#might ask publicly on twitter soon

[viennakarma]

Wreck my plans (that's my man)

Part 2 of Say Something

Lewis Hamilton x Reader | Fernando Alonso x Reader

Summary: Juggling a new life as a divorced woman, a toddler and maybe a new (old) love.

Word count: 4.5k

Tags: Female reader, new love, a kinda asshole Lewis, co-parenting relationship, smut, oral sex (f receiving), a lot of spanish pet names, not beta read

Relationships: Fernando Alonso x Reader, Ex!Lewis Hamilton x Reader

Notes: I know some of you wanted forgiveness for Lewis, and another bunch of you wanted Toto Wolff but I blindly opened the doc and these 4 thousand words just happened. If you really want an alternate ending (forgiving Lewis), drop something in my inbox and I might write a lil something for you ;)

Find me on Twitter!

“Look, mama!” Luna pointed the little finger at the big poster of George Russell, “Uncle Joje!”

“Yep, that’s uncle George, my love!”

“And Dada! Dada!” She pointed to the next big poster, a big picture of Lewis wearing the team gear.

It was the first time you went back to a Grand Prix, in a little more than two years. And it was Luna’s first time ever attending. You and Lewis had a great co-parenting relationship, the world knew about Luna, but the Silverstone GP was going to be the first time she’d be seen publicly. You knew Lewis had hired the best security team just for this, and he had called you with a confident pep talk the night before.

As soon as the car stopped, you pulled Luna closer.

“Baby, stay close to mama, yes? We’re going to see Dada and Papa Anthony too, ok?”

Your daughter nodded but you knew she didn’t really understand, so you just smiled at her and opened the door. You could feel the flashes popping around the two of you, and could imagine everyone wondering what Lewis’ ex wife was doing there.

The bodyguards walked you and Luna over to the Mercedes’ hospitality. You found Lewis in the privacy of his little driver’s room.

“Dada!” Luna squealed as soon as she saw him, casual jeans and the team shirt.

You smiled, setting your little girl down so she could run to her father’s arms. Lewis smiled big, that one smile he only directed to his daughter. Lewis picked her up, kissing her face and hugging her.

“Hi, Lewis!” You greeted him with a side hug, since Luna was still in his arms.

“Hi, Y/N! Are you two ok? Was the trip here alright?” He asked, attentive.

“Yes, thank you. How is your schedule? You wanna stay with her a little?” You asked.

“Yes, I want to be with her. My dad’s at the hospitality too, he’s dying to see Luna.”

You gave him your daughter’s bag, with nappies, toys, drinks and snacks. You told him to call if needed, anything. Kissing your baby’s cheek, you left Lewis’ room to give them a little space and privacy.

Walking around aimlessly, seeing the energy flowing was kind of fun. You walked by Ferrari and greeted both drivers, who you had known back when you were married to Lewis. A good part of the grid had changed, but the few from before still recognised you and talked to you.

You were going back to Mercedes to check on Luna when you hit someone chest to chest.

“Oh, god! I’m so sorry!” You whispered.

“Y/N” he greeted you. You met the gaze of beautiful brown eyes, in an almost green kind of shade.

“Fernando! Hi!” You finally recognized the spaniard.

You had met Fernando the same night you had met Lewis, introduced by Sebastian and his wife after you created the project for their family home.

“It’s good to see you,” Fernando said, still holding your shoulder.

“You too.”

“I’m sorry about the divorce.”

“Uh, don’t worry. It’s been a while, Lewis and I are friends now.”

Fernando nodded, his eyes on your face. You stared at his eyes, trying to find something to say, to fill in the awkward silence.

“You’re just as beautiful as ever,” he whispered almost in a daze. You felt the blush creeping up your face.

“Thank you, you look handsome too,” you said, and you phone started ringing, you checked to see it was Lewis calling, “sorry, I gotta go,”

“See you around?” Fernando asked.

“Yeah, I’ll see you around, Fernando.”

You started walking away feeling butterflies in your stomach, like a silly teenager. You were walking but as you looked back, Fernando was still there staring at your distancing figure.

Fernando never forgot your pretty smile. He had met you so long ago, in a party hosted by Sebastian and his wife. Fernando had been enchanted by you, by the way your presence lit up the room, by how smart you sounded, by how clever you were. The problem was Fernando had gotten to the party late, and when he arrived, you had already met Lewis, fully entranced by the British man's charisma.

Fernando still had a silly crush on you when you were dating Lewis and he saw you around, but after you got married, he had forced himself to move on.

Now it felt like some sort of miracle, bumping into you again.

He didn’t lose any time. As he went back to the Aston Martin garage, he called someone.

It was a couple of hours later and you were by the Mercedes garage chatting with Anthony and keeping an eye on Luna who was running around with George and Lewis, greeting engineers and mechanics, enchanting everyone with her charm.

Someone wearing green came into the garage and everyone stopped, looking at the intruder from the Aston Martin team. The Aston Martin lady handed you a big bouquet of lilies and excused herself.

Every single pair of eyes were set on you and the mysterious bouquet. With your face red, you pulled the card, opening.

“Glad to see you again, hermosa. - Fernando”

You smiled, covering your face. On the back of the card was a phone number.

“Who’s that from?” Lewis asked and suddenly everyone was silent, tension rising up.

“Lewis,” you said between gritted teeth, “you’re making a scene.” Lewis seemed to realize everyone had an eye on you two, so you just turned to Anthony and said, “can you keep an eye on Luna for a couple of minutes please?”

After confirmation, you walked inside, taking your bouquet with you, and putting the number on your phone.

“Who’s it from?” Lewis followed you inside.

“It’s none of your fucking business, Lewis.”

“It is because you’re the mother of my kid.”

“Which means the only topic concerning you is our kid!” You whispered angrily.

“You’re dating, now?”

“Fuck off, Lewis!” You exclaimed, a surge of anger coming through your chest, “Don’t come at me all high and mighty now. You cheated on me, and I still let you be close to my daughter, and I still treat you with respect! I kept the secret of why our marriage ended to save your reputation and we only have a good relationship for her sake!”

You knew the words struck a nerve because his chest was heaving. You had been respectful to Lewis ever since the pregnancy because you wanted your daughter to grow up in a safe and happy environment. But that was where you drew the line.

“My life doesn’t revolve around you anymore.”

Leaving Lewis behind, you went to a room in the hospitality and managed to send a thank you text to Fernando.

You ended up accepting going on a date with Fernando after a few weeks of calling and texting. He ended up going to your place in Edinburgh for a cozy dinner, in a week Luna had gone traveling with Lewis for the summer break.

After the divorce you faced a lot of backlash from Lewis’ fans, even if they didn’t know any details, they still blamed you for breaking their idol’s heart. A few man had flirted with you here and there, but pregnant for nine months and then raising a baby after, you didn’t have the time or energy to find romance. Dealing with the aftermath of your divorce with a world superstar athlete had been something else.

So you had been living a low profile life, one that Fernando fully respected. He and you opted for cooking dinner yourselves, preparing a pasta dish with lots of pomodoro sauce and cheese.

He was easy to talk to. So openly into you, complimenting you, talking about how pretty and how interesting you are. The Spanish charm was so real and delightful, after years of feeling rejected. 

“Can I ask you something?” You asked, over a glass of wine while Fernando mixed a saucepan.

“Anything.”

“Why are you interested in me?” You sounded honestly confused. 

You were a divorced woman, with a toddler, still trying to figure out the relationship you had with your ex, and living under the radar after having your face plastered all over the media. You couldn’t help but wonder if he was really into you or if it was some sort of vendetta against Lewis. You knew that despite them being on good terms now, there’s history between them, and many layers of rivalry you weren’t privy to, since it happened long before they met you.

“Is this to get back at Lewis in some way? Because I’d like to manage my expectations if that’s the case.”

He understood why you would be guarded and suspicious of his intentions. Your last relationship had imploded in a way that he could only imagine left you devastated. It must look off, a known rival of your ex-husband sweeping in and showing romantic interest. But Fernando didn’t mind showing you his true intentions as long as you allowed him.

Fernando turned the stove off, and walked around the kitchen island, standing in front of you, so close he was almost between your legs.

“It has nothing to do with him because I have always been interested in you,” he whispered like a secret, seeing you confused frown, he kept talking, “remember the night we met? Lewis left early, we went to the garden, and sat down by the fountain. We shared a bottle of wine and a cigarette. Just me and you watching the sun rise.”

“Fernando…” you whispered back, remembering. Of course you knew about that, but for so long your life was entangled to Lewis, that the memory of that night was only attached to him in your brain.

But that had happened. You and Fernando had talked late into the night, chatting about life and the future, sitting barefoot on the grass, passing a wine bottle between you. Fernando didn’t flirt with you that day, he just chatted.

At the time you were so infatuated with Lewis already, that you didn’t see what was right under your nose.

“And for years after that,” Fernando gulped, looking a bit guilty, “I wondered if I had gone to the party earlier, if I had met you first, wouldn’t it be me by your side?”

“You’ve been into me all these years?” You asked, shocked.

“I have been in love all these years.”

You held his face, pulling him into you, kissing him. He was shocked at first, but as soon as it wore off, his hand slipped around your waist, pulling you flush into him. With the other hand, he cradled your head by the nape, his lips leaving your mouth, to kiss down your neck and nip at your earlobe, which had you moaning softly, melting against him.

“I’m sorry, hermosa,” he apologized, taking a step back.

You were panting softly as he stared at you, red face and lips, hair a little disheveled from his hand.

“Fernando,” you stood up, holding his hand, “come back here.”

You pulled him back, pressing your lips into his. He held you close, flush against his chest, opening his lips and deepening the kiss. You felt hot all over.

“I have dreamed about this, diosa.” He moaned into your lips.

“Can we-” you muttered between kisses, “can we skip dinner?”

You turned around to go back to the living room, hearing Fernando hearty laugh, and he immediately hugged you from behind, kissing your shoulder and neck. Finally making it to the sofa, you sat down. Fernando just knelt in front of you, pushing your dress up.

“Dessert first, sí?”

Laughing, you nodded, kicking your panties after he pushed them down your legs. Fernando bit into your thighs, and you moaned at the feel of his beard on your skin. With his head between your thighs, he mouthed you, licking a stripe into your cunt. Using a hand to open you up, he lapped your pussy like a man starved, pressing face, nose and tongue into your wetness. You had gone so long without another person, that now you were mushy under his ministrations. He still couldn’t get enough, so he put one of your legs over his shoulder, diving deeper, tongue over your clit and finger entering your cunt.

“Fuck, Nando. Too good, too good,” you gripped his hair, grinding on his face. He curled his fingers up inside you, finding your g-spot, making you shake, “I’m so close, baby. So, so close.”

He latched on to your clit, and you came hard, shaking, hips pressing into his face as you tried to come down. You were panting, breathless, as you came down from your high. Fernando stood up, sitting by your side, kissing you. You tasted yourself on his lips, and he held you.

You cupped the bulge in his pants, and he kept kissing you face gently, holding you in his arms like he wanted to never let go.

“We should take this to the bedroom,” he whispered into your ear, making goosebumps arise in your skin.

You two stumbled to the bedroom, laughing as you pulled each piece of clothing off, tossing them to the floor. You were fully naked by the time the door closed behind you in the bedroom.

You didn’t actually lay in the bed, since Fernando made you keep one foot on the floor and pushed your other leg on the mattress, leaving you open for him.

“Dios, I want to keep you in this bed for days until I have tasted all of you, cariño,” he said, running a calloused hand up and down from your back all the way to your butt, pressing his fingers over your cheeks, making you moan.

“Nando, please fuck me, just- I need you, please,” you begged, feeling the way he lined his cock to tease your entrance but not actually putting in, just coating himself with your wetness.

Then finally, he pushed inside, slowly, your walls pulling him in a perfect tight grip. The two of you cursed as you adapted to the feel of him inside, of having someone fucking you for the first time in years.

Fernando started fucking you softly, and you let him manhandle you as he pulled you back to stand up, your back against his chest, one of his hands snaking around your middle to keep him pressed to your backside and the other hand cradled your face by the jaw, forcing you to look ahead.

“Mírate, cariño (look at you, dear)” he whispered, making you face ahead, finding the full length mirror on the other side of the room, you could see perfectly, Fernando fucking you from behind, his sweaty face above your shoulder, your tits bouncing with each snap of his hips and his hands claiming your body like you were a fucking masterpiece, “you look so pretty taking my cock.”

You looked at the mirror, his hand keeping you up like a toy and he started pounding into you, and you could only moan his name as you felt the orgasm buildup, you threw your hand back, holding his head and pulling his hair and your other hand down to your clit as his thrusts became harder and slower. You felt yourself clench around him, coming hard as he whispered in your ear.

“Oh, you feel so good, hermosa. I bet it feels so good coming around my cock does it not?” He talked you through your high.

“Fuck, you’re so good to me. Please, baby.” You moaned and that did it for him, and you had him cumming with a couple of sloppy thrusts.

You two fell on the bed, breathless.

“Goddamn, Nano, you’re going to ruin my life,” You whispered.

“I’m happy to be of service,” he joked and you ended up laughing out loud, him accompanying you with a few giggles.

You two showered, and then dressed in robes, ate dinner on the living room floor, sharing the wine straight from the bottle just like the first time you met. 

After talking for what felt like hours, he took you back to bed, feasting on your cunt until he pulled two more orgasms from you, and then fucking you slowly. Mouth on your nipples and a hand keeping your hips high as he fucked into you. You held onto him for dear life, fingers tangled on his soft hair and kissed him whenever he gave you the opportunity. He worshiped your body like you were the only woman to ever exist, intense eye contact and praising you every step of the way.

The next morning you woke up naked, spent and happy. You barely had the time to feel Nando’s absence in your bed when he entered the room, carrying a big tray with breakfast.

“¡Buenos días!” He greeted you with a peck and set the tray in front of you. There was coffee, juice, toast and cheese.

“Buenos días, baby” you said, lazily taking a sip of coffee, “this is nice. I’ve never been surprised with breakfast in bed before.”

“You deserve it, you took me so well last night, hermosa.” He kissed you quickly again, and you blushed because of his words.

You kept eating when he went to the opposite side of the room to take a phone call. You spoke intermediate Spanish because of work, but you didn’t pry in his conversation, instead focusing on recharging your energies.

“Duty calls?” You asked as he came back. He only nodded, which made you a little sad, “well, I was going to ask you to stay the weekend, but I understand you’re busy.”

“I’ll cancel my plans.” He shrugged.

“No, no, you don’t have to.” You said quickly, feeling guilty for messing with his schedule.

“Do you want me to spend the weekend?” He asked softly. And you just nodded, not wanting to be the cause of him getting in trouble with work. “Then I’ll spend the weekend.”

He immediately got into a phone call again, and from what you could gather, he was rescheduling his commitments for the next week.

“Why did you do that?” You reprimanded him, but deep down you were kinda giddy because he was going to stay the weekend.

“You’re a priority, not a second thought.” He said it like it was the most obvious thing ever. “Besides, I’ll never say no to spending more time with you, cariño.”

Throughout the next six months, you and Nando kept in touch and met here and there whenever Lewis had Luna over. He officially asked you to be his girlfriend when you spent a week with him in a secluded villa close to the beach in Spain. It’s not that you didn’t want Fernando to meet Luna, but you two were still figuring out your relationship and you didn’t want to introduce them and in case he ended up not sticking around for the long run.

“Are you sure?” You asked him suddenly one night when you two were cuddling on the balcony, staring at each other and at the sky.

“Sure of what?”

“Are you sure you wanna be with me, Fernando?” You asked absentmindedly, running your palm up and down his back.

“Yes, I am sure.”

“Why, though? I come with a kid and a lot of baggage?” As you said the words, Fernando pulled your hand and kissed your palm, putting it against his cheek, looking into your eyes.

“Because I want you.”

“Even with all the complications? Even if we never find a way to go public?”

“I don’t mind if I have to spend the rest of our lives reassuring you. I’m with you because I want you, simple as that” he said with his serious voice and thick accent, as a lump stuck on your throat, “I’m not with you because of what you look like by my side or what you can do for me. I’m with you because I love you.”

Your tears fell down and Fernando caught them with his lips, kissing your cheeks and tears away. It was so good and so safe, you never wanted to leave his side.

“The rest of our lives, eh?” You giggled, “I’m not gonna lie, I like the sound of that.”

“Bueno. I like the sound of that too.”

“Gracias, Nano. Yo te amo y te deseo también. (Thank you, Nano. I love you and I desire you too)”

“Wait-” he pushed himself up, “you speak Spanish?”

“Sí, lo hablo. (Yes, I do)” You laughed out loud at his dumbfounded face, and he held your wrists up above your head.

“Todo este tiempo hablaste español? (All this time you spoke spanish?)” He clicked his tongue, “eres tan mala y te voy a castigar. (You're so bad and I'm gonna punish you)”

You squealed as he carried you back inside, tossing you on the bed.

Eventually, you made up your mind about telling Lewis. Not because he had to know, but from a standpoint that he should know for the sake of Luna. So you stopped him one day when he came to drop off Luna.

“Can I talk to you for a moment?” You asked after greeting your baby, “Luna, why don’t you take your new toys inside while Mommy and Daddy chat a little?” You watched your girl run inside, “Careful! The porch is slippery!”

“What happened?” Lewis asked, putting both hands on his pockets.

“I’m seeing someone.”

Your words made his stomach drop. The dreaded day had come. Lewis had noticed how you looked happier and healthier than before, how you were wearing more makeup and pretty stylish clothes. The other day you had a mysterious tan on your body when he came to drop Luna off, way too strong tan for Scotland, anyway.

You are one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, he found it a miracle it took you so long to find someone. Maybe deep down Lewis thought you two could mend your relationship.

“Who?” Was all he said.

“Fernando.”

“Fernando?” He frowned, “who’s Fernando?”

“Alonso.” You bit your lip, waiting for an explosive reaction, but Lewis went silent, thinking.

“I can’t believe this. He’s just using you to target me, can’t you see?”

“So that’s all you see me as? An object? A ploy crafted to only be used for you or against you?” You asked, crossing your arms defensively.

“That’s not what I mean! He’s- he’s evil, you know that!” Lewis bared his teeth, getting angrier by the second.

“I don’t. That’s not how he is to me.” You shrugged.

“Do you have any idea how messy this will look when it comes out? Are you ready to face the consequences of this stupid adventure to get back at me?”

His words made you raise your walls, defensive, that sounded dangerously like a threat. You remained collected, because if Lewis wanted to go low, then you’d go lower.

“I’ll let this one slide, but it sounded dangerously close to a fucking threat,” you started, your voice so cold it sent shivers up his spine, “This had nothing to do with you. Nothing. But if this information leaks, I’ll know who did it. And if you do this to damage my image to the world or try and force my hand into leaving him, then everyone will finally know why we divorced, and how the other woman kept harassing me while I was pregnant!”

“What?” His expression dropped. 

He didn’t know because you didn’t tell him, because after a few months of mockery and threats through texts, you changed your number and it stopped. You still had the screenshots though.

“Luna will always be my greatest priority, and I love my baby girl. But my life has revolved around hers ever since I was pregnant, and before that my life revolved around you,” you felt a lump in your throat, eyes watering, “can I have this one thing for me? Is it selfish wanting to be loved?”

“I do. I love you.” He said, his voice wavering too.

“No, you don’t.” You shook your head, “you loved the idea of someone living solely for you. You loved that I was there during the good and the bad, picking up the pieces when you were down and popping the champagne when you were up. You loved that I loved you.”

You looked back, where Luna was calling you from the door.

“I am with Fernando now, and as Luna’s parents, I just didn't want you to be blindsided,” you turned around but looked at him over your shoulder, “don’t go ruining my future a second time.”

He flinched before your words. You knew it would cut deep, but you were tired of that conversation and his entitlement to your life and decisions.

A few weeks later, you introduced Luna to Fernando, and to your surprise, they got along so well. Probably because he bought her a lot of presents. She liked his presence most of the times, despite feeling jealous sometimes when he hugged you or kissed your cheeks.

When you and Fernando made it to a one year anniversary, you two adopted a kitten who had been abandoned by the road. Luna fell immediately in love with the pet, which found home with you. For Christmas, Nando’s gift to Luna was to install a swing and a see-saw on the garden, which ultimately made her completely enchanted by him, asking him to play all the time whenever they were at your place at the same time.

You were sitting on his lap while Luna played with the cat, throwing toys around.

“How would you feel about a baby?” You asked him. He straightened up, searching your eyes.

“Are you pregnant?” He sounded shocked.

“Of course not, tonto! (silly)” You giggled, “I’m just- mulling over the idea, wanting your opinion, you know.”

“Yes, I want more kids if you want too,” he said honestly, his hand softly caressing the side of your hip.

“Mhm,” you nuzzled into his neck.

“Your question came with good timing, you know, I have been thinking,” he mumbled, thinking, “Do you want me to retire?”

“What? Are you insane? You love racing, it’s like- it’s in your blood! You know I do-”

“That’s not what I asked,” Fernando interrupted you, “I asked if you want me to retire? We could move in together, spend more time together, I could move here.”

“You’d drop your sunny and warm Spain for Scotland?” Your voice was laced with doubt.

“I’d drop anything for you, don’t you see?” He lowered his voice, closer to your ear, “besides, we could always go back and forth here and Spain. I’d do it if it means I get to make love to you every day, and wake up by your side every morning.”

“You’re so cheesy,” you rolled your eyes, but your cheeks were deep red.

“You love it.”

“That I do.”

“That sounds tempting but I could never ask you to stop racing, it’s literally your favorite thing!”

“You are my favorite thing.”

“Fernando…” you whined and he laughed.

“Ok, let’s meet in the middle, sí?” He proposed, kissing your cheek, “if you get pregnant, I drop everything. Meanwhile, we let things run their course as it is, ok?”

“That’s perfect, mi amor” You laid back on his chest, watching Luna playing.

Headcanons | Another universe…

[chirpsythismorning]

This is everything the Stranger Things writers have posted publicly about the WGA strike:

TIMELINE

May 3rd:

Stranger Things writer Caitlin Schneiderhan tweets picture from personal Twitter account of sign from the strike that reads 'Pay us or Steve Harrington is toast'

May 6th:

Official Stranger Writers Twitter account makes post on behalf of the Duffers Brothers. They have since pinned this tweet to their profile. "Duffers here. Writing does not stop when filming begins. While we're excited to start production with our amazing cast and crew, it is not possible during this strike. We hope a fair deal is reached soon so we can all get back to work. Until then -- over and out. #wgastrong

Bonus:

May 12th:

Stranger Things writer Kate Trefry posts picture from personal Tumblr account of sign that reads, 'Byler won’t write itself'

As far as I know, the two writers that posted on their personal socials are the only writers from ST that even have personal accounts that are public, whereas the rest of the writers do not.

What does make me take a pause though, is that, while yes they did post these pictures from their personal accounts, which is about as official as it gets, they also cryptically did not include themselves in said pictures...

This just got me thinking about how Stranger Things is quite literally Netflix and vise versa. They are practically one in the same, where one without the other just doesn't make sense.

While this conflict of interest might run deep for many writers out there fearing to speak out against their employer, for us, the consumers, the fans, we as a collective have so much more power than we realize.

In contrast to the writers, streamers can't just fire their consumer base sometime down the line, out of spite for speaking out. Without consumers, neither Stranger Things nor Netflix would be what it is today.

We have the affordance of being able to speak up the loudest of anyone. And so why wouldn't we take advantage of that?

There are so many people out there protesting: writers, actors, others in the industry and even outside of it who are also taking a stand, many who need support so that they can continue to fight in the upcoming days, weeks, months, without being deterred by corporations that are making them feel greedy for demanding a contract that at most, asks that they be paid fairly.

And so I want to encourage anyone that is reading this, but fellow fans of Stranger Things especially, who have so much power in this strike when it comes to getting Netflix's attention, to consider taking the time to do whatever you can individually + with the masses as a community in order to best support the strike.

Follow the Strike! If you're active on various social media already, please be sure to follow the official accounts advocating for the strike via Instagram (@writersguildwest/@wgaeast), via Twitter (@WGAWest/@WGAEast). Engage with posts from folks that are out there daily, many with whom you can find by following tags like #WGAStrong, #WGAStrike and #WritersStrike. Although most fans are not able to join in picketing themselves, we can at least recognize all of those out there's individual efforts and do our best to show that we're paying attention and listening!

Spread the word! Show support any way you can by sharing posts and articles about the strike, or even fun memes to inform others in a more engaging way. This is the official site for the WGA strike if you want to learn more about what’s going on before diving in! And make sure to stay up-to-date here as things continue to unfold!

Donate! The Entertainment Community Fund is endorsed by the WGA for anyone that wants to support those affected by the strike financially. And this thread on Twitter is an incredible resourse, as it provides an ‘easy, one-click, stress-free, accessible-to-all-budgets’ ways you can support folks on the front lines.

Also! Consider donating through this link for the Entertainment Community Fund, where the money donated still goes directly to that fund, this is just an organizing page for Stranger Things fans specifically! By allowing fans to see how much of an impact we make as a collective, in real time, this could encourage even more ST fans to want to contribute. In a best case scenario, if this GoFundMe were to reach impressive proportions of donations from fans, that could lead to news outlets reporting on it, which could allow an opportunity for even more eyes on the strike, while also even more importantly being able to provide financial support to those that need it.

Trend! On social media, use #StrangerFansforWGA to trend or even just to reach other fans also looking to come together to support the strike!

While I know this post probably wont reach anywhere outside of Tumblr, I want to make a point to encourage those of you that are on other platforms to inform fans in those spaces about the strike and what they can do to help!

We might not all agree on everything, but I think we can agree on at least one thing... @Netflix & all major streamers and networks out there, who are still refusing to make a fair deal: PAY YOUR WRITERS!

In the mean time, if you're interested in working on different ideas for initiates we can carry out as a fandom, please reach out to me! I might only one person and I might not have all the answers and solutions, but I do know that with more of us working together, our odds of making an impact are much greater!

Over and out!

[wooahaeruby]

Chapter 11: Three's A Crowd

Chapter Word Count: 4,676

Anything in Bold Italics are Korean/Another language.

Master List | Prev | Next

Was he scolded for his reckless actions? Yeah. All three of his managers, the PR team, and the VP of Pledis had jumped down his throat on the first day after the incident. 

Seungcheol had been beside him the entire time, rebutting each and every argument they had about their idol image, their safety, and most importantly, you. Jihoon didn’t really need Cheol to come to your defense, he had been doing just fine repeating exactly what he said the previous night in the dorms and on Weverse. Why their team thought arguing with two of the most stubborn people in the group was a good idea, he’d never know. 

Twitter had been flooded with screen recordings of the live he did. Realistically it was a PR nightmare but all he really saw was the positive feedback. Fandoms of multiple groups had made comments on his actions, bringing up other idols like Chen from EXO and Bobby from iKON who had found their soulmates and started families while still working. There was of course the hateful comments but many came to the defense to combat the antis. 

It was the era of humanization in his eyes. Idols were not robots, nor were they property for the fans. They had lives outside of their profession, friends that were both celebrity and non-celebrity, and soulmates either with them or waiting for them. 

“ All of you, stop please. I’m getting a headache from the back and forth that isn’t getting us anywhere.” The VP sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “ It happened, fine, we can’t take it back, but for your sake and Y/N’s, don’t ever do something like this again.”

“ We can’t just have him going around and-” One of the Hybe PR representatives tried to argue but the VP held up a hand. 

“ And we very well can’t have him publicly apologize because the fans that do support him would be in an uproar. They would know he doesn’t mean it.” 

Jihoon watched the stare down between the two, very well knowing that this could have gone a lot worse. Beside him, Seungcheol gave a simple pat to his leg and spoke up. 

“ Let’s just focus on the rest of the tour and get through Caratland.” 

“ Jihoonie, why don’t we come visit you and meet them?” His mother hummed through the phone. 

He had been on the ride back from Hybe with Seungcheol, still technically on a small break before they would have a few more practices for the next stop on tour. Seungcheol was scrunching his nose up, suppressing the snicker that threatened to leave him. 

“ Do you think that will be a good idea? Coming all this way, staying in a hotel, then having to leave so soon since we’ll have practice?” He was trying to find every way to not have them come. Maybe saying how busy they would might help- 

“ Oh nonsense, we can come and stay and take them around- Y/N, right?” 

“ We call them Ruby, mom!” Seungcheol leaned close, speaking into the phone the best he could with Jihoon trying to push the older man away. 

He was in hell and Seungcheol wasn’t helping. 

“ Ruby? Like that little song you wrote?” 

Seungcheol took the phone from his hand, starting the small tangent of why Mingyu specifically picked the name. He couldn’t hear exactly what she was saying but it made the other laugh and continue on. The conversation had shifted as they pulled into the parking garage of their building. The leader was talking about the tour so far because apparently Jihoon didn’t tell his own mother about them getting back aside from a text that he found his soulmate, not even a phone call. 

“ Give me that, hyung.” Jihoon snatched his phone back from the other, quickly saying goodbye to his mother before hanging up with her. “ I’m going to see Ruby-ah.” 

“ You should let your parents meet them, she sounded so excited asking about them.” 

Huffing, Jihoon tucked his phone into his pocket, rubbing the back of his neck as they got out of the van. “ I know, I just still don’t want to overwhelm them much. Nothing is changing for me but everything is changing for Ruby-ah and I want to spread things out before that.” 

Walking into the elevator, Seungcheol nodded his head side to side, needing a moment to think and possibly give a better solution to everything. “ Maybe before the Japan leg? We’ll have a few weeks before In The Soop 2 then practice and flying out, it should be more than enough time, yeah?” 

Jihoon contemplated the idea, running through logistics in his head. It wasn’t a bad idea aside from the fact that once they left for the next part of the tour, everyone would be flying around and sleeping in hotels for three weeks before that. Unless things were bought, you’d be sleeping on a foam mat on the floor for a bed even after they returned. Hell, even the idea of needing to have you around for In The Soop? Things were getting even more complex before it got better. 

“I’ll figure it out, hyung.” Standing at your door, he felt the low rumble of exhaustion through the bond. You only got up a bit ago based on the feel, it was nearing noon. 

Hand raised to knock, he heard the shuffling of your feet and the door swung open before he got a chance too. Staring back at him now, he took in your form, messy hair and dark under eyes. You had wrapped yourself in the comforter, letting it drag behind you on the clear-ish floor. 

“What did you do?” You asked, lifting your phone to him. Twitter was open on the screen. 

Quickly he averted his eyes, dropping his arm and fiddling with the strap to his apple watch. 

“ I asked, what did you do?” You asked now in Korean, your tone firm. 

He sighed, still not meeting your eye. “ I heard you both times…” 

“Are you going to answer me then?” 

“...Do I have to?” 

He let himself be pulled into your apartment, the door nearly slamming shut behind him. He watched as you shuffle-marched into the bare living room and turned back to him. You looked a little mad but he couldn’t tell if you were actually mad since you didn’t feel mad. 

Jihoon kicked off his slides and stepped further into your home, keeping a small distance between the two of you. He could feel you watch him with every step. 

“ I’d like to say that I was really mad when I went live. And I feel no regret regarding my actions.” 

You closed your eyes, taking a deep breath in as you frowned your brow, staring at him now. “ You could have given me a warning? A text? I found out because Jamie and Kazuki texted me over a hundred times while I was asleep!” 

Okay, he could have done that…But he instead cried, went to his room and slept until he was rudely awakened by their manager. 

But you didn’t need to know all of that- 

And you were right either way. 

He took a step closer, raising his arms in defeat. Your shoulders dropped and you sighed, curling the comforter closer around your body. Now he could feel the smallest shreds of anger between you held onto flow away into the distance of the bond. It was replaced with annoyance. 

“ I should have, but I wasn’t thinking straight.” Jihoon got closer now, placing a hand on your blanketed shoulder. “ I was mad and I couldn’t let them think that they would gain some sort of fucked up favor from me.” 

He watched as your face morphed from annoyed to neutral. Your eyes were looking for something on his face and a part of him felt a little self-conscious at being analyzed so close. 

Swiftly a hand came up and a finger raised to point at him. He had leaned back some, surprise written on his expression. You had poked the finger into his chest then pointed towards his face. He stared down your finger to your face, seeing your nose scrunched up the slightest bit. 

“Don’t, and I mean don’t! Do that again. I’m already gonna have a target on my back and I don’t need you fueling the crazy train of fire!” You flawlessly switched between the languages, a huff coming out after. “Now either show me good places to order furniture and groceries or take me out to go there.” 

He insisted that at least two security guards accompany you and he was grateful you didn’t try to fight him on it. Texting the little group chat the members had, Jihoon asked if anyone needed anything since the two of you would be going out shopping, sliding his phone into his pocket to wait for a reply. 

You had gone off to get changed and gather what you needed to head out. Jihoon could feel the small tidbits of excitement that buzzed under his skin but also felt the anxiety you were trying to suppress. He leaned himself against the wall, across crossed, waiting for you to finish whatever you were doing. 

A knock at the door had him perking up and looking at the small screen that showed outside of your door. Taking a breath in, he saw you shuffle out, wanting to stop you from answering it but you smiled brightly and hurried to the door. 

“Hey!” You smiled as Mingyu stood outside of the threshold, his eyes beaming with a smile plastered on his face. “ Did Jihoon-ah invite you?”

Mingyu shook his head, looking over you to him. “ Nah, he put out a text in the groupchat and I thought I’d just come along and help.”  

Jihoon had to resist rolling his eyes. Yeah he loved his members but a small part of him, outside of the security, wanted to be alone with you, a little domestically. Now though, he didn’t want to just kick Mingyu out because you looked so happy, but that didn’t mean he had to be fully happy about the uninvited guest. 

You had looked over to him, the smile once on your face dropping as you looked at him with curiosity. He could tell you felt the tiny sprout of jealousy he let slip but all he did was shake his head to you.

Jihoon waved both of you off some. “ Let’s get down to the garage so we can wait for security.”

Stepping out of the elevator on the garage level, Mingyu gasped and threw his arm around you. 

“ Coups-hyung, Shua-hyung, and Jeonghannie-hyung are also coming, they were in the dorm with Dokyeom when I was up there.” 

Jihoon internally groaned, frowning his brow as he walked behind the two of you. The trio was growing into a sextet and he was going to have to deal with teasing from both Jeonghan and Joshua. Nothing was going the way he wanted. Still, you looked so happy, much different than the tear streaked face you had yesterday, and he didn’t want to ruin the peace you held in your heart. 

The trio was already standing beyond the inside entrance between the garage and the apartment building, either on their phone or standing around. Hearing the door open, they turned, greeting each of you with small hellos and bows of their heads. Mingyu had fist bumped Seungcheol and gave little nods towards the other too. Jihoon hummed his greetings and stood behind where Mingyu pulled you in and had you greet the oldest of his group. 

He could see that you were a bit flustered, probably having to do with your bias standing right in front of you. He suppressed another roll of his eyes, stretching his neck to calm himself. 

It was going to be a long day. 

Mingyu was scheming, you could see the glint in his eye as you were being ushered into the van that pulled up. Jeonghan and Joshua had filed into the back and he pushed you into the back row with them. You tried to fight it a bit but he insisted and you were holding up their travels…so you ended up getting placed between what were known as the evil twins of Seventeen. 

“ Where are we going, Ruby-ah?” Jeonghan asked from your right, buckling himself into the seat. 

You just had to think about them like Jamie and Kazuki, or you told yourself that at least. They did remind you of them… 

“ Well, to not bore you with the details, I asked Jihoon to show me places to buy furniture then I need food because I can actually cook for myself.” 

Joshua snorted a laugh from your right, shaking his head to try and get the smile off his face. 

“ Mm, that’s alright, Jihoon can’t cook either so good luck feeding him for the rest of your life.” 

You heard a scoff from the row ahead of you where Jihoon, Seungcheol, and Mingyu sat. The latter and Seungcheol both snickered at Jeonghan’s comment. 

“ I don’t mind, your soulmate will have to deal with a pretty face and you complaining like an auntie if any video I’ve seen is true.” 

From the corner of your eye, you see Jeonghan’s mouth slightly agape. He sighed out, a sly smile gracing his face. 

“ Whoever my soulmate is will love me no matter what.” He tried to retort but your tongue got the best of you. 

“ Until you open your mouth.” 

The van erupted in laughter and a wave of amusement passed through you. You covered your face, nose scrunching up as you laughed. Peeking over to Jeonghan only had you laughing harder. He had his mouth hanging open, puffing out laughs in disbelief as he stared at you. 

You quickly gave an apology but it didn’t mean much as you continued to laugh, tears blooming in your eyes. 

“ Wahh- I’ve never seen him so shocked!” Seungcheol had turned in his seat, bright eyes looking at both of you. 

For a second, you met his eyes but quickly looked away. Your cheeks flared with heat and you could tell you were blushing, however you hoped your out of breath laughing would make it seem like you weren’t. Using your short sleeve to wipe away the tears, you looked at Jeonghan who was still trying to collect himself. He had closed his mouth at this point, crossing his arms over his chest and huffed. 

“ I’m being beaten at my own game.” He pursed his lips, looking out the window for a moment then back to you. He was smirking now, eyes filled with mischief. “ I think we will get along swimmingly, Ruby-ah.” 

Jihoon had turned in his seat to peer back at you three in the back. Jeonghan and you were staring at each other with wide grins, an unspoken agreement forming between them. 

Turning your head back to the leader duo before you, they too shared a look, but one more distressing than the one between you and Jeonghan.

“ We have just set ourselves up for hell.” Seungcheol whispered to Jihoon who’s eyes widened and a shiver ran down both his and your spine. 

“ I’m blaming Mingyu since he said you guys were coming.” Jihoon whispered back. 

“ Hey! Don’t blame me!” 

And an alliance was made at that moment.

Just as Jihoon agreed, your little group was driven by security to a furniture store, specifically an IKEA which had you snickering as you saw the blue and yellow building. 

“When you finish decorating, you need to invite everyone over and cook for us.” Jeonghan hummed, pulling his mask over his face as he stepped out after you. 

You raised a brow as you pulled your own mask up. “ Shouldn’t the guests bring housewarming gifts like food and a cheap little plant?” Sweet sarcasm laced each word. 

“Unless Mingyu, Seomin, or I are cooking, I don’t think you want to die.” Joshua fixed the bucket hat on his head and readjusted his mask. 

“ I want meatballs.” Mingyu hummed, taking your arm in his and walking off away from your group and towards the entrance. 

“ He is just stealing them away.” Jihoon scoffed, walking between Seungcheol and Jeonghan. 

Looking back over your shoulder, you could see the other four with one security guard while the other tried to keep up with the pace Mingyu had set between you. The jealousy from earlier was heavier in your chest and you felt a little bad to be dragged along as such. Getting to the main level of the store, you tried your best to break off from the taller man but he was unrelenting in showing you something he found cool or even cute. 

Joshua had fallen into a quiet conversation with you about any pieces you thought about getting. You had taken pictures of items you would need to order but with the size of the van the guards had arrived in, you were sure a few smaller boxes could fit if you tried. 

“ You should get a big couch so everyone can come over and sit on it.” Seungcheol commented, sitting on one of the display couches, arms resting over the back, legs spread in a typical man spread. 

You averted your eyes, letting a long breath of air out of your nose, butterflies fluttering in your stomach. Nope, you wouldn’t fall for anything- 

“ Who said any of you were invited?” You asked, looking at another display of an L-shaped couch to the left. “ Or are you just inviting yourself over?” 

“Careful, Ruby-ah, he’ll think you’re flirting.” Jeonghan warned playfully, taking a seat next to Seungcheol. 

Envy clawed at your soul. It felt a little suffocating but when you looked at Jihoon, he was in conversation with Joshua about an ottoman he could buy for his studio. No sign of any type of displeasure or jealousy was on his face. It was confusing you. 

“ You okay?” Mingyu asked, stepping into your field of vision. 

You only nodded and continued to look at the display furniture, taking pictures of tags and taking note of items. To keep Mingyu from hanging off of you, you had him carrying a basket of items for you, glad it was stopping him from clinging to you. 

Mingyu, even through videos, was someone who was clearly clingy. It was evident when he was around certain members, especially Jihoon, Minghao, and Seungkwan. He is always the person to remind these members how cute they were or just generally holding onto them. It was easy to see that you were a new friend to him even in the short time of knowing the man. He was kind and loving, a little too much in the physical contact department but you didn’t mind. You could understand the jealousy that Jihoon was feeling, having your soulmate clung to by a giant of a man. The part that had you a little annoyed was that he wasn’t doing much to stop Mingyu. You had to take it upon yourself to find a way to hinder Mingyu’s affection. 

Getting down to the actual warehouse floor, you already were ready to go grocery shopping and go home. Jihoon’s jealousy was eating at your last string of sanity and Mingyu wasn’t helping. With haste, you found the smaller items you wanted and a small tool kit. Jihoon offered to push the cart which you allowed, even adding the ottoman he wanted onto the pile. 

Joshua had been a steady, quiet figure beside you as you waited in line. Behind you Mingyu, Jeonghan, and Seungcheol were talking about an upcoming schedule while Jihoon was silent in front of you, waiting patiently with the cart. On either side of your small group, guards stood, keeping watchful eyes out for anything out of the ordinary or dangerous. They moved with you and you felt safe, or as safe as you could with two guards in a big ass warehouse. 

Paying for your items separate from Jihoon, Mingyu tried to get a few things as a gift, which you shot down instantly. The jealousy bubbled back up again, having settled for a bit prior, and you took a calmly breath in. 

“ Food is on me,” Joshua called out to your group, placing a hand on your shoulder. “ Go find a table, I’ll take them to get food.” 

Before you knew it, Joshua was leading you away, one of the guards following you while the other stayed with the rest to find a suitable table. The line for food was long but you were thankful to be away from almost all of them to settle. 

“You’re allowed to be annoyed.” Joshua spoke, sliding his hands into his pocket. “You’ve looked annoyed since walking into the store.” 

You cringed, dropping your shoulders and sighing. “Have I been that obvious? I’m trying to keep my mood up but it’s just not getting better.” 

You watched as Joshua looked over to your group towards the back of the food area, most of them sitting and playing on their phones. “Is it Mingyu or Jihoon?” 

“Would it be bad if I said both?” You glanced at him, letting the other take in your exasperated expression. “At first, I was fine with Mingyu all over me, he is like a giant puppy that just wants attention. Yesterday was like that and I was okay with it too, Jamie and Kazuki were physically affectionate people, I loved it. But today?” You rubbed a hand over your face, following him as you took a step forward in line. “Jihoon is so jealous and it's radiating through the bond but he isn’t saying a single thing. I’m the one trying to stop Mingyu by filling his arms with shit and staying a few steps back.” 

Joshua’s expression goes from curious to empathetic. “He means well, Jihoon just isn’t good at expressing himself. It’s been years for me and sometimes he is still hard to read most days.” 

“The problem I’m having internally is whether I tell him I know because he knows that I know that he is feeling that way, or just let him come to me. Just because I can feel it I shouldn’t just air all the laundry out and place the blame on him, right? But shouldn’t he talk to me? I’ve been annoyed and he’s barely said a word to me aside from talking with the other guys and I know he can feel it.” You grumbled out your rambled response when annoyance tangled beside the jealousy Jihoon held in him. 

You wanted to rip your hair out and beat him with a shoe. 

“ And now he is annoyed, and I’m back to wanting to go home.” You switched to Korean, 

Joshua laughed, letting you simmer in the feeling before patting your back gently. “Maybe you should talk to him. He won’t come to you unless you tell him it’s a problem.” 

You were happy to be home, glad to have help from each of them with carrying groceries and boxes. Mingyu had happily carried a box of a nightstand while Seungcheol and a guard easily carried a coffee table. Joshua and Jihoon provided plenty of help with the smaller items and food store bags. 

You ushered the oldest and Mingyu out, motioning for Jihoon to stay behind. The smile you had on your face as you bid each a goodnight faltered as the door closed and you paused, hand on the doorknob to collect yourself. Turning to where Jihoon sat on your living room floor, he averted his eyes when you tried to meet them. 

“ Jihoon-ah..” You spoke up firmly, watching as his shoulders tensed. “ Can we talk about it?” 

“There isn’t anything to really talk about.” He replied, rolling his head and stretching his neck. 

You took a deep breath, stepping into the living room. Standing before him, you placed your hands on your hips. You couldn’t get mad at him. 

“ You can’t hide it from me and it ticked me off all day.” You sighed out, “ And you just let your jealousy wash into it without saying a single word. If you don’t like something, you can use your words.” 

Jihoon looked at you, frowning, biting his lower lip to hold in whatever was actually on his mind. Annoyance that rivaled your own was flooding the bond with envy. “ Then what? When I’m not around will you have him hang off of you? It isn’t like you stopped it at first and you probably didn’t yesterday.” 

Your mouth hung open and you looked off to the side, shaking your head. “ You are going to blame me? I started to pile his arms with stuff to make him stop.” 

“But you could use your words too!” He was getting angry now, standing up and pacing around the room, avoiding any boxes. “ You're my soulmate! I wanted to go out with you today and when Mingyu showed up I wanted to tell him to fuck off!” 

“And how is that my problem when you don't say anything!” You threw your hands up, groaning in frustration. “ Jihoon-ah, just because I can feel every single emotion you have, does not mean I am going to know what it’s exactly about! It’s emotion sharing, not mind reading!” 

You haven’t felt him this heated before. Yes, he has been angry in the past, but now it was different. He paced around the room, running a hand through his hair and grumbling under his breath. Every part of him was tense and your hands balled into fists. You didn’t know what to say next, his anger was getting to you. 

“ For once I want something for myself, I want to be selfish and I don’t want everyone hogging you.” He muttered, shaking his head and setting his jaw. “ I want to be the center of your attention- I want to hold you and protect you but he just gets in my way-” 

“You can’t hog me, Jihoon-ah. I’m a person not an object. I can have friends outside of you.” You didn’t mean to sound so harsh. 

Moving your gaze back to him, his shoulders dropped and the anger he once held in his face faded. When he spoke again, his voice was soft, almost painful if you could place a word to it.

“ Ruby-ah,” Heartbreak was written all over his face now. “ I don’t mean it like that. I just- God why is talking so hard-” 

He pushed his hair back, holding the strains back from falling in his face. Jihoon was struggling to form the words and regret perched above any anger and jealousy you once felt. 

“ I’ve waited years, hearing stories of friends and family talking about meeting their soulmate. I’ve had to share everything for years since debut with my members, literally everything.” He moved towards you, letting his hands fall to his side and just simply resting his head on your shoulder. The bond thrummed with warmth. “ I don’t want to share. I want to be the one you hold onto. I want to be the one you let hold you. I want to plan stupid little dates that you’ll make fun of me for because it will be cheesy.” 

Slowly, you felt his arms wrap loosely around you. “ I want to write songs about you and for you. I want to be everything with you and for you.” 

You raised your arms, one sliding across his back and the other coming up to run through his hair. 

“We really are two idiots, huh?”

[foxypheonix]

Let’s Address Some Things

It’s been nearly a year since this first began. I have been working on this since about March as I can no longer keep it in and let my nay-sayers get away with this. This event triggered severe RSD (Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria) in me and threw me into a deep depression so it wasn’t easy for me to try to write all of this down. I wanted to be as clear and truthful as possible, so writing an emotional rant post in response wasn’t an option. I know how the drama-lovers like to nitpick words, so I wanted to be careful as well.

This is about the drama between RadicalRainbow and me. It involves a lot of people, because Rainbow refused to let this be private. As such, I will be posting this publicly as well…

I will be sharing everything that happened that I can remember. I am not about to throw a pity party for myself, but I do intend to defend myself. I want to set things straight for those who actually care to know the whole story. I know it probably won’t help much for those who are convinced I am a terrible person, but…yeah. Let’s just get into it.

RadicalRainbow (and CosmicaCandy):

Part 1: Joining the Server

When Rainbow joined, I was happy and excited. I could tell they were timid and nervous, enforced by how they thought it would be cool to talk to me at all based on their twitter post. Someone else other than Rainbow tagged me, informing me of their post and I said hi and offered to have them join my server.

There were cute with how shy they seemed. But I also wanted them to not be nervous. They were  the most welcomed I had ever seen in my server yet and they posted a lot.

I thought they might be losing their shyness and I tried to treat them like anyone else. I vouch to treat everyone the same to dispel power dynamics and for those in power to face the same treatment as everyone else. Rarely do I not see power go to someone’s head and I work to be humble and use any power I have responsibly.

That being said, I considered Rainbow and I to be equals. They have a bigger audience than me and were more well known, so I almost considered them to be bigger and have more “power” than me. I didn’t want them to revere me, just to see me as another artist and maybe a friend. I do not look to be feared. I want to be open and approachable.

Part 2: Their Time There

I thought Rainbow’s time in my server was great. Again, they were the most well-received person I had ever seen. Everyone welcomed them. They posted often and people were nice to them.

They soon showed interest in knowing more about my Cult of the Lamb comic, In Spite of You (ISOY). The only ways I allowed people to know more, “spoilers” so to speak, is if they became a top-tier patron of my Patreon or if they did work for me. I eventually offered for them to work for me in exchange for learning about spoilers for ISOY. They accepted and became my ask helper, drawing asks to a script and description I provided. I offered to let them draw what they saw appropriate at the times I felt it didn’t matter. They received their payment for this work in the form of information and images pertaining to things not yet made public about ISOY that otherwise was only available to those that paid to receive it or also worked for me.

I did my best to be kind about asking for changes to their work. I allowed them to keep their watermark on their work despite the fact I didn’t want it there, and if I had been paying money, I definitely would have requested to be removed. A watermark obscuring an image is different than an artist signing their work. I did, and continue to give credit where credit is due.

At one point, I suggested (eagerly) for Rainbow to add their OC Fern to ISOY. They said no and I dropped the idea.

They posted Fern a lot. In the posts it was never said what gender Fern was. Going off of appearances Fern was very feminine coded. They even posted porn of Fern and they had drawn Fern being eaten out. No one had any idea Fern was not female.

In relation to Rainbow posting porn of their character, another server member also made a risque picture of Fern after Rainbow had posted theirs.

I only learned later that they had been uncomfortable with this. I saw no issue as they had posted some themselves. They also never vocalized they did not like porn being made of Fern except by themselves until much later.

When boundaries were brought up they were adhered to. However boundaries cannot be enforced when no one knows about them.

Part 3: Them Leaving

They left on my birthday.

So to get this out of the way, if they mention how their information is visible and thus should be respected, they are a hypocrite. My birthday is also visible across many platforms, yet despite apparently looking so highly upon me they left my server and was not able to be immediately contacted on that exact day. People don’t look that deep. People are lazy. You aren’t that special. I know I’m not, which is why I do not blame them for leaving on my birthday. However I will blame them or anyone if they try to claim having your information “easily” and publicly available makes me or anyone else not knowing if someone is gay, bi, trans, autistic, ADHD, a gender, how old they are, their race and so on is “disrespectful” and thus purposefully doing it. Having that information out there does not mean everyone knows it by default. Again, you are not that special.

Rainbow sent a message finally telling everyone that Fern was non-binary then left right afterwards.

I got in contact with them a few days later. I could no longer talk to them on Discord after they left because we didn’t share a server anymore and they blocked contact from non-friends and server-mates. It was understandable, we hadn’t added each other as friends and shared no other servers. I contacted them through tumblr instead.

When I could talk to Rainbow again, they told me there were three reasons why they left: Fern being misgendered, Lazy and Nova.

Now let me reiterate, Rainbow told no one that Fern was non-binary until maybe a few hours to even only some minutes before they left my server. No one refuted them correcting this, no one gave grief or hate, no one even had a chance to adjust to this information before they decided that they were going to leave over it anyway.

I do not care that Fern is non-binary. I am not saying Fern is a woman. I support that choice for that character.

Can anyone be blamed for misgendering them, though? A very heavily female coded character is presented. They are referred by the creator only as “they” but that does not instantly click for people to then ask about the character’s gender. If you try to claim you do, you are a liar. Males and females can be referred to as “they” as well. It is not an exclusive pronoun to non-binary people.

People, including myself, referred to Fern as a girl. Rainbow never corrected this.

My server is not a place LGBTQ+ is heavily enforced or being pertinent to knowing these things about people. It is up to the individual to ask or relay such information. I do not have an introductions channel or a channel to introduce OCs etc.

I noticed how upset Rainbow was becoming about Fern being misgendered to the point they made posts on their blog about Fern being non-binary and how female (and male) presenting characters can also be non-binary. I agree with this!

However we cannot expect people to be mind readers. We cannot expect people to go learn all the information about you and especially not about your character(s). It takes time for people to adjust to changes, especially those who are autistic or ADHD. Autism makes changes hard, and ADHD makes it hard to remember. However everyday people also can have troubles too and you cannot expect instant change.

There is also the fact that non-binary pronouns don’t even exist in some languages. So someone’s first language may cause them to not adjust quickly to the information. (For example: Shamura’s pronouns in French are he/him because non-binary does not exist in the language.) Some languages even gender objects.

You have to understand it is you against the world if you decide to get mad about people not knowing your character’s pronouns or gender, even your pronouns or gender. It must be shared, sometimes explicitly, and then a grace given for those that fumble. It is not a slight against you if someone slips up accidentally.

I say all this because this is what I was trying to say to Rainbow. I had less words and I admit I came on strong. I simply wanted to help. I didn’t want them to get stuck in the trap of thinking everyone is disrespecting them on purpose. It’s far more complex than that and sadly they are not that important.

I did say that they were upset about just a character. A character being misgendered upset them so much. It felt ridiculous to me. It wasn’t about them. None of the misgendering was malicious. But I should have approached it another way. I did not mean to dismiss their feelings, just to try and get them to see it in a different light. I wanted to apologize for how I approached the situation and I unfortunately let my frustrations out during our talk. You can go see yourself that I never insulted them or their beliefs. I didn’t even state how ridiculous I thought it was.

This whole situation is ridiculous and I don’t understand how it got this big other than malicious intent on Rainbow’s part and/or encouragement from their friends and acquaintances to make it bigger than it needed to be.

I’m getting ahead of myself.

I will address them mentioning Nova next. They only told me two things: One, they didn’t like that Nova drew a pin up of Fern and two, Nova made sexual implications to them in DMs.

I asked if they ever told Nova they didn’t like these things. They said no. What can be done if you don’t even tell someone they are bothering you?

I basically returned this. They needed to speak up and tell him to stop. If he continued afterwards then it shows he has malicious intent and is being disrespectful. Then I can get involved. I am not going to talk for them.

I know all of the drama around Nova and I will address it later in this post.

Lastly is Lazy.

The entire time Rainbow was in the server Lazy was also there. He was a mod, even. They interacted, even if it was only Lazy commenting on their artwork.

However Lazy wasn’t named Lazy Lamb at the time, he was named LewdLamb. No, it wasn’t to cover up his identity, it was a left over joke when I changed his name to HornyLamb and then he altered it to LewdLamb.

Something tells me Rainbow didn’t know Lazy was Lazy until he got demoted from mod status and left for a few days to cool down. When he returned and since then, he has reverted back to being Lazy Lamb.

This is where “boundary crossing” came into Rainbow and mine’s talk.

They told me Lazy was a bad person. “Many” people were hurt by him. I know about the debacle Cosmica caused against him. I do not believe how he acted towards Cosmica at the time was okay. However, I was also on the other side of it. I talked to Lazy and people she mistook for Lazy. She hurt them too.

But back to the conversation with Rainbow. I asked for proof of who and how he hurt them. Who else besides Cosmica had he hurt, because I did not know of him hurting anyone else. I heard about how he “bothered” others and how people listened to Cosmica and decided to block him, but nothing else.

They refused to answer, both on their past or of anyone else. They claimed it was not their place to speak for others, however how can I take the claim as true if I’m not shown proof or at least given a name of these other “victims” of his? I pressed because this was a serious matter. They were accusing my former mod of terrible things. I have a community I am responsible for. I did want to try to convince Rainbow to return to my server as well at the time, so I also wanted to dispel their worries and to fix the issues they were bringing up.

They kept trying to shut down the conversation. I wouldn’t allow it. They had brought up concerning things about my members and it needed to be addressed. I was willing to wait hours, days, until they could be calm and collect their thoughts. I encouraged them to take time to think. It is not evident in the screenshots because of the erasing of the hourly timestamps, but every time they said no and I urged for them to calm and think, they would return 30 minutes to an hour later once again telling me no and to fully drop the subject. I wouldn’t allow the subject to never be talked about again, it was too important to leave. Apparently my insistence was boundary crossing. To a degree, I agree. They asked me to stop and I did at the time, telling them to take their time and we’ll talk later. But they wanted to never speak of it again and I couldn’t allow that. Alas, it was important for me to learn what was going on and they were the accuser. They gave themselves the burden of proof by making such claims.

I wanted to help them. Help them be less insecure, to advocate for themselves, to speak up about their problems and to understand that the world isn’t out to get them, that there’s a lot of nuance to life. I do believe I came on strong. I should have been gentler. There is only so much one can do for someone convinced they’re a victim though. Someone who doesn’t want help and would prefer to stay in their comfort bubble, always being told they’re in the right and the world is just evil; not that they should also be understanding, open minded and seek solutions instead of retribution. They were arguably surrounded by people telling them to be the way they are, which leads me to what happened next.

(A note before that: I was once “asked” ((it was accusatory and shitty but anyway)) why Rainbow needed to be in my server. Looking back, I can see that it wasn’t necessary for them to return. However at the time not only did I not understand why they left, I wanted to then resolve the problem. They were telling me bad people were in my server leading them to leaving. I wanted them, and everyone to be comfortable and that is a reason I persisted.)

Part 4: A Talk With Cosmica

After probably another hour of silence, I suddenly found myself in a group conversation with Rainbow and Cosmica, of all people.

Allow me to preface this. I am not a fan of Cosmica. She has hurt many of my friends and otherwise is a class A bully of the CoTL community. I do not like her. I was wary of her from day one of joining this community and she has only strengthened my belief in that she is a terrible person over time. She is extremely judgemental, attention seeking, dramatic and weaponizes her audience to serve these terrible habits.

And she was brought to me to “tell her side” of the conflict with Lazy that led Rainbow to decide he wasn’t a good, or even an okay, person to be around.

I already knew what happened with her and Lazy. I told Rainbow this before being brought into a conversation with the woman herself. I didn’t need to hear her extremely judgemental side again, that was also public for everyone to see anyway.

I do not agree that what Lazy did towards Cosmica after being banned was okay. He should have left her alone.

But what led to him being banned was the most intolerant act I had ever seen. He was rightfully confused and mad. It does not justify his actions afterwards, however I do not condone Cosmica’s way of handling what was frankly just an awkward situation. He had no malicious intent. He was just kinda weird and he was punished for it and it’s sickening.

I did my best to keep my cool talking to Cosmica. She didn’t know everything. And I wanted to be open for Rainbow.

It was in this conversation that Cosmica told me of Rainbow’s pronouns. I was never told them, I said that. Another instance of Rainbow not advocating for themselves.

In fact, the entire chat was Cosmica talking for them. She told me I scared Rainbow. About the pronouns. About how Lazy had done something directly to Rainbow that they hadn’t told me about. How was I to do anything if I wasn’t being informed?

I was given a screenshot of what misdoings Lazy did to Rainbow. I disagree that it was anywhere near bad enough for Rainbow to want to run away from his presence.

He messaged them after he had been banned from a second server Cosmica had recently joined. Rainbow banned him, they were a mod with the privilege to ban. He asked why and they attempted to be vague but he hit the nail on the head that Cosmica had gone to Rainbow and “warned” them about him. They took Cosmica’s word at face value and banned Lazy without further investigation.

Disgusting.

He got mad at them for banning based on hearsay of the past and specifically because of his nay-sayer, Cosmica. He should not have “yelled” (used all caps) but you know what? I would be mad too if some bully of mine got me banned from somewhere without me being able to make my case and have recourse.

I told them both I didn’t find it so bad. Lazy has anger issues. We (Lazy and I) have gotten into “yelling” matches (via text) and we still could be friends and, oh, I dunno, talk things out? What he did wasn’t okay but how both Cosmica and Rainbow handled their situations were gross overreactions and he had a right to be angry.

On the topic of what Lazy did to Cosmica, I wanted to correct her that the reason she called out Lazy by name wasn’t his doing. I knew one of the others that contacted her during that time and they were worried what she was posting about was of them.

Well. Cosmica knew that it wasn’t Lazy. She figured out it was an old stalker of hers and Lazy had left her alone all this time. Did she ever correct this? Did she send me a link to her call out post (which she had ready to give to me instantly, even though she “deleted it but it’s been reblogged and she can’t delete those”--woman, you shouldn’t know where to find those anymore if you actually cared to stop this conflict) and then give me an immediate addendum that Lazy had been innocent in that situation? NO. Instead of admitting as publicly as she “called out” Lazy of her blunder, she kept it quiet and allowed his reputation to be ruined further, even straight to my face in this new instance. She wants him to continue to suffer.

So to recap: All Lazy did was talk about his dead pets at an inappropriate time which led to him being banned because he was “weird.” No correction. No recourse. He tried to contact Cosmica afterwards to ask why he was banned and to beg to be let back in. He got mad when she denied to explain nor revert the ban and he started to ban-evade and cuss at her. This is the only thing he did wrong in this situation in my opinion--but everyone will want to think this behavior makes them right in banning him--no it wasn’t.

She eventually became his aggressor. When he gave lament for how he acted towards her to someone who was apparently her friend, she unblocked him and told him off.

Then her stalker came back. She thought it was Lazy, but never confirmed it was him and later confirmed it was the stalker instead. She even claimed blocking Lazy’s IP address to keep him from contacting her, but that’s not something anyone can do. You can’t block people’s IP addresses from coming into contact with yours. You can block an IP address from accessing a website, but not being able to contact you. Plus, even if that was possible, VPNs exist. Regardless, I take her saying that as just another way of trying to be dramatic.

It took a third party to get Cosmica to talk to Lazy and inevitably for her to back off.

But let’s not forget she’s the victim! :)

Anyhow. With this and saying what he said to Rainbow wasn’t so bad, Cosmica (remember, she’s the only one talking this whole time) said that being “triggered” once is enough. In certain situations, I agree. And I must add I do not think Cosmica should “forgive” Lazy and they should reconcile. Rainbow overreacted and abused their power in my opinion, but I also do not think they should have to be friends with Lazy. I encouraged them to block him (and Nova) if they returned to my server. They cared too much about it being noticed that they would be ignoring the two. That could have been dealt with had it become a problem. I am the admin of my server, I take care of these issues. They didn’t trust me to do my job. Probably because of how they abused their power as a mod and how they have observed others do the same. It’s sad. They’re surrounded by people who back stab each other the moment they hear nay-say. It’s disgusting. However they participate so I can’t feel bad for them anymore. I’ll go over that more later…

The end of the conversation came. I relented. Fine. Rainbow didn’t need to come back to my server. I didn’t feel things had been resolved yet, but at least things could be over for now. I told my discontent with this ending and how my respect for Cosmica was on the floor but she earned some of it to lift it up a bit higher than it was.

This was when Rainbow finally spoke when not prompted to. They told me they quit and to never speak to them or “their friends” again. They removed Cosmica from the chat, then themselves.

Thank you for that, Rainbow. Now neither of you can screenshot our conversation and spin it against me. I don’t have access to it anymore either, so I’m recounting everything from memory. I like to think I have a very good memory though, and I stand by the truth. Everyone did something wrong, but none of it was deserving of what has come out of it.

I left it at that. I did not try to contact either of them again. (Okay. I shut Cosmica up when she vague posted about Lazy. She so kindly deleted the post and blocked me. That was it though.)

Then, MONTHS later, the debacle with Nova happened and Rainbow dragged me into it. :)

Part 4: The Call Out Post

I will talk on Nova later. We’re focusing on Rainbow right now, the one that started all of this.

And their “call out” post of me is where it started. They posted our private conversations and claimed I used them with my status (allow me to reiterate, I am LESS popular than them) and crossed their boundaries.

THAT’S IT.

Why, WHY couldn’t this have been talked about privately? If they still had an issue with me, my DMs were wide open. I never blocked them. Anywhere. They only blocked me on Discord. And instead of contacting me to talk things out, they followed the bandwagon of their toxic friends and attempted to slander me because I hurt their feelings.

I did try to ask for us to talk. I was sorry about what and how things happened. But I was RESPECTING THEIR BOUNDARY to not talk to them anymore before this. I only contacted them to plead to just take down their post and let’s talk. This was ridiculous. Why do you want to slander me? Why do you feel the need to make this private matter public? I was mildly on the defensive when contacting them, being very stern and professional because I know how these people work. I did hope being that way would make them back down. It was still a request and a bid for them to see reason. I should know better from a teenager to surrender when goaded on by such a toxic community, though. I wanted to hope.

They would not talk. I was dog-piled. Rumors began to spread about me. False rumors. Rainbow reblogged everything negative they could find about me. I could not win, I couldn’t even try to come to a truce. They stonewalled me.

I was sorry. I wanted to help. Alas there is only so much I can do with an uncooperative party. I shouldn’t have asserted to be help, I know. I can’t help it. I cared about them, I wanted better for them. But not everyone wants helps and facing the truth of your flaws can be seen as mean.

I am sorry for how I acted. But I am no longer sorry for anything else. They brought this upon themselves by not letting sleeping dogs lie and not reaching out to talk privately and maturely. They went nuclear to a very small, trivial situation and I refuse to pity them for deciding to attack instead of being diplomatic.

Talk out your problems. Tell people you have issues. Advocate for yourself. COMMUNICATE.

Of course it doesn’t end here though.

Part 5: I’m An Art Thief

No.

No I’m not.

I never was.

As I was attempting to deal with this whole absurd situation and my newfound attackers, I soon got anonymous asks on my comic blog telling me to take down the art Rainbow had done for me. I declined. It was not some random person’s place to tell me to do anything. I’m sure one of those anonymous asks was Rainbow but I refused because unlike everyone else in this community, I don’t listen to hearsay.

Rainbow eventually asked, via an ask, to take down their artwork.

I offered a deal. They take down their post about me and I’ll take down their art. They refused. I attempted to give reason. They basically just attacked me. I wasn’t going to roll over and let them have their way simply because they demanded it.

They went nuclear again. Posting about how I was refusing to take down the art and was a thief.

Let’s get one thing straight. Rainbow agreed to work for me. They received payment for the work they did. I had a right to keep that artwork up.

On top of that, I wasn’t slandering them. They had a watermark on the work. I credited them. I didn’t say a THING about them after our fall out.

Now before you say they made the art for me because they wanted to do it and so it doesn’t matter what payment they got, try saying that to a business and see where that gets you. THEY AGREED. THEY RECEIVED PAYMENT. IT IS NON-REFUNDABLE. Just because payment wasn’t monetary doesn’t mean it wasn’t a payment. You all would agree I have a right to that artwork had I paid with money, so why is this different? It is known as bartering and it is a legitimate payment method.

I did not explain this well in the moment to Rainbow or my aggressors when trying to give the reason I wasn’t budging. I am not good at arguing. It is very hard for me to formulate thoughts and points in the moment. I tried my best to state my case in the comments of the call out post and its reblogs.

You can’t take back goods you have been paid for simply because you no longer like the person. You, Rainbow, feigning ignorance does not make this fact go away.

But congrats. You still ripped your work away from me and have effectively stolen from ME now, via abusing the copyright system. I would have fought it if it had not been for the wording of the recourse saying I believed the claim to be a mistake. Because it wasn’t. It was absolutely purposeful. Congratulations on abusing the system like all the other scum does on youtube, falsely claiming things as theirs, then due to how busted the system is, most creators are fucked about getting it appealed. I was fucked because despite it being your art, I PAID FOR IT. I have a right to it. You agreed to this!

You are despicable. If I were not one strike away from my account being deleted because of you and/or I had the means to fight it, that art would be back up out of spite.

If you had come to me to talk things out, and had asked me to take the art down then I would have done it, having paid for it or not. I might’ve tried to reason with you to not do it. There was no point in my eyes. It wasn’t hurting you in any way to keep your art on my page. You were getting free publicity, you got credit, I didn’t slander you. Other than you not liking me and being petty in not wanting me to have something of yours on my page, I see absolutely no reason to need to take it down. It was a winning situation for you, Rainbow, but you clearly care too much about what others think and about getting revenge.

Let me reiterate too, that this entire time Rainbow did not block me anywhere else. They were hoping to use my responses in their slander against me. You learn from the best, don’t you? I used to think you were a victim of Cosmica and co. But now you’ve graduated to being one of them. Enjoy your tiny bubble of comfort, thinking everyone is out to get you. You bring it upon yourself. Congratulations on not only abusing the copyright system but also your own audience and connections, just like the drama queen herself. I will rue the day they all turn on you at the drop of a hat like they do with everyone else.

Learn to communicate and that people can’t read your damn mind.

Eventually I had enough as the rumors got worse and I blocked Rainbow and everyone involved in the situation in hopes of saving my mental health.

(Formerly) NovaArtz:

I need to bring up Nova because he was a part of this, even if it was only a catalyst to bringing a spotlight on me.

Let’s get some things straight: What Nova did to others was not okay. It was borderline, if not full on creepy, especially what he said to Cosmica. I do not condone him being so crass about sexual advances and content sharing.

People have done far worse and what he did was overblown, especially the part where he “targeted minors.” Guys. He didn’t. Just like I (and you, and everyone else) don’t go hunting down everyone’s gender and birthday, he didn’t know the ages of those he hurt that were minors. And, as soon as he found out their ages, he disengaged and stopped talking to them--at least in a sexual manner.

It does not absolve him of what he did. I still think it was wrong. However y’all need to get off your gossip trains for one second and look at the whole picture once in a while.

Speaking of gossip trains, I was also slandered for this debacle as well. I was shown the accusation Cosmica posted about Nova that started this whole mess in my server. As I was reading through it still, I commented how people can’t take a joke.

Let me explain. Firstly, I do not consider Cosmica a good person as stated before. She creates drama left and right, and as such, I take everything she says with a massive pile of salt. I was already rolling my eyes at her pointing a finger at Nova. While I was ready to not believe her, I was still investigating the situation to form my own opinion.

Secondly, I had, again, still been reading through everything but I was making comments as I read. The particular moment I have been having thrown at me telling me I’m a terrible person for, I was reacting in the moment. I was groaning at someone who had made a claim against Nova, particularly trying to say he “targeted minors” as she was one. He, at one point, replied to one of her posts talking about how she was tired, didn’t want to go to bed, or something along those lines. His reply was of an image of a tranquilizer gun with him “threatening” her to go to bed. It. Was. A. Joke. She was showing this particular interaction as a strike against his character. I thought it was funny. So I said that in my server: People can’t take jokes these days.

Everything I said in my server at that time was a knee-jerk, in the moment reaction. And guess what? Someone else had a knee-jerk reaction to my reaction and decided to take my developing opinion comments, screenshot them and throw them in my face, claiming I thought everything Nova did was “just a joke.” I do not think that. To take my words out of context like that is ridiculous and one of the many things wrong with this damn community, and the internet as a whole.

One more time. Nova did wrong. He has said he will change. I, personally, am giving him the opportunity to change and the moment he has proven he hasn’t, he is just as admonished from my server as he has been everywhere else. However, that also means people need to speak up (looking at you, Rainbow) to both their aggressors and tell the people that can help them.

FoxBoiTunes:

I know close to nothing of what FoxBoi is like, but what I do know is that they are a hypocrite and a liar.

Pretty much as soon as my talk with Cosmica (and Rainbow was there too) was over, they announced their leave in my server. I tried to pretend it wasn’t related and tried to ask why they wanted to leave. It got brought up that they “didn’t want to get involved in drama” and yet chose a side without hearing both.

It’s so gross how this community expects everyone to be just as disgusting as them. But honestly, I’m an outlier, a black sheep if you will, though no one believes me.

FoxBoi, you actively participated in “the drama” by taking action.

Then after Rainbow made their call out post, you not only participated in “the drama” again by sharing our brief, private conversation, but then you shared a complete and utter blatant lie in an attempt to slander me.

You claimed that I did what I “did” to you by asking why someone left. Fair. I asked like two other people the same before. However the lie comes in where you state this “friend” of yours had left because I shared an image depicting rape, and I was going after them for it?

This. NEVER. Happened.

Not once have I posted an image OR story of rape in my server. I have never “gone after someone” for leaving my server, especially not in that kind of manner like I was attempting to silence or shame them. I asked why in hopes of seeing if I can make something better for them to return. If I received a no, I accepted it and moved on. So, either your “friend” was lying to get in on the “me too” pick-mes of drama or YOU lied for that exact reason.

You decided not only to participate in the drama like the hypocrite you are, but you added fuel to the fire with blatant lies. You are disgusting. I don’t care if you weren’t the one to make it up, the fact you spread it without proof just to make me more of a villain is despicable and are everything wrong with the culture you and your SJW friends perpetuate in this community.

You outright refuse to hear both sides of a situation even when offered and then share whatever drivel you hear at face value, not caring if it’s true or not. It feeds your confirmations bias so you believe it without looking into it. Or assuming this “friend” of yours doesn’t exist, YOU hope people take your lies at face value to keep that juicy dopamine and serotonin inducing drama flowing for you to see the carnage of.

You are deplorable. I will never speak to you again, even if you realize the mistake you made and the harm you cause and perpetuate. Even if you come to me groveling to apologize. You are undeserving.

Fuck you.

KaiFan

I don’t have much to say about KaiFan, but I bring them up because they brought me up.

I have this person blocked, along with Rainbow and co because they would rather listen to the gossip train than learn about the situation, ask questions and form their own opinions.

I groveled to you already. You have always been passive aggressive and it was what caused me to lose my patience with you in the past. I have apologized for this. I will not continue to grovel.

I never knew how much you looked up to me and I am not going to take responsibility for the image of me you created alone, on your own time, in your own head.

I did have a cancer scare. When I brought it up, I was not trying to shut down the conversation, I was trying to get you to understand what I am putting aside to try to help you and you were being, well, passive aggressive. I let the conversation end when you volunteered it because I knew my patience was already gone and I didn’t want to make you feel worse. I did want to help you. I let my observations boil until you gave me permission to tell you them, and I did not handle it well letting it out. That part was my fault, I admit that.

Continuing about how I spoke of cancer in the past: I don’t know when this was, but when I spoke about cancer before my own scare, it was likely about my Gramma. Who is dead. Because of cancer. I was likely trying to relate, not take over the conversation. That is a very autistic thing to do, to mention one’s own experiences as a way to relate.

I won’t condone you spreading rumors and lies about me, KaiFan, which is why I blocked you. You had me right there to talk to about all of this. You had every opportunity to ask me what was going on and to tell me your thoughts and feelings. Instead you chose to hop on the bandwagon and make everything public. I won’t allow that to happen again.

I hope you get better, however you still need to be a better person too.

Finally, I “Encourage Incest”

While this doesn’t have to do with Rainbow or the rest of the situation, as I am currently trying to defend myself I thought it relevant to put this here as well.

So. Yeah. This is ridiculous. No I do not.

Not once have I done this. Please, I challenge you to find anywhere I have said “you should fuck your sister/brother/mother/father etc,” or “check out incest bro it’s great,” or any derivative of that.

This community baffles me with its so-called morals. Just because I say it should be okay (not that I do) to ship the Bishops with each other (whom are not blood related) or Baal or Aym with Narinder, everyone gets their moral panties in a knot and claims incest. I have not said you should ship these characters. I have not said you need to. I have not said I want to. It should simply be okay to. They are not blood related! Get over it!

I am also not saying you should ship actual incestuous pairings, like Baal and Aym with each other, with their mom, Clauneck with Chemach or Kudaii. And, y’know what, if you come across people that do, leave them alone because they’re fictional fucking characters and let people have fun??

It is great if you see the Bishops as family! If you see Baal and Aym as adoptive sons to Narinder! I can see that too! I do like them as a family! I’m just saying if people do ship them together (or in my case are simply okay with it), it, firstly, is not “encouraging incest” and secondly shouldn’t be so damn polarizing as it is! How is it that a game that has: alcohol, drugs, brainwashing, murder, abortion (by some people’s standards), forced and arranged marriage, sex, arranged sex, indoctrination, cannibalism, slavery, stealing, trafficking, nudism, polygamy, polyamory, and I could go on, that perceived and by definition not actual incest is the line everyone draws as being the worst thing ever?

Get over yourselves and let people have fun!

Last words

I am not a saint. I am not innocent in all of this. I know I have done wrong. What came of my blunders was blown way out of proportion though. All of this should have been a series of private conversations. Instead we have everyone reveling in the drama they create and enjoying others being hurt.

All comments on this post, regardless of what they say, will be deleted. I will not accept limited character discussion about this. Either you need to reblog this in its entirety or talk to me privately if you want to make comments. I will block people the moment they show they are not coming to talk and only want to throw insults and accusations.

Please, learn to communicate. Talk things out. Give chances. Understand.

No one mentioned needs to forgive me, to forgive others, to be forgiven. I don’t believe in forgiveness. Alas, I do believe in understanding and moving on, and doing so in a mature and calm manner. But as this was made a public matter, I needed to explain what happened as my aggressors will never own up to such things.

I will do my best to learn and grow from this. I want to be better. It is hard though. I am far from perfect. I want to do right by the people that look up to me, alas it is those that looked up to me and found I wasn’t up to the image they made of me that this whole situation started. Don’t look up to me. I am an imperfect, struggling human being with anxiety, depression and autism. I am not strong. I will keep going though.

Thank you for your time.

[cookiepotofchaos]

As women's football grows, for all the positives, there is also a growing volume of homophobia, misogyny, racism and other bigotries. I dreaded it, hoped it wouldn't be the case, but knew it was a painfully likely possibility.

I've seen a lot of it this week and last, seems like more than I have before, so I'm just working through some frustration and anger.

(cont. below cut)

It's not like it didn't exist at all before. We know players have been subject to awful abuse previously; a quick search will bring that up. With those who hate women's football even existing, it has never been a surprise to see those abhorrent views, but it's increasingly coming from people who call themselves fans of women's football.

The overt bigotry is horrible: condemning players to hell, accusing them of grooming younger players, and throwing out comments like "I want all the gays out of my club" or "lesbians are ruining the women's game" or "lesbians should just not be allowed in football clubs, they fall in love and cause problems", as if lesbian and other sapphic players haven't driven women's football forward for decades. Haven't been the core of women's football, probably since its inception.

Jess Carter's social media comments sections on and off the last few months have been a source of an ever growing blocklist of homophobes.

I've seen claims that the USWNT are better again because they "got rids of the gays". As if there aren't gay players on the team, out publicly and otherwise.

But there's the less obvious bigotry growing, too, which I see and have to weed out of the algorithm constantly on TikTok. Using trends to insult players or demean them, pitting players against each other and using terms and implications rooted in bigotry to do so. Then claiming it's just banter or club rivalry and that's all "part of sports".

It's the edits where a player is juxtaposed with another one, claiming one is utter shit and doesn't deserve to be thought positively of compared to another player, and how often the player being put down is a woman of colour. At least half the ones from accounts I've blocked, the player has been LJ. The comments sections of those are awful.

It's the edits with those daft vertical bar charts of the amount of Talent vs Popularity a player has, asking which players are over-popular but terrible footballers, with comments sections filled with thinly veiled misogyny or racism or homophobia. You want to know who has that little talent in football? Me. Any footballer who is better than me is automatically excluded as a response to those silly edits.

Then people on heavily algorithmically reliant social media are stunned that their messages insulting players and pushing thinly veiled bigotry are attracting outright hateful people who despise all women's sports. "Why are there so many homophobes and racists finding my edit/post/tweet? How did it end up on that side of TikTok/Twitter?". Probably because the algorithm thought what you were saying would resonate with homophobes and racists and misogynists. Or one asshole found it, agreed with what you were saying, and as soon as they responded, you were pulled into that part of the algorithm.

Might want to consider why?

I hate that this is probably going to become more and more commonplace. I want it drowned out with positivity, with love of women's sports. I'll find a way to just keep looking at the good; like I said, just working through some feelings. But I wish this wasn't happening at all.

[musette22]

Hi Minnie, hope you’re well. Saw your reblog about not reposting artwork, and it made me wonder what your thoughts are on something sort of similar.

Most people on here would probably agree that stealing someone’s fan art or fanfic is wrong. But there’s also something I’ve noticed in a smallish, maybe medium-sized fandom I’m in that has gotten some new fans recently. Maybe it happens in other fandoms too. Using Chris for an example—let’s say someone found a rare old interview with him in a print magazine that didn’t seem to be known in the fandom, so they scanned it and posted it. Most people would just reblog or like it. But someone else might nab it and post it on their own Tumblr blog or Twitter or Discord, etc.

Now, I think that’s not so bad if they at least credit and link to the original post. But most people don’t bother to do that, and are happy to accept the credit as if they were the one who found it. This happens fairly often in my fandom now (and it seems to be mostly the newbies doing it) and I’m not sure how to address it as I seem to be the only one who notices or cares.

It’s not quite as bad as stealing someone’s art, because they’re literally just sharing an interview or pic or whatever which they technically don’t own in any way. But I still feel like it’s slightly shady to do if it’s something rare, or maybe if there’s already a very similar “legacy” post that’s well-known in the fandom. What are your thoughts on it? Should we basically accept that as soon as we post something it’s free game for the internet, or try to have a bit more, IDK, Tumblr decorum, lol.

I know some of it’s down to excitement and eagerness to share things, and of course people don’t necessarily see every post even in a small fandom so they might not know that someone already posted something. But the frequency of it happening makes me think maybe they just want all the notes to themselves.

Have a great day ❤️

Hi darling! I'm doing well, thank you, I hope you are too! Thank you so much for your message, this is actually such an interesting question, and so eloquently put, too.

I definitely recognise what you're describing, it happens occasionally in the Stucky / Sebastian / Chris fandoms as well, and I basically feel the exact same way about it that you do. I agree it's not quite on the same level as stealing/reposting fanart or fanfic, and it also ranks below using gifs without credit and passing them off as your own, because all of these kinds of works take a great deal of effort and time to create, and are overall very personal in nature.

That isn't quite the case for photos or interviews that people dig up and post, but even that takes time and effort, and so in my opinion, the decent thing to do if you want to share that sort of content to another platform would be to ask permission first, or at the very least to give credit to whomever posted it first (although it is of course hard to determine to whom the credit is really owed in this case, because you could argue the credit belongs to the original photographers/authors only, but of course that is often arguable too when they've been released publicly etc., but hey, how hard is it really to be like "I found this here, thank you to this person to bringing it to my attention!" or something to that effect?)

So yeah, basically I think there can't be any hard rules for this sort of reposting, but I do absolutely think that ideally, everyone should always try to be decent about it, and not just repost stuff they've just seen someone else post and act like it was their own discovery, especially if it's something rare. There are definitely folks around who do this often and shamelessly, ostensibly for the notes and clout. It's not a crime, but it is kinda lame imo, and just bad fandom etiquette.

I hope that answers your question and that you're having a wonderful day yourself! ❤️

[kairi-chan]

Hello there! I don’t mind answering publicly or over chat. But I get your point about the spoilers. ^^;

I feel as though there are *some* fic details which are better discussed in ✨private✨ (iykyk 👀)

Though that being said, it's also just as awkward to slide into the DMs of an author you have never talked to before 😅🤣 (especially when said author is far less involved in the fandom)

Wish tumblr had an anonymous answer feature which allowed both the sender and recipient to communicate privately lol

Do you perhaps happen to have a fan/author email that you only use for fandom stuff? I don't wish to bother or overwhelm you so I think that could work out neat.

Hey, anon! I totally get what you mean. Some details really should be discussed in private. Hahaha

I’m sorry I don’t have any platforms where we can speak and you can keep your anonymity. I would prefer you DM me here on tumblr, and I bet it would be easier for the both of us.

You’re not a bother at all! I love it when readers chat me up or send me anon asks. It makes me happy that despite not being as active, people still read my fics and make an effort to let me know they loved what I wrote. It’s honestly also one of the reasons why I want to get back into writing. I miss the connection I have with fandom through my writing.

I do have a fandom email though I would prefer not to post it publicly in an ask ^^;

Perhaps you can also DM me on fanfiction.net? But to be honest, I don’t get as much notifications there so it would be difficult for me to check and reply.

Please just DM me here on tumblr! Or on twitter, if you like. Just let me know through another anon ask here if you decide on Twitter, since I might not see the notification.

Thank you so much. You’re so sweet, anon. I hope I get to chat with you soon 💖

[gospexchange]

Good Omens Song & Poetry Exchange About & FAQ

[this post mirrors the About page for mobile users]

All asks are tagged #FAQ

Event Schedule

The event will run from December 2023 to March 2024 as follows:

Sign-ups Open: December 15th Sign-ups Close: January 15th Match-ups sent out by: January 28th Participant Check-in: February 18th Final Pieces due: March 15th Gift Delivery: March 15th-25th

If any any point you think you will be unable to adhere to this schedule, including meeting the check-in, final submission, or delivery deadlines, please inform the mods as soon as possible.

Event Mods

Shanimal (shanimalx) Dash (Dashicra1) Caddis (contritecactite) Betty (BasketcaseBetty)

Contact & Social Media

Email: gospexchange@gmail.com Twitter: @GOSPExchange

What exactly is a song and poetry exchange?

It works just like a regular fandom exchange– fans are matched up to create fanworks to gift to one another. What makes this one different though, is that the gift prompts will be in the form of our participants’ favorite songs and poems! If you’ve ever wanted to read a fic based off of your favorite Shakespeare sonnet or Hozier song, now’s your chance!

It is not required to create a song or a poem for this event.

What kind of songs or poems can I request?

The only requirement is that whatever song or poem you request must be publicly available to read or listen to online. This ensures that our gifters know what to base you gift off of!

If you are having trouble deciding what to request, feel free to check out the #library-and-playlists channel in our Discord server for suggestions [Invite Coming Soon!]! There will also be space in the sign-up form to submit three different requests, though only one is required to submit, and only one will be used as the basis for your gift.

What kind of fanwork can I make as my gift?

Whatever you like! It can be about any character or pairing, and be any medium! Part of the reason behind making this exchange song- and poem-based is that it allows our gifters to interpret lines in lyrics in different ways and produce a wider variety of works!

We only ask that whatever you make, it relates to the requested song or poem assigned to you in some way, and that an appropriate amount of effort is put into it. It should be something you would be happy to get as a gift too!

What happens if my giftee doesn't like their gift / I don't like my gift?

Unfortunately, this issue is something that comes with the territory of participating in an exchange. Since the prompts for this event are songs and poems, they are even more open to interpretation than usual, and you may end up creating something that isn't well-received, or receiving a gift that you weren't expecting. This is a natural consequence of anonymous matches that is hard to combat in an objective way without dramatically changing the nature of the event.

The only thing we can recommend is to be as specific as possible when it comes to listing your No-Gos when you sign up. We cannot account for things you don't like if you don't inform us of them, and we will not be asking your gifter to change or remove things that were not listed.

What happens if my gift includes something I listed as a No-Go?

Please bring it to our attention as soon as possible so we can contact your gifter to change it. However: we will not ask them to change something that you did not inform us about. This is not a commission event, and we will not be asking creators to make unexpected changes to their finished work.

To avoid this happening in the first place, please be as specific as you can when listing No-Gos in the sign-up form. Both canon and headcanons can be very open to interpretation, so avoid using umbrella terms or generalizing statements. A good practice is to take a brief moment to consider how your phrasing could be interpreted by someone else, or even to ask a friend how they might interpret it! You can also make a note in your sign-up form that you'd like a second opinion from the mods, and we can help you clarify your wording!

[anooonwrites]

HOW TO CREATE AN IMAGE WORK TITLE IN AO3

I have received a few questions about how I customized my work, The Many Misfortunes and Perfectly Ill Timing of Tendou Satori. So I’ve decided to create a post I can link back to if someone wants to ask again.

However, I’m not sure how much people know about coding and other software when they ask. So I’m going to assume very basic instructions to cover all bases. And if you already know some parts, you can skip it. 

Basically: 

[ 1 ] I used Illustrator to design the title, but you can do that easily in Canva and even PowerPoint. As long as you can drag around text, and customize font style and font color. This part is ultimately up to you!

[ 2 ] As for applying this on AO3, I first uploaded it on a third-party website to host the image. 

(You can host the image on websites like IMGUR, PHOTOBUCKET, TWITTER, or DISCORD. )

Once I’ve uploaded it, I make sure that the image is accessible publicly through the image URL. This means I copy-paste the image URL on the browser to make sure I get directed to the image itself.

If you don’t know how to do this, refer to the instructions below:

If you are in browser mobile, long press on the image and click Open image in new tab

If you are on the browser desktop, right click on the image and click Open image in new tab

Here is an example of an image URL:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F5kdiptXEAAd7XR?format=jpg&name=medium

It will look like this on the browser:

[ 3 ] Now with this link secure, you will have to create a workskin. I won’t be going down the detail of creating a workskin. I trust that there are more detailed tutorials on AO3 itself.

After creating your own workskin, you can then add this code: 

#workskin .preface.group h2.title {

  background-image: URL(image_url);

  background-size: contain;

background-repeat: no-repeat;

  background-position: center center;

font-size: 0;

  height: 450px;

  width: 100%;

}

Some of the properties defined within the curly brackets are yours to customize until you find the ideal visual you are going for. You might need trial and error for this.

To ensure that the default AO3 title does not preview keep this code as is :

 font-size: 0;

[ 4 ] Once you save that to your workskin, you can then apply that workskin to your work. Go to your work and click Edit Work. It will be under Association when you're editing your work. 

Save this and then you’re done!

However, if this is too complicated to work over I will link an alternative where you won’t need to upload an image but simply change the font style itself.

If you want to learn more about CSS and HTML, there is an entire tag in AO3 that is dedicated to making tutorials for beginners. Have a go at it!

And if you have more questions, you can send me an ask. I’ll try to get back to you as soon as I can. (But as a disclaimer, I don’t have any formal background on CSS.)

If you want to read something funny with a hint of smut and plot, come read MISFORTUNES AU! It’s a Haikyuu AU with a plot that revolves around Tendou Satori and his ability to hear and see people’s thoughts. ☆

OTHER TUTORIALS INSPIRED FROM MISFORTUNES AU:

HOW TO CREATE AN IMAGE WORK TITLE IN AO3

HOW TO CUSTOMIZE THE WORK TITLE IN AO3

HOW TO CUSTOMIZE THE CHAPTER TITLE IN AO3

[ingek73]

We didn’t ask for Lady Hussey to resign. But, really, the monarchy must do better on race

Mandu Reid

I witnessed the racist remarks, but blaming one person alone distracts from the depth and breadth of racism in that institution

Published: 19:31 Thursday, 01 December 2022

I generally avoid news about the royals. So it was a real eye-opener to find myself at the centre of a royal story. At a reception on Tuesday to honour those working to end violence against women and girls, I witnessed racist remarks from a member of the royal household directed at my friend and fellow activist, Ngozi Fulani. Lady Hussey’s prolonged interrogation about where Ngozi was really from, what her nationality was and where her people were from, was not – as many people have insisted to me over the past 24 hours – the kind of well-meaning curiosity that all of us experience from time to time (though it’s possible that Hussey believed that it was).

“Hackney” was Ngozi’s answer, but Hussey refused to accept this. Her response implied that Black and brown people couldn’t really be British. It implied that we were trespassing – and it made me reflect on the increasingly hostile environment of this disunited kingdom.

Even so, the media furore feels disproportionate, given the avalanche of huge stories you might expect to be dominating the news cycle. It’s not that this one isn’t serious. Racism always is, which is why I’ve spoken out. But something about this media frenzy feels … off. Even as I write this, interview requests are coming in faster than I can say no to (in one case my refusal was countered with the offer of a huge fee). If you have seen the emergency appeal that the Women’s Equality party launched this week, you will understand how hard that particular refusal was, though it confirmed why my decision had been right in the first place.

The initial calls I received were from journalists not looking for my account, but my corroboration. It took some time to realise that it was the very fact that the incident had been “witnessed” that made it significant, and forced the palace to respond swiftly (and in my view, unsatisfactorily). Unlike when the Duchess of Sussex made her accounts of royal racism, such as the “concerns” that were expressed over how dark her son’s skin might be, the palace wasn’t able to deny or deflect this time. It couldn’t rerun the famous line that “recollections may vary”, because three of us have identical, and identically uncomfortable, recollections of that encounter.

Soon after the first media reports were published, the palace announced that Hussey had resigned. This is a gambit that I have become increasingly familiar with since the Women’s Equality party started campaigning against police misogyny. What I’ve learned is that the “bad apple” narrative is potent not only because it masquerades as taking responsibility without the institution having to do any such thing, but also because it often helps drive a backlash against the “woke brigade” for cancelling yet another innocent. I see that “She’s 83” is now trending on Twitter, imploring us to leave this nice old lady alone, a stance that adds a dash of ageism to the racism that has pervaded much of the commentary.

The funny thing is, neither Ngozi nor I wanted Hussey to receive the grand order of the boot. Ngozi didn’t even name her publicly; it was social media that did this, immediately seizing on the story as another chance to form into polarised rival camps. Instead of stepping down, Hussey should be encouraged to step up, along with senior members of the royal household. This is much bigger than one individual: blaming Hussey risks minimising and distracting from the depth and breadth of racism that is enshrined in an institution that carries the heritage of empire, slavery and inequality (we are their subjects, after all).

Buckingham Palace trumpets its commitment to diversity and inclusion on its website. In a statement on Wednesday, it promised to remind staff of its policies. That’s a big ask when its own annual reports show a lack of diversity among the upper echelons of its staff. The palace’s history is dotted with failures of inclusion. Still, it’s not the worst of the royal courts. Anecdotal evidence suggests that honour falls to Kensington Palace, which didn’t even release this data in its last annual report.

Perhaps a starting point for an institution where staff think it’s OK to touch a Black woman’s hair or question her belonging would be signing up to cultural competence training. I know just the organisation to provide that. Sistah Space, the charity Ngozi runs to support African and Caribbean heritage women affected by domestic and sexual abuse, offers such courses to institutions that don’t know where to begin.

Wouldn’t it be something if Buckingham Palace asked for their help? It would certainly chime with the Queen Consort’s speech at the reception, in which she said that the starting point for responding to survivors of abuse was listening to them and believing them. Perhaps, one day, that principle could extend to Meghan too.

Mandu Reid is leader of the Women’s Equality party

[veresiine]

A - Your current OTP(s)/OT3(s)/OTX(s)

Oh goodness, this is a bit of a difficult one, since I am so very multi-ship; it's less of "one true pairing" and more of "this vast ecosystem of hypothetical relationships is neat". And when I write I do tend to focus more on platonic relationships, which is an entirely different ecosystem existing in parallel.

But today I am going to focus on romantic and/or sexual relationships that have made my brain go brr recently:

>Leon/Raihan (Pokemon. I was neutral on it at first and preferred platonic but somewhere around the 5,000th post I scrolled through on twitter I was like 'yeah they're boyfriends' and joined the multitude. Though I do also enjoy some Leon/Milo content, it's significantly harder to find. I might have to go write a oneshot now to pay my fandom rent and meet my own needs but I am pretty deep in fucked-up hurt/comfort fics right now and don't feel like posting those publicly)

>Grom/Kargath (Warcraft, and thank you for that bit of dopamine. I keep meaning to look more into it because I had fun chewing on that post and discussing it with a discord friend. The vibes are incredible!)

>Moira/Mercy (Overwatch. I don't actually play overwatch. I just saw science/medicine character foils, and saw Moira's design and drank up everything about her (and their interactions) that I could find. Unfortunately I can't go into the tag much because there are frequently untagged triggers but I DO have it bookmarked)

>Phantom/Luminous/Mercedes (Maplestory. I appreciate how in isolation they are 3 dignified, put-together characters, but as soon as they're in a room together, they all go completely feral, either at each other or at a common enemy. I don't really go here anymore but that was a fun few years)

>Maiev/Illidan (Warcraft. For all my deeply toxic and compelling relationship needs! In the words of a discord friend, 'it's not romantic, it's not platonic, it's a problem for however many therapists to burn through'. Also Maiev/Anyone, really. She's fun!)

>Jaina/Anyone But Kalec (Warcraft. I just think she's neat! I just had the misfortune of reading the War Crimes novel and that put me off Jaina/Kalec so much that it is the only non-incest non-underage warcraft pairing on my NOTP list. Also, dunking on Kalec is a time-honored tradition of mine. Still, I enjoy shipping her with pretty much everyone else the fandom pairs her with! I also once wrote a Jaina/Abathur (Starcraft) crackfic with an RP buddy!)

Thank you for the ask! That was fun. Honorable mentions to all the potential Suramar polycules, and to Mia/Genn Greymane, and to... well, some of my own OC pairings, but that's a whole other post.

[mariacallous]

I generally avoid news about the royals. So it was a real eye-opener to find myself at the centre of a royal story. At a reception on Tuesday to honour those working to end violence against women and girls, I witnessed racist remarks from a member of the royal household directed at my friend and fellow activist, Ngozi Fulani. Lady Hussey’s prolonged interrogation about where Ngozi was really from, what her nationality was and where her people were from, was not – as many people have insisted to me over the past 24 hours – the kind of well-meaning curiosity that all of us experience from time to time (though it’s possible that Hussey believed that it was).

“Hackney” was Ngozi’s answer, but Hussey refused to accept this. Her response implied that Black and brown people couldn’t really be British. It implied that we were trespassing – and it made me reflect on the increasingly hostile environment of this disunited kingdom.

Even so, the media furore feels disproportionate, given the avalanche of huge stories you might expect to be dominating the news cycle. It’s not that this one isn’t serious. Racism always is, which is why I’ve spoken out. But something about this media frenzy feels … off. Even as I write this, interview requests are coming in faster than I can say no to (in one case my refusal was countered with the offer of a huge fee). If you have seen the emergency appeal that the Women’s Equality party launched this week, you will understand how hard that particular refusal was, though it confirmed why my decision had been right in the first place.

The initial calls I received were from journalists not looking for my account, but my corroboration. It took some time to realise that it was the very fact that the incident had been “witnessed” that made it significant, and forced the palace to respond swiftly (and in my view, unsatisfactorily). Unlike when the Duchess of Sussex made her accounts of royal racism, such as the “concerns” that were expressed over how dark her son’s skin might be, the palace wasn’t able to deny or deflect this time. It couldn’t rerun the famous line that “recollections may vary”, because three of us have identical, and identically uncomfortable, recollections of that encounter.

Soon after the first media reports were published, the palace announced that Hussey had resigned. This is a gambit that I have become increasingly familiar with since the Women’s Equality party started campaigning against police misogyny. What I’ve learned is that the “bad apple” narrative is potent not only because it masquerades as taking responsibility without the institution having to do any such thing, but also because it often helps drive a backlash against the “woke brigade” for cancelling yet another innocent. I see that “She’s 83” is now trending on Twitter, imploring us to leave this nice old lady alone, a stance that adds a dash of ageism to the racism that has pervaded much of the commentary.

The funny thing is, neither Ngozi nor I wanted Hussey to receive the grand order of the boot. Ngozi didn’t even name her publicly; it was social media that did this, immediately seizing on the story as another chance to form into polarised rival camps. Instead of stepping down, Hussey should be encouraged to step up, along with senior members of the royal household. This is much bigger than one individual: blaming Hussey risks minimising and distracting from the depth and breadth of racism that is enshrined in an institution that carries the heritage of empire, slavery and inequality (we are their subjects, after all).

Buckingham Palace trumpets its commitment to diversity and inclusion on its website. In a statement on Wednesday, it promised to remind staff of its policies. That’s a big ask when its own annual reports show a lack of diversity among the upper echelons of its staff. The palace’s history is dotted with failures of inclusion. Still, it’s not the worst of the royal courts. Anecdotal evidence suggests that honour falls to Kensington Palace, which didn’t even release this data in its last annual report.

Perhaps a starting point for an institution where staff think it’s OK to touch a Black woman’s hair or question her belonging would be signing up to cultural competence training. I know just the organisation to provide that. Sistah Space, the charity Ngozi runs to support African and Caribbean heritage women affected by domestic and sexual abuse, offers such courses to institutions that don’t know where to begin.

Wouldn’t it be something if Buckingham Palace asked for their help? It would certainly chime with the Queen Consort’s speech at the reception, in which she said that the starting point for responding to survivors of abuse was listening to them and believing them. Perhaps, one day, that principle could extend to Meghan too.

[ailtrahq]

In a captivating revelation during the “What Bitcoin Did” podcast with Peter McCormack, David Marcus, the former spearhead of Facebook’s Libra project and now CEO & co-founder of Lightspark, made intriguing comments about Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg’s perspective on Bitcoin. Zuckerberg’s Take On Bitcoin In the exchange between McCormack and Marcus, the former asked, “You might not want to answer, but is Zuck a Bitcoiner?” Marcus affirmed, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. He appreciates Bitcoin but I think we had a lot of conversations about this [Libra], especially when I was struggling to see how we can decentralize this thing enough.” “Mark Zuckerberg is a bitcoiner”, says former top Facebook executive @DavidMarcus. pic.twitter.com/xTvHgdOD0I — Documenting ₿itcoin 📄 (@DocumentingBTC) October 11, 2023 However, Marcus quickly steered away from the Bitcoin topic again and elaborated further about Facebook’s Libra initiative: “We had a lot of conversations, and the tension was between full decentralization and the reality of scalability issues, and then the volatility that we would have to put people through to enable them to use our product.” Zuckerberg’s interest in BTC is not an entirely novel revelation. In May 2021, a flurry of speculations whipped across the crypto community when Zuckerberg named his two pet goats “Bitcoin” and “Max.” The announcement, while not directly indicative of his investment or ideological stance, certainly brewed a storm on social platforms like Twitter. This sparked considerable speculation on Twitter (now known as X), with many analysts and enthusiasts theorizing about Zuckerberg’s potential interest in BTC. Speculation was mounting that the Facebook CEO could soon publicly announce his inaugural BTC acquisition. However, such an announcement never materialized. Moreover, the naming of the goats led to varied interpretations, with Morgan Creek Digital’s Anthony Pompliano suggesting that Zuckerberg could be signaling his alignment with Bitcoin maximalists, whereas Robert Leshner, CEO of Compound Labs, humorously suggested that Zuckerberg will be “eating Bitcoin Max(imalists) for dinner.” Notably, in an interview with Rolling Stone, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey shared that Zuckerberg had once served him a goat from his farm that he personally slaughtered, aligning with Zuckerberg’s aim to only consume meat he had personally harvested. Marcus’s Efforts With Lightspark Transitioning to his current endeavor, Marcus shared about the conception and ambitions of Lightspark. Having faced the challenges of the financial sector firsthand, he is driven to reform it. He strongly believes in BTC as a unique and neutral form of internet money. Drawing from his own experiences, Marcus stated: You can theorize a lot about the experience we’ve had, but having lived it has changed my worldview and my appreciation in such a way that now I have this unshakeable conviction that Bitcoin is the only form of neutral internet money there will ever be. Lightspark, under Marcus’s leadership, is devoted to refining the Lightning Network. They aim to address its limitations by enhancing usability and troubleshooting operational challenges. Innovations from Lightspark are geared towards simplifying Lightning’s channel-based mechanism, which in turn aids in the more efficient setup and maintenance of Lightning Network nodes. At press time, BTC traded at $26,831, down 4.5% over the past 4 days. Bitcoin falls below $27,000, 1-day chart | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

[digitalsnail]

six characters chosen by pals on discord and twitter!

[putschki1969]

What do you think can happen if let's say Wakana exit Space Craft? I want to see Wakana appear on YK events, but I have doubts about their relation. Maybe you have more insights about Wakana and YK's relationship. From my amateur observation I see that YK doesn't follow Wakana on Twitter, so I think they are not on good terms. The thing is, YK follows people like Lisa, Aimer, Junna etc who she just recently work with. She doesn't follow Wakana who she had been working since forever, why is that?

Hello there anon! I am afraid you've hit a sore spot with your ask...I really don't mean to come off as rude but I am so tired of these specific questions. Why is it that I keep getting them on a regular basis? Have you all been living under a freaking rock for the past five years? Are you on my blog for the first time? Is no one bothering to check out my extensive coverage of this topic? Don't get me wrong, I am always happy to answer questions and to help fellow fans out but I'd appreciate it if people actually invested some time to do a tiny bit of research. I've talked ad nauseam about the whole situation with Space Craft/Wakana vs. YK so there is more than enough reading material to satisfy your curiosity. For example, you can go HERE, HERE and HERE to check out my most recent posts about it.

I will still try to give you an overview〈(•ˇ‿ˇ•)-→

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, it all boils down to Japanese society being very non-confrontational. Instead of dealing with conflicts like sensible adults, issues are simply swept under the rug and everyone just pretends they do not exist. It’s all about keeping up appearances and not losing face. The fragile sensibilities of old men with outdated mindsets are put above everything else because those men continue to hold power and make decisions in Japan. The infamous herd-mentality forces everyone else involved to just ignore common sense and roll with it.

Basically, this all started with a bunch of old dudes in Space Craft’s management being butt-hurt about stupid stuff. One of those old guys (Yasunori Mori - who happened to be in charge of YK’s and Kalafina’s management) decided to abandon the agency and out of loyalty, YK left with him to join him at his new agency. The rest is history as they say. You have to take into account that lifetime loyalty is still very much a common thing in Japan. So when people decide to leave, it can easily be seen as a form of treachery, especially if it isn’t a consensual agreement. We don’t know any of the details of course but it is obvious that some sort of incident has resulted in a rift between Space Craft and Mori/YK.

Seeing as Wakana is still signed up with Space Craft, it would be beyond improper for her to publicly associate with anyone from the YK family and vice versa. I would assume there is some sort of non-interaction clause in Wakana’s contract, or at the very least, some unwritten rule to not openly engage with any of them. I know from an outsider’s point of view, this might come across as grade-school level pettiness but this is literally the reality in Japan. As I said, it’s all about not losing face and protecting fragile sensibilities. For this exact reason, it was possible for Haruna Luna to publicly attend YKs live as soon as her departure from Space Craft had been announced.

Now, we must not conflate public displays with actual relationships. What is being presented to us via official channels is merely a contrived act to keep up appearances. None of this reflects how Wakana and the YK family really feel about each other. It’s true, they don’t follow each other on social media accounts, they don’t openly support each other, there are no pictures of them together, etc...But if you follow any of them closely or just check my blog on a regular basis, you will realise that you can’t just take everything at face value. You have to pay attention to their less official interviews, posts and appearances! You will quickly notice that they still refer to each other with fondness and respect. There is no doubt in my mind that when Wakana finally decides to leave Space Craft behind, she would be welcomed back with open arms into the YK family. Not that she would actually have to be “welcomed back” because let’s be real here, in everyone’s mind she is most definitely still considered an important member. But you know, as far as public appearance is concerned, it would seem like Wakana was the lost daughter returning. On a side note, YK has made no secret of the fact that Wakana has always been one of her biggest muses so I am sure she would be thrilled to work with her again (in whatever capacity).

I hope this shed some light on the matter. I would encourage you and everyone else to read up on my other posts about this. Most of them can be found under the following tags: #reply, #yuki kajiura and #space craft; You will have to browse through quite a lot of stuff but I think it will help you get a better understanding of the situation.

[strawberrymilkgeorge]

Part Seventeen. The Bugity Stream

warnings: swearing, dream is jealous, kinda angsty word count: 4k (not including pictures)

behind the screen (irl dream x f!reader) series masterlist ultimate masterlist wattpad

a/n: heheheeee bugity stream!! barely any dreamsy interaction and we don’t read the actual bugity fanfics, but lots of pouty dream :/ and we’re seeing stuff from a new person’s POV (also, elmo and i 389757% have come up with lore for the foxtrot fic that they mention in this chapter..... side fic??)  everyone say THANK YOU HARVEY FOR BEING AN AMAZING BETA (@hungoverhellhound) ur the best :)  also also, 🦀 anon suggested using discord people’s names for twitch chat so i did!! (i asked beforehand and everyone who wanted to be included was) it was fun adding that little bit so hehe hope mushroom field likes their comments

ANYWAY, ENJOY THIS PART!!!!!!!!! and as always, thanks for all the positive comments and stuff yall really make me cry /pos 

**********

George’s POV

.

George left the messaging app when he received a spam of notifications from Dream on Discord telling him to call him as soon as possible. He knew it wasn’t an actual emergency, which is the only reason he took his sweet time rising from his bed and meandering over to his desk. George fell on his chair with a huff, taking a deep breath before pulling himself closer to his desk and opening Discord. He picked up his headphones and slid them on, preparing himself for the loud voice his best friend was about to use. After pressing a few familiar buttons, he could hear his best friend's frantic cry for help through his headphones.

“GEORGE.”

He tried his hardest not to roll his eyes. “Dream.”

“I'm-I’m going to literally—GEORGE. What am I supposed to do?”

“About what?”

“You know what!” Dream huffed, exasperated. “The stream!”

“You don’t even know what it is, why are you being so weird about it?”

“I’m not being weird,” he defended.

“Yes, you are,” George countered. “You’re, like, panicking, I dunno.”

“Because it’s Quackity! He’s probably gonna make, like, a proposal video or some shit to show her and then everyone is going to ship them and she’s going to forget about me and—”

“This wouldn’t be a problem if you tell her you like her.”

Dream scoffed. “Oh, so they can make fun of me for it? No, thanks.”

“She wouldn’t make fun of you for liking her,” George reasoned. Definitely not. “Why would Bugsy make fun of you for that? Or for anything in general?”  

“Okay, maybe not, but she’d definitely be weirded out or not believe me. I can’t tell her yet. It… it has to be the right time.”

George thought it was rather cute that Dream cared so much about his confession being perfect, whereas Quackity was doing everything he could to make Dream just say it. Dream had been stressing over how to tell her he liked her for a few weeks, constantly running ideas by George before telling him to forget it and coming up with new plans. He could see how important it was to Dream that he did it right. They just needed to figure out what “right” was.

“Fine, but I’m just saying if you told her already, you wouldn’t have to be so worried about this.”

“Should I be? You make it sound like me panicking is justified! WHAT ARE THEY DOING?”

“Stop being so dramatic!” George laughed. “She isn’t going to forget about you and if he proposes to her, we can just ask to join the call and we’ll all yell at Quackity for you, okay?”

“No, I wanna yell at Quackity.”

“Well, he said he’s not going to let you in the call so…”

“He did? When did he say that? Wait, why won’t he let me in?? What are they doing??”

George laughed at the franticness in Dream’s voice. “I’m not allowed to say.”

“George!”

“I can’t!” he said as he threw his hands into the air. “I literally can’t!”

“Oh come on, you’ve never kept a secret in your life but now you decide to?”

George shook his head. If only Dream knew how many secrets he was actually keeping, it would be obvious just how good George was at not spilling things.

“George, just tell me what they’re doing,” Dream begged, his voice now somber and genuinely worried instead of frantic. “Please.”

“I can’t, Dream. I’m sorry. But really, it’s going to be okay.” Hating the seriousness of the conversation and the oddly soft tone of his voice, George changed the subject. “Oh, look at that, Karl wants to join the call. I’ll add him,” he said quickly, knowing Dream wasn’t going to say anything about how much he liked Bugsy around her best friend. In Dream’s eyes, Karl was unaware of his feelings for Bugsy, and George assumed he wanted to keep it that way.

“Wait, George before you—” Dream started softly but was cut off by the sound of someone joining the call.

“Hey, Karl!” George greeted obliviously.

“Hi! Neither of you are streaming or recording or anything, right?” Karl asked.

“No,” Dream answered bluntly.

“We’re just waiting for Quackity to start his stream and we’re gonna watch together.”

“Oh, yeah!” Karl cackled. “You really wanna see it, Dream? Even though Quackity will probably hit on Bugsy?”

“Yeah, why should I care?” he faked disinterest, even though everyone in the call knew he would definitely care if that happened. “It probably will be funny, to be fair. And since Bug will be too busy to talk to me, I guess I can still, you know, hear her voice…” he trailed off to an almost inaudible volume and George smiled, deciding not to tease the younger boy for the sweet sentiment.

“I'll watch it with you,” Karl said. “We can all make fun of them together.”

George noted the long pause of silence before Dream softly asked, “Do you know what they’re doing, Karl?”

“Yup!”

“W-what is it?”

“Mmm, can’t say! Sorry!” Karl chirped in fake obliviousness. “Why do you want to know?”

George rolled his eyes; he knew what Karl was doing, pretending like he didn’t already know Dream would be jealous in hopes that Dream would spill to him. It’s like he and Quackity enjoyed causing Dream pain, pushing him to the edge in situations where he couldn’t vent his feelings, forcing him to keep it inside and build it up in an overwhelming pile of emotions.

“Just… curious,” Dream lied.

“I guess you’ll just have to wait and see,” Karl said nonchalantly. “I’m gonna be honest though, George, can I just say, I’m a little annoyed with them.”

George laughed. “Really, why?”

Karl hummed, choosing his words carefully. “It might mess things up,” he said softly.

“Yeah, I’m starting to see what you mean by that,” George admitted vaguely. In the few minutes he had been talking to Dream, he could already tell it wasn’t going to go over well with the blond boy.

“Can you guys just… tell me what they’re doing?” Dream tried again, the desperation spilling out of him. “Why is it a big deal? What would it mess up?”

Karl giggled again. “Bugsy and Quackity like keeping their fans on their toes, you know? As Bugsy’s number one fan it would be the worst to tell you.”

“Well, I’m also Quackity’s number one anti right now so it cancels out,” Dream reasoned. “So you can tell me.”

“Aw, he admitted he’s her number one fan!” Karl teased.

Dream groaned when he realized he wouldn’t get anywhere by repeatedly asking the same question. In other words, he gave up. “When are they supposed to start?”

“Um, soon I think?” George answered vaguely as he opened Twitch on his other monitor. “He’s not live yet but he Tweeted earlier that it would be around now.”

There were a few moments of silence before Karl spoke up. “So, how have you guys been today?”

“Mm, pretty good,” George admitted, scrolling through Twitter on his phone and pretending to not hear Dream’s pitiful sighs. “Kinda slow, but not bad. What about you?”

“Good, actually. Bugsy, Naomi, and I went out for lunch earlier which was fun. Speaking of…” Karl giggled. “Naomi? And you? What’s up?”

George felt himself turn red at the mention of their relationship, whatever it was. “Why don’t you ask her?”

“I have,” he admitted happily. “I just want to make sure your stories line up.”

“Karl! No, that’s-that’s… I’m not telling you anything now.”

“George doesn’t talk about feelings, Karl. He’s not going to tell you. I know his side of the story though,” Dream said. “He’s told me.”

“What did he say?”

“I could tell you,” Dream bargained, attempting to get the information he wanted in any way possible, “if you tell me what Quackity and Bug are streaming.”

Karl cackled. “Woah, woah, woah, Dream. I don’t need to know that bad. Dang, you’re really impatient!”

“Yes, okay!” Dream snapped, annoyance in his voice. “Sue me for wanting to know what super top-secret thing that the girl I really like and the boy who constantly publicly flirts with her are doing! Because it’s obviously not just a cooking stream or roblox or else you guys wouldn’t act like the FBI put you in charge of keeping it from me. And don’t give me that garbage and ask why I assume it’s something flirty just because it’s being kept from me. I know that all of you are aware of how much I like her so Quackity is definitely doing it on purpose. Literally everyone except maybe Y/n knows I like her, I know that. So yes I want to know and yes I’m worried about what the fucking stream is.”

George and Karl were silent for a few moments, processing his rant. Maybe Karl was right, maybe it was stupid of Y/n to try to make him jealous this way. Sure, jealous Dream was entertaining, but when was it too far? Would Dream think them reading fanfiction together was funny at all or just purely exasperating? George started to think the latter was more likely.

“Shit,” Karl mumbled. “Dream—”

“Dream, I promise there’s nothing to actually be worried about,” George tried reassuring.

“Yeah, you’ll probably get jealous and it’s very understandable if you do but… Quackity’s just messing around,” Karl added.

Dream took a deep breath and almost on cue, George got a notification from Twitter that Quackity had tweeted.

“He’s live,” Karl announced softly and they waited to hear Dream’s reaction once he saw the title.

It came softly, a voice of disbelief ringing through George’s headphones. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

“Hey, you’re already trending for your joke, that should make you happy,” Karl offered and Dream knocked something over on his desk.

“Shit,” he mumbled through the mic. “Shit, shit, shit. I spilled my—shit.” A few seconds passed and George took the silence to share his screen with the others so they could watch the video together. “No, Karl, that doesn’t make me feel better. It’s not really a joke. I mean, I’ll play it off as one but… wait, don’t share your screen,” he told George. “I don’t want to watch this shit.”

“You said you did.”

“That was when I didn’t know what it was,” he replied as if it was obvious. “I don’t want to watch them read fanfiction together.”

“He doesn’t actually like her,” Karl reminded gently.

“I don’t care, it’s still embarrassing for me! It’s just a fat reminder that she doesn’t like me back and that she’s not my girlfriend.”

George wanted to slam his head against a wall. He opted for his desk instead, his forehead coming in contact with the wood with a loud THUD. It was so hard to keep his mouth shut and not just tell him about Y/n’s feelings.

“It’s, like, Quackity is rubbing it in my face that she doesn’t like me. What an asshole.”

“That’s not what he’s trying to do,” Karl said. His voice sounded as in pain as George felt. Which one of them was going to break first and tell Dream?

He didn’t know how to use words that weren’t ‘Bugsy likes you, dipshit’, so he tried something else. “It might still be funny—”

Dream wasn't laughing. Nothing about this was funny to him. “George.” Frustration was evident in his sharp tone.

“I don't get what the big deal is—”

“They're-they’re reading fanfiction! It's just gonna be a bunch of, like, romantic stories about them and, what, I'm supposed to just watch?”

“You don't have to watch it if you don't want to. I'm sure Quackity won't mind losing one viewer—”

“George, I'm being serious.”

“Calm down,” he said gently. “It's just Quackity. We told you already, he doesn't like Bugsy like that.”

“Doesn’t mean I’m okay with this,” Dream mumbled.

George took a deep breath. He did understand how Dream was in an uncomfortable situation, and even if it wasn't a big deal to him, it was to Dream.

“Hey, Dream?” Karl started gently.

“What?” he spat. He sounded like he was seconds away from disconnecting and hiding in his bed or punching a wall or doing whatever it is Dream does when he’s upset.

Karl hesitated for way too long before saying, “We can do something else if you still want to hang out with us. I don’t want to force you to watch it if it really will upset you.”

Dream breathed deeply. “I’m being dramatic,” he admitted softly, reminding George of a little kid getting reprimanded by an adult. “We can… watch it, I guess.”

“You’re not being dramatic if that’s how you feel,” Karl reassured. When did he become a therapist? George sat back as he listened to them, biting his lips in order to not spill Y/n’s secret. “If it really does make you upset, then that’s that. You’re allowed to be jealous, I mean, I understand why you are. That was literally Quackity’s plan, we expected you to be.”

“I’m not allowed to be jealous, though,” Dream countered lightly. “She’s-she’s not my girlfriend. She’s allowed to do what she wants. I have no right feeling like… like…” he trailed off and sighed.

George raised his head to look at Dream’s Discord icon empathetically.

“I didn’t know you liked her this much,” Karl admitted. “I just thought… well, I don’t know what I thought.”

George agreed. They knew Dream was whipped for Bugsy and that watching a stream of Quackity and her read fanfiction together would piss him off a little, but this was different. He sounded utterly heartbroken.

“I really do,” Dream mumbled, his voice muffled by what George assumed was his hands on his face.

Internally screaming at himself to tell his best friend something that was guaranteed to make him feel better, George wrung his hands together. He looked at his second monitor, which still showed Quackity’s starting soon screen. “Dream?”

“What?”

“Tell her.”

“I can’t, it has to b—”

“It has to be perfect, I know,” George interrupted impatiently but gently. “Tell her soon.”

Dream’s next words came in a soft, embarrassed tone, no longer defensive and combative but rather nervous and contemplative. “What if she doesn’t believe me? Or she thinks I like her for the wrong reasons?”

“Do you mean because you haven’t seen her?” Karl asked sincerely. “Because of that idea her ex got stuck in her head?”

As if suddenly realizing he was in the presence of the person who knew Bugsy better than anyone, Dream’s voice perked up. “Karl,” he paused. “Can you promise me that you won’t tell her anything I tell you?”

“Yes,” Karl replied quickly. “I promise. I want to help you and if that means not telling her, I will.”

“You heard on Quackity’s stream that she and I were FaceTiming? Like, that I’ve seen her?”

“Yeah,” George and Karl replied together.

“I’m still bitter that I found that out from watching a stream instead of from my best friend,” Karl muttered, “but continue.”

George laughed through his nose at Karl’s comment before Dream explained his concern. “Since I didn’t tell Bug that I like her before I saw her, I’m worried she’ll think I only like her now because I know what she looks like. See my problem? If I told her before, she wouldn’t believe me but if I tell her now she might think it’s because of her looks.”

“Oh,” Karl said, his voice muffled behind his hand. “I see what you’re saying. Hm, that’s… I think... I could be wrong, but I’ve talked to Naomi and we both think she’s, like, realizing you don’t need to see someone to like them.”

“How do you figure?”

Karl hesitated. “Not important. But, I think it would be fine if you told her. I think you’ve proven that you like her for more than her looks and she’s blind if she couldn’t tell you liked her before.”

George nodded to himself. “Yeah, Naomi has mentioned that to me too. I think you guys are right. And yeah, Dream, you’ve clearly liked her before so she would understand.”

“What if it makes things weird between us?” Dream asked. “You know, telling her.”

“Trust us, it won’t make things weird.”

“How should I—”

Dream was interrupted abruptly by Quackity unmuting his stream and yelling, “CHAT! HOW ARE WE TODAY?” and laughing loudly.

George flinched at the sudden change in mood. Just as he and Karl were calming Dream down, Quackity went and made the air tense again. George could feel Dream’s anxiety slowly growing.

“Again, we don’t have to watch,” Karl offered but Dream made a noise in protest.

“Let’s watch.”

The atmosphere was tense to say the least, occasional comments trying to lighten the mood about Quackity or Bugsy being funny or stupid, but overall the voice call was quiet. George had no idea what to say to Dream and he could tell Karl didn’t either. Having the chat open wasn’t helping either.

user43: GEORGE IS HERE HE’S GONNA SNITCH TO DREAM libbbyyyyyyyyy: george george george he’s watching venus: bugsy simps getting FED today user13: wattpad writers watch out ItsRainingPastels: this is so funny!! Bugity interactions are amazing Chrimsss: foxtrot???? user71: READ. FOXTROT. cantaloupe: ajsdkfhj please the look on his face when bugsy said “that could be us” user92: FOXTROT NEXT FOXTROT NEXT user48: i'm surprised dream hasn't barged into chat or their call to yell at quackity yet noraimp: i’ve been saying bugity supremacy all along and no one believed me until now hungoverhellhound: stop saying foxtrot i WILL CRY user11: SUCK IT DREAM, BUGSY AND QUACKITY ARE BETTER FOR EACH OTHER bexwastaken: i miss dream :(

George took the liberty of closing the chat so Dream didn’t have to see it.

“Thanks,” he mumbled softly. Apparently that was a good choice on George’s part.

“Chat just gets in the way,” he excused, trying to place the decision on his own reasons rather than embarrass Dream by acknowledging that he knew seeing all the comments was bothering the younger

“This story is actually kinda funny,” Dream admitted. “Well, it’s super cringey but… it’s funny that Bug thinks it’s funny.”

Karl made a small whine in adoration. “That’s so cute.”

“Shut up,” Dream mumbled. “Or I won’t tell you anything ever again.”

“Were you going to?”

“Yeah, maybe, I guess,” Dream said. “If that’s okay with you. You know her better than anyone and… I obviously need advice or nothing is going to happen.”

“Dream,” Karl started formally, “I’d be honored to give you the best Bugsy advice I can offer. And to hear you say cute things like that about her because it’s adorable. I’m sure ranting about how cute she is to George is like talking to a brick wall.”

Dream hummed, a small laugh escaping him. “Yeah, that’s pretty accurate, actually. He’s not very responsive. He doesn’t get it.”

“I’m sure she’s pretty and all, I’m just not good at talking about people’s feelings,” George defended.

George tuned back into the stream as Quackity and Bugsy laughed loudly. “Oh my gosh, holy shit that was wild,” Quackity exclaimed.

“Yeah, what the heck? That was so funny,” Bugsy admitted, still laughing lightly.  

“Okay, okay, one down. Guys, stop spamming Foxtrot in my chat, what is that? Is that a fic? I said I already picked everything out, don’t suggest things.” Quackity looked at his phone and laughed. “Wait, I did pick that one out, actually.”

George assumed the chat was going wild and his curiosity got the best of him so he opened it.

user66: READ CHAPTER 10 hungoverhellhound: NOOO NO DON’T READ IT PLEASE I CAN’T HANDLE THIS TODAY venus: this isn’t going to go well libbbyyyyyyyyy: laksjdhjkh try not to fall in love with each other after this one ItsRainingPastels: ive heard things about this fic… everyone cries cantaloupe: YES YES noraimp: are they reading foxtr…. oh no user52: SKIP TO CHAP 10 bexwastaken: dream come get your girl smh Chrimsss: we’re about to watch bugity become real because of this fic user10: it starts slow, do chap 10 or 16!!!! user88: quack isnt in it until later lol

“They said it starts really slow though? I’m not in it until chapter 3?” Quackity scoffed. “Fine, we’ll skip ahead.”

“People are saying ‘Chapter 10’ so that one must be good?” Bugsy suggested and Quackity complied.

George closed the chat again when he registered Dream’s silence and apologized under his breath.

“Try not to fall in love because of this fic?” Quackity read. “Can’t happen because we already are in love, chat.”

Dream scoffed, mirroring Bugsy’s reaction. “In your dreams, duck boy.”

“You are, actually,” Quackity teased.

“Shut the fuck up, Quackity,” Dream grumbled to no one, and George couldn’t help but laugh a little at that.

Foxtrot — the fanfiction the chat was raving about — was really good. At least the chapter they read on the stream was. It was so well written and soft and George hadn’t heard Dream speak in a good 15 minutes. George didn’t dare look at chat after they finished reading that one, opening his phone to text Quackity instead.

“Hold on, one second, chat,” Quackity said, faking a British accent as he looked at his phone. “One second, chat.”

George looked up and saw Quackity smiling at his phone as he set it on his desk and returned to the stream. “Okay!”

George set his phone on his own desk before hearing Bugsy laugh. “Dream just texted me.”

“What did he say?” Quackity asked nervously.

“He’s…” she trailed off and laughed. “He wants to know if I’m leaving him for you. He said, ‘I understand if you have feelings for him after that’. Oh my gosh.” She giggled and George heard Dream laugh through his nose.

“Dream,” Karl laughed. “Why?”

“Do you realize how suspicious it would be if I didn’t make some sort of appearance during the stream after all the things I’ve said on Twitter and stuff? I had to joke around for the chat.”

“Fair…” George said.

“Is he watching?” Quackity asked Bugsy as if George hadn’t just told him they were. “Dream, go away. We aren’t letting you in VC. Just accept the truth,” he laughed loudly.

George shook his head to himself as he realized how much this wasn’t a joke just to mess with the fans. If it was, Quackity would have let Dream into their call so everyone could witness Dream be jealous but instead, he was almost banishing Dream to be jealous in private. The fans not seeing how Dream was actually feeling made it more real somehow. Quackity really wanted Dream and Bugsy to own up to their feelings.

“I want to strangle him,” Dream confessed jokingly. “At this point, I don’t even want to be in their call because I don’t have the energy to play up being sad. I’m just really sad.”

“I told him to stop reading actual cute ones, so it should be fine now,” George announced. “That last one was too much.”

“You’re telling me.”

“Quackity, I’m not falling in love with you,” Bugsy stood her ground with a laugh. “Not happening, bud.”

“We’ll just have to read more until you do,” Quackity cackled and George heard Dream huff.

The stream didn’t last too much longer, Quackity apparently not wanting to take the joke too far even though he already had.

“Thank god that’s over,” Dream mumbled as George unshared his screen and closed Twitch.

“It wasn’t too bad, right?” Karl asked slowly.

Dream hummed. “It was pretty bad, Karl.”

“Yeah, I know,” he sighed.

“But now it’s over and you can go back to talking to Bugsy and have her full attention,” George said positively.

“How am I supposed to talk to her after that?”

“Like normal?”

“What if she brings it up?”

“Then you say, ‘Bugsy, I don’t want to talk about this because I like you’,” Karl suggested. “Simple.”

“Okay, you are no help. No longer coming to you for advice.”

“I’m kidding! I’m kidding. Just… tell her it was funny but don’t elaborate. She’s good at picking up on when people are uncomfortable, she’ll drop it.”

“Or tell her you like her,” George agreed and Karl laughed as Dream groaned.

“No. Not yet.”

“Not yet,” George mimed. “But soon.”

Dream took another deep breath. “Soon.”

__________

PREVIOUS | NEXT

tags: CLOSED @hydrate-tion @loraleiix @iamnothereatthemoment @charsdummb @jeyyes @notgeoreg @cerberus-hellhound @gaysludge @queestionmark @carnations-red @letsloveimagines @the-fictionwriters-hairdo @boiled-onionrings @a-cryptic @fee-btheweeb @erwinss @just-a-stan @axths @kayleigh2703 @furiouspockettoad @sometimeseverythingsucks @powerpuffyn @tinyegg @millavalntyne @automaticcomputerpaper @nikkineeky @fivedicksinatrenchcoat @sprucekot @bellomi-clarke @possiblyanxioushuman @crybabyjabby @mushroom-main @hungoverhellhound @dreamyteam @kuroo-icedtea @stuffforreferences @menacingaesthetic @sapphic-soot @fangeekkk @haseulreturns @queenwastaken @sunbunniie​ @losingvienna @bi-narystars @zero-nightshade @erinitoburrito @sparklykeylime @youhyakuya @danny-devitowo @clubfairy @loser-keiji @oi-itsemily @alm334 @the-katastrophe @wreny24 @applecakeradio @unicornblood4ever @aha-red @brendalopez99 @spacecluster @justonemoreepisode @strawbrinkofdeath @aikochan4859 @chaotic-tieflings @dreamsofficialwife @where-thesundoesntshine @jamiealenaa @unstableye @kageyamama-hinatatata @officiallyunofficialperson @secretly-a-weeb @localsimp @loxbbg @rhymeorreason1 @flubblubbb @kiritokunuwu @sylum @raining13lemonade @aiyncel @ghostfacefricker6969 @avengemepercy @modyoonie @givemeyourcrunchbars​ @donttellaweirdweakling @dreamiewrites @misfortunatem00n @mayempress @strang-ersclub @panic-at-space-camp @netheriteaxes @kaqinq @momo-has-a-gun @lunelicmoone @beller-18 @bluechocolatemint @mythicalamphitrite @crypticcandi @80sfeel @asianfrustration13 @justanunknown @libbynotfound @osculatcr @bindythedemon @haikyall @hyuckslytherin @thatonearieschild @the-perfect-gemini @ialexabsuniverse @sleepingalaska @renjunniex  @rebellionburnsthemup @moonchildwildx @sarcasticmichelle @carat-eri @ravennightingaleandavatempus @isthatyouritalian @cha0ticg0b1in​ @suwunarin @bxsmentchildxx  @mintchip17 @vincent-stargogh @jules-skye @askgeoff @d-fendyr @diedestress @idiotinnit @gabbysblogthingy @call-me-soap @fujiapfel @stxrryb1tch @onlynarry @squarky-sheep @ecao @ok-honey-blog​ @saltishima-rex @kodzukatcore @gwendolyn02 @kiwismoothies @flippyninja @xfihvru @anqelanqel @letkeefeswear @cantaloupe-draws @what-is-the-creature-oh-glob @theboywhocriedlupin