#probably my favorite friendship on tv like ever

[yourmomsawh0r3]

First of all i want to THANK YOU for writing for Marcello Hernandez!😩😍

I would like to request a smut for him!! Maybe one where him and reader are co stars or they have been friends for a while (you can decide!) and there has always been alot of sexual tension, constant flirting, ect. And one night they are hanging out and they can’t contain themselves any longer and they fully go at it and admit their feelings!!?? You can make it as dirty as you want (plz) 😜

i love this!! your wish is my command 🫶🏼✨

More than friends

pairing: marcello hernandez x f! reader

warnings: nsfw, 18+

You and Marcello had been friends for what felt like forever. Ever since those early days of struggling to break into the industry, auditioning at every opportunity, and scraping by on whatever you could afford, you’d had each other’s backs. He’d been your partner in crime for late-night rehearsals and spontaneous adventures, laughing his way through awkward moments and celebrating every win, big or small. There was something undeniably special between you, an ease and chemistry that everyone seemed to notice even if you both stubbornly ignored it. Every time he looked at you with that smirk, brushed your hand a bit too long, or made a joke that danced on the line between teasing and flirtation, you’d pretend it didn’t make your heart race.

When the two of you finally landed roles on the same show, it felt like fate had pushed you even closer. Your friendship quickly evolved into constant on-set banter, inside jokes, and long evenings spent running lines over takeout dinners. But lately, things had shifted. Marcello’s looks lingered, his touches felt heavier, and the tension that had always been there was now impossible to ignore. He’d laugh about it, make a playful comment when he caught you staring, but you could tell there was something deeper behind his words.

Tonight, the two of you were decompressing at your place after a long week. Marcello had brought over a bottle of wine, and you’d picked up a pile of wings from your favorite local spot. It was like every other night—yet completely different. From the moment you poured the wine, the unspoken attraction between you simmered under the surface, adding weight to every glance and touch.

After a few glasses, you were both feeling tipsy and a bit bolder, laughing at each other’s jokes louder, leaning a little closer. Marcello’s arm rested along the back of the couch, his fingers lightly grazing your shoulder. You leaned back into him, letting yourself enjoy the warmth of his arm around you, wondering if tonight might finally be the night that all that tension boiled over.

Marcello grinned at you, his eyes dark with something playful, something dangerous. “You know,” he said, voice low, “I think we’re probably the most convincing fake couple on TV. Don’t you think?”

You laughed, brushing off the heat that rose to your cheeks. “Well, maybe it’s because I’m such a good actress.”

“Maybe,” he replied, leaning in until his face was inches from yours, “or maybe it’s because you make it so easy to pretend.” His voice softened, and his gaze lingered on your lips, his words hanging in the air.

The laughter faded as you locked eyes, the space between you shrinking. “Marcello… I think we’ve been pretending for way too long,” you whispered, the truth slipping out before you could stop it.

His hand slid up to cup your face, thumb grazing over your cheek, his touch warm and electric. “What if we stop pretending?” he murmured, his voice rough.

Without waiting for an answer, he leaned in, capturing your lips in a kiss that was both tender and intense, like he’d been holding himself back for years. His other hand moved to your waist, pulling you against him, and you felt every inch of his body pressed against yours. The wine and the years of unspoken feelings blurred everything else as the kiss deepened, turning urgent and needy.

Between breaths, you whispered, “Marcello… we’ve waited long enough.”

That was all it took. He scooped you up, guiding you back toward the couch, his hands exploring as if he were afraid to waste another moment. The heat between you was intoxicating, fueled by the wine and the feeling of finally letting go. His lips traced a path down your neck, his touch igniting every part of you. Your fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer as he pressed you into the couch, both of you lost in the moment you’d been waiting for.

In the early hours of the morning, as you lay tangled in each other’s arms, Marcello ran his fingers through your hair, his face softening with a look you’d never seen before. “I don’t want this to be just tonight,” he whispered, voice still thick with emotion. “I want us… for real.”

A smile spread across your lips, and you reached up, brushing a hand along his jaw. “I’ve been waiting for you to say that.”

As the wine settled warmly between you, the banter that had once felt light-hearted became increasingly intense. You and Marcello were leaning into each other on the couch, laughter giving way to long, heated glances and lingering touches. Your hand rested on his thigh, your fingers tracing small circles there, and his gaze flickered down, darkening.

Without another word, he closed the gap between you, his lips meeting yours in a kiss that was instantly deep, heated, and overwhelming. His hands were everywhere, moving from your waist to your hips, pulling you into him as you let yourself melt against his body, years of tension breaking free in a moment. His fingers brushed up your back, sending shivers through you as he pulled you onto his lap, his mouth never leaving yours.

Your legs straddled his hips as his hands slipped under your shirt, fingertips grazing your skin with a touch that was both rough and tender. “God, I’ve been wanting this for so long,” he whispered against your lips, his voice low and filled with need. His mouth moved to your neck, kissing and biting gently, making you gasp as he left a trail of heat along your skin.

You tugged at his shirt, pulling it over his head, your hands roaming over the warm skin of his shoulders and chest. You could feel his heartbeat under your fingers, fast and steady as his hands slipped under your own shirt, pulling it off in one smooth motion. He paused, taking you in, his eyes filled with admiration and desire that made your cheeks flush.

“Do you know how beautiful you are?” he murmured, his hands cupping your face before trailing down, fingers grazing your skin, igniting every inch they touched.

You leaned in, capturing his mouth with yours, your kisses growing more feverish as your bodies pressed together. Marcello’s hands moved to your hips, lifting you slightly as he leaned you back against the couch, his body settling above you. His hands slid down, hooking into the waistband of your pants, and he looked up, seeking permission in his eyes.

Breathless, you nodded, your heart racing as he slowly tugged them down, his hands exploring every inch of bare skin as he went. The intensity of his gaze made you feel like you were the only person in the world, his touch leaving a trail of heat that made you shiver.

He paused, his eyes raking over you with a hunger that made your pulse quicken. “I don’t think I can hold back anymore,” he admitted, his voice rough.

“Then don’t,” you whispered, your hands pulling him closer, desperate to feel him, to be closer to him than ever before. Marcello’s lips were on you again, moving down your body in a series of slow, lingering kisses. Every brush of his mouth felt deliberate, as though he wanted to memorize every inch of you.

Marcello's touch was electric as his hands glided down your body, fingertips tracing every curve. You trembled with anticipation, aching to feel his mouth on you. Slowly, deliberately, he sank to his knees, his eyes locked with yours, dark with desire.

Your breath hitched as his lips brushed against the delicate skin of your inner thighs, his tongue darting out to taste you. A low groan escaped him, vibrating against your flesh. "You taste so sweet," he murmured, the words sending a shiver through you.

Without warning, his mouth closed over your most sensitive spot, his tongue swirling and lapping, sending shocks of pleasure through your body. You cried out, fingers tangling in his hair, holding him to you as he worked relentlessly, every stroke of his tongue pulling you closer to the edge.

The noises you made only spurred him on, his enthusiasm matching your own growing need. He hummed against you, the vibrations making your hips buck, chasing the sensation. Marcello's hands gripped your thighs, holding you in place as he licked and sucked, lapping up every drop of your arousal.

"Marcello, please," you gasped, your voice ragged with want. "I need you."

He pulled back just enough to meet your gaze, his eyes dark and hooded. "Not yet," he growled, diving back in, his tongue delving deep, his fingers joining the onslaught of sensation.

You cried out, your body tightening with the approaching wave of ecstasy. Marcello kept up his relentless pace, his touch firm and unyielding, until finally, you shattered, your orgasm washing over you in crashing waves.

Marcello kept his mouth on you, gentling his movements as you came down from your high. Slowly, he pulled away, his lips glistening with your arousal. He gazed up at you, eyes hooded and dark with desire.

"Magnificent," he murmured, his voice low and ragged. He rose to his feet, crowding into your space, his large frame towering over you. His hand cupped your cheek, thumb brushing over your swollen lips. "I want to savor every inch of you."

His mouth crashed down on yours, the kiss fierce and possessive. You melted into him, clutching at his shoulders as his tongue swept into your mouth. A needy whimper escaped you, and Marcello growled in response, pulling you flush against him.

His hands skimmed down your sides, grip bruising as he palmed your backside, grinding his hips against yours. You could feel the hard length of him pressing against your belly, and the knowledge that he wanted you so desperately sent a thrill through you.

Panting, he tore his mouth from yours, dragging his lips along your jaw to nip at your earlobe he moans in your ear.

Marcello's eyes darkened with barely restrained desire as he gazed down at you. With agonizing slowness, he positioned himself at your entrance, the tip of his throbbing length teasing your slick folds.

"You feel so good, y/n," he breathed, his voice thick with want. Inch by agonizing inch, he pushed forward, stretching and filling you until he was buried to the hilt. A shuddering gasp escaped you at the delicious sensation of being so completely joined.

But just as quickly, he began to withdraw, eliciting a desperate whine from you. "Marc,please..." you begged, hips canting upwards, seeking to keep him inside.

A low chuckle rumbled in his chest. "Patience, my love," he purred, the words barely audible as he surged forward again, hilting himself with a sharp snap of his hips.

You cried out, nails digging into his back as wave after wave of pleasure crashed through you. Marcello set a maddening pace, pulling out until just the tip remained, then driving back in with bruising force.

The bed creaked beneath you, the only sound besides your ragged gasps and his guttural groans. He possessed you completely, claiming every inch of your body as his own. And you welcomed it, reveling in the intoxicating feel of him moving inside you.

"Marcello!" you keened, the coil of pleasure tightening with every thrust. He swallowed your cries with a hungry kiss, his tongue plundering your mouth in time with the snap of his hips marcello cums inside you.

Afterward, as you lay tangled together, breathing in sync, Marcello brushed a strand of hair from your face, his gaze soft and vulnerable. He kissed you gently, his thumb tracing lazy circles on your cheek as he whispered, “I don’t want this to ever end.”

You smiled, pulling him close again, knowing that after all these years, you’d finally found what you’d both been searching for.

[imsuperhungry]

​🇫​​🇦​​🇮​​🇱​​🇺​​🇷​​🇪​

ʸᵒᵘ ˢᵃʸ "ᵗᵒᵒ ˡᵃᵗᵉ ᵗᵒ ˢᵗᵃʳᵗ, ᵍᵒᵗ ʸᵒᵘʳ ʰᵉᵃʳᵗ ⁱⁿ ᵃ ʰᵉᵃᵈˡᵒᶜᵏ" ᴵ ᵈᵒⁿ'ᵗ ᵇᵉˡⁱᵉᵛᵉ ᵃⁿʸ ᵒᶠ ⁱᵗ

⊹ ࣪ ﹏𓊝﹏𓂁﹏⊹ ࣪ ˖

001

"Yesss, work it, Daisuke!" you squeal, dissolving into giggles. Daisuke, draped in his older sister's shimmering prom dress, gleams under the soft glow of his bedroom light, the sequins catching every flicker like little stars in a galaxy. You insisted that, if he truly wanted to claim "baddie" status—his words, not yours—he had to accessorize with the pearl earrings and matching bracelets his sister had left behind. They were practically a requirement, after all.

He strutted across the room, attempting his best catwalk, striking poses like he was a Victoria's Secret Angel. This felt like his new identity, and not the loser 19 year old who begged you to play apex trios with him.

"My catwalk's flawless, huh?" he says, kicking one leg in front of the other with exaggerated flair, dramatically swaying his hips like someone fresh out of a questionable hip surgery rather than Shalom Harlow. As he struts toward the mirror, he pretends to wipe away an imaginary smudge of lipstick, then bites his lip and squints his eyes, critically evaluating his reflection like a true fashionista—or so he’d like to think.

"Hell yes," you reply, though hell no is what you really want to say. A soft, stifled giggle escapes you, lingering for a moment before you shake your head at his utterly ridiculous antics. With a small sigh, you turn your attention back to the glowing TV screen in front of you.

It played a Pokémon card unboxing video, something Daisuke had begged you to watch with him. He was such a geek about it—not that you could judge, considering you were just as bad. Maybe that shared nerdy enthusiasm was why the two of you had stayed inseparable ever since you were five.

You remember the day you met him like it was yesterday, a memory so sweet it still warms your heart. He walked past you in kindergarten, proudly wearing a Sonic shirt that immediately caught your eye. There was something magnetic about him—his pure, unassuming aura had a way of drawing people in, making them either wish to be him or to be near him. You remember the moment you saw it—you thought, oh, hell yeah. That Sonic shirt sealed the deal; you just *had* to be his friend.

You’d walked over to where he was sitting at lunch and complimented his shirt. His face lit up instantly, and he grinned wide, proudly showing off the gap where his left front tooth used to be. That grin of his had a way of making you feel a little less out of place in the chaotic, noisy cafeteria.

Without saying much, the two of you quietly ate lunch together, a comfortable silence settling between you. Occasionally, he’d share some of the chankonabe his mom had lovingly packed in his matching Sonic lunchbox, a gesture that felt like the beginning of something special. When lunch ended, you naturally gravitated toward each other, making your way to music class. That is, until chaos erupted behind you—a piercing scream announcing that some poor kid had just shit his pants and was now throwing a full-blown tantrum.

Well, maybe the memory wasn't that sweet after all. 

But look at you now! His mom knows everything about you—your name, your age, your birthday, your favorite color, and even the exact face you made that one time you accidentally ate a Tide Pod when you were six and left unsupervised in the kitchen. She'd probably recount that day with a laugh if she ever wanted to embarrass you, but instead, she just treated you like family, as if you’d always been a part of their world.

You'd spent so much time at his house that one Christmas, his parents surprised you with a bed in Daisuke's room. No more cramming yourself onto the couch when you stayed over. It had become your room too, in a way—a space where you felt just as at home as he did, where the lines between friendship and family blurred into something comfortable and familiar.

Speaking of parents, as Daisuke struck poses like the diva he was in front of the mirror, you half-watched a Pokémon card pull, trying to decide if it was worth your time. His mom walked in, practically glowing with excitement, her infectious enthusiasm filling the room. But that grin faded fast when she looked up from closing the door and saw her grown son standing there in a big, sparkly pink dress.

You couldn't help but cackle as Daisuke turned to face his mom upon hearing the door open. His expression was pure humiliation, like he had just been caught doing something way worse than wearing a sparkly pink dress. Meanwhile, his mom looked like she had just received the devastating news that her dreams of ever having grandchildren had been shattered. Her face froze in shock, and you could practically see her soul leave her body. For a brief moment, you almost felt bad for him—but that feeling vanished as soon as you saw the look on his face. 

"Mom... I swear, I just w—" Daisuke started, but his words were quickly cut off as his mom raised a hand, a silent plea for him to just stop. Her eyes closed for a moment, taking a deep breath as if she were preparing herself for something far worse than this.

For a few minutes, she stood there, her gaze fixed on the ground, as if she were trying to hold back tears. Daisuke shot you a glare, but you couldn’t help the silent chuckles escaping from you as you lay on his bed. The tension was thick in the air, and after what felt like an eternity, she finally let out a deep sigh. Slowly, she raised her head, her smile returning—but it was strained, the edges of her lips twitching as if it were taking all her strength to keep it in place.

"So, I remembered the conversation we had the other night, Daisuke," she began, her voice light and almost teasing now, as if the earlier tension had slipped away. "And I remember how you said you wanted to start making your own money." She paused, her eyes sparkling with excitement, a hint of pride in her expression. "Well, for the past few days, I've been looking, and guess what? I found you a job!"

Daisuke's face lit up instantly, his excitement bubbling over, though it was clear he hadn’t quite grasped the reality of the situation. His mind immediately jumped to the one thing he could already picture: finally buying all those skibidi toilet t-shirts he'd been eyeing for ages. He’d begged both of his parents for months, but neither of them had even bothered to humor him.

"You're going to space!" she exclaimed, her excitement practically bubbling over, as if she were announcing the most thrilling news in the world. But Daisuke's smile faltered almost immediately, his enthusiasm evaporating the second he processed her words. His mind struggled to grasp the meaning behind them, and his face twisted in confusion.

You couldn't help but snicker at his stunned expression. He looked like someone had just told him his favorite anime was being turned into a live-action film by the worst studio imaginable. There was still some humor in it, but it was the kind that felt wrong—like laughing at a joke that wasn’t funny anymore, but you couldn’t help yourself.

"...What?" was all he managed to say, his voice barely more than a whisper. He didn’t even acknowledge your laughter, too caught up in trying to process what his mom had just said. His mind was clearly short-circuiting, and you could practically see the gears grinding in his head as he tried to make sense of it.

"Yup!" she chirped, turning to you with a grin. "You too, honey! Your mom and I talked about it, and we thought this would be the best option for you!" Suddenly, all humor drained from your face, replaced by a growing sense of disbelief. 

"Yeah, it's not so funny now, is it?!" Daisuke teased, flashing a grin in your direction. You rolled your eyes, still trying to wrap your head around it. Okay, maybe it was *a little* funny—but only a little. The idea of spending three months in space, of all places, seemed absurd, and yet here you were, with no say in the matter.

"Well, your guys' shifts start next week, so get to packing! It's going to be three months, I think!" she said with a wink before shutting the door behind her. You and Daisuke just stared at each other in stunned silence for a moment, both of you processing the absurdity of it all. Then, Daisuke groaned, slumping against the wall with a heavy sigh. Three months in space... and neither of you had any idea how to feel about it yet.

[mayghosts]

🎉- pleasseeee sabrina w/ lunch🙏 and the homoerotic friendship/its complicated trope i am begging🙏🙏🙏

LUNCH: (Sabrina Ionescu x reader)

Summary: You and Sab have been close friends since she moved to New York, but lately things have felt… different

Warnings: its porn with a plot 🫶😁

AN: part of my 500 followers celebration!! I don’t write a ton of smut, so...!!

Standing at your kitchen counter, you could hear the shower turn off. As you waited for Sabrina to come out you settled onto the living room couch, flicking through the Netflix menu.

Ever since you two met at a party last September, you had become somewhat inseparable. However, with Sabrinas busy schedule and your constant need to travel for work, you guys often found yourself having sleepovers to make up for the lost time during the day. Tonight was just like any night, except for Sabrinas weird behavior.

She came directly from practice, her wet hair in a messy bun and a tee shirt and sweats. Even though she had showered at the arena, she asked to shower again, which was nothing new. It was just the way she looked at you when you opened the door, the slight dusting of pink on her cheeks when you handed her a sweatshirt and PJ shorts to borrow, and the way her eyes lingered as you closed the door behind her.

Maybe you were crazy. Maybe you just didn’t pay enough attention to the details. Maybe things had always been like this. You were probably projecting. Still, in your gut, you knew something had changed. Something is different.

You stood to flick off the lights. Leaving only a soft glow from the salt lamp on the counter and your tv to illuminate the small living room. Grabbing the candy and miscellaneous snacks you had bought earlier, you settled back onto the couch. Waiting for the girl to come back out to finish the last few episodes of Bridgerton.

You smiled, hearing your bedroom door click open. Turning to nag the girl for taking forever, you suddenly felt your mouth watering at the sight of her. Donning your favorite Navy hoodie and a pair of white pj shorts that fit you perfectly (but were a little too short on her), you could feel your cheeks heat up. Pushing the multitude of impulsive thoughts that arose at the sight of her to the side, you grinned at her. “Took you long enough! I bought a bunch of snacks when I went out earlier so feel free.”

She hummed at your words, flopping next to you on the couch. “Did we finish Bridgeton last time I can’t remember.” She immediately scooched next to you, plopping her legs ontop of yours under the blanket. “Uhh yeah… I think we have a few more episodes left! Hold on lets see.”

You clicked anxiously at the remote. Things had been tense between you two before, but you always assumed it was one sided. Maybe you were getting ahead of yourself here, a look and a blush dosen't mean she wants you. Unless....

Staying focused on the TV was harder then you thought it would be. The weight and warmth of Sabrinas legs served as a constant reminder to your predicament. As you zoned out at the wall above the TV you could feel her eyes watching you.

You turned your head to smile at her, "What Sab?" She was silent for a moment, she had that same look on her face from earlier. Gently, she pulled you in, tugging on your sweatshirt. "You are the prettiest girl I know. You know that right?" You sucked in a breath, clenching your jaw at the words. Attempting to pull yourself together you glanced at your lap, before looking up at her again. "Sabrina what are you saying?"

"Kiss me, please?" You let her pull you ontop of her. She quickly licked her lips, gazing up at you. Cupping her face in one hand you rested your other hand around her neck. "Is that really a good idea?" You wanted to kiss her so bad, but things like this never end well. Softly you stroked her cheek with your thumb, waiting for her to make a decision. Maybe you could kiss her? I mean you really wanted to. You watched her lips as she spoke.

"I don't mean to make you uncomfterable if you don't want to I just-" You quickly cut her off mid scentence with a quick kiss. She looked about as shocked as you felt. "So I guess thats a yes?" Grinning at her you leaned in to meet her in the middle.

What started as a light and airy kiss, quickly delved into an intense and hungry kiss. Holding your hips in a death grip, Sabrina kept pulling you closer and closer. The space between you felt nonexistant, with your hands now tangeled in her partly dry hair.

Pulling away from the kiss, you immediately made your way to her neck. Sucking deep purple and red marks into her pale neck as she squirmed beneath you. You could feel her hands slipping under your shirt as she guided you back up to her lips. "Off please." You hummed at her words, letting her pull your sweatshirt off.

Once again you found yourself lost in the kiss. Both of you moving in perfect sync, and her hands all over your chest was enough to distract you from Sabrina flipping you two over and laying you back on the couch.

She pulled away for a moment. Her blonde hair was dangling around her face and her lips were slightly swollen and red. Moving away from your lips, she started her ruthless attack on your neck and colarbones. Her actions left you dizzy in the head, you faintly murmered "God Sab, you're so perfect."

You could feel her smile against the skin on your sternum as she listened to your reactions. Gently skimming her thumb over your nipple, she came back up to capture your whine with her mouth. As she continued to tease you, she slipped a knee between your leg, which only caused you to emit a more embarrasing string of sounds.

"Fuck, you sound so pretty baby." As she pulled away, she made her way back down your torso, leaving red and purple marks in her wake. As she reached the waistband of your pants, she looked up at you. You whined, "Please Sab..."

Grinning at you she responded, "Please what baby? Want me to fuck you?" You nodded eagrly at her words, lifting your hips so she could slide your sweats off.

Situating herself between your thighs, she immediately got to work nibbling on the inside of your thighs. Lovingly, you pulled her hair out of the way, savouring the whine she let out when you accidentally tugged a bit. "C'mon -brina please?" You bucked your hips slightly as her nose brushed your cunt. Listening to your request, she slowly pulled the waistband of your underwear down. Licking a stripe up your pussy.

Immediately your hands found her hair as she continued to tease you with her tounge, before she started with slow circles on your clit. "Fuck baby, you like that?" the whimpers you let out were straight up pornographic as you attemped to buck your hips for more. "More baby please" you tugged at her hair gently causing her to let out a small whine.

She swapped her hand for her tounge, speeding up the pace as she slowly dipped one finger into your cunt. Slowly, she began to pump the finger before adding a second. Your grip on her head only got tighter as you moaned her name over and over. "Fuck Sabrina, I'm so close!"

The desperate tone of your voice and your grip on her hair only seemed to drive her as she reached a hand up to toy with a nipple. Bucking your hips slightly, you squeezed your thighs around her head, cumming hard. She slowed her pace, fucking you through your orgasm.

Pulling her fingers out of your dripping cunt, she hovered above you, gently pressing a kiss to your lips before getting up to find a towle. Gently she cleaned up your mess, before helping you into bed and cuddling you close.

As you lay there, drifting off to sleep, you couldn't help but think how this would all work out tomorrow. As well as how you were gonna get her moaning your name next time.

[physalian]

Transformers Prime Appreciation Post

You know what. You know what?? This show has featured in so much of my writing advice, it deserves its own “This show is amazing and has amazing writing and shit you can learn from it to be a better writer” post. It’s streamable on Netflix at the time of this post. I own it on DVD. I have all three seasons on actual, physical discs that I bought new for my DVD collection. That’s how much I love this show.

What is TFP? TFP aired on The Hub network, the joint venture between Hasbro and Discovery Channel that died after MLP ended, I think. We lost cable before that happened. TFP was probably single-handedly sustained by MLP money for a while, like the rest of HBO on GOT.

This show came out when I entered high school and I have extremely vivid memories of some of the constant previews they showed of the season 1 finale 3-parter, to the point where whenever I watch the scenes that were in those teasers, I still get a physical reaction from being bludgeoned over the head with those lines of dialogue.

I used to scroll ahead in the TV guide as far as the scheduled programming allowed, just to catch snippets of what episodes were slated to air within the next month. This show was the shit.

But it was too expensive and its budget got eaten by Friendship is Magic. The bronies ruin everything I guess.

It’s 3 seasons (technically 2.5 since 3 was only greenlit for half its episode count) of near-perfection and a tv-movie. There are a few weak episodes, sure, and one absolute dud of a clipshow episode, but there are no awful episodes. There ain’t no “Great Divide” for this show.

Why you should watch it:

1. A “kids” show that absolutely takes itself seriously

One of the Autobots dies 5 minutes into the series and it’s the inciting incident for the entire story. He gets blown up, taken prisoner, and then stabbed through his chest by a Decepticon’s fist without warning. He then gets brought back as a zombie, killed again, infects his partner with the zombie juice when she’s trying to save him, and dies for good.

Two main characters get straight-up murdered, long-running characters whose deaths have lofty consequences for the narrative. There’s betrayals, double-agents, robot torture, robots getting eaten alive by scraplets, gaslighting of an amnesiac, near-murders of POWs, near-murders of fan-favorites who get so hurt, their recovery spans 4 whole episodes, attempted child murder, terrorism, and mad science.

But there is also some heavy emotional shit. The surviving partner of the zombie is damaged by his loss for the entire show because she can’t properly manage her grief. There’s characters going on suicide missions to avenge their dead/dying friends, getting beat to shit while a child watches helplessly on the sidelines screaming at them to get up and run through tears. There’s war flashbacks to dead friends and comrades and the terror and fallout of being eons-old soldiers.

There’s quiet moments, too, about grief and loss and living with disability and disfigurement from battlefield wounds. There’s the machinations of a tragic villain, openly and explicitly abused in front of his whole team and who keeps crawling back and groveling at his master’s feet and his internal identity crisis over who he is, if he’s not with his abuser. There’s the fallout of an extremely divisive trolley problem where a normally calm and collected character loses their shit with grief over the decision that was made. There’s the quiet rumblings of dissent and rebellion in the ranks and all the backstabbing that follows.

And there’s clever moments. Rogues and rebels orchestrating complex and interwoven plots to further their agendas. A POW who no one would ever expect to be captured absolutely trouncing their captives and laughing all the while while they free themselves. Characters who always have a backup plan to force others into awful predicaments.

The first episode after the 5-episode mini-movie that opens the show features an A-plot about school science projects, and a B-plot about waking a loyal ‘Con from stasis and trying to convince him to bow down to the ‘Cons’ temp leader, Starscream, while Megatron is elsewhere. It does not end well for him. The very next episode features robots getting eaten alive by alien metal termites.

2. Depth of Character

Beyond the actual plot, the villains might be more compelling characters than the heroes across many arcs and episodes. You’ve got five main autobots for most of the show that generally fit the 5-man band:

Optimus: Leader

Ratchet: Smart Guy

Bulkhead: Tough Guy

Arcee: Lancer

Bumblebee: Heart

Also guest starring the Alien Robot Cowboy Samurai known as Wheeljack, he’s amazing.

These characters have some really rich episodes and arcs, and moments where they have to put their own values, wants, and agendas aside for the greater good or the problem at hand. They feel like real people, for lack of a better word. They laugh, they cry, they rage, they grieve, and since the show is one long storyline, what happens seemingly inconsequentially in season 1 will come back to haunt them in season 3.

But then you have the villains, an extremely dysfunctional team of “every man for himself, we’re all not here because we like each other, but because we hate the Autobots,” and I can tell from the fanfic that the ‘Cons are the much more popular characters to write about.

Megatron: The fascist narcissist warlord

Starscream: His scheming SIC both too smart and too dumb for his own good

Soundwave: The utterly badass TIC comms chief who never loses and is insanely, fiercely loyal to the cause

KnockOut: The absolutely gay-as-fuck cosmedic surgeon/chief of medical voiced by Daran Norris, who’s only design requirement was to make him a sexy sportscar, and they ended up with a cherry red Aston Martin. One of his first lines in the show is "*whistle* Sweet rims” at Optimus in truck mode.

Breakdown: KO’s himbo, canon* boyfriend with some of the best, cringey puns

Airachnid: Arcee’s arch nemesis, the only other female transformer, a “love to loathe her” type

And others down the line for both teams.

*Canon insofar as a kids show on a kids network allows a la “we’ve given you as much subtext as we can, do the rest”.

KO is technically my favorite but it’s a tossup between many and that is a feat, especially when they’re the villains. They are all extremely compelling characters.

3. The Story

With some exceptions, episodes don’t happen in isolation. Most of season 1 is a bit random with a foggy throughline, but season 2 is utterly amazing, sans that one clipshow the producers probably insisted on.

Season 2 is the show’s finest hour and without spoiling anything: The end of season 1 sees this database that had been in the ‘Cons possession suddenly now with the means to decode and decrypt whatever’s locked behind it. The database contains coordinates on Earth of a myriad of confiscated weapons, ancient relics, and the like and the entire season is one big fetch quest with both sides racing and beating the shit out of each other to decode coordinates and retrieve the relics before the other side.

The macguffins are pretty cool in their own right (alien mustard gas, a giant Final Fantasy sword, an alien nuke, a phase-shifter) but it’s the intensity of the story and the action and drama that happens around the various quests that is so amazing.

At one point, the show takes four episodes to tackle a fetch quest across four separate relics that involves the entire cast on both sides and the two rogues all gunning for their targets at the same time, ending with one character critically injured that grinds the whole plot to a stop.

The show is one long story, as I mentioned, where something that happens in episode 2 shows up again as critically important in episode 40 and that’s a heck of an achievement on the writers’ part, making it all feel like it was planned that way from the start, even though it wasn’t.

Season 3 is… lesser, mostly because it has half as many episodes because the show was canceled. However, the writers knew about the cancellation early enough to still deliver a satisfying story, and wrap up loose ends with a tv-movie that is also pretty good.

Episode-to-episode there’s definitely a mixed bag of what kind of tone you’ll get. It’s still a kids show and there are human characters so there are some lesser episodes with the humans’ lives as the focus and the Autobots running support. Then you’ll have small-screen perfection, but like I said, there’s never a single episode of story (not clipshow) that I skip upon rewatch, no matter how many times I’ve seen it. The second “clipshow” episode is far and gone above the first, told through the eyes of a character as they’re on trial, only their scenes through the story, as they await judgment that might see them executed.

4. The Production Value

The majority of the animation budget rightfully went to the transformers themselves, which left the environments and the human characters a little rough around the edges. But you came for alien robots and before I got this show on DVD, I streamed crap quality episodes online. Once I saw these characters in full HD color, for the first time since it aired on TV, I was blown away. The reflections are, bar none, the best part. Which seems like a strange hill to die on but these are shiny metal giants. There’s some shots where you can see the reactions of other characters reflected hazily in the chest plates of the speaking character, and this is kids animated TV.

Some episodes do stand out, possibly because they changed studios, but some do have some off-kilter coloring or shadows, but you wouldn’t notice if you’re not like me and have picked some scenes apart frame by frame.

The music, also, is amazing. It’s grand and epic and far and gone from the 80s synthesizers, with a few choir tracks thrown in. The foley and sound design can get a little gratuitous with the metal-on-metal squeals, but none of it ever feels out of place.

I bought the directors’ commentary without knowing it for seasons 1 and 3 and they talked about having all the digital screens in the backgrounds of both bases constantly moving and showing data, not just static, blank images, and it really ups the feel of the quality and care put into the show when there’s always something cool to look at in every frame.

There are also some money shots. At one point there’s a fight that demands Optimus and Megatron join forces and with zero dialogue between them, only choreography in the span of about 25 seconds of animation shows you that these two really were old friends, old allies, old confidants. Their moves are mirrored, back to back, showing that Megatron clearly taught Optimus how to fight and this shot, the one at the top of the post, is too good to not spoil.

5. The Writing

Beyond the overall arcs, I mentioned in my “How to make your writing less stiff” post that the dialogue in this show is stellar. Due to animation budgets, they didn’t have the means to fully render a huge variety of environments, and that includes anything on Cybertron. So, when necessary, outside of when characters actually go to Cybertron later in the show, they use some beautiful matte paintings and voiceover narration by Ratchet, absolutely dumping exposition on the audience in spectacular fashion.

I have the director’s commentary. I know Ratchet’s monologues were a thing of beauty. They also had the cast all recording their dialogue at once, standing in a big U for more natural line deliveries.

The actual writing though, from the different ways the characters speak to the lore, the backstories, how the show can be a horror trip one minute and a kids’ science fair the next, showed incredible variety and flexibility in the writers’ room.

Optimus’ lines remain my favorite because they’re just that juicy, but then you have characters like Starscream, a perpetual schemer who loves to hear himself talk, pontificating whenever he can about his plans and how much he hates Megatron and how self-important he is. Or other righteous characters who use Big Words like Optimus that don’t feel out of place against somebody like KnockOut who says stuff like “I like the way I look in steel-belted radials” or Wheeljack who clearly learned English from watching Clint Eastwood movies.

Or, a later character, Shockwave, the most “robotic” of the robots and very poncy and scientific with the way he talks and interprets the world, with most of his lines including whether or not a character’s choices were “logical”.

This show is fantastic at creating tension out of mundanity and keeping you on the edge of your seat for nail-biting action scenes. You feel the anguish and the grief with the characters. Their rage and elation and devastation.

Some faults, because I love this show and I can recognize them

The human characters are… well, teenagers. Miko is pretty divisive, you’ve got the camp of “wah she’s a girl and she’s annoying” and just people who don’t find them as compelling. Which, fair. Their animation is a bit gummy and sometimes they disappear for entire episodes and their human world arcs are kind of abandoned. They’re not the best, but this isn’t about humans, it’s about transformers.

Due to probably time constraints with the show being canceled, some transformers’ arcs also felt abandoned or not given their due time to shine (of which fanfic has made painfully clear and rectified). It’s a very tight plot, but there are some dangling loose ends.

Sometimes it is incredibly in-your-face that this is a show meant to sell toys, particularly in season 3 with the whole uh, “we must become beast hunters” and the soft rebrand.

There exists a subplot of C-list villains, human militants who want to dissect cybertronian biology and make weapons. While some of their episodes are absolute bangers, you can tell the writers were getting sick of them before they’re finally written out of the show.

And a few awkward lines here and there.

Other cool shit if nothing else has convinced you

No love triangle or romantic subplot for the two female robots and one of the female humans. You can read one of Arcee’s relationships as romantic or platonic, but she is far beyond just “the girl” of the group, she’s a badass. The other romantic subplot is between a mom who’s deadbeat ex-husband is inexplicably missing, and a pot-bellied Army vet, and it’s really sweet and healthy.

(I think) incredible representation of characters with disability, in Bumblebee’s various war scars and his mutism.

The Gays. I swear there’s a page in the art book (of which I am desperate to find a copy of) for KnockOut and the caption of his art legit says something like “we made him too sexy, oops”.

So. Many. Puns. Puns that know they’re awful and relish in it. Dad jokes, too.

Ratchet losing his mind over how human children can get “twisted limbs and metal burn” if they do a dangerous thing before realizing the latter does not apply. Ratchet losing his mind in general. Just all of the cranky medic. Jeffrey Combs can make a phone book entertaining.

One of the last times we’ll probably get Peter Cullen and Frank Welker together doing Optimus and Megatron, the OGs. And also, one tiny moment where Frank has to say “treasure” and he still flubs it just like he does for Fred in Scooby Doo.

Consistency between character injuries. If Optimus’ sword breaks in a battle, whenever he summons it before he can have time to fix it, it’s still broken in ensuing shots.

An episode of zombies infecting the Decepticons’ ship and Starscream and KnockOut accidentally admitting they love each other while cowering in terror, while also calling back to a different pair of characters they did not witness saying the exact same lines.

Optimus transforming, ramming Megatron in the chest in truck mode, booting him off a cliff, and using his tires to melt rubber in Megatron’s face once they land because he is pissed.

All of Starscream’s immensely satisfying comeuppance for situations he gets himself into.

Using the murder termites for good in a rather horrifying death of a random goon.

Megatron’s hate boner for Optimus that clearly shows how badly these two don’t actually want to kill each other, despite having a million chances to do so, because like Batman and the Joker, “you and I are destined to do this for eternity,” and killing one would leave the other alone, after eons of fighting.

The gorgeous matte paintings.

—

Somebody on here once drew KnockOut with Autobot blue eyes and I have not been able to find that post since. If anyone sees it, please send it to me, it was gorgeous.

Now go watch this show. You can do it in a weekend.

[furst1ded]

Thoughts on Shipping Alastor from an AroAce person

(this entire thing is copy and pasted excerpts from a Discord rant so if the grammar is funky, that's why, I just felt like giving my 2 cents on the topic)

Aroace people can still participate in romantic and sexual interactions. All being aro/ace/aroace means is you don't feel romantic/sexual attraction upon seeing other people. You can feel it later on or in waves or could never feel that attraction but still can participate and love others in a fulfilling way. Some aroace people are fine performing intimacy onto others but dislike reciprocation, others are the opposite where they're fine receiving but not giving. It's a spectrum.

The nuances of asexuality and aromanticism aside, you can be in a relationship without being in a relationship. Platonic relationships beyond friendship are a thing (QPRs for example). But like, I get it. Not everyone who ships Alastor keeps it confined to a QPR. And his character seems pretty sex-repulsed and romance-averse. But here's the other thing. He's fictional. As long as his character remains aroace in canon, fans taking the silly radio man and making him kiss the devil isn't taking away from aroace representation.

This next bit is coming from me as an AroAce person myself. I ship Alastor. I write/read him kissing people and fucking and acting romantic. And guess what? It's related to expressing my sexuality. Alastor is one of my favorite characters in anything ever and I love that there's a character that represents a facet of myself in a popular media. I relate to him so goddamn much and that's why I ship him. He's a fictional character I like that I project onto, so I use him as a way to navigate and explore romantic/sexual relationships that I'm never going to participate in myself. He's not real so I just puppet him around to live through vicariously in the scenarios I don't want to be a part of myself but find super interesting. It's not anything new, I do the same with my own characters in the stories I write them in, it's part of storytelling, I just use him for a specific type of story for a specfic part of myself.

It's not like we're hurting anybody by shipping him. We're not drastically effecting canon and making him an alloromantic. I've seen plenty of fics that ship him that either make it a QPR or they thoroughly explore the nuances of his asexuality and what subtype of sexuality he is and how he navigates it and I love those fics because they speak to me on a spiritual level. Grayromantic Alastor, demisexual alastor, sex-repulsed but romance-favorable Alastor, sex-repulsed and romance-averse Alastor in a one-sided ship fic, etc they're all so important to me because it helps me live out my own sexuality and romantic orientation and explore myself.

I get it. Not everyone is respectful. Not everyone feels the way I do and use characters in this way. It can suck seeing people just ignore his sexuality when asexuals and aromantics don't get much in terms of screen-time. But you can't control everybody and what work they put out. And trying to censor stuff like that does more harm than good. I just explained why fics involving Alastor are so important to me. They normalize QPRs and aroaces being in relationships. That's probably what pisses me off the fucking most. If we're not allowed to write about aroaces being in relationships or romantic/sexual situations, you put aroaces into a box. A box where every aroace is perceived as sexless and loveless, which just isn't true. A box where aroaces are prudes or infants who can't handle hearing the word "sex". It's just so frustrating. You can be mad at fics that expressly rewrite or stomp on his sexuality, sure. You can't stop them, but you can disapprove of them. But let the rest of us have our fun making the literal devil and TV head man have the hots for a man whose teeth are yellower than the sun, Jesus Christ.

TL;DR: asexuality is a spectrum, I'm aroace and use shipping as a way to explore and express myself and I know I'm not the only one, trying to suppress works where an Aroace character is seen participating in romance or sex can actually be harmful in that it promotes only one idea of what being aroace is, and at the end of the day the character I'm talking about doesn't even exist.

[drinkabletoxicdishsoap]

drop ur antony headcanons pls

Thank you for asking me anon!!! I love to share my headcanons about him he’s so silly!!

1. I feel like more than half of his closet is just graphic tees/t-shirts. That’s like the only kind of shirt he wears.

2. For his crush on Dejah, he acts like a stuttering and complete mess of front of her. Super awkward and everything. But she doesn’t mind! I think she finds it and him very sweet. I don’t know if you’ve ever watched my little pony friendship is magic, but they give me Shining Armor x Cadence vibes.

3. I’d like to think he played an instrument as a kid. He was probably a band kid.

4. Whenever he went to zoos as a kid or even now, he rushes to the reptile section. It’s most likely for him to look at iguanas since he’s in the iguana society. Though I feel like he loves every single kind of reptile.

5. He’s the Godzilla’s movies #1 fan. Bro RUNS to the theaters whenever a new movie drops. He always cheers on Godzilla for the Godzilla vs. literal any creature or just any Godzilla movie in general.

6. Amusement park enthusiast. He absolutely LOVES any and all kinds of amusement parks. He will ride absolutely anything!! Maybe not the VERY VERY high rollercoasters but he will ride anything and everything else. He’s still a kid at heart.

7. His favorite holiday is basically any where he can spend time with his family. Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Halloween are his top ones. He loves going trick or treating with Hazel and I feel like they always had matching Halloween costumes.

8. He played some sports as a kid. I have no idea which ones but I feel like he’d be a soccer kid (maybe I’m bias because I play soccer LMAO).

9. Secretly LOVES reality tv shows. He acts like he doesn’t, but whenever Angela has it on he sits next to her and watches it. They totally gossip about it together.

10. He will do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING for Hazel. He cares so much about her.

11. Whenever the Wells Family is on a trip, he’s the one to suggest excursions and everything like that.

12. Energy drinks are his LIFE. He doesn’t drink coffee but bro will absolutely DOWN any energy drink.

13. I feel like he helps build whatever ghost hunting or paranormal investigation invention Marcus wants. He probably even helped him build the the ghost one that we see in the show! He doesn’t really get his dad’s obsession with the paranormal but he will forever cheer his dad on!

14. Since he now knows about Cosmo, Peri, and Wanda, he will guard their secret with his life for Hazel. He helps when they have a few little slips. I feel like he would get along great with Cosmo and Wanda! He definitely appreciates what they’ve done for his little sister. He tries to get along with Peri but I feel like they don’t really get along at first. You know, younger brother vs older brother. Maybe they do get along but at first, absolutely not.

15. He’s a great cook! He helps cook meals for Hazel whenever his parents are out and about.

16. He has silly little karaoke nights with Hazel :3

That’s all the headcanons I have for him <33 if I do think of more I’ll either edit the post or make a new post about it! Thank you for the ask anon!! And thank you for reading! I hope you have a great day or night :3

[hoejosatoru]

How You Get the Girl

“Broke your heart, I’ll put it back together”

Pairing: Fem!Reader x Bonten!Rindou

Summary: Y/n and Rindou have been long time friends, both harboring their true feelings for each other. When y/n kisses Ran at a party, it causes unexpected consequences

Word Count: 5.3k

Warnings: Drinkin mentioned, angst, Rindou punches Ran in the face lol, oral (fem receiving), fingering, cream pie, not proof read bc I'm silly, MDNI

Knock knock knock!

“Well would you look who it is! The man who can’t tell time, apparently,” you not-so-kindly greeted Rindou. The two of you planned to have a movie night and catch up, but he was over an hour late.

“Sorry,” your best friend replied, not waiting for you to invite him in. “Got stuck at work.” He was already shrugging off his suit jacket, a soft blue that went well with his lilac mullet. You nosily looked at the label.

“Since when can you afford YSL?” you questioned. Rindou, much as like his brother Ran, had always been into fashion, but brand names were not something they grew up having access to. Nor did you, and as you looked over at him you reckoned his outfit probably cost more than your rent this month.

“Since I started working at Bonten,” Rindou replied. He followed you to the living room, where you already had popcorn, m&ms (his favorite), and drinks out. He felt his heart squeeze at the thought of you setting up for him, just for him to be late. “Fuck I’m an asshole for making you wait.”

“You are, but I forgive you,” you replied, settling on the couch. You tossed some popcorn in your mouth. “So what is this Bonten place? And what are you doing that they’re paying you so good?”

Rindou sat next to you, his thigh muscles straining his suit pants. You quickly pulled your eyes away. Those sort of views brought thoughts you were not trying to entertain right now. “We do... stuff.” He put a handful of m&ms in his mouth.

Your brow pique. “Stuff? What kinda stuff pays YSL money?”

“Stuff that is none of your business,” Rindou replied teasingly. He knew not knowing details got you annoyed. You and Rindou had known each other for years and knew exactly what buttons to push on the other. As luck would have it, button pushing was both of your friendship love language. The more you teased someone, the more you like them. Besides, you were admittedly nosey.

“Ugh whatever dude,” you rolled your eyes, “Whatever it is, it sounds seems shady as hell.”

“Did you invite me over to grill me about my job or watch a movie?” Rindou countered. He leaned back on your couch, unbuttoning the top two claps of his shirt. He rolled up up his sleeves revealing the tattoos on one side. His forearms, you noted, looked very toned. Rindou had always been into working out, but it looks like he put on some muscle recently. Another thing you definitely should not be allowing yourself to stare at.

“I can multitask ya know?” You huffed, clicking on the tv. You put on one of yours an Rindou’s favorite movie, just like always. It allowed the two of you talk without having to worry about really paying attention to what was on the screen.

Rindou cozied up to you, leaning into your body and resting his head on your shoulder. This was not the first time he did this, but it surprised you nonetheless. Yours and Rindous friendship always had… weird moments. Moments were the line of friends or more felt blurred.

Nothing has ever happened between the two of you beyond a hug. Yet there were moments like this where one of you lingered on the other. Where the air between you felt charged. Where your heart fluttered in your chest.

Maybe you were delusional. Or more likely, it was one sided, fueled by those feelings you refused to admit existed. Rindou was not a very serious guy, at least not with you. He probably thought nothing of resting his head on you, you were longtime friends after all. It was totally normal for friends to do, but the little twisting in your stomach made it feel like more.

After the movie ended, you went to move a little and felt Rindou’s dead weight on you. He had a fallen asleep. No wonder it was so quiet.

“Wake up idiot,” you gently shook his shoulder.

Rindou grumbled, “I’m up, I’m up.”

“Yeah now you are because I woke you up,” you replied. “Remind me not to let you have wine any more. Shit puts you to sleep.”

“You’re not wrong,” Rindou’s voice was gravely from sleep. His arms went above his head, stretching his body. His shirt lifted, revealing his lower stomach, the ink disappearing below it… Jesus you were really being tested today. “Can I stay over? Don’t feel like going home now.”

“Of course.”

“Are you gonna make me sleep on the couch again? I barely fit on this thing,” he complained.

“You invite yourself to stay over and now you’re trying to steal my bed from me?” You asked, with performed annoyance.

“Well you are shorter than me,” Rindou replied. “Or, ya know, we could just share your bed, dummy.” He flicked your forehead as punctuation.

“I should make you sleep on the couch just for that.” You rubbed the spot he flicked. “But fine, only to shut you up. If you snore, though, I’m kicking your ass out.”

“Deal.”

Your heart was doing that stupid fluttering thing as you walked back to your room with Rindou. He’d been in it before, of course, but never to sleep in it. The thought of sleeping next to Rindou all night got your pulse and mind racing.

“Got anything that would fit me?” Rindou asked.

You looked at him. “Probably not.”

“Mind if I sleep in my boxers then?”

You pretended to look for something in your drawer so he wouldn’t see you blush. “No. I’d think you were psycho if you slept in work pants anyways.”

You heard Rindou chuckle behind your turned back. As well as the telltale sign of clothes hitting the floor. You slipped into the attached bathroom so you wouldn’t have to look just yet. You were sure your face was red. You changed into your pjs- thank god your cute ones were washed- brushed your teeth then returned.

When you returned, you found Rindou sitting on your bed. “Really? Versace underwear?” Making fun of him was your best defense mechanism and you really needed it in that moment. Seeing Rindou near naked on your bed was enough to make your whole body buzz. Not to mention that he definitely has put on muscle, which only made his tattooed body look better. You tried not to stare.

“Shut up. They’re soft.”

“Yeah, so are the ones you can buy from Target,” you climbed onto the other side of the bed. You made sure not to get too close to him. Your bed was only a full, so there wasn’t that much room to play with. “Remember if you snore I kill you.”

“Kill? I thought I was just got kicked out,” Rindou replied, slipping under your covers. What a strange, confusing sight.

“Yeah, well I changed my mind,” you replied. You turned away from him, unable to look at him like this any longer. “Goodnight, Rin.”

“Goodnight, y/n.”

As silence settled between the two of you, you were met with a heaviness in your chest. You could feel his warmth, even on this side of the bed. You wanted so desperately to move closer, to feel it directly on your skin. The space between you literally felt like a magnetic force, one you knew you had to fight.

You couldn’t deny it, those feelings you had. The stupid fucking crush you had on your best friend. It made you feel so stupid. And this situation wasn’t helping. The way Rindou had been so casual about sleeping next to you, boxers and all, told you he didn’t see anything romantic about your relationship. It was no different than sleeping with one of his guy friends. You already knew that, of course, knew that you were just friends. And you loved being friends, you really did, but it didn’t change the fact that every reminder of how he felt about you didn’t sting.

You pushed those thought away before they brought tears. It wasn’t easy, but ignoring them has become second nature to you at this point. You squeezed your eyes shut and waited for sleep to take you.

***

There was a moment of surprise when you woke up to the feeling of warmth pressed against you. For a half second you forgot you let Rindou stay over and you were glad it came back to you before you punched his sleeping body out of fear. Your back was still to him, but you’d both moved closer to each other in the night. He was on his stomach, squished against you.

Your face heated at the feeling of him against you. It felt so nice, you wanted to lay in it longer, but you didn’t want to push it. You tried to roll away quietly but Rindou stirred the second you moved.

“Morning beautiful,” Rindou chirped, his voice raspy from sleep. Your heart clenched at his words, but you knew he was teasing you. Your hair was always a mess in the morning.

“Oh, shut up,” you grumbled.

“Someone isn’t a morning person,” Rindou noted, stretching lazily. The sheets dipped lower, revealing his toned stomach.

“I’m usually in a better mood when someone doesn't hog my bed all night,” you replied. Rindou’s lips spread into a teasing grin. “I’m guess you want breakfast?”

“Please.”

“Only cause you said please.”

About 20 minutes later you and Rindou sat at your little kitchen table, eating French toast. Thankfully Rindou pulled his pants back on. There was only so much you could take. 

“How come you don’t wear your glasses anymore?” you asked. You’d always loved Rindou in glasses; you thought he looked really cute in them. In the past few months, though, it was rare to see him in them.

“Contacts. Ever heard of ‘em?” he replied, mouth full.

You rolled your eyes. “Yes, idiot, but contacts existed when were in college and you never used them then.”

“Trying a different look I guess,” Rindou said, “Ran said I’d pick up more chicks without glasses. They made me look like a dork.”

You ignored the pang in your chest at the thought of him with other girls. “You are a dork.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“Just being hones,” you replied. Then, more quietly you added, “But I think you look good in glasses.” You kept your eyes on your plate, not wanting him to catch just how much you meant that. A silence passed before Rindou spoke again.

“You going to Sanzu’s party next week?”

“Yeah, are you?”

“Of course,” Rindou said, “I wouldn't let you go to Sanzu’s place alone. He's weird.”

“He’s your friend.”

“Yeah, but I have weird friends.” You laughed, unable to deny that. The people Rindou had been hanging out with recently were a bit... different. It all circled back to that damn Bonten company he was working for. You made a mental note to ask Sanzu about it after he had a few drinks. Everyone knew liquor loosened his lips.

Rindou helped you clean up the dishes, before getting ready to leave. “Leaving here in the clothes I came in? What will your neighbors think?” he asked with a teasing, boyish grin.

“Considering that there was no moaning or headboards banging on the wall, probably that you were a terrible lay,” you retorted. 

“That’s bad for my reputation,” Rindou replied, “Gonna need you to at least pretend to moan my name before bed next time.”

You snorted. “You’re so gross.”

Rindou laughed. “I’ll pick up at 8 next week.”

***

“How do I look?” you asked Rindou when he arrived on Saturday. Blessedly, on time.

Rindou looked you up and down, making you more nervous than you cared to admit. “Honest answer or polite answer?”

Your brows knitted. What the fuck did that mean? You suddenly felt self conscious, but couldn’t help yourself. “Honest.”

“Hot.”

Oh? You were expecting something bad.

“Then what was the polite answer?”

“I was just gonna say you looked nice,” Ridnou answered, “didn’t wanna make it weird.”

“Since when have you ever worried about that?”

Rindou chuckled. “Touché. And also you're welcome.”

“Thank you,” you emphasized your delivery.

The Uber Rindou ordered arrived and you were on your way. The ride wasn’t too long and you and Rindou chatted along the way. The party was already fairly full when you arrived, but Sanzu zeroed in on both of you when you arrived. He was already pretty buzzed.

“Drinks are in the kitchen,” Sanzu nodded the area. “If you don't mind, I need to borrow Rindou for a few minutes.” You nodded, slipping away to let them talk. Of course your nosy ass would be asking about the later.

“Hey y/n. Long time no see,” a familiar voice said from behind you. You spun around finding Rindou’s brother, Ran, smiling down at you.

“Hey Ran, what’s up?” You have only hung out with Ran a few times, though it was mostly in large groups. When you met Rindou in college, Ran was attending school elsewhere, so you didn’t know him nearly as well as Rindou. They seemed to get along fairly well, besides the normal brotherly quarrels. He’d always been pleasant to you, though.

As you chatted with Ran, you didn’t notice Rindou staring. His blood ran cold when he saw you were talking - laughing - with Ran. Rindou loved his brother, but he could be a total dick at times, especially when it came to girls. He liked to torment Rindou, even though he denied. If he saw something Rindou had, he wanted it him for himself just so he could exert power over him. It started with toys as kids and had progressed to women.

Rindou was very selective with the girls he brought around Ran. He almost never brought a girl he was talking to around Ran. The second Ran picked up on Rindou having feelings for a girl, he couldn’t help but sweep in and see if he could steal them for himself. Annoyingly, he was pretty successful. The only thing that stopped him was if Rindou was actually dating the girl; Ran wasn’t that much of an asshole.

Still, Rindou was self conscious. He felt he lived in his brother’s shadow in many ways, but especially when it came to women. He knew they almost always wanted him more. It sucked, but nothing came close to how he felt seeing Ran talking to you. All the other times Ran stole someone from him it was annoying, but you? That would be devastating. 

Rindou has had feeling for you since college, but he was too scared to tell you. It made him feel like a pussy. He’d promised himself he was goin to tell you soon, but kept chickening out. Especially since he often doubted you felt the same. He purposefully tried to keep you away from Ran and not show interest in you if he was around, but he knew Ran couldn’t resist a girl that looked like you. And oh god the way he was looking at you made his stomach churn. Rindou wanted to go over and interrupt, but he knew that would alert Ran. 

“Dude you’re not listening to me at all,” Sanzu complained.

“I don’t wanna talk work at a fucking party, Sanzu,” Rindou replied. Sanzu followed his eye line before he could pull them away.

Sanzu chuckled. “Looks like trouble. Better stop being a pussy and tell her how you feel.”

Rindou narrowed his eyes. He never told Sanzu much about you either, since they all worked together. He couldn’t trust him with that information with Ran around. “I don’t like her.”

Sanzu full on snorted. “Right and I don’t like alcohol.” 

“Whatever, man.” Rindou grumbled, stalking away. He decided he had to go over to you. At least scope out the conversation under the guise of getting a drink. 

“Hey Rin!” you greeted. He had to hide his smile, but he loved you were so happy to see him even though you were literally just with him.

He poured himself a drink. “How’s it going over here?”

Ran answered, “Good. I can't believe you’ve kept y/n hidden from me. She’s so funny.” Rindou gripped his glass a little tighter. Don’t react, don’t react, he told himself.

“Yeah, she’s alright.” He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, his nervous tick.

“Hey wait! I just realized you’re wearing your glasses agin,” you noted. You don’t know how that got past you before. He’d been waiting for you to comment on it, but in front of Ran was not ideal. “Is that cause I told you you looked good in them last week?” you teased.

Ran’s brow piqued. Shit. It was because of that, but he couldn't say that now. “I ran out of my contacts.”

Before anyone could reply, Sanzu’s voice was filling the room. “Spin the bottle in the living room!”

Ran smiled at you. “Sounds fun.”

Rindou grumbled, “What are we in fucking high school?”

You rolled your eyes at him. “Oh, come on Rin, it will be fun.”

“Yeah Rindou,” Ran said in a way that made Rindou wanna smack him. Despite his complain, Rindou joined the two of you in the circle of players. You watched as people took turns spinning the bottle and kissing who it landed on. Each time it was spun you held your breath, hoping it wouldn’t land on Rindou. Luckily you did not have to watch him kiss anybody yet.

Then it was your turn. You gave the bottle a good spin, your pulse drumming with anticipation. Maybe it was wrong, but you were willing it to stop on Rindou. The bottle moved slower, slower, slower and... Stopped. You looked up into a pair of violet eyes. But they were not Rindou’s.

“My lucky day,” Ran smiled. Well, it wasn’t Rindou, but it could have been a lot worse. You leaned across the circle, Ran meeting you in the middle. He kissed you longer than was required, his hand on your cheek keeping you there. You couldn’t complain; Ran was good kisser. You found yourself a little breathless when you pulled away. 

Instinctively, your eyes flicked over to where Rindou was sitting, but he was gone. You caught a flash of him storming out to Sanzu’s backyard. A pit formed in your stomach, feeling something was wrong. You excused yourself to go after him, hearing Sanzu say, “Trouble in paradise.” Followed by a chorus of “oohs.” It really was like you were still in high school sometimes with this lot.

You found Rindou in the backyard, lighting up a cigarette. You didn’t know what to say, so you blurted out, “I thought you quit?” 

“What’re you my fucking mother?” Rindou snapped. He’d said that to you tons of time in college when you were on his ass about quitting. It had always been playful, with no bite to it. This one was razor sharp.

“No, I’m your friend who you told you quit,” you replied. You were thrown off by his demeanor. 

“I just bummed one off Takeomi, okay? Sometimes I need one when I’m... in a mood.” Smoke flittered around his face as he spoke. He was certainly on edge.

“Okay...” you began carefully, “But why are you in a mood?”

Rindou sighed. “You really don’t know?” Rindou stared at you, searching your face for something, but you didn’t know what. 

“No, I don’t.” He looked disappointed with your response.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s fucking weird you made out with my brother in front of me?” he said icily. 

“Seriously? That's what you’re mad at? It’s a fucking game Rindou I had no control over it,” you replied. You were annoyed art his reaction, but also anxious about how mad he was with you. Had you just done something that would mess up your friendship? But it was a game.

“It’s still fucking weird,” Rindou said. He dropped the cigarette, grinding it into the patio.

“Well you don’t have to be such a dick about it,” you snapped. 

“How am I dick for not wanting to see my friend make out with my friend? It’s gross.”

“Jesus Rindou, I get it. It was a fucking game. Maybe you shouldn’t have joined if you were gonna be such a bitch about it,” you fired back. You were both heated and the rational part of you knew you should end the conversation, but your emotional side wouldn’t let you pull away.

“Maybe you shouldn’t throw yourself at my brother,” Rindou replied. “He’s just gonna wanna fuck you, you know. You’re wasting your time if you think he actually likes you.”

His words stung you. Not that you cared if Ran liked you, but he made it seem you like were inherently unlikeable. Unworthy of being the object of someone’s affection. Maybe that’s how he felt about you. You swallowed your angry tears. “Fuck you, Rindou.” You stormed back towards the house.

“Whatever go back to Ran,” Rindou grumbled behind.

“You know what? Maybe I will.” You slammed the door behind you. Anger clouded your sense. Who was Rindou to say that to you? He doesn’t care about you. Fine. You’ll go to the Haitani brother who did find you attractive. 

Ran’s height made him easy to find. His eye’s lit up. “Something wrong?” He asked as you dragged him over to a quiet hallway.

Your anger made you bold. “I wasn’t done kissing you.”

A wide smile spread across Ran’s face. “So finish what you started.” Your lips were on him in a second. You wrapped your hands around his neck as he gripped your waist. He really was a good kisser. His tongue sliding into your mouth and working you up with ease. You leaned into him more, you just wanted to go further, to get lost in him, to forget about your fight with Rindou. Forget what he said. 

Suddenly, Ran was torn away from you. Your eyes snapped open finding Rindou fuming at his brother. Before anyone could speak. Rindou punched Ran in the mouth. 

“What the fuck?” you demanded.

Rindou ignored you, speaking directly to his brother. “Fuck you, Ran.” Rindou stormed off as quickly as he appeared, leaving you thoroughly flustered.

Ran was rubbing his jaw, laughing. Wait, laughing? Why was he laughing. “I knew it,” Ran said. You stared at him, dumbfounded. “Rindou likes you.”

***

He likes you. Ran’s statement had been playing on repeat in your mind for the last week. After Rindou had punched Ran, you searched for him at the party but he was long gone. You had left then too, not really being in the party mood anymore. 

You were so confused by Ran’s statement. How could Rindou like you? Sure, there had been moments, glances, words, that made you think maybe, just maybe, your feelings were reciprocated. But the rational part of your brain always squashed that as wishful thinking. You were friends, nothing more. Right?

Ran seemed confident, though he was the type of guy who was confident in everything he said, truthful or not. To make matters more confusing you hadn’t heard from Rindou at all the entire week, which was strange. You wanted to reach out, but you wouldn’t even know what to say. You were still hurt by his comments, too.

The radio silence from Rindou made it all the more surprising when he showed at your door Saturday night. A storm was rolling through and his dripping hair indicating he got caught in it. 

“Jesus, what are you doing out in this?” You questioned, ushering him in. Your concern for him superseded your more complicated emotions. 

“I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t just show up but I had to see you,” his voice was shaking. From the cold rain or nerves you couldn’t tell. 

“Is everything okay?”

“I’m sorry y/n,” Rindou began, “I’m sorry for everything. What I said. How I acted. You were right, I was total dick. I didn’t mean any of it.”

His words lessened the sting inside you a little. You appreciated it, but you weren’t going to let him off without sharing how you felt. “Thank you. It honestly hurt a lot to hear you say that. I appreciate you saying all that I just… don’t get why.” 

Rindou gave you the same look he gave you in Sanzu’s backyard, though there was something deeper, softer to it. It made you shiver. “I’m sorry, I can’t say it enough. I- it kills me that I hurt you when all I’ve ever wanted was-“ Rindou paused suddenly his face lit with anxiety. You were on edge listening to him, leaning in as if ever cell in your body was urging him to continue.

Rindou swallowed and then continued. “All I ever wanted was to love you. I was so jealous seeing you with Ran. I thought I blew all my chances and now you were gonna fall in love with my brother. It killed me. But I shouldn’t have taken that out on you. I’m so fucking sorry, y/n. I ruined everything.” 

Your heart clenched at his declaration. You could barely process what he was saying. He loves you. He’d always loved you. All this time. Knowing that melted away any last bit of anger or hurt you felt. You’re forgave him completely in that moment. 

“I forgive you Rin.” You took a deep breath, ready to release the words you held in for so long. “I’ve loved you too, for so long now. I only kissed Ran for that stupid game… well the second time I did because I was mad at you and that was fucked up. I’m sorry.” Rindou shook off your apology. He’d been a dick and felt he deserved it. 

You took his hand in yours. “Ran could never make me feel how you do. I’ve only ever wanted you. Nothing is ruined if you don’t want it to be.” His eyes met yours, full of love and relief. You had no idea how much it meant to him to hear you say that.

“You’ll be my girl? For real?”

You wrapped your arms around his neck, “For real. Forever.” A heartbeat later your lips were together. Rindou pulled you close to him, as if he was scared this was a dream and you were going to disappear. The way he kissed you made your head spin. Like Ran, there was want and desire, but there was something deeper, more plush in how his lips moved against yours. How his tongue slid into your mouth. How his hands held your waist with fierce care. If his words didn’t convince of his love, this did. 

You both broke apart for a second, giggling and catching your breath. Your foreheads pressed together, not wanting to go too far. “We are idiots,” Rindou said.

“So dumb,” you agreed. “But if being stupid gets me kissed like that, then I’m okay with it.” Rindou grinned brightly before pulling you back in. You both made for your room, rarely ever pulling away from each other. When your calves hit the bed you fell back, taking Rindou with you.

His hands were on either side of your shoulders, smiling down nervously. “Are you sure want to... go further? We don’t have to yet if you don’t wanna,” Rindou said.

You laugh. “Rin, I’ve been wanting to get your clothes off for so long I’m not about to stop us now.” Rindou grinned wickedly.

“Guess I shouldn’t make you wait any longer then.” Rindou yanked his shirt off while you slipped off your own. “Let me.” Rindous pants were already on the floor as he helped you out of yours. He climbed back on top of you, both only in your underwear. He kissed you again, reaching back to clip off your bra. Blood rushed to his dick as he finally, finally, got to squeeze your boobs. “Fuck you have nice tits.”

You blushed but smiled brightly. You ran your fingers through his lilac hair, which was still a little damp from the rain, as his lips wrapped around your nipple. He sucked gently, rolling the other with his fingers. You gasped, arching into the warmth of his mouth, the pleasure of his touch. He repeated the action on the other breast, causing arousal to flood your pussy.

“Rin,” you whimpered. Music to his ears. “Need more.” You hooked your fingers into his boxers, pulling them down. Your cheeks dusted at the size of him. He was so hard and all for you. It thrilled you. Your eyes drifted over to his lip, tracing the lines of his tattoo you’d never seen before. “I’d always wondered if it was fully connected.”

Rin snorted. “What did you think there was an underwear sized blank spot?”

“Maybe.”

Rindou chuckled, slipping his fingers into your underwear. “You know what I’ve always wondered?” He slid them off you. You didn’t miss the breath he drew in, finally seeing your pussy all wet and need for him. “How you taste.”

“Rin!” you gasped as he dove into you. His strong hands kept your thighs apart. He licked long stripes up your slit, enjoying your taste and how you squirmed. He sucked on your clit, his eyes flicking up to watch you squirm and gasp. You made eye contact with him, light a fire in your tummy. 

You could feel Rindou smile against you as he continued. His tongue swirled over your  throbbing clit, his fingers slipping into your soaked heat. “Oh fuck,” you moaned, fingers tangling in his hair. He loved how you pulled it, making his scalp burn. Rindou was pressing into your g-spot hard and fast. “Nngh- fuck Rin right there.”

He responded to your cries instantly, pressing harder, licking faster. He felt you humming on his fingers before the first moan even escaped your lips. Rindou had secretly thought about this moment for so long, but nothing he imagined lived up to experiencing you cum on his tongue.

“So fucking sweet,” Rindou said as he licked up your release. The sweet, blissed out look on your face made his cock feel heavy. He need you now. 

“Rindou,” you whimpered, “Please, need you inside.” He was glad you agreed. He teased your hole with the tip of his flushed cock until he couldn’t help but sink into you. His head fell back, hissing through his teeth.

“So fucking tight,” he groaned, “Can’t believe I’ve missing out on pussy this good. I’m dumbest man alive.”

You laughed at his babbling. “Why don't you fuck me like you’re making up for lost time, then?” 

Rindou’s eyes burned with lust. He hooked a hand under your leg, pressing a knee up to your chest. He leaned into you, a wide smile on his face. “I might just be the luckiest man alive.”

With that he began snapping his hips into yours. His rhythm was deep and long, working you easily. The head of his cock hit your sweet spot with every thrust, making your pussy pulse and back arch. “’M so close Rin.”

“Cum for me baby,” Rindou urged, “Lemme feel you squeezing my cock.” His words sent you over the edge, eye rolling back as you were blinded by pleasure. You moaned his name, feeling yourself throb around his thick cock. Rindou cursed, his own orgasm washing over him as he watch you com undone. He slowed, letting himself milk out every last moment.

Rindou collapsed on top of you, both catching your breath. You pushed his damp hair out go his eyes. “If I’d known all it took to get you to admit how it felt was kissing Ran, I woulda done it forever ago.”

Rindou rolled his eyes, but smiled. “I’m just glad we’re done being idiots.”

“Oh we are definitely still idiots,” you replied, giving him a quick kiss. “But now we are idiots together.”

*

A/n: that corny ass hallmark ending lmfao. Ty for reading though<3

[watchmegetobsessed]

❄️DEAR HARRY❄️

A/N: how crazy that we are on week 3 already?? i hope you guys are seriously getting into the holiday spirit!!

WORD COUNT: 3.8k

SUMMARY: You become penpals with a cute boy in middle school. You fall for him while he becomes an international rockstar, but will you ever actually meet him?

MASTERLIST | SUPPORT ME!

This fic is part of ❄️ FANFICmas 2022 ❄️ Read more about fanficmas here!

“Y/N! You got a letter!”

You have never sped down faster than at that moment. You’ve been anticipating that letter more than anything and quite frankly, you never thought receiving a letter would ever feel this exciting.

But it does. And it’s all because of a boy you have never even met.

“Gimme!” you exclaim as you run up to your mother, grabbing the letter from her before she could even hold it out for you and you are already on your way back to your room to read it and probably memorize every word of it.

Throwing yourself onto the bed you take a look at the handwriting on the envelope, your smile growing wider before you open it and pull out the paper.

Dear Y/N,

I have news for you! But I will only reveal them to you at the end of the letter. And don’t cheat! Don’t read ahead!

This week has been boring so far, we had a math quiz and I didn’t do too well, but it’s okay. If only you lived here, you could tutor me, but I’m left with my sister who is definitely not fit to be a teacher. She is so impatient and gets angry when I don’t understand something.

How did you do on your science project? I bet yours was the best and I’m convinced you’ll be a scientist one day. A scientist with a coffee shop. That’s an awesome pairing, don’t you think?

It’s been raining a lot here so I haven’t been out that much. Mum said it probably won’t change for a while.

And now the exciting news… Drumroll please! Are you ready?... I’m going to be on the X-Factor! Crazy, right? But I finally applied and I got a date for my first audition. It’s not the one you see on TV just yet, I only get there if I pass this first round, so wish me luck. Don’t worry, I won’t stop sending you letters even when I’m a big star. You’ll always be my favorite penpal!

I can’t wait to read your next letter!

Love, Harry

You read it over and over again until you can recite the whole thing almost word to word. Then you grab a paper and write your letter right away, putting it aside when it’s done so you can neatly fold Harry’s letter into the box that has all his previous ones. Eighty-seven, to be exact.

You’ve been penpals since last year. Your teachers were friends in college and they loved matching up their classes every year, turning them into penpals and making them send a few mails as a task so kids experience what it was like when there was no internet. You didn’t think much of the task and never expected to make a friend out of it.

But then you got paired with a boy named Harry, who lives in Holmes Chapel.

The first few letters were awkward and both of you just wanted the task to be over. But then you started sharing more and more with each other and kept up with the letters even when the task was over and they haven’t stopped, not even over a year later.

You have no idea what he looks or sounds like, you haven’t exchanged phone numbers, you both agreed you wouldn’t do that until your 100th letter, which is now approaching. Still, you feel like he is your best friend, better than the ones you see every day. And maybe it’s starting to feel more than a friendship, but can you fall for someone you have never even met?

 

You finish the drink in your hand, wait for the girl next to you to get to the end of the story she’s been telling your group. You came down to this little dorm party willing to socialize and make new friends, but you feel like a total outsider and you really don’t want to stay any longer. There are other things you’d rather do right now. Or at least one thing.

Trying your best to stay unnoticed, you slip out of the basement where the party is being held and head up to your room on the third floor. Your college experience hasn’t been like the ones you saw in movies, if you’re being honest, but you’re hoping it will get better in time.

The building feels empty outside of the basement, everyone is down there, having a blast while you can’t wait to return to your room. You’re roommate is either at the party too or maybe she is out with her friends, whichever it is, she’s not there when you get back to your room.

Throwing yourself down to the bed you grab your phone and type out a quick message to the only person you always want to talk to.

Y/N: What time is it where you are? Are you up?

You don’t expect him to answer right away, but his reply comes just moments after your message.

HARRY: Call?

You smile at how he ignored your questions and then start a call. He answers after the first ring.

“Aren’t you supposed to be at a party?” he asks instantly.

“I didn’t like it,” you shrug.

“You said that about the last three parties you went to. You’ll never meet people if you just sit around in your dorm room, Y/N.”

“Didn’t know I called my mother,” you mumble under your breath, which makes him laugh.

“Sorry… I’m just… worried. I want you to have fun.”

“Let’s talk about the fun you’re having. Tell me, where are you today?”

“New York. But I’m leaving tomorrow to LA. And don’t think you successfully changed the subject, we’ll get back to your social distancing.”

“LA, wow!” you pretend to be so into it, even though he’s been there a million times before. “Work stuff?”

“You could say that. There is this thing…”

You listen to him talk, he could be saying anything and you’d have him talk for hours, you wouldn’t get enough of his voice. After all, he’s a singer, it’s no surprise his voice is so soothing, though deep down you know you like it for a different reason.

It’s kind of ridiculous. You’re in love with a guy you’ve known since you were fourteen, but you’ve never met and in the meantime he also turned into an international rockstar, so the whole world knows him. It took the two of you almost two years to have your first phone call instead of sending letters. You still remember the first time you heard his voice over the phone, how he said your name and how you could barely get a word out at first. Now you text and call all the time though you’re still yet to meet.

You like to say it’s just how things turned out so far, that you could just never match a date to meet up, but in reality, you’re too scared to meet him, it would make it all too real and you fear he wouldn’t like you if you stood in front of him. So you remain in this bubble, where he is your friend far away who is also a celebrity. But to you, he’s just Harry, your old penpal.

“Promise me something, Y/N.” His tone turns serious and you bite your bottom lip before answering him.

“Okay.”

“Make at least one friend by the end of the semester.”

“Is that my homework?” you try to joke.

“I’m serious,” he breathes out. “I hate knowing that you’re there all alone.

“I do have friends. You’re my friend.”

“But I’m not there. You need someone to go to the library with, have lunch together and all that stuff. Please, promise me you’ll try, okay? Or I will have to take matters into my own hands.”

“Uh, what’s that supposed to mean?” you frown.

“I will fly over to you, no matter what and show up with you so people will want to get to know you.”

“Oh, so you’ll use your fame to get me friends who are only interested in you?” you laugh.

“Exactly, so you better get a friend yourself!”

“Okay, you got me. I will… try.”

“That’s good enough. I gotta go now. Talk to you later?”

“Sure. Call me whenever your schedule loosens up,” you tease him, hearing his laugh on the other end of the call.

“Will do.”

 

“Are you sure you’re okay? Because I could come over, make a woodoo doll for Mark and poke the shit out of him.”

You chuckle at Hilde’s suggestion as you sink further into your couch.

“I’m sure. I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

“Okay, but I’m taking you out for lunch tomorrow. I’m not letting you lock yourself up in your cave just because a dumbass with a receding hairline dumped you.”

“God, Hilde, will you ever run out of the mean comments about him?” you laugh in disbelief. You knew she wasn’t too fond of him, but she’s been extremely, aggressively mean towards him since the two of you broke up two days ago. You can’t believe you thought her to be an angelic, shy girl when you met her in college. It must have been those Scandinavian features, her blonde hair and blue eyes tricked you for sure when you sat next to her at the cafeteria. Hilde is the friend you made because Harry forced you to meet someone and you hate to admit it, but your life wouldn’t be the same without her. She’s the only friend you made in college and luckily, she’s still in your life, three years after graduation.

“I have a whole notebook full of them,” she proudly says. “Alright, I have to go now, but call me if you feel like you want to cry after Mark. He doesn’t deserve your tears, so we have to prevent that.”

“I promise,” you smile softly.

“I’ll be at yours tomorrow at one. Bye!”

The smile fades from your face as soon as the call ends and you settle back into your loneliness. If anyone saw you, they would think it’s because of the breakup, but deep down you know it’s not the reason.

Yes, it’s shitty that you dated someone for almost an entire year and they dumped you over the phone, but that’s not what hurts the most. You’re alone. Well, Hilde is always there for you, but you can’t turn to the person who was your biggest support in the past decade. Your failed relationship is just a reminder that you will never have the same kind of feelings for anything like you had for Harry. No matter what went down with Mark, you always knew he wasn’t the one.

Because he wasn’t Harry.

Unlocking your phone you scroll down in the messages until you find the last one you sent to Harry. It’s been over a year and you still miss him.

There was no fight, no one hurt anyone, you just had a fall-out around the time he started dating some model. The messages came less and less often, he missed your phone calls and took a long time to respond whenever you sent him a picture of something you thought he would appreciate. His actions spoke loud and you didn’t want to be the annoying friend who doesn’t get a hint. He just started his solo career, things were going great for him, he didn’t have time to keep in touch with the penpal he had when he was a teenager.

So you stopped trying and eventually, everything stopped.

And you miss him probably too much, but you can’t help it. You keep catching yourself wondering if he thinks about you too, if he sees something and it reminds him of you, because it happens to you all the time.

You’ve wanted to text him a million times since the radio silence has started, but talked yourself down every time. He is a celebrity, he has way too many things to do than to catch up with you, that’s if he even answered your message. His number might not even be the same.

You regret never meeting him. Now you’ll never know what it feels like to hug him, to see him smile in real life, to smell his scent. He’ll remain just his letters you still have under your bed and the memories you have of your phone calls.

Seeking closure you grab a paper and pen and write one last letter to him.

Dear Harry…

 

You can’t mask your shock as you stare down at the letter you just took out of your mail box. You recognize the handwriting right away, but you never thought you’d ever see it again, not on an envelope at least.

It takes you several minutes to snap out of your initial shock and rush up to your apartment, holding the letter to your chest as if it was your most precious treasure and in the meanwhile you think back at the date you sent out that last letter to Harry.

It’s been six months.

It took him six months for him to reply to a letter you didn’t even think he would ever read. What happened? Did he only get it now? Or did he hesitate for this long before deciding to reply? You have so many questions and you might get a few answers from the letter.

You drop down to your couch and open the envelope with shaking hands, pulling the neatly folded paper out.

Dear Y/N…

 

“You look disgustingly happy, have I told you that?” Hilde comments and you roll your eyes at her.

“Yes. Like a million times before.”

“Okay, then I will just keep saying it.”

“I thought you’d be happy to see me like this, you’ve been nagging me about him for years!” you tell her off teasingly.

“I am happy! But I didn’t think you’d radiate like this! Though I should have expected, you are so hopelessly in love with that man,” she sighs. “I can’t believe it took you guys fourteen years to finally arrange a meeting, what the fuck?”

“It’s not that dramatic,” you tell her, finishing up putting the mugs away. It’s the 23rd of December, you’re just an hour away from closing up so it’s just two customers and Hilde left in the café. Soon everyone will be gone and Harry will arrive to meet you for the very first time in real life.

It’s been a long journey up to this point. After your farewell letter you didn’t think you’d ever talk to him, but then six months later you got another letter from him. Since then, you figured out what took so long. You sent the letter to his old address, but his mum has moved away for a while now. Luckily, the new owner was kind enough to track Anne down and give her the letter, but it took some time for that to happen. Then it took about two months for Anne to give it to Harry, she kept forgetting about it until he was finally home and she could just hand it over when she remembered she still had it. Then came some hesitation, but it was just a week before Harry decided to write to you.

And then you started talking again.

He apologized for being so distant, he said his then girlfriend didn’t appreciate the tight friendship he had with you and it didn’t take long to get back to where you were before the fall-out.

Now it’s been a year and the moment has finally come. It’s time to meet in person and you feel better about it than ever. Probably because the two of you have definitely passed being just friends.

The flirty texts started about a month after you reconnected and they’ve been building up ever since. All your doubts that Harry could never see you as more than just a friend has vanished and now you’re just patiently waiting for the big moment to happen.

“We can’t change what happened now,” you shrug.

“Yeah. Now he’ll have a great story to tell at talk shows about how he met his girlfriend!” she snorts out a laugh.

“I’m not his girlfriend!” you protest, but your heart skips a beat at the word.

“But you will be when you leave this place tonight, hopefully with him, heading up to your place to make up for all the sex you missed in the past decade.”

“Hilde!” you chuckle, throwing a rug at her.

Soon the café empties out, Hilde helps you closing and she heads out to give you some peace before Harry is set to arrive. As you’re left alone, you take a look around the place and you can’t help but feel content with your life.

You opened the café last year, an old dream of yours that’s now finally reality. It’s small and took almost all of your savings to start the business, but you wouldn’t trade it for anything. It’s decorated with Christmas lights and ornaments, one of your employees, Krissy did it, she’s obsessed with the holidays so you let her go all out. Now it looks like a tiny winter wonderland, setting the perfect mood for your first time meeting Harry.

You can’t help but feel nervous. What will he think of you? Will he think you’re just like on the photos he’s seen of you? Or are you different? Is he nervous too?

You arrange a little setup on one of the tables, some freshly baked cookies and two mugs of hot chocolate. Everything looks perfect and he could be here anytime.

A car pulls up in front of the building and your heart skips a beat when you see him get out of it with a bouquet of roses in his hands. He doesn’t notice you through the windows, so you can have a good look at him before he comes inside.

He seems to take a few moments to himself, checking his hair in the mirror before taking a deep breath and nodding to himself. Seeing him like this, nervous like you makes you smile.

Then he turns to face the café and he spots you through the glass of the door and your eyes meet for the first time. For a few seconds you just stare at each other, bask in the moment before you both break out in smiles and he walks inside, stopping by the door, a few feet away from you.

“Hi,” he breathes out and you swear his voice sounds a million times better than on the phone or any video you’ve seen of him.

“Hi,” you chuckle and your legs start moving before you could even think.

You throw yourself into his arms and he catches you with ease, holding you tight and suddenly, you know this is where you belong.

“God, it’s so good to hold you, Y/N,” he chuckles, burying his face into your neck. You want to say the same, but it’s so overwhelming that you can just laugh and hold him tighter.

You have no idea how long you stay like that, wrapped up in each other, hours could have passed by and you wouldn’t have noticed. All you feel and see is Harry.

“It’s really you,” he chuckles when you pull apart at last and he can take a better look at you.

“I should be saying that, I was the one talking to a celebrity! You could have been a catfish all along!” you laugh as you soak him in, standing in the middle of your tiny café. “Um, come sit. I made cookies and… hot chocolate.”

“And I brought you these,” he holds out the roses for you that you take with a lovesick smile, placing them onto the counter before the two of you settle at the table you set.

You sit and talk and talk for hours, tell each other everything you’ve written about and the things you didn’t. Words and stories flow so easily, it’s like you’ve spent every waking moment by each other this past fourteen years. You cherish how you’re able to touch his arm and hand and he barely looks away from you, as if the sight of you has put a spell on him.

“Oh wow, it’s past midnight,” you snap out of the bubble you’ve been sitting in, realizing just how late it has gotten.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to overstay my welcome.” His eyes widen, but you just chuckle, shaking your head.

“You didn’t. It’s just that I have to be here by six thirty to open.”

“Oh shit, then… we should get going?” he suggests. “I can drive you home.”

“That would be great, thank you. Let me just bring these back to the kitchen,” you gesture at the empty mugs and plates.

“Let me help,” he offers, but you shake your head no.

“It’s alright, I can do it.”

You stack them all together and then bring them back, just tossing them into the sink. You’ll deal with them in the morning. When you walk out, you find Harry inspecting the place with a tiny smile.

“You really made this happen,” he says. “I remember when you wrote about wanting to start your own business when we were sixteen.”

“Well, it took me over a decade, but yeah,” you chuckle softly.

“I’m proud of you,” he says, his gaze meeting yours as he steps closer to you. “You’ve achieved so much. I just wish I could be next to you on the way.”

You catch a hint of disappointment flashing through his expression, but you don’t want him to blame himself. The fall-out might have been his fault mostly, but before that, it was you who avoided meeting him at any cost. Maybe things would have turned out different if you just met as soon as possible.

You’ll never know. But it’s alright, because you have a second chance now.

“You can be here from now on,” you quietly say and you can feel the atmosphere change in an instant. “If… If you want to,” you add.

Harry steps closer again until there are only inches parting you from him. He reaches up and cups your cheek in his hand, his eyes snapping down at your lips when they part.

“There’s nothing I would want more,” he replies, his lips pressing against yours finally.

Suddenly, you’re a curious teenager again, whose heart threatens to jump out of her chest seeing a new letter. The excitement of opening the envelope, reading his words and then writing back to him as soon as possible, it’s all here now that there’s no distance between the two of you.

You belonged to him even before you met and you belong to him now that he is closer to you than ever before.

Thank you for reading, please like and reblog if you enjoyed and buy me a coffee if you want to support me!

[wonderful-magician]

What if

I wanted to rant about Electra

And did

Okay a lot of this ranting is just made up nonsense! ( Obv based off the musical itself ) I'm rewriting the musical to my tastes and would like to actually discuss the characters more than the musical is able too. This is more like a TV show set-up to be honest.

Okay main point I want to get out of the way. Electra is an antagonist. But he SUCKS at being a antagonist- for rusty. I genuinely don't remember any times he actually addresses rusty that's like actually important. He's really just a driving force against greaseball. He seems way more upset about diesel than steam. Though to be fair, he seems so confident in himself I doubt he's worried about some kid who's just kinda there.

Because Electra just appears. Unlike rusty and greaseball who are established to know each other. Electra literally just APPEARS. He's not part of the nationals. He wasn't even originally entered into the race. He just appears. And is here now. And he just wants to show off and beat the previous champion. Why would he acknowledge the steam engine who has no chance???

He doesn't even do anything outwardly malicious. I mean he listens to Red Caboose's plan and doesn't really mind that they cheat. And uhm. I guess he goes with pearl but she consented and willingly did that so it's not .. the worst. And he sometimes electrocutes people. But really most of the musical he just stands next to rusty and greaseball fighting while like " :/ " or just flirting with the components or something I don't know.

Of course this doesn't change the fact he's an asshole. He's apathetic and very naive honestly. He only cares about himself, and has tantrums like an actual toddler. He doesn't even ask out the pretty girls himself he has his accountant/security guy do that lmao. He's obviously not a guy used to doing anything himself. Or used to losing. And is just generally annoying to anybody who meets him. But he's probably the *most* redeemable of the three antags. In of which. Idk I feel like just having him live at the Apollo-Victoria for a few years or something would help just get him out of his stupid attitude hfhdbdb

A little bit indulgent perhaps. But i feel like in a episodic setting Electra would probably lose some of his apathetic tendencies. Not all of them- he's a computer. And he'll always be self centered and care a lot less about others feelings than most. But I could truly see him befriending Rusty, pearl, maybe even Dinah. Though I don't know if he'd ever get along with greaseball... Give it like 20 years... Maybe more... A lot of time.

But I truly think with the right circumstances he could just be??? A confident guy who is a bit inconsiderate?? Probably still whiny because you can't take the diva out of Electra but y'know what I mean.

Even MORE indulgent. I want a Dustin and Electra friendship SO BAD YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. These two are like. Opposites. But in the way that I just feel like they would help each other SO MUCH RAAAH. Electra is confident but struggles with empathy?? Dustin is overly empathetic and very insecure?? THEY COULD HELP EACH OTHER SO MUCH AAAA. Ok ok I need to stop with that.

But essentially I just think that Electra is this young guy. Like really young. He's one of the ( potentially, the youngest ) youngest people in the cast. Only a few years in service and he's already got a horrific ego. Just because he is TRULY good at racing. Can't take that from him. Even if he's very late. Like. Really late to the entry. But I just think he's this young guy who kinda threw himself into the wrong situation. Probably not realizing that messing with Caboose is a horrible idea. And that he was unknowingly racing against gods favorite so. oops.

Ok anyway I should shut up now ok I like Electra he's cool but he's a horrible antagonist but I love him and this probably is really hard to read (⁠＾⁠∇⁠＾⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠♪

Oh also why does nobody ever use his hypnotism powers. He has those. Are- are we going to ignore that-?? Ok...

[legallybrunettedotcom]

i want to know everything omg! what are your favorite characters on gossip girl? who do you hate the most? and what your opinion about this show in general. 💓

I really need to do a rewatch, I probably forgot a lot of plot points, but... Blair was always my favourite, my number one girl. I didn't like Serena, I think I just didn't like Blake Lively, and I hate to be that person that's like oh she always had bad vibes, I knew it from the start, but idk I just never got the hype around her and her acting was so bad. I think I end up disliking a lot of characters on any tv show just bc I hate the actor's acting choices, like why are you doing that face? that was so unneccessary lmao. I think I also maybe projected onto Blair a bit, like someone who is always trying their best, putting in 110% and someone else just swooping in and winning with zero effort, but... let's not unpack that here. Them together are obviously one of the best frenemies put on screen and I suppose both the tension and love that can exist in female friendships was portrayed really well imo so I don't really want to point fingers at either of them as like the root cause of the friendship problems, like one of them being the shitty friend and other the martyr. Like sometimes you are a shitty friend and sometimes your friend is the cunt, that's not the end of the world. I can see the same thing happening now that there's been a sort of SATC renaissance if i can call it that (even though SATC is a show that is consistently popular, like I don't think it has ever fallen off and then had some sort of resurgence but ygwim) where ppl are aggressively hating Carrie, like she was the devil. Plus I find it difficult to look at fiction through real life eyes, like asking why would this person do this? well they did it bc this is a show and we need an inciting incident to move the plot forward yk?

Blair and Chuck were made for each other, I loved their dynamic. With that said, Chuck is obviously not a good guy. I think at the time, as a kid, some things flew over my head, but looking back he is scary and creepy and you'd feel unsafe in his presence. I suppose he was entertaining, like you got this 15, 16 year old kid talking about stock exchange and dressing like Hugh Hefner, it kinda is funny. Even though I was rooting for Chair (was that their ship name I can't remember) endgame, I did actually enjoy Blair and Dan together, I think it was a cute moment and they worked well together. I don't think their relationship was for shock value, they actually had kind of a proper enemies to friends to lovers arc. I liked Dan, but also looking back... kind of a creep as well, his obsession with Serena was weird and the reveal of him as GG was disappointing. I gotta admit I never watched the show with anticipation of GG being revealed, I personally was like ok if it happens, happens, if it doesn't, fine. I never was interested in looking for clues on who GG might be. I think the show would've been fine ending without that reveal tbh. Definitely one of the more underwhelming and disappointing show finales out there.

I loved Jenny, I loved Juliet, I think she was the best antagonist. I kinda didn't care about Nate that much. I loved that the show delved into the life and drama of the parents as well, sometimes more entertaining than teenage lives. Honestly, can't say I hated anyone, which... funny considering I opened this with a politer version of calling Serena a bitch lmao. But despite GG being looked at as a silly teen show, I think all these characters were pretty complex and no one was really entirely good or entirely bad. I think what carried that show was great costumes, great set design and charismatic actors. I actually read some of the books and yk they're fine, can't remember much of the details, but I think actors made it much more than it is on paper, which also I feel is a sign of times. Like not to lump these actors with actual movie stars of the past, but we can definitely see an actor is not a star anymore, they're a product. The show had a lot of plot holes, but... idk I can't say I'm intense abt plot holes unless it's truly insanely dumb and demeans the audience.

I don't know if you've checked out the reboot, I watched like first half of first season and it wasn't good. They tried to fix a lot of problems of the original, especially in matters of diversity and class consciousness, but the problem with a lot of "socially conscious" media nowadays is that their writing ends up consisting of slogans instead of yk actually good writing and dialogue. The original was quite scandalous for its time, like I've seen ppl say their parents wouldn't let them watch it. It was like SATC for teenagers. The reboot didn't have that edge, but I also don't think this is a uniquely GG problem, I think it's just the times. Television doesn't connect us anymore. Which I know is ironic saying this on Tumblr, on a fandom site, in an era where there are so many streaming platforms producing many many many tv shows and programmes and it all being actually more profitable than films, BUT you can't tell me our relationship to TV is the same as it was 20, 30, 40 etc years ago, or even just 10 years ago.

But yeah, all in all, I love the show, I love the fashion, I love the bitchiness and I think it came at the right moment in my life. If you want to share your own opinions feel free to do so, my inbox is always open. Like I said, haven't seen it in a long time, so my memory isn't super fresh, but I think I'm due for a rewatch. <3

[ultimateloserboy]

i cant go to sleep until i release the thoughts so here they are. im sorry if this is a bit more nonsensical or rambleish than my other ones, im very very tired but anyway

this is going to be a bit upsetting for the lovey-dovey sunshine and rainbows crowd but people give red guy and duck WAYY too much credit when it comes to their relationship (or at least how it used to be) like they DID NOT //start out// functional AT. ALL. they used to go together like a car and a tree. and honestly this makes them even more interesting

They’re both insecure in different areas, and they react differently to these insecurities as well. from what ive gathered, red guy dislikes how “odd” he is. he tries to act bitter and uncaring about everything and everyone, either to fit in with the other red things, or to keep himself distracted or distanced from the world hes stuck in. he distances himself from his friends as well. this is a horrible contrast with ducks outward and open love of his friends (despite how horribly he treats them lmao but i digress) duck reveals in the family episode that despite loving himself, he wants other people to love him too. duck is not necessarily insecure in himself, hes the best one after all, but he does feel very lonely. he feels like nobody loves him as much as he loves himself, like the only person he truly has is himself because nobody else is willing to love him. this obviously makes him feel very alone. this is why red guys denial and dismissal of his friends hits ducks insecurities harshly and directly, even if its not intentional.

once i got to the fridge scene during my first watchthrough i was very confused. firstly because i was utterly flabbergasted that they were gay for some reason (i had never even considered it), and secondly because ducks reply caught me off guard. duck is a very full-of-himself character. so why would he be surprised to find out someone likes looking at him? shouldnt he reply with something like “well yeah duh you big stupid idiot im the prettiest and the best etc etc”?? well i understand now why duck reacted that way. he doesnt get many compliments from anyone but himself, probably talking in the mirror. and he ESPECIALLY hadnt gotten many compliments from red guy at this point. red guy denied being his friend very adamantly. EVEN AT HIS FUNERAL. HIS FUNERAL!!! and yes red guy does realize he misses duck eventually, but duck isnt even there to see it, and when he comes back he finds himself literally replaced?? (like.. red guy ur fumbling so hard right now. fumbling straight into a divorce. and ur not even married yet man. but anyway, back on topic)

slowly throughout the series red guy starts being more open, and whether he realizes it or not his whole uncaring act isnt that good to begin with. my favorite small detail during the funeral is that red guy calls the plates “our plates” without even realizing it, right in the middle of denying his best-friendship with duck. like dude who do you think youre fooling other than yourself!?

with all of this considered, despite red guys poor performance of denial, it’s perfectly understandable for duck to be surprised when red guy openly confesses his honest emotions. an up-front confession of feelings is not something red guy ever wants or allows himself to do, so duck was probably confused as hell.

my favorite part of this scene is how red guy is looking away when he says it, still clearly embarrassed but saying it anyway. this is a HUGE deal for his character. it was a character development that had been slowly growing throughout the tv series, and by episode six i think it was as close to completion as its ever been. he does pull the whole “its fine just ignore it” thing with duck earlier in the episode, but he does it more to calm him down in this context. the fridge scene confirms to me that red guy has almost stopped running, not necessarily from the house, but from his friends. he has finally let himself love them. hes finally let himself admit not just to himself, but to duck, that hes important to him.

this is why i think theyre so interesting, because these two characters are cynical assholes. that’s how becky and joe have described them at times. these characters are not the best of people, theyre both messed up people in a messed up and confusing world, so of course they wont be perfect. but thats the beauty of it. they dont want to hurt eachother, so they try their best to change. they try their best to fight against the cruelty of their minds and surroundings and let themselves love eachother even if only for a second, even if in the end it wont really matter

ok im going to sleep now goodnight

[moistvonlipwig]

BtVS for the favorite things ask game?

ok!!!

my favorite female character: Cordelia of course.....though if we're counting her more as an AtS character then it'd be poor beleaguered Anya, who has too much sense by far for the rest of the Scoobies to handle.

my favorite male character: Spoike my horrible little man who is faking his accent and cheats at kitten poker <3 he sucks sooo bad (affectionate) (also objectively true since he is a vampire)

my favorite book/season/etc: This one's tricky -- I think S5 probably takes it in the end, although I think the overall arc of S2 is very impressive and the highs are higher. But I prefer big sister Buffy to only child Buffy and the later seasons cast line-up to the early seasons cast line-up, and S2 has a lot of bad episodes, whereas S5's worst episodes are just kind of whatever. S3 is also very strong overall, but it doesn't emotionally grab me the way S2 and S5 do.

my favorite episode (if its a tv show): This one's even trickier! I think "Becoming" (especially its second part) is definitely in the running for its amazing character work for Buffy and the whole cast. "Lovers Walk" gets points for the sheer amount of fun it packs into its runtime. "Who Are You?" is another contender, largely due to SMG's absolute tour-de-force performance as Faith. "Restless" would be a contender if it weren't for the horrifically racist treatment of the First Slayer that infects the entire episode, which knocks it soundly off its otherwise well-earned pedestal. "The Gift" is very, very good as well. (I'm not as big on "The Body" as everyone else -- it's good, I just don't think it's one of the show's top episodes.) And I think "Dead Things" is probably the most challenging episode the show ever put forth, which I appreciate deeply. (I enjoy the songs in OMWF a lot, but as an episode I don't think it's super cohesive, so while it's up there for me, I don't think I can say it's the show's best.)

my favorite cast member: I honestly don't really tend to get super invested in actors, so, idk? I guess I'd say that, while she's nowhere near the show's strongest actor -- in fact I would argue she's one of those actors who is extremely good at playing one specific part and basically can't play anything else -- I nonetheless have a lot of respect for Eliza Dushku as a person, what with how she's spoken up about the sexual abuse, harassment, and mistreatment she's faced within the industry, and how she threw her full support behind the people speaking up about Joss Whedon despite having a positive experience with him herself.

my favorite ship: Most of my favorite Buffyverse ships are AtS ships, but my favorite BtVS ship is ultimately probably Buffy/Spike, despite, um, everything -- I think they have a lot of really fun interactions and I buy their friendship in early S6 and S7, and I appreciate that the show made some attempt (YMMV how successful it was) to deconstruct and problematize the enemies-to-lovers trope. That said, my ideal endgame for them is that they end up as friends, not lovers. And the way some people talk about that ship on here is......well. It's something innit. In terms of other ships I like: despite what I'm about to say about Giles below, I do like his interactions with Anya a lot and I feel like there were some romantic implications in "Grave" that weirdly never got picked up again in S7. I think a Giles/Anya romance would be a lot better than S7 trying to resurrect the shuffling corpse of Xander/Anya. ...Although, I'm also a "Willow should've killed Giles in Grave" truther, so, I'll also propose a Willow/Anya romance, because they had good chemistry in "Selfless" and it'd be funny.

a character I’d die defending: It used to be Dawn and Cordelia, but honestly the fandom has cooled off a lot when it comes to hating those characters, so, uh, I definitely still defend them ardently when needed, but they don't need it as much these days as they used to. Buffy still gets some very weird things said about her which I think she should be defended from, although I also think there's pockets of fandom that act like she has never done a single thing wrong in her life ever, which is a point of view I also don't subscribe to. Faith I think is in a weird position where she has done some legitimately awful things, which some of her more hardcore fans gloss over, but some people are strangely hellbent on making up things she didn't do to get mad at her for, which I can't abide. People are also deeply weird about Joyce, as you know, but, like, I'm not a Joyce Fan or anything, I don't even think she's a particularly amazing mother, I just think people seem entirely incapable of seeing things from her point of view and weirdly insistent that her relationship with Buffy was worse than it was. So, IDK. Most of the women, I guess. Except Willow. Sorry Willow, I'm sure some people are weird about you too, but the narrative is too nicies to you already.

a character I just can’t sympathize with: Yeah, it's Giles. He's the character who has gone down the most in my estimation over time, particularly as I've gotten older. S1 Giles is arguably sympathetic, with his fate somewhat paralleled to Buffy's, but as the show goes on, the character and worldbuilding develop to a point where it becomes pretty irrefutable that this is a guy who profits off of Buffy's suffering and could stop doing that at any time, who abandons her when she needs him most, and who then has the gall to act like he should have any say in the decisions she makes about her life afterwards. Additionally, the way he seems totally indifferent to Xander's home life and clear desire for a non-abusive father figure/masculine role model, and even more egregiously (given that it is literally his job to 'watch' her) the way he seems totally indifferent to Faith's lack of a home or family or any kind of support, is profoundly foul to me, and yet another thing that's made worse by the retcon that Giles is well-off and gets paid to do this. (The Faith stuff is even worse when you remember that Giles, too, has accidentally killed people, yet he makes no effort to try to reach out to her. Angel's attempt to reach out may have been bad, but at least it was an attempt.) I've read a lot of meta on here about how Giles was deeply affected by Jenny's death and how that made him feel like he had somehow doomed her by loving her, or even when Jenny isn't brought into it a lot of people will say that Giles thinks he is an awful person who makes people's lives worse and that's why he holds himself at such a distance, and like, that's a fine interpretation, but I don't actually see any evidence that that's true? To me that's in the realm of "Xander hates vampires because of Jesse" -- it's something that could psychologically make sense for a real person, and you could write about in a fanfic and have it be quite interesting, but I struggle to see any real basis for that idea in canon. And of course I should add that I think Giles should probably suck, for the show to work; if he's a good father figure the story doesn't really happen. But he sucks in such deeply baffling and unsympathetic ways to me that I just really don't like him anymore at this point, aside from the occasional Buffy-Giles emotional beat or snarky one-liner that makes me smile.

a character I grew to love: This one definitely goes to Buffy -- I think pre-Dawn Buffy is a well-done but ultimately fairly typical Campbell-style comic hero, whose character is largely elevated by SMG's iconic performance and by BtVS's strategy of using monster-of-the-week episodes to mirror Buffy's internal journey. I like her fine in the early seasons, but it's only really in S5 that she starts to grab my emotional attention, and it's in S6 that I truly love her -- S6 is a mess, but I think Buffy's arc in that season is utterly compelling and beautiful, and it gives me so much more affection and appreciation for her character. As for S7...well, let's just not speak of that, shall we.

my anti otp: With apologies as always to my Bangel followers & mutuals, I find Buffy/Angel to be not entirely uninteresting to think about (especially in S2, which is when I think the writers had the strongest sense of what they wanted to say with that relationship), but they are profoundly tedious to watch. Melodrama that is played straight is rarely appealing to me, and I can't for the life of me imagine them in an actual adult relationship -- what would they talk about? As Buffy herself admits, they were never actually friends, and so many of their conversations on the show just revolve around how they shouldn't and/or can't be together but they want to anyway. I also think, as the shows go on, they develop different values and their lives go in such different directions that I don't think they would work as a couple in the future, either. Both of them are better off, IMO, moving on and living separate lives.

[bicheetopuff]

Hi....! Can I ask, who are your top 7 favorite romantic relationship's couples in books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series (can be canon or non-canon) and your top 10 favorite characters ever from any media? Why do you love them all? Thanks if you want to answer....

Oh wow this is gonna be quite a list…

7) Lightning McQueen and Chick Hicks - specifically the versions of them from the Cars video game that was released following the movie in 2006.

I- idk there was just something about them-

Like, in the movie they barely talked but in the game they kept bickering like an old married couple and teasing each other. There’s one scene where Chick goes “hey Lightning, check this out” and turns his bumper towards him, and Lightning was like “okay? What about it?” And Chick said something like “get used to the view😏” and it just- IT TRIGGERED SOMETHING, OKAY??

6) Langa and Reki - Sk8 the Infinity

Honestly I just really like their dynamic and I just love them as characters. Sk8 was a comfort anime for me for a while so I just really grew to love them. That’s it, no deep explanation, I just love how wholesome they are. I’m gonna go rewatch Sk8 now…

5) Chloe and Max - Life is Strange

This was the first ship I got somewhat invested into. At the time the game came out, I was just a middle schooler struggling with my sexuality and I’d tune in to each of Jacksepticeye’s playthroughs of each of the episodes. After the two of them kissed, I started to read the comments of that video and saw someone say that they were excited to find out whether Max was bisexual or if she just kissed Chloe for fun, blah blah, I don’t remember exactly what it said. Point is, that was the first time bisexuality was presented to me and it was just kind of the beginning of me finding out who I was. Once I realized I was bi, it just evolved into the pipeline of exploring my queerness and finding out the things I like and don’t like. Later I grew to like Chloe and Rachel more, but Chloe and Max did a lot for me and they just have a special place in my heart.

4) Trevor and Michael - GTAV

I have a weird obsession with this game, and playing it over and over again, the more you see how weirdly complicated their relationship is? And it’s so hinted at that Trevor was probably genuinely in love with him at some point from the way he talks about him as if they went through a bad divorce. I mean, the way Trevor reacted was lowkey justifiable, I’d probably be heart broken and feel betrayed too if my partner in crime faked his death. But I see them as toxic but codependent old man yaoi. Anyways…

3) Ruby and Sapphire - Steven Universe

They altered my brain chemistry. I don’t have much other explanation, but they genuinely changed my perception of love. I just remember watching the episode where they explained how they became one through garnet and lived together as her because they loved each other so much and I was bawling my eyes out so bad. I WANT A LOVE LIKE THAT UGHHH I ADORE THEM

2) Tie between Apple Jack and Rainbow Dash, and Nana and Hachi - Nana and My Little Pony

This is kind of a mismatched tie- one is from possibly the most relatable and gut remching piece of media I’ve ever seen, and the other is from a children’s cartoon about magical friendship horses… while that might be the case, they’re equally as important to me.

Nana and Hachi will forever break my heart with how much I related to each of them, especially Hachi. Feeling like your only sense of worth comes from the attention of men, and just letting yourself be treated how you think you’re supposed to be treated because you so badly want to be loved, that you stop caring about how you’re treated in the process. She’s the embodiment of ‘you accept the love you think you deserve’ and she breaks my heart. She deserved to live a life with Nobuo… she deserved to live a life with Nana. Nana wanted to give her the world and Hachi made herself refuse it because she thought she didn’t deserve it UGH DONT TOUCH ME THEY HURT MY SOUL!!

And with AppleDash… idk they just occasionally plague my brain. They remind me a lot of bkdk and I think that’s why I like them so much. Rainbow Dash was my favorite character ever for a really long time and I thought her and Apple Jacks constant rivalry was so cute. I love me some masc4masc lesbians. I think they also partly shaped my sexuality, cuz they helped me realize that it’s okay for me, a genderfluid masc, to like other mascs. I honestly thought I was straight again for a while because I found myself rarely being attracted to fems at a point in time, but getting back into the mlp fandom helped me somehow.

1) Katsuki and Izuku - My Hero Academia

We already know how I feel about them, and I actually got another ask asking how i feel about them in detail so I’ll link that here when I post my response.

Now for my favorite characters! This’ll be less weird:

10) Mabel Pines - Gravity Falls - she literally just reminds me of me when I was a kid and embodies the “I don’t wanna grow up yet” sentiment. I was trick or treating until I was like 14, and it was the last time anyone ever agreed to go with me so I just related to her a lot as a teenager. All she wanted was just a little more time to be herself without judgment. She’s so silly /affectionate

9) Amethyst - Steven Universe - another silly character I just kind of relate to. She just wanted to feel like she belonged and she was never able to until Steven came along. But despite not feeling welcome for so long, she still kept her fun, boisterous personality and laughed all of the time.

8) Armin - Attack on Titan - I honestly don’t know why but I adored him since his introduction. Like a puppy that I just met but would die for if someone threatened him. I always thought it was kind of unhinged that he was able to be so hopeful and kind all of the time despite the trauma, and his dynamic with Eren was just funny to me. “Eren look! The ocean! See?! The ocean! Let’s go see it together! :D” only for Eren to be like “yeah but everyone across it wants us dead” and just kind of ruined the beauty of the ocean for himself. I appreciate that he took him “sight seeing” in the end and didn’t ruin it with his emoness. Idk I’ve just always liked smart characters who so obviously mask their true emotions out of fear of burdening other people. He’s basically Deku but with a fuckass blond bob.

7) Hachi - Nana - I think this is just turning into a trend of my favorite characters just being really relatable to me. All she ever wanted was to be loved and to make whoever gave her love, happiness in return. It didn’t matter how fucked up the person who loved her was, she’d still fall in love with them because they convinced her that they loved her. After so many emotionally abusive experiences, her idea of love just became set in stone, so she just kept ending up with the same guy over and over again, and the one time she almost accepted the love she truly deserved, it went down in flames cuz of another emotionally abusive man. And I think the most tragic part about that is that it happened after she got a taste of what genuine love was really like and she was never able to savor it. I like her, cuz her character just feels so human and I feel like a lot of women and queer people can relate to her experiences.

I feel bad for putting her so low, but honestly the next six characters are practically tied.

6) AntMan - MCU - HE HAS QUESTIONABLE MORALS BUT HES A GOOD DAD, OKAY?!

5) Loki - MCU - I love morally grey characters. I totally understand him tbh. All he wanted was to be on equal footing with his brother, because everyone praised Thor their whole lives and automatically just assumed he’d be the next ruler of Asgard, and completely undermined Loki. The only person in the universe who remotely gave a fuck about him, was his mother, and he got her killed by mistake. The last person he was sure actually cared about him.

He was fucked in the head from thousands of years of neglectful parenting and everyone just underestimating him, and Thanos took advantage of that vulnerability. He said “yeah if you do my dirty work for me, I’ll let you have just a smidgen of authority,” and Loki took the opportunity because it was the first chance he was given to be something more than just Thor’s brother and Odin’s adopted son. Odin only took him in to say he was kind enough to do so, he couldn’t care less about him, and that’s why his ass got dropped off at a nursing home.

But also after the Loki series, it just made me fall in love with his character even more. It proves that he never wanted to destroy any planet or universe, he never wanted unlimited power, he just wanted to be viewed as someone important. He just wanted to find his glorious purpose. He’s an egotistical God who was neglected by his parents, which caused him to stray off the path a bit, and everyone believed that’s all he’ll ever be… hm who does that remind you of?

4) Deadpool - does he count as MCU now? Whatever. Marvel - I honestly don’t know why I latched onto Deadpool so hard as a teenager. He’s really a tragic character who hides behind vulgarity. I loved coming to understand him, and his humor makes him more lovable. How I feel about him is similar to how I feel about Armin. He’s like a puppy I want to protect from anything bad happening to him again. He doesn’t deserve what happened to him, and he literally only agreed to go through the forced mutation process, because he didn’t want Vanessa to go through losing someone to cancer by herself. He knew she had no one else, so that was him doing whatever it took to still be there for her, but what the process did to his body just made him feel unlovable, so he ended up making her go through that loss anyway.

He’s definitely an asshole, but what do you expect? He was an assassin for most of his life. He’s an asshole with feelings and I adore him.

3) Rainbow Dash - My little Pony - she worked hard to be the best at what she does. She was told she couldn’t do something and proved them wrong, which created a red string situation between her and the mane six, making all of them get their cutie marks at the same time. She’s loud, confident, funny, hella competitive, and gay… I think I definitely have a type when it comes to favorite characters. And I think she’s the one who set my standard.

2) Izuku Midoriya - like I said before, we already know this. But I have another ask in my inbox asking for why I like him and Katsuki in detail and I don’t feel like typing that all out twice in one day so I’ll just link that post here when I post it. Just know that I love him, and he plagued my brain.

1) Katsuki Bakugou - same as Deku’s. I’ll link the other post at the bottom of this one once I answer it.

That’s all for now though!!

Edit: here’s the bkdk response!! x

[whichuniverseisthis]

I finally had the time to watch the whole reboot (not true, I've just been avoiding studying) so here's my final overall opinion for both seasons.

I think I like season one more, mostly because of the less romance drama and the bigger focus on friendships and rivalries and because Bowie was there the whole time. So here my opinion on each character, in alphabetical order. This shit got way too long for no reason.

Axel: she was cool. Overall fine, it was fun watching her, especially in the second season. I like that she has an artistic side to her that isn't needed for survival, with poetry and painting. I think my favorite episode for her was the third of season two, when she gets stuck to and has to deal with Ripper, and they actually start to get along.

Bowie: I don't think there's any way for me to not have him as my overall favorite. He's too much fun, he's smart, strong, confident, friendly, but he isn't perfect at all, and he showed it especially in season two. The relationship with Raj was adorable, the rivalry with Julia amazing, the friendship with Emma great and I'd say perfectly handled in the first season. He got involved in all of the main plots of the first season, and had a huge role in all of them. I just love him. I can't decide a single favorite episode for him, it would be between episodes 1, 9, 11 and 12 from the first season and episode 5 from the second.

Caleb: I've seen so much hate for him after the second season. But I'll tell you what: I actually enjoyed him, especially in the last couple of episodes. He's not a favorite, not even close, but they gave me the time to learn more about him (maybe even way too much). I liked him especially in episode 12 of season two, where he couldn't decide how to handle Priya and Julia and keep a balance between his alliances that he worked so hard to get, the greatest bit being when Priya made him promise to not tell Julia about the betrayal, and he said his word didn't matter anymore. And in the end he just didn't listen to neither of them.

Chase: well, what to say. He was fine. He was good for what he represented, and he actually had some fun moments. The fake death bit with the bears was hilarious, one of my favorite comedy moments overall. Though I'd say my favorite episode for him was the fourth of the first season, because of some great interactions with Priya and Millie, as well as him being the voice of reason of the team for the elimination.

Damien: I love him. He's overall funny, and his sarcastic comments especially in season two were great. Did he deserve more? Yes. But I'd say sixth place is plenty respectable. I'd say my favorite episode for him is the sixth from the second season. Him winning the tourney, especially defeating Julia and Bowie out of sheer luck, was way too funny and great to see.

Emma: I can't bring myself to not like her. She's fun, there's actually people like her and Chase out there - hell, TV is full of those couples. She deserved way more, and if there will ever be a third seasons, I honest to god hope she wins. I think my favorite episode for her was episode 11 of the first season. Even if she was out of her mind for Chase and she got eliminated, she actually did amazing in the challenge, and the confrontation with Bowie is probably one of my favorite scenes overall.

Julia: there she is. She and Priya are probably the two with the most stuff to talk about, they made it obvious that they are the protagonists of this reboot. Let's say her relationships were all great in general. The rivalry with Bowie, the weird friendship with MK, the twisted alliance with Caleb. I think I did prefer her more in the first season, though. She was more of a "less talking, more acting" kind of villain, which was a nice change of pace from the ones we had in previous seasons, and a great contrast to Bowie's playing style. I'd say my favorite episodes for her were either 9 (my favorite overall) or 12 from the first season.

Millie: I'm saying it: Millie is an amazing character. There. Her arc in the first season is great. You can see her evolving throughout thanks to her friendship with Priya. You see her realize she did some wrong stuff and feeling guilty about it. You see her trying to get better as a person, surpassing the obstacle that is Bowie and finally having the face-to-face that she owed to Priya. She was never meant to become a great player, which is why she did a lot of mistakes in the second season. She's not a powerhouse like Bowie, Priya or Julia, and she paid for what she did wrong. I think my favorite episodes for her were 10 and 11 of the first season, when she realized she was acting badly and decided to change it.

MK: just like Damien, I love her. I always love a snarky character, and she's a great follow up to Noah. She's probably what he could have been if they had given him more space, actually. Anyway, I already said that her friendship with Julia is great, I don't think I have much else to add. I'd say my favorite episodes for her were either episode 4 from season one, or episodes 3 or 7 from the second.

Nichelle: yeah, here's where I get jumped. Because I think it's fair to say she's my least favorite of the cast. It's not even like I don't like her, as I am neutral at most. But she did have some unbearable moments. And I think the fact my favorite episode for her was the second of the first season, where she didn't even get that much screen time but had some actual interactions with other characters, shows a lot how much of a presence she had in the second season for me.

Priya: there she is, too. What to say? She's great in the first season. For me, she and Bowie are the most deserving finalists since Heather and Alejandro in World Tour. But man, it was heavy to watch her in the second season. When it still wasn't out, I thought she took a lot of screen time with Millie in the first, but watching both seasons back-to-back made me realize how much more sparse their scenes were compared to those with Caleb. And as I prefer friendship over romance in general, it was really hard to keep seeing them going. So yeah, that's pretty much it. It's hard to pick a favorite episode for her, though I think I could go for the two final episodes of the first season. The notebook reveal scene is amazing.

Raj: the baby ever. Not a baby actually, but he is adorable with Bowie, though I already said it before. I love the hockey bros. Do I think Raj should have got Wayne's place in the second season? Yeah, but as I've said for Damien, I think fifth is a respectable placement. Favorite episodes, I'd say either 6 of the first season, the best kiss episode of the reboot, or 5 of the second, where he finally confronts Bowie once and for all about the cheating, and they make up for good as most good couples do. You know, like normal people.

Ripper: the man, the mith, the legend. He is fun. No matter how much people hates him, and how much the reboot itself wants you to hate him, he has some great moments that I can't ignore. And I like how in the first season he was actually almost smart for most of the challenges, especially in the cassowary one. Though I'd say my favorite for him is episode 4 of the second season, where he shows to know the others quite a bit. And I loved his poem for Axel, it was actually adorable how he put together both of their hobbies in it.

Scary Girl: well. She's fun. She's there. She's there to be fun. Overrated (I still can't get over people saying she should have won, because no she doesn't), but still enjoyable for what she has to do. Favorite episodes for her either 2 or 3 of the first season.

Wayne: as I said, I love the hockey bros. And rewatching the whole reboot, I came to the decision that while yes, Raj would have probably been a better finalist than him, between the three we actually got he was the best option for the victory. Julia would have been unfair to all the others. Caleb was basically just trying and failing to seek revenge for Priya, and he was barely liked by his own team. While Wayne is a good representation of a finalist who's had fun throughout the season, rather than being overly competitive. You can see it when he has the wackiest adventures during each challenge. He actually has fun, and you have fun with him. We already got a competitive winner in the first season, so why not have one who actually enjoys being there for a change? Plus, I think the authors made it plenty clear that the bros are their favorite too. Favorite episode I'd say the second of the first season, where he gets to show off his leadership skills.

Zee: just like Scary Girl, he is there, and he is fun. I love that he has the dumbest eliminations, but they feel completely in-character for him. And I love how they treated his disability in a fun way rather than it being some angsty shit that I honestly think would have just taken away from the character. Favorite episode either 2, 6 or 9 from the first season.

Overall, this cast is great. I don't think it would be a reach to say I prefer them over the original cast, though I would need to rewatch the rest of td to confirm it.

If you've read all the way down here... Well, congrats. You get to take a cookie.

[castlebyersafterdark]

you've probably answered this before but if byler were to have sex in the show, how would you want it to be done?

I'm on the fence of heavily explicit and realistic or very fluffy but not showing much.

heavily explicit cause it would be hot and a HUGE fuck you to homophobes (especially if they had sex in the church 👀)

but i also love fluffy byler so idk 😖

I change my answer every time someone asks me this so it's totally ok that this is a common question hahaha. It's fun to reconsider from many angles because it's so unpredictable!!

I would like something in the middle. Because super explicit doesn't really go along with the vibes of the show. I don't think it's going to change to TVMA because of sex - maybe horror.

I think a sex scene can be both fluffy and spicy. If they give us one - I'd love for it to be a mix of both, showing the difference with these two characters compared to the other romances. I'd like more than the slammed door fade to black implication we got with Jancy. And a more passionate, loving vibe than we got with Stancy. The culmination of a lifetime of longing and best friendship and the clear physical shift in relationship. Fuck you to homophobes no matter what though!! That's always the mood.

Has anyone seen How to Get Away With Murder??? I always want to talk about that show. I'm pretty sure it had a TV14 rating which is appropriate for Stranger Things. And HTGAWM had some really hot gay sex scenes!! Totally spicy, really tasteful, didn't shy away from anything. References to blowjobs and rimming multiple times over the seasons on a popular network prime time television show?! HELLO. Meaningful and relevant storylines for their gay characters!? YES. Extraordinary. The overall show veered from brilliant to ridiculous but it's honestly one of my favorites ever (and it's one me and my fiance both love so a rewatch is always on the table 💙). LIIIIKE watch this clip. This was one of the first few episodes!! I remember watching this the first time and my jaw just dropped at what I was seeing on my TV. DELIGHTED. It's a good demonstration of something really sexy and really tasteful, but still full of passion. I'm not sure ST would go as far as this show, but this is at least a demonstration of what still falls under not completely explicit, simulated sex like something you'd find on Euphoria, but not a fade to black either.

[lindisworld]

Close || Matt Murdock x Reader

Summary - Soulmate Au! In which [Name] has Daredevil as a soulmate and Matt unwillingly wants [Name] in his life. However Fate does its job and always brings them together.

Chapter five.

It was currently 8 pm at night, her coffee shop closed an hour ago. After she left Nelson and Murdock, [Name] stopped at her cafe and sent her staff home early, leaving the cleaning up part for herself. A routine she got fairly use to due to a certain male coming in.

“Frank, this is getting quite odd.” [Name] states as she slid a hot black coffee cup towards him. “You can always come during normal business hours. Instead of coming before or after opening and closing time.” 

“You kickin’ me outta here, boss?” Frank chuckles and sips on his cup. The bitterness of it hitting his tastebuds. “A man needs his cup of coffee before he does his work.” He adds with a smirk. 

“No, all im saying is you’re acting like a vampire. Can’t be seen by the light if not you’ll be burned. You’re an open guy, you hiding something?” [Name] asks. Ever since she had that one incident where her hearing was gone, Frank came a couple days later to see how she was. Frank explicitly told her that this doesn’t mean they have a friendship or anything like it. He’s a very blunt person, always speaking his mind, never sugarcoating anything.

Yet, it’s been a couple of weeks since the incident, Frank’s been there when [Name] comes early morning to start her preparations for the day and comes late after closing when she’s cleaning up by herself. She didn’t know how he knew when she comes, but she never questioned it. It’s not that he cared for his appearance in open space, but he’s made enough enemies to create chaos where he goes publicly. Frank would hate if his favorite coffee shop would get caught in the midst of a fight. 

“I ain’t hidin’ nothin’, gotta ask the right questions and you’ll get the answers.” Frank said, his eyes looking at the tv screen that’s in the corner of the shop. [Name] scoffs in amusement and rolls her eyes. 

“Alrighty, what’s your last name? I need to place a tab for you at my shop. You haven’t paid a single coffee ever since you started coming. There’s a ton of Franks that come here,” [Name] states, “I need to know which Frank I gotta charge.” She said sarcastically. 

“Castle. I ain’t robbin’ ya though, you refuse every time I gotta pay.” Frank retorted.  

“Yeah cause you always come beat up, this time you blamed the Devilman for the injury. You might be lying.” [Name] explains, “Came here with that bloody cut of yours. You’re glad I fixed the stitching on that nasty wound, it probably won’t scar.” 

”Cause it’s true, believe me or not. You know I don’t lie.” Frank responds, shrugging his shoulders. “Would you believe if I said I’m the one person that everyone is talkin’ about?” 

“The Punisher? You gotta be joking.” [Name] laughs and shakes her head in disbelief, why would Frank be The Punisher? It’s not that she would judge, but she felt a twinge of fear in her. She read articles that vividly described the brutal and merciless ways the people were killed. She realized she only knew a small portion of Frank, she didn’t know the extent of his abilities.  

Frank let slip out that he served in the military a few day ago, completely dismissing [Name] whenever she asked or gave little to none information. It was a subject he didn’t want talk about yet. [Name] turns to Frank whose face is stoic, his lips in a straight line. His expression never faltered for a second. He was serious.

“[Name], I shouldn’t have told you but I figured it’s better hearing it from me than the media anytime soon.” 

“Frank Castle is The Punisher. You think they’ll give me a money reward if I turn you in?” [Name] jokes, wishing it would ease the tension in the air. Frank hums in amusement, “Thought you’d kick me outta here and tell me to never come back.” He said honestly. 

“You ain’t leaving until you pay all your debts with me.” [Name] responds, she took a moment before speaking again, “I don’t know if this’ll reassure you but I won’t tell anyone or turn you in.” She spoke softly. Frank nods in appreciation, uttering a small ‘thanks’ as he finishes the coffee. 

“Thanks for the free coffee, it might be awhile till you see me again. I gotta take care of some things.” Frank said. 

“Take care Frank, be safe.” [Name] pulled Frank into an immediate embrace that took him by surprise. The few seconds of shock washed away as he returned the hug, allowing his arms to wrap around [Name]. 

“You too, also here.” Frank pulled away and placed a cold metal on her hand, her fingers grabbing onto the handle of the gun. “In case of any trouble, you’ll have this to protect yourself.” 

“Frank, I don’t think you know but i’m always carrying.” [Name] laughs as she grabbed her purse from the counter, opening it enough for Frank to see the weapon. Frank chuckles at the sight, placing a hand on her shoulder, “Attagirl, I knew you were something special.” He walked behind the counter that led to the back. 

“I’ll see you later, Castle.” [Name] said as Frank walked away from her and towards the back exit of the building. [Name] watched his retreating form, she then placed the gun in a nearby safe spot where it was hidden but easily accessible. 

She walked towards the back door, Frank no where in sight. [Name] proceeded to lock the doors and called it a night. Knowing Frank was The Punisher didn’t set in until she reached her car. Her heart thumping against her chest, her fingers became clammy as she tried to ignite her car. It was a big secret to know. Especially with how many people were dead and probably more to come, reporters and citizens were calling him a terrorist. [Name] wouldn’t know what to do if anyone were to come find out that she knew who he was all along. 

 

Multiple dead bodies were spread around the carousel, except for one person left alive. Matt walks towards the merry go round, the sounds of grunts coming from a guy who attempts to crawl away. Once he turned around, he was faced with Daredevil who dragged up against the carousel. Rory immediately withdrew his weapon, a couple of rounds hitting the ceiling. Matt snapped his wrist into a L bent position, the sounds of bones snapping uncomfortably resulting a pained hiss from Rory and dropping the gun in that second.

”Who did this?” 

“People you shouldn’t mess with.” Rory said. 

“I got all night and you’re bleeding out,” Matt told Rory, his hand still holding Rory’s wrist in a tight hold. “Go to hell!” Rory spat. Matt twisted his wrist in another direction that shouldn’t be humanly possible, a yell of pain left Rory’s mouth. It seemed like he wasn’t gonna get the answer he needed. 

“It doesn’t matter anyway, as long as we’re done with him. He’ll be good as dead. We’ll get that bitch from the cafe he’s been seeing next.” Rory chuckled, blood running down his mouth. 

Matt gripped onto his wrist tighter than he had been, it couldn’t have been a coincidence that the person he’s talking about is [Name]. “Who’s the girl?” He asked, police sirens were ringing in his ears, he didn’t have much time to talk so he needed to do this quick. 

“[Name]. Stupid bitch is gonna get what’s coming.” Rory wanted to continue to talk but was interrupted by his pain. Matt slammed him against the ride, his hands gripping Rory’s stained shirt, his head hitting the merry go round.

“When are they coming for her?”

”When Frank’s dead.” Rory let out another laugh, “unless they already got her and she’s dead.” He said in amusement. Matt grabbed his other wrist and twisted it, a wail of agony echoed through the park. 

Matt was able to get Frank’s location a few minutes later, injuring Rory more than he intended. Anger coursed through his veins, a hint of worry seeping through too. [Name] was in every corner of his life ever since they met. It was hard to stay away. Now that Karen and her are friends and apparently Frank too.

Matt arrived at the place and got through the group of men with ease, knocking each of them out, using his baton as help. Gunshots were heard from another room, no doubt Frank killing them. 

“You were there. Who killed my family?” Matt heard Frank ask as he took a swing on a guy who came running up to him. “Who cares! We’ll get [Name] next!” Matt landed a kick against the attacker’s chest before knocking him unconscious. 

“What’d you say?!” Frank pressed the shotgun against his head, his finger itching to pull the trigger. “I said she’ll be good as dead by tonight.” Finn replied with a smug expression. 

“That’s not happening on my watch.” The shotgun echoed through the room, Matt ran closer to where Frank was. Two guys were leaning against the wall, avoiding shots that Frank was shooting. 

“One batch, two batch.” Frank bows his head and breathes in, “ Penny and dime.” The rhyme he always says before doing his work.

Matt threw his baton, knocking the guy off his feet and taking the other guy down by surprise. Matt grabbed his batons off the floor, “They’re gonna pay for this.” Frank states, struggling to stand but his adrenaline keeps pumping through him. 

“[Name] has my gun, she’ll use it if she has to.” Frank said, it was more of reassuring himself that she’s safe. “Fuck. I didn’t mean to bring her into this.” He adds, the urge to eliminate them intensified every passing minute. Couple of men came barging into the room, without hesitation both men sprang into action. Their bodies dropping unconscious to the floor. Each time Frank attempted to end their life, the weapon flew out of his hand. Matt was restricting him from doing it, reminding him of the importance of justice over revenge.