#this is all jay’s fault

[ropebunnykant]

eye twitching once again thinking about gaipa’s age

[kindaasrikal]

Imagining people commonly accepting Garmadon to definitely be buff under his clothes, even after he became Sensei Garmadon for a bit, but people completely expecting Wu to be a twig.

Yet the one and only time they see why exactly it’s so hard to win against Wu is because they witness the pure MUSCLE under his modest and baggy clothes.

No one understands how funny it would be commonly mistaken to be a frail old man only to be buff enough to snap all the ninja like a twig. EVEN COLE.

Like this mf would purposely act like a frail old man with a slouched figure, all like “ohhhh you youngins, can one of you find my tea pot for me?” In an old grandma voice only to then HUMBLE THE NINJA SOOOO HARD. And the only reason he does it is cause he finds it funny.

[luck-of-the-drawings]

FOR A BEAT OF HEART, THE BREATH IS SHOT. AND WITHIN A BREATH, THE HEART IS CAUGHT. THE PIPES ARE BURSTING, UNDER GREAT STRESS, BOLTS TORN ASUNDER, MAKING A MESS. A FINAL COUGH, A FINAL RETCH, A GOREY SLOUGH, CLAIMED BY WRETCH.

[maydayintheforest]

I feel like we as a fandom don’t tap into the potential of all the ninja having ptsd bc literally all of those mf (except jay) have died or been presumed dead in some capacity

[funky-sea-cryptid]

meljayvik roleswap au thoughts:

mel -> viktor. foreigner and zaunite swap SWEEP. glorious evolution to prove that words can save. science can save the world there is no need for war. also i think that she'd kind of serve cunt in the academy uniform.

viktor -> jayce. adopted by some noble piltover family as a charity project and desperately trying to prove himself worthy of any kind of respect. please dont get exiled youre so sexy king.

jayce -> mel. dude WHERE is he from also i could kind of see him playing up the dumb himbo act and then people SPILL state secrets to him he's charming that way.

[icarusbetide]

it will never fail to amuse me that john jay, the (apparently) level-headed, reasonable guy that everyone passes over, caught a stray in hamilton. it doesn't have time for the jay treaty but it does have time to say "john jay got sick after five", forever cementing his memory in the public consciousness as the slacker in the group project.

[b0amagination]

Home Is Where The Fanart Is

Happy Fanuary! What's Fanuary, you ask? It's my own little excuse to draw some very long overdue art for my friends, and develop better style with lineart at the same time!

Without further ado, I started with an author whose work captivates me in a truly indescribable way. It would be truly terrifying to a hacker to see how often I'm on her blog rereading an old favorite or an entire story. I will never be able to find the words to explain the magic of her storytelling, but I sure try my damndest every time.

Kirsten @whumblr 's Zayne and Jay of HIWTHI have had a deathgrip on my soul since the first chapter back in 2020 and, though I've drawn them before, once was never going to be enough.

And, well, maybe I figured out the plot of this interaction and impulsively wrote fanfiction. At the end of the cut are a few bonus detail shots as well <3

Content warnings: Belting, forced stripping (partial, not sexual), and canon-typical home invasion.

~~~

“Aren’t you tired of this old song and dance?” Zayne flashed him an unimpressed look, then glanced down at his own outstretched hand. Still empty. 

“I am. Glad you finally agree,” he huffed and brushed past, only to be caught by the collar of his button down. The grip tightened and pulled him, stumbling, face to face with his unwelcome visitor. His eyes cast down. 

“Then why is that belt still around your waist?” 

Jay bristled. He knew damn well how long his day had been, because he’d started unloading it on Zayne the moment he arrived home. If it weren’t for the sudden order that cut him off, his tormentor would have still been listening to that afternoon’s office melodrama. The last thing he needed was to present his battered body on a platter before the long weekend. 

“I have more than one, you know. If you can rummage through my fridge, you can give my closet a passing glance every now and again.” Regret only came on after handing him an open invitation to look through more of Jay’s belongings, but he suspected Zayne had already done more than his fair share of that.

“As it happens, I was looking for this particular belt.” He drew a finger along the smooth leather. “If you’re craving ice cream, an ice lolly just won’t cut it.”

“Does the trick for me,” Jay shot back and turned away down the hallway. “Here, I’ll show you where they are.” His brisk pace far too closely resembled running, and the heart pounding in his throat mimicked that well. He’d hung last time’s belt separately when he remembered he didn’t have the funds to simply keep discarding them. Probably the same reason Zayne didn’t care to use it again.

Just like a cat. The moment something was designated his, his interest dissipated. 

On an instinctual level, Jay knew he wouldn’t make it to the bedroom, but some part of him still had the audacity to be surprised when a hand twisted his hair and flung him toward the wall. Even though his shoulder took the brunt of the impact, the blow to the head was enough to skew his glasses. Jay leaned back and raised a hand to set them straight when Zayne took hold of his shirt and yanked it from his trousers.

“Get off!” In finding a stable place to lean back, Jay had unwittingly trapped himself against the wall where a knee now dug into his hip, holding him still enough to free one button, then another. He wrapped fingers around Zayne’s wrist. “The hell are you doing?!”

“Why don’t you deduce that yourself, Jayboy? Surely you can be a more reliable source than your coworker found.” A fist drove into his gut and Jay lost his grip, allowing the shirt to be shucked off him and thrown aside. 

“You could’ve just asked!” He tried to swallow the clear hypocrisy. Somehow, he only happened to think these plans through about two minutes after initiating them, and wondered how he hadn’t already anticipated the outcome.

“Try giving the same order three times in a row. See how patient you are when your punching bag cusses you out,” Zayne shrugged, reaching for the undershirt next when Jay hugged his waist in protest. He didn’t understand why Zayne held him by the hip instead until nimble fingers flicked out the end of his belt, pulled to free the buckle’s prong, and whipped it out in a single flourish. 

“On your knees.”

“Wait, wait- fuck!” The full length cut across his front, only shielded by thin cotton, but the familiar sting throbbed on his jaw. A tentative touch found hot, angry skin just below his cheek. “That was my face, Zayne!” 

“You clearly don’t care to heed my requests today. I don’t see any reason to return the favor.” He doubled the leather over and tilted his head.

Finally Jay made eye contact, turned his back, and slid to his knees. 

“No. Face me.”

“I’m not letting you bust my lip with a belt!” 

He’d already resigned himself to the shove when it came and caught himself just before he hit the wall again. Zayne’s boot landed on his ankle and couldn’t hold back a smile at the yelp it forced out. 

“Then you’d better get your arms up and make sure I can’t.”

[returntodreamland]

oversized tophat

[morrigan-sims]

🔹Jay🔹

Apprentice to Kholl, surgeon of the Tide Breaker. Rook's only friend. Recently swallowed by a giant snake.

This is how Jay came into existence, btw:

She just showed up in the scene I was writing from Rook's backstory and wouldn't leave, so I was like, welp, I guess you're canon now.

[miqotepotatoe]

*jay and cole fighting noises*

[drawbauchery]

The part that gets me is how BROKEN he looks.

The guilt punched him in the face like a 20 pound brick

POW

[boimgfrog]

Boyfriend shocked and appalled that his new kitten is so calm when I hold her cos she never is with him. Turns out he was holding this cat like a machine gun. I imagine she would not be calm at all about that.

[kindaasrikal]

Why tf was Jay always jumping my man Cole over Nya every time PLEASE 😭😭

[blujayonthewing]

this was three months into dating my now-husband, and it's never stopped feeling like this

[al-luviec]

still haven't moved on from zane in this episode (aka I hit tag limit again and am unhappy about it)

[squarebracketsmileyface]

Hi we are a little drunk right now and we want to be annoying. Sorry in advance.

We wonder if Alex and Jay would have ended up together or even like…. less toxic in S,IL if Jay hadn’t coerced Alex that one time on the couch. Like we find ourself blaming Alex a lot until we remember Oh yeah! Jay did That. And it’s kind of sad you know? But also interesting because we see a lot of media where in BDSM dynamics it’s assumed the Dom is the abuser. So it’s nice to see it from every angle. But also Jay why did you do that???? Like he said he didn’t want to and now you’re miserable forever because you guys can’t talk about your feelings. I am beating them both up. I love your work. Does this make sense? I am intoxicated. Yeah. 👍

Hi to you too :]

Honestly, I've thought about this so much since I started writing If It Ain't Broken because their fucked up relationship and dynamic are so interesting to think about. Honestly, I don't think that if you took away that one time on the couch it would change things, because unfortunately, it's not the only time it's happened, it's just the only time I've actually written. Jay genuinely thinks he's in the right/that he's helping Alex there, like, he thinks that Alex will feel better if he's just a bit rough with him to get his frustrations out, so even if he didn't do it that one time in chapter 2 of If It Aint Broken, hed have done it another time.

He really thinks he's doing the right thing, fully, wholeheartedly, genuinely believes it. If you could get him to understand that what he'd done had hurt Alex (which, I admit, would be hard because he doesn't like hurting Alex, he can accept that he does it when he's angry and loses control, but the idea that he could hurt Alex even when trying to help him would be awful) he'd be horrified.

Anyway, their relationship, even just as a friendship was always rocky. Like, honestly they probably shouldn't even be friends in S,IL, they fight and hurt each other and say nasty things and Jay manipulates Alex even when they're just friends. So even without the FWB stuff, their relationship would still probably be pretty toxic, just in different ways. I don't think it'd go as far in its toxicity as it actually ends up going (with Alex saying you know what fuck you and moving away, which I'm making the main catalyst for being Alex needing to get away from the toxic relationship, and the secondary reason be the whole Operator thing)

So without that one time on the couch? No, they'd still be that toxic, Jay would still out Alex to their friends, the manipulation and coercion would still happen other times, they'd still fight and scream at each other and say nasty things.

God I love thinking about this lol. Just, angst is so fun to write. So are unreliable narrators, I'm so glad you find yourself blaming Alex, honestly, because that's how I wrote it to be, you're meant to blame Alex, even if you now have a lot more of the information and know that actually he and Jay were in the wrong and doing unpleasant shit to each other. Hell, Jay's probably kinda worse than this point. But like, yeah, especially if you're reading the fics in the order they come out in, your first impression of Jay is him in S,IL itself, and it's hearing about his and Alex's relationship from his POV, and he doesn't think he's in the wrong for the actual things he's in the wrong for.

Like, your first impression of these characters is massively biased towards Alex being to blame for everything.

Honestly I kinda wonder how different the opinions/conclusions people would form if the first time they read S,IL they read it in chronological order, so with If It Ain't Broken first. Like, would that give them an entirely different perspective of the story, if they didn't first get introduced to Jay and Alex's messed up relationship through the incredibly warped lens that is Jay?

Some government should give me science funding to stick a bunch of people who've never even heard of S,IL before in two rooms and force them to read it either in the chronological order or in the upload order, so that I can ask them about the story and find out how different or similar their conclusions about the characters and their relationships are.