#stick up for yourself

[awbwi]

(The countless times I had people do that wide-eyed, pursed lip, eye roll at me while saying “Oookaayyy.”

It feels so belittling.)

I remember being friends with this guy and I finally started sticking up for myself but he shot me down. I was so confused. Isn’t this supposed to work?? There were times I second guessed myself and my feelings.

I can see why it takes people a looooong time to stick up for themselves. You think it’s easier to just deal with the pain than to do what’s best for you. But in reality, it’s the worst thing for you! You’re hurting yourself.

On the opposite side, yes, someone might tell you to stop doing something and it will make you feel embarrassed, angry, etc. Naturally you want to put the other person down when you’re humiliated. But PLEASE know, you grow as a person and will become a good person when you understand someone’s reasons.

[gramarobin]

[vizthedatum]

When you’re healing actively, you start to realize a very heartbreaking thing:

You’re letting yourself be treated the way you treat yourself

And that sounds like a great thing? Yeah?

Except for when you realize exactly how bad you treat yourself.

Please forgive yourself.

To myself: one day, you’ll forgive everyone else too but you will have unshakable values and boundaries because you will love yourself so fucking hard

[thuganomxcs]

What prompted him, a dare? No, it was just pure curiosity that pushes him to do what he had done and in a public setting no less. She looked good in shorts soo..he wanted to 'check the waters' so to speak but with every BAD MOVE there is a justified reaction and that came in the form of a slap that was heard underground that puts Yusuke onto his back.

To say he was..'surprised' of her strength would be a damn lie. Ann had been nothing but the pinnacle of strength and a blazing hot passion..but now Yusuke was left on the ground..partially regretting what he did but then the other side said the repercussions were worth it.

━━   ❝   𝐃𝐚𝐦𝐧..𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧.   ❞

@thuganomxcs replied to this: I'm being honest, Yusuke would Fondle butt since it's an option. He ain't shy like that.

Oh, Yusuke. You picked wrong.

Seething in anger, he summoned all of her strength to slap him hard in the face and leave a red handprint on his cheek before storming off, never to be seen again. He called her 'hot' the first time they met, and now this just proved what a giant pervert he was...

[hinamie]

doodles

[why-the-heck-not]

Trying to listen to podcast to calm down to sleep -> loud as fuck ad. Trying to check something quick from a youtube tutorial -> first gotta watch 2x 30 second unskippable ads. Trying to go to a website -> 2 popups and an ad video automatically start to play. Trying to listen to the radio while driving -> 7 minutes of uninterrupted ad time. Every single free app with those shitty game ads with the stupid annoying ass king. I’m tired !!! I never wanna buy anything ever again !!!!!!!

[carry-on-my-wayward-butt]

having a baby will have shy singers healing so fast bc finally someone is delighted to hear your voice and doesn't give a shit if you're off key or you stutter a lyric they're just so happy and smiling and soothed by your voice

and then they turn three

[implied-divinity]

im feeling sappy tonight. shoutout to the baby tboys begging to be forcemasced. one day you will become the man you want to be. within the kink its wonderful when another man grabs you by the shoulders and pushes you headfirst in. its wonderful to share in the joy he felt when he started. in reality know youre afraid. it takes guts to let yourself be who you want. dont take your feelings lightly and let yourself explore. you are not alone but its also up to you. take care. much love.

[the-broken-pen]

“You’re going to blow out your arms,” the villain observed. They watched as the hero merely grit their teeth, shoving themself through another pull-up. It looked painful, and if the sweat slicking the hero’s brow was any indication, it was.

They waited for the hero to let themself drop from the bar and accept the villain was stronger. But they didn’t.

Three more pull-ups, and the villain stepped in.

“Hero,” they said slowly. “You’re about to tear the ligaments in your arms. You need to stop.”

The hero blew out a shuddering breath. Struggled for purchase, fighting gravity—and let themself drop.

The hero’s hands were bleeding, calluses torn open by the bar. The hero didn’t seem bothered when their own hands shook so much that their blood began to splatter on the gym floor.

For a moment, the villain could only stare at them.

Shit.

They didn’t know how to handle this. They knew the hero was dedicated. They knew the hero was strong, and perpetually trying to be stronger, but they hadn’t thought…

They hadn’t thought the hero would be so willing to tear apart their own body for success.

It was supposed to be fun, the villain thought. They felt a little sick as the hero pressed their palms together to soothe the bleeding, an action that was practiced and familiar. As if they had done this before.

The hero reached for something in their bag, smearing blood on the side, and pulled out a roll of blue electrical tape. The villain didn’t understand why, until the hero tore a strip off and made to wrap their hands with it.

The hero would be the death of them.

They crouched in front of the hero, plucking the electrical tape out of their hands.

“What are you doing with this?”

The hero blinked at the villain like they were the strange one in this situation.

“Wrapping my hands?”

The villain hissed in a breath.

“With electrical tape?”

The hero flushed slightly, looking down at their bloody hands. They looked close to tears.

“It…sticks to skin, really well. And it doesn’t move, either, when you move your hands or wherever else, even if you’re fighting. Plus, blood doesn’t make it come off, at least, not for a while.”

The villain blinked at them.”

“Blood doesn’t make it come off,” the villain repeated, processing. The hero nodded, reaching for the electrical tape. The villain settled it out of reach.

“Not if you wrap it right.”

Dimly, the villain realized that meant the hero had done this enough times to have it down to a science.

“And you couldn’t use a bandaid?” The villain asked incredulously. The hero shrugged a shoulder, then winced at the motion.

Yeah, the hero had absolutely blown out their arms.

“Bandaids move—“

The villain hushed them.

“Be quiet for a second.”

The hero, wisely, went quiet.

The villain rubbed a hand over their face, then studied the hero for a moment. They took one of the hero’s hands into their own, studying the damage.

“Why did you do this to yourself,” the villain murmured.

“What do you mean, why,” the hero snapped. “It’s my job.”

“Your job is to save people,” the villain corrected. “Not destroy yourself.”

“I’m not destroying myself—“

“You are.”

“Shut up—“

“Hero.”

“I need to be better,” the hero snapped. Their voice rang out across the gym, echoing into the rafters, and they both froze. After a moment, the hero spoke again, voice soft. “I need to be better.”

They said it like they needed the villain to understand. The villain wondered who they were really saying it to—the villain, or themself.

“Better than who?”

“Everyone.” It was hushed, like a secret.

The villain watched them, waiting.

The hero took a shaky breath

“My whole thing is being the best. I have always been the best. That’s the only reason I matter. If I’m not strong enough, then I am nothing, so I need. to be. better.”

The hero had started crying, very quietly, like they were afraid to take up too much space.

The villain was not equipped to handle gifted kid burnout.

“There’s more to you than just being a good athlete,” the villain said hesitantly, and the hero shook their head.

“No. There isn’t.”

“Hero.”

“Can you give me back my electrical tape?” They hiccuped to contain a sob.

“No,” the villain said firmly, and then the hero really was sobbing.

“You don’t understand—“

The villain didn’t. Not really. They had never been the kind of talented that the hero was.

They wondered now if maybe that was a blessing.

“I don’t,” the villain agreed. “But I do understand that you’ve saved half the city, and you give everything you have to give, and you always do your best.”

“But I-“

“No.” The villain stopped them. “You are doing your best.” They tipped the hero’s chin up until they met the villain’s eyes. “And it is enough.”

The hero froze, eyes darting over the villain’s face. They wondered if anyone had ever said that to the hero, if whatever mentor they had was giving them anything other than orders to be stronger. Be better. Be more.

The villain had some new targets to take care of, it would seem.

For now, though, they had to take care of hero.

“We’re going to go wrap your hands,” they said softly. “And then we’re going to take care of your arms, and you’re going to take a nap.”

The hero nodded, watching them like they were some kind of good, selfless person.

“And if I ever catch you using electrical tape again, so help me, I will put you six feet under.”

That startled a laugh out of the hero, and they let the villain guide them to their feet.

“Fine.”

The villain turned to them. “Okay?”

Are you going to be alright?

The hero seemed to understand.

“Okay,” the hero agreed.

Yes.

And so, it was.

[brainmuncher]

So I've been thinking about DC heroes and what ghosts from Danny Phantom would be the worst ones for them to fight. (Or maybe just someone that would give them a hard time.) Like if there were a ghost that they were fighting, who would be the worst one for them?

For Cyborg I immediately thought of Technus. Technus is the ghost of technology, so surely he would have some kind of control over Cyborg, right? Depending on the origin, Cyborg was either made entirely of machines from Earth or has alien technology in him. Would Technus be able to manipulate alien tech? Would Cyborg end up adding Fenton tech to what he already has? It's interesting to think about.

For Flash, I was thinking about one of the cold ghosts since he'd have a hard time with the cold. Honestly, I was thinking of Klemper. Klemper is used as comic relief in DP, always shown desperately wanting a friend. I feel like Flash (And I'm going to leave it up to interpretation of which one.) would be sympathetic to it but would also realize that Klemper is harming him, no matter that it's not on purpose. That dynamic is something I'd love to see explored sometime.

For Green Lanterns I was thinking of Spectra. At first, I considered Fright Knight since he's the ghost of Halloween and has the soul shredder. But then I realized that unless GL got stabbed by the sword and was sent to the dimension that shows them their greatest fears, it really wouldn't be much of a fight. Spectra though, she is a pretty emotion based villain. She purposefully tries to bring out the pain and suffering within a person to feed on their misery. She would try to get into their minds and break their willpower from the inside out... and isn't that a terrifying thought?

Despite not knowing too much about Shazam yet, I'd really enjoy a battle between him and Youngblood. Youngblood is a ghost that looks and acts like a child and can only be seen by other kids. He's a prankster who gets really into different roleplays (Like pretending to be a cowboy or pirate.) but tends to take it too far. I just think the idea of Billy trying to take down someone he can only see when he is Billy Batson, and not Shazam, to be intriguing. How would he handle that?

I'm not sure if this one counts really but another one is Poison Ivy and Undergrowth. A lot of people think of them and think that they'd get along really well but I feel like that would end up being short lived. Eventually, Ivy finds out that Undergrowth is a lot more into plants than even she is and recognizes that those she cares about would be killed. Undergrowth only cares about the lives of plants, nothing else. (And unfortunately, people like Harley don't fall into that category.) I think she'd become a begrudging hero at that point. And how is she supposed to fight with plants against a ghost that controls plants?

I'm sure there's more that I haven't thought of, and if I have any I'll be sure to share. If y'all have an idea don't be afraid to add on. Even if it's just a pairing that seems intriguing I'm all ears.

[pinkeoni]

It’s interesting that Will says the exact same thing twice two seasons in a row, setting it up to happen a third time for a nice rule of threes.

But what if this is a set up to subvert expectations? What if the third time it happens, the script is flipped? What if Will ends up sticking up for himself, and demands that something be said to him instead?

[that1notetaker]

I love and hate Severus Snape in equal measures. Also, Harry Potter would have been 100% better if he was actually a vampire but only the teachers and the golden trio knew for sure. He would mess around with the students on purpose and listen to their weird theories to further mess with them. Minerva would think it's funny on the inside and would only tell him off occasionally.

[dyke-in-crisis]

props to John for refusing to get deadnamed again by Yorick

[gayofthefae]

Okay but Mike knowing that Will liked him past tense is the juiciest option I feel like. Like knowing that he liked him at the time of the painting. And the heartbreaking story of if he knew exactly what Will was doing (but also knew that there was no way of telling Will that he knew and that he didn't mean it etc. and no reason to anyways because he wouldn't be able to go back on it).

And reworking the playlists, it supports this.

These two songs in particular stood out to me

And it ends repeated to himself like a mantra.

He wanted Will to make a move. And he watched as he decided he wouldn't.

And then that comes back around to the idea of "if he had feelings for me but pushed me away that's still a rejection, he still didn't want me" and all the different options are just oh so juicy.

Whether he knows about the painting itself or not, I think now that he got from the delivery what he needed to know. Even if they were verbatim El's words, Will was invested in them and that tells Mike something.

He knew. And when the next thing happened, he understood it

He just begged it not to be true.

Sometimes the most heartbreaking Mike is the one who knows exactly what he lost. The one who knew exactly what he was doing.

[souenkun]

I loooove the jp fandom's headcanon that geeta and larry are childhood friends who met during their time in the academy and, sometime in the future, geeta personally recruited larry to work for the paldean pokemon league, as she must be one of the first people who knew of his prowess in pokemon battling! Like yeah, the whole geeta being a "strict boss who is frustrated by larry's stubborn insistence to be an average worker that she has to assign him different workloads just to broaden his horizon" idea is intriguing, but stepping it up a notch by making geeta be the "best friend a.k.a the only one who has seen larry at his very best and his very worst, and knows for a fact that he could excel at anything he put his mind into if he steps out of his comfort zone, so she doesn't particularly drag him out of said zone, but pushes him out of it each time she can because she can't bear to see her best friend be unaware of the good chances and positive things that awaits him out there, not if she has a (small) say in it" is also downright hilarious 😭🤚

[easays]

I'm getting a PhD, and last week, I was finishing my dissertation prospectus draft. A prospectus is essentially a proposal of my topic with details for why and a very long bibliography to show I know my field (which is 18th/19th c lit and queer-trans-crip theory). I listened to Aabria Iyengar's playlist for Suvi in Worlds Beyond Number (available on the Patreon!), and truly, I think it filled my fingers with wizard magic. Why?

Reader, I passed with *no revisions* on my *first draft*. My committee said "we have no notes, this is amazing, you may proceed." WBN and Aabria specifically will be getting a shout out in my dissertation acknowledgments.