#the marriage is a platonic thing for tax benefits obviously

[workinprogress27]

Can be romantic or platonic. ADA!Reader asking everyone and anyone to marry them because their work visa is about to run out. Maybe reader starts buttering them up to get them to say yes?

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Dazai:

🥃 “ heeyyy Dazai would consider… marrying.. M-”

🥃  “yes”

🥃  You don’t even have to explain because he already knows! But I don’t think marrying an ex-mafia member is a great idea legally 

🥃 plus Ango owes him quite a few favors and can mess with government files. 

🥃  Although Dazai isn’t the best choice due to the enemies he seem to alway attract he definitely is the most willing

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Kunikida:

📗  “ Sorry but out of 58 requirement you-”

📗  He will go on a 30 minute rant as you sit there watching him pace around the office.

📗 Kunikida is very particular about his spouse-to-be 

📗 Not to mention he still has about four years until he starts looking for a spouse. He does sympathize with your situation and will try to help you. 

📗 But he is not ready to get married yet

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Yosano:

🦋  “ well isn’t that a sweet offer”

🦋  I feel she is the most likely to not only catch feelings for you but talk about yall’s engagement the most.

🦋 Wears a wedding band ( not while doing procedures obviously) around the agency and when asked will talk for a long while about it 

🦋 Atushi made the mistake of asking about it and then had to listen to a hour long rant about you

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Atsushi:

🐯  Not only would it benefit you but him as well, since you probably have medical insurance and going to yosano over a cold isn’t all that fun. 

🐯 Plus it make taxes easier and two incomes is better than one! Jokes aside he’d be very shocked you asked him, he takes some time to consider it.

🐯 He admittedly is looking at it from a financial standpoint. Because even though he is young he is fine with marriage as long as you two get along.

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Ranpo:

🍭 “ Well what would I get out of this?”

“ … me?”

“ ok”

🍭 He knew before you even came to him. But him being Ranpo he has to have something out of it.

🍭 He wants to have a small party and a wedding cake. Those are his conditions, which all things considered isn’t that much.

🍭 Now you just have to get Fukuzawa to agree to let you marry Ranpo and help with the catering 

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Note: The amount of googling I had to do to write this.

[lookmomitsmytmblr]

Okay I posted about this on my tumblr but it’s never gonna gain traction bc I rb like there’s no tomorrow.

Hear me out: Ten accidentally kinda sorta confesses his love for Donna, and she’s like lol that’s so embarrassing but I’ll go out with you as a pity date hahahaha unless…?

And ten is like ur taking that out of context and not being fair but I’ll take u out for that date just to prove how not into you I am hahaha unless…?

And they go out for that date but it’s them so they are interrupted by some disaster and she’s like “well you owe me a not-date that is normal and not catastrophic” and he’s like “well obviously lol we need a do-over”

And mutually they like “yeah a DO-OVER definitely not a second date, obviously.” On and on repeating.

Then it starts getting a little awkward with the couple denials bc like “NO NO DEFINITELY NOT. but yeah we have been going out yk from time to time and drinking champagne on the beach under the stars but like. As a joke.”

And they’re both super bothered that people give them the “yeah sure keep telling yrself that” look and they are in huff about it because people are being so superior abt it. 

They love an inside joke so they are like “well if everybody else thinks they’re so smart thinking they’re a couple, maybe we should present ourselves as a couple and it can be our private joke that were secretly completely platonic.”

Then later on one of them is like “lol we should get married” and the other is like “lol that’s the stupidest thing ever” and they bicker about it out of obligation but internally they are mutually like “YES I will agree to this after we’re done fighting bc there is no one else in the universe I would rather be married to. But obviously not bc Im IN love with u… just like it could be funny, and we can get free couple’s stuff and tax benefits.”

THEN like either before or after their marriage of contrivance the bit can be when one of them slips up and acts couple-y without an audience the other teasing mercilessly… and yk… sometimes the best way to tease them is to act all couple-y right back, because why do they get so flustered?? Bc we’re totally platonic lol what’s wrong babe. 

Really long head cannon but I just need to figure out how to execute their relationship in way they could be canon together but keep that tension intact without typical romantic drama that I hate lol.

[claireverlasting]

tell me more about aroace jesse

OOOO 👀 this is such a pleasant surprise!! Was thinking about moving this to the fanfic blog ‘cause I actually have a very rough aroace jesse fic idea :)))) but yeah let’s talk about it!

Truth to be told Jesse didn’t even realized he has been seeing the world differently than other people

Dude spent a good part of his life thinking that marriage is very much just Something You Do™️, like a SOP of life

✔️girlfriend ✔️house✔️marriage ✔️kids

And then he grown up (or so he thought) and decided that spending his time going on crazy adventures was more fun than spending time to find a girlfriend (it’s so much work why bother)

Then immortality hit so the whole love/marriage whatnot got ignored even more

What’s the point of falling in love if you would always outlive your lover?

(Did 19th century ppl do hookups? Idk, but that didn’t really cross Jesse’s mind)

The other Tucks thought it’s just a decision that came with immortality, but yeah this was very much Not A Thing Jesse was dealing with

He did wondered about the whole love thingy after a few decades, but always came to the conclusion that It Is Not Cool (Look at Miles)

He can’t even really have long term friends without revealing his secret let alone significant others

It wasn’t until he met Winnie that the whole thing was brought back to focus

Long term companionship with a girl and they vibe together? Sounds like marriage

Very much a I’ll Married My Besties I Love Them And Tax Benefits kinda guy

He asked Winnie to wait because let’s face it, a teenager dragging a child all around the world is absolutely insane and would raise so much suspicion and attention

But a couple? No one would bat an eye

(Btw book Jesse treated marriage as such an afterthought it was so funny, meanwhile Winnie was having a puppy crush on him but we don’t acknowledge that)

The Tucks didn’t know about the proposal until a few years later

The whole Winnie thing was bought back up and Miles and Jesse were having an argument, Miles was saying something about two people being suspicious and Jesse let it slipped and said something like “Not if we’re married.”

The family was shocked and pissed and Jesse was reasoning that he actually thought things through and about being less suspicious and convenient

It went on for a while between “She was a child!” “She might change her mind and don’t want to be with you.” and “It’s more convenient.” smt like that

And then someone (probably Mae or Angus) was like wait Jesse did you not see about the commitment after marriage and whatnot

Jesse was like 👁️👄👁️ but we’re besties it’s platonic it’s for traveling why would you think that 👁️👄👁️ it’s just a fake label👁️👄👁️

And then the four of them had an Oh Something Was Up moment (Also Jesse probably stormed out so)

The whole thing was put on the back burner again, Jesse eventually had a talk with Miles and got it figured out and came out to the whole family

There were obviously not much resources and labels

(They blame the water for a hot minute but well the other three don’t have this thingy so clearly not the right direction)

But yeah eventually Jesse was pretty okay with it

Imagine how much joy he felt when modern time rolled around and there are now Words to describe how he felt and there are people like him

[angelicamerlinbarnes]

After Hogwarts, there's an adjustment period.

Or,

James Potter has difficulty sleeping when Sirius and Remus Lupin aren't right next to him.

James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter have lived together for seven years, and the idea of living with anyone else is a foreign and scary thing. So they acclimate slowly. Sirius and Remus were always going to rent an apartment anyway, so James and Peter start by staying with them. Surprisingly, Peter is the first to work up the courage to leave, making a home with Max just a bit before he proposes to them.

James, however, stays behind with his partners. And it’s nice - they kiss him good morning and goodnight; he wakes up to find Sirius and Remus dancing in the kitchen some days and watches while he eats his breakfast; Remus will sing while he cleans and Sirius will snap photos of the birds and James will sit there, content, as Remus practices his ballet and Sirius plays the violin gently. James likes living with them. He does.

Things don’t really change when Sirius and Remus get married. They’re still with him, though he’s not invited to their asexual adventure wedding night. (He spends the time with Regulus instead.) But when James marries Severus and Lily, he finally moves out, knowing they’ll all have children in the next few years and they can’t keep going on like this.

But he struggles to adapt to a home without Sirius and Remus. Sure, he loves Severus and Lily, and he’s over the moon (sorry, bad wording) to be able to call them his spouses, but they don’t have any of the routines or habits he’s been used to living with for going on ten years now. To James, their house is always too loud or too quiet, too warm or too cold, too crowded or too empty. And James likes it alright. He likes waking up to Lily’s hair in his mouth and Severus singing soft Russian lullabies as he makes his tea. He likes it. But no matter how hard he tries, it’s just not home.

One day Severus and Lily leave him with pecks on the cheek to go on their own date, since it’s been awhile since it was just the two of them. James heads for Sirius and Remus’ apartment not long after, and nearly cries at the sight of Remus curled in an armchair with a book when he comes through the Floo. Sirius is nowhere to be found, but Remus looks up and smiles at him and James can’t help but duck his head to kiss him, having missed this for months.

James collapses into the chair besides Remus, overjoyed when Remus casually takes his hand, his eyes back on his book. The minutes tick by in contented silence until Remus finishes his book, closing it with a sigh and plonking it down on the coffee table before turning to James with a smile. “So,” he says. “What’s up?”

James tells Remus about missing the home he’d built with him and Sirius. Remus smiles while he listens, and eventually says, “How about when Padfoot gets home, we give you your birthday present early?” Now, James has no idea what that could mean, but he agrees and closes his eyes, resolving to let himself be lulled to sleep by the soft way Remus’ thumb is brushing back and forth across the back of his hand.

When Sirius gets home, Remus greets him with a deep kiss. Sirius grins, then pecks James on the mouth in hello. After exchanging some whispers with Remus, Sirius pulls James up out of his chair and drags him down the hall to the bedroom as Remus follows behind, amused. There, Sirius rummages through the closet for a few minutes before grinning brightly and pulling out a large box wrapped in the ugliest floral paper you ever did see.

James smiles. Remus wraps an arm around his waist and kisses his neck, murmuring, “Open it.” James does, albeit hesitantly, and beams at what he sees inside.

The contents of the box are as follows:

Seven (7) of Remus’ sweaters

Three (3) of Sirius’ leather jackets

Recordings of Remus reading James’ favorite books aloud

Four (4) boxes of Remus’ favorite tea (chamomile)

Four (4) boxes of Sirius’ favorite tea (Earl Gray)

Eight (8) photo albums of the three of them (one per year and one for after Hogwarts)

Ten (10) of Sirius’ favorite records (Queen, David Bowie, Taylor Swift, P!nk, Camila Cabello, etc.)

Ten (10) of Remus’ favorite records (Conan Gray, Lana Del Rey, Melanie Martinez, Avril Lavigne, etc.)

A couple of pride flags (small, medium, and large / bisexual (James), polyamorous (James, Lily, Severus), pansexual (Remus), asexual (Sirius, Remus), genderfluid (Sirius), trans (Lily), queer (Severus))

Some of Sirius’ journals from Hogwarts where he’d write down a lot of their interactions and conversations

Some of Remus’ letters to James from Hogwarts and the war

Two (2) little crocheted versions of Sirius and Remus for James to keep in his coat pockets

A copy of their handwritten list of the rules and boundaries of their partnership

A Gryffindor blanket they all used to sleep under

Some firewhiskey and cigarettes (not to use)

Two (2) soft wolf and dog stuffies

A key to Sirius and Remus’ apartment

Two (2) colored-in paper hearts, one reading Sirius’ love and the other reading Remus’ love

At the bottom of the box is a certificate of marriage with Sirius, Remus, and James’ names on it and three rings, all silver with black engravings (pawprint and moon, moon and antlers, pawprint and antlers). James looks up in shock to see both Remus and Sirius kneeling in front of him, laughter in their eyes.

“Wanna marry us?” Remus says, and Sirius lets out a loud, heartfelt laugh. His heart fluttering in his chest, James nods, tearing up as he envelopes them in a tight hug.

“I love you, I love you, I love you,” he says, and never has trouble sleeping in Severus and Lily’s bed again.

[player-tag]

okay hear me out: tubbo and tommy they both die at the end au (except no shipping, gross)

tw// death and corpse description

tommy and tubbo haven't met (because uh yeah), and the dream smp hasn't had the wars and crap, and all the smps and worlds on youtube are connected through this place called the world hub, through the hub you can access different servers and worlds, and the hub itself is sort of a city centre, with loads of shopping and shit.

now, who's death-cast? karl jacobs. he has his time travel powers and is aware of people will die and when they do it. so why doesn't he stop the deaths from happening?! you ask. because he can't. he's tried, over and over and over, but it always ends with them dying regardless. he's tired of seeing people die after wasting a day on stupid things and arguments, so he creates death-cast as a way to alert people of their death, so they don't spend their last day being sad or anger at someone or something.

tommy and tubbo are both at the hub when they are called by death-cast. tommy runs into tubbo panicking over this, and helps him calm down. the two forge a brotherly bond over this, and help eachother say bye to their families. tubbo has to say bye to his four dads (dad!schlatt au and schlatt is ex's with quackity thing, and quackity being in a relationship with sapnap and karl, who obviously knew beforehand) and karlnapity are sobbing over their son, and tell him to wait for them in the afterlife. all three are devasted that tubbo will die before them, and curse the gods. karl blames himself for not being abled to stop the death. they also say bye to ranboo (because of his and tubbo's platonic marriage for tax benefits) ranboo is very sad, and tucks a flower behind each of their ears, careful not to cry. he gives tubbo a long hug, and tommy a "i'm sorry, but do take care for him in the afterlife, until i'm there, alright?" tommy silently agrees, and they go.

tommy then has to say bye to his family. he introduces tubbo to his family, the sleepy bois inc. philza is devasted. how could he outlive his youngest son? it's outrageous! wilbur silently hugs tommy, under his breath cursing death-cast. when tommy says that he'll be wait for wilbur in the afterlife, and how wilbur will forever be his brother, wilbur softly replies with,"dont say that, i will cry." he cries for a long, long time after tommy leaves. technoblade punches the wall and cries out a curse against the blood god. "WHY THE FUCK DID YOU HAVE TO GO AFTER MY BROTHER?!" the voices scream out against the god too, and even start chanting. "BLOOD FROM THE BLOOD GOD!" techno then storms out, but instead of going to the god he softly cries in his potato farms.

the two bond. the visit the hub again after leaving the dsmp, and play bedwars and loads of other mini games in hypixel and other servers.

the death happens when the two are in a cave in the dsmp, and are attacked by a hoard of zombies. tommy is hit unexpectedly and dies, and tubbo, enraged, kills all the zombies. he closes tommy's eyes, and sobs. he is then shot by a skeleton. the message appears in everyones communicator (the chat). when they find the bodies, they are next to eachother, lifeless and unmoving. their corpses are white, and are already decaying. tommy's eyes have them shut, and tubbo's are wide open.

[tired-pinetree]

Ok I have been thinking about this entirely too much and here’s some additional worldbuilding thoughts. under a readmore because this got frankly ridiculous

so in this world, maybe the concept of marriage isn’t as heavily reliant on ceremony. onetime I read somewhere that some cultures didn’t base their idea of marriage off of a formal ceremony, and instead, if a couple spent a certain length of time living together/sharing a bed, they were considered married. I can’t find the specific reference/info I thought this was based off of (though  Gandharva marriage seems somewhat similar)

point is, in this world, “marriage” is simply two (or more) people deciding they’re life partners (or at least long-term partners). while there are ceremonies and official stuff, the important thing (for our purposes) is that if you’re in a committed, long-term relationship, especially one where you cohabit, you are considered legally/culturally married

(it could get pretty complicated with platonic roommate situations, people cohabit for many reasons, not just romantic. brings up some interesting ideas about the validation of QPR and deep, lifelong platonic friendships, but ANYWAYS)

the question then is: why wouldn’t Jon and Martin want to be married (or seen as married)? the answer: taxes and marriage jury duty

the basic “oh no we can’t be obviously married bc of capitalistic tax reasons” is a pretty obvious one. it’s almost an inversion of marriage tax stuff in much of our world, where people sometimes get married or joke about getting married so that their partners or friends have better taxes and benefits (I know this is not universal, and that certain groups, like disabled people, can lose benefits and economically suffer from legal marriage)

but maybe there’s also other responsibilities expected from married people in this world. married people could be expected to support and contribute more to their community, and are called upon to volunteer or perform other duties (kind of like how jury duty works). maybe the world takes the whole “it takes a village to raise a child” thing more literally, and child-rearing isn’t just the sole responsibility of the parents and the concept of a “nuclear” family where a child is predominantly in the care of 1 or 2 parents without even extended family isn’t common at all. so the “marriage jury duty” expected of married people would largely revolve around educating, mentoring, and taking care of children in a more communal sense

(obviously background checks and everything would be undertaken, and if someone wasn’t well equipped to handle children or had other special skills they would be assigned to other sorts of volunteer duties, like helping with other vulnerable populations like the elderly, disabled, and homeless, or other community service stuff like cleaning public parks. maybe if you were rich enough you could get out of this by paying a lot of money instead (like, roughly the equivalent of hiring someone to perform the duties you would have otherwise done). and btw it’s not like the only possible duties would be interacting with vulnerable populations and it’s not like the only reason you’d be disqualified from those positions is abusive/violent/toxic tendencies (though I imagine if the background checks stirred up anything that could be cause for concern that would be recorded and on your record))

so then, the reason Jon and Martin don’t want to appear married is because then they would be expected to participate in communal child-raising and helping with other vulnerable populations. i imagine they wouldn’t feel like they could really help, and might actually be a danger. jon especially would likely see himself as a monster that shouldn’t be around children, and with the elderly he would worry about compelling their trauma out of them (regardless of whether or not that’s still an ability of his). martin may like kids but at this point he’s also not sure if he could actually be a good, present mentor (he knows firsthand about how an absentee parental figure and neglect can mess you up) and he has his own trauma with adult caregiving (thanks to his shitty mom). 

honestly there could be SO MUCH interesting character development and reconciling with past trauma for them. between the two of them, they have so much fear and trauma about child abuse and neglect, failing people who rely on them, hurting people accidentally even with the best of intentions, being a dangerous monster or manipulative, giving yourself away to help and care for other people who only hurt you in return, and whether or not they’re worth being a part of the community and safe for other people to be around. and sure, they COULD explain some of this stuff to the registrar or whatever’s in charge of keeping track of marriages and assigning and coordinating marriage duties, but. i mean. can you imagine these two actually admitting to someone else even part of this stuff right after everything that’s happened in tma? also, there would be some worry that they would be labeled as dangerous since they’re ineligible to volunteer with vulnerable people and put on a list (kind of like how there are lists for sex offenders, though there would be several different lists or tiers, because there’s a BIG difference between someone with an actual history of abuse/violence, and someone that just isn’t very good with kids)

now, the question is, why would they even be suspected of being “married” and avoiding the marriage duties? well, I imagine that when they first arrived one or both of them were injured and as soon as one of them (probably martin) was conscious they rushed to the other’s bedside and begged access because they’re partners, and since they didn’t know all these cultural intricacies they were all sappy and kept saying stuff like “i told you, you’re my reason” “i couldn’t live without you” etc. so of course everyone thinks they’re married (and maybe Annabelle decided to stir some shit up and imply that they’re together, as if it wasn’t obvious enough). so later, when they find this all out, they argued that, yes, they were dating, but they’re not married (yet). they were given some benefit of the doubt for their sappiness at the hospital because it was a pretty dire situation, and even a casual friend would have been pretty concerned, but now they’re under investigation, prompting them to live separately to avoid the fines and duties of marriage life

most relationships and cohabitation marriages are self reported (and there are also official marriage ceremonies as well). it’s kind of seen as a big, exciting step in a relationship, kind of like how taking them to meet your parents is seen as an important milestone, so most people are excited/eager when their relationship goes from casual dating to serious long term partnership. apartments would probably have a checklist box asking if you’re in a longterm relationship with anyone you are cohabiting with. and, of course, there are benefits to marriage (like there are in our world), so people are incentivized to disclose their relationship status. for the most part, a lot of this is self-governed or obvious (like, ok, two unrelated people moved into a one-bedroom apartment, they’re married), but there are a few people in charge of investigating or following up suspected undisclosed relationships and hold people accountable (a lot of this is just some bored guy knocking on the door and reminding people that they haven’t fulfilled their duties for this year yet, or knocking on a door and finding out that the relationship ended a bit ago and nobody’s thought to inform the registrar yet)

(side note: the relationship hijinks in this world would be great. it’s almost a cross between an arranged marriage, “there was only 1 bed”, and reverse fake dating au. like, can you imagine thinking you’re in a casual relationship and wanting something more but thinking its still pretty onesided only to get a letter saying “lol no you guys are so lovey dovey we could see it from space”. imagine your otp or whatever).

cue the funny rom com hijinks so that they don’t appear too close and end up accidentally married

after several months of roommate and tax/jury duty evasion hijinks, they eventually get found out in some funny or dramatic way. jon and martin get questioned by the registrar about why they were trying to avoid marriage duties in the first place, and some (at least) of their Issues come out. the registrar is bascially like On GOD We Gon Get You Some THERAPY Bro, so for the first few months their “marriage duties” are going to weekly therapy to deal with their many, many personal issues. once their therapists give the go ahead, they begin participating in community/marriage duties, and they just get to heal. 

like, all three of these characters (jon, martin, and annabelle) have a lot of neglect/abuse baggage from their childhood, and maybe i just want them to be able to heal from that (as well as everything else that has happened). they can become the person they needed when they were a child. i think, for jon and martin, it could be particularly impactful, the realization that, although there are awful things that happen in their new world, and they may have brought the fears with them, most kids in this world won’t suffer like they did, as they are more communally raised and have more supportive adults, and aren’t “difficult”, unwanted children relying on one neglectful, emotionally absent or abusive adult

i know this has gotten pretty far from the original concept (especially since the original idea was a fine/tax for unmarried cohabiting couples, and this instead says no, legally they would be considered married, but there’s all these side-effects, duties, and responsibilities), but the combo of hurt/comfort and ridiculous romcom makes my heart go !!!!!! 

post-mag 200, jon and martin live together Somewhere Else and annabelle often drops by to bother them: good great beautiful

jon, martin, and annabelle all have to share an apartment and Shenanigans Ensue: even better i love it so much

for some convoluted reason, either jon OR martin has to share an apartment with annabelle, and the other one has to live elsewhere, meaning one of them has Roommate Habits Dynamics with annabelle and the other has I'm Over Here All The Time Visiting My Boyfriend Dynamics with annabelle: has the potential to be EXTREMELY funny i think

[geckogirl89]

An Unorthodox Proposal

Written for OTP Idea #370 on @otpisms: Your OTP only getting married for tax benefits. Also inspired by the story hoʻokāne by Siria (which is great and everyone should go read).

Fandom: Hawaii Five-0 (2010) Pairing: Steve/Danny Rating: T (only for language) Word Count: 1520 Notes: Set after 7.18, so some spoilers for the latest episode. For the purposes of this story, Steve and Danny are conveniently single.

Since Danny had started working for Five-0, he had gotten used to all kinds of crazy things happening, from faked tsunamis to nuclear bombs that had to be discharged in the middle of a jungle. Danny could typically roll with the insane and unexpected things that happened on cases these days.

But he had never expected Steve to just enter his office on an ordinary Tuesday morning and declare, “We should get married.”

Danny, flummoxed at this random proposal, just said “What?!” His voice may have squeaked a little, because seriously, what the hell was going on? If Danny hadn’t been quite so surprised, he might have launched into a rant about how you have to at least date someone for a few months before you can ask them to marry you. You can’t just suddenly, out of the blue, propose to your best friend without even kissing them first.

But then Steve sat across the desk from Danny and produced paperwork. All kinds of paperwork detailing the “logical” benefits of marriage.

“It just makes sense for us, Danno,” Steve said, as if he was being the reasonable one. Danny was starting to wonder if maybe being in the SEALs or having this job had impacted Steve more than anyone thought. Danny was used to his partner's harebrained schemes, but this plan showed that Steve had finally cracked and lost whatever vestiges of sanity he had.

Steve showed Danny how much they would each save on taxes if they got married. He pulled out an “estimated” calculation for Danny, who questioned how his partner knew how much he had to pay in income taxes each year.

“I talked to a financial planner,” Steve replied, as if that was a totally normal thing to do.

He went through more paperwork, explaining how marrying Danny would mean that Steve would still be entitled to visitation with Danny's kids in the event that something bad happened to him. They would also both have next-of-kin benefits in the event that either of them ended up in the hospital. Steve ran through the other legal benefits, and Danny's head was swimming by the end of his speech. Steve had obviously discussed this with some kind of attorney.

“Plus, think about it this way. When we open Steve’s, you can say that you named the restaurant after your husband. That would be a better story than saying you named it after your friend, and it will probably get us more business.”

Danny was too stunned to even protest naming his hypothetical retirement restaurant after Steve. Hell, in the grand scheme of things, this wasn't that different from how things went with them. Steve made Danny his partner, and now he was apparently going to make him husband as well. Naming Danny's restaurant after himself was just part of his typical tendency to end up controlling Danny's life.

“Of course, you can keep seeing other people,” Steve continued. “It's not like I'm going to tie you down just because we're technically married.”

Danny wouldn't admit to it, but his heart shattered at the idea of being only “technically married” to Steve. He had tried to not let his unrequited feelings for his partner extend to thinking about actually marrying him, but Danny had to admit that a sham marriage was the exact opposite of the hopes and dreams he had attempted to ignore.

Something of what he felt must have shown on his face, because Steve patted him on the shoulder in a comforting manner. “I know it's a big decision, so I'll give you some time to think about it, buddy.”

Buddy, right. Danny had to get that through his head.

Once the day began, Steve just treated it like a normal day at the office, like he hadn't just asked Danny to marry him. It only made Danny feel worse, honestly, and he was a lot more quiet than he would normally be. When he wasn't focusing on their current case, he was pondering how exactly to tell Steve he couldn't marry him without giving away his feelings.

Steve was right, in that the “marriage” would end up saving them money and would provide a number of legal benefits, some of which would make life easier for Danny. But Danny couldn't marry Steve for such cold, unemotional reasons.

By the time the team was eating lunch, Danny was feeling too sick to touch his shrimp. He kept imagining a bizarre, fake marriage to Steve and wondering what would become of his life. Would they have to lie to all of their friends and loved ones, letting them think they were “in love” while privately acting like platonic friends? Danny didn't think he could do that.

“Hey, are you all right?” Chin asked. “You seem kind of off today.”

He gave Chin the best, most reassuring smile he could. “I'm fine.” He shot a quick, annoyed glare at Steve. “Just have a lot of things on my mind today.”

Danny was still in a state of heartbroken confusion throughout the afternoon. He was finishing up some paperwork after the end of the case, when it suddenly hit him. “Son of a bitch,” he said to himself.

He stormed into Steve's office, closing the door behind him and locking it. He didn't want any of their coworkers to witness this particular conversation. “You said I could see other people? How the fuck do you think that's going to work?”

Steve, who was sitting at his desk, frowned up at Danny. “Well, being married might cut into your dating pool somewhat, but I think if you just explain the situation--”

"Explain the situation? What exactly is the situation, Steven? Apparently, I can see other people, but you can’t?!” Danny paced in front of Steve's desk, too wound up to just stand like a normal human. “Through that entire conversation, it was all ‘we’ and ‘us,’ even when it came to things like the restaurant or my children. But you get to that topic, and then suddenly it's all about me?!"

Steve looked nervous. He glanced away. “I told you, Danny, I don’t want to tie you down.”

“But you’re willing to tie yourself down?” Danny sighed and steepled his hands together. “Babe, please, just tell me what's going on.”

“I can’t,” Steve muttered. He was staring at the desk as if it held the answers to all of the questions in the universe.

Danny shook his head. “Why not?”

Steve's gaze darted up to Danny's face and away again. He didn’t say anything, but he didn't need to. The depth of pain in that glance, brief as it was, was enough to make Danny feel like his entire world had just been flipped upside down.

“You... you don't want to see other people, do you? Steve, that’s--”

“Look, can we just not talk about this?” Steve crossed his arms and stared up into Danny's eyes. “Just because I have... feelings... It doesn't have to change anything.”

Danny smiled sadly. He could tell that Steve actually believed that his own feelings were somehow irrelevant. He knew Steve could be a self-sacrificing idiot at times, but this was just ridiculous.

Danny walked closer and perched on the edge of Steve's desk. “I have conditions.”

Steve looked confused. “Conditions?”

Danny nodded, privately enjoying that he was going to be the one to surprise Steve for once. “I’ll marry you, but you have to take me out for dinner first. And it has to be real. None of this ‘we can see other people’ crap.”

Steve released a happy laugh. “You’re serious.”

“As a heart attack, babe.”

Steve stood up. “If I had known it would be this easy, I wouldn’t have prepared that big speech.”

Danny grinned. “You didn’t have to talk to that financial planner or lawyer either.”

“I guess not.” Steve stepped closer, and his hand hovered over Danny's shoulder like he was shy about touching him. Danny had never seen this side of Steve before, and it was beyond adorable. “If... uh... if you want it to be real, that means I can kiss you, right?”

Danny chuckled. “You can.”

As Steve leaned in and finally kissed him, Danny reflected that the entire course of events that had transpired today was kind of crazy. But Danny was going along with it, so he must be kind of crazy too. He let his eyes close as he returned the kiss and decided that he was fine with being crazy if it got him everything he had ever wanted.

Steve broke the kiss and beamed at Danny. He looked happier than Danny had ever seen him. He sat back down in his chair and did something on his computer.

“Babe, what are you up to?”

Steve seemed very focused on whatever he was doing. “Looking up where we'll go for dinner and booking an online reservation.” He smirked over at Danny. "That was part of your conditions, right?"

Danny laughed. “Right. That was basically my only condition.”

Steve winked at Danny. “I better go ahead and book that reservation then.”

[november-solarstorms]

Tumblr keeps crashing. I hate Tumblr rn.

Right, so I definitely was not expecting a whole essay. But at the same time, I love seeing how people’s differing cultural backgrounds affect their views on things like romance. So I am here for it. 

First of all, I never subscribed to the philosophy that marriage was a sign of servitude. Especially considering how in the traditional sense, that meant women were expected to submit to their husband which implies some kind of dynamic where the husband is superior to the wife. It’s degrading. I believe that your partner should be your equal. To marry someone is to proclaim that you want to spend the rest of your life with that person. And that in of itself is powerful.

I also want to say that I love how you don’t consider soulmates as an inherently romantic thing. I dislike how romance is forced down our throats by society as the “solution to sadness”. “True love cures all” type bullshit. Your soulmate can be your best friend or family member. 

Although, I have never been the type to believe in soulmates. As a concept, it kinda implies that a person is incomplete until they meet the one. And while the idea of “you complete me” is super romantic and all, it is equally as unhealthy. It fosters a codependency mindset. In actuality, the phrase should be “you supplement me” which doesn’t sound half as romantic so I get why it is very used. But honestly, choosing to enter a relationship with someone should not be “I need you and without you, I am lost”, it should be “I am a perfectly functioning adult who can live just as well without you, but I really, really want you in my life because I love you.” And this does not have to be specific to romance. 

I absolutely do love the idea that any given person can have more than one soulmate, as you put it. Because with 7 billions humans on the planet, how can anyone claim that only one single person is right for them? 

We see marriage very similarly in the fact that it doesn’t have to be romantic. You can love someone platonically and marry them for it just as much as you could love someone romantically and marry them. Which is a pretty hot take considering most of the world would disagree. 

I am glad that you don’t want to settle for anything less than someone who commits to you as much as you are willing to commit to them. A lot of people make that mistake and it ends up with both parties contributing an uneven amount into the relationship which can foster resentment. I was able to interview a wise couple that had been together for 25 years to prepare for a speech and they told me that a marriage wasn’t about giving 60 - 40 effort or even 50 - 50. They said that the key to a successful marriage is to give 60 - 60 or more. And that has always stuck with me.

I appreciate how self-aware you are. Being aware of your issues is the first step to repairing them. And quite frankly. Taking things for granted is a universal human experience. They write songs about it.

Only need the light when it’s burning low, 

only hate the sun when it starts to snow

Only know you love when you let her go,

I honestly hope that I do marry one day. Maybe not to someone I love romantically but to someone I love nonetheless. It’s more about the companionship for me. To have someone to experience life with. I would totally do it just for the tax benefits, haha. Or as an excuse to have an absolutely bawler party. But obviously, the person I choose to marry has to be the person I would spend my whole life with.

And you let her go.

I am not as profound as you, honestly. I do not need someone to sacrifice everything they are for me. Just someone who makes me happy. Makes me laugh. Someone who is easy to talk to, and yet we can sit in comfortable silence for hours without feeling the need to utter a single word. Because we already understand each other. 

I am also not too selfish. I don’t need to be the thing in life that completes them. I don’t need everyone to know they are mine. I just want to be the thing in life that helps them get out of bed in the morning. 

Really, I want someone to travel the world with. Someone to experience everything I do. Someone willing to do something crazy stupid just for the fun of it. To take risks with. Something simple. Because I am not a very emotional person and too much sappiness is draining. Baking me breakfast and taking it to my bed means more to me than actually saying “I love you”. 

So, a very simple “I make you happy and you make me happy so let’s stay together” is really all I need. And adventure. Life isn’t worth living unless I am living in an adventure.

Helloooo, it's been a hot sec, so I wanted to reach out to say hi. I have a question for you, o' author of this blog. Although, it is kinda personal so don't feel like you have to answer. So. You're like me. Aroace. I was wondering if you would ever choose to marry? And if so, what are your reasons?

it has been a while, darling! i hope you’re doing well~

literally was supposed to be short but no one has ever genuinely ask me this question or let me explain, ever, so i took the chance and i’m running with it.

i’ll be slapping this baby under a cut and y’all can have the opportunity to see how hard i’m willing to rip my own heart from my chest for the smile of my beloved.

i’m actually just ace, not aro, i have definitely been in love before and am in love now. but i know plenty of aro people and one of my dearest lovelies is an aroace, so i know, understand, and can relate to a lot with them.

i would say my romantic orientation is demi though, because i tend to only get emotionally attached or romantically inclined towards someone after knowing them and creating a deep bond. but i am still the biggest oblivious emotionally/romantically falling for someone whore there is.

so i think eventually i might get married, but to who or why could vary from person to person. but i really need to explain how i see marriage for me personally, as this can also depend on the people and change that view.

the media and religions have done a lot to influence how marriage is perceived and in some cases, i agree, but in others i don’t. i don’t think its as limited as people might expect but it’s not just for the ultimate pleasures or because you can. even people who eventually end their marriages could have had the same experience but not as totally or just differently.

marriage for me is symbolism, almost spiritual in that sense. it’s meaning is different for everyone and it would be unlikely to find someone who thinks the exact same of it as i do, but that doesn’t change how i would see it.

ignoring literally everything i was raised to believe about it, as my own personal opinions, it is the utmost sign of devotion and servitude, to offer yourself to another person as a sort of sacrifice. it’s an action that speaks volumes to me and such volumes have to be serious, because this kind of commitment for me is the ultimate one, the one where you not only understand each other to one of the deepest levels but you’re willing to show more, to devote everything down to your very essence to each other.

for me, marriage is the symbolism where i can say i would give you my soul, that which i believe is the purest essence of who i am, my very spirit, to take, to hold, to have forever and ever, to do with as you wish and to keep as your very own. but i would expect the same from them, i want the devotion of everything you are, ever will be, or ever were to be completely mine just as i am yours.

i am a firm believe in soulmates, romantic or not, and that’s because i already believe they have that part of me, somehow, someway, this person had a piece of me i never knew i gave or never knew was missing, and i have the same of them. but we have that connection, that bond, that essence of each other that we share totally. sometimes people don’t have that connection and i can see it, i’m a blind idiot when it comes to myself, but when i look at people who are just... meant to be beside each other, there’s this connect, a spark, a string if you will, that connects them, whether it be platonic, romantic, or otherwise.

i believe you can have more than one soulmate, because each connection is different whether you fully realize that or not, but somehow that person still means just as much to you as the other one. and without either one, you would be devastated.

marriage, for me, is also agreeing to be with someone you are deeply in love with. the relationship can be rooted from sexual, romantic, or platonic feelings, by just one, two, or all three. marriage for me, would be for romantic or platonic feelings. i see marriage as the ultimate signature to say, “yes, i am fully, completely, and utterly yours.” in a way, it’s the sign of absolute selfless love to say you will forever be with that person, to serve beside them, to grow with them, to bring the best of them out for the world, and to see them live with their absolute happiness because of how much you love them. 

if i got married, it would be because i find that a person is someone i am willing to let go of myself and sacrifice some parts of myself to see them happy, because their smile brings me so much joy, that that very smile is the very thing i want to live for, the very smile i always want to see and protect. it would be because i want to show them i love them, completely, with every ounce of my being so much that i want to be the one, selfishly, to be the only one at their side to bring that happiness to them.

but there’s a catch— they have to be able to do the same for me. i want someone who can be just as selfish as me, where they want to keep me all to themselves just as i do with them, but also would do short of nothing to see me happy.

marriage for me would be someone who is both ultimately selfless and selfish, someone who will sacrifice and break themselves apart for you and your happiness, but wants to keep you and all that you are preserved and close to them. someone who i can give everything i am, ever was, and ever will be to and they will do the same back.

i want someone i can devote myself to so wholly that it keeps me going to know how much i love them and how much they love me.

there are lots of views and reasons for marriage, and with some influence of my background, and some despite it, my views of marriage are the absolute devotion and adoration for another person or even persons ( if you’re a polygamist, you lovelies are just even more stunning examples! ). it’s wanting to spend your entire life with them because the thought of being away from them makes you hurt, sick, and churns things you never thought you could feel or ever feel again.

i would want someone to be so selfish with me but utterly selfless. i want that, i need that.

i am a person who takes beliefs through actions, not words, and in turn that’s how i show myself. so to have a person so ready to break themselves apart for me but would do anything just to keep me, shows that there is something that we both understand.

so i know a lot of this sounds toxic and i won’t lie, a lot of this stems from toxic relationships that are the opposite and how i picked up on those toxic behaviors and warped them into my own sickness. i’m not saying i would prevent someone from doing what they love, or keeping them from others that love them. i would never because i know how much that hurts someone.

it’s a struggle really, for me and these nasty, twisted emotions i have and have been battling for the majority of my life. i don’t realize how much someone means to me until it’s gone, so i never notice how much i love someone until the chance to show them slips away. i get all these toxic, possessive, violent feelings that tell me so many things, to take it back and force the affections... but i don’t, because i loved this person so much that if it means i could never ever have them, but they are happy with someone else, then i’ll be damned, i won’t do a thing.

their happiness means so much to me, my love for them is so strong, that i can restrain all those disgusting feelings in me because all that matters to me is being able to see the person who is my entire world smile and be truly happy. it tears me apart but i would never do anything against them to take away that happiness, because i would sooner die than hurt them like that. i am happy, so long as they are, and that will never change.

and that’s what i want in someone, someone who sees the same in me, who would put themselves aside for my happiness because i would do the exact same for them.

that’s what marriage is for me, that would be the reason i marry someone. because they understand how horrible those feelings can be but are still willing to push their happiness aside for me. this way i know that i can push aside my happiness for them too.

through this, our happiness is stemmed from each other, so i can be happy with a person because they make me happy— seeing them happy makes me happy and vice versa.

it’s taken me years to get to this point and understanding of what i see, feel, and expect from a commitment like that— because yes, in my opinion, marriage is a commitment to another person, which is something unusual for everyone because for so long we have been committed to ourselves, knowingly or not, especially those with emotional traumas.

all that i’ve said is from my experience but it varies from person, such as how i’ve been in love and i know to a degree i still am in love with that person. this love might be different now but their happiness still means the world to me. or how i’m in love with someone new, and have been since... well, i don’t even know, and i just learned that i was this summer. this person also means the world to me and i would give anything just to see them smile, even if i’m not the cause of it— and i feel selfish for even wanting to see that smile.

but everything that i’ve said, why i would get married, the reasons behind it, is because i learned what worked for me, what i understand about myself, what i would give of myself, and what i expect of someone else.

like i said, i choose to believe the actions of a person, because they show you their core by the little things they do, and i find that the only way to be truthful. i can be truthful in words, and others i believe are the same, but i find words harder to take truth in, because words hurt me, but actions hardly do. still i say my words with meaning, if i say them i mean them, because i want to speak the truth.

so my love, affection, and devotion are poured out through my actions because i want to show how much i adore someone, how much they mean to me, because it’s the only way i know i could show how and believe it if it were me.

long rant short, yes i will probably get married in the future. hell, i might as well already be married to a few people, because i would down right kill for them just to protect that smile that brings me so much happiness— and that smile when it’s directed at me because of me? guys, i could pass on happy— but i also live for them.

that’s not to say that i would have to get married, because all of these things i’ve felt and listed i do, or try to, without a marriage because of how much i love someone. marriage really could just boil down to getting an official paper for the tax benefits because everything else i’ll do regardless of a ring or a document saying this person and i are together.

i would get married because i want to show my devotion, because i want to prove how much i love this person by showing them i’m willing to make that spiritual and physical tie to you, to become yours and only yours if that is what would make you happy. but it’s not something i genuinely see as necessary so long as i and they show that same understanding and devotion.

and i would like to see what you or others thing about this. i’m always open to hearing different views, plus i think a lot of people have interesting points, because we all perceive and respond different.

so let me know if you, yourself, might consider marriage and why?