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norbezjones · 5 months ago

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Bez Reviews Independent Books 4: HIS BODY, HER CHOICE

Hey everyone! I wanna do little reviews/writeups for the independently-published books I find on itch.io, and so, here I am. I want to review one book every month or two (or quicker, if I’m lucky); it’ll get me reading more, and get authors who often go without feedback some thoughts on their work! I think it’ll be cool for everyone!

If you want your book reviewed, the only requirement I have is that it’s hosted on itch.io. Even if itch is just one of many places you can get the book, I want to review books that have a home there at least. Feel free to get in touch with me with your books—I’m @NorbezJones on Twitter (I refuse to call it X), Bluesky, Pillowfort, Threads, Instagram, and Tumblr; I’m norbez2.0 on Discord.

Looking forward to seeing your books! <3

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Technically this isn’t a book, it’s a short story, but screw it—my reviews, my rules, motherfucker! While perusing the new books on itch.io, I found a debut by an author named Huckleberry Watts called “HIS BODY, HER CHOICE”. This is a book who is only on sale from December 1st, 2024 to January 20th, 2025, and all proceeds go to Planned Parenthood. The story is described as, “graphic torture exacted upon an incel by a young woman named Daisy Skipp. This is not a complex story, there is nil in terms of character development. This is extreme horror through and through.” Take that as your warning for what this review will discuss.

It’s also noted that the story was “written in the days immediately following the outcome of the 2024 U.S Presidential Election.” The title makes that especially obvious. For those who are unaware, once Donald Trump was elected present again, right-wing pundit and straight-up Nazi Nicholas Fuentes responded by tweeting out, “Your body, my choice. Forever.” This is referencing the pro-choice phrase, “My body, my choice,” which is used to basically say, “It’s my body, so I have the right to choose to get an abortion.” Fuentes is reversing the phrase and saying, “Now that Republicans rule the government, we’ll make sure abortion rights are stripped, and you will no longer have any choice but to give birth, even if it kills you,” and also, “I as a man have the right to a woman’s body, regardless of whether or not she gives consent.”

“HIS BODY, HER CHOICE” basically asks the question, “What if a woman tortured an incel who may or may not be Nicholas Fuentes?” If I may quote the author’s note, “[T]he incel twerp Nicholas in my story is in no way based on real-life incel twerp: Nicholas Fuentes. However, if it would bring you peace to imagine incel twerp Nicholas Fuentes on that slab then you do that. Protect your peace.” Basically, plausible deniability.

What I didn’t expect going into this is that our main character Daisy actually streams the torture to a live audience. This leads to input from the chat from time to time (especially at the very end), and some unique aspects of streaming, like when Daisy polls the audience to decide whether she’s going to drill into Nick’s left knee or cut off his right leg. It’s a neat element that adds a lot to the story.

I really like that Daisy is truly a person, and not a supervillain. She has to take a break from her torture to hype herself up and use her inhaler—to quote the book, “Twenty-seven, asthmatic, riddled with anxiety – life was fucking hard.” She gets nervous when cutting off Nick’s leg turns bloodier than she expected, and has second thoughts about this whole torture thing once the limb is removed. Sure, she’s in control a lot of the time, but sometimes she’s not, and those moments really shine. She’s not some stone-faced torturer who’s 100% confident all the time, nor is she completely sadistic. She’s a human like you or me, and I love that.

The descriptions are well done—the torture scenes especially make great use of alliteration & figurative language. I especially like Watts’ use a similes, like in this line: “‘So, does anybody here know what electroejaculation is?’ she asked brightly and enthusiastically as if she were teaching pre-schoolers how to count to ten.”

If I had some criticisms, I would say that comma splicing happens quite a bit, such as in the sentence, “His eyes were shut, he was still asleep.” There are also moments where there should be a comma, but there isn’t one. These things don’t take too much away from the work, but they’re worth mentioning.

Lastly, I want to say that I can definitely empathize with writing about torturing people who have hurt you, even indirectly. Without going into too much detail, it’s something I’ve written about privately a few times before. Sometimes I bring it to my public work—for example, Desperate FleshEater has an ending where the main character angrily slaughters his abusive mother who assaulted him. That game is directly based on real events and my real assault by my own mother. What I’m basically trying to say is: I’m the last person to judge this kind of thing, and honestly, I welcome it more than anything. It’s healthier and more beneficial for you to channel your anger into a creative work instead of spewing it at people around you. There is catharsis in using creativity to express rage, and in that way, I am glad that this story exists.

If you want to purchase “HIS BODY, HER CHOICE” and support Planned Parenthood, you can do so here. It’s only available until January 20th, 2025, so hurry! Go get it! The next review will hopefully be out before the end of the month—I’ll be taking a look at The Last Bread Mage by M. Kirin!

#BRIB #HIS BODY HER CHOICE #horror #tw torture #political #election #itch.io #fiction #short story #book review #indie books #indie publishing #indie #books and reading #book reading #books

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bicth-and-in-that-order · 2 years ago

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I’m back—I have more to say

6. I’m in Love with the Villainess by Inori

Oh god💀

So the hot new yuri on the block is “I’m in Love with the Villainess” and while I lament that the femme blonde is back, the dark hair girl isn’t that masc so I’ll give it that.

What to say about this yuri, what to say, what to say…I have very conflicted feelings about this yuri because on the one hand, it has incredible highs and the main character deeply resonated with me on a personal level. On the other hand, however, it contains some of the worst, most disgusting tropes I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading.

Well, that’s enough beating around the bush, let’s get into it. So I’m not going to keep saying “I’m in Love with the Villainess”, and “IiLwtV” is too awkward for an acronym so it’ll be shortened to “Villainess Love” from here on out. So Villainess Love is unique in that it’s an isekai yuri; a depressed as hell 20-something office lady named Rae gets reincarnated into her favorite dating sim game. The thing about her and what is indeed the namesake of this yuri is that while the dating sim is centered around 3 princes for the romance options, Rae only has eyes for Claire, the tsundere villainess character. She goes out of her way to ignore the 3 princes to pursue Claire, and just like Rae, this will be the last time I mention them💀

By far the best part of this story is how it plays with both the isekai and dating sim tropes by having Rae not only be self aware of the world she’s in, but have this encyclopedia knowledge of the game, which she uses to her advantage to get close with Claire. Rae herself is a very comedic, over-zealous character, announcing her love to Claire within the first few pages of the story and having masochist-levels of enjoyment from getting tormented by her. Of course, there’s more to her going on underneath, which gives her a level of complexity, but I’ll get into that later. Claire, meanwhile, is a VERY typical rich girl tsundere character, she’s so by the numbers that I don’t even need to go into her personality. She literally does the “oh ho ho ho” laugh unironically and has generic sad anime backstory #55: “my mother is dead”. I believe this was done with intention though, since Rae will literally point out when she’s having her “dere” moments. In fact, their dynamic actually reminded me of the gag rom com manga “Maria Holic” and I wonder if that was a major source of inspiration for the author becuase the resemblances between the two are uncanny. With that being said, I didn’t find Claire to be all that interesting until their actual romance develops, which, let’s talk about that.

So out of all the yuri manga I’ve read, I actually found the romance between Rae and Claire to be the most compelling, yes, even more compelling than Beauty and the Beast Girl if you could imagine. This is because Villainess Love actually talks a great deal about homophobia and homosexuality in a real word context. Which is practically unheard of in a yuri manga:

I was so shocked by this, it actually caught me off guard to see a yuri acknowledge homophobia and heteronormativity in a way that didn’t begin and end with “we love each other but we’re giRLs🫣🫣��” . Rae acknowledges that she is in fact gay and that the gender of her lover is in fact important to her. This conversation will actually get expanded upon later when Rae opens up about her experiences as being a lesbian irl and getting ostracized for it in high school, which explains a lot of her behavior up until that point. And I will say that her story deeply resonated with me. Especially since I went through similar experiences as Rae and I also clamped about my gender preferences after I faced severe homophobia.

Rae’s story also reflects how keenly aware the author is of her audience, she knows us anime obsessed gays are reading her work and really leans hard into that aspect, not just for comedic purposes but for for character writing as well. It creates an organic reading experiences that will have most readers going “ah, I’ve been through that before” or “I know how she’s feeling” which is an incredible thing for a writer to pull off. Kudos.

Now, despite all the praise I’ve given Villainess Love thus far….I wouldn’t actually recommend to anyone, like at all. To talk fully about this aspect, I’ll have to go into heavy spoilers so, if you don’t mind then join me under the cut

So I want to preface this by saying the existence of these elements isn’t the problem, it’s how Villainess Love handles them which is the issue.

For whatever reason, the author thought introducing an incest storyline into the mix was a good idea, it adds nothing to the story and actively ruins one of the better characters, which is hugely disappointing, but whatever. The problem is this:

I’m willing to go out on a limb here and say that no, I don’t think the author’s intent was to claim that incest and homosexuality are on the same level. If you take into account that this world takes place during Victorian era England then categorically speaking, homosexuality was often referred to as “forbidden love” , Oscar Wilde can attest to as much, and while I don’t think that modern Japanese lesbian Rae should’ve given this speech, it’s not the worst of the worst. No that belongs to the lesbian rapist (sigh)

So Villaness Love bravely marches into the territory of rape and sexual assault and sadly doesn’t come out of it unscathed. Sometime after the incest plotline, a new character comes into the mix who is a distant relative of Claire’s and looks like a reject kase-san. To sum things up, her purpose in this story is to push Rae to confess to Claire by…threatening to rape her if Rae won’t do anything about her feelings :\

And , okay, if this is the direction the author wants to take the story then fine, but it’s handled so sloppily, and not once is this kase-san reject ever given consequences for her actions in the story. She just kind of pops up to be a “love” rival then leaves just as soon as she comes and then everyone pretends like Claire wasn’t just about to become a sexual assault victim.

A boring character or lame ass plotline is one thing, a story can bounce back from that. What it can’t bounce back from is having a poor message, especially when it comes to topics like rape and incest. Unfortunately, an otherwise adorable manga is marred by such distasteful story decisions that I didn’t even buy the physical copy for it and I got the physical copy for fucking kase san and Yamada so my standards are in hell, but this somehow goes even lower than that. And it sickens me so much to the point that I don’t even like watching the anime because I have to keep seeing that incest girl pop up on my screen, and be reminded of what a good character she used to be.

And it truly is such a shame because if not for the rape and incest, it would’ve been one of my favorite yuri manga of all time for the relatability of the main character and the social commentary alone. I wish I could give it all the praise in the world, but I cannot. My purpose here is not to detract you from reading this story, if none of what I said is a dealbreaker then be my guest, but I see this series praised a lot and while it’s well deserved in some regards, I want to be absolutely 100% transparent with Villainess Love. So yeah those are my thoughts byeeee

Rambling thoughts of various Yuri manga I’ve read

1. Kase-San and Yamada (Morning Glories sequel series) by Hiromi Takashima

notice how Kase’s name is first, which is representative of her being the main one to cause problems in their relationship

If you asked me what my favorite yuri manga was like 2-3 years ago, I’d say Morning Glories and Kase San everytime. Every avid yuri fan has either read or watched Morning Glories because, at the time in 2010, it was groundbreaking, and I stand by the fact that the original series still holds up to this day. It was cute, sweet, wholesome and only had a few obligatory “we love each other but we’re giRLs😳😳😳” moments. Most of all it wasn’t a pseudo-incest-straight-male-porn-pandering-garbage-fest—also known as “Citrus”. Was it cliche at times? Yes, but they all are lol. Did they add to the dumb ass “blonde femme and dark hair butch” trope? Also yes. But it was adorable and it was my first ever yuri so it holds a special place in my heart.

And it SEEMED like it was only going to get better in Kase San and Yamada, the sequel. The girls would be heading to college and the story could theoretically focus on more mature topics while they navigate their new relationship. Keyword: theoretically. Unfortunately, instead of exploring interesting relationship dynamics and storylines, the plot of each story arc boils down to: Kase is insecure because a man breathed next to Yamada or Kase is being completely insensitive to Yamada’s feelings…again…—> ✨miscommunication drama ✨—>big over dramatic apology scene—>boring makeup sex or other romantic gesture.

Literally that’s how every single plotline goes. Kase is so goddamn dumb and insensitive to Yamada’s feelings and Yamada’s a complete doormat who can only stay mad for 0.2 seconds before getting pussy whipped like a spineless ass bitch. And for all that Yamada sacrifices for Kase; her hometown, her dreams, her apartment, what does she get in return from Kase? Oh that’s right; bare minimum romantic gestures and a neglectful partner who can’t even call her “girlfriend” in front of others:

Like I thought we were over this shit. It’s been THREE years of them together, a whole anime production, and god knows how many irl years and we’re going back to “we love each other but we’re giRLs😳😳😳” WHY???

And then Kase later goes onto bet her entire three year relationship over the ugly bitch in the next panel, so now I’m questioning whether or not Kase even loves Yamada with the amount of bullshit she’s put her through. Which COULD be an interesting plot point, but Kase never gets any consequences for her actions and the creator genuinely thinks this is romantic and full of tension so I’m 10000% positive that this arc, just like all the others, will end with some makeup sex and we’ll be right back to step 1. Sigh.

2. Tamen De Gushi by Tan Jiu

Tamen De Gushi’s problems are interesting because it’s entirely because of the Chinese government

So today’s dark haired butch and blonde femme of the day are Sun Jing and Qiu Tong, respectively. Their personalities aren’t anything to write home about, if you read ANY high school yuri romance, then you know exactly what happens in this story beat for beat. But, BUT, however derivative it is, I find their dynamic very endearing and down to earth. Idk maybe it’s just the translation, but other yuri stories often have this very inauthentic “anime” vibe to it. Which is to say the characters act very cutesy, overly dramatic, and have this stilted, caricature-esque acting of how the creator thinks teenage girls are supposed act.

However, I’m happy to report that Tamen De Gushi is a breath of fresh air in this regard. The characters and interactions they have are grounded and feel organic, which makes them feel like real people, not aliens pretending to be human. This really elevates the humor in turn, oh did I mention that Tamen De Gushi is super funny? Because Tamen De Gushi is super funny, here’s one of my favorite panels and it’s all because of Sun Jing’s goofy ahh expression:

Like go girl give us nothing

If you’re wondering why I haven’t spoke much about the actual romantic relationship between the girls, that’s because there isn’t one💀 Which, okay, that’s not a fair assessment, they have a ton of romantic tension and they flirt a lot. It’s certainly building to a great romantic relationship, but it can’t quite get there due to legal/political reasons sadly. 😔

For some background information, Tamen De Gushi isn’t actually a Japanese manga, but a Chinese Manhua, still a comic, but the distinction is important to make because the censorship laws in China are a lot more restrictive of lgbt+ content than in Japan. Allegedly, the creator was told by the government to cease all explicit lgbt+ content “or else”. Which is why, after they share their big lesbian kiss towards the middle of the story, that’s kind of it. You’re stuck waiting for something to develop, but nothing really happens. The comic very quickly becomes a collection of slice of life segments and cute pictures that imply a relationship between the girls, but not really ;) ;). Now things are just kind of left in purgatory for the foreseeable future and, well, that’s Tamen De Gushi y’all.

Compared to Kase San and Yamada, the characters were much better, which is not saying much, but without an actual romantic storyline, there’s just not a lot for me to comment on to be honest. It’s really pretty though, look at this art :

3. Beauty and the Beast Girl by Neji

my personal favorite and the BEST yuri I ever read

So next on the list is Beauty and the Beast Girl (I’m going to abbreviate to BatBG from here on) , which I already spoiled my feelings on the matter so this will basically be me gushing about this story for several paragraphs straight, enjoy.

Contrary to what the title suggests, it really has nothing to do with Beauty and the Beast’s story except in name. The main girls are Lily Blind, who is actually fucking blind 💀 and Heath the monster girl. Already I’m happy because instead of blonde femme and dark hair butch, it’s blonde femme and of-course-you-have-purple-hair-and-pronouns butch. Lol, all jokes aside, Lily, unlike her blonde femme counterparts is quite assertive and voices her opinions all the time. In fact, she’s the one who pushes Heath to be more open and communicate with her rather than the other way around. This is, in part, due to the story BatBG is trying to tell. I say BatBG is in name only to Beauty and the Beast because Lily isn’t trying to find the “beauty” within Heath or learning to love a beast or whatever, she’s fine just the way she is and her love for Heath is unconditional. Plus the only thing beastly about Heath is her appearance…which I’ll harp on later, but her behavior is in no way different from a regular human except in very rare, specific moments.

At its heart, BatBG is a story about forgiveness (the creator literally says as much) , but it’s also about the cycle of violence that results from being outcasted and deprived of love. BatBG is set in a world of humans and monsters, where the monsters are outcasted and either have to stay away from human society like Heath or assimilate themselves by hiding away their monster like traits, which is a really queer narrative on top of an already queer story. I don’t want to go into too much spoilers, but sometime before the beginning of the story, Heath in-directly hurts Lily before they ever meet. However, it’s not about Lily needing to forgive Heath, or trying to get over the pain she inflicted upon her, rather its Heath learning to forgive herself and in effect, learning to love herself as much as Lily loves her.

Another big aspect of BatBG is disabilities, Lily Blind is in fact Blind lol and while there are times she struggles with her blindness, she never views her disability as something she needs to be ashamed of and never, ever, blames Heath for it or holds it against her unlike what many, many, many, many other stories end up doing. Her blindness isn’t treated like a super power either, it’s a legitimate disability. She just accepts that it’s a part of her and goes onto say that if not for her blindness, she would’ve never met the love of her life, which I found to be an incredibly profound thing to say.

Now that I’ve gotten this far, I suppose I can add a bit of a disclaimer. So BatBG is waaaaay more explicit about the physical affection between the girls than in any of the previous stories I talked about. Heath and Lily are constantly kissing on, hugging, and almost always flirting with each other, and make no mistake, these girls do be fucking. The sex scenes are never perverted or gross, but genuinely super sweet and romantic, which makes it way hotter imo (huh imagine that🤔). And aside from being hot, it also serves a purpose! Lily’s pretty damn horny underneath all her nice girl antics and while it’s not a major part of her character, it does give a slight edge to her personality and, most importantly, balances out the dynamic between Heath and Lily. It would’ve been very easy to fall into that boring trope where Heath is aggressively horny and Lily is the submissive blind girl, but by making Lily be the one to initiate the sexual encounters, it not only compliments Heath’s more reserved nature, but breaks the stereotype that people with disabilities are pure precious being who couldn’t possibly have sex, which is ableist af btw. Many people think the existence of any sex scenes at all is superfluous, but in BatBG, it truly elevates the story, the characters, and the romance in ways that wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying without it.

Now, with as much praise I gave BatBG, there is one criticism I have, but it’s a quibble really, and it can be explained in a single image:

There is a dissonance between the story and the art, the story says: “Heath is a big, ugly scary monster”

The art says:

And like yes, it can be argued that Heath is simply regurgitating the things bigoted people have said to her, but at no point in the story is this ever challenged or brought up in any meaningful way. Lily is blind so she doesn’t know what the hell she looks like and the other characters aren’t any help either. It’s not a big deal or anything, it just would’ve elevated the story if Heath was actually kinda ugly/more monstrous and not incredibly beautiful because right now it’s giving skinny girl who calls herself fat all the time, and it’s like, babe, who tf are you fooling? 😭

Other than that, BatBG is incredibly profound despite its premise being so deceptively simple and I love it to pieces so …yeah! READ IT.

4. Superwomen in Love! Honey Trap and Rapid Rabbit by sometime

Well, at least there are no blondes

So imma just abbreviate to SiL btw

Alright, let’s get started. The premise is that a villainess falls for the super hero girl and then that plotline is dropped in about 16 pages. I’m not even joking, the villainess falls for the hero, loses her job as a villain and then joins the hero all in one chapter. The REAL plot is actually about a council of evil alien-humans who want to destroy humanity because of generic super villain reason #434: the leader of the aliens is sad and misunderstood :( I’m not even going to lie, I had 0 interest in “X” (the generic ass name of the main villain) and her band of useless lesbians. They did literally nothing in the story except be a nuisance and contribute to X’s incel breakdown at the end. Their inclusion actively made SiL worse because the story has this weird tonal problem where in one breath the villains are portrayed as complete jokes and then you turn the page and now they’re shooting children like girl what💀 And these useless lesbians hog sooooo much of SiL that desperately needed to be given to Honey trap and Hayate to develop their relationship.

When the story DOES actually focus on Honey Trap and Hayate, it’s pretty good, even cute at times, there just wasn’t enough time given to them to flesh their relationship out. As it stands, Honey Trap and Hayate don’t have much of a dynamic, or personality for that matter. Honey Trap’s main gimmick is that she’s extremely horny for Hayate and delulu:

Aside from that, she’s a great value version of Heath, but even a watered down character is better than, like, nothing. All I really know about Hayate is that she’s nice, heroic, likes wearing tacky clothes and ….that’s it. She loves Honey Trap because…………they fought together a few times so why not🤷‍♀️ I’d say at least that’s better than Tamen De Gushi, but actually it’s not because these grown ass women don’t even kiss , all we get is a love confession and their gremlin love child and that’s supposed to be satisfying I guess.

And the worst part is that SiL has the audacity to pretend the romance was something that it clearly wasn’t:

Girl…yall were “””enemies””” for 10 panels.

Now, it’s stated they have been rivals for a while, but I guess Honey Trap forgot all of that because the moment she sees Hayate’s face, my good sis is pussy whipped for life. And that’s in spite of apparently being the evilest one out of the evil group because Honey Trap has no grudge or baggage toward Hayate. She immediately turns good with no issues and Hayate is only distrustful of Honey Trap for 1 or 2 speech bubbles and then she’s not. Anything else that happened was off screen, which means it didn’t happen. Ironically, the very next entry on this list will do a MUCH better job at an ex-villain love story, but for SiL, there’s just not much going on.

Another reading of this story is to call it a “parody” but…no, it isn’t. SiL isn’t a comedy, yes there are comedic moments that poke fun of the genre, but the rest of the story genuinely wants you to take it seriously. Except it can’t. X and her league of dimwits are boring as piss and they oscillate between Saturday morning cartoon villains and child murderers seemingly on a whim. So I can neither be endeared to them nor take them as a serious threat. Honey Trap and Hayate are there, but I lament on all the potential lost from what could’ve been an amazing relationship.

5. Yamujiburo/Kianamaiart’s Hanamusa webcomic

This one is kind of cheating, but I also don’t care let me talk about hot MILFs💀

So the final entry on this list is a webcomic series by one of my fave artist: kianamaiart! And it’s right here on tumblr so check it out!

I stumbled upon this webcomic a few weeks ago, fell in love and now I want to talk about it. This yuri pair thankfully has no blonde femme in sight and instead features two popular Pokémon characters: Jessie from Team Rocket and Delia Ketchum, Ash Ketchum’s mom. What I love about this ship and the world Kiana creates around them is that it’s a very unconventional pairing. There’s just not many romances where a single mom falls in love with an ex gang member and the best part is, Delia being a mom is a big part of her character and she doesn’t ignore Ash in favor of her new relationship with Jessie. She has time for both and doesn’t prioritize one over the other, which many ppl fail to do even irl so good on you Delia!

Now, as for the romance it self, Jessie and Delia are a unique pair. Jessie’s overconfident, brash, drama queen personality doesn’t automatically put her in the “dominant” role and Delia’s sweet, motherly personality doesn’t automatically put her in the “submissive” role. Their dynamic in the webcomic actually plays out in the reverse, Jessie is the one who gets easily flustered and Delia’s…intense, to say the least:

(But Tbf if Delia looked at me like that I’d be at her beck and call too💀)

This subversion of these tropes creates a fun dynamic for the couple and it’s super adorable to see how their energies bounce off each other in each new situation Kiana puts them in. I also love how both Jessie and Delia inspire each other to live out their dreams and they become better versions of themselves by being together.

And one last thing, I don’t have any smart commentary to go along with this, I just really like this drawing of Jessie:

no thoughts, head empty

Final Thoughts

Soooo yeah, that’s the end of my dissertation on yuri comics. I know I ended up dragging a lot of popular yuri, but it wasn’t my intention to make you guys hate any of things I talked about. These were just my thoughts as an avid yuri fan, so let me know your thoughts as well, especially if you read any of the yuri I talked about. And even though I’m super picky about the type of yuri I read, I’d still love to hear any recommendations. Who knows, it might dethrone the undefeated champ that is Beauty and the Beast Girl.

#i’m in love with the villainess #i favor the villainess #cw sa mention #cw inc*st #the fact that I even have to tag these things deep long sigh…

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daisiesflower · 10 months ago

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So some thoughts, hopes, theories for stranger things five. Not gonna tag this spoilers cause like it’s all coming from my own brain none of this is leaks or anything

I know the actor has claimed he isn’t but I wish Argyle would be coming back. And for more than like a guest character the way Suzy is, he was literally a main character of season 4 and if Robin could join the team permanently why not him

On that note I want him and Steve to be besties. I want Steve to have healthy male friendships of his own age but also it would be soooo funny cause Jonathan clearly still has petty beef with Steve after all this time but Steve’s totally moved on and considers Jonathan a friend and he would get along so well with Argyle, I think it would be hilarious because Jonathan would be fuming like he’s bitched to Argyle so much about this guy and Argyle is his best friend and now him and Steve are hitting it off. But he knows he doesn’t have any actual valid reason to be mad so he’s just really bitchy about it

Literally anything about Steve and Robin’s home lives. Literally anything. I am begging for scraps here.

I mean we all know Holly Wheeler’s going to go missing and play some important role in the plot. Is that even a question anymore. This one has always been a matter of when not if

I think there’ll be an episode of the Upside Down invading Hawkins using Vecna’s victims. Like I think it’ll be an episode dedicated to zombie flicks as characters come face to face with corpses of people who had major impacts on them and have to kill them all over again to protect Hawkins. I don’t think that’ll be part of the climax though I think it’ll be like mid-season to ramp up the stakes. Think that’s where we’ll get an Eddie cameo, think we’ll see Barb, we’ll see Billy, we’ll see Chrissy, Fred, Patrick, maaaybe Jason. The real question mark is Bob - he didn’t die in the Upside Down, his body was either completely eaten or it was moved by humans and buried so question mark whether Vecna has any control over him

As far as stancy vs jancy goes I want Nancy to end up single, with acknowledgments that none of them are in a place in their lives to be able to have relationships with each other for various reasons and an emphasis on stoncy moving on and coming together as friends. Most likely though I think jancy will end up together

Duffer bros are for sure going to kill someone off. Ideally for me it would be Jonathan (and I do have well thought out reasons if anyone wants them) but I don’t trust them to do that. Think it’s more likely to be Steve so that Nancy can be with Jonathan without guilt or whatever (would hate that)

I think the Duffer bros are invested in the romances they set up at the beginning of the show. The show started with mileven, jopper, and jancy so I think that’s how they’ll end it. Jancy I think is the most at risk due to them being very aware that Steve is more well-liked than Jonathan (by both general audience and themselves)

I so think Robin will be Will’s gay mentor. Cannot emphasize enough how much I Do Not Want This

I want Kali back. I know it’s not gonna happen. In my rewrite of Season 4 she joins the team permanently so she’s be there in Season 5. But unfortunately the Season 4 rewrite only exists in my head

I would love to see a Joyce-Robin team up. They struggle with so many of the same issues that I would love to see them find strength in each other. Plus Robin could use an adult figure in her life since she apparently doesn’t have parents (sarcasm). I feel like maybe I saw a pic of Maya and Winona filming so this could become a reality but it could also be my hopeful subconscious making shit up

I want Murray and Erica in the same grouping for an extended period of time. With Lucas there because I don’t want Murray alone with her (yikes) and also for the good good Sinclair sibling interactions. Max and Robin can pop in occasionally. I just want like sixteen straight hours of this man being bullied by teen and preteen girls. Would love to see a moment of Sinclair bickering and then Murray steps in and it becomes “oh hell no, no one gets to bully my sibling except me”

I want the season to start with a grouping of Max, Steve, and El. I love the Steve-Max relationship (he’s so older brother coded to her) and I feel like we’ve gotten little hints that Steve and El are close, that he considers her one of his little nuggets but we’ve never actually seen that

On that note I think it’d be funny if we make it through five straight seasons without Will and Steve interacting once

I want Nancy and Mike to find out about their mom nearly hooking up with Billy. It feels so weird and random to include as a plot point if nothing ever comes of it and neither of her kids ever find out. I think it could work for Nancy to find out in order to help her maybe make a decision about her future and her relationships, to really cement what she’s known all along which is that she doesn’t want to end up like her parents. I think for Mike it would affect his friendship with Max, I think he wouldn’t know how to behave about it and it would make thinks difficult between them for a bit

On a similar note I want Mike to have some time away from Will and El. Spend some time with Lucas and Max. He has other relationships that also impact his life besides just those two (even if they are arguably the most important)

I don’t think it really matters what grouping Dustin ends up in since he’ll be awesome no matter what. But since they’re obviously going to make the Wheelers more important, I want sixteen straight hours of him bullying Ted Wheeler

Actually since I also want Dustin and Erica being besties, let’s make that the foursome of the season. Dustin, Erica, Murray, and Ted Wheeler. Just Dustin and Erica bullying these middle aged men who also hate each other - Ted regularly calls Murray a communist and a kook (despite literal proof of other dimensions being right in front of him) and Murray hates him for voting for Reagan

I think that there will be like no reference to Russians. Firstly because this season is gonna be very centralized in Hawkins, I don’t see any plot points that aren’t about Hawkins’ direct focus happening. But also because the Duffers are quite good at listening to audience critiques and adjusting in ways that give the audience what they want without sacrificing their story. And last season they know damn well that the Russia plotline was the least favorite of anyone and that in Season 3 the only reason it was a favorite was due to the grouping of characters

I think Dustin’s plot and character specifically will be inspired by Eddie’s death in the way Nancy’s was by Barb. I wish with all of my being that this would be Mike’s story since he makes the most sense to idolize and emulate Eddie but alas I doubt that will happen. One day I’ll write a post about this. That day is not today

On the one hand I don’t trust them not to kill Steve. On the other hand, killing Steve means he can’t be used in any kind of spin-off…much to consider

I highly doubt byler will happen. I think it’s more likely the season ends for Will the same way Season 4 ended for Robin. I think he’ll spend the season learning to move on from Mike, then in like the second to last scene of the show will meet and bond with some random guy also implied to be gay with the clear subtext that this is Will’s future boyfriend

I want Tommy H and Carol back. I miss them

#stranger things #stranger things s5 #gonna go ahead and post before i learn too much about s5 that contradicts this

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the-irken-pony · 2 years ago

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Hey, I'm sorry to bother you, but I'd like to post my THSC art on Tumblr - but I always get too anxious to. I'm always scared I'm going to accidently copy someone or say something rude on accident (which is silly, I know, but I can't stop thing about it)... Do you have any suggestions?

(You don't have to answer this if it's too uncomfortable)

Hey, we’ve all been there. Sharing art online for the first time can be scary no matter your age or experience level. Can’t cure your anxiety, but I can offer a couple tips to keep in mind.

Google the “two cakes theory”. The idea of it goes that, while an artist may look at their own work with disdain and feel as though it’s inadequate in comparison to another artist’s work (or that it’s too similar and not as good), people other than the artist will generally receive it with high praise. Maybe the audience is just happy there’s multiple works of art, or someone appreciates something you do differently from other artists, or maybe another artist is thrilled to finally see someone else utilize the idea they’ve been working with. Think: when you have an idea that you really like to see from other people, do you get upset when more than one person is working with the same concept? Of course not! That’s more of the thing that you like!

Of all the fandoms I’ve been in, the THSC fandom is by far the most welcoming and friendly one I can remember being in. Maybe it’s something to do with how small it is, but I’ve rarely come across issues here. (Though another part of it is being on tumblr rather than twitter.)

The THSC fandom is also among the most receptive to ideas that are uncommon, or even ideas that they may disagree with at first glance (especially when it comes to shipping, if that’s a thing you’re into). I’ve been in bigger and smaller fandoms that are a lot less welcoming to alternative interpretations.

Continuing from the above, the fact that the characters are stick figures means that pretty much any interpretation of the characters is allowed.

If you have OCs, share them! The fandom loves OCs here.

I don’t know if I have tips on the whole “not saying the wrong thing” issue, but the best I can offer is that people make mistakes. If you misphrased smth or someone misunderstood what you meant, clarify it as best you can. If someone is saying that something you said is bad, take a moment to process and understand what the person is saying rather than doubling down on what you said or immediately crumbling into an apology, then act accordingly. If you don’t understand what they’re trying to say, ask for clarification or an explanation. Sometimes you fuck up and an apology is necessary, but sometimes someone holds shitty beliefs or opinions and is imposing them on you. In general though, assume best intentions unless said assumption is disproven to you. (Conflict resolution isn’t a strong suit of mine, sorry.)

For some tips on actually sharing your art:

I highly recommend making a side blog for your art, if you don’t have one already. You can reblog it to your main, but by having a separate blog you make it easier for people to find your art.

If you’re just making for you and not making money from your art or doing requests, don’t feel pressured to keep a schedule. While it is good to have goals to aim for (for example, mine is just posting twice a month), when it’s not your job it can be hard to adhere to a strict schedule and it’ll just put stress on you. If you’re trying to transition to professional work then building up a schedule is necessary, but if not? Just post when you feel like it.

This isn’t the type of ask I expect to get from people, but I’m happy to help you out! I love seeing people take their first step into art and seeing new people in the fandom. Remember that the first step is always the hardest.

#henry stickmin #the henry stickmin collection #thsc #ask #anonymous #mine #long post #art advice

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mdhwrites · 2 years ago

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Ruby Gillman Trailer

youtube

So... This trailer has theoretically been living in my brain for the past day and I want to talk about it. My first thought was just “This is cute. Looks neat. I’ll keep an eye out for it and maybe see it if I get the opportunity.” Theeeeeen someone made art of the mermaid and kraken kissing and I mean that’s just perfect. There’s even a lot of good potential for shipping there with the person who is defined by their powers and what they are and the person who doesn’t care about any of those things. The attraction from the mermaid to the kraken is immediate and obvious and filling in the gaps could be fun. Which actually brought me to stage two: This trailer is bad... but in a good way? It fails in just making an audience interested as it also defeats the purpose to watching it for people who mostly care about the big plot points rather than the journey. After all, we know her powers, see her first accidental transformation into full kraken mode, see the villain’s super mode reveal, get it confirmed that it ends with a kaiju fight, see how superfluous the love interest will be, etc. like that. When people talk about trailers showing the whole movie, this could actually be used as a textbook example of it... With one exception: How it does it also easily facilitates fandom interaction. The main designs are shown fairly clearly, with their variants being shown as well so artists don’t have to fill in the gaps left out by lack of references, the plot of the movie is clear so you can take educated guesses on what they’ll do so the movie won’t as easily contradict fanfiction made before it, etc. like that. Hell, you could just try to write a fanfic that’s effectively the movie with those guesses. It’d be like those cheap knock offs of hyped up movies like “Atlantic Rim” that you would find in old video rental places. I... I swear I’m 26 (one month away from my birthday to the day actually which is actually pure coincidence). So... Here’s the multiple levels of thought in full: This idea is neat. I like monster girls and monster girls trying to fit into human society is something I’ve enjoyed enough to write multiple times in multiple ways! The last book I released had a dryad in it even. Oh! Yeah, this antagonist and protagonist actually have great potential for a sapphic romance and we KNOW how much I love those. My first proper length novel, instead of novella, was based on a popular werewolf girl falling for a nerdy human girl after all. You do know so much though that you could try to take the same premise and flip it in time for the movie to come out. Books would have a way easier time with a deadline of ‘this Summer’ than making a movie yourself though. You’d have to be able to pump out a whole book’s worth of chapters in like a week, let alone if you don’t have practice with mermaids. Of course, I am well documented as having experience writing mermaids, and even more hostile ones at that. With all that said... There’s MORE than enough differences between Ruby Gillman and the story percolating in my head right now. There won’t be a race based rivalry, it’ll be focused on a romance rather than shoving it in there because apparently it needs one (that’s really how the trailer makes it feel for Gillman) and just the shift from the two being entirely against each other from go to actually working together and getting closer inherently requires a very different story. As well as the fact that a book can’t get away with the main character being blue and people just theoretically ignoring it (I’m curious what the explanation for that will be) and the fact that a kraken might be hated while a mermaid is loved in the world has already led to worldbuilding that will play into the romance, the climax, themes and character arcs. This also isn’t me trying to say “I’m gonna outdo Dreamworks!” It’s more my silly way of announcing a new project I’m going to try and focus on and try to get done in like two-three months. I know I can more than easily do it if I can get my mind to work with me so... we’ll see but my mind is excited and I think it’s a fun, silly experiment. I am a little sad that it means I likely won’t be writing fanfiction for the movie before it comes out though like I did with Wenclair and Wednesday. Again, I think Ruby and Chelsea already have a good possible dynamic together but my job as a professional writer takes precedence unfortunately.

#ruby gillman teenage kraken #Teenage kraken #Rambles

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ltleflrt · 4 years ago

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Hey Carrie! You talked a little the other day about writers' tendency to start a fic too early in the story, and how you see a lot of first scenes that could have been scrapped to improve the story. My question is if you have some tips to recognize while writing that first scene that you are starting too early in the story?

Hello friend!

That's a really good question, and I'll see if I can give an answer that makes sense. I am not a professional, and I'm not educated or trained in this stuff, it's just something that I recognize from years and years and years of voracious reading. And as with all writing advice, I encourage you to take what I'm going to say with a grain of salt and remember that no writing rule is a hard rule, only a guideline.

Also, my advice is going to be pertaining fanfiction, and specifically to AUs. Obviously a published book has an editor with a razor blade going through a manuscript for you, and the problems that bother me in fanfiction crop up in AUs more than Canonverse.

Oh, and every instance of "you" is general, not specific 😜

So I think the main problem that I see is that people are starting with an Info Dump. An Info Dump is not always a bad thing, sometimes it's completely necessary, but it is NOT where you want to start your story. If it absolutely has to be done, it's better to be somewhere in the middle or near the end. When it's something that your characters need to know.

That's an important bit: Do your characters need to know this?

And related to that: Does your audience need to know this for the story to make sense?

And very important follow up: If the answers to the above questions are yes, does the character/audience need to know this RIGHT NOW?

There's a lot of information about your story that YOU need to know. Heck, my notes files are full of sooooooo much stuff that I know about the characters and plot that never reaches the final product.

So when you're reading your first chapter (I say reading, not writing, because sometimes info dumping for your own benefit is good, and then you fix it before you share the story lol), ask yourself those two questions.

So for example:

In an AU where Dean is a tattoo artist, and it's his POV. The story starts with Dean driving to work, and when he gets there he's going to find out that the empty shop next door has been purchased and is going to be a yoga studio. He meets Castiel out front, up on a ladder trying to hang a hand painted sign, and some teens go running buy and knock into the ladder and Dean has to catch Castiel from falling. (Anyone who wants to adopt this idea is welcome to it btw, I would love to read this lol)

The mistake I often see in a first chapter like this is that as Dean is walking to work, there's a whole Info Dump about why he's a tattoo artist instead of a hunter. He'll be ambling along, thinking about his nice little business, and there's info about how his mom died in a fire, and his dad was a jerk, and Dean didn't go to college because he saved his money for Sammy's college fund, and Dean's only passion was art, and Bobby Singer introduced him to a tattoo shop owner who took Dean under his wing, etc.

Question 1, does your character need to know this?: Why is Dean reflecting on his past? Does Castiel need to know this information in order to build a romance with Dean?

Question 2, does your audience need to know this?: Why does this information matter? If Dean's only reflecting on this because you want to make sure your audience knows where the timeline changed and this became an AU, then you're starting too early in your story. Dean doesn't need to know this, and honestly in a lot of cases the reader doesn't need to know this. This is information that should have been left in your notes file.

Question 3, does the character/audience need to know this NOW?: If this information is pertinent to the plot, like maybe there's some trauma there that Castiel might need to know about to develop their relationship, then you don't want to put it HERE, you want to put it in a conversation with Castiel LATER.

If I was writing this AU, I would just start with Dean sipping his coffee, he's kinda tired because reasons, he looks up to see an unusual commotion, and has to drop his coffee and sprint forward to catch Cas. If he's reflecting on anything in this scene, it's going to be whatever made him tired, or how good/bad the coffee is this morning. Since Cas is a new business owner, they can talk about the origins of Dean's business on their first date, because it'll be a relevant response to Castiel talking about the origins of his yoga studio.

And just in general, if Dean's origin story includes a lot of canon elements, like mom dying in a fire, dad being a deadbeat, Sammy being the adorable overachieving Stanford student.... try to hide that info for as long as you can so that the audience is actually curious about it by the time the info might pop up. It's the wild divergences that are more interesting earlier on.

Okay, and then I want to talk about my giant pet peeve for a starting chapter. It's a specific kind of info dump, that often includes the stuff from above, but then goes a step further.

My nemesis, The Daily Grind.

I haven't asked the authors, so I could be wrong about this, but I feel like most of the time when this type of chapter is included in a story it is because the author wants to show the reader that the character's life is boring and meaningless before the plot's inciting incident. I can absolutely see why that might be considered an important detail about the character, but keep in mind if it's boring and meaningless to the character, it's boring and meaningless to your audience.

You know how I said earlier that writing tips should never be hard and fast rules? Well this is in regards to that Show Don't Tell rule, and it's an example of TOO MUCH showing lol

It is possible to do a daily grind in an interesting way, but only if you include a Shake Up right away. And you have to look at the 3 questions a little bit differently.

So for example:

Castiel POV, and he works in an office. His daily routine is to always get up at the same time every day, he goes for his run, he grooms himself, he has his breakfast, he goes to work and talks to Kelly about how Jack's doing in kindergarten for a few minutes before going into his office. Adler comes in to be a prick, Castiel hates him for it, and then he does his reports, has lunch hiding in a corner of the lunch room so that his co-workers will leave him alone, he does more reporting, leaves an hour after his shift technically ends, goes home to a lonely apartment that maybe includes a pet who is the only being that shows him affection, has an unsatisfying dinner of leftover takeout while watching a mindless reality tv show, then he goes to bed.

Ugh.

BORING.

Which, yeah I get it, the point is that his life is boring. But now the story is too, and I've clicked the back button before I can see how exciting it's capable of getting.

Question 1, does your character need to know this?: No. He knows. Poor thing definitely already knows.

Question 2, does your audience need to know this?: Yes, but...

Question 3, does the character/audience need to know this NOW?: Yes, but new question for ya:

Optional Question 4, why does this need to be separate from your plot's inciting incident? The answer to this 4th question is usually that it doesn't.

Chapter 2 of this type of beginning usually shows the shake up of Castiel's day. My advice is to start with the shakeup, and sprinkle in the details of what you would have put into chapter 1 to show the contrast. It's far more interesting to learn how boring Castiel's day is by starting with the shake up.

So, same scenario:

Castiel's alarm doesn't go off for some reason, OH NO HIS ROUTINE IS SHAKEN UP! You're explaining his routine while also stressing him the fuck out because he has to rush, or skip something that he normally needs to do. Action! Interesting! He gets to work late, and has to miss his conversation with Kelly about Jack because she's telling him that Adler's already in his office being a prick because Castiel isn't there waiting for him like he always is. Oh shit, he's pissing off his asshole boss! Conflict! He's so flustered by the shakeups that he misses something on his report, and he gets a call from that new marketing guy Dean Winchester who asks if they can have a meeting about it when Castiel normally takes his lunch. BAM! MEET CUTE OPPORTUNITY! While Castiel is getting all flustered by how pretty Dean is while they talk about TPS reports, he can reflect on how this is both better and worse than hiding from his co-workers in the corner of the lunch room. The rest of the day after that meeting he's thinking about how weird this day is, he still goes home an hour late, he talks to his pet about his weird day when he gets home, and maybe he still eats leftover takeout, but he's not paying attention to the reality tv show because holy shit he wants to count Dean's freckles.

In this example, you're Telling the audience about Castiel's normal routine instead of Showing them. But since it's during a plot heavy chapter, it works!

Lemme see if I can TL:DR this...

As you're reading, ask yourself who needs to know this information, why do they need to know this information, and why is it important for this information to be included early instead of later?

If the answer to any of those questions boils down to "this is backstory" instead of "this kicks off the plot", then you've started too early.

I hope this helps? I'm always nervous about giving writing advice because so much of the time I have no idea what I'm doing, and I'm just feeling around in the dark. And I definitely do not ever want to hurt an author's feelings, because this hobby is so fucking hard, and we're all fragile. Even authors who welcome con-crit with open arms will have a weak point that they're unaware of that might get poked wrong and cause a crack, ya know?

I hope anyone who gets this far who might see their own works reflected in my examples understands that I have a lot of respect for their ability to put their work out into the world, and I want them to keep doing it. We're here to have fun, okay? Okay. I love y'all 💜

#ltleramblings #writer's angst #also i think some of these problems can be solved with a prologue #but that's something i'm literally exploring in my current WIP #so I have no idea if I'm doing it right #and i might be breaking all of my own rules with it lol

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spencers-renaissance · 4 years ago

Text

The Other Side of the Storm

Summary: Spencer & Luke are not out as a couple but have to attend the same FBI gala where a young, pretty agent insists on flirting with Luke. Misunderstandings and surprising reveals ensue.

Tags: relationship reveal, secret relationship, coming out, jealousy, caught, hurt/comfort, autistic spencer, angst with a happy ending, misunderstandings, found family, est. rel., cuddling & snuggling, domestic fluff

Pairing: Luke Alvez x Spencer Reid

Word Count: 2.7k

Masterlist // Read on AO3

Lets pretend I didn't just disappear for a couple of weeks bc I'm BACK now yay! This is written for a prompt from @ralvezhq who asked: "Ralvez is already dating but no one knows about them yet. they get invited to some sort of FBI gala and a young, accomplished female agent won’t stop flirting with luke and spencer is absolutely not having it so he finds a way to let everyone know they are together." -- I stuck to it except that they're caught rather than willingly confessing, I hope that's okay! I really enjoyed this one, so I hope you do as well.

!!!TW: the woman is very insistent on her flirting and makes Luke uncomfortable when she touches his chest without his consent!!!

“Any particular reason you keep looking over at that table full of Fugitive Task Force members, Spence?” JJ asks amusedly, sipping from her wine glass.

“Mm, I’ve noticed you looking over there a little bit,” Tara muses. “You got your eye on someone?”

Spencer looks down and forces a laugh, but he can feel the tips of his ears turning pink, and knows that he’s not gonna hear the end of this for the rest of the night. The team have never been fond of the FBI Galas they’re forced into attending every year, and unfortunately, Hotch’s usual stunt of pulling a non-urgent case from the stack and jetting off to some far-flung corner of the country to avoid it failed to fool the director this time.

He’d broken the news to them at the start of the week, and conversation in the bullpen has pretty much exclusively revolved around the event ever since. Even Penelope, who loves seeing people win awards and dressing up in her favourite full-glam outfits, has been significantly less upbeat. She only gave him one spontaneous hug all week.

None of them, though, have been dreading it more than Spencer. The others aren’t exactly fond of the faux smiles and convoluted politics and fake niceties either, sure, but tonight he has far more to lose than ever before. Namely, the man sat just out of his direct eye line at the Fugitive Task Force table.

Ironically, he and Luke had gotten ready for the same event together. They’d stood in the mirror side by side and tied one another’s ties in the way that always makes Spencer smile and Luke had gently brushed his hair out of eyes, but when it came time to leave, Spencer called a rideshare, and Luke drove the truck, arriving at completely different times in completely different vehicles.

The thing is, that as much as he loves his team, and as much as the FBI fraternisation policy has been significantly relaxed over the last few years, no one can know they’re together and have been for the last eight months.

Even the thought of Derek or Hotch or even JJ finding out — not only that he’s dating someone but that that person is a man — makes him feel queasy.

Which is why he smiles around an awkward cough and forces himself to meet the eyes of his profiler teammates, fighting every instinct in him to run, leg it out of here, never show your face again.

“No, I’m just looking at the clock above them,” he lies, and it isn’t smooth in any way shape or form but it’ll have to do. “You know I can’t wait for this to end. I haven’t read any Carl Jung in weeks.”

Tara laughs, raising her wine glass slightly. “Now that I understand.”

“Nah, I’m not so sure,” Derek grins slyly, “I think my man has his eye on some girl and he’s just getting a little shy, am I right, pretty boy?” He quirks an eyebrow playfully, leaning over to pat him on the back, and Spencer scrambles to recover.

“Believe whatever you’d like, Morgan,” he says, bringing his own glass to his lips to conceal any tells in his expression. “Doesn’t make it any less false.”

Thankfully, the conversation is interrupted by the Director clearing his throat into the mic on the stage as he introduces the next round of awards. Spencer loses himself in the anonymity of a dark room and a clapping audience, grateful that he’s avoided this round of interrogation.

The rest of the night progresses similarly. Spencer tries to keep his eyes away from Luke’s table — and valiantly attempts to keep from blushing like a schoolgirl when their eyes meet and Luke’s lips quirk upwards in an I-tried-to-stop-it-but-I-just-can’t kind of smile — and the rest of his team rib him pretty relentlessly about this ‘girl’ he supposedly has his eye on.

Hotch tries to get the team to leave him alone, but when a group of skilled, determined profilers all a little tipsy on wine and champagne encounter a friend’s mysterious love life, it’s pretty difficult to stand in their way.

Once dessert is served, though, things rapidly go downhill.

As much as he’s been trying to keep his eyes away from Luke’s table, it’s almost impossible to prevent his gaze from straying in a temporary moment of cognitive lapse every now and then, and while everyone is relatively quiet and occupied, digging into the Belgian waffle dessert, it happens once again. This time, though, instead of a small smile from Luke, he’s rewarded with the frankly heart-stopping sight of a young, pretty agent practically sitting in his lap, trying to feed him dessert.

He looks uncomfortable, and immediately Spencer is hit with an overwhelming wave of insecurity, jealousy, and an urge to protect that strangles his breath for a moment. He stares unabashedly, no longer caring whether anyone sees him because that’s his boyfriend and an extremely pretty woman is all over him and he looks like he wants her to stop, and oh my god, what does he do?

“Is that the girl you like all over that dude?” Derek asks sympathetically, catching onto Spencer’s staring. “It’s alright, man, if she’d choose someone else over you then she’s not right for you anyway. Why don’t you come and enjoy your dessert?”

Spencer senses the rest of the team’s eyes on him, but they don’t say anything, probably from a combination of pity, awkwardness, and confidence in Derek to counsel him through it. He’s hardly cognisant of that, though, instead a roar of emotion crashing through his mind, and he has no idea what to do about it.

When he sees a perfectly manicured hand land directly on Luke’s chest, though; when he sees Luke reject her more firmly, this time pushing her away; when he watches as she clearly gears herself up for some sad protest of self-victimisation, he sees red.

Before he can stop himself, he’s storming across the room over to Luke’s table. “Hi,” he says firmly, audibly pissed off and not in the mood for bullshit, “do you mind if I borrow my friend here? I have some official FBI business to discuss with him. Thanks.”

Without waiting for a response, he grabs Luke’s arm and leads him to the corridor outside the main hall, Luke following quickly and willingly behind him.

“Are you okay?” Spencer asks with his brow furrowed, his hand coming up to gently rest on Luke’s waist as he peers at him concernedly through the dim lighting of the hallway.

“Yes, baby, I’m fine,” Luke smiles reassuringly, raising a hand to Spencer’s face. “I’m sorry you had to see that. She was… persistent.”

“She shouldn’t have made you uncomfortable like that,” Spencer insists, still feeling distressed and anxious despite the immediate situation having been diffused.

“You’re right,” Luke agrees. “And she should’ve listened to me when I told her I was taken. I’m sorry you had to see someone flirting with me so openly like that, carinõ, I know you still get insecure about things like that.”

Spencer sighs, relaxing slowly the more he hears Luke’s voice as steady and strong and kind as it always is. He steps forward and buries his face in Luke’s neck as he nestles in close for a comforting hug.

“You know I only have eyes for you, right, sweetheart?” Luke whispers softly, one arm holding his waist and another tangling itself in Spencer’s loose curls.

He nods into Luke’s neck, but doesn’t make any move to pull away, just enjoying the warmth and closeness of standing so intimately with the man he loves until—

“Spencer!” Derek’s voice pulls him violently from his sweet escape from reality and horror instantly floods him as he jerks away from Luke, staring at Derek in a nauseating mixture of alarm and trepidation.

“What…” Derek stares right back at him as both JJ and Tara come tumbling through the doors behind him, looking ready for a fight—

Oh. That makes sense. They all saw him storming towards a woman they thought he had a crush on, then pull the man she was flirting with out into the most secluded corridor surrounding the hall. Even considering Spencer’s character, he has to admit that the circumstances definitely look like he was gearing up for a fight, and everyone knows that he is not the kind of person who could hold his own against an ex-military man who chases down criminals for a living.

“You’re… not fighting him,” Derek says hesitantly, the puzzle pieces clearly falling into place for him.

Spencer shakes his head minutely, and is only thankful when Luke inches closer and wraps an arm around him. After all, he has nothing more to lose.

“You were looking at him, not her,” Derek continues slowly.

Spencer nods, unable to meet the eyes of any of the three friends standing in front of him.

“You’re dating him,” he says, still sounding shocked, his voice almost entirely numb. “You’re gay.”

“Or bisexual,” Tara offers, and Spencer takes a little comfort in the fact that she doesn’t sound shocked or upset, her voice warm and helpful. He tries to meet her eye, but he can’t work up the courage and buries closer into Luke’s embrace instead.

“Gay,” he whispers.

“Spence,” JJ says quietly, earnestly, “why didn’t you tell us?”

It’s too much to go into right now, too convoluted and long of a story for him to explain when even choking out a single syllable takes a herculean effort, so he shrugs instead.

“We were talking all night assuming you were interested in a woman,” Derek says numbly, more to himself than anything, but Spencer watches out of the corner of his eye as he shakes off the shock and comes back to himself, slowly putting more of the puzzle together as he looks at Spencer. “That’s why you didn’t tell us. We’ve been making assumptions all this time and hurting you in the process.”

“Oh, Spence,” JJ whispers sadly, stepping a little closer.

“I’m so sorry, pretty boy, I— I should’ve known or tried to be more inclusive at least, I’m so sorry I made you feel like this.”

The regret in his friends’ voices and the absence of a negative reaction brings him out of the safety of Luke’s arms slightly. His boyfriend is eyeing him with serious concern, and he tries a smile to reassure him a little, squeezing his hand.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” he manages, clearing his throat awkwardly as he finally succeeds in making eye contact. “It’s a long story and I’ll tell you another time, but, uh— this is Luke. We’ve been together for eight months, two weeks, and four days.”

Luke smiles fondly. “As much as we didn’t expect to reveal it like this, it’s nice to meet all of you properly,” Luke says warmly, shaking everyone’s hands quickly before stepping back to Spencer and interlocking their fingers, pressing a quick but meaningful kiss to his temple.

“I’m really glad you felt able to share this with us, Spence,” Tara says encouragingly, smiling at him in that bright, reassuring way of hers that rivals Penelope in the warmth and comfort it radiates. “I’m proud of you.”

Something about her reaction this entire time has him wondering whether she already knew. He’ll ask her later when he feels less like his heart is still firmly lodged in his throat.

“Me too, kid,” Derek agrees, smiling as well. Spencer wonders whether the initial shock and numb reaction was more a response to his own behaviour than anything about him and Luke, and the thought makes him feel substantially better.

JJ grins, stepping forward and grabbing Spencer’s other hand. “Me three.”

Before anyone can say anything else, the doors are opening again and Penelope is flying through them.

“Oh! Thank god you’re all okay! You just ran off after Spencer and I left you guys to it because I thought you could handle it better than I could but then you didn’t come back and even Hotch was worried, and��” she cuts herself off as she realises everyone staring at her, and slowly she takes in the scene around her. “Oh my god, I’ve missed something. Oh my god, I missed a moment, didn’t I? What have I told you guys about having moments without me? Someone tell me what happened, please, before I explode—”

“Alright, Penelope,” Spencer chuckles, interrupting her. He’s known her for too long to expect her to cut herself off when she’s on a tirade like that. “Uh, this is Luke. My boyfriend.”

“Your… your boyfriend? Oh my god, I finally get to meet him? Wait you told the others? Oh my god I’ve missed so much!”

“Penelope knew?” Derek asks, surprised.

“Half of mine and Spencer’s mutual friends are FBI Agents, and the other half are drag queens, of course I knew,” Penelope dismisses him, “but he wasn’t ready for me to meet his boyfriend yet or even know his name and I very nicely did not go hunting to find him out because I could’ve done that, but I didn’t, because I value you so much as a friend, Spencer, and I’m so glad you finally—”

“Penelope!” Spencer interjects, laughing even more as the tension and distress he’d felt only minutes ago finally melts away fully. “Do you actually want to introduce yourself to Luke, or do you want to keep rambling about drag queens?”

“Right! Yes!” she says eagerly, turning to Luke. “I’m Penelope and it is so nice to meet you, like you don’t even know how much I’ve wanted to meet the man who has my blueberry muffin blushing bright pink in the corner of my batcave while he texts on the phone, and I know you call him carinõ because I saw a text once and it’s the sweetest nickname ever, you are just the cutest, and we are going to be best friends—”

Spencer rests his head on Luke’s shoulder as he listens fondly to Penelope rambling and his friends chatting amongst themselves and everyone getting to know the most important man in his life — the only man he’s ever wanted anything long term with, the only man he’s ever wanted to actually marry one day — and a warm, sweet feeling of contentment floods his chest.

It’s far from the way he thought he’d feel after the team found about Luke, and he savours it, holds it in his mouth for as long as he can before swallowing the memory and filing it away to treasure forever. A moment like this deserves that kind of reverence.

“How are you feeling about tonight?” Luke asks gently as they crawl into bed, tired but happy at gone 2am. He pulls Spencer into his side as soon as they’re under the duvet, resting his chin on his head as he always does.

Moments like these make Spencer smile, the kind of familiar routine that’s so essential to their relationship. Luke had figured out early on that close physical contact and firm touches make him feel safe and settle his racing mind, so they’d worked out positions that made them both feel comfortable, and now relaxing into them is second nature.

“A bit weird,” Spencer admits after thinking for a moment. “I’m happy that they know now and everyone took it well, but it’s strange. A significant part of who I am has been not only that I’m gay, but the dedication I felt to protecting that secret. And now that it’s out, it feels like something private has been bared for my friends to inspect.”

“I think that’s only natural,” Luke muses quietly, pressing a kiss to Spencer’s curls. “It’ll take some getting used to, but you’ll adjust eventually.”

Spencer sighs. “Yeah, you’re right. After I tackle telling Hotch and Rossi, it’ll be nice not to have to hide it. I’ll be able to talk about you at work and maybe even go crazy and put a photo of you on my desk.”

“Wow, that is wild, check you out,” Luke chuckles, before they settle into a comfortable silence in the warm glow of their bedroom. Eventually, he speaks up though, quiet and reverent. “I’m proud of you, carinõ. I really am.”

The words instantly make Spencer smile, a light blush tinging his ears again. He hides his face in Luke’s chest, scooching impossibly closer into his arms. “I love you,” he whispers.

“I love you, too, Spencer,” Luke replies, a happy sigh in his voice.

He reaches over and turns off the bedside lamp. His hand returns to Spencer’s hair and something clicks into place somewhere, a fundamental alignment of the universe that brings a feeling of something so incredibly right as their breathing rhythmically matches to one another and they slide into the welcome embrace of sleep.

I hope you enjoyed that! I had a lot of fun with this one. If anyone has any more ralvez relationship reveal prompts, feel free to send them my way!

Taglist: @criminalmindsvibez @suburban--gothic @strippersenseii @takeyourleap-of-faith @makaylajadewrites @iamrenstark @hotchseyebrows @reidology @spencerspecifics @tobias-hankel @marsjareau @hotchscotchh @oliverbrnch @im-autistic @thataveragenerd @anxious-enby @kuolonsyoja @ropoto @cmily @nudgerox @love-pyramus @notevanbuckley @downwiththedoorpoole @nomajdetective (Add yourself to my taglist here!)

#my writing #ralvez #criminal minds #cm #luke alvez #spencer reid #ralvez fic #ralvez fanfic #ralvez fanfiction #luke alvez/spencer reid #luke alvez x spencer reid #spencer reid/luke alvez #spencer reid x luke alvez #ralvez fluff #ralvez relationship reveal #ralvez au

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nari-nim · 4 years ago

Text

Ateez as love languages

nari note: y’all really liked this for Treasure so even tho no one asked, here’s the Ateez version enjoy

Hoogjoong

Main love language (giving): Acts of Service

Updates you about his day, clear communication, and acknowledges effort

Invites you to accompany him in the studio. Your presence gives him so much energy, and you can passively spend time together when you are both super busy.

Gives you massages. When he receives them, he falls asleep so fast lol

Gives really sentimental gifts, like songs or special reformatted clothes he spent hours making, etc

Follows through with all of his promises. He takes this so seriously.

rest of the members under the cut

Seonghwa

Main love language (giving): Gift giving

Good morning and goodnight texts. Always.

Might nag a little at you when you aren’t taking care of yourself, but he does it because he really cares about your wellbeing

Mindless physical touch, like fixes your hair, plays with your fingers absentmindedly etc. Likes to feel connected to you.

Likes to cook dinner with you and other activities that you can do at home together, where it’s domestic but filled with flirting

Really thoughtful gifts, and likes to go pricier or over the money limit buy accident

Whenever he travels, he brings back a little something because it’s his way of saying “I’m thinking of you” and “this reminded me of you” and “you’re always on my mind and I love you” ya feel

Adds really sincere and touching card to everything

Yunho

Main love language (giving): Quality time

He gives you the sweetest, most thoughtful compliments that always seem to make your day! It’s so easy to return the favor...there’s so much about Yunho to constantly praise.

When he is with you, you have his undivided attention. Phone away, conversation never ending.

Hand around your shoulders or holding your hands whenever possible

Likes finding quirky gifts, something he finds interesting as well so you know it’ll be an insightful gift

Such a gentleman, likes to hold doors for you and other traditionally chivalrous actions

Likes doing small gestures for you. Like always opening water bottles for you or putting food on your plate first when you eat out together or with others.

Yeosang

Main love language (giving and receiving): Quality time

Prioritizes you when spending time together. It’s uninterrupted, intentional, and extremely special in his eyes. Almost like the two of you are in your own world.

Comes over whenever he has space in his schedule for it.

Likes receiving a lot of affection in any and all forms, but is more reserved when giving it, especially when there’s an audience. For example, if you’re with the whole team, he’ll let you snuggle against him and he’ll gently rest a hand on your waist, but nothing more.

Similar to his words of affirmation. His compliments can be a bit rare, but he definitely gives them!! Makes the compliments even more special tbh

Likes being felt like a priority. Likes it when you cling a little to him although he will never admit it.

Not much of a gift giver? Can be a little clueless when it comes to material gifts, but the gestures and lengths he will go to give you what he thinks is best is touching

San

Main love language (giving and receiving): words of affirmation

Oh my god, he is a slut for sincere, loving words from you, whether it’s spoken or written. Write him love letters and he will take it with him wherever he goes and read it constantly.

Compliments for you comes so easily to him and he pays them often

Wants you to pat his head to signify a “good job” a lot. Or give his the verbal equivalent of that if that makes sense

Really likes resting his head on your shoulders or laying in your lap

He is a clingy teddy bear.

Isn’t scared of going pricey with gifts either, but you might need to hint at things you actually want because San makes the effort but can miss the mark sometimes

Likes spending free time going on dates with you

Cancer + INFP combo makes him really like to have long, deep, and vulnerable conversations about each other

Remembers things about you and tries to help lessen stress or tasks for you

Mingi

Main love language (giving): Physical touch

Hold his hand. Hold it.

Likes hearing compliments. Pretty smooth when giving them although he screams inside each time

This man says, “I love you” a lot. All the time. And he means every one of them. Can be shy when saying them but he powers through

Likes going on explorative dates with you or doing each other’s hobbies

But also is a sucker for nap dates, cuddle dates, and generally staying at home and ordering takeout while you both play with each other’s hair and talk about life

Honestly not a bad gift giver, likes to go pricey too

Goes out of his way to make sure you feel comfortable in many situations

He may be loud and wild at times but he’s pretty empathetic imo. When he acts on it, he’s such a sweet and caring boyfriend

Wooyoung

Main love language (giving): Physical touch

Constantly compliments you

Playfully bites you

A lot of hugs and cuddling

A lot of PDA

Loves spontaneous kisses and hugs

Gives you classic, statement gifts like expensive jewelry or red roses

Also buys things like vitamins and snacks when he knows you’re getting busy, so you can take care of yourself more when he’s not around

Might be a little harder to land quality time with him since he’s so popular and busy, but when you do he makes it all about you

Cooks for you. Cleans your apartment a bit when he comes over. Meal preps for you. His acts of service are so domestic and we love to see it

Jongho

Main love language (giving): Gift giving

If you’re sitting together, always has a knee resting against your leg. Likes the feeling of staying connected like Seonghwa

Likes to lift you around and lift things for you

Short, concise praises that hits the spot (because I think he’s really observant and knows what you need to hear the most at a given moment) and always leave you flustered

Also likes dates that venture outside the house

Really thoughtful gift giver, likes to be like I’ll buy them a large range of gifts and one of them will stick uwu

Sees paying for expensive dates as a version of that, so get ready to be spoiled

He prioritizes you and always wants to make you feel special

Very much about the gesture for him so anything is fair game as a gift

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gffa · 5 years ago

Note

hi this whole supernatural and putin election is all over my dash right now but I have never watched spn, so I have no idea what's going on there. can you pleaseee help me?? I saw you posting about it lol

Hi! Yeah, I have a post about it here, but basically (AS MUCH AS MY KNOWLEDGE CAN BE, GIVEN THAT I REALLY ONLY READ MESSAGE BOARD THREADS ABOUT THE WANK HAPPENINGS): - We’re all super stressed from Quarantine Brain + Doomscrolling through the election news/lack of news - Supernatural is a long-running show (15 seasons now) that has been around so long, that there are frequent jokes about how it’ll never die, etc. - There are two characters on the show, Dean Winchester (main character) and Castiel (second tier main character) who are shipped together as one of the most popular pairings, their smushname being “Destiel”. - Supernatural is also notorious for being pretty homophobic (from the actors, from the writing of the show, etc.) in a low-key but very “you can feel it way” (and some of the actors have been pretty shitty, from what I’ve heard?), so like literally nobody outside of diehard shippers expected this, despite that the chemistry between them was Something Else. - The show has always been popular, as well as one of the characters/actors on it (Castiel) has an incredibly devoted fan base, but it’s nothing like it was back in 2013, when Misha Collins (the actor who plays the character, generally more supportive of queer stuff, I think?) was IMMENSELY popular, to the point that there was a tumblr “event” scheduled where a bunch of people changed their icons to this one pic of him, then also reblogged the pic a lot, photoshopped the pic onto other gifs to make them Castiel pics, etc., to the point that a lot of people saw NOTHING BUT Misha Collins’ face on their dash all day. This was called “Mishapocalypse”. - Sidenote: Within the Destiel fandom, a/b/o tropes are extremely popular, often times with omega!Castiel. You’ll see that come up in jokes around sometimes, too. - Sidenote x2: For awhile, it was incredibly popular on tumblr to combine three live action television shows that had a lot of overlap in their audiences: BBC’s Sherlock, Doctor Who, and Supernatural. The combination of these three (whether graphics or just talking about crossovers or whatever) became something of a fandom unto itself, called Superwholock. When I tag all these posts with “Superputinelection”, it’s a reference to how three things were mashed together like the TV shows. - So, okay, this show has been on forever, it’s low-key-to-high-key homophobic, nobody expects anything even from the final season. Jokes get bandied around like “Destiel will become canon before we get any election results.” - AND THEN DESTIEL BECOMES IMPLIED CANON TONIGHT??? WHILE WE’RE STILL WAITING FOR ELECTION RESULTS???? - Castiel basically confesses his feelings to Dean (the other character in the ship), he directly says, “I love you.” and then immediately is killed and sent to SUPER HELL precisely BECAUSE his love for Dean made him happy, so like it’s (implied) canon gay AND homophobia in the same scene! Amazing! (A lot of people also really find Dean’s actor’s face in the scene to be super uncomfortable/showing the actor’s distaste for anything gay, but I don’t have an opinion on that because I’m not into the fandom deep enough to know. Just that that’s what people are referring to.) - With so many people posting gifs/caps from the confession scene from SPN, it’s basically putting the same image of Castiel’s face all over our dashes and timelines again, which isn’t intentional but BOY DOES IT RESEMBLE THE MISHAPOCALYPSE. - AND THEN, LIKE WITHIN AN HOUR OF THAT, WHILE PEOPLE ARE ALREADY LOSING THEIR GODDAMNED MINDS, THERE’S A NEWS STORY (well, rumors at the time, but apparently it’s been confirmed? the BBC had a story about it up ETA: As Mid points out, that BBC article is about something else and I can’t access the NYP one, but I’m not getting google results for it) ABOUT HOW PUTIN IS GOING TO BE RESIGNING. All combined together, it’s been a rollercoaster ride to hell tonight.

#supernatural spoilers #politics #superputinelection #lumi.txt #iscariot-rising

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blossom-hwa · 4 years ago

Text

inspired by 'rush hour’ (gaho).

wc: 2.6k ~ changmin x gender neutral!reader ~ slice of life!au ~ triggers: none ~ the boyz masterlist ~ 4 year anniversary drabble game (requests closed!)

for chair anon :)

[ 6:00 pm : rush hour ] I try going forward to you But I lose you at this dead end

The traffic light is still green. Changmin sighs, tapping the board flipped up by his side. It’s been green for what feels like forever - is it ever going to turn red so that he and the growing group of pedestrians around him can move across this short stretch of the street?

If he wasn’t going to meet someone, he might just take a chance in the lulls of traffic and race the cars, letting them honk angrily as he jaywalks - jay-skates? jay-boards? There probably isn’t proper terminology for that, but jay-boards sounds okay - past, flashing them a quick smile to infuriate them a little more. It’s okay. This street isn’t too crowded. The only cars that pass through are usually old businessmen making their way back home to penthouse apartments, so Changmin feels less than guilty for screwing around with their evening.

But he is meeting someone. A very special someone, in fact. Someone who told him on no account was he going to jaywalk or jay-board (he’ll have to tell you about the new word he invented when he gets to you) if it meant risking his safety. So Changmin sighs, taps his board some more, and waits at this seeming dead end of a street corner where the green light never turns red.

It’s alright alright alright It’s alright alright alright

It’s alright. Changmin smiles as the flow of traffic begins to cease, lights on the streets ahead turning red. He can wait a little longer to cross the street legally.

Anything for you, after all.

I’m talking in circles around you But you always pass right by

Changmin still can’t quite believe his luck, even months later. He doesn’t know how he managed to catch your attention, the small skater he was who stayed quiet around others, really only raising his voice in the presence of his friends.

You were the noticeable one. You were the one with the guitar slung on your back and a friendly smile always on your face. You were the one everyone had a crush on, platonic or romantic. You were the one everyone flocked around at the park on weekends, sitting on a bench, strumming the strings of your instrument with the softest grin on your lips. If it wasn’t for Younghoon accidentally tripping over your guitar and subsequently you, sending you flying into Changmin as he rolled past trying to escape the monitor chasing after him, it might never have happened. Changmin might never have had the chance to do anything more than admire you from afar.

And what would’ve happened then?

It’s alright alright alright Who cares? I’m alright

But who cares? Changmin grins. It’s alright, yeah? Because you noticed him anyway, and even if he got a detention for skating indoors, it was worth it when you offered to buy him a coffee in apology for inadvertently getting him caught by the hall monitor.

It was the coffee that turned him into even more of a stuttering mess than he would’ve been. It was also the coffee that gave him the bit of energy and courage he needed to keep talking anyway.

It was the coffee, ultimately, that got that blinding smile turned in his direction. And it was the coffee that got him your number for future conversations, future meetups at the park, and eventually, a date.

The light turns green. Changmin nimbly leaps on his skateboard and rolls across the street, grinning.

Who cares about how it happened, in the end? As long as it did.

Everyone tries to get your attention One by one, honking at you

Honking sounds follow Changmin down the sidewalk as he weaves around office workers rushing home, people ducking in and out of small restaurants and cafes, either alone or holding someone else’s hand. His grin widens at the sight of a laughing couple that just manages to dodge around his board, giggles undeterred by the sudden interruption.

What will it be like when he gets to you? Will the crowds at the park be as large as the ones cluttering the streets? Will he even be able to see you on your bench, surrounded as you might be with children and parents and teenagers trying to get a peek at your guitar?

But I hope my voice can reach you Turn that music on

Does it matter, though? Changmin pauses at another intersection, watching the cars go honking past. Just the same way he can pick out your voice singing above the sound of the guitar, you can pick out his eyes, smiling at you from within the crowd.

You’ve always noticed him. He’s always noticed you.

There’s no reason that should stop now.

I got stuck on you My heart is in chaos right now

God, it feels like nothing’s changed since the day he realized he had a crush on you. His heart still flutters at the sound of your voice, his lips widening in a smile at the thought of your eyes.

I got stuck on you As if I’m stuck in traffic

The traffic light turns red again. Changmin skates across the street, ignoring the impatient honking of cars that follows him down the sidewalk. It’s kind of like the traffic clogging the streets, his adoration for you - stuck in one place, going with the flow but never really seeming to move.

Though if traffic meant he could stay with you forever, he wouldn’t mind it so much, really.

I want drama between you and me Trying to escape this trauma

It’s kind of like a drama, isn’t it? Unnoticeable boy, very noticeable love interest. Though maybe the roles are flipped - very noticeable main character, unnoticeable boy - because it doesn’t feel like Changmin has ever been the protagonist of this story. You’re the main character, and he’s the love interest who will support you in everything that you do.

Drama with you Feeling like it’s rush hour

Changmin grins, feeling wind rush past his face as a car speeds past.

If this is his part in the drama, it isn’t such a bad role to play.

I try to jump right into you But the conversation keeps cutting off

His phone buzzes. Not bothering to stop - you’d yell at him for that, but it isn’t as life-threatening as jay-boarding across the street and you’re not here to scold him for it - Changmin pulls it out, deftly navigating his way around a group of office workers as he accepts the call. “Y/N?”

“Hey, Changmin.” He can hear your smile through the phone. “You on your way?”

“Of course,” he replies, almost affronted. You agreed to meet at six - why would he be late? “Why aren't you playing? Is your little concert over?” You don’t usually end early.

“No, just a lull in traffic.” Your laugh sounds like music. “I’m taking a pause and thought I’d call. Almost here?”

“Almost,” he promises, rolling to a stop at the next intersection with a sigh. “The actual traffic here is murder.”

“Okay, sounds good.” When you pause, Changmin can hear the babbling of a little kid faintly over the phone - something about guitar and please? “I’ve got to go back in a minute. See you soon?”

“Go please your audience,” he replies, smiling. “I’ll see you soon.”

“Get here safe.” You pause again. “You weren’t talking to me while on your board, right?”

Changmin stays silent. His silence is much more telling than anything he’d say, anyway.

“Changmin.”

“Y/N,” he mimics in your tone of voice. Serotonin floods his brain when you snort a laugh into the phone. “I’ll be safe, I promise.”

“You better be,” you warn. “Bye, Changmin.”

It’s alright alright alright Turn that music on

He grins, already looking forward to hearing the strumming of your guitar in person, not over the phone. “Bye, Y/N.”

Everyone tries to get your attention One by one, honking at you

Two intersections later, Changmin finally finds himself at the entrance of the park. Children and their parents still abound despite evening quickly approaching, so he keeps to the sidewalk, carefully avoiding any paths full of shouting kids. It’s okay. Changmin knows the ways to your bench better than the back of his hand. A few honking cars and yelling toddlers can’t keep him from you.

All roads lead to you in Changmin’s world, after all.

I got stuck on you My heart is in chaos right now

The expected crowd surrounds your bench when Changmin finally steps off of his board. Fridays are always the busiest days, after all - people celebrating the end of the work week with a walk in the park and, by chance, some music as well.

He hears you before he sees you, crowds obscuring your face but not your voice that carries sweetly through the air, accompanied by the strumming of your guitar. Changmin didn’t think the smile on his face could get any wider, but when the first chords reach his ears, it somehow does.

Your voice is music, even more so than the instrument in your hands.

I got stuck on you As if I’m stuck in traffic

Then your face appears in a crack between the crowd as Changmin edges his way through, eyes closed in peace as your fingers pluck easily at the guitar strings. And nothing really has changed, nothing at all, just like the traffic stuck in rush hour -

Because as he watches you sing, Changmin feels himself falling in love with you all over again.

I don’t wanna lose you, never I just wanna hold you all day

Sometimes, when Changmin sees you like this, body framed in the pink and gold and orange of the descending sun, he panics. A part of him seems to think that when the sun finally dips below the horizon to be replaced by the moon overhead, it’ll take you with it, sparkling eyes and musical voice and all. Even your guitar. Because in moments like these, it feels a little like you’re an illusion, something too perfect to be true.

But then -

Your eyes open. They search the crowd like they’ve done it a million times (perhaps they have). They meet his, and immediately the sparkle brightens until it’s even brighter than the sun overhead, and it’s then that the panic fades because Changmin knows you’re real. Knows you’re not an illusion.

What illusion would become even more beautiful, after all, just because he happened to be there?

Even if the numbers on the calendar switch up I’m only thinking about you

Day by day, week by week. The routine is the same - you two get home from school, Changmin goes to work while you go home, and if it’s a Friday or a surprisingly free weekday, he’ll meet you at the park at six, like clockwork. You’ve been doing this for months now, almost a year - if it were anything else, Changmin is sure he would’ve gotten bored at this point.

But when you smile at him again before turning to the crowd and announcing your last song, Changmin knows he could never find it in himself to be bored with this. It’s you, after all, always you.

Day by day, week by week, it’s always been you.

You’re swimming in my ocean The waves keep growing larger

You sing a last song with a lilting voice, something about oceans and sunlight and waves whirling around you like the warmest hug. Changmin’s smile softens as you sing, fingers tapping his board not out of ennui this time, but to keep the beat of the music flowing from your guitar and from your lips. The waves of your voice wrap their arms around him, growing, growing, settling soft on his skin.

You’re swimming in my ocean You’re on my mind

Waves, crashing waves that mix with laughter and warm sunlight beaming down on the water. The beach is a couple of hours away - Changmin wonders if you might like to go when summer comes and you have a little more time to spare - but it doesn’t matter, not when he’s already swimming, laughing in the ocean of your voice.

I got stuck on you My heart is in chaos right now

You finish the song with a last chord and a smile, bowing in reply to the childish shouts and claps from the audience. Changmin lifts up his board to join the applause, eyes fixed on you and you only as you turn around to finally meet his eyes.

“Hey,” he says, and he knows you hear his voice even over the applause still carrying all around you.

Your smile widens as you step forward to give him a kiss. “Hey, yourself.”

I got stuck on you As if I’m stuck in traffic

Changmin helps you pack up your guitar, helps you organize the loose change and bills that some kind people left in the case. You get excited when you realize it’s enough to treat him to a meal that you make him swear not to pay for - he’ll try to, you both know, it’s just a matter of being faster than the other - and then Changmin lifts up his board with one hand and takes yours in the other. His fingers tangle with yours automatically, a promise to never let go. “Should we go?”

You nod, smiling. “Come on.”

I want drama between you and me Trying to escape this trauma Drama with you

It really is like a drama, Changmin thinks as you two walk out of the park, hands still locked together as you enter the busy streets once more. It’s cheesy, definitely, but does it matter? It’s the only way he can describe this perfection of the moment, holding hands with you as you argue over where to eat for dinner.

Changmin leans down to kiss your nose. You laugh at the touch of his lips to your skin, fingers involuntarily squeezing his.

He swears he hears music in his ears.

I want drama between you and me Trying to escape this trauma

Definitely cheesy. Definitely a drama.

You smile at him, and his heart flutters.

But when you make him feel this way, does it really matter?

Drama with you feeling like it’s rush hour

Another light turns green before you can make it across the intersection, so Changmin pulls you to a stop before you can accidentally take the next step into the street. “Now do you know why I’m always so impatient?” he asks, casting a pointed glance at the board under his arm.

“Yeah, kind of.” You roll your eyes. “Maybe we should stop agreeing to meet at rush hour.”

Six o’clock. Peak traffic. Rush hour. Just like Changmin’s mind, forever stuck on you, waiting at a traffic light that never seems to change.

But when he’s stuck on you, it really isn’t so bad.

“I don’t know.” He shrugs. “I like it.”

Your eyes sparkle into his. Changmin squeezes your hand and smiles.

“I think we can keep it as is.”

If you enjoyed, please don’t forget to reblog and leave a comment to tell me what you thought! Thank you for reading and have a lovely day <3

(1 reblog = 1 heart for the couple, they were so wonderful to write :D)

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