#they're both bi though i wouldn't make them that much straight

[disguting-girl-reads]

i love eldest daughter dean and baby brother sammy

i love dirty blonded hair deanna, named after her grandmother that she never met, that insists to be called just dean, bc she thinks it sounds cooler

i love cool girl dean, who wears short shorts and combat boots and her dad's oversized band shirts and knows more about muscle cars than any of the teenage boys in school

I love older sister dean who picks sammy up after school in the lowest rise jeans she owns bc she enjoyes how embarrassed he gets in front of his friends

I love pervy 14 year old little brother sammy sneaking glances at dean while she's changing her clothes, and how annoyed he is that she does this with him around, so carelessly because she sees him as just a kid still

i love even more embarrassed little brother sammy (actually not so little anymore) when his cool hot older sister shows up after him in california because dad's missing and how he can't never explain to jess why his sister looks so much like her

[kotaka-kun]

another short mattfoggy fic rec list

because what the actual fuck was that

Through the Looking Glass by 94BottlesOfSnapple

39,935 words | rated T

Foggy Nelson is in love with Matt Murdock, but he knows it's not going anywhere -- Matt's straight. And that's fine! But when another Matt and Foggy pop into the middle of Foggy's apartment one night, well, things change. This older, redheaded Matt turns out to be... A lot more receptive. Apparently, he's in love with his own Foggy, and it's not going anywhere for him either. (aka: the one where 616!Matt and Netflix!Foggy already know they're bi and in love with their best friend, and 616!Foggy and Netflix!Matt figure it out along the way)

Even though I've never actually read the comics, I enjoyed this fic so much bc it's really just got everything that I love about Daredevil and mattfoggy as a ship -- humor, tension, reconciliation, yearning, (not actually) unrequited love, etc. Not to mention that I'm also a huge sucker for both the trope of two people finding their way to one another in any (and every) universe, but also I love me a crackfic!

I Decided This by patster223

5,298 words | rated T

“I’m contributing yet another lovely sign to our office,” Foggy says, brandishing the finished product with a flourish. Matt can’t see the sign, but he can probably sense the flourish, which is what matters. “It says, ‘It has been ‘0’ days since Matt made an idiotic decision.’” “Doesn’t seem like it will inspire much trust from our clients.” What the sign instead inspires: debates, understanding, a patented Murdock-level guilt trip, ice cream celebrations, a kiss, and perhaps even a way to finally move forward.

I love the idea of Foggy using the whiteboard as a means of keeping track of if Matt needs a check-in. Because Matt absolutely needs it. One of my favorite fics that touches on a way that Matt is still actually blind despite his super senses.

The Vigilantes' Boyfriend Support Group by phonecallfromgod

4,865 words | rated T

The worst part of it was, Foggy’d been having a perfectly pleasant day before he’d woken up blindfolded and tied to a chair. Or Foggy makes an unlikely friend in an unlikely place and they bond over some very specific shared life experience.

This is just a fun cute fic that also features Peter/Ned and the parallels between them and mattfoggy are just too good. Ned being so blasé about the situation they find themselves in is also fantastic and I love them all.

Look Around, It's You I Can't Replace by Fickle_Obsessions

12,123 words | rated E

Matt handles his separation from Foggy after the breakup of Nelson and Murdock a bit less well than he anticipated. As in he doesn't really handle it at all.

A fic that I honestly consider canon at this point. Matt not being able to handle the separation from Foggy is so beautifully and painfully in character, and I love it.

no single bite could satisfy by jk_rockin

5,963 words | rated E

"I can feed myself," Matt says defensively. "I'm not a child, Foggy." "And this spoon isn't really an airplane, but I'm willing to pretend if you are," says Foggy, waggling the spoon, and sighing when Matt frowns. "Okay, no airplane, but I made you soup, and you're going to eat it without getting it all over yourself. Be grateful it's not in a sippy cup." "A sippy cup wouldn't boss me around," Matt grumbles, but he opens his mouth anyway, and lets Foggy guide the spoon to his lips.

A smutty fic that's so sweet I could die. This fic satiated something in me, tbh. A hunger I didn't know I had.

Day Forty-Seven by Marchling

17,514 words | rated M

“Stop it with the heartbeat thing, Matt. Seriously, it’s creepy. And invasive. And disrespectful.” He wasn’t ever trying to be creepy about it. It wasn’t something he even paid much attention to anymore. He was always hyper-aware of Foggy’s heartbeat. He used it to ground himself, to block out the rest of the input he got and keep himself from being overwhelmed. Finding ways to filter out all the input his senses bombarded him with was vital to his sanity, to his ability to function and to any chance of sleep he had. It helped, Foggy helped, even when he didn’t know it. But now he did know and he didn’t like it. He wanted Matt to stop, so that was what he would try to do. Things were so tenuous between them, Matt knew from the way Foggy’s voice sounded when he said it that if Matt didn’t stop it would drive the rift between them impossibly and maybe even irrevocably deeper. He loved Foggy too much to let that happen – he loved Foggy too much in general.

A fun take on Matt trying to deal with the aftermath of Foggy finding out about his senses, and his desperation to do whatever he has to to make sure Foggy stays. Because of course Matt uses Foggy's sounds as an anchor, and of course he wouldn't think to try to explain it to Foggy.

Just Wanna Take Him Home by lady_ragnell

12,918 words | rated T

Foggy mostly takes little old ladies to parties doing escort jobs, which he's fine with. Getting hired to spend two hours hugging a lawyer is kind of a departure. He should have known it would all get complicated fast.

A classic prostitute!Foggy premise that I love dearly bc all Matt wants (needs) are cuddles and nice, chill, mostly-one-sided conversations. There's just something so fun about AUs where Matt and Foggy missed each other at Columbia but still find their way to each other in the end.

I'm gonna spend my weekend rereading all of these, probably.

[forklesbian]

...Its time

So, still thinking about UDAD and Hadestown cross interactions and this time they're not beating eachother up.

The Orpheuses would get along, but only if they meet after both Eurydices die.

If Hadestown Eurydice is alive, then Hadestown Orpheus would try to be polite to the brooding guy that shares his name, but Orpheus wouldn't try to interact that much due to jealousy and general depression.

With just UDAD Eurydice alive, Hadestown Orpheus would be having a terrible time, and I don't think Orpheus would really know what to do. He might play a song for him and offer him some lotus.

If both the Eurydices are alive, then the two would most likely get along pretty well. They might perform together a few times, but that would probably just be it. They would gush about their partners, though.

Now, if both Eurydices are dead, they would latch onto each other. They would work on sad songs, a room apart, and then show them to the other and cry. This absolutely wouldn't be healthy and they would spend all their time indulging eachothers misery, but atleast they would have something to live for because they know the other wouldn't be able to make it with them. UDAD Orpheus would still go see Hades/Ashes, but once he learned about the price, Hadestown Orpheus would convince him it's not worth the effort

because if he can't be happy why should his counterpart?

Because he can't lose anyone else

It would basically be a mutually unhealthy relationship, especially if they meet right after the deaths, neither of them are thinking straight, Hadestown Orpheus hasn't dealt with anything like this before while UDAD Orpheus wallows in his emotions.

Also, they do kiss while high, multiple times, and then cry because they're both walking bi angst machines.

I'll probably do how the Hades and Persephones would interact later if this is somewhat liked

[kirkwallguy]

honestly I do think people forget that like, fandom (at least people actively involved online) and gay pairings are actually pretty niche. fan cultures are misogynistic and the misogyny against bi women is prevalent (often first thrown under bus when discussing m/f) but at the same time people on tumblr preferring a m/m relationship is not like, indicative of wider societal norms and again is a relatively small demographic. I’m always so torn on these discussions bc women in fan spaces and in the fiction being discussed are treated poorly yet I do think the language around gay characters/relationships gets borderline if not straight up homophobic. also, even if queerness WAS normalized in Thedas. we don’t live there. the writers don’t live there. it can still allude to real-world politics and resonate with an audience, intentional or not

no exactly, i wrote a much meaner post about this earlier then deleted it because i decided i want to live in peace but i fully agree - people DO forget that wanting to focus on queer relationships on the internet tends to come from the fact that this is very hard to do irl and seen as fairly radical if you don't exclusively hang out with queer people. maybe the tides are turning a little now but mainstream media has historically been extremely hesitant to even touch queerness let alone depict queer romance and this can feel deeply isolating when you just fully cannot relate to the concept of a man and a woman falling in love.

i do agree it's notable that bi women are the ones singled out when it comes to f/m relationships while men tend to be excused and there's definitely a history of people using wanting to see an m/m relationship as an excuse to be misogynistic. but seriously, recently i've been seeing a weird pushback against m/m shipping by saying centering men is misogynistic which is something i remember from early 2000s homophobia lol. f/m shipping is often just as misogynistic if we're being fully honest.

and yeah, the first three games all came out at a time when very few video games had queer characters and people were extremely homophobic about anders on release. thedas could be a queer utopia and that wouldn't make it any less impactful when the character starts talking about the oppression he's experienced in a way the real queer person who is playing the game might relate to.

even WITHIN fandom culture i think there's more heteronormativity than people will admit. look at the statistics on ao3. out of the ten most popular relationships, only two of them are explicitly queer and they both feature the series' only gay man. two more don't specify gender but have majority f/m ships (solas/lavellan and lucanis/rook) while the rest of them are explicitly f/m. there are literally more f/m ships than m/m and f/f put together.

out of all the bi men in the series, anders is the only one where the majority of his protag/companion fics are m/m. fenris and bull also have more m/m than f/m (once you filter out all the solavellan fic bull gets tagged in as a background character lol) but that's only because they're commonly shipped with anders / dorian.

looking at sera's ao3 demographics, the most popular ship she's tagged in is solavellan. so, like. lol.

so yeah there's misogyny there but i think acting as though focusing on queer experiences is inherently misogynistic is borderline homophobic, especially when it's queer people that are also writing f/f fics.

[helloalycia]

𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐓𝐎 [𝐎𝐍𝐄] — 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐘 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐘 𝐁𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐃

summary: after you hear about Lucy Gray's breakup, you wonder if you'll finally have a chance with her. Of course, your father, the head peacekeeper, can never know you like the 'troublemaker' from the Covey.

warning/s: none i don't think?

author's note: okay so after a million years i finally got this one written, an idea that came to me like a week ago and took forever to write because life lol. I hope you all like it anyway, it’s a three parter and was fun to write :)

something to note - Y/BF/N = your best friend's name and Y/D/N = your dad's name

two / three / masterlist / wattpad

"...and I told him that he shouldn't say stuff he doesn't mean, especially when it's just plain old rude, but of course he didn't care..."

I hummed, nodding along as my best friend, Y/BF/N, rambled about an encounter she'd had with one of her neighbours, but I was also glancing around the hallway casually. It was the end of the school day and I was waiting for Y/BF/N to collect her books from her locker so we could go, but she easily got distracted.

Apparently so did I though, as my eyes fell upon Lucy Gray Baird, a talented musician and outsider in my grade, part of a group called the Covey that everyone either tended to avoid or fell in love with for their musical charm. I always found her fascinating, beautiful, as many others did, but she had a boyfriend which pretty much meant there was no chance there. Still, it didn't hurt to admire her.

She was talking to another member of the Covey, Tam Amber, when she accidentally walked into none other than the mayor's daughter, Mayfair Lipp. It wouldn't have mattered so much if there wasn't a clear tension between both girls.

"If only you could open your eyes like you open your damn mouth," Mayfair snapped at her, making passers-by glance their way, listening in.

"Was an accident," was all Lucy Gray said, and she didn't seem very apologetic.

Mayfair scoffed. "'Course it was. A lot of things with you seem to be, don't they?"

Lucy Gray rolled her eyes as Tam Amber tugged her away, the two girls going their separate ways. Y/BF/N, who had stopped talking to observe the argument with everyone else, tried to stifle her laughter.

"Wow, their hatred for each other does not seem to be going away, does it?" she commented to me.

"Do you know why they don't like each other?" I asked, curious.

Y/BF/N shrugged, closing her locker. "Mayfair's jealous, I think. Dunno why, since she's literally the mayor's daughter and the Covey are just a bunch of weirdos singing for their supper."

"They aren't weird," I corrected her as we walked outside. "They're talented. A little different, is all."

"Same thing," Y/BF/N mumbled. "Don't go saying that to your dad. You know how he feels about them."

I tried not to laugh. "He feels like that about anything fun."

Y/BF/N cracked a smile, before chuckling. "Very true."

My father was the head peacekeeper of our district, a very strict man who was a little too overprotective for my liking. Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for the hard work he put in which meant I could live in the nice part of town and never struggle to have a meal on the table. That was something not everyone in District 12 could count on. But it also meant he hated anything that wasn't to his standard.

He had high hopes for me, hoping I'd land a rare but possible job in the Justice Building when I finished school. It wasn't too far fetched considering I was a straight A student. But he also thought I was a goody two shoes who followed the rules – oh, how that couldn't have been far from the truth. If he ever found out how I snuck out at night to visit the Hob and flirt with most of his unit, I was certain he'd have a heart attack.

Being the head peacekeeper's daughter meant that it was out of my hands when he had to attend something important and I, too, had to be present. For example, today was Mayfair's birthday and the mayor had thrown a formal affair in her honour, of which my family had been invited to.

I tolerated Mayfair, but despite our similar stance in society, we didn't share anything else in common. She was too snarky and easily irritated and always killed the mood, so I remained polite with her and that was it. Her party was as boring as she was, full of the mayor's friends, the odd Capitol resident from her dad's circle, and their kids whom I wasn't sure Mayfair even spoke to. If she had any real friends, they weren't here.

Her home was pretty big, for a District 12 house anyway, which made sense since the mayor was the richest in the district, though poor by any other Panem standard. I kept to myself during her celebrations, occasionally chatting with my mum and her friends or picking at the snacks table. That was until a special performance, dedicated solely to Mayfair from her father himself, was announced. An amused grin fell on my lips when I saw who it was.

The Covey.

"Ladies an' gentlemen, how are we feelin' this afternoon?!" Lucy Gray said into her mic at the front of the space cleared in the huge dining room.

Everybody began to clap as I saw the mayor tugging his daughter to the left of the makeshift stage. To say she was angry was an understatement. But if Lucy Gray had any qualms with the arrangement, she didn't let it show.

"This one's for the birthday girl," Lucy Gray continued, smiling widely at the glaring girl in question. "Happy birthday, dear Mayfair."

After the count of three, the Covey were plucking their strings, banging their drums and joining together in a melodious rendition of 'Happy Birthday', and I tried very hard not to laugh as Mayfair was forced to endure it all. To be fair, the Covey were great, and when they performed several songs after that, half the party were cheering them on, either drunk or genuinely amazed by their talent.

Once they'd finished performing for a moment and took a break, Mayfair stormed off with her father in tow, who was attempting not to draw attention to the mishap with his party guests. Again, I couldn't help but stifle my laughter at the turn of events.

Lucy Gray caught my eyes again though, as she was approaching the snacks table I was sat at the edge of, in search of something.

"You guys performed great out there," I said to her when she was close enough, and she glanced up at me, before recognition flashed across her face and she began to smile.

"Why thank you."

"Bet you loved the gig," I said lightheartedly, and it took her a moment to realise what I was implying when she began to laugh.

"It wasn't ideal," she said in a low yet amused voice, "but a job's a job. And technically Mayfair's daddy hired us, not her."

I chuckled to myself. "Hey, it was pretty funny to witness. I'm not complaining."

She shot me a disapproving look as she tossed a grape into her mouth, but a playful smile was breaking out on her lips.

"I didn't know you and Mayfair were so close," she said with intrigue, flipping the conversation to me.

"We're not," I corrected. "Kind of a package deal when my dad's invited to these things. But your performance certainly made this whole thing worth it."

She began to smile, cheeks turning pink slightly. "You've seen our performances enough times now. You ain't sick of me yet?"

I gasped sarcastically. "Lucy Gray, I could never be sick of you. What nonsense are you talkin' about?"

Her smile widened with amusement, before her eyes flickered behind me. "Your daddy's coming. I should go. Wouldn't want him to find out about your sneakin' out and blame it on me."

"As far as he knows, you're a stranger," I played along with a teasing wink, before straightening up and turning around to face my dad.

I heard Lucy Gray walking away behind me just in time for my dad to smile down at me.

"Y/N, how are you enjoying the party?" he asked.

I smiled innocently. "It's great, dad, thanks for bringing me."

He nodded. "Good, I'm glad."

I glanced over my shoulder as he began to talk about what the mayor was saying to him earlier, searching for the Covey girl. Then I spotted her, talking to her family across the room and also shooting me a glance, her cheeky smile on her lips, mirroring mine.

A little flirting didn't hurt anybody, right?

With my father's job came many responsibilities that meant he had a lot of late nights at their base camp, including the weekend when I sneaked out the house to meet Y/BF/N at the Hob and have some fun. It was difficult at first, making sure I timed it right so my mum would be asleep when I left and also generally sneaking downstairs and out the back door. But the more I did it, the easier it became, and soon enough it was second nature.

By the time I reached the Hob tonight, everything was in full swing. The Covey were performing as usual and everybody was up and dancing. I found Y/BF/N at a table, flirting with some boys from our grade. It didn't take long for me to join them, and between the two of us, we landed free drinks just because we played our cards right.

It was so freeing at the Hob, not having to worry about my dad breathing down my neck or about being such a goody two shoes in his eyes. No, here I could do whatever I wanted. The night was always young and nobody could stop me from having fun.

I found myself dancing around with a peacekeeper, Terrence, who had finished his shift for the day and always happened to be around when I did. He'd been flirting for a while and it was easy to play along, have a little fun.

"It's too bad I can't be lookin' for a wife," he said with a boyish grin as he spun me around. "You'd be my first choice."

I tried not to laugh as I wrapped my arms around his neck. "Yeah, that's too bad for you."

"Your dad would kill me if he knew what I was doing," he said, leaning in close for a kiss.

But I tilted his head and pressed one to his cheek instead, before saying in his ear, "Good thing he won't ever find out, right?"

He snorted. "Right."

I smiled contently, before letting him spin me around some more. It was always so easy to do what I wanted here without the fear of it getting back to my father because either everyone was scared of him and what power he held, or they knew it was my word against theirs and my father would never believe them. Besides, I was doing no harm. Some people just wanted a dance and a little flirting, which was exactly what I gave them. What was the big deal?

After finishing my dance with Terrence, I joined Y/BF/N's side again, grabbing her hands and pulling her onto the dancefloor for one final dance for the evening. She laughed, letting me, and we began to chat as we swung about gently.

"How was your dance with Terrence?" she asked with amusement. "You still leadin' the poor boy on?"

"It's not leading him on if he knows it's just a dance," I reminded her. "Besides, it can never happen. He's in my dad's unit. And I don't even like him like that."

"You just flirt with him for fun," she said sarcastically, but I grinned anyway.

"Duh."

Laughing again, she let me spin her around, and then my eyes found sight of Lucy Gray beside the stage. She was talking to her boyfriend, Billy Taupe, the two of them looking awfully cosy with one another. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, knowing it was just an irrational jealousy, nothing more. I'd never even hinted that I'd liked her, and she'd been taken for a while now, but it was easy to wonder what if.

"You're staring," Y/BF/N noticed, before following my gaze. "Ooh, Y/N, you've gotta let that one go. She's trouble, I heard."

"I didn't even say anything," I defended myself.

"You don't need to," she said knowingly. "Your face says it all. And I'm warning you now. It's not worth it."

I rolled my eyes lightheartedly. "Yeah, yeah, just keep dancing, idiot."

She stifled a chuckle and we got back to it, but not without me stealing one last lingering glance at Lucy Gray.

Of course, after that evening, news of her and Billy Taupe travelled all around school. Rumour had it that he'd cheated on her with Mayfair and, as a result, they'd broken up. Of course it was horrible to hear, but admittedly, the first thing I wondered was did I finally have a chance?

Almost two weeks after hearing the news of Lucy Gray's breakup, I was at the Hob again. I'd been watching the Covey perform all evening, though this time without Billy Taupe who was permanently out of the band it seemed. I'd been waiting for Lucy Gray to be free so I could attempt to make a move.

And after what felt like forever, she finally took to the bar to have some water, and I sucked up a breath before approaching her with a skip in my step.

"Lucy Gray," I started with a smile, earning her attention. "You okay?"

She took a sip before nodding at me. "Yeah, just havin' a break."

"Just a break from singing, right?" I asked, making her quirk a brow. I continued, "Because I'd love to ask you to dance."

A smile grew on her lips, matching the sparkle in her eyes. "I've seen you around, Y/L/N. You probably ask everyone that, don't you?"

I resisted the urge to laugh. "Without sounding big headed, they ask me. So, no, not everyone. Just you. I'd like to dance with you, if you'll have me."

She pursed her lips, eyes flickering between mine considerately and in a way that purposely left me waiting, hoping she'd say yes. Finally, she sighed lightheartedly. "Well, I suppose if you'd like it, who am I to decline?"

My smile widened as I put out my hand and she gladly accepted. The rest of the Covey were playing a song slow enough to have us swaying to the melody, joining the other dancers on the floor.

"You're pretty good at this," Lucy Gray mumbled with amusement, hands wrapped around my shoulders and her head looking over it so I couldn't see her expression.

"Can't be stepping on your toes now, can I?" I said quietly, as to not interrupt the momentary peace that had washed over the Hob. "What sort of impression would that make?"

She snickered. "And why would you be tryin' to make any impression, darlin'? It's just a dance, ain't it?"

A smile crept on my lips. "That it is. But you never know."

She pulled back for a moment, honey-coloured eyes glancing between mine as if trying to decipher my words. I thought I was pretty straightforward, but she clearly didn't agree. Finally, her smile mirrored mine and she leaned her head on my shoulder as we swayed to the song.

It was only a few minutes long, of which, despite my apparent calmness, I was a little nervous to be dancing with such a beautiful girl. I hoped she couldn't feel my heart racing between us. It certainly didn't help when she began to hum lowly, clearly knowing the words to Maude Ivory's ballad, and the deep reverberation of her humming echoed in my ear.

When the song came to an end, everybody parted and applauded the band for their song. Meanwhile, Lucy Gray pulled apart, hands moving from my shoulders and to my hands, squeezing them gently.

"Thanks for the dance," I said to her with a suppressed smile.

"Thanks for askin'," she replied.

My smile was permanently fixed on my face as I watched her walk away, back to the stage for her next number. It wasn't until Y/BF/N appeared out of nowhere, patting me on the back, that I was pulled from my Lucy Gray-induced stupor.

"Someone's crushing," she teased, and I simply ignored her as I glanced back at the brunette onstage.

I was lucky she was giving me a chance at all.

After that initial dance, it became almost tradition to dance with her every time I could, and she always accepted, for some reason giving me the time of day. Visiting the Hob had a new, exciting meaning now, and not just to have some fun fooling around.

Getting to know her more, hearing her talk about her love of performing or something that happened to her that day, meant we were growing closer. Not quite friends, but not anything less either. We'd see each other around school and greet each other, or she'd walk past me in the markets and flash me a smile. Y/BF/N thought I was insane to like her, but I couldn't help it.

A few weeks after that initial dance, she was rambling about some frustrating things before her show, including her shoes not tying quite right, or the step on the stage being a little dodgy and making everyone trip up. One of her complaints was about her red lipstick, which had officially ran out and was her favourite one to wear for performing. Lipstick and makeup in general were rare finds, and she must have searched around a lot to get it, but now she couldn't replace it, not for a while anyway, and it was upsetting her more than she let on.

I couldn't help it, of course. I had to rectify the issue. So, I found a way to trade some meaningless things at the markets in exchange for a red lipstick, one that looked fresh from the Capitol and that I knew Lucy Gray would love. Later that evening, after sneaking out of my house, I headed straight for the garage behind the Hob that the Covey had claimed, where they prepared for their shows.

When I entered, everybody was doing different things, from tuning their instruments to fixing their hair.

"Lucy Gray, Y/N's here!" someone shouted in a teasing voice, and I didn't get chance to see who as Lucy Gray suddenly appeared, stealing my attention.

"Hey, darlin', what're you doing here?" she asked with a bright smile, looking as beautiful as ever.

"Just wanted to wish you luck," I told her, returning her smile. "And of course, bring you a little something."

Her dark brows knitted together above confused eyes, and I took the lipstick from my jacket pocket before holding it out to her.

"You were saying how you felt weird performing without it," I explained as she curiously took it to inspect it, "so I got you another one. Can't have the iconic Lucy Gray without her iconic red lipstick, can we?"

An amazed smile grew on her lips as she looked at the colour, and I couldn't stop looking at her.

"Y/N, this... how did you get this?" she asked with a laugh, meeting my gaze.

I shrugged, and she rolled her eyes before hugging me.

"Thank you so much," she said gratefully, pulling back to grin at me. "I... I don't know what to say."

"You don't need to say anything, just wear it," I said.

She laughed again before going up to the mirror hung on the wall, applying the lipstick as she always did before  every show. And when she turned around, I knew I'd made the right choice. As always, she stole my breath away.

"You look beautiful," I told her truthfully. "But you always do."

The pink tingeing her cheeks was contrasted to the deep red of her lips, but she remained confident as she stepped towards me knowingly.

"There's only one way to truly test it," she said, and I didn't get chance to ask what she meant before she pressed a slow but firm kiss on my cheek.

I was dumbstruck, not expecting that at all, and she pulled back with a satisfied smile. Her hand ghosted my cheek, thumb rubbing gently on the inevitable lipstick stain on my face.

"I'll see you out there," she said, dropping her hand but not her smile. "Thanks again, Y/N."

Still reeling at the sensation of her lips on my cheek, I couldn't find the words to reply. She laughed before returning to the Covey, and somehow I found myself walking to the Hob to sit with Y/BF/N. As soon as she spotted the lipstick on my cheek, the laughing and teasing began, but it didn't mean much when Lucy Gray walked out onstage, her matching red-painted lips curved into a grin.

It was easy to fall quicker and harder for Lucy Gray after that, so much in fact that the only thing I wanted to do was kiss her for real.

No matter how much time we spent together, the shameless flirting and banter wasn't enough. I didn't want to be platonic, I wanted more, and I was sure she might have wanted it too.

One evening at the Hob, we were both sat at the bar chatting. Well, she was chatting and I was very much distracted by the sharp curve of her jaw and the curly ringlets of hair that kept spilling into her eyes and the way her mouth moved with each word she spoke and–

"You're not listenin', are you?" she asked lightheartedly, humoured smirk on her lips, matching the quirk of her brow.

That seemed to be the final straw for me, and I couldn't help but lean in, kissing her. Only as I did it did I realise the insanity of my actions, the carelessness, and I pulled away just as quickly. Before I could even scold myself for acting so recklessly, endless apologies on the tip of my tongue, something caught my eye from behind her.

My eyes widened when I recognised the person who had just walked into the Hob. It was my father, the head peacekeeper who hated coming in here because he believed it was a distraction and a bad influence. He was here, and he'd just walked in with some of his peacekeeper friends.

And I was sat in here, a little too close to a girl he also deemed a bad influence. Oh, shit.

"My dad," was all I could get out, before I forgot everything that had happened with Lucy Gray and immediately threw myself over the bar, hiding behind it.

"What are you doin'?!" Lucy Gray leaned over, looking down at me with a puzzled expression.

I couldn't have hunkered down anymore if I tried. "Dad. Doorway. Now!" I whisper-shouted, as if he'd suddenly hear me from all the way across the room.

She must have looked and recognised him as her shadow disappeared and she was no longer trying to talk to me. As I formulated a plan to escape, hoping the full house and loud music would be the perfect distraction, I heard a familiar voice nearing.

"Commander Y/L/N!" Lucy Gray exclaimed loudly, and my heart sank at the possibility of getting caught. "Hi!"

He hesitated, before responding, quite literally just above me. "Lucy Gray, right? The Covey. You performed at Mayfair's birthday a couple of months ago."

I could practically picture the grin on her face as she answered enthusiastically, "The one an' only!"

Sounding a little more laid back than usual, he said, "It was an excellent performance."

"Why, thank you, sir," she replied kindly.

It was quiet between them for a moment, as he ordered a drink with the bartender who thankfully seemed to understand why I was hiding right next to his feet, but he mustn't have left afterwards, as Lucy Gray spoke up.

"Oh, they'll bring your drinks to your table, sir."

"It's fine, I'll wait," he said dismissively, and Lucy Gray merely hummed in response, but I didn't hear her leave.

My heart was racing as I didn't dare move a muscle. My father was stood right next to me, only a bar between us, and I was sure he'd kill me if he knew I was here. Why the hell was he even here?! This was so unlike him!

But no, I couldn't think about that right now. I could only focus on leaving before he discovered my presence.

"So, are you performing here?" my dad asked Lucy Gray in an awkward attempt at filling the silence. He was never good at small talk.

"Uh-huh," she responded just as awkwardly, and I appreciated that, despite my previous mistake with her, she was still willing to keep my secret.

"Nice," was all he said. "I look forward to it. The officers say you're really good."

She didn't reply, must have smiled or nodded or something, because the conversation ended and I was back to hearing the blood rushing in my ears.

After what felt like forever, I heard the bartender serve my dad his drink, and then the latter wished Lucy Gray a good evening before leaving. I didn't dare move, not until I was certain, but Lucy Gray banged the top of the bar to get my attention.

"He's on the other side talking to some officers," she assured me.

"I need to leave out the back," I said, not showing my head just yet. "He'll kill me."

"Okay, just wait," she instructed, and I did just that until I realised she had rounded the bar and was holding her hand out to me. "Come on."

Accepting her hand, I let her keep a look out before she dragged me through the back and out the door, away from my father's prying eyes.

A sigh of relief escaped me as I was in the clear, and Lucy Gray was laughing at my expense.

"That was close," she said between laughter, glancing back as the door closed behind us.

Straightening up, I nodded in agreement. "It was. Thanks for the assist."

She settled on an amused smile before her eyes met mine and her expression softened. "You know, you were in the middle of somethin' back there."

And just like that, the mortifying realisation of kissing her returned to memory, and I was instantly about to apologise.

"Yeah, I–"

She cut me off with a kiss, just as abrupt as mine, but unlike me, she didn't pull away, and I was left to melt into her lips, savouring the warmth of her skin pressed to mine. Her hand cupped my cheek, fingertips pressing down gently, and I sighed into her lips as she began to pull away for air.

"That was... unexpected," I muttered, lips still tingling.

She tried not to laugh. "As unexpected as you kissin' me before?"

I exhaled, slightly embarassed, and she licked her lips before taking my hand and squeezing it gently.

"You should probably head home before your daddy finds you out here," she said, a hint of humour in her voice.

"Home, right," I agreed, before meeting her eyes. "I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

She grinned. "See you then."

I smiled softly before kissing her hand and leaving. It was safe to say I couldn't sleep the rest of the night, my only thoughts of the curly-haired Covey girl who'd stolen my heart.

[kelbottumbles]

So I FINALLY got to 7x04 and I have FEELINGS!!!

Just a quick reminder that I started 9-1-1 at season 8 this past September, and when I quickly fell in love and got sick of waiting for a new episode each week, I started the series from season 1 and have been meticulously watching an episode or 2 every night after we put the kid to bed. We also concurrently watched the season 8 episodes as they came out so I'm up to date there too.

So, what I'm saying is I knew about Tommy. And I knew they got together in season 7. And I was honestly really looking forward to it, despite already being a mush-brained Buddie clown. I could ship Buddie while still enjoying Buck’s Bi-wakening - especially because I knew that Tommy would eventually leave. As Alexis Rose would say - I love that journey for Buck.

I didn’t go into season 7 loving Tommy, because I didn't love how he treated Hen and Chim, though I didn't hate him because the show did illustrate that he grew as a person before leaving the 118. But in 7x04 I was sooooo mad at him for stealing Eddie from Buck like that lol And I was mad at Eddie for letting him! Can I tell you that I've never screamed into a pillow so much while watching 9-1-1 as I did in this episode??

Anyways. My thoughts.

1. BOTH Eddie and Buck had crushes on Tommy. Eddie didn't just find a new friend otherwise he wouldn't have totally DITCHED Buck and not realize how much it was hurting him. He is 100% gay/bi/pan/not straight. It was the same kind of crush as you'd get on an older sibling's bf/gf when you were a kid... something that isn't supposed to work out. You're not expecting any results, but still you want their attention and to be around them because they're so cool and dreamy and being around them makes you feel special. Eddie was also 100% oblivious to the fact that this was a crush because he is so repressed that he doesn't even fully acknowledge his love/feelings for Buck (which are clearly there).

2. Buck was NOT jealous of Eddie spending time with Tommy because he wanted to be the one spending time with Tommy himself. He was jealous because he loves Eddie and was jealous that Eddie would care about anyone more than Buck! When Eddie asked if he knew how it felt to just click with someone new and Buck was like "ummm yeah" he was talking about how he had clicked with Eddie, not that he had also clicked with Tommy.

3. I think Eddie being a dummy and indulging his crush and leaving Buck out pushed Buck right to Tommy. Buck wants to be with EDDIE, but in his mind, Eddie clearly doesn't want to be with HIM. And then here is this super cool, super new, super interesting guy that yeah, sure, he has a crush on. And that guy actually *kisses* Buck. He doesn't dance around his feelings for 6 years like Eddie did. He is decisive and knows what he wants and WENT for it, and he chose Buck! All Buck wants is to be chosen. And if Eddie isn't going to choose him, then why not go for Tommy?

So, yeah. That episode as a Buddie lover was so hard to watch, but also said SO MUCH abiut their relationship, and just cemented their endgame status for me. It was just Buck and Eddie misplacing their feelings for each other on a crush on a cool helicopter pilot, and when Buck got kissed he was like "someone wants me? Chooses me? I'm all in!"

I needed a break after that episode before Buck came out to Eddie but I'll continue tonight and I'm sure gain more insight. But for now i just wanted to say that these boys are so dumb lol god I love them!

[sennenrings]

my (perhaps controversial) marauders sexuality headcanons

remus: I think remus is bi if only to cover for his canon feels for tonks. It probably takes him a long time to come to terms with the fact that he likes men because he so obviously likes women and you clearly can't like both, but once he discovers what bisexuality is he's cool with it. And I think he has a preference for men. Man or woman though, you have to come onto him. I can't see remus putting himself out there at all, any kind of relationship he has is set up by james.

sirius: sirius is gay and I truly believe that. His gay awakening was James but he kinda brushes that off as just really close friendship. And I think it is just really close friendship, he doesn't have any sexual feelings for James. So he'll date and sleep with a lot of women, always wondering why it doesn't feel right. But eventually he'll figure out that he's gay, have a pep talk with James, and then go back to his usual charming, confident self. He definitely wouldn't flaunt it, it's still the 70s, but he would be out to his friends and at some point stops publicly dating women.

in the case of wolfstar I prefer it when remus is the one having a sexuality crisis. I appreciate when it's sirius but I just think out of the two of them, sirius would be more confident in his sexuality.

james: he's straight to me im so sorry. HOWEVER he doesn't think it's gay to kiss the homies so they were kissing in that dorm room ALL the time. He would also cuddle with everyone after the full moon, it's their tradition. But anyway I think he really is only attracted to women and he's very secure in his masculinity.

peter: he's also straight to me but he DOES think it's gay to kiss the homies and he would be homophobic about it for a week until james and sirius peer pressured him and told him it wasn't actually gay. And during the post full moon cuddling he prefers to stay as a rat because that definitely means it isn't gay. But sometimes he'll cuddle in his human form just for fun. He definitely gets less homophobic over the years. Unlike james though he isn't as secure in his masculinity so when they're around other people he really tries to make himself seem as straight as possible.

lily: I don't really see her as anything but straight. But she would have very close relationships with her female friends. I also think that she would be open to trying anything once and would have sex with a woman and come out of it being like "that was fun but I'm definitely straight"

marlene: she is a mega lesbian. I think her awakening would be her dorm mates gossiping about how hot sirius is and marlene is totally repulsed. She would still date exactly one man before she actually came to terms with it though. After that, I think marlene is a deeply private person, and it's harder for women to be gay, so I don't think she's as confident in her sexuality as someone like sirius.

mary: I think she's bi with a preference for women. But I think she would repress that side of her for a number of reasons and would exclusively date men until she's like, 24 or something. Mary wouldn't let the repression affect her friendships with women though and I think she would feel closer to her friends than to any man.

regulus: I pretty much exclusively see him as straight. If he was bi or gay I think he would repress that side of himself because he knows that he has to carry on the Black family name and make an heir. If he had lived long enough I think he would have married some random pure blood woman, whoever he thought would appease his family. To think more positively, I think regulus could genuinely develop a good friendship with a nice (probably Slytherin) girl and be fine with marrying her and have a decently fulfilling life.

[rosenecklaces]

He'd also be pissed off if he saw that people were shipping him with Eris . Like canon Eris left a vulnerable injured woman in the woods on her own . Canon Eris called constantly calls her a slut and other regarding words because she slept with Cassian

Azriels mom was a part of a place that normalised the type of behaviour . He hates Eris . Lucien is no better he saw a woman suffering from abuse and did barely anything and called it a day and let the abuse continue . He tried to drag her back to the SC .

Both of these dirty men are doing this whole also knowing that their own mother is suffering immensely because of their fathers ( including Helion here , he knows what happening the person he apparently loves)

Eris IS a COWARD and so is Lucien

Oh absolutelyyyyy. Like, listen, when it comes to shipping, I'm not about to sleep with one eye open just bc people find x or y compelling with Azriel or whatever. We do know that no matter what, pairings will exist in any fanbase even if it makes no sense

But yeah, just as with gwynriel, there's aspect of shipping Azris that I would never fuck with or view as interesting, it's such basic gay shipping that I can't for the life of me think about the change they had to put between both of them for azriel to like a beast such as that demonic redhead. Like wowww your shipping a white man canon misogynist with barely narrative presence that's also racially offensive as hell to Illyrians- Azriel (and don't come for fans mentioning it, it was SARAH JANET making it that way by putting brown-black skin mentions of Illyria that's also an irl people btw, not me) with said brown fae that is known as a "lesser" and hates this guy's guts? How original, how never seen before!!

*It's actually crazy how often this happen in fandom tbh, like bigots x visually gendered/sexually/racially profiled character, master x slave, oppressor x oppresed etc like... sure, azris isn't necessarily a victim and abuser dynamic at all, but it's the weirdnesses from one high fae trashing Az plus his people literally "lower" fae bloodline without being there, or experiencing anything Illyrians be doing firsthand that gets me. And in fucking Eris case he's just as damn terrible as this "animals" as he calls them so even his hypocrisy is CRAZY in the first place. Let a skinny white man have the equivalent of 5 seconds of screentime and people lash onto him immediately I fear and I'm pointing that out since it's a known phenomenon- I'm a whole ass fujoshi trust me I KNOW how it goes, it's even a known subject in Tumblr bc more often than not also sideways women's narratives. It's always the random white twink doing the Yaoi rounds but best believe: a black skinned Eris wouldn't went that well. I mean... Look at Helion and Rhys ship, they made waaaay more sense, they're genuinely close friends, Helion is canonically bi and has expressed interest on him+ his brothers yet somehow they aren't a big thing as a ship as it COULD be with that much ammo? Alas, I do wonder how the hell is Eris supposed to meet Lady of Rosehall with a straight face like sure his mom might've had went through something similar but he's dealing with it wayyyy different than Azriel did lol "hello ma'am that was in the same situation as my mom but I don't do anything about it bc of my evil dad that made me the evil I am, but it's okey bc I'm hot and young- have I expressed how I think your whole race is full of barbarians and lower IQ folks? Oh no, not you I guess, and not your son... Uhm, sometimes, I do call him a bastard dog if I want to. Anyways yeah ask things about me and my past, absolutely do not ask me about my treatment of women though, that's just gossip to ruin my image of course uh, also don't ask my little brother if I may or might not committed a femicide to his first girlfriend, and do not meet Mor! That bitch is a liar, while i, The Dude That Grew On the Known Liars Redheads Court- am an honest man!... But also don't ask your son's bestfriend Nesta how I talked to her or grabbed her ass, that was a ONE time thing don't worry about it I'm gay and safe<3"

[suguri-shark]

It's only a few, *checks calendar* nine days late, but it's pride month! So I thought I'd share my head cannons for these guys haha. They're only personal head cannons of course but this is whats gonna be represented in my AU stuff (I have two, one with both Juliana and Florian, and one with my player character)

So! I'll go ahead and explain my head cannons, starting from left to right!

So, Camine is an ally in my headcannon! I think if the right situation arose she wouldn't be against dating a girl, but I don't think it's really something she thinks about often so she just identifies as straight, but she's very supportive of her brother and will beat anyone up who tries to bully him for it, although sometimes she does tease him herself.

Kieran is bi in my headcannon, I think like Carmine he didn't really think about it much and kind of just assumed he was straight, but after he met Florian he started to question it and realized he likes both. He is also in a relationship with Florian!

Florian is gay in headcannon, he actively crushes on a lot of guys but only actually likes Kieran(this makes him jealous sometimes.) He's identical twins with Juliana.

Arven in my headcannon is demi! He usually focuses more on his own thing than love and doesn't have much interest in pursuing it. He thinks of Florian and Juliana as sort of younger siblings and they think the same of him, being an older brother type of influence. He has a very good relationship with both of them but is closer to Florian.

Juliana is! Well she's something! I don't think she has an overall label in mind but she's definitely some kind of queer. She's in a relationship with Nemona, although it took her a while to be able to confess and Nemona was not picking up on her feelings at all.

Nemona is pan in my headcannon! She doesn't really care about gender or anything like that when it comes to relationships, everyone is on equal footing to her, especially if they want to battle. (she is hyperfixated on battling and will not be stopped, she still loves Juliana very much though.)

Penny is lesbian in my headcannon uvu. She's calm about it irl but she's down bad on her social media. She totally has a crush on Juliana and Florians mom lol.

And there we go! that's my headcannons uvu I have headcannons for the BB E4 and am thinking of ones for the team star leaders as well but thought I'd just start with these guys haha

[lapdogchase]

trying to draw lines of who's queer and who's not is unhelpful and a waste of time and i find it's an impossible task to categorize something as uncategorizable as attraction and identity. i've started thinking of it as more of a sociopolitical label as well as an identity label, and in my opinion that's a lot more useful than sitting around trying to decide if a guy who's only ever been attracted to women and ryan reynolds counts as queer or not. because i feel like if, for instance, a straight cis man who does drag and regularly engages in trans activism and sits down with his state senator to discuss making trans sanctuary laws or whatever. wants to identify as queer. i don't really care? i don't think that affects anyone negatively. i think if someone's involved in queer activism and the queer community and they want to use the word queer for themselves i think that's fine and i think it's not any of my business.

also there's this tendency, especially online, for people to go "well what if an allocishet person uses the word queer for themself even though they arent!" and that doesn't feel like a helpful thing to worry about because like.. what if? who is really getting hurt if a gender nonconforming cishet person identifies as queer? or a woman with two husbands? i saw a post along the lines of "we've got straight girls calling themselves fagdykes this is why inclusionism is bad" and i mean. first of all i genuinely just do not believe that. i don't think there are cishet women calling themselves fagdykes. i don't think people who wouldn't be considered queer by cishet society are often proudly declaring themselves part of the queer community in general. people don't paint targets on their backs for fun. i think it's much more likely that the person they were mad at was nonbinary or bi or otherwise queer. but even if they were, like. if for some reason a completely cis completely straight woman wanted to reclaim slurs for herself, she probably has a reason for that. and it's not really our business anyway.

and i think if someone actually is "only identifying as queer to infiltrate queer spaces and cause discord and hurt people," i think that's a them problem, not a "person who uses labels i don't fully get" problem. and i don't think that happens often except for possibly in discord servers, and i think that's generally called "lying" and "being an asshole."

whenever i see stuff trying to draw a line on who's queer and who's not, whether this person can say fag or not, whether it's okay for this person to use they/them pronouns or not, whatever. "are polyamorous people queer?" "can a cis guy use they/them pronouns?" i think of ace/aro exclusionism and bi exclusionism and nonbinary exclusionism. because the arguments sound the same. something about not being "oppressed enough," about "stealing resources" (what resources?), about "well these ones are okay but those ones aren't," about fakers, about people reclaiming slurs they can't use, about how they're "making us look bad," how they're "not queer enough," whatever. and i think it's petty and useless and pretty stupid when we're in the face of a rise in violent transphobia to focus on that instead of actual problems.

i had a friend in high school who talked about how she doesn't understand sexuality and gender and gender roles because she's autistic. she was a lot like me in that we'd both pick at strict definitions of things like "queer" or "trans" and find exceptions to common strict definitions until they fell apart entirely. and she identified with just her name, not trans, not nonbinary, not cis either. not bi or pan or ace or aro or anything else, and not straight. just herself. and she was fully accepting of me and other queer people in our life and was involved in queer activism and was actively deradicalizing her mom from radfem ideology. i don't know if she identified as queer then or if she does now, but if she did/does, i don't see why she shouldn't. i don't think it'd be my place to tell her not to.

i don't know. i just think if someone wants to consider themself queer it's not my business why. because they probably have a good reason. and i think trying to define something like queerness is an impossible task, and i think there's better things to do. it's not hurting anyone for someone you or i see as allocishet to identify as queer for whatever reason. sometimes you don't have to understand the intricacies of someone's identity and life story and why they use certain words for themselves.

[quijotine]

I can't be the only one who wasn’t particularly impressed with Challengers, right?

I mean. The cinematography was great. The music made me feel like I was at a rave in Berlin with the hottest people on Feeld. And the premise was absolutely excellent. Chef's Kiss. Delectable. A pair of bisexual boys being dominated by Mother as they pathetically try to make her their girlfriend? Yes, please. It's the reason I watched it, because it had so much potential.

But.

Is this really it? Is this really all bi representation can come to in this, the year 2024?

I'm just tired.

I'm tired that bisexuals in adult media are represented as these messy, toxic, "don’t know what they want and make it everyone's problem" archetypes that are so demeaning. And that's if they're represented at all.

The bisexuality of Patrick and Art (but more so of Art) is completely left up to your interpretation, and in a world of media that has to come to represent lesbians and gay men in better light, the fact that the same cannot be said about bisexuals is a pity.

I guess, in a way, interpretation is all the bi's have both on and off screen, as it is difficult to pin-point a moment, or a look, or a way of acting that is undeniably Bisexual Coded™️ outside of the sexual spehere.

But that's precisely the point. That is what is so tiring about this conversation. The fact that society's interpretation of bisexuality never moves past a codification, and it's a catch-22. Bisexuality cannot be put in an either/or box. The orientation, and even identity at some points, is fully dependent on context, so it is difficult to grasp by people only attracted to one gender, regardless of context. But because it is contextual and therefore difficult to grasp by society at large, it is often overlooked and misinterpreted, leading to an internalization of negative perceptions and a lack of a third space in the social and mediatic imaginary.

What I am saying is that Challengers had an opportunity to celebrate the bisexuality of Art and Patrick. But instead, it made it a problem. It made it the conflict and called it a day.

And I haven't even mentioned the absolute shit it took on polyamory. Because boy.

It is the same complaint, though. It's about the conflict being based on the miscommunications and unspoken affections of these three people, them clearly being suited for each other, and then throwing in the expectation that the girl HAS to pick one and handling it in the worst possible way. It felt cheap. It felt unintellingent. It felt as "queer" and as "spicy" as that one Saltburn scene was to anyone who has spent more than 5 seconds on Wattpad or AO3: Absolutely mild.

It was baiting at its best for poor polyamory. It was bastardized as a sexy little fantasy the straights and monogamists could indulge in for 2 hours of running time, but now, now, kids. Remember to take your moral of the story with you: Polyamory is Bad, and you can only have The One™️. I mean, there wouldn't have been any toxicity if the conflict had been handled through the lens of normalization of polyamory, and that’s what makes it so frustrating. It would've been funnier, steamier, to have these three come to terms with what they felt and find an arrangement. It would have been more interesting to have Art and Tashi find a way to make ammends with Patrick and reconcile. It would've been wittier if an external force came in between their polyamorous arrangement. Hell, if you wanted to keep your crappy plot, you could've had Patrick fuck Art instead of Tashi as a moment of conflict resolution and that would have sufficed to improve it. But no. Writers in Hollywood have tiny T-Rex hands, and low-hanging fruit is all they're good for.

And look, I get it. I know the movie wasn't supposed to spell it out for you. I know the point was to read between the lines, because this was a tennis movie that wasn't at all about tennis. I know that in the end, there's room for interpretation, to believe that Tashi was hoping they would reconcile and that in the end, they do. I know that. But my point is that the arguments that build the movie's identity as bisexual (and even poly) are blink-and-you-miss-it moments. And on top of that, the qualities that make these characters arguably queer are painted in a negative light.

So, like, yeah. I don’t know who the audience was for this movie. But clearly not the bi's and not the poly's lol.

I saw it with my own polycule, and we couldn't stop raging lol.

[politelymenacing]

If they're not doing a reboot where they're married, and Henry gets to live happily in England with his two dads and go to a better school than he could go to Kansas???? then why are they showing us this?

APPLE TV EXPLAIN!!

Is that not what happened....?

Must've just been in my head, damn. 😛

OK. Here is my pitch to Apple to make it happen (because is just makes sense):

Why do the bit about Henry acting out and bullying a kid?

Why have Henry failing science (scandal!)?

To me, that should have nudged them in the direction of 'maybe he would be better at a new school in England?' rather than 'he'll be fine just as soon as Ted returns to Kansas'.

Then we have the whole Dr. Jacob of it all... they were clearly hinting at his and Michelle's relationship breaking down (thank god. I can't even go into how much that angered me). To me, that was freeing her of her ties to Kansas so she could move with Henry to England. But instead they just kind of maybe left it a bit ambiguous. Are we supposed to believe that Ted and Michelle would ever get back together? Because no.

Also, it was clear that Henry didn't really like him and would benefit from being closer to his Uncle Beard (ugh that bit outside of the pub with them two absolutely got me 😭)

There's also Dottie. Now, I will admit that that episode fucked me up a little (yay, mums...), so I have only rewatched it once, but if I were Ted her attempt at manipulation would have just made me want to get Henry away from her, so even more reason to bring him to England.

Now Ted:

He's doing better. Ok, not amazing, but he is getting regualr thearapy and he can control his panic attacks

He knows the offside rule. He (re)invents Total Football. He is finally understanding the sport he came over to coach.

He is starting to use British terminology for things! He's acclimatised! Honestly, if he'd been there any longer, he'd have been drinking tea.

They specifically show him interacting with his neighbours and the community.

And then you tear him away from all of that. It is beyond cruel.

Also, even though Sassy was not right for him at all, he was maybe starting to show that he could move on from Michelle and let someone else into his life. (I do not have enough time to lay out the Bi Ted agenda, I'm sure people have done excellent metas about it, but let's just say the Bi Triangles will haunt me forever.)

Which leads us to Trent.

I am definitely missing things because I'm just rattling this off the top of my head, but:

Are we just going to forget that Trent got fired for Ted? And then following his bliss lead him straight to Richmond to write a love letter book about Ted.

What was the whole thing about the right idea just sitting behind a couple of the wrong ones?? In the red string of fate episode, no less!

Whatever was going in during Girl Talk with Rebecca.

Why did Ted tell Henry that it was "good to have people in your life that are excited to be around you" literally the episode after Trent was SO EXCITED about Total Football and how Ted got them there. Like. Seriously.

TRENT’S LITTLE FINGER STICKING OUT IN THE RED STRING OF FATE BIT THAT WAS POINTING DIRECTLY TO THE RED STRIPES ON TED'S JACKET ahem.

Trenthouse magazine. TRENTHOUSE MAGAZINE.

The Robert Redford/Dustin Hoffman thing. Followed by a sodding wink.

And then there's the fact they are both middle aged single dads who have so much baggage. They get one another.

Finally. Because this is turning into a bloody essay. The ending. Ted was FOR SURE asleep and dreaming at the end. I don't give a fuck what Brendan said.

You can't get that close to Stonehenge, it all looked too fake, there's no way Ted wouldn't be there, Jane needs to get in the bin.

How did Sam manage to get into the Nigerian team? (Don't get me wrong, I desperately wanted that for him, but it seemed like it was never going to happen??)

Ted thinks Trent will agree to change the book's title, and even dreams up someone he knows (Shannon) to get a copy singed.

OH AND THE GLASSES. Trent has new glasses. Why? Because Ted doesn't want to imagine him with the ones from before because the first thing he said to Trent was a compliment about the glasses.

Basically, what I'm saying. Is that that is what makes most sense from the ending. HOWEVER, Apple TV, if you are convinced it was all real, here are some ways you can keep that ending (more or less) and still have the Romcommunism ending we deserved that will lead to you picking up this reboot idea:

Ted goes back, gets a final copy of The Richmond Way, the dedication says something about how Trent changed the title because he asked, but it was always about Ted, of course it was. Ted realises his huge mistake. (Maybe he goes to rush to the airport, only to find Trent standing outside his door.)

Trent didn't say goodbye to Ted because he was already on a flight to Kansas to wait for him with a sign that says 'Coach Lasso from England". (OK, this doesn't quite fit with the ending, but you know it's a cute AF idea so shhh)

Trent is singing copies of his book and asks who it's for without looking up and just here's Ted say his name.

In all these scenarios someone says "Is this a fucking joke?" END.

And now you are ready to start your spin off/reboot/series 4 with the footage of Jason and Jimmy at the Emmys. You're welcome.

You can have all of these ideas for free (plus whatever other headcanons you get out of me), Apple TV, if you let me play one of the minimal acting required background players in the AFC Richmond Women's team (Because that is a part of the finale i can get behind and I have credentials if you need to verify I can actually play)

[asher-writes]

if you still do the pride month themed oc asks:

3. How did your OC discover themself? Did something cause them to question, or they always know?

6. How does your OC feel about labels? Theirs, or in general?

7. Is there something thaz could question their identity? What?

for any oc of your choice hehe

I love talking about my characters, and I love talking about pride, so! endless questions always acceptable. I'm going with Ari because I love him and also because I'm writing book 2 a lot atm.

Ari is biromantic and asexual, possibly demisexual, or an asexual who likes to give but not receive. He is also transgender.

How did your OC discover themself? Did something cause them to question, or they always know?

Ari has never felt a particular affinity in either direction, for a large part of his life it was just something he didn't think about. He was very much focused on every other element of his life. When he did have feelings for someone, he honestly didn't even process them as romantic feelings at first because the sexual attraction wasn't there. It never would be there for him, either. It wouldn't be until his mid-20s that he would really clue himself in that he actively doesn't desire sex.

During the books, though, he does discover elements of sex that he enjoys. He is very forthcoming about the fact he doesn't like being touched - even non sexually, he finds it overstimulating, he doesn't like the feeling of holding someone's hand or being hugged without time to prepare, and absolutely loathes crowds.

But, there are some things on the more giving side that he enjoys, even accidentally turning Edward on because he was practically using him as a human stim toy...we've all been there.

As for being trans, it was always there at the back of his mind, but he had a dream where he was a man and it haunted him so long that he hallucinated the voice of the goddess coming down to tell him to get the hell out of his little cult town and be free. And so he left, at 16.

How does your OC feel about labels? Theirs, or in general?

Indifferent. Ari isn't very social and doesn't tend to make new friends or meet very many new people - and his sexuality is very much private to him and his partner.

In the world in general, the labels still exist but very few people use them outside of situations it would be needed. It's fairly common and normal for there to be an even spread between straight, gay, bi, etc.

Having said that, Ari doesn't really have the language to explain his sexuality in that sense. A lot of that old world knowledge didn't make it through to the present. The same happens with April, who is aromantic, and January, who is aroace. They both generally self-describe because this is important to them and they're both open to discussing it.

Ari isn't, though, Ari doesn't want words to his experiences and is a very private person. He finds it really difficult to talk about his life, and the person he is.

So whilst April describes himself as "loveless," or "less inclined to marry," and January explains he is "uninterested in the workings of the body as much as the raw material of the mind," (hello can someone spit that sheer poetry at me? Thanks), a lot of the context for Ari's sexuality comes from his avoidance of speaking about it. Or, like, other people's input.

In a conversation between Ari and Eli, he explains that he dislikes the company of most people, which makes it difficult to marry. When the topic of sex is even fleetingly mentioned, he completely throws the conversation away, showing that he really is quite uncomfortable talking about it.

In another conversation, Eli mentions that Ari doesn't pick up on social cues very easily, which makes him more anxious than he lets on, explaining why Ari hyper-emphasises his learned behaviours. Neptune then points out that she knows because she tried to hit on him for two years straight and he wouldn't have noticed if she'd spray painted it on his house.

But when it comes down to it, Edward asks Ari if he'd ever date a man and Ari - bless his soul - basically goes "I don't particularly think gender is a factor in how much I don't want that."

As for being trans, both Ari and Edward being trans is revealed in relative closeness to each other, and neither of them use the term "transgender."

Edward describes himself very typically as "being born one way, and wanting to look another," explaining that he's on testosterone. Edward uses solely he/him pronouns but he is happy with some of his more feminine characteristics.

Ari, here, describes himself as "born a man, in every way except body." in an earlier version, he explains that he could see his mind as being female and his body being male, and some parts of him reflect each - which would probably put him closer to being nonbinary but, hey, we'll see how that turns out together.

Is there something that could make them question their identity?

Short answer: Edward, and new information.

Long answer: Over the course of the story, Ari engages in a sort of shaky trial-and-error with his own boundaries. Largely because he receives new information about himself that he hadn't quite processed before. And that's that he actually does not dislike Edward's company, but, even worse, actually feels like he can learn from Edward.

From there Edward gently coaxes him through the stages of un-repressing his emotions, and that reveals more new information, and so on.

[cindysnuts]

trigun stampede i just finished it and have so many thoughts but i can't possibly process them all so here's a more easily sharable sexuality hc list:

(oh and minor spoiler warning too)

Vash is like ace. he doesn't necessarily crave sex from any humans but could definitely be coaxed into it and fully enjoy it. if his physiology allows for that, i guess. Can probably experience romantic attraction too, but in a demiromantic way. Just demi overall

Nai: also ace but would NOT want to carnally enjoy a human. he'd hate it. has no romantic love for any human. for a plant maybe.

Meryl: idk i'm very gay and don't think about women's sexuality much, but probably bi. she could be straight but idk she has a special something I think. has been following around vash for long enough that she has a strong attachment to him. but is it love? probably. romantic love though? hmmmmm she'll have to figure that one out herself. i would like it more if it wasn't, or if she wasn't the only one... but we'll have to wait and see. she's close to Rem in Vash's mind... so no telling about that one.

Roberto: Old man, definitely straight, has definitely seen it all, has definitely made out with a man. didn't do much for him but them again what has? shared a cigarette with a man once though and it changed something about him permanently. so make what you will

Nicholas: ohhhh bitch. now this is the guy that inspired the list. he's still so young but so tired, he's seen so much. he loved that boy. catholicism has its ways though. not only does he bear that cross for the people he's hurt but for the people he's loved too. all are sins in the eyes of the cross in that way. only ever loved one man but that was enough. seeing straight into Vash's soul though... his vulnerability... his scars he's taken for loving... well let's just say this undertaker had something stir. definitely not love though. no he could never love again. monsters like him can't have love. so he definitely can't love Vash, and he didn't love Livio. or so he keeps telling himself. making that cross a little heavier. not all burdens are beared consciously.

Livio: ah yes, the little boy who fell in love with Nico so hard that he followed him to hell, to be an undertaker. a love so deep it's gonna tear them both apart. definitely gay.

Bluesummers: ah now we're on to the fun ones. these guys don't have the narrative weight to be wrapped in heavy metaphor that I don't wanna disrupt yet, so I'm a little more free with their speculation. this guy seems like he serves Knives like a god, but with that level of devotion who can tell the different kinds of love apart???? me, i can this bitch is flaming literally like f slur.

Zazie: not human, literally a hivemind, so I dont think sexuality really fits them at all. like literally i dont think they even have sex to reproduce?? so sexuality is a no lol. um that said they're also nonbinary cause they literally do not have human sex characteristics let alone human genders. unaligned evil enby you love to see it.

Rem: for catholic metaphor reasons i think she would have to be straight but she's a lesbian its why she didnt marry or have children of her own no i will not be taking questions at this time.

William Conrad: despite having two names that should make me personally feel insane he is instead a beleaguered straight man. he is a Priest, after all.

Ludia and Brad: again, straight probably for catholic narrative reasons, like Wolfwood's sexuality wouldn't be as big a burden if everyone was just gay. that said they are dyke 4 fag pair bonded permanently no i will not be taking questions at this time. actually since they live on the ship outside of the reach of the church maybe they could be gay and have it work narratively... hmmmmm.... homos

Gosef: gay asf you seen his little bowtie??

Prof. Nebraska: transgender mad scientist just loves his son.

Chuck Lee (goon from ep 1 had to google his name): straight subscribes to a space egirl's space twitch channel and buys her used space socks in a cringe fail incel way but he's supporting space swers so we kinda stan in a cringe fail way.

[alitgblog]

s11 vol 4 thoughts

learned nothing in the challenge except that fusebox has forgotten how to draw liquids bc the slime looked so weird on MC

even the love triangle is boring now like can you do something, Tunde? Like yeah okay he's like flirty during the challenge but outside of MC being invited to the sleepover, has he really made the effort to come over and talk to MC and like slander Callums name or something???

I miss Zabrina. I know she and Vida do the same antagonistic things but it's not the same

Esme and Jace is an interesting enough storyline, like I'm not sure how long fusebox is keeping them together and how they're gonna break up tbh so the fact it's not completely formulaic is something. I just wish the non formulaic stuff was happening to MC too.

It's interesting doing a straight route instead of a bi one for MC this time bc I'm sure I'd be more okay with Ruby acting how she is if it was justified by her wanting to pursue MC. But now, with her just in a friend couple and no other prospects, I think she's being kinda rude to Ren, and it hurts me to have to be on a man's side, but from my perspective she's always whining about being in a friend couple. Sure, he's been given more opportunity than her to flirt with other islanders (Vida, Zabrina), but they don't even feel like friends. And so when he is making out with Felicity, I am genuinely happy with him finding a connection. And if this was a bi route, I kinda needed them to make Felicity bi and then do the S6 thing and have MC decide between Felicity or Ruby to keep (i.e., Ren to couple with so she stays in the villa).

And then i immediately regret backing Ren because he betrays Felicity and does a 180 starts going after Anna??? Ruin his character and for what. At least he gets smacked in the face afterwards when Anna says she doesn't want him but will take the ticket back to the villa (but again, doesn't make sense in the context of the format of the show???? I hate them doing that but the sleepover thing in general already fucks with the system so whatever). also such a shame for my game personally bc I actually really like Ren's sprite

rip Felicity you were too pretty to hang out with the rest of the slightly off cast. at least we got to tell off Ren for you 😘

Alternative: MC has already made her decision between Tunde and Callum, just have one of them choose Anna and Ren be upset but outvoted to bring back Felicity (votes could line up bc we didn't need to have Jace come back from the sleepover early???). simply I just yearn that someone else in the villa can be mc's friend and doesn't SUCK (I know we have Esme but seriously? only one friend? Arguably Jace but i dont fw him)

Anna sucks but we knew that. I will say, at least she's got a distinct personality with her acting thing, versus Vida and Zabrina are almost interchangeable. If she was a bit more delusional in her acting career and less successful in her bullying, she would be Lexi.

something about her face looks so much like ava though and I know I kinda came around on Ava mostly bc I enjoy a toxic couple in the villa but I do hope we see less of Anna bc I want different storylines

Shout-out to fusebox writing team this one time bc when Anna was listing her credentials MC and I had the same reaction

Two mean girls in the villa sucks. it was funny when I pretended it was just MC and Zabrina being equally mean to each other but now it's just two embarrassing mean girls saying they want Callum and in his defense he doesn't show interest in either, but he's gonna need to do a little more considering how insistent they both are and how his attempts to shut them up amount to nothing?

Now would be a great time for personality differences. Like if Kane, Ren, and Callum acted differently reacting to these girls fighting for them that would be great and wouldn't even necessarily need to change the plot/branch out all that much. but like if one is more passive and one is more aggressive in saying no, would be a small bit appreciated detail.

If they didn't already pull this last season I wouldn't be surprised if next volume some weird rules come up and MC ends up the single girl and dumped, then come back in a sleepover with Dominic and/or Felicity. although I do think they may bring felicity back somehow? like I feel like she got a big enough moment that they surely don't waste her on just this one volume (though they've done that with people like Tyler ifnyou dont couple with him)

[andersunmenschlich]

hey sorry for the late response I've been working today so I'm responding on my break atm

you definitely wouldn't be able to just know how someone identifies just by looking at them, as you said. the way I think about it is, you don't have to try and define it one way or another if you arent actively trying to pursue a relationship with this person, if that makes sense. like - acknowledging when you find people you aren't usually attracted to, attractive, doesn't necessarily mean you want to pursue a relationship of some kind with them. and it doesn't mean you aren't a lesbian, bi, straight, etc.

if you are wanting to pursue a relationship I think it is a bit important to have a conversation like that - not so much in a "how do you identify and how often" way, but as in "does my attraction to you as a lesbian make you uncomfortable" ;  if it turns out this person identifies as a man 100% of the time, I think it's time to assess where you both want the relationship to go. if you want to continue to pursue it, then there's thankfully other sapphic labels and identities that encompass this experience !  but if it turns out that you aren't comfortable pursuing a romantic relationship anymore, , that's okay too.

I hope that this helps? if you have more questions I can try my best to answer them !

It does help! Thank you again. Don't worry about the late response, by the way: I was in bed asleep. If I lived in Shizuoka my sleep schedule would make more sense: up at 9 or 10 am, bed around midnight? Sure, that's normal enough. But no. Oh well.

I can certainly see how a man might be uncomfortable with being attractive to lesbians! If he thinks lesbians are never attracted to men—well. It's like they're calling him Not A Man, isn't it.

In my experience, though, people are never attracted to me on the basis of my own internal sense of gender identity!

Straight men are attracted to things about me that they associate with women. Gay men are attracted to things about me that they associate with men. And so on. From there, it's always just been a matter of figuring out what (if anything) they want from me and what (if anything) I want from them—and what each of us actually has.

So I think you're right when you say that being attracted to men doesn't mean someone isn't a lesbian! That lesbian is probably attracted to things in men that said lesbian associates with women.

Pursuing a relationship is trickier.

Once you discover someone's gender, the things that initially attracted you to them don't go away—but it's possible for the gender alone to be an attraction-breaker. Same goes for discovering someone's sex, or build, or tendency to fart.

What breaks the attraction says as much about you as what created it in the first place, I think.

A lesbian and a gay man might be attracted to one another only to mutually lose the attraction once he realizes she's a woman and she realizes he's a man: or the attraction might persist because she's drawn to feminine things she perceives in him and he's drawn to masculine things he perceives in her. Once upon a time, they'd both carry on identifying as a lesbian and a gay man, even as they kissed or slept together. Some still do.

In the end, labels are created things that are only useful if the people who use them know what they mean—and the meanings change too often for me, at least, to get prescriptivist about them.

It's good to know where the next generation is heading with these labels!

Thank you for explaining your interpretation of them to me.