimli makes the most sense to me. They also fill the “brother” role in each other’s lives since they both have no blood siblings. I understand why many people do ship them romantically/sexually, but the thought of anything sexual between them just doesn’t feel right to me, personally. Even the thought of kisses just doesn’t seem to fit them, IMO; they’re about mutual respect and sharing quality time, rather than anything physical. To me they exemplify “heterosexual life partners” perfectly. It is important in this shipping-obsessed culture to never undermine platonic friendship.

[myfairkatiecat]

I think you're misunderstanding my point a bit, the problem is not "accidentally agreeing with someone when they also disagree with you on other points". I agree that worrying about that is silly. However both my hypothetical post and the actual post, in my opinion, have the problem of presenting a false dichotomy which is indicative of bias. "We need more single mothers in media" is a point which is completely unrelated to the much stupider point of "there are TOO MANY women with jobs in media", and the fact of the matter is that being bothered by seeing women in media who have jobs is, not inherently sexist, but certainly something you would expect more from a misogynist than a non misogynist.

Similarly the original post pairs a point that many agree with - "more fandoms/media should portray close brotherly friendships" - with an unrelated (and in my opinion, very entitled) complaint about fandoms being too gay, as if it's not possible for both gay relationships and brotherly ones to both be respected and given validity without choosing one as the correct or more valid interpretation. Or as if, as the person who responded to that post was alleging, the post was trying to imply that interpreting characters as gay is inherently worse than interpreting them as brotherly. Given that that's a very bold claim, I think supporting that claim with "btw this same person has said this on the topic of gay people irl" is quite normal?

The reason context matters is not because valid points become gross and wrong when said by the wrong person, but because valid sentiments can be used to mask other, less valid sentiments. If you agree with both points, that's one thing, but if you think complaining that fandom is just too gay is indicative of homophobia, "the person who said that has also publicly stated that they don't support the LGBT community" is relevant information in that discussion. And I frankly think that "actually, my friend thinking that fandom is too gay is completely unrelated to that same friend thinking being gay irl is sinful" is a very strange claim that I struggle to believe, in the same way I would not believe it if someone said "the fact that I get mad when I see women on TV with jobs is completely unrelated to me thinking women shouldn't have jobs because then I could sleep with them more easily".

Ok so this is the post in question by @gracefulchristiangirl:

why aren't guys allowed to have strong brotherly friendships anymore without being queer headcannoned anymore. like- not all strong relationships are because of romantic or sexual desire??? some people have life-long friendships with other guys who are literally their brothers???

Reading comprehension check: “NOT ALL strong relationships are because of romantic or sexual desire.” This post is a response to the frequent sexualization of male friendship, which feeds a culture of toxic masculinity. If showing affection is consistently interpreted as inherently gay (like posting a gif of Sam and Frodo with the caption “there is NO heterosexual explanation for this” which does happen quite frequently) then straight men are going to be discouraged from being affectionate with their friends because, understandably, they don’t want people unanimously agreeing that they must therefore be a sexuality that they aren’t.

This post is about people erasing the possibility of friendship between two men when they see a certain type of behavior, usually expressions of care or love. This isn’t a response to “I think it would be cool if Merlin and Arthur were gay so I’m going to write a fic where they’re gay,” it’s a response to “look at the way Merlin is looking at Arthur in this scene with so much love in his eyes. Look at the way he holds him tenderly ad he dies. They’re literally so gay, like wdym they aren’t lovers??” One such statement owns that it is something made up by the person with the headcanon, while the other statement makes affection between two men seem inherently romantic! I used the merlin fandom as an example because I have seen that second statement made, almost word for word, and it’s sentiments like those that make me glad for posts like the one we are discussing.

The post is not about gay people. The post is about viewing close male friendships as inherently romantic or sexual in fandom spaces, which is unfortunately very common.

This post is also not about fandom spaces being “too gay,” as you said in your ask. *wags finger like an aunt* mm-mm-mm, that’s not what OP said! She didn’t say fandom spaces were too gay!

[edges-of-night]

Oohh yay I'm glad you're back! I love your hcs sm. I do have a request if you have the time & if you like it: how the hobbits would try to impress their bookworm s/o?

I hope that life is treating you well :)

Thank you very much, anon! I hope you're doing good as well. I am still busy but had a lot of fun writing this scenario and hope you'll enjoy it!

Have a good start into the new week everybody!

･ﾟ✧ Frodo.

Since Frodo himself is a bookworm, the two of you have probably bonded about your favourite stories early on. No matter if your tastes might differ or are almost the same – there is always something bookish to talk about with Frodo. The two of you like to read outside together, be in Bag End’s garden or under Frodo’s favourite tree. Since he is not one to boast or out to impress others, his gesture toward you would be more subtle: Perhaps you spoke to him about an old Elvish book once, and about two months later he would surprise you with just that book – probably from Rivendell, with artful binding in your favourite colours, just for you ♡

.

･ﾟ✧ Merry.

Merry isn’t really one for novels, but he does deep dives into history books from time to time. He has a few of those lying here and there in his place. His gesture toward you would probably be the most spectacular out of the four Hobbits: For a few days, he would make a huge deal of you not coming over to his place, only to finally throw a surprise party for you and reveal that he’s been building a gigantic bookshelf for you! (As well as a wooden stool for himself to reach the highest shelf, in the same fine walnut wood.) From the floor to his (admittedly not that high) ceiling, there is now enough room to have a second library right next to Merry’s favourite armchairs, for long nights of reading and philosophising.

.

･ﾟ✧ Pippin.

Before he got to know you, Pippin stayed away from “those stuffy tomes” like Orcs from sunlight. Reading never really interested him much. All of that changes when he gets to know you – he is struck by how many books you devour in seemingly no time. To impress you, he would start making his way through books as best as he can, just to tell you how many pages he read that day with a proud smile. Perhaps he’d one day carefully ask you if you had any recommendations for him, since the dry classics are a real pain for him to get through. Pippin would probably have fun reading books others would deem scandalous!

.

･ﾟ✧ Sam.

Being the huge romantic he is, Sam immediately falls in love with your reading hobby. He’d always check if anyone had new books or something you haven’t already read to make sure there wer always new worlds for you to dive into. If you were feeling down one day, he’d read you passages from your favourite book to cheer you up – or make up poems for you on the spot. To impress you, he would try and write his own book! It would be a collection of poetry or short stories, written into a book he has learned to bind by himself. Is all that a lot in addition to his usual gardening duties, resulting in long evenings or even entirely sleepless nights? Yes – but Sam loves doing all of it for you ♡

[just-queue]

Final thoughts on Five x Lila situation

I get it. But I don’t want it.

I get it because of the following:

- Five deserved a piece of happiness after his long sad lonely life

- Five also acted totally in character the whole time. He retired and found connection with someone. Of course he didn’t want to leave. But also of course he eventually revealed he found a way home, because he knows it’s right.

- Lila was struggling with suburban life, and allowed herself to fall into this fantasy of living off the grid with someone who treasures her. The SECOND home was found, the fantasy broke and she didn’t run from it.

- Lila didn’t “trade suburban housewife with being a cottagecore wife”. Her life with Diego involved a pessimistic husband, organizing loud children’s birthday parties at arcades, living with family, balancing children schedules, etc. The time in the greenhouse involved survival, which is more “adventurous” than suburban life. It’s also paradoxically more peaceful.

- The mental vs physical age thing and age gap isn’t a big deal in canon for these characters based off their previous work fucking with time

- I did love seeing two hard-ass stressed badass characters be soft for one another.

- After six years, the growing hopelessness and realization they may never go back home, you’re going to intimately connect to each other in ways no one will ever be able to match, regardless of your past experiences with them. This is a very common troupe in fiction.

- Technically it was cheating, but I think the post-apocalyptic space-time forced proximity desperation is a very valid excuse and shouldn’t be seen as cheating, ESPECIALLY when she went back home the second she knew she could.

- Aidan as an adult gave consent to the scenes. We need to realize he isn’t a kid anymore, he can decide what he wants to do and we should respect it.

I don’t want because of the following

- I still feel icky that Lila knew Five with a child body, and now has romantic feelings for him? THATS the taboo troupe I personally can’t get behind. Age difference? Weird but fine. Knowing them as a child? Nope. But I also get this is a personal preference/feeling/reaction with the fiction I consume. And I know I said before their previous professions shows they know different mind/body age, but that doesn’t change the fact he had a child body when they met and she watched him grow up.

- It also feels icky the importance the writers put on Five having a romantic subplot RIGHT when Aidan was of age. Especially cause Five / Aidan are so sexualized. It’s not necessarily WRONG, I just feel icky about it.

- It was shortened because the season was short, so it didn’t land as well as it could.

Here’s the main reason I didn’t want it.

IT DIDNT NEED TO BE ROMANTIC LOVE.

I am aroace. I understand that deep intimate connections can be made without romance. Similar to how everyone says Frodo and Sam were gay lovers when in reality strong platonic bonds can reach that level of devotion and intimacy. Not every character needs a romantic partner, and Five never displayed any romantic or sexual affection for ANYONE until this.

(Before you say anything, YES he did have Delores, but that was also just a need for connection when alone for decades. That doesn’t change the fact she’s not a real person, and he would very unlikely be attracted to her without the traumatic apocalypse world.)

ROMANCE. ISNT. NEEDED. FOR. DEEP. CONNECTIONS. we could have had two platonic soulmates living a happy life together, with kisses on the top of their heads, sitting shoulder to shoulder reading books, holding hands while looking for scrape metal. BUT NO. IT HAD TO BE ROMANTIC. UGH.

Like the stuff post-subway could have been similar still without a dumb love triangle. Five could have been Lila’s person, like Meredith and Christina in Greys Anatomy. And when Five sees Diego and knows Lila’s feelings about their marriage and such, he would go into protective mode.

I will admit I’m bitter about media putting romance on a pedestal. And I’m also not saying Five should be canonically aromantic and/or asexual. I just feel the weird parts of the situation would have been “fixed” if it wasn’t romantic, just a true platonic bond.

[wordbunch]

Their love song (Taylor Swift edition) > Lord of the Rings characters

a/n: welcome to my little self-indulgent celebration of 700 followers! 🥳 EVEN IF you're not a fan/don't know the songs, I hope you can still like and support this fic - a lot of time and love went into it! and by all means come talk to me about it or suggest your own songs! love you all so much and thank you for reading my stories and being a WONDERFUL community 💕💕💕

ARAGORN ♡ cowboy like me

His old wandering lifestyle made it pretty hard to be committed to a person in one place, but he made it happen as soon as it was possible, and he would have done anything in the world to give you safety, protection and all the love that you deserve. And he plans on giving it to you forever, no matter the trials and tribulations that might appear on the way.

GIMLI ♡ love story

This dwarf is a proper gentleman, a confirmed charming sweet-talker and most definitely a deeply romantic soul in a very classical way. He is very respectful towards you, and respects some traditions as well, so he wanted to ensure everything was in order before asking you to be his forever.

LEGOLAS ♡ snow on the beach

Isn't he so unusual, kind of ethereal, and positively vibrant? You never met anyone like him, with all his interesting quirks and his abundance of joy and lust for life. It is impossible not to share his fascination with nature, and you cannot help but smile just a little brighter whenever you are around him.

BOROMIR ♡ willow

This is an absolute Boromir song to me - he likes to be outright, take charge, but maybe sometimes he is just a little bit too flattering (don't blame him, he just needs to express his feelings for you approximately 26 hours a day). With him every day feels like an enchanted love story, and you feel safe with him, and both of you take pride in being together. trophy couple

FARAMIR ♡ starlight

This wonderful man is absolutely a dreamer and an imaginative person, who likes to share his thoughts and wishes with you, and finds it absolutely delightful if you agree with some of them. Everything he promises to you, he most certainly delivers. Also, he has so much love to give, and would be a very big fan of the idea of starting a family with you and just being the best supportive parents ever.

ÉOMER ♡ enchanted

Horse boy's jaw DROPPED the first time that he saw you and he forgot about everything and everyone else in that moment. He just knew he needed to approach you and get to know you as soon as possible, because he was convinced you were either already happily taken, or you would be very soon, and he couldn't live with himself if he just sat aside and let it happen.

ÉOWYN ♡ dancing with our hands tied

Her thoughts and past struggles sometimes still come back to haunt her, and the fear of being trapped resurfaces, but you're there to reassure her that you'll stay, no matter how hard things get. Even if it's the two of you against the whole world, you wouldn't rather be anyone else but by her side, hand in hand.

SAM ♡ fearless

This is such a lovely sunny song, and it instantly made me think of the best gardener boy!! He might be apprehensive about taking some risks sometimes, but you make him feel brave and strong with just one look, and the fact that you believe in him makes him more confident. On the other hand, he makes you feel like absolute royalty and he loves to spoil you and treat you so right.

FRODO ♡ jump then fall

The sweet little song that this is!!! The two of you are each other's safe place and comforting presence, no matter the rude neighbors' comments, the evils of the world, or the occasional nightmares. It's a relationship that comes from a strong friendship first, and it shows in the way that you just silently understand each other and aren't afraid to just be yourselves.

MERRY ♡ glitch

Absolutely nothing romantic was ever supposed to happen between the two of you - you just liked to get up to no good together, sometimes! But somewhere amid setting off fireworks, pulling a couple of pranks on your mutual friends and getting a little tipsy in the Green Dragon on the weekends... something just clicked, and there's no going back.

PIPPIN ♡ our song

It's a cute and a bit chaotic song, so it's perfect! He might be a little childish still (and fairly young, gotta give him that), but that doesn't make your relationship any less valid. It's full of cute little moments and small acts of love that are greatly appreciated by both of you. He loves to surprise you with small gifts and surprise visits, and absolutely makes up silly little songs to make you smile.

ARWEN ♡ delicate

She was always so kind and sweet that it was hard for you to be certain what kind of feelings she harbored for you, but you were falling in love the more time you spent together. Although she liked you back romantically the whole time, you were the first one to mention something about it, though apprehensive, and she was delighted to find out about, and return your love.

✨ taglist my beloved ✨ ​​​​​​ @starlady66​​​​​​ @queenmeriadoc​​ @entishramblings​​​​​​ @thesolarangel​​​​​​ @silversword7000​​​​​​ @friendofthefellowshipsnerdblog ​​​​​​ @averys-place ​​​​​​ @valkyriepirate ​​​​​​ @emmaarenstarr ​​​​​​ @noldorinpainter ​​​​​​ @asianbutnotjapanese ​​​​​​ @adamgetawaydriver ​​​​​​ @fenharel-enaste ​​​​​​ @ironmandeficiency ​​​​​​      @starryeyedrogue ​​ @dinofromspac3 ​​  @wisheduponastar ​ @lady-of-imladris ​ @frodo-cinnamonroll ​ @unethicallypleistocene @deadlymistletoe @suncran @high-sea-husbands @asianbutnoteastasian @aidansloth @sweetpea-thoughts

[glorf1ndel]

For the AMA, how did you discover your tolkien OTPs? And what do you like most about them/their relationship dynamics? ☺️ 💖

I love this question. :’) Let’s go!!

Aragorn/ Éowyn: This was my first Tolkien OTP! I loved Aragorn and Éowyn in the books and movies. They are both such badass characters that I wanted them to be each other’s love. ���� Which did not mean I disliked Arwen or Faramir; on the contrary, I also thought they were cool, and I was satisfied with how the love stories played out. But still… Arawyn. 💚

Aragorn/ Arwen: Can you tell I just love Aragorn ships? Ha. Anyway, Arwen got a more dramatic role in the movies than the books, and the chemistry between Liv Tyler and Viggo Mortensen was a winner for me. I see their story as deeply romantic, and I love that Arwen chooses to be with Aragorn against all odds – and he, too, is devoted to her. Which brings me to…

Beren/ Lúthien: Is there anything more romantic than Tolkien making his wife Edith – I mean, Lúthien – the heroine of an epic story? And writing himself as Beren, Lúthien’s true love who supports her in all things? I go wild for this! 🤣Reading the Beren and Lúthien book is also such a soothing experience for me; it’s a lovely blend of fairy tale and high fantasy.

Glorfindel/ Erestor: This one is thanks to the fandom. I didn’t even remember Erestor exists for a while, though I couldn’t forget about sweet Glorfindel. It is such a testament to the power of fan creators that they were able to take two minor Lord of the Rings characters and absolutely run with the idea of making them a couple. Their dynamic can be angsty, sweet, tragic, or comic, and it’s all up to fans. Creativity at its finest.

Those are the OTPs! But there are many other ships I love: Sam/ Frodo, Eärendil/ Elwing, Eönwë/ Finarfin, Celebrimbor/ Annatar, Sauron/ Melkor, Nerdanel/ Nienna, and the list goes on.

[mynameisaury]

PLEASE SAMFRO LOVERS READ THIS!

I continue reading posts on tumblr where people gets angry because practically the majority of the LOTR fandom sees Samfro as a ship romantically.

I just wanted to say that of course everybody has the right to look at their relationship how they want, like in all things everybody can express their opinion. But I believe Tolkien didn’t mean to show them neither as a romantic couple nor as just friends.

Samfro really represents a kind of relationship that, unfortunately, in our world doesn’t exist between two people who aren’t related: who starts off their relationship as strangers.

It’s a type of love which is more powerful than any love between two lovers or two friends. It is really a love which doesn’t end, which comes from a feeling of belonging to somebody. It is a love that can overcome even the most powerful force of the world (the Ring). What really destroys the power of the Ring in the end? The love between Frodo and Sam.

And that’s because I don’t like to say they are JUST friends/ JUST lovers, because they represent something more powerful. Something that I don’t know how to call because it doesn’t exist in our world.

Let me know if you agree🥰

[toonfinatic]

Sanctuary was written to be about Sora and Riku's relationship?????!?!?!!!?

Listening to a 6 hour long video essay about Riku Kingdom Hearts

[rivendell-poet]

*･༓˚✧❝𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (𝐋𝐨𝐭𝐑)❞‧͙⁺˚༓˚✧ « scenarios »

○ Aragorn ○ Legolas ○ Frodo ○ Sam ○ Merry ○ Pippin ○ Boromir ○ Faramir ○ Éowyn ○ Éomer ○ Bard ○ Thranduil ○ Tauriel ○ Lindir ○ Haldir ○ Elladan ○ Elrohir ○

GN!Reader | Wordcount : 3.7k (each individual around 220~ words) | Read on Ao3

TWS : Bard is worried about dating because it might be stressful for the children, references to his dead wife // Worries of power imbalance (Thranduil)

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𝐀𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐫𝐧

✧ At first he isn’t sure what to do - Aragorn is a little like the elves in that he has never, truly, fallen in love with someone before.

✧ He tries to think back to his first crush - Arwen - but it already feels wrong to compare what he has with you to what he had with her.

✧ Aragorn tries not to act too differently around you, he can still show you his home and look after you just as well as when you were friends.

✧ He doesn’t even realise the little gestures he begins to do until after he’s done them, like showing you the rose garden before every other garden in Rivendell.

✧ He’s slightly more protective of you as well - it isn’t like you’ve suddenly become glass, but he’s spent his entire life being taught it’s his duty to protect the things he loves.

✧ Aragorn also, when tongue-tied or more tired, begins to fall back in more formal tongues - almost talking to you as he would to a steward, simply because the important people in his life have been addressed that way.

✧ (He considers asking his brothers - but doesn’t trust Elrohir quite enough in terms of his feelings staying quiet. He’d also not like to be teased for the entirety of his visit).

✧ A small part of him is annoyed it’s happened now, with the Council of the Ring about to head out and not having as much time to spend with you.

𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐬

✧ Legolas has the odd experience of knowing what love is, he’s seen his mother and father - and been around in Middle Earth long enough, yet never having any experience with love.

✧ Especially with human love, and if it differs from elven. And also different social queues, the humans he interacts with are generally rangers who spend their entire lives travelling, not rangers of Gondor.

✧ In short, Legolas is a little overwhelmed and very nervous. He knows he shouldn’t be intimidated by the prospect of love, but he doesn’t want to do anything wrong.

✧ He still spends just as much time with you as before, although now it’s even more sparring/archery practice and less talking.

✧ (He knows he won’t mess up archery, but he’s scared of his tongue failing him).

✧ Eventually, he asks both Aragorn and Arwen separately for their advice for him - and what exactly he should do about his love for you. (Is very dedicated to this, nodding and sometimes writing advice down on a fragment of parchment.)

✧ Resolves that he needs to talk to you about it, but keeps not doing so by a mixture of deliberately putting it off and being distracted by you while spending time with you.

𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐨

✧ At first, Frodo is determined to treat you no differently from anyone else - while still being fascinated with you (although that is because of your nature, not a little because of his feelings).

✧ He begins to spend more time with you, trying to seek you out when he has things he should be doing, and when he has no obligations.

✧ Frodo tries to tell himself that it’s because you remind him of Bilbo’s stories, that you give him that feeling of adventure and wonder - but in reality it’s because you make him feel like he’s in romantic novels he’d read on a summer day.

✧ Some of his crush is obvious, his eyes shine a little too much when he sees you and his smile is always wider when he’s with you, but he always treats you with courtesy.

✧ Most of the time, Frodo treats you like you’re an esteemed guest - making sure you have the best food, holding the doors open for you, and hanging onto your every word.

✧ Still, he’s determined to at least be friends with you before he starts anything official, and that means being on his best behaviour.

✧ Eventually, he realises that he truly does want to court you, and begins to prepare only the very best.

𝐒𝐚𝐦

✧ Even when Sam realises he likes you, he’s still resolved not to do anything different. To not bother you; to continue to admire you from afar.

✧ And then only days later you and him are dancing together, smiling together, laughing together.

✧ It goes from zero to one hundred very quickly for Sam, so much so he doesn’t really have time to process it at the start.

✧ Once the two of you have an informal but established meeting schedule, he allows himself to actually think about what him liking you means - and how this affects your friendship.

✧ He realises that a lot of what he’s done with you is already quite romantic, not quite courting but wanting to be, and resolves to dial it back.

✧ But when he tries, the two of you don’t seem to smile as much - and he’s not being authentic to himself - so he decides to go back to how he was.

✧ Sam is very aware of how much he likes you, and how he subtly expresses it, but he’s much too afraid to act on these thoughts.

𝐌𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐲

✧ Merry has been in love before, a few times, but never anything like this. Never with anyone like you.

✧ But he also isn’t one to shy away from his feelings, so he approaches you quickly - tries to be charming, to make sure you like him.

✧ As soon as he’s interacted with you he’s even more hooked, and he eagerly sets up more meetings for the two of you - so he can see you again.

✧ When you two part ways he spends the rest of the day trying to work out how to tour the Shire, what jokes he should make and when.

✧ How can he make this experience the most enjoyable for you?

✧ Realising he likes you, Merry truly does go all in to try and show he cares about you - although he also tries not to be overbearing and gives you the space you need.

✧ He’s also not afraid of his feelings, and doesn’t take any particular care to hide them. He only waits to confess so it can happen at an appropriately romantic moment.

𝐏𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧

✧ Pippin is, in a way, infatuated with you. Except his love doesn’t go away, it just changes slightly, it matures.

✧ At the start he would blush around you like an idiot, gazing at you like you were the best thing he’d ever seen - even admiring your beauty in the middle of training sessions.

✧ He is embarrassed by his actions, but that only makes the blush worse, and he doesn’t even realise he’s doing a lot of the traits. By the time he does he snaps out of them, however.

✧ Once the crush matures into actually liking you - not just his first impressions, but everything - it becomes a lot more manageable.

✧ Yes, he still stares but it’s more subtle. His gaze is softer, and filled with admiration rather than a completely awestruck and dopy grin.

✧ Now he’s more focused on spending time with you and actually interacting with you, taking time to go and see you.

✧ Although he still eagerly runs up to you, looking up with a smile, it’s so much more genuine and you feel it doesn’t put you on a pedestal. When he looks at you with love, it’s actual love for you.

✧ You are aware of his crush from the start, although all of his little actions to try and be better and show his adoration from you appropriately are completely adorable.

𝐁𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐫

✧ The thing Boromir most dislikes about his realisation is that it’s on a time-limit. As a ranger of Ithilien, you will leave again for your post in only three weeks.

✧ He wishes that he’d realised as you were heading out, so that he could have planned something elaborate and worthy of you in the time you had been away.

✧ And then he remembers how long you were away for, and that he would have hated the hopeless pinning even more. That, left to his own devices with far too much time, he probably would have requisitioned the entire store of fireworks in Gondor for a confession (or a similar far too elaborate plot).

✧ When he greets you again he tries not to behave differently, and is still more grateful in your general meeting with him - even as a friend - than he is to be near you while in love with you.

✧ Knowing him well enough you can tell there is something different with Boromir, but nothing too concerning - simply a few extra glances in your direction, blush that’s almost too faint for you to bring up.

✧ Most of your first night back, after you’d finished drinking together and retired to your respective chambers, he spends thinking of what to do. Awake in his room, fingers tapping at his side as sleep cannot enter his mind while you are in it.

✧ Eventually, after thinking of a few suitable things, he asks his brother - aware he has known you for longer, and is the more romantic of the two.

✧ He isn’t ashamed or embarrassed about asking for help, and the only reason he doesn’t want you to know is he wants to court you properly.

𝐅𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐫

✧ Technically, the first thing he does is talk to you in a tavern and kiss you - then spend the rest of the night thinking about you after he pulls away.

✧ The first thing he does when he’s sober is realise what he’s done, and resolve to find you.

✧ His love for you isn’t the first thing on his mind when he tries to find you, it’s his sense of duty, but a part of his heart is beating constantly. Reminding him of just what he felt (and the other reasons he wants to know you).

✧ After his first conversation, the small part of his heart that beats for you grows to a large part - ensuring he’s aware of it.

✧ It’s what drives him to make sure that he proves himself to you, that makes him desperately wish that you’ll love him.

✧ He’s still respectful and courteous to you, insisting you get to know each other at least a little before you try anything, but when you’re not looking he views you a little as a lover would.

✧ Watching you look over Gondor, a soft blush settling on him as he sees you smile or hears you laugh.

✧ Committing the small things about you to memory, even if they’re only mentioned for a second.

𝐄𝐨𝐰𝐲𝐧

✧ At first, Éowyn tries her best not to acknowledge it, she knows she must focus on the crisis at hand - Helm’s Deep - and not her feelings.

✧ The thought only surfaces again when the women are being ushered into the caves, and she looks upon Helm’s Deep to try and see the people she cares about.

✧ She can see her uncle, high on the battlements, but her heart is fully reassured. Éowyn isn’t sure what’s wrong with it until she spots you, standing next to the others in the Fellowship and a part of her feels relief.

✧ One of the women next to her hurries her into the caves, and Éowyn feels her hand straying to the sword you’ve given her. A promise that you’ll return. A promise she needs you to keep.

✧ Being left alone in the caves, or as alone as you can be when surrounded by other people, her mind does stray to you. It strays to you every time she hears loud screaming outside, and every time she grips onto your sword for comfort. That you have given her means to protect herself.

✧ In the caves, she comes to the realisation that she does care for you. In a way she didn’t care for Aragorn.

✧ Because she knows more about you, because what she loves about you is not just a constructed image built up in her own mind but instead based on your actions and personality.

✧ When the battle is over and she looks at you again she is assured in her feelings. Glad that she knows them, even if she does not wish to act on them just yet.

✧ This time, she can get to know the object of her desires.

𝐄𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫

✧ For the first time since you've become friends with him, it's Éowyn that manages to run up and greet you before her brother. He comes over slightly behind, greeting you in a subdued way and leaving quickly.

✧ Éomer feels guilty about leaving you there, seeing the confusion in your face, but he doesn't want to imagine the alternatives.

✧ As much as he loves you, there's a high chance you don't feel the same way - and he doesn't want awkwardness between you and him to hurt his sister's closest friendship.

✧ He also knows the unspoken rules of dating when it comes to siblings - that their friends are off limits.

✧ His heart hurts when he next sees you, as he still goes to watch your training and talk with you.

✧ But now he knows that talking isn't just what he wants anymore. He wants to take you on dates, to shower you in gifts, to kiss you in celebration after battle.

✧ In order to keep your friendship happy, he doesn't. He keeps being your friend - of course - and simply hopes it will go away before you notice.

𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐝

✧ Bard is the only one who is truly uncertain about this, and if he wants to try and further your relationship.

✧ Not because of you, he knows when he’s in love and by Valar he knows he’d happily spend his life with you, but because of his children. He knows losing their mother has been hard on them, and he doesn’t want to upset the delicate balance they have.

✧ But on the other hand, they all truly like you - and he doesn’t think they’d mind having another parent around, especially as you two could take it slow.

✧ And then he realises you might not want to be with the kids, or with him. He’s a bargeman who’s hated by Laketown’s rulers, and you’re in the city guard.

✧ It still doesn’t change how you interact, as the children still drag him over to talk to you and when Bard’s with you it’s easy for him to forget a lot of his worries.

✧ He becomes more reserved, although that’s much more a reflection of his own insecurities than any slight on you whatsoever.

✧ Eventually, he does miss one of your informal meetings - still feeling unsure and guilty - but when he sees you again and you ask where he was Bard knows he can’t do it again.

𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐢𝐥

✧ Thranduil isn’t sure how to approach this realisation, although more because of you than because of him.

✧ When an elf falls in love then they have truly fallen in love, and Thranduil - knowing that he’s acknowledged his feelings - knows exactly how he feels about you. He can acknowledge when you make his heart skip a beat as you smile at him, even if he can’t stop it (and his smile that always grows to match yours).

✧ No, it was you he was worried about. Because he was your king, and your employer.

✧ And even if you were beginning to mean the world to him, he essentially ran your world. It would be unfair of him to do something that could take advantage of you.

✧ Once he’s aware of what he’s doing he does try to hold back affectionate gestures from being quite as obvious, and becomes a bit more closed off - although not necessarily colder.

✧ Regrets it the second he sees the worry in your eyes, and how you’ve become more withdrawn as well.

✧ (Feels truly awful when Legolas complains you haven’t been as happy recently, and he should fix it because ‘he’s the king’)

𝐓𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐥

✧ For as much as Tauriel does like you, she really doesn’t change that much.

✧ Both of you still have a strict patrol schedule, and both of you still spend a lot of your free-time together, trying to make each other laugh or just smile on the bad days.

✧ She is slightly more awkward sparring, however.

✧ Tauriel manages to knock the blade out of your hand, and you immediately try to knock her to the ground - ending up on top of her as you two struggle.

✧ Thoughts of… other things briefly occur to her - and you can see her blushing while you get up, apologising.

✧ Assuring you it’s fine, Tauriel curses at herself internally before offering to spar again.

✧ When the two of you are closer together she’s certainly more aware than she used to be, although she’s still professional about it.

✧ She does realise she can’t spend her entire life simply being your friend, and does eventually resolve to let you know… in some way… somehow.

𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐫

✧ Affectionately, Lindir does not manage to hide his crush very well - or function incredibly either.

✧ He’s a lot more conscious of what’s the subject of his poetry, and almost every poem he writes ends up connected to you in some way. Whether it’s through your eyes, an analogy to you, or even if something small - like the jewels being the colours of your eyes.

✧ He still meets you, although he finds it harder to meet your eyes - at least without having blush explore all over his face.

✧ It’s obvious, but he still carries his conversations just as eloquently as he did before, and still wants to spend just as much time with you.

✧ And he’s also terrified. Of becoming mortal.

✧ Lindir is sure he loves you, but he also knows he doesn’t want to die. And for both of those things to occur at the same time, he isn’t sure which one he wants more.

✧ Although he’s having doubts, it isn’t about your relationships - just his own feelings - and he knows that he does want to try something with you.

✧ Being the poet he is, he begins to notice them turning into love ballads as well. Maybe to recite to you one day, or hopefully to recite to you.

𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐫

✧ Haldir is the elf that doesn’t really change in his interactions with you. He recognises he likes you, but he doesn’t see the need to behave like a lovesick puppy.

✧ If you do like him it should be for him, not some persona he’s put on because he’s either too embarrassed to see you or because he’s too busy being enamoured by your presence.

✧ He does make an effort to spend time with you, offering a place on patrols with him, and giving a tour of Lothlórien - but he tries to treat you as he would a friend,

✧ It doesn’t stop him being more concerned about you than he would another stranger, making sure that you’ve spent your day exploring instead of being overwhelmed by grief.

✧ Also very good at not blushing, although because you’re an elf you can just about pick it up - that and the small quirk up of his lips when he sees you.

✧ You can also spot, if you’re trying to, the looks he gives you when he thinks you can’t see him; they’re not intrusive, merely admiring of your presence.

✧ (Also has the added advantage of you not knowing him before his crush, so if he ever does something too romantic you'll just think it's something he does normally. Maybe... he hopes.)

𝐄𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐧

✧ Elladan, at first, has a small crisis. Just a small one - mind you. He’s only realised that he’s in love with his best friend of almost a century.

✧ Does the smart thing of immediately going on a trip out and away from Imladris to avoid you try and think about his feelings.

✧ Most of the elves in Imladris are just glad he’s finally figured it out, and that they don’t have to watch the two of you dance around each other any longer.

✧ They don’t notice too much of a behavioural shift in him, he’s always been pining after you.

✧ He’s one of the best at accepting it, once the crisis is over, as he knows he’d be honoured to be your friend no matter what and you two can still meet each other without courting.

✧ Spends a few days with you, in which you can tell he’s acting slightly off. Elladan does not help with your worries, as when you ask him if he’s ill he answers much too quickly before avoiding eye-contact for the next hour.

✧ (Elrohir finds all of this absolutely hilarious.)

✧ Also a small part of him that's very glad he's fallen in love with an elf, so he knows he can travel to Valinor and be with his mother and father (and hopefully brother) when the time comes.

𝐄𝐥𝐫𝐨𝐡𝐢𝐫

✧ Is in two minds about how he should approach you. On one hand, he doesn’t see the point in disguising his intentions and dancing around for the next twenty years (and as a mortal, you really can’t afford to wait that long). On the other hand, he’s a romantic and he wants this to play out like a story of old.

✧ A story where the two of you bond together, overcome challenges, and eventually look into each other’s eyes and- so he might be thinking a little far ahead.

✧ He’s naturally a charismatic elf, so doesn’t take issue with talking to you and trying to charm you. He’d do that even if he just wanted to be your friend.

✧ Elrohir is annoyed about the timing of this whole situation, it’s inconvenient to gain a crush just as you're about to march to war on the Dark Lord of Mordor.

✧ Also hovers over you a bit too much. He knows you can fight, but he certainly doesn’t want to lose you.

✧ Vehemently denies doing anything at all if asked, regardless of who’s asking.

✧ Enjoys annoying you slightly too much, although this mainly comes from him being clingy and trying to spend a lot of time with you.

✧ (In the back of his mind he finds it hilarious that both him and Arwen have fallen for mortals who have high positions of power in Gondor. Is not looking forward to his father finding out.)

A/N : Mmm, definitely on time. Also, I'm doing the confession scenes soon - so I do have a poll up about the use of y/n. Going to try avoiding using it, but if you read these then it will help me out so I know what you guys want. Thanks again for reading, and feedback is more than welcomed! Have a nice day/night <3

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[twosentencereviews]

Male friendship vs gay romance

Browsing the #arcane tag after the season 2 finale, I noticed something. There are a lot of posts highlighting both Vi x Cait, and Jayce x Viktor, with their respective story arc conclusions. There are even some posts with semi-ironic questions like "which is more gay", nodding to the fact that Vi x Cait feature an incredibly steamy sex scene, while Viktor and Jayce instead have a deep interpersonal, even magical, connection. Several artists have taken it upon themselves to draw a Jayce x Viktor kiss which never happened.

And this…bothers me, for something I'm going to call the "Frodo x Sam" trope, which can be stated thusly:

Any expression of emotional intimacy between men will be interpreted by the audience as homoerotic.

Or, less formally: "Having feelings is gay".

Let's talk about this.

The first observation to make is that spotting queer-coding in media is a deeply ingrained practice in LGBT spaces, and Tumblr in specific. This is not unfounded, and, in fact, is thoroughly justified by historical context of "wink-nudge" queercoding to get around censorship.

The question, though, is what is, and what is not, homosexual coding. Why do communities look at some fictional male-male relationships and say "that's gay" while other relationships are not? What actual difference does that imply for the characters?

The ancient Greeks recognized love as falling under many different categories. These ideas are backed up by modern understanding of neurochemistry and psychology. The Greek ludus (flirting), eros (passion), and mania are the early phase of romantic love, dictated by the neurotransmitters of adrenaline, serotonin, and dopamine. This is the spark and the fire of love, resulting in experiences that are thrilling, euphoric, and addictive.

But the Greeks also recognized many forms of non-romantic love, including philia (intimate frienship), pragma (compromising and acceptance), and storge (supportive protectiveness). These are dominated by the neurotransmitter oxytocin. This kind of love is about trust, belonging, and obligation. It's the near-telepathic understanding between a decades-long married couple, or a mother's protective instinct towards her child…or the warmth between two best friends who share their secrets and support each other.

Getting to that state of stable, deep connection and trust requires going through some kind of emotional trial, where intense emotions are revealed and validated repeatedly. A romantic relationship is one such situation. But, any sufficiently intense experience could be enough; a war, a disease, a disaster.

And, as it turns out, the conditions experienced by your typical fantasy action-adventure protagonist duo is more than enough. The author creates a situation of emotional intensity, shows a pair of protagonists struggling visibly through that, and proves the bond between them is strong enough to overcome all threats and achieve victory.

And then, if the pair is male/female, they often kiss in the finale. It's just kind of assumed that, if a man and a woman work well as a team and are emotionally supportive, that they are automatically an item. This is why so many people were surprised at the end of Pacific Rim when Raleigh and Mako just hug, and don't kiss. You mean this heterosexual duo of attractive people that just went through a harrowing ideal together and forged a bond of emotional intimacy aren't romantically in love with each other??

Now take an example where the protagonist duo isn't male-female, but is instead male-male. We have a cultural idiom of queer-coding and -decoding, where gayness is inferred more than it is stated. And we have the neurocognitive dynamics of love and trust, where the trials of a fantasy adventure are engineered by the author to create a high-oxytocin state of philia between them. So of course people will see Frodo and Sam go through Mordor together, tearfully decompressing as the giant eagles swoop in, and read that as homoerotic.

Here's the problem, though. Toxic masculinity means that in the real world, where men are not commonly pushed into life-or-death, save-the-world adventures, male-male friendships are fucking hard. Male loneliness is an epidemic, and a threat.

Men are conditioned, literally from birth, to believe that asking for emotional support is a failure of masculinity. Ask a cishet man when the last time he cried was--for many of us, it's been a decade or more. I guarantee that every man has had something in his life in that time that was worth crying over; a lost job, a death of a pet or loved one, any number of humiliations or injuries sustained in life. Losing the ability to express sorrow over one's losses is scarring.

Men will, under duress, ask for practical assistance, like moving a couch. But men do not, as a rule, confide their fears and insecurities with other men. Wives get frustrated when they turn to their husbands for emotional support, only for the man to try to "solve the problem" rather than listening and empathizing. That's the only context men are trained to handle.

But queer people don't have this same stigma. Or, more accurately, being a gay man already pushes one far enough outside masculine normativity that other conventions break down as well. A gay man bursting into tears at the end of an emotional movie is seen as, if not normal, at least consistently abnormal. The trope of the "gay best friend" as an emotionally supportive, non-threatening companion is likewise well-established.

This means that when two men in fiction have a close bond with a high degree of emotional intimacy, their masculinity is put into question. Watching a man having a tearful emotional breakdown in full view of another man is…unsettling. I think there's a need to solve this cognitive dissonance, to explain away the outburst. Saying "he's gay" accomplishes that. This is the third pillar that creates the "Frodo x Sam" trope.

Circling back to Arcane, Vi and Cait have a full-on spicy depiction of their relationship reaching its, uh, climax. But Jayce and Viktor are never explicitly shown to be romantic, not even kissing, even with an obvious opportunity to do so. As such, the default reading of the text would be to say that Jayce and Viktor are just friends--really, really, really close friends.

Choosing to instead read Jayce and Viktor as homoerotic is to assume Riot would use wildly different levels of text vs subtext in these two relationships. That is, sadly, plausible. Depictions of lesbian sex often gets a pass under the "male gaze" exception (see: Black Swan), a freedom not extended to sodomy. And besides, texts belong to their readers, what Riot intended isn't necessarily what they created. If you want to read Jayce x Viktor as gay, or anything else, no one has the authority to tell you that you're wrong, least of all some random guy on Tumblr.

But I would please ask, as you're building your headcanons, to consider; what would it mean for the characters if Jayce and Viktor (or Vander and Silco, or Frodo and Sam) were, in fact, not gay? What would it mean, for our cultural understanding of masculinity in general, to say that it is okay for men to have relationships with other men that are just as intense, or more so, as those they have with women? What would it mean for everyone if we acknowledge the existence and value of all love, even that which is not tied to romance or sexuality?

[eww-y-tho]

Every Single Thing I Have Ever Shipped!

Okay, let me be clear with a disclaimer that this has been throughout my entire life, and obviously, media targeted towards children that are mentioned are most definitely in the past.

I have them formatted with a small chunk of info as to why I ship/shipped them. I sorted them in order of how weird I think they are, from plain vanilla to the esoteric. I am also going to have a checkmark [✅] signifier that will indicate whether I've read fics for the ship or not.

This is a long one, so turn away while you still can, because "keep reading" will kill you unless you're actually invested, which, I don't know why you would be.

Also, this couldn't possibly be everything I have ever shipped. But it's as much as I could possibly think of.

Heartstopper

Nick Nelson/Charlie Spring ✅

I love these two, and even though I figured out most of the things about my sexuality before Heartopper graced my screen, Nick Nelson still had a very similar, albeit not identical, journey of discovery to mine, which makes me even more attached. 

Elle Argent/Tao Xu ✅

They are so adorable. I love what their relationship represents and their dynamic in the sense of their attachment to each other. Like most people, I think I got a bit frustrated on their first date scene, but it was understandable, so that’s just a small gripe I have.

Darcy Olsson/Tara Jones ✅

I already made a post talking about how I felt about the foil between Darcy and B*n, but my opinion boils down to ‘the girlboss is slaying despite her situation,’ and I think Tara is an amazing girlfriend for her and they genuinely made me cry.

Bridgerton

Colin Bridgerton/Penelope Featherington ✅

Bruh. Just look at my acc.

Supernatural

Dean Winchester/Castiel ✅

I could not be more late to Destiel and the queerbaiting was murderous, but I still love the ship. They also trigger my religious trauma sometimes but I never claimed to value my mental health, so yeah.

Samuel Winchester/Eileen Leahy ✅

C’mon, she was the only fit that I loved for Sam other than Jess. She could not be any cuter with him and I just think they’re adorable af. Another reason to hate 15x20.

Shadowhunters

Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood ✅

Are you joking? How could I watch this show and not ship it? They’ve made me straight-up sob on multiple occasions. The immortality thing does depress me, but I can live with it.

Simon Lewis/Isabelle Lightwood ✅

God, when I tell you this ship single-handedly revived my interest in the nerd/hot person trope I am not lying. They’re honestly too perfect for each other sometimes.

Lord of the Rings

Frodo Baggins/Samwise Gamgee

“Sam.” But meme aside, I was fighting tears by the end. Honestly, I love their dynamic as it is, but I could still see a romantic reading.

Aragorn/Arwen Undómiel

Fuck, they got me so invested it’s not even funny. I felt less attached to them than I could’ve been but I still loved the dynamic and rooted for them so much.

Star Wars

Anakin Skywalker/Padmé Amidala

I think everyone loves this ship as a tragedy to some degree, even if you hate the prequels. Plus Clone Wars just made me sad af all over again so they deserve a spot on the list.

Star Trek

James Kirk/Spock ✅

Okay, you got me, I never watched an ounce of Star Trek besides Spirk content. And even from a peripheral view knowing that Kirk is supposed to be a lady's man, they’re still gay beyond reason.

The Nanny

Fran Fine/Maxwell Sheffield

This show was my childhood, I think I started watching it with my family when I was under 10. Anyway, I feel like they were a slow burn done correctly. Wholesome as all hell, plus Fran is an amazing character and I love how she integrated herself into the family the right way.

C. C. Babcock/Niles

You cannot deny that the “I loathe you” kiss was perfect. They hated each other for so long, and I get the dislike of that aspect to the relationship, but they still made them believable without squashing their pre-established chemistry.

H20: Just Add Water

Cleo Sertori/Lewis McCartney

I cannot believe that Sea Change and the episode where Lewis left made me cry. I must’ve watched Sea Change like 50 million times because it was just peak cinema to me, but I couldn’t watch Lewis leaving again because it crushed my soul so violently. The moment when he came back with that sweeping camera motion made me audibly gasp and kick my legs. It was that bad. 

Rikki Chadwick/Zane Bennett

I’m really sad they didn’t work it out in the end, although I completely understand Rikki and I wouldn’t want to go back to Zayne myself. Although it did seem like Zayne was trying to make things right with her in the last episode? But Mako Mermaids didn’t show her with Zayne, so I’m inclined to believe they never made up.

Yuri On Ice

Yuri Katsuki/Victor Nikiforov ✅

When I tell you I fully screamed at the kiss scene AND the proposal, I am not lying. They were just the ship you freak out over, you know?

Yuri Plisetsky/Otabek Altin ✅

Welcome To The Madness made me open my third eye. I didn’t ship them before then, even though I did think they would be good together. 

Free!

Makoto Tachibana/Haruka Nanase ✅

This was my OTP ride-or-die for a solid year. I’m still very fond of the ship because I joined the fandom just when the war was ending so I didn’t experience a lot of toxicity.

Rei Ryugazaki/Nagisa Hazuki ✅

These two were perpetually second place, but I still adored the dynamic and was obsessed with two specific fics for ages.

Rin Matsuoka/Sousuke Yamazaki ✅

Is perpetually in third place. I’m not as invested in this ship, but a fic would get +5 points if it was a side pairing, you know? That vibe.

Kuroko No Basket

Tetsuya Kuroko/Taiga Kagami

I’ll be honest, I only like this ship by aesthetics alone, and I haven't seen enough of this show to really get into the fandom, because, you know, I dropped off of sports anime. I still like how they look, but I just don’t care about them enough.

Pirates of the Caribbean

Elizabeth Swann/Will Turner

Like, I don’t think I need to explain myself here. The sheer sexual energy present in this ship is suffocating. 

Hunger Games

Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mallark ✅

Oh my god, where to begin? I love these two, they were my Bella and Edward if that comparison makes sense. Except for a better relationship in every single way, no biggie. Personally, that quote is a bit overused to explain their relationship, but it still made me shrivel into a prune.

Finnick Odair/Annie Cresta

The only person I would want Finnick with other than myself. They gave cute, wholesome, true love and just passed the vibe check with flying colours.

Merlin

Merlin/Arthur Pendragon ✅

Again, another ship I love even though I haven’t watched the source material. I do remember watching the ‘two hours of merthur scenes’ YouTube video a few years before I got into the fandom, so It’s been in my peripheral view for a while.

My Hero Academia

Arcane

Jayce Talis/Viktor ✅

Like- okay. They just hit different; I binge watched s2 with my sister, and the entire time, I was wondering who the mage guy was. Meanwhile, she was trying to convince me that Jayce is actually the villain because of obvious reasons, and she started being whiney when I was like, "I still don't see why." and then, when he was chatting with AU Viktor in ep 7, I had the lightbulb moment and was like "IS THAT VIKTOR?" and she TROLLED ME, she just went "nah" and I believed her like the good sister I am. Anyway, jayvik has my whole heart. THEIR SOULS ARE INTERTWINED IN THE ASTRAL PLANE.

Oof, I don’t like MHA anymore because it was just too toxic, and this ship used to be the OTP after Free!, but like, it’s fallen in the ranks super hard. 

Izuku Midoriya/Bakugo Katsuki ✅

Shōta Aizawa/Hizashi Yamada ✅

They were the subtle one that I shipped because why wouldn’t you, you know? They were beyond cute in their scenes together, and I loved the perpetual teasing.

BTS

Jeon Jeongguk/Kim Taehyung ✅

My OTP for two years after MHA, I used to be pretty crazy about them. I realized that these were people and it started to feel gross so I fell off the ship pretty quickly after that.

Kim Seokjin/Kim Namjoon ✅

Again, my youthful mind just reduced them to mom and dad and I didn’t think about it until I got more into fandom politics.

Min Yoongi/Jung Hoseok/Park Jimin ✅

I would ship them in any configuration, I liked all of them, although I did have a preference for Yoonmin.

Dan and Phil

Daniel Howell/Philip Lester ✅

DON’T KILL ME, I WAS A TWEEN. I wasn’t insane about it, but I read some fics and watched ‘Moments That Hit Different’ videos once they both came out. I know they haven’t confirmed anything, and I am respectful of that. I still watch them and I’m glad they’re in a better place now. 

DC

Batman/Joker ✅

Judging by the posts I have already made, you can tell I’m very passionate about this one. But it’s honestly more of a guilty pleasure ship than anything else. I don’t like that I like them.

Harley Quinn/Poison Ivy ✅

They’re another story. Cuties indeed. I love them. I think their relationship is very interesting although it can also cross into toxic territory.

Telltale: Batman

Bruce Wayne/John Doe ✅

I’m singling these two out because they’re just unique from the rest of the ship in a way I can’t explain. Like… If normal Batjokes yearning levels were dialled up 10x more.

Marvel

Venom/Eddie Brock ✅

It’s just a hot ship, sorry. Not to mention their really weird relationship with each other and the fact that they HAVE CHILDREN. Plus I love the cute Venom blob fanart.

Peter Parker/Wade Wilson

I just think they’re an amazing dynamic, with the whole team-up comic and subsequent moments together.

Detroit: Become Human

Simon/Markus ✅

Even if the cut romance path with Simon is just a rumour, I feel like we were robbed of some great LGBTQ representation. “Our hearts are compatible” will make my heart clench to this day.

Hank Anderson/Connor ✅

Another one I’m not too proud of, in retrospect, although I still do see some romantic tones to the relationship. But the fics were great, not gonna lie.

Kara/Luther ✅

I love them in a found family way, but I can see them being together in a hypothetical future together in Canada scenario.

Tales of Zestiria

Sorey/Mikleo ✅

Boi, another ship I feel very strongly about. Objectively, they are canon and I’m going to continue to believe they are. I love their shared dream and I think the foundation of their relationship is very precious.

Rose/Alisha ✅

Super cute. They honestly feel stronger in The X, but the DLC did also make me ship them.

She-Ra

Catra/Adora ✅

I understand the arguments against this ship, that it’s kind of toxic and all that, but I just don’t care. They literally feel like soulmates and I just vibe with this dynamic. A perfect kiss, and a great ending.

Sailor Moon

Haruka Tenou/Michiru Kaiou

I only watched the first few episodes of the original Sailor Moon and the ending with my sister for my birthday, so this is another ship that I haven’t seen. But I still love them from what I’ve been exposed to and I hate that they were reduced to friends with the English dub.

Cardcaptor Sakura

Touya Kinomoto/Yukito Tsukishiro

Again, a peripheral ship where I didn’t watch or see Cardcaptor Sakura, but I mean, they’re adorable and canon. Not much else to say about it.

Attack On Titan

Ymir/Krista Lenz ✅

Let me break this down before everyone hates me. I love Ymir and Krista. Ymir was really the push she needed to become her own person and I love that arc. But I’m also a firm believer in bisexuality existing, headcanons are fine, and that it’s okay to move on from past loves.

Eren Yeager/Historia Reiss ✅

I was kind of cringe during this era, and I did think they were endgame, which is why the ending tainted my opinion of the show overall. I fell off the show pretty shortly after the manga finished. But sometimes I will revisit these two to torture myself for some reason. I’m sure Destiel and Merthur shippers can concur.

Erwin Smith/Levi Ackerman ✅

You know, I loved the fake Ackerman lore that Eren came up with because it was an interesting literary device and at least confirmed this ship slightly. They felt very gay in a weird way.

Armin Arlert/Annie Leonhart ✅

It’s funny, I shipped them before Annie was revived and fell off the ship once they became canon. It felt really strange, but the way the relationship played out felt just contrived and fake afterward.

Haikyu!

Hinata Shoyo/Kageyama Tobio ✅

Ya’ll, symbolism at its finest. I’m not sure what happened to their relationship after watching season 3, which is when I dropped the show because I lost interest in sports anime in general.

Daichi Sawamura/Koshi Sugawara ✅

Oof, another mom and dad ship that I appreciated a lot. It was another constant +5 if it was a side pairing in a fic.

Seraph Of The End

Mikaela Hyakuya/Yuichiro Hyakuya ✅

(For anyone that’s alarmed and doesn’t know, they’re not actually related.)  They’re very frustrating for me because they are so aesthetic, and they are honestly quite close to canon. But I just think there are certain aspects to the relationships that I don’t like, like Mika’s obsessive behaviours toward Yuu. Just reminds me of Eremika.

The Betrayal Knows My Name

Sakurai Giou/Luka Crosszeria

Okay, the one thing that I actually love about this ship is the reincarnation aspect to it because it really drives home how in love they are with each other. Yuki will always love Luka even if he doesn’t remember him, and Luka will love Yuki no matter what form he takes. Very deep.

God Of War: Ragnarok

Atreus/Angrboda ✅

I don’t understand why a lot of people didn’t like this relationship. They were very cute and gave me some Rapunzel/Flynn Rider vibes, especially in the very beginning. And I can see them in a very cute, mutually supportive romance.

Last Of Us Part 1

Ellie Williams/Riley Abel

I refuse to have my adolescence destroyed by part 2 after I saw the smallest clip of Joel dying, so I’m sticking to Left Behind. I was sobbing by the end of that DLC. Also, the show handled THAT scene perfectly. Loved it.

Last Of Us Part 2

(so. I decided to bite the bullet as soon as I wrote that. and I watched a playthrough.)

Ellie Williams/Dina

Okay. Listen. I would love it if they got back together in that theory with the bracelet. But I also see a poetic parallel to Tommy and Maria. Tommy kept disrespecting Maria and putting himself in danger, and it's clear that that's the main reason for them taking a break. There might be a chance to get back together, but it would take a lotta time.

My Little Pony

Fluttershy/Discord ✅

I am shooketh at the implications of the last episode. They were my favourite ship in MLP, and I am sad to share the cringe that I watched Bride and Daughter of Discord when that was around. But the whole paper bag thing during the epilogue made me implode, I’m so happy they ended up semi-canon.

Rainbow Dash/Apple Jack

They did have many moments that left me in a chokehold when I was in my older childhood years, but I fell off MLP for a solid 5 years before hearing the rumours on the grapevine that they became canon. And they are super close, you can tell.

Undertale

Undyne/Alphys ✅

These iconic chaotic lesbians made me squeal at Undyne’s cheek kiss in the end credits. I love practically every single one of their scenes together.

RG 1/RG 2 ✅

They literally made me blush during their boss fight. Raw dude bro love that turned into something more. Something deeper.

Lightning Point

Zoey/Kiki

I’m pretty sure no one in existence knows what this show is, but lemme tell you, Zoey and Kiki just gave me the vibe of an alien couple on a little adventure that gets trapped on Earth. I don’t remember the ending, but I do remember how cute they were. 

Life Is Strange

Chloe Price/Maxine Caulfield

Despite the bad rep this ship has gotten over the years, I would still sacrifice Arcadia Bay at any opportunity. Their kiss was truly a magical moment.

Stanley Parable

Narrator/Stanley

The Not Stanley ending still breaks my heart when I watch it, and Ultra Deluxe just expanded on their relationship so well. They give “I hate to love you and love to hate you” vibes.

Ace Attorney

Phoenix Wright/Miles Edgeworth ✅

Oh come on, anyone who doesn’t ship them confuses me. They have the backstory, they have the revealed, close relationship, and everybody acknowledges the subtext. This ship feels so similar to the Destiel situation rabbit hole, honestly. And it’s also incredibly frustrating.

Little Nightmares 2

Six/Mono

Kind of crazy, considering the end of the game, but I thought that their dynamic was very poetic and tragic. Personally, I don’t think that Six was malicious when she let go of Mono, I think she just recognized Mono was The Thin Man and wanted to prevent him from becoming himself in the future.

Mario

Bowser/Luigi ✅

I love how this ship exploded so quickly and I just love the duality of the ship. It’s either very good smut or the cutest diabetes-inducing sugary fluff.

Scream

Billy Loomis/Stu Macher

Textbook queercoding. I’m sorry, that back hug still makes me shiver. They truly felt threatening and scary which is an especially difficult emotion to get from me.

60 Parsecs

Baby Bronco/Emmet Ellis

I have Markiplier’s video of his playthrough of this game to thank for me shipping them. I couldn’t stop laughing when he was like ”You were elevated, de-elevated, ascended, descended, repeatedly.” He made me ship them so quickly it was actually insane.

Sims 4

Malcolm Landgraab/Cassandra Goth

It’s a weird ship that I found from someone else, but I do love the idea of a Romeo/Juliet situation with these two. Except that they’re both rich. And Malcom is an asshole. Who cares though, that can be fixed in post with a little thing called MC Command Center.

Kim Possible

Kim Possible/Ron Stoppable ✅

This show opened my scope for multishipping. To this day, this is the only time where I ship two things at once with the same level of love. Anyway, Ron was just such a dumbass and I love them.

Kim Possible/Shego ✅

COME ON NOW. They were the first jerk of a pull start to the discovery of my sexuality. Also very cute, I love their storyline together. I find it easier to believe Shego was in love with Kim, but it’s still a very solid ship.

Ever After High

Apple White/Darling Charming ✅

I know people make a huge drama over it, but I also can’t get over the fact that Darling’s kiss breaks the curse. But even then, their small moments do make me think that the story might’ve been gearing up in that direction. I’m not sure, though.

Raven Queen/Dexter Charming

These two are miscommunication gold. And I hate it. But I love it. They are less compelling than the other ships that I enjoy from this show, but I still like them together a lot.

Rosabella Beauty/Daring Charming

I don’t know, I’m just a sucker for a good Beauty and the Beast story, plus this is the only relationship that gave Daring even a modicum of character development, in my eyes at least.

South Park

Craig Tucker/Tweek Tweak ✅

This ship is wild. Like, I love it so much, but I honestly think it came out of nowhere. Their unique energy just gives me life, the ball of stress next to a cool bean.

Thumbelina

Thumbelina/Cornelius

Ok. SO CORNELIUS' VOICE- "AND I'LL NEVER LET YOU FALL-"

Me and my mom had a moment where we were both sobbing when Thumbelina got her wings. Like everytime we watched this movie. Like 15 times. One of them last week. Yeah, this one hits different.

Sesame Street

Bert/Ernie

CLASSIC HUSBANDS. How could you not ship these literal LGBTQ icons? They say they aren’t in a sexual relationship, but does that matter? No. I love them as Bert and Ernie, two puppets in love.

Henry Stickmin Collection

Henry Stickmin/Charles Calvin ✅

I refuse to talk about the Valiant Hero ending. I’ve never seen such a strong marriage between bro and mance, and their scenes together are always fun.

Reginald Copperbottom/Right Hand Man ✅

I’m just saying that the amount at which Right Hand Man protects Reginald is sus beyond normal proportions. Also the level of trust? “Reg?” It feels absurdly gay.

West of Loathing

Player/Gary

This is one of the weirdest things I’ve ever shipped, considering one of them is just the player character. But Gary is so cute! I love him so much! Any playthroughs where they go with Gary make me so happy.

Dream Daddy

Player/Craig

Another player character, but this one tugs my heartstrings differently. I know a lot of people think Craig is the most bland. Honestly, I just think everyone else is super messy. Like I’m not about to get with the youth minister, my religious trauma did not crush me for this.

VeggieTales

Bob the Tomato/Larry the Cucumber

I actually heard this isn’t too crazy of a ship, but I swear, if you grew up as a Christian queer and watched VeggieTales, you felt the vibes. Like Bert and Ernie, tbh. But also, a scroll of the fics indicates gratuitous smut that I am not down for.

Tom and Jerry

Tom/Jerry

I love the fanart of human Tom and Jerry, but if you think about their relationship, I would say they’re almost as fucked up as Batjokes. They care about each other, but they also inadvertently or purposefully almost kill each other. Love them tho.

Magic School Bus

Carlos Ramon/Phoebe Terese

A wtf ship. But hear me out. I was a literal child and saw a very adorable relationship dynamic that made my heart squeeze. That’s it.

Clifford

Emily Elizabeth/Jetta Handover

Okay. I know what you’re thinking. “What the fuck’s wrong with you?” I know. Another wtf ship. But they were cute, no denying that. I love how Jetta’s character developed and the friendship these two managed to cultivate together. And again, I WAS A CHILD. 

Greek Mythology

Hades/Persephone

I love them. They scream love in such a unique way, and they trigger my arranged marriage turned love story guilty pleasure. Also, we love the fact that Persephone has equal authority to Hades.

Achilles/Patroclus

Have you ever seen anything as gay as these two? They are true mythological tragedy icons at their finest and are just peak masculine love.

Babylonian Mythology

Gilgamesh/Enkidu

More gay tragedy. This one actually makes me emotional, though. Who knew we could find that much of the first story known, have it be major character death and enemies to lovers, on top of being gay af?

Bible

David/Jonathan

Is it heresy? Yes. Is it assuming things? Yes. Is it benefiting from a dodgy translation? Yes. Do have any fucks to give? No. Besides, I have no respect for the Bible. They are gay.

[the-tenth-arcanum]

9 people you'd like to get to know better

(lys sorry I re-liked your post a dozen times I was trying to keep it on top of my 2k liked posts otherwise I would never see it again. and then I got stuck on the very first question and I kept putting this off. but I'm doing this now! everybody clap)

tagged: @malinaa

tagging: @centurieslove | @fairyhagmother | @flowersandfashion | @tuttocenere | @herstarlight |

@stormsouls | @mayapleiades | @courtjestermerlin | @godmerlin

three non romantic duos:

Sam & Frodo! Who did it like them! "Don't go where I can't follow!" "Frodo wouldn't have got far without Sam"! And other such hits. Crazy. To be honest there's a few non romantic duos from LOTR that I could pick but I love Sam Gamgee to death so I'm going with these two. Three hurrahs for borderline homoerotic devotion

2. Jen & Jack (Dawson's Creek). Dating myself here but I was obsessed with this teen drama as a teen. I've not really rewatched it since then because I'm afraid it will not live up to my nostalgic memories (though to be fair it started sucking so badly around S5 that I dropped it at the time and only tuned back in for the last episode lol). Anyway is there anything more beautiful than the friendship between a gay guy and his fag hag bestie? They were the cutest I love them both so much. I love how this show was so consistent in the way it portrayed their friendship. they were ride or die. I WANT WHAT THEY HAVE

3. Gaius & Merlin (lol). Okay I agonised over the last one but I couldn’t think of a better duo (sorry women 😔). I'm sure there are others I can't remember right now, but I do love them to be honest so why not them. I might have mentioned it before on my side blog but their relationship is probably my favourite in the show. I like the Chosen Family trope, okay? And I love that their relationship was important, in the show. They care so much about each other and it comes up time and time again. And their dynamic is fascinating, they're so similar in some ways and completely different in others. Immovable object vs unstoppable force. Thick as thieves, a pair of liars. As I once said—they lie so much, to other people, to themselves and to each other. And I think that's beautiful. Grey morality ❤

a ship that might surprise others: can't think of any tbh. I'm sure there are fics I've read that might surprise others, but only because I do check out a bit of everything if the premise sounds interesting enough to me, even with ships that are a bit out there. I don't really count that as shipping though.

last song: 80s medley I need to learn for my choir

last film: I don't really watch films anymore tbh 😭 I think the last one was when my aunt came to visit me last month—How Do You Know, which she chose because Paul Rudd was in it and it's probably the only reason to ever watch this film.

currently reading: Bliss & Blunder!! "A modern reworking of Arthurian legend". Or, the one where King Arthur is a tech bro. I'm enjoying it actually! (Nell if you're reading this I'll post some thoughts soon.ish. but I'm not even halfway through)

currently watching: nothing? I started Wolf Hall but I've watched less than half an episode over three lunch breaks and then I gave up for now because I'm meant to read a book and I can only focus on one (1) thing at the time apparently. but I might resume watching it at some point

currently consuming: nothing. hashtag minimalism

currently craving: local close friends so we can go out for a coffee and a chat 😔