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horseshoegirl · 1 year ago

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Damn Those Dog Tags: Part 15 - Have You Ever Seen The Rain

📖I need to make two apologies. First, I am so sorry for the long delay. While work was beating my ass, I actually received a rude comment on my Wattpad account for the last chapter that triggered a horrible writer's block. It was taken care of, and it didn't bother me at the time, but I didn't realize how much it affected me until I started to write. Then I decided to use it for inspiration!

Secondly, I'm so sorry for what is about to unfold. This one was planned from the get-go (which is also probably why I struggled because this is the one chapter I dreaded having to write).

(I'll be running from the pitchforks as they come, Woot Woot!)

❗️+18, strong language, godmother reader/original female character, Mentions of an original child, Shitty family dynamics, Angst, verbal fights, sexist implications, one slap across the face, and Jake being Hangman.

#6k words

Part 14 | Masterlist | Part 16

The story behind how you started ego-checking some of the cocksure pilots at Hard Deck is less interesting than one might think.

It all started with a game.

You weren't kidding when you told Jake you were a library, loving geek who'd rather spend her time deep in the stacks. That was the plot of your entire post-secondary experience. You didn't know how to flirt. You stayed clear of frat parties and cliquey groups. And if a guy tried to flirt with you, you ran for the freaking hills without a backward glance.

You only decided to take that bartending job in building H's damp, dark basement because you were dead-ass broke. But the thing about being a bartender on a University campus, there were moments when you had nothing but time on your hands.

You had to get creative.

Looking back, you would blame the writer-orientated part of your mind that decided to create that little game of making up stories for the people who regularly visited the miserable bar.

The quiet girl, always sitting in the back corner, cramming for a test or writing a paper. Did she like the ambience, or was she avoiding the library? Or was she trying to work up the nerve to ask out one of the bussers, waiting for the perfect meet cute?

Maybe the nerds who gathered every Friday at the arcade-style game consoles playing Pac-Man needed to leave their dorm because Friday nights tended to be the one night everyone liked to party.

Those popular girls sitting around a table with their $5 cocktails, lowcut tanktops, and jean shorts, always on their phones gossiping over the latest social media post from their favourite celebrities. Did they have Regina George in their ranks? Which one was sleeping with the other's boyfriend? How much blackmail did they have on each other?

Which one would murder the other first?

That little game you invented for yourself got you out of your shell. It also made it easier to deal with the persistent football jocks who'd try to flirt with you for a free shot.

Ridley would always get a kick out of it whenever you told her. You'd always imagined her curling up in a ball and kicking her feet back and forth while she squealed in laughter over the phone.

"Be a character in one of your freaking stories. Or better yet, act it out! You're a damn writer, Lizzie."

She was right. So you did.

You'd never forget the laughter of that football jock when your rejection of his flirting attempts to weasel a free drink out of you resulted in his childish reply of, "Well, nobody's perfect, Sweetheart, least of all you."

"I never said I was," you had said with a smile.

You must have said something right because a few minutes later, Penny was introducing herself and chatting you up, asking if you wanted a better job bartending.

You were all too happy to leave. But nothing could have prepared you for the hotshot, ego-driven, and stupidly horny Top Gun pilots who frequented the Hard Deck.

Between remembering their drink order or what side of the room they tended to gravitate towards, you needed more than your little guessing game to figure out their tells. You did pick up little things about them, though.

The WSOs were the kindest; ironically, they stood out in the crowds. Always a kind smile, never a bad thing to say about anyone.

The female pilots were always badass. At least, you thought so. Strong. Always commandeering the room the second they walked in. Always nice, no question about it. But mess with them; you got schooled hard.

They were the literal definition behind the saying, 'Do no harm, but take no shit.'

And with each new group that came in, the male pilots, the single flyers you had called them, paled compared to those jocks. They never changed. A pair constantly vied for first place with each new group that came through the Top Gun program.

Always a pair of males. Women always knew there was more at stake than a freaking trophy.

Those guys talked to you. Well... properly flirted at you.

That's where your little game came in handy. Picking out the little things about them, letting your mind do the creative parts next. It's how you turned Jake down so quickly that first time.

But the guy currently approaching the bar? He did not fit the bill of any regular customer you had seen in a while.

Tourists came and went without question. They stood out like a pack of flies, unsure where to go, with friendly faces and always asking what the best places were. They tipped great, and they never returned.

This guy?

Not a tourist.

He was from out of town. The plaid shirt, jeans and cowboy boots were unusual for a California bar. It was also how he gaped at the walls and ceiling, taking in all the Navy memorabilia Penny had collected over the years. If you hadn't been paying attention, you could have sworn there was a look of distaste on his face with each new item he saw.

But what irked you was the sense of familiarity you couldn't place while looking at him. Blonde hair and a sharp face. Something in how he carried that toothpick between his teeth, not in the way god forbid fucking Tyler had, but as if it was a piece of grass. Also, in the way he walked.

Then he openly leered at a woman's ass as she walked by, and it all made sense.

Ah, a Wham, Bam, Thank You, Mam.

He sat in the empty chair directly in front of you, still watching the women's retreating form. You didn't want to serve him, but a tiny part of you hoped your assumption had been wrong.

It had been a while since you had to rebuff flirty advances; the newer pilots going through the Top Gun Program hardly said anything to you except smile and relay their order.

You suspected Jake was behind it.

"What can I get you?" you smiled at the guy. He slowly pulled his eyes away with a sly grin. The second he caught sight of your face, his mouth stretched even wider as he leaned forward on the bar.

"Your number and the name of a good hotel."

You should have known better.

If it looked like a duck, it quacked like a duck too.

Resisting the urge to roll your eyes, you straightened the line of shot glasses under the bar, not once looking up as you answered him. "Well, I can answer one out of two of those questions, but I'm afraid the only hotels around here are resorts. There is a bed and breakfast about ten minutes down the road that will give you a good deal."

"Will they give me a good deal if I mention your name?"

"Only my friends know my name, and you are simply a customer sitting at my bar wanting a drink?" you raised your eyebrow, tapping your finger against the bar.

He made a show of thinking about it, rocking his shoulders back and forth. He finally nodded, leaning forward to answer you.

"Whiskey. Straight."

You recognized his accent as you reached beneath the bar to grab the bottle. It was more pronounced and slightly more profound, but without a doubt, he sounded like Jake.

Good old southern Texas Charm.

Normally you'd engage in small talk, but you wanted nothing more than to leave this asshole alone. Thinking he'd leave it be after you poured him his drink, you slid the glass forward, then made your way over to the other side of the bar.

The words he called out after you made you stop in your tracks.

"You must get attention all the time. Having your pick of the litter each year."

You whipped around, offended. " Are you calling me easy?!"

He shrugged. "I'm just saying a good-looking woman like yourself, in this place... you clearly aren't sticking around because of the pay."

Oh, you wanted this guy gone. That could have been one of the most double-standard comments you had ever received. Old Liz would have sputtered, maybe run into the back fridge and asked one of the other bartenders to handle it.

You now? No chance in hell. If he were going to give it, you would give it right back. You weren't going to play the boyfriend card. You could fight your own battles, and something told you even if you told him you had a boyfriend, he'd think you were lying. He seemed like the type that wouldn't take no for an answer.

"You've got some nerve." You crossed your arms, matching back to him from the other side of the bar. "Let's get one thing straight. I'm not here because I'm looking for attention or have trouble finding a date. You've spent all of two minutes sitting at this bar, talking shit, while I've been fighting the urge to point out your confusion regarding basic anatomy."

He raised his eyebrows at your reply. "My confusion?"

You leaned forward, resting your arms upon the bar, eyeing him sourly. "Is your mouth your asshole, or are you just one?"

It was one of the more cruder remarks you had ever responded with. But this guy was trying to go for gold. Unphased, he leaned back in his chair, throwing his hands up. "Hey, no need to be aggressive. You should take it as a compliment. I never called you anything derogatory."

You huffed, pushing yourself away from him, rolling your eyes. "Calling me good-looking, then proceeding to say I'm only working here because it's 'easy to access' is still calling a woman a slut. You don't need to say the word to imply the meaning."

You ripped the dishrag from your shoulder, running it under the tap, muttering more to yourself, "There's no way that shit works on women."

"It does on the women back home," he answered you.

"Oh, so are you staying? Don't tell me you're a new pilot at Top Gun."

They'll beat that attitude right out of you.

"Oh, I'm just passing through. I figured I'd scout out the area. I heard this was a Navy bar. Don't understand what all the fuss is about."

You didn't answer him. Opening your mouth only led to him replying, and the quicker he finished his drink, the faster he'd leave. He took your silence as a means to continue.

"Still playing hard to get?"

"You ask me a question. I might choose not to answer."

"Wow. Subtle."

You turned, a hand on your hip. "You can't honestly expect me to speak to you, a complete stranger, after the way you just undermined my job because I'm not giving to your attempts. There is nothing to get."

He smiled, holding out his hand. "George Seresin. There, not a stranger."

Well, shit.

You wanted to hang your mouth open like a fish. You were staring down Jake's brother.

Now you understood Jake's reaction to Janet's warning. His anxious behaviour in the back of his truck. His lost-in-thought stares or the way he couldn't stop looking at you and Sadie when he came home from work this week.

George Seresin was a very unwelcome, uninvited and long-awaited guest.

Something snapped in your stomach, a twinge of weariness that Jake didn't confide in you. Then again, your slight disappointment was overshadowed by something greater.

Clearly, you were fated to ego-check both Seresin brothers while standing behind this bar. Because the idea came without warning, without doubt, or any sense of hesitancy.

George Seresin was at the Hard Deck.

He was right in front of you, trying to flirt with you without any idea who you were.

And he was sitting in the best spot in the entire place.

It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

You stepped backwards, turning to lean up against the bar. As you did with Jake all those months ago, you took the rag and started to wipe.

"So let me get this straight," you said, dragging the damp cloth around his glass, not once looking up. "I tell you my name in some effort to prove we are not strangers. I'm supposed to forget about your 'comments,' so you can use that good old Texas charm to woo me into your bed with a promise of a good time?"

You finally looked up, George only staring back at you with a heated smoulder.

"Something tells me none of those loose cannons cannot even promise you a good time. A quick roll in the sheets before they let some brass monkey in a fancy suit tell them where to shoot. You look like you could let loose for once in your life."

You froze, losing your grip on the rag and fingers twitching. Scanning Jake’s brother, you leaned against the bar, resting your weight on your elbows, throwing the fabric over your shoulder as you got inside his bubble. You never once broke eye contact as you pinned him down.

George bought it, hook, line and sinker. He was so focused on you and your face that he was oblivious to everything and everyone around him, including how your hand slowly reached up toward the rope hanging from the top of the bar.

The second he looked at your lips, you tugged.

Cheers and music flooded the Hard Deck when everyone heard the distinct ring of the barbell. You guessed the song right away, old habits dying hard. Slow Ride, its distinct beat letting you know Jake was here and he had seen the whole thing.

George reeled back, shocked as a few people came up and slapped him on the back, thanking him. You laughed softly at his reaction, pushing yourself away to help the few customers you knew who would take advantage of the free drink.

You had never rang the bell for someone like him. George Seresin would be the only exception.

"What the hell just happened?" he called after you. You didn't bother turning around, flinging your hand to gesture over your head, "Read the sign!"

George followed the direction of your hand, landing on the piece of wood dangling by the silver chain.

You disrespect a lady, the navy, or you put your cell phone on the bar, you buy a round.

You had already helped a few customers when he managed to tear his eyes away to glare at you heatedly. You turned to face him with a gleeful grin. Instead of asking him which one he thought you rang him out for, you started teasingly singing along to the chorus.

You hadn't done that in a while. It felt good.

"What did he do to warrant that?"

You smiled up at Jake as he approached the bar. He never took his eyes off you as he leaned on his elbow against the top of the bar beside George.

"What do you think?" you laughed at him.

Jake smirked. "I'd say he didn't take no for an answer."

"He did a little more than that. Tell him to put his cell phone on the bar, and he'd get three out of three."

"Ouch," Jake dramatically drawled. He finally turned his head, nodding once in his brother's direction. "Hi, Georgie."

You stiffed a giggle.

George huffed, jutting his chin out in your direction. "This one is trouble."

"Don't I know it," Jake said, looking back at you. "Pulled the same trick on me the first time I met her. Only she didn't ring the bell. Guess I did something right, considering she let me come back."

George glanced between you and Jake several times, and you could see the gears grinding in his head.

"Hi," you beamed at him, walking over and holding out your hand. "Elizabeth Beck. Your brother's girlfriend. I guess we aren't strangers after all."

George stared down at your hand, then gritting his teeth, knocking back another gulp of whiskey. He spat out his following words with the glass still to his lips, "So you are real. Jake, there's no way you're dating her."

You didn't try to hide the snark from your voice as you lowered your hand. "You thought I was imaginary? Sorry to disappoint."

George still chose to ignore you. "What's the matter, little brother? Need your girlfriend to speak for you?"

Jake stiffened, and it took everything in you not to ring the bell once more. Cause you knew if you did, Jake would be the one to help throw George out, and you didn't know what repercussions he could face.

"At least he has a girlfriend," you scoffed. "I can't imagine you've ever had a meaningful relationship with how you treat women."

You spied his empty whiskey glass, grabbing it firmly.

"Wham."

Sliding it across the bar's smooth surface, you caught it in the palm of your other hand.

"Bam."

Reaching into the pocket of your apron with your free hand, you slapped his bill down in front of him, rounds and all, attempting your best version of a Texan accent.

"Thank you, Mam."

Not wanting to waste more time on him, you turned to Jake, slightly worried. Some of you didn't know how to act around Jake when he was like this. When he was so... Hangman.

You gently touched his wrist, murmuring softly, "I'll see you in a half hour?"

He twisted his arm in your grasp, sliding his hand down so he could gently squeeze yours. But his eyes screamed a different, intense, unsettling story. As if he was assessing you for any threat.

"Sure."

You tried not to let it bother you, his non-chalent reply. Trying not to frown, you let go of his wrist to serve another customer, calling out as you walked away, "It was nice meeting you, Georgie!"

Jake watched you go with a slight turn of his head, proud you one-upped his brother but wishing you didn't leave him alone.

He knew why George was here. What he wanted him to do. No amount of smirk, cockiness, or even Hangman, could save Jake from this. George was the grave reminder that no matter where the Navy sent him, whether in California or on the other side of the world, there was no end to the metaphorical leash the 'hell bringer' had on both of his sons.

George scraped his chair back to stand. "Come on, little brother," he gruffed out, tossing his credit card onto the bar. "We need to have a chat."

—-

With Ridley's Jean jacket in hand and your bag, you placed them on the bar as you greeted Jimmy after finishing your shift. "Can you watch these for a second, Jimmy? I'm just going to the bathroom before I find Jake. We're going to pick Sadie up from Penny's and take her out for dinner."

The older man smiled. "She's feeling better?"

You nodded. "Mild concussion. She was okay after a few days and back at school. Bummed about not being able to play in soccer playoffs, though. Hence the trip."

"That girl loves her soccer. What a shame."

"Jake's is making it easier on her. I don't know what I would do without him."

He tilted his head towards the bathroom hall with a knowing grin. "Go get ready for your date."

You blushed, walking away, calling over your shoulder, "It's not a date!"

After freshening yourself up, you took a few moments to stare at yourself in the bathroom mirror. You saw the famous callsign board hanging on the wall behind you. You scanned the names from the mirror, looking for Jake's, doing a double take when you couldn’t find it. You turned, properly facing the wall.

Like the sign in the bar, it was a piece of wood with the words engraved into the top, “Ladies Beware: Navigate the Hard Deck with Care!” and underneath that, “Pilots who fly solo.” Several metal slots were glued to the surface, designed so she could easily slide plastic slate with a pilot’s callsign into place.

You recognized a few, even Rooster's, though his was listed way further down, out of harm’s way. But Jake's was nowhere to be found.

Then you realized - Penny had taken his name off.

She didn't do that for a lot of people. You could only recall one other instance when she removed a pilot's callsign from that board. She prided herself on it, so much so she never removed Maverick's at the top of the list, even after they got back together.

You needed to tell Jake.

With a hint of a smile, you eagerly walked out of the bathroom to find him. He was standing with George at the pool table, the elder Seresin brother lining up a shot as he spoke. As you approached them, you honed in on Jake, realizing he looked uncomfortable. Stiff, shoulders square, and his fists were clenched tight.

The closer you got, the more you heard of their conversation, and when you heard Sadie's name fall from George's mouth, you froze. Hearing him utter her name, especially in that hardened tone, was a punch to the gut. The urge to hide behind one of the support pillars in the middle of the room at the last second was too great to ignore, and you made yourself as small as possible.

You had stumbled upon a conversation you weren’t supposed to hear. George’s voice accompanied the sound of the eight-ball scattering the balls across the table.

"Come on, man," he said, his tone laced with arrogance. "Think about it. She threw her whole life away for her niece. She's tied down now, and you deserve someone who can give you more than that."

Jake remained silent. George continued, encouraged by his lack of protest. "You're a Navy pilot, for crying out loud. You could have anyone you want. Why settle for a girl with so much baggage?"

You weren’t stupid. You knew enough about George to realize he was the golden child, the favourite used to getting his way. George would only see you as Jake’s attempt to one-up him on something.

“You know why I'm here,” you heard him say firmly. “Dad doesn’t approve. He wants you to know if you continue on with her, you will never be welcomed back home.”

You swallowed hard, a knot forming in your stomach. There would never be a time when you asked Jake to choose you over his family, even with what you knew. You wanted to go out there, but this was Jake’s battle. Storming out to threaten anything but a kick to the balls was out of the question.

But when Jake finally spoke, his words were like shards of ice piercing your skin.

"Yeah, you're right."

A strangled noise escaped from you, a sound of raw pain and disbelief. You clapped your hands over your mouth, trying to muffle the sob threatening to escape. George’s reply triggered the blood rushing through your ears, the pain in your forearm from your nails biting hard into the skin.

“You know I am,” he laughed, another clack of the pool balls sounding out. “

There was only one way you saw this - Jake played you like he played those other bartenders.

You couldn’t hide any longer. You pushed yourself away from the pillar, swerving around to confront them.

“So Sadie and I were just a game to you?”

Jake turned sharply, shock in his eyes. “Liz,” he held his hands out in front of him. “It’s not what…”

“Not what?” you said heatedly, tears streaming from your eyes. “I heard plenty!”

He opened his mouth to say something, but the words died in his throat, confronted with your beat red face and tears. You were not supposed to hear all that.

The shock on his face was not enough to erase the sting of his words.

"Come on, Liz. You don't understand... it's..."

"What's there to understand, Jake?" you interjected, your voice seething with a volatile mix of pain and anger. "That I'm just another one of your bartenders?"

“Liz, don’t.”

“Enlighten me, Jake.” You crossed your arms. “Tell me all the reasons why. That bringing me flowers wasn’t a game. That getting close to my niece wasn’t a game. Asking me to give you a chance, taking me out on a date.”

You sobbed. “Taking me up in that damn plane.”

The thought was erupt, tearing itself from the deepest part of your mind. You couldn’t help it, the words spilling out in blinded anger. “Was my grief an opportunity for you to get into my pants? Telling me it would be alright so you could leave me high and dry? Telling me it was going to be okay?”

There was a sudden shift in his expression, his gaze hardening. As if a switch had been flipped, the warm, understanding man you knew disappeared, replaced by a stranger draped in defensiveness and sarcasm.

"Oh, excuse me," he declared. "I didn't realize I was your knight in shining armour, rushing to your rescue the second you need all your problems fixed. The girl who never had a relationship, thinking a man would solve all her issues."

The words hit you like a physical blow, your knees nearly buckling beneath you. Jake's harsh gaze didn't match his usual soft and protective demeanour. It was like looking at a stranger, someone you didn't recognize. The man before you was not the Jake you'd fallen for.

This man reminded you of your father.

Was this his plan all along? You racked your mind, searching for any indication this had been coming. But what only stood out was Rooster's words echoing in your head where you found none.

Did you really only add your name to the list of women Hangman had pursued?

Because here and now, those months of working through the trauma of losing Ridley didn't matter.

Was anything about this past year even worth it? The moments you worked through when you would avoid anyone mentioning her because acknowledging her in the past tense was too much. Avoiding the things that reminded you of her. Till helped you through it.

She would know what to say right now. She would be the one beating his ass with verbiage and scathing remarks. She would nail the moment and get it right.

It hit you, the hidden weight of how desperately you missed her.

Suddenly, you were that girl again, starting her first shift in that basement bar, wondering what to say to the students who saw you as a mere bookworm with no character or class - because you couldn't compare to the girl sitting in the corner writing her paper, actually having the courage to ask that busboy out.

Or the geeks in the corner cheering as hard as they did when they beat their high score on the console, uncaring of strange looks. Or that girl, finally standing up to her 'so-called friends' when one had been spreading rumours and crude remarks about her to the others behind her back.

He really did leave you out to dry.

"Stay the fuck away from my niece," you managed to gasp through your tears. "And stay the fuck away from me."

You wanted to believe your assumption that Jake was merely putting on a front. Hangman, his alternate self, was his attempt at protecting himself.

You had a hard time doing so.

There, plain as day, across his face was the most condensing grin you had ever seen as he dramatically drawled out slowly, "No fucking problem, sweetheart."

You didn't believe in thinking about everything you regretted throughout your life. Ridley was the only exception; if you had done more, moved back home after school, or gone to the police the day you kicked Tyler out, maybe she'd still be here. You couldn't change what had happened in your life, so spending time thinking about it in the present wouldn't do you much good.

So it was no surprise to you when you followed through with your knee-deep reaction, your hand coming up out of nowhere, open and firm, slapping Jake hard enough across the side of his face, his head turning with the force of it.

You knew you shouldn't have. You weren't a violent person by any means. Next to Tyler, you never had raised a hand to anyone. You were too hurt to care you just slapped him.

That should have scared you shitless.

Rather than voice the obvious, you remained silent, allowing every repressed thought, every buried emotion to resurface.

Ridley - dead.

Sadie - hurt.

Tyler - lurking.

Bradley - damaging.

It was all too much.

George's figure stood out from behind Jake amongst your blurry vision, tears creating a vignette in your line of sight. You tore past Jake, sticking your finger out only to push George square in his chest. He stepped back at the force, hand shooting out to balance himself against the pool table.

Jake wouldn't have done that had George not shown up. Had he not played with Jake's emotions.

"You need a fucking ego check and to grow the fuck up," you seethed at him. "I don't know whose got your balls on a very tight leash, but you have no right to go around and fucking up other people's relationships."

George didn't answer you, taking his hand off the table to stand properly. You pressed him again. "Does it give you some sick fucking pleasure to hurt your brother? Dad loves me best, so I'm going to remind everyone just cause I can?"

George was still avoiding your heated glare, fixating on his football ring, twisting the piece of metal back and forth. It only pissed you off further.

"My eyes are over here, Jackass! Have the decency to look me in the fucking eyes when I'm talking to you."

If nobody had been watching when you slapped Jake, you clearly had their attention now. Even with the music blasting from the speakers, every conversation in the Hard deck had gone quiet. You could feel everyone's eyes on you, but you couldn't care less.

You were too far gone.

George slowly cocked his head to face you. Your breath was harsh, your body jolting with each gasp as you gave in to the anger. "My sister died, and I took in my niece. What's so fucking wrong about that? That I threw my life away, that I have no future?"

He shifted on his feet, about to transfer the pool stick into his other hand, when you reached out and snatched it out of his grasp, tossing it behind you with a clack.

"You're damn right I did! That's what you do for people you love. I would sacrifice my entire life so she could have hers. And I would do it again in a fucking heartbeat. I will stay on the other side of that bar for the rest of my so-called miserable life, getting catcalled and dealing with assholes like you if it gives her the best shot with the shitty hand she's dealt. You, George Seresin, have no right to judge the choices I've made in my life."

Your breathing was harsh, ribs aching with effort. Every vein, every pore, was consumed with pure white rage. And yet, you still found yourself growling out, "You have no right judging your brothers either."

Even after breaking your heart, you still stood up for Jake.

"He risks his life every single time he goes up in that jet just so the whole world can fucking survive. So you can go on day in and day out and let your father control what you want to do with your life. So you can gallant around letting someone who has lived their life decide what you do with the rest of yours? So Jake’s here for you to bully and control every time he comes home? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

The burning sensation in your cheeks mirrored the fire in your eyes, unshed tears making them shine brighter. The salty sting of tears blurring your vision did little to diminish the searing gaze you levelled at George.

"My sister believed everyone deserved a chance. That people cared, regardless of what they did or who they were. I had forgotten that until my niece invited Jake to a barbeque, till she invited him on a hike because he was being treated differently. Despite what I heard and everyone telling me otherwise, listing off why I shouldn’t. That he will hurt me and my niece, and I still gave him a chance.”

Squaring your shoulders and balling your hands to fists at your side, you take a step forward, a dangerous glint in your eyes. You lean towards him, your face close enough to feel his breath, your jaw clenched and muscles tight.

"You are the first person ever to prove my sister wrong,” your voice is dangerously low, underlying anger accompanying each word. “You sure as hell don't deserve that sentiment."

As you stepped away, George lifted his head to glance around the room, everyone's eyes pinning him down. The older Top Gun instructors had stood at their tables and chairs, arms crossed. Some of the current students in the program also stood, the others sending him the most scathing glares they could manage. Even some regulars who weren't aviators were casting him a scornful glance.

You spun, ready to leave him in embarrassment and escape this literal fucking mess, when you caught Jake's bewildered gaze, his mouth hanging open in slight shock.

You weren't sure whether it was that look or the dying embers of your outburst that made you spin back around to snarl, "So, leave your brother the fuck alone! Live your own goddamn life without judging others for the choices they make! Cause you sure as hell don't know what it means to sacrifice something for those you love. If you need an example, look around this goddamn room."

Jake reached for your wrist as you charged toward the front door. The second you felt his touch, you shook your hand loose, a wrenching sob tearing through your chest.

"Don't fucking touch me!"

You didn't bother seeing his reaction to your remark, rushing to grab your bag and Ridley's jean jacket off the bar.

The skin around your wrist burned from his touch, the rough callouses once a comfort but now felt like coarse sandpaper. You wanted to get under a shower or jump in the sea, hoping to remove the feeling of every memory, kiss, and word.

God, you let him touch you. Do things with you.

You were going to throw up.

God forbid you didn't want to walk home. But you needed to go, be anywhere but here, and you didn't have your car. Barely keeping it together as you took off toward the door, you had half a mind to look up to watch where you were going, deaf to Jake's shouts of your name.

There was Bradley, sitting in the first booth by the door. His brow furrowed as you made your way over to him, probably having witnessed the ordeal. You were too upset even to question why he wasn't marching across the bar, ready to knock Jake to next Sunday.

It had been weeks since the fight, with no communication in between. But it was a distant memory compared to this.

It didn't matter what he implied. It didn't matter what happened in your hallway.

It didn't matter.

You just needed your friend.

With each step you took toward him, your shame only grew greater. You couldn't even look him in the eye when you stopped, standing next to his side of the booth, hugging yourself tighter.

"Can you take me home, Bradley? I don't want to be here anymore."

Bradley's opportunity to act smug had finally arrived. But he didn't do anything other than frown. Standing up from his booth, he threw a few bills onto the table before blocking everyone's view of you. He placed a comforting hand on your back, gently pressing you forward as he uttered quietly, "Of course I can, Liz."

You kept your head down as you stepped towards the door, but Bradley, so willing to help you without so much of an 'I told you so,' made whatever resolve you had, crumble. Your knees wobbled, and your heart dropped into your stomach. You fell, and Bradley's arm whipped out, gripping your hip and pulling you tight to his side to support your weight.

Burying your head into Bradley's shoulder, you hid your face. You didn't want to see the looks of everyone in the Hard Deck, whether pity, concern, or applause, as another wave of tears wrecked your body.

Closing your eyes seemed better than reliving the truth.

And because you kept them shut, you didn't see George place a hand on Jake's shoulder, preventing him from going after you. Nor did you see the look of devastation wreck his face; the weight of every wrong decision he had ever made coming back to haunt him.

Whether Jake turned on a dime to punch George square in the jaw, you heard none of it. You hadn't even bothered to turn back to look as Bradley carried you out the front door.

.... So... Who is going to pitchfork me first? 👀

Tag List:

@blue-aconite @tinytotontheoversizedpony @djs8891 @caitsymichelle13 @startrekfangirl2233

@mayhemmanaged @ereardon @dempy @shanimallina87 @teacupsandtopgun @daggerspare-standingby

@phantomxoxo @formulapierre @eli2447 @fulla02 @blckgrl-sunflower @mizzzpink @ohgodnotagainn

@bubblegumbeautyqueen @sarahsmi13s @desert-fern @lynnestra44 @memoriesat30 @penwieldingdreamer @mxlanciia

@bradleybeachbabe @bobby-r2d2-floyd @lavenderbradshaw @roosters-girl @lovinglyeternal @kmc1989 @gigisimsonmars @dakotakazansky

@keyrani @craftytrashprincess @hisredheadedgoddess28 @abzidabzy @memeorydotcom @vicsnook

Part 16 - In the Blood coming soon

Wickett ;)

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pinkeoni · 1 year ago

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Byler & Possession Plots

Reading the show through more of Men, Women & Chainsaws

When talking about occult horror in her book Men, Women and Chainsaws, Carol J. Clover writes—

"On the face of it, the occult film is the most "female" of horror genres, telling as it is regularly does tales of women or girls in the grip of the supernatural. But behind the female "cover" is always the story of a man in crisis."

One of the examples that Clover provides is also one of the most popular possession stories— William Peter Blatty's novel and William Friedkin's film The Exorcist. Little Regan Macneil may have been the one possessed, but as the title suggests, the story is really about a man, the exorcist.

I do believe that season twos possession plot does a little more for the possessed than the examples Clover gives in her book, it is interesting that it does follow a similar formula to other possession plots, in that while the story is definitely about the possessed, it's also about the male character that sticks by their side.

So using Clover's book as a guide, I wanted to look again at season two's possession plot and see what it's saying for both Will and Mike's story, how it aligns with other possession stories, how it improves upon them, how it falls into similar pitfalls, and what is reveals about Byler.

The show does do a little better than other possession plots in that it does focus on the perspective of the possessed, Will, and how all of this is affecting him personally. We hear a little bit from Regan in The Exorcist, although the focus is centered much more on how her possession is affecting her mother and of course, her exorcist. The story centers around her, but it’s not really hers. Will’s possession feels a lot more like his story.

As for Mike, he starts the season grieving the loss of El and likely feeling guilt for her “death.” She “died” saving Mike, and Mike was unable to save her. There's a strong theme of heroism at play here. Mike (innocently) put the expectation onto El that she was a superhero. Mike's idea of heroism relates to the ability to perform impossible "Yoda" like tasks, such as lifting objects and killing monsters with your mind. As such, Mike doesn't recognize his own heroism, such as bringing El in and showing her kindness and friendship. This insecurity is later confirmed in season 4.

Mike's story doesn't really start rolling until he goes to check on Will. There, he's able to find purpose and finds his own way to be a hero. maybe without realizing it, he is able to save someone. Mike was there to help Will by offering emotional support, as well as aid him in finding some agency in the situation.

The possession for this season along with the El/Mike/Will triangle reminds me of a film that Clover discusses called Witchboard but with a few key differences. In the film, a woman named Linda is possessed by a spirit after messing with a Ouija Board she got from her ex Brandon, leading Linda’s boyfriend Jim to find a way to free her. The film ends with Jim and Linda getting married.

Similar to The Exorcist, Linda is the possessed person but the story isn’t really hers, it’s about Jim and his arc to becoming a more emotionally open boyfriend. In fact, the emotional core of the film is actually between Jim and his relationship to Brandon, whom Jim reveals is actually an old childhood friend until they had a falling out. Clover notes a particularly homoerotically charged scene in a motel room where Jim and Brandon are able to talk out some of their feelings.

While the possessed person is now Will, the character split is the same. El is not a passive character at all, but her story is still almost entirely split from the boys. She starts off the season missing Mike, but similar to Mike, she chooses to leave him, and her story really kicks off when she seeks out Mama and Kali. Both of them may have started the season thinking about the other, yet they choose to take their stories in different directions.

So maybe that’s why the end of the season feels like the end of Witchboard, which Clover described as the film's “pale, heterosexual ending” where Jim and Linda get married. The season ends with El and Mike at the Snow Ball, which to be fair is set up enough— this is making good on the promise that Mike made to El in the last season. But Will, who has spent most of the season by Mike’s side, is left entirely to the wayside. He gets his own dance partner, but it’s a nameless character who calls him his mean nickname. Mike gets to dance with El, Lucas gets his dance with Max, and Dustin discovers some self confidence when he dances with Nancy. Every ending feels like something that was someone built up— except for Will’s. Will didn’t show any interest in Snow Ball girl before, or any girl at all. It feels unsatisfactory.

Similar to other possession plots, it does fall into the similar pitfall where during most of the last third of the season, Will is barely even there at all. He spends most of his time asleep, and when he is awake— similar to Regan in the last bit of The Exorcist— he’s no longer Will.

And maybe that’s why the shed scene feels so hard hitting. Mike reminds Will of a moment where Will had agency, when he chose to be Mike’s friend. And as a result, he’s able to break through.

To me, that moment feels more like a culmination of both of their arcs for this season, way less than the Snow Ball ending. Mike takes action and calls out to Will, and in an act of agency, Will answers.

There's more interesting stuff from the chapter that I decided not to include here, and I honestly suggest that you go read the book yourself. It's super interesting and highly informative.

Oh, and happy Day 3 of Bylerween 🎃 @bylerween2023

#bylerween2023 #byler #will byers #mike wheeler #my analysis #it isnt technically day 3 my time. oh well

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iamafanofcartoons · 2 years ago

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RWBY is a good show that suffers too much hatred: The weird concept of taking hatred of a piece of media, and calling it criticism, or "Expectations vs Headcanons" type of criticism. Or: Why having nothing nice to say is the equivalent of hating rather than criticizing.

OPENING REMARKS

Nobody is saying that RWBY is on the same level of ATLA, or FMAB, or stuff like that.

But many people who watch RWBY past Volume 3 still have an appreciation for the show. But when we try to discuss our love for the show? How many people have told us that we are wrong for watching RWBY past volume 3?

Many people who refuse to watch RWBY, do so simply because they were told by people who came up with one reason or another why they didn't like the show, those people proceeded to then dislike RWBY without ever having watched it.

Comparisons of Other Media

Taking things out of context is not criticism, but criticizing things from an out of context perspective IS HATRED

Bumbleby: Criticism Vs Hate

Expectations? Or Headcanons? And the difference between them.

Cake Analogy

Criticism by itself is not bad, but what is the difference between criticism and hatred?

The Hatedom exists, it is not a boogeyman, and the defenders of RWBY are NOT “Toxic positivity”

Conclusion

COMPARISONS OF OTHER MEDIA THAT HAVE SIMILAR THEMES AND SIMILAR TREATMENT ON SOCIAL MEDIA

If you've watched shows like "She-Hulk" or "The Sandman" maybe you've noticed a lot of people complaining that "Shows these days have become too woke"...but what is woke?

Female protagonists doing the same things and going through the same struggles as what male protagonists have done? Okay, sure, that doesn't mean the writing is going to be perfect, but why do so many people claim that Jennifer Walters in She-Hulk "emasculates men?"

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2022/08/18/she-hulk-is-getting-review-bombed-even-harder-than-ms-marvel/

Let's go over Ms. Marvel, a Muslim female super hero.

https://thedirect.com/article/ms-marvel-review-bombing-actress

Review Bombing

Captain Marvel

https://www.inverse.com/article/53523-captain-marvel-rotten-tomatoes-review-bombing-explained

More Review Bombing

over 200 people review-bombed RWBY Volume 8 on IMDB.

A show with female protagonists and LGBT themes included apparently gets attacked. This is a common theme here.

On Social media (excluding Tumblr), you can't scroll past the posts/videos on RWBY without seeing at least one or several of the following:

A. Monty wouldn't want this (it's been 7 freaking years and they still use this one)

B. Let RT and the show die once and for all

C. Make it a real anime

D. The fanfiction of this male character is better than the LGBT or female ones

E. The cries about the male villains and the sheer misogyny from men and women towards fictional female characters.

Very few shows have a sub market of people making 2 hour criticism videos or have to separate out a criticism subreddit, and most of these shows have a much larger viewership than RWBY. Is there an overprotectiveness, sure, but its also kinda obvious that RWBY also gets more hate than other shows of its popularity.

And it should be mentioned that R/RWBY allows R/RWBYCritics to flood it and R/FNKI with hatred regularly. You know which two people I am referring to.

Since season 4 one of the accusations has been that continuing to like the show is insulting Monty Oum. Some of the hate against the show was dual hate against the creators, and so naturally the defenders of the show also defended the creators.

So then does that make the fandoms of one piece, attack on titan, tower of god, etc overprotective, or is it a re-occurring thing where these subs are usually made out of good intentions that have easily dissolved into attack the show/it’s creators?

I don’t know of many communities where the hate and dislike of where the series is going is so prevalent that Subreddit mods have to make a rule to prevent people from saying that “the show goes against the creator’s wish” and have YouTubers that constantly make post about any little thing happening and turn it into “that’s why this series and it’s company is dying #356”(hero hei for example). The community isn’t against criticism as much as the RWDE community thinks, but the way it’s worded. If most arguments and criticisms were made to be respectful and include the good in a show, instead of being “this is why crwby is inept dumbasses that should sell the series to someone else and anyone that enjoys *x sis equally as stupid” than this problem wouldn’t be as prevalent, but most criticisms made are ones that regularly attack the crew or audience for certain aspects. Even some of the most analytical criticisms of other weird treat the people that enjoy it and it’s creators with some level of respect.

Generalizations are made by what is usually seen by the majority. Not to disagree that we should see these more case by case but it’s seen as such a problem because of the influx of situations like the one I’ve mention above, whether on here or other platform. People like “all you write” who make great analysis/ critic videos are perfect examples of how these discussions should go: explain the fact, talk about the good and bad done(because criticisms should contain both, not just what is bad/disliked) and separate parts for how they feel about certain moments. Most criticisms just come off like eruptionfang’s: crass, missing the point most of the time with actual bits of criticisms littered in between.

Any time RWBY comes up unprompted by myself or a fan of the show, I always see people chime in negatively. I do not see that with practically any other popular but criticized show. I think the only other one that comes to mind is Sword Art Online. That kind of response to something you like everywhere you go is rough, no matter how you slice it. It can make you feel unwelcome or wrong just for liking/loving what you like/love.

Even if you know you have every right to enjoy it, seeing that gut reaction as the prevailing mentality starts to make you feel like something is wrong with you. This is a fact of human psychology. The negative response is also so common because you can't speak up in defense of it without being "shouted down." It allows this behavior to continue to occur while it leaves those who enjoy it and don't blow a gasket to sit in silence while people mock their interests. 2 years ago Hbomberguy ripped open a can of hate against RWBY and its writers that left the worldwide web mocking everyone for enjoying RWBY even 2 years after that hate video was aired. Try talking about RWBY in R/RWBY while defending it? R/RWBYCritics will harass, and then post your post, to their subreddit, encouraging hate against you.

Consider the fact that of all of the people who do nothing but post negativity about the show, it's a person who disagrees with that negativity whom Critics take issue with.

Objectively speaking, the level of hate I see the show get from some viewers is not proportional to their actual valid criticisms of the show or otherwise.

TAKING THINGS OUT OF CONTEXT IS NOT CRITICISM, BUT CRITICIZING SOMETHING FROM AN OUT OF CONTEXT PERSPECTIVE IS HATRED

So a female protagonist defeating a male villain is bad writing? Remember how Yang and Blake fought Adam? Adam had destroyed their school, tried to destroy another one, tried to have Blake's parents killed for getting in his way, had stabbed Blake through the stomach for leaving his violent faction, had cut off Yang's arm, and had tried to blow up a train of unarmed civilians.In V6, Adam tried to kill them both. Both Yang and Blake kept offering him the opportunity to leave them alone. Adam was so eager for revenge (aka, NOT stalking ex, but just wanting revenge) that he refuses all offers.Yang and Blake had no choice but to kill him.

How many times have you heard people claiming that Adam should have been spared, or taken to Atlas, or that Yang and Blake were wrong? It just doesn't make sense.

Now we go to Volume 7-8.

RWBY had made several plans based off of Ironwood's single plan.

Let's use the Train analogy. The city of Atlas is the train. Mantle is the people on a single track, there is no second track. And Salem's faction are people trying to get on board the train while attacking and threatening the people of mantle on that track.Ironwood, in wanting to Abandon Mantle, we'll say is willing to roll through them. RWBY halts the train because she wants to protect all of those people, but Ironwood refuses at all costs.RWBY's strategy since Ironwood had no interest in the very people he had taken dust and resources from while quarantining them and not only refusing to protect them, but refusing to allow them to protect themselves?RWBY decided to transport everyone to the train station that is vacuo, with the passengers.Sure, the train was destroyed, but what would you rather save? A Train? Or its passengers?Or in terms of RWBY? Would you rather save a city while abandoning the people? Or would you rather save the people, who represent the kingdom?A kingdom is composed of people, not structures. This was a theme in Thor: Ragnarock.And I must admit, while Hela was indeed a villain, she was in fact a sympathetic one.

BUMBLEBY: CRITICISM VS HATE

Let me state that, as a Bumbleby fan, I DO wish there was more build-up, and more dialogue.

THAT is a valid criticism echoed by many.

Calling Bumbleby an SJW Agenda? Saying it was "forced?" Or saying that "The writers were bullied by the shippers into making Bumbleby Canon?"

That's not criticism...or at the very least, its not valid criticism.

What is valid criticism? Insulting RWBY and CRWBY is not valid, it accomplishes nothing other than hatred.

And just hating on something? Is not criticism, its hate.

Wishing harm onto female fictional characters? Is not criticism.

If you want to make suggestions to the writers, that's fine. But let me ask this?

How many of these people have insulted the writers, called their insults "suggestions," and when the writers refused to listen to people who were insulting the writers, these people then claimed that "the writers couldn't handle criticism"

When I went to college, as part of our Electives, we were required to take part in discourse.

That required acknowledging the good and bad of a show, and respecting the good while politely and respectfully discussing the bad.

The reason people say RWBY is overhated is due to so many videos and blogs and posts that do nothing but promote negativity against the show, while refusing to speak well of the good in its writing, its characters, its worldbuilding, etc.

Here.

https://allagesofgeek.com/this-just-in/show-review/a-review-of-rwby-volume-8-spoilers/

A positive look...criticism was included, but the good in the show was also covered.

A balanced take.

For me, Valid criticism has to include positivity towards what you are criticizing. You need to be respectful when you give a critique.

But while respectful criticism of RWBY exists, it is drowned out by bad-faith criticism that is more focused on talking about how they dislike the show, or that people should not watch the show.

If you're telling somebody "This show sucks, don't watch it"....Is that criticism? Or Hatred?

If lots of people are doing their best to try to stop others from watching RWBY? I would call that hatred.

And so we have to come to the conclusion that RWBY is a victim of a lot of bad-faith criticism.

That makes it over-hated.

Do we have slurs or insults for the Blacksun shippers? No. But the Blacksun shippers have multiple insults for us. Hornet, Wasp, Crotch Snot (That was Eruption Fang, btw)

You can count the number of RWBY Critics who are Bumbleby fans? On 1-2 hands.

RWBY Critics who are blacksun shippers? Try counting the grains of sand at the beach.

EXPECTATIONS? OR HEADCANONS?

People saw Adam Taurus, a "cool dude" who tried to blow up a train of innocent passengers, and immediately people had headcanons about him, made fanart, and worshipped him as some morally ambiguous character.

His first scene was in Volume 2, where he told Cinder that while many of his men had died, he could convince them to still follow her.

In other words, ADAM NEVER CARED FOR THE FAUNUS. All he cared about was himself.

Then in V3, we see that the man who had no problem trying to kill innocent civilians, had no problem sacrificing his followers for somebody else's goals? Was in fact a very evil man.

People suffered the truth: Adam Taurus was not what they imagined. So they claimed character assassination, or bad writing. Because it was easier to claim that, rather than admit that RWBY simply did not do what they demanded the show do for them.

Just because we watch RWBY? Does not mean we are entitled to make demands of the writers.

And just because we’re not paying attention? DOES NOT mean something is bad writing.

CAKE ANALOGY

Let's say that a store advertised a cake with chocolate frosting, and some people interpreted the cake as being entirely chocolate.When they discovered the cake itself was vanilla, they insisted that it was a poorly-made cake...even though the cake was indeed advertised as a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting.That the product was not what you wanted it to be does not mean it was incorrectly advertised, or that it is a bad cake for not being the cake you want.

CRITICISM BY ITSELF IS NOT BAD, BUT WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CRITICISM AND HATRED?

The term Hatedom was coined due to there being people in the fandom who literally had nothing nice to say about the show, and were literally there just to hate.How many people have you spoken to who left the fandom due to the negativity?Was that really criticism? Or was it hate?A lot of people have said hate.

NOBODY is villainizing criticism. But if you're going to put effort into "criticizing" a show, at least put in a respectable amount of effort into respecting the show.

We are the only show I know of where there is a subreddit for critics. Arcane, Legend of Korra, Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, etc? None of them have such a subreddit.

There is this belief that everyone is allowed to criticize RWBY...but who criticizes the critics?

Who is allowed to criticize a critic for making a false analogy or an inaccurate statement?

The accusation that Ruby has a messiah complex? When she's repeatedly shown taking criticism and listening to others advice and just wanting to help people?Compared to Ironwood who constantly claims to have an answer for everything, removes anyone in his way including Ozpin, constantly talks about how he sees the big picture, and cries about how nobody understands the "sacrifices" he has to make?That's a messiah complex, yet how many videos do you see treating RWBY as war criminals, and Ironwood as a victim of some agenda, whether it be "anti-military" or "anti-male?"

Have you tried to speak up about it, only to be silenced?

Back in September on Twitter, a girl spoke about how she was watching RWBY with a friend. A well-known critic in the fandom QRT'd her tweet, and mocked her by accusing her of having rent issues.

Several people tried to speak up about it...they were all silenced for criticizing the individual harassing the girl.

Communication is a two-way street. If you're not allowed to criticize the criticism? Then its basically an echo chamber of hatred.

Do you really believe that the people defending RWBY live in an echo chamber of positivity? Who told you that? No, we who love RWBY criticize the show as well! We just don't hate it or the people loving and defending it.

I would literally give RWBY a 7.0-7.8 out of 10. Yeah, I can criticize the show.

But I'm not going to hate it and claim it is somehow the worst thing in existence.Because saying that, is not criticism but hatred.

Try scrolling through a YouTube comment section and you notice that somebody had briefly mentioned RWBY in a completely neutral manner... They had six replies and all six of those replies where people either talking bad about the show or mocking them for even mentioning the show at all.

There are so many examples of that every day, every week.

The fact thatact that six people still went out of their way to attack someone just mentioning something they didn't like.

Even if RWDE were objectively right they are not going to bridge any gap by simply dismissing the feelings of a fandom has as a mere boogie man they dreamed up.

That might as well be gaslighting.

The problem with RWBY Critics is always the same thing.

Even when they acknowledge somebody else's argument or reasoning it comes with a but. RWDE can't just agree with someone its always "I agree but here's why RWBY is still bad....."

The problem is that the "critics" believe that word entitles them to be as caustic about the show, the creators, and even the fandom (as these countless threads attest to...) as they want to be—

—but no one is allowed to criticize them in turn.

Anyone can go to the RWBYcritics subreddit and see what constitutes "criticism" to these folks. They can go to FNKI and see the kind of "memes" that RWBYcritics users post there.

THE HATEDOM EXISTS, IT IS NOT A BOOGEYMAN

Say you like a show. You may not love everything about it, but there's plenty of good things in it for you to appreciate. There are people who voice criticisms of the work, but in your mind, all of their ideas of what's bad about it and what would make it better are poor ideas.

Would you believe that people who criticize a work you enjoy are more important than the people like yourself who enjoy it?

Because that's fundamentally why a lot of people use the word HTDM to describe bad faith criticism regarding RWBY: there are people who are constantly complaining about the show and its fandom, yet at the same time have the attitude that the show needs to cater to their specific tastes and desires, instead of what the writers have decided. These people can just move on, and go for a different media. Yet such people remain to claim that they are not haters, that there is no hatedom, and the people defending RWBY are somehow toxic? It is not toxic to defend a show. And hating on a show and wishing for it to be canceled or rebooted according to your specific tastes and ideas is not criticism.

I'm under no delusions that RWBY has faults. However a lot of criticism hinges on literally ignoring things characters have said, done or observations made about them in the show before something happened. Aka , Adam Taurus and James Ironwood.

Critics can say that haters don't represent them, but they don't really care that much about that side of the problem as much as they care to point out the problems they see in the "enjoyers" side. Truth of the matter is, they are completely free to write about whatever they want, and no one forces them to address that if they don't want to, that said, let it be known that as long as that pattern continues the "outsiders' stigma" will continue indefinitely because in the eyes of most of the fandom they will be seen as nothing more than another person victimized or complaining because "x person didn't agree with x argument" even if it isn't the case.

When you accuse the fandom of “manufacturing its own Boogeyman”...you’re basically denying that the hate against the actually exists.

I'm also not talking about alternate interpretation. I'm talking about something like if Ruby says she really loves cats and then, after having a positive interaction and liking a cat, people saying "But Ruby likes Dogs because Zwei! She can't like a cat."

If the show tells you something about a character, you should listen

Alternately they don't like the character arc of someone, which is fine. But calling it bad writing because you don't like it is ridiculous. (This isn't specific to a character) Idiot ball is bad writing, ignoring multiple indications a character is a moron then calling it bad writing when they do something stupid is you having a lack of narrative comprehension.

All I ask is that people please look around, see how many posts there are complaining about or disliking the show. See how many memes are posted in the associate subreddit R/Fnki that are complaining about the show, the writers, and the female characters. There is so much hatred against RWBY and its fans, and I am stunned that there are people denying its existence. The RWBY fandom did not create its own boogeyman or boogeywoman. That would require that bad-faith criticism does not exist, but it does exist and it thrives.

I am going to do my best to not only promote positivity about RWBY, but also promote good-faith criticism, that will critique RWBY in a respectful manner. Because if we are not being respectful in our criticisms, if we refuse to say nice things about the show's writing that we are critiquing? Then what are we doing? Because its certainly not criticism.

What I have noticed that RWBY seems to function like a number of shows sort of like Steven Universe, where people who haven’t seen the show will go into it with negative thoughts due to the popularity of negative accessible content on RWBY.

Take a look at RWBY on Twitter, YouTube, etc. many videos on the show are very negative. Especially ones talking about the series overall. People who haven’t seen the show and want to see if it’s worth their time won’t exactly be getting positive vibes about the show from the people around them.

A RWBY Fan will you tell you to watch RWBY. A RWBY Critic will tell you to drop the show after the 3rd season, and just write fanfiction about Jaune, Adam, Roman...aka the men.

This isn’t to say its wrong that this is happening. It’s just a fact that this is the way it is, and it’s part of the reason why RWBY has such an intrinsically negative vibe to it in the eyes of so many people.

Once again it’s like the countless number of random strangers who dogpile shows like Steven Universe without even watching it. Of course this also doesn’t mean RWBY is some special snowflake in this instance. Plenty of shows suffer from this, however I do believe that this leads to a pretty huge upward climb for these types of media to take to be loved by audiences. Much more than some other media.

SpaceBattlesforum there was a user saying things about how the RWBY fandom was a hatedom. Or about not wanting to be considered part of the fandom due to all its critiques and bad faith towards the series. As, if, in most of the fandom the popular opinion was of hate towards the series.

It's true a lot of the fandom goes too far with hatedom but RWBY is also part of culture war and an easy target for incels/misogynists to sh*t on RWBY

A lot of incels hate RWBY just for having women and will deadname certain groups and characters in the of criticism. Cough Cough Unicorn of War.

Conclusion, RWBY IS OVERHATED

If you want to hate a show? Fine, but don't call your hatred criticism.

If you want to criticize a show, at least be prepared to have nice things to say when you make a critique, otherwise don't be surprised if people call your material "hatred."

A critic is NOT a victim of a fandom, nor are they persecuted for not liking the show. But they do harass and persecute others for liking the show. Cough Cough, FatmanFalling harassing people for enjoying RWBY, and every single RWBY Youtuber defending his behavior.

If you feel that a show could be better? That's fine, but don't claim that means the show is bad because it does not cater to your tastes or desires.

If somebody does not share your dislike of a show, that's fine, but allow them to like the show, and don't accuse them of toxic positivity, simply because they're defending something you dislike.

If somebody wants to watch a show you don't like? Please allow them to see the show for themselves, don't try to stop them from watching a show just because you're not happy with said show.

And if you don't like RWBY for its writing or plot? Move On! There are so many shows out there, PLEASE let us enjoy this one!

I think the critics of RWBY are full of it. While RWBY isn’t perfect and the show does deserves criticism, there is a obsessive and parasitic part of the fanbase that does everything it can to tear down ever little detail they can find while ignoring any good parts, there are legitimate criticisms and and analysis but acting like it’s not over-hated is ignoring a very real abusive part of the fandom. And I’ve never met a RWBY Critic who didn’t try to defend that abusive part of the fanbase by whining that saying “RWBY SUCKS!” is criticism and we should just be grateful that they’re shoving it down our throats.

I'm not kidding about the 7.5 out of 10. RWBY is a mid-show, but its an enjoyable show to me and many others. So yes, I'll say nice things about it.

FYI, this post was well-received on r/RWBY, till r/RWBYCritics had it removed from r/RWBY through pressure.

r/RWBYCritics does not allow discourse. They silence you, and then claim to be victims of the fandom.

I don't think anyone seriously expects a RWBY Critic to take responsibility for them but rather acknowledge that they do exist.

You can't expect the fandom to get better if you're just going to dismiss their concerns by calling it a boogie man that they made up.

And if you spread lies about the people defending the show, making up false statements, and half-truths? Then RWDE community has established itself as a culture that tries to silence positivity and healthy discussion, rather than respect it.

#rwby #rwby fandom #rwby htdm #rwby hatedom #rwby meta #rwby meta analysis #rwby community #RWBY FNDM #rwby is a good show #rwby discussion #r/rwby #r/rwbycritics

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therubyreader · 9 months ago

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My Review of What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez

See a full list of my book reviews here

*Disclaimer: there will be spoilers later on in the review*

Review Word Count, non-spoiler: 779 Review Word Count Total: 1,408

BookTok has once again gotten me to read another book, which honestly, I’m a little upset it’s this easy to get me but we’re here now. One of my unofficial reading goals this year was to read more books by Latinx authors, since I’m Latina and it's disappointing how little of my “catalogue” is occupied by authors with my background, so now I’m here.

What the River Knows takes us back to the 1880s in the height of European tourism to Egypt after the British takeover. Inez lives in Argentina, she’s the daughter of two Egyptologists who have mysteriously died while out in the desert prompting her to go to Egypt to try and solve the mystery of their deaths and unwittingly gets involved in the hunt for Cleopatra’s tomb alongside her uncle who’s hiding secrets of his own. Inez must tread carefully as she balances solving two mysteries without knowing who to trust while fighting her burgeoning feelings for her uncle’s assistant.

I’m going to be honest with you all and say that this, the book was good, it wasn’t great, it was entertaining for sure, but I did feel the writing style was a bit lacking. Now this isn’t a dig at the author or anything, I picked up a YA book so honestly, I should’ve excepted YA style writing, which I wouldn’t normally be mad about it but the last fourth of the book was written so well that it made me question what was going on for the rest of it. The fact that there was great writing and potential there plus the cliffhanger ending (which if anyone wants to know my theories let me know) is what is going to get me to read the second book. I honestly have high hopes for the sequel so I will be very impatiently waiting for it to come out in November.

I think my biggest complaint with this book is the love interest, Whit, and like there is nothing particularly wrong as a character, I just didn’t really like him, like I don’t hate him, but he was just there. This guy is the most basic love interest, he’s literally the same man as all other YA men: white, tall, brooding, flirts to mask his true feelings, has “touch her you die” energy, soft only for her, and is always smirking. And like, I’m not shaming you if you like when the love interest checks most/all those boxes but I’m begging authors to please write something else, I’m tired of this. Why does this man have to be over six feet tall? He literally at one point mentions how Inez doesn’t even reach his shoulder, and I don’t get why that was necessary when the average height for men in the UK at the time was about 5’6” (yes, I did Google this), there was no need for him to be abnormally tall, he could’ve been 5’10” and nothing would change. Maybe I’m too unnecessarily upset and annoyed about this but really tall male love interests with small and petite female main characters a personal pet peeve of mine.

Another pet peeve I had was the whole “forgetting to switch between languages” thing that Inez was doing the whole book. Though I do get the fact that she primarily speaks Spanish so switching to speaking English regularly was a bit of a learning curve but her constantly going “gracias, I mean, thank you” made me want to rip my hair out. And I’m saying this as a Spanish/English bilingual, this doesn’t happen, more often than not I just forget a word entirely and I don’t forget to switch between languages because that’s not a thing!! It’s giving 2010s cringe, you all know the posts on here that I’m talking about, it made me angry and was honestly a thing that made me have to put the book down a couple of times and take a breath before I continued.

My complaining aside, I do think this is a good read, it’s fairly easy to follow once you get over the repetitiveness of the first half of the book, once you get to the halfway point it really does start to become more than a basic YA book and you get wrapped up in the mystery of it all. I know I’m not doing a super good job of selling it but trust me, this is a fun read to pick up if you’re in between books and its plot is something that is very unlike anything else on the market right now. I give it a fun with lots of potential for greatness out of ten.

Spoilers!!

I honestly don’t know where to start with this, there’s just so much that I want to talk about. I'll just do a good old rapid fire: Whit is weird, he’s such an odd man, what do you mean you’re a lord, the fuck? I didn’t trust Inez’s mom from the beginning, she had weird vibes and so did Inez’s uncle, they’re both strange, the magic system they had going on was super cool and creative, I cannot wait to see how it expands in the second book.

Something that has been bugging me this whole time, and I don’t know if I’m thinking about it too hard, but how was it that Inez and Elvira were told they looked like twins when it’s stated multiple times that Inez looked just like her mother, but Elvira is related to Inez through her father so they shouldn’t look anything alike. I get the whole bamboozle business with the dress and causing her to get kidnapped but like, Inez was going around telling strangers her name was Elvira so when Elvira eventually got to Egypt and introduced herself, she wouldn’t have known that Inez was using her name. Also, when Inez first got to the hotel and was talking to Mr. Burton shouldn’t he have been able to clock she’s her mother’s daughter based on the whole “they look the same” thing? I don’t know that part of the plot was strange, I feel like there were some glaring inconsistencies that if I thought about too hard wouldn’t add up, maybe it’s just me though. I do think that Elvira died unnecessarily, and it was quite evil of Inez’s mom to set her up like that.

Something I did love, which I will say nice things now so I’m not being completely negative all the time, is how immersed I felt in the location. As I was reading, I did genuinely feel like I was in Cairo and exploring these ancient ruins with Inez, the way that the story was written shows how the author did her research. Every location was described so beautifully, which added to the ambience of the story on top of the couple of drawings thrown in of certain locations and objects just added another level of understanding to the book.

I do want to take a moment and talk about how much I liked Inez as a character, though she does fit some stereotypes of female leads, she felt like a real person throughout the course of the book. Yes, she is stubborn, but she is stubborn to a fault, the way she was so determined to get on her uncle’s expedition to find out what happened to her parents ended up backfiring on her when she accidentally betrayed them by helping her mother steal artifacts. She knows about ancient Egyptian history but isn’t an expert so there are times when she has to have help from her uncle or Whit as to what is going on. She is such a real person that it really adds to the narrative and though there are times she may feel annoying or unlikeable you cannot help but sympathize with her as she juggles her grief with this new environment and new people.

I honestly cannot wait for the second book to come out later this year, I have high hopes as to what is going to happen and how the story is going to end. Let me know if you want a full post on my thoughts on the whole Whit thing from the end, that was honestly such a good plot twist, and it has some historical accuracy if it is what I’m thinking it is. I do recommend it to everyone, diversify your reading friends.

#val's book reviews #what the river knows #isabel ibanez #isabel ibáñez #book review #bookblr #booktok

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horizon-verizon · 1 month ago

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I think people in this fandom are a bit too much confortable with the “its a medieval fantasy fiction, people were misogynistic in that time therefor I can be misogynistic when I’m talking about the story too.”

It’s like the whole “both side are wrong, yes even Rhaenyra because she a woman and women were not seen as equally worthy in that time” ok but you are not suppose to be agree with that ?!

If we’re supposed to view it the same way a Westerosi person would then Arya just need to be beaten into liking traditionally feminine things, Sam deserved being dressed in womens clothes/regularly beaten/forced to sleep in chainmail at age 6/tied to a stable by the neck for three days to toughen him up, Tyrion deserves the lifetime of abuse he’s gotten because he’s a dwarf, and Daenerys deserved to be raped to the point of suicidal ideation because that’s her duty as a wife and there is no concept of marital rape in this world. Do these things all sound horrific ? Well maybe that’s because the author intended for us to view it with a modern lens.

Well yes, I think that GRRM makes it very clear the things that can't and should not occur and are entirely preventable in the world with some willed investment when it comes to more unsavory features of this world, like Craster, the collective unchecked access and trafficking to human bodies esp female ones of any age...AND

It's not absolute and applicable everywhere, because people also will take it to important functional aspects and conditions and accuse some characters of being something they aren't. The very meaning of "modern lens-seeing" is...loose in the fandom.

In a "pure" modern lens (assuming American/US b that's the targeted audience) where minors are under-18s who are to be protected no-matter what, we see people making snap judgements of decisions like Dany ruling that people under 13 or so should not be killed and some readers (wrongly) take that as her being deliberately evil or at least gravely irresponsible. GRRM also has a 16 year old get into a canonical love match with a married father of two and then die from childbirth and has multiple first-cousin, avunculate, and stepmother-stepson (F&B), sibling-incestuous relationships be also romantic/true "love"/care while other incestuous pairings...aren't. Then there are couples like Dany and Daario, where Dany is still a teenaged girl with a grown man, but we don't really see her terribly affected by such a thing in-world in-text or people could argue that Dany is abusing her power over Daario (I know it's wrong, walk with me); in fact, it's been more of a boon even though the guy clearly doesn't actually love her. There's Dany and Irri, who multiple readers (wrongly, but that's not the point) claim that this sexual relationship was indicative of Dany abusing her power over Irri and yada, yada, from a "modern lens". And by a modern lens, all these relationships are seen as anything from pretty impossible to doomed to be abusive and provide no succor to anyone. There are those who misconstrue Westerosi racial circumstances as exactly as modern Westerns, who racialize characters through the one-drop or whatever British thing to identify characters who they might at first see as PoC, and thus assume a husband cheats on his wife bc she's Dornish.

I know what you mean by "looking at things from a modern lens", you're saying that there are morally rehensible things that happen in this world that GRRM takes pains to point out as reprehensible and needing changing. but a lot of people take "modern lens" to mean "everything from our real modern [Western] world in terms of values, regulations of behavior whether legally or socially are in better shape, more sensical than this world because it allows for [insert gross, unsavory, legal, anti-human right thing here], and those that even resemble that". Jorah is def a perverted vulnerable young girl-"lover" who merely wished to have control over a victim; does that man the same for Larra Rogare?

So, we are supposed to critique the:

sexist systems guiding marriage and child rearing that allows a man so much power over his wife and children's bodies, thus minds

the institutions of the Faith, R'hollor's leaders, etc. and hypocritical aspects of their current or enduring ideology

slavery, obviously

some character's more selfish decisions that end up getting a mass amount of people killed just so they have power....

but these "macro" stuff will sometimes yield "micro" morally questionable or grey-to-greyblack areas from characters, or it's easy to get something actually necessary for a character's/others' survival (mental/) misconstrued the characters being...grossly evil.

Idk if I'm explaining it right, but in GRRM's writing he makes it very clear what is morally rehensible, but we have people who want to immediately assign "evil" and "good" based on merely "it's wrong in my world, so its' wrong here and anyone who participates are either victims or evil". And that's not really helpful when understanding the story. It's not just stupid people, it's also pretty smart people who simply prefer stories where they don't have to experience this level of nonmatched, fraught morality.

#asoiaf asks to me #asoiaf fandom #fandom critical #fandom commentary #asoiaf writing #asoiaf #agot #asoiaf comment

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masterjedilenawrites · 2 years ago

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Oh goodness, could I get a blind date, for a clone if possible? Minus any bias from my url at @captaingregorswife lmao- My (nick)name is Sci, I'm 24, female, and... honestly I always have a hard time describing myself because I always get shy and feel like I'm bragging or being insensitive talking about myself too much. The simple stuff out of the way is that I'm really short (5'1"), fairly chubby, short brown hair, brown eyes, glasses... honestly really plain. Like if Velma Dinkley had a pixie cut. I can play the game of social niceties well enough but I tend to lock up when I get really anxious, which is... a lot. As for hobbies, I like to draw and write, but when I get in the drawing zone, you gotta physically drag me away from it if you want me to sleep on time or else I'll be fixated for HOURS til it's finished. I also just like to be outside, especially when it's warm, and just soak up the sun and be in nature... but honestly, my favorite thing to do is sing. I've been singing ever since I was a little kid, and even used to do it on stage regularly, but after one bad performance as a kid I've been too shy to do it in front of much of anyone anymore, to the point where I lock up and can't speak if I try.

The thing is though that I love spontaneous, adventurous people. People who don't mind that I'm shy, people that I can easily cling to their arm and hide behind when I get too overwhelmed. People I can laugh with unashamed of how loud I can accidentally be, people who will fill the silence for me when I find myself too anxious to speak... if you've got any clones in mind who wouldn't mind any of that, I'd love to see who you'd point me towards ;w;

I went "back in time" a bit and plucked up a rather interesting date pairing, if you don't mind.

Your date is...

✨(pre-citadel) Echo!✨

Your date will be all blushes, giggles, and awkward pauses. This version of Echo is still a lot like the one we know from the Bad Batch, very gentlemanly and polite. He'll treat you well on this date, looking out for any signs you show of being cold, tired, or bored so that he can adjust and make sure you're still having a nice time. But this will be the first time he's ever gone out on a date and will be just as anxious as you when it comes to being open with a stranger - especially a really pretty stranger like you. You'll notice he glances down in his lap a lot. When you excuse yourself for the refresher, you'll see he has flashcards of notes, presumably written by Fives and his other 501st brothers.

His penchant for risk-taking and not caring about others' opinions lurks beneath the surface, not yet discovered by his current by-the-book mindset. When you two get on the topic of singing, though, you'll start to see it peaking out. He, too, secretly loves to sing but is much too timid to show anyone. Maybe you can help each other break through the shyness by extending the date to a karaoke bar?

If you choose to continue seeing young Echo, you'll have a partner that is incredibly protective and kind. You can definitely hang on his arm and know that he'll look out for you. He may not be the best at spontaneity and adventures... yet. But over time, who knows, you may find ways to pull those pieces out of him.

✨

Want to be set up on a blind date with a Star Wars character?

#star wars #blind date #match game #blog-versary celebration #i hope you enjoyed your date!#the clone wars #arc trooper echo

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hatshepsut9 · 2 years ago

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There’s no way I’m finishing another book tomorrow, so here’s a tiny wrapup:

Mini reviews below the cut (non-spoilery as much as possible!)

The Calculating Stars: I read this because of booktube and enjoyed it— sometimes the internet can be trusted! This is an alternate history 1950’s space program book about a pilot/calculator becoming one of the first female astronauts. Overall it’s short, sweet, and smart. It does feature female and minority characters navigating typical 1950’s identity politics, but it’s not so frustrating as to be unreadable (of course it should be frustrating, but sometimes you’re just not in a patient enough mood that you’re willing to watch white men complain about the existence of women and black people when there is an actual global crisis looming over their shoulders!) If you can overlook some very cheesy flirting of the “rocket in your pocket” variety (yes, we get that you’re in the space program, you don’t have to use that fact in all your pickup lines) and you liked Hidden Figures, read this.

The Jasmine Throne: I’d never heard of this before but I got it for Christmas via a bookseller’s recommendation. I could see some people finding the writing style to be a little... affected(?), but I didn’t mind it. This is an Indian-inspired fantasy world with political rivalries, an old magic returning, and characters confronting fate. The cast isn’t huge, but there are enough characters that you get to explore things through comparisons. Trying to avoid spoilers here, but you get two characters in the exact same boat re: what happened when one of their family members got caught up in some royal family succession drama, and how each of them reacts completely differently with respect to how they view the royal character involved. And you also have 3 people who came from the same place who are dealing with colonization in 3 different ways. I really love the magic system(s) in this and I can’t wait to see what happens in the rest of the series. There is a plant/human magic system that is related to a kind of curse (that I suspect is really a power a la Elantris), a prophecy-based magic system/religion, and probably more aspects of magic that will come into play. The magic seems very localized, with religions that are tied to their locations. Halfway through the book I finally googled the series and only the first 2 books are out... I’m hoping it’s a trilogy but whatever it is, I’m in for the ride now. I would recommend this to fans of Baru Cormorant, The Poppy War, and maybe ASOIAF (but I haven’t finished any of those series so take that with a grain of salt).

The Origin of Satan: I picked this up one night because I was at the house of a religious studies major with nothing to read, and it was interesting enough that I took it home and finished it. This book goes through internal drama between Jewish groups, then once Christians became a group made up of mostly gentile converts the dramas between them and pagans (mostly Romans), and then back to internal drama between different Christian groups. It traces the way people in these conflicts would use the idea of Satan-- first meaning an angel sent to challenge a human or stop humans from doing something bad, later meaning a sort of evil angel or evil god-- to talk about their conflicts with their various opponents both internal and external. (Side note: this book is why I noticed the localized religions/magic systems in Jasmine Throne, because it talks about how before Christianity, everyone took it for granted that your religion was determined by where you live). Overall this book is interesting but it just pointed me towards related topics that I now want to read about. For instance, it’s hard for me to imagine a time when people didn’t regularly frame their conflicts as part of a battle between the forces of good and evil, because that concept is so ingrained in popular culture even though we don’t usually think of it as coming from the idea of angels and demons/God and Satan, so I’d really be more interested to get immersed in examples of how people talked about their conflicts and their opponents before all this happened. The book also just made me want to read up on gnostic Christians (luckily she also wrote a book on the Gnostic Gospels, so that’d going in my list.)

#books #booklr #book wrap up #book wrapup #tasha suri #mary robinette kowal #elaine pagels #the calculating stars #the jasmine throne #the burning kingdoms #the origin of satan #sci fi #alternate history #fantasy #history #religious studies

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whiskey-bumblebee · 2 years ago

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hotch headcanons

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner/Reader Warnings: College!Hotch, Dad!Hotch, mild angst, Haley and Jack don’t exist, smoking, Christianity A/N: A combination of some thoughts I had just now and my personal headcanons for his character. Mostly college and dad hotch!

-Coming of age in Seattle in the 90s, he was a big fan of the local rock music scene, which included such artists as Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Candlebox, the Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam.... He was definitely into the counter-culture!

-Which would have made him the butt of a lot of loving jokes I think, this guy in law school, normally pretty professional and clean-cut, but by night, he’s in the grungiest, dirtiest bars, singing along to songs like Lithium, wearing band tees and letting his hair grow out a little longer as he gets more into it

-Did a minor in creative writing because he wanted a creative outlet and a break from all of the law/ethics/philosophy/history stuff (and his writing is pretty good! A little stilted at first because he wasn’t used to expressing his emotions, but better over time)

-He smoked pretty heavily during his college years (cigarettes and.... not cigarettes), and to this day, keeps a pack of cigarettes in his desk at work. He lets himself have three or four a year, saving them for occasions when his other coping mechanisms aren’t working.

-He was raised in the church, since he grew up in the South, and his spirituality is still important to him, but he doesn’t attend church regularly because he’s seen a lot of people do terrible things and justify it with their religion, and he finds churches generally aren’t progressive enough, especially in Virginia

-That being said, this man has definitely read most of the Bible, and his favourite chapter is Romans 13 because he feels like it speaks to his life; a career in law enforcement, trying to be righteous and do good, but ultimately, recognizing that love, not vengeance, is the most important way to carry out God’s will

-On a completely different note, he hasn’t had a lot of close female friendships or relationships in his life, so when you have a daughter, you have to start at square one and teach him everything. What to expect when she grows up, how to talk to her about her body in a positive way, all those important parenting things that he didn’t realize would be different from raising a boy

-There are smaller things you teach him too, like how to do her hair, how to paint her nails, how to pick clothes in colours that work together (because let’s be honest; this man has lived in shades of grey/navy/black for a while now)

-Every single morning, like clockwork, he presses a kiss to the top of her head before he drops her off at daycare, or before he leaves for work and you drop her off, or before he leaves you both for a work trip. The tradition starts as soon as he finishes his paternity leave and goes back to work, and lasts until she moves out of state for college

-He knows she’ll be safe, the two of you have taken every possible measure to ensure that your home is secure, her daycare is safe, the schools she attends are out of harm’s way, and she’s done age-appropriate self-defense training since she could walk. It’s probably overkill, but Hotch would not have it any other way. He’s seen too much carnage in his life to trust the world with his baby girl.

-When Hotch explains one day that he’s not doing it to be clingy, but because he never knows what will happen during his work day, you can’t help but cry. He’s right, nothing is certain, but it breaks your heart nonetheless.

-Maybe a little controversial, but I think Hotch would definitely be pro co-sleeping. Although the first few months are rough, defined by sleepless nights and being woken up by the sound of tiny cries, he sleeps a little bit better knowing that if anything goes wrong, he’s in the room with her, and so are you.

-On the topic of the first few months, while the baby gets hungry several times a night, you realize you’ve married the right man. When you groan softly and start to sit up so you can feed her, Hotch touches your arm gently and whispers “I’ve got it,” and gets up to put some milk in the warmer. You can’t quite fall back asleep, so you watch Hotch in the nursing chair, rocking gently and shushing the baby quietly, stroking her head with his index finger.

-When he sees you watching him, he smiles. You smile too, watching the man of your dreams rocking the baby you made together back to sleep, the bottle looking so tiny in his hands.

#aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner/reader #aaron hotchner x reader #hotch headcanons #hotch/reader #criminal minds

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gregrulzok · 3 years ago

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Mitsuya, Hakkai, and Gay Coding

So the Tokyo Revengers' fandom's notorious and rampant homophobia makes this topic almost impossible to discuss anywhere outside of Tumblr... But I at least wanted to touch on it here.

Mitsuya and Hakkai are almost certainly gay coded, and there's a reason it's important.

Mitsuya is gay coded individually. He's written to be read as a young gay teen.

The most compelling piece of evidence to this is his Home Economics class. He is the only man there, seemingly friends with a ton of girls, who all seem to trust and like him.

Note here that Japanese culture isn't American culture - men being casual friends with women isn't as normalized as it may be here, and in most places a man in an otherwise all-woman club would be considered to be trying to "get with" one or more of them. We never, ever hear this about Mitsuya.

In fact, Mitsuya is one of the few TR characters that we see show no interest whatsoever in women. The most notable scene here is the beach scene, Kazutora and Pah-Chin both stare at the women in bikinis, but Mitsuya and Draken instantly dash to the ocean without paying it any attention. This is even pointed out by Kazutora, who remarks on how strange it is that neither of them cared.

("So is Draken gay coded?" My heart says yes, but his relationship with Emma says no. Draken is just desensitised to seeing female bodies.)

And of course, sewing and fashion, very stereotypically feminine things, are Mitsuya's main interests. While it's not exactly progressive to say that effeminate = gay, I implore you once again that this is all being written by an old Japanese ex-gang member, and not a modern day American LGBT teen.

My point is that, though it's a little stereotypical, Mitsuya has many qualities that would liken him to an old-school depiction of a gay teen. Which, in a way, is in line with the old-school aesthetic and worldview of Yankees and Yankee culture.

Now - Hakkai.

Hakkai is not gay coded individually - he's a model, but that's not seen as a particularly effeminate thing, and he's shown to have some interest in girls, seeing as he freezes up talking to them.

However, Hakkai is absolutely intended to be read as having a crush on Mitsuya. Honestly I can't even bring myself to write a paragraph explaining it, so here's a bullet list of things Hakkai has done:

Repeatedly remarked how much he "really likes" Mitsuya, coupled with other characters talking about this. This is not something that happens to any other duo with this frequency.

Set Mitsuya's face as his phone lockscreen.

Immediately thought of Mitsuya when the words "I like him" were spoken.

Said "Who wouldn't fall in love with him" after something that Mitsuya did almost exclusively for his sake.

Immediately upon finding out that it WASN'T about Mitsuya, was completely baffled and confused about how it could possibly be anyone else.

Gave Mitsuya a specialised nickname that consists of shortening his given name and adding "-chan". Given names are seen as more intimate in Japan, while the "-chan" suffix is mostly used for girls, younger relatives, or romantic partners. Mitsuya isn't a girl, and he's older than Hakkai, who looks up to him. So... Again, this is not mimicked by any other duo.

Chose a career based on what Mitsuya wanted to do in an attempt to be close to him.

Then, when he got more famous and busy, still carved out time to visit him seemingly very regularly.

Seemingly ignored a crowd of girls that all wanted to talk to him to make his way to Mitsuya as quickly as possible.

Straight up called Mitsuya "hot".

Maybe some of these things individually could be read as a coincidence, or a joke, but compiling it all in a list definitely shows that this was, more than likely, very intentional.

"But he says he sees Mitsuya like a brother!!" Hakkai looks up to and admires Mitsuya, who, as a child, taught him how to act and inspired him to be better. This is how Hakkai thinks brothers should be, and given his issues with his real brother, it's not a surprise that he's looking for brotherly guidance elsewhere.

However, three things.

Hakkai is very young and inexperienced. At that age, it's not difficult to confuse romantic feelings for familial ones.

Relationships change and grow with people. Many childhood friends-to-lovers feel as if they're siblings when they're little kids, but then transition to a relationship. This is also a VERY common anime trope that seems to only be an issue when they're both boys. 🤔

"Like a brother" is, sometimes, used as a euphemism in East Asian countries to censor or hint at gay lovers.

Mitsuya is almost certainly coded to be gay, and Hakkai is almost certainly written with a crush on Mitsuya in mind.

And why is this important?

Because they're both scrappy, edgy, shitty teenage boys.

Neither of them are misfits or outcasts. Neither of them are weak or dainty or need protection. They're not perverts, or deviants, they're not girly or looked down on. They're loved, respected by their friends. Their friends don't question their interests, or their bonds.

They're allowed to just be two teen boys that happen to be gay.

Two teen boys that happen to be gay, that are accepted at face value for who they are by their friends, no questions or conditions.

Nothing more, nothing less.

You can't pay for that kind of representation.

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writeshite · 3 years ago

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Masterlist

Authors Note:

Hello, now, before you traverse my collection of shitty writing, please take the time to read through the rules down below.

Rules:

I DON'T WRITE FOR FEMALE!READER. I write primarily for male and gender-neutral readers; my blog is catered explicitly for these two demographics. I am Agendered and generally tend to fit between these two categories in terms of fanfiction and often find it hard to find fics to read that aren't all female readers. If you don't like that, you are more than welcome to leave. If you are a female user/reader etc. I ask you to remain respectful in your interactions, at all times.

What I will write:

male!reader

gender-neutral reader

smut

angst

fluff

comfort

headcanons

drabbles

series

What I won't write

female!reader

underage characters (anyone under 17)

necrophilia

real people

pedophilia

age play

rape/non-con

incest

offensive/harmful things

If you're not 100% sure about anything, feel free to DM me for questions, and I'll do my best to clarify. On that note, I have the right to refuse a request if I feel uncomfortable with it in any way. I will do my best to bring you all writing of excellent and concise quality as regularly as possible.

Additionally, understand that these are all works of fiction; I am perfectly fine with writing for topics including mafias, mobs, murder, organized crime, war, mental illness, abuse, etc.; all I ask is you do not romanticize them in any way. Reading it is fine; please don't romanticize them in your head. This isn't Wattpad.

Do not argue or start anything with me regarding not writing for female!readers; at any given time, I am running on less sleep than I should and am ready to throw hands with the gods. There is already a vast abundance of female!reader content; I am merely here to provide for the rest of us who do not fall in that category. If i see you flooding my ask box with such things I will come for you in your dreams and devour your soul. 🙃

Updated May 25, 2023

Doctor Who

Ninth Doctor

Hello Again

After the Time War, you always thought you were the last survivor, turns out you were wrong.

Honeymoon

Reunited once again, you and the Doctor take a second honeymoon and a new adventure.

Leave the Bad Memories Behind

The Doctor hadn’t said much on the matter, having disappeared as soon as you were away from Van Statten’s collection, his expression pinched. You’d briefly reached out to him, but he’d brushed you off with a less than convincing smile and twaddled off elsewhere into the TARDIS.

Tenth Doctor

Jealous My Dear

Request from Anon: If you're up to it, I had an idea that you could write. Since the Doctor speaks pretty much any language, I thought that maybe, you are the doctor's S/O (significant other), and he gets jealous of a stray cat or dog that keeps following you, and because he speaks their "language", he's like, "excuse me, stop trying to flirt with my S/O!" You can choose which doctor that suits this best!

The Library of the Dead - Series

You came to the Library after receiving a message on the psychic paper, and while there you meet the mysterious River Song who knows far more about you than you do her and leaves you with the promise of seeing you in the future.

Play Us A Song

Request from @evan-escencing : Absolutely in love with your work! If you’re still open for requests, would you consider maybe doing something for Doctor Who with the (10) doctor? The reader is a companion alongside Rose, and as their adventures continue, the doctor starts realizing he’s gaining feelings for the reader while the reader shares the same feelings. Before his travels, he was in a band and when he decides to go back to focus on it, the doctor doesn’t take it lightly, not wanting to watch him go. He gets a little upset when he drops him off and when he and drop in one day, they run into her performing with his band. In the end, he realizes his talent in music, and during their reunion, they confess to each other and he rejoins him for more adventures to come. Thank you in advance! ❤️

Thirteenth Doctor

Timelords Are In Fact Quite Rubbish At Baking

You were both Timelords, old, wise, and ancient Timelords. You're species invented and pioneered time travel; you've saved the universe multiple times. Surely you can bake a cake.

The Sandman

Morpheus

A Vision Of Beauty

Morpheus finds himself in a dream of bright twisted forests, of figures dancing in the wind, and laughter that rings through his mind. At the heart of this, he finds a vision of beauty - golden wings arched, ascending to the skies, a broken halo cast around a figure whose laughter was that he’d heard. At the heart of this, he finds you.

Dream Not Of The Morning

Request from @mxliv-oftheendless: Hi! Would it be possible to see more of the Fallen Angel/son of Lucifer character with Morpheus?? Their dynamic is stellar!

Sleep Is The Best Medicine

Request from Anon: hi! i was wondering if you could do a morpheus / male reader fic in a modern au? (and w/o smut please im ace srry :/) and idk reader's nice? in general ?I'm sorry i don't usually do requests so idk what to say but i rlly like how u write !

It Is Better To Have Loved And Lost (Than Never To Have Loved At All)

Request from @cherryte4: This is my first time requesting sth and it feels weird, okay- So, for about a week I had that one idea of a Morpheus/Love!Mmmale Reader, Like hes one of the Primordal Gods-> More important than Morpheus and [...]. ON the point. I wanted to ask for an angst to fluff. Like while Morphy is locked or, Reader, who is married to Morpheus, falls asleep and noone can wake him up, so people(and gods too ofc) slowly Loose their love(Love in as the feeling). AND WE ALL NEED LOVE. So when morpheus then wakes up again he goes back home, cant find his Husband he searches evrywhere, He has a lot of canonly flashbacks and stuff blablabla. After a while he visits the Readers Realm and sees that it's also destroyed blublublub he wakes them up and happy end. I just have I writerblock atm...If u want to u can add smut but idrc '-' Also its just fine if u dint wanna write that. :D

Lovebirds

Request from Anon: I absolutely adore your fics omfg. Could i request morpheus x tattooed!reader where he likes tracing reader’s tattoos when he’s stressed or upset? or reader playing with morpheus’ hair !

One More Lifetime Won't Kill Anyone

Request from @cherryte4 : OMG luce is back at it BOOOOOM. DO I KNOW WHO TO REQUEST FEO: no. Do I know it'll be angsty af? YES! Should I keep writing my own ff instead of writing Requests? Kinda. Also I just stepped on my MacBook and i think its dead- NYways enough from my life :) Of course it's gonna be for morphy again, cus I love that man. So. There ist this one guy, who cheated death in Greek mythology (wikilink) . So my Idea is that there is someone on earth who does the same, best woul be to set it in the mid 18th hundred bc of the clothes, I love the clothes. Death had been chasing that boy for like a while, but genuinely cant discover him and when she does reader always runs away. So she asks dream for a bit help, and the the good lil brother he is, he agrees to help. He and Lucien read through nearly all the books in the library, dont find that boy in the dream books though, but they find his diary. Morpheus reads through it and starts sympathizing with the reader, so he visits them. They argue and he starts liking them more. The rest be urs :D I just cant put things in words rn. <\3 I really loved how u made my other Request in a wonderful fanfic so… I thought why not Request again.! Greets Luce ~

Hit Close To Home

Request from Anon: Hi. So I was wondering if you are up for it if you could write a agents. For Morpheus x reader. Where the reader died of a sickness and Morpheus is all upset. The Corinthian was best friends with reader and when he died the corinthian blamed Morpheus. When the corinthian tries and gets rose on his side he tells her that Morpheus killed his lover. And when rose confronts him in the dreaming, Morpheus explained what happened and he kinda just brakes down. ( you can make up the end ). Anyway, if you feel uncomfortable writing this, then that is ok. Bye! ( btw male reader pls )

Sweet Dreams Are Made Of Tears

Request from @inthehoneymoonwithconnorrk800: Hi! I was wondering if you could make a yandere! dark! sandman x reader. I know it's a bit of a novelty for you, but it would be great if you did! Sorry for my bad english, its not my first language.

Marvel

Tony Stark

Krampusbesuch

Running into the woods was never a good idea, much less in the middle of the night, with snow all around. There was also the fact that Tony couldn’t see shit, but hey, impulsive decisions led to shitty situations. At least the weather was nice.

Eddie Brock/Venom

I Need to Pee

If a cat falls asleep on you, you're not allowed to move, if Venom and Eddie fall asleep on you, they don't let you move.

Spring and Death

It is said the god of death holds no love for anyone, that a demon befell from the heavens and tarnished the death god. At least that’s what your mother said

Catch Me If You Can

Request from @nekoprankster218: I got a craving for a Venom fic premise where the OC/reader is a criminal and can't find anything like it yet. So how 'bout a reader who's a minor criminal (minor as in doesn't harm anyone with the exception of self-defense) that keeps evading and fending off Venom (+ Eddie), and playfully taunts the vigilante duo (maybe flirty too?), until the day Venom finally captures them. But by then, both parties have grown too fond of each other.

Cosmic Boyfriend Shenanigans - Series

A chronicle of writings dedicated to Eddie and Venom with a cosmic god for a boyfriend. With the added bonus of the two as the himbos, they were born to be.

Stood Up

Eddie was more than aware he'd been stood up; thank goodness a handsome stranger came along and saved what would've been a shitty night.

Four-Armed Boyfriend for the Himbos - Series

Another set of scenarios, involving Eddie, Venom, and a tall beefy alien, this time with four arms and a tail, the four-armed beefy boyfriend is a little more growly, but he only bites when his boyfriends ask.

An Eldritch God For a Boyfriend? Yes Please

Request from @brieffarmpeanutpersona: Ok so we cosmic god, alien boyfriend. But what about Eddie and Venom with a boyfriend that's an eldritch god? Headcanons or scenarios, whatever you want

Chunky Forest Boyfriend

Request from Anon: Can I get a headcanon or scenario Eddie and V with a large chunky forest spirit boyfriend. (why can I imagine them using him either as a pillow or a bed depending on how large he is)

King's Consort

In the span of a week, Eddie went from penniless servant to consort to the fucking king.

Headcanons for a Short Twink Boyfriend

Request from @untitled63480 : How about a short alien twink S/O with venom/eddie

Lingerie Surprise

Request from Anon: Hello :3 Can I request headcanons of Venom and Eddie by the male reader surprising them in lingerie?

Sleep No More

Request from Anon: how would Eddie and v deal with a bf that was cursed to lose his ability to sleep

One Feral Little Moth

Request from Anon: How about a Mothman x Venom/Eddie S/O

Heavenly Body

Request from @pupuurin: I need more Eddie fucking his twink alien bf rawrsksjskhjk👹👹👹👹

Bunny, Hop, Hop

Request From Anon: We have a lot of himbos here with not but Eddie and venom with himbo bunny male reader reader have pair of bunny ears and a fluffy cotton tail and perfect muscles and a pair of huge tiddies and since he is a rabbit he will breed Eddie and venom headcanons

Bucky Barnes

Who's The Short One Now Fucker?

Sometimes even people as tall as Bucky will find others taller than them, others of course, being you.

Sir, Yes, Sir

It is said that the human anus can stretch seven inches before taking damage, and a raccoon can squeeze through holes as small as four inches; therefore, one could take two raccoons up one’s ass. What does this have to do with taking three dicks up your ass? Well, everything, considering said dicks could be categorized in the super department.

NSFW Headcanons

Request from Anon: could you please write bucky nsfw alphabet too?

Thor Odinson

Little Rascal

There's a good chance that falling for your son's teacher was like the number one no-no, but hey when have you ever been the one to stick to the rules?

Match Made In Valhalla - Series

Were it up to Thor, he would raze the ground where he stood so he could not marry. But alas, the duty of a king is to his people first, and if that duty entails marriage, Thor will - begrudgingly - do so.

Blessed with Lingerie

Request from @isaacloveswwe: Hi I'm new to your blog and I really love your fics! Can I request a smutty headcanon for thor x black male reader (reader wears lingerie but finally has the confidence to wear it around thor).

These Hands Hold Me Close

“How am I meant to move on with my life?” He asked once the tears subsided, “These hands have only known battle, but there is no more of that, and peace feels worlds away.” He drew back, solemnly gazing down at his trembling hands.

Blessed By The Gods

Thor Odinson. How does one encapsulate the majesty that is Thor Odinson? Some had called him handsome, others a dream hunk; personally, you’d call him that and more. And flirty. You’d also call him flirty, very, very flirty.

Rewrite Reality

“It worked…” Thor’s familiar voice sounded; he ran forward, gathering you in his arms, and muttered those words repeatedly. “It actually worked.” “Thor?” you questioned, drawing back to look him in the eye; his hair was longer and messier, he had bags under his eye, and his beard was grown. His eyes, though, they were icier, icier than they should be, and his eyepatch partially covered a lightning-shaped scar that stretched from his chin up to his forehead. “What happened to you?”

Soft Moments

Request from Anon: *tugs at collar* Um, so I don't know what comic THAT art of Thor is from but I need more of him in my life like yesterday 👀

Steve Rogers

Saddle Up Partner

You huff, “Anything you can tell me about the sheriff? Is he rough? Does he cry as some of the others do?” You ask, leaning against the door, “Come on, Nat, you’ve slept with him; what’s he like in bed?” “You’ll find out, but a word of advice, don’t expect to walk much tomorrow.”

Backstage Pass

Request from @issacloveswwe: Hi it's me again! I was wondering if you could do a smutty fic for bodyguard Steve Rogers x Black Male Reader? Reader is a stripper and Steve is the bouncer/bodyguard and he is just smitten by the reader because the reader wears revealing lingerie when he performs. Reader notices this and invites Steve to the back for some fun 😏

Il ne faut rien laisser au hasard. - Series

Are you dating a mafia boss? Technically yes. Is it bad? Maybe, who knows. At least he's cute

Sir, Yes, Sir

Sweet Devil

Request from Anon: Is it ok to ask for Soft incubus m/n x steve rogers, both secretly dating please 🥰

Sam Wilson

Sir, Yes, Sir

Arthur Curry

Deeply Loved

Requested By Anon: Could I request some Arthur Curry fluff+smut? He and the reader have known each other forever, and have always been best friends. They often flirt, protect each other and have that ‘will-they-won’t-they’ vibe, but nothing happens for years despite people always thinking they’re a couple. Reader’s birthday comes and he has a little celebration, though he and Arthur go off on their own to enjoy the rest of the night. They’re having a walk by a beach and Arthur stops them to confess his feelings, and he’s thrilled the reader feels the same. They kiss before things get heated but they find a little cave nearby to take things further, where they start off slow and sweet and end it pretty rough. Aftercare and cuddles would be great as well 🤍 a bitch’s birthday is approaching, and Arthur is very much underrated so, why not kill two birds with one stone?

Siren's Song

Requested By Anon: Arthur Curry deserves more love, so in the spirit of that I have a request for him lol- Male!Reader is an Atlantean with siren-like abilities, who mostly uses them to charm people into giving them pretty things. Reader gets hired to steal Arthur's Trident, but sees Arthur for the first time and is immediately "yes I want all of that". He steals the Trident anyway, but only so Arthur will chase him to a more secluded area, where Reader starts seducing him. Arthur's somewhat baffled at first because that isn't where he thought this encounter was going (he was kinda expecting a brawl) but he rolls with it, realising he might have a thing for sexy thieves-

Criminal Minds

Spencer Reid

Smart Cookie

“Huh, impressive, Dr. Reid; you’re a smart cookie.” You hold a door open, and he passes through; confused, he turns back. “Smart cookie?” “Yeah, you know, clever, intelligent,” you explained, “a smart cookie.”

Love You To The Moon & Back

Request From Anon: would you write more of the smart cookie fic? I'm just very very into it and would love a part 2 🫶🏻

Lucifer

Hunger For The Devil

Request from @houseofalexo: So here's the plot. M/N is a sin, but not just any sin he's the Sin of Gluttony(Beelzebub). So I'm thinking this is how they met. M/N was in a restaurant eating a lot of foods, and Lucifer is intrigued by M/N, because M/N eats a lot but was able to maintain a healthy body. Lean and fit. At one point someone or more then a few people, tries to hit on M/N, but he just ignores them. And the people don't like that, so they threw M/N food to the ground, and M/N being the sin of gluttony became very angry. Fast forawrd, M/N won the battle againat the people. I'm thinking of a diologue like. "I am Beelzebub! The Sin of Gluttony!" for when he reveals himself. And maybe after fighting the people he's like, "I would've devour you, but I don't eat trash/shit!" Lucifer is turned on. But he decided to go the gentleman route, and ask M/N out for a date. M/N is like, if there's food he'll go. So during the date, Lucifer ask M/N to be his lover. M/N accepts. And after the date they went back to Lucifer's penthouse and smut.

GOT/HOTD

Robb Stark

Puppy Love

“One would think you’ve become besotten with me, Lord Stark,” you quip, circling each other at a slow pace. “I would agree.” His arm moves up, and you meet it, wrists side by side, “dragons are a rare sight in the North; anyone would be enamored.” You chuckle, “I should say the same; wolves are equally as captivating."

Good Boy

Request from Anon: Could I request a follow up fic to Puppy Love? Where Robb takes Y/n’s invitation and they have the best sex of their lives. Curious to see how you’d write for a Submissive Robb 👀

Jon Snow

NSFW Alphabet

Request from Anon: Jon snow nsfw alphabet? 😍

Grey's Anatomy

Mark Sloan

More Than A Passing Fancy - Series

Seattle Grace is like school, if you miss a day, you’ll miss out on a lot. Unfortunately for you, you’d missed several days, and returned to the masterpiece that is Doctor Mark Sloan - who would love nothing more than to start something serious with you, despite some people's disbelief in that.

Bleeding Heart - Series

They say love comes in many forms, for you it came, chew you up, spat you out, and left you a broken mess. It looks like it might have returned, gods know how you'll handle it this time.

Chivalrous Gentleman

Request from @wolf-knights: Hi there, can I request a mark sloan fic, I'm loving the fics you have already written both the fluff and angsty one. ❤️

Mark Sloan's ABCs In Smut

Request from Anon: Smut ABC’s with Mark Sloan? From A-Z if you could!

Old & In Love

Request From Anon: If its okay- Can I request more mark sloan x male reader 👉👈 Like I read the one you made and its so good! and sadly its literally the only mark sloan x m.reader in tumblr i think-

It's The Little Things That Make Fall In Love With You

Request From Anon: Had the idea for something with Mark where there’s a new doctor transferred to the hospital. The doctor’s this hot, badass, takes-no-bullshit type guy and Mark immediately tries to flirt and get them to sleep with him when he gets there. He’s confused when the doctor always turns him down every time so Mark just thinks he’s losing his magic. After a few more attempts, he decides to take another apporach by trying to get to know him better personally, and being assigned to cases together gives Mark the chance to do so. They grow a friendship, and Mark’s surprised to see a soft side to the usually work-driven, serious doctor he’s used to seeing. The friendship eventually grows into something romantic, but the doctor isn’t the hooking up and sleeping around type so Mark gets his act together to be a good partner for him. Maybe they even have a couple nickname given by the doctors in the hospital they find about later?

Tumble Weed

Request From Anon: Hello! Would it be possible to ask for a Mark fic where the reader takes some weed cookies by accident like how it happened in 14x20 (clever with the ep choice) and he’s just super giggly and more affectionate than usual with Mark, and Mark finds it amusing while trying to calm him down a little. Yes, I know Mark canonically isn’t in the episode, but I don’t wanna talk about it lmao

Dying's Not For Everyone

Request From @nathannathan19: Hi, could I ask for another Mark Sloan fic? It could be in an AU where he's a god, maybe Dionysus, and the reader is a mortal who ends up becoming a god by falling in love and marrying him.

Not A Day Goes By, I Don't Think Of You

Request From Anon: Would you be alright with writing some Mark angst where Mark and the reader are exes, and they didn’t end in good terms. Mark is trying to change his ways to be a better man to prove he wants them back but the Reader has a lot of anger towards him still. Mark gets hurt really bad, and has to be taken in for an emergency procedure since he’s between life akd death. The ex is the only one who can perform it since he’s the only specialist in the area. After successfully finishing the surgery and waits for Mark to wake in recovery, he thinks about all the times Mark made an effort to fix things and actually meant it so when Mark does wake, they talk things out amd start over.

Bad Shit Happens Sometimes

Request From @denim-devil: Seriously no rush or anything but, maybe comforting Mark after a hard day of work, maybe a patient coding/dying on his hands actually jarred him or something, like really affected him and you just coddle him for the evening, maybe with some kisses and affirmations, Mark letting his emotions be shown for once?… thank you!

Alex Karev

The Way Old Friends Do

Request From Anon: Alex and MR are best friends from medical school and are both in the same residency class and they both have crushes on each other. MR sees Meredith mess with the Alzheimer’s trial but doesn’t say anything, but Alex sees what Meredith does and finds out that MR knows about it. When a drunk Alex tells Owen that Meredith mess with the trial, he also tells Owen that MR knew about it but didn’t say anything getting Meredith and MR both in trouble. MR confronts Alex about what he did and is angry with Alex leading to him not speaking to Alex for weeks making Alex sad since now he lost his best friend. Alex does everything he can do gain that trust, and in the end, he ends up gaining MR trust back and confesses to him and both share their feelings for each other.

The Walking Dead

Daryl Dixon

Kindred Spirits - Series

There are very few aspects of life to enjoy during the apocalypse - food is 100% free now, and the housing market is practically non-existent - though you did kinda miss your T.V. Nothing much to do out here at the end of the world except for falling in love with an archer out of the blue.

Kintsugi

Request from Anon: helloooo, just wanted to make a daryl dixon request? the male readers are lacking lmao. it's canon that daryl was very abused and mistreated by his father when merle was away and in one scene where merle tears up his shirt from behind daryl has scares from when he was beaten up with probably a belt. Daryl now has a boyfriend who loves him so much, but he was avoidant of the topic with him. Until they were having their aftercare session after an intimate moment and reader takes little time to see Daryl's back, Daryl's head on reader's lap while he smokes and caresses the scarred back, that's when Daryl opens up about everything. "I'll take care of you." "It's rotten work." "Not for me, not if it's you."

Stranger Things

Billy Hargrove

Mouthy Little Slut

Request from Anon: Bonjour 👀 It is I just on anon! I was wondering if I could request a Billy Hargrove x bottom!male reader smut. This might be confusing but I’m gonna try my best here - So basically, the reader is cocky, doesn’t let up to Billy’s bullying, doesn’t really care. This makes Billy even angrier, and one day reader says some off-hand remark and Billy is like “What did you just say?” and pins him to the wall. Yadda yadda smut ensues IDK 🫣 If you need suggestions for kinks maybe uhh degradation with a mix of rough sex mayhaps…

Pretty Boy

Request from Anon: HIIII I’m so impressed with your writing it’s so rare to find x male readers where reader isn’t some stereotypical twink boy so ur fics r SO REFRESHING praise praise god bless. ANWAYS I have come to your doorstep to request perhaps a part 2 to Mouthy Little Slut? I’m down so bad for Billy and you write him so well. I’m thinking reader and Billy continue with their little thing they have going on and reader of course antagonizes Billy all the damn time but it’s noticeable to others now how Billy can control reader now with a simple flick of a finger or low, short whisper, basically how much more “tame” he’s gotten to be at Billy’s command. I can’t think how but maybe a smut scene could be incorporated some where? With either lots of praise or ofc reader being an asshat and messing with billy so very fun happenings ensue !!!!

With A Taste Of Your Lips

Request From Anon: Male reader x Billy Hargrove smut? Reader is a Gothic emo nerd kid in the class who is known for loving dnd, being one of the only ones who openly liked men, and overall a bad ass person, and Billy & him have a rival relationship, always competing in everything, but one day Billy finds out that reader is into machosism/pain kink? And Billy starts enjoying to pull at their hair, inflicting pain onto him sometimes, liking to see that he makes pleasurable noises to it, and maybe one day during a party, Billy fucks him hardcore in a bathroom, and they start a secret sex relationship from then on? ;)

Himbo Reader

Day one of asking for billy hargrove x himbo reader (smut and fluff)

Steve Harrington

Guilty As Charged

Request from Anon: it’s ur fellow anon here!! just wanted to request bratty!sub!steve harrington x dom!male reader smut! steve wants to be a brat to y/n abt something stupid, so be it. he gonna get punished tho 😏

Chaotic Attraction

Request From Anon: Okay would I be able to request a Steve Harrington x male reader it can be 1/2 parts cause I kinda want it to end with a smut (bottom reader) but could you do like the reader and Steve have a really good bond and are very close like basically dating but also no title cause they’re bestfriends with feelings even tho they don’t admit it (if you get that; kinda unspoken deeper connection) and the reader has powers like chaos magic and is constantly trying to go toe to toe with some of the big bads cause they’d do anything to protect their friends…(could include male reader and bestfriendships with Robin Nancy and max) but Steve always gets too stressed seeing the guy he’s in love with in danger and one time he just blows up saying that the reader can’t distract the villain cause it’s just too dangerous and they have to confront all the feelings…flash forward to after the fight reader and Steve smut maybe?

Eddie Munson

Playing House

Eddie ‘the freak’ Munson did not think he would ever get the chance to play house, at least with anyone in Hawkins; I mean, have you seen this town? He swallowed his words the second he saw you deck Jason and a few of his basketball friends. The freak in love with the beast, a classic not really fairytale.

This Is Music

Request From Anon: eddie x male reader who does corpse paint and listens to heavy metal hcs?

The Boys

Homelander

All’s Fair In Love and War

“How would you like it if someone told you to stop sleeping around like the manwhore that you are?” He jabs back. Your hand goes to his face; roses wind up your arm, and the thorns prick at his skin as they come up to your fingers, “We may be lovers, darling, but need I remind you I won’t hesitate to strangle you,” you darkly tell him, stroking his cheek. “Oh, my poor sweet darling,” you coo, voice changing tone; Homelander’s body grows lax, and the rose on your hand puffs out a cloud of spores.

You Are My Sunshine, My Only Sunshine

Request From Anon: I'm on my knees begging for more Homelander stuff

Lay All Your Love On Me

Request From Anon: Can you write homelander x male reader?

Look Into His Angel Eyes

Request from Anon: Male reader x homelander please, with smut and seduces him to become the good superhero, please?

One Look And You're Hypnotized

Request From Anon: I absolutely love the homelander x therapist smut! Can I request a part two where John wants the reader to top him? Fluffy smut too

Good Natured

Request from @ayamethewitch: There are a great many mysteries in this world; some are solved by the advent of science, others remain secrets of the universe, but without a doubt, perhaps the greatest mystery known to humanity is how you willingly dated and continue to date the Homelander.

Unplanned Attraction

Request From Anon: Hey I love your writing could you do one where Homelander finds out that Male Supe!Reader has kids because he's always late to meetings. And maybe fluffy ending where Supe!Reader stands up to Homelander saying he would rather give up his powers if it means he can still have his kids and Homelander being impressed that he asked him out?

Soldier Boy

Pose For Me

Request From Anon: Soldier boy 😩😩😩😩👌👌👌😍😍😍 If you write for him I’ll love you even more 🥺🥺🥺

My Love, My Life

Request From Anon: Hi there, I just read your soldier boy fic and when I say I'm deeply in love with it I mean it! So I wanted to request something for the soldier boy with ftm reader... {this is a small plot} Ben could be meeting reader through one of his friends or something and instantly has feelings for reader which progress to smut and after a time skip you see them getting married. Sorry if this too specific and if you don't feel comfortable writing it, it's okay. Thank you ❤️

The Gray Man

Lloyd Hansen

Deal?

“Perfect.” Despite the finality of your statement, Lloyd doesn’t make a move to back away; when you try to, he just drags you back close, tapping your back with the gun, “Do we have a deal?” “Depends,” he snickers, harshly pushing you to your knees; he all but shoves his tented crotch in your face, “How good’s your mouth?”

Knives Out

Ransom Drysdale

Honeybee

His face is scrunched in mild irritation as he drives to the farmer’s market; when he parks, he places his head against the steering wheel and groans. “I don’t see the point of coming all the way here when we can have this shit delivered to us,” he grumbles. “It’s not the same, dear,” you tell him, “coming here, we get fresh air, human contact, and the benefits of vitamin D.”

Events

Bestiary

Welcome one and all to The Bestiary, an event to host all manner of halloween themed fics in celebration around the time of year I came up with the idea to start this blog. This collection is specifically for male!reader and gender-neutral!reader, as this is an annual event, I'll do four fics for each week of October. Blessed Samhain 🎃.

Bestiary | 2022

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very-grownup · 3 years ago

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Conventions of Fantasy Monarchs, Queens, and the Subversion Thereof

I think a lot about Megan Whalen Turner’s use of monarchy in her novels and how that compares to royalty as presented in children’s fantasy fiction (as well as adult fantasy fiction, although I think there has been a strong turn away from rulers as absolute moral arbiters in the past twenty-five years, maybe, in favour of portrayals that are not necessarily more nuanced or realistic but are certainly more corrupt and far from divine) and Turner as a feminist writer and how these two aspects of her writing are interlinked. The nature of her approach to her Queen’s Thief series, however, requires a finer focus to begin from the wide view. While other authors world build with brick and mortar, Turner’s books create their world through origami. Each book is a separate piece and is folded into the next.

In "The Thief", Turner starts by establishing the three kingdoms of the Little Peninsula: Sounis, Eddis, Attolia. King, Queen, Queen. Although “The Thief” is wholly Gen’s story, the King of Sounis appearing briefly at the beginning, the Queens of Attolia and Eddis appearing at the end, they are established as the powers that be, the decision makers, the three figures trying to maintain their country and their identity in balance with the martial and economic pressures from all out sides. We know little about any of the monarchs, beyond that Sounis is older and Eddis and Attolia are both young. That the young women are queens, not princesses, is immediately a quiet triumph, an eyeshiver of subverting the unquestioned status quo (you think now, as an adult, of all the uninterrogated eternal princesses in your media, the young women without fathers or with fathers specifically deceased, and the refusal to permit their ascension to an adult title).

Indeed, in “The Thief” it is impossible to envision them as princesses for they are not given names. This is not an oversight on Turner’s part, not a diminishment of their personhood or, at least, not a diminishment of personhood that is not considered part of the parcel of governance. The three monarchs are frequently referred to simply by the name of their country, even dispensing with King/Queen of [Country]. Of course this implies a degree of the individual as their country, their country as the embodiment of the individual, the placing of country before self which, in and of itself, calls on the typical mythos found coupled with a hereditary monarchy. But it also shapes the reader’s understanding of the dynamic between the three monarchs as equal. Queens instead of princesses is adult and the further step of country in lieu of title degenders them, allowing the reader to move beyond their expectations for these titles, these roles, based on previously consumed media or even an awareness of those monarchies which continue today.

It is easy to overlook these socially conditioned expectations; the woman who is a doctor but regularly addresses as “Ms.” without second thought versus the rudeness of anyone forgetting to address a man by his professional credentials. Turner lifts the reader away from expectations they may have for such archetypes as ‘king’ and ‘queen’ without any fanfare given for what she is doing.

Moving beyond the scope of the three monarchs, into the matter of Eddis and Attolia, the only female characters in "The Thief". When the women appear, Turner sets up a familiar feminine binary between the two queens. Eddis is ugly but kind. Attolia is beautiful but cruel. Subsequent books prevent this from being a reductive portrayal of women without invalidating the initial descriptors. Eddis is never described as particularly attractive, but in certain eyes she is beautiful, without it ever seeming like a case of a perceptive/quality man perceiving a non-traditional beauty. Her kindness is tempered, prevented from being a weakness as she makes hard, sometimes ruthless decisions in “The Queen of Attolia” and those decisions are not motivated by possessing greater kindness than Attolia. Instead, she is equal to Attolia in her fierce love and protection of her country and its people. Attolia, the supremely beautiful woman who is cruel, is not the beautiful but evil queen not because she is not truly cruel, but because her cruelness is an expression of her ruthlessness. It is not petty, this is not a governmental expression of a Madonna-Whore dichotomy. It is two women who are physically very different operating in very similar roles with identical goals.

The physical difference is not significant; it is fact.

The important difference, the real dichotomy, is not a question of which of these women is good and which is evil, which woman is ugly and which is beautiful, which woman is pure and which is corrupt. It is, in fact, not a reflection of the women at all, but a reflection of the society and men around them.

More than the other books, the complete understanding of how Turner has taken superficial expectations of kings and queens and the portrayal of two women who, by existing in the same text will always in some way be positioned against each other, is achieved in “The King of Attolia”. Not, as might initially be thought in “The Queen of Attolia” in which the Wicked Queen is given the history and explanation that Explains her; for once we understand why she is wicked, will her actions not seem more understandable and forgivable? Turner in fact says no, Attolia’s cruel acts remain cruel; the nightmare consequences of one particular action continue throughout the series in the form of literal nightmares. “The Queen of Attolia” also gives Attolia a stand-in for someone who appears to be filling the role the evil advisor who leads a good woman astray for his own power and gain in the form of Nahuseresh.

“The King of Attolia” has a protagonist who is not of the nobility and from his perspective the reader gains a deeper understanding for how Attolia the country has been affected by Attolia the queen, the disruption of tradition rippling out to a disruption in the land and its greater politics. Initially, Attolia is a queen governing without a king, contrary to tradition. As a result, Attolia is surrounded by men wishing to control the country through her, their own schemes kept at bay by Attolia making ruthless example of a few individuals and setting the survivors against each other, focusing their attentions on the immediate threat of their peers rather than the abstract threat of not having direct control of Attolia yet. There is a sense given that the history of Attolia’s reign has been a steady escalation of ruthlessness as the scheming and the impatience of her barons persists and under the distraction of infighting, spies, beheading, and torture she secures alternate sources of power which strengthens the tie of loyalty binding the lower classes to her by instituting policies of a non-traditional nature like: meritocracy in the military, terms of indentured servitude having finite limits, and financial compensation for people working for the crown.

Attolia’s political actions, once the reader comes to understand them, are actions which elevate the powerless in her country and in doing so it enables to cement her own power: the power of one who, traditionally, would also be powerless. That we only become aware of this, truly appreciating the impact of Attolia as queen, instead of just the difficulties and hardships personally suffered, from the point of view of an insignificant young soldier and guard, who both fears and is loyal to the queen, imbues this interpretation of Attolia as one of greater truth than what is shown in the previous books. The narrator of “The King of Attolia”, Costis has a simpler view of the matter, a man on the ground view. He has no experience of living under the rule of anyone but this queen. He is not affected by the wider inter-country politics, his position is one formed by experiencing Attolia’s rule. It does not read as propaganda or apologia for the actions of this woman which are influenced by our ancient history and the politics therein.

Turner’s series has now come to an end and the number of main female characters never expanded beyond Eddis and Attolia but, in a genre that frequently fails women, even now, Eddis and Attolia are nuanced characters, powerful characters stretching the expectations of their archetypes and growing beyond them. The way Turner constructs her novels builds slowly and subtly into works that are feminist, despite the predominance of male characters, and strong with class solidarity and an anti-monarchial bent, despite the majority of the protagonists and point of view characters being members of the nobility. The genre and demographic do not need to steer the politics and ideas of a narrative and, in turn, those aspects cannot be accurately represented by simple numbers and Megan Whalen Turner demonstrates this often overlooked truth with each of her books.

#this would just be a first draft in my uni days #sometimes you need to write until you find the point #the thief #the queen of atolia #the king of attolia #megan whalen turner #The Queen's Thief series #maybe i'll revise this later

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harksness · 4 years ago

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Masterlist

All of my works are wlw reader inserts!! This is also a list of all the characters I write for and rules just in case you want to send in a request for a fic or headcanons!

Smut will have this symbol next to it- *

!MUST READ THE RULES BEFORE MAKING A REQUEST!

Rules for Requesting

Agatha Harkness

Milf Agatha*

NSFW HC*

Detective Harkness*

Distraction*

Heaven*

Distant Desires*

Kinktober Day 1- Mommy kink, corruption kink, praise, power dynamics

The Comfort of Rain

Coffee Cake

HC Blurb

No Going Back

Summary- An incurable illness plagues you, something one of a kind that has never been seen before. It corrupts magic, leaving you unable to use your powers without risking death or worse. Someone wants all of your unused power for themselves, and a reluctant Agatha Harkness is convinced to keep you safe after some bribing.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Forever Yours

Summary- (Prequel to No Longer Yours) Yours and Agatha's history is a long and complicated one that spans over three hundred years. It all began the day your parents died, when you and your little sister had no choice but to rely on the Harkness family or face the wrath of the people of Salem in the aftermath of your parents trial. You find comfort in Agatha's presence, and she finds comfort in yours while dealing with her own struggles. The hardships you both face drive the two of you closer together, and your relationship quickly takes a dark turn.

Temporary Hiatus!!

Chapter One

Chapter Two

No Longer Yours

Summary- (Sequel to Forever Yours) You thought you had a perfect little life here in Westview. You have a lovely house, a gorgeous wife. What more could you ask for? But when migraines start to torment you whenever you try to remember a life prior to all of this, you notice something is off. You especially start to notice how Agatha holds you a little too tightly, almost as if she’s desperately trying to hold onto something that’s no longer hers

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three*

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Olivia Octavius

Octopus Woman

Summary- Olivia gets sidetracked fighting Spider-Man and forgets about your date.

Sketchbook

Request- The reader regularly serves Olivia at the coffee shop she works at. Little does she know, Olivia doesn't come every day for the coffee.

Camera Shy*

Kinktober Day 3- Recording, bondage, praise, overstimulation.

Hela

Forget Me Not

Request- Odin is worried that his daughter will turn soft after falling in love with a maid, so he decides to do something about it.

Blue

Request- Can you do where female reader is feeling blue and Hela supports her?

Wasting Time*

Kinktober Day 5- Mirror sex, degradation, choking.

Natasha Romanoff

Worth It

Request- Being in a relationship with one of the world's most famous superheroes isn't easy, but she makes it worth it.

Sleeping Habits*

Kinktober Day 4- Somnophilia.

Wanda Maximoff

I Love Only You

Request- The Vision is a little too interested in your girlfriend for your liking.

Wrapped Up*

Kinktober Day 6- Bondage, Wanda uses her powers during sex

Gwen Stacy

Midnight

Summary- Gwen had a rough night out on patrol and she needs her girlfriend to ground her.

Sharon Carter

NSFW Headcanons*

Nebula

Maybe I Am In Love

Request- Feelings are hard hard for Nebula to understand and navigate, especially the softer ones, like love.

Blue Lips*

Kinktober Day 7- Soft sex, dry humping, praise kink

Carol Danvers

Planets Away*

Kinktober Day 2- Phone sex, degradation, dom/sub dynamics

Peggy Carter

Chime of the Bell*

Kinktober Day 7- Pet play, collars, thigh slapping, slight size kink, edging and a bit of overstimulation at the end

Kate Bishop

Type of Love

Summary- Things have been weird between you and Kate for some time now. When she's visiting home after being away at college, the two of you unexpectedly run into each other again at a party and your feelings come to light.

#agatha harkness x reader #wanda maximoff x reader #Natasha Romanoff x reader #Olivia Octavius x reader #hela odinsdottir x reader #hela x reader #agatha harkness/reader #kathryn hahn x reader #wanda maximoff/reader #natasha romanoff/reader #olivia octavius/reader #hela/reader #gwen stacy x reader #gwen stacy/reader #sharon carter x reader #sharon carter/reader

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just-here-for-the-moment · 3 years ago

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Claire...may I request a lil' writing? I'm thinking of Javi maybe post Columbia and he builds up a routine. He goes to the same coffee shop every morning on his way to work and of course picks up the same order. You're a barista at the coffee shop and eventually, you can pin down his arrival to the minute so one day, you make his drink for the exact moment when he gets there, with your number written on the cup cause screw it, he's damn hot. What would happen? <3

Oh Maia, this was FUN to write for you!!! I hope you enjoy it! :D

Exciting update!!! GIF and media genius @nicolethered made an amazing video for me to go with this fic!! Go give her big love!!

Second exciting update! I was challenged by @quica-quica-quica to play the POV game for this piece (where someone Asks you to rewrite a piece from a different character's POV). So now there is a companion piece to this from Javier's POV, called: "Coffee Shop Girl". Enjoy!

For Now

Word count: 3900+

Rating: explicit, 18+ only

Outline: Javier Peña x “You” (Austin coffee shop barista; cis/het female reader; “blank canvas”/no physical description/no name/no use of “Y/N”)

Warnings: slow-burn; oral sex/F receiving; vaginal fingering; protected P/V sex; cigarette smoking

Ten days. It took ten days between the first arrival of the handsome stranger and you ending up in his bed. A new personal record for you, given how reserved you normally were. But it was nothing to be ashamed of, as long as you were careful. It was the 90s now after all, there was zero reason to have to keep your knees closed until marriage, as long as you used condoms and got tested regularly.

You liked the coffee shop well enough, situated on the southern end of downtown near the warehouses and a few clubs. It drew a full spectrum of Austinites: college kids closing out their club nights with breakfast tacos and pastries before going home to crash; early morning construction workers, employees from the big post office around the corner; and the usual boring lawyers and office staff who started streaming in around 7:30 every weekday morning. You could do the job well enough, even considering the odd hours: waking up early enough to open the doors at 5:30, serve the slow trickle of early morning customers with patience and ease until a co-worker joined at 7:00 for the morning rush. And the barista and food service parts of the job were physically but not mentally demanding. It was a job, and certainly less hassle than your bartending gig some weekends. At least here you only had to throw drunks out once a month.

And then one Tuesday in early June, at 7:47 a.m., he appeared. Tall, neatly groomed mustache, dark eyes, a sheaf of bangs swept to the side over his forehead. His navy blue blazer and tie said ‘accountant’ or maybe ‘state employee’ and his sideburns were just a little out of date. You pegged him at about 40, probably one of those men who visited the same barber their whole lives, not bothering to keep up with fashion trends as long as they looked neat and clean. When he reached to take his to-go cup of black coffee from you, you noticed that his ring finger was bare, and you liked that his fingernails were clean and trimmed. He offered you a nod in thanks, and you smiled at him a little more warmly than you had with your other customers so far. He held the door on his way out, pausing just a moment to let two women enter… and then he was gone, out into the bright sunlight and foot traffic and morning rush. You hoped you would see him again.

On Wednesday he came back again, a repeat of Tuesday except with a different tie, deep red today instead of navy. Black coffee to go, leather portfolio tucked under one arm, clean hands, eyes as dark as the coffee you handed him. This time rewarding you with a gruff and gravelly, “Thanks,” instead of just a nod. You relished the accidental brush of his fingers on yours as you handed the cup over, another flash of him imprinted on you, along with yesterday’s vision of him going golden as he stepped out into the morning sun. This time you watched him through the big glass window until he was out of sight, admiring his strong nose in profile, the curve of it perched over that mustache. Two extra seconds of handsomeness poured into your morning before you had to turn back to rinsing mugs and making change. You hoped that he’d come again on Thursday, making it three visits, a genuine pattern instead of a fluke.

On Thursday he reappeared, same time as the previous two days, waiting patiently in line behind two wake-and-bake potheads who were taking their sweet time staring up at the food menu. Today he was dark gray instead of navy, wearing a charcoal blazer and a sharp black tie. You waved him over with a smile, letting it melt all the way up to your eyes instead of flashing the tight, brief, closed-mouth thing you used on most customers.

“Black coffee, right?” You watched his face, taking in the dark eyes, the hair, the brief smile that made a surprise dimple appear in his cheek.

He nodded, “That’s right. Thank you.” He slid a rumpled bill across the counter. “Keep the change.”

You bit your lip as you turned away, preening at his thanks and seven whole words as if they were genuine praise. His voice was deep and rich, landing with a rumble in your own chest, like the remnants of thudding bass from a passing car. You poured the coffee and secured the lid, brain scrambling desperately for something clever to say. To make him come back, to talk to you more.

You turned and handed him the cup, and as he reached for it you again let your hand be in just the right spot to feel the brush of his fingers. Your eyes locked on one another, and for the briefest moment you forgot to let go of the cup. You wanted to swim in those brown eyes forever, get lost and let him drown you whole. He paused, and you thought you saw the briefest twitch of his mustache, a pinprick in his calm exterior before you drew your hand back. He inclined his head, a single nod, and then he turned to leave and your attention was swept back to the register and the next customers.

Friday he arrived “on time” and you met his eyes as soon as he opened the door. Today he was warm earth tones, a dark red shirt under a brown tweed blazer and no tie, a nod to casual Friday. You turned and prepared his coffee, tightening the lid and then holding it up to him across the room, smiling and tossing your chin up in a friendly greeting. He walked up and slid a few bills over the counter to you.

“Thanks.” He winked at you and something in your pelvis fluttered. “See you next week.”

You watched him go, stepping out again into a halo of golden sun, pulling a pair of aviator sunglasses from his pocket and putting them on before striding away. You suddenly felt lost, facing the many hours between now and Monday.

Your weekend passed in a blur of extra bartending shifts and catching up on sleep. You were forever napping at odd hours, trying to reconcile the slightly staggered rhythms of early morning coffee shop hours and late-night bartending. It wasn’t the hardest you’d ever worked or the worst schedule, but it wasn’t fun. At least, it hadn’t been fun until now. Now you had something to look forward to.

Monday morning you opened the shop and kept an eye on the clock. At 7:46 you poured black coffee into a to-go cup. Thirty seconds later, he appeared on the other side of the plate glass window, the navy suit and tie again, blowing out a long stream of cigarette smoke before dropping the butt and giving it a quick twist under his foot. He took off his amber-lensed aviators and tucked them into the pocket of his blazer, then pulled out his wallet. At 7:47 on the dot, he opened the door, met your eyes, and saw you holding up his coffee. And there went that smile again, the dimple, the wink.

You smiled as he approached the counter. “You psychic or something? Or am I just that predictable?”

“Both, maybe.” You grinned and wiggled your eyebrows.

He opened his wallet and passed a bill across the counter, larger than what was strictly necessary for a to-go coffee and a reasonable tip. “Great service, keep the change.”

You thanked him, giving him the full-watt smile and wishing him a good day as you opened and closed the register, putting the change into the tip jar. Thankfully there was no one else in line right now, so you could give his handsome figure your full attention as he left, watching how the navy blazer hugged his shoulders.

He went out the door, turned right like he always did, and then he turned his head and his eyes met yours through the glass. You should have felt embarrassed that he caught you staring, but you didn’t. Mostly because you realized that he had stopped to look back, too, which meant you weren’t the only one hoping for more. He nodded and lifted his cup in a gesture of thanks. Then he was gone.

Tuesday was the same, only with the charcoal blazer and the dark red tie this time. The wink, the flutter in your gut, the over-tipping. The glance across the counter as his fingers brushed yours around the cup. The aviators slung on as soon as he stepped out the door.

Wednesday, again, the navy suit and tie, another brush of the fingers, a smaller tip but a bigger smile, gracing you with that dimple again. Another gravelly, “Thank you,” that sounded warmer than he had to date. The handsome profile and a quick meeting of the eyes through the glass as he left again.

Thursday was the same, only better. You used a permanent marker to write something on his paper cup before you poured it precisely at 7:46 a.m., watching, waiting. He did not disappoint. At 7:47, precisely on time, you caught a glimpse of his profile as he came into view through the plate glass window. Charcoal again. He turned and saw you inside, then opened the door, holding it again for a woman exiting. You pointed at his to-go cup on the counter and smiled.

“You trying to get rid of me? In and out so quickly?” He smiled and twitched an eyebrow at you.

You smiled back, “Depends on how long you were planning to stay. We close at 1:00 a.m. after open mic tonight. After that you gotta go somewhere else.”

The handsome man chuckled and pursed his lips. “And what time do you get off, after the morning shift?”

“Depends on who’s asking.” You winked and immediately regretted it, it felt too bold, it wasn’t your normal mode.

He met your eyes and said simply, “I am.”

You felt your face split into a wide smile. “I finish at 1:00, after the lunch rush.”

He nodded. “Good to know. I’m Javier, by the way.” He stuck his hand out and shook yours. You gave him your name and a warm shake of the hand.

He fished a few bills out of his wallet. “Can I maybe stop by after your shift, take you to lunch sometime?”

“You can do me one better than that.” You rotated the paper cup so that the writing was facing him. “My phone number’s on the cup.”

His eyebrows popped up, and then he gave you an appraising glance, like he was impressed. You saw his tongue shift up under his lip to suck a tooth and you suddenly wanted nothing more than to see how that tongue felt on you. You flushed hot, tingling with desire.

He arched an eyebrow at you. “You do that for all your customers?”

“Just the best tippers.” You winked at him and laughed.

He stuck his hand out once more and you gave him yours. He lifted it and kissed the back of your hand, mustache sweeping ever so briefly over your knuckles before he gently released it.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” his voice was low and something in it went straight to your groin, making your pelvic muscles clench. You watched him pick up the cup and go, smiling at you with that dimple through the glass as he left. You stood for just a moment, hoping, hoping, hoping. Maybe he would call you after work?

At 1:00 you finished your shift and handed the register off to Mike. You were just untying your apron and hanging it up when you saw a familiar profile sweep into view outside the window. Javier. Your stomach flipped over and a million little butterflies flew out.

He ducked inside the door and searched the shop for a moment, smiling when he saw you coming out from behind the counter with your bag slung over your shoulder.

“Hey,” you stood for a moment and hesitated, suddenly shy.

Javier slipped his sunglasses off and tucked them into his pocket. “Hey, I’m glad I caught you. Are you busy, or can I take you to lunch today?”

“No, I’m not busy. I’d love to go.” You smiled. “There’s a sandwich place around the corner, and a park we can go sit in.”

He smiled, wider than you’d seen him do so far. “That’s perfect.”

He let you lead, walking him across the street and around the corner to the sub shop. You made small-talk on the way there, finding out that he was from Laredo but new to Austin, a former DEA agent consulting for the state. You picked up your food and walked a block over to the small city park, where you told him about your roommates, your cat, your wish to go back to school and finish your degree. By the end of lunch you were both smiling, feeling that spark, the little magnetic pull that had started over his coffee orders. At 2:00 Javier said he had to get back to his office.

“... but I’d really like to see you again. Can I take you to dinner? Tonight if that’s okay, since you’re working tomorrow night.” He stood close to you, looking warmly into your eyes.

“Yeah, that would be great.” You felt that flutter again, that twitch of interest from looking into his warm brown eyes, seeing the way they crinkled when he smiled. You were so busy looking at his eyes that you didn’t see him reach his hand out, sweeping it around to circle your shoulders and pull you in for a kiss. You kissed him back, as urgently as was proper for the time of day and the public setting. When he pulled away to walk back up the few blocks to his office, you stood there dazed. Wow.

You went home and napped, then showered and changed into datewear. Javier picked you up at 7:30, and you were relieved that the little spark was still there. You had half-worried that it would wear off in the few hours between your lunch date and now, or that it was a localized feeling limited to a small radius around the coffee shop. But dinner was fun and warm, and by the end of dessert and coffee you didn’t want to leave him yet. You decided that you would be bolder than you normally were.

“Listen, my roommates are home, but do you want to go back to your place?”

Javier looked surprised for only a moment and then smiled, “Yes, let’s go.”

You kissed all the way back to the car, ran your hands lightly over the back of Javier’s neck as he drove, kissed all the way from the car to his apartment door, and tumbled inside together, feeling for buttons and zippers and helping each other out of your clothes. His erection felt warm and solid against your hip, and when he finally got naked you were nearly moaning at the expanse of his broad shoulders and golden skin. He was beautiful.

Javier walked you backwards to the bedroom and paused only to pull a wrapped condom out of a drawer and turn on the bedside lamp to chase away the dark. You lay back and watched him as he tossed the foil packet onto the quilt next to you and then knelt beside your legs. He looked at you as he ran his hands up and down your naked thighs. Then he butterflied your legs slowly apart and ran one warm hand up to your pussy, teasing you with his fingers, dipping them in and out between your labia and running them up to tickle your clit.

“Can I eat you out?” He asked almost shyly.

You nodded, a breathy “Yeah,” issuing from your lips. Javier dove down and licked into you with a rush. You gasped and threw your head back, clawing your fingers down into the blankets. Javier worked you open on three fingers and used the tip of his stiffened tongue to flick your clit rapidly from side to side while his fingers slipped slowly in and out. You moaned and fought the urge to close your legs while he curled and stroked inside of you, finding the spots you could never quite reach yourself. Within a few minutes you were cresting the wave of release.

“Oh God, I’m gonna come! Keep- keep going,” you gasped, “Just like that!” Javier kept his pace steady, working you along as you huffed and breathed faster. He curled his fingers just right and you sped off the edge into oblivion, gulping and grunting and making noises that were almost embarrassing, that didn’t sound like you, but you felt too good to even care. Javier stopped licking and slowed his fingers as you clenched around him, using the broad flat of his tongue to swipe a long, comforting stripe up the outside of your labia. When you were finished coming, he pulled his fingers out slowly and sat up on his haunches, smiling like a prizewinner.

He wiped one broad, flat hand down his mouth and chin, and then crawled up the bed to lay next to you, stroking you from hip to breast with his thick fingers. “Was that okay, cariño?”

You groaned out a chuckle, “Oh yeah, that was good.” You rolled onto your side to face him, and drew him in for a deep kiss. You loved the mix of how he smelled and tasted, your own salty musk blending with his spicy cologne and the smoky phantoms of cigarettes past and his after-dinner coffee. As you kissed, his hand came up to stroke a trail of goosebumps on your shoulder, and you reached yours down to stroke his cock to attention. The heft of him was thick and warm in your hand, and within seconds he was hard and throbbing. You ran the pad of your thumb up the bottom of his head and over his slit gently, and you giggled as he shuddered and reached down to pull your hand away.

“You keep going like that and I’m not going to last long.” His thick fingers wrapped around yours, and he pulled your hand up to place a long kiss to the inside of your wrist, blowing warm air out through his nose, the feel of it on your skin sending a thrill up your spine. He reached for the condom and opened it, rolling it down his proud length. He put his hand down and stroked your thigh before hooking one hand behind your knee to pull your leg up and over his hip. He held himself so that his tip was buried just at your entrance, then he thrust up and into you in one swift motion. You inhaled sharply and hooked your leg tighter around him, letting him set the pace. He nudged your jaw, nosing up into the crook of your neck and kissing you from ear to chin and back again.

His hot words sent chills down your neck and your nipples stiffened into sensitive buds. “Baby, you feel so fucking good, so hot and wet. Fuck, you’re amazing.”

You kissed him and shushed him, then you pressed an open palm to his chest, “Wait. Roll over. I wanna get on top.”

Javier grinned in the dim light of his bedroom, then he wrapped his big hand around your lower back and pulled you over with him. You shifted and settled into place, and the feeling of being speared on him, of his cock hitting deep inside, of his coarse curls rubbing against your clit was almost to the point of overstimulation. You whined and fell face down into the crook of his neck, smelling his warm spiced fragrance and going limp at the ‘too much’ of it all. He planted his feet flat on the bed and kept his arms wrapped around you, thrusting up, up, up into you over and over. He made the most delicious noises, sounds that might have been words or not, but which conveyed all of his pleasure in little grunts and groans.

You decided you wanted to watch his face, so you sat back up and braced yourself on your knees, rolling your hips in rhythm with his and helping him chase his high.

“God, you look so fucking good on my cock, cariño. So beautiful.” He started to turn glossy with sweat, tiny golden beads reflecting the single lamp beside the bed and making him look surreal. You followed a drip of sweat as it appeared on his neck and then ran down to pool in the hollow at the base of his throat. You tipped forward once more to lick at it, to taste the salt and the smoke of him and nip one tiny bite into his neck before moving up to lick and nibble at his earlobe.

Javier suddenly tensed his legs, giving one big thrust and then hissing out a “Fffff-” between his lips as he came. He thrust again and then stilled, relaxing back into the bed, but keeping you close against him. You let him hold you, your breaths slowing together until you were back, calm again, heartbeats back to center. He released you and held the base of the condom as you lifted off and rolled onto your back. He went to the bathroom, and you heard him run water before he returned with a wrung-out washcloth. He offered it to you, and you declined with a weak wave. He turned and tossed it into the bathroom sink and then motioned for you to scoot off the bed so he could turn the covers down.

He picked up a packet of cigarettes and a lighter, gesturing at you with a raised eyebrow. You put a hand up, “Not a whole one, but I’ll take a drag off yours if that’s ok.”

“Sure thing.” He lit one and passed it to you, and you took a deep drag before handing it back.

“Thanks.” You blew the smoke out in a blue stream.

He crawled into bed and patted the mattress next to him. “Stay,” he looked at you with a smile. “If you want to.” He parked the cigarette back between his plush lips.

You smiled warmly and crawled in next to him. “Okay, just for a little while.” You checked the digital clock beside the bed. “I gotta go home and change, and then get to the coffee shop at 5:00. Can you set the alarm for 4:00?”

He nodded and picked up the clock, pressed a few buttons and slid a switch into place. Then he raised his arm and settled it around your shoulders, and turned off the lamp. You watched the cherry of his cigarette glow and then turn faint, bobbing in the dark as he moved to flick ash into the ashtray on the nightstand.

He murmured low, into the quiet room, “You know, I’m only here for the summer. The consulting job ends in August.” He paused to take the final pull of his cigarette, then stubbed it out in the ashtray. “After that, I gotta go back to D.C.”

You yawned and nodded. “No problem. We can have fun this summer. I’ll take you to Barton Springs and Mount Bonnell, give you the real Austin tour. We can just have fun for now.”

He kissed your forehead, moving down your nose to land soft kisses on your lips. “Okay, summer girl. I’m all yours… for now.”

---

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writing-in-april · 4 years ago

Text

Erotica Explained

Spencer Reid x Female Reader (Spencer’s POV)

Summary: Spencer discovers his girlfriend’s writing.

A/N: Hey Heyyy- this is my twenty-sixth fic for my 30 fics in 30 days for April! It’s based on this request- and I did end up using a small snippet from one of my other fics! Sorry this ones out late too lol had a very difficult day. Feel free to leave me an ask here (I promise I don’t bite) Thanks for reading and hope y’all enjoy!

Warnings: 18+, Smut, Sub!Spencer, Unprotected sex, A little bit of grinding, A little bit of overstimulation, Creampie

Main Masterlist Word Count:1.7k

I don’t use technology often, if I can help it I don’t use it at all. But, I had to use it right now, there was something I needed to look up on the computer. It wasn’t for a case or anything, I was just too curious and too impatient to wait to go to the library.

Because I don’t use technology often at all, I didn’t own a personal laptop. The only one I regularly used was the one I was given at work, and that was done begrudgingly. Though I couldn’t use that one right now as I was at my apartment I shared with my girlfriend. My girlfriend however, happened to have a laptop that she wouldn’t mind me using.

When I opened up her laptop, it was already unlocked with a tab already opened. My eyes unintentionally quickly glazed over the page, my eyes widening as I flitted across the page. It was some sort of story, one that contained things that made me blush. At the end of what was visible without scrolling down it read,

His fingers twitched at his side when you blew cool air onto his length, you sneered again, “If you touch me I’ll stop.”

My own trousers started to grow a little tight after reading that, then confusion made its way into my face, wondering what in the world I was reading. I clicked around, not really knowing what I was doing and I fell into a wormhole of reading. It wasn’t until I glanced up to see who owned the documents it all clicked together. They were my girlfriend’s stories.

They were her stories about a slew of characters that already existed in other media, the first one I had read even happened to be about a Star Wars character- Poe to be specific. Once it all clicked together I slammed the computer shut, feeling like I had invaded her privacy. Then I swiftly got into a cold shower, ready to freeze my arousal and wash off my shame.

—-

My foot was tapping even crazier than normal as I sat next to my girlfriend. We had decided on a night in, choosing to order take out and watch a few movies on a rare night off for me. It was her turn to choose, and unsurprisingly she chose Star Wars.

“What’s wrong?” She asked me when I started to basically vibrate when Poe came onto the screen. I couldn’t keep it in any longer, the guilt was eating me alive sitting here while I watched a constant reminder of what I read.

“I’m sorry-“ She was about to open her mouth to probably ask me why I was apologizing, but I steamrolled over it by ranting, “I looked at your writing- the erotica you write. I- I think it’s about already existing characters? Which I hadn’t heard about before-“

She finally did get a chance to cut me off by calling out my name, getting me to stop my nervous rant, “Are you mad- that I umm am writing about someone who’s not you?”

“No! It’s natural to be attracted to different people even while you’re with someone…” I was already falling down into another rant, this time however I caught myself and found the point I had been looking for, “I actually think it’s kind of hot.”

“Oh yeah?” Her eyebrows had shot up almost high enough that they were up into her hairline. I flushed a little at that, feeling vulnerable under her gaze even though I knew she always kept me safe.

“I- um actually was wondering if you could do to me-“ The words died on my tongue when my eyes met hers again, and just by her eyes I could see that she knew what I wanted. She just wanted me to say it out loud.

“What do you want me to do to you?”

“Wh-hat I read- can you umm-?”

She didn’t let me stumble any longer, cutting off my stuttering, “You want me to do the things you read about to you?”

I nodded vigorously, but that wasn’t enough for her. She leaned forward, grabbing my cheeks between two of her fingers, then prompting me, “Use your words.”

I whimpered at that, remembering seeing it in one of her writings. I learned from the character, who had mouthed off in the fanfic, instead breathily answering, “Yes, I want you to use me like you wrote.”

Soon enough my clothes had been taken off by me as I had to follow her command to ‘strip’. She did so as well, then straddling me, starting immediately to grind on my cock. I moved my hands to her hips to try to get her to do something more, but they were quickly pushed off. She then pinned them above my head, leaning forward to whisper into my lips, “No you don’t get to touch unless I tell you too.”

“Yes, Miss!” I gasped out instantly, wanting to be perfect for her.

“Mmmm good boy.”

That made me keen even more, loving the praise she gave me a dash of, I craved her showering it onto me. She kept her course of action, grinding onto my cock until her own arousal completely soaked it. All it would take was for the head of my cock to notch at my entrance, she was so wet I could slip in easily. But, all I could do was wait until she let me have her. I’m sure if I begged she’d only smirk at me, so I kept my mouth shut and took what I was given.

She finally sunk down onto my cock, though it was excruciatingly slow. I tried to fight my instincts, keeping my hips flush with the couch so I wouldn’t get scolded for moving without permission.

When the backs of her thighs finally hit the tips of mine, I groaned unintentionally. She seemed to love it, starting to buck her hips enthusiastically at my response. My hands balled up into fists, knuckles turning white from how hard I was gripping them. It was taking so much to not cum already, her hands pinning me and how beautiful she looked above me making it overwhelming.

“Awww are you already so close? You love getting used like this don’t you?” She goaded once she realized how much I was fighting my release with my squinted eyes.

It took me a minute to find the words, as all my mind could focus on at the moment was how she felt around me. My IQ was completely slashed to 60, but I did eventually get out, “Yes miss”

She sped up her pace at my words, alternating from grinding down into me hard and bouncing vigorously on top of me. When she lent forward to give me a bruising kiss, she swallowed all the noises I was making, until she dipped her head down to mark up my collarbone. It was all too much; I didn’t know how much longer I could hold on.

“You’re such a good boy for me Spencer.” She gasped above me, writhing on my cock while she continued to bounce. It was getting so hard to bear, especially with more praise, but I wanted to wait until she came. She looked like a goddess, especially just as she was about to cum, which she soon signaled by saying, “Oh god baby, you’re gonna make me cum!”

All I could do was watch as she removed one hand from where they were wrapped around my own to rub circles into her clit. She tipped her head back, mouth dropped open in a moan, and thighs shaking as her orgasm washed over her. She shook above me for a minute, hips stuttering as she tried to continue the pace she built while her orgasm was ripping through her. Once she had come down from her release she then focused on mine, building the pace back up to be even faster than her original one.

“Go ahead and cum baby boy.” With one more swivel of her hips, I fell off the edge at her command, filling her all the way up with my release. She held my hands up above my head still and still moved her hips while I rode out my high. When she stopped her movements once I whimpered loudly out of overstimulation, she finally let go of my hands.

I let myself relax as she slumped over onto me, resting her head onto my still somewhat heaving chest. With my hands once again free I wrapped my arms around her middle, entrapping her this time.

Looking up I then noticed the movie was still going, completely unobstructed by our actions. It was towards the end of the movie already, telling me how long we had been going at it. Though I didn’t care that I missed it, I got to act out a partial storyline from it, even if it was a made up one. The movie could only hold my attention for so long, there was someone far more interesting with me.

“So are you gonna write some with me?” She giggled out while tracing her fingers up and down my chest, lingering over my sternum. Her proposition was an intriguing one for sure, especially now that she explained some of it to me. Though, I think my writing style is more suited for more of an academic setting.

I snorted a little, giggling a little myself, then brushing my hair out of my eyes so I could see them more clearly. When I tipped her chin up with my fingers and their eyes met mine, they were full of mischief. She was definitely trying to get me riled up again, but I had a quip back of my own, “I don’t think I’d be good at it- but maybe you’ll let me read from now on? I wouldn’t mind editing some as well, it sounds fun.”

Ask Me Anything

——

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