#might make some changes to this before it goes on youtube

[chongoblog]

Weird Al has a new polka medley so I made this to keep with tradition

[black-and-yellow]

I wanted to do more but it ended up getting late. So naturally I also made a playlist for them too :)

Do you need me to draw some nice Micnight stuff for you x

(because it would be my honour. I put off drawing it cause I feel like I'll get called cringe but whatever, drop some ideas, give me an excuse. Ya gal's got time to kill)

oh god if you really don't mind, please yes i'd love some more micnight, can never get enough micnight never ever ever 😭

as for ideas, my brain hasn't been working so hot lately beyond rotating MICNIGHT 💖💖 over and over again, so i'll take literally anything frfr

(tho my favorite micnight flavor is ofc midnight bullying mic, and/or looking after him but being so super mean about it akdfjskfjskfj)

[dj-of-the-coven]

How to Burn Your Own CDs - a guide for Windows users

Are you--yes, you!--tired of paying money to stupid shit like spotify for your music? Do you hate the way that the music industry takes almost all the profit that bands make through streaming and leaves them with pennies? Have you ever wanted to fire up that old CD-Radio in the corner of your bedroom, only to be stopped because all you have on CD is Weezer's blue album and a copy of Kidz Bop 16 that you don't remember buying? Well this guide just might be for you!

Materials you'll need:

A computer. Can't do it without this one.

A CD drive. It can be internal or external, but you'll need one either way. You can find them at Office Depot for fairly cheap and I've heard that some Walmarts carry them.

A pack of CD-Rs. CD-Rs, or CD Recordables, come in packs of 20, 50, or 100. A proper 100-pack should cost you no more than $30, so unless there's some special shortage in your area, don't buy from anywhere selling them at a markup. CD blanks are literally 50c a piece.

CD cases. Sold wherever CD-Rs are, but you can also find these at thrift stores pretty easily.

A sharpie or some kind of permanent marker

Software you'll need:

Jdownloader. You can acquire mp3s through Bandcamp if you're dedicated to righteousness, but for everyone else, install jdownloader or some other kind of open-source download program. I will be proceeding as if you have jdownloader available.

Windows media player. This should open automatically when you insert a CD-R into your CD drive.

Fre:ac audio converter. This is only for the occasion that you encounter OPUS or mp4a files that cannot be interpreted by your CD player.

Note: If you're very determined not to download software onto your computer, you can use free youtube downloaders and audio converters, but these are subject to viruses and other issues such as download speed. I will be proceeding as if you have the programs I listed.

The process:

Decide what you want to burn--anything goes, but keep in mind the time limit on your CD-Rs. Most will record 90 minutes or less.

Open jdownloader, switch to the linkgrabber tab, then paste youtube links in any order until you have all the music you want. I'd personally recommend doing it song-by-song instead of a full album stream, because a massive file will require a lot of work to separate back into searchable tracks.

De-select all files except audio on the right-hand side options menu.

Make a folder inside the music folder of your laptop and label it with the name of your mix CD.

In the properties tab of each song on jdownloader, change the destination folder to the folder you've just created.

Hit "start all downloads".

Once finished, open each folder. If everything is an .mp3 or a .wav, skip the next 2 steps.

Open Fre:ac audio converter to convert all audio files that aren't .mp3 or .wav into .mp3 or .wav.

Drop the converted files next to the unconverted files in your folder. If you wish, you can delete the originals to make the folder easier to browse.

Put your blank CD-R into the CD drive. If external, plug in your CD drive first or the tray will refuse to open.

Windows media player will open automatically. On the right-hand side, you will see the tracklist of your CD-R (which should be blank). On the left, you will see the audio that your computer is able to find in the music folder. Put your selected tracks IN ORDER onto the tracklist.

Listen to the beginning and ending of each track to make sure there isn't a significant time gap. This also prevents accidentally burning a youtuber's stupid outro if you missed it before.

When satisfied, hit "start burn".

On an external drive, the CD tray will open upon completion. You can reinsert it to ensure that the burning went smoothly.

Once satisfied, remove the CD from your drive. With your sharpie or permanent marker, write the name of the album on the front, then store safely inside a CD case.

you did it👍

Ask me if you run into any issues.

Legal disclaimer: this guide is purely for educational purposes and I do not admit to or take responsibility for any piracy committed using the instructions given.

Illegal disclaimer: cops suck my dick

[clownyclaushoe]

art the clown x reader 🔞 | i taste blood and it's turned into an obsession series

part one | champagne confetti

the first time art the clown eats your pussy (and makes you squirt 😫🖤) 🔞 ofc

i didn't intend for there to be so much semi-plot before the porn but it gets just a little angsty/sad at the start. chapter title comes from the song 3d by jungkook cause i couldn't think of anything else and its a euphemism for squirting 😆💦🍾 series title is from lilith (diablo iv anthem) by halsey feat. suga.

part two | part three | part four

---

you couldn't quantify what your relationship with the miles county clown was; it wasn't really a friendship and you weren't romantically or sexually involved either, though you'd be lying if you said art didn't have a way about him that drew you in, something so inexplicably attractive about him. for his part, it seemed he tolerated you most times, others it was as if he kept you around for his own amusement.

that much was probably true enough, given the night you'd met and his over the top reaction to your homemade costume last halloween - harley quinn from the animated series. when he'd walked into the fast food joint and noticed you, he dropped his massive black trash bag to the floor, rushing up to you as if you were a celebrity. it was late enough that there were a few groups of people from the nearby bar throughout the restaurant. his display making them stare, snicker, and talk amongst themselves. it made you a little self-conscious, but the funny clown wasn't fazed at all.

you thanked him, because though a little embarrassing, it was also flattering, considering the time and effort it took to make each detail of your outfit and makeup just right.

somehow you'd let him sit at your table, you asking if he was going to purchase anything, if he was hungry; he had definitely looked like he could use a meal. he had pulled out some change, counting it out on the table. you placed your hand over his, stopping him, telling him you got it. his head jolted back as he looked up at you wide-eyed, mouth agape, as if he was scared by your touch. something in your chest clenched, wondering what made him react in such a way, what could have happened in his past.

six months later you still didn't know the details of his past, though you still were curious. what was he like as a kid, as a teenager, was he an outcast back then, too? would you two have been friends?

you stared at his back as he sat at his work bench, tinkering with some new items for his arsenal. it troubled you how you could compartmentalize that murderous, sadistic side of art from the silly, caring side, though as time goes on its lessening. you wonder, too, if those "good" parts of him were enough to keep him in your life, if it meant even monsters could one day be redeemed. though you doubt art sought redemption, his dark heart beyond healing.

you return your gaze back to your laptop, you had been binge watching youtube videos, just about to search for funny animal clips, when art's hand suddenly waved in front of the screen.

"shit, what, art--" you said all at once, as you hadn't seen or heard his approach. art's arm dropped, and he slumped a little, frowning at you curiously. "i'm sorry, i didn't mean to snap at you. i was just startled." you exhale a deep breath. "yes, art?"

art grinned, pointing at your laptop. "what is it?" art flexed his fingers in a gesture suggesting you hand your laptop to him.

"you want this?" art nodded. "for what?" art insistently did a grabby-hands gesture, while bouncing on his toes. "okay, okay." you handed it over, hoping he wasn't ordering materials or weapons to be used for his next kill using your saved card info.

after a few clicks, suddenly there's audio playing. it's a woman - and it sounds like she's shouting. for a moment you think it might be a snuff video. it takes a few seconds to realize those are shouts of pleasure, not pain.

"i'll leave you alone to enjoy that."

art grabs your arm momentarily, shaking his head, pointing at you, himself, then the screen. you stare at him, confused until he turns the laptop to show you what he was watching.

a man eating a woman's pussy. and not in the cannibal sense, but the cunnilingus sense.

he continues pointing between the three of you, animatedly. "art? you want to eat my pussy?"

art nodded excitedly while pausing the video and putting the computer aside. you didn't think he viewed you that way, wasn't even sure he had a libido.

it seemed at times even art was at the mercy of his own whims, compelled to do things without knowing why or bothering to question it. you wondered if this was one of those times.

did he even understand what he was asking?

"i didn't think-- art, i-i don't--" you trailed off, at a loss for what to say. for what you could say. the truth was for an unbearably long time you've wanted him in every way possible, how could you deny yourself the chance now.

you stood, turning to him, and pushing up on your tiptoes, wrapping your arms around his neck as he slipped his arms around your waist, pulling you closer against him. your faces so close, you can feel his breath fanning against your cheek, his intense gaze boring into yours.

the moment lingered. which of you would act first and finally release the thick tension filling the already stuffy air; the summer heat worsened in the poorly ventilated room, sorely lacking air conditioning. sweat trailed down your side, under the thin fabric of your dress. you needed out of these clothes.

art smirked at you, tilting his head, eyes widening and brows raising - he's teasing you, trying to see if he could get a rise out of you. you knew he liked to fuck around with people for his own entertainment, of course you'd be no different. luckily, the distinction between you and everyone else was he's about to fuck around with you, literally.

you couldn't wait any longer.

you leaned forward, capturing art's mouth suddenly, gripping the back of his head. after a moment, art kisses back, a little uncoordinated and off-kilter, which is to be expected with art, and the almost certainty that he's long out of practice.

you whimpered a little against his mouth, taking aback by just how much you're affected by the touch of his lips and his embrace surrounding you.

his hands move down to your thighs and you hop up, art pulling you off the ground, your legs wrapping around him. art takes steps forward and you have no idea where he's taking you and you don't fucking care. he walks you over to his work bench with all his beloved tools that he kept in a particular order and never let anyone else ever touch. he cast the tools aside with a swipe of his arm, setting you on the table.

you sit at the edge and he presses close between your legs as you kiss again, feeling his hard-on though his costume, your hips rolling to grind against him, seeking friction to drive you both wild.

"fuck, i can already feel your big, hard cock," you gasp out incredulously. "want to feel it inside me already. please, art."

art grins, but wiggles his finger at you, shaking his head with his tongue out as if to remind you of what started all this in the first place.

you wait impatiently for his next move.

he grazes his hands up your dress, starting at your thighs and up the curve of your hips, over your waist, shifting up to squeeze your tits together. he unfastened the buttons at the top of the garment before pulling it up and over your head. once again he's surprised you, you would've guessed he'd tear the thin fabric off your body. you get wetter at the thought.

he's quick to do away with your bra and underwear. you lie back on the table as much as will allow, your legs spreading further apart for art to see all of you.

he grabs the backs of your thighs, holding them up as he leans closer to your pussy. he spits on it, his cold saliva spilling over your hot and pulsating labia.

art ducks his head, wasting no time latching his mouth onto your pussy, his big nose bumping your clit repeatedly.

"ohh, oh my god," you struggle to get out, taken aback by his enthusiasm, watching his tongue jutting out to lick between your folds. your body already starting to shake with how fucking good he feels.

his grip on your legs tightens, keeping you still. there's already a familiar feeling of building pressure, like you had to pee - you knew if it were piss, art would be unbothered and perhaps even like it more than the squirt that he was about to coax from you. it was growing urgency, you were so close. your hand blindly reaching for art, for some bearing to ground you, as you felt untethered, completely unfurled by this curious creature and his perfect mouth.

that pressure became too much and you let go, releasing a guttural moan as you come, squirting on art's face, and calling his name.

once art draws back, bearing his teeth with a grin. you knew there was something otherworldly about art, something uncanny, and this seemed farther proof, how he knew how to make you come harder than you ever had, so deeply, it ached - it nearly hurt.

he stands, leaning over you for a kiss, allowing you to taste yourself. when he pulls back, he looks to the pile of tools and for a fleeting moment you think you're his next victim. the real death after the "little" one.

he grabs something from the pile, showing it off with a flourish of his hand. it'd been what he was working on earlier. it was a metal dildo with a smooth head, small ridges around the side and a ribbed shaft.

a shiver ran through you at the thought of art using it on you, that he made it for you. you got wetter imagining being pounded with it, impaled by it.

"fuck yes, please, art." he pushed it inside your soaked pussy, watching the way it stretched you. "ah, shit."

he kept thrusting the toy in and out of you, kneeling again to lick and kiss your clit.

"yes, art, ah, ahhh," you grab his head, holding him in place. "gonna make me fucking squirt again."

and moments later, you were squirting around the toy fucking you good and hard, drenching art's hand and face. the afterglow seemed to go on and on, you have no idea how long, spanning like the moments you had spend with him, time having no meaning anymore.

when you both righted yourselves, you noticed he was getting hard again, huge cock jerking in the tight confines of his pants.

"your turn?" art nods with a grin.

---

sorry to end it with a cliffhanger

i hope you enjoyed! 🖤❤🖤❤🖤

© angeljeonjkk 2024

[purpdrawsthings]

You'll Be Back Mr Puzzles MAP!

No this is actually real soahsodhsoshsi

Hihi everyone saw my last post hahahhhh I wasn't joking 💀

READ THE ENTIRETY OF THIS IF YOU WANT TO JOIN ‼️‼️‼️‼️

I don't want no nobody to not understand anything

Anyways, onto the details!

Wait, what's a MAP?

Ah.. I should explain that shouldn't I?

MAP stands for Multiple-Animator Project. It's basically a collaborative project made up of numerous animations by different creators!

You might have seen these before in the art fandom, if not, you're not a real artist /jk /nsrs /lh

Jokes aside, these projects tend to be fun for most creators and I'm hoping that this would bring some fun to the people joining :)

Is this begginer friendly?

Why yes it is! Regardless you're good at animation or not, you're welcome to join! Just... At least put some effort rather than being lazy?

Regardless, everyone is welcomed with open arms here! So don't be afraid ;)

What canvas size should I use?

1280x720 preferably! Just to make sure it doesn't take up too much of my data ;w;

But you can use any canvas size you'd want besides that! A box shape, or that weird YouTube short form... Nvm exclude that one but anyways, yeah any canvas size that you're comfortable with!

Is there a specific theme?

There's actually none! The map is supposed to just be a silly Mr puzzles map :3

This includes the setting and etc like- go crazy! Do a sad, fun, crazy, angry moment or something! Do what your imagination can make out of that song using Puzzles ^^

Is it okay if I can't remove my animating apps watermark?

It's completely fine if you can't remove it! Don't worry you're not the only broke one here ;)

Am I allowed to put my watermark?

Yes! You're incouraged to add in your watermark so people know it's your part!

Dw, if you don't have one them I'll just put your name while I'm editing the entire thing :)

Can I include my OCS or my Mr puzzles design?

Yes you can! You can also change your Puzzles aus whenever you'd like.

E.g my Showman Puzzles on part 1 and my Puzzles kinsona on part 2

It's just an example! If you're adding ocs, it's good! But the animation should primarily focused on Puzzles! He can interact with other characters but it's mostly just him. Oh and if you're wondering, it doesn't have to be SMG4 OCS :)

How many parts can I take?

Hey hey don't be greedy /hj

2 parts! I want everybody to take their chances and do some cool stuff :D

Where should I ask for parts or send submissions at?

In the discord server I made! The link will be at the end of the post. I know I just replied to some in this blog and they got their parts, I will NOT be accepting any ask parts OUTSIDE of the server.

The same goes with submissions/finished parts, please do send it in discord.

Why is this? This is because I want everything to be easier for me so I could manage stuff. I get frustrated very easily so yeah 😭

Is there a deadline?

Well uh- I'm not sure! But it's probably going to be planned on the June or July, somewhere in the middle of the year. Though I will be making sure nobody feels rushed for their sake

Have you ever host a MAP before?

Wait where tf did that one come from-

No I haven't unfortunately, this is my first one! I've always wanted to make a MAP because of how cool the idea itself is.

Now that that's done, here are the parts! As time progresses a and people enter, I'll fill them up :3

Intro : me

1. @e-v-e-l-l-e

2. @rainbowrocketraichu

3. Entity-lol

4. @lari-the-dragon

5. @rat-n-atty

6. @madhalo

7. @mrtophat518

8. @fenicearts420

9. @cosmicoreo9

10. Entity-lol

11. @niranutcake

12. @madhalo

13. Me

14. @alex-dolmatescu2-0

15. @libbytwq

16. @alex-dolmatescu2-0

17. @rr3d2y

18. Me

19. @niranutcake

20. Rainbowrocketraichu

21. @messydoodlesyt

22. @messydoodlesyt

23. @icedbeverageenjoyer

24. @mrtophat518

Outro : me

Last but not least.. Please do enter your submissions in the discord server below this sentence :D

You can post your part outside the server if you want but I'm only taking the ones submitted in the server itself :)

Andddd that's about all! You can ask questions here and in the server. Yeetus chat!

[mattsturnioloz]

Then I lost you.

Part 2.

Summary: Matt's career as a youtuber takes a toll on his 4 year relationship with his girlfriend, putting it on hold. Will it ever be the same again?

Pairings: Y/n x Matt Sturniolo

Warnings: angst, mentions of anxiety, unresolved angst (maybe)

A/N: (guys this is my first fic so please bear with me😭 l would love some feedback or tips though!!)

I was sitting on the couch scrolling through my phone and channel surfing, waiting for my boyfriend, Matt, to get back from filming a car video with his brothers, Chris and Nick. But over the course of the last couple of months, Matt has been distant and there was a rather uncomfortable feeling sitting in my chest. He would make up excuses as to why he couldn't hang out with me like he was filming, editing or streaming. It made me overthink. Did I do something? Does he still love- No, of course he still loves me. Right?

It was all too much and it gave me anxiety. Sure, I understand his career as a Youtuber can be a handful but I can't help but feel a bit neglected and it makes me feel guilty.. I sit there thinking for a moment, taking in the cool autumn smell that roamed through the house, listening to the patter of the soft rain drops falling onto the windows, trying to think of a way that I could get Matt to spend time with me.

I decide to cook a nice dinner for matt and I or at least attempt to, so I stand up and I head to the kitchen and decide on some ravioli which takes me about an hour but I did it.

Flashback

"What are you gonna get to eat?" | asked Matt.

"I'm not sure.. you know for a fancy restaurant, you'd think they'd have a variety of options." He says before raising his eyebrow at me, showing me the menu and we both chuckle.

"Our first date and i'm already messing up huh?" He says with a nervous chuckle.

"What?? No! you're not messing up i'm having fun." I said with a smile, reaching over the table to hold his hand and he gave me a lighthearted smile.

"Ravioli is the only decent thing they got here, think i'll go with that." He says closing the menu. "See? It's not all that bad, I just so happen to love ravioli. I think I can go for some too.” I smile.

Present

I set up the table with bowls and utensils before making my way to the bathroom and realize that look a bummy mess so l spend the rest of the time I had left before he got back to make myself look at least a little presentable. I feel an overwhelming but nice sense of excitement to spend time with him again. I change into a casual but nice outfit and decide to do a simple and natural makeup look.

I soon hear the sound of the front door opening and chattering following behind it. I make my way out of the room to greet Matt who was laughing with chris and nick.

"Hey baby! How was filming??" | say almost too enthusiastically but I was too excited to keep my cool. "It was alright." He says nonchalantly, which makes me turn my happy demeanor down a notch.

Chris goes downstairs to get ready for something and Nick goes upstairs to do the same. Leaving matt and I alone which was perfect so I take the chance.

"I made-" before I could say anything Matt interrupted me. "Hey, me nick and chris are gonna go to top golf with madi, and nate so I might be home a little late." My heart sinks and i'm flushed with dread but I don't give up so easily.

"Well I actually made dinner for us.. I was hoping we could spend a little time together since we haven't in a while." | say fiddling with my necklace getting a bit anxious.

"I'm sure it's amazing baby but I should go get ready, Save me some yeah?" He says, placing a gentle kiss on my temple before he walks towards our shared bedroom to get ready.

I sit at the table where our food is now cold and I feel a lump in my throat followed by a cold sinking feeling in my chest.

658 words.

A/N: (This is sloppy and I kind of hate it, js wanted to try this out to see what yall think. if you guys like it, i'll keep writing, if not then im never writing again and since it's my first fic I kept it short but if you guys like it, i'll make the next parts longer 🫶🏼)

Taglist: @h3arts4harry @star-yawnznn @imwetforyourmom

[creatingblackcharacters]

I finished watching a YouTube video about representation and if it really matters. And I have to ask, why don't people ever throw this question at white men? They understand the ethics of showing 'your kind' on screen even if they pretend not to.

Also just because it is 'badly written' or you personally don't like it doesn’t mean it's 'forced diversity'. Not everything is going to have good writing or be mainstream popular. Even the 'mid' stuff just can't be considered good representation for some reason.

Just to cover my bases before someone dishonest shows up. Yes, I do understand that bad writing can disort discussions on topics but let's not pretend that's the real issue.

Sorry for ranting, I figured this was a good blog to ask about this phenomenon. Hopefully I'm not the only one seeing this play out. I look forward to yours and everyone's thoughts.

I might send some more asks about this topic later after I have collected my thoughts some more.

Thank you and I hope you have a wonderful day~♡

White Fragility- Robin diAngelo

I will say, this was more of a rant than a question 😅 As for the question that was in there, you answered it yourself.

"They understand the ethics of showing 'your kind' on screen even if they pretend not to".

I've addressed this numerous times amongst my lessons, but one of the core issues of media AND society is that we don't address whiteness as Whiteness, we address it as "normal". "Default". We treat the white experience as though it is the Way life is, and everything else is a difference. Because they know when they're not on screen lmao, they make it a racist point every single damn time 😅. They just don't call it like it is!

It's why many white people (TRUST, it's the women too) are insulted when you point out that they are just as attached to their whiteness as I am to my Blackness. It plays just as much of a role!! We just don't use those words because they're "uncomfortable"; they reference an existing power structure that we're not supposed to talk about. "Race doesn't matter"- meanwhile their unacknowledged whiteness runs every aspect of their life- including their perception of media!

So when there is a "loss" 🙄 of white characters, it goes off as an alarm bell. They don't see it as "representation matters", because for them, that's what's supposed to be on screen! That's what makes the most sense to begin with! You don't have to ask about what's normal! Representation is for those who are "different", but that difference gets rid of "normal". And if you're going to change what's "normal", then it HAS to be good! Because we can accept mediocre white men being mediocre, but when you mess up the normal and introduce people of color, well... Them being mediocre is bad because it "wasn't" bad when it was the mediocre white men!

[twig-tea]

GL Odds and Ends January 2025

I'm still trying to figure out what 2025 means for me in terms of where and how I spend my time, but one thing I am passionate about is making sure there is a record of GL media, so I'm going to try to prioritize keeping this up to at minimum monthly, though I might change up the format. Last one was end of December 2024. If you're interested in GL older than that, check out my GL rec list and my #gl recs tag for the other odds and ends posts. Series new to the roundup are marked with an asterisk*.

Currently airing (with thoughts up to 31 Jan):

Petrichor ep 9/10 (Thai, Saturdays, 10:00 AM ET, iQIYI) I've appreciated the struggle that Tul has gone through in terms of wanting to use her police powers to protect her family though that goes against her morals, and some of the procedural aspects I was grumbling about before have been explained by the plot. However, it still bothers me that she's not a very good detective. That being said, Engfa and Charlotte still have fantastic chemistry, and Na is having what seems like the time of his life.

*Us the series ep 2/12 (Thai, Saturdays, 8:00 AM ET, YouTube) I admit I think I have Chao Planoy fatigue. Age gap, both characters are lying to each other, there are abusive family members, and a guy who seems nice but I'm braced for a reveal about how he's actually awful. I'm feeling like I'm playing bingo. Honestly If someone gets hit by a car I might lose it. All my baggage aside, the pacing on this feels uneven and it doesn't feel like it has its feet yet.

*Call Me By No Name ep 4/8 (Japanese, Thursdays, 12:30 PM ET, GagaOOLala) Honestly I am not buying the romance between these two protagonists and I am finding them a little overwrought.

*Trunk Girl ep 1/? (Korean, possibly Thursdays, YouTube) This has just started, and the vibes are off. I am suspicious of the circumstances that led this runaway to stay with her friend, especially when she kissed her in her sleep (and I don't mean suspicious of sapphic feelings, those are already taken as given considering the genre).

*FirstLOVE ep 5/? (Korean, Mondays, YouTube) Toxic girlfriend gets replaced and then regrets letting her lover go. We'll see how this ends but this is another messy drama that feels pretty rough.

*I Am Devil ep 5/? (Thai, Saturdays, YouTube) Gonna be honest with y'all I watched ep1 and shelved the rest, it's a pulp in the style of high drama like Sastra and JPC below produce and just isn't my jam. If you're looking for high heat lakorn-style drama, give this a try.

[Note: Mate is still airing if you did not fast track, but since I did I've included it in the following section]

Recently Completed:

The Fragrance You inherit 8eps 25mins each (Japanese, 8 Nov 24-27 Dec 24, no official distribution but fansub on @isaksbestpillow's blog[thank you Siiri!] I loved this finale and wrote about it here. For those who don't want to click the link, in short this is not a romance but a really beautiful and sweet show about all kinds of interpersonal relationships.

Pluto 12eps 45 mins each (Thai, 19 Oct 24-04 Jan 25, YouTube) This series showcased the skills and chemistry of Namtan and Film, and had some of the most iconic product placement in a GL to date. The plot was messy but held together, and as much as I was unimpressed with their choices week to week, their choices made sense within the narrative (and genre) being told. I knew this one wasn't for me, but what it was doing, it did pretty well, and beautifully. The one real ding from me was the use of blindness as a metaphor that essentially got handwaved away; that and I think it was doing too much. But I am glad that before that, there was some great use of their platform to highlight the importance of universal design.

INTP 4eps 5 mins each (Korean, 27 Dec 24-22 Jan 25 YouTube) This is the latest short series from RedQ, who produced some of my favourite GL short series including More than or equal to 75 degrees C, and To the Ex who Hated Me. I said when this started that the setup of this one reminded me of Semantic Error if SangWoo realized he was attracted to JaeYoung at their first group assignment meeting, and I think that holds. These two fell for each other because they both care about the group project, and both protect each other. It's a bit short but I found it very sweet.

Mate, 12eps 50+ mins each (Thai, 26 Nov 24-28 Jan 25 fast-track or 4 Feb 25, WeTV (uncut version)) In the end this show remained a struggle for me. There were things it was doing that I really liked (the characters tried hard not to resort to noble idiocy, and when characters did resort to noble idiocy they were confronted with the consequences, for example), and things that I really did not, and there were parts that were really hard to watch and will haunt me. There are a lot of things I like about this show, so I don't want to discourage views. Just go into this one informed, and make the decision that's right for you.

*Adrenaline 4eps 15 mins each (Thai, 10 Jan-31 Jan 25, YouTube) This show is a cross between a travel ad and a lakorn. This is a major spoiler, but the main character has a secret condition where she forgets things that causes her to forget her first time with her girlfriend!? This show is so messy lol

Recent One-offs, Side Couples, etc.:

Fireworks of Yesteryear/When We Met has been made available on YouTube. A 35-minute Chinese GL that includes a makeout and as a result the production team have been working hard to get it in front of eyeballs. This is a moody piece with an open ending; there's an age gap too so YMMV (30s and 22).

GL microseries Your Name Engraved Herein (not to be confused with the BL feature film) has been subtitled by @douqi7s. Watch the original on Bilibili and enjoy the subs on YouTube. This one is also melancholy but it's some really tight storytelling in under 2 mins and manages to feel hopeful even though it's sad.

There is a lesbian side couple in Flirt Milk the series (airing now on iQIYI). This couple Noon and Praewa previously appeared as sides in Love Senior.

There is a new MV featuring a lesbian couple for the artist KnomJean on YouTube. This is one of those MVs that tells a story (TW for family violence) and after getting through the sad backstory, celebrates marriage equality in Thailand.

IdolFactory is re-running GAP the series on YouTube. If you've been putting off watching, now is a good time!

Speaking of re-runs, Yes Or No and the two sequel/spinoffs (Yes or No 2, and Yes or No 2.5) are all newly on GagaOOLala for streaming in some regions (I know for sure they're in North America, not sure about others)

Uranus2324 is starting to show up in particular places on the internet. I watched it and after all of the negative things I'd heard I actually liked it lol I'll see if I can write about it more this week

My suspected wlw sides in See Your Love ended up being implied only I was a little sad about this but at least I wasn't imagining the vibes.

Mom Ped Sawan is still airing but I still don't have a source for subs

Sastra film app YouTube channel has several short Cambodian GL series that come out weekly Honestly they are not to my taste but I don't like gatekeeping GL especially from smaller markets. I check in on these time to time and if there are any that I think are great I'll give them a shout-out

Ditto above with JPC media YouTube channel for Thai GL shorts if there are any that stand out to me I'll say so; that being said I haven't had time recently so if I've missed anything good let me know!

Starting soon:

Reverse With Me (sequel spinoff to Reverse 4 U), Thai, 5 Feb, iQIYI and Ch3+ app

Fragrance of the First Flower s2, Taiwanese, 18 February 2025, GagaOOLala ok this isn't that soon but I'm just so excited we're getting this second season after all!

As always, if I'm missing anything, please let me know!

[warehouse-in-la-cienaga]

Fantasy high au where over the course of four years, The Bad Kids all end up with online followers for wildly different reasons, and it makes the rest of Solace realise that this disaster group of teenagers are responsible for their continued existence (many times over).

-As in canon, Fig has all her music accounts. However, they all link to her personal accounts (not including any from before freshman year). On her personals, there are plenty of clips of her and the rest of the BK, starting halfway through Freshman year. She has a Fantasy YouTube account where she shows concert clips and music demos, but also running complications of each bad kid being cool/stupid/insane. The highest viewed video is Riz and Adaine pulling Fig into a magic debate, with the quote ‘someone get Kristin, I think they might actually kill each other’.

-Kristin actually gets involved on social media at the end of Freshman year. She starts with taking about her deity ‘yes!’ but also includes stories about unlearning toxic religious teachings, and how to deal with changing/leaving a religion. She gets a lot of ex-religious followers, although few of them actually follow ‘yes!’ When she starts talking about Cassandra at the end of Junior year, a lot of her followers get behind it. Highest viewed video is introducing her Sibling Bucky, who talks about following an older sibling who’s been denounced and escaping a religion as a pattern in families.

-Riz starts his social medias during the summer of Freshman year, when he gets his license and starts getting clients. He has a separate, personal Fantasy YouTube account that’s a mix of reviewing mystery-genre media (books, films, ect), and advice for adventurers (think Polygon Unravelled meets Monster manual guides). Highest video is rating all the enemies the BK’s have fought in their time, with the quote ‘Porter was strong, but he also relied on angry teenagers to be subtle and organised, so that’s a flaw.’

-Adaine is next, takes an idea from Riz and talked about her favourite media, as well as advice to other Wizards. Guides on memorising spell chants. Organising material components. She has Jawbone on some videos to talk about how to deal with the mental effects of adventuring. Most of her videos are very calm and easy to listen to, with a few insane clips of the BK’s thrown in, usually when demonstrating a spell. Highest viewed video is a blurry clip of a car on fire. In the background, Fig is howling laughing. We hear Riz say ‘what have we learned.’ The camera flips, and Adaine’s blank face says ‘do not punch a car to see how far it’s thrown.’ End clip.

-Fabian is terminally offline, and only joins the others online at the end of Sophmore year. His videos are a mix of dancing and fighting techniques. He goes through steps easily, from beginner to expert. His fighting videos include the rest of the bad kids as opponents. He sometimes does talk over them to give advice, but there are also complete dances and fights set to music with no talking. Highest viewed video is his first dance with Mazey. It’s not a ‘couple dance’ it’s almost like breakdancing, but you can tell the two have high chemistry together.

-The group channel is started at the beginning of Junior year. It’s mostly clip compilations, to begin with, since everyone is incredibly stressed and busy, but as the year goes on there’s videos of the snowball fight at moonar yulenear, the frostyfair. Debates between Riz and Adaine, Godess talks with Fig and Kristin. At least half of their videos are the BK’s doing something insane and documenting results, ranging from ‘fantasy jackass’ to ‘fantasy myth busters’ depending on who’s involved. Highest viewed video is Fig surfing a lava river, following Fabian who is riding the Hangman through the same river like a jetski. Adaine is standing on the other bank, holding an ice bag.

-Gorgug is surprisingly last. The audience know about him, he’s appeared in Figs music, Fabian’s fighting, Riz talked about his gadgets and the group channel includes him as much as the rest of the BKs. He just doesn’t really think there’s anything for him to have his own channel for. Until there’s a group video where Fig needs a gadget, and the audience get to see Gorgug’s workshop, where he’s currently working on a robotic, fox-like creature that jumps up on Fig when she walks in. His channel is sort of a Michael Reeves type, where he does such impressive engineering for the most insane reasons. Highest viewed video is a workshop tour that includes three fires, at least one of which is Figs fault. The thumbnail is Gorgug watching the fire on his desk with a completely straight face.

[blissfullyecho]

how to study + become a better college student

*i’m in nursing school for reference*

before classes/school:

#1. eat a good, hearty breakfast. i cannot concentrate when i’m hungry because i think about lunch or having a snack. i like to carb up for breakfast (carbs give you energy) and have things like pancakes, french toast, bagels, etc., as well as protein (because that keeps you full) like eggs, turkey bacon, yogurt, etc. i like to take a green powder or a multivitamin during this time to give my body what it needs so that i can function for the rest of the day too.

#2. i always bring water with me to class so that i can concentrate and not think about how thirsty i am. it’s super important to stay hydrated so come prepared.

#3. i know the lesson plan and what’s going to be talked about each day, and if your classes are run like that too, read the chapter or look over whatever it is you’re going to look over today in class to give you a general idea of what you’re going to learn today. this will help you feel like you’re one step ahead (which you are).

#4. wake up early enough to be relaxed in the morning. every time i didn’t perform my best in school was when i woke up and immediately rushed to get ready for class and not took the time to allow myself to ‘wake up’. your mornings should be chill, not a race against the clock.

during classes/school:

#1. actually jot down notes— do not rely on just using your phone to take pictures of the board/powerpoint. when you write your notes down, you get a chance to get that information stuck in your head. what i do if my instructor goes too fast on the powerpoints is: i take a picture of the powerpoint, then i write down what she/he says, then when i get home i rewrite what i took a picture of and the notes that i took in class (i’ll talk about this later).

#2. ask questions— who cares if you’re shy or whatever. asking questions will allow you to be more engaged and it shows your professors/instructors/teachers that you actually care (and they might even bump some grades up for you if you show you’ve taken initiative and tried). every question you ask, write your question down and their response in your notes. i’m telling you, this has helped so much and it gives you such a good look.

#3. use your lunch break for what it is— a break. 30 minutes isn’t a lot of time for an 8 hour day so actually rest and enjoy your lunch during this time. you need a chance to reset.

#4. if you can, always ask to review your tests with your professors/instructors. see what you got wrong and talk it through with them. in nursing school, we generally aren’t able to see what we got wrong on our exams and tests without our professor being there to review them with us. please do this.

#5. use a 1 subject notebook for each class and have pens/pencils that you only use for class. your notes in class should be legible but not super pretty. make your notes pretty at home, not in class.

#6. when taking a test, go over the questions and answers before turning in. there have been so many times i read a question too quickly and changed my answer and i ended up being correct when i looked it over again. don’t make those dumb mistakes.

#7. befriend the other students who do really well in the class. seriously, this will save you.

after classes/school:

#1. when you get home from school, unwind for an hour. take a shower, go to the gym, do whatever you want to do to allow yourself to relax and unwind. you need to take another break after school to regroup and to find a little bit of balance.

#2. review the notes you took in class that day and the pictures you took of the board, and rewrite your notes in a different notebook. so i suggest 2 notebooks for each class— one for your sloppy in-class notes and another for your pretty and organized notes. rewriting your notes will allow your brain to help retain that information.

#3. spend some time each day after rewriting your notes to watch a few videos on youtube about that topic. for nursing school, i like to look at 1-3 videos about what we’re learning to get a wider understanding.

#4. on the weekends, i like to spend 1-2, sometimes 3 hours each day reviewing everything i learned that week. i will watch more videos, i will read over my notes, and i will also create flashcards with my own practice questions in regards to the notes i take and quiz myself with those cards.

[writingquestionsanswered]

Distancing Character from Person of Same Name

Anonymous asked: I'm writing a fanfiction about an obscure pairing, and some time ago I met a person who has the same name as one of the characters, and now writing about this pairing makes me a little uncomfortable. It's a pretty common name, but I also see this person quite often and it's just weird for me. Do you have any advice so I can separate the character and the person in my head?

Here are some things you could try to distance this character from the person you know in real life who has the same name:

1 - Keep a Character Visual Handy - If you're writing fan-fiction about a canon character, you can search for promo pictures of the character. Or, if it's an OC or an original fiction character, you can try casting the character (see guide here: Guide: Casting Your Characters) with a real actor/model to help you visualize them. Try printing the picture out and tacking it up someplace where you can see it while you write. You could also keep it open on your phone, laptop screen, etc. This will help keep the character fresh in your mind as you write.

2 - Watch Clips or a Character Tribute - If you're writing fan-fiction and you're writing canon characters, odds are good there are clips or even fan-made character tributes of this character on YouTube. Watching some clips or a character tribute before you write is another great way to make sure the character is fresh in your head, rather than the person you know who shares their name. If you're writing an OC or original fiction and you've cast your character with a real actor or model, you could look for clips of movies or shows they're in that closely matches the vibe of your character, and watch those before you write. Or, you could put together some character aesthetics/mood boards and look at those before you write.

3 - Make a List of Differences - Try making a list of all the ways you can think of that your character and their inadvertent namesake are different. No detail is too small. When you're around the real person with that name, really try to focus on the things that make them different from your character.

4 - Change Up the Name a Bit - If you're writing a canon character, your options might be limited, but see if there's a canon nickname for this character you can lean on in your story that makes sense. For example, let's say the shared name is Madison, and the person you know in real life only ever goes by Madison. But maybe the canon character is sometimes called Madi by other characters... if you use Madi as often as it makes sense, that can help to create some distance.

If you're writing an OC or original fiction, you have more room to give your character a nickname of your choosing, and most names have a variety of possible nicknames. You could also try altering the spelling or changing the name to something that sounds very similar.

5 - Talk About It - If you're comfortable talking to this person about that fact that you're a writer, see if you can find an opportunity to share that you happen to be writing about a character with the same name. If it's a fan-fiction character, you can say something like, "Have you ever heard of the TV show ----? There's a character in it named -----, and I've been writing about her and another character, so I always think about that character when I see you." Or, something like that. Sometimes, just getting it out of your head (if possible) can sort of interrupt the connection in your head.

I hope that helps!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

♦ Questions that violate my ask policies will be deleted! ♦ Please see my master list of top posts before asking ♦ Learn more about WQA here

[centrally-unplanned]

In news from a different world, last December J-pop idol Miho Nakayama passed away, quite shockingly so at the age of 54. I have no connection to her music or acting, but of course I do appreciate her role in the very early history of video game development and dating sims via the 1987 Famicom game Nakayama Miho no Tokimeki High School, which I have discussed before. I decided to play the game "in memoriam", as it were - it does in fact have an English patch, and you can see a playthrough of said patch on YouTube here. It was time to experience my very own 80's high school idol love story <3.

To the surprise of no one, this game sucks. It essentially had to, no real fault on the developers, but that doesn't change the facts. It is working with incredibly limited graphical capabilities of course, with the average scene looking like this:

Which just isn’t enough for “ambiance” immersion to work, every setting is generic by definition. That can of course be saved by a good plot or gameplay, but neither shows up here; there is barely any story to speak of. Main Guy goes to new school, meets “Mizuho”, realizes she is secretly pop idol Miho trying to live a normal life, they start dating, and paparazzi-types and the pressures of her career get in the way such that eventually (based on your route progression) she breaks up with you or you stay a couple and ride off into the sunset together. Literally by the way, a friend loans you a motorcycle so you can escape the press:

You might be saying “surely you are skipping some things” but I assure you it is nothing important. Neither Miho nor the main character have any personality to speak of, and your time is filled generally by comedic hijinks or just the mechanics of progressing the relationship. There is a fat-faced friend who gossips about school, you have a family that ~exists, there is a stuck-up rich girl you speak to about twice before she kidnaps you in order to serve you drugged food so you will date her (as was typical for 1980’s courtship norms) which happens solely to make you late for a date with Miho to create drama, and so on - it is all as tiresome as it is irrelevant. You can even poke your head into the girl’s locker room at some point, the crown jewel of filler content:

This isn’t even arcade-cabinet-strip-mahjong levels of hot, I know video games of the era could do better than this! Though for all the extraneous plot beats and side characters, I did like “The Trio”, a group of cackling girls who follow you around like a Greek chorus taunting you for your desires:

In another game these fey spirits would devour your organs at the right moment, mad respect. 

Anyway, all of this plot filler is used to stretch out the non-story but in that task it gets a helping hand from the game mechanics, which are a classic example of arbitrary progression gatekeeping. Half the dialogue options are just variants of the same core emotion, and the right answer is inscrutable. You get moments like this one, where Miho is apologizing to you for a misunderstanding:

And all of these answers are pretty dismissive? But the right answer is A, the meanest of them! Guess she has a type, but since you as a player haven’t negotiated her safe words yet you don’t know that and are just gonna facecheck your way through these.

As the cherry on top the advertised “facial expression” system is actually a letdown - it is very rarely used, most dialogue options don’t ask for it, and when they do you have six options:

But you actually never use half of these, and 90% of the time the correct answer is “normal”. At least this was bad in a “too easy” way, so it doesn’t waste your time, but you could just remove it as a mechanic and miss nothing. All of the “interactive” elements could be replaced by linear narrative, actually, and nothing would be lost.

Besides the competitive media mix aspects of the game, obviously. Which is what it is all about, right? This ain’t some random 8-bit idol, this is Miho Nakayama! And even in-game she is pretty cute, I do like the design for the close-up convos:

The glasses-for-disguise are nice with her moe eyes, the details of the shading really pop in an 8-bit context, and really the whole framework of the UI as this sort of flip picture book is adding value here (as opposed to being irrelevant in the location shots). They even give her a bunch of different outfits on your dates because as the heroine she deserves it:

“Ash, those first two are literally just palette swaps” “No man, look, the red one is using dithering to create a fade effect on the colors, implying a more complicated pattern like plaid thatching, while the blue one uses bold lines to imply a striped coat”. It was impressive in 1987, alright! This girl has no textual personality but there is life in this design that stands out from its peers.

But of course it isn’t the in-game graphics doing the heavy lifting here. As mentioned before, this was a “Telephone Game”, where players would be prompted at times to call phone numbers Nintendo had rented out to hear voicemails Nakayama had recorded. These voicemails are, to the best I can tell, lost to us - I have not found an existing recording online. They were only up briefly actually, for a few months after the game was released - this was not an era where longevity for games was considered important. We do have transcripts of them though, and I can imagine that picking up your house phone, calling a phone number, and getting the actual voice of the “character” in the game talking to you - making your heart go doki doki if you will - must have been pretty cool.

(Miho even travels throughout the game, and the phone numbers - according to this blogger - actually use location-appropriate area codes so it feels like you are really calling Osaka or Hokkaido! Very cool…unless - according to another blogger - you got hit with long distance calling charges for your pursuit of troubled love, as was reported in the media at the time. Now that’s authenticity?)

This mechanic is essentially a ludomantic experience that is impossible to capture today, because voice acting in video games is incredibly common; so much so that it would come off as gimmicky to make someone go through such a multi-device process. But since the Famicom couldn’t make vocal sounds, it had to make you use your phone, which created the simulacrum of actually calling a real human outside of the game to talk to. That is pretty neat!

As mentioned, the media mix came bundled with a competition - the winners were the first 16,000 players to submit a “Best Ending” record via the barely-used Famicom Disk Fax system. As helpfully explained in the instruction manual alongside photos of the IRL Nakayama:

And the big prize of a VHS tape of behind-the-scenes Nakayama stuff has been preserved, and is easily available if you want to watch it. Don’t though, it isn’t worth it; it is primarily b-roll footage of her doing typical day-to-day tasks and softball interview questions about “what is her type” with generic answers, stuff like that. Solid C- for the genre. But still, you didn’t know that when competing, right? The pressure to get your game file in was fierce.

I mentioned how the game essentially “had to be bad” at the start, and I want to dig into why that is. In my initial post I linked, I actually made a false statement - I said the development time for the game was “2 weeks”. I said that because the game’s Wikipedia page in English says it and so it is common trivia on the net, but I don’t think that it is true. Even when I typed it in that original post, the back of my mind was going “wait, that can’t be literally true, it is very hard to make a game that fast in that era - these guys are coding in Assembly!”, but I sort of hand-waived it away as, oh something like they were harvesting an existing game prototype or somesuch. But I believe this fact comes from a mistranslation of interviews like this one:

岩田: 坂口さんは『ファイナルファンタジー』の開発を終えて、『トキメキハイスクール』に合流され���んですか？ 坂口: ええ。チームの何名かが合流して、３カ月間くらいでしょうか。で、最後は１０名くらいのメンバーといっしょに京都にやって来て、２週間くらいカンヅメになって、なんとか開発を終えることができたんです。

Or:

Iwata: Sakaguchi, did you join the "Tokimeki High School" project after finishing development on "Final Fantasy"? Sakaguchi: Yes, that’s right. Several team members joined the project for about 3 months, I think. And then near the end of development, about 10 of us came down to Kyoto and we holed up for around 2 weeks until we somehow managed to finish the game.

So what is going on here is the game’s development was a joint production between Nintendo - in Kyoto at this time - and up-and-coming game company Square in Tokyo. And yes, they were literally working on Final Fantasy right before this game, and switched gears to tackle this new project. Or at least some of them did, for 3 months, and then famed-director-of-Final-Fantasy Sakaguchi came down to Kyoto and lived out of a hotel for two weeks doing crunch to finish it off. That fact, probably because Sakaguchi is the famous person reporters would care about, got transformed into the idea that the whole game took 2 weeks to make. 

In this same interview they talk about how, at the end of that crunch, they all went out for drinks to celebrate…until they got a phone call about how the motorcycle in the ending credits is glitching out and flying off the screen, which they thought was a hilarious, beautifully fitting bug for their time together. And that is hilarious, the primary reason I am recounting it, but I also think it goes to show that this was a hot mess of a game dev process. 2 weeks or ~3 months, both of those are not enough time. And with two companies in different cities, doing crunch out of a hotel, wrangling with a record label for a pop idol’s permission, setting up phone line recordings and VHS tapes and a bonus competition using experimental fax machines, all aligned with a media blitz? All for a game genre that honestly hadn’t been done before? I have checked, and you can authentically argue this is the first ever dating sim, at least on a console. People overstate what it is inventing - it is pulling tropes from romance anime and manga, of course - but even that process of transference is tough. This wasn’t a genre yet, and in a way they weren’t even trying to make a dating sim. They were trying to make an event.

One that today you just can’t experience. Very few people care about Nakayama Miho “like that” anymore, we aren’t seeing the commercials or the magazine ads or buying the discount unofficial strategy guide that invented a fake protagonist and never used Miho’s name because they didn’t have the rights. Today you play the game just because it is a game, and when you hit the phone numbers you tab over to a transcript of the voicemails…or maybe don’t even bother. The game was just a vessel for the hype. That doesn’t make the game good, by the way, I don’t want to go that far. The game was a not-very-good vessel for the hype, and an anachronistically better team could have made a better game. It isn’t really worth playing, in the end. But it is worth researching! As an event, it is really cool. As a piece of history, it is probably unique. And I respect the team behind it for that.

[arcane-ish]

Some thoughts on love, changing the world, co-dependency and commander Caitlyn

I watched this youtube video, “Understanding Vi”. I think it makes a pretty good case for why Vi falls for Caitlyn and what the appeal, the draw of the relationship is for her.

Looking at some of the other vids on the channel, I got the impression that there is focus a bit on ships that would actually be working and healthy in a real life way, couples whose personalities and goals and stage in life are a good match.

It made me look at CaitVi a bit under that light, and also what Amanda might have been thinking when she forged them.

I’m personally a big subscriber to the whole “shipping something doesn’t mean that the characters are perfect or that the relationship is perfect just that you think there’s a good story there”. And I vibe with that a lot. I can want to see characters interacting or just what the interactions would tell me about a character I like, even if I think the relationships might end in breakup or death and murder eventually. At the same time, not everybody ships like that or ships like that all the time.

It can be a particular type of comfort ship to look at your ship and just feel like things will be alright for them. That no matter what happens they’ll support each other and they’ll still be together when they are old and gray. And for that you do have to write the characters as just being very stable with each other.

[speaking of which, maybe that’s just the Zaundads shipper in me, I have seen quite a bit of hot CaitVi art of course and quite a bit of CaitVi if they met as kids, but are there any good arts of them growing old together/spending their life together? I know League means they will forever be frozen like that, but I think for a bit them with the first traces of gray hair could be lovely, especially if as part of a chain of arts with them also being younger]

I think CaitVi can work like that, two people who genuinely like each other, who want to make it work and who overall have enough self discipline that they can make it work despite any conflicts that might rise up.

Looking at the plot, I do feel like CaitVi got shafted a little bit in season 2, for my tastes, my priorities, because if you look around, it feels like with most of the other ships they have a measurable effect on the plot. Zaundad reuniting is the reason why the AU is like that according to the writer’s statements, Ekko stops Jinx’s suicide attempt, Jayce talks Viktor down from destroying the world, timetravel Viktor is the reason that Jayce became interested in magic.

And no, I’m not saying that CaitVi has no effect on the plot. In season 1 it is very clear, Caitlyn is Vi’s “bridge” to Piltover, their connection is why Vi and Caitlyn are standing in front of the council trying to make a case for Zaun, their connection is also the reason for a lot of conflict and misunderstandings between Vi and Jinx.

And even in season 2, her love for Cait is clearly the reason why Vi joins up with the enforcers or why she lets herself be handed over to Ambessa.

But now we get to the actual meat of what I want to talk about. I know there are a lot of jokes about “Vi calls Cait cupcake and fascism leaves Cait’s body”. And here it goes: I don’t think that that’s true because Cait was pretty half-hearted about fascism anyway.

And this is not to say Caitlyn is not to blame for the things she did as Commander Caitlyn or before. Heck, especially if you knew on some level that it was wrong makes it extra questionable in its own way. But that’s just genuinely how I read Caitlyn as a character. From her point of view there two big candidates for “for love” decisions:

turning on Ambessa

letting Jinx go

But both of these to me seem like they are in general alignment with what Caitlyn is feeling in this situation anyway. Which doesn’t mean that Vi isn’t a factor in the mix of Caitlyn’s motivations. But that she isn’t the only one and that I can picture worlds where Caitlyn makes roughly the same choices even if Vi wasn’t around.

Caitlyn doesn’t fight to become commander. It gets offered to her without any pushing on her side, it basically falls into her lap. We skip forward in time and she is already doubting that it’s a great idea in her scene with Maddie. I feel like her doubts grow in the scene with Singed. IMO Caitlyn was (1) never that gung-ho for commandering from an ideological point of view, she was willing to do it and ignore her own doubts for the big goal of “catching Jinx”. And yes maybe she was curious about Ambessa. (2) she was already out with half a foot when she meets Vi again and Vi gives her the opportunity to jump ship.

Similarly, letting Jinx go, I feel like Caitlyn understands that she needs to let go of her hate. That’s what her scene with Jinx is about. Maybe in a world without Vi Caitlyn wouldn’t have been able to bring herself to the point of actively letting Jinx go/unleashing her on the world again even as she understands that she needs to let go of Jinx/her hate for Jinx. But I think she at least heavily would have thought about it.

I think from a ship point of view? You want your ship to be powerful, you want it to have a ripple effect on the plot, you want it to shape the world. But from a relationship point of view? It’s probably better and saner if the people involved are put together enough that they can fix themselves before hooking up and are not co-dependent on each other for not going evil or not offing themselves.

From a relationship point of view, it’s probably better that Caitlyn doesn’t need Vi to develop doubts about Ambessa and that Vi doesn’t need Caitlyn to pull her out of her self destructive spiral from the beginning of s2a2. Because if they have the strength to pull themselves out of their dark places it makes them more ready to have a healthy and sane relationship and choose each other because this is what they want.

There’s a romantic appeal to co-dependent characters who absolutely need each other, but from a relationship POV? It’s probably better to … not be like that. That Vi and Cait do have things in their lives and parts of their personality they want to explore before they return to each other.

(that said, I do hope CaitVi fandom is full of “Commander Cait can’t live without Vi and decides to sneak into Zaun to watch Vi fight undercover, after having seen the posters, or just having heard the reputation, or runs into her accidentally while doing a raid on the club. Because while from an intellectual point of view I totally get why it’s probably better that Vi pulls herself out of her hole, for my shipper tastes, yeah I totally want Cait to see Vi at her lowest and it gals me that in canon Jinx is sneaking into Vi’s fights to check on her and not Cait)

[jimpagne]

Would it be possible for you to make a post talking about/explaining batchim? I watched two videos about it on YouTube but I was still really confused… I found your explanations (and guide in general) very helpful and interesting so I was thinking you could make a post that was clear and understanding.

Hi anon, sorry it took me like... *checks calendar* ... three weeks to answer this... I got a little busy. Maybe very busy. Oh well.

But oh boy, yes, I remember the days of having to learn batchim... Well, if I'm being entirely honest, in my Korean classes my professors actually never touched on the topic besides some of the most basic forms. They just hoped that we would pick it up by ourselves through listening and reading practices.

And in a way, that's exactly what happened.

However, I do know it's pretty hard for someone just starting out, especially if you've only just learned Hangul. I will keep it real with you: don't view batchim as some type of roadblock or something that stands in the way of you progressing with your learning. With enough practice, you'll begin to pick up on these changes and eventually integrate them fully with your speaking skills.

Despite this, I will explain batchim as best as I can, and I will do it from a more linguistic type of view, since I actually study linguistics/phonetics (한국어로 '언어학' & '음성학')! A lot of sources will try to explain batchim in its most simplest form, but I'll try to get a bit more technical with it, but hopefully not in a way that is confusing.

Alright, let's begin!

받침 BATCHIM OVERVIEW

Batchim, in the most simplest terms, is the final consonant at the bottom of a Korean syllable block. However, depending on which consonant it is and which sound proceeds it, can have a pretty big impact as to how its pronounced.

I know everyone (including me) goes on and on about just how perfect the Korean writing system is, and how it's phonetically consistent -- until it's not. But we try not to scare Korean learners away from learning the language, and to be fair, even though batchim can be confusing, it is still way easier than English orthography (writing).

Intervocalic Forms: Voicing

Okay, before I actually dive into the more complex batchim forms, I'm actually going to start off with something that is not batchim. Wow. I know, this is a little inconsistent.

But anyways, have you ever looked at a Korean Hangul chart and asked yourself: why can the ㄷ, ㅂ, ㄱ all be read as both a d & t, a b & p, and a g & k? Many might answer this question with a simple, "because Korean sounds are not like English sounds", which yes, but also because these characters can be read like voiceless and voiced variants depending where they are in a sentence.

For a bit of background, in linguistics, we classify consonant forms as "voiced" or "voiceless". All vowels are voiced sounds, so they don't have a voiceless classification. Basically, to make it as simple as possible, this just means that some sounds produce more buzzing in the throat, whereas others do not. I think the best way for me to really show this to you is for you to say "s" and then for you to say "z"... you feel that difference, right? That's voicing. B, G, D are all voiced, whereas P, K, T are not.

So to try to sum this up: vowels are voiced, liquids (r & l ㄹ) are voiced, nasals (m ㅁ, n ㄴ, ng ㅇ) are voiced.

In Korean, you can have words where one character can be read as both its voiced and voiceless variant. How do you know when to voice versus when to leave it voiceless? Intervocalic positioning.

Intervocalic, in this case, basically just means between voiced sounds.

Let's take the word "idiot" in Korean. 바보. Notice that when you said this word, the first sound in 바 is more like a p, right? And then the second sound in 보 is more like a b, right? That's because the ㅂ in 보 is sandwiched between two voiced vowel sounds, ㅏ & ㅗ.

Other words where this trend is apparent:

바다: pa-da; ocean

아버지: a-beo-ji; father

예쁜 구름: ye-ppeun gu-reum; pretty cloud(s) Again, the ㄱ in this one is read like a g because it comes after a nasal (m, n, & ng), and a vowel, and nasals & vowels are voiced.

You don't need to memorize/learn any of this linguistic mumbo jumbo, but it's just a way of showcasing a pattern that many people learning Korean might have not noticed. You don't need to hyperfixate or constantly look out to see which characters are sandwiched between which characters... because that would be exhausting. A lot of this voicing occurs because it's just more natural to the human articulators to pronounce it that way, so you might just end up doing it without thinking. I just thought I might answer that quick question that some people might've had about Hangul.

But anyways, isn't that cool?! It's cool to me. The linguistics student.

Coda Neutralization

I know, that's kind of a scary linguistic term. Coda. In the simplest words, it's just a term that means the final sound in a syllable. Like the batchim. But in this case, Korean has a lot of batchims that when they are the final sound and not followed by an additional vowel (again, they're the coda), then their sound will neutralize/sound the same as other consonant sounds.

The first rule you should know is that if the sound is aspirated (ㅋ, ㅌ,ㅊ, ㅍ) or doubled/tensed (ㄸ, ㅆ, ㅉ, ㅃ, ㄲ) in the batchim, if it is by itself and does not connect to a vowel, it will unaspirate/untense.

EX) 있 -> 잇, 밖 -> 박, 엌 -> 억, 밭 -> 받, 빛 -> 빚 etc...

The 'T' Variant

Many consonants in the Korean batchim will come out sounding like a 't' if there is no vowel to follow them.

ㅅ

ㄷ

ㅈ

ㅎ

So, words like 곧 (soon, immediately) will sound like got. 빛 (light) will sound like bit, and not bich. Remember, ㅊ had to unaspirate first as well.

The Normies

These are the batchims that are more loyal to their sounds, and will only undergo the aforementioned unaspirating and untensing.

ㅂ

ㄱ

ㅁ, ㄴ, ㄹ don't have tensed/aspirated forms, so they're just chilling fr.

But like I said multiple times, this is only if there is no vowel sound to carry over the batchim sound. If there is a vowel, the sounds will be pronounced as normal.

Like 있다, when added to ~어요, the ㅆ will undergo resyllabification and will be read as i-sseo-yo (있어요).

Cultural notes: Sometimes Koreans will pronounce the batchim as its original sound for comedic effect. I've heard Jimin do this a lot with the ~ㅅ/ㅆ batchim.

Tensification

This section will focus on ㄷ, ㅂ, ㄱ, ㅈ, ㅅ and their tensed/doubled variants ㄸ, ㅃ, ㄲ, ㅉ, ㅆ. Basically the rule goes that if a non-tensed consonant that has the ability to be doubled/tensed is in the batchim, and it comes into contact with another consonant that has the ability to be doubled/tensed, the latter consonant will be doubled/tensed.

Kind of a wordy explanation, but let me try to clarify it.

Take the word 식당 'restaurant' for example, the ㄱ is in the batchim and the consonant that proceeds it is a ㄷ. Both of these sounds have tensed variants. So instead of reading this like sik-dang, you would read it more like sik-ddang. The latter consonant of ㄷ has been doubled into a ㄸ.

학교; school: hak-kyo -> hak-kkyo

먹방 mukbang, (taken from the verb 먹다 [to eat] and the noun 방송 [broadcast/stream]); muk-bang -> muk-bbang

낮잠; nap (낮 day, 잠 sleep): nat-jam -> nat-jjam

있다; to have, to exist: it-da -> it-dda

Nasalization

The process of nasalization occurs when a stop consonant (p ㅂ, t ㄷ, k ㄱ) comes into contact with a nasal consonant (m ㅁ, n ㄴ, ng ㅇ). Though the 'ng' sound can't ever be a proceeding consonant since the 'ng' sound can only be voiced in the batchim, but you know...

I'll explain further.

This is BTS' wonderful MAKNAE LINE. The word maknae in Korean is spelled like 막내. As you can see, the batchim ㄱ (a stop consonant) is coming into contact with the nasal ㄴ sound.

So how will that impact the pronunciation of this word?

When the batchim ㄱ comes into contact with the proceeding ㄴ sound, the ㄱ sound transforms into an ㅇ sound. So instead of saying the word mak-nae with a prominent 'k' sound, you would say it more like mang-nae. The process of nasalization has just occurred!

Other Instances of ㄱ + ㄴ interactions:

학년; school year/grade: hak-nyeon -> hang-nyeon

먹는다; to eat (in the plain form): meok-neun-da -> meong-neun-da

ㄷ&ㅂ Interactions with Nasals

When a batchim ㄷ (and its other variants) comes into contact with a nasal, it assimilates and turns into a ㄴ sound.

받는다; to receive (in the plain form): bat-neun-da -> ban-neun-da

However, if the batchim ㅂ (and its variants) comes into contact with a nasal, they can take on an ㅁ sound. Also, remember, I taught coda neutralization first, because remember, the ㅅ turns into a 't' sound in the batchim if it is not followed by a vowel!

있는데; 있다 [to be] + ~는데 grammar form: it-neun-de -> in-neun-de

앞문; front door: ap-mun -> am-mun

~습니다; deferential conjugation form: seub-ni-da -> seum-ni-da

So, to sum it up, just remember this quick little chart.

ㄱ -> ㅇ ㄷ -> ㄴ ㅂ -> ㅁ

ㄹ Nasal Interactions

ㄹ is a bit of a special case; if nasals like ㅇ & ㅁ are in the batchim, or if ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ are in the batchim BEFORE a ㄹ, the ㄹ will change into a ㄴ sound.

심리; psychology: shim-ri -> shim-ni

통로; aisle: tong-ro -> tong-no

This makes a lot of sense! Just try saying tong-ro or shim-ri... it just feels a little uncomfortable, right?

Lateralization: Progressive & Regressive

Time for some more fun ㄹ forms! This particular form circles around ㄹ & ㄴ. I want you to think of these characters as siblings, and ㄹ is the older sibling, and ㄴ is the younger sibling that wants to copy everything that ㄹ does. Basically, if ㄹ and ㄴ are right next to each other, the ㄴ will turn itself into a ㄹ phonetically. Remember, these are still spelled the same way, but when spoken it just sounds different.

There are two instances in which this structure can occur, and it's formally known as progressive or regressive lateralization.

Progressive Lateralization: the ㄹ is in the batchim and turns the proceeding ㄴ into an ㄹ sound.

설날; Korean New Year: seol-nal -> seol-lal

실내; indoor: sil-nae -> sil-lae

Regressive Lateralization: the ㄴ is in the batchim and turns into a ㄹ upon connection to a proceeding ㄹ sound.

신라; Silla Dynasty: sin-ra -> sil-la

난로; stove: nan-ro -> nal-lo

Again, you don't really need to memorize these linguistic terms. As long as you know that ㄴ changes to a ㄹ if they're next to each other, that's good enough.

Palatalization

This will focus mainly on ㄷ and its aspirated (again, just meaning its just spoken with more air) variant ㅌ, and their interactions with 이. This form is quite easy and there's not really a lot of content that goes into this one. Basically, all you need to remember is...

When ㄷ is in the batchim and meets 이, the following sound that carries over will not be 디, but instead 지.

맏이; the eldest/firstborn (like Seokjin!): ma-di -> ma-ji

When ㅌ is in the batchim and meets 이, the following sound that carries over will not be 티, but instead 치.

같이; together: ka-ti -> ka-chi

Syncope (Deletion) & Fusion

This is primarily going to focus on the function of ㅎ, who has been up until this point pretty impartial toward most of the changes that we have covered. However, the ㅎ undergoes deletion and fusion when meeting certain vowel and consonant forms.

If ㅎ comes into contact with unaspirated stops (ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ) & affricates (ㅈ), it will aspirate them/carry an aspirated sound over. This can occur with ㅎ in the batchim, or if its proceeding one of these characters. This explanation might be confusing, so bear with me if you can.

DELETION: ㅎ in the batchim

A common process that ㅎ undergoes is having its sound "deleted" when proceeded by a vowel sound. ㅎ is a "weak" consonant, and therefore just falls silent, even going as far to be overpowered by other consonants in its double-batchim forms.

좋아요; it's good [좋다 to be good] + 아/어요 conjugation form: jo-ha-yo -> jo-a-yo

많이; a lot (adv.): man-hi -> ma-ni

괜찮아요; it's alright [괜찮다 to be alright] + 아/어요 conjugation form: gwen-chan-ha-yo -> gwen-cha-na-yo

As you can see, in both 괜찮아요 & 많이, they have the double batchim ㄶ, but in this case, the ㅎ is completely ignored in favor of the ㄴ.

FUSION: ㅎ in the batchim

This is when ㅎ comes before an unaspirated stop (ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ) or affricate sound (ㅈ). The ㅎ will turn its proceeding sound into its aspirated form (ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅊ, ㅍ).

좋다; to be good: joh-da -> jo-ta (조타)

넣다; to put/insert: neoh-da -> neo-ta (너타)

싫지만; 싫다 [to loathe/disagree] + ~지만 but: shil-ji-man -> shil-chi-man (실치만)

FUSION: Following Stops and Affricates

This is when ㅎ proceeds an unaspirated stop (ㄱ, ㄷ, ㅂ) or affricate (ㅈ) batchim. The ㅎ will carry over the sound from the batchim much like a vowel would, but it will carry its aspirated form (ㅋ, ㅌ, ㅊ, ㅍ).

막히다; to be blocked: mak-hi-da -> ma-ki-da (마키다)

입학; matriculation (entering a school): ib-hak -> i-pak (이팍)

축하하다; to congratulate/celebrate: chuk-ha-ha-da -> chu-ka-ha-da (추카하다)

When you sing Happy Birthday in Korean, the process of fusion takes place!

생일 축하합니다 생일 축하합니다 사랑하는 [이름] 씨 생일 축하합니다~🎵

Double Batchim Battle!

Well, we've reached the end of the road... for now, anyway. The reason why I decided to include this last is because this is something that'll just require memorization. I don't really have any cool hacks for you here, it's just something you'll have to manage to cram into your brain. So, let me make a WHO WILL WIN!!! type of guide for you. Again, this is in the case of reading it without a vowel for the other batchim to attach itself onto.

ㄱ WINS!

ㄳ - ㄱ ㄺ - ㄱ

ㅂ WINS!

ㅄ - ㅂ ㄼ - ㅂ

ㅁ WINS!

ㄻ - ㅁ

ㄴ WINS!

ㄵ - ㄴ ㄶ - ㄴ

ㄹ WINS!

ㄽ - ㄹ ㄾ - ㄹ ㅀ - ㄹ ㄿ - ㄹ

Alright, did you get all that? I hope so because I have no other way of explaining this.

The End ... ?

Congratulations, or 축하해요! You made it this far. If you managed to get through that without a headache, I applaud you. As I stated in the beginning, trying to memorize/learn all of this in one go is motivation suicide. So, I really don’t recommend that you get stuck on this. Don't worry about it too much, you'll pick it all up eventually!

Also, there are a fewww more details when it comes to batchim, however I thought it would be better to save that for a Korean conjugation/present tense lesson instead, since I feel like it fits a bit better into the "curriculum" of my brain. The conjugation lesson would be devoid of linguistic terminology, but would still answer some questions some may have about it.

Well, until next time!

[poraphia]

"Morning Routines with Wilbur"

➵ PAIRING! cc!wilbur x gn!reader

➵ CREATING! 12.10.23 | 390 words

➵ CONTAINING! immense fluff, mornig spent with wilbur, making pancakes, domestic tingzz

➵ SAYING! really wanted to post something today, so heres an old draft i had in my notion yall can enjoy :)) i might make a little banner for my posts just to give it more personality hehe

My masterlist :)

•┈••✦ ❤ ✦••┈•

both of you have busy schedules, so you two try to make the best of yall’s mornings

wilbur would hug you closely in bed for at least fifteen minutes. he specifically sets his alarm 15 mins before he actually does have to wake up just for those snuggles :)

“good morning, sunshine, how did you sleep?” he would ask in a grumbly voice that would always make you smile.

once you wake up, both of you head into the kitchen and decide what to have for breakfast together

wil would prepare the ingredients while you cooked on the stove. once he sets up all the plates and does any cleaning around the house, he wraps his arms around your torso as youre flipping pancakes

while eating, you and wil make small talk bringing up some past memories, talking about work, or just talking about some ideas to each other

“oh— by the way ash and I came up with this riff for this song we’re working on. I think it’s pretty cool!”

if either of you dont feel like talking, wil would take out his phone and set it against the kitchen’s flower vase so that the two of you can huddle close together and watch some youtube videos (yall try to avoid tommy’s videos in the morning. he could get loud!)

“don’t click on that tommy video.”

“but willll! it’s his survival series!”

“it’s too early for his gremlin voice.”

afterward, you would take wil’s dishes and wash them as he goes into the bathroom to shower and get changed

once done with all the cleaning, you pack up his lunch (that you prepared yesterday) and write down a little note that he could find under his food containers

by the time he’s out of the shower you’ve already packed all his bags to make sure he doesnt leave anything behind

he always makes sure to give you a kiss on the forehead before heading out the door

“ill text you during lunch, okay? i love you. drive safe!”

you would make sure to watch him until you see him get into his car to make sure he’s safe

once you know he securely made it to his car, you get yourself ready for the busy day ahead :)

•┈••✦ ❤ ✦••┈•

a / n ~ really fluffy and sweet. hope yall enjoyed :D reblogs, replies, notes of all kind are super duper appreciated!

[kitthepurplepotato]

Chapter 7 - The Truth About Pro Hero Deku.

Summary: Deku introduces his girlfriend to his family. Y/N teases Inko and All Might about their “relationship”. Izuku.exe has stopped working after Inko’s answer. Also, Izuku tells Y/N his biggest secret.

Warnings: Swear words

First Chapter Master List

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

“Izuku, you need to come home more often!” Inko gives up on hiding and joins the group hug. You can’t miss All Might’s fond smile as one of Inko’s arms snake around him while she pats Izuku’s back with the other.

Izuku might not have his blood father in his life but Izuku clearly grew up in the most loving family anyway. Izuku talked a lot about his past in the interviews; about their financial struggles, his mom’s torturous work routine, about how they googled “how to shave” together on YouTube to learn how to do that stuff because neither of them had anyone in their lives who was nice enough to show Izuku how to shave without cutting himself. They lived a lonely life until Izuku joined UA; it was only him and his mother until All Might took Izuku under his wing. Everything had changed after Izuku made his first proper friends; the house got more lively when his mates came around and Inko smiled more as well, finally able to concentrate on work without feeling like he’s neglecting the only important person in her life for some spare money.

“I genuinely couldn’t. Ask Sweet Pea, if you don’t believe me!” Izuku retorts, his eyes teary from happiness as he looks back at you.

“The boy speaks the truth, madam.” You bow in front of Inko with a cheeky smile on your face.

“Talking about the truth…” Izuku walks to your side, clearly anxious. Oh god, this is it… “I would like you two to meet… the woman I’ll marry one day. Treat her well.”

You choke on your saliva just as Izuku puts his arms around your middle to pull you closer.

Marriage?! Already?! Not like you would mind to change your name to Midoriya… oh my god, Y/N Midoriya, shut the front door, that sounds gorgeous. Then after marriage, you could have a kid, a little baby with green curls and pretty freckles and your eye color… or would it be your hair and his eye color? Nah, you want the green curls to be passed on for sure. And the freckles. Oh my god, those freckles.

“Stop fangirling.” Izuku murmurs into your ear with a shit eating grin on his face; his voice is low and extremely enticing, too quiet for the others to hear but loud enough for you to get goosebumps on your arms.

“Does that mean…” Inko looks five seconds away from crying, probably less, so All Might puts his arms around the woman’s shoulders.

“I think you are meeting your future Daughter-in-law, Midoriya-san.” He murmurs happily, clearly not surprised by the revelation. You have a feeling these two talked about you quite a lot already.

“This is the best present you could have given to your mother, thank you.”

Inko cries like a baby for at least an hour before she finally calms down and goes into the kitchen to prepare some food for lunch. Toshinori-San asks her if she needs any help but he gets shushed right away.

“Enjoy yourself, Yagi. You haven’t seen the boy for ages.”

Clearly, “Yagi” isn’t used to hearing his own first name from the woman’s mouth yet; his whole face reddens as he nods shyly, rendered speechless for the next few seconds.

“Uhm, I don’t mean to be the person who asks this as I’m not technically the part of the family yet, but… you and Inko, hmm?”

Izuku almost chokes on his water while Toshinori looks really close to throwing up by the way he pales completely after you finish your sentence.

“I… I think you miss… understand the situation. We share a house, just like you two… wait, that’s a really bad example, isn’t it? Oh my, I’m making this worse.”

“Sweet Pea, you can’t seriously think All Might and mom…”

“All Might and mom what?” Inko comes out from the kitchen, scaring the living shit out of Toshinori. You swear you can see his soul leaving his body for half a second.

“I was just wondering if you and Toshinori-san are… well… in the same situation as Izuku and I? Sorry if I’m being too straightforward, but…”

“Oh, don’t be silly, Sweet Pea!” Inko waves you off with a light blush on her face. If you see disappointment on All Might’s face you don’t comment on it. “My house was finally full of laughter and happiness when he moved in, I’m more than happy to have him here as a good friend. Honestly, you are so silly. This is Yagi, the hero of the century, the man who saved millions, why would he even look at a silly old, boring lady like me?”

You can barely keep your smile hidden. Yup. This story sounds really similar.

“What are you talking about, Midoriya-san? It’s the other way around! You are the kindest, the purest, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on! You are way too good to be stuck with a silly old man who’s barely standing on his legs after being beaten to pulp way too many times!”

Suddenly, you could cut the tension in the air with a knife if you would carry one with you like Jirou does. The two stare at each other, only just realizing they were both thinking the same thing all this time. You are a little bit jealous for them for being forced to face their own feelings this way; you definitely helped them to get their shit together before they ended up being weird about it like you two did for several weeks. Or, you just ruined the fun. Oh, well.

“I think I’m going to show Y/N my room.” Izuku mutters with a pale face. Obliviousness clearly runs in the family.

~•🥦•~

“Do you want to talk about this or…” You mutter under your nose, your eyes not leaving the confused greenhead.

“Give me 5 to 7 days to get over the fact that my mother has a crush on my favorite hero, All Might, and her feelings are reciprocated and I’ve been watching them for almost ten years and I never realized it.” He mutters back, his speech followed by a big sigh. You can’t help but laugh at Izuku’s dumbstruck face. He’s absolutely adorable.

“I mean, you didn’t even realize your own feelings towards me, at least if I can trust Katsuki’s words and I’m quite sure he ain’t a liar, so…” You giggle to yourself as you snake your arms around the man’s middle with a flirty look on your face.

“Wow, so you talk shit about me with Katsuki while I’m risking my life to save the city?” Izuku moves closer, his body flush against yours as he slowly steps forward to push you towards the bed. Jesus Christ, you’ll never get used to the way he towers over you. The chill that goes down your spine makes you feel dizzy.

“Well, he gets lonely when his husband is on a mission.” You retort with a cheeky smirk. Izuku rolls his eyes fondly while he leaves tiny kisses on your cheek.

“Stop shipping my friends and my family, you weirdo.” He mutters into your neck, his breath hot on the sensitive skin.

“Look into my eyes and tell me those two have never kissed.” You take Izuku’s cheeks in your hands and pull him up to force him to look at you.

“They did. I saw it.” The shit-eating grin on Izuku’s face is downright terrifying. “It was on one of Denki’s house parties. It all started with Eijirou asking Katsuki if he thinks it’s possible to spar with their tongues. They did not remember a single thing the next day and we all decided to not tell them about it for their own modesty. What happens at Denki’s party, stays at Denki’s party. That’s the D-rule.”

Your face resembles a fish trying breathe on the surface. You can’t do anything but gawk at the hero in front of you.

“You saw them french-kissing and you still deny their attraction to each other?” You don’t need to say “I think you are an absolute idiot”, Izuku gets the message.

“Trust me, there was nothing sexy about that tongue fight. I actually couldn’t even think about kissing for years after that. It ruined me.” Izuku sighs dramatically as he turns you around and jumps on his bed with a loud thud.

“Now, can you please have your full attention on me and look around in my room? It might not be the original one but there are a lot of memories here. Mom brought over everything, my notes, my old clothes from the UA days… come on, get wild.” Izuku giggles and to be honest, you would rather concentrate on the sprawled out hottie on the bed instead of your surroundings right now, but you decide to obey anyway.

This room of Izuku’s is more plain than his bedroom now; instead of the cool adjacent wall there are only old posters littering the walls, no personal photos or anything visible on the shelves, just a few low-quality All Might figurines left on the old, wooden desk. There are a few boxes half open in the corner of the room; most of them are notes and memories Izuku wasn’t fond enough to display; his yearbook from middle school for instance is also thrown into the pile, the hard covered book’s front ruined by massive red letters written with a sharpie.

“I hoped you’ll find that last.” Izuku mumbles, his eyes melancholic as he stares at the book. “I wanted you to enjoy being here before I… before I show you that.”

Your blood freezes in your body. Somehow, the mood went from “I want to make out with you in my old bed” to “I will show you something terrible and you’ll probably cry” and you have no idea what to think about this sudden change.

“Why… who…” you mutter while you stare at the book, still too far enough to actually read what the words are.

“Do you remember how My Hero Academia has started?” Izuku asks. He pats his thigh 2 times, asking you to sit down and you do; Izuku’s arms come to the front right away, hugging you from behind, giving you a warm cuddle to soothe your troubled soul.

“With you almost failing getting into UA because you couldn’t use your quirk properly.” You answer right away, like a good fan.

“Yeah. That’s right.” He mutters, giving you a peck on your cheek for your success. “I knew how much you like that manga and everything in it is true but there are some parts Horikoshi had to change up or completely skip because I asked him to. I hated to do this to the fans but… I had to keep our secret safe.”

“You and who’s?” You move around to look at your boyfriend with questioning eyes. Izuku leans over to take the yearbook out of the box and hides it behind him for now.

“What’s the name of my quirk, Sweet Pea?” Izuku asks as he leaves tiny kisses on your neck. You are too anxious to actually enjoy them but they definitely take the edge off at least.

“One for all. After your favorite hero, All Might.”

“Yes. And that’s a lie.”

Your world crumbles. Whatever Izuku is about to say must be something extremely important and probably quite dangerous for you to know but right now, you are just grateful for being included in the small group of people who know Izuku’s apparent secret.

“What…?”

“I haven’t met All Might at UA. I met him way before that. We knew each other quite well by the time I got in. My quirk, All for one wasn’t named after All Might’s. It is… All Might’s.”

Suddenly, Izuku takes the book out from behind his back. There are a lot of rude things written on the covers with that red sharpie, but there is one that comes back over and over again…

The word “quirkless.”

“Izu, what… what do you mean? It doesn’t make any sense…” you mutter to yourself, frustrated tears falling to your cheeks. You want to understand, you want to be able to comprehend his heavy confession, but the original story was etched into your mind so much that hearing all of this is like hearing someone denying the history of heroes completely and asking you to believe they are right and the history books are wrong - to be fair, there is a high possibility that history books are indeed made up. It’s not like anyone was there from the current population to see the whole thing with their own eyes. Izuku is a part of this specific part of the history though, the main character of the decade, so you have no reason to not believe the green head but it’s still… it just doesn’t sound right. Izuku was born to be a hero yet he was born without the most crucial part of being one, but somehow he managed to snatch the number one hero’s quirk when quirks are not supposed to be transmittable?

“You are right, quirks are not usually transmittable but this one is.” Of course you muttered half of that out loud. “There are several other quirks I managed to unlock during my journey which makes the quirk look completely different from All Might’s but I ensure you, they are one and the same. I can’t tell you more than that as this story isn’t just mine, but what I can tell you is that there is a reason no one knows about the fact that my power can be given to basically anyone and I don’t think I need to tell you why is that.” Izuku sighs while he lets you free from his hug in case you need some more space. “I just wanted you to know… The truth… About me. Because I love you and you deserve to know. I was just like you. I know how painful it is to grow up without a quirk. I understand you so much more than you think, Sweet Pea and I’ll forever love you for being the way you are, if you let me.” Izuku’s first teardrops trail down his cheeks, a fond smile decorating his face. You genuinely can’t make a single word right now; there is so much you want to say; you want to tell him how proud you are of him for putting up with all of that without being able to tell a single soul about it, you want to tell him he has no reason to look so frightened because you can’t possibly be mad at him for this, you want to tell him it doesn’t matter if his quirk is “borrowed” because it’s not the quirk that makes you a hero but your will to die for the weak; but your mind it too frazzled to say all of that…

“Even if you’d be quirkless and weak, I would still love you, Izuku. There is no universe where I’m not by your side. I love you to the moon and back and your confession only made me love you more…” You mutter into his neck. “Thank you for trusting me. Thank you for going through all that pain for us, common folk. Thank you for choosing me. Thank you, Izu.” You mutter into the crook of his neck, making his skin wet with your tears. As a fan, you are certainly shook by all the lies around your favorite pro hero but as a human being who’s been living with Izuku for the past few months you can’t say you are surprised by this revelation; he’s always been way too humble for his own good, he barely showed off his quirk to anyone except you, it always felt like he doesn’t really know what to do with the whole fame that came with him being a hero and now it makes so much sense. It’s not right, but it makes sense.

“Can we… uhm… use the hot tub when get home? I want to be close to you. As close as I can get. That’s my wish for today.” Izuku says with teary eyes, his arms tight around your waist. A tiny blush appears on your face as you mutter back, your face still hidden in his neck.

“I would really love that, Izu.”

You know you probably said this at least thousand times already, but having Izuku as your boyfriend was the best decision of your life.

…next chapter!

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Potato ramble:

- Okay, here’s my opinion about how much is out for the public canonically about Izuku (s6 spoilers): While Izuku told his classmates about the fact that he got his power from All Might, the public only knows that for some reason the boy was the the one Shigaraki wanted. At one point in the future I’m quite sure there will be gossips about him but I literally don’t think anyone would ever think about Deku being quirkless. People know their quirk has the same name but its just a name and everyone knows what a big fan Izuku is so everyone just thinks he’s being a fanboy.

- Also, I love how Izuku goes from “I’ll tell you my biggest secret and we will all cry about it” to “can we have a cheeky hot tub date now?” In five seconds. Bro just want to chill 😂

- Don’t tell anyone but Izuku’s dream is to be able to give his power to his quirkless, future kid if they want it. He would never force them to take it though, he’s not an asshole.

- My Hero Academia is different in this AU; for instance, the first book is literally just about Izuku struggling to get into UA, the second about him struggling to keep up then about Izuku unlocking his powers and the backstory villains (except Dabi, his story isn’t in the books at all out of respect to the Todoroki family but there are hints to it.)

- Before you ask: yes, some of the “messages” on the front are from Katsuki indeed. Hell, he probably came up with the whole “idea”. He wanted to swap books with Izuku after they reconciled but Izuku wanted to keep it to “never forget where he came from.”

- So I will try to be on time with the next chapter but I got sick (again) so please be patient with me!

- The next chapter will probably be an NSFW one, not because of the s mut (I don’t really want that chapter to be the s mut chapter, I have different plans, but these fuckers have their mind of their own sometimes 😂), but it will involve nakedness and quite a lot of touching so… yeah. Sorry if you need to skip most of the next chapter 😭😭😭😭

- If you are waiting for the next Shenanigans chapter, I’m also done with that but it’s a double chapter, half SFW and half NSFW and it’s 5K+, that’s why is so delayed 😂

TL: @garfieldthomas @porusuniverse @stickygumchewer @sixxze @mily-moo @aei-sedai-moiraine @aymasakusa @katsuari @kenzie-deadly @shiviwrites07 @lukerycyja-reblogs @cloroxisadelectabletreat @coffeent @kisskissshutmydoor @bobcar1 @yazminetrahan @cringefan @ronimacaroni77 @thekookiecorner @dangerousluv1 @emperatris-rinaka @shotos-angelic-whore @angelsdemonsmonsters @norvacaine @rei165 @unofficialmuilover @yao-ai