#plant daddies

[respectthepetty]

So much to write about from the second episode of Love is Better the Second Time Around because the boys kept up the dark x light dynamic.

But love entered the mix!

Because Hiro tried to use his girlfriend to replace Takashi, not only in love, but also in color. She is now the dark to his light, but thankfully, she swiftly rejects him.

So he calls the actual yin to his yang.

But unlike before with his girlfriend, the lighting is muted on Hiro's side,

Yet lit up on Takashi's side.

But also, instead of being across from each other like Hiro was with his girlfriend, and formally with Takashi in their previous confrontation about Takashi's recklessness with Hiro's feelings,

Takashi is right next to Hiro.

And tells Hiro that he will take responsibility for his feelings by basically proposing to him, which was the original purpose of this entire dinner with Hiro's girlfriend - taking responsibility for feelings and making a commitment.

Hiro is not keen on this idea and the colors around them dull even more.

So Hiro leaves, and Takashi is left to now take the place of Hiro in the seat of rejection.

But Hiro wasn't the only one try to fill the spot of his former love with another person. Takashi also tried to find the yang to his yin.

So after reinforcing that there is only ONE light to his dark, he tricks Hiro into experiencing several dates with him so they can further examine their light x dark color scheme.

But also so Takashi can put the love color back between them by being a true plant daddy: Red poinsettias symbolize good will, hopes for success, and sacrifice.

Red roses represent deep love and passion.

Oh, and the tea colors remind me of another plant daddy trying to win his man over with trickery!

Hidden Agenda's Joke and Zo:

Yellow chrysanthemum, the tea Zo drank and possibly the one Hiro has, represents slighted or neglected love and the taste of its tea is sweet.

And red roselle (or hibiscus), the juice Joke drinks and possibly the one Takashi is drinking, represents romantic love or passion and the taste of its juice is sour.

So yeah, Hiro is still feeling the previous rejection with his lightness, while Takisha is deeply in love in his darkness.

Excellent.

[lilyginnyblackv2]

PLANT DADDIES!

The parallels with Tiger & Bunny continue to grow!  😤

Interestingly though, this is likely because of the Pandemic. During the height of the Pandemic, Japan, like many other places in the world, saw an increase in people buying and caring for plants and flowers. 

(The site won’t let me copy and paste the text, but I will link to it in the comments.)

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Vico Ortiz (Jim from Our Flag Means Death) cosplaying Crowley!!! 😍❤

[lxvvie]

Plant Parenthood with Simon Riley:

When you first spent the night, you expected Simon's place to be minimalistic—not too fussy, bare, with only the necessities. You didn't expect a place flooded with natural light, strategically placed and well-taken care of potted plants, and cozy furniture. It's actually kinda boho-esque. Very much... not him.

Of course, this being Simon, he lives for the shock value. He wouldn't be him if he didn't. So while you're busy trying to stop gaping because holy shit, Simon's a Plant Dad, he's telling you to make yourself comfortable while he puts his stuff away. With a smirk on his face. Cheeky bastard.

When you woke up the next morning, all you could do was stare rather dreamily as your giant armored teddy bear of a man, wearing nothing but a pair of grey sweats (oh, what a sight ❤️), went about the living room spraying and watering his plants. And he's so careful with 'em, too. You were broken out of your reverie by the kettle whistling and Simon looking up and mumbling, "Mornin', sweetheart." Oh, you're in love love, now.

When you work up the courage, you ask him about his plants. You find out he took up the hobby after a particularly bad deployment, and it's one of the few that's stuck with him ever since. He buys one every time he comes home. Didn't imagine him having a green thumb but it's absolutely adorable. He's even named them.

You meet Simon's pride and joy, a bountiful Night Sky petunia plant named... Petunia. They're tricky little things, but Simon's up for the challenge, and the time it takes to care for them and his other plants does him a hell of a world of good; it's much better than thinking about all the gruesome shit he'll deal with on the next deployment.

When he does deploy on his latest mission, you promise to look after his babies. Simon's good at giving detailed instructions and whenever you two talk, you make it a point to let him know how they're doing. Simon even tells you the next plant he's thinking about getting when this deployment finishes. Sure thing, Si-bear.

And when he comes home, you surprise him. There, sitting on his window sill is that very same plant he's talked about getting, and yeah, Simon's in love love, now. "Meet Alfie. Thought you might like the name." And he chuckles. You wrap an arm around his waist and he drapes his over your shoulders. Alfie, huh? Not bad, sweetheart. Not bad at all.

Pretty soon, he's gonna need a bigger space for all his plant babies. And for you. Most definitely for you. Yeah, he said it, sweetheart. You started something here. Gotta deal with the consequences.

[spicycinnabun]

“Steve, something is wrong with Christofern!” Eddie entered Steve’s room, cradling the potted plant in his arms.

He’d come home after work, ready to greet his bud-dy, but one look at him had made Eddie gasp. His leaves were shriveled up like sad little green raisins. Usually, they were puffed up like oversized Rice Krispies.

Christofern had been Robin’s, originally. It had been in a very sorry state on her windowsill before she’d left for college—a lot worse than it looked now, under Eddie’s care, thank you—and she’d told him, “I honestly can’t stand the thing. You keep it. It sheds worse than my aunt’s Great Pyrenees, and I’m tired of vacuuming. Just don’t throw it out, or Steve might murder you.”

And that had been that.

Christofern didn’t look like a typical house plant. He wasn’t a fern, which Steve kept reminding him. Steve was more practical. He didn’t give his plants names but called them by their designated labels.

Christofern was a Donkey’s Tail, or sedum morganianum, part of the succulent family. That term meant absolutely nothing to Eddie unless it was referring to a big bowl of pasta—he had no idea there was a whole plant category called delicious.

“But maybe he wants to be a fern, Steven,” he’d argued. “Ever thought of that? He doesn’t have to be a succulent just because he was assigned so at birth.”

“You’re fucking ridiculous,” had been Steve’s reply.

At first, Eddie had enlisted Steve’s help purely because he’d wanted his attention, and talking about plants was an easy as hell way to get Steve’s attention. Steve was a very passionate plant dad. But later, Eddie grew to love Christofern, and the trials and tribulations of learning how to care for him were almost like raising his own child.

Christofern had not just one but seven long, thickly spiked green tails. Seven tails. He reminded Eddie of a mutated dragon. He was adorable but occasionally grumpy and high-maintenance, like a certain someone Eddie knew. (Perhaps Christofern was more of a prince than a dragon—a dragon prince?)

If he didn’t get enough sunlight, his leaves shed, and he wilted. If he wasn’t rotated daily, he got yellow and sunburnt. And if he didn’t get enough water…

“I swear I watered him... uh, recently.” When had Eddie last watered him? Not the day before, but maybe Wednesday? Or had it been Tuesday? Shit. Eddie pouted. “I just gave him a drink now, anyway. It’s not too late, is it, Doctor Steve?”

He clasped his hands and watched Steve’s attentive eyes rove over his plant, waiting for the diagnosis.

“Eddie, how could you neglect Christofern like this? I should call Plant Protective Services.” Steve grabbed his hand, startling Eddie and his overactive heartbeat.

He took Eddie’s index finger and pushed it into Christofern’s soil right down to his second knuckle. It felt inappropriate. Eddie made a noise, appalled. “Steven, why are you making me violate Christofern?”

Steve ignored him. “What do you feel? The soil is soaked down there, isn’t it?”

Eddie wiggled his finger. It felt goopy. “Yes,” he admitted.

“You’ve overwatered it,” Steve chastised. “Now, the leaves might rot instead of rehydrating themselves. You’ve got to make sure you don’t drown it. Christofern only needs a moderate amount of water every two weeks, okay?”

“Okay,” Eddie said meekly. “I’m sorry, Christofern.”

Steve pulled his finger out of the soil and gave him a look bordering on amusement. “Leave him with me for a few days, and I’ll get him back to where he should be.”

“Thank you, Doctor Steve. How can I ever repay you?” Eddie imagined repaying Steve with his mouth, his tongue, his hands (after he washed the soil off)…

“You can clean the bathroom,” Steve said.

Eddie’s fantasy shattered. He whined. “Does it have to be that?”

“Yup.”

“Damn it, Steve, just make me suck your dick next time,” Eddie grumbled on his way out.

He missed the way Steve’s jaw dropped.

[7cfc00]

home is where the heart is (and yours is gone)

[respectthepetty]

Plant Daddies - Episode 3

This isn't about colors. This is about the Triangular Theory of Love in Hidden Agenda, but it's like lasagna; it has layers. Tee, is this about Step by Step?!

I wrote about plant symbolism in Hidden Agenda in Plant Daddies at Tea Time:

Yellow Chrysanthemum, the tea Zo drinks, represents slighted or neglected love and the taste of its tea is sweet.

And Red Roselle, the juice Joke drinks, represents romantic love or passion and the taste of its juice is sour.

The boys stick to those drinks.

But this week they switched without any comment.

Also, Zo told two stories this week from his Legends of Love book:

Red Roses get their color from the blood of Adonis mixing with the tears of Aphrodite seeping into the ground which caused the roses to change from white to red.

Yellow Sunflowers exist because Clytie fell in love with the sun god, Apollo, so when he left her, she looked at the sun so long that she grew roots and turned into a sunflower.

Both stories deal with a person losing the person she loves. However, the roses story is about love being taken away, and the sunflower story is about love leaving. Also, Zo stated he would cry if he lost his love, while Joke stated he wouldn't leave that person in the first place.

Yet Nita's take on the story is to move on from the past and find someone else.

Once again, this isn't about colors, but we now have two separate occasions where plants/flowers are included in the narrative, and those items are color-coded yellow and red, which only adds to the way we are seeing those colors pop up in the show with a third color.

I mentioned in the Plant Daddies at Tea Time post that primary colors seem to be intentional in the show because this episode, the only colored clothing Joke handed Zo when they were shopping was yellow.

Yet by the end, Zo was in blue with his yellow backpack.

So what does this have to do with the Triangular Theory of Love?

Well, all things come in threes:

The Primary Colors:

Red

Yellow

Blue

These are the basic colors needed to make all other colors; therefore, all colors start from these three, and all colors stem from these three colors.

The Love Triangle:

Joke likes Zo.

Zo likes Nita.

Nita likes Joke?

Issue - We don't know if Nita does still have feelings for Joke because her response to the story seemed as if she would get over Joke.

The Dating Rules:

Rule #1 - Do not gawk at your love interest.

Rule #2 - Ease into it. Don't rush. Oh, AND CONSENT!

Rule #3 - Do whatever Joke says.

Rule #3 - Stay true to yourself starting with the first date.

Issue - Joke seems to have problems sticking to his own rules.

The Triangular Theory of Love:

"It breaks down love into three components."

Passion - Zo is passionate about pursuing Nita.

Intimacy - Joke tells Zo he must ask Nita out to build this.

Commitment - And once they begin to date, this will evolve.

Issue - Zo already notices his heart isn't fluttering around Nita the way he thought it would, yet his heart seems to be doing something around Joke, which is maybe why Joke continues to advise Zo to do some self-reflection and try new things.

Because just like Khai and Third in the correctly titled Theory of Love, this process isn't just for Zo, but Joke:

Passion - Joke is passionate about getting Zo by any means necessary.

Commitment - Joke is committed to this bit, he made Zo give him explicit promises (to work together, to help him get in the debate team), and he already stated he would be committed in a relationship during their story time.

Intimacy - This is what Joke is lacking, which is why he developed this huge scheme to get Zo to spend more time with him.

The Balance:

Is this a story about finding the middle ground between two extremes?

So far, we have a story about Joke, a passionate guy who drinks sour red roselle juice and openly admits to being aggressive about love like the thorns of a rose, trying to develop intimacy with a boy who drinks sweet yellow chrysanthemum tea and says he would just stare at what he can't have than go after it like a sunflower in order to show his commitment . . .

Then both of these boys need each other to find that balance between their two ways of loving.

Joke has launched in elaborate plan to get Zo while Zo was willing to admire Nita from a distance for the rest of his life. Zo can't just stare at his crush (Rule #1), and Joke can't rush into things (Rule #2), yet neither has been truly themself from the start to get the other person (Rule #3).

In order to make this work:

Joke needs to learn sweet intimacy.

And Zo needs to understand burning passion.

So they can find a balance and be able to commit to each other when the time comes.

And maybe that will help their friends find a good balance between the secrets they hide in the dark and the looks they give in the light.

And maybe even rethink how they see things so they can find new meaning in what has been in front of them the entire time.

Because that look was more than what Kot said. Right?

[dipperscavern]

just rewatched season 2 episode 10 of suits and all i can think of is getting stoned with harvey 🫠

U ARE ME I AM YOU WTF I WAS JUST

seeing him light that blunt just. changed my brain chemistry.

just thinking about blowing off some steam w harvey. seeing the contours of his jaw define & the veins on his hands become visible as he puts the blunt between his lips, raising a lighter to it.

you pass it back and forth, until you start to feel all warm and fuzzy — and you begin to notice how comfortable his lap looks. downright inviting.

it’s not just you, though. harvey can’t keep his eyes off you, and the small distance between your places on the couch is the only reason harvey is keeping his hands off you.

you both have been sickeningly in love with each other for a while now, aggravating everyone around you with the way you both refuse to confess. the both of you have an annoying amount of self control, and maybe you just need an opportunity to let that slip. a final push over the edge.

you’re gorgeous. harvey can feel his self restrain slipping. you’re staring up at him with those eyes of yours.

“You’re so pretty.”

harvey gives himself credit for how long he held back. but damn, you should really watch that mouth of yours.

he’s almost embarrassed with how fast he leans forward (no he’s not), hand coming to cradle your jaw as his lips connect with yours. your hazy state of mind amplifies everything by 100%, and you don’t think you’ve ever felt anything so good. you weren’t harvey’s first kiss, but god-damn does he want you to be his last.

(i am 100% writing a full on lil thing to this in the morning)

[jeallyjam]

I indeed grew these plants myself.

[tampire]

Wise words from Clarke Kent

[teaforqne]

Me girl-blogging about Led Zeppelin everyday like it's my paid job

[bayleysblog]

❤️

[spicycinnabun]

another ficlet from the same verse as i’m sorry, christofern 🪴

~

Eddie unbuttoned the top two buttons of his dress shirt. He couldn’t breathe. The waiter was sneering down at him—at his piercings, tattoos, fingernails blackened with polish and chipping. He didn’t belong at this fine establishment, and it was noticeable to everyone.

The piano man was going to town playing a Beethoven Sonata near their table, and Eddie was this close to shoving him off the bench and showing him how to play some real fucking music.

But Steve was also sitting across from him, looking suave with his hair combed back like an old Hollywood movie star. He was beaming at Eddie, and Eddie was helpless to it.

Even if the menu was giving him a goddamn heart attack, and he was trying not to keel over behind it as Steve ordered the lobster bisque—to start.

Eddie ordered the garden salad.

Steve gave him a weird look. “You sure that's what you want? I thought you didn't like salad.”

“I’m sure,” Eddie said. The salad wouldn't demolish his wallet like any of the things that actually sounded good. “I’m turning over a new leaf. Eating healthier.”

“Uh-huh. You’re already as skinny as a string bean. I don't think you need to eat healthier. You probably need to eat more."

“No can do. I’ve become a slut for vegetables.” Eddie grinned. It was maniacal. “Can't resist a big, juicy cucumber in my mouth.”

The waiter left, looking deeply disturbed, and Steve kicked him under the table, blushing. “Eddie! Jesus.”

“What? Can't a man freely express his joy for deepthroating gourds?”

Steve choked on his water, putting the glass down hastily as he coughed. “You’re such a…” He didn't finish that sentence, but Eddie could fill in the blank.

💚🌱🌿💚

Their first course came, and Eddie pretended to like his salad.

“Yeah, you really look like you're into that,” Steve said, stirring his soup.

Eddie swallowed hard. “It’s absolutely succulent, Steven, thank you.”

He absolutely hated it. The slimy vinaigrette, too.

“Oh, man. Look at that string of pearls,” Steve said, letting it go as he pointed over Eddie’s shoulder. “I’d like one of those.”

Usually, Eddie was the one lacking manners. “Kinda rude to point at people, baby.”

Also, pearls? Eddie was going to be in the red right after this dinner. He hoped Steve wasn’t expecting those any time soon.

Steve laughed, dropping his hand on the table. “No, I’m not. Look.”

Eddie turned in his chair, then groaned in realization when he saw what was hanging from the ceiling.

Steve wasn’t pointing at some woman wearing a pearl necklace. He was geeking out over a fucking plant. Even in public, he was a devoted plant daddy.

“We can get you one of those,” Eddie told him. Steve wanted a pearl plant? Done.

Steve leaned back in his seat, assessing him with his warm brown gaze. Eddie tried not to squirm. “What?”

“You don't like it here.”

Eddie balked. “I like it fine—” he started, then deflated a little under Steve’s skeptical eyebrow quirk. “Okay, I don't like it here. But you do, right?”

“It actually kinda reminds me of my parents.” Steve’s nose wrinkled. “I just wanted to have a good time with you and treat you to something special, but it backfired on me.”

Oh. Hell.

“Hey, it didn't backfire, sweetheart,” Eddie told him, voice low. His hand twitched. He wanted to reach across the table for Steve’s but knew he couldn’t—especially not here. Here, they were no more than friends.

“You wanna ditch and go get a pizza?” Steve asked, nails scratching along the crisp white tablecloth like he was thinking the same thing. “We can catch the next creature feature at the drive-in. Eat on the hood of my car?”

Eddie sighed, feeling his entire self relax. “Oh fuck yes, please. Let’s go.”

They grinned at each other and got up, slinging on their coats. They paid for their half-eaten meals. Neither of them tipped the snooty waiter.

Steve caught his hand in the parking lot as they walked to his car. It was risky, but the walk was less than a minute. They linked fingers.

[respectthepetty]

And now we are just casually looking at and holding the plant that Qian took care of while Yuan was gone.

That's cool. I didn't need my sanity today.

[keenblazesheep]