#which is not even what's pissing me off the most

[cryinggirlnamedhelen]

imagine this.

a gentle and sweet girl is living in her small cottage with her extremely overprotective and powerful (possibly former criminal…) guy who she fixed after some crazy shit and now he’s down bad and obsessed with her. they’re currently living their most peaceful lives after all of the insane crap that they’ve gone through, living their lives hunting and collecting berries and helping injured animals in the woods. they even have a baby girl together, who strongly resembles the father in looks but the mother in personality.

and then one day someone random person ends up outside of their sweet little cottage, injured and unconscious. the girl, being the sweetie that she is, lets them stay and nurses them back to health. but the husband is passive aggressive as fuck and he’s always just like “you’re lucky because im only letting you stay here because of my wife” and he’s sent them so many nasty looks before but instantly switches up the moment his wife is there.

and their kid is also the sweetest fuck ever to the injured person which pisses the husband off so much. but anyways the injured person is shocked because they’ve heard stories of the two of them because of all of the adventures they’ve had, and while the husband is just gloating and being so stupidly prideful and annoying about it, the wife is just like “oh, that was all in the past” and the husband just side eyes her like what the fuck??? you literally said “i can fix him” about me and was successful about it too during our journeys together??? was that all nothing to you???

and then they a second child enters the wife that night.

———

thought of evajacks (ouabh) while writing this lmao

[eldizzle69]

“You were a wonderful experience, you were…you were everything..”

masterlist

including :: sho, Romeo, Haru, Haku, Jin, Lyca

Or…. In which, after your curse takes over you, the guys get asked about you(their lover)

—Shohei Haizono

•it purely depends on whose asking really

•if it’s some random person, he’s gonna be like when we first met him and get really defensive.

•but if it’s someone he knows pretty closely then he’ll just smile and say something vague.

•either way, thinking of you would be a fond time for him

•you were everything to him, so he’ll cherish your memory.

The tension was strong, it had been a Simple question, one with no malice. “Hey Sho, who was the honor student?” One of the new freshman ghouls had asked him. And despite it being a harmless question, it filled the room with a deep tension.

“What’s it matter to you?” His words were harsh, aggression evident in his tone. The question was most definitely NOT appreciated.

“W-well,” the ghoul sputtered, “I just— I’ve heard so much about them! All good things!” The freshmen seemed panicked, obviously scared by Sho’s aggressive response.

“Better be..” Sho muttered, turning and walking briskly away from his underclassmen. He didn’t answer the question he didn’t wanna talk about it. He didn’t want to talk about you.

Instead, he would keep your memories in his head, waiting for the day you could be together again

—Romeo Lucci

•immediate fit

•it becomes well known in Sinostra, and other houses, that your name is to not be mentioned near Romeo

•that is unless you want to feel the wrath of Romeo.

•god forbid someone say something bad about you. Bullets will be flying

•your memory just hurts so much he doesn’t know how to process his emotions, so he just gets pissed.

“Who pissed Fico off?,” the Sinostra student asked in a hushed whisper, only to be met his a harsh response. The other student sent him a glare, “Shhh, He’ll hear you! Do you wanna die and take me with you?”

“Sorry…. He just seemed angrier than usual,” was all the student could say as he rubbed the back of his neck. The other student only shook his head before giving a actual response, “some general admission students mention…. Them..”

Shock spread over the students face as he gaped at his coworker, “were they stupid?”

“Had to be, they even called them a gold digg—“

“What are you idiots talking about!” Came a booming voice as the door, Romeo’s door, was kicked open from the inside. The students cursed under their breath but said out a quick “nothing!”

Th irritation on Romeo’s face was evident in his glare, “if all your going to do it talk on the clock, get out of here!” He yelled, doing well to push down the bubbling emotions deep within him.

The turned back into his office with a click of the door. Suddenly, the room felt gloomier, felt lonelier. It had felt this way since you had left him, leaving nothing more than your memory and a strange looking anomaly in your place.

—Haku Kusanagi

•Probably someone who would be a little shocked when he’s asked about you by a randomly student

•I can see Haku giving a small really, nothing too detailed

•he might even ask the student to not ask again, or ask around about you. Kinda like he did when mc mentioned the clash in the Hotarubi episode

•he loves thinking about you, but he also knows your memory hurts him and many others so he doesn’t want people getting too comfortable with your name.

•he loved you more than anything, and it was clear to the other students by the looks in his eyes.

“That’s not the question I was expecting,” Haku did his best to laugh, the sound that came out was strained and semi uncomfortable. The other students seemed to stop and realize they shouldn’t have asked that

“Sorry Haku, i was just told if i wanted to know about who the ‘honor student’ was to ask you,” the student mumbled sheepishly.

Haku waved his hands dismissively, “it’s alright, but you probably shouldn’t go around asking about them,” he said with his usual expression. What was different was his eyes, they were soft and seemed almost far away in thought. Suddenly the student that asked was consumed with guilt, feeling as though they stepped on fragile glass.

“ Alright….i won’t,” came a mutter followed by a swift goodbye as they excused themselves.

Plopping down on the floor Haku couldn’t help but lean back with a groan, “even now, you’re still on everyone’s mind.”

—Haru Sagara

•hella shocked when someone asks about you

•he’s doing his best to pretend your curse taking over you doesn’t bother him, and he thinks he’s done a pretty good job

•maybe that made people a little too comfortable with your name around him

•I’m stuck between him giving a sweet, vague answer, and just changing the subject completely.

•either way, he can’t just keep working and pretending he’s okay forever.

Haru was a busy man, who else would take care of the park? He loved you, he really did, but if he started lacking now what would happen to Jabberwock? Sadly, he hasn’t got time to properly grieve.

So that’s how he found himself entertaining a group of Frostheim girls one evening. They had become regular patrons, ones that he was great full too.

“Hey Haru, I heard you were close with the former honor student,” one of them said. Quickly the other girl responded in his place, “ ahhh no way, if they were close wouldn’t he have taken time off to grieve.?”

He was quick to change the subject, offering them a look at his newest purchase. A new animal he had started taking care of. But their words stuck in his head and vaguely he wondered if maybe he wasn’t doing your memory justice.

Maybe Haru had let things build up, because his emotions took over him later that night as he looked at pictures of the two of you. Maybe a few days off would do him some good? He would,d have to talk to Towa…

—Jin Kamurai

•how tf did they even get close enough to ask him that?

•no matter who it is he’s going to be pissy about it

•either he’ll just silently glare at them or he’ll tell them to leave very roughly.

•of course the Frostheim students are going to gossip about you, but they better not do it near Jin

•he has a large amount of influence, so anything said about you won’t be taken lightly.

Frostheim students was know for their gossip. They spread everything by word of mouth, but there was one thing that everyone knew to keep their mouth shut about. And that was you.

No one remembers when it became an u spoken rule, but one family after another, anyone who mentioned you in a negative light seemed to meet ruin.

But this student really thought she was something. A few small conversations (business conversations Jin was forced to partake in) with Jin and suddenly she thought she was immune and could say whatever she wanted.

Busting into his room the girl sobbed loudly, a sound that gave him a headache. Jin couldn’t make any words out of her sob filled ramble. It seemed her words came to bite her back

“Get out,” he said coldly, not even bothering to get up from his couch. “B-but-“

“Go,” he barked and this time the girl flinched. Looked at Jin one last time she cried herself out the door, and Jin just laid there.

Looking back, he regretted treating you so coldly when you first came to his room, but it was too late for regrets. You weren’t here anymore, and he’d have to live with his actions.

—Lyca Colt

•I see him being kinda like Sho, it really just depends on who’s asking.

•he’s not close with a lot of people so you really only see his standoffish answer

•like he might growl at them and ask what’s it to them

•Lyca is the number one defender of you and he won’t let anyone use your name lightly

•you were a wonderful experience just as much as you were everything to him.

“The honor student?” Lyca said in a questioning manner, almost as if he hadn’t known what the new student was asking him. New students, and new friends, all things Lyca was unfamiliar with. But these were also things you had always wanted him to experience, you had told him as such. So these were things he tried to welcome with open arms.

So why did he feel so upset when he was asked about you? Why was he so upset when this new student asked who you had been? Lyca soon realized he was scared, scared of anyone saying bad things about you. That wasn’t something you deserved. That was something Lyca had done his best to protect you from, even when your not here.

“Right! I’ve heard so much about the honor student, but have no idea who they were!” And with these words all his fear and upset feelings went away. His grin became toothy as a smile spread across his face.

“There were my lover,” Lyca manger out with his grin spreading over his face ever more than it already had.

He used the words you had taught him, the world ‘lover’ now deeply engrained in his brain.

Okay so maybe I didn’t do that well with haru’s but I TRIED

[ihavethedreamies]

Kept Secret | Changbin [NSFW]

Seo Changbin - Stray Kids

Rating: M (18+) MDNI

Word Count: ~4.6k

Pairing: Wonsanghwa! Changbin x Princess! AFAB! Reader

(A Wonsanghwa was essentially the guy who trained the Hwarang.)

Genre: Historical AU!, Pre-Joseon Era, Reader-Insert, Fluff, Smut, Some Plot, Friends-to-Lovers (ish)

!!This is smut…if that much isn't clear you should probably leave now!! MDNI!

Warnings: She/Her Pronouns used, Swearing, Kissing, Pet Names (Princess [also her title]), Oral (F! Receiving), Fingering, First Times (Readers), Big Dick! Changbin, Cockbulge (slightly), Breeding Kink, Unprotected Sex (This is pre-birth control so…)

Summary: You are the youngest princess, and because of that you get the most freedom. The only thing your father refuses is to let you learn to fight. So, you get rid of the middleman and go straight to the Wonsanghwa.

Author's Note: Holy crap, I'm back! If you didn't read my pinned post, I basically took a hiatus to write my book, and...that didn't happen so I'm back owO

This one is not in the Joseon era, this is set much earlier, probably around the 9th century. I know most of what I do of the Hwarang based on The Great Queen Seondeok which is, from what I understand, at least somewhat more accurate than the show Hwarang.

P.S. At the bottom I will have a guide for all the untranslated words I use, including the clothing they wear and some other terms.

P.S.S. Also, if any of my historical information/words are inaccurate, I apologize, I did the best with what research I could and what I know from watching too many historical K-Dramas.

-> Series Hub <-

-> Bang Chan's <-

-> Lee Know's <-

I am cross-posting this on Archive and Wattpad. Please reblog! Share, even if its to the other sites! Let me know if you want to be on the taglist!

Birds chirp in the trees, the leaves casting a shadow from the late morning light over your face. Your cheek is pressed to the wood of the table you’re sitting at in the palace pavilion with your sisters. Rocking the chair under you in boredom, you just sigh.

“What's the issue now?” Your sister next to you, Seoyoung, three years older, doesn't even look up from the scroll she’s writing on. Probably a letter to her husband.

“Probably the same issue as before.” The second youngest, Miseong, hums, popping another piece of fruit in her mouth, “children get bored so easy.”

“You're like a year and half older than me, be quiet.” You sit up straight so you can sneer directly at her. She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear coyly, batting her eyelashes and you can’t help but huff in amusement.

“I don't see why you want to learn to fight.” The eldest of your sisters, Daeyoon shakes her head, picking through her tray of beads to find another for the piece she’s making.

“I don't see why you keep asking father.” Miseong scoffs. She has a point.

“Because father said no, neither Gaeyong nor Taseok will teach me.” Your brothers are too obedient for your own good. They never help you do anything fun.

“Then ask one of the hwarang, even just a nangdo.” Wonyoung finally speaks up. She’s the middle sister and sits in a weird place socially among the family. Your two eldest sisters get away with nothing, and you and Miseong get away with almost anything. It’s a toss-up what your mother or father will do if she gets in trouble. Especially because she rarely does. Since you’re the baby, you’re treated as such. Any misbehavior is brushed off as childish fun and you’re praised for minor things. You were a spoiled brat as a kid, and you know it. The one thing you want most is the one thing you’re held back from. Your father restricts you from learning to fight more for your protection than even you being a woman, which honestly pisses you off more.

“I don't know any of the nangdo. They're even stricter though because they get in trouble easier. I think the hwarangdo are too close with Taseok…”

“What about that younger guy that is the trainer? I think he's about Gaeyong's age.” Seoyoung speaks up, just wanting you to stop whining about learning to swordfight.

“Oh, yeah, he was so good he got promoted when the last Wonsanghwa retired and the senior sangseon got really mad!” Miseong nods, then grins evilly, “he's handsome too.”

“He's short.” Wonyoung adds and you honestly don't mind. You’re short too. She probably mentioned it because her fiancée is so tall. All of your sister's partners are, and of course you’re the only single one. But that’s beside the point, you want a trainer not a spouse.

“Can you try and help me meet with him?” You look at Daeyoon and she shoots you a withering look. Her husband is a gukseon, so he would be able to.

“Please! Pleasepleasepleaseplease-” You rub your hands together, ready to get on your knees to beg.

“Heavens! Fine!” She aggressively throws a silver bead back into her tray.

 ~ò3ó~

“W-wait, unni, don't leave me alone!” You hiss at Miseong as she begins to leave.

“I'm not getting in trouble with you!” She shoots back and then dashes away, leaving you alone in the courtyard of the hwarang housing, the moon shining high among the stars above your head. The dull, warm light of the lanterns seems eerie when out alone, even the normal peaceful cricket noises put you on edge.

“Gongjunim?” An unfamiliar voice catches your attention, and you flinch, spinning around to see the owner. Judging by what he’s wearing, he’s the Wonsanghwa. And…he is short. However, he’s very handsome as well. Plus, the fabric of his uniform seems to strain against the muscles of his chest and arms underneath. Your face suddenly feels warm, and you’re glad for the lowlight.

“U-uh…” you clear your throat, then stand straight like you’ve been taught all your life, “yes.” He bows deep at the waist, then comes closer so he’s standing before you. Just because he’s short for a man, doesn't mean he isn't still taller than you, nearly five chon.

“Gukseon Bodam told me you want to learn to fight?”

“Yes! I don’t care if it’s a sword, or even just a little dagger,” you motion with your index fingers, “or maybe a pong stick of something? A spear?”

“You could hurt yourself with something like that.” He hums, looking you up and down. You sneer at his derisive look, and he raises a brow. He scratches his forehead under the headband he has tied around his head.

“I…I could. That’s why I want to be taught.” You insist, trying to sound assured of your own statement. He turns his head away, seeing if anyone is around. He has his hair up in a full top knot unlike many of the hwarang who normally keep their hair half-down. It suits him though. When he looks back at you, he sighs.

“Fine. I’ll train you in martial arts, no weapons.” He turns around and motions for you to follow him toward what you presume is the actual training grounds.

“Is everyone asleep, Wonsanghwa?” You ask, walking next to him. It’s nice to just be beside someone since you’re so used to being followed by a handmaiden instead of her next to you.

“Should be. Don’t worry, even if we get caught, no one knows exactly who you are to snitch.” You finally arrive and he motions to a small shed at the back of the area.

“Go change, you'll ruin your dress, Gongjunim.”

“I see. I…what is your name?” You turn back to him after stepping toward where he pointed.

“Seo Changbin, Gongjunim.”

“Ah. Thank you, Changbin-ssi.” He nods and you scurry off to do what he said.

The clothing is a bit too large, but that’s understandable. You even decide to tie your hair up much like the hwarang do, with the headband and everything.

“I’m ready!” You smile at him, proud of yourself and he casts you an amused grin, then raises his brow.

“You ready?”

“Yes!”

 ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

“Keep your feet spread more, and put more force with your calf and shin, not your whole leg.” Changbin uses his ankle to press on yours and get you in the right stance. He’s been working with you for about three weeks, even managing to get you some training during the day instead of at night. You’re getting better to the point that he decides maybe, one day, you can try a practice sword.

Following his advice, you go to deliver another kick to the straw dummy he’s set up. You knock it over and he nods in approval. As he instructs, he’ll often maneuver you into the right pose or stance with his hands or feet. Sometimes, he’ll be close enough that his chest presses against your shoulder or back, and you have to fight back a blush. The longer you work with him, get to know him, you realize you’re falling…fast. He’s actually extremely sweet despite being a rather strict trainer. And he’s good too. Strong. You really want to see him underneath all those layers of his uniform…

“Eyes ahead, Gongjunim.” He snaps in front of your face; his smirk becomes clear when you zone back into reality.

“R-right!” As you go to demonstrate the next move, you ankle twinges and you yelp in pain, twisting wrong and falling onto your shoulder.

“Ow!” You land on a rock or something and when you sit up, there’s a tear in your borrowed clothing, a bit of blood staining the white fabric.

“Hey, let me see.” Changbin is immediately at your side, looking over the cut and you press your lips together, eyes flitting all over his face. You didn’t and still don’t believe him when he said he was a scrawny kid and teenager. Can’t really even picture it.

“I can help you clean this up, it’s not too deep.” He stand and when you go to follow him, your ankle screams, making you stumble. He catches you with his chest and you just want to press closer.

“Your ankle again?”

“Yeah.” You’ve been twisting it a lot and it seems more likely to happen the more often it does happen.

“May I?” You’d gotten more informal with each other, but you are still a princess. You nod and with great ease he lifts you into his arms to carry you to the clinic room of the hwarang housing. Changbin gently sets you down onto a chair inside and begins to tend to the cut.

“Um…so, you mentioned the other day your dad is trying to match you with a girl?”

“Yeah, but most of them haven't wanted to continue courting when they see my height.” He sniffs in dismissal, and you wrinkle your nose in annoyance.

“That’s ridiculous. You’re sweet, and funny, and handsome.” He looks up at you then and you force yourself to maintain eye contact with him. His crooked brow falls, and he smiles gently.

“I’m glad at least you see me that way.” You flinch when he dabs at the cut with a wet cloth. There’s some sort of herbal poultice he just adds water to and applies with a bandage to your cut. It stings a bit, then feels much better.

“Why did you really want to learn to fight?” Instead of brining you back outside, he leans against the wall, crossing his arms. You look at your lap, fiddling with your fingers.

“A year ago, my sisters and I got…well, mugged basically while we were in the market and when we tried to get our money back, I got punched and I…I couldn’t do anything to defend myself or my sisters I…hated it. Even to just learn something, to do anything…” It wasn’t the most terrifying experience since it was just some teenager that did it, but you hated feeling so helpless.

“Then we should stick with martial arts. You don’t need to be able to fight with a weapon for something like that.” He stands back up to lead you back out, but you bump into him when he stops right before the door. He turns to look at you softly, “I don’t want you to get hurt even if it’s just learning to fight. I don’t want to be the one who lets you get hurt.” His eyes flick to the cut he bandaged on your arm. Changbin then leaves the clinic, and you wait a few seconds to follow him, patting your cheeks that you know for sure are red.

~◕‿◕✿~

“Changbin?” You’d arrived at the hwarang compound of the palace at your designated time, but the Wonsanghwa isn’t there. Looking around to see if you can see even a trace of him…nothing.

“Gongjunim?” An unfamiliar voice calls out instead and you turn to look, panicked. From the uniform you can tell it’s another member of the hwarang, probably a nangdo. Luckily, you aren’t in your training uniform yet.

“Y-Yes?” You stand up straight, readopting your regal posture you had let relax.

“Can I help you?” he asks, stepping closer; his face is vaguely familiar.

“Oh. I-I'm looking for the Wonsanghwa.”

“Ah, he's not here now. He had to return to his father's home to meet with a family friend's daughter.” Daughter? A woman…

“Oh.” Your entire posture deflates, and you know why the information upsets you so much, but you are a bit ashamed showing it in front of the nangdo.

“Are you (Y/N)-gongju?” he asks, and you look up at him a bit, nodding.

“If you want to wait, I'm sure he'll be back soon. You know, he won't stop talking about you?” The younger man smiles, and your head shoots up to focus on him.

“Really?”

“Hm. I wouldn't worry too much, I'm sure he'll be back soon, just as single.” The nangdo smiles and leaves and you sigh. It’s too risky to wait out in the open, but you aren’t sure where to go to wait either without going back to where you are technically allowed. Heading back to the clinic where Changbin had tended to several little cuts and scrapes you tend to get; you sit at the same table to wait.

~

“(Y/N)?” You jerk away, lifting your head from your folded arms, then rub your eye. It’s dark out, only the faint light of torches from outside shining in the room.

“Huh?” The door opens then, and Changbin steps in, dressed in normal clothes rather than his hwarang wear.

“How long have you been here?” He huffs, setting he lantern down on the table, letting the stick it hangs from rest on the surface as well. He sits across from you and licks your lips nervously.

“Um…around shinshi…” You admit.

“Aigo, it’s been hours… Why did you wait for me?” He shakes his head in disbelief. He only looks a little different without his headband, but somehow, he’s even more handsome.

“Well, um, because-”

“Was it because I was meeting Lord Bak's daughter?” Your silence is telling enough.

“(Y/N),” you’d told him a while ago to just use your name when it’s just you two, “were you jealous?” Changbin smiles, not a smirk, he’s grinning like an idiot. Your silence is, once again, telling enough.

“(Y/N). Do you really think I’d even want to look at a woman who isn’t you?” His voice is gentle, but his giddy grin doesn’t change.

“H-huh?”

“When I got to my family’s, I told my father I didn’t want to court anyone. Well, not no one, only you. That’s why I was gone for so long, we had to get a bigger dowry put together. My father’s meeting with the king now.” He gets up, going around the table to you, and kneels on the floor so he can look up at you. Tears are already gathering in your eyes.

“I hope it wasn't too forward of me to assume you would say yes?”

“Of course, yes you handsome jerk! I was so worried you’d come back engaged to some other woman!” You nearly fall out of your chair when you hug him and he laughs, standing up and easily lifting you with him, spinning you around. 

~θωθ~

 “So, how does it feel to be a prince now?” Your fingers mess with goreum of his white marital jeogori. Changbin smiles.

“It feels better to be your husband.” You nearly whimper, resting your head on his shoulder and he chuckles. You thought he was sweet before, but you’re pretty sure you’ll never want sweets again.

“I love you, so much.” He hugs you, strong arms feeling so comfy around you. Stepping back, your eyes flit over his face and down to where the fabric of his top stretches over his chest. Your fingers go back to the tie, and you pull on it, watching the knot loosen. Biting your lip, he watches with a cocky smirk as you grip the sides of his shirt and pulls them open.

“Oh.” You sigh and he can’t help but grin, looking away and clearing his throat to hide his giggle.

“Every other woman is a fool.” You declare, gently resting your hands on his bare chest. As soon as your skin touches his, you whine, pressing harder, feeling the muscle under his skin. Changbin smiles like an idiot, loving how enthralled you are with him.

“C-can I…?” You have a hard time working up the courage to ask the full question.

“Do whatever you wish, (Y/N)” He kisses your forehead and then his eyes widen, not expecting your next actions. You lean forward, kissing his collarbone, then whimper. You fall to your knees and lick a strip from just above his belly button to as high as you can, right at the base of his sternum. He shivers softly at your actions, fingers weaving into your hair.

“What…are you doing?” He huffs a laugh, bemused and slightly in awe.

“Tasting~” You hum, kissing over his abs, then licking his stomach again. You’ve never acted so boldly before, but he isn’t complaining at all.

“Hm, sounds like fun~” He grins and what he does next makes you squeak. He easily picks you up, nearly slinging you over his shoulder like a sack, carrying you to your bed. You let out a puff of hair when he quite literally drops you onto the bed and he starts to untie the fasten of your sokchima. He gets frustrated quickly with the knot however and just tears it at the seam and yanks it off of you. As he tugs it off, the action flips you over onto your stomach and you barely have time to react before you feel his hands on your hips, his hot breath right against your cunt.

“C-Changbin?” Your breath then leaves you when he swipes his tongue up through your folds, the sudden intense pleasure instantly makes you dizzy. You had never even so much as touched yourself with your fingers, the lack of attention making you extremely sensitive.

“Fuck, you taste so good, princess~” He groans, thumbs spreading your pussy open and he licks up from your clit to your entrance, then shoves his tongue in as deep as he can. All you can get out are gasps, as soon as you can get your breath back, he takes it away again.

“C-Changbin-! S-something feels- weird-“ You heave out and he can feel your gummy walls pulsing around his tongue. The strange sensation kind of scares you, almost feeling like you need to relieve yourself, but feels so much better.

“You’re gonna cum, princess, my princess~” He practically giggles, then sucks at your clit and you nearly scream as your climax hits you. Your fingers dig into the bedding, knuckles going white as your vision does. Your pulse races in your ears and the first thing you can hear when the waves finally die are Changbin’s near-giggles and your heaving breaths.

“Did that feel good, princess~?” He leans over you where you’re still face down on the bed, nearly fully laying on top of you. You whimper when you feel his fully hard cock press against you through his pants.

“T-thought I died…” You huff, then giggle softly when he laughs.

“You taste so fucking good~” He whispers in your ear, and you whimper.

“Please, Changbin…I wanna taste you too.”

“No you don’t-

“What, why not?!” He gets off of you so you can roll over to glare at him.

“I promise I won’t taste nearly as good as you do.”

“How do you know-“ He cuts you off by gently cupping your jaw in his hand, thumb running over your cheek.

“Maybe one day, love, but right now, I need to fully claim you.” His voice lowers to a rough timbre, and you shiver at it.

“Get to the head of the bed.” He tells you and you scooch back to do so, watching intently as his fingers go to the tie of his sokbaji and the white fabric pools at his feet. You’ve never really seen a guy naked, the one time you kinda did, he wasn’t even hard, but…

“That…will it even fit?” You gawk at him, not in horror or disgust, but with genuine awe.

“We’ll make it work~” He smirk smugly, crawling on the bed over you. You huff when he pushes you to lay down then his strong hands go to your thighs, and he leads you to wrap your legs around his waist. You gasp a soft moan as he grinds his cock over your slick folds, a shine transferring to the skin of his cock, and when it slides over your clit, your hips twitch.

“That feel good, princess?”

“Yes~” He slides his cock over you a few more times, then drops your legs, pumping his hand over his cock, enjoying the glide your wet allows.

“Let’s get you ready for me…” He leans down, sealing his lips against yours and you sigh, letting his tongue into your mouth easily. You moan into the kiss when his fingers slide through your folds, then he slowly sinks two of his fingers into you. It stings, but not so bad it hurts, just feels odd. As he slowly moves his fingers, he presses up against your back wall and all of the slight discomfort disappears, replaced with a wave of pleasure.

“A-ah-!” He pulls back from the kiss, a string of saliva connecting your lips still and he adds a third finger. His hooded, dark gaze skates all over your face and body, watching your breasts heave with your breath as he fucks you open with his fingers.

“Wait-!” Your back arches, hands flying to grip at his shoulders, blunt nails digging in as his thumb flicks at your clit, the already intense pleasure spiking and you cum again. Changbin chuckles as he feels your tight gummy walls spasm around his fingers, and he helps you ride it out. He finally pulls his hand away from you once you’ve calmed, breath still a bit heavy. You watch with hazy eyes as he brings his wet fingers to hit mouth and obscenely sucks your essence off, groaning as he does it. With his still slick fingers, more from his saliva, he pumps his cock again and lifts your leg with his other hand and brings the head of his dick to your dripping core.

“Changbin~!” You whimper, hands reaching for him. He leans down, pressing a gentle kiss to your forehead. As he starts to sink his fat cock into you, he lifts your other leg, and you once again wrap them around his waist. He goes slow, the searing heat stinging. He coaches you to breathe through it, and you wince a few times as he gets deeper.

“I-I don’t- I-I can’t-“ You pant out and he shushes you, laying gentle kisses over your face, his thumb going back to your clit. The pleasure of his finger working you eases the pain of him carving into you and you keep breathing. He knows he’s bigger than most, and when he finally bottoms out, he swears he can see a slight bulge in your lower stomach, outlining where his dick sits inside.

“Fuck, that’s hot…” He lets out a breathy chuckle. He feels your nails in his skin ease up and you move to wrap your arms around his neck, leaving behind crescents in his skin, but he by no means minds.

“You’re doing so good for me, (Y/N). You’re taking me so well, love, don’t worry, it’ll feel good soon.” Changbin whispers sweet things to you as your body gets used to him, he uses that as a way to distract him from the hot vice of your core. He’s holding back so much so he doesn’t just plow into you, he doesn’t want- he can’t hurt you. It pains him to see you even a bit uncomfortable, but it’s worse that he’s the cause of it, but he assures you it’ll be worth it.

“Y-you can…move…” You whimper, hips twitching, and only a very slight burn is still present.

“I’ll go slow, my love.” He kisses your cheek, his hand grabbing yours and as he leans down over you, his fingers weave through yours, holding your hands up by your head. You tighten your legs around him and he pulls out slowly, only an inch or two, and it feels like he’s sucking all of your air out of you. Your head swims, but the sharp burn only heats your body further. As he sinks back in, he grinds down into you, your clit brushing against his groin and you let out a sharp whiny moan, fingers in his tightening.

“Does that hurt?”

“N-no-! P-please, keep going~” You whimper, and he smirks, knowing your start to feel good as well. He slowly pulls out again, only a bit further, then sinks back in again, your pussy sucking him in letting out an obscene wet noise.

“You’re so wet~” He chuckles, pressing his forehead against yours, nuzzling. You giggle breathily, then wheeze out another moan as he keeps moving, pace still slow. You appreciate him making sure you’re ready and used to him, but the pleasure is taking over fast, and you need more.

“Changbin, please, more~” You mewl, and his hands tighten their grip on yours.

“I don’t want to hurt-“

“You’re not, you’re not I swear, please, need more-!” You nearly squeal when he picks up the pace, rapidly building. You’re moaning loudly now, not able to hold back, and the wood frame raising the bed up starts to creak. His breathing is heavy over you and he’s grunting with each thrust, the fat head of his cock battering against your cervix over and over. Your cunt is so tight and hot around him, he’s starting to lose control, wanting to fuck you stupid. He originally wanted to make love to you, sweetly, but your tiny squeaks and fucked-out expression is tainting his thoughts. Something about your delirium and whimpers makes him want to ruin you.

Changbin’s fingers weaved through yours leave, and he instead wraps them around your wrists and pins your hands up over your head. He holds them there with one hand, the other going to your left thigh, and you gasp when he moves to hook your knee over his elbow, shifting the position so his cock somehow buries further into you, the fat head pounding your sweet spot.

“A-AH-!” Your entire body jerks and twitches, cunt spasming around him as you cum again, slick spurting out from you and he laughs.

“Fuck, you’re just beautiful (Y/N), so fucking perfect for me~” He lets your wrists go, but you leave them over your head, mind foggy as you let out little whimpers with each of his thrusts. He hooks your other leg over his arm, leaning over you, nearly folding you in half and starts to thrust hard and shallow. You’re air leaves you at the angle change and his hips stutter as your cunt clenches him tight.

“Gonna fuck you full, (Y/N). Gonna breed you, fuck a baby into you~ You want that, yeah~? Wanna have my cum, have my baby~?

“Yes~! Yes~ please, ah-!” Your cunt spasms again and he can’t hold back anymore, getting as deep as he can and pumps your womb full of his cum and the rapid heat searing into you sends you over the edge as well.

As you both come down from your highs, he catches his breath faster than you do. He looks down at you with a soft smile, your eyes closed as your chest heaves, body limp on the bed under him. You hum softly when he leans down and kisses you, then hugs you when he pulls back, rolling over so you’re laying on top of him, his softening cock still sitting inside you. You feel yourself already starting to fall asleep as he rubs your back, kissing the top of your head.

“You were loud, love~” He huffs a laugh, and you hum sleepily.

“Can I tell you a secret?” He asks softly and you hum again.

“I wanted to be gentle, but…”

“But?”

“I’ve wanted you since the day we met…so I couldn’t hold back anymore.”

“Can I tell you a secret too?”

“Of course, love~”

“I’ve wanted you that long too.”

hwarang - a group of young noblemen that became somewhat like educated knights in the royal palace from around the 6th century to the 11th. hwarangdo - leaders of groups of nangdo. nangdo - lowest members of the hwarang hierarchy and would form groups led by the hwarangdo. Wonsanghwa - the first officer of the hwarang who is in charge of training in martial arts and combat. sangseon - training offices of the hwarang. gukseon - a chief officer of the hwarang. unni - older sister to a girl. Gongjunim - formal address for a princess. gongju - princess honorific. chon - historical unit of measurement, close to an inch. pong - also known as a bo stick used in martial arts, typically made of wood. shinshi - designation for the ancient Korean hours of the Monkey which is about 3-5 pm. aigo - kind of like an exclamation like "sheesh" or "geez", still used in modern times. goreum - the ties that fasten the top of a hanbok. jeogori - the top/shirt part of a hanbok. sokchima - basically a dress/skirt like under-garment. sokbaji - pants-like under-garment, mostly worn by women actually…

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Stray Kids Master List

Taglist: @huldrelokken, @estella-novella, @astrobebba, @kayleefriedchicken, @minghaosimp, @cassandramrn, @qwonyoung23, @stresskidz, @rhonnie23

[ectonurites]

Do you think the use of Ariana was made to prop up timber in the valentine's day special.

And on another note what do you think of the lack off explicit callbacks to tim/steph but callbacks with ariana.

i mean like you have a valentine's day story with tim and stephanie shows up and you mention tim having many gf's in the past but choosing callbakcs and explicit references to ariana but not steph when she shows up.

really hope they don't start doing where any callbacks to tim's romances are his past minor gf's and not steph and pretend they are just friends with no romantic history

"Do you think the use of Ariana was made to prop up timber in the valentine's day special."

I think Ariana was definitely used as a prop to tell this story with little consideration given to her as an individual—the author uses Ariana's family's deli restaurant as a setting and uses her past relationship to Tim as a way to connect things but doesn't actually have her do anything else in the story. Except, well, mention Tim & Bernard's relationship.

Now, to be fair, there really are times in stories (especially short ones as part of an anthology like this) where you just need a throwaway character to do something for a moment for the sake of moving the plot along. Acting like every single character who shows up in a story needs to be Super Important And Fleshed Out In That Specific Story is unrealistic and frankly ridiculous.

But but but but... a character who was once a prominent love interest & supporting character for one of the leads you are writing about isn't the same as a nameless throwaway, you know? Especially when you're mentioning that connection specifically—of her being Tim's first girlfriend (rather than it just being a wordless cameo or something) in a story that’s premise hinges on Tim having dating experience.

Ariana is a character who hasn't appeared since like 1999, so pulling her out of the woodwork to be used for one panel while also... needing to make a huge logic leap with her to make it even work—something the writer felt fine with just explaining as having happened off-panel—is really frustrating and annoying. I'm talking, of course, about Ari just suddenly knowing Tim's identity as Robin. You know, the root of most challenges that they faced in their relationship because he couldn't be honest with her about it. Yeah that's just no big deal now, apparently.

That's what pisses me off about this the most—bringing her back only to brush off the sources of conflict between her and Tim and make everything all okie dokie in a completely unearned way. Now to be clear: I don't think it's a bad thing for Ariana to be like, nice about Tim & Bernard being together now—especially because in her last speaking appearance before this that I'm aware of [Robin #66], the two of them had cleared some air on still wanting to be friends even though they're no longer dating. But I do think using her one speech bubble of dialogue to mention how she 'owes' him and Bernard a dinner feels off.

If there were like... an actual conversation between Ari & Tim and during that she said something nice about Tim & Bernard/something about being happy for him, then I don't think it'd feel so weird. And I will say, this is a short story so I get there not being the page space to resolve Tim & Ari's history in a story that's not about that, I really do. But this is the first time she's shown up in about 25 years! Using her in a story and having a big reveal like Tim's identity and not touching on any of that but making sure you do use her single dialogue bubble to mention her ‘owing’ Tim & to mention the relationship btwn Tim & his current love interest??? That just feels weeeird!!!!!!

It feels like her purpose in this story was largely to show a lack of conflict in Tim's current life and that everyone around him is super enthusiastically pro Tim being with Bernard, without actually considering much about her as a character. Which… again, this story isn’t about her, it’s about Tim & Damian… but… it’s still just frustrating when this isn’t a character we can just go read some other book published in the last two decades to see her actually get used well in, this is a character we very well may not see for another 25 years after this.

"And on another note what do you think of the lack off explicit callbacks to tim/steph but callbacks with ariana. i mean like you have a valentine's day story with tim and stephanie shows up and you mention tim having many gf's in the past but choosing callbakcs and explicit references to ariana but not steph when she shows up. really hope they don't start doing where any callbacks to tim's romances are his past minor gf's and not steph and pretend they are just friends with no romantic history"

Yeah I think that also felt a little weird too. This definitely would have been a time that made sense to bring up their history—but also this story was just weird in regards to Steph overall (with Damian's 'Stephanie is too female' line as to why he couldn't ask her for girl advice...?) so I dunno if it's something to think of as a larger trend or if this was more just that particular writer being weird.

Considering the writer also (in the post I already linked earlier) said this about Tim's past love interests—"I figure Tim probably carried some guilt re: his relationship with Ariana, but less with his other love interests?"—I really feel like he just doesn't have a great grasp on Tim's previous relationships at all. Tim is like the fucking poster child for 'feels guilty about everything he's done ever'.

To act like he's not wracked with near-equal levels of guilt about how pretty much all of his past relationships (esp with civilians) went is nuts. Ariana is not the one I would single out from that bunch as somehow him feeling more guilty about than the rest (the only real justification for that I could think of is if you were to explore his guilt over him starting to have feelings for Steph while he & Ari were still together but from the way the rest of that writer's interaction is talking solely about Robin-identity related stuff, I don't think that's what he had in mind?). What about Zo who he ashamedly broke up with over the phone, feeling as if he'd already let her down too many times? What about Tam who he let think her father was dead for days because even though she knew he was a superhero he still couldn’t fully let her in which caused the slow building relationship between them to explode? Tim and Ari actually had a civil face-to-face break up at school and talked in a friendly way afterwards! Not to say he shouldn't feel guilt there with her because there are reasons he should, but acting like it's somehow a higher level of guilt than he’d have with the others is just odd.

Anyway that's getting a bit off topic. But yes, while I'm very much so not opposed to the idea of Tim's previous girlfriends getting to be referenced/come back in some fashion, I do also hope that it doesn't mean Tim & Steph's history will get thrown to the side. And I'd hope that if they do get to come back, they'd actually get to be... characters, who have dynamics with other characters, rather than just cardboard cutouts there to say one nice thing and then fade back into comic limbo for the rest of eternity.

[woman-respecter]

we had a pep rally at my school today and now i'm pissed off about the sexualization of teenage girl athletes.

the girls on dance team danced to Fergalicious with some very sexual dance moves. i don't want to sexualize women's bodies for existing, but they were doing body rolls and running their hands from their collarbones to their pelvis while the music sings "They want my treasure, so they get their pleasures from my photo/You could see me, you can't squeeze me/I ain't easy, I ain't sleazy... Fergalicious (so delicious)/But I ain't promiscuous." i don't think i'm crazy for saying that that's a wonderful example of sexualizing teenage girls.

the boys danced to Bye Bye Bye by NSYNC, which is vastly less sexual in lyrics, and their moves did not involve nearly as much rolling the hips, pushing out the butt, or pushing the chest forward.

then they did a coed dance to Hot In Herre, which is objectively a WEIRD song to have minors dance to at a high school pep rally, and again the girls had much more suggestive moves than the boys.

meanwhile the cheerleaders are stuck wearing tiny tight shirts and tinier tighter skirts that keep riding up, making them have to push them back down and distracting them from their routine. all the other sports teams wear practical clothes. meanwhile the cheerleaders have to wear skimpy, hard-to-work-in, male-gaze-y costumes and a full face of makeup.

and then there was a game where the cheer team and the dance team each formed lines on their backs and then tried to pass a pom-pom down the line and back up with their feet, which made them have to lift their hips and legs up. the entire gym got a great view of all the cheerleaders' crotches. it was super weird, especially because only the cheer and dance teams had to play this game (unlike the other games that got repeated with other groups of people).

why do teenage girls get treated like this? i'm all for feeling comfortable in your skin and enjoying being sexy, ffs i wore a crop top and a waist chain and jeans that hug my ass today i get it, but that's something i choose to do. it's not mandated for my sport. and i'm not forced to perform a dance with choreography straight out of a strip club in front of my classmates and teachers. and i'm not required to play a game that bears my crotch to all of those people either. we may look fully mature (but not all of us-- there were girls on both of those teams who looked 14, probably because they were), but we are children and this is weird.

ugh that is HORRIBLE, esp the fact that it was school sanctioned. it is absolutely insane how sexualized teenage girls are in our society, to the point where they are THE most sexualized group, even more so than actually “legal” (i hate calling it that but you know what i mean) women who are just slightly older. like i’ll never forget the fact that japanese women say they got harassed less once they stopped wearing their school uniforms.

you (you meaning young women/girls in general) have no right to be treated like this, and it’s because of misogyny and the patriarchy that you are. if boys were told to wear those outfits and do those dances, it would be rightfully criticized as ridiculous and disgusting. one of the saddest parts of it is the girls who are doing these dances have probably been sold the lie that it is “empowering” because it will get them attention from boys/men and even improve their social standing among other girls, and if asked many of them would say they did it because they wanted to.

i’m so angry on your behalf anon. you and all other girls and women should never have to deal with this shit.

it is nice to see how aware and righteously angry you are anon. keep that up. i wish you the best <3

[venusbyline]

HEADCANON: Sugar Daddy!Aegon

— pairing: Aegon II Targaryen x sugar baby!reader

— type: smut, fluff, modern AU

— tags/warnings: female!reader, sugar daddy!Aegon, age gap (older man/younger woman), class difference, family issues, vaginal sex, rough sex, semi-public sex, doggy style position, degradation, slight dumbification, limousine sex, spanking kink, butt slapping, creampie, exhibitionism, mentioned consensual underage sex, dom!Aegon, sub!reader, CEO!Aegon, college student!reader. no use of y/n, english is not my first language.

❥ Aegon II masterlist • HOTD masterlist • ASOIAF headcanons

❥ about me • main masterlist

• Sugar Daddy!Aegon who felt so lonely after taking over his father's company, even though he had a lot of money to keep supporting the luxurious life he had since his birth.

• Sugar Daddy!Aegon who listened to his close friends joking about this type of arrangement, and decided to try the luck on some app suitable for that.

• Sugar Daddy!Aegon who had no patience with most of the annoying girls on the site, who seemed more interested in just fucking with him than in his money and company. After all, even with an almost insatiable and unhealthy lust, he could fuck any girl he wanted without having to pay for them, so he put the idea aside for a while when he noticed so many messages there didn't correspond to what he was really looking for.

• Sugar Daddy!Aegon who was surprised seeing the description on your profile saying that you weren't interested in casual sex or sending nudes, and threatening to block anyone who pissed off you with harassment. Then he immediately texted you.

• Sugar Daddy!Aegon who became attached to your talks after the first moment. He listened to your story, listened to your limits and what you wanted in that arrangement, and that same night sent you a great amount of money as a "free sample" of what was coming.

• Sugar Daddy!Aegon who always likes to spoil you even more than what was agreed in the contract. It doesn't matter how many thousand dollars he sends you monthly or the credit cards he gave you. Did you simply texted saying that you saw a picture of a new Tiffany & Co bracelet? He'll buy it to you. Did Aegon smell a good Cartier fragrance on a secretary of his company? He'll immediately buy and send it to your home as a surprise, only to listened to your many audio messages thanking him for the "unexpected" gift.

• Sugar Daddy!Aegon who loves receiving your photos and videos wearing everything he bought you or showing how you're using the money. He doesn't really know how to react to your thanks, but you know he's happy when he sends you a cute emoji that's probably only used by older men. Noticing the age difference between you always makes both of you smile.

• Sugar Daddy!Aegon who loves to listen to you talk about your college matters, how your professors are being unfair or how some of your friends are annoying you. He even offers you a job at his company and you just chuckle, thinking he's joking. But he's never joking about that.

• Sugar Daddy!Aegon who sometimes manages to open up to you, exposing the issues he's facing running the company. How his father's death caused chaos in his family, breaking bonds. How he's sure that his half-sister is planning to take legal actions, how he believes that their father's will, in which she was left with just a small part of the inheritance, was forged or manipulated while Viserys was still alive, but ill. Sometimes Aegon also talks about his issues with his mother and grandfather, who thinks he's a terrible businessman and will sink the entire Hightowers empire in the not-so-distant future. You always understand Aegon and give him good advices, so he feels like he can open up to you more than anyone else in his life.

• Sugar Daddy!Aegon who only took three months to give in to his desire to see you face to face. He didn't wanna admit it, not even to himself, but he was so fucking nervous that you might reject the invite to the fanciest Italian Restaurant in the city. Aegon knew that you would've every right to deny him, as it wasn't an demand written in your contract. So as soon as you said yes, he was desperately excited, he went crazy thinking about how not to ruin it. He might be a disgusting womanizer when it came to other girls, but he really wanted to impress you, his Sugar Baby.

• Sugar Daddy!Aegon who was a complete disaster since the beginning of your "date", trying to impress you with anything fancy and expensive, but in the end he got so drunk on wine that you had to help his private driver put him inside the limousine. You even thought that you would've to go back to your modest house and wasted the debut of that fancy dress, heels and jewelery that he bought you the day before. However, Aegon even in his drunken state begged you to come with him to the mansion, saying he didn't wanna be alone and also needed to apologize.

• Sugar Daddy!Aegon who felt sucks when he woke up and saw you lying on the other large couch, asleep and looking kinda lost. That sight made him feel like the worst Sugar Daddy and the worst man too, so he admiring you sleeping for a while, being careful not to wake you and asking the mansion's cooks to make you the best breakfast possible, and asking two other employees to buy you more jewelry and flowers, as well as a new Prada bag.

• Sugar Daddy!Aegon who would wait for you to forgive him (which occurred without any resistance by your part) before finally kissing you, feeling much more hesitant and nervous than when he lost his virginity with his father's random secretary, when he was just a teenager with hormones raging.

• Sugar Daddy!Aegon who from that day on would start taking you on every trip. You might even miss some college classes, but who cares? Do you wanna know Greece? Do you wanna go to Venice? Spend the summer in Copacabana? Winter in Tokyo? Aegon will take you anywhere you want and fuck you in all those expensive hotels, even if that's not part of the original arrangement.

• Sugar Daddy!Aegon who doesn't wanna put a label on your situationship, because saying that you're his Sugar Baby sounds less complicated to him than admitting more feelings beyond that. However, when you mention being at a frat party with some people from your college, Aegon immediately goes after you, not caring about the confused looks from the young students when they saw an extremely rich older man coming towards you, picking you up as if you were a little child, throwing you into the limousine seat without his typical care, realizing that you did it all on purpose as soon as he saw your smug look afterwards.

• Sugar Daddy!Aegon who will order the driver to roll up the partition so he can climb up the tiny dress you were wearing at the party, slapping your ass several times, the expensive rings he wears on his hands making red marks on your soft flesh. He doesn't need to prepare you, the way you chose to dress the Victoria's Secret lingerie he bought you most recently sends his mind into a frenzy, and all the driver can hear as he drives are the muffled sounds of your loud moans and the sound of your skins hitting each other, plus Aegon growling and degrading you as if you were nothing but a brainless whore.

• Sugar Daddy!Aegon who will ask you to be his girlfriend during the following weekend, preparing a trip to Paris and spoiling you with a Birkin Bag, also making your relationship official with a Cartier ring made of gold and decorated with 72 white diamonds, which cost at least $7,000.

• Sugar Daddy!Aegon who even though he's your boyfriend, will still keeping spoil you as he did before, when the bond between the two of you was just the Sugar Daddy and Sugar Baby agreement. Actually... It will be much better, because the gifts will be even fancier and the fancy trips will be more expensive. Also... You'll be able to fuck with Aegon at his office whenever both of you want to, especially if you give in to his desires and drop out of college so you can just be his Sugar Baby during the day and his cockslut at night, not having to do anything but stay home and shop, or walk around the city, and then wait for your Sugar Daddy to fill you after he gets home from work, eager to feel his cock fucking your warm pussy while he presses you against the mansion's windows, already picturing the millionaire neighbors jerking off to the sight of your pretty breasts almost crushed against the glass and his cum dripping from your swollen and tight core.

[meraki-yao]

I can’t get over the hypocrisy of you body shaming Nick at the beginning of this month literally saying he was destroying his body. but of course, Taylor can do whatever whatever he wants and a smart enough to know what he’s doing. As if Nick isn’t a serious former athlete, who knows how to take care of his own body. Just disgusting hypocrisy.

... ugh.

I saw this ask coming. And while I will never not be pissed off at any insinuation that I don't support both of the boys, my whole schtick here is logical rebuttal arguments. For my piece of mind, let's fucking go.

To begin with, I have never, ever body-shamed Nick. Nor will I ever do so. What I did do, was express concern. And in case you don't understand the differences, here are the definitions of the two words from the Goddamn Oxford English Dictionary:

I dare say the mere fact that you thought I body-shamed him implies that you view my content with tinted-glasses and are inherently seeing my posts as me shaming Nick when I'm truth I did no such thing.

Moving on: Nick was never a serious athlete in the same way Taylor is a serious model. Nick was an athlete when he was in school, when he was a teenager. School scaled sports activities are not comparable to professional events, and Nick's body as a teenager is not comparable to his body now as a 30 year old adult. Additionally: an athlete's main purpose in maintaining their body is for functionality in sports; an actor's purpose in maintaining their body is more for appearance than practicality. Nothing about this is comparable.

Nick's situation also isn't comparable to what I said about Taylor knowing his body because while we don't know for sure what Taylor does to keep his body shape, we sure do know what Nick's up to.

I do not pretend to know better than whatever professional they hired to help Nick with body-building but from the perspective of an average person's common sense, this does not sound good. 4000 calories is above the average calorie intake for the average adult male even if they wanted to bulk up, but he still ends up hungry, so that back-and-forth of extreme intake and exertion already sounds extreme. But on top of that he's going to be starved???? From the perspective of the average person, that just doesn't sound healthy.

Moreover, unlike Taylor who has made his habit of going the tot gym well known, Nick doesn't have this habit. He mentions finally understanding what makes gym so addictive, which implies that he didn't have the habit to going to the gym before this. This is a massive exchange from 0 to extreme for him. This isn't a gradual build up as it would be in most cases of trying to bulk up in daily life.

Taylor on the other hand, has not disclosed that he's been doing anything of the same caliber for the Lacoste shoot. And truthfully speaking, I didn't see what's strange about his body in this shoot that my first anon mentioned. If evidence proved Taylor taking things to the same extreme I would have expressed the same concern.

In conclusion, I am not body-shaming Nick, I'm worried about him based on the context clues we were given by him regarding his body building for he-man. Everything I'm concerned about has quotes and facts to back me up. Again, i am definitely not saying I know better, I don't, but from common sense, his body building is pretty extreme, therefore worrying.

So stop pointing fingers where there's nothing to see.

[achaotichuman]

ACOTAR Discussion

Okay, so recently my mutual @sonics-atelier posted this fic Perfect To Me (which is so fucking amazing, I cried, go read it rn) and in this fic, they write about Tamlin developing an eating disorder (specifically anorexia) since his body changed after starting to get Spring back on its feet. And it started me down a whole rant about fictional characters being the pinnacle of beauty standards, specifically in relation to what they're bodies look like. So, to save my mutuals the long spam texts about my thoughts, I'm gonna post em here.

General trigger warning- Discussion of a variety of eating disorders, body dysmorphia and Cassian.

SJM covers disordered eating within ACOTAR, it happens specifically to the female characters. And this is something, I have a huge problem with. That might seem like a massive asshole sentence, but let me explain my thought process.

These eating disorders are not well respresented, they do not further affect the plot, they only serve to be an outward appearance to the male saviour characters that something is wrong, and they never appear on the female characters in a way that makes them any less pretty, in fact, I would say, the resulting skinniness from said disordered eating, is the desired result. By that I mean, yes I think SJM writes her female characters starving themselves to make them fit the female beauty standard.

This is very evident with Nesta, who somehow miraculously only grows thinner in the waist and hips when she is starving herself. But still has massive breasts which Cassian makes a point of oogling, despite noticing how thin she is everywhere else. Instead of taking Nesta's not wanting to eat anything and turning it into a plot point for her character in which she learns to take care of and eventually love her new Fae body, SJM decides to further starve Nesta, but Cassian limiting her sugar intake, so she reminds the same 000 size in the waist.

Now, onto what really, truly makes me angry within SJM's series. Character's gaining weight, rather than losing it.

This happens once in the series. It is one singular comment, that put me off Cassian forever.

"You need to get out in the practice ring, brother. Don't want your mate to find any soft bits."

This comment was from Cassian to Rhysand in the third chapter of ACOSF, after looking Rhys up and down pretty much.

May seem like a harmless jab to a lot of people, but take into account all of the context around it.

Cassian had just been eyeing Nesta's body-clearly suffering from the effects of long-term starvation, like a hunk of meat.

They had just won a war not long ago-still coming down from the stress highs that would have no doubt been enough to put any normal person in bed for a month.

Rhysand had only recently found out about Feyre's pregnancy, if I remember correctly-would have also found out about the risks, and would be dealing the extreme stress that would be causing.

It would be incredibly normal for Rhysand to gain weight because of all these factors. Not to mention this being the first (and I'm fairly certain) only time, SJM's mentions a male character gaining weight, and it being in such a negative light, could only suggest she, and thus Cassian, find the idea unappealing or perhaps downright abhorrent.

Which really fucking pisses me off.

Most of her female characters have experienced a form of anorexia throughout the books as a trauma or stress response. And it never exists to go further than making them more conventionally attractive.

Now further on her male characters, not a single one of them ever has an ounce of fat on their body. Weight gain is entirely out of the question, even when it should be the obvious occurrence due to whatever change in their situation.

Now this also brings me to another problem I have, which also leeches into fandom behaviour.

We all love Tamlin's tits, ofc, ofc, but muscle behaves like fat if its not being actively flexed. Tamlin's pectoral muscles are no doubt incredibly strong, and would, probably be able to crack a nut (no pun intended) if flexed. But if they werent, they would be soft and squishy. No one talks about THAT THOUGH DO YOU???

Not to mention, that, Tamlin is a beast creature, wandering the forests, not training or exercising properly, and is only gouging on the carcasses of animals he kills. This could be an excellent time to lean into weight gain, and the intense feelings of guilt, and body dysmorphia that it brings.

Lets also discuss Gwyn, a traumatised young woman who fled to the Library in order to live a life of peace. She has never trained a day in her life before becoming a Valkyrie, why is she so skinny?

It's never mentioned Gwyn having any kind of reaction to her trauma that affects her eating (as far as I remember) and I think it would be far more interesting to delve into the effects grief and the lose of a dear loved one has on the body and ones eating habits.

Lets talk about Elain, who is said to use baking a coping mechanism, why is she skinny? This is the perfect opportunity to delve into a character binge eating, then extreme guilt from the times where they were in poverty, and purging. But finding comfort in food because food = wealth, wealth =safety.

And in the end, a character can be fat and be happy. Why do we have so many characters that are so thin at the end of their books?

So many of these characters also have near no stability, their diet would not doubt be changing constantly from the inconsistency in their living situations. Which should to lead to drastic changes in their body. This could be a very interesting way to explore body dysphoria. Hating seeing yourself in the mirror even if you just survived battle, because you can hardly recognise yourself. Changing so much in the mind and not even having the comfort of your body being the same. Especially with Nesta and Elain being Made against their will. I honestly believe Nesta's starvation should have been her hating her new Fae body so much that she just wants to destroy it. Her healing, should have been learning to love herself, no matter what body she is in.

In the end, your body is you, but you are more than your body. Bodies are such incredibly fascinating tool, and people don't always have to like what it looks like to care for it. Bodies can be smaller, bigger, stronger, they take your brain wherever it wants to go. But they are not all of you. And that should have been what especially Nesta's journey could have been.

Anyway, this is incredibly sensitive topic for a lot of people, so I do really want to open this up to everyone. What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you think SJM's portrayal of eating disorders is justified, or do you think I'm wrong on any of these points? Let me know in either the comments or the reblogs, I would be happy to discuss it.

[shayberri789]

Mmm this will be a long list, prepare yourself

titles in blue are the ones that are like. Equal to AFTG in terms of obsession for me. The others are either ones I find myself returning to, are comfort novels, or were once obsessions for me that I still think fondly of and are worth recommending.

This is so long I spent 2 hours writing this. Mostly scifi/fantasy bc those are my favourite genres.

Beginning with the Series:

In no particular order....

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen Genre: YA Fantasy, slice of romance

Summary: Vanja is the god daughter of Fortune and Death, and one of the most imfamous thief in Boern. Except one day she steals the wrong thing and pisses off ANOTHER little god who curses her for her greed to turn into pearls and rubies. Now she has to fix things with her ex-best friend, avoid a junior detective, maybe save a kingdom, and not die.

Why I am recommending it: Vanja is a gremlin. This has slowburn enemies to friends to lovers. Both of the main characters are demisexual :D and its important to their arc. There's sapphic background romance. A feral shapeshifter with a queer understanding and preference for gender, saying Fuck You to your abusers, and lots of found family. The narration caught me by the throat from the first page - its interesting, and its funny, and the world building is interesting. The story is great. a REALLY good retelling of the Goose Girl fairy tale. This is a series, with the third book releasing soon if it hasn't been already, though I have only read the first book so far (waiting to get my hands on the other ones)

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree Genre: Cozy fantasy YA Summary: It's about a retired half-orc adventurer who sets up shop in a new city in order to open teh first ever coffee shop in the country, and the trials it takes to set that up and run. Why I am recommending it: Firstly, Travis is my favourite VA and a good author on top of that. It's SUCH a cozy story, with a sapphic slowburn and found family. It's fun, the worldbuilding is awesome, and it feels like a breath of fresh air. This is a duology, with Bookshops and Bonedust as a prequel that I recommend reading second. It's sapphic and delightful.

Tortall Chronicles by tamora pierce (in chronological order) Genre/summary: Fantasy children's series. if you want harry potter written by an actual feminist minus the bigotry of JKR, try this. Also better written, and enjoyable regardless of age. Do remember most of these were written in the 80s.

Beka Cooper/Provosts Dogs: beka is a member of the Provost's Dogs, the early established police force in Corus City in the kingdom of tortall. She works in the slums of the city, the Lower City, where she was born and raised, and which she loves with all her heart. In teh first book, told through her journal entries, we follow her during the first year of her internship as she learns the ropes and tries to solve a mystery string of robberies, murders and disappearances. Even tho its cops (acab and all that), this handles well the compromises between morality and doing what's right and the law, with a heavy emphasis of 'fuck teh law if it's hurting the people'. Beka is shy, determined, kind, and gifted. It's just a REALLY good story, with a Fun cast, magic, and a sarcastic magical cat

Song of the Lioness (couple hundred years after beka) Alanna wants to be the first lady knight in centuries. Her brother, Thom, wants to be a great sorcerer. unfortunately for them, Alanna is the one being sent to the City of the Gods for finishing school, and Thom to Corus to become a knight. Except Alanna and Thom switch places. Thom goes to the CotG to study magic, and Alanna disguises herself as the boy, Alan, to train to be a knight. The first book follows her years as a page as she keeps up the ruse, trains hard, deals with bullies, and tries to stop a plot to kill one of her best friends, the crown prince Johnathon. Book 2 is her as John's squire, working by his side during war and again, trying not to get caught and also not let John die. Third book is her first years as a knight where she comes to terms with her role as a Paladin of the mother goddess, and she has to train a group of Gifted children to become a shaman after she accidentally kills the tribes last shaman. Its fine tho, because he was a PoS and corrupt. Book4, she heads off on a quest to find a magical gem, prevent a civil war, and fix things between herself and her friends. Note: Weird age gaps/underage, but it's treated with respect and she doesn't do anything w the age gap until she's an adult.

Tempest and Slaughter Concurrent with Alanna I think, only one book out atm Follows Arram Draper, a gifted young mage in at the Carthaki university (in the kingdom across the tea from Tortall). Follows him growing up to be an exceptionally talented mage, surgeon and healer, with an interest in wild magic.

Immortals Quartet (couple decades after Alanna) Not a fan of this one because there's a whole 15-30 year age gap that really only shows up in the last half of the series but wtf. Otherwise, very good! About a girl with a special magical connection to animals. Immortals, ancient immortal beings and monsters who'd been sealed away a millennia ago, are returning to the realm of tortall and Carthak is threatening war, and everything is in chaos. Daine works with famous mage Numair, legendary hero Alanna, and more to unlock the secrets of the Immortals return and end the war

protector of the small (couple years after immortals) Favourite series. Follows kel, the first girl to try to become a knight since King Johnathon made it legal. Except the old training master is a sexist bastard and won't let her in without a trial period. But kel is determined, kind and will not be turned away by her prejudiced classmates, nobles or teachers. This follows her as she trains to become a knight, proving herself and making unshakable friendships and becoming a respected leader and protector of all those the powerful would step on. She's an underdog advocate. Gods I love her

Also by Pierce, but set in a different world, we have the Emelan Chronicles, which is 3 series following the same 4 young mages as they grow up:

circle of magic series follows a group of four, orphaned children with unusual magic. They're taken to the Circle Temple, a temple of priests and mages as they learn to harness their unusual magic and recover from their respective traumas. They become family and survive multiple disasters and threats to their homes. SO good!!

The circle opens set a couple years after CoM, the children have grown up and spread across the world to continue their apprentice-hoods. Along the way, they pick up apprentices of their own and get a first hand understanding of what a headache they were for their mentors

The will of the empress The children reunite as adults, having grown apart. Haven't read this one yet but I trust it to be good. Pierce is a fantastic author

Memoirs of Lady Trent by Marie Brennan Genre: Speculative/biological historical fantasy (Basically victorian england but with dragons) Summary: I made a separate tumblr post about this, I recommend it here! (PLEASE at least check this out, I need more people to read cradle). It's delightful.

Cradle by Will Wight Genre: YA-adult epic/progression fantasy.

Summary: I give a better rec in the post I linked above. Self described by the author as a 'novelisation of a westernised anime/manga' shounen (I think?), but it does not suffer what someone once called "Dragonball Z syndrome", aka its really well balanced and has a solid foundation, and no undermining of its own plot/progression/character powerups/achievements

The Raven Cycle by maggie stiefvater Genre: YA Urban fantasy Summary: If you're in the AFTG fandom, likely you have heard of this as being a "trilogy" series with AFTG and SoC. And there's a reason for that. If you haven't already read it, I cannot recommend it enough. It's my favourite series ever and VERY much character driven, and the plot is beautiful and nonlinear. I cannot give a concise summary. Needless to say this has found family, devoution and all the different kinds of love up the Wazzoo. on the surface, its about a group of kids in rural west virginia trying to find magic, leylines and a dead welsh kind said to be sleeping somewhere on them, who promises a wish if you wake him up. Each person has a different reason to embark on this quest, and each have different, deeply personal journeys and character development. Below the surface, it's about growing up, and healing, and it's about life and death and wonder and magic and whimsy. The narration is SO witty and SO funny and i have read this series LITERALLY over 20 times and I still find new things. I've never seen an official summary for this series that actually gives a good idea of the vibe. Trust me on this you HAVE to read it

(this one is more like 6 recommendations in one lol. I'll be shocked if you haven't heard of at least one of these)

Cosmere by Brandon Sanderson Genre: Adult Fantasy Summary: I'll give individual ones for each book/series. I am obsessed with all of these (but stormlight especially)

Elantris: Standalone Princess Sarene arrives in a new kingdom for her wedding to the Crown Prince Raoden, only to discover her fiance has died, and per a legal loophole in the contract, she is now married to him and the kingdom. Sarene is thrust into a political war zone as she buts head with the warrior ambassador of the religious empire Fjorden who has been tasked with converting the kingdom to shu-something I forget the name, ready for the kingdom to be annexed by the empire. Sarene refuses to let the kingdom fall, for her homeland would be left alone and without allies otherwise

Meanwhile, her fiancé isn't actually dead. He woke up cursed one day to essentially be a zombie with chronic pain and was tossed into a cursed city (Elantris) with other cursed elantrians. now, he's made it his (new) life's purpose to improve the quality of life for the other elantrians, and build a community where they can all be happy again. He has no idea his wife is in town, nor what she's up to

Mistborn: 2 trilogies, one set in regular fantasy era, the other 300 years later in a mmm i wanna say early 1900s euro style fantasy world. Both epic fantasy. First trilogy follows Kelsier - thief extraordinaire, rebellion leader, charismatic asshole and a Mistborn (mistings are ppl who can ingest particular kinds of metals and gain a magical ability from them. Mistborns can eat all 8 and have all 8 abilities. they're rare) - and vin, street urchin, fellow mistborn, and their crew of thieves and rebels as they plot to overthrow God. They don't really consider the consequences

Warbreaker: Another standalone Siri is the youngest, most unimportant princess in her kingdom. She was MEANT to live a pleasant, unimportant life. Except, one day, she's shipped off to the neighboring kingdom Halladren to marry the god-emperor, per the treaty, in place of her older sister Vivenna. Now, she's thrust into a world of colour, politics and gods, and she has to scramble to find a way to stop a war that would threaten to destroy all she loves

Meanwhile, her sister Vivenna, who had grown up resigned to marry the 'evil' zombie emperor, is furious her younger sister was thrown into it instead. She's much prefer NEITHER had to, but if one must it should be the princess raised to do it. So she goes to the kingdom to save her sister. There, she works with a pair of mercenaries to incite a rebellion and other-throw the court of gods. She also has a LOT of growing up to do, and a lot of prejudice to unlearn.

Branderson also has this up free on his website!

The stormlight archive The first era (5 books) has been completed, with the next era expected to start in 2030ish. MONSTER books. I'm talking 300-500k words/1000+ page for each book, plus two novellas. literally the best series I've ever read it's everything you want. It's slow to start but it pays itself off. I cannot describe it you just have to trust me on this one and take a chance. Also there's relationships that could be read as QPRs. I usually recommend it after Warbreaker and/or mistborn, when you'll have faith in branderson as an author, and not just on the word of some random internet stranger.

Tress of the emerald sea standalone if you liked princess diaries, you'll like this. It's about a respectable girl, Tress, who sets out on an adventure to rescue her damsel of a best friend/boy friend from an evil witch. Along the way she befriends eccentric pirates, a magic rat, BECOMES a pirate, and sails on seas of deadly spores that can kill a man with the slightest contact of water. It's also got one really weird guy who's cursed. VERY whimsical and fun fairytale vibe story, with a hilarious narrator to boot. You don't need to read the rest of the cosmere first to understand or enjoy this story, either! But its stuffed with easter-eggs and references, so if you do read it first, I recommend reading it again later after the rest.

Yumi and the nightmare painter Standalone, epic fantasy mixed with urban fantasy Yumi is a Yoki-hijo, a priestess of the spirits. She has a sacred duty as the bridge between humanity and the spirits of the world. Painter is a Nightmare painter. His job is to paint the form of shadowy creatures known as Nightmares to banish them, and keep his city safe. He's also a depressed emo teenager who reminds me of my little brother.

One day, inexplicably, the pair wake up in each other's places, with the other a spectating ghost. They have to carry out each other's lives, and figure out why they've been swapped. And meeting each other is probably the best thing to ever happen to them

has Your Name/Final Fantasy vibes. Also has a fun narrator, and the same cosmere hints as above, but even more accessible to new readers!

The Sunlit Man Standalone (technically) and a lot more scifi/dystopian than the other novels, though I'd call it Science Fantasy (like a mix between skyward (see below) and tlt). Follows Nomad, who lives up to his name by Skipping from planet to planet in the cosmere as he attempts to flee the Night Brigade, a mercenary group determined to torture and kill him for something he once held. He lands on the tiny planet Canicle, with a sun so hot it literally scorches the earth to lava when it hits. The people and flora here survive by constantly running from the sun, existing in perpetual twilight and nightl. The cinderking rules by power and violence, and a small Beacon of rebellion hides in the darkness of a constant storm. Nomad has a history of resisting oppression and helping those who've been put down, but it's been many years since he was that man, he has depression, and worst of all he's cursed and cannot commit an act of violence against another living being. This makes it very difficult to fight the many people trying to kill him.

This is tonally different to many of the other cosmere novels, but is equally epic. I highly recommend reading it between Rhythm of War and Wind and Truth, because Nomad is from roshar and this is the best way imo to get the full impact of Nomad's story, since it has a parallel relationship to the stormlight archive.

Why: Branderson is the best author I've ever read. All the series above are SO unique with AMAZING worldbuilding, plot, characters, themes, ugh EVERYTHING is so good. And they're also connected. 10/10 recommend, but I understand that it is a HUGE investment. Give it a chance, no one has ever regretted it.

Continuing on from branderson, we have the Cytoverse, which is made of the Skyward series and Skyward Flight Novellas.

Skyward Genre: Science fiction, YA with a dash of fantastical elements Summary: The first book follows the strange and silly/dramatic daughter of Chaser, the imfamous coward, who fled the final battle of Alta. Humanity is trapped on a strange, armored planet, constantly underseige by an alien enemy known only as "the krell". For generations, they had to live in small nomadic bands and clans in deep underground caverns, but with the establishment and success of the Defiant Defense Force, humanity has been able to settle down into ancient cities and caverns and put their resources and skill into fighting back the krell, in humanity's last stand for survival.

Spensa faces endless criticism, condesention and assholery from her fellow humans, but she is firm in her insistance that the histories were wrong - he was not a coward, he was teh greatest DDF pilot ever and she will prove them all wrong when she becomes the greatest pilot herself… if people would just give her a chance.

And then she finds the strange, incredible, talking ship. Pity its broken.

Why: It feels like a mix between how to train your dragon, Ender's Game, and those old 'shoot the alien' video/arcade games. The cast are so delightful, the worldbuilding excellent, and the story fun.

Skyward Flight Novellas by Janci Patterson and Brandon Sanderson Genre: Same as above Summary: Written by Patterson, with oversight by branderson, and set during books 2 and 3 of the main skyward series, each novella follows a different important character from the Skyward Flight, giving us insight on what was happening on the human side of teh war while Spensa is out on her adventures in the later series. It's greatly enjoyable, and Janci is better at writing romance imo.

If you enjoyed tlt, you'll enjoy Stormlight and Skyward.

The Locked Tomb Genre: Adult sci-fi fantasy. Has some horror elements technically, along with mystery Summary: each book is tonally, and narratively, quite different, so I will recommend you the first book trusting it will hook you in well enough to finish. The first book follows the PoV of Gideon Nav, an orphan serf of the 9th House of the Undying Emperor, Necrolord supreme's empire. The 9th house is basically a death cult, with all of the skeletons, decaying dark fabric, catholic goth aesthetic you'd expect. Except gideon fucking hates it there and has been trying to get out for YEARS. She's a simple girl who likes swords, girls (titties), jokes, and sunglasses. Her arch nemesis is Harrowhark Nonagesimus, the 17 year old reverent daughter and scion of the 9th house. She is a 5'0 wet rat of a girl and gideon daydreams about drop kidding her off the 9th house planet. They have been in a trauma bonded rivalry since they were children, as the only remaining living children in the 9th house. After another failed escape attempt, Harrow promises Gideon that she will free her from service, with full recommendations to the 2nd house (where Gideon wants to go), if Gideon will pretend to be her cavalier on a voyage to the first house, the once home of the god emperor himself, to answer a call for talented necromancers (and their cavaliers) to undergo training and research to become his right hands: immortal and powerful Lyctors. It starts out great! We're immediately reminded that the 9th house are death cult weirdos, the girls are terribly out of their depths, and Gideon gets adopted by no less than 4 extroverts and both girls get their first friend that wasn't each other in YEARS. Then the first body appears, and its not one anyone intended to be there.

Why: I honestly think it should be included with the soc/aftg/trc trio. Tone and content-wise its like an expert blend of all of them. It's batshit insane, you WILL be screaming "WHAT" for most of the series and the second book is confusing until you finish it/reread it, because it actively gaslights you. But its really fucking good. The storycrafting is DEEPLY intentional and well done, like some of the best writing I've ever read. The writing/narration is SO funny and amusing, there are jokes, memes, pop-culture references stuffed EVERYWHERE and only half of them make you want to scream into a pillow. The foreshadowing is brilliant, the worldbuilding SO interesting, and it does throw you in the deep end with a lot of characters (dw: there's a list at the beginning so you won't get lost!) but they're all SO different and interesting. One of my friends is literally writing his undergrad english lit thesis studying this series. Its like aftg in the sense that reading it will grip you by your brain and never let go. The fandom is fantastic. Highly recommend.

Further notes: I have a personal theory that if you enjoyed aftg/trc/soc/stormlight archive,you'll enjoy tlt. Also, its also about all the different kinds of love. More specifically, its about the horrors of love, what it does to you, how it changes you, and what you'll do and change for it.

Continuing on with scifi!

Murderbot Diaries by martha wells Genre: science fiction, YA, cyber/hopepunk and dystopian (post-late-late-late stage capitalism in space!) Summary: in a complete spin around from the previous series, this is a 12 book long series of novellas following murderbot. Murderbot is a secunit - a machine/human hybrid created to serve as a security guards. Secunits have no agency due to a gov module in their brains that punish them for disobeying company or SecSys orders.

Thing is, murderbot hacked its GovMod 4 years ago. It's rogue, and no one even knows. This is because it found access to the entertainment feed and has been enjoying media in all its free-time since it freed itself, and it REALLY wishes it's human clients - who are actually NICE this time wtf. Stop treating me like a person - would stop making stupid decisions for FIVE MINUTES so it can rewatch episode 259 of the Rise and Fall of Sanctuary moon instead of saving their dumbasses.

The rest of the series follows Murderbot going Rogue and going on a journey of self discovery, with themes of humanity, found family, QPRs, fuck capitalism, fuck Aliens, etc.

Why: It's touching, it's fun, its interesting,its HILARIOUS. Mbot is a yell; A 6A a threat (AAAAAA): an Agender, Aromantic, Asexual Amnesiac Autistic with Anxiety (and depression). Featuring fun world building, SO much queer, qprs, rep and respect towards disabilities and identities, and UGH ITS SO GOOD. Also there are QPRS, and great importance placed on platonic bonds over romance

Now I will recommend some Drew Hayes novels. Highly recommend starting with SP, despite its faults

Super Powereds by Drew Hayes Genre: Superhero science fiction Summary: This is the final rec in the post I linked above (link has more info!). It's about a group of college kids who are enrolled in a secret university program to train heroes. But the main trio had a greater secret even than that: they were once Powereds, people with incredible power and no ability to control it at all, and underwent a shady procedure which miraculously bestowed upon them the ability to control their powers, turning them into Supers, like the rest of their classmates.

Why: this is a lot more grounded than other stories in the genre, I think. It's like bnha if it was good/Horikoshi had coherent worldbuilding and characterisation. It is one of hayes' earlier works, so writing quality wise its not up to the same standards as most of what I've recommended so far, with some… weird terminology around gender (it was originally written in the late oughts/published early 2010s, so uh. to be expected) but is very respectful of gays imo? I can think of one instance that could be classified as homophobia. Its interesting. That said, the plot is really fun and the action and interactions engaging and often funny. Its kinda chunky (a little longer than tlt or mistborn, but not as big as stormlight), but you'll greatly enjoy it. It also as a spinoff novel called corpies which follows one of the more infamous characters from the main series, who got caught up in a scandal when his family-man heroic image was destroyed after he got caught fucking a guy. He's long since accepted himself and developed a strong confidence with his gay identity, but now he needs to restore the public's faith and trust in him after a decade long hiatus from heroism. He accidentally becomes a dad to four heroic rescue young adults, even while his own kids want nothing to do with him for basically abandoning them.

Some other series by Hayes I read which were written later and therefore a massive leap in quality:

Spells, Swords and Stealth Genre: TTRPG/DND esque fantasy Summary: For the people who sit down together with character sheets, minifigs and dice, SSS is just a tabletop RPG game. Its fun, but has no consequence on real life, and it ends when the session does.

For the NPCS, the background characters who live in the world, this is very much real life. it's well known that adventurers play by different rules, because the world interacts differently with them and they have a strange interaction with the world and people around them. But when a band of adventurers fail their CON-save and die in a tavern, the poor NPC's they croaked in front of know that the murderhobo king will have the heads of everyone in the village if these adventurers don't answer his summons. So, they don the adventurers gear and weapons, and prepare to answer those summons themselves and save their village, even though they have no idea what they're doing and its very important no one learns they're not real adventurers.

it's all fun and games until the world starts treating them like real adventurers, and they find a magical artifact that makes things very fucking weird for the poor SSS party's players as they try to follow a similar module.

Why: This is a fun novel which plays well with typical tropes and stereotypes in TTRPGs and flips them on their head. Surprisingly sincere, a refreshing and fun take on these kinds of stories. Its got a cool dual narrative between the NPCS, for whom this is real life, and actual players for whom this is just a game. it pokes fun at the pet peeves in TTRPG (incl: bad players) and is touching and fun. it's got found family, answering the call, and stepping up to responsibility. All the character arcs as well are beautiful.

Villain's Code Genre: Superhero Fiction Summary: Tori Rivas is a villain and a crook. Sure, she can turn into living fire, but she's really dangerous because she's damn clever and innovative. But when a job to break into a billionaire's secret vault goes awry and she's caught, she's suddenly thrown into the pond where big fishes swim, and learning she's just a rookie. if Tori is to survive, she must learn teh ways of the Villain's Guild, how to be a real villain and not just a criminal, and how to abide by the Code and make heroes dance to her tune. By day, she lives with her boring 'uncle' and works a corporate deskjob, trying to build the most boring uninteresting life to anyone who may look two seconds her way. by night, she's the apprentice to one of the most imfamous and deadly villains who ever lived, and undergoes trials with her fellow apprentices to prove they have what it takes. They either come out the other end heroes, cunning and skilled, or they come out in a casket. There's no in between.

And behind the scenes, greater evil stirs to shake up the relationship between heroism and villainy forever.

Why: NOT set in the SP world, this takes on the dynamic and place of heroism in a very different way. It also makes the relationship between heroism and villainy symbiotic and sustainable in its worldbuilding, and makes it easy to root for both sides. Tori is delightful, aroace coded, and resourceful. She's also willful, antagonistic, and hurting deep inside. the cast is delightful, as always. Hayes does a much better job of playing with tropes and characterisations here than he did in SP. There's little I can say that won't have me sounding like a broken record, but this is a very well crafted and fun story, that puts a lot of thought into the worldbuilding and people it would take for sueprhero fiction to actually like. Work. Its great

Renegades by Marissa Meyer Genre: Superhero fiction, YA Summary: Nova Artino is a villain, niece of the supervillain Ace Anarchy, who imfamously brought about the age of anarchy that destroyed society as we once knew it and freed progedies from the discrimination, censure and oppression they had faced from 'normal' people for centuries; but more importantly, he was Nova's hero. He saved her when the Renegade vigilante-heroes didnt. He gave her a home and a new family when the Renegades let thugs kill her parents and her sister. But he died, when the renegades killed him and destroyed the freedom he once sought.

Now, years later, the remaining anarchists/villains live in hiding and squalor underground, while the Renegades have 'restored' society to a new pristine age. A superhero police force known maintains order and justice in Gatlan city, headed by a counsel of the original vigilante-heros/Renegades, and Nova is going to bring them down from the inside.

Why: Same author as the Lunar Chronicles, it's YA but from what I remember, surprisingly well written! I remember enjoying this a lot. I mostly bring it up because it's similar to VC in that the main character is a villain. The romance is really sweet, with a lot of rep, iirc. I haven't been obsessed with it for a while now, but there were a good few years where it (and TLC) were all I could think about.

Now for the standalones:

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Genre: Science Fiction Summery: Ryland Grace is your average guy; a middle school science teacher who says shit like "holy moly" and "crap" unironically, is a dork, and a nerd. He's not especially talented in any area outside of science, and he is certainly not qualified to be an astronaut on a last-ditch mission to save humanity from an apocalypse.

But that's what he's doing, because he's one of the few people who can. There's an alien algae eating the sun and its heat, and if he does not find a way to stop it and get that info back to earth soon, then the world is doomed to an enduring ice age that will kill like. Everyone.

And he's the only one who survived the trip, and he does not remember who he is, or why he's there (at first). He's far, far away from home, his mission seems impossible, and there may be more alien life out there.

his mission is impossible, suicidal, and now he has to do it alone.

or does he/it is?

Why: okay despite the summary this story is INCREDIBLY light hearted and has platonic soulmates (my beloved). I would fucking die for Ryland and his deuteragonist. One of my friends (a bio major) recently read it and had a blast. the science holds, but it's super accessible to my dumb ass who barely passed physics and always hated biology. Both of us keep quoting most of the book to each other. its do fun and delightful.

Martian by Andy Weir Genre: science fiction Summary, straight from goodreads: Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars.

Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there.

After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won’t have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old “human error” are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills — and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit — he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

Why: Like the last Weir Novel above, this is just so much fun. rather than golden retriever energy, Mark has a sense of fatalistic humor that is so in line with our generations humor. He's brilliant and funny, and also a fucking dumbass. Again, the science is really accessible (featuring quotes such as: "Problem is (follow me closely here, the science is pretty complicated), if I cut a hole in the Hab, the air won't stay inside anymore."). Mark is a relatable mood from page one until the very freaking last.

Technically you started it by Lana Wood Johnson Genre: idk, contemporary fiction? Queer YA Summary: Classic mistaken identity story. It's told through the text history between Haley Hancock and Martin Nathaniel Munroe II, except inexplicably there are two martins who share the same damn name (down to the "II") and are cousins, and Haley thinks she's talking to the one she doesn't hate. What starts as a question about a class project rapidly evolves into a dear friendship between the two teenagers, but by the time Martin realizes Haley thinks he's his cousin, it's too late to back out of the rouse now. Haley is the first person to really see Martin for who he is, to understand and offer him kindness for all the 'uncool' parts of himself, and Martin is the first person to really listen to Haley, the first friend who actually puts their money where their mouth is when they say they care about her. But their friendship remains a secret and online, because Haley is too awkward to be friends in real life and Martin doesn't want to ruin what they have, because Drama and rumors swirl around their social circle, and an online friendship feels more real and is just easier. until they can't keep it online anymore.

Why: I've read this so many times I know it almost by heart. It's not high fiction, its a true YA in its simplicity, but its comforting and easy to read. I love Haley and martin's relationship, he's so sweet and she's relatable and neither of them are annoying (to read). Haley is demisexual, and Martin is bi, and their slowburn romance is wonderful.

The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier Genre: Fantasy Summery: It's about Trei, a newly orphaned boy from the mainland empire. When his family dies in a tragic disaster, he must search out his distant relatives in more distant lands: The Floating Islands, kept a loft by dragon-magic, and defended by the kajurai - islanders who've taken dragon magic into themselves and soar the skies with wings. Trei is instantly sky-mad, and desperate to be kajurai himself. His fellow acolytes are rightfully weary of him, as the Empire creeps ever closer to their island and the threat of invasion is imminent, but trei is determined to prove himself to the Kajurai.

His cousin, Araene, is the only person who understands his passion. She too is denied her dream because of who she is, but she is determined to seek it out no matter the cost. But when tragedy strikes and she's left adrift in the world, she don's boys clothes and a boy's idenity and throws herself into a world of magic more immediate than that of the dragons, and makes a discovery which may save the islands after all.

The cousins' lives are more intertwined than they know, and the fate of the islands rests upon their shoulders

Why: This is a novel I read several times several years ago, and one which I hold a permanent fondness for. I really enjoyed the magic system and found the worldbuilding interesting. Plus, I am a sucker for people who can fly/have wings and dragon. Sue me.

Hunted by Megan Spooner Genre: Fantasy YA Summary: fairytale retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Not half bad honestly. Yeva's the daughter of a hunter; the only one who hears the call for the world in her veins. When her father goes mad and rushes to the forest to hunt a beast, and goes missing, Yeva ignores her sisters protests and sets out to find him, and finds the Beast instead. Kept captive by the beast in an enchanted forest, she's determined to kill him for revenge.

Except, there seems to be something more going on, beneath the surface.

Why: Most of the YA recs I'm giving do not fall into the typical booktop trappings. They're all well written and not just a tropes with no substance or depth, nor are they vehicles for smut. Hunted is the most 'typically' YA of my recs, but its surprisingly good. It's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and well done too. It's actually compelling, and I didn't get annoyed with it at all! Always worth a shot imo. Not an obsession, but I do return to it for a bit of light reading

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik Genre: Historical Fantasy, Fairytale fantasy Summary: it's about three young women who spend most of the book either trying to escape marriage, or kill their husbands, and you root for them all the way.

to copy the Goodreads summary: Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father’s inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty—until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold.

When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk—grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh—Miryem’s fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered. Set an impossible challenge by the nameless king, Miryem unwittingly spins a web that draws in a peasant girl, Wanda, and the unhappy daughter of a local lord who plots to wed his child to the dashing young tsar.

But Tsar Mirnatius is not what he seems. And the secret he hides threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike. Torn between deadly choices, Miryem and her two unlikely allies embark on a desperate quest that will take them to the limits of sacrifice, power, and love.

Why: I actually really enjoyed this one, more than I enjoyed Novik's other novel uprooted. It is technically YA, but doesn't feel like it. It has an enthralling narration style, and I love the different storylines and characters. There was not a single POV I dreaded reading. All the characters are treated with respect by the narrative/author, in regards to their education, religion, ethnicity and place in society. It's great

Okay I have been here for ages and my hands are cold. Hope one of these are of interest to you! They're more generic/taken from another rec post I made for someone else, because I don't know what about AFTG caught your interest.

Also, as an honourable mention: The Heaven's Vault game by Inkle on steam is great. It's a story-focused game, and you explore a (beautiful) nebula and visit once-inhabited moons/astroids to collect artifacts and piece together the story of the ancient past. The puzzle system is based around translating the Ancient language, and its so fun. I'm a linguistics major so this has me in a death grip. I also bought the books (same title, subtitled The Loop and the Vault by Jon Ingold) which is a novellisation of the game, and really good! I recommend it :)

please tell me about yalls hyperfixations aside from aftg pls ramble to me i need more media to obsess over and something new to get into i'm so bored and will check anything out

[rival-the-rose]

I have. So much bitching to do

[bixels]

The idea that uni protesters are "elitist ivy-league rich kids larping as revolutionaries" on Twitter and Reddit and even here is so fucking funny to me if you actually know anything about the student bodies at these unis. Take it from someone who's going to one of the biggest private unis in the US, 80% of the peers I know are either from the suburbs or an apartment somewhere in America, children of immigrants, or here on a student visa. I've heard about one-percenter students, but I've never met one in person. Like, don't get me wrong, the institution as a whole is still very privileged and white. I've talked with friends and classmates about feeling weird or dissonant being here and coming from such a different background. But in my art program, I see BIPOC, disabled, queer, lower-income students and faculty trying to deconstruct and tear that down and make space every day. So to take a cursory glance at a crowd of student protesters in coalitions that are led by BIPOC & 1st/2nd-gen immigrant students and HQ'd in ethnic housings and student organizations and say, "ah. children of the elite." Get real.

[angelpuns]

Everything is very horrible today in an autistic meltdown kinda way so either I'll pop off and draw a lot or lay face down in bed doing nothing for several hours we'll just have to see

[mashmouths]

so i started this show and it just gets worse and worseeeee not only did it lift the romance subplot directly from twilight (and not well) but they also are trying to play the forbidden love angle hard in the fantasy racism vein except it's a "cross-species" relationship between the two whitest people i've ever seen in my life and there are three people of color in the whole (first season of the) show who aren't villains and it seems that every other episode (and sometimes ebery episode and sometimes twice an episode!) there is a man physically or magically subjugating a woman and i keep waiting for the big reveal at the end to be stolen from fucking rainbow rowell

[swiftfootedachilles]

im just gonna be honest gang obviously its gonna be easy for you to say youre in love with a character and theyre an angel when anytime they do something you don't like you brush it off as out of character

[californiaquail]

christmas fucking eve and i'm on my way to w*rk even though there's almost nothing scheduled because my boss is an asshole maniac

[dyketennant]

oh i can already tell i’m about to have some really unpopular opinions about the edge of sleep tv show