#or I even have been thinking about writing in a different fandom where I know I’d get more interaction

[harleysarchive]

Until Next Time | Max Verstappen

Fandom: Formula One Warning: Good ol’ fashion FLUFF Pairing: Max Verstappen x reader Summary: Inspiration from “ the “date” that isn’t really a date but feels like one “

A/N: I’ve had this in the draft for aaaages and lost all interest in fanfic writing for a while, broke up with my long-time boyfriend, moved, getting back on track and to the things I love again. But now I’m in love and happier than ever. SO I thought it would be fun to post this again. Not sure if I’ll write again but here you go! :)

Redbull had an annual dinner with all the employees at the end of the year. To your huge surprise, you got invited to the dinner. You hadn’t worked for Redbull for that long and you doubted that the ones who did the invitations knew your name or that you even worked there. But nonetheless, you were excited and looked for a suitable outfit as soon as you got the invitation. Which was like two month before the dinner was held, so you had been busy at the different shops in town and on the internet to find something suitable. It was your first dinner with the team and you wanted to look good. Maybe even impress a certain someone, if you got lucky he knew you existed.  

A couple of weeks before the dinner, it was the only thing your colleagues would talk about besides work. The closer the date approached the more nervous you got about the event, but one of your friends tried to reassure you that it would be fun. It will be dinner, chatting, and some entertainment, nothing to worry about. She had been there before and said it was always super fun. 

But when she mentioned that the event planners decided where you sit you got even more nervous. What if you get seated beside someone you don’t know? Or even worse someone important? Like Christian Horner or Max Verstappen?

Please God don’t let that happen, you had prayed. 

It was not like you didn’t like Max, on the contrary. You felt yourself freeze whenever he entered the same room as you were in. You felt so stupid for reacting like this but you couldn’t help it. He was like a superstar in your eyes and incredibly talented, so it was hard to NOT get starstrucked. But fortunately - or maybe, unfortunately - for you, he was never really in your office, as he was always away on the races. But whenever you saw him at the headquarters you would blush and steal some glances at him. But you thought that he hadn’t even noticed your existence. He probably had some more important things and people to remember than you. 

It was the night of the dinner and you were getting ready for the event. Your friend was picking you up later so you would arrive together. They had all been to this dinner before and it felt comforting to have them there to guide you. You took one last glance in the mirror before you got a text from your friend saying that they were outside. Your nerves got increasingly anxious the closer you got to the venue. Your leg was bouncing and you played with your fingers, trying your best to think about something else, but your friend tried their best to calm you down.

“It’s just a party. Nothing to worry about.”

“It doesn’t help with the million ‘what ifs’ that are running in my mind.” you answered.

“What kind of ‘what ifs’ is it?”

“What if I make a fool of myself? What if I have to sit next to someone important? What if I trip and fall?” you rambled and your friend laughed at you.

“The seating is nothing you need to worry about, you will be seated with your unit unless someone asks to be seated next to you.”

You let out a sigh of relief. Then there was nothing to worry about, this was just like a night out with your friends. 

“Besides, the important ones won’t even notice us or bother to even try to talk to us. It will be a fun night with our group.” She said and smiled at you. 

Your friend parked the car and the two of you entered the venue together. Someone at the entrance took your coats and then you followed your friend to a man that registered the names. He looked at you when it was your turn.

“Name?”

“(Y/N) (Y/L/N).”

He looked at the paper, dragging the finger alongside many names, and even changed the page to look for you there. The longer he looked the more worried you got, that maybe the invitation wasn’t meant for you. He then changed to a different list and lit up.

“Ah (Y/L/N). You have seat 34 later tonight, enjoy the evening.” 

 “Thank you.” You said and tried your best to mask the tremble in your voice. You walked up to your friend who had a worried expression on their face.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know I wasn’t on the first list so he had to look at another one and then he found me and told me that I have seat 34. Where are you sitting?”

“Wait 34?”

“Yes?”

“That’s a low number. I’m at 110, with the rest of our unit.”

“110?”

Your friend nodded and said it was strange, but you didn’t hear it. Your mind was spinning, all the nerves that had disappeared before you entered the dinner came back in full force. Before you could dwell on them for too long, there was a signal and all the guests started to move into the main room. 

You took a deep breath and then followed them into the dining area. It was beautifully decorated, with flowers and light colors. You and your friend parted ways as you looked at the different numbers on the seats. Then you found your number, 34. Your name was written in gold on a white tag. You looked over to your side to see who you were seated next to. Your heart stopped beating for a second when you read the name.

Max Verstappen.

Oh no, you thought. Why am I seated next to him of all people?

You didn’t have time to dwell on it before you heard his voice behind you. 

“Good evening.” 

You turned around to see Max standing there. He looked so dashing in his smoking, which was odd to see him outside his racing overall. You could feel yourself staring at him and the realization made you blush. 

“Good evening.” you said and hoped he didn’t notice your burning cheeks. 

Max walked over to your seats and pulled out the chair for you. You thanked him and sat down. He sat down next to you.

“I’m Max Verstappen.” He said and held out his hand.

“I know.” you said and gave him a confused look. Like you wouldn’t know who he was, of course, you knew who he was. 

“I’m (Y/N) (Y/L/N)”

“I know.” he said with a shy smile on his lips and shook your hand. A tint of pink was showing on his cheeks but he soon turned away from you.

You almost stopped breathing when he said that. Did he know who you were? How? Or was he messing with you? 

You wanted to ask him but then the host of the evening entered and started talking in the microphone. He wanted to thank everybody for coming here tonight and later we would hear from Horner and the drivers on what they thought of the year. Applause roared from the seated guests when the host stopped talking and said we should enjoy the evening. You did the same and looked over at Max, who was smiling and turned to look at you as well. Your eyes met and you broke of the eye-contact as soon as your eyes met. It felt like an electrical shock that went through your body when your eyes met. You blushed again. A waiter served you your appetizer and some champagne. You thanked them and now you could focus on your food and drink instead of Max Verstappen. If he hadn’t had other plans.

“How are you tonight, (Y/N)?”

You froze with your champagne glass at your lips but you had to take one sip to survive this conversation. You put the glass down and smiled.

“I’m good, a little nervous but otherwise fine.”

You had no idea why you were this honest. Max smiled at your response.

“Nervous? Why?”

“I have never been to a dinner this big before, so it’s a little nervous. And I’m quite new here so I didn’t even think that I would get invited.” 

“Of course, you’re an employee here and you should be invited. Like you’ve been tonight.” he rambled. He seemed nervous somehow. But you clearly were imagining things if you thought Max Verstappen would be nervous over a dinner party. You sipped your champagne again and felt that you relaxed more and more as the evening continued. You and Max continued to talk throughout the evening and it became much easier and more comfortable to talk to him. He made you laugh several times. You looked around the room and caught eye contact with your friend as she and the rest of your unit sat in the back, together. She mouthed to you ‘good job’ and a thumbs up. You blushed but you didn’t know why. It was like this was a date or anything. 

Then it hit you. How did you end up here? Next to him? 

As your friend said they needed to ask to have someone be seated next to them if it isn’t in the unit. Max was talking to someone else when you turned to him. But when you were about to ask him, he was about to go up on stage to talk about the year. He rose from his seat and passed by you, not without touching your shoulder with his hand. Your breath got stuck in your throat when he did it. The heat his hand left on your shoulder lingered for way longer than you would like to admit. But it was because all your focus shifted to that area. You liked how it felt. But you fixed your gaze at the stage to watch Max and Sergio talk about the year and commend the work of everybody in here. 

“If it weren’t for you we would’ve never won the championship as a team and I wouldn’t have become world champion. It is all thanks to everyone in here.” Max said and raise his glass. “To you all, thank you.”

Everyone in the room raise their glasses and some shouted that they were the best team. Max looked over at you and winked. But you once again thought that your mind was playing tricks with you. So you brushed it off. He came down from the stage and sat down next to you again. He smiled brightly at you and without you noticing, he put his chair a little closer to yours. Almost as close so your knees were touching. Which made Max grin slightly.

After the speeches the tables were to be removed to have a party in the main room, but you and Max still sat at your seats, engulfed in the conversation you were having. Max arm was resting on the back of you chair and you had, without noticing, scootched closer to him as the night progressed. But you still had that question nagging at the back of your head.

“Can I ask you a question, Max?”

“Sure.”

“Why was I seated next to you? I don’t belong with your unit or anywhere near where I was seated.”

Max had hoped that this question wouldn’t come up, but deep down he knew. You had to wonder why and he understood. The fact is that, he had asked for you to be invited and for you to be seated next to him, as a way for him to finally have a chance to talk to you, properly. Not just five minutes in the office or a small ‘hello’ when passing by. He wanted to get to know you and his growing crush on you hadn’t stopped after tonight. It had deepend and he was head over heels in love at this moment. Frankly, he already was the first time you had said hello to him, but he tried his best to ignore it and rationlized it as him being stressed over the races, but it was a lie. 

“Ehmm… Well…” He started and rubbed the back of his neck, feeling his cheeks turn bright red the longer he waited to answer. 

“It was because I asked them to.”

Your jaw dropped to the floor. You tried your best to come up with a response but you just ended up looking like a fish on dry land. So Max continued. 

“I wanted to get to know you, not just the hellos in the hallway or the cold talk, the real you.”

“Oh.”

“So, that’s why I wanted you here. But also because I think you are great and even greater now that I have gotten to know you.”

He wanted to slap himself. Why was this so hard?

You smiled at him. 

“Well, thank you. I hope you weren’t disappointed.”

“No, how could I be?”

You froze at his statement but soon melted again. He on the other hand was a blushing mess. Which you found even more adorable than anything else.

“I was nice to get to know you to Max. The real Max, and not only hearing about you. I hope to get to know you more.” you smiled, begging that he would get the hint. His shocked expression and blinking eyes told you he did.

“You want to know me more? I mean, you want to meet again?”

“I would love to.”

“Then I would be a real date.” Max beamed. 

You heard your friends call for you that it was time to leave.

“I had an amazing night. Thank you for making it happen.” 

“Of course. Anytime.” 

You were about to leave but got a bold thought in your head that you had to act on. You gently grabbed his shoulder and kissed his cheek.

“Until next time.” You said and walked towards the exit. You tried your best not to squeal out of excitement and adrenaline over what you just had done. But it was extremely difficult. You friend question you about everything that night and you were like a lovesick highschooler on cloud nine. 

Max had no response for you and he had stood frozen on the exact same spot for quite some time after you had left. He touched his cheek with a boyish grin on his face and a could only repeat one sentence in his head.

Until next time.

[vaguely-concerned]

seeing people claim that lucanis is 'bad representation' is hilarious to me because in so many ways he's really the closest anything has ever gotten to capturing my own personal experience. sorry for being bad real life queer and mental health/neurodiversity representation folks 😔 I'll take time to reflect and do some work on myself and try to do better in the future

[icewindandboringhorror]

I'm so heavily anti-advertising that all pitches sound goofy silly to me/I can never take them seriously, so I have no idea how I'll manage to to advertise my game even if I do finally finish it soon-ish lol...

[rabbitindisguise]

Some innocent soul: oh you like [anime title]? :)

Me, trying to sound normal: haha yeah 👍

Also me: *kicking the thousands of reblogs on Tumblr of gifsets and handful of fics I wrote about two characters 69ing under my bed*

[wreckedhoney]

^^ "coming to the conclusion that positioning the "can people enjoy things that would be immoral IRL in their fiction" debate as a proship v anti fandom debate is akin to pretending that "should we have the death penalty" is a discussion that only matters in Death Note discourse"

not proshipper not anti but a secret third thing (person who has a career in the media and, through covering legislative politics, has watched "associating with problematic fiction or entertainment is an indicator of moral degeneracy" rapidly become a mainstream GOP position that they are encoding in legislation to target the queer community under the guise of protecting children, thus coming to the conclusion that positioning the "can people enjoy things that would be immoral IRL in their fiction" debate as a proship v anti fandom debate is akin to pretending that "should we have the death penalty" is a discussion that only matters in Death Note discourse — the extent and manner to which fiction affects reality is an issue that is immediately relevant to today's US politics, and to summarize my opinions on the matter in fandom terms would be to diminish the ways this debate is affecting america Right The Fuck Now. and i have stopped taking "this person is bad for shipping the wrong anime thing and being horny about it" in any sort of good faith ever since I saw it literally used as part of a GOP smear campaign against a transgender state legislator in an attempt to defend the right from backlash after they used their supermajority in the Montana house to prevent her from speaking on the floor. Anyway I think everyone on this site, especially Americans, could benefit from ceasing to think in proship v anti vocabulary and instead developing coherent political positions on the nature of fiction that do not directly align with current fascist political tactics)

[dexxtrosee]

Safekeeping

Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch x f!reader

Summary: A baby got to the ER thirty minutes ago and hasn't stopped crying since. It's starting to get on everyone's nerves. He is, unfortunately, the one in charge, so it's his problem to deal with.

A/N: Set a few months after the last episode of The Pitt's S1. Mind you, this was supposed to be me testing the waters with the fandom and instead I got dunked, I just can't get this man out of my head. Oh well. Part one, I guess?

There´s a baby crying two rooms away from the one he’s at. 

The baby hasn’t stopped crying in thirty minutes, a world of difference from the case Robby is currently using as a teaching lesson for Santos and Whitaker. He doesn’t need to be a genius in emotional expression to notice she’s bored to death, while Whitaker seems relieved to be away from an immediate life threatening situation for once. He won’t admit it, not even to Dana, but he is using it as both a punishment for her and a break for him. He barely got between her and an abusive mother just a few hours ago before they drew blood. He managed to save Santos from being escorted out in cuffs along with the mother by sheer force of willpower and some favors owed by the cops.

And he won’t say it to her either, but if he were thirty years younger and a tad more stupid, that would have been him. She doesn’t need to know that, though.

“Are you a smoker, miss Rossi?”

The lady, a seventy year old woman who insists on them calling her miss, because she’s “divorced, dammit”, shakes her head and turns to look at her granddaughter. Robby can practically hear her thoughts (Can you believe this boy?) and has to bite back a chuckle. 

“Do you, by any chance, often cook on firewood?”

Miss Rossi shakes her head again, this time with an added eye roll. The baby hasn’t stopped crying. 

Whitaker is starting to play with his hands, glancing nervously at the granddaughter and at Santos. The boredom seems to have eased a bit, now replaced by amusement from seeing the poor boy suffer. Robby doesn’t interfere. 

“Have you done strenuous activity recently?”

At this, the teenage girl sitting by her side perks up, glancing at her grandmother with pursed lips. Robby smiles when Whitaker catches it and latches onto it like a starved animal. 

“Maybe cleaning around the house? Too long walks? Heavy lifting?”

Miss Rossi finally seems to think about it. Santos starts fidgeting where she’s standing, checking her watch. He suppresses a sigh and writes a mental note about mentioning it to her. The baby hasn’t stopped crying. 

“Well, I went with the kids to the park this morning. Had to chase them around when they grabbed the youngest and put her inside the basket of one of the bikes! Can you believe it? Those fuckers.”

They all let out some chuckles and sighs of relief. 

“Are you from Allegheny, miss Rossi?”

She nods, smiling for the first time since they both got here. “Born and raised, boy.”

Robby nods at him, giving him a thumbs up. Santos tries to hide her own smile. 

“Alright, seems you can handle this one.” Robby glares briefly at Santos, and she nods with so much annoyance he shakes his head. “I’ll go check on other cases, call me if anything happens.”

He doesn’t wait to see the answers, just steps out and walks straight to the room with the crying baby. 

Before he enters, he notices Dana standing inside and talking softly to, he assumes, the mother. She has her back to him, shoulders shaking and head hung low. Samira and McKay are bent over a cradle. A hole inside his stomach appears when he notices how anxious they both seem to be. 

“Good morning, I’m doctor Robinavitch. What seems to be the problem here?”

Dana turns, frowning and looking at him like he’s the worst thing to happen to her today. He reels back slightly, tries to peek behind her back. She shakes her head, motions him to fuck off. 

McKay doesn’t move. Samira stands up straight like he just pulled her back string, nervous. “All good, sir. We can handle this one, no worries.”

Robby frowns, bites back the need to tell them all off. “Well, that poor thing hasn’t stopped crying in more than half an hour. Are you sure?”

McKay waves at him from her bent position, shaking her head furiously without actually turning to look at him. 

Without saying anything, he turns to Dana again. She sighs, lets go of the mother’s hands and pushes him out of the room with no explanation. Before she closes back the curtain, he tries and fails to catch a glance at the mother.

“What the fuck is going on?”

He loves Dana, he truly does. Still, sometimes he wishes he could work with someone less hardheaded. He has enough of it in himself.

“She doesn’t want any men near her baby.”

Robby tilts his head, frowns deeper. “Should I call the cops?”

Something inside him burns and itches when Dana shakes her head. “They’re already aware of anything worth reporting.”

Robby nods, clenches his hands. He doesn’t know what to do with himself when the baby lets out a louder cry. “What the hell is wrong then? They haven’t figured it out yet? Should I bring Collins here?”

She’s busy dealing with a broken leg from a teenage boy that got too excited with his skateboard, but the cries are starting to get on everyone’s nerves, he can see it. 

“Maybe you should, yeah.”

“Fuck.”

He turns away, walks to Langdon and grabs him away from the nurse bay. He doesn’t protest, hasn’t since he came back last month. It still weirds Robby out. 

“I need you to finish Collins’ case, she has to help out with a different one.”

“I can do it,” The need for approval drips from his words. It still twists Robby’s chest. He shakes his head, doesn’t explain, pushes him inside and motions Collins out with just a smile to the parents.

“Need you to help in Room Two, I���m sorry.”

She gets it immediately, smiles softly and nods. She’s trying again, Robby knows. Still, he’s tried his best to keep her away from any babies. 

When they go back, Dana steps out and grabs Robby. He lets her lead him to the corner between rooms, crossing his arms. “I’m not going anywhere near the baby unless it’s completely necessary, I know. What now?”

“She wants to talk to you.”

The mother, he guesses. He nods, interlaces his fingers and then unthreads them when he notices how tense he feels from it. 

“Just… be gentle, Robby. She looks six seconds away from throwing up out of stress.”

There are so many things he could say to that. Instead, he just nods. Dana goes inside, doesn’t come out again.

When the mom steps out, the first thing that crosses his mind is “wow, holy shit”.

Then he starts berating himself because, holy fuck, what the hell was that?

You take a few steps closer to him, playing with your fingers, and cleaning a few stray tears away from your face. His hands twitch by his sides.

“Hi.”

Dear God, take him now. Warmth spreads all over his chest when your voice reaches his ears. 

“Hello,” he starts. He has to clear his throat before continuing. “Dana mentioned you wanted to talk to me, I’m doctor Robinavitch. Or Doctor Robby, if you prefer.”

You nod, trying and failing to smile at him. “Nice to meet you. Are you… like, the boss around here?”

He nods, unsure of how you may react. He doesn’t notice any disgust or annoyance, but there’s no positive reaction either. He relaxes his shoulders and makes sure to leave his hands visible. 

“Indeed I am. What can I do for you?”

He has to hold his breath when you raise your head to look at him straight to his eyes. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck-

“Can you make sure no male nurses or doctors come near her?”

Irrationally, he wants to sit you down and make you spit out any and all information about your baby. Why you seem so scared one second and ready for combat the next, why your eyes are so pretty, why you don’t let him near the babygirl.

Instead, he just nods, asks softly “Is there anything or anyone we should be worried about?” 

You shake your head, give him a satisfied smile that seems to pull the ground from under him. “No, not anymore.”

He opens his mouth to speak, but no words come out. He feels lightheaded, unsure of where he stands. You tilt your head slightly, then jump when Collins comes out. He realizes now that the crying stopped. 

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but can we have a word?”

Your face falls. It makes him irrationally mad, wants to twist the world around until you’re smiling again. He doesn’t move.

“What’s wrong? Is it serious?”

Collins puts her hand on your hand in an effort to comfort you, shaking her head. He glares at her hand like it personally offended him. “Nothing serious, it seems like she just had an allergic reaction to formula. Could you tell me which one she's taking?”

It’s almost like he vanishes into thin air as soon as there’s something related to the baby anywhere near you. You turn around, back to him while you pull up a picture in your phone and show it to Heather. She nods and smiles, letting you know it’s nothing too bad. He notices your entire body relaxing, and the tips of his ears turn red. 

“So what should I do at home now?”

The anxiety you exude makes him tense, almost angry. He’s bothered by not being able to get an actual look at the situation, relegated to talking to you only and away from what seems to be the center of your universe. He takes a deep breath to try and push out the uncomfortable feeling of uselessness.

“We would like to keep her here, at least for today just to keep an eye on how she reacts with different formulas, and maybe give her some fluids in case she’s dehydrated.” Heather’s voice is tender, gentle in a way he’s not sure he could manage now, not after so many years of hoping it would help and seeing it turn people into aggressive maniacs. 

But you just nod, pocketing your phone before turning back to look at him again and knocking the air out of his lungs. 

He's sure he's earned his year in Hell when faint excitement blooms as he realizes you'll be around for a few hours. He doesn't understand what's happening, why he's acting like a teenage boy with a crush or a fresh student handling his first case with an attractive person. Fuck. Fuck.

“Can you make sure the people from other shifts respect what I ask?”

He’s already mentally preparing his speech for Jack. “Of course. And I’ll see if we can keep you here along with your baby, just to be safe.” 

You beam at him, and once again, he feels like the Earth tilts under him. “Thank you, doctor Robby.”

He notices Dana staring at him from inside the room, grinning.

Oh, he’s absolutely fucked.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

AO3

[hearthmistress]

i'm sure this has been articulated before and probably better, but i can't stop thinking about the fact that the main reason buddie fans hate Tommy (outside from the fact he is blocking their ship from becoming "canon") is because Tommy is getting the Eddie storyline they want. Or rather, the fandom idea of Eddie is being played out with Tommy's character arc.

This really clicked with me after I watched a nearly 4hr 9-1-1 recap youtube video created by a buddie fan. I genuinely think (the buddie of it all and their view of Tommy aside) it's a great video and worth a watch! Really articulates what makes 9-1-1 fun and lovable, the issues the show has (especially with copaganda), the bad writing with certain characters and character plot arcs, and genuinely had a lot of points I agree with/have been saying myself since I started watching 9-1-1. Even the buddie of it all, I could get on board with because I like watching people argue why they ship something - I don't have to agree with it or like the ship to be interested.

My main issue with the video (and why I can't stop thinking about it) is how the creator viewed Tommy and how (perhaps purposefully) bad-faith they have interpreted his actions towards Buck. Again, I don't care if someone doesn't like Tommy or has no strong opinions of him, but I prefer people's dislike to be based on reality and/or what the character actually did, and not through the rose-coloured glasses of a shipper lens.

When the creator of the video brought up Tommy as Buck's love interest, they mostly said they were rather cool on him and that we don't know a lot about him yet to really know the character (and given that this was published before S8, that's fair). However, they bring up the cafe scene in S7E05 and Tommy's "mmmm, not like that" line as "evidence" that Tommy's indifferent to Buck and this is where buddies and general audiences separate into different realities, because this moment is a) clearly supposed to be funny/romcomsque and b) demonstrates Tommy's dry wit and, dare i say, sassiness - a trait applauded by buddie fans with Eddie (and they use as proof as his "queerness") but condemned when a canonically gay character does it. The video creator themselves mentions numerous times Eddie's sassiness as a positive trait (and to be fair, they also mention that it's sort of Eddie's default trait because he's a nothingburger character - which I agree with), but when Tommy does it, it suddenly demonstrates that a character doesn't really like/care for their love interests (which given what we know about S8.... hilarious in hindsight, holy projection batman).

Anyways, that really clicked into place for me that the (outsized) outrage buddies have towards Tommy is because he is canonically demonstrating traits they want to see in Eddie/how they view (fandom) Eddie.

Tommy as a character is:

-a deeply closeted gay man when we first meet him, who participates in toxic masculinity as a means to protect himself and/or because he can't (or is unable to) fully articulate himself as a queer person.

-alluded to have been raised in an environment where he had to hide his queerness (as discussed specifically in S7E10 with 118 being a "regressive place" when he was there). Is pressured by both his biological family and his work "family" to maintain a certain idea of manhood, and by extension, stay closeted. Also served in the army, an institute infamous for being homophobic, and undoubtedly influenced his ideas around duty and manhood.

-unable to maintain relationships with women, even serious long-term ones as with Abby, and uses these relationships (either subconsciously or not) to maintain the illusion of his heterosexuality.

-tied with "traditional" masculine interests/hobbies/institutes. He was in the army, he likes monster trucks, fighting, craft beer, flies a helicopter, etc. He seems, on the surface, a guy's guy.

-now canonically out and was/is in a relationship with Buck and has served, vitally, as a closet key to Buck, ensuring that two firefighters on the silly weewoo show are, in fact, together.

-very clearly invested in Buck's well-being, both within and outside of relationship. Has demonstrated numerous times "going out" of his way to put Buck's emotional needs first and to value Buck in way others (Eddie) do not.

-one half of a groundbreaking queer relationship. Cannot be repeated enough, the fact that the show has a main character (beloved by fandom and the general audience alike) come out as queer in a long-running mainstream show is groundbreaking. The fact that Tommy is one half of this ship is so important both to the show and Buck's entire arc. It is important and groundbreaking.

These are almost all things/traits that buddie fans argue make Eddie queer and/or why buddie would be a groundbreaking ship. Which sure, but the reality is the showrunners, the actors, the show itself have maintained Eddie is straight, and (as articulated by the creator themselves in the video) most of what they project onto Eddie comes from the fact he is poorly written rather than because the show was planning on making Eddie gay in the first place.

I read through numerous comments for the recap video and for a following video from the same creator about whether they had been queerbaited (I wish buddies learned the term "ship-tease" because if one half of your ship is canonically queer, no you cannot be queerbaited and dismissing Buck's canonical queerness just because your ship is not happening is, uh, a problem), and numerous times buddies have mentioned how "groundbreaking" buddie would be as if all the things they mention about the ship hasn't already happened with Bucktommy on the show. Their issue is not that the show refuses to do this (and the amount of comments I read that said things like 'they'll never make buddie happen because the network is too conservative'.... for a show with a black lesbian relationship from season 1 and has already made half of your ship queer and made him fuck nasty on screen with his male love interest.... the mental gymnastics is too much), but the fact that the show HAS already done this, just not with their blorbo of choice.

My closing thoughts (for now, I have MANY!) is that in the follow up video about being "queerbaited by 9-1-1", numerous comments asked "if Eddie isn't gay, that would mean he's just emotionally immature, terrible to women, and not a great friend or parent. He would be the worst character on the show".... and like yes, that's the real character you are choosing to stan, not the fanfic one! I fully understand that Eddie is blank canvas for most buddies to pin their hopes and dreams onto (again, because he is poorly written and is essentially a nothingburger character), but no matter how you twist each bucktommy interaction, make bad-faith interpretations, project things that never happened onto Tommy, in the end, Eddie is still a straight boring character. And Tommy is the one who is canonically living out the character-arc you so desperately want to see on the show.

[mimpinightmare]

VERY HEAVYILY ON WHAT HAPPENED TO JOMO-

(I'm still waiting for that next season, MoonBug. /HJ & Half Delusional-)

never ask a man his salary. never ask a woman her age. never ask a supa strikas fan about:

early season dingaan (i still shiver to this day)

early season el matador (yeah this one's also REAL bad)

LITERALLY ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING FROM S1-2

why klaus is still not a starter... sigh its tiring out here

fc nakama. bc we'll be here all day

where the banger minor characters went!!!!!

the show's timeline. seriously i thought cognito was a new team but as rookie season goes... it's apparently NOT??

how old any of them are

WTF HAPPENED TO JOMO (MOONBUG IM LOOKING AT YOU!!!)

speaking of which. never ask me how tf invincible united got away w hiring an actor to play shakes' supposedly dead dad. that HAS to be a federal offense

sp*ke d*ws*n

s7 finale "game over"

the youtube thumbnails

which voice actor voices who exactly

how the fuck these guys keep falling for inyo's trap

dooma's debut

the show's obsession w feet

the characters' casual clothes... yikes

shakes/skarra. you don't wanna open that can of worms

HOW THESE GUYS ARE STILL ALIVE

what the show is about. DON'T EVER ASK ME THIS. I DO NOT KNOW

[colossrat]

keranos? like the magic card?

Batman: I ask that when leaving, anyone who agrees with the approach proposed by me and Superman signs the pamphlet next to the door.

And then the heroes come out, whoever thinks it's a good idea to be discussed again at the next meeting signs with their hero name. but Captain Marvel was the first to sign, so he didn't see how the others signed and didn't know if he should use "Captain Marvel".

He has an argument with Solomon inside his own head that lasted a little less than a second, and in the end they come to a consensus that he can sign as one of the many names of the champion of magic. but they were so… simple… billy decided to add some details, a signature worthy of an entity that's zibilions of years old and a store of immense magic.

The other day, while Billy is "saving" some kitchen leftovers in his pocket dimension, Batman arrives and approaches him while holding a paper.

Batman: Captain… What did you put in the signatures?

Marvel: oh? hmm, my name?

Batman: your name... Can you tell me how to pronounce it?

Marvel: oh. Yes? Ahm, its Keranos. sorry, its hard to read?

Batman: no, it's okay. It was what I thought it could be. It's just that I never found these types of letters before, despite the similarity with the current alphabet…

Marvel noticed that he exaggerated a little with the decoration in the signature: yeah… it's a-- rune language that died a long, long, time ago, but I tried to mix it up a little with the letters from the current world so it wouldn't look so strange. The sound of the pronunciation is "keranos", so in our alphabet it could be written with k-e-r-a-n-o-s… Next time I'm going to use the normal alphabet, sorry… I… I didn't think that much when I wrote it.

Batman: of course. Don't worry captain. I can't imagine what it must be like to live in a world where your name can no longer be written the way it should be.

Marvel: its... ok, i like Marvel a lot too.

Batman: So… would you like us to start calling you Keranos?

Marvel: well, if you want, of course, I have no problem. It's one of my oldest names. but you don't have to if it's confusing, you know, me having several names.

Batman: don't worry. It's a pleasure to meet you, Keranos.

Marvel: The pleasure is mine, mister batman sir!!

There are several league members hiding in the hallway near the kitchen, whispering.

Flash: that's so cool! Marvel is so tight with his personal information, but he's letting go, he even gave us one of his names! That means he's finally opening up, right?

Wonder Woman: Indeed. Keranos… This name is familiar to me from the stories my sisters and I told each other. a god of the wrath of storms…

Hal: Just like the magic card???

Superman: I remembered that too. It's literally the definition of the creature, isn't it?

Hal: technically it's only a creature if your devotion is less than seven, anyway. even the way it is written.

Flash: my god, you are two nerds.

If one day they ask Marvel about the magic card, he will be genuinely confused because he didn't know it. billy never had the money to buy these games.

"oh, is there a game card with my name? a god of storms? wow, I'm embarrassed, I didn't know that name had been kept alive by these stories haha"

I was playing with Billy and Marvel's signature, thinking about how they would write differently in each form, and I ended up thinking about this

I don't know if the captain's fandom took keranos from the magic card, but that's what I found when I looked up the name and I thought it was brilliant

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/784181809513644032/in-fandom-racism-discussions-in-cases-where-an

Never mind that many, many of Hollywood’s most pernicious problems are in the cinematography, lighting, and editing.

I want to hear how the cinematography, lighting, and editing affect things! Can you explain or link some articles?

--

Sure!

The big thing to understand about film is that there is such a thing as "film grammar", and this is a lot of how we read meaning into film.

Think of it like when comic book ladies get drawn in the broken spine pose so you can see T&A at once and some defensive clown is like "Um, um, the comic said she was the main hero! She can't be objectified meat!" But the dudes are not drawn like that. It doesn't matter what the comic said. It matters what it showed.

We know how to read that art even if we aren't consciously aware of it.

We also know how to read film.

A character looks down. We see a shot of a book on a table. We know the book is what they're looking at. A character walks out of a door. We see them in another room. We know it's just a second later and a room away, not three years later on another continent. We see a soft dissolve and we know we've gone into a flashback. How do we know? Film grammar.

The problem is that because this has not been taught in a verbal and explicit way, we often have trouble articulating why film feels a certain way.

That makes it easy for a film (show, whatever) to undercut a character while pretending that isn't happening. It also makes it easy for somebody with a few one-liners to feel huge, and no, it's not just fans randomly picking for no reason.

--

The classic early concept everyone talks about is the Kuleshov Effect, a.k.a. the experiment that showed how/that montage works. Basically, if you take the same clip of a stoic-looking actor and pair it with three very different things, people will talk about the subtlety of the acting. He looks so sad when looking at the dead baby! So hungry when looking at the soup! etc.

Another important concept is that closeups of faces are where a lot of the film's story is told. It's often not the dialogue that's being spoken but some other character's reaction to that dialogue that matters.

Part of film grammar is that breaking the forth wall feels weird (i.e. looking directly into the camera and making eye contact with the audience), but looking very close to the camera is intimate, while being shown in profile is not. (Being shown from behind is POV-y though and makes us feel like we're with the character.)

Film has POV, or rather "narrative perspective". It's more complicated and more prone to changing than POV in a novel, but it's there. If you cut to a particular character's reaction to show which dialogue mattered or you cut to them having a thought and then end the scene, they're important. If you cut after they decide something or exit, they're "driving the cut" and we're "with" them. In effect, they're the POV character.

Cool, sexy action dudes with a lot of abs are hot. They punch things in wide shots. But for a single perfect tear woobie, we need a closeup. We need interiority.

This is often not granted to the characters of color or the female characters unless they are definitively the lead or are in an ensemble that primarily focuses on nonwhite characters/female characters/etc. Your MCUs and your ensemble cop shows might do a good job with everyone, or they might prioritize a particular white guy while paying lip service to the idea that the whole ensemble matters.

--

A lot of us were taught to analyze writing in school and/or we've just spent way more time doing that on our own. It is therefore tempting to look at a script and make too much of it. But the staging is incredibly important. Lindsay Ellis has a video about Transformers where she shows a scene where the girl is saying plot important stuff that makes it clear her character is interesting... while leaning over the engine and being ogled by the camera. Nobody remembers the dialogue. They remember her butt.

Characters can be standing behind others in group shots. Characters can be only in group shots.

If the script tells you that all five of your ensemble are important and they all have equal lines, but only White Guy McScenestealer gets a closeup, then he is the main character, and he is the only one who matters.

Specifically, he is the one whose feelings matter.

The reason it's all of cinematography, lighting, and editing is that the editor is the one actually putting those closeups in or juxtaposing the characters in a way that highlights them... but for them to do that, the correct shot needs to exist. That shot also needs to look good enough.

Not only do a lot of racist, sexist crews fail to get adequate coverage, but many of them were also taught by people who never had to light dark skin and thus they also do not know how to light it or shoot it. This doesn't apply to all POC, obviously, but it's the kind of thing that can fuck up a shoot with good intentions. If the dark-skinned black lead's closeups are lit like shit and their facial expressions are the least visible out of everyone's in the group shots, the audience won't be able to feel their emotions or connect with them. The editor might leave out a lot of their coverage simply because it looks less professional even if they'd originally wanted to highlight that character.

The director probably has final say on the cut in an indie film, producers for TV or a lot of big budget stuff, but you know what I mean: someone made this choice at the cutting stage, and it might be going against what the script was trying to do.

Prioritizing the character of color needs to happen during all phases of the filmmaking or they're going to get shafted. Ditto filming women like leads and not pointing the camera at their butts all the time, etc. etc. (Substitute whatever minority. I'm sure you'll find the same pattern with non-Han characters in Chinese media.)

It's not that hard. Leverage managed to light for the pastiest, most light-reflecting blown-out shot nightmare and someone with pretty dark skin. The key thing to understand is that lighting well for this scenario takes a little more time than lighting two people with the same skin tone, and time is money.

Other types of choice may not take more time, but they do require a director or cinematographer who's really on top of things to go "No, don't do the stereotypical shot. That's telling the wrong story."

The camera tells us what to think, and what it is usually saying is "Sidekick", "Love interest", "Person number three who is here to infodump and whose feelings do not matter".

I made a couple of little video essays to try to explain this stuff more clearly. They both use The Losers, one to show how POV/objectification works and the other to show how dialogue and even minutes on screen are much less important than how a character is presented.

Aisha is the Object; Clay is the Subject

Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez: Human Exclamation Point

--

In my experience, fandom actually does not elevate five-second randos all that often. Fandom likes the character who cried in a closeup.

Who that character is is neither random nor equitable.

[mqdilen]

⭒ .๋ ࣭ ⊹ ˖ 「𝐟𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 ���𝐞.」

fandom.: bungou stray dogs

synopsis.: you play dumb so dazai explains things to you while you get turned on by it (hot mansplaining, basically)

pairing.: dazai osamu x gn!reader

cw.: !nsfw!, no established relationship, oral sex (dazai ⇢ receiving), vulgar language

genre.: one-shot, no second part

word count.: 1.7k (approximate reading time: six minutes)

note.: AGHHH happy birthday to my sweet angel. (i love dazai more than i love myself) it’s been so long since i’ve posted something, but please, bear with me. i’ve been very busy lately! this one is pretty tame ngl and it is slightly different to my usual writing style, but i just wanted to write something lighthearted, since this stuff comes easier. also, to the anon that requested a yosano fanfic where she’s obsessed with reader’s breast, i haven’t forgotten about you, i promise. (i’m actually so hyped to write this, i just need a good opening.) following updates on my profile!

☪︎

ah, yes, the armed detective agency.

a place full of peculiar minds and dangerous talents, wrapped in coats of good intentions. no one who knows this organization would dare say that it is incompetent or that its detectives are stupid. eccentric, though? oh, definitely.

yet their most innocent member wouldn’t be considered unintelligent either. each and every one of them, including you, has something that characterizes them: a keen intuition like no other, to a greater or lesser extent.

naturally, among your coworkers, there are people whose minds surpass average intelligence, and osamu dazai is one of them. even though it is sometimes hard for you to associate mental agility with dazai—due to his constant childish behavior and his obsession with hiding his true personality under a mask of laziness—you can’t deny that he is terrifyingly smart.

and he is smooth at switching his attitude in just a second, too—going from whining to becoming the strategist able to anticipate the resolution of a series of catastrophic events and how to avoid them. it is intoxicating to see when his smile drops to reveal the seriousness and sharpness he pretends not to possess.

at the same time... well, you also can’t deny that you have a bit of a weakness for men who can blow your mind with nothing but their brain. and dazai, with that quiet, terrifying brilliance of his, has made you think about kneeling between his legs while he maps out some impossibly complex plan more times than you’d like to admit.

still, if there is anything hotter than listening to him explain something, it is listening to him explain it to you. the way his voice lowers just a little, how he leans casually against the nearest surface as he patiently walks you through the answer… it always makes you sigh.

it amuses dazai, really. how someone like you, so sharp, so self-sufficient, still gravitates toward him. he’d caught it early on. the way your breathing changes when he stands too close. the look of adoration in your eyes when he does something you deem clever. the way your pupils dilate when his voice drops to explain something. he sees it all. he always does.

he just pretends not to.

but today? today, he feels indulgent. so when you ask him to explain something fairly simple while everyone else is out for lunch, he doesn’t object.

“here,” he says, leaning in just close enough for his breath to fan your cheek, his palm braced on the desk beside you. he immediately notices how you squeeze your thighs together.

“you need to write that the hostage-taker panicked after his ability triggered unintentionally, and that he didn’t understand the full extent of its effect…”

it wasn’t hard for dazai to realise what you were doing, feigning ignorance on a task you have done thousands of times before. a small smile momentarily crosses his lips, thinking of all the times you looked for an excuse to ask him things.

once again, no one is a fool in the armed detective agency, and you are no exception to the rule—usually being a quick thinker. but you don’t even bother to hide the fact that the report is about a case you resolved two days ago. flawlessly, in fact. it is almost as if you want him to notice. or perhaps... you really aren’t all that smart after all.

your head tilts ever so slightly, as if absorbing the information. but your mind is somewhere else. you glance up at him in confusion, your body tense like it is anticipating something.

dazai smirks quietly to himself. you aren’t fooling anyone. not him, least of all. he has seen this game before, and you are playing it beautifully.

playing dumb? just for the excuse to hear his voice this close?

tsk. naughty.

he lets the silence stretch, watching you chew the inside of your cheek and furrow your brows unconvincingly. then, slowly, dazai shifts. his fingers brush your chin, angling your face toward him with surprising tenderness.

“my, my,” he murmurs, his voice low, silken. “you’re not usually this clumsy. and this isn’t your first report, is it?”

you blink up at him, wide-eyed, guilty in the way only someone caught red-handed can be.

he chuckles softly, lips brushing the shell of your ear. “so… you’re doing this on purpose, huh?”

his tone drops an octave—no longer teasing, not quite threatening, but laced with something else. lust, perhaps?

and just like that, your body betrays you before you even have the chance to stop it. another subtle squeeze of your thighs. a shift in your posture. your composure fractures, and dazai, ever the observer, drinks it all in like fine wine.

before you can respond, he has you standing, pressed up against the edge of your desk with such fluid grace you barely register how you got there. he presses his body against yours, the bulge in his pants noticeable. perhaps he, too, has a weakness for clueless and clumsy pretty little things like you.

“who would’ve thought?” he muses, lips ghosting over your cheek. “our always so independent, so composed newest addition… pretending to be helpless just for a sliver of attention.”

dazai reaches past you, lifting the half-finished report between two fingers. his eyes skim the page like it is some kind of performance. he already knows what it says. he probably knew it before you even typed it out.

“you wanna play dumb, huh?” he says, finally looking at you. his gaze is sharp, piercing. like he can read every secret you try to hide. “then i’ll gladly treat you like you’re dumb.”

“kneel.”

it isn’t an order shouted out loud. it is spoken low, languid, with the cool authority of someone who already knows they’ll be obeyed. he doesn’t force you. he doesn’t need to. it is all there in his voice, in his posture, in the very way he smiles down at you like a man who’s just checkmated someone three moves ago.

“let’s see if that mouth of yours is good for something other than pretending.”

your heart is beating faster in response to his words, and if it weren’t for dazai standing so close—close enough for you to feel him, smell him—you could swear this would be another one of your dreams. but it’s not. so you waste no time lowering yourself to your knees in front of him.

he watches you carefully, breath catching as your fingers work at the buckle of his belt. at least you know how to open this damn thing. otherwise, he might have started doubting if you really are pretending.

his cock twitches as soon as you free it from its confines. the tip is flushed, and he’s already leaking an embarrassing amount of precum. you drag your lips over the length of him, slow and deliberate, pressing a kiss to the vein running underneath before wrapping your mouth around the tip.

dazai bites down on his bottom lip, thighs tensing as he resists the urge to thrust his hips forward and bury himself deep in your throat. instead, he swallows the groan that’s about to escape his lips, reaching out to thread his fingers through your hair slowly, almost gently.

“what a pretty sight you are…” he breathes out, voice wavering ever so slightly. “need an explanation for that too? or should i show you instead?” his grip tightens just a bit as he guides your head forward, working his cock deeper past your lips.

your throat tightens around him, and you let out a sound that’s something between a choked moan and a whine. somehow, the way he speaks to you—gentle, but with that quiet condescension—makes you grow so much more desperate. your fingers dig into the bandages around his hips as you take him fully into your mouth, your lips flush to his pelvis.

he lets out something soft and shaky himself, head falling forward as he watches your throat struggle to adjust to him. his grip loosens, and he strokes your hair gently, silently beckoning you to look up at him. your lashes flutter as you meet his gaze, eyes wide and glassy with tears that roll steadily over your cheeks.

beautiful, he thinks hazily. but even dazai knows this is dangerous ground. if anyone were to see or hear you, you’d never hear the end of it.

he jerks forward suddenly, hips pushing in deeper. he hears you gag around him, more tears spilling as you let out a choked sob. his hand drops, and he caresses your cheek in apology, clumsily wiping away some of your tears.

the sight of you on your knees for him—tear-streaked, lips swollen and wet, jaw aching as you take him down your throat—is almost enough to send him spiraling over the edge. almost. eventually, you begin to move, each time taking him deeper. the wet sounds echo off the walls, making the moment feel that much more intense.

dazai is hardly able to muffle the moan that slips past his lips as the tight knot in his abdomen snaps. black dots blur his vision, and his eyes flutter shut momentarily as he takes a light step back. it’s almost too much for him. his whole body tenses as he cums down your throat, watching intently as you struggle to swallow everything.

“turns out you’re not as dumb as i thought,” he murmurs, lips brushing your ear. “maybe i should explain things to you more often, hm?”

it takes a minute for dazai to regain some semblance of control over himself. by the time he does, you’re standing on shaky legs and tucking his sensitive cock back into his pants. his hazy gaze focuses on your face once more. your lips are wet and swollen, and your eyes are still glassy. he wipes away the remaining tears before leaning in close again.

a faint smirk curls his mouth as he steps back, gaze sweeping over you like he’s still memorizing the moment. and right on cue, kunikida walks back into the office, punctual to the second as usual.

it shouldn’t surprise you. of course dazai kept track of the time. of course he knew. but somehow, that only makes it hotter.

it’s only when you’re fully upright that you realize just how wet you are and how worked up he’s left you.

how cruel of him, really… for not indulging your needs in return, even though you did such an amazing job.

↪thanks for reading! reblogs are appreciated! MLIST

copyright © mqdilen 2025 all rights reserved.

[arcanemarion]

Honestly, I think it's grounding when some of your favorite creators do put out work you don't particularly like every once in a while. Sure, it can be frustrating and annoying and disappointing, but to the tune of "I know you can do better so I'm still interested to see what else you got". And if they somehow don't get any better or make any more stuff that you like, well, you've still got that other thing - and frankly, it's perfectly natural and okay and dare I say it even good to move on and find something else.

It also helps you develop taste, preferences, and discernment as a consumer of art and media. Just because a creator put out something you really love doesn't oblige you to heap praise on everything they create, especially when it's mediocre or bad, and in fact being able to recognize that creators don't make good work 100% of the time is a good way to help keep you from putting them on unnecessarily high pedestals.

I can't help but wonder if people are sometimes hesitant to put out critiques of things because there's been this pervasive idea in fandom (all of them, everywhere) the past, idk, decade or so that if you're going to dislike something you have to do it on some kind of weird moral justification as part of your supporting arguments, and if you don't do that you leave yourself open to being called some kind of epithet based on whatever attributes of the thing or character you've dared to analyze (which isn't to say that people don't write shit analysis like that ever, because they do, but so often fans of said thing don't practice enough discernment or reading skills to actually be able to tell the difference, or flat out don't care, because how dare you not like their favorite and write about it on your own space) -- which is all to say, how many people have allowed themselves to not develop discernible taste or allowed themselves to avoid picking apart why they don't like x story element or y character or z trait because general consensus appears to be that unmoralized critique is "mean"?

Not everyone enjoys picking apart their reactions to media, or analyzing the elements in said media. Many people, especially these days, just want a break for their brain and to escape the world for a little while - and I get that, I really do. But I also believe that everyone needs to develop a baseline level of discernment that you can tune into every now and again to check your own biases, and any that are potentially being presented to you, whether in the media itself or in analyses. It's a good skill to have, and ever increasingly a necessary one, to look at something and ask yourself "what is this, what is it saying, who is saying it, and where does it come from?"

Being able to understand what drives your preferences helps you identify your own biases and blind spots, and makes you better equipped to recognize when something is actually fucked up instead of just meekly accepting everyone else's opinion. Then, you can decide for yourself how to engage with it. Not only does this help you find other things you are more likely to legitimately enjoy (taste), but can also help hone your instincts when something feels off (discernment).

[croquettish]

A Hans Capon Character Analysis

Part 2: Hans and Hanush

Continued from Part 1.

Hans' relationship with Hanush plays a considerable role in both games where Hans consistently tries to impress his uncle, but it isn't until KCD2 that this relationship (and the attempts to please) lead to a pretty blatant disillusionment with the nobility. Everything he learned, everything he ever thought he knew with complete and total certainty, ends up challenged in the face of the tremendous growth he experiences over the course of KCD2.

We'll start by talking about who Hans is as a person and where his personality and behaviors are coming from both before and after Henry meets him.

There's something to be said here about how growing up as part of the nobility is inherently dehumanizing and uniquely traumatizing, but I think for Hans in particular this is true. Even he realizes that his life had the potential of being just that little bit better had they been in the picture:

And let's be honest, even if it wouldn't have been better or different at all (let alone in any significant way), the fact is that Hans knows that something better could have been. It's even possible that he could have ended up with siblings to play with at some point! The idea of potential denied or just out of grasp for him is a theme that comes up quite frequently for him!

We know that Hans grew up under Hanush's tutelage if not in his love and affection. For Hans, that meant learning about how to govern a territory and learning to read and write, Latin and other languages included… but little else. I can say this with some amount of confidence because Hans wasn't taught social skills. At all. One of the most tragic visual examples of this comes from the meeting(s) at Raborsch. While Jobst makes his announcements, Hans is busy watching the other adults around him to see how they act and doing his best to mirror their behavior. This is heartbreaking.

@codeword-art made an amazing post recently about how incredibly lonely Hans is, and by god, they are correct. There are so many good points made in that post, many of which point to the fact that Hans has a LOT of learned behaviors. I've touched on this before in my Hanush meta, but @georgecostanzaatemysoup brought up the very good point that Hans most likely learned that negative behavior got him attention. But that's far from the only thing he's learned. As @codeword-art pointed out, Hans has learned that people treat him either like a "troublesome child" or like something precious to be protected. And when people default to treating him that way, even people who don't know him (!), he falls back into old habits. This is how life is, how life has always been, and how life will always be. The way Hans is treated has pretty directly affected and even shaped his personality.

This goes hand-in-hand with one of my all-time favorite meta posts in this entire fandom, which is this one by @antivanwine14. They make the incredible point that boar hunts were very social activities for nobles at the time. And that as soon as Hans finds his first actual friend in Henry he immediately goes to take him boar hunting. Hans has spent his entire life learning by watching and doing his best to echo what he sees.

You want to know where Hans got his personality from? I would bet good money that he saw the kind of commanding presence that his uncle bore and did his best to learn. Hanush is, in many ways, quite bratty himself. He's loud, boisterous, and gets what he wants. Hans got used to being called useless and did his best to be better. To be more like his uncle. Here's what Henry is told by the innkeep right before the boys start fighting:

Does that... remind you of anyone? Because it reminds me of Hanush!

Of course, that didn't get his uncle's approval either. So when that didn't work, he turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy. A kid can only be told he's a useless little waste of space so often before he starts to not only believe it in earnest but also leans into the suggestion.

@codeword-art made this point absolutely beautifully here as well where they talk about how people view him throughout Rattay and what sort of effect that would also have on him. In Hans' eyes, no one aside from Captain Bernard and Oats think he's worth anything. Yet that isn't even entirely true. When Henry is given the tour of Rattay by Nightingale, he ends up learning the following:

But there's no doubt in my mind that Hans isn't hearing "Hanush should hand over the fiefdom to you, my lord" but rather Nightingale's comment about how these people are fools. It's not surprising then that this fake persona that Hans projects is just a protective facade that he puts in place when he has to interact with the outside world.

Hanush shouldn't be part of that category, and yet he inevitably is because he pushes his nephew away emotionally at all times.

Need I remind you that when Henry goes to check on Hans at the beginning of Next to Godliness... this is how Hans responds:

Okay. Reread that.

Hanush. wouldn't. let. anyone. near him????????????

Like…… why?????? Hanush wouldn't let anyone near him except the priest who treated him like he was already dead???????? No doubt growing up in the castle must have felt a bit like being dead too! He cared about the friends he was drinking with the night he got in that fight with Henry so much that they literally never came up ever again. This boy was never socialized! He is so lonely he has no one to even spend time with, if Hanush would even let him! So whom does he even have to impress?

Hanush. Just Hanush.

And this comes up quite a lot.

Because he wants so badly to be loved by his uncle.

This is what really gets me in terms of his relationship to Hanush. Hanush is an objectively terrible parent. And even in spite of this Hans very clearly wants to categorize him as his uncle instead of just as his guardian, this far more personal thing, but still feels compelled to restrain himself from that in everyday conversation. Even if that conversation happens to be with the guy who is rapidly sliding into the position of Hans' best friend.

Moreover, we know that Hans calls him uncle when that isn't actually his role in Hans' life:

I've noticed that Henry does a lot of code-switching depending on whom he's speaking to. In a lot of ways, even despite the irreverence he exhibits at times he treats Hans much nicer than he does most people. The annoyance that comes up with others does not generally show up with Hans.

And there is a lot of variance in how Henry treats the people around him outside of that. He knows how to juggle the different worlds he traverses in his myriad social roles that he occupies simultaneously.

Meanwhile, Hans only has two settings: deep and vulnerable and personal... and everyone else.

Hanush sits pretty solidly in the latter category. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Henry's existence alone created the first category to begin with. Without him, it would not exist. Hans doesn't let down his walls until he meets Henry because he doesn't even know he has them.

Only at his most emotionally vulnerable, usually with the people he cares about most (and vice versa), does Hans open up. At the end of KCD2, while he's drinking with Godwin and lamenting the fact that his soulmate might die out there, we learn the truth of why he decided to take the message to Trosky to begin with:

I mentioned in part 1 of my analysis that he's talking about nobles as a whole here. If only he took the message to von Bergow, everyone would finally take him seriously and stop treating him like a child.

As he puts it when he meets Henry in front of his room at Suchdol:

But Hanush is at the heart of all of this.

Let's rewind a bit to KCD1 again.

I know we joke a fair amount about Clothes Make the Man and how quickly Hans starts throwing his gifting love language at Henry and latches onto him plus playing dress-up with Henry but there's a lot more going here.

The opening already gets me. It takes him 0.2 seconds to turn Henry into his emotional rock.

It's pretty transparent that this is at least in part about wanting to throw presents at Henry to make sure that he stays around (consider also the timing: he does this right before he knows they're both going to get a talking-to from his uncle... it's like he's trying to butter Henry up in advance of that meeting to make sure it doesn't freak him out. He didn't have to put Henry into his own clothes!!), but the fear of looking bad in front of Hanush isn't an excuse. That is a real fear here.

And we know these sorts of lectures are far from rare; if anything, they're a common occurrence!

So much so that it even comes up again in KCD2 where Brabant drops this line post-Maleshov:

Implying that Hans talked to Brabant quite a bit about his concerns regarding precisely this while they were both in captivity. This was clearly something that weighed on him heavily, so much so that Brabant remembered it well enough to bring up here!

This isn't particularly surprising. From the very beginning, he's genuinely invested in his uncle's opinion of him (not that that comes as much of a surprise) and ends up viewing the trip as a sort of test that he can either pass or fail:

If you look at his growth through that lens it is quite frankly heartbreaking to watch him go through all that he suffers.

At the tavern in Troskowitz, Henry suggests going back to Rattay, and Hans immediately shoots that down because they'd be a laughing stock and Hanush would never let him forget about his failure:

The fear here is net negative approval.

By the time the lads are riding out to deal with Nebakov, he's come to terms with the fact that this will right the initial wrongs and things will return to normal!

I think this is very telling. The best he's hoping for at this point is a net zero approval gain.

The prospect of Hanush having to pay a ransom for him briefly pops up while they're locked up at Nebakov. And then Godwin shows up, reminding him that he can't even deliver a letter. We're back to net negative approval.

Henry reminds him that it's fine! At least they're alive!

And then we're treated to a strangely somber look from Hans and silence, one that Henry also notices and responds to by trying to inject a spot of good news (their return to Rattay):

Hans knows how his uncle reacts to failure. Not just here, but in general. He's generally not given the chance to plead his case. Case in point? After Next to Godliness, he tries to explain the situation to his uncle:

And... Hanush doesn't believe him:

He knows that optics are everything here. If it looks like he fucked up, that's how it'll be taken. To that point, the night before Nebakov Hans points out to Henry that he suffered all of those situations just because he was "trying to do the responsible thing."

Okay, now we're getting somewhere! He's honestly been trying here, all for the benefit of his uncle. Henry can even ask if he isn't worried about Hanush will say, given that it's pretty obvious that that is precisely what he's worried about:

With that, we're back to net zero gain in approval. Which is quickly turned into a net negative again the day after when he's taken hostage. Again.

And then gets to spend at least a week (possibly several) thinking about how badly he fucked up and how much Hanush might have to pay in ransom to get him back. As we noted earlier, it's fairly obvious just how much Hans cares about that as per his conversation with Henry and Brabant after the escape from Maleshov:

At this point he tells his uncle that he fucked everything up (which just isn't fucking true, Hans, you are way too hard on yourself) and Hanush is quick to reassure him that it's fine:

Even he recognizes that Hans has grown at this point! Or... at least he says as much. I think this gave Hans a sliver of hope that he could actually earn his uncle's approval.

Of course, later on Hanush reveals how he really feels about the matter and this is, of course, what leads to the Devil's recommendation to just marry him off. My beloved mutual @audentesfortunaiuvattwrote an excellent post about how infuriating this whole conversation is, and I agree 100% with her argument and the follow-up.

Hans' real feelings on the matter are revealed after the announcement, only while he's absolutely sloshed:

Henry tries to point out to him later on after von Bergow's interrogation that he would have gotten Hanush's approval after his work at Maleshov, and it just...

... doesn't land. A part of me wonders if the announcement of the betrothal swept the rug so solidly out from under his feet that he lost any hope that he could have ever gotten his uncle's approval by his own merit. Which is also why he ends up sounding so resigned when he ends up talking to him later. Like he expected it to turn into an argument.

It's kind of heartbreaking to watch honestly. Because every time that Hanush is in the picture, you get to play witness to Hans grasping for his approval again with just that tiniest sliver of hope reawakening. While they're at Suchdol, that doesn't factor in at all. In this timeframe, Hans and Henry both exist in a space outside of society. As I stated in part 1, nobility and social stratification are meaningless in the face of, uh, hunger and despair. But as soon as Hanush returns, with him come the demands of the society around them.

All I see here is someone who desperately wants to impress his uncle. This is the sliver of hope.

Only for it to be promptly shattered into pieces.

And by the time of their end conversations, there's no repairing it anymore. Which is fucking tragic, because if you pay attention to Hanush, he clearly has no idea how to parent Hans. After giving Hans and Henry that lecture following Next to Godliness, this is his expression when Hans leaves:

These are two people that have spent their whole lives misunderstanding each other. Like, I truly believe that Hanush is doing what he thinks is best here (and, as I've said before, in many ways he's right! he's a great guardian, but he's a terrible parent; I go into that in more detail at the bottom of this post). In terms of being a good parent to Hans it just happens to be a sad miscalculation.

Part 3

[lullabyes22-blog]

Real talk because you are THE resident Silco expert and all your headcanons are 100% correct: why does fandom think Silco would be good in bed? (Or good at sex at all?)

I've seen headcanons about him being a giver, and about his dick game being fire, and while he's a sexy, charismatic man, I feel like he's too... selfish, insecure, and just not a romantic guy. He's also a very bitter, lonely, and angry dude. Idk, it makes sense he would have some kinks but I feel like he'd be too much of a bitch to care for anyone else in bed. I guess he'd want it rough, and I've read some fics where he's a sadist, but I feel like it'd just be a quick fuck to satisfy himself, not a slow, passionate, sensual thing.

idk, do with this what you will.

I agree - with nuance 💗

Silco - at least as I write him in FNF - is principally a headfuck. If he's demonstrating an interest in you, then he wants something from you. If he's nice to you, there's a bottom line. No act of generosity comes without strings attached, and every small kindness comes at a terrible price. That aspect of cold-blooded calculus is never far away from his base nature, which splits the world into assets and liabilities, and his own actions into a transaction of cost versus reward.

With that in mind, he excels, not at sex, but at getting his partners to do what he wants them to do. For him, it's one of the many fluid ways of expressing power, and demonstrating his mastery over the subtleties of the human body and mind.

A few readers have noticed that he comes across as very detached and controlled during FnF's sex scenes - and that they read as weirdly voyeuristic. That always delights me, because it's an intentional choice. He doesn't really see his partner as anything beyond a medium to his goals, so his focus is entirely on their physical responses and his own actions. His narration is distant, observational and impersonal, because he doesn't experience sex as something that involves an emotional or empathetic connection. Rather, he's gauging how his target's responses play out on a physical plane, and he's calibrating his own actions to maximise their impact.

To give credit where credit is due, he's very intelligent, patient and observant. There is also some realistic backing to the running gag that Good D is invariably attached to Bad Men. More specifically, Bad Broke Men. Silco has not grown up in a position of privilege or wealth. He has been forced to make use of every available resource. He has survived by the skin of his teeth on a constant knife edge of deprivation, hunger and fear.

He's a scrapper. He's a survivor. He's an opportunist.

And to be any of those things, you need to know your way around people: their wants and weaknesses. That's the foundation for the idea that he's good in bed - that he can anticipate his partner's desires, and respond accordingly. The difference is, his actions have no romantic underpinning. It's a matter of pure pragmatism and self-interest.

In terms of technical skill, he's likely very good at finding his partner's pressure points, both literal and figurative, and exploiting them. But if it were up to him, he'd find a way to turn the thumbscrews with nothing more than a well-chosen word and a cold look. The sex is just a generality, and his enjoyment a function of their compliance.

When it comes to actual intimacy?

My friends, he'd be spectacularly bad.

Not just bad, but skittish, hostile and hopelessly inept. He'd feel like an accomplished stage actor who has to step out onto the boards for an improv class. He hasn't got the right lines, he isn't dressed for the part, and he isn't even sure what role he's supposed to be playing. He'd be so awkward, he'd actually have trouble looking his partner in the eyes. The sum total of his sexual ouvre would devolve into the following comedy of errors:

"What the fuck is this?"

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Don't touch me there."

"This is going well, right?"

"Why can't I get it up?"

"I can't do this."

"Leave me alone."

"Where are you going?"

"Don't leave me."

"They always leave me."

"Why does everyone leave me?"

And he'd only spiral deeper into self-loathing and isolation. To submit to intimacy is to open oneself up to the mortifying ordeal of being known, and the constant risk of rejection. To Silco, it is anathema. Actual emotional vulnerability during sex would be not unlike attending his own public execution.

But.

Silco is not a one-note villain, much less a one-trick pony. He has a human history riven in deprivation, bloodshed and betrayal. He's remade himself from a 'weak' man into the premier kingpin of Zaun, but that predatory bracing still hides remnants of the soft-natured idealist he once was. In fact, he's the product of a deeply embedded internal conflict between two distinct versions of himself. The one who seeks to burn his enemies, and the one who seeks to save his city. He's also, as demonstrated by his love for Jinx, capable of profound devotion, loyalty, and a deep-seated longing for companionship.

That means the potential for romance exists. It's just buried deep, deep, deep down beneath years of abuse, neglect, trauma, and self-imposed barriers. If he meets someone who can dismantle those barriers, or bypass them altogether and earn his trust, there is a ray of hope.

Sex would still be frightening and uncomfortable, and it'd involve a lot of trial and error. But it'd also have the potential to be deeply healing. Not because Silco would become a better man, but because his partner would make him want to try. He'd also bring the same intense focus, intelligence, and determination to the task that he applies to his criminal empire - which means that, once he does have his sea legs, Silco would have the potential to become a truly giving lover.

It's all about context.

And the context is always: will he take the gamble when he has nothing to lose, and everything to gain?

[cressidagrey]

The Queen of Romantasy and the Race Car Prince - Chapter 15

Pairing: Lando Norris x Elizabeth "Lizzie" Treshton (Original Character)

Summary:

Elizabeth Treshton—bestselling romantasy author, queen of fae heartbreak, and sworn devotee of a carefully structured routine—never expected her service dog to abandon protocol and diagnose a Formula 1 driver with something. But that’s exactly what happens when Mara the wonder-dog ditches Lizzie’s side to aggressively alert to none other than Lando Norris in the middle of a coffee shop.

Warnings and Notes: 

Mention of epilepsy and service animals. I don't myself suffer from epilepsy, so I asked my IRL friend, who thankfully was nice enough to let me ask her all the questions I could come up with. The rest I asked Reddit. So everything that's wrong...that's totally my fault and not on purpose. Also Discussion of toxic media/fandom.

Also, this is the first time of me trying to write fake articles/transcripts...so be nice, please?

As always big thanks to @llirawolf , who listens to me ramble

Podcast Transcript: The Paddock Report

Episode Title: Silverstone Predictions & Paddock Whispers

Hosts: Jake Carter and Emma Turner

Jake:  Alright, moving on from the usual weekend predictions—there’s been a bit of... let’s call it energy coming from McLaren lately. Obviously, Silverstone is always a big one for the British drivers—Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, and of course, Lando Norris. But I have to say… there’s something going on at McLaren, and specifically with Lando, and they are being very tight-lipped about it.

Emma: Yeah, something is definitely brewing over there. And I’m not talking about car upgrades…There’s been this weird… I don’t know, energy? Around McLaren. Like, normally, they’re very open with their media content. They love a good teaser, they love stirring up excitement. But this time? It’s like they’re trying not to say something

Jake: Which, historically, means something is up. Because let’s be real, McLaren PR loves a good hype moment. But this? It’s different. They’re trying really hard to keep a lid on it.

Emma: And it’s not contract-related, as far as we know. Lando’s locked in. It’s not a last-minute driver swap. So, what are we thinking?

Jake: My money’s on a personal announcement.

Emma: Oh, absolutely. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a WAG situation.

Jake: You think Lando’s finally gone public with someone?

Emma: Maybe? Or at least, something’s happening where they know the media will ask about it, and they’re trying to get ahead of it.

Jake: Or, hear me out, it’s even bigger.

Emma: Like… marriage? A secret engagement? A baby?!

Jake: Okay, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Emma: All I’m saying is—McLaren never keeps things this quiet unless there’s something big brewing. And whatever it is, we’re going to find out very, very soon.

Jake: Exactly. Whatever’s happening, we’ll find out soon enough. But mark my words—Lando Norris is hiding something.

Max Fewtrell on Stream

Chat is an absolute disaster, filled with variations of “Max, spill” and “Lando girlfriend when???”

MaxFewtrell: You lot are relentless. Actually relentless. I should’ve put slow mode on.

Squints at the chat.

MaxFewtrell: "Max, we saw the dog." – Congrats, you have eyes. Very impressive.

MaxFewtrell: "He literally said 'my girlfriend’s dog' on stream, explain yourself." – Okay, first of all, I don’t have to explain anything. Second of all… yeah, that was funny.

Grins as chat goes feral.

MaxFewtrell: "So he DOES have a girlfriend??" – I mean, I’m not saying that. But I’m also not not saying that.

MaxFewtrell: "Hard launch when?" – You guys are so impatient, honestly. Maybe soon. Maybe this weekend. Maybe you should all stay very, very tuned.

Leans forward conspiratorially.

MaxFewtrell: But hey, I’m just some guy on Twitch. What do I know?

Elizabeth Treshton on Fantasy, Fame, and Finding Magic in the Real WorldBy Jolene Cooper

When Elizabeth Treshton first started writing Season of Fate, she had no audience in mind—just a story itching to be told.

“I was twenty, home from university for the summer, and just writing for fun,” she recalls. “I’d sit in my dad’s garden with a notebook, scribbling away, thinking maybe one day I’d finish something just for myself.”

That “something” became a literary sensation. The Seasons of Fate series has since sold millions of copies worldwide, with a devoted fanbase that dissects every detail, from character arcs to hidden lore. The upcoming film adaptation of A Spring of Secrets and Thorns has only heightened the excitement, turning Treshton into one of the most talked-about authors in romantasy today.

And yet, she still seems a little surprised by it all.

“I don’t think I ever fully processed how big it’s gotten,” she admits with a laugh. “Every time I see someone with my book, I have to resist the urge to ask if they’re enjoying it.”

The Unexpected Rise 

Treshton’s writing blends intricate world-building with deeply personal, emotionally charged relationships. Fans praise her for crafting characters who feel real—flawed, fierce, and achingly human, even in a world of magic and myths.

“I love that romantasy lets us explore relationships in heightened, dramatic ways,” she says. “It’s adventure and escapism, but at the core, it’s about love—whether that’s romantic, familial, or self-love. That’s what really draws people in.”

She credits her love of grand storytelling to her lifelong obsession with Formula 1, of all things. 

“I grew up watching F1,” she says. “My dad was a huge Ferrari fan, so I was basically raised on race weekends and heartbreak.” She grins. “I think that’s why I gravitate toward emotionally devastating storytelling.”

Writing While Living with Epilepsy

Treshton has been open about her journey with epilepsy, something she’s lived with since childhood. It’s a condition that affects her daily life, including her writing process.

“There are days when I can write 5,000 words without stopping,” she says. “And there are days when my brain just says, ‘Nope, not today.’”

She’s learned to listen to those limits. “For a long time, I thought I had to push through everything. But then I realized that rest is just as important as work.”

Her service dog, Mara, plays a huge role in maintaining that balance.

“She’s my shadow,” Treshton says, glancing down as Mara, a brown Labrador, dozes beside her. “She keeps me safe, but she also keeps me grounded. If I’ve been working too long, she’ll put her head on my laptop and sigh dramatically until I take a break.”

Mara has become a beloved fixture in the Season of Fate fandom, with fans drawing art of her as various mythical creatures from the books.

“I love that people adore her as much as I do,” Treshton says. “She deserves all the attention.”

A Love Story of Her Own

For someone who has built a career on writing sweeping, emotionally charged romances, Treshton has always been remarkably private about her own love life.

When asked if her stories are inspired by personal experience, she hesitates for a moment, then smiles.

“Not at first,” she admits. “I used to think love was something that only happened to other people. Not me.”

She pauses, a small, knowing smile playing at her lips. “Turns out, I was wrong about that.”

It’s the kind of answer that will undoubtedly send fans into a frenzy, but she offers no further details. Just a quiet acknowledgment that, for all the fantasy she’s written, real life has its own magic too.

What’s Next?

With A Winter of Ash and Starligh, the final installment of Season of Fate, set to release later this year, and the movie adaptation moving forward, Treshton’s world is only getting bigger.

“I’m excited,” she says. “A little terrified, but mostly excited.”

And as for what comes after that?

She grins. “I guess we’ll see.”

[sitp-recs]

re - your last post, as a writer i find that to be an absurd take. people who write exclusively for validation probably shouldn't. if discovering your work is enjoyed and loved - just privately - is a dealbreaker for you, i think there are probably bigger issues that need to be worked through. the idea that we write fic for free and yet this discussion about "payment" through kudos/comments persists is so backwards and obnoxious.

sorry to tag you on this, obv you have nothing to do with op, but i just wanted to say - as a writer recs are a HUGE deal. to know that you liked something enough to share it with others is the biggest compliment for me personally. thanks for doing what you do.

I’m happy you reached out because this is a really interesting perspective. I definitely see increased messaging around comments = payment that pressures readers into thinking they are required to leave comments, and I agree that there are many layers to this convo that point out to a not-so-healthy relationship with fandom.

I find it hard to join this discussion not being an author myself, because I only have the privileged perspective. I understand how important feedback can be to boost newcomers and those who don’t feel part of the community. We all deal with insecurity in different ways and it’s hard to navigate a big fandom when you don’t have a group of friends to rely on. In the end the fandom experience is about a sense of belonging and it saddens me to realize that I might be part of the problem since my recs can only reach Tumblr and my ao3 comments are far and few in between.

It’s funny because my blog has always targeted other readers: at the beginning I didn’t even tag authors and did not expect them to find or engage with my posts. Over the years the recs became more and more personal, until I realized I was writing them for myself. Sure, they are love letters to the fic and might help more people find them, but at the end of the day this is my little therapy corner where I can let go and babble around to my heart’s content 🙏🏼 I’ve always been proud of this blog and seeing that post gave me mixed feelings about it for the first time, so thank you for your message!

Again, I think this discussion has many layers and I’m a bit wary to get involved being a reader, but I’d be curious to see how others feel about it…