#they're low key a married couple at this point

[wolfkcst]

A little annoyed sound leaves the wolf-kissed lips, arms crossed over their chest as they looked up at him. ❝... You didn't answer my question, Raphael. But if you must know... I might have missed you a little bit.❞

continued x @raqhael

[msmargaretmurry]

QUESTION ABOUT HAW do Matthew and Leon ever get married, and if so, who asks who, how does it come about, etc?

i have always assumed they would eventually!! but almost definitely not until after at least one of them retires, although they will be talking about it for a while before then. i haven't thought about it super in detail, but the logistics are something like

matthew is obviously in calgary for four more years after haw, and leon is going to re-sign in edmonton when his contract is up, on a contract that's a few years longer than what matthew has left, then when matthew's contract is up he'll pull the kind of sign-and-trade he did irl to get to a team where they'll both be happy spending their old man hockey years, so he can lowkey manipulate them into having cap space for leon when the time comes, lmao.

so they don't want to get married until they can live together year-round anyway, and also they didn't want to get married while they still had to be super low-key about being together, which they'd still be doing at that point, because they didn't want to risk the team being weird about signing players who are in a relationship. but once they're established on their old man sancutuary team together they'll gradually start giving far fewer fucks about that 😂

anyway they will have started talking about getting married before they move to the same team -- leon brings it up first, not in a proppsal way, just in a very matter-of-fact way one day, i think maybe when matthew is coming to the end of his calgary contract and is stressed about it -- about picking the perfect team, about moving even farther away from leon -- and leon is like, hey. it'd gonna be fine. i love you. no matter what happens i'm still gonna marry you one day so it'll be fine.

and then they spend several years in this state of occasionally talking about marriage but not formally engaged -- to the point where they're, like, discussing theoretical timeframes and venues and wedding parties. matthew is the one who finally proposes properly, during the summer after their first season on the same team, down on one knee and everything, and he's like, "i don't know if this is even necessary at this point but i wanted to say this [sappy, clearly practiced little speech about how much he loves leon and how much loving leon has changed him for the better]"

just because he's older i think leon would retire first -- maybe a couple seasons earlier than planned, because some injury just won't heal right. they had originally said they'd get married when they both retire but matthew's like, hey do you wanna just get married THIS summer. you can be my wag :)"

so they do. and brady cries during his best man speech

[themultifandomgal]

Jay- Hen Party

"Good morning! Rise and shine" I groan hearing Will's voice in mine and Jay's bedroom. The room lights up signalling that Will has opened up the curtains. I pull the bed sheet further over my head to block out the light

"Come on YN up you get. We've got a fun day ahead and you shouldn't be seeing Jay at all today or tonight" I now hear Erin

"Go away" I snuggle into Jay more who tightens his arms around me

"You know that's all arranged marriage bullshit. YN and I have seen each other many times and we aren't backing out of the wedding. So.." again Jays arms tighten "we can stay here all day if we wanted to"

"Hmmm I like that idea" I smile although no one can see me

"I will give you 5 more minutes, no more. Will is going to make breakfast but then your both dressed and ready for the day"

"Yeah yeah" I yawn. I hear the door open then close leaving Jay and I "who decided to give Will a key to the house?"

"You did" Jay mutters into my hair "but if we don't get up they will pull us out of bed kicking and screaming" sighing I sit up and rub the sleep from my eyes. I turn to face Jay who's still lying on his back

"Last day to change your mind" Jay smiles at me

"As if I would" I lean down and kiss his lips "I'll go have a shower first"

After breakfast Jay and I say goodbye to one another. He's got a stag do organised by Will while I've got a hen party organised by Erin. Erin drives me to her place where Natalie, Kim, Maggie, April, Gabby and Sylvie are waiting for me

"Hey girls" I smile greeting everyone

"Put this on" Gabby hands me a sash saying 'bride to be' and a little tiara. I put them on feeling giddy that tomorrow I will be Mrs Halstead

"I can't believe your getting married" Kim says taking my hand in hers

"Honestly neither can I" I squeeze her hand

"Ok so the party bus should be arriving any minute now"

"Wait party bus?" I look at Gabby

"Hell yeah. We're mixing cocktails all day"

"Oh Lord" I run my hands through my hair "I don't want a hangover on my wedding day" I reply to Sylvie

"You won't. Don't worry. We're going to pace ourselves" just as Erin says this the bus arrives

"Let's go" Natalie pulls me out of the door and into the party bus.

We only seem to be driving for half an hour or so before we arrive at funky little bar where we learn to make different cocktails

"How does it feel? You're last night of freedom?" Kim asks

"Freedom? I haven't had that since Jay and I met one another" I laugh "and I wouldn't have it any other way"

"You two make me sick" Sylvie groans making all of us chuckle

"We're just in love. We also know the dangers with our job, that we could loose one another any day. So we want to make the most of the time we do have together"

"Hey, you listen to me. You and Jay will grow old together and retire looking after your beautiful grandchildren"

"Yes ma'am" I reply to Maggie who's pointing a finger at me

"I wonder what the boys are up to. You think they're getting drunk?" Erin asks

"I hope not. I told Jay I wanted us both well rested and feeling good tomorrow"

"Do you think there's stripers?"

"No I spoke to Will and he said it was going to be low key" Gabby says reassuring me, and anyway if there were I trust Jay that he wouldn't look or touch.

We wrapped up the evening with a couple of beers at Molly's before Erin had a text to say that the boys were on their way, which meant we had to leave and go back to her place where we are going to crash for the night. I send Jay a good night text, which he replied to, before going to sleep dreaming about my wedding day with a smile on my face.

[chibimui]

The Apothecary Diaries LN2 Thoughts - Ch13-15

Volume 2: Prologue-ch5 - ch6-7 - ch8-9 - ch10-12

My re-read continues with my thoughts on Ch13-15 which are pretty exposition heavy chapters. We learn a lot about specific characters, and we also get very in-depth descriptions of other characters from 3rd parties that help to influence the readers perception of them.

They're not the longest or the most plot-heavy chapters, but definitely very important for character and world building.

(Warning: These thoughts may contain spoilers from later light novels all the way up until LN15.)

Chapter 13 - Thornapple

Allow me to have a moment to squee at Maomao waking up in Jinshi's bed. Twelve novels. It took twelve novels for these two dumb dumbs to get together and this is something that happens in volume two. Hngggggg. Look, it's just really sweet okay?

Anyway. On to other topics, like this:

Again, I feel so bad for Suirei. She's just following orders, knowing that at the end of it all, she's going to be dead at some point. And not fake-dead, dead-dead.

The thing I want to focus more on though is the fixation Maomao has with the idea Suirei implanted in Maomao's mind - medicine to revive the dead. Maomao is frequently presented as a bit of a "mad scientist" and so it makes sense she'd become somewhat obsessed with this idea of a medicine that can revive the dead, but I also feel like this fixation highlights how young Maomao still is at this point in the series.

As the series progresses, and as Maomao matures and begins learning more seriously about medicine, we move away from the more fantastical "medicine that can revive the dead" to Maomao actually learning the science behind anesthetics. Putting someone under general anesthesia really must have seemed like magic back then. How can you put someone to sleep so deeply you can cut them open, but also have them wake up as if nothing was wrong? It might not be the same as "medicine that can revive the dead", but it's pretty damn close and I love that she gets there one day.

But also low-key love how Maomao apparently managed to learn the basics of a Western language through sheer determination. I say this as someone who is Asian with English as my first language, but I genuinely believe if I actually grew up in Asia I would not be able to pick up English at all. I do not understand European languages at all - learning French was a nightmare and I lived in a bilingual French/English-speaking city for three years!

Jinshi being slightly sassy in this moment is also so funny. It comes so far out of left field if you think about the perfect eunuch Jinshi, and here he is just calling Maomao out in what I imagine to be the most dry, exasperated tone. Natsu-sensei is so good at adding in these funny one-liners from characters sometimes and it's always so funny. It's the type of humor I enjoy a lot.

Chapter 14 - Gaoshun

This is another big info-dumping chapters where we, as the readers, get the ultimate confirmation that Jinshi and Gaoshun are not eunuchs, and even more evidence that JInshi actually has another identity.

Jinshi has been at the rear palace since he was fourteen.

That is wild. You also couple that with the realization that Jinshi has been an object of sexual interest constantly throughout his time there and it's genuinely really disturbing. You hear a lot about women who are "early bloomers" and the terrible experiences they have, and Jinshi has basically experienced the equivalent of that. It's easy to be critical of some of the things Jinshi does to Maomao in the next few novels, but it's kind of genuinely all he knows and he may have also been told that it's okay to do those things as a man.

We also get our first instance of Gaoshun lore drop, which makes sense given this chapter is actually titled Gaoshun.

Married at 16, to a woman who we later learn is many years his senior (I think 8? 10?). Pops out three kids. Gaoshun was busy. Genuinely though, I love the Ma family. I also love how even in a character like Gaoshun we see different ways a character can be multi-faceted. He's a hyper-competent assistant, but is also a total softie dad who cows down in the face of his own daughter, and I love how this story manages to portray this in a way that doesn't take away from Gaoshun's strength or masculinity. If anything, it just makes us think that his wife and daughter are absolutely terrifying forces to be reckoned with (and that is completely true).

This is one of the things I truly admire about Natsu-sensei's character writing. I feel like sometimes when other stories try to write "multi-faceted" characters what they're really doing is juxtaposing two sides, but ultimately we're supposed to only see one side as the "true side" - like the idea of a "strong man" who we learn is ruled over by his wife and we're suddenly now meant to see him as "weak" and "emasculated" because omgggg his wife is the one who makes all the rules lololol, but this isn't the case with Gaoshun at all even once his wife is properly introduced.

I do find it kind of funny though that in this chapter Jinshi actually asks Gaoshun which of his sons had a kid. Because, well. Jinshi. You know Basen. You really think that Basen popped out a kid? Hah. (Ultimately I think this is probably just an issue with clunky translation because in the anime it's pretty clear Jinshi is just politely clarifying that's it's the elder son, rather than actually asking which son, but still, it's amusing to think Jinshi might have genuinely not known).

And ending off my thoughts for this chapter with another observation that Maomao actually sucks at hiding her emotions! She's actually so happy to be going back to working under Lady Gyokuyou, it's kind of cute.

Chapter 15 - Rear Palace Redux

And now we're back at the rear palace because Lady Gyokuyou is pregnant and Jinshi very graciously lends her back to the lady for her safety and care. He will later come to regret his choice in future novels because Lady Gyokuyou knows not to give up a good ally when she has one, but that is for another time to laugh at.

This chapter also drops some interesting observations that Maomao has about the Emperor. Maomao's thoughts about the Emperor are always very amusing given how blunt she is, but it's clear she doesn't dislike him. Ultimately she sees him in a positive light as a ruler, even if her view of him does generally boil down to "sex-crazed old man"--the funny thing is he isn't even that old? He's younger than Gaoshun, but I guess back then your mid-30s is "old". It's also hilarious that she basically becomes the Palace Porn Purveyor. Maomao is learning way too much about her future father-in-law's sex life (actually on that note Jinshi also probably knows too much about his father's sex life.........)

(On a side note, it's been interesting to see anime reactors vehemently hate on the Emperor for very little--basically just that he has concubines. Meanwhile, for me, after he asked Maomao to save Lihua, I had a generally pretty positive impression of the Emperor. I know a bad Chinese Emperor when I see one and it generally starts with them literally not giving a fuck about anyone and anything because they are ~the son of Heaven~. Anyway, I just found the difference in ... I guess cultural context??? interesting).

The remainder of the chapter is Lady Gyokuyou's lady-in-waiting's gossiping about Loulan and Ah-Duo. I didn't highlight anything but I do really like how we get so much outside perspective of Loulan. Again, it plays into Natsu-sensei's general pattern of giving readers one perspective, and then pulling the rug out from under our feet once we actually get to meet the character directly. Currently, Maomao seems very neutral on Consort Loulan, but as readers we certainly are not getting a positive impression of her at all.

I will wrap up my thoughts with this illuminating moment:

No need to be so defensive Yinghua. I think we all get it. We are all Team Ah-Duo.

Until next time!

[ch16-17]

[livrere-green]

I have always pictured old!Zukka quarreling around Ember Island or Wolf Cove. Just quarreling, like what they are—an old married couple—over the silliest of stuff."

...

"You forgot our anniversary that year"

"I didn't"

"Yes you did, you gave me a NAPKIN as a present!",

"IT WAS OUR DAUGHTER ADOPTION PAPERS!"

...

At this point, people is not alarmed anymore, they just low-key gather around to see them fight, they run bets on who's winning every week (they always start the show at 4 pm on thursdays) and once they have a winner, the servants speculate about how cheesy their next date will be (usually the one who wins feels so guilty they end up apologising through ridiculous gestures and to their disgrace, it keeps getting worse).

Usually they pray for Fire Lord Zuko to win, because his date ideas are less outrageous, but the old man keeps losing to the silliest of arguments.

Maybe he just likes dates but Agni, if they had to cover the whole place with flowers again while trying to get the damn dragon not to burn them all, they're gonna lost it.

[fanaticsnail]

Hi snail! I heard you were interested in kdramas so I am here to represent my favorite genre, revenge dramas. I have three recs for you!

1. The penthouse: war in life

It's the longest with three seasons and the most DRAMATIC in the sense of catty rich people drama (these people are hilarious but also low-key evil, even the ones that are meant to be good) full of plot twists and betrayals and all that stuff but it's exaggerated to the point that it's the perfect level of hilariousness. Very dramatic, very comedic.

It's about several families that live in the highest luxury apartment building in Seoul (the richest living in the penthouse, they are also the owners) and a poorer family they live in a smol apartment. They're all trying to get their kids into a prestigious (and rich) classical singing school despite their children's varying levels of talent and generational wealth. So basically there's different alliances and drama between the kids and the parents it's so good.

This is also my parents favorite as I watched all three with them. (after watching myself of course)

2. The Glory

Definitely the heaviest of the three contains graphic bullying but it was inspired by multiple real stories from Korea. But I have to ask you and everyone else to check the trigger warnings first I'm not kidding. It's 16 episodes long and is the most revenge focused on the three.

Dong-eun, the main lead comes from a medium sized town where she grew up basically on her own as her parents weren't really active in her life. She was the victim of horrible bullying by the rich kids at her school and their friends. It gets to the point where she has to give up on her academic dreams and drop out of school and figure something else out at like age 16 because the teachers are eneblers to the bullies and she gets physically disfigured from the bullying. (Burns, again pls check the trigger warnings).

She builds her life back up becomes a teacher and comes back to her small town to get her revenge. Definitely the least romantic and comedic of the three but there is pieces of both.

3. Marry my husband

NGL SNAIL ALL OF THE THREE HAVE MADE ME CRY BUT I CRIES HAPPY TEARS AT THIS ENDING. Also only 16 episodes and is the most romantic of the three! There is a main couple (and adorable side pairs that I absolutely love) and they make sure you know it! Very romantic, very comedic.

Kang Ji-won, my bestie btw, is unhappily married and dying of cancer. After discovering her husband's failure to pay for her treatment she's sent home to discover her having an affair with her best friend.

She, and I won't spoil how, gets sent back 10 years in the past where she resolves to be rid of her shitty husband, now shitty boyfriend, and build a good life for herself. But is this all fated? Can she avoid the shitty friend, shitty boyfriend, and shitty cancer? Or is her chances doomed? WATCH TO FIND OUT

- Humanities anon, or to forever be known as @cherrybombgigi (my side blog)

(pls notice the Bridgerton reference I thought it was funny)

GIGI!!!!!! Humanities anon reveals herself, and it was Gigi the whole time 😭😭😭

Revenge dramas feel like something I would absolutely be interested in. I think I'll start with "Marry My Husband". This one sounds like absolute chaos and I need it 🤌

Love you Gigi. Thank you for your your bridgerton reference. I did get it 🖤🖤🥹🥹

[stormblessed95]

Didn’t yoongi technically come out? Like I might be misremembering but didn’t he once say his type wasn’t restricted to girls, or something along those lines? I’ve been operating on the belief that yoongs was actually Out™️ for a while now 💀 rip if I’m wrong

LMAOOO friend, Yoongi comes out a couple times a year since their debut years (from saying his type isn't limited to women and even describing the type of man he would want, which macho, manly and with a beard lol) and the fandom still likes to pretend he is "just joking" or it's "translation errors" 😂 because of course. I have 3 posts about all of Yoongis queer/rainbow moments already where he is talking about it or wearing pride stuff. Which I'll link here:

My man is so unapologetically queer 🥰 he is just living his life and if you don't want to see, you won't. He doesn't care either way it seems. Lol but honestly, what a good excuse this post gives me to make another YOONGI RAINBOW MOMENTS post from even more things he has done more recently!!

On the D-Day tour, he wore a shirt that said the rumors are true from the LdSS brand which has an openly gay designer who has mentioned in interviews how their core fanbase is "quite queer, gay, and sex positive."

Again on tour, performing with Halsey (one of his besties) who is openly bisexual, under Bi lighting on stage

Seriously, the Bi lighting all through tour lol

The way he giggles over his guitarists and friends flirty jokes with him all the time 🥰😂 honestly, the reaction of falling on the floor giggling, blushing, and kicking your feet in the air when a man proposes to you before killing it on his guitar is both 💅🏼 and VALID

Ally Pup on his D-Day Tour Crew! 😍🥰

Rainbow cake in his Road to D-Day docu

Yoongis admiration for Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. This Twitter thread actually explains it quite well and links to a video further in the thread too, so I'll just make yall go read about it from them. But do go read it

And going back in time just a little bit, when BTS was in Vegas for PTD and Yoongi got the marry me jokes again during the OT7 live stream and he said that marriages in Vegas are legal and possible no matter what your gender, I love him so much

I don't know what ANYONE else wants this man to do. This man is part of our community, like it's sooooo clear. I have 4 posts of him hinting at or out right just saying gay shit at this point lol Let the man live his truth!!

[gem-femmes]

do you see a lot of obvious hypergamy in your circles?

My experience with “Old money”& “New money” in Europe and England 🇬🇧🇪🇺🏛️💰

Europe 🍷📚💼

I come from a young country, so there is no “old money” circle to speak of in the sense of wealth spanning several generations of a family. All money here is relatively recent.

Older HNWIs (my parents' generation) mostly married people from the social circles they grew up in—uni or friends—and they usually became wealthy together. It's also the story of my parents.

In the older generation, I know a few hypergamous couples. Usually, the woman is the second wife/partner to a wealthier older man after his divorce or becoming a widower.

The children of this older generation are my age. Almost all of them are marrying people from the same background/social class. These people are mostly low key and hardworking.

No one is flashy in their everyday life, but you'll eventually find out about expensive cars, boats, yachts, watch collections, numerous properties they're renting out, vacation homes etc.

It's different with people who are the first generation of “new money”, usually self-made men in their 30s and 40s. In these couples who have just entered “new money” circles, I guess hypergamy is more frequent and obvious.

The aesthetic for women in this circle is different flavors of high maintenance. Everyone in this circle, men and women, enjoys showing off to some extent, expensive bags, watches, jewelry, cars, vacations, media appearances.

The “new money” people and children of HNWIs are like night and day, even though we're the same age.

The funny thing is that because pretty much everyone who's rich here made their money in business, these two social classes often intersect, working together as business partners. But socially, there's a very clear divide.

England 🏇🎻🍾

As for my experiences with “old money”, I was educated in England and still maintain ties there. England is populous so there's a huge variation of “new money”, and I won't get into that.

“Old money” English people can fly under the radar of foreigners at first glance because they have all those funny unspoken rules that new stuff and mainstream status symbols are gauche (eg. furniture, electronics, Birkins). Their residences are likely to be falling apart. This is perceived as "character" and "charm" in England.

But then you learn about their niche hobbies such as flying internationally regularly to watch their favorite sports team's matches, hunting in African countries, funding random vanity projects to keep their wayward kids out of trouble (they all give up in a year), and traveling between their various estates to just chill.

I enjoy visiting my English “old money” contacts, they are polite and generous, they can be genuinely sweet. But it's also obvious that they won't ever consider outsiders part of their circle, thus making hypergamy all the more challenging. You don't "network" with these people, the circle is closed.

There's this persistent, slightly sour undercurrent that collectively, they're not taking you seriously at all. Social class is set in stone in England, you don't transcend your station in life no matter how rich you become or what family you marry into.

I detected this undercurrent quite early when I moved to England and it put me off trying to get closer to them in whatever capacity. I didn't feel that it was worth it because I already have money. Hypergamy in this environment, taking into account the cons I sensed, wouldn't be a significant enough life upgrade for me. As an outsider, I could never be sure about their intentions.

Being easygoing and not nosy inadvertently turned out to be the right approach to keep lasting, if superficial connections with them.

There has been some interest of romantic/sexual nature on their side.

An anecdote I can share is once an older gentleman tried to set me up with his “tall and blonde” son. I already knew him well at that point but I still questioned his motive. I was young, sweet and naive, and at the time many wanted to take advantage of these qualities. Or maybe he genuinely thought well of me. Perhaps he wanted to test me, see what I'd do, for pure amusement. Who knows.

[selfshipgushing]

I have been enabled I am now going to overshare about an f/o

He's actually a friend's OC who (my oc/self insert for a game au someone made in a discord server) is dating. I didn't expect it tbh, but I ended up being so down bad for him. Even at first sight I became super interested in that guy that I eventually decided to make my character in that rp pursue him instead.

(I'm gonna use f/o to refer to friend's OC and s/i to refer to mine)

When f/o was first new in that place, he encountered s/i's best friend and it turned out they both knew each other already and he has been looking for her (s/i's best friend) for a year after she ran away

Anyways s/i reached out to the bestie and said "woah I didn't know you knew that guy" then she winged them by making f/o approach them lmao.

Some time after, either days or weeks, s/i visits f/o's office after work when he texts them when he usually ends work for the day. They go to his room for the first time, and when it gets late and they end up sharing a bed after he passes out on their shoulder because he hasn't slept properly in ages (horrible nightmares) and so they carry him to bed and all then sleep in one of the chairs. But little did they know they'll be spending almost every evening and night there soon, also because it just gets lonely. (For more context everyone here's currently stuck in a cult in the mountains and the cult followers get one room per person or smth, also it's hard to know who's loyal and who wants to get out there so far and s/i's best friend is cult married to one of the cult 'higher ups' but is also in love with said cult higher up she married. She wants to get out and live life again tho. S/I also trusted the bestie after being given and moving to her room and finding a note she hid somewhere that said she isn't loyal to the cult and wants to get out. She's married at that point tho and now shares a room with her husband that has guards watching her. And after that, it's when f/o enters the picture)

Something happens at some point and they needed to get sent to the infirmary. Also have I mentioned f/o is a doctor? So like, he helps them and since they now have an IV and need to rest and their room is a floor away, s/i then gets to stay in f/o's room. He carries them and then they offer to spoon him when he insists they sleep on his bed.

I didn't know it would take this much to share about the beginning alone so I'll keep the next bits short

So eventually they kiss but aren't a couple yet

Then weeks/months later (the timeline is wonky) it's the bestie's birthday, f/o and s/i bake together, get to know each other more, then bestie decides to send a picture of f/o to s/i that f/o once mentioned he's embarrassed of but bestie has the picture, f/o gets curious why s/i is acting how they're acting, finds out about the picture, gets flustered as well. Later on while they finish preparing the food to give to the bestie s/i asks what f/o thinks of being a couple and he says he'd love that. He gets dipped and kissed for a short time and low-key wishes it lasted longer.

Those two are a super domestic couple and also had a moment where they think of s/i with f/o's last name, or f/o almost sending an "I want to marry you" in his language after s/i attempts learning his language and saying "I love you" and a bunch of other sweet things to him

The problem now tho is they need to get out with the bestie (and her husband because she won't go without him) before a grand thing that the cult leader announces happens, that day is fast approaching so we'll see how it goes >:)

I had a dream I responded to this but ig not. this is very interesting anon.

[evermetnotforgotten]

Set in the far future.

In many ways, Graham's relationship with his parents was quite simple. Firstly, be kicked out at sixteen because you were a delinquent little shithead who was well on the path to either being shot up on a street corner, or thrown in prison for being the one doing the shooting. Spend twenty-odd years in the wind. Then call dear old mum and dad up on a whim one day asking whether they're free for a coffee and a slice of cake—their choice, your shout.

They’d picked the key lime pie.

Most of their questions, surprisingly, had been in line with that of a normal suburban family. Less about his decades-long absence—the lie about getting out and into a job driving diplomats around seemed to inspire the desired amount of polite disinterest—and much, much more about ‘wait, you're telling us our long lost son is now married to a man?’ In their first few reconnecting dinners Graham had already located and defused the bomb of ‘we'd actually hoped and dreamed of our only son telling us he was only a gay teen instead of in a teenage gang,’ and done similar to the IED of ‘good thing we've changed churches since you were little or blessed Father Derrick would have simply had a stroke between the pews’—along with the total landmine, dear Lord in heaven the nuclear fucking blast of ‘but so… if you're married, doesn't that mean you're Gay now?’

But they were willing, and forthcoming. And surprisingly relaxed about his sudden reappearance in their lives.

All that had been left was for them to finally meet him—his sweet and kind husband, the infamous Lev. Which, apparently, called for dinner at Pete and Cressida's spacious suburban home.

"Topoff, my boy?" A question from Pete to Lev that Graham only moderately tenses up at, for more than one reason. Would rather not have to explain them all.

"Do you have any more of that sparkling, actually?"

"For you? Course we do. Would you pass the apple juice, hun?”

The first impression had nearly ended in disaster. Trust his old man and lady to blow through his first two cardinal requests immediately—he'd been firm to the point of militant on the topic of touching Lev without asking first, then witnessed in horror as his mother completely lost her mind and initiated a crushing hug. Then was the wine, though on that Lev had reassured they were in the green. Couldn’t drink on the meds anyway.

Now, outside overlooking the garden, wooden bannister flickering with light from the ceramic potted citronella candles, the wine flowing and barbecue cooling… things were actually starting to feel good. Calm. He's not checking his watch every minute, and his husband seems to be at relative ease while keeping deft pace with the conversation. Lev presses the kitchen knife down past the crust of the chocolate tart he’d insisted on bringing, listening to Cressida explain of the accreditation process of an arts therapist.

As the conversation dwindles, his mother twists her blond hair at the back of her head and spears it with a pin. The look brewing on her face is one of an imminent interrogation, but Graham recognises it far too late to cut her off at the pass.

"So you're… gay, Lev? Is that right, is that what you prefer?"

"Ma," Graham scowls, warning low and short. 

Just as Cressida's eyes flash with equal challenge, gearing up to meet her son’s protest with one of her own, Lev responds with an easy smile, a raised hand. "It's okay—I'm actually bisexual."

"Oh! So you're the same then. That must keep things simple."

Peter, whose cheeks are drawing closer to the tint of his chequered shirt with each fresh glass of wine, chimes in. "So you've been with both. Women, men… lucky guy, lucky guy…"

���Christ. Dad…”

"Yes, that is what the ‘bi’ part means, Pete. Oh, I know the loveliest lesbian couple whose daughter is a bisexual. Can you imagine that? All that diversity under the one roof."

Though Graham wants so, so badly to cup his hands over his face and screech into the miniature void there forever, Lev’s chime of a laugh rings above the abject horror roiling in his gut. “We do tend to flock, I’ll give you that.”

Seeming impressed with the response, Peter reaches for the bottle on the table and sets about refilling glasses again, even though most are still half-full. Graham reaches across to steady his mother's glass as the red comes dangerously close to sloshing up and over the other side. One of two teeny little dogs—rat-sized morsels that Daisy would have eaten for breakfast and barfed up before lunch—scurries around to their side of the table, interpreting the sudden movement as a potential signal of pending table scraps.

"Well," Peter says, "our son must have done at least one thing right in his life to have won you over. It's all a downright comfort, if you ask us. Isn't it, honey?"

He doesn't know quite why that's the part, out of everything, that gets him. Something slimy and misshapen rears its head within Graham’s chest, writhing through the holes of his ribcage where it's installed itself into the gaps and expanded like some sort of horrible, living caulk. He's done fuck all to deserve a man as good as Lev, right hand to God. Still feels as though he's long-conning him into staying, most days. But when his partner responds by taking Graham's hand under the table, giving a reassuring squeeze, the dial of all that noise is turned down low. The domesticity just a little less cloying.

"I feel lucky to have him, actually." A wink only meant for him. “He’s put up with me so far.”

"Ha! Just wait until you've been together forty years and he's still leaving dishes by the sink—"

"Or when it becomes impossible to go to on a fifteen minute shopping trip that doesn't turn into a forty-five minute catch-up with a playgroup friend—"

"I'm really glad that you two haven't changed. Just so glad.” Though Graham says it in exasperation, the fondness is hard to ignore. He brings his husband’s hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to the back of it. 

"So Lev, Graham tells us you're working on a coffee table, is that right?"

-

“So… verdict?” He’s almost scared to ask, but needs to know his partner is okay after… all that. 

"They're nice! Really nice.”

“But…?”

A sigh from the passenger seat. “But it was… difficult. I guess."

Graham winces, blows air out through his cheeks. Should have known it would always be a little bit trial-by-fire. "Yeah, sorry. Thought they'd gotten all of the, uh, sexuality talk out of their system. Apparently not.”

Lev turns, giving him a curious look. "Oh, no, not that part. That was fine. Though I'm really glad they didn't want more details than they did," and a laugh tinged with the specific kind of glee of knowing exactly how terribly that could have gone. "I just… it's hard when I don't like how they treated you."

Graham frowns. He hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary in the course of the evening. "What do you mean?"

"Throwing your sixteen year old kid out of the house when he's clearly in it deep, and cutting off all contact." Lev shakes his head, looking out the windscreen at the blur of pines whizzing past. “Your dad said they were praying for you to come back… but how would they have known if you’d needed to?”

Graham hears his old man’s farewell of the night. Don’t be a stranger, hey kiddo? We’ve missed you. “I… used to rob 7-Elevens with that crew. In gorilla masks.”

Not a beat missed. “We’ve all been sixteen.”

Spotting a tiny smile out of the corner of his eye at his own bark of a laugh, Graham reaches over the handbrake to place his hand on Lev’s thigh. As always, it’s covered by a smaller, warmer one.

Now just as ever, Graham feels like he could be in awe of the indestructible core of his partner until the day that he dies. Though Lev would be the first to deny and the last to admit it, there's a grain of diamond at the very centre of him. 

Behind a fortress or surrounded by ash and rubble—it's still beautiful. Still incredible.

“I’d still… like to stay in touch with them.” Graham clears his throat. “If that’s alright. You wouldn’t have to come, though, if you don't want to.”

“Ah, wasn’t at all saying that we shouldn’t.” A gentle apology squeeze. “Would really love to go to that gallery.”

“Doesn’t have to be any time soon.”

“‘Course. But I want to. Let’s do it.”

[elfbingo]

booboo, how are you?

fav MHA character(s) and why? least favorite? who do you ship?

I gotta know

Working hard on all my projects! That's why it took me a few days to get to this. Apologies!

Now, on to your questions! If you were looking for short answers you asked the wrong person. Abandon all hope ye who enter here!

I’ll get to the shorter answers first:

“Who do you ship?”- Let me preface this by stating that I don't really care about ships, canon or otherwise. Like… at all. It takes a LOT to make me care about a romance in any story. Luckily, MHA is an action-shonen anime, so not a lot of that going on. However, I will try to put some more thought into this topic than I usually do. 

If we’re talking confirmed canon ships (discounting married couples), the only two I can even think of are Midoriya/Ochako and Denki/Jiro. I’m sure there are others, but MHA is (thankfully) very light on romance, so those two seem to be the only ones that have actually been confirmed as canon. (Forgive me if I’m wrong; I literally had to Google “canon MHA ships”.) Midoriya/Ochako is cute, and I love their dynamic. I think they'd be a good/healthy couple, but they're perfectly fine just as friends. Denki/Jiro is also sort of cute, a little more on the “belligerent sexual tension” side, but there’s not nearly as much to work with. That may be because these two don’t get as much focus as characters, I don’t know. Overall, the students in this show are more mature than their peers, so they’ve had to be more thoughtful about their futures and life decisions. They’re also still just kids. Adolescent relationships almost never last irl, and in fiction they seem to be portrayed in a similarly shallow vein, so I see no point getting invested.

If we’re talking non-canon, it’s still not my thing. I kind of low-key ship All Might/Inko Midoriya, but ONLY if Hisaishi Midoriya was out of the picture (I HATE cheating, even in fiction). That’s probably about it. I steer clear of shipping wars, so I’m not going to get into any of the other non-canon ships. I don’t care enough to paint a target on myself. 

The ships I really care about are the friendships. I'm way more into those, and found family! MHA is full of both, which is one of the many reasons I love it! (If you want to know who I “ship” in terms of “friendships” I’ll post a follow-up answer for that.) 

“Least favorite characters?”- I’m going to qualify my answer by setting aside characters you’re meant to dislike/hate (i.e. the villains/the Hero Safety Commission). Of those left, Mineta might be the only character I actively dislike. I think his design is fun, and his quirk is offbeat, but his personality is mostly awful. If he was a villain, or just some random background person, he wouldn’t grate as much. But Mineta is supposed to be funny and sympathetic. I don't hate him, I just... That character type (95% pervert) has never appealed to me, no matter the series. I'm glad he's gotten a bit better in the last few arcs, but it's been too little, too late for me to really like him. 

I also found Monoma irritating, but he’s gotten better.

Now onto my “long” answer. You have been warned! 

“Fav MHA character(s)?”- I have to say, a big part of the reason I love most of the characters in this show is the translation/VA work, as well as the animation. This may be the best English VA cast for a show I’ve ever heard, and the translation is exceptional. 

Aside from that, I love (or love to hate) pretty much all the main and side characters in the whole series. I think they all have something interesting to contribute to the story, even if they’re only in one scene. On the “villain” side, Twice is arguably my favorite, but I find all the main baddies compelling, and even some of the minor ones. On the “hero” side, the class 1-A kids have a special place in my heart, along with Mirio, Tamaki, All Might and Aizawa. 

However, if I have to pick favorites, my top 3 are Midoriya, Todoroki and Kirishima; not necessarily in that order. And that’s only if I have to really whittle it down, because the top tier would be even larger otherwise. (I do love a good ensemble!) Since you asked my reasons for picking my favorite(s), and I’m trying hard not to write an essay, I shall break it down thusly:

TODOROKI

Cool quirk!

Fun to draw

Half-and-half hair

Has scar; I want to hug him

Hidden sweet side

Also sassy

Overall bishonen looks without being aware of it (or not caring)

Dual personality like his quirk: cool-headed warrior/socially awkward teen 

Takes some things literally (with amusing results)

Curb-stomps multiple thugs at USJ like it's nothing

Snarks at said thugs about how they should be embarrassed

Loves his mum

Screw the rules, I’m doing what’s right!

Will throw hands if you hurt his friends

Terrible upbringing, still wants to be a hero like All Might

 Every reason to be villain but is Good Boi

Tells it like it is

Also worries about others

Stoic boy becomes soft boy with friends

Will do what it takes to be his best, even if it means working with abusive dad

Willing to forgive those who have hurt him

Admits and overcomes his weaknesses

Never gives up!

KIRISHIMA

Cinnamon roll

Sunshine boi 

Fun to draw

HIS EYES

Shark teeth

2 hairstyles, both cute!

Loyal

Sees the good in others (even Bakugo)

Worries about his friends

Not afraid to cry/be emotional

Positive manliness!

Devotion to chivalrous outlook is PRECIOUS

Works hard to improve

Protective quirk, protective heart

Super helpful

Overcoming insecurities to become a true hero!

Risks death to save lives

Always ready to help

Dad/son vibes with Fat Gum

Empathizes with others, even villains!

Consistently rises to the occasion

Knows others may have “flashier” quirks but still does his best

Looks terrifying in battle/is soft boi irl

Anyone that can put up with Bakugo as equals…

Keeps Lord Explosion Murder (somewhat) in line

Just overall seems like he gives excellent hugs

MIDORIYA

Cinnamon roll

Nerdy nerd nerd

Socially awkward

Freckles

Expressive eyes

Floof child

Mumbles to himself 24/7

Loves his mum

Fun to draw

Emotional without being annoying

Forgiving nature

Wants to be a hero to help others

Risked death as quirkless kid to save his bully

Always tries to do what’s right

Gains most powerful quirk and uses it for good

Seriously- every reason to be villain but is Good Boi

Willing to work harder than anyone to get where he is now

Lifelong outsider who helps others reevaluate their quirks’ potential

Bullied relentlessly and still didn’t give up hope for a better world

Dad/son relationship with All Might is GOLD

Big Brother vibes with Eri are made of diabetes

All his friendships… ALL OF THEM

Goes feral if you hurt his friends

Will go feral if you hurt total strangers

Smol boi, BIG PUNCH

Broken every bone in his body? Uses “Blackwhip Froppy Style” 

Seriously, nothing stops this kid. I love him so much!

I hope this answers all your questions. I did try not to go overboard, but… eh. 

[edwinspaynes]

what about you, any herondaisy and thomastair valentine’s hcs you’d like to share?

Sure! I wrote this short Thomastair fic about their first Valentine's Day living together last year and this longer one about their 4th Valentine's Day together this year. <3

Besides that, though, I think that Thomas and Alastair are a generally really low-key couple on Valentine's Day. They don't go out on super expensive or elaborate dates - they instead opt for cooking for each other at home, playing games together, and carving out quality time for each other. Alastair writes piano music for Thomas sometimes; other times, Thomas will write Alastair a poem in English or Persian. They also will sometimes stroll through Kensington Gardens laughing or have a picnic.

On other Valentine's Days, Thomas and Alastair will take little vacations together. Not always - but when they do, it's somewhere fun and romantic where they can order fondue and chocolate-covered strawberries to their hotel room. It's about having fun together, not what they're doing, and while they feel that they're being romantic they're just enjoying each other's company in that way they always do.

By contrast, James always feels the need to TOTALLY bring out the romance and woo Cordelia on Valentine's Day. Since he knows that she's a queen and deserves the world, he spends meticulous amounts of time planning amazing upscale dates for her. On their first Valentine's Day, he whisks her away to Wales to enjoy the mountains. This sets the tone for the others. He takes her to amazing high-end restaurants all across London over the years, and to the best theatrical performances (sometimes along with Matthew and his partner as well).

At the end of the night, James will always have a secret romantic gift for her. He gets her lots of jewelry, but the special caveat is that they're all pieces that he saw her eyeing at some point during the previous year but didn't buy. She loves it because it demonstrates that he pays attention.

Thomas and Alastair (lovingly) poke fun at how 'contrived' James's romantic gestures are, because they cannot fathom how something so carefully-orchestrated makes for an enjoyable night. James and Cordelia poke fun at them in return for being an Old Married Couple that considers toasting marshmallows in their own fireplace and laughing at stupid jokes the pinnacle of romance. But both couples are perfect in different ways, and very happy.

[nachosncheeze]

Fanfic Writer Ask Game

📚 & 🏷️

📚 Is there a fanfic or fanfic writer you recommend?

Definitely! It depends on what you are looking for, so here's a few of my faves in a couple different categories:

***Edit: I'm adding a cut bc it's just occurred to me to mention, anyone new who's not done the series but is seeing this - I do have a spoiler-safe fics list that Scotti and I were working on at one point, so if there's a specific season you're looking for, but not wanting to know what twists come after (or if you're looking for fic for a specific episode or event), feel free to inbox me and I'll send some links. :)

Below this cut there are descriptions that spoil all sorts of things, so.....***

For Jeller, everything by @indelibleevidence is outstanding. I'm gonna start out saying probably a majority of it has passages that are NSFW so if you're a minor or not into that, tread lightly. I'm currently revisiting Remember to Forgive, which has late-season 3 Weller suffering amnesia that takes him mentally back to early season 2; you know, when he couldn't stand to be in the same room as his wife. The angst! It's a fave and totally my jam, I could probably quote it. Torture Without You is... well. Read it. Amazing. I'm a big Remi fan, and here you will also find one of our two Reller champions: the Damaged Goods series is so dark (also very NSFW) but soooo good.

@idealisticrealism is another that everyone should definitely read, imo. The Fire is basically my favorite one-shot ever, and she's our other Reller champion - as complete AUs go I can not possibly overstate my love for From the Ashes and Into Flames. I could literally quote them both to you.

@gypsyscarfwoman is responsible for my other favorite one-shot, Nothing Can Come Between Us, which is Jeller after season 2, but from Sarah Weller's POV. It's just a tiny bit angsty but fluffy and sweet. I love the way she describes the interactions between Jeller as viewed by a concerned third party. There's also Shelter From Your Storm, which is another season 2 AU except that post compound raid there's legitimate concern Nas might throw Jane under the bus and let the CIA have her, so Weller fake marries her to legitimize and protect her.

@ladyriot recently did a lovely retelling of s2 but as a Jane/Patterson slow burn. The way they low key agonize over each other is tragic, but the ending is so sweet without being completely saccharine, and it's definitely worth a look.

I haven't read much Zapatterson but @narvaldetierra is actively writing them. I read Remembers from September and No Good Deed Goes Unpunished a while ago, and I'm excited to reread them soon and then keep working through this ship 😁

Dylan Cruca is worth checking out if you want a bit of season 2/3 Jeller canon divergence/extra scenes, or Jeller/Reller AUs - I thought their post-season 1 AU ended up being a particularly interesting twist - but they're not for everyone.

I could go on but I'll end with one that's basically the fic equivalent to a playlist of Sad Songs to Sob To: Silence Speaks by lochness20, in which Jane's black site escape attempt fails, and when they find her, she is in a REALLY bad state. Warning that it's pretty dark and brutal and tw for suicidal thoughts and an eventual very graphic murder.

🏷 Is there a tag you like to search for when looking for fanfics to read?

I don't really look for specific tags; it's not a huge fandom so there's not a ton of room to be choosy. I can say that straight whump isn't my thing, nor is pure domestic stuff, and I generally steer clear of pregnancy/kidfic unless there's some other compelling plot alongside the kids. I guess I basically love angst most of all 😍

Thank you for the ask!! :D It's always fun to revisit some faves. 💕

I'm trying to find my mojo and inspiration to start creating again, and I find these memes are a really good exercise to think critically about my ideas and hopefully get the juices flowing. If anyone else is curious, please check here and consider sending me an ask!

I've also recently done a WIP ask meme, which you can find here if you'd like a peek at what I've been working on before the words left me. :)

[destinyc1020]

The anon that said Austin and Kaia just keep their names in the gossip cycle was right. And that is 100% a pr tactic. They aren’t on and off. They are a pr couple. They could totally be seeing other people while still dating (or “dating”) each other. Some pr couples only do the public stuff others do it for publicity but still have feelings for each other. So who knows but It’s crazy how pr stares y’all dead in the face every day and y’all can’t point it out but if 2 actors genuinely like each other it’s pr this pr that.

Hmm.... 🤔

Idk, like I said before, I really don't think they're "PR" . Do they use their REAL rlshp to further their careers? Idk.... maybe? 🤷🏾‍♀️

Kaia gets papped a LOT. Even without Austin... So she's always going to be a draw with the paps. Idk if it's because she's calling them, or if it's just because of who her famous parents are. My guess is the latter?

Either way, I honestly don't think they are PR. They actually seem to be in love. Not only that, but they don't seem to be trying to flaunt their rlshp to the public either. They're actually pretty low-key imo. In fact, over the past few months, it seems they've even been trying to lessen the rlshp chatter and even hide a little bit lol.

That doesn't seem like a "PR" rlshp to me.

No offense, but I feel like fans who claim that EVERY rlshp in Hollywood is "PR" sound like antis to me. 👀

It's okay to not really like who your fave is dating, or to not really particularly care for a certain rlshp or couple in Hollywood (for whatever reason), but we don't have to lie about it lol. 😂

I may not particularly care for them being together, but I'm not an anti. I respect the fact that they are dating each other, I'm not denying that they are an item that's actually dating each other, I don't go on blogs and make claims that they've broken up lol, I don't claim that they are "fake" or just "PR", and I don't ship Austin with other women. 🤷🏾‍♀️

Unlike antis, I respect the fact that he and Kaia are in a rlshp right now, and that's his choice. Just cuz I'm not all excited about it doesn't mean that I have to make up lies lol. I can just look at them and tell that they are in love with each other lol.

Whether it will last another year, or they will get married one day, I have no clue lol 😅

But in the meantime, as a fan, it doesn't have to be either or. Imo, you can be a fan of someone and not really care for who they're dating right now, but at the SAME time, respect their rlshp, acknowledge that it does exist (and isn't fake or "pr"), and still just hope the best for them without resorting to being a toxic anti lol. 😄

But at the same time, it doesn't make you a "bad fan" just cuz you don't really like or support your fave's current rlshp atm. You don't have to be gung ho for EVERYONE your fave dates, or ship them with whoever they attach themselves to imo lol.

I didn't like Z with JE at all 🤮, but I still respected the fact that he was who she was with at that time, and I didn't go on Jacdaya blogs dissing them or spreading lies that they were fake or whatever. I do think that she was rebounding (big time), but rebounding isn't a "fake" rlshp.

This dissertation isn't necessarily directed to you Anon, but mainly to those who are antis in certain popular fandoms (esp the Tomdaya fandom) who can't seem to wrap their heads around the fact that not all rlshps that you don't like in Hollywood are "PR". 🙄 Some relationships are actually REAL, but it's okay to say that you don't really care for them being together, but still wish your fave the best. 😊

Now if I'm wrong about Austin and Kaia, then I will certainly have to eat my words lol and you all have permission to go at me haha 😅 But based on what I've observed, they seem to be real and genuinely love each other. 🤷🏾‍♀️

[void-botanist]

tell me more about donovan 👀👀

on it boss 🫡

So in terms of bastardry (the bastard chart) he did put most of his points into Superiority Complex. He seems pretty unassuming at the outset but he does think he is the most Correct person to ever live, more or less. Which means he's completely justified in his bullshit, and the fact that he causes problems is really not his problem. Usually he pulls the "burn the letters" kind of move where he does something bad not to cause a problem but because he's Right, but of course it causes a problem because it was bad. But you know he will piss off Emma on purpose, because they're often sparring with each other in the least romantic way possible. As for Performer, Donovan is a man with an agenda. His biggest performance to date was of course convincing a couple dozen people to crew his "move to Ensaum" vanity project, though that wasn't exactly a feat of trickery (he did deliver exactly what he promised!). I think he was low-key tricking himself though because he believed in his whole "no capitalism 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻" spiel even though deep down he wanted to get away from his own trauma and put Sid into a controlled environment. But he is a master of lying by omission, dodging the question, having an excuse, &c.

But actually my favorite thing about Donovan these days is that despite obviously sucking ass he gets to be the shitty parent both capable of and willing to change. I mean, push had to come to shove off a cliff, but you know. And his dynamic with Emma is so deliciously weird and toxic like they're obsessed with each other. They pull each other into their schemes. They've been married for like 35 years and they know everything and nothing about each other. They can't agree on anything but you can practically see it when they align into a united front. Donovan's greatest fear is that Emma will leave him. But she never will, because she'll never get another man so wrapped around her finger, and she's not done fixing him yet, and also she loves him. Donovan will never admit that he's constantly torn between "her challenges are interesting" and "when will she understand that I am Right". Basically they're trapped in mutual tinkering forever and Sid had the terrible fortune to get born into the crossfire.

@kk7-rbs

[ambivalence-and-torpor]

love and desire... (this one might be a lil long forgive me) 3, 4, 19, 26, 34, 39, 40 and 55

3 - Who kissed who first? They both made out like crazy in a weird moment of unbridled passion... sooooooo.... take that for what you will...

-

4 - What’s the relationship like? Smooth? Rocky? It definitely started off extremely rocky. These two having a divorce act before ever getting together LMFAO, but afterwards it smooths out A LOT and they become very different towards each other. A lot more caring and soft, a lot less combative, doing their best to talk to each other and listen to what each of them has to say. This is very important because they both started off as pretty ignorant towards each other.

-

19 - Do they ever cook together? YES! Elyzia loves to cook and invites Milo to join them for it! Also doesn't mind teaching them, if they're curious about something! And of course, it's a great excuse to be cute with each other, with cuteass smoochies and physical affections.

-

26 - Have any pets? (If not: would they get any?) They will have some cuteass duckies at some point :3c

-

34 - What do they do when the other is stressed? Answered Here

-

39 - Would they ever get married? YES! OH HELL YES! There will come a day, when they do that!

-

40 - Thoughts on kids? Neither of them know that they can actually have kids. It's information that's being kept secret from them. Of course that's going to be pretty fuckin shockin when it happens, and neither of them knows what the fuck is going on, and then suddenly they have a lil creature to take care of?! But they would both be caring parents.

-

55 - Are they a super sappy couple? Sometimes they are! And sometimes they are pretty low key. It varies a lil on mood, weather, time of day...