#oh and don't forget ships where they “hate” each other.. i just really like that kind of ship

[diamondsheep]

Sorry for the random transformers old man yaoi adbfjsj

[the-case-book-of-fanfiction]

Rain-Soaked Kisses

Ship: Steve Harrington x fem!Mayfield!reader

Summary: Steve hates storms but loves the rain—just another oxymoron of his life, like the secret the kids are trying so very hard to dig up.

Word Count: 6,582 words

Warnings: fluff!!!, sappy & romantic Steve, scheming Dustin & Max, healthy Mayfield sibling relationship, Billy mention, lumax sprinkles, secret relationship, friends to lovers, byler sprinkles, jancy sprinkles

Note: Told in part from the perspective of the kids! Written because it's storming where I am, and I love this weather so much.

☟ Continue below the fold ☟

"Who could he possibly be dating? There's not a girl in Hawkins that wants to go out with him!"

"Well, clearly one of them does!"

Dustin sighed, taking in Max's exclamation. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right. Steve had stopped complaining about bad dates and girls who left quickly; Robin reported he'd completely stopped talking about Leah and Heidi and Helen and the five other girls he'd been on-and-off again with; he walked around with a dopey, happy smile on his face all the time; and he was less and less reliable for rides, instead going on dates with a girl who's name he always pretended to forget.

As impossible as the idea seemed, Dustin had to admit it was a logical conclusion.

But who?

"Robin?" Max suggested.

Dustin shook his head. "Impossible. Steve steadfastedly refuses to date her. It's not Nancy again, is it?"

"Nope—saw her with Jonathan yesterday." Max huffed a sigh. "Maybe we have to...think outside the box more?"

"Who's outside the box? Who hasn't he already tried to date and failed miserably at dating?" Dustin demanded.

Max was silent for a moment too long. Then she said, "Alright, I don't know. I can't think of anyone who would actually go out with him."

"Exactly, neither can I," Dustin said. "We've got to watch him. We need to know who this is."

~���~

But tracking Steve and his mystery girl down was much, much harder than either Dustin or Max had anticipated.

Without Steve driving them around, getting around town took twice as long as it needed, either in the attempts to find someone to drive them or in walking themselves everywhere. Nancy was either busy or with Jonathan most of the time, which ruled out Jonathan as well, and Robin still didn't have her license.

During yet another slow afternoon of trying and failing to put together the pieces of where Steve was going and with who, the phone rang. Dustin and Max both looked up quickly, scrambling over furniture and Dustin's new cat to beat each other to the phone.

Dustin got to it first. "Hello?"

"Hey, Dustin? It's Robin."

"Yeah, I know it's you, Robin, I can recognize your voice."

"Now's your chance."

"What?"

"Steve just left work—he said he's going on a date. Now's your chance to go find out who he's going out with!"

"Oh, shit!" Dustin turned to Max. "Steve's going on a—"

"I heard," she said. "Does she know where he's going?"

"Where's he going, Robin, did he say?"

"A restaurant, and he changed into a really nice outfit before he left here. And by nice, I mean really nice. Like fanciest restaurant in town kind of nice. Whoever this girl is, he really wants to impress her. And he's obsessed with her, too, he's been smiling all day from excitement."

Dustin scoffed. "And you didn't call us before he left?! Now we have to find out where he's going and how to get there!"

"Well, it's not like I could call you talk about him in front of him! Besides, we do know where he's going. What's the fanciest restaurant in town?"

"Enzo's," Dustin realized. "That's where he's taking her."

"I can guarantee it. If you go to Enzo's, he's going to be there. I'd go myself, but Steve and I'll both get fired if at least one of us isn't at the store right now."

"Thanks, Robin!"

"Good luck, guys!"

Dustin turned around to give Max the details, but she cut him off. "I heard. Enzo's."

"All we have to do is catch them in the middle of their date, and we know exactly who Steve's dating," Dustin said with a grin. "Easy!"

"Yeah, easy," Max snarked. "How are we supposed to get there?"

Dustin paused before he sighed. "Start calling everyone we know with a car, I guess."

Max rolled her eyes. "Like that'll ever work. Nobody's been willing to drive us around so far!"

"Can't hurt to try," Dustin insisted.

"No, Dustin, we'll be wasting time! We should just start walking now!"

But Dustin was already dialing the number to the Wheelers' house. It was answered by Mrs. Wheeler.

"Hello, Karen Wheeler speaking!"

"Hi, Mrs. Wheeler, could I talk to—"

"MIKE!" Dustin flinched at the volume from the other end. Max cringed, hearing the shout from where she stood. "Dustin's on the phone!"

A few seconds later, Dustin heard Mike's voice. "Yeah?"

"Is Nancy there?"

Dustin could see Mike's frown. "What do you want Nancy for?"

"Mike, I don't have time for this—"

"What. For? If this is Keith trying to get a date with her again, I swear that I'll—"

"Oh my God, Mike, no! Steve's going on a date and we need to catch him to figure out who he's going out with! We need Nancy to drive us there."

"Dustin, do you realize how idiotic that sounds? Nancy's not gonna drive you to go spy on her ex and his new girlfriend!" Mike hung up without another word.

Groaning, Dustin tried to call again, but he was met only with the dial tone.

Max rolled her eyes. "I told you it wouldn't work."

"I'm calling the Byers," Dustin grumbled. He dialed the number, but when Joyce picked up, she was talking to someone else in the house and by the time Dustin had gotten out "Is Jonathan there?" he heard the click of the receiver being put back.

"Try my sister," Max said.

Dustin dialed the number to Max's trailer, but no one answered. He shook his head.

"She's probably out running," Max sighed.

"Another run? Isn't that all she does now?" Dustin asked with a frown.

Max shrugged. "She says it helps her...deal with things."

Dustin sensed a can of worms—the kind that most people would avoid, the kind that Max clearly wanted to talk about anyway. So he asked it, when most people wouldn't. "Things?"

Max nodded slowly. "Yeah. You know...the Upside Down, Eddie..." She hesitated. "Billy."

Dustin glanced down at his feet. There was blood associated with all of those memories. He knew they plagued all of them, those who'd survived Vecna and his creatures, and he knew that they all had different ways of coping. Dustin's was research, Max's was music, yours was running.

"She's more like him than she wants to admit," Max said. "At least, she is with the running. Billy, he...he used to exercise to distract himself. She runs."

"Is that a bad thing?" Dustin asked.

"No, it's just... She needs someone in her corner is all. And I don't...I don't think that person is me anymore."

Dustin's heart squeezed in his chest. "Max..."

She shook off his concern. "Come on—we'd better start walking, or we're never going to make it to Enzo's on time!"

~❊~

It started to rain halfway through their walk to Enzo's.

The storm didn't start gently. There was no warning before it started to pour, no flash of lightning or boom of thunder. Just a steady downpour, hard and fast and painful against the skin.

Dustin and Max hid from the weather as much as they could, ducking under store awnings and hiding under outdoor umbrellas as they came across them.

After getting turned around at least twice, they spotted the restaurant's glowing sign. They ran toward it, stopping at the bay windows peering in. They scanned the tables inside. From the parking lot behind them, there was laughter and the slamming of car doors.

"Do you see them?" Dustin hissed. He looked at every face he saw, overanalyzing the back of every head that looked like it might be Steve.

"Are we sure they're still there?" Max said. "It's been, what, almost an hour and a half? Who eats for that long?"

Dustin shrugged. "Enzo's is a fancy place, they've got designated courses and shit. They could still be there."

A car engine revved. "Are you sure?" Max took Dustin by the shoulders and spun him around. "Is it just me, or does that look like—"

"Steve's car!" Dustin hissed. "Shit!"

They raced after it in the rain, Dustin catching sight of Steve through the driver's side window, his hair perfect and a huge grin on his face.

"Is he wearing a suit jacket?" Max asked.

"Did you see who was in the passenger's seat?" Dustin demanded.

Max didn't answer, still staring after the car, her face fixed into confusion.

"Max?"

"Huh? Oh, no, I...I couldn't tell who it was."

Dustin groaned. "Shit! That was our one chance!"

"We'll get another one," Max snapped. "He's been going on dates a lot, right? Robin said so, and he's always gone because he's been on a date. He'll go on another one with her soon."

Dustin sighed. "Good point. Now we just have to wait. Come on—we should call Robin."

~❊~

Max walked home in the rain by herself, hearing her mother fuss that she would get a cold if she kept walking around in the rain without a jacket, but not caring. Louder than her mother's voice was El's: friends don't lie.

Should Max have told Dustin what—who—she saw in Steve's car? Or the fact that she'd seen them going into Steve's burgundy BMW in the parking lot while he'd been focused on the store?

No.

Yes?

It was too late now. Besides, was she absolutely sure of who she'd seen?

Well, yes, she knew you better than anyone. You'd been by her side her entire life. There were pictures hanging in the trailer of Mom in the hospital bed after she'd given birth to Max, but it was you who was holding her, sitting in the plastic chair next to the bed.

The lights of the trailer were on when Max reached it, but only your car was in the driveway.

She pushed the door open. "Hey, I'm home!"

You poked your head out of the door to your bedroom. Your hair was just as drenched and stringy as her own. "Max! There you are, I was worried— Why are you soaking wet?"

"I walked home," she said, shrugging.

You hurried out of your room. "Come on, we need to get you out of those clothes. Mom will kill us both if she finds out we've both been out in the rain in the wrong kind of clothes."

"Where were you?" Max asked as you brought her into the bathroom.

You glanced up at her but didn't meet her eyes. "You couldn't get a ride home?" You left her in the bathroom, running into her room to grab her some dry clothes.

"No—Steve's the only one who will drive us anywhere, and he's unavailable most of the time."

Guilt flashed over your face. Max narrowed her eyes, watching you closely. You didn't seem to notice. "We'll tell Mom we took showers if she gets back before our hair dries." You paused. "You could have called me, you know."

"I did," she said. "You didn't answer."

Your face fell. "Max, I'm sorry, I didn't—"

"Are you dating Steve?"

The question stopped you in your tracks. "Max, I..."

"Are you?"

You sighed, wiping a a hand over your face. You sighed. "Yeah."

Max sighed. "Hand me a towel, please." You did so silently, taking one of your own to towel-dry your hair. "Why didn't you tell me?"

You shrugged. "At first, I wasn't sure if it was a good idea. I mean... I knew I liked Steve, but his track record with girls hasn't been good lately, and I..." You sighed. "I wanted reassurance he wouldn't be gone after a week."

"And after that?"

You groaned, putting your head in your hands. "This is...gonna sound stupid, but... Steve has been everything for you guys. For you, for Dustin, for El, everybody. He's saved you countless times, I watched him stand up to our brother to protect us, even though Billy beat him bloody for it. I didn't...I didn't want to feel like I was taking him away from you all, but I also...kind of wanted him to myself sometimes. And he seemed to want time alone for the two of us, too, so..." You looked up at Max. "And I didn't...want you to feel like I was taking away from you. After Billy..." Your voice caught in your throat.

There it was again. The silence that surrounded death.

"Died," Max whispered. "After he died."

You nodded. "After he died, I know Steve kind of...stepped up for you. I didn't want you to feel like he cared less about you just because I was in the picture now." You laughed shakily. "I know that kind of, uh, backfired. I'm sorry to keep him away from you guys for so long."

Max shook her head. "Stop apologizing for wanting someone that's yours." She breathed out a laugh. "I was just telling Dustin that you needed someone in your corner. I should have known it would be Steve. I mean, he's always been there for the rest of us, why wouldn't he be there for you?"

You looked over at Max. "Just how mad is Dustin that I'm dating Steve?"

"He doesn't know," Max said. "We've been trying to figure out who Steve's mystery girl is for months. He won't tell anybody, so Dustin wanted to try and see if we could figure it out ourselves." She glanced at you. "We saw you guys last night. At Enzo's. Or rather, I saw you. Dustin was too busy trying to peer inside the restaurant to even notice Steve's car."

You made a face. "How can you not notice Steve's car? It's a burgundy BMW for Christ's sake."

"I know!" Max giggled.

You laughed with her for a minute. The lightness in her voice—it had been a while since you'd heard her laugh like that.

After a moment, you said, "So...nobody else knows that it's me Steve is dating?"

Max shook her head. "Not even Robin."

You whistled. "I'm surprised Steve's capable of keeping a secret from her. It's gotta be killing him, I just know it." You giggled. "However...we could have some fun with this."

Max raised her eyebrows.

"If Dustin wants to know who's Steve's dating, he can keep digging as much as he wants." You grinned. "That's gotta be amusing, surely?"

~❊~

The storm that had swept in over a week ago had lasted the whole week, turning Hawkins into a mud patch and its roads into rivers. It let up briefly, leaving behind perfect spring days, only to return with a vengeance the next week—randomly on a Thursday afternoon.

Thursdays had become movie nights at Steve's house, and Dustin had concocted a plan to trick Steve into telling him who he was dating.

Max knew it wasn't gonna work. She had been present when you told Steve about Dustin's snooping and the both of you had decided to continue yanking Dustin's chain. Steve had seemed more excited about it than even you had.

While Steve set up his house for the group of rambunctious teenagers for movie night, Dustin explained his plan to Max in whispers.

"So, I'm going to try talking about Suzie for the first few hours," Dustin started, watching Steve like a hawk while he moved about in the kitchen, making popcorn for the group. "Get him thinking about his own relationship, you know? And then you know how he gets—" He cut himself off abruptly when Steve came into the living room with bowls of popcorn, setting them on the coffee table.

"Any idea when your sister's supposed to be here, Max?" Steve asked. "I thought she was driving you."

Max shook her head. "She said she'd come after she got out of work, but I don't remember when her shift ended."

Steve nodded. He disappeared up the stairs in the next moment.

"You know how he gets when it gets late into the movie and its dark and he's focused?" Dustin continued, picking up immediately.

Max frowned. "Like when he's so focused on something you can ask him a question and he'll either go 'huh?' and make you repeat it or he'll just answer without thinking?"

"Exactly like that," Dustin said. "That's when I'm—"

Steve returned with a stack of blankets. "How many of us are there, again? Twelve?"

"Thirteen," Dustin and Max both said.

Steve tossed the blankets onto the couch. "Go grab five more. Up the stairs, closet on the left."

They went up the stairs, Dustin whispering again before they'd even reached the landing. "I'm gonna ask him who he's going out with when he's like that."

Max rolled her eyes. "You don't know that'll work. He could say 'huh?' and make you repeat the question, like I just said."

Dustin shrugged. "Then I'll ask him something different, wait a little bit longer, and then ask again. He can't do that the whole night. Can he?"

"How should I know?" Max picked up the blankets and started back downstairs. Steve was whistling in the kitchen. "This whole plan is so stupid, Dustin. It's hardly a plan!"

"Do you have a better idea?" he hissed.

Max stayed silent. Of course she had better ideas, but those might make Steve actually tell Dustin.

"That's what I thought," Dustin said, clearly on the wrong path. "We'll stick with my plan." He glanced at Steve's back in the kitchen. "Unless your sister knows who he's dating? They're pretty much best friends now, right?"

Max nodded. "Blame Robin for that," she said, praying her poker face held. "I don't think she knows. I can't see Steve telling her if he hasn't told Robin."

"Fair point," Dustin decided. "Even more reason to rely on my plan."

She rolled her eyes. "Your plan is just going to annoy him until he kicks you out of his house."

"He likes me too much," Dustin said, with confidence Max wasn't sure he should possess—not about this, at least.

When they reached the first floor again, Steve was pacing around the living room, double checking he had everything set up. Max had to admit she liked the set up he had for movie night: the coffee table was set up with bowls of popcorn and a drink tray, there was a cooler next to filled with water bottles and soda cans, he had dragged every pillow in the house to the couch and floor, a fluffy winter comforter spread out on the carpet to make the floor more comfortable, and an egregious number of bagged snacks in a wicker basket.

"I think we're all set, guys," Steve said, surveying the room with his hands on his hips.

As if cued by Steve's motherly behavior, the rain outside grew louder, falling fast against the AC unit in the window. Steve winced.

"Looks like we're going to have to have the volume up high to hear the movie over the storm," he said.

"What are we watching?" Dustin asked.

Steve shrugged. "I dunno. We've got a couple choices in that cabinet over there, plus the stuff Robin's bringing. I think Nance had a movie she wanted to suggest, too, but I can't remember what it was..." His eye caught on the stack of blankets, leaning down to count them.

Dustin dug through the movie cabinet. "Come on, Steve, what are these movies? Why are they all romantic comedies?"

"Because they're my mom's favorite, dipshit," Steve said with an affectionate roll of his eyes.

"There's nothing of value here!"

"Well, I'm not watching Star Wars again, so—"

"It was Star Trek last week!"

"Even worse." Steve looked up at Max and waved her over. She glanced at Dustin, but he was too busy judging Mrs. Harrington's taste in rom-coms to notice her get up.

"Would it be too obvious if I gave your sister my blanket? I miscounted and we're short one."

Max bit back a laugh. "I think Nancy might notice, Robin would definitely notice, but Dustin's still a little too oblivious for that."

Steve huffed a sigh. "Can't have one of them letting it slip. Alright, fine, I'll use mine and give her a different one." He glanced at his watch. "Her shift ended almost an hour ago, she should be here any minute."

Max frowned. "Why do you know her work schedule better than I do?"

He shrugged. "In case she needs a ride to or from work. Can't leave her stranded if her car breaks down again."

A knock sounded at the door. Steve grinned at Max, both of them knowing you had arrived. He rushed to the door, slowing down only when he was within Dustin's sightline again.

You were hugging your arms when he opened the door, your hair wet and stringy, your clothes soaked through. "What took you so long, Stevie?!" you demanded, hurrying through the door. Max pointed to Dustin before you could kiss Steve's cheek.

"Jesus, you're soaked," Steve said, taking in your more than damp appearance. "Did you walk here?"

"No," you said, pointing out the still-open door to your car. "It's just raining hard enough that I got drenched on the run from my car to your door."

Steve slammed the door shut before more water could get inside. "Uh, okay, come on, I think I've got something for you to change into."

You blinked at him, gaze flicking briefly to Dustin. "Oh, no, that's alright, I'll just—"

"I'm not letting you stay uncomfortable and catch a cold in these clothes," Steve insisted. You nodded, all too ready to curl up in one of Steve's sweaters. "Come on—you two, we'll only be a minute. Answer the door if anyone else comes while we're gone."

Steve ushered you upstairs. Max waited a few minutes before telling Dustin she'd be right back, using the bathroom as her excuse, wanting to keep an eye on the two of you and stop you from any funny business. She followed the damp footprints you'd left behind, slipping into the bathroom across from Steve's room and peering around the door. She smiled at what she saw.

You had ditched your wet pants and shirt and were pulling on a pair of Steve's jeans. Steve had his back turned as he dug through his dresser.

"Um...do you need a different bra? I'm pretty sure you left one here last time..." Steve glanced back at you and smiled. "God, you look cute."

You looked up at him, cheeks pink. "You're just saying that because I'm half-naked in your bedroom and the clothes I'm wearing are yours."

Steve shook his head, still smiling. "I'm sayin' it 'cause you're cute." He walked over to you, sweater in hand, and kissed your nose. "You are beautiful, Miss Mayfield." He brushed your wet hair out of your face. "Arms up, honey."

You lifted your arms for him and he tugged his sweater over your head. He pulled you to his chest as soon as it was on, holding you like it was the last time he ever would. Max watched your hand go into his hair, pulling a soft sigh from him.

"Kiss me, Stevie," you whispered, coaxing his head toward your own with your hand.

Eyes closed, Steve obeyed, kissing you softly, chastely. Max heard the movie-perfect sound of your lips parting before you tugged him back down for a second kiss, deeper than the first.

"I love you," he whispered.

"And I love you," you said back. The two of you smiled at each other, sickeningly sweet, and Max wondered if the look on your face was the same one on hers whenever she was with Lucas.

Steve adjusted his sweater on your body one more time. "We should get back downstairs," he said. "Dustin might get suspicious."

You fell back into his arms for another hug. "Okay."

Steve took your hand and slowly lead you out of his bedroom, though he seemed just as reluctant as you to have to let go and pretend to just be friends. "Your sister thought it would be too much to give you my blanket during the movie, but I think I like having you in my clothes more."

You smiled. "If it's anything scary, I'll jump a lot and cling to you and we can blame it on the movie."

Steve grinned. "Let's hope Robin brings a good scary movie, and that Eddie wins the vote tonight, then."

Max shut the door before you could see it was open, making sure it closed quietly, quickly flushed the toilet, and turned on the sink and made a show of opening the door to see the two of you. She glanced pointedly at your hands.

"I thought we were still making Dustin guess," she said.

Steve sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I know." He brought your joined hands to his mouth and kissed the back of your hand before letting you go. "Alright, I'm done now."

The three of you headed back downstairs, Max at the lead and you just behind. Max knew Steve had let you go down the stairs first just so he could watch you prance around in his clothes and run his gaze over you again, but she'd give him a pass, just this once. You did look rather at home in his clothes.

Max watched you while you made yourself at home in your usual spot, in the middle cushion on the Harringtons' couch. In fact, she realized, you looked more like yourself, the happiest you'd been, since Billy had died—maybe even since you'd left California.

Credit where credit was due, Max would have to thank Steve somehow (without it seeming like she was thanking him for bringing you back).

"You want anything?" Steve asked you, tossing you one of the blankets. He set his down on the cushion next to you, then the blanket Robin had claimed on your other side.

"I'm all set," you promised. "Anyone else here yet, Dusty?"

Dustin rolled over onto his back from the place on the floor he'd claimed as his several months back, which he said was the best place to watch the movie from, but Max knew was his spot because it was still close enough to Steve, too. The middle, which was hers, was definitely a better view than Dustin's righthand side.

"Not yet," he said. "Hi."

You smiled. "Hi. Find a good movie?"

"No," Dustin said. "Steve's taste sucks."

Steve narrowed his eyes, picking up a piece of popcorn and throwing it at him. "For the last time, it's my mom's rom-com collection!"

~❊~

Max lay in her spot between Lucas and Dustin, Erica on the other side of Lucas, only half-paying attention to the movie while she braided El's hair, Will and Mike snuggling on the opposite side of Dustin. Max was sure Dustin felt singled out, being boarded by two couples, plus Nancy and Jonathan sharing a blanket and a lounge chair just behind him. Eddie had curled himself up on the chair on Steve's opposite side, covering himself in his blanket to protect himself from the blow of the AC unit.

Robin had managed to snag a new release that had just arrived at Family Video—Tim Burton's Beetlejuice, a movie that had only been out for a few months in the theaters. The kids on the floor had propped themselves up on their elbows, drinks and half-eaten bowls of popcorn in front of them.

Every so often, Max faked a yawn to duck her head back to glance at her sister and Steve. Robin was stretched out across both your laps, and the two of you had leaned together to share both of your blankets after Steve had muttered something about the AC being too cold, only for the others to shout for him not to touch it.

And judging from the way you and Steve occasionally exchanged a look, Max guessed you were holding hands beneath the blanket.

Max turned her attention back to the movie, lifting a small handful of popcorn to her mouth. Not so subtly, Lucas fake-stretched and laid his arm over her shoulders. Giggling quietly, Max snuggled into his side. She heard your amused hum behind from behind her, followed by a small chuckle of Steve's.

As it had the entire movie, thunder crashed outside. While the rain had lightened up enough not to be distracting, the flash of lightning visible through the curtains and the boom of thunder had been frequent and often made the room's occupants jump in fear.

Another boom of thunder announced the power flickering.

Dustin looked back at Steve. "Uh, Steve?"

"We've got a generator," Steve said, but he had sat up straighter and had pulled away from you, his face uneasy.

With the next flicker of lightning and crash of thunder, the power went out.

The group of thirteen sat in the pitch-black room in silence. Lightning illuminated faces briefly, showing Max that Robin had sat up, and that you, Steve, and Eddie were all on your feet.

"There are candles in the study," Steve said, breaking the silence. His voice was wavering, and Max remembered you saying something about cutting a date short due to the storm earlier that week. Was Steve...afraid of storms?

"I'll get them," you said.

"Matches in the drawer next to the sink and lanterns in the sunroom storage cabinet," he continued. "Eds, come on, let's go see if we can get the power back to the fridge and a few lights, yeah?"

"After you," Eddie said and followed Steve out the front door. The pattering rain grew louder as the door opened, revealing a world in grey scale, but still lighter than the inside of the house.

Dustin sat up. "Candles? Why not just use flashlights?"

"Steve only has two flashlights," Robin said. "Working ones, at least. But candles? The Harringtons have plenty of those."

Max followed you around the house, lighting the lanterns as you found them and helping you carry the candles back to the living room.

With the room now illuminated by flickering flame, it was easy to see the worry on people's faces.

"Do you think the whole town's out?" Mike asked.

"No, it can't be," Nancy said, but she didn't sound sure.

Will wriggled out from under his blanket. The look he exchanged with Jonathan was concerned.

"Everybody keep calm," you said, setting a lantern down on the floor at the center of the group. "Steve and Eddie will get the generator running in no time."

Silence fell, still and eerie. You sat beside Max and Lucas, and Max laid her head in your lap, trying to smile up at you. It only took a look for her to know you were lost in your head, in memories of the night Billy went AWOL and had been controlled by the Mind Flayer.

Max took your hand in hers. "It's okay," she promised.

"Mmm," you hummed, but your gaze was fixed on the door; you wouldn't relax until you saw Steve walk back in, unscathed.

The AC kicked back on. A few lights flickered to life and the low hum of the refrigerator filled the room.

Relief filled the room with the sound of an audible sigh. Moments later, the door opened and a waterlogged Steve and Eddie stepped back in.

"Did it work?" Steve asked. Then he heard the AC. "Alright, good." He looked around. "Turn the lights back off—the candles will do until power really comes back."

"Steve, you're drenched," Nancy said, "you're going to catch—"

"A cold, I know," he sighed, glancing over at you. You fought a smile. "Sorry about movie night, guys."

Dustin shrugged. "It was only a matter of time before we lost power. The size of the storm—"

"Oh, shut up, nerd," Erica said, rolling her eyes.

Dustin leaned around Lucas. "Do I need to remind you of the vents?" he hissed.

Erica narrowed her eyes at him.

"Children, children," Eddie admonished with a shit-eating grin that said he knew his chiding was only going to rile them up more.

"Eds," Steve warned, opening the curtains to look outside.

Eleven craned her neck to peer outside. In a small voice, she asked, "Can...can we dance in the rain?"

Nancy hesitated, then said, "I'm not sure that's the best idea, the weather isn't exactly kind at the moment."

Steve looked back outside again. "It's not raining too heavily right now."

El wrung her hands. "Joyce says it's...fun and romantic to dance in the rain."

Robin leaned forward, gasping. "You've never danced in the rain before?"

El shook her head. "Only biked in it."

"We have to go dance in the rain!" Robin insisted, jumping to her feet and pulling Eleven up with her. "It's a...a...a cognitive milestone!"

"I don't think that's the right phrase, Robin," you laughed, but you were also getting up. "Still, I think it's a good idea. Good way to pass the time until the power comes back."

"Come on, Nancy," Jonathan said softly. "Let her have fun. Mom's right. It's fun in the rain."

You took one of Robin's hands and one of Steve's and dragged them into the rain. Robin created a chain by grabbing El, who grabbed Max, who grabbed Lucas. The small group raced out into the street, running through puddles and spinning through the falling rain.

Dustin appeared at Max's side, his hair matted to his face. "It's like the time they were drugged by the Russians," he said, staring at Steve and Robin, the latter of whom was trying to taste the rain.

Max did a doubletake. "When they were what?"

"Don't ask," Erica suggested.

Laughter filled the air as the group danced around each other, twirling each other and splashing through the current of water at the side of the road. Steve tripped through puddles with Robin; Jonathan convinced Nancy to dance in the driveway; Will and Mike splashed each other in the puddles.

"May I have this dance?" Lucas asked, holding his hand out to Max and trying his best to look gentlemanly, which was ruined by the water running into his eyes and making him squint.

"You dork," Max laughed, but she took his hand anyway and let him pull her close, guiding her in a slow dance through the rain. She rested her head on his shoulder and watched as you went over to Steve and Robin.

Steve stopped his fooling around, watching you approach with a dopey, lovesick smile. He held out his hands to you and you took them; he twirled you in the rain, catching you and pulling you close before you could fall in the wet road.

"Careful there," he laughed. Even with his hair plastered to his head, his clothes heavy and hanging off him, you were still looking at him like he was the most beautiful creature you'd ever seen.

Max watched the time slow around the pair of you. She knew you were both completely oblivious, cut off from the company around you, even from Robin's stare as she took in the way the two of you gazed at each other.

Steve swayed you, getting himself lost in your eyes. He cupped your face with one hand, running his thumb over your cheekbone.

Lost in your bubble, neither of you noticed that the others had all stopped to watch, unable to speak and break the spell—not even Dustin, whose mouth hung agape.

You were lost in Steve, Max could tell. Close enough to the pair of you now, she could see you drinking in every detail: the water droplets hanging off Steve's hair and eyelashes, the amazed curve of his open mouth, the gentle swipe of his thumb, the lovestruck look in his eyes, his rosy cheeks so stark against his otherwise pale, cold, and wet skin, the reassuring hold of his arm around your waist.

Max knew what Steve was going to do before it happened, before even you had caught up. He bent his head, slotting your lips together.

Like some magic, divine will, the rain fell a little faster, distant thunder boomed, and lightning splintered through the sky, lighting up the clouds above you and Steve, a dramatic backdrop to a kiss so similar to a first kiss.

Robin whooped first. You and Steve smiled into each other, but neither pulled away, and Max realized you had been aware of your audience the entire time; but keeping it a secret hadn't been worth skipping out on a spectacular rain-soaked kiss.

Mixed in with the cheering was Dustin's incredulous cries of "What?! Max, did you know?!" that she pointedly ignored.

Steve swayed you while the kiss continued, embarrassingly long but adorably sweet. When it finally broke, Steve pressed his forehead against yours.

"I love you," he said, loud enough to be heard over the storm. (Robin shrieked.)

"I love you, too," you giggled. (Robin shrieked louder.)

Steve pushed your wet hair behind your ear and kissed your forehead, then shoved his hand through his own hair to get it out of his face.

"Not what you were expecting, huh, Henderson?" he said with a cheeky grin.

Dustin looked flabbergasted. "How did you know I was— MAX!"

You and Steve burst into a fit of giggles. You snuggled into his chest.

"How is that comfortable? I'm soaked!" Steve asked you.

"Yeah, but it's you," you said. A soft, sweet smile pulled at his lips, barely distracting you from his quiet moan of relief. He squeezed you tight.

"You're going to need to borrow more of my clothes," he said.

You grinned up at him. "I'll happily live in your clothes, Stevie."

A few feet away, Mike sneezed violently.

"Alright, back inside," Steve decided. "That's enough rain for today. I don't need you all getting sick and still needing me to drive you everywhere."

Dustin rolled his eyes. "Are you actually gonna drive us again?"

"If you give my girl the front seat and behave when she's in the car with us," Steve said. "Inside, come on. Go, shoo."

He wrapped an arm around your shoulders, watching the others flee to the safety of his house, then following them in with you. You kissed his cheek as you walked. Max hung back with Lucas, wanting to know what you said about the sudden rain kiss.

"You are perfect, Steve Harrington," you whispered. His cheeks darkened.

"Says you," he said, nuzzling his nose into your hair. "Hey, um... You wanna stay the night?"

"Gotta take Max home," you said. "But...I can come back?"

"I...I'd like that," Steve said. Max wondered if he'd ever been this shy with a girl before.

"Me too," you whispered. Steve squeezed your hip.

Dustin rolled his eyes from the doorway. "Get a room," he groaned.

"Oh, shut up," Max teased. "You're just annoyed you couldn't figure it out!"

Dustin scowled. "You knew! You knew and you were hiding it from me!"

Max shrugged, fighting a giggle.

Steve passed out towels with a warning not to let them get close to an open flame. Halfway through his warning, the power flickered back on—and so did the movie.

The group cheered, but Max watched you and Steve sneak upstairs and come down a few minutes later in dry clothes, hand in hand. She smiled before shaking her head and turning back to the ending of the movie.

And if—no, when—Steve asked her for advice on how to propose to you, Max was going to tell him to do it in the rain.

☞ ❊ ☜

Stranger Things // Steve Harrington

Taglist: {comment and let me know if you'd like to be added to the S.H. taglist!} @ohatropa@nix-rose@live-the-fangirl-life

[hollowed-theory-hall]

Thoughts on Ron x Hermione? Were they a good pairing or should they not have been endgame

I think it makes sense that they're endgame, and I like them as a pairing. I'm not passionate about them, so you won't catch me reading/writing fic where they're the main couple, but as a side couple while Harry's having the main romantic drama, sure.

My problem with Romione is how they were written a bit. Like, in my current reread, I noticed I actually kinda shipped them in books 3, 4, and 5 but like, Romione in books 6 and 7 really doesn't do it for me.

I'll try to organize my thoughts. Like, I do like Hermione and Ron's banter, I honestly think a lot of the petty arguments Harry tunes out are just fun to them. They are both very verbose people and they enjoy bantering and arguing over petty bullshit (bar a few exceptions like 3rd year). I mean, there is a reason these two are bantering and Harry just tones them out:

“Well done, Ron,” snapped Hermione. “What?” said Ron indignantly, having managed, finally, to swallow his food. “I’m not allowed to ask a simple question?” “Oh forget it,” said Hermione irritably, and the pair of them spent the rest of the meal in huffy silence. Harry was too used to their bickering to bother trying to reconcile them; he felt it was a better use of his time to eat his way steadily through his steak-and-kidney pie, then a large plateful of his favorite treacle tart.

(OotP, 210)

“That was really, really good, Harry,” said Hermione, when finally it was just her, Harry, and Ron left. “Yeah, it was!” said Ron enthusiastically, as they slipped out of the door and watched it melt back into stone behind them. “Did you see me disarm Hermione, Harry?” “Only once,” said Hermione, stung. “I got you loads more than you got me —” “I did not only get you once, I got you at least three times —” “Well, if you’re counting the one where you tripped over your own feet and knocked the wand out of my hand —” They argued all the way back to the common room, but Harry was not listening to them.

(OotP, 596)

It makes sense they are like this. Hermione is argumentative in general and Ron grew up in a large family with a lot of siblings. He spent all his childhood arguing with people he loves — arguing over petty shit is a love language. I think, as a couple, they'd just continue doing this.

I mentioned in my Harmony post that I think Ron is closer to Hermione than Harry is. Ron is protective of both Harry and Hermione and stands up to Snape and Malfoy multiple times on behalf of both his friends (as I mentioned in the past, Ron is the friendship glue here, in my opinion) even when Harry and Hermione don't stand up to each other. And yes, Ron had his faults in books 4 and 7 (book 4 is the worst one in my opinion since in book 7 he tried to return immediately, he just removed himself from a volatile situation that can actually be super healthy as a means to calm down) but I do think he's a good friend to Harry and Hermione and knows how to connect to both of them.

Like, I kinda hate that the fandom just ran with Ron having the emotional range of a teaspoon. I mean, he's often the most emotionally intelligent person in the Golden Trio, and he should be given more credit. He is the only one of them who knows to change how he talks depending on who he's talking to on a somewhat conscious level. Hermione is too rigid in her views and doesn't really do social chameleon-ing. Harry does do it, but through mirroring and he does it differently than Ron.

And I think Romione's personalities do work really well together. They complete each other in a nice way. Hermione is all book smarts and memorization, and Ron is strategy and plans (street smarts). They are both brave in different ways and have a different temperament. Like, they get emotional under different circumstances, so one of them would usually end up being cool-headed.

Like, they both require a similar level of attention in a relationship so they work well on that front. Ron knows how to be supportive of Hermione's pursuits, even when he doesn't fully get them, and Hermione (at least in the early books) is aware of Ron's cleverness and appreciates it and his sense of humor. They are good to each other in how they push the other's worldview. Hermione pushes Ron out to rethink things he always considered fine (House Elfs). And Ron pushes Hermione to have more fun and relax a little.

The reason I have a problem with how they are written is that I hate how Hermione's crush on Ron is treated in HBP. Like, that shit was painful to read. I would've loved for them to get together without Hermione being the bitterest, meanest girl out there. Like, I don't mind Hermione being mean, she can be mean on occasion, it's part of her character. Like, I have no qualms about her using that Confundus Charm on McLaggen, that's in character. My problem is how she treated Ron when he was dating Lavender.

Like, I didn't mind the insults towards Lavender too much, that's in character (she is a bit of a pick-me girl like Ginny too, especially in book 6, but even before), but attacking Ron with birds when he never dated Hermione was overkill. Ron's shit towards Hermione and Krum in the fourth year was less extreme than this, I mean, he would never attack Hermione physically. Ron would argue with her, sure, he does so plenty, but he never did and never will attack her and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth to see Hermione willing to attack him quite violently over kissing Lavender when Ron wasn't dating Hermione, it wasn't fucking cheating, Hermione!

Like, I hate it.

In general, I like Ron more than I like Hermione, and this means it's never going to be a pairing I'm invested in, but, it makes sense and could've been done way better than it was in the books. I think Romione had potential and was done dirty.

[kiwiana-writes]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

A big ol' fuck you to @rmd-writes for the tag xoxo

1. How many works do you have an AO3? Lol. Lmao even. 289.

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 914,620 on AO3, but that includes co-writes as well as things I've podficced where the fic and pod are in the same work. My actual personally-written wordcount, per my Batshit Spreadsheet, is 771,819.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Mostly RWRB these days, though most of my back catalogue is Schitt's Creek. Also The Pairing and various other things scattered about.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Kinda think that I might be his type aka Alex and Bea fake date coming in at the top spot, which will never not bewilder me. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely fic!! But I am always surprised that it was a few hundred more kudos than:

With so much of my heart (that none is left to protest), the Much Ado actors AU. My magnum opus, my beloved.

We were supposed to find this - baby's first soulmate AU and my first RWRB fic. The brainrot really took hold with this one lmao.

All the Lonely Starbucks Lovers, in which Henry takes 'open mouth insert foot' to a whole new level.

Warm like the glow that you feel head to toe, the age gap fic with older Senator Alex and younger Prince Henry. This is probably the only one in my top five that really surprises me, considering age gaps are... divisive.

5. Do you respond to comments? Always always always.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I mean I did write that one MCD fic in Schitt's Creek, though I maintain the other five parts in that 5+1 are in fact angstier than the MCD ending.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Uhhhhhhh, the rest? The Doylist answer is any of my fics where the HEA is literally forever rather than 'till death do us part'; so, the Schitt's Creek afterlife AU and the RWRB zombie!Alex AU. (Is that all? Am I forgetting one?)

8. Do you get hate on fics? Yeah, sometimes. Weirdly, more through tumblr anons than on the fics themselves? A lot of them I just delete, sometimes I'll give them a bit of a public scolding etc. Frankly at this point if you come into my ask box to be a cunt on anon I'm going to assume you have a public humiliation kink and will indulge you accordingly.

9. Do you write smut? Who's to say.

10. Do you write crossovers? I'm more inclined towards a fusion than a crossover (love a good media fusion) but I did write a short RWRB/The Pairing crossover for VoiceTeam.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not to my knowledge.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Nope. Someone did ask recently, so we'll see!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? HEAPS. @ships-to-sail is an ongoing collaborator, but I also did a bunch of "each write a chapter" type collabs in Schitt's Creek. Currently co-writing something truly fucking incredible with @indestructibleheart.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? IDK if it's a WIP by the strictest definition, but every day the likelihood of the SC kink!verse series being completed slips further away lol.

16. What are your writing strengths? Rae, you're the worst.

Smut, I guess? Giving people new kinks, apparently. Character voice. Also a very specific type of world-building where I explain nothing because the characters already live in that world and let y'all infer how it works, which came up a LOT on one of this year's Kinktober fics in particular and led to my spouse saying "okay so you're basically the Brennan Lee Mulligan of tree fucking", which is sure not a sentence I expected to ever be directed towards me, but here we are.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Anything original, apparently. Good thing I didn't quit my job to be a writer or anything OH WAIT.

(In all seriousness, though, I am genuinely shit at, like, plotting. And action sequences.)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic? If it makes sense for the character, sure! I'm enlisting someone who speaks it for anything more complicated than, like, a pet name - I've seen what Google Translate tries to spit out for my second language and therefore don't trust it lmao.

19. First fandom you wrote for? terf queen mcgee's property.

20. Favourite fics you've written? The RWRB fic specifically based on the episode The Husbands of River Song from Doctor Who. Hands down the best thing I've ever written.

I also fucking LOVED the Much Ado actor AU. My love letter to Shakespeare and theatre and queer joy.

-

Tagging @blueeyedgrlwrites @cactusdragon517 @cricketnationrise @firenati0n @getmehighonmagic

@hgejfmw-hgejhsf @indestructibleheart @inexplicablymine @notspecialbabe @orchidscript

@piratefalls @sherryvalli @sparklepocalypse @stereopticons @whimsymanaged and, as always, anyone who wants to play! 

[bomberqueen17]

how the writing is going

Ok so. LOL. About the only thing I am effectively achieving this week *is* writing, and even that is not really..... I don't have a draft. But I have a whole bunch of sample snippets I've written to try and feel my way through the worldbuilding and discover the sorts of things the characters are likely to be preoccupied with, which is often how I figure out what a plot should be.

The next thing I thought about after dolphins was modes of transport besides sailing ships.

So this is a fairly high-tech society, but they do not have fossil fuels, and they don't have a large-scale power grid. I decided that for aesthetics, but as I'm unpicking my plot, I'm realizing that it makes sense. See, the main driver for all my plot devices is that there's a lot of sun activity-- sunspots, coronal mass ejections, magnetic field anomalies, that sort of shit. A power grid could not survive on a large scale. So all power generation is done in small, local installations-- some very local indeed, panels on rooftops, little waterwheels, tiny wind turbines. Industrial-scale power is generated in hydro plants and used right at the site for hydro-powered manufacturing-- much of it direct hydro-power, not converted to electricity. Just direct drive waterwheel shit. Because the sun can throw whatever shit it wants at the planet and your waterwheel won't notice or care.

That said. Communication over long ranges does pose a significant challenge. You're going to need line-of-sight semaphores and shit, which I had not worldbuilt in the earlier versions but absolutely could add in.

There should be trains, and I haven't really pondered those yet because I need to know more about my geography. Please, god, don't make me draw a map, but I'm gonna have to. Oh well.

But the other thing I thought of and got really excited about was

DIRIGIBLES

It's feasible with technology we currently have, and this is a thing that some large companies are pursuing, to make very large, hydrogen-filled, entirely solar-powered dirigibles for long-distance cargo transportation, faster than ships, the same speed as trucks/trains but more direct, slower than airplanes but INFINITELY lower carbon footprint. And hydrogen is outlawed by the FAA as a lifting gas, not because of the Hindenberg (which had many contributing factors) but because of a Congressional hearing which was presented by the helium lobby in the 20s. Hmmmmm.

A fascinating detail is that you could make a solar-powered lighter-than-air craft operate day and night seamlessly by having a power generation process where some of the day's collected solar energy directly powers the thing, and some of it goes toward... I forget the details but it powers a chemical reaction that, come nightfall, is simply set to reverse itself, which will then release most of the energy that it took to power the reaction in the first place, which you can now use to power your aircraft. Which is not a thing I knew about and I now have to research how that would work because, fascinating.

Anyway. In Fantasy World, there are totally dirigibles, and they're also probably operated by the Navy, and the water-ship sailors fucking hate them, LOL. This will be a wildly entertaining dynamic and I am rubbing my little paws together.

Also.

While feeling sort of brain-dead and stupid, I got a sheet of paper, went through a bunch of lists of historic names and lists of like, suggested baby names from various ethnicities, and I just made lists on this sheet of paper of men's names, women's names, arguably gender-neutral names, and then a huge pile of surnames, and then I sat down with a bullet-pointed list cribbed from the website of the museum of the USS Constitution of all the personnel that would be on a 44-gun frigate ca. 1812, and I first pondered each of the jobs, added some, took some away, came up with my own numbers of how many guys I needed, and then I just sat there and combined the first and last names in aesthetically pleasing ways to generate characters, lightly crossing out ones I'd used. (and sometimes googling them to make sure they're not somebody famous or something, which i always recommend with fictional character creation, especially if you're as oblivious as I am.)

I was unable to resist also coming up with some backstories-- siblings, little work histories, criminal pasts, notable traits, that sort of thing-- for many of the characters.

I did not make up names for every individual person on this ship, which I decided should have a crew of about 150-180, but I made up some names for every position, and considered age and gender as well for all of them.

I will not use many of the characters I've created this way, I'm sure, but the ones with interrelationships will totally somehow get used, and this way as I'm writing if I need a character I can find them already made, and if that person has a defined role, I already know which one and won't lose track of them.

This also got me to consider why people wind up in the jobs they do in this society, what drives them to seek out certain things, and that gave me a lot of background as to what's going on onshore.

I should try to find a list of a dirigible's crew and think about them, too, and build out the train people and routes and whatnot.

I also bought a used older edition on Thriftbooks of The Annapolis Book Of Seamanship and have been reading that with... more interest than I expected actually. I have the 1983 edition and it has a really moving little plea to let the women on your ship also learn to sail because it is foolish to relegate them to the kitchen when if only they were taught how it works, they could save you all in an emergency. LOL I wonder if that's worded differently in the updated new version or not.

[mundanemodulus]

in the spirit of living like jordaiden has a thriving 2010s tumblr era following, I felt compelled to fill out a ship meme for them...

cleaner crop, more insights, and a blank template under the cut xoxo

Age/Height

JORDI'S AGE/HEIGHT NEVER GET REVEALED!!!! I just made it up based on what my heart wanted, and my heart wants Jordi to both be slightly taller and a little older than Aiden bc it makes for a cuter dynamic. Annoying old man bothers similarly old, but slightly younger, man.

How it Happens

I don't think either of them fully intend for it to happen, nor does it happen particularly quickly because, in Scotty's words:

“What is it about your generation? Why can’t you just talk to one another?”

Jordi inadvertently trips face first into having Genuine Feelings for Aiden because for some inexplicable reason, he cannot stay away from Aiden for long. He makes excuses for himself all the time but we all know what he is (🌈🌈).

Aiden is slightly different in that he doesn't actively try to create opportunities to see Jordi... it just so... happens to work out... their schedules align and Jordi crashes into his life... or something goes sideways and he needs Jordi's help... and then post Legion DLC he gets his fanfic-esque "Oh" moment.

Handling Conflict

RESIDENT SHIT STIRRER JORDI REPORTING IN. HE LITERALLY TRIED TO KILL AIDEN LMFAO. He moved on real quick from the attempt too LOL, bro doesn't take anything That Seriously. He's not always difficult for difficult's sake though—Jordi and Aiden have frequent ideological disagreements but I imagine that time tempers them both... and in the end, Jordi goes where Aiden does...

And we know how Aiden feels about disagreements. He still hangs on to Lena's death and pursues revenge rather doggedly... also, I think it's really funny if he just keeps bringing up the fact that Jordi tried to kill him Once. Aiden isn't completely conflict averse though and we see him butt heads quite a few times in the Stars and Stripes novel.

Relationship Attitude

ok. so Jordi has a reputation of being a hotshot playboy that never commits to anything and strings all his lovers along bc commitment isn't really his style. UNTIL AIDEN.

Jordi forgets all about his flings and somehow falls FACE FIRST into monogamy bc all he thinks of anymore is Aiden and the only person he booty calls is Aiden. So yes, he is Very Committed to Aiden EVEN IF HE TELLS HIMSELF HE ISN'T.

Aiden is... Aiden. He's never letting Jordi go.

Attachment

this one is funny to me bc I KNOW Jordi doesn't think himself as being protective of Aiden AND YET HE COMES RUNNING BACK TO SAVE AIDEN AT THE VERY END OF THE BOOK, AND THREATENS WRENCH DURING LEGION WHEN HE THINKS HE'S HOLDING AIDEN HOSTAGE.

Aiden is once again Aiden. I don't think Jordi can top that. We saw the lengths he went to protect Nicky and avenge Lena.

First to apologize after a fight

Jordi's pride is riding on the line at all times and he doesn't think he's wrong most of the time LMFAOOOO so Aiden usually ends up apologizing first... <3

The best caregiver when the other is sick

Jordi simultaneously has horrific and amazing bedside manners. Aiden is pretty consistently pleasant though... and it comes from caring for Nicky when she was sick, and then later Jackson and Lena when they got sick...

Designated driver

they both fight over this one tbh LMFAOOO Jordi does most of the driving in the novel but I just knooooooow Aiden hates being a passenger princess if he can help it... same thing for Jordi... both just feel more at Control when they're the one behind the wheel

(drunk or otherwise)

Sensitive to changes in their partner

The entire novel is a WEALTH of tidbits where Jordi and Aiden just Wordlessly Understand each other. They know what the other is thinking, how they operate, what they want, and so so much more GOD I CANNOT GET OVER IT THEY'RE OPEN BOOKS TO EACH OTHER

The one who proposes

Jordi "I have nightmarish commitment issues the likes of no one you've ever known before" Chin struggles to say "I love you" let alone "Will you marry me?" so the responsibility falls on Aiden both times HAHAHAH the proposal happens post legion, btw <3

Template:

[thatonefandomjumper]

If you were able to make Valdangelo canon how would you write them ?

Very good question.

The thing is, Valdangelo is a relationship that I feel had so so much potential due to how the characters were individually written, but at the same time, I really don't trust that Riordan would have done them justice just on account of how Heroes of Olympus was written as a whole. To really make their relationship satisfying, I'd probobly need to make some substantial rewrites to the series as a itself.

But for simplicity sake, let's say we're keeping all big plot points and beats the same with the only difference being that Valdangelo is endgame.

House of Hades would be the most logical place for the two of them to shine, considering Nico was, uh, quite occupied during Mark of Athena. Leo is canonically very spooked by Nico's mere existence on the ship and Nico prefers to keep to himself most times. Not only that, but the two places they each spend the most time is not only the most isolated parts of the ship but also, sort of the furthest away from each other (Crows nest and Engine room).

Not only that, but these two are so bad at normal human interactions that the only way they could genuinely start to open up to each other and find that they are oh so eerily similar is for some outside factor to push for it to happen.

Whatever that is, and no matter how it happens, the biggest thing the two of them need is just a conversation. Genuinely, I think that's all that is needed for something to happen. Something romantic? Not necessarily, but hoo-boy if they opened up to each other in one way or another things would never be the same.

There will always be a terrifying thought of "Oh god, you see right though me and I see myself in you. This is awful I must stay away or I might learn something about myself that I don't want too." But at the same time, no one else will ever get it. To hate yourself so much. To feel alone all the time. To be unworthy of love and broken beyond repair.

So as much as they want to stay away, they inevitable meet again. Possibly in the night, when they are alone, because they would not want anyone around for this.

I am a dynamic girly at the end of the day, so when I ship characters I rarely actually think about the getting together part or anything that relates to that, but were they to get together at this point, it would be in a sort of fucked up self-discovery way where both of them adamantly agree to keep it a secret. They do not want anyone to find out ever that they kiss when they are on the verge of breakdowns.

But evolving from that (And after Nico's outing and Leo's stay in Ogygia, probobly with platonic Caleo or at least Leo feeling obligated to save her out of guilt for not being able to be with her) they become each others confidants. They both dislike showing true weakness, especially of the emotional kind so having someone who just gets it is not only new but terrifying. Whether that be the deaths of their family members or both of their serious cases of internalized homophobia, the other will understand.

People notice, of course, but Nico and Leo avoid each other in public to such a comical degree that it makes it almost more obvious that something is going on. They deflect like crazy when their relationship is brought up and most back off out of respect, but Piper and Percy are the two who speculate the most...

As the journey passes, little things start happening. Leo tells Nico to eat once in a while. Nico forces Leo to take a proper nap. Things the others either don't know they struggle with or aren't thinking about because there ae more important things going on. And slowly, the two start... improving? It was never the intention because they don't see themselves worthy of healing, but the other wants them to get better, and they don't want to lose the one relationship that let's them be wholly vulnerable. It's strange, but it feels good.

Now, I have always hated how angry Nico was at Leo for dying in canon because it makes zero sense in my opinion, but that's a whole 'nother conversation. But this time around, Nico would feel every right to be furious, because let's be real, Leo's secretive ass would not tell him this. There is a line to his emotional openness and telling his sort-of-dating-for-convenience-boyfriend about the fact he's actively planning his own suicide, despite the fact he's planning to bounce back from it is just a step too far. He knows it's selfish. But he just can't.

And it's in the time they're apart that they truly understand just how much they'd started leaning on each other in the time they were together. The bad habits they broke coming back and the longjng to see the other growing stronger. They both sort of hate it. Nico joins Jason and Piper in their search while Leo is trying his best to get back to camp.

No matter how the reunion would go, I like to think that Nico would have spilled the beans about their relationship to the others at that point, so Leo, who had been psyching himself up to swoop Nico into his arms and declare their love to the camp doesn't exactly get that. But what he does get is tears, angry, possibly unfair words, and reconciliation. Their back with each other, and this time, they won't screw it up.

Valdangelo is a story of healing. Of two broken people building each other back up. No matter what direction I'd go with actually making the relationship happen, they will always represent the mortifying ordeal of being known.

Anyway, they are actually impossible and there is something very wrong with them. Thank you for the ask and here's a drawing:

Also, I wrote a Valdangelo fic way back in 2021 where a similar scenario played out if you are interested:

[maximumprime]

I hate when SOME!!! alien stage fans take the characters and just treat them like one dimensional characters and water them down specifically ivan and till I'm specifically talking about them because when someone says ivan they are never talking about just ivan they are talking about ivan and till when someone talks about till it's not just till alone it's ivan and till they don't think of the characters as their own characters they think of them as a pair but they really. arent. one is in love with a lesbian and the other is dead guys I don't think these two are a pair they aren't a pair they were never a pair I'm so tired of people seeing till or ivan and somehow mention the other with it it's never them as a character or them by themselves and they act like till is in love with ivan as well like "omg boyfriends they love each other sooo much!!!" I'm sure ivan loves him but till loves a lesbian and thinks that lesbian could be

DEAD and till is currently depressed as hell not even just because mizis missing and or dead to him because he has been dehumanized and abused his whole life and he's finally given up and some alien stage fans are like "uhhmmm he's literally fine he's just having a bad day" when he's literally being treated like an experiment and has been treated like an experiment his whole life and they act like he just stubbed his toe and it hurt for an hour why do people have to water down characters so badly just to understand them and it's always "oh we should have more unwell mentally ill characters" YOU COULDN'T EVEN HANDLE TILL literally watered him down to just guy who likes to fight people and beat people up and is somehow gay where did you get that from he literally sang a song about a girl and how much he loves her in the song that introduced him and it's so obvious that certain people only watched round 6 because it's always "omg ivantill!!! oh and the brown haired girl I guess. oh and the black haired girl that loves pink haired girl the uhh lesbians!! wait there was a blonde one" this is not an exaggeration I've seen people say this how do you manage to not remember their names the series started with said black haired girl in love with the pink haired girl what are you talking about dude how do you forget HYUNA. shes like the coolest one there there was how many videos had shown mizi. ALL OF THEM. and youre like "uhhh the pink one?? I think???? Whats a clematis and why is it yours" she was literally shown through like the whole thing what do you mean "oh I forgot her name" how did you go through the entire thing without learning their names. The series literally started off with lesbians the whole channel started with lesbians and youre focused on the one mlm ship that they made like I'm not mad that they've gotten more fans that means that they get more money and the videos are coming out faster I'm not mad about that I'm jolly more fanart more videos more popularity more everything but you guys are focused on just two guys kissing that's what you care about if you look up alien stage on YouTube the amount of thumbnails of them kissing is crazy and if they aren't kissing its almost all just ivantill this is crazy. obsurd. insane. cant take this no more guys I wish people understood characters and actually payed attention to not just two guys kissing its not even two guys kissing its one kissing the other and the other one confused as shit and pushing him away I wish people payed attention to the entirety of everyone there and understood how they act instead of just taking two guys and playing with them like dolls not even the good kind of playing with dolls the ones that make up shit on the spot you take till and you say "Ivan is your boyfriend and you are going to LIKE IT." that's how you sound when people act like he isn't in love with mizi he wrote a whole song about it guys it's in the lyrics guys you know unknown till the end that song wasn't about Ivan if you guys were a liiittle confused hes talking about mizi guys he's in love with mizi. I'm gonna end this because this is really long and I started speaking nonsense hit that subscribe button and hit the bell and don't forget to like the video and leave a comment down below I love you guys and peace ouuutt

[maochira]

OH OH!!

enemies to lovers with ness because you're a kaiser hater and he's a kaiser fan but every time you guys argue ness feels something towards you (aka love) but he either shakes it off or questions it

I love enemies to lovers so much SDHSKDKA one of my favourite shipping tropes (besides best friends to lovers)

Requests open! - masterlist

Tags: gn!reader x Ness, enemies (kinda) to lovers, reader is classmates with Kaiser and Ness

-Ness can't stand having you around. Every time he sees you even close to Kaiser, he prepares to argue with you if you even look at Kaiser in the wrong way

-your arguments always give him a little thrill. He knows he could just ignore you and that's what others keep telling him to do, but something in him just wants to argue with you over and over

-he thinks it's because he wants to defend Kaiser, but it's actually because he wants to talk to you and doesn't know any other way to approach you

-by now, your Kaiser hate isn't even as serious anymore. Sure, you dislike him, but half of the things you say during your arguments with Ness are things you come up with on the spot. To you, it's cute to see how defensive Ness gets over Kaiser

-you and Ness always get on the same bus for getting to school and for getting back home. Usually, you'd either ignore each other or give each other judgemental stares

-but today, the bus is fuller than usual and there's no free space to sit. Well, except for next to Ness. You're fine with standing, though

-but when Ness calls your name you can't say no anymore. At first, sitting next to him is a little awkward, but after a few minutes, you find yourself in an actual conversation with him. A conversation that's not only about Kaiser

-from this day on, you and Ness always sit together on the bus to talk. But whenever you're in school, especially if Kaiser is around, your usual arguments only continue

-even after you become friends, the debates about Kaiser NEVER stop. They just become less and less serious over time

-when Ness realizes he has a crush on you, he has a huge internal crisis and keeps telling himself he's not in love with you. As some sort of bad coping mechanism, he starts getting more aggressive during your arguments again to a point where it makes you think he doesn't even like you as a friend

-it hurts you a lot because you've started catching romantic feelings for him

-when you start avoiding Ness and don't even sit next to him on the bus anymore, he realizes he's been dealing with his feelings in a wrong way and that he hurt you

-he apologizes to you and confesses his love at the same time. At first, you don't really know how to react, but hearing he loves you as well makes you forget the way you were hurt

[tdjustess]

Rating all Trent ships I've ever came across

Trent×Gwen - The only canon ship and for what it was, I liked it. It always felt like just a summer fling and them being each others manic pixie dream girl/boy is a detail I highly appreciate. It was the most artsy teen romance of all TD ships and should stay as only that 7.5/10 cause it does make me cringe nowadays

Trent×Justin - I don't know who was the first person to come up with this ship but holy shit their brain. And even if you're too good to fall for the trope of "two guys amicably standing next to each other", these two would be the Larry of the TDverse, which you have to at least admit it's funny as shit 10/10

Trent×Duncan - Listen. I've also been a 15 year old girl, I get it, but this is shit. They either forget about each others existence or actively hate each other. Even the fanfics I used to read back then had to jump through hoops or make them ooc to even get them to stay amicably in the same room 0/10

Trent×Geoff - The better version of Duntrent. They still ignore/hate eachother but there's literally no reason for it which is so funny. They're both pieces of shit and the only time it was justified was when Geoff was trying to protect Gwen over the breakup. Read the TDA bios, they're still trying to poke at some rivalry we never see on screen. AU writers I beg of you, write a enemys-to-enemys fic of their fighting backstage 3/10

Trent×Cody - Oh boy. Oooooh boy. I hate to play this card but they're brothers. Maybe if it's one sided like Cody having a crush for 2 weeks tops but yeah. Brothers energy 0/10

Trent×Courtney - Listen. Don't look at me like that and listen. It's two possibly unmedicated mentaly ill upper middle kids with dreams of success in performing arts that go about it in two extremely different ways. Like. I want to keep this short but they'd be so bad for each other while being the only ones who can understand the others devotion, they'd destroy each other. I'm tearing a phonebook in half with my teeth, shout out to the Ballet AU i'll never write 6/10 realistically but 9.9999998/10 in my heart

Trent×Leshawna - I was really surprised when I first saw this ship cause I'd only ever seen them as sort of "friends-in-law"? But now that I sit down and think of it, it could work?? Leshawna is assertive but also laid back, kind and has a lot of goofy moments. And Trent is a certified wife guy™. I'd never thought of this ship myself but it could work 9.4/10

Trent×Noah - Once again, would have never thought of this if I hadn't read one of the best ship-centered fanfics this fandom has to offer. But I think it works better in that specific fanfic than realistically speaking. Trent isn't the exact type of pathetic (positive) Noah hangs out with and in the long run they'd both be too messy. If Gwent is the cuter side of teen romance, Trent×Noah would be the depressing side. I never watched the show, but from what I remember from "2015 grunge tumblr", it's giving Skins vibes 4.8/10

Trent×Anne Maria - I appreciate the mediterranean representation but no 1/10

Trent×Scott - How. Why. Walk me through this one without making them ooc 0/10

Trent×Zoey - Only in a Doey AU where Duncan keeps throwing dogeballs at Trent in PE everytime he tries to talk with Zoey about british pop 2/10

[codajaiden]

I don't get the gist of Nightbow (Rainbow Steve x Nightmare) like, how does that work??

(warning I might rant so much y'all would explode, correct me if I'm wrong tho)

"enemies to lovers!" No. Lemme clear this up for you

Nightmare and Rainbow were created to kill each other, hate each other's guts, there is no conversation or part in SS or RQ where they went and be normal people talking to each other and stuff (not that I can think of anyways)

"for fun" I don't care if it's for fun, sure it's funny but like????? How is it y'all's favourite????

I'm someone who likes to go insane just watching plot, WHILE YES, STEVE SAGA WAS JUST A RANDOM STEVE SERIES AND WAS VERY RANDOM WHEN IT COMES TO PLOT, ITS SILLY, ITS RANDOM

But y'all are like "I can fix them", there is nothing to fix???? they are literally people wanting to kill each other and that is their goal.

Oh and let's not forget, I have my eyes on the people who write in Wattpad, don't think I have not seen their "freaky" writing at all.

It's not only Nightbow at least, I see the people here who ship Rainbow and Void together, same thing, but if we're talking SS then there was still no good interaction of them both to be on the level of actually being good friends. Still, Wattpad people are freaky about them too.

This can be implied to Favremyrainbow ig, but to me it's very bland and boring. I admit I did in fact ship them, but as time passed I just stopped because it was so cringe 💀💀

I don't want to be mean and rude when it comes to this but it bugs me every time.

Okay the only thing I can counter this is Alux x Petro.

Petro and Alux are basically Anna and Hanz in Frozen, gaslighting and manipulation exist but dynamic and trust are important. There is communication towards the two that leads into something in the plot.

Nightbow has none of that, they hate each other's guts. People say they can fix them, nah, with Palux you can make them worse (/j) HEJWJEJWJSJA

"Petro and Alux's entire dynamic is mainly built off of manipulation" YES but thats on Petro's side. Most people ship it due to it being tragic on Alux's side because everyone in this fandom likes doomed mlm i guess (I'm one of those people but again the plot reasons goes on for both of their dynamic)

"But he stabbed him" YES. I have not seen a single person who ships them currently its mainly a one sided ship. For alux its built off genuine love and care for Petro, knowing he's the only REAL connection in his life. The people who ship them (from what I've seen) mainly do it for tragedy and narrative purposes. no one is actually here WANTING alux to be stabbed and abused

And for Petro it adds much more conflict to his character if you add like any romance to him. like, loving the person your meant to kill and killing them anyways is a really interesting narrative plot idea. Its also really funny tbh but oh well.

Narratively it adds more to their characters as long as you dont romantize it and treat it like it'd be healthy especially at this point in the story.

This is literally doomed Yaoi (it's funny I wanna say that) and it works so well because of how they were narratively written this way towards each other. This cooked better than some enemy wanting to, excuse my language, have freaky SHIZ going on with the Hero 💀

Okay I'm done with my ranting I'm sorry for the people who like Nightbow but I'm sharing what I'm saying and y'all are gonna respect it and not be problematic. I feel like I should not be on the internet for a good while late and night this is how freaky I get when it's past midnight lmao

[lai-mar]

You know, I really appreciate that you’re out here defending this widely hated relationship. Maybe it’s because the anime-only fans are a very vocal majority right now, but I’ve seen people who ‘watched the anime then read the manga’ *still* shit on Laios and Marcille’s friendship. Like you don’t have to ship it but if you deny that they care about each other or deny that they have chemistry, did you even read the comic?? ‘Oh they’re just siblings/siblings-in-law!’ have you ever had a sibling. have you ever had a sibling-in-law. they do not act like siblings they act like *intimate* best friends. ‘Ridiculously comfortable around each other’ best friends. They have a relationship outside of Falin, that is what develops over the entire damn story. 90 chapters. What comic were you reading where you think Marcille can barely stand him.

Thanks for the ask! Very cathartic to see this. About to go on another rant again lol (will be repeating some of my old points but yeah I need to get it out of my system)

"Defending widely hated relationship" + "anime-only fans are a very vocal majority"

Okay, let me play devil's advocate for a second here. Let's say I despise L/M as a ship and it squicks me out greatly and I think it's a boring ship of pairing the male lead and the female lead. What should I do? Obviously go into L/M posts and argue about it instead of blocking the tag and stating my stance my calmly when someone asks me like your average fan who knows how to curate their fandom experience.

Okay, more devil's advocating. I despise L/M as a ship but I have read the manga and engaged with it critically and understood its themes. Which means I like L+M as a friendship in the same way I like the themes of eating and life cycle and the friendship between the party and the worldbuilding. Because all of these are core parts of the story told. So what I do is to block all shippers and ship tag and look for platonic fics and fanart like Your Average Fan Who Curates Their Experience.

Like I'm sorry. I genuinely feel some people are so caught up in the intense fanonisation of DM that they start forgetting about canon. And I KNOW I am not the only one feeling this way because I read the notes on my posts and other people's posts and there's a lot of good thoughts on this. Plenty of people appreciate them. But to some people in the wider fandom, are we reading the same manga? Our male lead and female lead are friends who save each other. They are not together canonically. So canonically, they don't even get into the way of shipping?????? People can have important intimate friendships outside of romance??? And it's a canon well established friendship? I would say it's one of the most well developed dynamics in the series that we see? We get shown and not told? We see images and words and interpret them in our brains?

Devil's advocate level 3. Let's say mainstream fanonisation of DM is real. F/M is a canon ship and they get together and they get married in the end and L+M become sibling in laws. Maybe L/K is a thing. This still does not erase the entire journey L+M and co went on to save Falin. This still does not erase their friendship and chemistry.

"‘Oh they’re just siblings/siblings-in-law!’ have you ever had a sibling. have you ever had a sibling-in-law."

Okay. I do have a sibling. At this point I've long accepted this much be some sort of cultural difference and some weird American / Western thing I am not used to. And the hilarious thing about DM is that we do get canon siblings!!! It's the fucking premise! Falin and Laios!! And they're fun!

I'm sorry but this must be some cultural difference. Like no younger sibling is calling their older sibling by their GIVEN NAME. The sheer disrespect. I'll be scandalised. As a person with a sibling I don't understand the fandomisation of making non related people siblings in fanon? I'm calling my friends my friends, not siblings. My sibling is like a sibling to me. My friends are like friends to me. Idk. I've written the word sibling so many times that it doesn't seem like a word anymore.

Obviously these are just my personal thoughts but I feel like objectively, there has been a fandomwide trend of grabbing a canon friendship between a man and a woman and going "THEY ARE SO SIBLINGS CORE XD" (not siblings in canon) (not related) (don't even look similar) (they're friends). A lot of times this is valid and even fun but sometimes I get the feeling people sometimes push the fanon sibling thing to show they're squicky about them romantically. To which I can only say: a man and a woman can genuinely only be friends. If you need to magically make them related so you / other people won't see their friendship romantically... it feels like a step back. Why are we doing heteronormativity.

I think I'm the type of person who enjoys and mains man + woman friendships in fandoms (which are, unsurprisingly, unpopular as ships and even as friendships until I start spreading propaganda and pumping fics on Ao3), and I think one of the things that get me is. A man who could be attracted to women + a woman who could be attracted to men having great chemistry but staying friends. I want to stress this is different from a man who is not interested in women / romance + a woman who is not interested in men / romance because there is almost zero chance of a reciprocal romantic relationship going on. But for the first case, which I feel like many people dumb down to "straight people shipping", it's even more precious for them to stay friends and not give into the heternormative expectations despite one or both of them possibly (but not necessarily) being heterosexual. Like, here are two people who could date each other but they're like "nah we work better as friends, so we stay friends". To me, this is one fantastic argument for friendship. Not everything has to be romantic. Even better if they considered and thought about the logistics, but decide their relationship is more special non romantically. Having a taste of how their relationship could go and going "thanks, but no thanks". Is this not a great display of sincere and stable friendship compared to people going "lol they can't work as a ship because they simply physically cannot tolerate the thought of each other romantically". I'm rambling here but I feel like this is what I feel across various dynamics and fandoms. At this point, I think somehow non romantic relationships genuinely fascinate me more than ships. Save me QPR save me.

"They have a relationship outside of Falin"

I feel like some manga readers have missed the point so badly when it comes to this. It's hilarious. They have a relationship outside of Falin it's the whole fucking point about coming to terms with grief and death! You know, one of the core themes of this story that you finished!

And of course this doesn't erase the love they have for Falin. Falin is clearly beloved and their main motivation, but hilariously enough (for the L+M deniers), the manga shows Laios and Marcille's "true" innermost desires being granted and it's not about reviving Falin even though they both clearly want her back and it's at the forefront of their minds. Laios turns into a monster. His curse isn't about Falin not coming back (even though that was his immediate thought), it's about him not being able to interact with monsters ever again. Marcille was traumatised by what happened to Falin (nightmare chapter) but when she turns into a dungeon lord, she goes about trying to fix the lifespans, showing her fear of loneliness and all her loved ones (NOT just a single person!!!!!!!!) dying before her. You can argue they didn't revive Falin with magic lord powers because they don't trust the lion / trust their own plan of eating her, but I think the manga focuses enough on their desires for the interpretation of "the lion fulfills their innermost desires that define their existence" to work. Marcille is the one who finds Laios first after he turned back and Laios broke Marcille free from the lion's influence etc etc we know they play a part in each other's arcs. Laios says they wouldn't be on this journey if Falin hadn't been digested. Marcille says in the end she was okay with Falin not being brought back this time. Laios invites Marcille to stay with him. It's in the text.

"Boring straight ship" or whatever

This comes from what a friend said about my main duo of another fandom but it's like "why isn't [ship] more popular" "because it's easy to fall into the boring trope of pairing a man and a woman together".

And this is a thing that does happen! But not to pairings with strong canon foundation and chemistry sorry. Don't look at me, look at canon. A male/female ship with good canon support is a good ship. Why are you surprised. People like shipping characters who spend lots of time together saving each other and all that. Dare I say: sometimes (sometimes) shipping "straight people" is more respectful to their canon friendship than shoehorning them as siblings. Which I believe is true in the case of L+M.

Anyways. Well that was a nice angry rant. Sorry I had to get it out of my system. I've spend too much time writing this so I won't be doing much proofreading lol. If you've reached this point, thanks for reading <3

[stormdragon23]

I know I'm new to this ship but hear me out. Imagine an au where yoonho becomes a housewife to choi jong in and tries to cook healthy food for him to gain some stamina. How will that affect their relationship?

Oh, I love this idea! I've actually imagined that Yoon-Ho would be the one who does most of the cooking between them.

The short answer is that I think they would become closer as a result of Yoon-Ho cooking for Jong-In out of concern with Jongin being aware of it and appreciating it.

As for a much longer answer:

First, some context (scroll past this if you just want the answer at the end):

I do think Yoon-Ho would start cooking for Jong-In after noticing that Jong-In has some pretty bad eating habits as a result of getting lost in his work and just forgetting to eat sometimes (This is mostly based on the anime where Jong-In was shown to be sleeping in his office when it's late at night yet still seems to be working). Jong-In also seems to be thin for his height as a result, so Yoon-Ho would probably be concerned about that not that he would tell Jong-In. He would probably start cooking for him after Jong-In casually tells him about his usual diet of take-out when he actually remembers to eat that day while giving Yoon-Ho a headache in the process

I imagine Yoon-Ho knows how to cook, so he wouldn't struggle with cooking (Jong-In knows how to cook too but chooses not to because it takes too long when he can just order food since money isn't an issue though the food he gets isn't usually the healthiest option). However, it would be difficult for him to find healthy food that suits Jong-In's tastes (mostly because I headcanon Jong-In to have not many foods he actually likes)

The first time Yoon-Ho cooks for him, Jong-In is likely surprised by it, though he doesn't show it and simply thanks Yoon-Ho with a smile. He would question why Yoon-Ho cooked for him though, and Yoon-Ho just responds that he wanted to but closely watches Jong-In's reaction to see if he likes the food. And Jong-In does enjoy the food and after Yoon-Ho sees how pleased he is with it, he cooks for Jong-In more often

Jong-In likely attempts to hide any dislike for the foods Yoon-Ho cooks for him. Yoon-Ho always finds out though and either stops making that specific food for him or finds a way to make it taste better, which makes Jong-In appreciate Yoon-ho's cooking even more. He will likely try to find ways to thank Yoon-Ho, such as getting him gifts (various other ways Jong-In could return the favor, so I'll leave the rest up to your imagination)

I don't imagine them communicating much, not because they're bad at it but because they can already read each other so well that they don't really need to use words. As a result, they tend to show their affections through their actions

For the relationship itself:

They both know Yoon-Ho starts cooking for Jong-In more since Yoon-Ho is worried about him even without saying it, so Jong-In eats whatever Yoon-Ho has cooked for him without complaining, even if he hates it. Because of this, they become closer as Yoon-Ho gets to know Jong-In more as he spends more time with Jong-In when he watches Jong-In eat his food and not just to learn his food preferences. Jong-In also appreciates Yoon-Ho going out of his way to make foods he likes and sees the effort he puts into making the foods he dislikes more appealing. Even though they don't really exchange words about the change, they have a silent yet mutual understanding of the situation

Feel free to ask for more details about this AU or about the ship in general!

[silviakundera]

Joy of Life Episode 12 and 13 liveblogging

This is my first watch, so don't tell me secrets ;)

A lot of sweet romance stuff. These two do have a very warm chemistry together. It already feels like they've known each other awhile. As the viewer you do believe that they like each other very much.

Now that the idiotic forced misunderstanding is over, I can relax my blood feud. Go forth, my children, and be logical!

ML owes his family SO MANY APOLOGIES for the bullshit he put them thru about this idiocy. It bet it's not over, but at least everyone knows who everyone is now

Hmmmm should I be suspicious about this cold medicine?

If FL wants to get out of this mess she's gonna have to work mom a lot better.

hmmmmm on Si Lili's boat, "that monster??" The white garbed swordswomen? Intriguing.

That FL is lucky. You put me in the past and I could plagiarize at least 5 Supernatural novels but I could do NOTHING for tuberculosis.

What trouble is Sil Lili in and how will ML get her out of it?

....guys do u think all this cutsie time at home for assassin bro Teng Zijing is to make it more sad when mom & kid die horribly ?🤔😶

Look I'm not gonna start lying to ya'll, I don't care about that mom & kid's life or death other than intellectual curiosity and plot reasons.

THE BOX IS OPEN. 🤘🤘🤘🤘

It's.... just a dude with bad hair?

A "Level 8 Master", whatever that means. I'm sure it's a very impressive wuxia ranking.

ML's plan is just to return to the country and tbh that's a good plan, I can't argue with facts

Episode 13

Second Prince's cup breaks... Poison, omen, or badly glazed cookware? 🤔

Oh they're traveling down the street where he beat up the Crown Prince's person and now they're reminiscencing about how great meeting each other was. And just a few scenes ago Assassin bro joked about how he'll run away and leave ML in a fight. I am DROWNING IN FORESHADOWING I CAN'T BREATHE

The knives in coat move returns!

Epic wuxia battles. This is where we could really use Uncle Wu

The 2 bros are not gonna abandon each other 😢

The mountain of foreshadowing's prophesy is fulfilled

ML is super upset about his bro and goes wuxia nuclear

"Tell him to wake up." 😭😭 I really thought we had another 10 episodes before he died tragically

No way, kill the Level 8 master. This is dumb, don't leave your enemy alive. Investigate another way.

Ok WAS it the CP.... Or hear me out, was it the Second Prince who set this up to get ML irrevocably on his side?

Second Prince even knows he's my suspect

Si Lili also a suspect tbh. Too bad if so, friendship CANCELLED

(But let's not forget about Princess Royal)

Loser brother and step mom should give him hugs. They're so worried ❤

awwww even the dad is broken up about this

"Tell me about him" -> ok 🍗 girl said exactly the right thing. As much as I hated this ship in the the earlier episodes, the screenwriter is doing a good job with it now. In every scene, you do sense the liking they have for each other

Fan Xian was his family too! I'm gonna cry

LMAO both Crown Prince and Second Prince are exactly the same.

See I told Fan Xian to just kill the Level 8 guy. Now he's being released like we're in fucking Gotham.

Lord Zhu is the actor who just did the emperor on Blossoms in Adversity! (Hello! Sorry you got bug eyes as an acting partner!)

How much do you want to be that whomever plotted this was well aware of the politics angle with Northern Qing?

Ok ok guys guys guys guys I have a solution to this The Killer's Going Free problem! ML needs to ask his poisioner mentor to murderate him - after he's crossed the boundry!

No? You're gonna kill him in public, because the Inspection Board's operations are above the law? O.....kay. I mean I get the angle but tbh I still would have gone with a secret poisoning.

[no-gram]

Itoho

Once upon a time, a girl who was wimpy and shy, who loved to stand out but hated being the center of attention, became a butterfly in a dream. She was happy and fluttered freely, enjoying her beauty and catching everyone's attention. Forgetting her original form, she continued to flutter and flutter. The girl woke up. Ah, it was the same old me.

Tsuguha?

Tsuguha: First

Another time, a girl who was not good at talking to people, who had family discord, who was an alien being who did not understand legitimate love, wished she could dream of a butterfly.

Jun?

Victimhood is an escape from love

We are not normal. There are only anti-love people here, maybe.

Jun: Hmm, I like that way of calling you that. But I would call myself an alien. And you are the non-human.

I like Venus the best, but I can't live there.

Another time, a butterfly with a quiet but dignified charm sat quietly next to the girl and prayed for her wish to come true.

Tsuduri?

I was sure you didn't, but you seemed to really like Vega. I wanted to support you, if that was what made you happy.

It could be these three because Itoho doesn't interact with them as much, she's plotting something together with Kizuna and Rinne, it's highlighted in the voice drama too.

Ai: Originally, I wanted to talk about you to make the most of this time…why are Kizuna and Rinne so attached to you? Itoho: Are you asking me that? I don't know how they feel about each other. If I'm a factor, isn't it because I'm older than the other three?

The butterfly is awake, no longer discernible. Now it just has to do its part. There are more bodies, along with pieces of glass.

Maybe these two parts reference Ai and Rinne, if we assume that everyone is referenced:

The butterfly wakes up. This is a dream. Otherwise, you would have… The butterfly wakes up. It's a dream, too. Otherwise, you can't explain why she's crying. There are several dead bodies.

The butterfly is awake, it doesn't matter what it is. I just want everyone to be happy now. Hey there. Nice to meet you. Are you the administrator?

Q.1 What would you like me to ration? I'm not in need, so you can bring in some cake for everyone.

Q.9 If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? I don't have a specific one, so let's go where everyone wants to go. We have a chance to meet each other. I know Kizuna and Tsuduri like to travel.

Q.16 What do you strive for in life? To live. Happiness.

That is me. Strong and the ideal for everyone to aspire to.

An actor in a dream

Itoho: Oh, I see. Then, a suggestion. There is a game that I like that has a theme of philosophy and thought experimentation. Let's talk about it in the same way. Right, well… yes. How about Ship of Theseus?

Itoho: Well, to sum up. I think that if all the parts are changed, it might not be Theseus' ship.

Because all the bad parts were cut off and pretended to have never existed. Because it was never there.

Once upon a time, a girl who was wimpy and shy, who loved to stand out but hated being the center of attention, became a butterfly in a dream. She was happy and fluttered freely, enjoying her beauty and catching everyone's attention. Forgetting her original form, she continued to flutter and flutter. The girl woke up. Ah, it was the same old me.

Another time, a girl who was not good at talking to people, who had family discord, who was an alien being who did not understand legitimate love, wished she could dream of a butterfly. Once she had the form of a butterfly, she once again forgot her own form and flew around the free world. The next time she woke up, she would not regret it. The girl woke up and realized that this was, after all, a dream.

[x] <...> a story tells that Zhuang Zhou once dreamed he was a butterfly <...> But then he did not know whether he was Zhuang Zhou dreaming he was a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuang Zhou. <...> The constant flux between dreams and awakening leads the ‘self’ to change from being unaware of the distinction of things to being aware of the definite distinction between and among things.

The butterfly is awake, no longer discernible. I just want everyone to be happy now.

Itoho: I don't know… It will take me a hundred years to get to know I perfectly.

Itoho: I know that. It's natural that you don't remember anything. Basically. So you're working as a guard without knowing much about yourself?

Itoho: Then you are free to do whatever you want. Puppet Admin?

That is me. Strong and the ideal for everyone to aspire to. From birth, I was perfect at being normal. I was good at being ordinary in my own way. There is nothing wrong with me. Because all the bad parts were cut off and pretended to have never existed. Because it was never there.

Itoho's novel-style name is "Reverse", and the English words "rebirth" and "reverse" are pronounced the same in katakana: リバース. Also Itoho on the cover art is positioned kind of like a fetus, and she's naked like a newborn baby.

これをするために生きている２

[vechter]

brutalia and/or donnakyle for the ship ask game 🤗

brutalia, my star-crossed lovers <3

what made you ship it?

this is gonna sound so dumb but the moment i saw talia call him beloved, i was sold. just. something about a term of endearment that persists through all their arcs, how talia has never shied away from claiming him as such.

what are your favourite things about this ship?

they match each other's freak but their tragedy is that their devotion to each other can't win against the combined doom of talia's devotion to ra's and bruce's devotion to being batman. conflicted feelings about the first tec annual but god. i love you. i believe you love me. if this is true, our only chance for happiness- for peace- is being together. i offer you all that i am. i will forsake my father. i will live with you wherever you say, under any conditions you choose. what the fuck. bro these are wedding vows. unhinged. talia in tec #750. you both have broken my heart too many times. actually, every moment in that issue. you still call me beloved. my anger does not diminish my love for you. you are ever my passion, that will never change. ohhhh, i'm sick. how she can't help herself from helping bruce. and her final choice- to leave behind both bruce and her father. bruce in son of the demon: i've tried to forget you, god knows... but i can't. i never could. their palpable joy at talia's pregnancy. and just how pleased ra's is too. are you so happy to be a grandfather, father? i am... if it means your happiness. dc, bring them back! it's the way talia always holds bruce's face, the way bruce is always gazing at her. that one quote from these violent delights: i don't think you've ever felt anything that didn't hurt you. we've found each other, out of everyone else in the world. does that hurt too?

is there an unpopular opinion you have on this ship?

oh, this is awful of me but i think if they ever got a happy ending, they would lose some of their magic. it's about being your father's favourite daughter, it's about having a son together, it's about your quest for a gotham that can never exist. your heart and head will forever be at war. the world would be sweeter if you could just be- but the tragedy is that the world will always come before each other. what if love was enough? whatif whatif whatif-

as for donnakyle, i don't really care too much about them. i don't actively ship them but i also don't actively hate them. the primary reason is that i've only read the GL issues where donna/roy/wally make an appearance. i don't have any personal investment in his character (although i do think that if i read his comics, i would really enjoy him). like don't get me wrong, they're sweet! but the stuff that i have read, it just feels like a relationship where you date for 8-10 months and then, it kinda fizzles out and you end up as just friends.