#there didn't need to be this weird romantic problem lol

[fuckyourtriangles]

I'm halfway through Parasyte and I can't decide if I'm having a good time or not.

[kalims]

ㅤamongst other things

premise. kisses w/ them, and random things?

featuring. dan heng, blade, jing yuan.

content. gender neutral.

cw. mentions of blood, murder for blade lol. he's just down bad for reader in a weird, blade way ig

note. this is ironic since my first genshin post was also about kisses (AKA me getting bored so I wondered why not get into star rail)

will add others soon ig.. I didn't compile all of them here cuz I honestly lack the characterization for them so woop

dan heng

short, abrupt kisses that rarely ever come by goes as quickly as it came. you'd assume that he's doing it on purpose, giving you the kiss that you've been waiting for all day. it shouldn't even be considered a kiss at all from how fleeting his apparent 'peck' is.

in short it's torture.

keyword: assume. cause as convinced as you are that this is just some form of twisted amusement dan heng gains, that's exactly the problem that it entails. as a person wholly, he's so serious to the point you doubt there's nothing that would entertain him besides books.

you learn he isn't much of a fan of those really long kisses, once you both bore witness to a couple eating each other's face in broad daylight and you spotted his weekly shift of expression, a quirk of few centimeters. in this case, a grimace and he looks away.

he, does not really give kisses a lot. as upset as you are, you do agree that when he does give you a kiss, albeit short. it makes it all the more.. amazing? such a mediocre word wouldn't be able to describe it.

basically when you're both left trying to fit in his small cushion (he could've atleast gotten a bed in all this space.) you also learn that he's a really private man.

you've only ever shared kisses in his room, embraces, everything else for that matter. when the door is locked he quite literally melts into you. if you happen to be sitting together he just leans on to you.

dan heng in public: 😶

dan heng in private: 😊

just doesn't show any affection in public, especially if march is around. that girl would make fun of him for hours end and even drag the trailblazer in on her antics of poking fun.

dan heng is indeed a private man.

march isn't the only factor as to why there hasn't been a lot of kisses out in public. if anything he probably wants to kiss you more than you would like.

he'd be lying if he said he wanted to just kiss you as long as those weird main characters of the romance shows march watches cause even though you might want that as well, dan heng won't ever do it.

cause it isn't him, what he is. is the type to get kisses done as soon as he can not because he doesn't enjoy them. it's because he can take a good look at you once he leans back, just like he does any other day.

to admire you.

and cause dan heng isn't the romantic type to kiss you senseless, but the one to give you looks you'd die for.

blade

if dan heng only gives you kisses a few times a day and you'd consider it torture, better get ready to lose your sanity cause you're lucky if blade even crumples at your hand to give you one.

it's not that he doesn't love you. he feels as though it's wrong to label whatever emotion in his chest as something as strong as love, he won't go that far. but he won't label you as something worthy of hatred either, you're.. tolerable?

if anything blade doesn't outright seek to give you his affection through the form of a kiss. his love language is in fact, not physical affection but destroying your enemies :). (if you have one, if not. then whoever bothers you will suffice.)

but if he does, when he does it's the most blade thing he can do. just grabbing your face with one hand as he gives you one of those rough, deep kisses. it's not really desperate or out of need, despite such a wordless action you could feel some emotion he's pouring into it.

better pray it's not hate cause.. 💀

funny thing cause as much as he hates being piled in the same sentence as dan heng, in a way they're rather similar. both just preferring to witness, given their life span.. maybe it's some type of response they're used to.

blade doesn't really do the 'oh I love you' or the random hugs. the fact that he'd even stand so close to you instead of isolating himself and looking all mysterious leaning on a pillar already spoke volumes of his fondness (if not admitted.)

he just.. watches you?

silver wolf comments about it when she's caught his eyes on you many times midst a conversation, behind your back, staring. "better watch out." she says, but even with her disturbed gaze never does he tear his eyes away.

well.

kafka does take it in more stride than her. as someone who's spent a hefty time with blade, even someone as analytical as her can't tell which things he likes, and hates. besides all the blood and pain (well usually for his opponents.)

she for one, tells you that he does indeed like you. cause she can control who blade murders 'for her own good'. but if there's even a single glimpse of drop from a wound he's going feral, and not even kafka or her spirit whisper can tame his rage.

AKA... just lots of murder?

'for your own good :)'.

blade wholly believes that he doesn't need to shower you in affection, or kisses at all. but if you're really so insistent on them he'll give into you, which is surprising cause he's a pretty stubborn man.

most affection you'd get in physical means is when he completely collapses into you, perhaps a sign of weakness. but also trust. one of the rare times he's exhausted himself in his mind to the point where he can't even do anything.

#icanfixhim.

jing yuan

a cheeky man, this one.

jing yuan could give you a load, barriage, arrows, whatever describes the endless assault of pecks he attacks your face with. emphasis on 'could', he has the ability, and the freedom but it doesn't mean he's going to :)

in short you have to work for it, he says.

you can't tell if he's trying to give you one of those motivational, slapping you back to reality lessons or messing with you. you're going to go for the latter since someone as bold as he is lazy.. even jing yuan would relate enough to not hit you with the lesson card.

in a way he's always dragging the time you've gone by without a kiss from him as long as he can just for the sole reason he can see your attempts to conceal your bothered face, even better when the expression of content is all but displayed to him once he gives in.

what? he can't resist you, you know?

you have a feeling he's teasing you again when he says that but it's better to not ponder upon it.

for someone who prefers to 'conserve' his energy. he's got a lot to spare when it comes to the repeated kisses pressed upon your lips, cheeks, eyelids, forehead.. whatever his own mouth can reach. (his favorite is the edges of your eyes..)

just for some reason, one he can't exactly name he ends up giving that particular area more love compared to the others. sometimes more lighter, feathery pecks when he's feeling playful. or the occasional longer, deep press of his lips when he's feeling rather sentimental about his feelings.

he doesn't deserve you.. but if not him, who else? ;)

gets mimi to help him into trapping you inside his office, jing yuan 'calls for your presence' but once you're inside rather than the pressing matters he apparently had to discuss with you (present in his message.) you're met with the man practically snuggling into you as he keeps you in his arms.

rather effortlessly if you might add!

and if you somehow managed to wriggle out his grip. you swore you saw him give the... big... cat a look and suddenly mimi is choosing to sleep right in front of the doors..

come back or you will not get kisses for two days (he's scamming u)

note. NOT PR... hi hsr fandom 🕳 posting in a new fandom makes me so nerviosity

[rin-hanarin]

I realized that I've never addressed the elephant in Lucanis's room, also known as his romance plot, as a "Had been delusional about him for months before release" individual, so here's a surprisingly long rant/summary of how I felt about it in the process of playing the game.

As a Rook de Riva player, I obviously loved "Coffee with the Crows": we met Illario, joked about haha three Crows talking about nothing, talked business, Rook and Lucanis had a nice moment getting to know each other better outside of being teammates, Rook de Riva's background was acknowledged again, it really felt like a nice bonding moment, right?

Thennn a whole lot of nothing happens during any of the conversations between them, huh. Lucanis doesn't acknowledge flirting, which is fine, take your time bud, you'll get there; you keep pushing being supportive, he ignores you, you deal with his personal stuff for him one (1) time, and in my case he then proceeds to ignore Rook for 10+ hours of pure game time while busy talking to Neve at every opportunity until I finally get one (1) dialogue option to "express romantic interest in Lucanis".

And let me express my honest innermost feelings on the matter:

Not only did it feel like Lucanis genuinely couldn't care less about Rook even as a friend, it also felt like Rook was forcing Lucanis into something he simply wasn't interested in and that we were just getting in the way of his relationship with Neve. It was genuinely unpleasant to experience in a videogame that is supposed to be wish fulfillment and whatnot, and let me tell you, it was especially jarring because Dragon Age games also have a tendency of occasionally making you feel like the most special little protagonist known to Thedas, at the very least to your companions who you're supposedly building bonds with.

I loved hangout events in this game, too, I was so happy to just have these conversations about whatever with companions, have these little one-on-one moments with them that genuinely felt like walks with friends (especially with my bro my bestie my homie Davrin), and with Lucanis it started and ended with the coffee date. His fears and doubts about Rook later are never addressed, and lol lmao even, yeah, why would they be, when it feels like he barely acknowledges Rook exists outside of accompanying him to deal with his problems, none of which need Rook there? There's no reason outside of gameplay for him to ask Rook and not, say, his favorite Neve he talks about everything to? Somehow a lot of times when I hoped for any sort of dialogue with him, I was met with him talking about something very personal like his current feelings about Illario to Neve, like, isn't Rook supposed to know anything about anything, or are we just his convenient weird coworker he sometimes asks favours from?

We persevere though and keep supporting Lucanis, and can you take a wild guess what was waiting for me after like 40 hours of the game and after the infamous "kabedon assassin style" scene? Yeah bro, Lucanis just happened to talk to Neve. I wish I was making this shit up. My coping strategy was to come up with an entire jealousy subplot for my Rook because if I have to feel like I'm in the shittiest unrequited situationship of a triangular shape, I might as well do it on my own terms, right? It feels petty and stupid because as a player I like Neve, too, she's one of the coolest (no pun intended) characters, but as Rook, and Rook de Riva making an obvious choice especially? Yeah, let's just say this relationship fucking sucked for a while.

So after many trials and tribulations we're finally back with Inner Demons, and yeah, Neve is there again, I couldn't even give a shit at that point, and I'll be real here, the locking in didn't feel like we went through angsty slowburn or that we earned Lucanis' trust. Remember DA2's Fenris situation? Because I suddenly did, and surely one of many, many Neve banters I had to eavesdrop on could be sacrificed to have one or two banters that acknowledged Lucanis's anything towards Rook at all?

Also, Spite? Spite seemingly likes Rook more than Lucanis does. In between "It's so over" and "We're so back" in the Fade Ossuary it feels like somehow Rook gets more bonding time with Spite, which is kinda crazy to me.

We are so back though! As I mentioned, I was a "delusional before release" individual, I am perfectly capable of filling the gaps and extrapolating meaning from implications, and here's where one of the most infuriating things is: the rest of the romance is good, too! I can write whatever the hell I want between the beginning and the end of it, but like, why should I? How should I go about it, when in my game I was under the impression that Lucanis would rather just spend time with anyone other than Rook for seemingly no reason in particular, because there's simply nothing there? The fact that none of my pre-release ideas or comics even necessarily contradict anything about Lucanis or his romance as it is now is more telling than impressive honestly.

So where do I land with this exactly? Well, mostly in the glorious Fanon Land where I've been making my silly comics the whole time anyway. The highs are high, I love what they did at the end and how stable, protective and devoted Lucanis is, but the lows made me salty as shit and I wish I didn't have to feel that way to begin with. I wish I didn't have to connect the dots and joke about how badly Lucanis sucks at this and "Let's go girl give us nothing." And yes, I know about writer lay-offs, rewrites, restarts, etc etc, and it's a miracle that this game came out at all, but it hardly matters when you're just trying to do the good old datesim part of a Dragon Age game and end up feeling like a third wheel while trying very hard to get anything out of the character you're interested in.

[sueheesblog]

I'm rewatching The Bear...... And Lord Syd really walked into fire the same day she started working at The Beef. T being a pain, the loud music, and Richie being loud like Mickey. I got some boring opinions. Let me rant n be delulu 😂🤣🤣😍

Richie saying that The Beef didn't have money problems until after Carmy showed up😬😬😱😱😱..... Knowing what I know about season 3, I see a pattern of Carmy trying to change things too fast, too soon. The Beef been running for 25 years, which means something was going right for it to last that long (we know some d.rugs money was involved lol). Richie confessed about selling from the back a few times lol.

Anyways, I say all of that to say, I think Syd was the only one who walked into Carmy's life with a plan. Carmy saw that n respected her for it. Everyone else was going with a flow that was no longer sustainable (this includes Claire). Yes, she and Carmy had a past, (well to be honest they don't even have a past. They never dated or hangout in HS) it's more like a fantasy. People grow n change..... n love interest can also change. I don't think Carmy like Claire the way he did bk then. It's life!

Carmy was happy he found someone who shared his passion, yes he wanted a business with Mikey..... but I honestly think Carmy wanted it for himself too. He's only wanted 2 things The Bear with his brother and Syd (yes, Syd). He was willing to make a complete stranger help him run his family business after 1 - 2 weeks of observing her. He made that decision with no outside influence (his family). HE WANTED SYDNEY and that want slowly turned into NEEDING HER. I'm not talking on a romantic level of want/need, but business wise she will always be his first option.

The romantic level, based on my opinion started flickering when the mere thought of her calmed him. Now, he's probably too naive to notice that he has developed romantic feelings for her and its pushing to the surface. The mere thought of her brought him peace and steady the tsunami in his mind. That is a leave of intimacy that is top tier. She touched him mentally. Carmy n Syd's conversation in the beginning of Season 2 are soo charged that they don't have to touch to sell the audience a romantic story. This is because their way of intimacy is through food, thats how they express themselves to each other. It's like talking about the menus n stuff is foreplay. It was also funny to see Carmy gave Syd the best orgasm of her life and then take it back. (This was when he said her braised short ribs was tremendous, and then decided to take it back). She like, no sir, we ain't doing that cause I'm still on cloud nine trying to come down. 😂🤣😂🤣

Carmy suspected this and he didn't want to entertained Claire (gave her the wrong number). Now, she's all tangled up in Carmy n Syd's weird mind fuck with food..... Syd feeling jealous is kinda vaild (hear me out). It's valid because all the time they spent together being mentally intimate through food...... those feelings were reciprocated. So, CARMY out here cheating on Syd.... giving all the focus she deserved and EARNED to Claire. Like, Syd should packed his shit up and put him out!

BUT, at the end of season 3 they stopped connecting through their food. It's like when married couple is so far apart that sex/intimacy longer plays a role in the relationship or it took the back burner. Days or weeks would pass and they wouldn't touch each other...... This is what Carmy n Syd are facing. Their relationship is so disconnected that intimacy is no longer on the table.

Let's see if they get a divorce or make up.

[glisten-inthedark]

Okay, I'm glad you asked about the monologue because I'm like 99% sure that Byler is endgame and the 1% is because of the monologue. When I first watched it, I immediately was like "oh it's so over for us". At first I was so shocked because after Vol 1 I was 200% sure that Byler was endgame. Then I was like "wow, guess all these things we noticed actually meant nothing and all this time Mike was just straight". I also thought it was really bad writing because the love at first sight thing made no sense with what we saw in season 1. After a few weeks I started to believe in Byler again, and I realized all the little things that didn't feel right, like the fact that Will was in shot during the first "I love you" (not even blurred in the background, just right there next to Mike! that's crazy!), that we had reaction shots of other characters, the ugly settings... Now, especially after Noah's answer at the con, I'm so sure that Byler is endgame because everything (else) points to it and I don't see how Will can have his main character moment and coming of age without getting a romance, but every time I rewatch the monologue I'm back to doubting. I just can't understand why the Duffers decided to write this if they knew Byler was the endgame, it doesn't make sense to me. I don't think Mike was lying, that would definitely make the audience hate him (even more than they already do), I think he absolutely believes he loves her and he does but not in a romantic way. But the thing is, I feel like it's too complicated to explain to the audience in S5. People who rooted for Mike and El would feel betrayed and I would understand. The only thing that makes me feel good in all this is the fact that Mike was only able to tell El he loves her after Will confessed his own feelings disguised as her's. But is it that simple? Will the answer be "oh, I only said that cause I was responding to Will's feelings!". Like, he talked about the yellow t-shirt and all, he was actually talking about El, not Will. Sorry for this weird ask, I guess I just needed to rant about this because I feel like I'm the only Byler shipper that has a problem with the monologue and I feel crazy sometimes lol. If you have any insight that would make me understand what you think the Duffers' vision was, please, I'll take it!

Hi there! How are you?

Firstly, I can totally understand why the monologue would leave you uncertain, it's totally normal and I think is something most Byler may have struggled with to some extent.

But I do want to broach a few things, so this answer might be all over the place, just a fair warning.

Firstly, about Mike telling El that he loves her: He does love her, of course, he does. But love can mean so many different things to so many different people. He wasn't lying, but he wasn't being completely honest either. I think there's a nuance there we can acknowledge that doesn't turn Mike into an ass - he was terrified that El was going to die and Will pushed him to say things he may not have truly meant the way he assumed El wanted them to mean.

And while we might not want to admit, that Mike did lie when he told El he loved her the moment he met her, we know that is not true and it shows us that if he believes he loves her, he doesn't understand what love is or he's forcing himself into believing that was what love was.

Why would the Duffers write that monologue if they knew Byler was going to be endgame, knowing that people who root for El and Mike would feel betrayed?

This is where I jump in with a question of my own to you (that you absolutely don't have to answer if you don't want to). But what were your thoughts when Mike told Will that choosing him was the best thing he ever did? (Without the knowledge you had from the next seasons. Your honest thoughts as the scene was playing out).

And if you look at that scene now and compare it to the scene where Mike tells El he loves her, what would you think?

"When we stumbled upon her in the woods. It wasn't fate, it wasn't destiny, it was dumb luck".

"You never say it! I say it."

"Eleven, you are being ridiculous!"

"I love you on your good days and on your bad days"

"The day we found in the woods"

The vines tightened and Eleven couldn't respond.

" I was alone and I saw in the swings, and you were alone too.

I asked you if you wanted to be my friend and you said yes.

You said yes.

It was the best thing I ever done"

Will looked at Mike and the trance was broken, allowing him to use Morse code to communicate.

Besides the obvious fact that Mike's speech didn't work on Eleven, there's one thing that I keep coming back to. Mike talks about meeting Eleven as happenstance, as something that just occurred to him when he was trying to find Will.

He talks about meeting Will as making a life-changing choice.

El - Accident.

Will - Choice.

But the thing is, both of these moments were random. On the sense that El was just standing in the woods, and Will just happened to be sitting on the swings.

He chooses to take El home and to help her, but he doesn't present the idea of meeting her as something he chose at all, but rather as something that just happened to him when both moments were things that happened to him, in a way.

But only one of these moments is treated as something that Mike chose, as an action he took and that had repercussions for the rest of his life and we have to ask ourselves why.

I don't know if the Duffers wrote it like that on purpose or if I'm grasping at straws, but it was something that always struck me as odd.

I don't necessarily think the audience will have a hard time understanding that he doesn't love El romantically, I think most people can acknowledge there are multiple ways of loving people, and I also think there's a discussion to be had about Mike assuming he has to love El - which is something people can intellectually understand if the writers know how to work with it.

Is the answer that simple? Did Mike only say it because he was responding to Will's feelings?

No. Mike said because El was dying and he thought he had to, he said it because he does love her - but not like that - he said because meeting El has changed his life and he does care about her, and because she represents hope and security because Mike has seen people he loves and cares about hurt and El represents the hope he needed to keep going.

Above all else, Mike's speech did not fix what was broken, El didn't tell Mike she loved him too, she didn't tell him she understood why he couldn't say it before.

And if we go a step further to look at how other couples relate to each other, we'll notice a pattern emerging.

I do believe that if the writers present Mike's trauma, his scars, and his fears, if they give us the vulnerability of what he fears might happen to him and the people he loves, most people will understand.

I can't say for certain why The Duffers chose to do this, but I do feel like they wanted us to compare Mike's speech to El to Mike's speech to Will. From a narrative standpoint to how it was shot, recorded, and edited.

They wanted us to see that Will was someone he chose, while El was just someone he stumbled upon.

[azaliyas]

Hi! I saw this cute tik tok where Alhaitham is autistic and his weighted blanket was being washed so he was very grumpy snd couldn’t fall asleep so like kaveh decided to lay on top of him to try and emulate the blanket.

If it’s ok can you do that but alhaitham x reader, romantic and established relationship? Sorry if it’s confusing 😭

summary : alhaitham is a man of simple requests and simple needs, but when they're not met, like his precious blanket not being on him for the night, it can become quite the problem. luckily for him you, his amazing lover, have a solution that he will gladly enjoy (but he will never admit it).

word count : [ to be added later ]

genre : fluff.

cw / tw : none.

characters : alhaitham.

note : omg me?? posting?? what a rare occasion 💀 yes i'm not dead and i'm still writing! i just forget to post '^' anyway anon i'm sorry for the delay 😭 you have the right to bonk me if you want, i deserve it anyway ;-; this idea was so cute tho, i need to see that tiktok even if i don't ship haikaveh lol // i have more pieces ready they just need proofreading (if i can find the will to, otherwise to hell with that :D). on a serious note 1) i didn't understand much about weighted blankets so if this piece is off eeeeehhhh i tried 2) internet said that habibti was the right word, but if habibi is the one let me know please! hope you can enjoy this, sorry my sporadic appearances 🫠❤️

a few years into your relationship with alhaitham you learned quite the number of curious facts about the scribe that many didn't know — not because alhaitham kept them a secret, but only because of his reserved personality that didn't make him open up to the first person that was in front of him.

the scribe liked his coffee burning hot with no sugar and just a little sip of milk, enjoying it sitting at the same spot of the kitchen table every morning. he also liked working out mostly in the evening and take a shower right after. alhaitham loved sleeping on your chest, the sound of your heartbeat a comforting lullaby.

speaking of sleeping habits, alhaitham could only sleep with his weighted blanket wrapped around his body. because of this, the scribe was very attentive in washing it during the day so it would be dry for the evening. that was one of the first things you taught yourself to do in order to help your boyfriend, a gesture that had the dendro user fall harder for you.

at least, that's what you succeeded to do until today. the rain didn't allow the blanket to dry during the whole day, and so by the evening it was still dump. impossible to let it be used, even when you had hung out the blanket before starting cooking dinner for tonight. by the time you and alhaitham had to turn in for the night, it was still wet. and cold. defeated, you had to put the weighted blanket aside.

you found alhaitham standing near the mattress in your shared bedroom, pyjama on and ready to crash the bed and fall asleep. that was, but his blanket was amiss.

your groan came out sounding more like a whine noticing this scene. you cursed the rain while scrambling your thoughts trying to find a solution.

«it's fine.» alhaitham said, turning on his feet to look at you. you knew he was lying.

«it's not! how are you supposed to fall asleep without your blanket?!» you whined again, a sound of exasperation leaving your throat right after.

«i can put more blankets on top of each other. it's not a problem.» your boyfriend rebutted, walking toward the wardrobe.

alhaitham pulled out some blankets and started laying them on the bed one after the other. deep down the scribe knew it wasn't the exact same thing, but a weighted blanket had its purpose in the deep-pressure touch that brought calmness and comfort. and that deep-pressure touch was given by the heavy weight. by logic, more blankets on top of each other had to be enough heavy.

but for once in his life, alhaitham was wrong. it was a weird feeling, but not as weird as tossing around back and forth, incapable of sleeping for more than five minutes before waking up again. his movements and his grumbling had you waking up.

you turned on your side and faced your boyfriend, just in time to meet his gaze. he furrowed his brows as soon as he noticed you staring at him.

«sorry for waking you up.» he murmured, annoyance clear in his voice. not at you, of course, but at his incapacity of falling asleep.

you looked at him, eyes focused, and alhaitham knew you were thinking hard about something, but what that something was he didn't know.

without a word you dragged yourself on top of alhaitham, who laid on his back as you took place on his chest, your blanket wrapping around both your bodies. your head rested in the crook of his neck, your hands gently pressed on his chest, right above where his heart was.

«habibti... what are you doing?» alhaitham looked at you like you just grew a second head on your shoulders.

«well, the comfort of a weighted blanket is in its weight, right?» you asked, raising your head to look at him. alhaitham slowly nodded. «hence my position: i will act as your blanket for the night.»

to say the scribe was flabbergasted was an euphemism. he didn't mind your wonderful mind and colorful ideas, after all it was one of the reasons why he fell in love with you, but sometimes he couldn't help but wonder if you the hamster running on your wheel wasn't actually high on something.

«it doesn't make sense.» he rebutted.

«this is where you're wrong, haitham. it does. weighted blankets have their purpose in their weight, that brings comfort thanks to the fact they mimic a hug, helping you release serotonin and dopamine, hormones that soothe you and help you sleep.»

you concluded your explanation with a satisfied smile, chin resting on your knuckles while you looked at your speechless boyfriend. it was a very rare occurrence to leave the scribe without anything to say, and almost all of the times it was because of you.

sighing and subtly rolling his eyes, alhaitham decided at last to try your idea and sleep like that — although, your chest was a much better pillow than the feather ones his head was currently laying on.

...

oh what a delight was to see your boyfriend's stunned face the next morning, the heaviness of sleep still clinging to his god-touched features as he was blinking away from the sun rays pouring from the window.

«don't.» he grumbled.

your smile turned into a knowing smirk.

«told ya!» you happily chimed.

© azaliyas 2023 do not copy repost translate or feed to ai

[cnwolf-brainrot]

I'm curious, what do you think of X-Men: The Last Stand? Are there things you would do to improve it? Besides having Nightcrawler actually in the movie of course. xD

Sorry it took me a minute to get to this ask because I have A LOT OF THOUGHTS, this is a FANTASTIC question because I actually literally just rewatched that movie!! (yes, it was for Weapon by Name. No, it wasn't for anything plot-related, it's cause I've been having a hard time writing Hank McCoy lol)

Very short version: I like some parts of the movie, but I definitely have ideas on how to improve it!

This is going to be a long post so my improvement ideas will be under the cut! But first:

What do I think of the movie? I mean... it's not the best. There are a few enjoyable moments, but it's just genuinely not a super well-written film; it feels unbalanced in a lot of places, leaves out a lot of things I would have liked to see addressed from the first few films (*cough* yes I'm talking about Kurt *cough*) and feels like it doesn't properly give focus to the Phoenix storyline at all. I think one of my biggest problems on a re-watch was the fact that Jean literally does nothing. She has no motivations in the movie and only a handful of dialogue lines. HOWEVER, I do love the mutant cure plot line, and I feel like it makes a fantastic focus for a third X-Men movie! I also think I can blame this movie for my love of Warren Worthington! There are definitely parts of this movie that I do enjoy, there are just things that could have been better! Now, a break-down:

Things that I like/would keep the same: - The Worthington Industries/Cure plotline (I find the mutant cure to be an extremely interesting X-Men plot, and I enjoyed how it was handled here for the most part. I'd make a few small changes to balance it with the rest of the story, but this is something that I'd want to see MORE of rather than LESS of) - Most of Warren's story (again, this is a plot that I LOVED from the movie, but needed to see more of. This goes back to the unbalanced feeling I mentioned, and I'll talk more in a bit about how I'd fix it) - Hank McCoy (honestly I love Hank in this movie, I don't think I have any changes) - Mystique's ending (I actually love how this movie handled Mystique. It's short, simple, shows just how much her abilities mean to her with her casual shifting even while she's captured, and I personally feel that her turning her back on Magneto when he turned his back on her was a very in-character moment. This whole subplot was great, no changes)

Things I would completely take out: - Juggernaut (he was an unnecessary addition to an already packed story, he really didn't add anything and if he's going to be in a movie I think he deserves more screen time) - The whole plot line with Xavier having hidden Jean's true powers from her. (It just makes Xavier a bad mentor figure in my mind, and I'd prefer it if there's just a quick explanation of there being weird energy readings at Alkali Lake or something that could have brought her back.) - The weirdness that was Kitty and Bobby sort of flirting (I feel like this was shoehorned in just to add a romantic tension between Bobby and Rogue. Kitty and Bobby have little to no chemistry and any that they do have just makes Bobby seem like a jerk to Rogue. I have a proposed fix for this subplot, which I'll address in a bit, but I would completely remove romantic implications between these two) - Xavier's death as it was (I feel like there was a strange imbalance between his death and Scott's, so to increase emotional impact I would like to streamline it and get rid of that scene)

Ok, now what would I do to improve it?

HONESTLY if I were to completely rewrite this movie, I would have to go back and rewrite X2 as well because I don't feel like the foundations were set up well for the type of Phoenix Saga that I would have liked to see. HOWEVER, I'm already rewriting X2 in Weapon by Name so there's no way I'm doing that again. Instead, here are just a couple of semi-quick changes that I would make to the movie, WITHOUT changing any of the previous canon.

First of all, let's talk about Scott. Scott Summers is the backbone of the X-Men and he was done DIRTY by this movie, so let's at least make it a bit better. Going based off of what has been established for him by the canon of this set of films, we have basically three character traits for him: he's Xavier's star pupil, he's the leader of the X-Men, and he's in love with Jean Grey. SO, instead of having him sulk and shirk his teaching duties at the beginning of the movie (which goes against two of the three things established about him) we instead go the opposite route. The movie opens up with Scott leading the Danger Room session, and we see that he has basically thrown himself into his work after Jean's death. Storm and Xavier express concern about this, even Logan can tell something is off, but Scott continues to drive himself and the new X-Men (Bobby, Kitty, Rogue, and Peter) into the ground as a way to try and avoid his grief

Speaking of the newbies, let's pause the Summers angst and talk about them for a moment. In the actual movie these four get completely sidelined (I already talked briefly about how Kitty is just used as an awkward romantic device, and Rogue literally disappears for days without anyone questioning where she is/misses the whole final fight scene, and yes I'm happy that Peter and Logan have a Fastball Special, but that's literally the only time he contributes to the movie). I wish that we had gotten a little bit more of the four of them in X2, but again we're not changing anything from that movie here. What I propose as a way to improve them as characters in this movie alone is to treat them as a unit. I think that if the four of them were treated as friends and shown in the first Danger Room scene having a bit of banter/generally joking around and working as a team, it would establish to the audience that these people know each other, like each other, and have a reason for being on the team together. In addition, setting these four up as friends in the first scene with them also helps fix Rogue's whole character arc.

I was genuinely upset with how the movie handled Rogue; it boiled her entire character arc/want for the cure down to "I want to be able to touch my boyfriend". I think this is a huge disservice to her character, and I think it can be hugely improved in just this first Danger Room scene. Instead of having the moment where Kitty saves Bobby, we replace that with a moment where Kitty is in trouble and Rogue reaches out to help her. Bobby or Peter then jump in and pull her back because her gloves fell off in the exercise; if she'd tried to help her friend, she would have only hurt them both. Now Rogue's eventual desire for the cure isn't built on teenage horniness; it's built on a fear of being dangerous to those she cares about.

Now, back to Scott. With this re-written version that focuses more on him trying to drown himself in work rather than just being sad and mopey, I think that a good way to get him to Alkali Lake would be for Xavier to have a talk with him. Xavier pulls him aside and basically says "you're hurting yourself by avoiding this, Scott. Take a few days. Take a breath. Allow yourself to breathe." This is what results in him going off to Alkali Lake and Jean's revival happening.

Personally, I wouldn't kill Scott here. I would let him come back to the mansion with Jean and everyone gets a reunion... however, Scott and Logan both start to notice something is off about Jean. She seems just a bit too on-edge, will zone out occasionally, things will float around her without her even noticing that she's controlling them, and there's the whole fact of she should be very dead.

Scott is concerned for Jean and trying to find a way to help her. Logan, on the other hand, is beginning to wonder if this person even is Jean at all, or if this is just some creature that is trying to look like her.

Now, a quick aside for some thematic values of the movie. I'm sure there are some in the original movie, but I had a hard time finding them honestly. What I would like to be the main theme of my version would be the concept of monster-versus-man or the "beast inside". This theme would primarily be shown in the contrast between Logan and Jean, as they are (or at least SHOULD BE) the main two characters. However, every key character could be shown to be struggling with their "internal beast": - Rogue, who is struggling to be close to anyone because of her mutation (an example of how this "beast" can be harmful to others) - Warren, who tried to get rid of his mutation long before the cure was invented (an example of how denying that beastial nature entirely only serves to hurt himself) - Scott, who keeps his mutation carefully contained to try and please the people and ends up paying for it (we'll talk about his fate in a moment) - Ororo, who is at peace with the wild, natural nature of her mutation (an example of a good balance between the man and the "monster") - McCoy, who is the literal embodiment of the "beast" and can't even attempt to hide, but still contemplates how it would be to feel more human (another example of balance, but with more longing) Every part of the "cure" plotline would help amplify this theme, and keeping that in mind for every character's decisions throughout the film would give it a far more streamlined and dynamic feel

Speaking of streamlined and dynamic, let's talk for a second about Magneto. I'm torn on what to do with our man Erik. Half of me is tempted to completely write him out, because I think he completely overshadows Jean in the original movie and that he's half of the problem with how it doesn't feel like a Dark Phoenix film, lol. However, he's also the best X-Men antagonist and it would feel like a disservice to him to leave him out of the climax of the trilogy, especially when the cure plotline is something that he would never stand to the side and watch.

So, I think that here we still have Eric gather his forces and start making threats over the cure. However, we cut the scene with him and Jean and Xavier in Jean's old house. Instead, we have the X-Men go to confront Eric just before another attack. This is at a public support rally for the cure, and remember Scott is still alive here.

Just before this scene, we should have a scene between Scott and Jean, where they talk about the changes that Jean's been experiencing. Scott's worried about her, and Jean tries to tell him she's fine (and that maybe this new power isn't a bad thing). In this scene we have the moment where Jean uses her powers to let Scott see without his glasses -- only he flinches away the moment he opens his eyes, and basically tells her that it doesn't feel right. He also tells her that the old Jean -- his Jean -- didn't need all of this power. She was content with things they way they were. We see a big example of that "inner beast" theme here, focusing on that contrast of how Scott wants to keep his powers under control in order to fit in while Jean has almost limitless power at her control, and she doesn't see a reason not to use it to make their lives better.

Now, back to the X-Men versus Magneto. As they stare him down, Jean tells Scott she could end it. She could wipe the minds of everyone in the crowd around them, and change them all to mutant supporters. She could change everything with just a thought.

Scott, of course, tells her no. He wants to try and solve this peacefully, the way that Xavier would (it's important that Logan overhears this line).

In the middle of Scott trying to diffuse the situation, one of the anti-mutant protesters tries to take a shot at Magneto. This causes immediate chaos, and another protester takes aim at the X-Men. Magneto deflects the bullet coming towards him. Scott is hit.

Oh goodness I hit a text block limit I didn't even know Tumblr HAD text block limits ok then.

Now, with this being the way that Scott dies, Jean actually has a reason to go berserk and give into the power she feels. She tried to follow Scott and keep it contained, and the attempt at peace got him killed. She ends up killing multiple innocents here, and when Logan tries to reach out to her she turns and leaves the X-Men behind.

Professor X's funeral scene is replaced by Scott's funeral scene. In the original movie it felt unbalanced to have such a focus on Xavier's death and no focus on Scott's, so as previously mentioned I think we should take Xavier's death out entirely. Plus, because of the nature of Scott's death (being killed by an anti-mutant protester), now the whole school is buzzing with unrest about the cure.

This is where we would have the scene where Bobby comforts Kitty, but unlike the original where's it's a "romantic" beat between those two we have all four of the younger X-Men outside iceskating together. Scott was their teacher so they were all fairly close with him, and they talk about it together. They also talk about the cure, and how they don't want to take it after Scott's death... Rogue is the only one who speaks up for the fact that the cure wasn't what killed Scott, it was just the people in support of it. We also have a moment here where everyone ends up knocking into each other as they skate, and that is where Rogue's jealously comes from; simple, human interaction that she isn't able to experience.

She leaves early, and Bobby notices. They have a conversation that only serves to upset Rogue more, and this is where we have a touch of their relationship because yes, it's important to her and she does want to be able to get physical comfort from her boyfriend, but now it's built on top of the other ways it has affected her life. He mutation has hurt her relationship with her family, her friends, and her boyfriend instead of only putting the focus on her romantic life. This conversation leads to Rogue leaving to try and get the cure.

But putting them aside for a moment, let's focus on Warren. I really liked the skeleton for Warren in this movie, but he still feels very flat and stilted because we don't get much depth to his character. To fix this, I would have developed a friendship between him and Leech. Both are prisoners here in Worthington Labs in their own unique way. Both have the illusion of choice (Warren could theoretically say no to his father, and Leech is shown to be comfortable and humanely treated which means he probably had at least a bit of autonomy) but neither have true freedom. I think it would give a level of depth to Warren's character if we see a scene of him sitting with this kid, maybe even moving just close enough that his wings go away, and Leech asking him if this is what he really wants. They could talk about the cure, really give the audience an inside perspective on what would go through the mind of a mutant to make them want to take this, and also bring up another running theme of freedom and what it looks like. ALSO we could have them talk about the complicated relationship between Warren and his dad, which would make Warren saving him at the end of the movie more impactful. Also, it would add another level of depth to the look of pure longing that Leech gives Warren as he watches him fly away after the attempt at taking the cure.

Now, in the original movie I felt like it was a bit awkward for Warren to just show up at the Institute without any real reason to go there. That could be fixed by tossing in a comment about the Institute along with the aforementioned Leech scene, but instead, I think it'd be interesting if Rogue was already heading over to try and get the cure as Warren breaks out. She sees him flying away, and makes the decision to follow him instead of going to get the cure. They end up talking (this could be off screen or on screen, either way) but end up showing up to the final fight last minute together.

Before we get to the final fight through, let's talk more about Jean. Now, at this point I think we've already made her arc better by giving her the earlier scene where she talks with Scott, plus hid death causing an actual emotional impact that would turn her against humanity. I feel like one of the biggest problems with the original movie is that they don't give Jean any screen time, which to be fair they tried to cram a LOT into this movie. However, it is literally supposed to be a Dark Phoenix movie, so I think she should get at least one scene where we really see her struggle with the new beast inside of her. This would start out as a solo scene where we get to see her go somewhere away from civilization, probably into the middle of the woods or something, where she can let go for a minute and literally scream out her grief. We see objects floating around her and turning dangerous in the wake of her anger (maybe she accidentally kills a few animals, something catches on fire, etc), and I'd love for her to have some dialogue that brings into question for the audience whether this really is Jean, or if the Phoenix Force is something else entirely.

Magneto would show up halfway through her breakdown, and try to give her the same "you could be powerful, you could get revenge" speech he does in the original movie to get her on his side. But, Jean doesn't fall for it; instead she says he's going to manipulate her the same way Scott did, and that she's not going to make the same mistake twice. Her reasoning doesn't entirely make sense, but that's where the Phoenix comes in; now that she's latched onto the idea of people hurt the ones I love because I tried to hold back, the Phoenix is using that to make her completely loose control and cause the chaos that it craves.

Magneto attempts to talk her down once he realizes that she's becoming a danger to mutants as well, and this escalates into a fight between the two of them. Honestly, I think it would have been interesting to see Jean kill Erik here; as much as I enjoyed him being de-powered in the original version, I feel like having Erik out of the picture would give more focus to Jean as the climax. She kills Erik, and then turns her sights to Alcatraz to try and take out everything that she perceives as harmful to her people (though at this point, as seen with Erik's death, the Phoenix has blinded her to the point that she can't truly see who her people are)

The X-Men are still in the wake of Scott's death, but they find out Jean is going to Alcatraz and that she killed Erik (because of course Xavier would be able to sense that) and they gear up to go fight. I think we should also get a moment between Bobby and Logan here talking about the fact that Rogue isn't there with a ton of guilt from Bobby, and Logan basically accepting that she's made her choice.

Also, Xavier goes with them to Alcatraz. Everyone is a bit hesitant, but he makes the point that he knows Jean's mind better than any of them, and that at the level of power she's at they might have to take it to an astral plane battle in order to defeat her. Plus, Jean has taken both Scott and Erik from him. He can't sit on the sidelines of this fight, not when he feels responsible for her spiral (again I would like to take out the "Xavier hid her memories from her" thing and focus on the fact that he basically raised her from when she was a teenager, BUT you also could keep that plotline in here)

So now we actually have the final fight, which is just the X-Men and the army VS Jean. For Jean of course this feels like betrayal, since the entire reason she's here and fighting is because humans (like the soldiers the X-Men are standing with) killed Scott. This also gives us a chance to see just how powerful Jean is, because it's literally like 100 to 1.

Now the rest of the fight goes similarly with Kitty rescuing Leech (though she's fighting against the building collapse, not Juggernaut) and Warren coming back to save his father (with the added detail that Rogue comes with him). We also get a reunion between Rogue and Bobby and Rogue helps Kitty save Leech. I'd also like for there to be a sweet moment mirroring the opening Danger Room scene where Rogue reaches out to try and help Leech just like she'd tried to help Kitty, and she's actually able to touch him and save him. At the same time, she also uses her powers in the fight to help, and she doesn't lose her powers at the end of the film.

The fight with Phoenix comes down to Xavier trying to get into her head, and they duke it out in the astral plane. We get to see here that this isn't really Jean any more; Jean is almost completely gone, it's the Phoenix that has overtaken her. We have a bit of dialogue here about how the monster has taken over to reflect that "internal beast" theme, and haha I lies we didn't entierly take out Xavier's death, I think he should die here. It looks like all is lost, until Logan comes up behind her and finishes the job similarly to the movie.

Logan's character arc ends with accepting that he is a beast, and that he can use that to protect those around him. It means he has to make the hard choices, but unlike Jean he's able to come back from that beastial mindset and actually process the grief with the rest of the team.

So THERE WE GO!! I think that's how I would rewrite the movie!! I like a lot of parts from it, but I think it could have been improved! Sorry this ended up being a much longer ramble than I intended and there's still things I could have fleshed out more, but this took way too long to type out so I'm just leaving it here.

TL;DR: If I could make improvements on this movie, I would have given Rogue more of a character arc, Scott a more satisfying death, and Jean the spotlight she deserved. Also, I would have given the film some identifiable themes that actually relate to the character's actions.

If you read this whole thing holy cow thank you this took me several hours lol

[eddiegettingshot]

i am genuinely curious where all the bucktommy shippers (and i mean the hardcore fanatics) get all there ideas from?? have i been watching a different show?? like where exactly in their 5 and a half scenes together are they really super duper in a honeymoon phase or why does it seem like they fuck each other like 50 times a day, what have i missed????? i am so confused

my theory is that it's some combination of the enormity of buck coming out and of having an actual canon ship to gush over for the first time probably ever while generally enjoying shipping through fanon content (this is why i genuinely feel like a lot of these people are destiel fans who need to make it everyone's problem lmao no offense).

i think, functionally, those people are primarily engaging with bcktommy as if it's purely fanon and mostly just using canon for visual fodder/a jumping-off point. imo the canonical reality of bcktommy doesn't matter as much to people who enjoy playing around with ships in general or have only ever shipped couples who were never going to go canon, because the meta and headcanoning and alternative readings of scenes and narrative potential in general are satisfying enough in themselves, and on top of that they get to yell about how they have the canon ship, everyone!!!

imo that's why there's been so much post-7x09 cope that goes something like "yeah, buck and tommy didn't touch or appear intimate at all, BUT if you read it like actually buck put his hand in his pocket because he wanted to touch tommy so bad but was trying to keep it professional, well, that's super romantic! they're in love!" forgetting all the while that THE SHIP IS CANON, THIS DOESN'T NEED TO BE SUBTEXT OR LEFT UP TO INTERPRETATION, THEY CAN SHOW THAT OUTRIGHT!! they SHOULD show that outright! (of course buddie shippers do this too to an extent, but the difference is that buddie isn't canon!)

but people who aren't actually interested in engaging with the ship in this way, whether that's people who actively dislike it or who are just here for bi buck and aren't invested in his relationship with tommy specifically, don't get any enjoyment out of making stuff up around these two random guys. so because we're taking the content on the show pretty much at face value and not investing a lot into thinking about what it all means, or what it could mean, i think there's maybe... more clarity around what's just. on screen? so bcktommy is just not that convincing, especially if we're seeing buck and eddie as the "competing" ship (and are... being encouraged to see buck and eddie as the competing ship, honestly).

there's nothing actually Wrong with this obviously. my judgment is purely reserved for people who act this way and then turn around and get on their high horse about buddie for some reason. and when it comes to those people, the fact that bcktommy is canon combined with the fact that you're essentially trying to go against something that's fully made up to be fulfilling in their heads combined with whatever weird classic fandom ship war shit makes it impossible to meet in the middle lol. these are just my observations tho

[destinyc1020]

Destiny the problem is not Timmy, it's Z. There is always a thinkpiece when it comes to Z. Some fans have it in their heads that she is some lonely and friendless girl, so anyone close to her has to be romantic, Hunter, Timmy all went through it. They would have done the same to Mike & Josh if they saw them hanging out outside of work, which is why she didn't want to expose them to that while filming. Z still talks to her Disney co-stars, Challengers premiere was packed with old friends and costars. As of recently she was still liking Zac Efron IG post. She is not Taylor Swift getting pap walks with her friends and hanging out in public, but it's not like she doesn't or can't have any friends either. I can't believe people still treat Timmy like he is on the verge of stealing her from Tom the moment he looks away, like grow up people.

Yea, for some reason, some people think that Z can't be anything other than romantic with people if she's close to them (male OR female). It's really weird tbh. 🥴

Z may be a person who has a very small close circle of friends, but it doesn't mean that she doesn't have acquaintances in the industry that she's friendly with.

I can't believe people still treat Timmy like he is on the verge of stealing her from Tom the moment he looks away, like grow up people.

Lol! 🤣 Yea I don't get that either. Timmy may have been a hoe lol, but I have never heard of him stealing someone else's girlfriend away from them lol.

Tom and Timmy seem to know and respect each other. I think Timdaya stans need to give it up lol.

[mischas]

your most recent gifset sent me into a seth&marissa tailspin lolol. them (+kirsten) are the characters i believe were shafted the most in terms of character development (marissa moreso obviously). mischa and adam had such a natural chemistry that made seth and marissa work so well onscreen and i genuinely believe the show would’ve lasted a least a little longer had they known how to mine this dynamic. they had the same interests and they loved the same people! they even dated the same girl! there was just so much friendship potential there that got squandered away all bc js&so were too busy putting marissa through the ringer + making seth an asshole w no emotional depth.

I love Marissa/Seth with my whole heart so that makes me happy! My indie loser besties! You're right. They have the same background. They're neighbors. Their parents have a weird history/chemistry. They have the same musical tastes. They have the same favorite book. They're obsessed with the same people. They've dated the same person. They're both depressed. How the show didn't do much of anything with this beyond 102 is insane. What I love so much about 203 is how Seth's able to just exist with Marissa in silence on that bench. He's always so verbose and ridiculous (I say 75% affectionately) but at the end of 203 he and Marissa can just... exist. The two loneliest people in Newport!!!! I love that Mischa/Adam don't have romantic chemistry. I love that it's awkward. I love that you can tell Mischa loved Adam in early show press before things got weird and complicated in their group. It's the cutest thing in the world. We deserved more! *insert Mark Ruffalo we love america gif here*

I will forever mourn us not really getting emotional/melancholic Seth with just a side of clever quips. There was so much to mine with him as a character. They set it up in those first few episodes and then just... well, anyway. Shoutout to AB in 127/201/224 though.

I was just having a similar conversation with a friend the other day about how Adam/Kelly are duped by like s2 and strung along by the shit writing for the rest. And how they're such mirrors for the other in ways. Their show-best work is done in 224. It's also the end of their work having any (to me) emotional resonance. And that's a goddamn shame. Both actors also don't tow the show-line about the final year being a party and say things were lowkey Bad by s2. Adam straight up saying his effort/attitude would've been up to par if his scripts were as good as s1 is just....... crazy, lol. But I'm obsessed with his honesty. We need more of it from everyone else.

Kelly deserved SO much more, my goodness. Of all the adults. She absolutely kills her late s2 storyline only for the later Charlotte storyline to mostly benefit Melinda. Ridiculous. They get rid of Jimmy/Hailey/Caleb in the same season and Kelly no longer has anything meaningful to do. I just...... yikes. God forbid Marissa ever have an adult (or anyone) step in and give a shit about her suffering. Especially the one adult on the show that also has addiction problems. But no. Another massive shame since the first half of s1 sets Marissa/Kirsten up as generational parallels. In this essay I will

[a-secret-bolton-vampire]

Something has been bugging me lately; why is it that so much of the ASOIAF fandom hates romance? Like, this is a problem I've noticed and it's honestly kind of weird. To be sure, George's view on what is romantic is, uh, dubious at best, but to outright be so against it the way I've seen some people be against it is quite bizarre, to say the least.

Rhaegar and Lyanna? Of course there's no romance there! Rhaegar clearly was just using Lyanna as a baby factory to produce a super prophecy child because that's all there is to his character!

Jon and Daenerys? They won't be getting together like that dumb show! And if they are, it will be purely a political marriage! No lovey dovey stuff there!. After all Dany likes "bad boys" (which somehow translates to "evil men") so why would she like a strong, assertive man like Jon? And why would Jon like her? Not like he likes strong fiery tempered women!

Those are the two biggest examples but there is more. Daemon Blackfyre and Daenerys Targaryen are more ambiguous since they are historical characters, but a lot of people are convinced it was 100% unrequited love.

I've even seen fans complain about the line from Barristan where he thinks about how Bittersteel and Bloodraven's rivalry over the affections of Shiera Seastar caused the Blackfyre Rebellions. Like sure it wasn't the only reason, but to think that jealousy and romance didn't have an effect on those rebellions is a bit weird.

Yes, I am aware these are some problematic pairings, not least of which because most of these are pretty incestuous. However, the complaints about these romances do not stem from a moral quandary. In the case of R+L, you see people calling Rhaegar a groomer and pedophile (see my post on him on my full thoughts there), but the majority of it is simply "well it's stupid because they told no one and caused a whole war, the selfish brats" (bonus points if someone specifically targets Lyanna).

Okay, setting aside the fact that, like with the Blackfyre Rebellions, Robert's Rebellion was caused by far more factors than their elopement, why does making it an abduction Rhaegar did simply for a magic messiah baby make it a better story than the fact these two were in love and desperate to escape situations they felt trapped in, leading to shortsighted decisions that had an unexpected affect on many people?

With Jon and Dany, the backlash is "but that's so cliche! George wouldn't do something as cliche as two of the biggest protagonists falling in love." As if George doesn't constantly engage with cliche storybeats as often or even more than he subverts them. Even when the evidence for the two getting together is literally so overwhelming that you'd need to be willfully ignorant to ignore the foreshadowing (plus the fact George literally said that their union is "the point of the series").

And again, I must ask; why is Jon and Dany marrying to secure a political alliance without any real love between them a better story than an epic, doomed romance between two people who have gone through such similar struggles and have such similar personalities? What does R+L=J even exist for if they are just a couple of convenience using each other?

I'm not saying you have to love and ship all these people together. Because we sometimes forget our little fandom bubble, most people are not okay with even fictional incest ships. That's okay. Sometimes it's not even incest ships, but again, that's okay! We are all different and have our preferences! Some might not even care much for romance.

But the way a lot of this is criticized doesn't read like that. It's always focusing on the negative aspects. Especially with Dany's love interests. I'm not a fan of Daario and Dany, personally, but it is a bit uncomfortable how she is targeted so heavily for thinking and getting horny about him. Like... let a girl be horny and infatuated? Lol, I don't know!

With Rhaegar and Lyanna, Prince Duncan the Small and Jenny of Oldstones, the "problem" is that their disregard for political betrothals and following their hearts makes them stupid monsters who are directly responsible for the deaths of thousands. That is absolutely not the way we should take these romances.

These doomed, tragic affairs aren't about how people are selfish. It's about the power of love. The way love makes people act rashly. The way love consumes someones thoughts and feelings. Love is powerful, it is transformative, transcending. That is the point. Even in spite of the death and chaos occurring around it, the love these people have for each other is something that cannot be broken.

I feel like the fandom has taken the wrong approach to this series tone and themes. I'm not George's biggest personal fan, to be quite honest, but he is a self described romantic. Turning Rhaegar from a lovestruck prince to a selfish crazed maniac is not romantic. Turning romance or potential romance into cold political maneuvers is not romantic.

The point of all this is that, yes, the world is dark. It's scary, it's cruel, unforgiving, and cold. But in that darkness, there are pockets of light that shine and make you feel safe, and warm, and happy. It makes you forget all the troubles around you. That light, that warmth, that love, is worth fighting for, even if it's all that is left, even if it doesn't last.

I am of course, slightly biased in my assessment, lmao. You could say that me, being a bisexual polyamorous transfemme, is maybe a bit of a big fan of romance and love! Yet, it still saddens me that people try to keep romances from just being romances, and try to make the story and world more bleak as a result. We already have Ramsay, Joffrey, Gregor, Euron, Randyll Tarly. We have people who use love against others for their own gain or outright reject it violently. We don't need more of that.

[nonclassyparty]

man with the plan (j.wy) - chapter 1.

Summary: "Don't forget Pretty, I'm serving life plus one. So if I get busted for attempted escape, I'll throw in a homicide in there as well with no problem, that’s like a parking ticket to me." When your brother ends up in jail for a murder he didn't commit, the only thing left for you to do is to find a way to break him out. But after a perfect plan is set in motion, you don't expect a romantic variable to get added into the equation.

Pairing: jung wooyoung x fem. reader, jeong yunho x reader (but if u squint)

Status: in progress

Word count: 6k

Warnings: blood, cursing, violence, men being well men!

Taglist: @tinyjuni @hazysan @atinytinaa @tenebrisirae @doggopepper @dazzlingstarrs @lavishloving @cherrypandora @silentcry329 @jeagerist-20 @myunvillage @manipulatedstars @bitteryu @maru-matt @bubbleteakittyy @joonsthethicc

A/N: hello everyone! welcome to the first chapter, before you start reading i just really wanted to say that some of the parts are kind of corny, i usually hate writing know-it-all characters finding it cringy most of the times so push through pleek lol as i said before in the prologue; this is inspired by prison break, a lot of the dialogue is taken from there as well as most of y/n's characterization so all credits go to them! i just wanted to write this bc i thought it would be a fun little thing and something that could include all of the members in more detail all while still remaining a wooyoung focused story! the story is set in 2005-ish btw! i hope you enjoy <3 -bree

my main masterlist // playlist // moodboard // ao3

prologue // masterlist // chapter 2

Chapter 1; I'm headed straight for the castle, they wanna make me their queen

It was weird to walk through the entrance designated for the employees instead of the visitors.

Your boss, Mrs. Ahn, was walking in front of you while Minho was following closely behind, looking over his shoulder like somebody was about to run across the empty yard, jump over the wired fence and shank him. He was always a little bit of a wimp.

It was barely past seven in the morning, the prisoners weren't allowed to be out of their cells yet so the empty yard covered in fog had a deeply eerie feeling to it. Just as the ride inside the hills where the compound was set. 

Trees, fog and silence all around.

"I hope they have good security around here." Minho mutters to you, hands stuffed inside the pockets of his coat as you neared the door to the building.

"Relax, Minho," You chuckle, as you slide through the door he holds open for you, "You'll be here for an hour tops."

"I'm saying for your sake, Y/N. I've still to see any women working in here." His voice is scolding and all you can do is chuckle again.

The inside of the building where the infirmary is conjoined with the warden's chambers and staff offices is a huge difference to the chilling October air and your cheeks immediately turn pink as they embrace the much needed warmth. 

You observe the yet unfamiliar halls that were empty as it was still early in the morning. Mrs. Ahn insisted that you left the office earlier than necessary, afraid that Minho would get lost somewhere between the hills and the deep forest that surrounded the compound.

"Oh, see." You nudge Minho, staring in the direction of the infirmary halls where a middle aged woman was walking around with a clipboard. You grin at him in triumph. "A woman."

You ignore the set of curious eyes from the same halls that you know follow behind you.

-

"Why you'd want to work here is beyond me." Mrs. Ahn comments with her arms crossed as she stares through the window, lips pursued as she observes the yard that was now filled out by the inmates, doing whatever they do in their free time.

"Someone has to do it." You look up at her from your place behind the desk with a small smile. Minho was outside, near the construction site negotiating with the workers that were supposed to drive over the materials in an hour.

"Y/N, you know very well what I mean." She harps at you, "With your qualifications and capabilities, something like this...supervising a construction site? In a prison no less? It's something JJ with half of his degree could do." She huffs when you just stubbornly stare at her without a word, "It's below you. Let's not even mention how potentially dangerous it could be, these people are animals."

You sigh, eyes falling to the blueprints of the new construction, what they're going to call the 'C-building' of the compound.

"You should be going to Tokyo with me. Working on skyscrapers and million dollar deals, not wasting time here."

"It's only a couple of months." You quietly muse, swallowing down your true thoughts, "I won't miss out on too much."

She stays quiet and for a long second, you start thinking she finally dropped it.

"I know it's because of your...." Mrs. Ahn starts trails off, voice laced in sympathy. When the thing with Jongho happened, she advised you to not exactly scream the fact that he's your brother from the rooftops. "But Y/N, you won't be able to talk to him any more than you could during visitations. What do you plan on gaining from this? I know he's your only family, I know how much he means to you but...if anything, aren't you only making it worse for yourself?"

"I don't plan on gaining anything from it." You chuckle softly, leaning back in your chair in defeat as you stare at her. "I'd just like to, I don't know, see what he's doing over the day? When he's in the yard, that is. I'm aware of the circumstances but this opportunity appeared and I just couldn't let it pass me up."

The double meaning to the words was a little inside joke that only you were in on so far.

She quiets down again, returning her attention to the view from the window.

"Supervising a construction site is a shitty job, just so you know. Especially as a woman. The construction workers won't be much better than the damn inmates, acting like they haven't seen a woman in years." She glances at you from the corner of her eyes, "They won't take you seriously, they'll try to intimidate you."

You grin at her, "I can handle them."

Her mouth perks up at the corners as she looks at you. "I know you can."

The little moment is interrupted by Minho walking into the room and observing it in obvious disdain.

The office you've been given is not bigger than a storage room, located on the third floor with nothing more than a bookshelf, desk and an old worn out chair. It's stuffy and the walls are old, probably collecting mold in the corners. 

Much different that your modern and spacious office back in Seoul.

"Well, it's definitely something..." Minho trails off, glancing at you and you have to let out a laugh at his obvious attempt to not offend you. Even Mrs. Ahn chuckles.

"Are you done out there?" She asks him and he nods quickly, collecting his briefcase from the chair in front of your desk that he left it on.

"All done. The materials arrived, half of the workers are here and the other half is arriving in the afternoon. Something about a limited amount of workers being allowed during yard time." Minho explains, fixing the scarf around his neck before sighing.

"We should get going then." Mrs. Ahn says, looking at you with the same scolding look again and all you do is give her a small tight-lipped smile.

"I'll walk you guys out." You pitch in, standing up to pull your coat on.

The halls are already more lively than when you walked in this morning, two officers are conversing by the door and they nod at you three in passing. You give them a smile.

The air is still cold outside, only it's not as quiet this time around. Yells and curses from the basketball court echo through the area from one side along with the construction workers moving the beams off of the trucks from the other.

Minho turns to you and with another sigh, throws his arms around you. You let out a giggle in his embrace as he mutters, "Please, for the love of God, be careful in here."

"You're so dramatic." You say as you pull away, taking a step back. "I'll be fine. Keep my office warm while I'm gone."

"Of course." He nods. 

You give Mrs. Ahn a small wave and she only nods in response before you watching them both walk away through the tall gate that swiftly shuts behind them.

Now, you're on your own.

On instinct, your head immediately turns to the yard not even forty meters away from the building your office is in. A tall, steel wire surrounds the enormous grass surface, small basketball court is set near the middle of one wall that the wire makes, benches are spread across the yard generously, most of them occupied.

You hear someone whistle at you but you pay them no attention, mind set on finding a specific someone. 

Your brother isn't in there, you wonder where the fuck is he but for right now, Jongho isn't the one you're looking for.

Most of the convicts in the yard are separated into small groups, gangs, and the blue uniforms aren't a help to making a distinction between them by any means. 

Until you spot a certain messy black and white head of hair sitting on the highest bench with six other men surrounding him like a kingpin.

You sniffle, nose starting to run from the cold before turning around and heading to the construction site on the opposite end of the compound, far away from the yard or the A and B buildings where the original prison cells were located.

"Good morning." You greet the group of men, shuffling around the site with tools and materials. You get a couple of murmurs of greetings in return.

You glance at the two guards sticking near the site, in case something happens, that's what the warden said as you've been told.

That's how the morning passes, they work and you do what you're supposed to; you supervise.

Mrs. Ahn was right, these men don't take you seriously. They snicker at every suggestion you make, ogle at you when they think you aren't looking and get way too close when they need to speak to you.

 You could use it to your advantage, play the pretty ditz skipping around the site on the daily. Would surely make your job easier.

It's just that if there's one thing you hate more than your brother getting falsely accused of murder and you having to devise a detailed plan on breaking him out of prison; it's people underestimating you.

"Can someone hand me that trowel over there?!" A guy crouching a few feet away from you shouts over his shoulder, your lips quirk up as you quickly jump to your feet. Finally! 

"Here." You hand him the trowel and he glances at you before taking it. You cock your head. "Is everything okay?"

"This whole thing is about to tip over, I need to stabilize it." He speaks loudly, smacking on some more mortar to the brick.

"Maybe if you listened to me when I told you-"

"How about you let me do my job, sweetheart?" He scoffs and another guy a couple of feet away snickers.

You pursue your lips, swallowing down the annoyance before shrugging. 

"Fine, when it starts caving in because it's not attached to the foundation properly and inevitably causes problems for the water and heat isolation which in turn can cause a serious line of health issues, you and your buddy over there can laugh in court over it since you'll be listed as one of the people responsible for it." You lean closer to him, "Because I'll remember your fucking name, Mr. Kim Seojoon."

He stiffens, looking over his shoulder again to meet your gaze. His eyes shoot up to something behind your shoulder before he looks back to you and then towards the very obviously shit job he's done in the past three hours he's been here.

"Tear it down and start again." You spit out before straightening out.

When he notices that you're not moving from your spot of hovering over his shoulders, Kim Seojoon, starts tearing down whatever mess he managed to slap up. You hum in content before turning around on your heels to walk away.

"You'll have to forgive my boys." A voice stops you in your tracks and you turn your head to the left to come face to face to a man that looks to be in his mid-fifties, seemingly the oldest one out of the bunch and by the blueprints stacked in his arms, the boss around here. "They're not used to taking orders from anyone that looks quite like you or is as young as you. They probably expected a drunkard to be supervising in a place like this."

You shrug, "Well, unfortunately for them, they got me."

He laughs, mustache stretching over his top lip. "I'll make sure he fixes it."

"Thank you, Mr...?"

"Cho Hayoon, miss." He holds out a rough hand to you and you gracefully accept it.

"I'm Y/N." You say with a small smile before dropping his hand. "I'll leave you to your work then, Mr. Cho."

He gives you a nod in return and you attempt to move away before something glistening in the ground makes you stop in your tracks.

"What's this?" You mutter, kneeling down and curling your hand around the piece of tin stuck in the ground hard enough until it breaks through the skin of your palm and you jerk your hand away with a yelp. "Shit!"

"Are you okay?" You look up to see one of the officers walk closer towards you.

"Yeah, I, uh, I cut myself on this piece of trash." You spit out staring down the tin stuck into the ground as you show him the gash on your palm where blood already started trickling down.

He looks down at it before turning his attention to you, "You should probably get that checked out at the infirmary." Your heart skips a beat. "Wouldn't want you to bleed out, huh?"

You bite your lip, "You're sure I'm allowed to use it? Isn't it just for prisoners?"

He smiles at you, looking a good ten years your senior, "Of course, you're allowed to use it."

You look towards the entrance of the building where you know the infirmary is before hesitating. He notices it, smile growing bigger. Nothing like a guy that loves playing hero.

"You scared to go alone? There's no inmates there at this time of day."

"I just, uh, would you mind taking me there? I'm not sure I even know where the infirmary is. Wouldn't want to get lost, y'know?" You ask, lips quirking up gently as you look up at him.

He smiled so big someone else would've thought you ripped open your shirt and showed him your tits.

"Of course, this way." He motions in the direction of the infirmary before you both start walking.

You hold back a smirk.

Everyone loves a damsel in distress.

-

"Doc, I got a patient for you!" The officer, Eunwoo is his name (you learned that because he made sure to slip it in a few times in the one minute walk to the infirmary), calls out knocking on the door of the small infirmary.

"Send him in!" A voice is heard from the other side and the guard chuckles sparing you another overly friendly glance before pulling the door open. 

"It's actually a her." The officer, Eunchae-whatever the fuck, comments as he walks in with you following.

The doctor looks confused doing a quick glance before it turns in a double glance when he spots you by the door.

Your blood is simmering below your skin as you take him in. 

A good four inches taller than you, dressed in scrubs and a white coat with a stethoscope hanging under the collar of it. It's him. The most important key to a ticket out of here with your brother's name labeled on it.

"What happened?" His voice is raspier than you would've imagined as he motions for you to sit on the chair next to his desk.

The officer opens his mouth but you're quicker, showing him your bloody hand, "Accident at the construction site." 

You tell him quietly, voice almost shy.

He glances at your face before nodding taking your hand into his hold as he removes the tissues you've clumsily wrapped around the wound.

His hands are warm, slightly calloused but nice looking. Long fingers with neatly trimmed nails. And there was always something attractive about a man with visible veins running up his hands. Hm!

"Uh, miss," The guard coughs but neither you nor the handsome doctor seem to pay much attention to him. "You want me to stay with yo-"

"No." You interrupt without even a second glance at him, eyes not moving from the doctor's concentrated face.

The officer looks like he wants to say more, a little peeved that all your attention was occupied by the young doctor but he doesn't instead he awkwardly turns around and leaves you two alone, closing the door shut behind himself.

Thank you Eunwoo but you've served your purpose.

"Need to clean this, to make sure nothing got inside the wound or you'll be in trouble." The doctor says, voice still raspy, still pleasant as his hands gently work on your wound.

You only hum in response, eyes starting to roam around the room. Observing the big windows along with the metal bars laid over them, then the square water drainage under the sink to your right and lastly, they fall back to the doctor's face.

You've spent a lot of time digging out information about him. 

You've seen his senior photos, high school graduation photos, photos of ceremonies and galas he's attended with his father, photos from his own charity work that gets plastered all over the newspaper because charity work is just that special when he's the one doing it.

And you have to admit, none of the photos do him justice.

His hair is longer now, black and covering the nape of his neck. He has piercings up both ears, shiny jewelry dangling off of them. Honey-like skin without any visible blemishes, cute nose and full lips that seem chapped from the cold. 

You never noticed the mole below his eye and a matching one on his bottom lip in the photos. They give his face even more charm.

He was gorgeous.

"Tattoo looks fresh." His voice interrupts you from inner musings and it's then that you notice his dark eyes trailing the lines on your right arm which was left bare once you rolled up the sleeve of your shirt up to your elbow.

You suck in a sharp breath before giving him a small, soft smile. Here goes nothing.

"Sorry about this, the last thing I want to do is be an inconvenience but...there was a lot of blood." You chuckle breathlessly which causes him to look up at you with his lips curled up in a small smile. "Thank you for doing this."

"No worries, it's quite literally my job." It's his time to chuckle, smile growing wider as he presses a cotton pad soaked in something to the gash that ran across your palm and fuck, he had a pretty smile. 

"You seemed like you were busy..."

"Nah," He shakes his head, eyes rooted on the wound, "Was just going over patient records. It's fine, I treat the staff here sometimes."

You pursue your lips, eyes drawn to his face again. "I'm Y/N, by the way."

He nods, brows jumping up a little as he picks up his head, like he's already aware of who you are. "The new supervisor for the construction site, I've heard."

"And you are?" You ask, a flirty smile blooming across your features as you look at him through your lashes.

"Doctor Jung Wooyoung." He holds your gaze a millisecond longer which is all you needed.

"Jung like the governor?" You ask, heart soaring in thrill when you feel his hands still on your own. You can't help yourself. "You have the same last name as the governor, you sort of look like him as well."

He, Wooyoung, stays quiet and opts to work on your wound instead.

You cock your head to the side, "You're not related, are you?"

Again, silence.

You let out a small hum, mouth curling as you look at the dirty tissues pilling up on the desk in front of you.

"Wouldn't think you'd find the son of frontier justice Jung Myungdae working in a prison." You comment in an almost taunting voice, rich boys who pretended like they cared about the lower classes and were different than their snobby peers always being a little bit of a joke to you, before turning your attention back to him. "As a doctor no less."

You can hear him let out a sharp breath, head picking up to look at you as a fleeting look of being uncomfortable washes over his face.

"I believe in being a part of the solution, not the problem." Doctor Jung says decidedly and you hum again, eyes falling to the way he gently holds the back of your hand with one hand while he holds the gauze with another.

"Be the change that you want to see in the world." You recite with a nod, still staring at the wound on your palm but noticing the way the comment seemed to strike him. You look at him, not being able to contain the smile on your face when you catch him staring at you. "What?"

He shakes his head, lips pursued like he's holding back a smile. "Nothing. That was just my senior quote."

I know, I had your senior photos glued to my window.

You raise your brows in playful disbelief. "That was you? This whole time I was thinking it was Ghandi."

That gets a laugh out of him. It's a nice sound, slightly higher in pitch but sort of endearing.

"Funny." He comments sparing you another smile and going back to wrapping the gauze around your palm.

Once he's done, you let your bandaged up hand lay on your lap as you watch him stand up.

"Sit tight, I'll get you some painkillers because that's bound to hurt for the next couple of hours." He says before leaving you alone in the room. 

Once he's out of your sight, you pull out a small origami dove out of the pocket of your pants and quickly walk over to kneel down next to the sink, slipping it through the slats of the grate for the water drainage before returning to your place.

Half a minute later, Doctor Jung reenters the room with a glass of water in one hand and painkillers in the other.

"Here you go." He hands them to you and you down them obediently before giving him a grateful look.

"Thank you again for this." You sigh, standing up from the chair and running your healthy hand through your hair before smiling, "Hope I didn't take too much of your time."

"I already told you it's not a problem." He responds with a smile of his own, eyes feeling unusually pleasant on you.

"Well, I'll let you go back to your patient records, then." You say, inching closer to the door.

"If you need anything else, feel free to drop by." Doctor Jung's voice softly calls after you and it makes you pause in your steps as you turn to look at him over your shoulder.

"Then I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other then." You boldly tell him, enjoying the way he obviously tries to bite back a grin.

"Guess so." He responds, eyes boring into your own.

With one last smile, you disappear through the door and head up the stairs leading to your shitty office.

You will be just perfect, Jung Wooyoung.

-

Schweitzer 

Allen 

11121147

You stare at the writing tattooed on the inner part of your lower right arm, fingers anxiously tapping against the hard surface of your office desk before a knock causes you to lower the sleeve of your shirt as your head snaps to the door.

"Come in."

"Miss, the warden would like to see you." The warden's assistant, Soojin gives you a kind smile which you return, standing up and quickly straightening your outfit before following her through the door and down the hallway.

The section with the offices for administration (and now, you) was on the third floor of the infirmary building and almost completely protected from any spaces where convicts might roam around by locked bars placed on the halls going after the staircases.

And while your office was shitty, the warden's was definitely not. 

You observe the spacious room and the big oak table the older man sits behind as he smiles at you invitingly and offers you a seat.

"Did you settle in accordingly, miss L/N?" The warden asks and you nod comfortably.

"Yes, sir. I plan on being very diligent and making sure everyone does a good job."

"Good, good." He nods his head before a look of hesitation crosses his face that immediately causes your nerves to flare up. "This might seem extremely unprofessional and definitely out of character for me as I don't do it often but I'm in need of a little help, you're a structural engineer, correct?"

You tilt your head to the side, brows furrowing, "Yes, sir."

He clears his throat, pushing his chair back to stand up. "Follow me."

You follow the older man as he walks across his face to the door on the opposite wall of the entrance which you've mistaken for a closet so far. He motions for you to enter first and you do, your mouth can't help but part in slight awe.

You stare at the model of the Taj Mahal propped up on a huge table in the middle of the spacious room connected to the warden's office, surrounded by windows from one side entirely, the light seeps through the model beautifully and you admire it quietly.

"Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal as a monument to his undying love for his wife. My wife is quite fond of the story. It appeals to the romantic side of her." He smiles at you, "Being married to someone on corrections, it's a terrible job, wouldn't wish it on anybody. And yet, in thirty-nine years my wife has never complained and the worst part is I've never thanked her. So because I couldn't say it I thought, you know, I could build it. In January, it's our fortieth anniversary. Well here, look." The warden bends down to look into the base of the structure and you copy his movements, peering inside.

 "The problem is, I build anymore and it's all going to come down like a house of cards. That's where I was hoping you could be of assistance. Obviously, it would be a favor for a favor. I don't know what you would need, new furniture for your office? New heater? I know everything in there is rusty..." He trails off, eyes glinting with pleads.

It felt like Christmas came a month earlier to you.

"Actually, I have something else in mind."

"What? What is it?" He shakes his head, urging you to speak.

"You see your eight wonder of the world might collapse since the stress isn't propagated properly." You inform him with an innocent smile as the warden frowns.

"Propagated properly?"

You nod. "Propagated properly.  The joints are overloaded. They won't provide anywhere near the strength the completed structure will need."

The older man looks at you in mild concern before turning to the model, something he very obviously placed a lot of effort into. "How much work are we talking about?"

"When did you say you need it to be done? January?" You ask, circling around the model again. The warden lets out a small 'yes' and you hum, "Then we better get started then, I'll help you out for an hour every day."

The warden's face lights up in relief and you have to hide the shakiness in your voice as you continue. You clear your throat; "In return, I'd like to be approved weekly visitations to my brother."

The smile on his face freezes for a moment before melting away completely and getting replaced by a deep frown.

"Your brother?"

You gulp down the nerves and wipe your clammy hands on the back of your pants, nodding, "My brother, Choi Jongho."

"Choi Jongho is your brother?!" The warden asks, voice laced with utter disbelief and your eyes fall immediately to the carpeted floor. "How the hell was I not aware of this?"

"I took my mother's last name after I graduated from college." You offer quietly, mustering up the balls to look at the man in the eyes, "It's not like I was hiding it or anything but...it never came up. I didn't exactly learn when was the right moment to say that my brother was one of the inmates in the jail where I'd be sent to supervise the construction site."

"You know you're not allowed visitations if you're a staff member, right?" He asks, crossing his arms over his chest as he gives you a strict look.

"I know but... I'm not a permanent staff member." Your voice drops in volume as your eyes start to burn, "And I'd really just like to see him once a week just like everybody else is allowed. He's my only family, sir."

The warden's eyes soften once he catches sight of your eyes glistening with tears. 

Your nails dig into the wound on your palm.

He opens and closes his mouth a couple of times before sighing, then he starts pacing up and down the length of the room which might be a good indicator that he's actually considering it. 

You dig your nails harder into the wound and the first tear drops, you sniffle.

"The reason I took this job was...I felt like I'd be a little bit closer to him for a short period of time. He's my older brother, he took care of me when no-one else did," You sniffle again, feeling a nail punch through the thick gauze of the gash on your palm. Another tear. "I thought, just being able to look at see him through the window when he plays basketball would be nice but then they told me I wasn't allowed visitations and by then, it was to late to change my mind."

You discover that Chungju Detention Center's warden hated seeing young girls cry.

"That's all you ask for? Nothing else?" He breaks the silence after a long moment of consideration, "Wouldn't a new heater for your office be better, it gets cold during the winters here."

You quickly shake your head, "J-just visitations to my brother."

He's quiet again before he finally lets out a deep sigh.

"Alright but it can't be longer than ten minutes, do you hear?" He asks and you nod, eyes growing in size as your head snaps up to look at him. "And the moment I hear about any funny business, it's over. Do you understand me?"

"Absolutely," You nod with innocent, big eyes. The tears miraculously stopping their flow all of a sudden. "No funny business."

He observes you for a second longer before finally allowing you to leave his quarters.

You let out a big exhale on your way out, staring at the blood that managed to run through the gauze on your palm.

-

You were trouble.

That's all the conclusion Wooyoung could come to as he stared at you, leaning against the doorframe of the infirmary with your bag slung over your shoulder, coat folded over your arm and a smile on your face that made his head spin.

"Hey." You greet him, voice mellow and sounding lightly tired as you lean your head against the frame as well.

"Hey," Play it cool, you're a grown man. "How was the first day?"

"It was good, a little unexpectedly boring almost." You answer him with a smirk and he clears his throat before he started staring at your full lips without the option of looking away being in his books apparently and inevitably got caught.

"What did you expect?" Wooyoung lets out a light laugh, crossing his arms over his chest as he sits at the corner of his messy desk. "Shootouts  and heads getting bashed in all day long?"

You giggle, pearly white teeth on full display as you nod, "I was expecting a lot more yelling and screaming at least."

"Hey, we have some quiet times in here as well. Give it a day or two, though."

You chuckle again before shaking your head, hand coming up to brush your hair from your face and in the meantime, showing off the tattoo you had on your other arm as well.

And as Wooyoung was a red-blooded healthy male, of course, his mind started wandering on just how far the tattoos went.

God, you are trouble, you are so much fucking trouble.

He should've been kind of pissed off at you when you brought up his father but...how the hell could he be?

He saw the way the other guards stared at you, how the one who walked you into the infirmary this morning was almost salivating with his eyes glued to you and just how much Wooyoung's ego skyrocketed when you told the guard he can fuck off because he was there now. He obviously wasn't the only one affected here!

With your pants that hugged your waist and thighs perfectly, the shirt that accentuated your cleavage and it's two intentionally popped open buttons , the thin necklace decorating your collarbones, the tattoos (God, the tattoos), long hair that smelled like vanilla to whoever got close enough, a smile that definitely knew of its effect on other people and eyes that seemed like nothing ever phased them.

Wooyoung liked trouble sooooo much.

"I wanted to, um, ask for a favor." Your soft voice interrupts his current train of thoughts and he raised his brows in question.

"What?"

"I, uh, I'm a Type 1 Diabetic." You tell him, straightening out your posture in a way that tells Wooyoung that you might be nervous for some reason. You give him an awkward chuckle which he finds kind of cute. "And I'd get my daily shots at a doctor's office on my way to and from work every day since my own office was close by."

"Mhm..." He tilts his head in curiosity. He wonders where you used to work, did you drive a car? Wooyoung used to work in the center of Seoul as well! Did you two ever ride the same train downtown? 

"And that's no longer an option anymore since, well, I have to be here every morning so I have to leave, like, an hour earlier at least." You bite your lip, pretty eyes meeting his own, "I was wondering if you'd be able to do it here? Obviously, I don't want to impose on your schedule or anything, I understand if you can't but I thought it might be worth trying. I'd bring my own shots, wouldn't want to steal government resources y'know...heh..."

He notices how you always speak like you're an inconvenience when you need help.

Wooyoung bites back a smile as he watches you ramble before finally finding the heart to interrupt you, "Alright."

Your lips part at that, "You will?"

"Yes," He chuckles, "It's not a big deal, it takes, like, two minutes tops so..."

"Okay, great." You sigh in relief, playing with the bandages on your hand before nodding again. "Thank you. For this and...today, as well."

"It's my job." He's quick to respond out of habit by now, God, he's been out of the game a little too long now. There were, like, five different lines he could've dropped there. He forgot how to flirt.

Or maybe flirting with you seems a bit terrifying if he was honest.

"Right." You chuckle, fixing your bag on your shoulder before smiling at him one last time, "Well, have a good night."

Wooyoung nods, almost a little disappointed that you're leaving already. "You too."

-

Jongho might understand why Jisung decided to wrap that sheet attached to the pipe around his neck and jump from the staircase.

In fact, if he had to listen to this dude, Coin or whatever the fuck, talk about his girlfriend Lim Jiyeon, class 2001 of some damn beauty school in Gangnam with auburn colored hair and perfectly applied lip gloss for one second longer, Jongho just might do the same thing as Jisung.

He was serving a life sentence for something he didn't do, that should be a punishment enough. He already knew there was nothing else to do except to serve time here, nobody else will serve it for him.

But, holy fuck, his new cellmate who invited himself to the seat next to him on this bench, could not keep his mouth shut for a second and Jongho really didn't need this so early in the morning.

"Woah, who's that?" Coin whistles, following someone with his eyes like the sun was shining out of their ass.

"Who?" Jongho mumbles in question not even bothering to turn to the direction his new cellmate was salivating in, thinking it was probably just another stupidity that managed to catch Coin's attention. There's not much to do here, after all...

"That woman." Coin nudges him. Typical, all those woes about his dear girlfriend forgotten at the first sight of another woman. Jongho rolls his eyes, taking a quick glance to where the other man was pointing before turning back around again.

Then he freezes.

Jongho's head whips around in the same direction again, the familiar checkered coat and same hair length making him blink to see if he finally went insane in here.

The walk was the same as well.

His legs, with a mind of his own, started swiftly moving across the yard with Coin yelling something behind him but Jongho ignored it, his only goal to get to that fence even if he had to shovel through the inmates.

"Y/N?" He mumbles to himself, watching the woman move across the gravel, long hair carried to the side by the cold wind. And as if she heard him, she slows down with her steps, turning her head in his direction...

Jongho feels like his heart stopped.

"Y/N?" He asks, this time a bit louder because holy fuck, that's his little sister's face. It's her. It's you!

You don't stop to talk to him, you don't say anything back but Jongho, sure as hell, didn't hallucinate the smile that you throw his way as you continue up the gravel to the building leading to the infirmary.

"You know her?" Coin's deep voice makes him jump in his place, Jongho didn't even notice that the older male was standing right next to him by now.

"Yeah." Jongho whispers, words getting stuck in his throat as he finds it hard to swallow.

"Bro, are you okay?" Coin questions, confused by the way Jongho stared at the building you just disappeared into.

"That's my sister."

And she's definitely up to no good.

[nevadabloodnotes]

Hi! Here’s the link to the Happiness Apotheosis wiki for the protagonist Happy Hank/Skittles, https://herofanon.fandom.com/wiki/Protagonist_(Happiness_Apotheosis) . I’m not the best at explaining things so i can only hope this gives you some more background on them 😅! But overall they are a self-less, giving and overly optimistic person who enjoys giving gifts and spreading love unlike Hank J. Wimbleton, lol. -🫧

Hi! Mod Deimos here! Mod Sanford has handed the writing over to me since they don't know much about Skittles. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

Happy Hank/Skittles General/Romantic Headcanons

General

Having been in the hellish wasteland that was Nevada for several years now, you were apprehensive about Skittles' generosity, kindness and all around happy-go-lucky attitude. It wasn't common in a place like this so you were hesitant on taking the present he offered to you as a greeting.

Over time though, he grew on you seeing as he wasn't much of a threat to you.

You found that he didn't have anywhere to call home so you invited him to live in your place to help keep a roof over this absolute bean's head.

Whenever you come back from supply runs or personal missions, Skittles welcomes you back with such joy in his voice and usually giving a gift of some sorts, whether it be snacks, clothing, new weapons (though those are rare for him to give), etc. Sometimes when you've had a particularly rough day, Skittles is more than happy to give you a friendly massage to help ease your aching muscles and joints.

Overall, you've helped improve eachothers lives, far better than before, though you couldn't help this odd feeling you've developed around Skittles after being around him for so long.

Romantic

Oddly enough, it was you who initiated the conversation between you and Skittles about a possible relationship, confessing your feelings to him (though very awkwardly). Might've damaged your hearing a bit from how loud and high-pitched Skittles' squeal was at hearing your confession.

Regardless, Skittles was determined to be the best damn boyfriend he could be to you.

He did all the usual things he did, but he did it with a lot more compassion and love than before, he even added morning and after work kisses into the mix (you always made sure to stick around for those).

He's very understanding of his partner's needs and wants, especially during that time of the month, whatever you wish for he'll do everything he can to get it for you.

A certain hard-to-get snack? Not a problem. A particular movie that you just couldn't find, Skittles will find it. Weird cravings? He doesn't care as long it won't hurt you.

Needless to say, Skittles is a very loving, caring, and respectful partner and you're glad he came into your life. He was the best gift you've ever had.

[ajaxbell]

Maiden Holmes: the jianghu Scooby Gang is on the case!

I picked this cdrama up simply because of Zhang Linghe's face and because I saw a gifset of the kisses. But what an unexpected delight!

The premise is essentially a woman, Su Ci, disguised as a man to become a cop with a secret agenda to investigate the false charges that killed her family. While investigating a case she teams up with war traumatized Prince Qi who has his own problems at court. But in a mistaken identity romp she doesn't recognize him (while she's also carrying around comics of his adventures lol). They are joined by young woman doctor/poisoner/coroner/forensic pathologist, and by the world's greatest himbo. Together they form a jianghu Scooby Gang and solve a bunch of seemingly unrelated cases that start to connect to each other, and conveniently connect to both Su Ci's ultimate goal and Prince Qi's problems at court.

The villain is obvious and over the top. The plot is wobbly at best. But the cast really saves this show. Zhang Linghe is way better than he has any business being in his first drama, just fresh out of engineering college. He outshines all the more established actors in the cast. But over all the cast has chemistry and the story hits the right notes of found family, of a team of experts competently doing their respective jobs, and manages the comedy they are given well (the more dramatic and intense emotional beats are as wobbly as the plot).

These characters are a group of kind, interested people who seem to do their best for the victims they encounter. But they also each go through their own emotional moments in realistic ways, shutting out their friends, and isolating. But every time the friends show up, offer true support, and receive apologies for not being initially trusted or let in. There's an ongoing theme of being both accepted for who you truly are and of being loved for it whether platonically or romantically. And this is really the core of what makes this show better than it should be.

There's something just very sweet and good-natured about their friendships and how they treat each other and everyone in need they encounter. It makes this show a joy to watch and honestly a bit uplifting. Like at the end of rough day sitting down to see these friends be nice and helpful and concerned just really felt like a balm. And while the rougher emotional points didn't always hit, a lot of them did, due entirely to this cast and how well they made me feel they were really friends. Most the comedy beats are right and truly funny, but also the comedy never hits a mean or punching down note either. Which for me ends up being part of what actually made this show great for me: it's actually really subversive.

Is it subversive on purpose or accidentally? I'll never know but it was really enjoyable. The first half watches like a good bl. Yes it's based on the misunderstanding of Prince Qi believing Su Ci is a man. But that does not stop Prince Qi from standing too close and looking sick with longing. It doesn't stop the classic cdrama underwater 'kiss' to share breath. Zhang Linghe plays this without any indication that it might be weird or uncomfortable for Prince Qi to be attracted to a man. While the show plays it for comedy, the comedy is Su Ci being really confused about what is happening, and in their friends' response to (perceived male) Su Ci and Prince Qi as a couple.

Even more subversive, while it's played (joyfully) for comedy, all the friends' responses are uniformly welcoming and supportive of these two 'men' becoming involved. Particularly the world's most delightful himbo character making an impassioned speech about his support of them. (Truly not just for this scene, but this himbo character is maybe one of my all time favorite TV characters? Just incredible work by the script and the actor.)

Eventually Su Ci's gender is revealed and Prince Qi takes it without blinking and goes to work to make this world more feminist and accepting so she can continue do her job as a detective for the court even after her gender is exposed. After this point in the show the script weakens a bit, sacrificing some character development to making people act the way the plots needs rather than totally true to the established characters. But throughout Prince Qi seems to not care about gender, or any outside perception of his relationship regardless of the gender of his partner. And it was just relief a to watch. What a good character he turns out to be. So supportive of anything his partner wants, in a way where he seems to truly enjoy anything she does, and just looks so pleased with how smart she is. He looks pleased for people to think he's in a gay relationship. He looks pleased when she does her job well. He looks pleased when she dresses up for him. And some of this has to be Zhang Linghe's acting work. Especially when he starts bring a level of smolder and longing that seems possibly (and I'm not complaining) overly steamy for the lightweight comedy level of this show.

Anyway I would absolutely call this show queer friendly and accepting in a way crossdressing deception plots often never achieve. That combined with these kind, good-natured friends, and the world's best himbo character really combined to make this a fun, sweet watch. So yes, I'd recommend, but don't go into expecting quality, or consistency, but it is sweet, light, and fun. Just a little treat to balance out the darker things in the world if you need distraction.

[somedeadbeatloz3r69]

Since I've been seeing so many people shit on joker 2; folie a deux, so will I. (i saw it a daily earlier before most because it came out a day earlier in my area lol THE JOKER 1 IS VERY GOOD, POTRAYS PYSCHOTIC BEHAVIOR PERFECTLY AND IS BEAUTIFUL. BUT, JOKER 2 IS NOT ON THE OTHER HAND. YES, IT IS BEAUTIFUL, BUT HOLY FUCK ALL THAT SINGING WAS UNNEEDED, AND ALSO IT MADE BARELY ANY SENSE, ALSO JOKER IS MEANT TO BE THE ONE MANIPULATING HARLEY, NOT CODEPENDENT ON HER?? AND SHES NOT EVEN PYSCHO, JUST GOOFY AND WEIRD. JOKER 2 IS VERY HARSH AND REAL, AND VERY ACCURATELY CONNECTED TO THE ILLNESSES FEAUTURED IN JOKER 1, BUT WHAT THE PROBLEM IS WHO THEY'RE POTRAYED BY. THE ILLNESSES ARE ACCURATE, THEY GO TOGETHER, BUT THEY DON'T MATCH THE CHARACTER OF JOKER. THEY DON'T MATCH HIS ACTIONS, THE ILLNESSES OF JOKER IN PART 1 MATCHED HIS CHARACTER AND MADE SENSE; PERCIEVING HIM TO PEOPLE AS A CHARACTER THAT FINALLY BROKE FREE, SOMEONE WHO ENJOYED THE HIGH OF BEING KNOWN, AT A HIGHER RANK THAN EVERYONE ELSE. HE FELT AS IF HE WAS ONTOP, AND HE LOVED THE ATTENTION. HE WAS CARELESS AND RELENTLESS, YET DELUSIONAL AND PYSCHOTIC. THIS ALL HAPPENED WHEN HE FINALLY BROKE; FINALLY GOT SET FREE, AND HE WENT CRAZY AND YET WAS STILL DELUSIONAL. BUT, IN JOKER 2, HE IS MUCH MORE CO-DEPENDENT AND WEAK SHOWN, NOT MATCHING HIS CHARACTER IN THE 1ST ONE. YES, HE'S BEEN IN THE ASYLUM FOR AWHILE, BUT THAT SHOULD JUST MAKE HIM MORE CARELESS AND INSANE. BUT NO, NOW HE'S MORE SOFT AND DELUSIONAL, THE DELUSIONAL PART MAKES SENSE, BUT THE PART WHERE HE JUST GOES BACK TO NORMAL AND SAYS 'THERE WAS NEVER A JOKER'? NO. HE'S BEEN BRAINWASHED AND IT DOESNT MATCH HIS CHARACTER. HE CLEARLY FELT HAPPIER THAN EVER WHEN HE WAS THE JOKER AND IT DIDN'T MATCH HIS CHARACTER, THERE'S NO GOING BACK. YOU CAN'T JUST GO BACK TO BEING ARTHUR FLECK, THE YOU THAT YOU DESPISE. THE YOU THAT WAS WEAK. AFTER A TRAUMATIZING EXPERIENCE, IF ANYTHING, YOU SHOULD BECOME MORE EVIL. MORE REVENGEFUL. NO, IT'S NOT INVALID IF THAT'S NOT HOW YOU REACT, BUT IT'S INVALID FOR THE JOKER BECAUSE IT WAS INACCURATE TOWARDS HIS CHARACTER IN JOKER 1.

THEY BOTH POTRAYED MENTAL ILLNESS VERY WELL, AND THEY DO GO TOGETHER, BUT NOT FOR THE JOKER. THE JOKER IS EVIL AND RELENTLESS. NOT SOFT AND VULNERABLE. HE KNOWS WHAT HE DID. AND HE'S PROUD OF IT. HE FINALLY FELT ALIVE, SEEN, AND THE MOVIE OVERALL WAS MUCH MORE REALISTIC AND STRAIGHTFORWARD. HE MEANT TO DO WHAT HE DID PURPOSEFULLY. IT WASN'T JUST AN 'ACT'. ARTHUR FLECK WAS THE ACT, WAS HIM GOING INSANE, ARTHUR FLECK WAS THE BUILDUP TO THE JOKER. THE JOKER WAS THE REAL HIM, THE HIM THAT COULD FINALLY GET RELEASED. THE HIM HE'S BEEN CONCEALING FOR FOREVER. SO HIM BEING HAPPY AND CARELESS, AND EVEN ENJOYING BEING EVIL, DOES NOT MATCH HIM BEING SOFT AND VULNERABLE. YES THE DELUSIONS MAKE SENSE, DEEPLY, BUT THEY'RE JUST TOO CORNY AND TOO CO-DEPENDENT. BEING DELUSIONAL MAKES SENSE FOR HIM, BUT HIM HAVING CO-DEPENDENT DELUSIONS, SAYING ITS 'ALL A FANTASY', IS THE HARSH TRUTH, YET ALSO INACCURATE. HE WAS DELUSIONAL, IT WAS JUST A FANTASY, BUT HE LOVED IT, IT WAS PART OF HIS CHARACTER, HE WOULDNT JUST ADMIT HES A TERRIBLE PERSON, AND HOW IT WAS ALL AN ACT, BECAUSE IT NEVER WAS, BECAUSE DEEP DOWN HES ALWAYS BEEN THIS PYSCHOPATH. TO SAY IT WAS JUST AN ACT?? IS INSANE. IN HIS DELUSIONS ABOUT HAVING A ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP, IN JOKER 1, THEY WERE NEVER TOO CORNY. NEVER TOO CODEPENDENT, FOR EVEN IN THE DELUSIONS HE COULD RELY ON HIMSELF, FOR EVEN IN THE DELUSIONS HE WAS CONFIDENT. BUT IN THE JOKER 2, HIS DELUSIONS ARE CORNY, AND VERY MUSICAL-LIKE WHICH WASNT NEEDED, VERY RANDOM AND KINDA DIDNT ADD UP. THE MOVIE WAS GREAT WITH GREAT SCENERY, BUT HOLY SHIT THEY TRIED WAY TOO HARD AND WENT OFF TRACK. IT WOULD BE A GREAT MOVIE, BUT MAYBE RELATED TO A DIFFERENT JOKER. BECAUSE THE JOKER IN JOKER 2, IS NOT THE JOKER WE SEE IN JOKER 1. ITS LIKE AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT JOKER. OVERALL, IT WAS AN OK MOVIE. BUT IT WOULDVE BEEN BETTER IF NOT RELATED TO THE JOKER. WHAT WAS REALLY FASCINATING ABOUT JOKER 1 IS HOW IT SHOWED HOW PEOPLE BREAK, IT WAS A MOVIE ABOUT CHAOS AND HOW HE WAS SLOWLY LOSING HIS SANITY. SOME PEOPLE COULD EVEN RELATE TO HIS SHITTY LIFE, PEOPLE FELT COMFORT. PEOPLE FELT SYMPATHY; EMPATHY. BUT IN THE JOKER 2 THEY COMPLETELY TAKE THAT AWAY, RIDDING OF HIS TOUGH, CARELESS, 'I'D DO IT AGAIN.' PERSONA AND REPLACING IT WITH A SOFTER, 'I REGRET IT ALL', PERSONA. JOKER 2 OVERALL DIDN'T MATCH HIS CHARACTER, AND PRACTICALLY WAS CHARACTER REGRGESSION RATHER THAN CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. PEOPLE WANTED THE JOKER TO GO INSANE, THEY WERE HAPPY HE WAS TAKING REVENGE ON THE CRUEL WORLD. BUT IN JOKER 2, HE WAS EXACTLY LIKE HE WAS IN THE START OF JOKER 1. WEAK, SAD. YES, IT WAS A GOOD MOVIE WITH VERY WELL POTRAYED MENTAL ILLNESSES, IT JUST DIDN'T FIT HIS CHARACTER.

[arendaes]

June reading roundup! I didn't read quite as much as I hoping this month 🥲

A Tempest of Tea - I'm still...really conflicted over how I felt about this one. The premise was so interesting, and I really liked the cast of characters. There was also a twist involving the main character that I didn't see coming (I could just be dumb though) that I really enjoyed. But the pacing was very odd - the book is divided into three parts, but part one was over 50% of the book and pretty much everything interesting happened in parts two and three. There was also a scene near the end of the book I could tell was meant to be very emotional by the way it's written, but there wasn't enough buildup to it so it just fell really flat. There was also some weird King Arthur references in this, which the synopsis I read didn't even hint at so it kind of came out of left field for me. Ultimately I rated it a 3 out of 5; I bounced between 2.75 and 3.25 for its rating and I guess I'll wait and see what the second book is like. Maybe it'll retroactively make me change my rating on this one.

All Boys Aren't Blue - My nonfiction read for the month. It was very insightful and emotional; there were several times I teared up listening to the audiobook. George M. Johnson is very honest and upfront about the problems they've faced, both in relation to their race and their gender and sexuality, and I feel this is an excellent book for younger readers to read precisely because of how straightforward they are about this topics. It doesn't surprise me that it's one of the most challenged books in the country and that book-banners are trying so hard to get it taken out of schools, because it might do something they've failed to do and actually teach their children something about people different (or not so different) from them. Anyways, that by itself is reason enough to read it, and the fact that it's a great book is an even better one.

Most Ardently - This was a retelling of Pride & Prejudice, told from the perspective of Oliver Bennet. This was a delightful retelling; Oliver was so easy to get invested in as a protagonist and I found the alterations made to the story were fresh, exciting, and made sense within the context of the story that was being told. Gabe Cole Novoa's prose is very crisp and flows very nicely. The scenes between Oliver and his parents really stood out to me for being very emotional and well-done. Overall just a great book, 4.25/5.

Dragonfruit - This was another I was really looking forward to, and unlike a Tempest of Tea I do know for sure that I liked it. The worldbuilding in this one was engaging, and I loved the characters, especially the main character Hanalei. It was another were I felt the pacing was a bit off - the book started off strong, but then the middle lagged a little before finally picking up again at about 75% of the way through. I'm also not sure about the decision to market it as a "romantic fantasy" - the romance felt pretty sparse and again, didn't really come in to play until near the very end of the book. Besides that though, it was enjoyable, I'd probably read it again so 4/5.

Anyways, I'm going to spend the next few months pretty much reading whatever holds come in at the library, and continuing my re-read of the October Daye series. I have two books checked out right now; one I'm really looking forward to (Spells for Forgetting), and the other...I wasn't originally interested in but two reviewers I trust had opposite reactions to it so now I need to read it to find out what I think (Belladonna). And in case you think I forgot - yes, I am planning on reading Gideon the Ninth, I put it on hold at the library and it says I still have approximately a 3 week wait so...I'll get to it whenever I get it lol