#mostly 'cause the writers think that only guys have to put forth effort or do better in a relationship

[msnihilist]

BEN: I'm a little surprised to see you, considering. JULIE: Considering what? BEN: Considering the fact that you broke up with me. JULIE: I didn't break… It's not that simple. BEN: You said we shouldn't see each other. Sounds simple to me. JULIE: I said, "considering how little time you have for me lately, we might as well be broken up." BEN: That is not my fault. JULIE: Look, I didn't want to ask you for help, but I don't have a choice. BEN: Help with what? JULIE: I was playing with Ship, and then he got a signal from Baz-el, and then he took off like a rocket. BEN: So you're just here about Ship. JULIE: I'm worried about him. BEN: Well, I wouldn't. He's gone away before. He'll be back. JULIE: Ben, you're not listening. This time is different. BEN: Sure. Well… Good luck.

Ultimate Alien S2E2 'Eye of the Beholder'

Call me crazy, but am I the only one who just... really doesn't sympathize with Julie in this convo??

Well, no. I sympathize with losing a pet. I've been there. And it is scary, but also, Ship is an alien who is more than capable of taking care of himself. Julie always seems to forget that Ship isn't a regular dog, for some reason.

But more to the point, the last conversation that Julie and Ben had ended with her saying, "We might as well be broken up." To me, that sounds like she dumped him. Or they're at least "on a break," as teenagers do from time to time.

I don't hate Julie, she's a fictional character. It would be silly to hate a character. But I just don't understand the writers' need to make everything about her. She clearly wants Ben's help because, much like in "Vreddle, Vreddle," she sees Ben's assistance with Ship as a sign that he really does care for her. I get that.

Ben is hurting here, too, though. He's right — he can't control that he's pulled away to literally save the world on their dates. Julie needs attention and time, and Ben, through no fault of his own, couldn't provide it, so Julie dumped him. And Ben is clearly still torn up about it. This is the episode right after he tried to rebound with Eunice, which also failed spectacularly. He's feeling like shit, in regards to his love life, and his ex approached him just to use him, basically.

Julie didn't have to go to Ben. She has Gwen's number. She could have gone to her, and used Kevin's spaceship without going to Ben at all. But she went to him because she wants Ben to prove that he cares about her.

Why is Julie never the one proving that she cares about him?

[silverwhiteraven]

Wings of Broken White - Ch.8

Tag List: @marichatmay

[ Posted on Ao3 ] [ Chapter 1 ] [ Chapter 7 ] [ Chapter 9 ]

Marinette and Chat Blanc continued to see each other sporadically after their midnight meeting full of emotional rollercoastering and winged secrets. He had told Ladybug about it a few days after, leaving out the part about Marinette’s revealing of having wings. It made her heart skip to know that he would keep a secret that wasn’t his to tell even if he didn’t have to. Ladybug thanked him for being honest with her and told him to be careful, but she was happy he got the chance to spread his wings around another friend.

Ladybug also offered to increase their patrols together if he ever wanted to practice flying with her. She even teasingly said something along the lines of them both needing the benefit of practicing with each other, just in case they ever had to have each other’s backs during a fight in the skies. He accepted, looking giddy to get even more opportunities to fly with another. She also found it unfairly adorable when he joked that he wouldn't get jealous if she wanted to fly around with one of her own civilian friends.

The two even thought about the possibility of some day both flying with their civilian friends together. Ladybug had to hide her giggle at the thought that she might have to break the news that Ladybug and Marinette could never fly together, if this proposed group flight practice were to ever take place.

But Ladybug did confess to Chat Blanc, that if she were to ever choose a civilian to fly with, it would be either Nino Lahiffe or Alya Césaire, because if there was anyone besides Marinette Dupain-Cheng that was trustable, it had to be the people Marinette herself trusted most. Chat hardly held back on his approval of the choices, and it made her laugh to see his bright antics.

After that, several more months passed by the duo, and the world. School was nearing the end of another year. Akuma’s were just as rare and random as ever. Best of all, Chloé had continued to be reprimanded by an ever vigilant Adrien. She was starting to almost mellow out as the fact slowly sunk in that someone she cared about and who cared about her, too, was actually willing to go against her, and even leave her, because she was in the wrong.

All of this led up to an end of school project for their class.

The students were to work together in equal shares to put on a play, telling either one of the fairy tale stories they had studied in class, or one they made up on their own. Nino had proposed that they make a short movie out of the project so that the fruit of their joint efforts could be shared outside of class. The teacher thought the idea was brilliant, and gave them extra time and afterschool privileges to help them set up.

Marinette had been a little tired the day the class was assigning the roles. Her mind only half paid attention, causing her replies to be badly timed and delayed. Because of it, an interesting selection of character parts were assigned.

“Now, I know we’ve been delaying assigning the lead roles,” Nini spoke from where he stood at the front of the room, acting as one of the movie’s directors, “ but I wanted to make sure everyone knew what the other options were before a bunch of people tried to jump at being the Knight of the Princess. So let’s start. Any volunteers or votes for the Knight’s Princess?”

There was various various calls of names and a few ‘me!’s, and most of it all went over Marinette’s head. The only part that really registered was ‘votes for the Knight’, so Marinette half-heartedly pipped in, “Adrien could do it.”

The room went quiet and all eyes turned to her like she had just declared herself to be an Akuma or something. She blinked, wondering what she said.

Nino was the one to break the silence with a crooked and amused smile. “Marinette, you want Adrien to be the Princess?”

She gaped like a fish, realizing she had heard his earlier question completely and utterly wrong. She waved her arms around and she stuttered, trying, and failing, to clear away her mistake. She froze when Adrien burst out laughing, clearly not offended or even upset.

“Why not?” Adrien chuckled as he calmed. “Not the first time I’ve been told I’m pretty enough to be royalty. It would be a nice break from the cool-guy look I’ve been doing at photoshoots lately, too.”

The room started to buzz again with noise. It seemed everyone was considering it, liking the idea of breaking away from assigning a girl to be the Princess.

Alya pipped up above the others mischievously. “So if Adrien get’s to be the Princess, who’s taking the role of Knight? Another of the boys, or one of the girls? At this point, anyone can take the spot since we’ve decided to ignore traditional gender roles. Any volunteers?”

There was more discussion filling the room at that declaration, and a few people glanced at Chloé. She had probably been gunning for the role of Princess, but now she seemed to be pouting. “If Adrien is taking the lead role, then I still want a good one. But I refuse to be a smelly Knight! I’d rather be the King.” She stated decidedly, and the class chuckled and murmured their acceptance of her decision. They were happy to have her not throwing a fuss. It was rather refreshing, actually, to see her still being dramatic but cooperative with the class.

Murmurs continued as the class discussed the role of Knight. Marinette stayed out of it, too embarrassed that she might mess up again. It wasn’t long before Adrien hummed to himself and turned to her.

“Marinette? Would you like to be the Knight to my Princess?” She squeaked at the sudden proposal, and the class hushed. Adrien turned to the others, a small but confident smile on his lips. “She’s helped all of us in Akuma attacks before, right? Marinette acts the part of a Knight saving dames and damsels in distress naturally. I think she could do this, if she wants to, that is,” he adds with a reassuring glance. There wasa round of agreements from the others, before all eyes turned to her, breaths held in anticipation of her answer.

Retreating into the neckline of her oversized shirt to hide a fluster, she nodded her acceptance. There were a few excited woops, and Kim even whistled.

After that, all the roles and assignments for the project were set.

Marinette and Adrien were to be Knight and Princess. Chloé and Juleka took to the King and Queen. Kim and Ivan claimed a joint role of the Dragon for themselves. Rose volunteered to be the Evil Sorceress. Mylène wanted the role as the Knight’s Fairy Guide. Alix was to make props and set backgrounds in the art room. Nathaniel and Alya were the script-writers for the story. Max and Nino were on camera duty with the help of Markov. Sabrina was put in charge of coordinating, scheduling, and final edits.

Lastly, everyone was given two tasks as a group: First, if they had nothing to, they were to help their fellow classmates who were still working. And second, everyone pitches in for the costumes if they can.

Everything went surprisingly smoothly for their project once everything was divided up. Adrien got Chloé to pitch in for the costumes with him, both allowing their immense closets to be raided. Alya and Nino were able to check out cameras from the yearbook and photography clubs. Props became a group-effort when most of the class rather enjoyed, and got carried away with, the art room’s free to use supplies. Some of the musically inclined were putting together a playlist for mood and background music. Kim helped the cast members practice their lines, even standing in for a partner if someone wasn’t there.

It was fun, Marinette had to admit. Up until the inevitable hitch caught up to them, though.

The days of filming their project were upon them. The school’s courtyard had been commandeered for the majority of their sets, empty due to it being a weekend. Large green rolls of poster paper had been used like wallpaper, hung from the second floor banisters to act as a greenscreen. The stairs got covered in painted cardboard so they would look like castle walls and towers from the side.

The entrance to the school was left clear, since the class had deemed it worthy to be its own set background twice over. The first was to act as the front gate to the King and Queen’s castle for the opening scene outside. The second would be from the inside, doors closed and covered with curtains to make it look like the inside of a Great Hall. To give the makeshift Great Hall its finishing touch, Chloé had ‘borrowed’ the fancy chair from her Father’s office to act as a throne.

All in all, things went great. The story and filming opened with the Knight, Marinette, decked out in painted cardboard and foam armor, returning from a mission in another country. He was summoned by the King and Queen immediately upon arrival, to be told that the Princess, Adrien, had been cursed and kidnapped by the Evil Sorceress. To their credit, Juleka and Chloé actually did an amazing job of acting and looking like emotionally distressed parents who just lost their daughter. And when they did a flashback scene in one of the classrooms, Rose proved to be one scary Evil Sorceress with Adrien a perfect damsel in distress. They did have to redo the scene several times, though, because the Queen, Juleka, was having trouble not looking like she wished she was being kidnapped by a very pretty girl instead.

The Fairy Guide, Mylène, was then called forth to help assist the Knight in tracking down the Evil Sorceress and navigate through the Magic Woods. This part took a mix of walking along the makeshift greenscreen wall multiple times and actually going out to a few of the parks around Paris. They had to admit to themselves, though, that they mostly just wanted to run around in-costume and have fun, as well as eat a picnic that Alya’s mother and Marinette’s father had both contributed to after hearing about the project.

It was the pre-rescue battle scene that caused the hiccup. The class artists had done a too-good job on the two-person costume of their Dragon. Kim sat upon Ivan’s shoulders, allowing the Dragon to have an impressive two and a half metre height from head to ground. Kim was also very set on being very animated and expressive with the Dragon, so the mouth, full of sharp paper mache fangs, opened and closed at his command while he threw glitter out like it was fire. Ivan controlled the legs, wings, and body, which all had moving parts for mobility. The legs were strapped to his own, so they walked and stepped when he did. The wings were controlled by Ivan’s Raven wings, allowing them to move realistically. Kim, acting as the neck, would twist around, and Ivan, needing to keep balance, would follow his movements, causing the whole dragon to lumber around and sway like it was alive.

The Fairy Guide, Mylène, couldn't bring herself to face the Dragon at all, let alone appear on set with it. What really took them off guard, however, was the Akuma that came along as the class was gathered around Mylène.

[bananiell]

rapper hc part 1

hi guys!!! so i’ve had this idea in my head forever and just didn’t have anyone to share it with but i told hedy about it yesterday and she scammed me into creating tumblr acc and sharing it here lol but when i went to write it down i  realized that i have a lot more to share so it’s gonna be just the 1st part for now, which was the only thing i had in my mind originally but now i’m working on expanding it.

i have a lot of ideas from the songs and this is no exception. this time the inspiration was NF - an amazing rapper and song writer. his songs uncover so much trauma and the things he raps and sings about are so real for a lot of us that you can’t help relating to them. NF’s real name is Nathan which also played part in this idea. lyrics of the songs are what the hc is based on so please listen to the songs i mention and pay attention to the lyrics.

ok i don’t wanna waste more of your time bc the hc is big as it is so without further ado let’s dive into it. p.s. it’s the first time i do a thing like that so im sorry in advance for any inconsistencies or the general drama:)))

TW!! (everything is just mentioned, nothing too graphic) physical abuse, verbal/emotional abuse, alcohol, drinking, drug addiction, overdose, death from overdose, kidnapping, torture (beating, skin burning, cuts – all of it not descriptive), violence, breaking one’s own bones, putting bastards to prison. also NF’s lyrics got a lot of triggers and cover very serious issues so if you decide to listen to some more of his music be careful with that. some of the things mentioned in the songs i’ve used here: depression, grave digging, guns, blood (in a non-violent way).

neil’s story: he grew up in an abusive family. his father was drinking a lot and abused him physically and verbally saying that he was nothing and nobody and would not amount to anything in his life. he despised neil’s love for music and laughed at him. he also hit him more when he noticed anything related to neil’s passion (neil humming some melody or listening to music in his headphones or trying to create smth). his mother tried to protect him but she couldn’t do much bc of her drug addiction. she overdosed during his last year in hs and surprisingly left him some money. when Nathan found out about that he was enraged and beat the shit out of neil so he would give him that money. to run away from his father neil goes to university to study his passion – music. he’s always had some kind of knack for creating music and rapping and now he could explore it more and not be afraid of nathan. he tries to overcome his trauma and even makes some friends (the foxes).

during the freshman year andrew and neil spend a lot of time together. they find the reflections of their hurt in each other and they find understanding. they share some of their past and their traumas; their view of the world and their dreams. andrew feels like he is falling because he’s never met anyone like neil. slowly there are soft touches and furtive glances but neither is ready yet to cross that line.

neil seemingly gets better even though there are a lot of hard moments on the way. however at the end of his freshman year nathan finds him and he and his cronies kidnap and beat neil up for Mary’s money keeping him in the basement for several days. this money is all neil’s got to survive and build his life so he doesn’t say anything and thinks of the ways to run. im not good with making up torture techniques and nathan is not so imaginative here but they still leave neil with scars on his face, his torso and hands (mostly burns from cigarettes, iron, cuts from glass bottles). by the end of the third day neil is physically and morally exhausted so he gives up and transfers all the money to them (he’s got a little of it left on his other acc) and they drunk on their win leave him in the basement. he breaks his fingers to get out of the handcuffs and gets out through the small basement window and runs outside. not long after that he collapses from all the exhaustion and blood loss and someone notices him. they call the cops and the ambulance. after that nathan and his cronies are put into prison and neil is left with almost no money. he leaves the state and a year later with a lot of effort, practicing and self-advertising he successfully signs with a music label under the name N/A.

andrew’s story: tilda didn’t give him up but was a shitty mother (obv) with drug addiction. andrew and aaron’s parents were divorced and their father didn’t live with them but tried to be there when he could. andrew started creating music as an outlet bc tilda’s boyfriends were physically abusing him and he tried to protect aaron from that. he and aaron were close bc they only had each other but andrew still didn’t share his trauma with aaron trying to protect him from that hell. of course he was only a child and couldn’t always take aaron’s place in beating but most of it lay on him. while at hs they became a band with the help of nicky and performed with their songs were they could and tried to self-advertise and wymack (he’s the head of the music dep at uni and also one of the profs) noticed them and offered them partial scholarships. they had some money left after tilda’s overdose (they lived for some time with their father after her death) so they went to get actual education on music production (at this point I don’t care how plausible it sounds, just don’t think too much about it ok lol)

the story:

ok so nathaniel once went to uni with the foxes (is there such a major as music production and singing or smth?) but at the end of his freshman year he disappeared. he was not very sociable so no one really cared where’d he go except for the foxes with whom he became somewhat friends. 1-2 years later he pops up as a new young and very talented rapper named N/A and he’s got burn scars all over his face and hands which he doesn’t hide so very intriguing right??? nobody knows much about him and that his name stands for Neil Abram so they take it literally as ‘no data available’ or smth (hedy also proposed “not applicable”!). foxes are like WTF we know that guy!! and wymack is also like isn’t that nathaniel??

Andrew’s become a huge fan of neil’s music. only renee knows that andrew’s been listening to neil’s songs non stop bc he can relate so hard to them and they just hit him right where it hurts. at the end of their last year they have like a huge final concert or smth and wymack organizes it to be held in one of the palmetto clubs. at the same time neil is coming back to Palmetto bc he is nostalgic of the time he spent in the uni with the foxes and he wants to escape his real life for a moment. he wants to visit the city and reminisce and he believes that none of the foxes really remembers him bc he was a nobody. I know the plot is getting ridiculous but bear with me

so it’s the evening of the gig and the students perform their music (songs, instrumentals, as solos/duets/bands etc). andrew majorly produces rap songs at this point and he performs in duet with renee with their song (NF’s “Can you hold me”). everyone is like shit it was so good but then andrew performs his solo song (NF’s “How could you leave us”). aaron is standing there and is a fucking mess bc he never knew andrew was that affected by their past and their mother’s death bc he never showed it and didn’t ever want to talk about his issues. (be warned this is a heart-wrenching song and it fits fucking perfectly). after that andrew almost runs outside for a smoke, trying to light a cigarette with his shaking fingers and thats when he sees a strange all covered up figure in a black hoodie entering the club but also cautiously looking over their shoulder like they don’t want to be caught. andrew ever the protective one follows him but loses in the crowd of the low lit club. 10 mins later there is quiet and the figure goes on stage – obv its neil. “Intro III” starts playing.

andrew is in awe and he’s never heard this song before so it must be new. he also never saw neil perform live so he cant really move bc the performance is so powerful and magnetic. *neils sitting on one of the disconnected amplifiers in the dark and the music starts building up. At 2:00 of the song after the words “I mean, what are you, outta your mind? 'Cause both of us will be, come on, let's go outside!” he pulls off his hood, his movements are fierce and aggressive and he’s almost screaming in the mic. at words “You had me scared for a second, I thought we were diggin' my grave” theres his fathers smile, vicious, crazy and cruel – thats how he remembered it spending 3 days in that basement. (fyi in the song NF’s talking to his fear and they go back and forth).* 

andrew is mesmerized, the foxes are in shock, the whole crowd does not understand who that is but they watch with open mouths. the song ends and the crowd goes wild. that’s when neil starts talking.

“hello palmetto. this is a great concert you got and some of you guys are fucking talented. my name is neil and I used to go to PSU a long time ago so you prolly don’t know me but professor wymack out there let me come here on this stage and sing a couple of my songs for you. one of them is my old song, and another is new but they both tell my story and I hope you like’em”. 

people cheer and applaud and after a moment another song starts playing. its the one andrew knows (it’s Paralyzed). the atmosphere gets way calmer but everyone is just as hypnotized. during the chorus neil is standing under the dim lights, head turned up facing the ceiling, eyes closed, his scars are illuminated. he looks almost peaceful but there’s pain and apathy showing on his face and in his posture. the song ends and neil leaves the stage. andrew cant make his legs move but he has to meet neil (he just realized that neil’s shared his name with them and it wasn’t “nathaniel” and andrew’s got so many questions).

he forces himself to move and almost runs backstage. neil is already leaving but andrew stops him by grabbing him by his arm. they stand there looking at each other, andrew panting, his body shaking a little, neil wide-eyed.

“Andrew…” he whispers obviously surprised by seeing Andrew here.

“Nath- Neil.” suddenly Andrew cant ask a single question. he’s got so many that it feels like a waste of time to ask them one by one. Neil looks down at where Andrew is still grabbing his arm and Andrew lets go off him like its burnt him. “You are here” he lets out on the exhale like he still can’t believe it.

Neil averts his eyes and puts the hood of his sweater on his head so that the shadows obscure half of his face. “Yeah” he replies and after a few seconds follows with hesitant “How are you?” It is a stupid question, Andrew thinks but he answers nonetheless with simple fine. Neil holds his head low, and Andrew can’t help but wonder if Neil doesn’t wanna look him in the eyes after his disappearance so many years ago or if he simply doesn’t want to see Andrew’s face. Both options hurt him but he doesn’t have the heart to ask.

the end of part 1. come yell at me on twt or here hihi

[alittleimagine]

Nate Heywood x Reader

Anonymous requested “Could you please do an imagine with Nate Heywood where the team goes to the late 1800s to find who Jack the Ripper was and to stop him from killing and along the way they meet young H.G wells who is instantly attracted to the reader. The reader later starts to fall in love with the young wells .Nate gets jealous and starts to act cold and distant towards the reader because he likes the reader a lot . The reader wants to know why he is acting that way so tells her how he feels.”

Note: I know there’s now an episode about vampires in Victorian London, but I actually started writing this on March 12th and just took forever to get back to it. 

“H. G. Wells isn’t even supposed to be in London at this time.”

“Sure, Nate, focus on that and not that fact that Jack the Ripper is a vampire.”

Most of you shared amused looks at Sara’s comment while Nate frowned. He had originally been excited to be in 1888, thrilled to help stop Jack the Ripper from killing more than the five victims he had in history. He seemed less excited now.

You couldn’t understand why. Meeting H. G. had just meant an additional historical figure you’d all run into. You hadn’t been the biggest fan of his works, but you could appreciate meeting him. And he’d been very charming.

“The truth is that the virus only simulates the symptoms of what we would recognize as, well, as the pop culture symptoms of vampirism.” Stein said, reading over the display Gideon had pulled up with Ray over his shoulder.

Mick grunted. “Does he drink blood?” He asked.

Stein hesitated before sighing and nodding.

“Then he’s a vampire.”

“We might also want to talk about the Waverider.” Jax said.

You all turned to look at him. Sara tilted her head at him. “I thought you said that you’d have it fixed by tomorrow.”

Futuristic viruses didn’t just land in 1888 by accident. Space Pirates were a consistent problem in your lives and a nonstop pain in Jax’s Chief Engineer butt.

He grimaced. “Yeah, it might take a little longer than that.”

“I’m pleased we’ve run into each other again Miss Y/N. You left in such a hurry the last time.”

H.G. Wells was an attractive young man, in that particular Victorian way. The facial hair was different than what you were used to, but it was a very common thing on the streets of 1888 London. He was kind at least, funny and attentive.

At least, to you.

You weren’t blind (you didn’t think) and you could tell well enough that he was flirting with you, or had been the last time you’d talked.

“I’m sorry.” You said. “We had business to take care of.”

“Ah, yes. Your eclectic group of friends.” He held an arm out, gesturing toward a less crowded area of the parlor.

According to Gideon the Ripper would be moving on from low-risk targets like prostitutes to the sort of ladies that would be found in a society party like this one. You’d all either secured invitations or snuck into the event. You had only been a little surprised to find H.G. there and reasonably pleased.

He was cute, after all, and his attention was inoffensive. Plus, he provided someone to talk to while undercover wearing a stupid corset that wasn’t a complete stranger.

“Can I get you a drink?” He asked.

“Yes, please.” You smiled pleasantly while H.G. went to get you both a drink.

The idea of a vampire Jack the Ripper set you on edge, having no idea what he looked like was terrifying, and when Nate walked up close behind you and began speaking you nearly had a heart attack.

“We’re supposed to be looking out for Jack the Ripper. Not flirting.” He said sharply.

You held your hand to your pounding heart then spun and smacked him in the chest. “Don’t. Do. That.” You hissed, emphasizing each word with a hit. “And I am.” You smacked his chest once more for good measure, though you were sure it was hurting you more than him.

“Oh really?” He said, unfazed by your hits. “Because it looks like you’ve been flirting with H.G. Wells who is not even supposed to be here and you could be causing all kinds of havoc in the timeline. You know he marries his cousin, right?”

You glared at Nate. No, you hadn’t known that and it wasn’t relevant right now and you were pretty sure if Sara could sleep with the Queen of France and the timeline remain intact then you could flirt with H.G. Wells.

Nate and you had always gotten along just fine. You’d been friends, close even. Maybe sometimes you had flirted with him, maybe sometimes you thought he had flirted back. Maybe you had some softer, mushy feelings for him. But right now Nate was acting like a child.

And the more it annoyed Nate the more you were inclined to keep doing it.

“Go away, Nate. If you’re going to be rude then go keep watch outside.”

You could see H.G. approaching with two drinks in hand and a smile on his face and you were quick to smile back.

A scream broke from the next room and H.G. was no longer your main concern.

“Do you mean to tell me that Stein is a vampire?”

“Well…”

Your groan was more akin to a yell in your frustration. Ray ducked his head apologetically, unhappy to be delivering the news to the crew.

“He’s not yet a vampire, I don’t think. But he got bit and I think that’s how this virus transmits. Not so much like the Buffy vampires where they swap blood back and forth.”

“So how long until Grey starts wanting to drain us?” Jax’s worry was palpable and you put a hand on his shoulder in your best effort to comfort him. He patted it, gave it a squeeze, but his mind was elsewhere.

Ray shrugged. “I can’t say. He would have known better.” He said.

“Gideon,” Sara called to the ship, “I need you to make sure that Stein stays in stasis. No matter what.”

“Yes, Captain Lance.” The AI replied.

You kicked at the ends of your stupid Victorian skirt, frustration filling every corner of you. Another woman had died, Stein had been bitten, a vampire had made fools of you all, and you were wearing a stupid corset that you were ready to set on fire.

When your eyes drifted up to Nate you found him glaring at you. Instinctively you glared back.

And Nate. He had not been helping your mood.

“Can I help you, Nathaniel?” You snapped.

Several pairs of eyes turned to look between the two of you.

“Actually, yeah.” He crossed his arms. “Let’s talk about how maybe if you weren’t so busy flirting with your new boyfriend Stein might not have gotten bit.”

Your jaw dropped. “Excuse me?”

You vaguely registered the looks the crew shared, ranging from confused to intrigued. Mostly you saw red.

“Yeah, you were so busy protecting H.G. Wells that you forgot to take care of your team.”

Ray smacked Nate’s arm lightly, muttering his name in warning. Nate paid it no mind.

You were going to wring his neck. You didn’t care if he was made of steel or if he was a hell of a lot stronger than you, you were going to wring his stupid little neck.

“How. Dare. You.” Before he could open his mouth you continued. “I was under the impression that we were here to help people. To protect the timeline. Like say, I don’t know, making sure that influential author H.G. Wells doesn’t die before he writes all his important works?”

“Oh yeah, that’s what it was about. Not because you want to make googly eyes at him.”

“You are unbelievable.”

“I’m unbelievable? At least I know not to worry about making out with some mustachioed writer when there is a vampire on the loose.”

You took a sudden step forward, ready to throw down, and Sara blocked your path.

“Alright you two, I don’t know what’s going on but it stops now.” She said.

Mick shrugged. “Oh come on, I want to see her beat his ass.”

Sara pointed a warning finger at him, then pointed it at Nate. At least, you thought, she seemed to be on your side. “This blame game is getting us nowhere. Get your acts together.”

You winced as Ray dabbed antiseptic on your forehead.

“Sorry.” He smiled apologetically. He secured a bandage over the cut and gave your arm a squeeze. “How’s that feel?”

“As good as a head wound can?” You said, smiling at him. You were sore all over, but Amaya looked a good deal worse for wear than you so you couldn’t complain. Ray himself had only just escaped a bite.

Amaya huffed from across the room. “How do we keep getting outsmarted by a Victorian era psychopath?” She hopped off the bed and paced.

It was a good question. A frustrating one, but a good question. At least now you knew who to look for.

“Don’t bother asking Nate,” you said with a tone of bitterness, “he’ll just say it’s because I dared flirt with H.G.”

Amaya smiled sympathetically and Ray tucked his chin into his chest.

You knew you should have been far more focused on the fact that Stein was still in stasis and there was still a damn vampire running around and people were being hurt, but your mind was stubbornly fixated on one Nathaniel Heywood and his piss poor attitude. He had never acted this way before and it circled round and round your head. It hurt, if you were being honest with yourself.

“Maybe go easy on him.” Ray said as he packed the medical supplies away.

Amaya met your eyes from the other side of the room and shrugged.

“Go easy on him?” You asked in mild disbelief. “He’s the one being rude all the damn time. I haven’t done anything. Or do you think I’m flirting with H.G. Wells at the expense of the team too?”

“No. No. Of course not.” Ray was quick to shake his head and appease you. “It’s just, well, he’s being like this because he’s upset about something kind of unrelated and he’s taking it out on you.” At your raised eyebrow he rushed on. “Not that that’s okay or alright, but you should just try and talk to him and maybe he’ll apologize and you guys can move right past it.”

You weren’t surprised that Ray would go to bat for Nate and Ray’s natural loyalty almost made his words less impactful, but it was hard to say no to his earnest puppy dog face. Amaya smiled at you over his shoulder, looking a little like she was in on some private joke.

You narrowed your eyes at both of them for a moment. Then sighed. “Fine.” You said. “I’ll talk to him.”

“Astonishing.”

All three heads snapped toward the doorway. You cursed loudly.

There stood H.G. Wells, taking in the whole of the room with fascination.

You shared wide-eyed looks with Ray and Amaya, none of you moving from your spots. In your head you cursed again. Nate was going to blame you for this, you were sure of it.

“What sort of vessel is this?” H.G. asked, stepping closer to a cabinet on the wall and peeking in without touching.

That snapped you all out of it. “What are you doing here? How did you even get here. You should not be here.” You said in a rush, jumping off the bed and hurrying to him.

“Does it fly?” He asked, unworried by your questions. “It looks like it might. Is it a star ship?” He looked at you now with open curiosity. “Are you not from Earth?”

“We’re not aliens.” Ray said, moving around you both to look out the door. He checked both sides of the hall. “We have to get him out of here.”

“Agreed.” You took H.G.’s arm and tugged. “You can’t be here.”

He didn’t exactly put up a fight, but he wasn’t eager to move either. His movements were slow as you pulled him toward the door and out into the hall.

Amaya moved behind him to help encourage him in your direction. Still he took his time, eagerly taking in as much of the ship as he could.

“You being here could be very bad.” Ray said, peeking around a corner as you approached.

H.G. gasped softly. “If not space,” he began, “then, the future.”

You pulled harder.

“You are.” There was a level of wonder in his voice and he turned in your grasp to take hold of your hands.

You wanted to curse again. You were all so bad about keeping the time travelling thing a secret. “You have to go. You shouldn’t have been here to start with.” You insisted.

“Seriously!”

You jolted where you stood and groaned, squeezing your eyes shut for a moment. Of course he would catch you. It couldn’t be anyone else. Just had to be Nate.

“Nate.” Ray said with a tone of warning.

“No! Are you serious?” His tone had bordered on shrill before falling to just pissed. When you finally looked up you were met with a glare. “You brought H.G. Wells onto the Waverider? I thought you were being irresponsible, but this is just stupid!”

You didn’t appreciate being yelled at on the best of days and right now you could feel the blood boiling in your veins. Steel or no, you were going to kick his ass.

You opened your mouth to argue back, but H.G. beat you to the punch.

“Actually, I followed you and your bald friend.”

Never in your whole life had you felt so vindicated. The smile that spread on your face was the clearest “eat crow” in the history of mankind.

Nate sputtered, some of the bluster leaving him.

You weren’t satisfied. You wanted to have it out- shout at Nate, push him, have the big fight Sara had interrupted. And to think you had let Ray talk you into being reasonable.

As if sensing the buildup of righteous anger in you Ray stepped between you two. “Hey, not now.” He gestured to H.G. “We need to get him off the ship.”

Amaya put a hand on your shoulder. “Come on. We still have to find Jack the Ripper too.”

Against your pettier side you let her pull you away with H.G. in tow.

Your shoulder was still sore from where you’d been tossed against a brick wall and you nursed it with a grumble.

Ray, Jax, and Sara had returned to the Waverider with what they believed to be the cure for Stein, leaving you behind to clean up with Nate, Mick, and Amaya. Clean up mostly consisted of collecting Jack the Ripper’s fully “vamped” body and gathering anything else the time pirate may have left behind. And H.G.

He looked exhausted, sitting on the ground against the steps of a building. Still he looked over you and gestured to your arm. “Are you well?”

You nodded, gesturing casually with your other arm. “All in a day’s work.”

“Remarkable.” He said. He pushed himself off from the wall and closed the distance between you.

Briefly you saw him glance over your shoulder and turned to look. You caught Nate’s glare before he turned away to stomp over to where Amaya was helping Mick gather up the Ripper.

You hadn’t spoken since his little explosion on the Waverider. As much as you wanted to just have it out and figure out what his problem was, you were a reluctant to be the first to speak. He could come to you, you figured.

H.G. cleared his throat and you turned back to look at him, almost embarrassed at being caught staring at Nate’s back. You cleared your own throat in response. “Right. Now, you understand you can’t tell anyone about any of this, right?”

He gave a little chuckle. “And who would believe such a fantastical tale?”

“Good point.”

He was a handsome man when he smiled. He grasped both your arms lightly, careful of your stinging shoulder. “I will never forget you, though. Of that you can be certain.”

“Hard to forget all the crazy.” You joked.

“Hard to forget you.” He smiled once more and then kissed you. It was over before you’d really processed what was happening, punctuated by a loud thump behind you.

Rather than react to the kiss you turned to look for the noise. Mick was crouched over the Ripper’s body, grumbling angrily and glaring from time to time at Nate’s retreating back. Amaya sighed.

“When are you going to speak with him?”

On instinct you turned to glare at Amaya. You had every intention of enjoying your bowl of cereal and zero intention of going to speak with a certain dumb steel-plated historian. You pointedly took a bite from your spoon.

“Just go talk to him.” Amaya’s sighs always had an air of world weariness to them. They were very effective. “This isn’t going to get better until you do.”

“I did nothing wrong.” You muttered.

“I didn’t say you did. But, you could be the bigger person and just go talk to him.” When you ate another spoonful she continued. “Aren’t you curious about what’s going on with him?”

You were. Of course you were.

You cared for Nate and he was being an ass and, frankly, it hurt. But, because it hurt, you weren’t exactly eager to have another go around with him.

“Please.” She insisted. “He’s in the library. He’s alone. Go talk to him. Get it over with.”

With an unhappy huff you pushed your half finished bowl away and stood. “Fine. I’m going. You happy?” You didn’t wait for her response.

You stomped and grumbled to yourself the whole short trip to the library. If he continued to be a jerk you were going to throw books at him.

His back was turned to you when you entered and you took a moment to glare at it. He looked tense. You knew him, you could see he was upset. Well, so were you. And it was his fault.

For a second you hovered in the entrance and debated just turning around and leaving. Instead you cleared your throat and relished a little at his startled jump. When he turned to face you there was a moment where his face seemed to cycle through several emotions before settling on the sourpuss look he’d been wearing the past few days.

He said nothing.

“Do you want to explain what the hell your deal has been?” So maybe you weren’t feeling up to being super polite.

He scoffed and stormed over to the table at the center. Still he said nothing.

“Really? Now you decide to be silent? Because you’ve had zero problem going on and on. Y/N this. Y/N that. ‘Y/N, look at all the ways you’re failing the team even when you’ve done absolutely nothing wrong’.” You mocked.

“Just let it go.”

You almost missed it, he spoke so quietly. Another time you might have done just that when you saw the way his shoulders drooped. Not today.

“Let it go? Let it go? I don’t think so, Elsa. You have been an ass, rude as hell, over and over again for days. And I did nothing wrong and I don’t deserve it.” You could feel yourself getting more worked up with each word. “So now you’re going to explain to me exactly what the hell your problem with me is because if not, we’re going to fight. Right here. Right now.”

He ignored you, staring hard at an open book in front of him.

Your temper kept rising. You stormed over to the table and slammed the book shut. He grit his teeth, but didn’t look up.

“And while you’re at it,” you said, “you can explain what your beef with H.G. is as well.”

That did it. He shot up straight, towering over you now. “Oh yeah. Perfect H.G. Wells with his perfect mustache and perfect stupid vest.”

“Seriously!? What the hell did he ever do to you? He was nothing but nice.”

“So nice. The nicest. That’s what it was. It’s not like he was just flirting with you.” He’d started matching your volume, the both of you shouting now, chest puffing out with the same outrage you were feeling.

“So what?” You threw your hands up. Unbelievable.

He plowed on. “And you just lapped it up. Just kept flirting right back.”

“What the hell do you care if he flirted? If I flirted?”

“Because I like you!”

It felt a little like the air had been knocked out of you and your expression must have shown it. Your eyes were wide, jaw slack, looking dumb at the revelation.

Nate looked terrified.

There was a solid minute of silence and stillness.

“What?” You finally managed.

He said nothing, only sighed. You could practically see the tension roll off his body.

“What?” You repeated. “You like me? Like, in a romantic way?”

Though he still hadn’t said anything the little shrug, resigned and heavy, said enough.

Your eyes ran over him- the tired slump of his shoulders and worried knit in his brow, his dumb handsome face.

“You’re an idiot.”

He was taller than you, but with a tug on his shirt you brought him down to your level and pressed your lips against his. You thought you felt him start, just a little jump, but you were otherwise preoccupied.

You pulled back just a moment later to get a good look at him.

He was hunched over, your hand still gripping his shirt, eyes closed, hands out as if to hold you. He blinked his eyes opened.

“I’m an idiot.” He confirmed.

Before you could nod he’d pulled you back. A hand went to your waist, the other cupped the base of your neck, and he pulled you flush against him as his lips moved over yours. You didn’t know how long you stayed like that.

“Finally!” Mick’s booming voice caused you both to jump and pull apart. “It’s about damn time.”

[snapping-bees]

Werewolf!Block B when their love interest is a witch// Kyung

A/N: omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg YES. But also in all seriousness, I’ve noticed every writer has their own take on the werewolf/fantasy world in general. So if I write something you’ve never heard of before it might just be one of my own headcanons of their world. Also, this was requested as a group but as I wrote, all of them began getting lengthy and decided it was better to release individually. It was suppose to be headcanons but I got carried away  (ಥ﹏ಥ)

Taeil ❤ BBomb ❤ Jaehyo ❤ Ukwon ❤ Kyung ❤ Zico ❤ PO

Park Kyung

He was a lil embarrassed

not in a bad way necessarily

but he knew it was different and it made him nervous

therefore he wouldn’t blantantly show affection or PDA

He liked you, the witch, but it felt almost like forbidden love

(he always blew this kinda thing out of proportion)

he didn’t like that he liked you

he’ll accept it eventually

he got lost during a hunt

when I say lost, I mean bored

strayed from the pack to go check out something more interesting

like a lil house carved into the biggest tree he’s ever seen

it isn't unusual for him to do this

he’s the type that complains that they have human forms,

why cant one person get a job just so they don’t have to hunt all the time

or to get some small luxuries

“we aren’t completely animal”

anyway, this lil house,

‘why haven’t noticed it before?’

‘we hunt here ALL the time,,,’

he is in wolf form right now

sniffing around he doesn’t smell anything,,

‘must just be abandoned’

he peaks into the windows

all the basic necessities,

1 table, 1 chair, the smallest sink, mini-fridge, ect.

think of a studio apartment, but all polished wood

a window on each side of the door,

he claws a bit at said door, sniffing the underside

then WHACK!

door came swinging open

it went swinging close just as fast

suddenly it was just a tree again

no door, no windows, not even a knob or doggy door.

‘okay, this is wayyy to cool not to check out’

shifting back to, mostly, human form, he suddenly has a drawstring bag

(he hides it in his fur whenever they have to shift, because ya know, diva.)

knocking on around where the door used to be he begins calling out, hoping for an answer

he does this for around 15 minutes

he’ll keep knocking AND OR keep coming back to be sure he isn’t seeing things or going crazy

no answer. he sits. back to the door. for about 5 minutes. just for rest.

he feels the door shift into him,

he gasps, shooting up, to be met with a slam and normal tree bark

he sits back down. this time, repeatedly slamming his fist into the door, with more vigor

“HEEELLLOOOOOOOOOOOO”

“I KNOW YOU’REEE THEEEEEREEEEEEEEEEE”

a beat

he hears a shift of something

bit far away he also hears the smallest,

“please go away” said in a raspy weak voice

that,,,, that voice made him hesitate

pupils spun, ears pop a little

imprinting on literally a complete stranger

but that voice, he knew it was the one he was meant to listen to for the rest of forever

being overly aware of the situation now, 

with a much softer voice than before he replies,

“yo, are you okay? you don’t sound so great”

“please, just, go away”

“if you're sick, my friend knows a really good potion-brewer”

a huffed voice comes from the tree

an idea comes from Kyung’s head

‘the voice,,, isn’t that where the window was?’

“what can I do for you to make you go away?”

he approaches the area the voice is coming from

leeeeeeeeaning closer to the tree

once again, SLAM!

down goes the window.

a shifting sound from the other side of the estimated door location

“why are you being like this?? go away!!”

“I could ask you the same thing!”

he jogs over to the other side

it begins to turn into a game running back and forth from the two windows getting small phrases out

a short lived game, you were huffing and puffing rather quickly

him, still full of energy,

“I just want to know who you are and what’s up with this tree!”

no response,,,

he only hears uneven huffs,,,

for too long

he panics

“are you okay!!”

still no response

he decides he was gonna start start throwing fists at this tree

at the first swipe the tree vaporizes back to the house image

feeling kind of silly about to fight a tree, he walks into the house

a bit surprised the door has no lock,,,

especially with all the effort you were putting into keeping him out

glancing around he sees you laying on the floor,

rushing to your side, all he can think to do is fan you off

l̶i̶t̶e̶r̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶m̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶u̶s̶e̶l̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶m̶e̶m̶b̶e̶r̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶p̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶h̶i̶g̶h̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶s̶i̶t̶u̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶s

 ̶R̶I̶P̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶

attempting to slap his hand away you explain,

“yes,,,, okay,,, i am sick,,,, i just,,,,,, need to,,,,,,,,, catch,,,,,,, my breath”

he gives you some space but gets side tracked by checking out the house

“wow,,,, how long have you been here?”

“oh,,,, i dunno,,,,  about,,,, 5 years”

“Five Years!!!!???” he exclaims

“My pack has been hunting here for about that time and we’ve never noticed this place”

he begins to help you into a chair, “well, I usually use a spell to hide it, but the sickness made me weak, me being weak, my spells are just as weak,,”

“why hide?”

“why not? other people suck”

he gives you a light glare

“I’m introducing you to my pack”

“WHAT??” you cough, “No!”

“Aaaaand why not?”

“cause I don’t want to, Mr.big bad wolf” you sass back at him

“Well, you don’t have a choice. especially because you sound horrible! seriously, have you tried researching your symptoms at all??”

you advert eye contact, ”ehhhh I’ll sleep it off”

he huffed, “  N O  “

“You’re not my mother”

“I may not be your mother but I-”

There’s a knock on the door

“UUUGGHHH” you groan, “You answer it”

It was his pack looking for him.

He convinced them that you needed help and you couldn’t squeeze yourself outta this one

turns out that sickness you had, 

major upper respiratory infection

“YOU COULD HAVE DIED” 

snarles Kyung

“I. WAS. FINE.” you argue back

this ends with both of yours tongues stuck out mocking each other

grow up guys 

[thestuckylibrary]

The straight writers + mlm fic thing. I'm totally bummed that sounded like a dig at cis straight fans for being into + supportng m/m ships. Why s it bad for us to support slash ships just cause we're straight? LGBTQ writers matter + we need more of them, y'all! just why does our work mean less when we're here for and supprt those LGBTQ people and writiers? an I'm writing for everyone y'all, not just straight gals. We should support each other equally + not put others down dude

No one is putting you down, or saying you shouldn’t support or create content for slash ships. We’re just saying as fans writing about queer people, specifically mlm, we shouldn’t treat straightness and cisness as neutral or the simple fact that we are writing slash as allyship. We’re talking about queer issues, specifically mlm issues in fandom, and by sending an ask like this you are placing yourself in the role of a victim, which you are not. While I’m not mlm, I am queer. disclaimer that I’m not mlm I’m just a queer woman whos trying to show some solidarity. I’m not an authority by any means, I’m just riled and trying to put forth opinions Ive seen mlm give and you know, not hide from the fact that fandom isn’t perfect. but do note that I’m a cis, albeit queer, woman writing this, not mlm. 

We’re not saying your work is less or that you shouldn’t be here, we’re just saying, hey maybe engage with what you’re writing a little more critically and don’t act as though your writing is for everyone unless you are actively listening to mlm about problems that show up when women, particularly straight cis women, write about mlm.

As usual I could not keep it brief for the life of me so I put most of my queer rage under the cut

Ok so first off you have the whole side of fandom (once again, not mlm, but women, in my experience mostly cis straight women) that like calls bucky their “sad gay baby” or “smol sad gay” and calls m/m erotic fic things along the lines of “filthy sinful gay smut”. I can totally understand why this makes mlm uncomfortable, I mean like who wants their non heterosexuality to be the defining trait that makes them appealing to straight people, who would want their love to be routinely called sinful and filthy by a community that claims to love them? Seriously guys take a step back and think about how it would feel to have someone talk about you like that. 

I read a huge wonderful post by a bunch of mlm in fandom a while ago and I’ll sum up a little of it here. Basically it’s absolutely wonderful to have a huge community devoted to create content about lgbt+ characters. It’s amazing to have a space where people can come together and create content where queer people get happy endings and we can explore all sorts of themes all with lgbt characters. But since slash has a huge number of women, cishet or lgbt+, writing about lgbt+ men, stuff can get a not great. 

For example, its really, really common to see top/bottom debates among fans. It’s one thing for mlm to identify as a top or bottom, it’s a whole other for women to sit there and debate which character fits in which static role. The whole thing reeks of deciding whos the “man” and whos the “woman” all to appease (usually and I am speaking from experience, not statistics or anything) straight cis women. We used to have a mod here who was a sex therapist and she talked a lot about how top/bottom debates are a really stereotypical way to look at queer mens relationships and as they are now its basically all about perceived gender roles and fetishization which like, is one of those things that should be putting up a red flag. She also talked a bit about how statistically it’s pretty likely that most gay couples don’t even really have penetrative sex and stick to mostly oral, intercural and hand stuff. And I’ve seen like so many mlm say that the whole top/bottom debate in fandom is homophobic as fuck time and time again and people just keep on going. Randos (especailly straight people) debating whos penetrating and whos being penetrated in a gay relationship as static roles is really. hoo. yikes. You also see things like only trans writers writing trans men who top, which speaks volumes. While what you read and write is up to you, it’s a good idea to look at why these trends happen and how they happen and what they do. 

You also see a lot, like A LOT of unsafe sex practices because they’re “not hot otherwise” Just to start, me, a bi ace woman, cringes when I’m reading a fic and someone just shoves their dick into an asshole with like only some kissing as warm up. No. If you did that in real life, it would straight up just be painful and cause anal tearing. Also: rimming with no cleaning first? Like ok if you really think its hot to plunge a tongue into a dirty asshole, go for it but like, really? It takes literally one sentences to add in like “oh hey I did an enema and cleaned up before you got here” before delving into sex. It takes one sentence to do the same for lube oh my god seriously unlubed anal sex no matter the gender is just gonna lead to either 1. dick or toy stuck in asshole, 2. severe anal tearing, 3. both and even more delicate skin and tissue related injuries. While I’m on it if you are a vagina owner, or a penis owner or somewhere in between and are interested in playing with genitals, you should be using lube if you aren’t already. lube is your friend. 

While it’s not content creators duty to make sure people know how to have safe sex, it’s pretty troubling that unsafe m/m sex is looked at as being “hot” in a very particular way. From what I understand, proper prep is a vital, vital part of gay sex and woman saying fics that show proper prep aren’t “”hot”” and fics that don’t show it are, that speaks to a broader problem. 

Anyways this is me, a womans thoughts on the matter synthesized from reading a bunch of posts by mlm discussing the way them and stories about them are treated in fandom and it’s honestly better to just like, read their opinions. I tried my best here but I am still a woman and therefore don’t fully understand mlm experience (not that there is a single mlm experience)

Please do continue writing and creating and reading and making headcannons! No one is saying you shouldn’t be here or you shouldn’t wrote m/m! All that’s being asked is for women, especially straight women who read and write and create m/m fanworks, to engage with it mindfully and like, at least make your best effort to not to fetishize mlm, to treat them as people rather than objects, which I really don’t think is asking too much. 

Further reading

here

here (same post but with different topics discussed)

here

Feel free to add more links of mlm taking about these issues cause I know i’m long winded but I don’t want to talk over mlm!

[writings-of-a-hufflepuff]

Man In Uniform {Part 5}

Fandom: Avengers/Marvel

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warning: N/A

Writer: @imaginesofeveryfandom aka @thequeenofthehobbits

Summary/Request: James Barnes is the local neighbourhood cop known for saving cats from trees and walking people home at night. It just so happens that he lives in your apartment building, in the apartment across from yours.

Prologue X, Part 1 X, Part 2 X, Part 3 X, Part 4 X

It is a few weeks later when you finally get out of Bucky’s apartment for the first time, crutches nearly gone and a new sort of spring in your step at being able to go outside. It is not any easy few weeks, between going stir crazy, nightmares, and Bucky getting absolutely nowhere with your case everything seems so static and you feel like you’re stuck in a time loop with nowhere to go. Your frustration isn’t at Bucky, although you regret that you’d snapped at him a few times when he’d come back to the apartment early in the morning, having left you alone all day. You always felt bad after. He always told you not to worry when you apologised. That he understood. He was far too reasonable and it was becoming more and more frustrating.

It wasn’t exactly the fact that he was reasonable that was the problem, the real problem was that as Wanda had so lovingly put it you were starting to notice how attractive he was and being around him so often wasn’t helping. She wasn’t wrong, no matter how much you wanted to deny any attraction to James Barnes there was no real denying it. He was on first glance attractive, living with him for a few weeks taught you that he was much more than that.

He was kind and caring; he always woke up to help you if you had a nightmare, he always made sure you had company or food unless he was completely busy, he’d help distract you when your leg started to annoy you because of the cast. He was also incredibly funny and affectionate. You liked to say that the two of you had become friends over the last few weeks, although a very tentative friendship on your part. He wasn’t afraid of hugging you randomly or ruffling your hair or helping you walk with your crutches. It was inevitable that you’d find yourself staring at him a little longer than is appropriate.

It was just a little tiny crush, the type you get when you see that cute guy on the subway. It wasn’t anything else. Absolutely not. It’s not serious is anyway, not like that crush you had when you were 15 that went on for a year.

“I don’t know, Buck…they’re your friends and I don’t want to intrude.” Which is why it was totally not hard to deny Bucky Barnes anything when he was giving you the saddest puppy eyes on earth. He wanted you to come out to some cop bar with him, hang out with his friends…and suffice to say meeting a whole load of people scared you more than just a little bit.

“You need to get out more and going to a bar will do you some good…besides Wanda will be there” Since becoming friends with Wanda it seemed she came up in conversation a lot, the idea that if Wanda was there you could be coaxed settled in Bucky’s mind. You loved Wanda and it was a little reassuring that she was there, but she knew these people, Bucky’s people and you didn’t.  

“You do realise I’m just going to be a pain with my crutches, right?”

“I don’t care, I want you there.” It shouldn’t have caused a flutter in your stomach. It really shouldn’t have, except it did. It was hard to look at him for a moment because that shouldn’t have made you feel all warm and fuzzy…but it did.

“Fine, but you’re not allowed to abandon me!”

“Never, why would I do that, doll?” It had been the second week in when he started using random pet names, sometimes they weren’t used at all and other times they fell from his lips so regularly they might as well have been a new mantra of his. It didn’t help your predicament at all.  They spread an affection in your chest that made you feel uncomfortably emotional towards him. More so than a stupid word should ever do.

It was foolish to really think that maybe you’d get your way with Bucky. In truth you failed to deny him things, partly because he was your gracious host and a rather new friend. Partly because he was so bloody attractive.

So you still found yourself getting changed into more appropriate outside wear and struggling down the stairs seeing as the elevator was still broken, your crutches weren’t as cumbersome as they had been when you’d first been given them, but getting down stairs with them was still a slow and arduous process that was more effort than it was worth in your personal opinion.

“Are you sure you want me to come? It took me 10 minute to get down the stairs…” You followed after him as he held the front door to the apartment building open for you with a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk, “Yes, I want you to come, slow poke.”

“Shut up!” You laughed after him as he hailed a taxi obviously planning on drinking tonight, not that you blamed him. He’d been beating himself up lately about losing his lead on your case, the guy he’d thought done it turned out to be a dead end with an alibi so solid that there was video evidence. Suffice to say he’d been stressing out all week about your case and it made you feel guilty to know you caused him so much stress.

It’s rather comical for Bucky to watch you try to get into the taxi on your own without help, you apologising every step as your crutches bang into various parts of the car before you finally get yourself settled and he follows after you, almost instinctively checking you’re wearing your seatbelt. It doesn’t go unnoticed by you. Bucky is a protective person you’ve learnt and his job just means he has a natural penchant for ensuring you and anyone else were safe. That included seatbelt checking. It made you smile, you turned your head out the window to hide it, watching the buildings go by as the taxi drives to this bar. The cop bar. The bar filled with Bucky’s work friends. It was a terrifying prospect, but you knew you needed to get out of the apartment and you always liked seeing Wanda.

“You okay?” You were pulled out your thoughts, realising that Bucky was waiting for you to get out of the taxi…how long had you been in your own little world for? “Yeah!”

Watching you get out of the taxi was almost as comical as watching you get in, your attempts to shuffle across the seats, dragging your crutches with you. He took them from you and helped you out making sure you were stable before closing the door and handing the driver his fare. “You enjoy watching me try to get in and out of vehicles way too much.” You huffed as you walked beside him towards the bar. You couldn’t wait to be rid of these stupid crutches. They were the biggest pain in your backside.

“Maybe I just like watching you?”

“Ha ha, very funny.” You roll your eyes trying not to show how flustered the prospect actually made you. He was only joking, Bucky was always joking. It wasn’t anything more than that. You couldn’t let yourself think it was more than that…or else you might just go from having a tiny crush to something more substantial and potentially more life ruining.

The moment you stepped into the bar you felt that feeling of intimidation, all these strange people around you who greeted Bucky like they’d known him for years and then there was you.

“Hey.” A hand found your shoulder, he had to bend down to be exactly eye level with you, “It’s okay…trust me.” You did trust him, but you could still feel that nervous energy in your stomach as you tried to smile at him and followed him to a table filled with people. All of whom were drinking and laughing at something someone else had said.

“Hey, man!” You stood back as Bucky slapped the shoulder of a broad blonde man who he obviously knew well.

“Y/N, c’mere!” Everyone’s attention turned to you and you moved forward awkwardly on your crutches, Wanda caught your eyes smiling at you reassuringly. “This is Steve-“ He went on to introduce everyone to you.

A smiling dark skinned man called Sam who was apparently Bucky’s partner and who appeared to have a relationship with Bucky that mostly consisted of winding the other person up. A beautiful brunette who turned out to be their chief of police Margret Carter although she told you to call her Peggy. Natasha Romanoff, Darcy Lewis, Clint Barton, Vis, Tony Stark. Each member had a very distinct personality and despite the fact that you had originally been rather intimidated they were all friendly and having Wanda there as one of the few non-officers made it a little easier.

“So, Y/N, what’s it like living with this one?” Clint gestured to Bucky with a tilt of his head as he asked you.

“Meh…” You shrugged your shoulders with a teasing smile knowing that Bucky wouldn’t be able to let that slide. The more time you spent with these people the more comfortable you felt, you could feel that familiar humour coming out with each relaxing second.

“Meh? I watched Dirty Dancing for you!” You knew he wasn’t really angry, he was grinning at you as he said it and you thought back to that night. It had been a good night, the two of you ate pizza and watched classic movies.

“Barnes, did Swayze turn you on?”

“Fuck you, birdman.” You don’t know the origin of the nickname as Bucky shoves Sam’s shoulder, but it makes you snort lightly because it’s actually ridiculous as is their back and forth.

“You can’t blame him if he did, Swayze is a beautiful man! God, young me had such a crush!” You had adored Swayze as a young teen, especially in Dirty Dancing. The movie was far too sensual for its own good and Swayze rarely had a shirt on in the whole entire movie. There was also something attractive about the greaser look he sported. You wondered briefly what Bucky would look like with slicked back hair and a leather jacket…

“Young you? We watched it and all you did was talk about Swayze.” You roll your eyes at him, nudging his ribs with your elbow lightly from where you sat before taking a sip of your drink.

“Jealous, Barnes?”

“Ha Ha, Peg.”

The night dissolved into laughter and random anecdotes. You learnt that Sam was called birdman because one time he got attacked by a swan while trying to catch a thief who’d ran past a pond and that Bucky had followed after before having to stop because he’d been laughing too much. You learnt that Peggy and Steve were flirting around and everyone was waiting for something to happen and that Tony had a habit of setting things on fire at the station.

You noticed Bucky go quiet first, saw his eyes shift to something behind you and turned to see him look at a red haired woman by the door, her arm linked through a built, rough looking man’s. His uniform was half undone and he had a look on his face that was more intimidating than anything. He didn’t look friendly.

One by one each member of the table noticed and fell silent. You figured these two people had history with Bucky and not good history either. You put a hand to his shoulder and leant closer to him, “Are you okay?” It was quiet, but with everyone else remaining silent you were sure they could all hear you.

“I’m okay, don’t worry about it, doll” He whispered back to you, a hand rubbing up and down between your shoulders as if that would reassure you. But it didn’t.

It was unsettling to see him so quiet, so sad simply because two people walked into the room. Bucky was a generally happy person, someone who teased you and made you laugh even when you felt like shit or were going a tad stir crazy. To know that these two people had done something to make him so sad was unsettling and upsetting.

You tried not to speculate on why and how, but it wasn’t easy. Your thoughts that night as you laid in your bed were about what they could have possibly done to him and how long ago. What did these two people do to hurt him so much?

[frazzledsoul]

What are your top 5 most unpopular Gilmore Girls opinions?

Oh, boy. Here we go.

5. It is in everyone’s best interests that Christopher and Lorelai have almost nothing to do with each other at this point.

I don’t know how unpopular an opinion this is (probably um, not so much) but it would have remained extremely uncomfortable if they had remained on friendly terms with each other. Every time they are in the same space, they end up reliving their adolescence and it’s fun for an afternoon, but it also keeps them from ever really growing up. As long as Lorelai’s there to enable him and help fix his mistakes, Christopher will never become a real adult. As long as he’s around, she’ll just end up making extremely ill-advised spur-of-the-moment decisions because she wants to relive her youth again. They’ll just keep repeating the same pattern that their early parenthood forced on them: Christopher gets off scot-free due to Lorelai’s long-standing attachment to him, while she’s left to pick up the pieces and each spontaneous decision causes massive emotional damage to everyone around her.

So to put it more simply, Christopher’s a shitty friend because he can’t help being who he is. All of the stuff I just mentioned caused them to have extreme boundary issues that would end up hurting any future relationships either of them might have.

And then there’s the Luke issue. It won’t really ever be okay for Luke and Christopher to be around each other again. As far as Luke is concerned, this is the person Lorelai more-or-less cheated on him with. Their relationship could never really survive unless he was sure he could trust her. So Lorelai cut off contact. I don’t think Luke forced her to do this: it was her decision because it’s healthier for everyone involved. Including Christopher.

Of course, this might change a little bit once Rory has that baby. I think that’s healthy, too, and it has been a decade, after all. It won’t ever be like it was, though, and that’s still a positive thing.

(BTW, I would love a fic written about this that wasn’t too angsty and didn’t make Christopher out to be a total villain, if anyone feels inclined)

4. Zach is a great husband for Lane. Yes, better than Dave would have been.

Lane and Zach appeared to have the happiest, most functional relationship in the revival by far. I thought he was fairly sweet and supportive in the last season of the original series as well. It’s a little sad that they didn’t achieve music superstardom, but in my head they’re involved in musical projects that we didn’t quite hear the details of. Sometimes it’s better to let go of one’s wildest dreams for these characters and just be happy when they are.

3. Season 7 isn’t that bad.

As someone who followed the show when it was on, I can tell you that ASP had not only been toying with the idea of Christopher/Lorelai for years, but she often gave off the impression that she preferred that pairing. More to the point, there simply was no quick fix for what happened at the end of season six. Luke was going to be devastated, and he was going to have to not talk to Lorelai for a while. The season 7 writers could have avoided doing the L/C pairing, but based on what had been set up in the show to that point, it’s not surprising that they went ahead with it. We were going to have to deal with it one way or another.

Season 7 definitely has its awkward moments, but I think it gets better as it goes on. Luke had been such a jerk the previous season that they had to build him up again and make him a great guy. He stops fumbling with the parenting thing and is a great dad to April: he finally stands up to his child’s mother: he’s there for Liz and Lane and Zach. He’s able to finally ask Lorelai for help and to come through for her when she needs him. Lorelai is most awkward for me in the early episodes but I think she does start to improve once the show hits the middle stages and the LOVE TRIANGLE ANGST is dialed up to 11: ten years on it’s a lot easier to actually enjoy a lot of what goes on. I think that Logan and Rory actually become a couple you can root for throughout most of the season. The last third of the season I think is mostly classic GG and as good as the show got in its first five seasons.

2. The breakdown in parental responsibilities re: April between Luke and Lorelai in the revival wasn’t an indication of dysfunction on their part, but was fairly typical parent/stepparent behavior.

There is so much missing information in the April/Luke thread in the revival that it’s often hard to get much of a grasp on what’s going on. Why does he seem to be the only parent providing for her education? If he’s putting forth that much effort, why did he mysteriously not attend her graduations? Why are Lorelai and Rory almost rude to her? Why does Lorelai seem to think she’s spoiled? Did she get up early and attend the “real” wedding we didn’t see or could she not make it for some reason? Blah blah blah. But I digress.

Oddly enough, the thing most people seem to have a real issue with is when Luke brings up April’s graduation gift and Lorelai seems to imply that April is spoiled because of how much Luke is paying for on her behalf and suggests that she get a job instead. She offers to help pay for the trip and Luke says he has it handled. For some reason, this gets twisted into Luke being closed-off and refusing to let Lorelai participate in April’s life by not letting her pay for something she disapproves of anyway, even though we are told shortly afterwards that it was Lorelai’s idea that they split up responsibilities in this way.

And oh yeah, this is shortly after Rory has invited herself home, when she has no job or plans to get one, even though she mysteriously has access to enough money to rent an apartment of her own. I don’t know about you guys, but Lorelai seems to be a wee bit hypocritical on this one regarding who in the Gilmore/Danes brood is really spoiled. (Good thing Jess seems to have his shit together).

All of this is kind of beside the point. This is the sort of discussion that is fairly common between parents and stepparents. I have two stepparents and four adult stepsiblings: when we have a problem, we go to our actual parent, not our stepparent. The one that isn’t technically related to us can have opinions and they can advise, but they aren’t the ones making the decisions. All of this is perfectly normal. Lorelai never wanted to supplant April’s mother: she just wanted a chance to be involved in her life, to be able to meet her and spend time with her and know what was going on with her. She’s getting to do all of those things: she wouldn’t have these opinions about April’s plans if she didn’t know what was going on with her. There’s a big difference between “you can’t meet my child” and “I have this one expense handled, but thanks.”.

(as you can see, I have way overthought this one. I’ve contemplated writing a fic about it to fill in the gaps, but I’ve never done that before, so IDK)

1. It is perfectly fine for Luke and Lorelai not to have kids of their own. It’s also perfectly fine for them not to want them.

I often think I’m missing something in the fandom because I still fail to grasp why Luke and Lorelai not having kids is such a big deal. I just wanted them to be together and for Christopher to leave them alone. The fact that they didn’t settle on a traditional life together makes sense to me because when they finally settled down together, they hadn’t done much of anything traditionally anyway. They had both been married: they had both raised kids on their own. It makes sense to me after Lorelai had ended things with Luke and married someone else solely because of the marriage issue and found that it wasn’t going to give her what she wanted that she backed away from those things. I think she regretted making their relationship all about marriage and all the pain the Christopher interlude caused Luke: more than anything, she just wanted not to lose him again. Luke just wanted what she did. So she purposely made their life together not about that, and it was a good life. Add in what may have been some turbulent adolescent years with the almost-stepdaughter and it’s easy to see why they didn’t want more.

I think a lot of fans conflate their communication issues with the fact that they didn’t have kids. There’s this mentality in some quarters that they desperately wanted to get married and have kids but were afraid to talk to each other about it, so it never happened. While I think miscommunication the one time Luke tried to discuss it is something that happened, it’s not really the tragedy some fans want it to be. The main reason it never came up is because it wasn’t a priority and they were (!) happy with their lives as they existed.

I kind of imagined they went on to a traditional family life when the series first ended, too. Sometimes I get wistful when I read fics about it. But I also think it’s okay that it didn’t happen.