#that familiarity that femininity

[topsyturvy-turtely]

turtely's OTP challenge

read day 25 "That Familiarity, That Femininity" on Ao3!

prompt: trying to seduce one another

summary: Sherlock knows just the trick to get John to be more open to dating men. More specifically, dating Sherlock.

T, 894 words, Getting Together. Developing Relationship, Drinking, Lipstick & Lip Gloss, Kissing, Mutual Pining, Resolved Sexual Tension

or read it on tumblr:

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Sherlock was laying on the couch, hands steepled underneath his chin. He was thinking. About John Watson – as so often. John went on many dates. He didn’t seem too happy about them. Or, yes he did, but there were never many dates with the same woman, which he then complained about until he found a new woman to go out with.

That’s when Sherlock opened his eyes widely. It was clear as water all of the sudden: John just needed to go out with a man for once. He knew John was bisexual. He never told him that, but the signs were clear. Well, and since it would take a while to find a candidate, he would gladly suggest himself.

He got up to take a shower.

He went to put on fresh clothes… Black shirt, one more button open than necessary. Tight, black trousers, the ones that flattered his arse exceptionally nicely. He styled his hair into a perfect curly mess. He put on cologne and… hesitated. He looked very masculine… maybe if he gave John something familiar – something feminine – John would more easily get over the fact that Sherlock was a man. It didn’t take long to find just what he was looking for. Sherlock smiled cheekily.

***

John was frustrated. Sexually frustrated. He loved sex, hell, he would go so far and say he needed sex. He was grumpy and agitated when he hadn’t had sex in a while. Was it a bad thing to like sex that much, need it, even? John didn’t know and quite frankly didn’t care. He just knew he wanted it.

So today John would go out, take Stamford with him. Wear his best smiles, use his best jokes and get laid. John nodded at himself. As good as done.

When he got home he immediately took a shower. As he walked out of the bathroom, only wearing his towels low on his hips, he noticed Sherlock was laying on the couch. He greeted him, then headed upstairs to change into better clothes.

***

Breathe in (Sherlock breathed in), breathe out (Sherlock breathed out). He didn’t know why he was freaking out, but he was. That wasn’t entirely true: He knew he was freaking out because he saw some skin. That really shouldn’t be that special. He had seen lots of skin before, lots of naked bodies even. However, Sherlock didn’t expect John to come out of the shower showing off that much of naked skin, practically radiating sexual energy at him, as if he was some kind of sex god. Sherlock groaned and sank deeper into the couch, the images rushing into his mind.

Finally he heard John coming down. He wore nothing special really. A button up, dark jeans, his best cologne.

“I am going out. I will go pick up Mike,” John declared.

Sherlock sat up. “There’s no need.”

“How do you-“ John stopped. Stared. Opened his mouth, “What happened to your lips?”

Sherlock wanted to smile, wanted to squeal and jump, when John stared at him. Eyes fixated on Sherlock’s lips. He had him. Right there, that was the familiarity, that femininity John needed. He stood up and walked over to John. “Lipstick, John. Lipstick happened to my lips,” he said. Sherlock scanned John’s face, categorised his reaction. Smirked, “You are going out with me tonight.”
John still glared at his mouth. When he finally realised he had been staring he breathed in deeply, raised his gaze to Sherlock’s eyes. And bravely, like the closeted bisexual, ex-army doctor he was asked, “Where to?”

***

Now, John was sitting at a bar, which name he had already forgotten and glared at the smear of lipstick on Sherlock’s glass. It was stupid, really. But seeing dark red lipstick on Sherlock’s face… he took another gulp from his third drink (or was it the fourth?).

He had tried to look at women, even checked out some guys, but his attention always fell back to his best friend. And that goddamn lipstick. They were talking about… he didn’t even know what. He looked down, surprised. How had his hand landed on Sherlock’s forearm? Didn’t matter. His eyes found Sherlock’s. He surprised himself, when he asked, “Do you want to dance with me?”

Sherlock’s face was full of questions for second. Then he said, “Let’s.”

So John got up, took Sherlock’ hand because hell, he was drunk and he wanted to. When they were on the dance floor John stood there for a second. Then started giggling. “Sherlock, I forgot that I have no idea how to dance!”

Sherlock stepped closer. “I’ll teach you,” his deep voice kindling something inside of John . The detective took John’s hands in his, put them on his shoulders. And as they stood there - John’s arms around Sherlock’s shoulders, the tall man’s lips dark red at John’s eye level – intoxicated as he was, he leaned in. Not to dance, no. To kiss. Immediately Sherlock responded – he stepped closer, put his hand on John’s neck, his thumb caressing the space behind his ear. The kiss was careful at first, but with every second it grew more rough. Leaving almost no room to breathe.

“I think we should take this dance lesson to Baker Street” John groaned between kisses. Sherlock, whose lipstick was now smeared, searched John’s eyes, then nodded.

It was a nice ‘dance lesson’ indeed.

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[maryhale1]

Some easy witch tips

[ladsofsorrow24]

yuri sasunaru... based of this very nice fic by @greatloverslieinhell

[sarasade]

I remember when I started to watch The Dragon Prince and went to YouTube to find reviews of the show. I saw several people expressing confusion around Viren’s character. Like what’s his role in the story. Is he a good guy or a bad guy? People saying his character and motivations are confusing etc.

Like damn, you’ve never met a man like Viren??

You aren’t familiar with the type of guy who tries to live up to the unattainable or downright destructive ideals of hegemonic masculinity. A man who buys into those ideals so much that he dehumanises himself and by extension others and becomes completely unfeeling while also acting like he’s the victim when people push back on the injustices his ideals enforce? A person who sees himself as the hero and gets offended when others don’t buy into his narrative of individualistic heroism that reduces other people into props to be used and controlled in his story of greatness and self-sacrifice.

Hmmm I think this show might have something to say about masculinity here.

[leonbastralle]

cruz (he/she/they) ✦ eva (she/her)

courtney (she/her) ✦ kimimila (they/them)

rong mei (she/her) ✦ priyanka (she/her)

pavot (he/him) ✦ nasrin (she/her)

[emry-stars-art]

Also while I'm here:

YES you can call me Emry as casually as you like, we are FRIENDS now and I will do my best to get your names (just pls stay respectful, I've been extremely lucky to only have wonderful people in my anons)

And I will take any honorific or descriptor you think fits/is funny, I've been called miss emry and I've been called mr stars and I did a happy little laugh at both

I don't offend easily at all and i love talking to you all, so in case you've been wondering about approaching me: here u go, please do 💕

[themetalvirus]

yes, fuck cops. but also if you think you understand WHY cops are bad, you should probably dig more into why. if you're completely self assured that you know the full breadth of why the system of policing is so rotten, you have failed yourself.

[bijoumikhawal]

NGL I think if you're writing RGU analysis and you call Utena's gender nonconformity sexist you may not be writing good RGU analysis

[kakusboyfriend]

How I sleep understanding my favorite villain's personality and backstory and why they work so well while also throwing key aspects of it away for the benefit of my own indulgences btw ^_^

[maryhale1]

Blessed Sunday witches 🖤

[motsimages]

A friend of mine gave me an article she wrote about her illness and it mentioned the caretakers around her. She mentioned her husband's coworkers who will cover for him when he goes to the hospital with her. And that's not what comes to mind when one thinks of "caretaker (of a disabled person)".

It made me think of the time I was being too much of a caretaker for everyone around me and decided that I had to take care of myself too. So I looked up "how to care for a caretaker" and it was disappointing. Most of the things I found were like "remember to do something you enjoy, try to find someone to cover for you for an hour or so so you can rest" and it's like... So somebody who is 24h caring for a family member should also be responsible for finding someone to give her some rest or to make time for her own enjoyment. Right. Sure. Nobody will take care of her and she has to take care of herself and someone else. Noted.

I also thought of that theory of sharing worries. It was something like "when someone has cancer, the worries around it have to go outwards: the patient will tell their partner, the partner will tell a friend, the friend will tell someone outside of this circle, etc." This way, the people more affected by the situation are not charged with the extra load of having to emotionally manage the worries of someone who is not going through it. The cancer patient doesn't have to console their friend about how they feel when seeing them in the hospital on top of dealing with the chemo effects, for instance. The friend will share those feelings outside of the patient's life while being available for the patient to complain about the hospitalisation.

In situations when the government fails to provide support for the sick person and their caretaker, it's up to them and the money they might or might not have to find a solution. People like to help but depending on the demands of the situation, it may be outside of what most people can do or are willing to do for love. If, for whatever the reason, the family lives isolated or far from other people, who cares for the caretaker? When do they get a break?

And sometimes, giving someone a break in these circumstances looks a lot like the co-workers covering your shift, the neighbours stopping by to see if you need groceries, or any other seemingly small task that will already reduce the things to do for the caretaker.

Notice how the worries go outwards but the help goes inwards. I let you know I'm tired because I spent the night up caring for my child, you or another acquaintance bring me a Tupperware with food so I don't have to cook today.

It is difficult sometimes to know how to care for a caretaker, particularly if they are caring for an elderly relative, a child or a disabled person with high needs. Where do you start? Well, just lending your ear to listen to their worries and complains, helping out with small everyday tasks related groceries, cooking or cleaning, covering the first hour in the mornings at work so they can sleep a bit longer...

It feels like the only useful help in some cases is actually giving free time from the caretaking by doing it ourselves. And that is certainly a huge help. You are a caretaker by directly taking care. But releasing from other duties, not creating extra layers of work already gives some rest. If the only hour I don't have to be checking on the person I care for I have to spend cooking for the day, there is no rest for me. However, if food had magically appeared, I can just lay down and rest, read a book or watch tv.

My friend's comment made me realise that there are many ways of caretaking and that it is actually a chain. When it breaks, then there is only one caretaker isolated from the world, responsible for her own well being. When it works, there are several caretakers and it is less lonely for both the person who needs care and for their direct caretaker. It takes a village.

[pink-carnelian]

I sure have a lot of complex gender/sexuality feels for a cishet person. Like give it up already. You got it in one, you’re fine

[gemwolfz]

making sure i can still draw from all that gamign (sims based doodles + tadpole steppy and HOLY FUCK XANDRE FROM FANTROLLS?)

[morgenlich]

every so often i catch myself thinking “but am i really nb” and then i remember how dysphoric italian classes make me feel

[rubberbandballqueen]

also today in queer history class discussion i pitched the question "how has your race impacted your experiences as a queer person" and so one of my classmates talked abt how she was usually the only black person in queer spaces (or if not, then the only dark skinned black person) and talked a lot abt the isolation of it all

which was cool to hear, but not quite what i was looking for, so at the end i was like, "follow-up question: how has your blackness influenced your queerness?"

and after class she told me no one had ever asked her that before and so she'd never had to consider it, but now she was excited to just throw that at every other queer person of color in her life because it's like, "huh. what kind of homoeroticisms DO i experience as a result of my culture? how CAN i express my queerness in a way that also feels at home with my culture, instead of just picking an expression that is one or the other?" and i think that's beautiful. i hope she figures out how she wants to be queer in her own uniquely black way