#sorry to the daniel fans for putting self ship in the daniel tag

[myhouse-pk3]

i call this daniel times 2 because we are both named daniel

[miggydiaz]

For the salty ask 1, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 14, 16, 20, 22, 23 and 26 for cobra kai pretty please

My answers are so long, so I am putting this under the cut @wonderwolfballoon! Also I just noticed your Daniel icon I SWEAR I’M NOT DRAGGING HIM TO BE MEAN!!!

1. What OTPs in your fandom(s) do you just not get?* My biggest IDGI ships for CK are probably Elimetri or Kiaz. I’m not here to yuck other people’s yums or anything, but I do think there is something to the idea that Migueli isn’t popular because it’s a ship predicated on mutual respect for one another. Kiaz has the obvious enemies to lovers vibe and I just generally don’t sail those ships. Elimetri has... its problems, IMO, most especially around the idea that Demetri has to like... save Hawk from himself? Idk. I just like romances that I feel are based on love and mutual respect and not ...tropes.

 I am also not a Lawrusso shipper although I have a lot of those on my dash and you all are great! Again, not yucking yums! Daniel just makes me want to head butt him too much to pair him romantically with anyone 😂 I don’t even want his wife with him. He needs to self reflect~ 

4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?* 

I once saw someone ship Amanda and Anoush and I noped out of that so fucking fast I almost tripped over myself. I’m not sure if they’re popular. I just think some people feel the need to get Amanda out of the way to sail their ship and stuck her with Anoush which... no. Just no. Let Amanda be a messy single queen with a martini hobby, thanks! 

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?* 

Not in CK. I’m lucky because I pretty much stick to my little Migueli bubble and I’m okay with that? Lmao lord knows the Squad on my dash is all about the DISCOURSE™️ so idk if I just don’t feel the need to get sucked into the wider ship wars because we have good healthy debates, but so far, so good. 

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?* 

I never hated it... I just didn’t have many feelings on shipping with this show in general at first. Then I was in the CK tag one day and I saw Migueli fan art. Then I discovered @afurioushawk‘s falconry series and it was all over for me after that! So fandom DID make me love a ship, just not one I hated.

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why? Oh boy. How much time do you have? In some instances, it’s a good thing season 3 happened because otherwise, this would be a multi-page essay on the problems with race and class privilege as it pertains to Sam LaRusso and just some... generally not nice comments about Demetri that I’m conflicted about because I’m not sure if the writers are intentionally trying to write him a specific way and it’s just not translating to me or what. But season 3 revamped both of their images with me a lot. I’m way more flexible in terms of Demetri, but lmao I was the number one Sam LaRusso hater for a minute there (or maybe number 2, I can think of at least 1 other person who was in that boat with me back in like... August/September, but I won’t call them out because I don’t want them to get hate...) However, I have grown a bit in my opinions of Sam, and even though I still think she’s responsible  for a lot of shit she NEVER gets held accountable for, I also think that’s a reflection of the adults around her too, and this includes my otherwise unproblematic queen, Amanda.

But honestly, my most hated character (other than the obvious villain that is Kreese) is Daniel. No matter how handsome Ralph Macchio looks in cable-knits, because Daniel has always been a sanctimonious, shit starting drama king and I say that about KK Daniel too. I’m not saying Daniel was the ~true villain~ or anything, or that Johnny was innocent -- I can only drink so much Red and Yellow Kool-Aid -- but Daniel’s always been annoying to me as a protagonist, and turning him into a smarmy wealthy car salesman who is also a class traitor did not do him any favors in my book. I will say, I also like Daniel more in season 3 than I have in previous season, but since he is the adult, I will be mad at him longer than I will be at the kids, ya feel?

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

 Johnny’s entire season 3 storyline. The sheer level of REGRESSION at every turn drives me bonkers. It’s like watching him go through all of the stumbling blocks of season 1 all over again, but without the “he’s learning! He’s going to make mistakes!” free pass that I was willing to give him the first time around. He regularly jeopardizes Miguel’s recovery and it’s played for laughs. He fucks up on every level with Robby. He spends most of his time running away when things get hard or too real. He drops the ball completely with Hawk, and like, not to put too fine a point on it, but a lot of Hawk’s issues are because Johnny put Hawk on this ‘flip the script and be a badass’ path and then offered him no guidance for how to walk that path and instead left him in the hands of Kreese. And then he has the nerve to go to Hawk and basically be like “I made you what you are!” lmao yeah Johnny, you sure did, that’s why he’s breaking peoples arms, hoss. And then all of the nonsense with Ali and Carmen, like... if you were planning on teasing KK fans with Ali and him getting back together, why write her as married in the first place? Why even tease the idea of Carmen and Johnny until after you were sure what you were going to do with Ali as a character? Instead, they do what they did in season 3 and it makes him look like a colossal jerk. So yeah. Literally every choice they made with Johnny this season, I hated.

14. Unpopular opinion about your fandom? People who hate Tory are not valid, sorry not sorry.

16. If you could change anything in the show, what would you change? I would have kept Miguel entirely out of Tory and Sam’s beef. Or at least not directly inserted him into it like he was with the kiss. I know the writers thought it was necessary to push Tory to the point of inciting a fight at school, but I am just so exhausted over girls being unable to fight about anything but boys. Also I would bring Aisha back.

20. What is the purest ship in the fandom? 

I am probably biased, but I still maintain it’s Migueli. Look, Miguel stood up to Kyler for Eli and Demetri both. Hawk joined CK because he saw what it could do for some skinny nerd who was getting his ass kicked. And he took to CK, really took to it! Even flourished before he started getting mixed messages. And he and Miguel were pretty much inseparable after that. They coordinated their wardrobes ffs. Hawk dubbed him El Serpiente and no one else calls him that — it’s Hawk’s nickname for him. Miguel confides in Hawk only secondary to Johnny, who is like a father to him. The entire Coyote Creek exchange shows they can fight and disagree but... well, to use the cliche, they don’t go to bed angry, you know? They’re square the very next day. Hawk is the first person at Miguel’s side when he gets kicked over the balcony and the LOOK he gives the second floor where Robby is? That boy is out for blood immediately to avenge Miguel. So much of his s3 behavior is fueled by that need for vengeance because MD is wholly responsible for what happened to Miguel. And Miguel is so confused and betrayed by Hawk’s shift in behavior, and yet still holds out hope that Hawk will see through Kreese’s BS and come with him to The Dojo I Refuse to Name. And when Hawk does make that deflection finally, he shows up at MD with Miguel. There’s so much more that I know I’m missing but whether someone ships them or not, that is a tried and true love and respect for one another, a willingness to fight for and defend one another that you don’t often see in TV friendships... or even in most tv relationships. And I just think that’s the best ❤️

22. Popular character you hate?

 Daniel, hands down. I mean... I don’t even necessarily hate Daniel, you know? I just think it’s really, pardon the pun, rich that a guy of immense wealth and privilege can’t get a therapist or turn to his far too patient wife for help with his existential crisis over his high school bully opening up a karate dojo to make some money and help a kid who is getting the crap kicked out of him. I get that Daniel’s narrative is necessary for the rivalry, but it does nothing to make him sympathetic as a character.

23. Unpopular character you love?

 Tory, definitely! Everyone hates her and then there’s me and the Squad over here banging away on our Coors Banquet cans yelling TORY RIGHTS! Seriously she catches so much flack for a teenage girl who is... the sole income provider for her family? At 17? While caring for a sick mom and a little brother? And fending off a creepy landlord? Tory has it so rough and then she meets a cool girl at her dojo who asks her to hang out at some fancy ass country club which is probably the nicest place Tory has ever been in, and then she gets talked down to and accused of being a thief and has another girl lay hands on her, only to find out that same girl is her new boyfriend’s ex and... ugh. I HATE that Tory gets shit all over when Tory and Sam wouldn’t even have beef if Sam had apologized to Tory as she SHOULD have. Tory isn’t innocent, but damn, I’d be pressed too.

 My other unpopular character I love? Nathaniel. Seriously that kid is THE best. He’s a literal child but is out there like I WILL FUCK YOU UP, even though he’s MD. Honestly, his Cobra Kai energy is so ferocious I won’t be surprised if he moves back to CK eventually. Anyway, I love him.


26. Most shippable character?

 Miguel, hands down. It’s because he’s so affable and sweet overall. And because his hair is so fluffy and pettable that no one can resist touching it. I like to imagine that one day he and Hawk are talking about their hair and Hawk makes a joke about how Miguel’s mane is getting so long that it’s going to be bigger than his own, and then he reaches out to ruffle it and internally has a bisexual meltdown because oh no IT’S SO SOFT AND NICE. But uh... anyway, yes. Definitely Miguel.

[sazerexwritessmut]

UPDATE on Hunter of Huntresses’ future... (and my writing, and my life...)

Hunter of Huntresses:

First thing I want to make clear: I’m not going to abandon the project. Like I said, I’ll write it till I feel satisfied with the conclusion. So I will update the series till I am comfortable with the ending I want––good things don’t last forever after all. Moreover, if I force myself to write, my work’s quality will suffer as well.

Writing:

I really enjoy writing. What started out as a way of productive procrastination became a full-blown series due to the many readers of my smut. I am eternally grateful to those people who support, criticize, and comment. Our interactions on Tumblr messaging (though few) and the comments section on my work have been very motivating. As Daniel Pink theorized: the best motivation for specialized laborers include autonomy, purpose, and mastery. Because of my fans, I gained a purpose, improved my mastery, yet maintained my autonomy.

However, I recently encountered my first instance of...writer’s block? Well it wasn’t a full block, more of a “I just finished my exams, my grades aren’t what I want them to be, Imma take a break.” kind of block. So yeah, I got lazy. Sorry.

But that won’t stop my commitment to finishing and completing a series, so don’t worry. What it does show, however, is how I can lose motivation quickly. As embarrassingly as it is, I’m human too. I got other hobbies outside writing, such as drawing and gaming, which I’ll discuss later. Primarily, I want to talk about me writing, in general.

A bunch of friends and I have conceptualized this...well, universe of sorts. Sort of a like an anthology or series centered around a unifying main character of sorts. Maybe if we get shit done (which two of them have already made content), I can post it here...but no promises. I like to keep my smut-writing and personal interests separate. As I said, I really like writing. So working on this shitshow may become a tragedy for smut updates. I’ll try not to let it get to that.

Fanfiction is something I want to bust into, as well. I’ve got a rough idea for a Blake x Jaune fanfic, might include smut, but more plot-centered than the smut I post. I may or may not get to it. Someone said I was like the Coeur Al’Aran of RWBY smut. I guess I’m more similar to him than I thought, especially since I like Blake’s character and want to capitalize on Jaune’s lack of character development. Blake pre-Volume 4 was one of my favorite characters for potential development mainly because of how mysterious she was. 

You can skip the parenthesis text.

(I don’t really ship Bumblebee because I just physically can’t. I’m the type of straight male who can’t get off to gay porn of any sort; guy on guy, girl on girl, dickgirl on guy, dickgirl on girl, etc. I just can’t. Like a lot of straight guys talk about lesbian porn but I’m just there wondering how the fuck does that turn you on? Literally just two girls and a dildo, it’s over-complicated sexual intercourse. I don’t fuck with futanari bullshit because I think it’s the biggest turn-off for me, excluding gay male porn. So yeah, sorry if I came off as homophobic, I guess. Funny thing is, I’ve got gay friends whom I hang out with simply because we watch the same anime, read the same manga. And they don’t get the big deal about gay porn either. Some of them watches hetero-porn exclusively, like me. Anyway, I’m rambling.)

Okay parenthesis text over.

But enough about fiction and fanfiction, let’s talk about smut. I’ve got a fuckton of ideas apart from Hunter of Huntresses that I would like to write about. These include various themes and tags, such as loving sex, or tentacles, BDSM, and even NTR. While some of these aren’t most people’s cup of tea, I want to write what I want to write––I’ve got ideas for stuff like Naruto, The Incredibles, and others. My next work would most definitely be Mass Effect content. Look forward to that once I slow down on Hunter of Huntresses a bit. I do have a bunch of outlines for more RWBY smut as well, so those who came for fics about Jaune dicking girls down, rejoice. I still have a few independent and not-so independent ideas from Hunter of Huntresses. Like for example, Ren fucking RWBY MILFS set in a stereotypical American high school setting.

Life:

I’ve got a shitload of free time...in a sense. My college days tentatively start in August, and right now I just need to watch out for Graduation practice from my high school and Evaluation Exams in May. That means I can update more, right?

Meh.

I’ve got hobbies and social life too––the former including drawing and gaming. I’ve recently picked up drawing again, a hobby I put off for two whole years due to enrolling into a much harder high school curriculum––something I slightly regret due to how shitty the curriculum was executed by my school. I literally did not have a Physics teacher for eight class sessions. What the fuck. So now I got back into drawing, both traditional and digital, mainly because of a girl I met who totally whipped me and I may or may not have a slight crush on her because she’s probably the most perfect girl I’ve met and I’m praying this attraction isn’t fatal but holy shit I’m drawing just to impress her.

As for gaming, I play League of Legends a lot. People say it’s cancer, I tell them it isn’t cancer if you’re playing with the right friends. And let me tell you: losing streaks with friends is far more fun than having a solo winning streak. I used to spend all night gaming, sleeping at two in the morning on weekends. This stopped when I enrolled in the aforementioned curriculum. I consciously made an effort to study harder and quit League of Legends, and it paid off, mostly.

TL;DR and Synthesis:

So overall, these are the factors which may affect the future of my writing ‘career’ or something: other writing pursuits, and other hobbies, and the upcoming college freshman year in August.

P.S. Don’t worry about my mental health, ayt? I’m fine, really. I’ve known suicidal people who have actually attempted self-harm, and trust me, the problems I have aren’t ones that would actually make me kill myself. I’ve got a lot of things going for me right now. As Papa Franku detested, I am “high on life, I don’t need to get high on drugs”.

Sorry if the post got a bit rant-y or smth. I just needed to explain shit to the fullest.

[phancystuff]

Trying to Remember How it Feels (To Have a Heartbeat) 1/7

Pairing: Dan/ Phil (Phan) Summary: Dan moves into a new apartment in London and, though it’s a step up from his old apartment, his landlord gives him strange warnings while he’s touring the place-- something about the last renters leaving because of ghost sightings. But, Dan doesn’t believe in the supernatural. He quickly changes his tune when he meets Phil Lester, the ghost haunting his apartment. Well, if haunting means quickly becoming the best friend he’s ever had. (Title from Harry Styles’ song Two Ghosts) Notes: This is the first part of my Spooky Week Special! This fic is almost 100% already written and I plan on updating it every day until Halloween. Please note that, although this fic has the warning of major character death, it is not in any way graphic. Tags/ Warnings: ghost au, Halloween, major character death (obv. it’s a ghost au lol), depictions of panic attacks, angst, fluff, HAPPY ENDING, mentions of suicide (it happens in a movie they watch)

Read it on A03 Completed fic masterlist here

Dan woke up that morning in a mood, which is never a good thing when you’re supposed to do something particularly adult-y. Something like tour a new apartment because the one you’re currently living in is literally falling apart at the seams and your neighbors drill ridiculous DIY projects at all hours of the day. Dan’s YouTube channel had been doing pretty well lately, too, and he could finally afford a better apartment. He had made it hard on himself in the beginning by refusing to get a roommate, but he liked his space. It didn’t matter, anyway, it was finally time for him to move up in the world and trade his current hamster cage for a slightly bigger one. And yet, there Dan was, the morning of an apartment tour, on his third coffee, and still feeling like someone had hit him over the head and shoulders while he was sleeping. Sickly sweet Starbucks lattes weren’t even touching his exhaustion; it was that serious. So maybe that’s why, later when Dan was touring this potential apartment, he couldn’t be bothered with the stupid things that were coming out of the landlord’s mouth.

The white, middle aged man, who had introduced himself as Paul, had just closed the door to the master bedroom and was leading Dan to the kitchen when he glanced back at Dan. “Yeah, I just want to give you full, fair warning. The last renters left because they kept seeing a ghost.”

“You don’t say?” Dan hid his eye roll, answering uninterestedly. He didn’t know what the landlord was playing at, but ghosts didn’t exist and this was a nice apartment. He couldn’t be scared away from it. It was an old building, but it had recently been renovated and featured new, shiny appliances. The space wasn’t huge, but it would work perfectly for a 26 year old, single YouTuber. It had a great view of the city and an elevator to aid in the moving process.

“Yeah, ghosts! I mean, I never saw any ghosts, but I do get a weird feeling when I walk around here.” Paul rambled on and Dan leaned against the kitchen counter, staring at him. “From what I hear, the last landlord that owned this property didn’t carefully inspect the place and it ended in some poor bloke dying. Not really sure how; it was back in 2010. But, obviously, everything’s ship shape now.” The man trailed off, gazing around at nothing in particular.

“Uh huh,” Dan answered politely, but distractedly, crouching down to look at the controls on the impressive-looking stove. He wasn’t really listening.

“Oh, yeah! The stove is new and state-of-the-art--” as the landlord barreled into more information about the admittedly nice stove, Dan totally forgot about the weirdo’s ghost comments.

***

A week later, Dan was moving into his new apartment. He had spent a few days weighing his options, but had ultimately decided to apply for the flat that Paul had showed him. The application had been accepted quickly and now Dan was staring at his new home with a large, heavy cardboard box in his arms. Thankfully, his parents and younger brother were kind enough to give up their Saturday to help Dan out. They were hoping to get it all done in a day. Dan glanced back toward the street and felt overwhelmed by all of the boxes, furniture, and stuff in the moving van. As he made trip after trip from moving van to apartment, he felt increasingly thankful for the elevator in the building.

Dan, his parents, and younger brother were in and out of the apartment all morning with boxes and furniture. “Fuck, Dan, when did you get so much shit?” Alex collapsed on the sofa that the four of them had finally fit it into the far corner of the lounge. He glared at Dan, who just rolled his eyes at his moody teenaged brother. Dan couldn’t really say much; he was moody too when he was sixteen. Dan was just glad that he didn’t start his YouTube channel until later in his life. Less cringe-worthy stuff on the internet, that way.

“Sorry Lexy,” Dan put emphasis on his little brother’s childhood nickname, “How about you let me know what I don’t need and I’ll bin it. Would that make you happy?”

Alex puffed out a breath, “Yeah, start with the shoes. You have enough to make the average girl jealous.”

Dan crossed his arms, “sexist little punk.”

“Self-absorbed twat.”

“Wanker.”

“Assho--”

“Boys! Enough.” Their mum suddenly appeared at the opening to the lounge, looking at her offspring disappointedly. “Daniel, you’re 26, you should know better.” Dan looked down at his toes, feeling more remorseful that he was 26 and was still being disciplined by his mum. Alex just looked smug, until their mum turned to him and crossed her arms. “Alex, Daniel is your older brother and he needed our help today. So don’t complain. We’re family, we help each other. That’s what family does.” Alex rolled his eyes in response.

Dan collapsed next to Alex, letting a sigh escape his lips. “Thanks for helping me, you guys. Even though some of us are annoying little pillocks who should be locked in a room until their bodies are no longer being ravaged by hormones--” he looked pointedly at Alex-- “I really appreciate the help.”

“Well, of course you need help, it’s not like you can afford movers on a YouTuber’s salary.” Alex snipped, shoving his shoulder against Dan.

Their mum looked between them with exasperation, throwing her hands up. “I give up! Brothers! So nasty to each other!” She turned around, exiting the flat to get more boxes. Alex giggled.

Dan looked at him unbelievingly. “Did you really just giggle?”

Alex met his stare with furrowed brows, “No, I didn’t fucking giggle. Why would I giggle? The only funny thing here is your career path.” Alex shoved himself off the couch, “come on, you lazy fuck. You aren’t gonna pass all the work off on us.”

“Will you stop being such a prick?” Dan also pushed himself off the couch, already forgetting about the giggle that he had very clearly heard. Instead, he was thinking about offering to order pizza for everyone so they could have a much-deserved lunch break.

***

Later that night, Dan worked in his new bedroom, making his bed and unloading the boxes that had been haphazardly stacked about. The whole process of bringing in his stuff had taken the better part of the day and then his family stuck around to help Dan start to unpack. They didn’t really get far with it, before Dan was insisting that he could handle the unpacking part and that his family had done enough for him. Of course, Alex had made a relieved sassy comment that Dan had ignored and Dan’s mum checked and double-checked that Dan was ok to do it alone. Dan’s dad suggested going out to dinner and everyone had been more than happy to comply.

His family left long ago and Dan was alone in the apartment. It seemed so big and empty. Every footstep seemed to echo. Dan hated new places. It would get better when his stuff was unpacked and arranged. Until then, Dan just blasted some Vampire Weekend and rifled around in the boxes marked ‘bedroom.’ Whenever Dan moved somewhere new, he set his bedroom up first. The bed was the most important thing, especially since it was pushing 10:00 PM and Dan had gotten up disgustingly early that morning. After the bed was made, Dan went through the process of setting up his computer. Connecting to the internet was blessedly easy, but that was because the internet provider had already been in a couple days ago to install the router and ethernet jacks. Dan had stressed to them how important it was to get everything sorted and they had complied.

Fixing up his bedroom also included building his video background, which was always one of his favorite spaces to decorate. Of course, the iconic butt chair was there. He hung fairy lights around his bed frame and delicately put various knick knacks on display on his bedside table. Posters were hung, clothes were folded and stuffed into his chest of drawers, books were fitted into his new bookshelf, bedsheets were smoothed down, and slowly the boxes disappeared. Dan broke them down and slid them in the hallway, promising himself to take care of the pile rather than trip on it for the next two weeks. Before Dan knew it, it was 1:30 AM and he was crashing, quickly.

Dan silenced Ezra Koenig and tore off his clothes, changing into soft pajama bottoms. He lay down on his bed, groaning at the feeling of his aching body sinking into a blessedly comfy memory foam mattress. Dan had paid a small fortune for the bed, but it had been so worth it. He slept like a baby in it. Dan got out his phone, checking his social media accounts for any important updates. He reblogged some fanart on tumblr, watched some of his friends new YouTube videos, and liked some tweets. Dan himself tweeted, ‘of course the first thing i set up in the new flat is my bed. it’s where all the magic happens and by magic i mean sleep.’ Dan spent a few minutes replying with sassy comments to fans, before feeling his eyelids start to drift closed.

“Ugh, the lights. Gotta get the lights.” Dan murmured to himself, forcing his eyes open. He rolled to the left, aiming to get out of the bed, when the lights were suddenly off. Dan perked his head up, looking around in the room that had just been plunged in darkness. He couldn’t see a thing. He groaned, thinking about how he would already have to contact the landlord about electricity problems. “Stupid faulty electricity,” Dan pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes. “Whatever, it can wait until morning.” Dan pushed the bedcovers down, wiggling under them. They were barely over his body when sleep overtook him.  

Dan slept late and when his eyes finally cracked open, the sun was obnoxiously brightening the room. Dan put ‘dark curtains’ on his mental shopping list and pushed the covers off his body. He lay there for a second, observing the ceiling (and praising the lack of cracks in it).

Moments later, his feet touched the floor and he remembered the electricity the previous night. Curious, Dan pushed himself out of bed and padded over to the light switch on the wall. He flicked it experimentally and watched the overhead lights come on and off, on and off. They were working perfectly. There must have been a brief, scarily coincidental, power outage the previous night.

Dan went into the kitchen and made a coffee and popped some toast into the toaster, thanking both his past self for packing some food to sustain him as he moved in, and his mother for unpacking the food immediately. Dan got out his phone as he waited for his breakfast and sent a quick text to his mum. ‘Bless you for unpacking my food.’ She sent him a heart emoji without hesitation and asked him about his first night. He made light conversation about unpacking and sleeping, but quickly said goodbye to her in favor of breakfast.

Dan opened up the notes app in his iPhone, looking at the list of video ideas he had going. Although he had tons of unpacking to do, he was due for a new video soon. He didn’t want to spend a lot of time with a script or with editing, so he figured it was time for another video in his “Quick and Dirty with Dan” series. For these videos, he would essentially set up a camera and rant/ philosophize about a subject for five minutes. He only edited out the “um’s.” They were fun. People cared about his opinions on things, surprisingly. Dan composed a quick tweet: ‘any requests for a quick n dirty?’ and he watched the responses flood in. Of course, plenty of his fans suggested lewd things, inspired by the name of the series. Several tweets said ‘Donald Trump’ and there was no way that Dan was going to fall down that hole. Dan scrolled through his replies, munching on a bite of buttered toast. One tweet jumped out at him and he thumbed the text, liking it. ‘Talk about your experience with/ opinion about the supernatural! Like ghosts, not the show lolol.’ Immediately, Dan recalled the weird conversation he had with Paul the landlord about the ghost that apparently haunted this apartment. It would be a perfect story to include in his video.

When his toast was eaten and cup of coffee was drained, Dan tottered back to his bedroom, maneuvering around boxes. Dan made his bed and changed into his signature black outfit. He set up his camera and lighting equipment and sat down in his chair, checking the viewfinder to make sure that his video background looked agreeable. Dan pressed record, speaking his regular greeting of “Hello internet!” and barreling into the topic of the supernatural.

Three or four hours later, the video was being uploaded onto YouTube. Dan’s more scripted videos took much longer to create, which was why he really liked this series. Dan left the video to do its thing and went to unpack the kitchen, blasting Britney Spears and singing along badly. “Toxic” came on and Dan picked up a wooden spoon, holding it to his mouth and purring out the first words of the song, “baby, can’t you see?” He danced around the kitchen. About halfway through the song, Dan noticed that he was hearing double. There was another voice under Britney’s that wasn’t his own. It wasn’t a particularly good voice, either. It missed some of the notes entirely. Dan furrowed his brow and picked up his phone, checking that Spotify hadn’t accidentally given him a weird, cover version of the song. It hadn’t. Dan paused it and silence enveloped the kitchen. He pressed play again and the song was back to normal, Britney back to her sensual self. Dan felt a little unnerved, thinking about the electricity and the weird mystery voice. He considered exploring the apartment a little, checking closets and corners for possible squatters. In the end, he didn’t do anything of the sort, laughing at himself instead. He needed to get the place set up, then maybe Dan wouldn’t feel so jumpy.

Dan paused Britney and checked the status of his video. He was surprised to find that it had already uploaded successfully. He was impressed with the internet speed. He scrolled through YouTube comments, liking a few clever ones. He rarely replied to YouTube comments, unless one was especially funny. He didn’t find any funny ones, but did notice quite a few that looked exactly identical.

‘Umm wtf ghost at 1:33??????’

‘YOU BETTER BELIEVE IN GHOST STORIES, DANIEL, YOU’RE IN ONE!!!11! 1:33’

‘1:33 Ghost. Ghost. Ghost.’

‘Seriously, what the fuck is that at 1:33??’

Dan rolled his eyes at the comments. These weren’t new on the world of YouTube. People loved creepy things and once one person commented a timestamp and a ghost sighting, it was like a disease. Dan clicked the timestamp on one of the comments, fully expecting a shadow or stuffed animal falling over.

Instead, Dan felt like his heart stopped.

He paused the video. He suddenly felt hot, heat prickling across every inch of his skin. In the video, in the dark doorway of his bedroom, there was an unmistakable figure. A man. He was barely a glimmer, but, boy, was he there.

Dan stared at the screen, wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him. There was literally no fucking reasonable explanation for what he was seeing. Dan tried to rationalize it, but was coming up with nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Instead, he was thinking about the landlord’s comments, the mysterious giggle that he thought was Alex, the electricity problem, the strange voice he heard while singing “Toxic.” Dan started shaking. He was afraid to play the video and watch what the figure would do. But he had to. Curiosity ate at him. Slowly, shakily, Dan pressed play and watched the entryway. The man looked up at Dan in the video. Dan blanched at the man’s pale skin, dark hair, and piercing eyes. He didn’t look unfriendly, watching Dan with curiosity. In the video, Dan was saying something about “the idea of ghosts scaring the diddly heck out of him,” and Dan saw the ghost’s mouth quirk up in a smile, before he was simply phasing out of frame.

Dan paused the video and released a breath that he had been holding.

“Sorry for intruding on your video.” Dan screamed, actually screamed, jerking violently in his chair. It pitched back and he crashed to the floor. The room echoed with the sound of the loud crash and Dan felt momentarily dazed. He stared up at the ceiling, wondering if someone had slipped him hallucinogenic drugs without him knowing. Alex would probably get a kick out of doing something like that. Suddenly, a figure came into Dan’s view, looking at Dan upside down. It was the figure from the video. The ghost? The hallucination? Dan’s eyes widened at the man. He looked… concerned. “Oh dear, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you. Are you all right?” Dan noticed the voice had a Northern tinge, and now was really not the time to notice such a fucking stupid detail.

“Me? I-I-- well, I-I. Are y-you? Ghost? Who, who, who are you?” Dan stuttered pathetically, trembling all over. He felt cold and hot at the same time. He wondered briefly if he had a fever. Maybe he hadn’t woken up yet and this was a dream.

The figure covered his translucent face in equally translucent hands. “Oh god, I’ve really muffed this up. Of course you would be frightened.” He removed his hands from his face and stared down at Dan. “Won’t you get up? We could go to the lounge? I’ll introduce myself properly!”

Dan just lay there, trembling. He blinked his eyes over and over, willing the ghost to disappear. He wasn’t awake. He was asleep. This was a dream. He pinched himself. It didn’t work. He slapped himself in the face. Nothing happened.

“Hey! Don’t hit yourself!” Dan jumped again. He stared into a pair of ghosts eyes a moment longer and decided that he should at least pick himself off the floor. He did so, probing the back of his head and wincing at the tender spot that was definitely bruised. Methodically, he picked the chair up off the ground and tucked it under the desk, trying to breathe evenly. It was a losing battle. Finally, Dan snapped, and the floodgates opened. He began breathing harder, the unmistakable feeling of panic sweeping over his body. He felt lightheaded and numb. Dan sat down on the floor, hard, breath coming faster and faster. He pushed himself against the wall of his bedroom, trying to get as far away from the ghost as possible. His breath wheezed out of him, specks of spit flying out of his mouth. Dan pressed his head in between his knees as he lost feeling in his fingers. He didn’t feel real. He was terrified. What was happening to him?  “Hey, hey, now. It’s ok. God, I’m so sorry, Dan. It’s ok. Breathe. Slowly, slowly now.” Dan knew that the voice was coming from the object of his fears, but it was good advice. He tried his best to take it, trying to control his lungs. He used every trick he had learned throughout his life of living with anxiety. He imagined that his lungs had legs and were running away and he imagined himself running after them, catching them in his hands. He listened to the soothing repetition of “it’s ok, shh, slowly now” coming from the mouth of the fucking ghost across from him. Dan picked up his heavy hands and brought them up to his own neck, dragging his fingers along the sensitive skin there. Anything to ground him. Anything to make him feel real again. Minutes later, Dan’s breathing began to slow. He focused hard on forcing it to stay slow. “There ya go, good. I’m not a bad guy. I couldn’t hurt a fly, I promise.”

Dan looked up at the ghost who had crouched down in front of Dan’s crumpled form. He would have looked like a completely normal guy, if not for the see-through skin and the slightly hovering body. This was the first time Dan was getting a good look at him and he was surprised, to say the least. The man in front of him was more like a boy. He had long, black hair that was cut into a style resembling cool 2007 emo myspace kids. Interestingly enough, he was sporting a worn, blue shirt and grey sweatpants. He had piercing blue eyes.  “You’re a ghost.” Dan’s voice was shaky and monotone. He felt exhausted. Dan realized that his face was wet with tears. When he had a panic attack, he often couldn’t tell the difference between hyperventilating and sobbing. It all blended into one disastrous experience.  

The figure looked embarrassed and Dan thought he saw the ghost’s face turn red. “I am a ghost. I’m sorry.” The ghost scratched at the back of his head. “Dan, I feel terribly. I should have realized that you would have reacted like this. I accidentally drove the last renters out and I never even purposefully revealed myself to them. God, I’m just an idiot. I just couldn’t believe that you were a YouTuber and I got so excited to see the camera and--”

“--Ok, ok. It’s, um, ok, I guess.” Dan cut the ghost off. He blew out a shaky breath. “How do you, um, know my name?”

The ghost looked embarrassed again. “Oh, I heard your family call you Dan. That sounds so creepy. Sheesh,” he refused to meet Dan’s eyes. “I wish I could leave you alone forever, but I-- uh-- am kinda tethered to this place. Can’t leave.”

Dan nodded slowly, deciding that, if this was happening and this was reality, he might as well be cordial. “Oh. Well, do you have a name?”

Phil clapped his hand over his face and Dan couldn’t help but jump a little, body still on edge. “I’m really cocking this up. Yes of course I have a name, I’m so rude. Phil Lester, at your service!” Phil stuck his hand out at Dan who just stared at it. Phil slowly retracted it, “sorry, habit.” The ghost coughed, “sorry.”

“Right. Um.” Dan chewed his lip and stared at Phil with wide eyes. What was the proper etiquette when it came to ghosts? He couldn’t offer Phil some tea and cakes, for chrissakes. Dan suddenly remembered something Phil had said only seconds before. “You know YouTube? How?”

Phil smiled a sad smile and crossed his legs. He looked like a monk who had achieved enlightenment with his hovering. “I had a channel back in the day. I had a lot of fun with it.” Phil stared at his legs, picking at the fabric covering his knee.  

“Oh! Wow, you were a YouTuber?” Dan couldn’t hide his disbelief. What were the odds that the ghost tethered to his new apartment had also been a YouTube when he was alive? Dan wasn’t even going to dwell on how weird that sentence was. “What was your username?”

Phil met his eyes and smiled shyly, “oh, um, it was amazingphil.” Dan raised his eyebrows. “I know, I know. I made it in 2006.”

“That’s fair; everyone had quirky usernames back in the day.” Dan remembered his first youtube channel name and was briefly thankful that he never made a single video on it. He couldn’t imagine what kind of professional life he could have with a name like ‘danisnotonfire.’

“Yeah, I guess. But mine was particularly silly, huh?”

“Not as bad as danisnotonfire,” Dan said, laughing a little.

“That’s your channel name?!”

“Oh no, no. But it was the account I made when I was 16. I never used it to make videos, thank god.” Silence followed Dan’s comment and he was struck by the sudden realization that he was having a fucking conversation with a ghost. “Hey-- did you turn off the lights last night?” Dan tilted his head to the side slightly and Phil looked abashed.

“Um, ah, yeah. You had just worked so hard and looked so comfy. I just flicked them off for you, it wasn’t hard.” Phil cleared his throat, “electricity is one those things that I can manipulate.”

Dan hummed to himself. “So you were watching me last night?”

Phil’s eyes widened. “Sorry! Sorry! Bad habit! I don’t see many people. It’s just nice to--” He cut himself off. “I think it’s about time for me to leave you alone. You need some space,” Phil nodded to himself, “I need to get out of your space.”

“Phil! Phil, wait! I still have--” and then the ghost was gone, as quick as he had appeared. “--questions.” Dan finished lamely.

Dan looked around his bedroom, almost surprised to find that it hadn’t changed; only Dan’s perception of it had. Everything was too bright and crystal clear, like he had been swimming underwater with his eyes open until that moment. Dan shakily got up off the floor and made his way to the bed, collapsing on it. He didn’t bother to put on different clothes or get under the covers. So, a ghost was haunting his new apartment. What was he supposed to do about that? Let the landlord know? The landlord already knew; he had bloody warned Dan. Tell his parents? His subscribers? Well, his subscribers had already seen it. Curious, Dan pulled his phone out of his back pocket and scrolled through his replies on Twitter. The ghost was literally the only thing that any of them were talking about. Dan checked the views on his video and his mouth dropped open. It was almost to one million views, which was pretty normal for him, but it always took a couple of days for the views to add up to a million. His video was going viral. Dan locked his phone and placed it on the bedside table. What was he supposed to do about this? He began to drift asleep, the exhaustion of his panic attack weighing him down into the mattress. Phil had been a YouTuber when he was alive; maybe Dan would ask him his opinion. Before Dan could consider how odd of a concept it was, he was asleep.

Chapter two

[pitch-pearl-void]

What is Pitch Pearl?

Basically a romantic relationship between Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom, but it gets a lot more complicated after that because, obviously, they’re the same person in the show (thus the confusion and this question hitting my inbox every once in a while). How they’re shipped, how one character becomes two, and what Fenton’s and Phantom’s personalities are post separation varies depending on the shipper, making it a very, very volatile ship.

Some shippers prefer a version where canon Fenton and Phantom were never quite the same person, even if that means Phantom is a ghost that bonded to Fenton during the accident (that blob that merges with his DNA in the title sequence for example). He’s a little voice in Fenton’s head, he’s the reason his powers act up and their transformations are out of sync in the first season

He’s learning how to live through Fenton’s eyes and becoming more in sync with him throughout the series until something separates them.

Of course there’s also the AUs. A ghost hero falling in love with the son of ghost hunters, the ghost king meeting a human that stumbled through an artificial gate, a merman/dragon/mythical creature gets rescued ect. Danny isn’t a hybrid here, he is two paradoxical people who fall into a situation together. We just want complete opposite, yin-yang like people to fall in love, okay?

But then there’s also the dark side of the ship where Phantom is a ghost reminiscent of the TUE version, prior to merging with Plasmius. Because evil Phantom’s eyes are often red when he’s evil, the subpairing name for it is Red Pearl (lame name is my fault, sorry). How evil once again varies. Murderous evil? Possessive evil? Control Freaks evil? There was one story where Phantom killed Jack and Maddie after they experimented on him once too many times. There’s a picture where Phantom is holding his hand over Fenton’s eyes and blood is on his gloves and running down Fenton’s face like tears.

Ghosts are dangerous. This version explores how dangerous Danny can be without a human half to ground him.

(For the record, it’s not just in Pitch Pearl; I’ve seen very popular Danny x Sam art and fanfics that were just as scary)

We have a humorous version that is surprisingly less common given that it’s the most canon and the easiest to make happen. You might be familiar with it

Talk about complete opposites falling in love, no? :P Round out their personalities through some good ol’ hardworking character development and you’ll have two functioning characters that might be the same at their core but have very different personalities. Done a certain way, there’ll be a shit ton of psychology thrown into the mix because...identity crisis. When the personalities come out as Fun and Super Danny, the subpairing name is Heroic Amusement. The appeal is that opposites attract, especially if the other person is the missing half of yourself. Plus these FunxSuper versions are a lot of fun.

(I’d argue their personalities were already rounding out during the episode given that “Fun” Danny fell out of the Specter Speeder to save Phantom and Phantom rode a vacuum while cleaning but that’s just because I have an invested interest)

There’s a clone version as well, Vlad’s perfect (or not so perfect) son. Most clone Phantoms lack a human form, but it depends on the writer/artist. It’s not done very often, I’m guessing because it comes too close to Danielle and it’s not really self-cest. But it has a lot of potential.

The brilliance (and frustration) at this point is that all of this can happen...without the romance. Brotherly love and friendship between Fenton and Phantom is really adorable but often gets tangled up in the Pitch Pearl mass pile-up. It’s called Oreo Cookie but no one can search that tag so it’s being renovated to Phriendship. Twin brothers? Cute. Platonic mythical creature au? Wicked cool. That voice in Fenton’s head? His shoulder angel/demon and constant companion. Friends to the end.

There are...two stories? And at least one picture where they are twins. So incest is surprisingly low on the radar.

Mind you, Oreo Cookie/Phriendship is NOT Pitch Pearl because the feelings between Phantom and Fenton aren’t romantic in anyway. It’s often tagged as Pitch Pearl because the friendship and relationship have one goal in common: Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom must interact together. Fortunately, canon has given us many options to choose from when it comes to separating Danny

The easiest being

But there’s also

and

or

(If I’m remembering right: Life, Form, and Fantasy gems. Yes I’m winking right now.)

So there’s a lot of ways it can happen, even by accident.

These were only the most common ones I’ve seen (and written). But there a way more. There was an angel idea by Charliemcarthy! Idk the details exactly but I imagine Danny dies, Phantom remains ghost-bound and Fenton gets shunted into a guardian angel role before returning to protect Phantom and Amity Park. Kris and I had an idea where Danny found and put the ghost king’s crown on after the events of Reign Storm and it rejected Danny’s human half, splitting the two like a reverse portal accident.

Some shippers focus on the supernatural aspect, some just think they look adorable together, and some want that wholesome fluff. (Me. I want the fluff. I want clouds of fluff.)

Pitch Pearl can be so, so many things....

And after they’re separate or the universe has been established, what then? Who are they as characters? Who falls in love first and who pushes the relationship? Convincing a full ghost and a full human to fall in love is tricky at best of times because of the species divide, but there’s also conflict-inducing elements like their past as one person, Fenton’s parents, the other ghosts, Phantom’s fans and Fenton’s bullies, Fenton’s mortality and the consequences of Phantom being full ghost/no longer alive. Just a lot of ways their lives clash. So there are many directions Pitch Pearl can take.

But that’s for the writers to sort out and the artists to draw and the viewers to speculate. There are countless ways to begin the ship that then determines who they are as characters and how their romance develops. Probably too many. It gets confusing. I can understand why people dismiss it as a potential pairing, and yet I can’t. If you don’t like one version of the ship, ship it a different way. There are even stories where Danny is still a hybrid.

But to each their own.

[geek-gem]

I've been meaning to talk about this

Well damn I'm in a bus and put the word this as tho or meh mate. But I've been nervous to talk about this cause I'm worried my followers would hate me for this so I've been a bit too man lol foo almost left fop just typos man lol. I like Riverdale I like it a lot. That tv show on The CW that's based upon Archie Comics. I seriously like the show a lot. Mainly at first seeing this just I'm not the biggest fan of Archie yet liked Archie's Weird Mysteries a lot. Also the comics seem pretty good. I've been wanting to give this show a try. At first I felt mixed but over time I liked it. Also the fact I missed the first episode oh new message mate lol but thought I didn't have the channel but did and saw the 2nd episode first then first episode. Seriously it's a show I'm interested. It makes me laugh, I gasp and shocked by the twists and other things mate. Their are things I have problems with. Such as I need to see Black Nerd Comedy's video haven't seen the last three maybe mate lol. It's a show I like. Also just will say my favorite characters and okay not in order mate. But mainly Jughead, Betty, Archie, Veronica, and Kevin okay maybe in a order but like them a lot oh yeah Linkin Park's, "Numb" is playing in the bus mate. Also gonna get off soon lol gonna chill bro. Seriously those five I love a lot. Also some others and okay almost left most and play just chill bro. Honestly I'm glad the fandom agrees the thing with Grundy was stupid even if....I've had mixed emotions but I legit compared that shit to how disgusting and wrong it is well compared it to the disgusting shit which is Loudcest where fans legit ship siblings. Well spelled legit and I'm on a new bus cause the other seems to be taking a break. Luckily it's a bus driver I know mate. But yeah the thing with Grundy well I'm not gonna a spoil man but was gross and not needed I think. It felt like unnecessary drama and I remember not mentioning the show but actually asked my friend at school of is that wrong cause well Archie is 17 and Grundy is an adult. He said it's wrong and unless their an adult just lol....it's still bad. Also the whole dark thing of Archie got me to think of the whole joke if Loud House just got some dark reboot thing called Royal Woods and lol I'm thinking just no mate...just.....seriously their are ideas yet just ......dang it man almost left the word sang instead of dang. Just control self. Think I'll put almost left out just control self sorry autism but I wanted to reveal this. Luckily this bus I'm on is on break too. Yet yeah overtime I've started to like the show more. I have some problems with it such as some characters or that's just me. Seriously I seem different when watching the show like being like oh my God when something is revealed and....do not know I wanna compare it to a fan girl but I'm a boy and phone turned fan girl into Daniel and boy into bit. Yeah I'm typing this on my phone and bus was slowly going but stopped a bit for people. Now it's going. Well got my left elbow to pull the string to stop at the next stop which is ahead of us lol. But yeah I wanted to share that including I follow the tag and well gonna get off now mate lol Well off.....just standing in the sun think ill just post this and just do my lol do....sorry I'll stop things on my mind and kind of nervous man....I'm nervous well put tag down. I just wanted to share that and can't see this well can see it but the sun......I'm nervous about this um