#to clarify the first one is barbie

[thelocalmuffin]

Some linearts and wips from the last few weeks that came out nice/okay. Sorry I've been so quiet, especially in the writing department. It has been insanely busy for me this month.

Hope you enjoy.

[frecklystars]

He is so handsome!!!! He is so handsome!!!!! My sweet boy!!!!!! 🥺🥺🥺🥺 My Ken is so handsome and for WHAT!!!!!! To give me a heart attack???? god!!!!!! look at his smile!!! he is everything to me!!!! I'd be holding his hand the entire time, telling him how beautiful he is... I'd give him a tour of every city if it meant I could look at my boyfriend's smile all damn day and know it's all for me 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺💞💓💖💖💗💓💞💕💕💟💝💞

[scoupsahoy]

i wanna talk about The Ship War going on right now in the 911 fandom (largely on tiktok and twitter) and i'm not a bnf especially in this fandom (and i wouldn't want to be) but i'm kind of hoping people on both sides are willing to read this post anyway because i cannot be the only one completely turned off by it

i finished writing this so i wanna clarify: this is officially aimed at buddie shippers (i am one of you) because i genuinely want to have meaningful discussion and also i'm not exactly defending tommy here. but! i think if bucktommy shippers were interested in reading, there is stuff in here for you too

i have to split this up into sections which is annoying but i won't be able to make any sense without sections so. sorry

1. pre-tommy buddie shipping

so like a lot of people i knew about 911 and buddie entirely through tumblr osmosis, and there was a general attitude of confidence: buddie WILL become canon. if it doesn't... something something. i don't really know the season 6 finale was hard for a lot of you. and after watching, i do really understand why. but.

from an outside perspective, this fandom attitude was nothing like i'd ever really experienced before. i stopped watching supernatural around season 11, several years before gaycas, when confirmed bisexual dean was genuinely outside the realm of possibility.

i was a tjlc believer. i was an episode 4 conspiracist. i have been delusional about gays on my television screen before. so i was really apprehensive at the way buddie fans were moving. not only was buddie GOING to happen, but if it didn't it would be a failure of the network and the showrunners and the actors and it could have been the greatest love story ever told and shipping was not ENOUGH. it had to be canon in order to matter. shipping anything else was fruitless and offensive. this was what i was seeing. and i was like. well there's no way that's going to happen

and then season 7 started airing and there was this reignited hope

and then 7x4 aired.

2. the birth of bucktommy

so i started watching 911 after 7x4 aired. a lot of people did. i'll be honest i did genuinely think that eddie was out and gay and i was like "oh shit is it finally happening??" and then i realized it was some other guy and spend like 4 straight days tumblr deepdiving into it

like i said i was almost exclusively following buddie shippers so my consensus was like. buck and tommy are cute but it's obviously (TO ME) a steppingstone for buddie. after watching the entire show i do still feel that way.

here's the thing though: shipping isn't about what is going to be canon. i'm a marvel fan. my first fandom was fucking icarly, okay, my track record of shipping non-canon couples that actually end up together starts and ends with nbc sitcoms and even then barely. shipping to me is about character analysis and smooshing barbie dolls together with my friends. shipping to me is putting some guy in a blender and another guy performing frankenstein experiments on them

it doesn't matter to me actually that a ship isn't going to end up together, even if i like them. i'm not saying some bucktommy fans don't overstep certain boundaries (that i'll get into) but a FAIR BIT of them know this. a fair bit of them were buddie shippers and a fair bit of them still are. and there's a reason theyre put off

3. social media discourse

the first real piece of morality discourse came from tiktok. i won't namedrop this creator but if you're on tiktok you know who i'm talking about.

this person started the tiktok talking about something that i genuinely do agree with: fans who love tommy but hated all of buck's ex girlfriends should probably perform some self-reflection on the very real misogyny problem in 911 fandom and fandom in general. this i am 1000% behind. a call-in of sorts: hey guys! check yourselves! it is really easy to fall into misogyny especially with gay shipping. though i will argue that buddie shippers could stand to do the same thing (looking at you, people who write fanfic where ana flores is ableist for no reason)

they went on, however, to say that bucktommy shippers Must only like bucktommy because they are a gay ship, And Also Therefore, these people Must Be gay fetishists, as the only reason you would like bucktommy over buddie is because you just want to see men make out with each other. You People don't like gay shipping in the Correct way that i do, you like to gay ship in a nasty fetish way (only slightly exaggerating). you saw that buck and tommy kissed online and you watched the entire show just to watch men make out with each other which is Bad And Wrong.

aside from the fact that this person also literally started watching the show after 7x4 aired (and like i said so did a lot of people. one would think this is a morally neutral thing to do), this struck a nerve with me. this take (which was repeated ad nauseam by everyone in their circle) is just plainly irresponsible.

it is inappropriate to suggest that someone is like. morally reprehensible for *checking my notes* shipping a canon television couple. is tim minear a gay fetishist for writing the bucktommy kiss? is the average viewer a gay fetishist for going "oh i didn't see that coming! they seem like a nice couple"? is my mom a gay fetishist? are you calling my mom a gay fetishist??

this is an argument that i've seen happen in a billion different ways over the past decade and a half of being in fandom spaces by the way. are women allowed to read gay fanfiction? what about gay porn? what if they get off to it? are they allowed to write it themselves? what if they're not straight? what if they're not women? was casey mcquiston fetishizing gay men when they wrote red white and royal blue? is the romance genre allowed to exist with gay men and straight women in it? do you have to check everyone's gender or sexual identity at the login page for ao3 and tumblr dot com to determine if it is morally okay for them to participate in fandom at all?

and then there was the comparisons between bucktommy and buddie fic stat breakdowns: bucktommy's are writing more smut And That's Bad and buddie fans are writing stories with plot And That's Good.

it. is. irresponsible. it is oversimplifying. it is judgmental and above all else it is irrelevant. people could like bucktommy because they think they're hot or because they think theyre interesting or because buck realized he was bisexual or because they think tommy has potential as a character. it is a ship. creating a dichotomy where one ship is the morally good thing to ship and one ship is the morally bad thing to ship is irresponsible and not in the spirit of fandom.

morality and purity conversations in fandom are like. an entirely different can of worms to talk about and this is going to be long enough already. but bucktommy shippers shot back with the same energy:

if you don't like bucktommy then you are homophobic because tommy is gay

i did see quite a bit of this argument because a number of people that id been following did get into bucktommy and i do still follow and like these people

i covered most of my feelings about this type of argument above but to reiterate: it is possible to like different ships without making it a morality competition. it's disingenuous and annoying.

especially that brief stint where people were saying that the bucktommy shipname was a slur against gay men. you can just not like it. you can just not like it and have it end there. it's an ugly shipname but you don't have to make it a moral issue.

especially because then buddie shippers pulled out the trump card:

4. the tommy problem

because these people just watched the entire show in like four weeks (again, neutral statement, i did the same fucking thing) they remember tommy from hen and chimney begins. and. okay

i'm not about to be taken out of context here. i watched bp's video when it came out, i think what was said was wrong, i'm not about to say that being racist was like. cool or excusable 20 years ago. i think there is a discussion to be had here about this though. there's a reason i'm typing this out carefully:

i want to say firstly that there IS a conversation to be had about the social landscape in 2005 and especially pre-obama america for the purposes of a bunch of 20 years olds who were not alive or fully conscious yet. people told casually racist jokes (casual in that they are told casually without intent for violence, not that they are not violent. all racism is violence) and there were fewer social ramifications for those racist jokes in 2005. that does not make them Magically Not Racist. they were. it was not okay. it was, however, Extremely Common. does that make it okay? no.

i'm saying that largely because it seems to ME that tim or whoever wrote that particular episode wrote that joke to paint a picture of where the characters are in the story. chimney is not under bobby. he is not being treated with respect. he is 15 years in the past (from when the episode aired. whatever) it is different. it wasn't supposed to matter who said it

(it did matter and it does matter that it's tommy who said it by the way. because that's like. the universe of the show)

(though my theory - and i'm just being stupid for a sec indulge me it's 3am - is that tim and ryan both LOVE writing in guys named tommy. seriously i've been rewatching glee and when i watched 911 i noticed this too that there are so many characters that we never even meet named tommy. abby's ex for one. my theory is that tim wanted to bring in some guy named tommy for buck's awakening and he realized he already had one. lol.)

SECONDLY. sorry that was longwinded. secondly, i am a person who believes that people are capable of change. 20 years is a long time to grow. even as an adult. again, this does not excuse racism, but it is important anyway.

this is all theoretical but i want you to walk with me: it is possible for a 20-30 year old closeted gay white man with a homophobic captain pre-obama to pick up and not experience consequences for inappropriate comments and casual racism and even be seeking out a parent-like validation from someone who encourages it AND THEN, after 20 years wherein he realizes he's gay, comes out of the closet, i believe it is POSSIBLE for him to unpack his internalized racism, apologize, and grow as a person

obviously these are fictional characters but it is important to my fucking philosophy of life that people are capable of change and having empathy or understanding that in fictional characters is so fucking baseline.

it is important that we as a society can agree that someone's behavior, ideology, and/or biases can change. that like. that just HAS to be possible.

caveat #1 that does not mean that any people of color who are fans of the show have to like tommy or even forgive him (or even like. hen and chim lmao it's kind of clear to me that at least hen doesn't) and i am not going to tell them to

caveat #2 i also understand that there is no explicit acknowledgment of this on screen (i think this is because tim forgot which i find funny but like i said. it still matters that it's tommy regardless of intent) and because of that there technically is nothing To forgive

ALL OF THAT TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.

even if we are assuming that tommy has learned nothing and has not changed at all. the leap from "tommy is/was racist" to "shipping bucktommy or finding tommy interesting Makes You Racist" is heinous to me.

sometimes people like characters who are shitty people. some of you like tony stark. sorry

it's ridiculous to me because there are plenty of other reasons to dislike bucktommy that doesn't like. vilify random people on the internet. he's not even framed as a particularly good boyfriend! we don't even know if they're boyfriends, for one thing!

i've been complaining about buddie shippers for this entire time but i literally am one of you and that's what pisses me off. you threw the first blow in the morality competition and you are bigger - and you KNOW you are bigger because you are proud of the fact - and you are winning.

you are right about a lot of it: tommy isn't a good guy. there is an active racism problem in this fandom. there is a misogyny problem in this fandom. but by and large buddie shippers have been in the game longer and have much larger followings and there is nasty shit i'm seeing which brings me to

5. social media discourse 2 electric boogaloo: twitter edition

twitter is a cesspool in the best of times but i have seen some shit in the past two weeks that makes me never want to write fanfiction for this fandom or even interact with most of the fans ever again. and i'm serious

there is a big buddie fanfic writer who is like. beloved. if you read buddie fanfiction you've read their work for sure. they started writing bucktommy and buddietommy fics around april. and people are being so nasty about them on twitter it is actually fucking embarrassing.

AND LIKE. god. fandom etiquette is so simple.

when i first started reading buddie fanfic the first thing i noticed was how many fics are locked. and i was like "i wonder why that is"

just look at these tweets. i have kept the author's handle here uncensored but please be normal do not bother this person. i'm sure their ao3 comments are hell enough already

what the fuck is your people's problem i'm serious

i'm like actually appalled. this is embarrassing. this isn't even the most embarrassing thing i've seen buddie stans do recently and it is NOT uncommon. it is not small accounts. you guys are the majority. these tweets have hundreds of likes.

i don't give a shit what this person was writing. i actually don't care. their fics are locked. they write for free.

to take someone's fic outside ao3 is considered bad fandom etiquette. to talk about an author where they don't have an account is generally considered bad fandom etiquette. to complain about fanfiction openly is bad fandom etiquette. i don't care if this is y'all's first fandom. in what world are you going to take to twitter and openly complain about someone writing fanfiction for a ship you don't like.

if i were them i would delete all of the buddie fics or never write buddie again i'm so serious. this is so ridiculous.

and this is sort of the nail in the coffin for me, seeing this tweet the other day:

this tweet has over a thousand likes

this is a larger fandom issue as of recent with the use of like. mental health terms as insults but it actually fucking disgusts me!

i looked at mark's twitter. it's pretty clear to me that he's a troll/having fun/provoking people on purpose but on TOP of that his tweets get at most 35 likes. i checked and this tweet got 21 likes. and over a thousand likes calling him schizophrenic. 24 replies doubling down. 25 retweets. 47 quote tweets. 62 bookmarks. over a thousand likes.

and buddie shippers are the good guys

it is ridiculous to me that as a fandom buddie shippers have created a space where it is impossible to have a meaningful discussion about fandom misogyny, racism, of homophobia because everyone who disagrees with you is morally opposed to you, and yet it is this side of the fandom with enough traction and support to openly bully and mock these people that you have decided are morally reprehensible.

6. in conclusion i'm sorry i know no one read this

fandom in general post-covid has become less of a community based in sharing creativity and the love of something (and i know this intimately as a kpop stan lol). online spaces in general have become something i don't recognize or want to participate in. which sucks. i've been here for a long time.

i know there's not really any way for that group of like 5 or so tiktokers that complain about tommy ad nauseam to see this or even take it seriously. i know there's not any way for those people on twitter to magically understand fandom etiquette or just block the people they don't want to see.

everyone would be happier if they just. blocked and moved on. i know i would. and i have! in a lot of cases. there's a reason i blocked out the names on those tweets (note: i blocked mark's twitter handle. the person who screenshotted it so he wouldn't be notified and then called them schizophrenic did not. because they do not care) because it's not about THEM it's about the whole fucking thing.

and a lot of these people want to be mad. it's why they're so hung up on tommy. like i'm sorry if any bucktommy fan is still reading this but GOD TOMMY HAS BEEN ON SCREEN FOR LIKE TEN MINUTES TOTAL IN THE ENTIRE SHOW. HE DOESN'T EVEN MATTER. JUST ADMIT THIS IS ABOUT A SHIP WAR. IT ISN'T ABOUT HOW GOOD OF A PERSON YOU ARE OR ANYONE IS. IT'S JUST A SHIP WAR. and they want to be miserable. they want to sit in their little echochamber of morally upright big name fans and they want to provoke bucktommy fans into saying something shitty and they love it because they don't really fucking care about the show.

you know how i know? because tommy is the least important part of chimney begins. that is in the best 3 episodes of this entire television show and none of y'all have anything to say about it. because you're just as obsessed with tommy as they are.

[televisionenjoyer]

You guys have comprehension issues lol none of it is about barbie being a good movie. It's the fact that it's one of the first hollywood megaproductions focusing explicitly on the subject of men ruling the world and women getting no recognition. And the one getting awarded is the guy, the song getting awarded is about being a guy. Just like the movie mocked. And you have to admit it's kind of hilarious and ironic and a bit sad. This does not in any circumstance mean, and I can't believe I have to clarify this, that it's more important than the genocide happening in Gaza. It also doesn't mean that people think barbie is like the best movie in the world and we lost all women to plastic feminism... what is wrong with you people

[billypoindexter]

“Frog Study Time” rarely included any actual studying. Chowder would suggest that the three of them get together to work on homework, and it wouldn’t take long for the books and computers to be abandoned in favor of the stupidest conversation topics known to man (their conversation about Barbie movie lore had gotten so out of hand that they were unofficially banned from all going to the library together). But even though they all realized that these study sessions were literally a waste of time at this poitn, Nursey and Dex never turned down Chowder’s offer.

This particular Wednesday night Dex was doing his best to fight the urge to yap, as he needed to make headway on his comp sci midterm before their roadie this weekend. Nursey hadn’t even grabbed any of his books before pulling Chowder onto Dex’s (“the top bunk won’t hold us both!”), and Dex was doing his best to tune them out while he coded. But even with good intentions, Dex knew there was no way he wouldn’t inevitably be drawn into the chitchat.

“Nineteen is not old, Nursey!”

“Dude, you’re literally a D1 athlete, you can’t tell me that no one was interested before Caitlin.”

“Just because girls were interested doesn’t mean I had to oblige. I wanted to wait for someone I actually liked.”

Dex must have been focusing in way more than he thought, because he had no idea how Chowder and Nursey started talking about their first hookups. It wasn’t unusual for the team as a whole to discuss their sex lives, but with the frogs they usually geared their conversations towards more sophisticated subjects, such as Barbie movies

Nursey turned toward Dex at his desk, and Dex could hear the annoying grin on his face as he said, “Bet you waited for someone special, Pointdexter. You seem the sentimental type.”

Dex just continued to type and squint at his computer screen. “Actually, I’ve never had sex.”

Chowder slammed closed his psych textbook—there’s a chance he had opened it at that moment just so he could slam it closed for dramatic effect—and shouted, “HOW DID WE NOT KNOW THAT????” He let out a moan of despair. “We’re supposed to tell each other everything!”

“Yeah, what happened to the sacred frog bond?” Nursey added.

Dex shrugged, doing his best to not get drawn in. Realistically, he knew that he wasn’t going to get anymore work done, but he continued to stare at his computer in the hopes that he could refocus.

“Dude, we can totally find a chick to hook you up with. Unless I was right about you being a romantic,” ribbed Nursey. “Also, we can see you’re not working on your midterm anymore, so you can give up the act.”

Huffing, Dex swiveled around in his desk chair and crossed his arms. Chowder was leaning forward, elbows on his knees and chin in his hands as he stared at Dex. Nursey, ever chill, was leaning on his side, messing up Dex’s pillows as he propped his head on the back of his hand.

“I never said anything because it never came up,” said Dex flatly. “And I’m not a romantic, I’m just not interested.”

“C’mon,” whined Chowder, “give us the chance to find you someone!”

Dex shook his head as he clarified, “No, I mean I’m not interested in sex.”

A pause. Two blank faces looking at him. As much as Dex wanted to play it cool, he could feel his heart beating a bit faster and a blush creep up his neck; he’d never admit that to anyone before, even though he’d known it himself for a while.

Nursey was the first to break the silence: “Huh.” (This guy really knows how to make use of all those English classes.)

“Wow, really?” asked Chowder, clearly curious, sitting up straighter. “You’ve never seen a girl and wanted to…ya know…” He made some weird hand gestures that Dex very much did not know, but he got the idea.

“Nope.” He took a breath and added more quietly, “It’s not really girls that I look at, anyway.”

Again a pause. Again two blank faces. Again a quickening heartbeat and a spreading blush, as Dex voiced another thought that wasn’t new to him. But this time Chowder was the one who reacted first.

“Oh! Oh, ok!” He clapped his hands together. “We’re learning so much tonight! This has got to be one of our more productive study sessions.”

He grinned brightly at Dex. He gave him a smile back, not as big but just as genuine. He then flicked his eyes to Nursey, who also had a small smile as he slowly nodded his head. “Right on, Pointdexter.”

Nursey and Dex held each other’s gazes for a moment longer, then Dex cleared his throat and announced that that was enough emotion for one night and turned back to his computer. He worked a bit longer, letting Nursey and Chowder get back to their conversation (“You were seventeen and you’re giving me grief for being nineteen? Oh fuck off!”).

Chowder gave Dex a hug before heading back to his room for the night, which wasn’t unusual, even if this one was tighter and longer lasting than most. Nursey let Dex use the bathroom first while he worked on extricating himself from the bottom bunk and smoothing out the bedding. After brushing his teeth, Dex headed back to the room and passed Nursey, who grabbed his arm and stopped him.

“Hey,” he said softly, seriously. Once Dex turned his head to him, he continued. “Do you want to talk more about it?”

Nursey had come out as pan to the team last year. Dex knew him and Bitty had talked about being queer and playing collegiate hockey, and the difficulties that could sometimes came with that. He tensed up for a second, thinking that Nursey was upset that he hadn’t said anything about his sexuality before, but there was nothing but concern in his face.

Dex shook off Nursey’s hand. “No, I’m alright,” he said, making his way to his bunk.

Later, as they both were laying in their beds, Dex spoke again. “Thank you, though. For, um…for offering. I appreciate it.”

“See, I knew that you’re secretly a softy.”

Dex rolled his eyes at that and reached with the palm of his hand out to punch the bedframe above him. Then he turned and nestled into his pillows, breathing deeply of the scent the lingered there and trying not to think about why he liked it so much.

[tiredofthehumanlife]

Upstairs

Barbie dolls: Blaise Zabbini x reader

Warnings: I tried to keep it gn but like it's kinda difficult to do that with smut, jealousy, Blaise is in love?, he fingers you, he cums in his pants btw, poor grammar, I think that's it

Summary: fwb kinda Blaise gets pulled upstairs by you bc you need him and he's more than happy to ditch a party for you

When Blaise first heard about a party being thrown, by your house nonetheless, he thought of you immediately. Would you be going? Are you going with your friends? What did you plan on wearing? Were you spending the whole time there? Did you plan to stop by halfway through? All things considered his mind was always plagued with you so it wasn't that out of the ordinary. Blaise asked Pansy if you were going and she told him to 'man up' and ask you himself. Which he did not. Blaise decided he would find out the night of.

He did find out the night of, you weren't coming. Blaise should've suspected. You didn't go to very many parties, even the ones a few sets of stairs away from your dorm. Too many people, too loud, too much B.O. If you did go to one Blaise noticed halfway through you'd disappear from his side and follow Pansy off to God knows where. Forty minutes or even an hour you'd come back, bee line for him, tell him you're turning in for the night and he'd walk you back to your common room. You'd always tell Blaise what shenanigans you and Pansy got up to. It was never something he'd classify as trouble making but you both had a very different definition of the word anyway. Blaise was bummed when he noticed your absence but he wasn't surprised.

Blaise stuck to Theo and Mattheo. Lorenzo had a date so he left the children in Blaise’s hands. Theo left to the dance floor with some Ravenclaw, but Mattheo stayed with Blaise. They talked next to the banister of stairs leading to the dormitories. Blaise kept an eye on Theo and Pansy.

Theo, Blaise knew would probably just head back to his dorm, Ravenclaw in tow. Pansy however had a tendency to climb on top of things, forgetting her outfit and often her state of intoxication.

Often when you did come to parties you and Blaise were on babysitting duty. You'd keep your eye on Pansy and Mattheo. Blaise had Draco and Theo. Lorenzo barely ever came.

Draco just rolled his eyes at everything everyone did and showed them the proper way. He was a snob for almost everything under the sun, wine, cheese, how to pour a beer, how to roll a blunt Theo taught him, how to properly tie a tie, proper dinner etiquette. The amount of times Blaise had heard "no elbows on the table." has made him question if the consequences were worth stabbing Draco in the eye.

Mattheo mostly kept to himself. Although if he had enough he'd take over whoever was Dj-ing, or he'd start making new drinks that had odd side effects. One night Mattheo made the whole Gryffindor house, even people who didn't come to the party, grow horns and fangs. Mattheo says he doesn't remember how he did it. Blaise doesn't believe him.

Blaise missed you, for more than a million reasons. Parties were boring without something pretty to look at, he had to babysit all of his friends alone, you were quite comforting in social situations, he could use you as a buffer when people wanted to talk to him, and Merlin you were hot.

While Blaise was having his crisis downstairs you were in your own predicament upstairs. You were gnawing at the walls kind of horny. It's all you could think of, it was tiring. You were frustrated. You've tried everything and while one or two orgasms lessened your frustration you were still pissed. You considered every option. You could feel the loud music through your floor and you knew Blaise was downstairs. This wasn’t new territory for you two. You started an odd friends with benefits expect you never clarified what you actually are situation a while ago.

It was raining outside, everyone had gone to sleep except for you and Blaise. You had started the night on opposite ends of the couch, by the time Mattheo dragged Lorenzo up the stairs you were pressed against each other. After a long moment of just staring at each other, you broke the dam. You kissed Blaise, barely a second long before you pulled away. He grabbed the front of your shirt and pulled you back in. You prayed all the fish were blind that night because you were both too lazy to move to his dorm. Besides you all had roommates so the possibility of an audience would probably be lower in the common room.

Still it made you anxious to actually ask Blaise to join you in your dorm. You knew Blaise defiantly gave other people the same kind of night he’s given you. A pit of jealousy always crawled in your stomach, up your throat, and made you never speak or breathe again. But Blaise made it all worth it. He was probably enjoying himself fat the party. It’s Blaise. Well, maybe he was tolerating the party. You needed him in your bed, you needed him period. So you rounded down the stairs to the common room, still in your pajamas. The closer you got the louder the music and people became. First, you recognized the hand grabbing the bottom of the banister. Then, you heard his voice, talking Mattheo out of trouble. You slowed as you reached him. Blaise glanced up, he sighed when he saw you. Blaise noticed your outfit and gave you a confused look. Mattheo poked his head around, seeing Blaise's reaction. Mattheo rolled his eyes and leaned back. You settled a few steps above the floor, grabbing onto Blaise's hand.

"thought you weren't coming, but looking at your clothes you don't seem to be staying very long." You nodded. You leaned over the banister, getting into Blaise's face. He held his breath, staring blankly at you. You kissed the corner of his mouth before pressing your lips to his temple.

"come upstairs with me?" You wanted it as a statement, but it fell like a question. Blaise gave you a soft smile. He shoved his cup into Mattheo's hands and sprinted up to your step. Mattheo yelled something about a condom, to which Blaise flicked his wand at him. Blaise's drink spilled over Mattheo's head. Mattheo huffed. You pulled Blaise up the stairs by his hand. When you reached your dorm, Blaise pulled you closer to him. He interlocked his fingers behind your back, his arms around your waist. You rested your arms over his shoulders.

“Scale 1 to 10, how intoxicated are you?” You mumbled. You knew you sounded kinda geeky, but you knew better than to sleep with someone drunk. You had morals. Blaise hummed and kissed your cheek.

“Negative five.” You rolled your eyes. Blaise rubbed your back, slipping his fingers under the hem of your shirt. He explained how he had only arrived a few minutes before you came bounding down the stairs. You squished your lips to the side. Blaise hummed in question. You nodded.

“I suppose we could continue.”

“Oh you suppose, do you?” Blaise gave you a mocking smile. You hummed and pulled him into a kiss. He tightened his arms around you. You nipped at his bottom lip. Blaise opened his mouth for you, letting you slip your tongue to meet his. You dropped your hands to his collar. You made fast work of unbuttoning Blaise's shirt, throwing it somewhere in your room. You walked him back. His legs hit your bed. You pushed Blaise down before straddling him. He ran his hands up the back of your thighs moving to the small of your back. As you tilted his head back, giving yourself a better angle, Blaise dragged his hands down your back, slipping past the band of your pajama pants. He gripped your ass. Your stomach twisted as you thought of all the times he’d done that to someone else. All the times Blaise had someone else’s tongue in his mouth. How many people he’d seen wrapped in his sheets. How many people he felt naked and pressed against him. You pulled back away from him. Blaise seemed to sense the change in the air, pulling his hands back to safety on your hips.

“You okay?” You sucked in a breath and sat back. You stared down at your hands slowly slipping away from his chest. Blaise gently pulled both your hands into his. He whispered your name. You stared into his eyes.

“Am I your favorite?” Blaise titled his head to the side. You still felt sick thinking other people pushing their hands past the band of his boxers.

“Favorite what?” You rolled your eyes at him. Lorenzo could play off the oblivious act but not Blaise. He said far too many filthy things in your ear for you to believe him. You gave him a knowing look. Blaise opened his mouth in realization.

“Ah.” You nodded. You pressed your lips together, feeling you already knew the answer. You weren’t entirely sure you could handle him actually saying it out loud. You already missed the feeling of his hands down your pants. You could feel the rejection boiling in your stomach. Blaise pressed his hand under your chin, pulling you to look up at him. Blaise gently pecked your cheek.

“Of course, baby.” You shook your head. He tutted. You glared at him.

“Stop looking at me like that. All pouty.” You glared at him more. Blaise rolled his eyes.

“You make my breath stop. Everyone knows how i feel about you. I don’t even look at other people like that anymore. It’s just you on my mind, darling.” Blaise pressed his hand to the back of your neck. You pulled him back into the kiss, this time with more fervor. Blaise understood you excepted that answer and wanted to pick up where you left off. He tugged at the hem of your shirt. You quickly pulled it off and flung it in the same direction you did for his shirt.

Blaise dropped his head to your chest. He pressed his lips to your collarbone, pulling the skin into his mouth. You moaned and traced your fingertips over his head. Blaise dragged his teeth over the new mark. You exhaled and gripped his shoulders tighter. You dropped your hands to his pants, tugging at the band. Blaise shook his head.

"No baby, clearly you're questioning my love for you. Gotta prove it to you, hm?" Blaise pushed you back against your sheets. He pulled your pants and underwear down, dropping them over the edge of your bed. Blaise gently blew between your thighs. You groaned. Blaise smiled at you before lowering his head. You moaned at the feeling of his tongue. Blaise nipped at the inside of your thighs before kissing your happy trail.

Blaise dragged his hand down your side. Blaise very gently pushed two of his fingers into your hole. You groaned and lulled your head to the side. He moved his fingers making you moan more. Blaise kept his pace as he moved up and connected your lips. You cupped his cheeks as he met your tongue with his. Blaise grinded down against your sheets as he swallowed your moans.

His underwear was just rough enough for him to know he'll be finishing without your touch tonight. Blaise quickened his pace with his fingers making your chest heave and your fingers dig into his shoulders. You felt your stomach tighten as you arched your back. Blaise moved his mouth to your neck as he kept his pace with both his hips against your sheets and his fingers moving in you.

You moaned loudly cumming around his fingers. Blaise pressed his face against your bare chest as he came in his boxers completely untouched. Your breath returned to normal as Blaise slowly moved his hands away from between your legs. Blaise wrapped his arms around you and pressed his face further into your chest. You massaged his scalp as he came down from his own high.

Blaise peppered kisses against your stomach as he sat up. He told you he'd be back in a moment. You heard your bath running in your bathroom. Blaise came back to you, pushing your hair away from your face as he pulled you into your bathroom. Blaise joined you in the bath. He took his time to run through your entire routine. He washed your body, face, hair, and massaged your body once you made it back to your bed. By the time your roommates came back from the party your curtains were drawn and you were asleep in his arms.

[iwannakisskissyoureyesagain]

🩷 ✨ aphrodite cabin headcanons 🪩 💌

aphrodite cabin headcanons bc the way rick wrote them was fucked up. let them be silly and hyperfemme and girlypop i am begging you.

they have a billion playlists for different occasions (getting ready in the morning, arts and crafts, capture the flag, etc.) that they share with the apollo cabin.

to clarify, they are not allowed to use the capture the flag playlist anymore because they are permanently banned from playing after a hermes kid almost lost an arm.

the clothes in the camp store are ugly as hell so they convinced chiron to let them set up racks of clothes they don’t wear or just bought specifically for the store, of course with low prices because everyone should be able to look hot. there are crop tops, bandeau tops, all different length skirts, rompers, and even cute shoes. the aesthetics range from y2k to hippie to coquette to fairy grunge to mermaidcore to goth, with sizes ranging from 3XS to 5XL.

they have huge storage units of makeup and hair stuff that they gladly lend out to other campers. they even have dye and bleach from arctic fox and salon-grade brands. don’t worry about how they got it.

they regularly have movie nights using a projector with blankets, popcorn, and cuddle piles. their favorites to watch are mean girls, legally blonde, clueless, jennifer’s body (a halloween tradition), enchanted, the house bunny, but i’m a cheerleader, tangled, mama mia, the sisterhood of the traveling pants, and all three high school musicals (they know all the songs by heart, ofc).

the whole “nico was the first person who ever came out at camp” thing is literally the dumbest thing i’ve ever read, so that’s just not true and the aphrodite cabin has organized every pride event at camp for years now. no one knows how they do it or where they get all that glitter, and no one is brave enough to ask.

you need love advice? you’re questioning your sexuality and need to talk to someone about it? you need a girltalk session and some hypewomen? you need to make sure the harpies don’t get you when you and your partner sneak out to a secluded spot on the beach? they got u, babes, don’t even worry about it.

they all have perfumes and colognes customized to their signature scents.

their support for the trans community could rival the dionysus cabin. also they worship dylan mulvaney like the goddess she is because i worship her like the goddess she is, and i make the rules.

no one has better halloween costumes than then. no one. if you look as good as them, it’s because you borrowed supplies from them.

insanely good matchmakers.

when one of them is sad, they all stop everything they’re doing until their sibling feels better. that means skincare, hair-braiding trains, manicures while watching barbie movies, and those frosted sugar cookies. no, they will not, under any circumstances, participate in camp activities until they’re sure their sibling is okay.

their favorite show is sex education. when they watch it, they send the younger campers into the big house with a hephaestus-cabin-engineered ipad to watch monster high and ever after high until they’re done. dionysus does not approve of having to babysit, but after he went to chew out the rest of the cabin and found them in tears with mascara trails because they got to season 2, he stopped interfering.

drew and will got the two cabins together to bribe and beg chiron for eras tour tickets. it did not work (much to nico’s delight, who would’ve been persuaded into going by his boyfriend). in retaliation, they put pink hair dye in his shampoo, and the apollo cabin cursed him to randomly sing what he says with no warning. dionysus has never been so entertained.

they have no tolerance for pick-me girls or slut-shaming.

piper apologized to drew once she matured and started dating shel.

they all have phones that they hide from everyone else, complete with protection spells from the hecate cabin. they all have a family group chat and facetime basically every day when summer ends. shel and valentina are best friends now.

being the only boy, mitchell used to get bullied a lot by insecure middle school ares boys. that is, until his sisters caught wind and gave them hell. now, no one messes with mitchell, and especially not with his sisters.

they absolutely lose their shit when they realize some of the younger campers are too young to know one direction.

they’re closer to the apollo kids (and nico) than any other cabin.

they have a bookshelf full of nothing but romance. red, white, and royal blue, the falling on love montage, pride and prejudice, cemetery boys, the seven husbands of evelyn hugo, like a love story, heartstopper, the list goes on and on (no colleen hoover, though, yuck).

their acrylics and press-ons are deadly.

they have bunk beds, but more often than not you’ll find them sharing beds like they’re at a sleepover.

the cabin is extremely maximalist, with little disco balls, pink and lavender everywhere, fake flowers, and full-length mirrors because no, they’re not sharing.

because their mom is the goddess of love, they all identify as either bi, pan, queer, or don’t use labels. they just love love.

they all have matching “free britney” crop tops.

[notf1obsessed]

love on display (Charles Leclerc X Max Verstappen)

It all starts with a bet.

Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, arguably the biggest rivals on the F1 grid, are dared they couldn't spend a day with each other, let alone build a solid relationship.

And who were they to turn down a challenge?

Chapter 2: Last Friday Night

There's a stranger in my bed, there's a pounding in my head,

Glitter all over the room, plink flamingos in the pool,

I smell like a mini bar, DJ's passed out in the yard,

Barbies on the barbecue, this a hickey or a bruise?

- Last Friday Night, Katy Perry

_____________________________________________

After swiftly maneuvering through the crowd, Max pulled Charles into a night black car, which the younger one would later find out was an Uber Max had ordered before hand.

Placing himself beside the Monegasque, the older boy instructed the other to tell the Uber driver his address, which came as great difficulty considering his brain had short circuited at that moment.

Every inch of contact between both of their skin made the younger's body light ablaze, the alcohol amplifying the bitter feeling.

Looking out the window, the boy diverted his attention to the night sky above. Small flashing stars painted the canvas of black. The full moon hung lowly, observing the busy setting of Monaco; the home of glamour.

As the car swayed left and right, the liquids in Charles began to swirl as well, causing his face to go a sickening green colour, belching slightly.

Noticing the worsening state of the boy beside him, the older boy re instructed the driver in front with some slurred French. His hand

moved to support the boy's back, rubbing circles in order to help soothe the pain.

While the action didn't help numb the pain much, the thought of Max caring for him certainly brought some color to his cheeks.

After what seemed like an eternity to Charles, the car finally pulled up to an apartment complex, unfamiliar to him.

Almost immediately opening the door, he belted out of the car and ran to the building's door, only then realizing this wasn't where he lived. Just in time it seemed, the older boy re assured him that he hadn't gone mad.

"This is my apartment, you're too sick to stay the night alone at your's," he clarified as he opened the door.

Charles groaned at the thought of having to spend the entire night at Max's apartment, his rival's apartment.

Stepping aside to let him in, the Dutchman lead the Monegasque to his apartment, coming as great difficulty considering Charles continued on stumbling.

Finally reaching the apartment, Charles almost immediately sprinted into the bathroom (which took him quite some time to find considering it was his first time here.) Leaning against the toilet, he emptied his guts, releasing some of the previous pain that had been haunting him.

Noticing the puking boy, Max asked if he needed anything, because while Charles might be his rival, he is still human.

"I'm good," Charles began, but was quickly cut off by his own vomiting.

Realizing the boy would need some time in the bathroom, the older one disappeared into a nearby room, presumably to get ready for bed.

After an eternity of vomiting until he had nothing left to empty, Charles exited the bathroom, head still spinning but his liver in a slightly better condition.

Noticing the boy who had just exited, Max moved to guide him to a nearby bedroom, pressing on his back to lead him, careful not to push him too hard and stir his stomach again.

Opening the door to the room, the Dutchman pointed to a bed that lay against the wall, "This is where you'll sleep for the night, bathrooms on the left if you need it."

Rubbing circles onto his eyes, the other boy plopped himself face flat on the bed, not bothering to change out of his clothes.

Max laughed at the stupidity of Charles sleeping in his filth soaked clothes, causing the other boy to shoot daggers at him through his eyes.

"What," he mumbled, mouth still half covered by the bed sheets.

"You're really gonna sleep in those alcohol drenched clothes?"

Charles rolled his eyes before smacking his head back against the pillow, hearing one last voice before the door shut, "You can take your clothes off, I'm not going to be stalking you like a pervert at night."

Considering Max's words for a short minute, he stripped down to his boxers, this time properly getting into bed. He placed his phone on the bed side counter before slipping under the covers, nuzzling his face deep into the soft pillow.

It didn't take long before for the boy to drift off into deep sleep, tiredness overwhelming him.

____________________________________________________________

Awoken by the light seeping through the windows, Max's eyes fluttered open, immediately met with a blurred memory as to what happened last night. Lifting the covers off his body, the boy quickly put on a pair of pants and a shirt that were on the floor.

Opening the door, Max made his way to the kitchen, fetching some paracetamol and a glass of water. Careful not to disturb the sleeping boy, he entered Charles's room and placed the glass of water and aspirin on his bedside table. As he did so, he noticed a new notification on the boy's phone, it was from his text messages.

Don't snoop Max, the angel on his shoulder told him, but curiosity got the best of him.

Picking the phone up, he noticed the text message wasn't from a person, but a group chat:

"Lecstappen Bet".

Trying to open the message, he was met with the remembrance that Charles had a password. Practically sprinting to his bedroom, Max snatched his phone off the table, once again seeing a message from a group chat, "Lecstappen Bet".

Opening the message, he scrolled to the beginning of the chat, which took quite some time considering the amount of text messages they had sent.

Pierre added Max, Charles, Daniel, Carlos, Lando, Oscar, Logan, Alex to the group.

Pierre changed group chat name to "Lecstappen Bet".

Pierre: Bonjour bitches

Daniel: tf is that gc name

Pierre: i kinda made a bet with max that he and Charles could never date each other

Daniel: poor maxs wallet

Pierre: yh so I'm here to make sure I don't lose em 1000 dollars cus like he was pretty serious yesterday

Carlos: and why did u drag us into this

Oscar: yh why did u

Carlos: stfu Piastri

Oscar: fuck u

Lando: I'm not complaining I love drama

Pierre: cus I needed witnesses

Alex: tf is this court

Pierre: yes just roll along albon

Feeling slightly enraged, the Dutchman decided to also have a word in this.

Max: so what r u gonna do

Pierre: would u look at that, the man himself is here

Pierre: since u took Charles home with you yesterday take a selfie with him to prove it

Max: he's sleeping

Pierre: cmon u need a better alibi than that

Deciding to prove the irritating French man wrong, he strode towards Charles's bedroom once again, this time leaning on the floor beside his bed. He snapped a quick selfie, sending it to the group chat in hopes to humiliate Pierre even more.

Max: sent an attachment

Max: would u look at that French boy he is here w me

Daniel: lmaooo he js logged off 😭😭

Max: coward 🤣

Lifting his gaze from his screen, the Dutchman's eyes traced over the younger boy's features, examining him closely. His gaze wandered downwards, a thought that he would've never said crossing his mind,

Nice ass Charles.

[rosewaterandivy]

c'mon barbie, let's go party

summary: steve harrington learns to embrace his kenergy with a little help from his friends.

a/n: in honor of barbenheimer today, please enjoy steve's newfound kenergy in the kids aren't alright cinematic universe. that being said, you can absolutely read this as a stand alone too! i'm seeing barbie later tonight, so mentions of the plot are vague and culled from the teasers and trailers - any and all mistakes are my own! feel free to yell at me in about this in my ask box et al. i'm at the tattoo shop for the foreseeable future and need some enrichment in my enclosure. Reblogs, feedback, and likes are appreciated - reposting is not. Enjoy! 💜

p.s. sneaky peak at eddie and his gf from my upcoming series notes on a scene 👀

steve had it all planned out - made the appointment himself and triple-checked that your schedule was clear for the day. circled it on the communal calendar in the kitchen double-feature: barbenheimer.

the group chat had been made aware and eddie's girlfriend, inexplicably known as princess, had taken it upon herself to buy tickets for the gang, therefore dictating the order in which the films would be seen (film teachers, am i right?). oppenheimer first, which steve would suffer through - historical films were always difficult for him to get through due to the anachronisms, and ending with the pièce de résistance: barbie.

you were swamped with grad school classes (having applied over the spring and started your courses this past summer) and steve wanted to treat you to something nice and relaxing. and a trip to the nail salon would have been just the thing, if not for eddie & princess crashing it.

luckily, you didn't seem to mind and were happily ensconced in your chair waiting on your nail tech. you'd brought your own color, because you're picky like that, and let steve, and then eddie and his girlfriend (out of necessity), sort through your collection too.

he'd settled on something called a midsummer's dream from that one brand you liked (there seemed to be a package from them every few weeks or so), thinking it would compliment your choice of arcade monster quite nicely; a little sweet and a little sour.

"manicure and pedicure?" the woman at the front desk had asked. steve clarified that the mani/pedi would be for the ladies, while eddie and himself would just get the pedicures. though the chipped black polish on ed's nails was becoming unsightly.

but despite doing so, steve somehow found himself moved from the pedi bath over to a nail table and seated right next to you. you looked up from your reading (Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall, steve's suggestion) and quirked a brow. "whatcha doin'?"

"sitting here, i guess."

you smirk, "sure thing, babe," and go back to your book.

so when a well-meaning woman grabs his hand and places it in a bowl of water while asking about his color choice, he doesn't know how to respond. he could've sworn he just said a pedicure for him and eds, but when he looks down the row and finds eddie in rapt conversation with his nail tech about god knows what as she removes his chipped black polish, he's no longer quite as sure.

"psst."

he looks over to you, seeing an ill-attempt to repress your laughter. "you don't have to get a polish if you don't want to." and it's sweet, you're sweet for thinking of him and his comfort when this was supposed to be all about you and yours.

steve shrugs, "might as well at this point," and hands her the bottle of pinky-blue iridescent polish.

you tuck your chin toward your chest with a grin, teeth flashing bright against the pink of your lips. "a very nice use of kenergy, steve. gosling would be proud."

💅💅💅

your nails flash green-gold in the sun, a nice contrast against the magenta base polish. you’re sipping from a s’mores milkshake from the ice cream parlor after the nail appointment, eddie having spied it a few stores down.

("it's too hot to argue, harrington," eddie groused, but not before grabbing steve's hands to examine his manicure. "dude, that color is sick on you!")

“s’nice color honey,” steve says, pausing to drink from the milkshake when you passed it over to him. the cool blend of chocolate and marshmallows with graham cracker chunks hits his tongue as you send a deilvish wink his way.

“thanks baby,” your tongue glides against the full of your bottom lip, collecting a bit of chocolate. checking to see that eddie and princess are out of earshot, you pull him in by the belt loops.

“think they’ll look as nice wrapped around your cock later?” you rasp, voice dropping to a low whisper.

steve shudders at the husky sound of your voice and nearly chokes on the milkshake in response, flustered and blushing. your laughter rings out in the afternoon heat, as bright as the sun shining above.

you kiss him for good measure, lips cool and sweet, before catching up to eddie and his girlfriend a few paces ahead. and all steve can do is watch after you, struck dumb by his girl with her quick tongue and wicked words.

he gets it later that evening seeing barbie when they say: “she’s barbie, and he’s just ken.”

you did not tell a lie when you said to princess all those months ago, that ken would end up being steve’s ‘literally me’ character. truthfully, he’s just glad to end up with his dreamgirl.

and yeah, your nails looked just as pretty later that night. as did his when you fell apart on his fingers. a flash of blue in the dim light when his hands dug into the soft flesh of your hips— you coming with a ragged cry on his cock, face buried against the pillows of your bed.

steve may be “just ken” but he wouldn’t trade it for the world. not when he’s got a barbie like you.

[katasstrophy]

What are your favorite pet names for your fave blorbos??? Mine are beebee for Bachira and YoiCHU! *insert cheek kiss* for Isagi~

d’aaawwww nonnie you got me giggling over this how cute<33 i may have gone overboard like always lol but here are some of my takes !! (these low key just. turned into headcanons oop i hope that’s okay!)

SHIDOU RYUSEI — HELLCAT

this is my personal favorite because it just fits him so fucking well and i know it in my soul of souls that he’d adore it. like yes he is your feral hellcat<3 your demon spawn<3 but you’re crazy enough to love that about him, to turn it into an endearing pet name, even. bastard would probably purr and meow just to lay it on real thick pls i can never be normal about this man.

ITOSHI RIN — RINNIE

calling the ever stoic, foul-mouthed younger itoshi smth as sickeningly sweet as rinnie is the best thing since sliced bread actually idc if i’m basic! it’s true! ofc he’d absolutely abhor it at first, snapping at you to “fucking stop calling him that” which just spurs you on more tbh lol he’s furious with you. he thinks he abhors the nickname, then one day you drop the cutsy act to return to his given name and he’s just left standing there like🧍baffled and pissed out of his mind bc where’s his mf rinnie huh?? i want to eat him so bad.

MIKAGE REO — HANDSOME

i feel like reo – party due to his lavish upbringing but mostly because he is just the ultimate lover boy – would definitely gravitate towards more ‘classier’ terms of endearment. call him handsome, or go all in by calling to him as my love and his chest is instantly puffing up like some bird about to perform the sickest mating dance ever lol he’d be so smug about it. definitely, 100% the type of guy that still gets weak in the knees when you call him husband – doesn’t matter if you’ve been married three months or 5 years he eats that shit up!

SANZU HARUCHIYO — CANDYMAN

okay so because i’m a little shit i can’t ignore the juxtaposition of the big bad criminal being committed to the pink aesthetic (don’t get me wrong i’m obsessed with it), so in my head i could get away with calling sanzu annoying crap like barbie doll or cupcake – or probably his most tolerated one out of the bunch, candyman (because of the, ya know, murderous implications lmfao). all in a very sarcastic vain ofc! i feel like calling him by his given name, or just simply haru, would def be all the more special then <3 (… BUT bc he’s sick in the head he’d probably love it even more if you romanticized his psychotic tendencies – call him stuff like my lovely little killer and he’s a goner he is clinically insane like.)

HANEMIYA KAZUTORA — MY (EVERYTHING)

let me just clarify that this man is not picky! whatsoever! he’s so starved for love he’d literally eat any term of endearment straight out of your mouth if he could. everything is one the table: baby, honey, sweetheart, darling, love – you name it, tora likes it, he wants you to keep calling him sweet names until he’s drowned in it. but what gets him really over the moon is if you just insert a small little ‘my’ in front of it. yeah, he loves being called baby, but my baby? he’s on his knees for you goodbye he loves the subtle ownership of it. (not to get n/sfw but uh… call him your sweet boy when you’re overstimming him and his pupils might just turn heart-shaped he’s ruined.)

KAKUCHO — YOUR LAST NAME

i only recently found out that “hitto” is actually a fanon made last name for kaku darling and i’d like to report that i’m still devastated over it so :( when you two get married – because he will marry you, if he’s in love like that’s it he’s locking you down for life – you ask him if he’d like to take your last name and yeah he cries a little he’s so touched pls :( so when people refer to him as L/n-san or mr. L/n he’s still not over it he has to remind himself that they are, in fact, talking to him. the effect triples when it’s you that calls him as such he’s so proud to wear your name brb gonna bawl my eyes out.

[miano-oscarwilde]

Self intro -to the mairuma fandom.

First I thought I'd make a comprehensive one but it's the fandom I'm highly active in that needs to know me well. - greetings, mairuma. Hello members old and new.

I'm Miano/Mia. My favourite colour is rainbow 🌈 (I was 17 when I made this post.)

It's nothing else, wanted to clarify what my intentions are, why I'm here and what my purpose is. I make long posts on headcanons or write my mairuma reviews. my subject of utmost admiration in the manga is as you probably know - Gaap/Garp Goemon.

I watched the first season before going into the manga. It was this particular scene that stole my heart. As Jazz puts it, his "pure eyes". From there on I started to hyper-fixate on him.

What I post about him

This is very important. Please read this before following me.

-I post my headcanons about him. I already did a lot and all of them were right. I update everything about him, Starting from the etymology of his name to each and every aspect related to him.

- I love his closest companion Agares Picero too. I post about their bond, how I love it more than any other bond I see in mairuma and so on.

- Fanart about Goemon, Picero

🌟See some of them here in the previous pinned post. Check out my handmade mairuma toys here.

- craft - includes dolls big and small, of Goemon and Picero (in general other characters too) . My main one is as everyone probably knows, this "big giant toy"

Why this big life sized toy?

ID- Gaap Goemon in his first year uniform

The reason why I made him is simple. It Is the greatest tribute that I can give to my favourite character with the type of skills I have-crafting. I love him so much, just as how Opera San is loved, Azz kun is loved etc. When I love something fictional, I re-create - with the set of skills I have.

I'm very attached to my toys (plush toys ) and this one is the most important to me and I didn't even buy much items for making him other than the fur cloth. All other items were recycled materials from my home itself.

So when I post how much I love Goemon, that's mostly about the Goemon in the manga. But I also feel extremely comforted by the Goemon beside me. I post about that too.

I post stylish photos of him in various outfits. I loved dress up games and now I just do it outside the screen on my selected dolls, I'm into fashion designing and I have made plenty of outfits for my Barbie collection.

I also made the doll because I can't draw always so it's a matter of time management as well. I could dress him up in his canon outfits, he has his sword too. I then take different photos.

I post a lot in Goemon tags, so if that's annoying to anyone, you can block me forever because as long as I'm here it's one of the main things I do. M!ik is the main fandom I'm in and Goemon is my favourite character so naturally I'll do whatever I can to express it.

So this is about me and what I post about Goemon. If you want to see the gist of my headcanons about him please refer this particular post. 🐙 (Search the key word 'prophecies' and scroll down if link doesn't work)

There's a lot more than that but I need time to find all of the posts. When you're scrolling in the tags and you see dolls and craft work. I'm the one 😬

Self reflection - I not only say "I love Goemon" all the time in my posts, I do headcanons, use my intellect to analyse his character, make fanart and other creative stuff. The soul of Goemon is contained in the manga and I made a big plush, experiment fashion on it and take care of it to show my affection and respect towards that soul.

I also learned things from him. Like - it's important to eat vegetables: from harvest festival.

The importance of a communal gathering: harvest festival.

I hated fish but I saw him having fish and I started to eat it too and my mom is thankful to him.

I nicknamed Goemon samurai Degozaru

Others : Irubaby- Iruma, Clara boo, mairuma mommy- Opera san. Shaxy- lied, aniki- Jazz, beautiful sensei - Ipos ichou, millipede sensei - Marbas March

I'm an Asian. I was born in South India. I can speak in three languages, English, my mother tongue and Hindi: the one priyanka chopra speaks. I play three instruments - trumpet, keyboard and flute. I play badminton.

I'm a Desi, where Bollywood is. I draw and dress up Goemon in Indian style too. I'm one of the very few Indian 🇮🇳 blogs that makes posts in the mairuma fandom and I know that most fans are from other countries. My posts reflect my culture, not always but sometimes everyone may not understand and they misjudge me. You can clarify any doubts with me.

That's all. If you have any questions you can ask me. Thank you 😊

[o-uncle-newt]

Thank you for adding all that wonderful context to my post about The Nine Tailors! And I look forward to your separate post about Agatha Christie being good at romance, because I've read a lot of her books and...well, I'm curious to hear your argument, we'll put it that way ;D

Thank YOU for posting the thing about The Nine Tailors, which I'd never heard of before and is so delightfully Sayers!

And... ok I need to clarify lol

One definite thing- and I don't think this is something I actually NEED to be saying outright- Sayers is MUCH better at writing romance than Christie, as such. I think she's also better at portraying the intricacies of human emotion and reaction and all those delicious things that make her books so vivid.

Where I think Christie is better is the synthesis, and at assembling pieces to synthesize.

Sayers does an absolutely beautiful job of CREATING characters- much of this is helped by, say, putting a lot of herself in both Peter and Harriet, as so many of the best writers do with their creations, and I'm sure putting plenty of other people into her other characters and basing settings on real environments (see John Cournos/Philip Boyes and Benson's/Pym's). She manages to make EVERYONE vividly human, which is a) a big job and b) often difficult to fit in around all of the machinations of a detective story, as Sayers so eloquently describes in Gaudy Night as Harriet Vane.

A lot of people criticize Christie for writing "archetypes." The thing is, though, that shouldn't be a criticism at all! She had a really brilliant gift for understanding stories, understanding the kinds of people who appear in stories, and manipulating the genre such that she's able to fit the right kinds of people around the right kinds of stories. That's actually why I tried to make the point that her strength isn't romance, because I think that's actually a weakness in her mysteries, when she decides she has to randomly pair people off. The thing that's great though is that she's able to customize the archetypes into entertaining and very readable people, these people do things for psychologically plausible reasons, and the motivations that they have and the mystery stories that they find themselves in end up syncing up incredibly well- and the whole built-up story ends up flowing absolutely seamlessly in a way that I think Sayers found a lot harder.

It's like Christie's playing in a Lego set and using a box of assorted pieces to put together in new configurations and make masterpieces- and Sayers is trying to combine the Lego bricks with more realistic-looking... Idunno, Barbies. Something that doesn't fit. The metaphor may be over-extended.

That's what's so fascinating about reading both the introduction to The Omnibus of Crime and then the later mystery novels that Sayers wrote, as I was saying. Sayers so clearly LOVES the genre, but she is also so clearly a literary stylist, an Intellectual (who had something of a sense of humor about it- but not entirely), and someone who had an incredible skill at characterization. She also understood the puzzle mystery and the detective genre in a way that few did, as one of the first real experts on it as a genre in the first place and as someone who not only researched its history (she traces it all the way back to the Bible and the ancient Greeks) but reviewed mystery novels and co-created the Detection Club. And it's precisely her deep understanding of the genre that made her realize, as she describes in Gaudy Night, how difficult it is to integrate deep character portraits into a relatively formulaic genre. I've seen it said that her books presage the modern crime thriller more than they reflect contemporaneous puzzle mysteries, and I think there's a lot of truth to that. She was learning the limitations of the genre she'd come to love.

In my opinion, Sayers's novel that does the best job of integrating the puzzle plot and the character work is Bellona Club, which I actually have a draft post about how incredibly underrated it is. She integrates both seamlessly, but you can also see how difficult it was, if only because she was rarely so successful tonally again. Probably the closest she comes are, weirdly, The Nine Tailors and Gaudy Night, but only because there she chooses whether she wants to foreground the novel or the crime (as I mention in my original post that started this whole tirade) and sticks to that. In books like Clouds of Witness, Have His Carcase, and Unnatural Death, to pick a random few, there are plenty of occasions where a chapter of exquisite literary character development is suddenly ground to a halt by an extremely technical disquisition about an extremely convoluted murder/coverup plot. (Something like Murder Must Advertise does this a bit less, but there the tonal issue is that, and I acknowledge this is arbitrary of me, the whole drug subplot does not work and that's where most of the detection is.)

Back to Christie, which is where all this started! What she has and Sayers doesn't isn't the ability to build complex characters (though honestly I don't doubt that she could if she wanted to- it's just not what she wants to do- and one of these days I'll read a Mary Westmacott and see if I'm right about that). It's the ability to build a complex story full of just-complex-enough people that feels authentic. The reason why her romances are among the weaker elements of her books is, in my opinion, because their actualization is generally the LEAST integral to the careful structures that she's building- however, the people who are part of the romances are often very strong, when the feelings that they have as part of those romances end up motivating something that they do. Take, for example, Death on the Nile- is the central romance the important part? No, the way that the characters in it act based on that romance is, because that directly influences the plot. And there she shines and it is all beautifully compelling.

In my opinion, Sayers was a brilliant writer and novelist who happened to enjoy detective fiction and so forced herself into the genre. Christie somehow magically managed to waltz her way into the exact right genre to suit her talents, right when the genre was exploding in popularity. Sayers is a more versatile and talented writer as a writer, but nobody ever owned the genre of detective stories, in all the ways that they could be written, like Christie did. With Sayers, we say "oh look she's getting experimental" with a book like The Nine Tailors or Gaudy Night or even, in a certain light, Five Red Herrings- we see her books in a pattern and context of the way her mind works and her life goes and her tastes change. With Christie, no matter how fertile and creative her mind and no matter how different the results are from each other, we're like "oh, that's classic Christie." Her versatility, and the way that she can change on a dime and be consistently great (for most of her career...) in so many different modes.

[cak31ssuperi04]

Ask game! If it's not too many: Willa, Carlos, Mariposa, Catania pairs against each other :D

Not too many. Would never turn down an opportunity to talk about them <3

Catania/Mariposa

Stating the obvious but I hold in my heart that Fairy Princess is the Barbie spin on Romeo and Juliet. Confession when I first watched the movie I was wholeheartedly expecting them to dance together at the end(though obviously mattel wouldn't have painted it in a romantic light) as a callback to the earlier ball scene? With the whole ball setting it just felt like that was what they were building up to Imsorry. I was genuinely surprised at the time when it didn't happen but in hindsight that's probably more on me that the movie itself.

Carlos/Willa

Chewing on drywall eating gravel letting the earth consume me. They're a fun pair. They're opposites in a number of ways, they bicker and drive each other up a wall at times but they do like and care about each other and work well as a duo when it comes down to it. They complement each other. Goofs.

Catania/Willa

Okay look I know I'm the only one who ships them but someone has to. Imo I think it gets overstated sometimes exactly how shy Catania is. She's introverted, she struggles with being away from immediate safety and (re. the crystal ball dance scene which I feel like is the biggest point towards her being shy)worries about standing out too much but she's also shown to be very outwardly friendly and enjoy parties and handle social situations well. I think what I'm getting at is that Willa has more immediately in common with her personality-wise than she does with the other two but they're still different enough that it would be interesting to me. They'd be a little silly. They'd get into shenannigins

Carlos/Mariposa

Not my favorite pair for either character but they're sweet, I like them, I don't mind them being endgame. As a sidenote it annoys me when people talk about how their relationship was forced but Specifically reference the first movie when their interactions are actually very easy to interpret as platonic in that one(like as in no more romantic than other Barbie/Male-Lead pairs that are commonly seen as friends i.e. Linden/Elina or Barbie/Leo), it's Fairy Princess that actually leans into the idea of a romance. If you're going to be a hater at least get it right

Mariposa/Willa

I should clarify that I'm graphing these all as Romantic pairs. I really love their friendship! lots! I think it's sweet how Willa looks out for Mariposa and tries to be supportive of her even if she doesn't always understand. Their interactions are cute! I just don't realllyyy care that much about the idea of them as a couple? Which feels hypocritical since they hit a few similar beats as other ships I do like but you know, much love to anyone who does ship them xoxo

Carlos/Catania

Despite not once directly interacting with each other I think they'd get along well! They have a lot in common. Love the idea of them as friends more than as a couple.

[parisian-nicole]

Garvez Ficlet: It's A Date

“She’s right on time,” Tara spoke out while she munched on the gummi bears, she had just gotten from the vending machine she was currently leaning against. “I swear you can set your watch to her desperation,” She added and Penelope, who had just retrieved a granola bar from the machine turned to see whom Tara was talking about.

“Who?”

“Agent Melinda Gomez,” Tara replied as they both now stood non-covertly watching the beautiful Latina woman who looked to be in her late 20s and like she should be working as a supermodel instead of an agent for the FBI. Penelope found herself standing up a little straighter and sucking in her midsection a tad as she watched the other woman who appeared to be searching for someone.

“Is she new here? I’ve never seen her up here before and I make it my mission to get to know everyone on our floor.”

“She works in the Cyber division 3 floors up,” Tara stated. “And you haven’t seen her before because today is your first day back after your mini vacation last week and that’s when she met Luke in the elevators when we all left work to head to O’Reilly’s for drinks,” These words made Penelope frown up a bit and her mind clearly told her that she did not like this woman she didn’t even know. “She spoke something in Spanish to Luke which was hella rude to the rest of us, but she was clearly fishing. Luke replied but in English.”

“What did she say?”

“Well, according to what Prentiss told me later when I asked her, she had asked Luke if he knew any good Mexican restaurants. He told her no because he didn’t eat out often. Before she could flirt further the elevator hit the lobby and I have never seen Luke book so quickly to get out of there,” Tara chuckled at the memory of it. “But she’s been coming up here ever since, scoping and hoping to run into Luke. I gave him the heads up and he’s been strategically watching out and avoiding her. You better look out too because she is definitely trying to make moves on Luke.”

“Why are you telling me?” She countered. “If Miss, ‘I was the head cheerleader and homecoming queen’,” She spat out mockingly as she sneered a little. “Wants to throw herself at Luke like a little trollop, more power to her. And if Luke wants to play Ken with FBI Barbie over there, well, it’s none of my business,” She finished as she almost violently tore the wrapping off of her granola bar while she scowled in the direction of Agent Gomez.

“Penelope Grace Garcia,” Tara pushed out as she locked disbelieving eyes onto her friend, who frowned up as she looked back not liking the use of her Government name in the workplace. “You have got to be joking right now.”

“What?” Penelope replied as she was truly baffled.

“You should care since ‘you’re’ dating Luke,” Tara clarified as she stared dumbfounded at Penelope, who frowned up in confusion at what was said.

“No, I’m not," She scoffed and frowned a little at the implication. "After the Tyler Green debacle, I have sworn off dating for a while,” Penelope argued.

“So, you haven’t gone out on any dates with anybody since Tyler Green, or hang out regularly with a guy?” Tara asked knowingly as she folded her arms across her chest as she waited for the answer.

“No,” Penelope continued to deny and then she thought about it some more. “I mean, when there are no cases that take you guys away, I will usually have lunch with Luke at that little Vegan café around the corner from here. And on Sundays Luke and I usually grab brunch at one of the places near the dog park and then we’ll take Roxy to the park to run around for a couple of hours. On Fridays, he and I will usually go catch the latest movie at the theater if something good is playing, or if there’s nothing good out, we’ll either hang out at his place or mine, where we’ll watch old Charlie Chaplin and Our Gang films. Then on Tuesdays, we alternate cooking dinner for each … Oh my God, I’m dating Luke!” She exclaimed as realization finally struck her and she snapped her wide alarmed eyes onto Tara who stood before her nodding her head and giving her a ‘No, Shit’ look. “When did that happen … how did it happen?”

“Well, I started noticing how much you two were hanging out about a week after we hung out at your place right after Bailey’s memorial,” Tara answered. “I don’t know about how it happened but I was waiting impatiently for you to finally tell me. I cannot believe you didn’t even realize you were dating Luke.”

“Wait, you make it sound like everyone knew it but me.”

“Yeah, we all do. I mean Prentiss wasn’t 100 percent sure until we went to Milwaukee on our last case.”

“What was significant about that case that made her think Luke and I were dating?” Penelope questioned as the confused look swept over her face once more.

“Geez, Penelope, you guys kissed,” Tara replied and her words made Penelope’s mouth drop in genuine shock as her mind tried to recollect the moment. “You walked us to the elevators like you usually do, told us to be safe, and then you and Luke had a short conversation about kissing Roxy for him. Then you both leaned into the other and gave a quick peck on the lips, and Luke got in the elevator and we left. You acted like it was a natural occurrence that you two had done before. So, have you?” Penelope simply nodded her head as she played back in her mind other times they had kissed, and Tara was correct in her assessment that it was like a natural occurrence.

“Yeah, whenever we hang out on our days off, we usually end things with a kiss goodbye or a kiss goodnight. But they're very chaste ‘platonic’ smoochies, nothing like you’d read in one of those trashy novels Emily loves so much.”

“Yeah, but do you go around giving those smoochies to other guys or are they Luke’s lips only smoochies?” Penelope contemplated the question a moment before she replied.

“Shit … I am totally dating him, aren’t I?” She asked and Tara smiled, nodded her head, and then popped another gummi bear into her mouth. Before she could pose another question to Tara, Luke appeared around the corner.

“You ready to head out, Chica?” He greeted them as he stopped in front of them.

“Uh, yeah,” Penelope replied as she gripped the strap of her purse a little tighter. “Goodnight, Tara.”

“Night you two, and Luke check your six,” Tara said and then moved past them to head back into the bullpen to pack up for the evening. Luke frowned up some as he turned to check what she was talking about and he inwardly groaned as his eyes landed on the person he had been purposely trying to avoid for nearly a week. Agent Gomez had already spotted him and she stood near the elevators pretending to be engrossed in a file she held. She was seemingly so engrossed that she didn’t join the two people who had just entered the open elevator. She was clearly waiting for him. Penelope rolled her eyes slightly at how obvious the woman was being.

“Hey, would you mind if we take the stairs? I wasn’t able to get in a run this morning with Roxy and it would be good cardio.”

“Good cardio for you maybe,” Penelope replied. “Have you noticed the shoes I am wearing?” She asked him and he had noticed them as soon as she had entered the bullpen that morning to give her usual greetings. And he had mentally noted how good she looked in them. “These are not ‘let’s take the stairs’ kind of shoes, Luke,” She stated and then began to walk to the elevators and Luke instantly fell in step behind her. She was quite curious to see if Tara was right about this Agent Gomez. When they had stopped at the elevators Penelope plastered on her biggest smile and looked at the younger woman. “Hi,” She greeted and Agent Gomez smiled back in kind and gave her a nod. The woman then shot a quick lecherous glance at Luke who stood looking straight ahead while they waited for the elevator doors to open. When the doors finally pinged open Penelope was the first to enter and Luke's gentlemanly nature made him wait until Agent Gomez had entered before he finally did. Luke maneuvered himself on Penelope’s left side, while Agent Gomez stood on Penelope’s right side. Once the doors had shut and they had pressed their destinations; the Lobby for Agent Gomez and the underground parking garage for Luke and Penelope, Agent Gomez spoke out.

“¿Tiene algún plan esta noche?”

“No, sólo una cena con él y nuestra chica, Roxy,” Penelope was the one who replied and she clearly stunned both Gomez and Luke with her excellent attempt at speaking Spanish, though she was not well versed but had really started to seriously try to learn it after she had heard Luke once, speaking on the phone to his mother. It was crystal clear that Agent Gomez was embarrassed and she said nothing more until the doors opened to the lobby, she then tossed out a goodnight before she rushed out of the elevator.

“Muy bein, Chica,” Luke congratulated truly impressed, especially with the way she rolled her Rs. She smiled coyly to his praises and they continued on for a few seconds in a comfortable silence before she spoke again.

“Luke, can I ask you something?” She began as she kept her gaze honed straight ahead, though she could see him turn to regard her in her peripheral vision.

“You know you can ask me anything,” He answered and scowled a little in concern as he looked over at her.

“Did you know we were dating?” She pushed out as calmly as she could and then held her breath awaiting his reply. Luke smiled at the question as he averted his eyes from her face and also looked straight ahead, and then casually draped his right arm over her shoulder before he answered.

“Yes,” He answered honestly and he was relieved that she had finally realized it too. He silently prayed that she wouldn’t freak out about it and start to push him away. He sincerely wanted their budding relationship to blossom into something more but had been willing to wait for as long as she needed him to. To allow herself to heal after what had happened between her and Tyler Green. After a moment’s pause, she nodded her head.

“You know what, I don’t really feel like cooking tonight,” Penelope stated and Luke could feel his heart clench in his chest from her backing out of their weekly ‘cook dinner together’ night. “So, why don’t we grab some take-out on the way to my place? And not having to spend so much time prepping and cooking frees us up to just hang out and find other things to occupy the time,” She said as she still kept herself from looking at him while still being able to watch him. And she couldn’t stop the small smile that played on her lips upon seeing a huge smile spread across his face.

“And what do you think we could do to occupy our time?” He asked as he cast her a very heated look just as the doors opened to the parking garage. Before stepping out she turned and looked at him head-on with a brazen smile on her lips and a playful glint in her eye.

“If we put our heads together, I am sure we can come up with something,” With that said she walked out of the elevator with a big broad smile on her face. Luke followed close behind with a smile on his face that matched hers.

***

THE END

***

Rough Translation:

- ¿Tiene algún plan esta noche?: Any plans tonight? - No, sólo una cena con él y nuestra chica, Roxy: No, just dinner with him and our girl, Roxy.

[dreamingpartone]

thank you to @magicmooshka for tagging me in this lil tag game!! (•̀ᴗ•́)و ̑̑

3 ships: let's go with my classics lyra/will, asanoya, and my recent but currently paralysing brainrot blorbos tintol ✌

first ship: I can't say for sure it was first, but gohan/videl is the earliest one I can think of

last song: magic by lucy 🎶

last movie: barbie (2023)... I haven't seen any movies since barbie, somehow...

currently reading: storytelling in japanese art by masako watanabe (which I feel I should clarify, I've been halfway through for many months. not because it's not interesting, but it's been an off year for me and books ;;;;)

currently watching: rn I'm in indecisive limbo for my next watch, but I finished twinkling watermelon last week, which I loved !!! ✨🍉

currently consuming: water...and my ridiculous 1000+ song spotify playlist

currently craving: more time and energy to make art, and also fish & chips !!

I won't tag anyone specific but if anyone feels like joining in PLEASE feel free to say I tagged you! @ me, reblog from me, whatever you like~

[ur-local-demon1]

Uhm so, I wrote this Amanene fankids ficlet to de-stress about my exams and also cuz I'm sick and I needed to do something simple to occupy myself. I'm sharing it because "the human connection will make me feel like a human again- what?"

Fic under Keep Reading. If this does well, I might post it to AO3

For the first time since their second child was born, Nene finally got a whole day with the house and bed to herself. Meanwhile, Amane owed Tsubaki a daddy-daughter date - albeit, with Tsugumi in tow - that was long overdue. However, before they could do that, Amane had to explain that they needed to make a quick stop to get groceries to acquire the food that kept them alive along with other products that made them not stink. It was still a difficult concept for Tsubaki to grasp but as long as she got a strawberry icecream for her troubles, everything was fine.

So here they were; Amane was walking through the aisles, and crossing things off the list. While Tsubaki was sitting in the cart’s baby seat, kicking her feet and looking around curiously, Tsugumi was strapped to his father’s back, sleeping soundly as he was being rocked by all the walking around. Unlike his older sister, Tsugumi was a calm newborn who didn’t act up too much and loved his beauty sleep; much to Amane and Nene’s relief. They got through the list pretty quickly, but reached the dreaded item, as per Kou’s request. Amane steeled himself and headed into the toy aisle. As he tried to choose a good gift for his niece/granddaughter  - Kou and Sousuke’s daughter, Ageha - he could see in his peripheral vision his own child’s eyes move to every single toy on the shelf. 

“... Baba?” 

Oh for the love of- “Yes, sweetie?” he said, forcing his voice to remain neutral. Tsubaki pointed towards a doll Amane could have sworn she already had. 

“Can I have this pleeeassseee?” She asked, giving him her best puppy dog eyes that had a track record of making her poor father break on multiple occasions. 

“I don’t know, is it on the list?” He asked rhetorically. Tsubaki, being only five years old at the time, just stared at him and shrugged. Amane smiled affectionately and ruffled her hair. “It’s not, baby. We’re only buying something for your cousin. Uncle Kou and Sousuke are coming over next week.” He reminded her while he kept looking through the toys in front of him. Tsubaki seemed to think long and hard about something. 

“Why can’t I have things that aren’t on the list?” She asked. 

“Cuz we only buy things that are on the list.” Amane responded immediately, remembering the long lecture he and Nene got from all the 3 grandparents for ‘spoiling Tsubaki too much’ after they had helped them sell the thousands of toys that she had grown bored of in the span of two weeks.

“It’s not like the earth would blow up if we bought something that wasn’t on the list…” Tsubaki mumbled under her breath. 

“Who says it couldn’t?” Amane reasoned. Tsubaki stared at him confusedly. 

“It could do that?” She asked. 

“I mean, it exists because of an explosion, so… Maybe?” Amane was multi-tasking; he worked on distracting Tsubaki while also trying to choose between two purple barbies. He eventually put them both down when he remembered the last conversation he had with Kou a few days ago where he told him that after years of purple being her favourite color, Ageha woke up one day and suddenly decided that it was the worst thing to ever exist. 

Tsubaki looked like she was struggling to understand what her dad meant by that. “... What?” 

“The big bang, sweetie.” He clarified, finally turning to face Tsubaki as he had found a gift: a pair of turquoise fairy wings. “There was an explosion a billion years ago and it made the earth. Well, I’ll explain that better when you’re older.” 

Tsubaki tilted her head to the side. “Did you see that happen?” 

“Of course not!” Amane exclaimed. “Hold on- how old do you think I am?” It was in moments like that that Amane was grateful that Tsubaki still struggled to count over one hundred.

“Seventy eight! Mommy said so!” She recalled proudly. Amane paled and hurried to mentally calculate if Tsubaki and Nene were wrong or if he really was a decrepit old man. 

… 

…“...I’m physically thirty two.” He muttered before walking away and going back to explaining the big bang to a toddler, which was much easier than thinking about the fact that you were physically forty six years younger than you were supposed to be.