#which is why no matter what the work is i treat everyone with respect

[khorneschosen]

Yeah dude most people are cunts about politics. Either you haven't been at this long or you are being purposely dense.

Most people don't even give you the benefit of treating others in good faith after you give them good faith. Frankly I don't have to treat you in good faith at all. And demanding it, is stretching that benevolence.

I gave the right stats, wrong name. I get my latin mixed up from time to time.

Here's the pdf

Enjoy not reading it in any great detail. Also another fun fact, the divide between women and men is the methods of murder used. Men are messy, women however prefer poison, and violence by proxy.

Interestingly, when a woman uses violence by proxy, we don't consider it statistically because technically she didn't kill her husband.

Then there is the sentencing and conviction gap between men and women as shown in the first statistics.

And then on top of that you have the sheer fact that if a woman wants to leave a man destitute, without home, car, money, children and everything else, all she has to do is divorce him and the courts will do that work for her. In short, right now a woman doesn't have to kill a man to take everything from him. Just marry him. Or just live with him for a certain amount of time.

Furthermore, you'll notice an interesting historical trend. When women were killing their husbands in greater numbers was when they had the least amount of protections from abusers and ability to safely leave. Now the situation is reversed where a man due to the Duluth model of domestic violence, a man is left in the spot where if he is abused he will be arrested. If he defends himself or his children he will be arrested, if he locks himself in a room he will be arrested. If his abuser hurts herself in abusing him, he will be arrested.

Don't like it? Start advocating for equal and fair courts that don't take account of gender or atleast stop advocating for the terrible policies you continue to do so.

So in closing why would you expect any other outcome? This btw is another case of pushing for a policy without concern for its outcomes.

Edit now that I have time to reply to you fully: I think I forgot to write a conclusion again so here it is.

The number of wives vs husbands doesn't actually deal with an issue of "validation of murder" as at no point will I say "murder is good" but that "your data is wrong" or that "pointing to the numbers of those murders don't actually address the point of which murder is validated."

To which I would also point out women have been shown statistically to more likely get away with their murder on a claim of self defense. Considering the conviction rate differences mentioned earlier, whether this claim was truthful or ad hoc after the act, remains a question, but does not change the overall fact that the system is more likely to convict a female murderer over a male one.

So your argument is untruthful, incorrectly applied, and wrong. Either way you look at it this was a bad move.

Also, an argument isn't valid or invalid by whether its made in good faith. What matters in debate is how convincing it is, in philosophy whether its true. Truth matters in our argument. Not whether I treat my opponent with respect he will not return in kind.

Good faith must be earned. Maybe you are a vaush fan, someone who treats everyone in the worst faith possible and then complains that they don't treat him in good faith, a good faith he has never close to earning.

Our system's issue isn't and hasn't been the for profit nature of it, but the government regulations. Because previously to the regulations it ran much more efficiently and effectively. But it was purposely mangled by people who vote like you. Because if you mangle a system to the point it doesn't function, then you can advocate for greater control and regulation. Succeed or fail you get what you want.

No its bait. It had nothing to do with the conversation. You could have picked self defense which has a better basis but you chose this.

Also whether you picked it knowingly you have more to say about feminism than about the healthcare debate. Whats more your arguments on healthcare are begging where as you speak authoritatively about feminism. Its clumsy and very transparent.

But I will play ball because Id rather deal with your strongholds and crush them rather lance some pointless boil.

Why destroy that which you don't hold strongly enough to defend?

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-metaphysics/

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-epistemology/

Feel free to not read it aswell but frankly see the work it's based on is in the form of kant's critique of pure reason. All post modern philosophy requires the irrational base kant provides for their theories. From modern Christianity, to socialism, to feminism. All of them cite his discrediting of reason in the formation of their philosophy.

Did you not know? Rationality is a tool of male oppression according to feminism.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227633936_Gendered_Rationality_A_Genealogical_Exploration_of_the_Philosophical_and_Sociological_Conceptions_of_Rationality_Masculinity_and_Organization

I would prefer primary citations but Im on mobile and the primary works are harder to find as I dont typically read them.

A discussion about the conflict in our ideas. Should we let our abstractions fight in an attempt to gain supremacy over each other while we are just indifferent observers? The standards of knowing whether you are right or wrong are deeply important. How do you know if you are wrong? I have my standard it's philosophical and its existence exists. Disprove that and everything else follows.

Can data be manipulated?

Also till this exact second I thought I was debating a rather effeminate man. Your race didn't come up in how you write.

And how many children are without a parent because of denied medical care, homelessness, police brutality, etc.

If you're going to use "but they have children", be consistent.

[katkit14]

What's its like being a female in all the Dorms

So I was making characters from my last idea and then it came to me. Headcanons for being the only female in each dorm!

Prompt : So rundown, you are the only female student in the whole school. You were an a talented young woman who was reached out to, as a great opportunity for NRC to open their doors to both females and males alike. (in reality Crowley just thinks girls on campus would be less rowdy then all boys. Means less work for him. Or maybe it's cause RSA started to, and Crowley is offended. Either way you are here now!)

Warnings : Reader isn't yuu/Mc. Reader is born female. mentions of sexism and harrsement. A little cussing to. Mentions of Periods and Bras.

-------------------------------------------------------

Heartslabyul

Riddle would be just as hard on you as the other freshmen. He sees you no differently. Male, female? Doesn't matter, you are still a student. You must obey all the rules to a Tea (get it?). If you don't then it's off with your head just like everyone else. Which if your sorted into this dorm there is good chance you are okay with that. I could see you being more a stickler for rules but even if your not at least riddle is fair.

If you're more chaotic and less strict then Riddle would treat you like Ace. Don't think you are getting away with things just because you act all innocent. He will make you write a 100-page essay on what you did wrong and why you won't do it again. That's if it's after his overblot. If not then it's "OFF WITH YOUR HEADU".

Though if you were forced into a bedroom with boys, Riddle might raise a fuss saying it's improper and get you your own bedroom. He will make the mistake of going through Crowley though.

Trey wouldn't act any different either. He'd also just see you as another freshmen. Carter though, he would avoid you. Like oh no, he has sisters. He "knows" what girls are like. He will warm up to you though.

Ace will flirt so much with you it's unreal. Cheesy pick up lines, smooth one liners, etc. He'll become annoying with it. Like get a spray bottle kind of annoying. Deuce is the opposite. He is super respectful and always a gentleman to you. He may become less stern if you befriend him but he'll always be a bit soft around you. If you ask, he'll beat ace up.

Now the rest or heartslabyul really doesn't react to you, you're kinda just another student. No one looks out for you but no one in the dorm harrases you. Now when it comes to female stuff, everyone in this dorm gets real awkward about it. On your period and are Bleeding through your WHITE dorm uniform? Everyone swet drops but only a few people speak up. If you do end up having to share a dorm room (even with riddle throwing a fit) the other boys in the room would be respectful and change in a bathroom instead of the room. They also would allow you access to the bathroom first ( unless it's ace. Then he pushes you out the way saying "Ladies first my ass" ).

Anyone who harrases you will face Riddles wrath though. Oh and the one brain cell duo. Riddle will be more proper by lecturing them but if the One brain cell duo gets ahold of them, then lights out.

Savanaclaw

Leona let's you off easier then the other students. Mostly cause he is mildly intimidated by you. He knows you aren't a beastman, but it's still ingrained into him to respect females. So if you just stand up to him and be like "yeah no" he won't really fight you. If you are on the softer side, he'd slowly but surely start to have a soft spot for you. He'd still respect you, even if you weren't a fighter. He'd just be more of an asshole if you didn't scare him as much.

If you were forced to share a room, it wouldn't be long before you had your own room since there are a lot of drop outs. Leona would put in the hardwork of making ruggie clear you out a room to yourself.

Ruggie's mostly the same way, he mostly respects you and your stuff. He won't take your stuff either just because of that slight fear. If you befriend him, he'll be more likely to share his food with you then with a guy.

Jack mostly treats you as an equal. No more, no less. Though he can be kinda awkward at first, once you befriend him he's a lot more chill.

Now the rest of Savanaclaw is spilt into two. Seeing you are the mom of Savanaclaw or being sexiest against you. If you are a fighter then you can easily put the sexiest ones in their place. If not, Jack can do it for you. Mostly the ones who see you as mom, would go to war for you. Like you are highly respected. Now if you accept the title then it's a whole lot of caring for dumbass's after fights, and making sure everyone hydrates after work outs. If you don't accept it, it doesn't matter cause they aren't dropping it. But you can kick their ass if they get to annoying.

During sports you have a whole line of bestmen and humans alike cheering for you! Like personal cheerleaders. And during school hours you have a bunch of guys coming through checking up on you, seeing if you are okay. They gotta take care of their dorm mom.

If you get your period, the whole dorm knows. Fun fact, period blood doesn't smell like fresh blood so they know it's your period to. Expect to find a basket of chocolate at your door, with a note saying " please accept this, in return don't kill us."

Octavinelle

Azul has a different opinion depending on what you are like.

I imagine if you got sorted into this dorm then you are more like a shady capitalist. If that's the case then he constantly feels threatened by you and has the Twins keep an eye on you.

If you are more Naive or more sweet then he is a lot less afraid and he puts you to work at the Lounge. Like as a hostess or a waitress, in order to lure more costumers.

If you were forced to share a room with boys he'd arrange another room for you...for a price. Man has no chill.

Jade doesn't really treat you any differently. More or less isn't fazed. He will still beat you up if he has to, and it won't make him go softer on you.

Floyd also doesn't care. He treats you the same as well. Honesty I could see him forgetting you are a girl. If you are a bit curvier he will squish you more. If you are the skinny side he likes to shake you. He swears you raddle. He will base his nickname off your personality, rather then your gender.

As far as the other students? Well everyone tries to budy up with you just purely based on business. It's an opportunity to get you to do stuff for them. If you're at negotiation then you'd be sitting pretty on favors, thaumbucks, and stuff.

Now if you choose not take Azul up on his deal and you are forced to share a room, they will be respectful and not change in front of you but other then that? You are on your own unless they owe you. Need pads/ tampons? Sams shop isn't to far away and you have working legs. It can be kinda hard to make friends in this dorm, with everyone being so shady and always wanting something from you. There really isn't anyone to help if you get harrassed either (unless you befriend the twins, then big scary dog previlige), though if you complain to Azul enough he will step in. You have to be pretty independent to be in this dorm.

Scarabia

Kalim and you are besties. It doesn't matter if agreed to it, he just thinks you are so cool! He treats you like his little sister...so basically like all the other students. He is always inviting to parties and he will take you out on magic carpet rides! He may come off strong but he just wants you to feel comfortable. He does put a lot of stress on jamil though with this...well even more stress.

I feel like if you had to share a room with boys and said you weren't comfortable with that then he would build a whole new just for you! Oh come on, it's the least you he could do to make you comfortable.

Jamil takes a lot longer to be cozy with you. He treats you with respect but doesn't really interact with you more then he has to which he has to a lot thanks to Kalim. Unless you befriend him somehow, then he slowly becomes more protective over you.

Kalim tries his best but doesn't understand female problems. Jamil on the other hand is the one to call if you have really bad cramps that wont go away or need help getting pads/tampons. Just take it easy on him, he's already got a lot to deal with.

The rest of the dorm is pretty nice to you. Most of them try to be helpful where they can, and it's really easy to befriend guys your age. Not a lot of harassment happens here but when it does Jamil will handle it unless you take care of it yourself. Even if he doesn't like you that much, he still doesn't believe in acting that way to girls just cause his little sister.

if you refused to let Kalim build you a room then some of the boys would move in with each other to let you have a room to yourself.

Pomefoire

Vil is even harder on you then he is on other students. He doesn't want you to get away with stuff and not put your best in just because you are female. He will push and push to do your best. From skin care regimens and diets, to work outs and class's on etiquette (depends on what you need according to him.) you would be his secret favorite but he would never tell anyone. Best believe though you will have your own room, and bathroom. He'll get you to chat with him. Tell him who you like, who bothers you. I can just see him judging whoever you like so hard. especially if it was another Dormleader like " Really? Couldn't you do a little better?"

Rook is a little more flirty to you, but not to much that anyone notices. I think flirty is just his personality. Anyways he is a real gentleman, still does as Vil says but gently. He also seems to get a bit protective over you, often getting people when they make you uncomfortable, even if you can handle it yourself.

He thought you were just a girly guy like him at first. Once he finds out your a girl, Epel thinks he has to look out for you. But makes a bunch of off hand comments that make Vil smack him. He is one of those "you can't hit a girl" kind of dudes.

As for the rest Pomefiore, they don't even notice you are a girl. Even if you very curvy. They just think it's drag or something. If your Skinner they just think your a normal student. Unless you tell anyone you are a girl they won't know. If you do tell them they don't care. I can't really see anyone in the dorm messing with you. If not from pure "I don't care enough" then it's the fear of Vil and Rook.

Vil refuses to let you share a dorm room, even if you are fine with it. Unlike Riddle he won't try to go through Crowley. He'll just do it. If there aren't any other rooms then you can stay with him. He if that does happen, he will be very respectful but you won't be able to escape his nagging.

I can see Vil kind of catering to your needs. Like he keeps tampons and pads in the dorms bathroom and giving you ways to get blood out of your clothes. He wants you to feel comfortable.

Ignihyde

Idia, talking to someone? Let alone a girl? Yeah no. He maybe talked to you once or twice because Ortho made him. He stays as far away from you as possible.

Ortho and you are friends. He is just so adorable how could you not? Even if you are shy, it's fine cause he's not. Once you are friends he constantly trying to get his brother and you to interact, but that works as well as trying to introduce water and oil.

Don't worry about sharing a room either cause if you have to, your dorm mates are never there. They refuse to interact with anyone. Hell, I can imagine a student making a wall divider just so no one doesn't have to talk.

It's safe to say no one is gonna harass you. They would feel scared being around you. I guarantee you that they have never talked to a real girl, and they don't plan to. That does mean you are on your own, about everything. It can also be hard to make friends but not impossible. Just hard. But hey you have the best wifi in the whole school! I imagine if you are in this dorm you are probably more antisocial yourself so you are probably fine with no one talking to you. But if you aren't, probably look for friends outside of your dorm.

I'm sorry this one is shorter, there isn't a lot to say on this dorm.

Diasomnia

Malleus is more then welcoming. Though he will keep his distance if you are scared of him. If you aren't then you will quickly become friends with him. He doesn't really see you differently then other students, but he does understand you may find some challenges that other students won't and he tries his best to accommodate to that.

If you share a dorm room, and you aren't comfortable he will get you another room to yourself. Very easily to. If you are fine with it or don't say anything then he won't know to so speak up. Feel free to complain to him. I don't know why but I see him being a softer dorm leader.

Lilia has to adopted you, sorry. Sebek and Silver both betray you, and point to you whenever Lilia asks who wants to try his cooking....if you survived feel free to punch them.

Speaking of Sebek and Silver, Sebek dislikes you. Or at least at first. He thinks your far to close to Malleus, but also you should worship him? Can't have your cake and eat it to. But after awhile he accepts you but barely.

Silver likes you just fine. I can see really anyone getting along with him. The only thing really wrong about him is sleepyness but he can't help that. So you two will probably become friends no matter your personality.

As far as the rest of dorm goes (is there other students? But nah really) most people leave you be. Not really talking to you or paying attention to you. I don't really see anyone fucking with you here, but if they do lilia will see to it if you don't handle it yourself. If Malleus finds out though, boy do they get the hell out of NRC. Malleus doesn't believe in sexism. Really none of the Diasomnia boys do but Malleus and Lilia have the power to do something about it.

Lilia and Silver is a lot more understanding of Female problems then Malleus and Sebek. Silver is a very understanding kind of guy, and Lilia's old has experience. I imagine fae also have periods but they are different. So lilia might not understand entirely but knows the basics. Malleus is clueless though he tries to understand. He will ask questions on everything if you allow him to, if not Lilia will explain. He just wants to know, so he can help. Sebek though just refuses to learn or care. He doesn't see you any different from anyone else really. So he treats you like he does all the other first year's (your poor eardrums). None other then Malleus ( if you've befriended him) are that protective of you. With most viewing you can take care of yourself just fine.

If you do end up sharing a room though, I feel like it'd probably be with Sebek. Who doesn't care whether you are Female or not. He won't change in front of you or try to peep at you. He will leave your stuff alone to. But sharing a room with him comes with it's own challenges.

He will still keep up his shrine to Malleus. He will hog the bathroom half the morning. He will be very loud in the morning and at night. Great seven forbid you stay up past 9pm.

I don't really see you sharing a room with other dorm members but if you do, then they mostly leave you alone. They won't change in front of you but that's it. Not really much to say there.

Bonus

If you leave Bras around your room in ignihyde, One of the boys will faint.

If you're in Pomefiore, you will be one Crewels favorite students.

In Heartslabyul, if you leave a little pad station in the bathroom, some of the first year boys will start using them as badaides.

The Savanaclaw boys use Hair ties and Srunchies as a weapon so if you have long hair, good luck.

If you are in Diasomonia, and rooming with Sebek. If you leave blood on the toilet seat, he will freak out asking in a very tsundere way if you are okay, once it's explained...Lilia will not let him live it down like ever.

If you are in Octavinille, don't ever leave a bra or undergarment in the open. Floyd will use it as a sling shot. (ace would to)

In Scarabia, Kalim forgets you are girl sometimes. Like" hey you want to go swimming with me? I had a pool put in yesterday! Everyone was getting way to hot!" "sorry I can't im on my period" "What?". Jamil faceplamed, cause Kalim knows what a period is, he just forgot you get them.

[lilislegacy]

Hello everyone! I just want to say one thing real quick. If you are disappointed by Wrath of the Triple Goddess, you are allowed to feel that way and you are allowed to speak out about it. And if you want there to be a chance at change in the future, I advise trying to tell Rick in some way. As other people have said, the nice thing about Rick is that if we tell him about something we don’t like, he often fixes it. But first we actually have to tell him. It doesn’t mean you are entitled or think he works for you, but he writes the books for your enjoyment, right? So why wouldn’t he want to hear your honest feedback? Personally, if I was writing a book and 70% of my fans hated some things I was doing, I would want to know. We want him to be successful! And it doesn’t have to be all negative! You can go tell him what you like, too! But all I will say is that right now, WOTTG has nothing but shining reviews from super loyal fans. 4.4/5 stars on average. Which tells Rick one thing: keep doing exactly what you’re doing. But if we want him to understand that we don’t like certain things, like how Annabeth suddenly treats Percy like an idiot, or how Percy now constantly degrades himself and acts incompetent, a hell of a lot of people need to tell him.

Unfortunately (and completely understandably), Rick has made himself virtually unreachable by fans. He doesn’t run his own social media, he doesn’t accept fan mail or emails, and he doesn’t have a place for us to contact him.

So that only leaves 2 easy, accessible options that I can think of:

1. Leave a rating and review on Goodreads. If you would like to, go to goodreads (and any other review sites that you want), take 2 minutes to make an account, and give your thoughts. Be RESPECTFUL and civil. If you are rude and disrespectful, it helps no one. The only way to actually get his attention is to lower the rating, so, if you really want to reach him, give it 1-2 stars. Then leave a review giving your feedback, both the positive and the negative!

2. Make a tik tok. This fanbase is so loyal to Rick that I think everyone is scared to speak up. But if you make some kind of tik tok, even if it’s just showing quotes and captioning it “Separate the books and TV show” or “Stop writing Annabeth thinking Percy is dumb” or something like that, that still works. Or you can do a full sit-down review lol. Up to you. The thing about tik tok is that if one blows up, it will at least get back to someone close to Rick. And again, BE RESPECTFUL!!!!

I am sure there are more complicated ways, like emailing specific people who can reach Rick, but the ways I listed seem more realistic to me. If anyone has other ideas, please share! (AND DO NOT TRY AND REACH OUT TO THE ACTORS!! KEEP THOSE KIDS OUT OF IT!)

I am not forcing or guilting anyone into doing any of this. I’m not trying to rally troops against Rick. I’m just reminding everyone that if you don’t want to, you don’t have to suffer in silence. If you would like to give Rick your feedback in a respectful way, there are ways to do it. I’d rather he know now and be able to change things for the next book than us all stay silent and everyone despise the next one even more. Which could lead to the downfall of the whole series. And I really don’t want that.

Everyone can do what they want. If you want to go leave a big review for Rick to read, do it. If you want to make a tik tok, do it. If you just want to post about it on here, do it. If you don’t want to do any of that, don’t do any of it! No shame no matter what.

Have a wonderful day, everyone ❤️

[roosterr]

white flag ✹ proglogue

note: can't believe i'm actually writing for ghost, yes he was the reason i got into cod, but i havent thought about him since like january lol. has this trope already been done? yes. am i doing it anyway? also yes.

pairing: ghost x gn!reader

wc: 2.2k

no use of y/n readers callsign is 'stingray'

summary: if there's one constant in your life, it's that ghost doesn't like you, so when your house burns down and you have no choice but to move in with him, it feels like your life is on a steady downhill spiral.

warnings: slowburn, some angst, your house burns down, ghost is mean, sort of enemies to friends to lovers

ao3

【next】

it's been almost a year since you'd joined the taskforce. nearly twelve months of gruelling hard work, and not for a single second had lieutenant ghost treated you with a shred of familiarity. at first, you thought he'd get over it, that he'd get past his obvious trust issues and warm up to you eventually, but you quickly gave up on that idea.

clearly, you'd been too optimistic.

which was unfortunate, considering how much you'd come to care for the prickly bastard, no matter how dismissive he was of you. it started slow; when you were first recruited, you held a great deal of respect for him because of his reputation, and you'd naively even looked forward to working with him. when you discovered his less than friendly demeanour, to say you were disheartened would be an understatement. he was withdrawn and stoic, never sparing you so much as a passing glance and a barked order,  whether you were in the field or not.

the other sergeants had assured you that he wasn't as cold as he comes across; soap and gaz both told you how he'd acted the same towards them when they first met – he was a lone wolf, not used to having to look out for teammates.

the more time you spent on missions with him, the more you saw of the person beneath the hard exterior. you saw how he seemed to know everyone's strengths and weaknesses, things you never would've picked up on. he always made sure the team had eaten, disguised as a gruff order to stay on your game. when he got angry, it would be because someone put themselves in danger, not because they screwed up the mission. you saw someone who'd been through hell and come out the other side swinging.

before, you'd respected ghost as a soldier and your superior, but now, after spending so much time with him, your perspective of him has changed. he intrigued you; he's quiet, introverted but not shy, more observant than you could imagine, and so closely guarded you wondered if he'd ever be able to open up. you'd only heard whispers of the things he'd been through in the past, so despite his obvious animosity towards you, you treated him with the respect you thought he deserved – like a person, and you'd hoped that with time, he could see you as more than just a soldier too. though he still didn't like you, you liked to think that the two of you have come to some sort of understanding.

and that leads you to your problem; you wanted to know him. every tiny crack in his facade made you more and more curious about the man behind the mask – about simon, rather than ghost, but from what you could tell, he didn't hold the same sentiment about you. where he would banter back and forth with the others over comms, he'd fall silent whenever you join in. every minute little mistake was amplified to him, you've lost count of the amount of times he's berated you for things he's excused for others. it made your heart ache that you just couldn't win with him, and you feared you'd never understand why.

but now, as you sit shivering with a shock blanket wrapped around your shoulders, watching the smouldering remains of what was your home in the middle of the night, freezing and exhausted, you'd never felt more hated.

you could hear them, ghost and the captain, talking in hushed voices a little ways down the road from where you sit. they probably think they're being subtle, discussing what to do with you like you're not even there, like every single one of your worldly possessions hadn't just gone up in smoke, but you hear them as if they're standing right in front of you.

"i wouldn't do this if there were any other options, simon."

"there are plenty of other options, just stick 'em in a hotel for god's sake."

"there's no hotels close enough to base – it'll only be temporary, 'till we can find 'em somewhere else."

"fuckin' hell, why cant they go with one of the others?"

"soap and gaz are already flatmates, you live alone and you're the closest to base. this is the only option that makes sense."

"i'm not fuckin' happy about this, price."

their profiles are momentarily illuminated by the blue lights from the fire engine parked nearby, allowing you for a second to see the withering glare ghost is sending your way, and all of a sudden the last couple hours of emotional distress is crashing down on you; his obvious distaste for you combined with the toll of watching your house literally burning down was too much for you all at once. you could feel the tears start to spill over again, but you can’t find the strength to stop them and just bring the shock blanket closer to your face. you’d lost everything, and even now he couldn’t find it in himself to feel an ounce of compassion for you? why can’t he care for you like he does the others? like you do for him?

as your watery gaze drops to the soot and ash covering your pyjamas, a voice sounds from beside you, the opposite direction from price and ghost. you don’t even realise you’re hyperventilating until they lay a hand on your shoulder and rub soothing circles into your back.

“hey– hey, it’s okay,” it’s gaz, you notice in the back of your mind, sitting on the curb next to you. you squeeze your eyes shut in an attempt to block out the world around you, and gaz brings you closer into his embrace. “you’ll be alright, we’ll get everything sorted, yeah?”

"i– i don't– i can't–" you try to speak, but you can't seem to form a coherent sentence through your sobbing.

"it's alright, just breathe for me." gaz hugs you tighter again, your head coming to rest on his shoulder as he consoles you. for a few minutes you stay like that, your breathing eventuslly returning to normal and the tears slowing to a stop.

price and ghost are still arguing, but you can't hear what they're saying anymore; probably for the best, if you had to listen to ghost complain about you for one more second you might really have a breakdown.

soap's voice cuts through the fog in your mind, "managed to find this, thought ya' might want it." you look up to find him crouching in front of you and holding out a slightly singed photo, a weak smile on his face. "frame's broken, but the picture's still mostly fine."

you take it from him, fingers grasping the card gently as you turn it around to look at the picture. it's from a few years ago, you and your friends from your previous unit, smiling into the camera as if you had no worries at all. staring at the ghosts of your friends starts you crying again, clutching the photo to your chest and leaning back into gaz's shoulder. if anything could've survived the blaze, you're grateful it was this. gaz rubs your arm sofly, whispering comforting words to you again.

you hear another set of footsteps approach and look up again to see price now standing in front of you as well. it's not exactly surprising, but ghost is nowhere to be seen.

"ambulance is here," price says, offering you a hand and pulling you to your feet when you take it. "i'll follow behind to the hospital, one of you two take their car to simon's."

you nod and retrieve your car keys from your jacket pocket, thankful you'd had the mind to grab it on your way out in your frantic state.

"I've got a bag in the boot, it's got some clothes in it." you mutter, handing the keys to soap, who smiles and gives you a pat on the shoulder.

"no bother, i'll grab it for ya." he says, and jogs off to where your car was parked, thankfully untouched out of reach of the fire. he returns not a minute layer carrying your duffle of emergency supplies, something you never thought would actually come in handy.

before you know it you're waving gaz and soap goodbye, the paramedics are guiding you to the back of the ambulance, and you're leaving what remains of your old home in the rear-view mirror.

✹✹✹

you hated hospitals. it was a fact, and it had been that way since you were a child, everything about them just made your skin crawl. perhaps you inherited the feeling from your mother; she always managed to bring up her distaste for the place whenever the topic arose. or, maybe you only hated them because they scared you.

either way, the relief you felt as you stepped out of the front door into the car park with price trailing behind you was palpable. he falls into step next to you as the two of you make your way over to where he parked, his keys jingling as he fishes them from his pocket.

"we're puttin' you up with simon for the time being, 'till we can get you somewhere else." his words make you wince; you already knew he was going to say that, but it didn't stop the anxiety from bubbling up in your chest.

"i heard." a beat of silence passes before you continue. "how long will that take?" you ask, climbing into the passenger seat and dropping your bag at your feet as price settles into the driver's side.

"i wouldn't get your hopes up. might be quicker to wait for 'em to rebuild your old place." he flashes you a smile, but you can't find it in yourself to return the gesture.

"right."

neither of you say another word as he starts the engine and pulls out of the car park. you turn to look out the window, watching the world go by, the quiet rambling of the radio serving as white noise in the background. it's the early hours of the morning now, the sun would be up in a few hours and you'd have to go back to work already – price did say you could have the day off, but honestly the last thing you wanted was to sit around all day with nothing to do but overthink.

after nearly ten minutes of trying to ignore it, the worry playing at your mind becomes too much to keep to yourself.

"you know he hates me, right?" you utter, half expecting price to ignore your question all together.

he clicks his tongue. "he doesn't hate you," price replies, and his voice sounds reassuring but it doesn't bring you much comfort.

"okay, well, he doesn't like me either." you turn your head to look at him, raising your brows. rolling to a stop at a red light, he meets your eyes and huffs.

"alright, he can be difficult–"

"really?"

"–but i promise you, he doesn't hate you." he says. you give him a disbelieving look, and he sighs, looking back to the road as the light turns green. "give him a chance, alright?"

"is he gonna give me a chance?" 

"he will." price says firmly, sparing you a look as he drives down the quiet road. "and if he doesn't, you'll knock some sense into him, eh?"

"sure…" you mutter, looking back out the window and falling back into silence. its only a few minutes until he's pulling over to the side of the road, outside the house number you know to be ghost's.

"sting," price calls out, stopping you as you reach for the door handle, "he'll come around, alright?"

"it's been a year, cap. i don't think he will." you reply, and before he can say anything else you open the door and step out into the night air, grabbing your bag from your feet before closing the door again. you give price a half-hearted wave as he pulls away again, before turning around and gazing up at your – temporary – new home.

it was nice, all things considered; a standard terrace on the end of the row, but the size has you wondering if there was even room for you to stay here. though it's not as if you have a choice. all the lights were off, which had you hopeful that you wouldn't run into ghost just yet.

you drag yourself to the front door, your eyes stinging from the effort of keeping them open, and twist the handle as quietly as possible, closing it behind you and cringing at the clunk it makes. thankfully ghost didn't hate you enough to lock you out for the night, something you actually wouldn't put past him considering how he feels about you.

there's a small side table in the entryway that catches your attention. on top of it sits your car keys – you make a mental note to thank soap in the morning – a new key, and a note. you pick up the paper, using the torch from your phone to examine the scratchy handwriting.

living room's yours. lock the door. – s

it's more than you expected from him. you sigh to yourself and pick up the other key, locking the door and shuffling into the small living room. the pull-out bed is made up for you, albeit quite messily, and you waste no time in dropping your stuff and laying your head down on the lumpy pillow.

with any luck, this arrangement wouldn't last long, but in the meantime you got the feeling you were in for a bumpy ride.

[multifandumbmeg]

Anthony Lockwood is an emotional chameleon. He changes how he interacts with people to be what they want and need.

Think about how he acts with George. They bicker, they insult each other, they're not touchy-feely, but they get each other. They care about each other. Lockwood treats him like this because that's what George likes: blunt, to the point, back-and-forth banter and sarcasm. He doesn't treat George's neurodivergence or eccentricities as a fault like others, he casually accepts or even lauds them. He's the hands-off but there when you need him friend George needed.

Think about how he treats Lucy. She doesn't realize this is why, which is the cause of much of her internal fury, but he tries to be what she seems to want. Lockwood gives Lucy a huge amount of freedom, doesn't push her to open up, celebrates and accepts her gifts at face value (especially in the books) but in the show when she makes clear what she doesn't want, he apologizes and changes course. He becomes comfortable with her quickly and doesn't treat her differently because she's a girl- he knows she can handle herself and she's just another member of the household, no judgement for being messy or lazy or looking wrecked like the rest of them. He knows that she is closed off and resentful when people pity her or acknowledge her pain, so he shows his affection in subtler ways, like making her toast and tea. Giving her precious things that are part of his past as a show of trust and attempt at vulnerability. Frequently praising her, but only when she truly deserves it, because she wouldn't accept it otherwise. Constantly showing her how much her life is worth to him, no matter how much it drives her crazy. His relationship with Lucy changes as his romantic feelings for her grow, and it gets harder for him to mask how he actually feels and wants to act.

Now here's the controversial one: Lockwood does not show Holly favoritism, nor is a malicious, manipulative monster pitting two women against each other. Every single thing about how Lockwood treats Holly differently can be attributed to him knowing her past and trying to be what she needs. He is helping her. Lucy's internal monologue of intense jealousy is a matter of insecurity. She sees Lockwood's gentleness with Holly as him seeing her as a "real girl" and Lucy herself as "just one of the guys" - read, not a romantic prospect. But Lockwood makes it clear who he favors soon enough: when Lucy decides to leave, he offers to fire Holly immediately because he knows of their feud. It is Lucy he can't live without. Lockwood is, in a word, polite to Holly. He is kind and friendly towards her because her previous boss abused her, and she is traumatized in a fundamentally different way than Lucy. Whereas Lucy hardened but sees the agent life as all she can do, all she is worth, Holly is paralyzingly traumatized by agent work. Which is exactly why he takes her out on cases slowly, watches out for her, and does everything he can to rebuild her confidence. He gets onto to Lucy rather than Holly because 1) Lucy became hostile immediately and fully started their conflict, 2) as mentioned before, Holly is traumatized by an abusive, toxic prior work environment. He's trying to make her feel safe here, and 3) He's completely unaware of how Lucy sees this behavior as a personal slight because he fully respects Lucy as an equal, which he thinks is a compliment.

Also, I think George sees Lockwood's ever-changing personality as completely par for the course. As a fellow neurodivergent, he thinks this parade of masks is how everyone interacts, Lockwood's just good at it.

In conclusion, Lockwood is simply a kind kid with pretty damn high emotional intelligence, which is frankly remarkable considering how alone he's been. Anthony Lockwood tries to be whatever anyone else needs, because there was no one to be it for him.

[ghostieyanyan]

♡~Yandere Valentine in Twisted Wonderland~♡

Yan!Twisted wonderland x mc (separated)

sorry this is a bit late but here's some of my short takes on valentines day in twisted wonderland!

Warnings: yandere, lack of proof reading (sorry), collars, pet-play, drugs, manipulation, hinting nsfw, beating someone up, dead animal, wedding, hidden camera, (if theres anything missing please do tell me)

~~~~~

Riddle

Riddle has been planning something for you before February even started, probably before new year too. He understand that he doesn't really have a nurturing touch, thanks to his mom, like the others do. But that wouldn't stop him from trying his best to make you feel special.

He'll ask you to have tea with him and if you happen to be distracted by "other matters." he doesn't mind using his unique spell and pull you around by the collar, like a dog.

"its very rude to not pay attention to the person that invited you out.."

~~~~~

Trey

As a vice house warden, he understands that you'll be busy. not just Crowley giving you either impossible or pointless work, or the fact that every boy from each and every dorm are falling to their feet just for you on valentines day, hoping you'll notice them.

Trey knows he's not like some flash students here but he knows what he's good at and doesn't need to try too hard like some other desperate students.

"Hey, perfect! i made you something, your favorite, with a little personal Trey touch~ you should probably eat it all now. Before Grim does."

~~~~~

Cater

Cater is pretty good at getting your attentions. Magicless other worlder, he just has to invite you to something outside of NRC and then watch as your eyes sparkles. Kind of reminds him of a little kid that just need extra attention which he's happy to do.

He'll show you cool different places, shops and cafes. All these cool places are picture perfect and he just loves dressing up with you. from an outside eye, it almost looks like you 2 are dating~

"Perfect! Look at this! we should totally take a picture here with our treats! Say "Happy Valentines Day~!"

~~~~~

Ace

You were very confused on why Ace has been grumpy all day. you tried everything to make him feel better but nothing. You bought him food, drinks, candy from Sam's. nothing.

After the day was over, you made it back to the dorm and Ace decided to follow you back? you tried to ask him what's wrong buy he swiftly grabbed you and rush to your room!

"All day has been a pain.. everyone gawking at you. All the meaningless gifts. All of it! Tonight, you're gonna make it up to me by letting me sleep with you!"

~~~~~

Deuce

Deuce wants to turn a new leaf and doesn't want to look back at his delinquent side every again. he's a new deuce now, a student that's just trying to get good grades and trying to be well respected. but old habits die hard.

Any and every time some one even looks in your way, he's sending daggers at them. and if they don't get the hide, he'll tell you that he needs to use the restroom and for you to stay where you are until he's back. he'll be quick...

"sorry it took me a while, there was.. a long line... wanna get lunch now?"

~~~~~

Leona

Leona, normally, doesn't care for this holiday. his brother always ask him if he's "stolen any hearts" this year? its always the same answer. but this year was different.

For once, he gotten some valentines gift. he remembered, not because he was eavesdropping, he just sleeping and you and your friends were talking about valentines gifts. how you had too many and how you might have to do several trips to bring them back to your dorm...

when you looked at your pile of valentines, instead of valentines, you saw sand.. and a plush lion with a card, flowers, and chocolate..

~~~~~

Ruggie

Ruggie cant really communicate with his grandma that much, cause they're not in a position to have phones but he does send letters now and then.

Each letter has there, 'how are you?'s to their 'are you taking care of yourself?'s. Now his letters to his grandma had this mysterious person, and how 'he's feels his heart flutter whenever they're near.' there also might be some 'I'm worried that I'm not good enough' he was very happy to get this letter back

"don't worry, sweetheart~ you should bring them over and ill give them a good talking to."

~~~~~

Jack

Jack tried everything to stay away from you all day. You're smell was just too intoxicating for him. Jack didn't want to risk spending time with you and his instinct...

he could tell, the other beastmen felt the same way. So all day, he kept his distance while also putting other beastmen in their place when they get a little too handy with you. luckily you didn't notice a thing.

But when you approached him, he couldn't just push you away. you mean too much to him. he doesn't want you to see him like.. a monster.

"Hi, prefect. how's you're day..?"

~~~~~

Azul

Azul tried to just charm you with his charisma alone, no shady actions, no "read the fine print." it seem like he was on his best behavior all day. it made you feel uncomfortable for a hot while.. but after a few hours you gotten use to it.

It was all in Azul's plan. instead of flatly telling you or tricking you to form a contact with him. he was gonna show you that you could rely on him, to trust him. so when you do sign a contact with him, you're guard will be so low, you wouldn't ever dare look at the fine print

"Prefect? Would you like to stop by Mosta lounge for lunch? there's a special i know you'll love. oh! its on the house."

~~~~~

Jade

before valentines day, Jade asked you to go out with him on a hilling trip. you'll find great mushrooms and if you find any 'shiny treasure' you could keep it as payment. you felt bored at the time and went with it. it was pretty fun. Jade taught you about wildlife and camping and you just enjoyed being out and about, anywhere than Grim's messes was a fresh air.

But on one of the day's out, Jade fell and hurt himself! it'll take a while for you guys to head back so you both decided to just wait until it heals, or when jade is "strong enough" to head back.

"aww.. prefect, you're too sweet for taking care of me~"

~~~~~

Floyd

Floyd has been a pin to your side all day. every time you were just talking to your friends or in line for lunch or whatever, Floyd comes out of nowhere, picks you up and runs away from your friends. it doesn't help that his long legs gives him a big advantage. the fact you cant struggle that much and the fact that you're friends cant keep up with Floyd...

When he finally gets alone time with you he just wants to play or just stare at you... its a mix really. sometimes he'll tell you he wants to show you a trick he learned from the basketball club. sometimes he just wants to walk around with you on his shoulders. but one things for sure, everyone is staying far away from both of you...

"Shrimpy! look at this! it kind of reminds me of you.. cause you're smol~"

~~~~~

Kalim

Lets admit it, when Kalim falls in love, he falls HARD. Like he would spoil his love rotten if he could. But he knows that you wouldn't allow him to do so, cause you're just too sweet.

Kalim loves to watch you work sometimes, you're so hard working even though you're in a situation that he couldn't imagine. Far from home with no contacted to your families, that's terrible. but he'll show you that he could help solve all your problems. But he doesn't want to overwhelm you so he'll start small.

"HEY PREFECT!!! Look what i got you! Golden bangles! they have our initials on them too! Come on, try them on! I'll help."

~~~~~

Jamil

Jamil could easily used his unique spell on you but with it being Valentines day plus every student's having their eyes on you, he cant do it without getting caught. So, he'll have have to charm you with the next best thing, food.

He understand the for some people, food is their love language. He wasn't sure if that's you but he does know that you love his food. so a win is a win.

He'll make you not only your favorite foods but his own too. As a "get to know me" dish. Watching you enjoy his hard work, was like breathing fresh air. he loves your presence.

"here prefect, you can have more. i made it for you after all. hmm..? oh repayment? just repay me by spending the day with me.. just me."

~~~~~

Vil

Without warning, on a weekend, Vil grabs you and tells you get to dress. he's taking you out. You couldn't really say no to him so off you went.

He took you to store to store to store. Each store had either something he liked or something he didn't. did you have a say in anything? no.

It felt weird a bit but overtime that feeling went away and you were left with giving Vil a mini show fashion show... with just you and him...

~~~~~

Rook

Saying Rook loved you was an understatement. he loved your hair, your eyes, your walk, your demeaner, everything. On one of his strolls by your dorm, he noticed that you were taking care of a stray animal in your backyard.

You left food for it, you made a spot it could rest, you had a whole set up. even though you don't have a lot of money, you're golden heart shined through. He felt like cupid just struck him through the heart. He would like to do the same to you...

so on Valentines day, you found a box at your door step. inside the box... was your stray friend's lifeless body...

~~~~~

Epel

Epel's family loves to send him letters, he at least gets one every week. they're all mostly asking if he needs anything or family updates, etc. But now talks about you his letter. last time he visited his family, they kept asking about you.

Epel feeling the pressure of his family, told them that you and him were together and how you had "other things to take care of" and that's why you're not with him. they seem to calm down and jumped to another family topic. Now Epel has to convince you to "pretend" hopefully don't for long, that he was your boyfriend for his family.

"umm... hey prefect? i have a favor to ask you..?"

~~~~~

Idia

Idia normally doesn't care of any holidays, in general. he mainly does them for his brother or whenever a game was having a seasonal event. but he couldn't say he had someone special to "sit by the fireplace with him with hot chocolate" or "having a picnic out in spring" or even "being or having a valentine"... He didn't mind it...

which what he'll normally say, until he saw you with your pile of valentines day gifts! augh.. why do you have to be so popular?!

With a lot of pushing from ortho, he finally gave you your gift. it was a blue teddy that looked like hades. You didn't have to know about the hidden camera and mic in it. you could just thank him by sleeping with it~

~~~~~

Malleus

Malleus couldn't really celebrate valentine's day.. he's a prince of Briar Valley, after all. Having him give a valentines day gift can be interpreted as a marriage proposal. that will look every bad for Briar Valley. But the heart wants what it cant have~

His heart belonged to you and he would gladly throw away his position as a prince for you. or... he could just ask you to marry him?

He didn't want anything to come to harm you because of him, so in secret, he made you a wedding dress/suit. Until his graduation, he'll ask you to marry him and then he'll pick you up and off to Briar Valley, ruling together~

~~~~~

Lilia

Lilia loves a good trip. So many places to see, so many things to do. He wants to take you to see it all. why stay at NRC and just reading about other places when you could go out with him. he may be older but he could still protect you with all he has and he'll still be able to show you a fun time. Oh maybe he should show you how to fight?

He's had his eyes on you since you came to the school, you were so strange but you are never boring. something always happened with you around but you all ways find a way out of it. you're, well..... perfect.

"Prefect! guess who got 2 tickets to Shaftland! why just two? for me and you silly. come on, get your things. I'm gonna show you so much more of this twisted wonderland"

~~~~~

Silver

You understand that Silver is just a tried guy. so you do everything in your power to make sure he's okay and not gonna get hurt. After a while of this, you've noticed that Silver's holds on you, when ever you go and move him to a safer place, is more forceful than normal? You just told yourself that it was just sleepy silver but it doesn't seem like silver noticed and you didn't mind.

Whenever Silver was awake, you noticed that he's always just a call away. he wasn't over your shoulder or anything but you did see him more often than you usual did... were you thinking too much on this..?

"hey prefect? i got you some treats from Sam's... happy valentines day~"

~~~~~

Sebek

Sebek is loud. that is not an understatement. bet Sebek probably knows that too. he often uses it to tell other to "respected Malleus." but today he was oddly quiet? you tried to ask him if everything was okay, he said he's fine. Also whenever the other first years asked, he'll snap but not at his normal loud tone?

Without you realizing, Sebek was actually fighting an inner demon of his. Humans, like yourself, were so small and weak. yes, Silver is human too but he's a trained human, you weren't.

He sometimes wonders... how easy would it be to over-power yo-

~❦~❦~❦~

Che'nya

When Che'nya first appear in front of you with just his head, you, ace, and deuce all screamed. he loved it~ but your little squeak whenever you get scared, gets his blood pumping. like the rush you get when you catch you first mouse~

He started to visit more often then before, but not just to say hi to trey and riddle. but to spook their little perfect. a pick to the side here. a blowing into your ear there.

He just cant keep his hands off you! the best part, he doesn't have plans on even telling you it was him.

~~~~~

Neige

but to Vil's dismay, Neige kept bugging him about you! the mysterious manager~ Vil got so tired on it that he just pointed him to your dorm. Which Neige was happy to run to see you.

When he saw you place, he's heart broke a little. how could someone so lovely as you, live in a dump like this? He found you out in the back yard cleaning. it kind of reminded him of himself, run down building taking care of others. you were perfect for him!

"Heya! perfect, right? i was wondering, would you like to go on a date with me?"

~~~~~

Rollo

Rollo will not caught walking into THAT school. but that wont stop him from appreciating you. Whether it takes a few days to a few years, Rollo swears to himself that he will save you from the hell hole your in.

but in the mean time he'll send you some flowers and a gift basket filled with Fleur City treats and fun toys that you liked when you last visit. if only you were in that school and you were in his, he'll show you so much and treat you much better than those.. "monsters."

"If though I'm not there, i hope you enjoy my gift. maybe next time you could visit again and I'll give you a personal tour."

~❦~❦~❦~

you can see this as platonic or romantic

~~~~~

Crowley

Crowley is a very strange bird man? says he cares for you then runs away with his feather tail in between his legs. Or when he just hands you work when he could easily do them himself. He's a very strange man so when he was insisting on you to stay by his side all day? it confused you.

like he'll have you in his office and when you tell him you needed to go. he'll "get sad" and say "awww.. i guess ill just power through all this paper work"

you thought he just wanted you to do the paper work (that you could do) so you did. you didn't figure out that maybe he just wanted you by his side so no one could see/ give you anything for valentines day.

~~~~~

Crewel

Crewel is a very classic man. so when he asked you to help him with some of his designs, you were quite confused. why not ask Vil or anyone from pomefiore? nonetheless, you helped as best as you can. giving your input on designs, telling him what you thought looked nice, getting materials for him, etc.

After you helped him make a set, he asked you to model them for him. he "wanted it on an actual person than a motionless mannequin."

You didnt know that he was doing this so you wouldnt be laying down with dogs with fleas today. Crewel thinks all the boys in this school are just crazy the fact its valentines day. so having you help him was just killing 2 bird with one stone.

~~~~~

Trein

Trein's cat, Lucius, seemed fine to you. but you couldn't say much when Trein asked you to help him look after his beloved pet. plus a cat that doesn't call you Hedgeman felt nice. a cat that was just a normal cat, that can understand you and talk but you don't understand it...

On Valentines Day, Trein tells you about his wife and what they do together on this day. It was really sweet to hear an old man talk about his love, plus his life too.

It felt nice and you enjoyed the time you spend together. you still couldnt tell if Lucius was actually sick or if he was just winning about food...

~~~~~

Vargas

You had no idea what came over Vargas. But when it was gym time and there was any partner exercises, it seems like he'll give the poor guys, that asked you to be partners, more hard exercises.

it could be in your head but after you're done, you see the poor student crying for squats or something? Will he be okay?

"oh, don't worry about him. he's been slacking off recently so its just catching up with him. HAHA!"

~~~~~

Sam

Sam is quite busy on Valentines day. a lot of students ask for valentines day cards, bears, to flowers. some even get the custom order. with those custom orders, he realized a lot of them were for you... he might not be able to do anything.. but his friends might help.

when same gives the students the valentines day gifts, he has a shadow follow them and when they're not looking. the shadow destroys the gift and runs away.

it kills two bird with one stone. they cant give the perfect gifts and Sam still gets the money. oohh he loves what he does~

~~~~~

[genderqueerdykes]

As I read up on terfism and how it hinders progressive efforts I find myself curious, if it weren’t for all the ways that anti-masculinity turns around to bite queer folk would you be as against it? Like if you could be sure that man hating only ever effected cis straight white neurotypical men would it be an issue at all?

it would still be an issue, and i am still 100% against it. i am always 100% against hating someone for their gender, sexuality or neurotype. i do not believe in hating someone, or treating someone like they are beyond redemption just because of their identity, and how their brain works.

demonizing cis straight white neurotypical men is exactly why they behave like this in the first place. when we teach cishet men than they are "just like that" and that "men just suck," it provides an ultimatum where they can never improve. ever. so why would they want to? would you want to improve if everyone around you is straight up telling you you can't? that you're destined to be a rude asshole? that you're a monster who exists just to hurt people?

you have to ask yourself: how would you feel if someone told you these things just because of your gender?

if we want men to improve how they treat us, we have to improve how we treat men. patriarchy only benefits a small handful of men. the rest, we treat like absolute dogshit and we have to acknowledge it. we call men weak the second they have a singular emotion. we call them pathetic if they struggle. we devalue their entire lives if they can't work. we have to show them that they are just as capable of a broad range of lives and emotions as anyone else. we force men to be stoic workhorses that hate anything feminine. we force men to be emotionless. we force men to be distant and cold. we force men to do all of these things.

reinforcing that men deserve to be hated inherently only serves to create a further divide between sexes and genders, which is exactly what we don't need in order to liberate ourselves from the gender binary. by insinuating that one group of person will always be bad, no matter what, and deserve to be hated is not what will bring us forward in life. queer people should never inherently hate cishet people, because that's exactly what they do to us. it doesn't help anyone. hate for the sake of hate only hurts you. hate breeds hate

you, and everyone else, should care about men- yes, including cishet white neurotypical men. when we care for men, we create caring men. we have to show men compassion and kindness in order for them to understand it and reciprocate it. if we treat men with hostility and standoffishness their entire lives, is there any reason why they tend to struggle with emotions, compassion, and kindness?

i don't know why it's so controversial to say this, but you should just respect people and not make assumptions about them based off of how they identify alone. that includes non queer people. man hating will never, ever be okay. no matter what men you hate. if it's not okay to hate women, it's not okay to hate men.

[daughterofcain-67]

𝔰𝔴𝔢𝔢𝔱𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔪𝔞𝔤𝔦𝔠

(Dean Winchester x Female Reader)

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲: It’s the month of love and you were already over the idea of couples and relationships, especially since your last relationship turned out to be a disaster. Due to the guilt you felt over the breakup you find yourself hesitant to open up to the idea that you may be in love with a certain hunter you shared a home with in the Bunker. But when a case dealing with witches causes you to question certain things, it’s up to you to figure out your feelings for Dean and find out if they were truly genuine unlike your last mistake.

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: This is my very first smut and it will be at the end of the case. It’s just something fluffy since Valentine’s Day is around the corner. Minors DNI, no matter how low-quality the content may be. If you don’t like this kind of content then politely skip this oneshot…Cannon level violence, fingering, love making, Dean being the sweetest man in existence. I hope you all enjoy~

It was already February and you dreaded Valentine’s Day which was coming up rather quickly. Tomorrow, actually. Everyone around you was so hyper focused on romantic relationships, one night stands, and you knew you would be single yet again.

Sam would be going off with Eileen and they had plans to go see some sort of show then go to dinner and spend the night in a hotel room. Adorable plans, yeah, but you still didn’t see the hype when they could do that on any random weekend. Then there was Jody meeting up with some man that her two girls set her up with because they wanted her to get out more. Dean you were positive would be out for some one-night stand to feed into his libido. You, however, you’d likely be spending the night in the bunker alone.

It was by choice, really. Ever since you broke up with your last boyfriend, you didn’t want to take the chance of going out again. You’d rather stay single for eternity than for anyone to get hurt in the event a relationship didn’t work out.

Your ex was named James, and he was the sweetest guy. He treated you well, respected you, even spoiled you every once in a while. You both had many fun times together but something just didn’t sit right with you, you didn’t see yourself spending your life with him. You didn’t see a marriage with him. When you broke the news, he took it a little hard but he respected your decision.

There was no drama and you were lucky it wasn’t an ugly break up, but the idea of him being hurt ate at you constantly because you felt like you got into that relationship for the wrong reasons. You were simply thrilled to finally find a man that loved you, but you didn’t stop and consider if your own feelings for James was genuine.

You felt so guilty for leading James on, you felt guilty for wasting his time in a relationship even if it was a short relationship - merely four months. Sam and Dean were there for you when you returned to the Bunker after the breakup and they knew how hard it was for you because you felt like James didn’t deserve for his heart to be broken like that.

Now it’s been four years since you’ve broken up with James, and from what you saw on social media he was a lot happier and he moved on to another girlfriend, someone who returned the same feelings he had. He found a woman he really deserved.

But why couldn’t you move on?

Within these past several years, you’ve not had a fling. There were no rebounds, one-night stands, no drunken mistakes, no other boyfriends. You felt like ever since you broke one person’s heart, you were unable to find yourself in another relationship. You didn’t want to bring anybody that kind of hurt again, so you never really moved on even if you knew that James had and he was happy. You were happy for him of course, but you couldn’t really explain how you felt.

The heart was such a delicate thing sometimes and you hated it.

Dean was supportive of you though. He knew better than anyone what unnecessary guilt felt like, and when Sam would try to cheer you up it typically didn’t work. Right after the breakup, Dean was there to listen. He didn’t do much talking since he usually didn’t feel the way you did when he broke things off with girls. The only breakup he ever experienced that effected him the most was Lisa, and he never talked about her or Ben after it happened. But that was the one he would use as an example because there were times he would feel guilty of getting them into trouble just by knowing them. So he would often tell you that you did the right thing by breaking things off because James was no hunter, he would have had no idea what he was up against so in a way, you were protecting more than his heart. You were protecting his life, and in a way it made you feel a little less guilty.

You were lucky he was there for you to rant to even if he didn’t like talking about things like that. You found that it was easy to talk to Dean. Much easier than having a conversation with Sam. It was just a different chemistry with Dean and you felt like Dean seemed to understand where you were coming from.

So the past three Valentine’s days you were either drinking alone, having some sort of marathon in your room, or reading some books. This year you decided to just go on a hunt. After all, Valentine’s Day was just another day for singles right? Might as well work and do what you did the best.

Presently, you were in the library with your laptop in front of you as you looked for any suspicious articles and headlines that would be strange and maybe even your kind of thing. For the past thirty minutes or so, you were coming up with nothing. Everything that you saw looked like just simple robberies, typical murder cases that didn’t have anything suspicious to them in the articles. You were starting to lose the hope that you would actually end up finding anything, but that was when something finally caught your attention.

In Grand Island, Nebraska, there were reports of couples going missing. It didn’t matter if they were tourists or locals, but within the past three months, six couples have gone missing. To you that sounded like a lot. Two couples a month disappearing out of nowhere? That may have sounded suspicious and you wanted to do a little more digging. Just as you were looking into the names of the couples that went missing, you heard footsteps.

“Whatcha workin’ on?”

You didn’t need to glance behind you to know that Dean was the one roaming around the library. You heard him move a chair so he could sit in front of you and through your peripheral you saw he set down a mug of coffee. So you knew he may stay for a little while so you might as well discuss the case with him.

“I’m looking into a case. It sounds something that could be our kind of thing.” You answered, not lifting your gaze because you were still trying to find more evidence that could hint at a hunt.

“You care to share?”

“Hang on, I’m looking… What I’m gathering is that in Nebraska there have been a total of six couples within the last three months that have gone missing. To me that sounds like a lot and their bodies were never found. Two of the couples were tourists but the rest seemed to be local. I haven’t found anything yet that would make it seem even more like our thing, but I think I want to go anyway.” You admitted.

“To be fair, we’ve gone on hunts with a lot less than what you’ve found. You want some company on this one?”

“You aren’t planning on going out for Valentines Day?” You asked with a bit of surprise and Dean chuckled a little.

“Around here? No. Not this year. A hunt might do me some good since Sam’s not gonna be here anyway. Plus I can go to the bar anytime. I haven’t had a hunt in the past week and I’d rather not get out of practice.” He insisted and you smiled.

“I’d love it if you were company. I guess it could be good for the both of us.” You smiled and you pulled out your phone to put in the city so you could look into some reasonable hotels you and Dean could stay in while you were in Nebraska. Then you shut off the computer.

“I’ll meet you in the garage in a few minutes. I need to go pack a few things.” You said.

Dean smiled at you and he watched you jog up the stairs so you could pack and get ready for Nebraska.

Naturally, Dean didn’t want you to go on a hunt alone. To him it was better to hunt with a partner, to have someone have your back just incase something went wrong. That’s why he preferred hunting with Sam. Nowadays, Dean only hunted alone as a last resort. He supposed it was just his preference and sort of a precaution as well since he didn’t want anything to happen to you on the hunt. He’d rather you make it back in one piece.

He knew you hated Valentine’s Day, and you got so irritated with couples so easily this time of year. But he hated that you seemed to be punishing yourself over the James thing. It was unfair to you. Maybe one day you would understand that, but he didn’t think it would be anytime soon.

Dean got up and he took the last couple of sips of his coffee before he went back to the kitchen and put the mug in the sink before he started heading off into his room so he could go ahead and get dressed and pack up for the trip. He swiftly got changed into a pair of jeans that were clean enough for the trip, tossed on one of his many black t-shirts and he threw on a flannel and a jacket. Then he grabbed some extra clothes and shoved them into a bag that had an extra blanket for you on the ride since he knew you’d probable get cold in Nebraska.

He grabbed whatever other weapons he thought would be needed, not that the back of Baby’s trunk didn’t have enough artillery, and when he zipped up his bag he walked out of his room so he could make his way out to the garage.

When he made it there he realized you had beat him to the car, waiting for him to unlock the vehicle. Your hair was in a messy bun, a few strands were in your face no matter how many times you tried to pull those pieces back. You were dressed in one of his old band shirts that was shrunk because Sam put it in the dryer by mistake so it was too small for Dean. It suited you much better anyway, but maybe he was a little biased.

Okay, more than just a little biased.

It wasn’t his fault you were so damn beautiful! And it wasn’t his fault that over the past few years you were beginning to rock his world. You made it so easy for him to fall for, despite all of his efforts not to fall so hard.

You were the only person that understood him in a way that Sam didn’t seem to understand him. You were there to listen when he would go off on his rants, you were his voice of reason when he was opposed to Sam and you made it a little easier to be open minded when it came to a lot of the cases that he and Sam didn’t agree on. You kept him steady and level headed and he knew that he needed you in his corner. He hadn’t realized just how much he started to rely on you until about a year ago when you had a close call on a hunt when a shifter took you and nearly killed you.

“That didn’t take you long at all.” Dean said with a chuckle, but he knew you were pretty quick when it came to packing anyway.

“I already had a bag prepped. I just needed to throw in some last minute things that I didn’t want to forget about. Like toothbrushes and stuff like that.” You shrugged and Dean grinned while simultaneously rolling his eyes.

“Hop in already before we lose daylight.” He said and he unlocked the door, then the two of you hopped in.

When Dean started up the car, Rush’s Xanadu was playing through the speakers and he turned up the volume a little as he drove off so the two of you could begin your journey. He knew it would only be a matter of hours before you would arrive and lucky for him, you had the same tastes in music as he did, so it wasn’t like driving with Sam where he would complain the whole time the music played.

About three minutes into the ten minute song, he could see you through the peripheral tapping your fingers on your thigh as if it were the guitar strings being played. He knew if he had seatbelts in the car you’d probably use it as the neck of the guitar. He thought you were just adorable that way but never said anything out loud. But for now while you were strumming the imaginary strings on your thigh with one hand, your other was on the phone.

“What are you lookin’ up?”

“Just some hotels in the surrounding area. I figured it would be easier if I found one and called it in now rather than just showing up spontaneously.” You answered and he hummed a little.

“Find anything good?”

“Well I found one that’s actually pretty close to the police station. So that pretty much takes care of saving some drive time. Won’t have to wander around and figure out where it’s at.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. We can go with that one.” Dean said, honestly not really caring about which one they went to. use as long as they would make it to one. But it wouldn’t be his first time sleeping in his beloved car if it came to that point.

“Holy cow! Why are hotels this expensive?!” He heard you exclaim and he chuckled.

“Did you forget what tomorrow was, Sweetheart? Prices are gonna be a bit higher because a bunch of couples are gonna be bumpin’ uglies.” Dean laughed at the way you scrunched your nose and you called the number on your phone so you could make the arrangements to stay in the hotel.

Several hours had gone by and Dean pulled up to the hotel you’d booked. When he glanced over at you, he saw you were snuggled up in the blanket he grabbed. He was glad he remembered it, and he hated to wake you up but you both had a job to do. So, Dean carefully placed his hand on your shoulder to nudge you a little.

“Y/N? We’re here.” You grumbled in response and slowly opened your eyes, squinting as you looked around your surroundings.

When you tossed off the blanket you handed it to him and he just tossed it in the back for the next time you’d need it on the car ride back home. The two of you got out of the car and checked into the hotel so you could at least out your things away and stretch your legs a bit.

“Did you see the police station while you were driving?” Dean heard you question, to which he nodded.

“Yeah, it’s like two minutes away. Why don’t we go ahead and get dressed in the Fed suits and see what the police have come up with on the files.” He suggested as you rubbed your eyes, still trying to wake up from the nap.

“Sounds good to me.” You replied as you grabbed your bags and headed off to the bathroom to change clothes.

You dressed up in your black pantsuit, a purple buttoned up shirt with a couple of the buttons undone and you let your hair down from it’s bun from earlier. To your surprise, your hair was actually working with you after your nap. At least it made getting out of the hotel a little easier since you usually wore your hair down as a fed or detective wannabe.

Dean was dressed in a dark grey suit, white shirt and a tie with a random design on it. You swore you needed to take him shopping for different ties one of these days, but that would have to be a later occasion since the two of you were already in the car on the way to the station.

Arriving only a couple of minutes later since traffic was surprisingly light, you and Dean got out of the car and started making your way inside and went to the front desk.

“Hello there, if you don’t mind we’d like to talk to the Chief of the department.” You said and the secretary looked at both you and Dean. Although she took a bit of a lingering look at Dean, which gave you the overwhelming urge to roll your eyes but you had to resist.

“And who are the two of you? I only have to ask because I can’t just let anybody in. The chief is a busy man.” The secretary said and still had yet to peel her eyes off the other hunter, making your jaw tighten.

Dean pulled out his FBI badge and you did the same, “I’m special Agent Lifeson and this is Agent McVie. We’re here in regards to the disappearances. Do you think you could be a Doll and go ahead and squeeze us in? I know a guy like him is busy, so are we.”

Dean must’ve known this little secretary thought he was attractive because with a little wink he gave, she was more than ready to pick up the phone and press the number to the chief’s office while her cheeks were dusted with pink.

“Oh give me a break.” You mumbled as you put your badge away.

“Sir? There are a couple of suits here that would like to speak with you.” She said and with a little nod she concluded the short call and hung up the phone before looking up at Dean again.

“He’ll be out to see you in a couple of moments.” She said.

“Thank you, Miss…?”

“Oh, just call me Maura.”

“Well thank you, Maura, for the help.” Dean said and after what felt like ages to you, the Chief showed up.

“You two must be my surprise visitors. The name’s Korsak. What can I do for the both of you?” He asked, and to your surprise he was rather friendly.

“Actually, we’re here to discuss the disappearance of those six couples over the past three months.” You heard Dean reply and Korsak knew exactly what he was talking about.

“So the suits finally caught wind of this one, huh? Come with me.” He said and he invited the both of you to his office for further discussion of the case.

When the three of you made it into the office, you all had taken your seats, you and Dean were of course in front of the Chief’s desk as he sat down. You watched as the officer opened up his drawer and opened up his copy of the file and placed it on the desk.

“This case has all my detectives stumped. The only connection we’ve been able to establish so far was that they were couples. When we check our servailence, we did happen to notice the last time all of our missing couples were last seen on Mainstreet, which is basically where all of our little shops are. Lots of couples have been going there in December, and that was when the first disappearance happened. January has been a little slow, no disappearances to note. But then this month it started back up again. Three of the six couples were kidnapped just this month alone.”

You and Dean looked at each other, knowing you both would have to check Mainstreet. Then you looked back at the Cheif, “Could we go ahead and take a look at the surveillance you captured?”

The chief pulled out some pictures from the footage and handed them to both you and Dean. All of the buildings in the surrounding area seemed pretty old, some needed maybe a new coat of paint or a power was, but one thing caught your eye. One of the businesses that one of the couples were seen leaving seemed pretty new. They had new paint on the door and on the windows, the sign for the business seemed new too.

“Chief Korsak, what can you tell me about this business?” You questioned and pointed at the picture.

“Oh that? That’s just some crystal shop. I don’t get why people get so interested in rocks… my daughter went in there before. She likes those crystals and dream catchers and stuff. It just opened up in November of last year.” He said and you nodded a little as you took a look at the business again.

“Is there anything you can tell us about the case? Was there anything left behind in their homes when you tried to do a wellness check in their homes or hotels they were staying in?” Dean asked as if he were searching for a little more of a lead that would give you more of a reason for this to be a hunting gig.

“Well, we did notice something a little weird but we didn’t think that much of it at first.” The chief said and he began to clear his throat.

“We didn’t put it in the file, but we did find some orchid colored substance. It wasn’t enough to bag it, but when one of our CSI members tried to sample it, it turned clear and didn’t show up in our systems. We have no clue what it could have been.”

“Gotcha.. If that’s everything, I think we’ll be off and talk to those business owners and see if they saw anything. Thanks for everything.” Dean said as he got up, then he leaned over to shake Chief Korsak’s hand.

You stood up as well and you handed him your card, “If there’s anything else you can think of, please don’t hesitate to let us know.”

And with that, the two of you left the station and went back to the car. When you got inside, you tried to wrap your head around this case as best as you could. You heard Dean shut his door and start the car before he spoke.

“So what are you thinking?”

“Witch… Just by the substance. If the substance the cops found didn’t show up as anything, it could be a part of a witch spell to remain undetected.” You answered honestly while Dean started backing out.

“But that many people in a month? Two people in a month, I can see being one witch. Maybe two couples a month depending on how powerful they are. But three couples in barely two weeks? Maybe we’re dealing with more than one witch.” Dean suggested.

“Did you remember the witch killing bullets if we need them?” You asked.

“Of course. They’re sitting in the trunk.” Dean answered and you smiled. Then pulled out your phone to look up that new business on Mainstreet.

“Okay, so the business that the final couple was seen exiting was called Cosmic Treasures. So why don’t we head that way and find out what we can about the owners?” You suggested.

“We could, but what if we ask some of the neighboring shops first? Maybe ask them what they think about the owners of the shop, maybe they saw something or maybe they think it’s a little suspicious?” Dean suggested. It sort of shocked you that he was being surprisingly rational.

“That’s not a bad idea. It gives us sort of a background on them so we know what we’re getting into.” You replied and he drove off to Mainstreet. After a few moments the car was parked and the two of you stepped out again.

You looked around at some of the shops and you tried to decide which one you should go to first.

“Okay, if you take that little candy store, I’ll go to the antique shop.” You said and Dean looked at you.

“What? You don’t trust me to go antiquing?” He asked, faking the offense.

“Considering you like to touch everything and you have a tendency to knock things down, I think you going to the candy store will be the safest option.” You chuckled, causing Dean to pout a little.

“Alright, fine.” He said and the two of you parted ways.

You made your way into the antique shop and the doorbell rang out. Then you heard a voice, you assumed it was the sound of one of the owners.

“Hi there! Welcome in.” A woman said and you followed the voice.

You saw behind a counter, there was a woman that had to be in her sixties. She had Brown hair with some grey in her hair, some glasses on the bridge of her nose but she had a kind look in her eyes.

“Hello there, I’m Agent McVie.” You said and you held up your badge, “Are you the owner of this store by any chance?”

“I am. The name’s Angela O’Riley. How can I help you, Sweetie?”

“I was just wondering if you could tell me a little bit about the owners of Cosmic Treasures?”

“Oh the cute little crystal shop? They’re a sweet little couple. Young and rather eccentric. Despite their alternative lifestyle, I think they’re sweet. May I ask why the FBI is looking into them?” The sweet woman questioned.

“We’re just looking into a couple of missing person’s cases. The last couple was seen exiting their store and we just wanted to ask around and see if anyone has seen anything suspicious.” You admitted and the woman shook her head.

“I wouldn’t consider anything they do suspicious. Just… alternative and unusual. They say they like witchcraft and spells and what not, but I think they’re just some hippies trying to make a living. The wife is talented and she’s the one that actually makes the dream catchers. Beautiful artwork. I’ve actually bought some from her.” Angela said and she held up a finger as a gesture for you to wait a moment as she pulled it out.

She handed it to you so you could take a look at it and you carefully took it from her. It was a black dream catcher with white, grey and blue feathers. You didn’t know much about dreamcatchers, but you knew some of these colors had meaning. “Beautiful craftsmanship. You’re right, she does have a talent.”

“She said something along the lines of the colors bringing healing, peace, protection, hope. It was really sweet of her to make it. She said she wanted it to bring luck for the store since we’ve been a little slow. But I just think it’s wonderful decoration.” The woman said and you handed it back to her.

“Is there anything else I can do for you, Agent?” Angela asked and you shook your head a little.

“Are you sure? Maybe I can help you find some sort of gift for a special someone. We have a little bit of everything here, you know.”

“Oh, I don’t really have a special someone…” You said, although you did think of Dean.

“Actually… do you have any knives I can take a look at?”

“Oh of course! Right this way.” Angela guided you to her knife section and you saw all of the different knives with beautiful handles.

“Who made all of these?” You asked.

“Actually, my husband did before he passed away. He was talented as well. He took pride in his work and he would sell pocket knives and different blades here as well for all of the husbands that weren’t really interested in their wives’ antiquing hobbies. Gave the men a little something to occupy their time.” She smiled and you grinned.

“They’re all beautiful.” You said and that was when you saw a certain knife that had some sort of engraving on the handle. The handle itself had different shades of green and you thought it was beautiful with the way the engravings were in gold.

“May I take a look at this one?” You pointed at the one that had your attention in the display case.

“Ahh, yes. That’s a good one. My husband loved that one. It was his favorite, but no one really seemed to like the engravings on it. My husband said it’s supposed to enhance protection. He was a bit superstitious but the customers didn’t see it.” She said and you smiled.

“I’ll take it. It’s perfect.”

“I think your little someone will like it too. You deny it but it’s all over your face.” The woman said and she smiled as she handed it to you.

You didn’t want to argue with the woman, but you couldn’t help but be excited to see Dean’s reaction when he saw this knife. It looked similar to the demon blade they had and you wondered if this could help at all since Angela’s husband was certain it would bring protection.

Once you pulled out your wallet and paid for it, you thanked the woman.

“Good luck on your case, Agent.” She smiled at you and you left the store.

Dean walked into the candy shop called Sugarcane Sweets and saw there was a couple behind the counter. The woman was the one that noticed he walked in first and she went to the front of the counter and gave a warm smile.

“Hello! How can I help you?” She asked, tone about as friendly as Dean would expect a business woman to be.

“Hi there. Are you two the owners of this place?” He asked.

“Yes, we are.” The man said and came up as well. Dean noticed the rings on their fingers and figured they were a married couple.

“Hi, Sir. I’m Agent Lifeson. I was just wondering if I could ask the both of you a couple of questions about one of the neighboring shops.” Dean said.

“Lifeson? As in Alex Lifeson the guitarist?” The man asked and Dean chuckled.

“Rush fan, huh? No relation, unfortunately. But that would be badass.” He admitted and the man smiled.

“Damn, that really would be badass. The name’s Sean Patterson, this is my wife, Jaylah. What can we do for you?”

“Well, Sean, I’m looking into some missing person’s cases and the last couple that went missing around here was visiting Mainstreet. We have reason to believe they were shopping around the area and the last place they were seen was in Cosmic Treasures. I was hoping you two would be able to tell me a little about the owners of the store?” Dean said.

“Oh, you mean Keith and Harper? Oh I don’t think those two would hurt a fly.” Jaylah said.

“The two of them are a little on the eccentric side but I think they just like the aesthetic. I don’t really believe in the voodoo mess they sell. I mean crystals and dreamcatchers? Really? I think they just like the cannabis and hippie lifestyle more than anything. Their rocks are more for decoration than anything.” Sean said with a shrug.

That was when the door opened and when Dean looked over, you were walking through the door.

“Oh, hello there!” Jaylah greeted you with a smile.

“Hello.” You smiled back.

“Mr. and Mrs. Patterson, this is my partner Agent McVie. She’s helping me out on the case.” Dean introduced you.

“We were just telling your partner that Keith and Harper are pretty much harmless. I don’t think they would know anything about these kidnappings you’re looking into.” Sean admitted.

Jaylah was looking at both you and Dean, and Dean wondered what she was thinking about while her husband was explaining the conversation, “You know you two would be a cute little couple.”

Dean blinked a little in surprise at the random statement, “Excuse me?”

“I mean granted if you weren’t working in the same agency. Conflict of interest and what not.” She continued and Dean was still a little flabbergasted by the sudden change in conversation. When Dean glanced at you, he could see a faint rose color appear on your cheeks as you cleared your throat.

“You’ll have to pardon my wife. She likes to play matchmaker. She reads too many romance novels in her spare time.” Sean laughed and you smiled.

“Oh no harm done. Anyway, what else can you tell us? Have any of these missing couples come into that store or any other stores around here that you remember over the last three months?” Dean asked as he pulled out his phone that had some pictures of the missing couples.

“Most of them we do recognize, unfortunately. They’ve come in here sometimes to get a little something to snack on, as do a lot of people around here. We have some tourists that come in here too. Just yesterday we had a group of people coming here and visiting from Colorado stop by. They were visiting family.” Jaylah spoke.

“So you get a lot of people.”

“We do get pretty busy. People around the holidays get a bit of a sweet tooth around Christmas and Valentines Day. January we were about as slow as other businesses around here. People trying to recover from Christmas shopping and all.” Sean replied.

“It really is a shame that those couples went missing. We get a lot of couples all the time just walking around the area as a little date or whatever and we never used to have this problem.” Jaylah said with a frown.

“It’s alright. Unexpected things happen all the time. But please, if there’s anything else you can remember about the couples or where they may have gone, please let us know.” Dean said and he handed them his card that had his number on it.

“Wait a moment, agents.” Jaylah said and she picked up a goodie bag and started putting some freebies inside and she handed the bag to Dean.

“Just a little something to snack on. Good luck on your case.” She smiled and Dean looked inside, his eyes sparkling. What? He couldn’t help the fact that he liked junk food unlike his little brother.

“Thank you, Mrs. Patterson.” He said and you thanked the woman as well before the both of you walked out of the store to go back to the car.

“So what did you find out in the antique store?” Dean asked as he looked through all the goodies. He heard you chuckle, he figured you were watching him go through the candy like a kid.

“About the same thing you did. But apparently Harper has a talent with dreamcatchers. Not that dreamcatchers have anything to do with the case. At least I wouldn’t think so. They aren’t usually linked to missing persons cases are they?” He heard you question and he shook his head.

“No, not usually.”

“Maybe we can do a little research over dreamcatchers and Keith and Harper over something substantial before you devour that candy bag.” Dean chuckled at your comment before he closed up the bag and the two of you got into the car.

You and Dean had changed out of the fed attire and you were back in something more comfortable. For you it was your jeans and a band shirt. You two had done your research and found that there hasn’t been any record of dreamcatchers being linked to kidnapping in any hunting cases. Afterwards, the two of you went to ask the victim’s friends about the couples.

Anytime you went to talk to friends and families about the missing couples it was always how perfect they were for each other, how they were planning on either getting married or the one was about to propose to another. All the true love things that made you feel uncomfortable around this time of year.

One couple, or former couple rather, did remember going to Mainstreet with one of the missing couples. They recalled their trip, they went to the candy store and picked up some goodies for their friends to take home with them, then they went to some other stores to find some clothes and other things they liked before they went to Cosmic Treasures. After they left Mainstreet and returned home, they hadn’t heard from the couple again. But the former couple got into some big argument and they broke up the day their friends went missing.

You were on the way to go check out Cosmic Treasures. Both of you knew it was definitely closed by now and you would be breaking and entering, but it wouldn’t have been the first time the two of you had broken in somewhere.

You gazed out of the window of the Impala while Dean drove and you started to think about different things. You knew couples were everywhere right now, so why were those three the only targets?

“You’re awfully quiet. Penny for your thoughts?” Dean asked and you shrugged a little.

“Just something about this case… of all the couples out there, whoever kidnapped these couples are pretty sick. I mean, they take the couples that are really in love, when there are plenty of other couples out there that just didn’t want to be alone on Valentine’s Day, or they’re just in the relationship to say they have someone. Why go after the ones that actually have a future?” You asked.

“Witches are evil creatures…. They must have their own sort of sick and twisted reason.” Dean said.

“Well, what about Rowena? She’s quickly become an ally.”

“Well sure, but that doesn’t mean her past wasn’t at least a little malicious before she met us.”

“Yeah.. I guess that’s fair. I just don’t think they deserved it.” You sighed and soon enough you pulled into the back of the store. When the both of you got out, Dean handed you a gun with witch killing bullets before he grabbed one for himself.

When you made it to the door, Dean grabbed his lock picking kit from his pocket and started to get to work.

“Hey, Dean?” You asked and he hummed.

“Do you still think about Lisa?” He paused for a moment. He glanced at you before he looked back at the lock and went back to work.

“Not as often as I used to.” You were a little surprised that he answered.

“You’re still thinking about James, huh?”

“Yeah…”

Dean finally got the door opened and he stood upright before he pushed the door open, then he let you walk inside first, “You’ve really got to stop beating yourself up over him.”

“It’s not that easy…”

“Y/N, come on. Cut yourself some slack. It’s not like you cheated on the guy. You said yourself, he moved on and he’d a lot happier. And more importantly, he’s alive. This life isn’t cut out for a guy like James so you were doing him a favor and he gets to live a normal life without worrying about the shit that creeps around in the dark.”

You sighed a little, knowing he was right and you knew how wishy-washy you sounded. You hated that you sounded like that but you geared your focus on the case once more.

What was worse was that you wanted to move on. You truly did. But you weren’t lying when you said it wasn’t easy. Especially since you were a hunter and if you got into a relationship with someone you knew that if you didn’t hurt them emotionally, they may get hurt physically - maybe even get them killed because of your lifestyle.

Maybe Angela was right and you did have a special someone, and maybe it really was Dean. But the man has gone through enough hurt in his life and you didn’t want to bring anymore heartache. You couldn’t handle doing that to someone like Dean when he deserved the world.

“Do you think these people are actually into witchcraft or do you think they’re just hopping onto a trend?” You asked.

“Nowadays? Who knows what people are getting themselves into without realizing it.” Dean sighed as he picked up some of the crystals.

You went to the front desk and saw the logbook of the things the couple have sold. You skimmed through the purchases to see if there as anything that stood out to you. But then you found some of the names that looked familiar, “I think I’ve got something.”

Dean walked over to you and he dug into his pocket and pulled out a sucker from the shop and popped it into his mouth.

“What’d you find?”

“The couple that went on that double date? The couple that went missing bought some sort of crystals that were meant for some kind of prosperity in the marriage. Look for one of those.” You said and Dean nodded as he looked around, you did the same.

After a few minutes, Dean started to realize something, “I think these are fake… some sort of knock off. I think Keith and Harper really were on some kind of trend.”

“So they aren’t our witches….” You sighed as Dean shook his head and he handed you a sucker. You shrugged a little and took it before popping it in your mouth.

The two of you exited the store the way you came and you hopped into the car again. To your surprise, the sucker tasted like cinnamon, mixed with something sweet. It was an odd taste for a lollipop but it wasn’t a bad taste either. “So what do we do now?”

“Not sure. Maybe we ought to go to the hotel and sleep on it.” Dean said and you nodded a little, knowing that it was getting pretty late.

When you both got into the car again, you leaned your back against the seat and you tried to think of who the witches could be. You and Dean didn’t have that many options to choose from since no one else seemed to be suspicious. But you supposed Cosmic Treasures would have been a little too obvious for this case.

“You’re robbing yourself, you know.” Dean’s voice broke your train of thought.

“What?”

“The James thing. You can’t feel guilty about that forever. You don’t deserve that kind of weight when there’s not much of a need for it. You’re robbing yourself of something good in the future.” Dean finally spoke and you lifted a brow. You wondered just how long he was waiting to tell you that.

You didn’t say anything in response and you remained quiet for the rest of the car ride all the way to the hotel. But when the two of you arrived and got into the hotel room, you realized that everything was disheveled. Your hotel room had been broken into.

“What the Hell?” You said as you looked around and started to look to check if anything was missing.

“I guess the witches may know who we are before we found them.” Dean said and he ran a hand through his short hair.

“Not comforting.”

“Wanna see something less comforting?” Dean asked and you turned around and went to see what he was talking about.

“Orchid colored substance.” Dean said as he swiped his finger and held it up to you to look at. You lifted a brow and tried to think of anything.

“Wait a second… Before the last couple went to Cosmic Treasures, their friends said they all went to the candy store, right?” You asked and Dean nodded.

You quickly took the bag of candy that Jaylah gave you and looked through it. You opened up all the wrappers and saw that some of the candy also had that orchid colored stuff on the wrappers, some of the candies themselves were the same color. It must’ve been one of the ingredients for the sweets.

“Dean, how much of the candy did you eat?”

“Not enough to have a toothache or anything. Why?”

“I think I know who the witches are.”

You and Dean made it back to Mainstreet to go to the candy shop and before Dean could pull out his lock picking kit, you and Dean found yourselves in a fight with both Sean and Jaylah. Unfortunately the witches were the victors in the fight and after the two of you were knocked out, you both were taken.

When you came to, you and Dean found yourselves in the basement of their candy shop. You were both tied to some sort of pillar in the middle of the basement, your backs on either side of the pillar and your hands were tied against each other’s so your hands were bound to each others. You looked in front of you and you noticed there was a table with some potions, powders and some other ingredients. There was even an orchid plant growing in the corner of the room.

“What the Hell is all of this?” You asked and looked at the two of them.

“Well, we could ask you two the same thing. Sean and I knew you were hunters as soon as you two walked through the door.” Jaylah said as she started mixing up some ingredients.

“So the both of you were behind all the kidnappings? What for?” Dean asked as he struggled to break free of the restraints both of you were tied to.

“Sweetheart, how long do you think we’ve been alive? It’s not easy finding a youthful source when you aren’t as powerful as Rowena.” Jaylah said.

“You know Rowena?”

“Well yes and no. We knew of her but we never had much contact with her. She does have a bit of a sour reputation and all.” Sean replied as he was sharpening a knife.

“What did you do to the other couples?”

“Well they became a part of our ritual, that’s all.” Jaylah chimed cheerfully.

“But see our little spell doesn’t work unless the couples we use are truly in love. So anytime the holidays are around, we give people some free little goodie bags. One or two pieces of the candy have a little special something in them that will really show how people feel about each other.” Sean said.

“Some of the candies will have a little truth serum, and unfortunately it may cause a fight that couples don’t recover from especially if it’s something petty. Some candies did other things. But the couples that worth through the petty little argument we can tell are actually soulmates. The soulmates and the ones meant to last are the ones we need for our special ritual.” Jaylah added on.

“You missed one minor detail with us, we aren’t a couple.” You pointed out, “So why give us a bag?”

“Oh, hun… It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell when two people are meant to be together when you’ve been on this earth for literal centuries. You two may not be together in a romantic relationship, but the way you two have a certain chemistry just shows how perfect you are for each other.” Jaylah said.

“We’ve kept an eye on you ever since you left our shop.” Sean said, using a little mirror.

“We can tell Dean’s feelings for you are strong but he’s obviously not admitted to it yet. Still, we can tell he has some sort of ulterior motive for him to be on this trip with you. It’s a man’s natural urge to protect the woman he loves, no matter how strong that woman may be. It’s a matter of having your back. He’s destined to be your partner in life, to stand by your side in a fight. True equals as soulmates should be.” Sean said.

“And you, Y/N… You’re holding onto a past you can’t get over. Don’t you think that’s a little unfair to Dean when you know deep down your feelings for him are just as strong? You’re his voice of reason, his calm in the storm. He’s your anchor of stability, a tower or shelter where you feel safe when you’re most vulnerable. That’s why it was easy to talk to him about your little James problem. You can’t lie to yourself like that.” Jaylah said.

“Well, it’s a little late for them to do anything about it now, hun. We’re running out of time, so let’s get on with the ritual.” Sean told his wife.

You bit your lip, honestly scared you wouldn’t make it out of this. Sam and Elaine were off on their little vacation, Jody was in a different state, your other allies were unavailable and none of them knew you were on this hunt. Was this how everything would end for you and Dean? You knew that you would die in a hunt, most hunters did, but was it really supposed to come this soon?

Dean could tell you were freaking out just by how quiet you became, so he maneuvered his wrist as best as he could and he held both of your hands.

“Hey, we’ll be okay. We’ve gotten ourselves into worse, right?” Dean said and he could feel you squeezing his hands. He knew you were unsure and he knew deep down you were scared even if you’d never say it.

“Besides, these couple of witches are just some old bats. They could never beat Rowena even if they tried.” Dean said, starting to talk smack as sort of a distraction.

“I mean come on, what, you’ve got friggen flower shit in your candy? That is such rookie magic compared to what Rowena can do.” Dean said and Sean looked over.

“And what exactly do you know about the mystic arts, boy? Last I checked, hunters knew next to nothing about spells outside of summoning filthy demons to make deals.” Sean said.

That was when Dean could feel you begin to fidget on the other side of the pillar and he couldn’t help but wonder what the Hell you were trying to do.

“Don’t pay attention to him, Sean. Focus on the spell.” Jaylah said.

“Oh, because you don’t actually know much about spells either? Come on, what happens if this stupid little ritual of yours fail, huh? You two are just a couple of dust bags. Living for centuries? Damn, you should have died off forever ago.” Dean continued and he could feel one of your hands let go of his and he felt some movement on the rope.

That’s my girl…

“That’s enough, Kid. You’re getting on our nerves.” Jaylah said.

When Dean felt the rope break free from one of his wrists, he had to resist the urge to smirk. “Oh? And what the Hell are you going to do about it?”

When dean realized you handed him whatever blade you used to cut one rope, he kept his arm in place so the witches wouldn’t be suspicious of anything and as soon as Jaylah went over to him, she lifted a hand up and when she swung it down to strike him, Dean took the knife you handed him and stabbed her in the shoulder.

She screamed out in pain and held onto her shoulder and Sean rushed to her side to try and help her, “Don’t focus on me, Fool! Kill them! We need their blood for the spell, remember?”

Dean quickly turned so he could cut off the ropes from your other wrists and soon enough you were free only for Dean to get punched in the face by Sean who apparently listened to his wife and was already fighting Dean so he’d get the blood he needed. But apparently Sean was strong and he was starting to overpower Dean.

You got up and you went to grab your gun with the witch killing bullets but you heard Jaylah laugh, “You looking for this, Hun?”

You glanced over and you saw the female witch holding up both the pistols and you watched as she took out the witch killing bullets in one of the guns. You looked over and saw Dean was starting to lose the fight and you started getting worried for him and you rushed over and took a separate blade you had.

You went to Jaylah and dug your knife deeper into her shoulder and she let out a bloodcurdling scream and Sean looked over at you.

“You let Dean go. Now.” You said sternly as you pushed Jaylah down to her knees. Then you took one of the guns and aimed it at Jaylah’s head.

“Don’t listen to her, Sean! You and I know plenty of spells that will bring each other back! Just kill him already!”

“You harm another hair on his head, and I can assure you that with these bullets, your beloved won’t make it back no matter what blasted spell you use.” You seethed.

While Sean was stuck trying to think, Dean used his knife and stabbed Sean in the heart and gave the blade a twist. After that, Sean’s body fell to the ground and his corpse withered away to dust.

“Sean! No!” Jaylah screamed and you went ahead and pulled the trigger, killing the other witch before she could do anything else. Like her husband, Jaylah’s body quickly turned to dust as well.

You quickly rushed over to Dean to check on him since he was the one that was in more of a fight than you were, “Are you alright? He didn’t do too much damage, did he?”

You heard Dean laugh a little before he shook his head, “No, he didn’t. I’ll just be a little sore I guess. I’m getting too old for fights like that, I may need to do some stretches before we go in guns blazing.”

You chuckles as you helped Dean up from the ground and when he looked down at the blade you gave him, he grinned.

“This thing’s pretty damn cool. Where’d you get it?” He asked as he started to hand it back to you but you held your hand up to stop him.

“I got it from the antique store. I’ve got a feeling her husband was a hunter before he passed away. I thought you’d like it. So it’s yours.” You said and Dean looked down at it, noticing the engravings seemed similar to what he used in the witch killing bullets.

“A witch killing blade… sweet. Thanks, Sweetheart.” Dean said as he looked down at you and you bit your li a little before looking away from him.

“Yeah, well… just thought it would be something handy. Let’s get back to the hotel. It’s been a long day.” You said.

You were quiet on the way to the hotel room. A lot had happened when you were killing those witches. The way the two seemed to read through you made you wonder just how right they were about how Dean felt. Did he really have those feelings for you?

You had mixed feelings about the term soulmates. Sure you knew you had feelings for Dean, and they were right about you trying to deny them. But you never thought about the possibility of robbing Dean of yourself. You wondered if Dean felt like he was being robbed this whole time because you just couldn’t get over James. So many things were being put into perspective for you.

Then when Dean almost got killed by Sean, you knew in that moment that you didn’t want to lose him. You didn’t know what you would do without him. It was something you didn’t want to even think about.

When the two of you walked into the lobby of the hotel and went into the elevator to go to your room, you still remained quiet.

Dean noticed the silence and he was starting to get a little worried. Did he do something wrong on the hunt? What had you so quiet? Both of you came out of the fight relatively unscathed next to the bruise on Dean’s cheek but that was it.

“Is everything alright?” He asked you in a gentle tone. He didn’t want to make any advances just because of what a couple of witches said. He could never be sure of what they said about you was true.

If you really had feelings for him, wouldn’t you have shown them? Why did you bring up James so often if you really did have feelings for him? There was just too much uncertainty even though everything Sean said about his feelings for you were pretty much correct for the most part.

“Yeah… everything’s fine. Just have a lot on my mind right now.” He heard you reply. He knew that you were aware that you could always talk to him when you were ready, so he wasn’t going to push the matter like his brother would. So, Dean put a hand in his pocket and grabbed a piece of candy.

After all, the witches were dead so the sweets had to be harmless, right?

“Dean, you don’t know if those candies will kill you now that they’re dead.” He heard you tell him and he shrugged a little.

“I doubt they will. Plus you have to admit, they do taste pretty good.”

When the elevator made it to your floor, the both of you went to your room and it was quiet between the both of you. It was a little awkward, and neither of you really knew how to address the atmosphere. Maybe once the both of you got plenty of rest you could figure out how to tackle everything.

“I’m gonna take a shower.” You heard Dean say and you nodded a little and watched him leave to the bathroom. Then you glanced over at the bag of candy.

You couldn’t help but wonder… now that the witches were dead, what did the spiked candy do? Would it still ignite some kind of argument or would it do something else? So you walked over to the dresser and grabbed the bag and took an unopened piece of candy and popped it into your mouth.

It started off as some sort of truth candy right that would make couples fight? What else did it do? Maybe it wouldn’t actually be cursed anymore. And Dean was right, they do taste pretty good. You were growing a little more accustomed to the cinnamon taste it had.

You could listen to the shower running and you still couldn’t help but wonder how Dean really felt about you. But you were starting to come to terms with how you felt about him.

You gulped a little as you felt your heart racing. The more that you realized that you were in love with Dean, the more you realized that you had been a fool all of this time to keep feeling guilty about James. Dean was the bravest man you had known, and you were a coward as you hid behind what happened.

You lifted your gaze to the bathroom door and you bit down on your lip. A sudden wave of nerves washed over you as you tried to think of what you should do. You knew exactly what you wanted to do, but you were scared to do it, scared of how Dean would react.

You finally took in a deep breath before you kicked off your shoes and started making your way to the bathroom. You could hear Dean humming some Metallica song to himself in the shower and you smiled to yourself. He was adorable with the way he’d hum songs from his favorite bands.

You gulped as you carefully started to take off your articles of clothing, and to your surprise, you weren’t really cold since it was warm in the bathroom. Dean must’ve been using the warm water. You could feel your hands shaking and the butterflies were swirling around in your stomach since now you were naked, in front of the shower curtain and Dean was on the other side in the same state you were.

You slowly pulled the shower curtain back, and Dean turned around with a surprised look on his face as he quickly covered himself up.

“Y/N? What are you doing?” He asked and you gazed up into his eyes.

Without a word, you slowly stepped into the shower with Dean. You could feel the warm water hitting your skin as you closed the shower curtain behind you. Then you reached up and caressed his stubbled cheek.

“You were right…” you breathed out and you could feel one of Dean’s hands touch the small of your back.

“What are you talking about?”

“I need to get over James.”

Dean lifted a brow as if he needed some sort of further explanation for the sudden development.

“The witches were right too. Deep down I’ve always known how I’ve felt about you but… I let fear hold me back. And I can’t do it anymore. You were right when you said I was robbing myself, but I realize that, that I’m robbing you too.”

“Y/N, are you sure we should be doing this? Just because those bastards think they know is doesn’t mean we have to do anything you aren’t sure of.” He said.

“Dean, I’ve never been more sure of anything. I want you to help me forget about James and move on for good.” You said as you placed your other hand on his chest.

“I need you, Dean.”

Dean looked down at you and he could feel his heart threatening to break out of his chest, and he wonder if you could feel it under your delicate fingers. Then, he carefully leaned down and let his lips finally collide with yours and he closed his eyes.

The kiss started off tender, sweet even as he pulled you closer to himself while his other hand went to the back of your head and his fingers started to get tangled in your hair as it was getting wet with the shower. Then it slowly turned more passionate as he carefully took your bottom lip between his teeth and gave it a little tug.

The moment you let out a soft moan in response, Dean swore all of the blood in his system was rushing downward. He had no idea you’d sound so beautiful even from such a simple action and he kissed you again, harder this time.

You could feel him beginning to grow harder against your stomach as he kissed you deeper. When you could feel his tongue trace over your bottom lip, you carefully opened your mouth to let him in before wrapping your lips around his muscle and gave it a little suck. When you did, the deep sound he let out made your legs go weak.

Dean slowly backed you up against the shower wall, never breaking your lips apart and you could feel his hand go from the small of your back down to your ass as he gave it a little squeeze. You slowly moved your hand from his chest downward, letting your fingernails lightly scrape over his skin before your fingers brushed over his hardening member.

Dean’s breath got caught in his throat when he felt the way your fingers could barely wrap around him. When he parted your lips he looked down into your eyes and saw how adorable you looked with your cheeks flushed pink and your lips swollen from his kisses. Then he leaned down and started planting kisses from the corner of your mouth, down your jawline before reaching your neck where the kisses grew hotter.

You could hear him moan close to your ear as you slowly started to pump his shaft. Your eyes fluttered closed when he started to kiss your neck. You let our a soft noise when he found that certain sensitive spot and he gently bit down on it and started to suck on the skin and you knew there would be a bruise there. But as he worked on your neck, you could feel him part your thighs with his knee before he dipped his hand in between your legs.

Dean let his fingers glide through your folds and he let out a soft groan when he felt just how slick you were for him, “Fuck.”

He let his middle finger rub through your soaking core before it found your little bundle of nerves. The moment he found that little nub of yours, he could feel your fingernails dig into his shoulders as he started to rub little circles onto it. Your body started to tense up beneath his touch and he lifted his head from your neck and placed a kiss on your cheek.

“Relax, Sweetheart.. I’ve got you.”

His whispered words made you a little less tense and you reconnected your lips with Dean’s. As you continued to let your hand move up and down, you slightly tightened your grip and Dean moaned into your mouth. That was when you felt one of his fingers finally dip into your entrance, causing you to whimper a little and he smirked against your mouth.

When Dean gently pushed another finger into your entrance, you gasped at the stretch and Dean took the opportunity to let his tongue invade your mouth once more. You felt like it was nearly in the back of your throat and he was completely consuming you as you melted into his touch. You could feel him beginning to move his fingers in and out of your core and you couldn’t help but begin to move your hips into his hand to try and match his rhythm.

Just as Dean could feel your entrance tightening around his two fingers, he slipped a third in so he could reach into you deeper and he curled those three fingers inside of you as he picked up his pace.

“Oh fuck, Dean…” You moaned out and buried your face in the crook of his neck and he knew he must’ve found the spot that was making you see stars.

Your walls were clamping around his fingers tighter and he gently kissed your temple, “Go ahead, Baby. Let go. Cum for me.”

That was all you needed to hear from him before you finally had a release on his fingers, your thighs shaking as you felt Dean kiss your shoulder before he pulled his fingers from between your legs.

“Fuck you’re so gorgeous when you come undone…” he whispered into your hair but you moved your head to look up at him again.

“Dean… I need more…” You panted. Your body felt like it was on fire as it craved every little part of him. You needed him in every way possible; heart, body and soul. This need was more than you could fathom at the moment.

Dean looked down into your eyes and saw the look you had was sincere. He couldn’t bring himself to say no when he knew you desired him in the same way he’s craved you for so long. He reached over and turned off the water in the shower before he picked you up by your thighs and he felt you wrap your legs around his torso so naturally. He could feel your slick lips brushing up against his painfully hard member, which was making it incredibly difficult to focus.

He walked with you out of the bathroom and he felt your lips on his neck, which made his entire body feel hot. But then he carefully laid you down on the mattress and when he saw you laying there ready for him, he swore he was so close to losing all control. Every curve of you was more beautiful than he ever imagined and he was trying to let this image of you on the mattress become implanted in his mind.

Dean moved to where he was hovering over your body and he grinned at the way you spread your legs for him so he could settle between your thighs. He lifted a hand and caressed your cheek but then he bit his lip, “You’re absolutely sure you want to keep going?”

“I’m more than sure, Dean. You mean the world to me, and I want you to make me yours.” You said and leaned up, placing a delicate kiss on his bottom lip as you hooked one of your legs around his waist in order to pull him closer so he could get the picture.

Dean carefully pulled away from your lips as he wrapped his hand around his own length and guided it to your core. He listened to the way you let out a gasp when his tip brushed against your lower lips and he figured you must still be sensitive from your previous high.

He leaned down and he placed a kiss on your forehead before he slowly pushed his tip into your entrance and he heard the way you let out a soft hiss so he stilled himself so you could adjust to his size. But when he felt the way your hands gently slid up his arms and gave his shoulders a soft squeeze, he knew you were alright and he carefully slid more of himself into you.

Little by little, you were adjusting to Dean’s miraculous size until he finally bottomed out and he stretched you to the limits. The pain was already mixed with a sense of ecstasy. When you looked into Dean’s eyes, you felt nothing but pure love for the man, and that was the complete truth - so you supposed those candies still did their truth telling jobs. You knew that what you were feeling with Dean in this moment was genuine, whatever you had for James didn’t compare to this and you knew Dean was the man you wanted a future with.

You nodded a little to tell Dean it was safe for him to move, and the moment that he did you could feel him so deeply that the feeling was indescribable. You felt him in places that had never been touched by anyone, including yourself.

You had expected Dean to be rough with you, but you were pleasantly surprised at how much of a gentle lover he was at least for this first time around. As he moved his hips into yours, you raised your hips to meet his and you raised your head to kiss him again. You could feel his smile in the kiss and you felt like you were making magic of your own, no potions or spells needed.

Dean felt so intoxicated by your kisses and he felt so attached to you in a way he couldn’t explain. He’s waited for this moment with you for so long and he couldn’t believe it was really happening. He knew that with you by his side, he’d never have to feel alone in this harsh world filled with monsters and demons.

He moved his arms to where they went under your knees, lifting your legs over his shoulders so he could move into you at a deeper angle. You moaned into his mouth in such a pretty little way and he gradually started to pick up his pace. The noises your bodies made in this moment were better than his cassettes he played in the Impala and he never wanted to forget the sounds you let slip past your beautiful mouth.

This deeper angle was making you see stars and you could feel yourself starting to get to that high again, causing you to let out a high pitched little whimper against Deans lips before he parted from the kiss. He looked down at you and you felt so hot beneath his loving gaze.

“Go ahead and touch yourself, Sweetheart.” He encouraged and you nodded as you let your hand slip between your legs.

You hadn’t realized just how wet you were until you touched yourself, causing your cheeks to burn and turn into a deep red before you started to rub little circles onto your clit as Dean continued to move into you. You could feel him start to move his hips a little harder, causing you to close your eyes and moan out his name.

“Open your eyes, Baby. I need to see you.” You heard him say and you could feel one of his hands float to your own and he intertwined your fingers while holding your hand beside your head.

You opened your eyes and tried to focus on keeping your gaze transfixed on the man above you, “D-Dean, I’m so close.”

“It’s alright, let go when you’re ready. I want to see you come undone all over me.” He said and he gave your hand a soft squeeze of reassurance.

The next thing you knew, your vision went white and you moaned out his name with so much pleasure washing over you. You gripped his hand tightly as Dean carefully helped you ride out your second climax. You body was trembling with pleasure and your eyes fluttered shut as Dean placed soft, loving little kisses all over your shoulder and neck.

“You did so well for me, Sweetheart. That was beautiful. You’re so stunning.” He praised, making the butterflies swarm in your stomach in a different way this time.

When you slowly opened your eyes again, you carefully reached up and touched his face and he leaned into your touch before you spoke, “It’s your turn, Baby… I want you to cum inside me.”

Dean faltered for a moment and his cheeks and tips of his ears turned bright red, “You want me to what?”

“You heard me, Dean… I want every part of you in me. Please, fill me up.” You said and let your thumb caress his cheekbone.

Dean heard the way you asked him so sweetly and he swore you were going to make his heart explode. He leaned down and kissed your mouth, not needing you to urge him more as he started to move his hips once again. He could feel you part your lips from his and wrap your little arms around his neck as you started to place kisses on his skin.

“Fuck, Y/N…” He muttered as his hand went down to your hip and he pinned you down against the bed to hold you still as he quickened his pace. He could feel the way your walls clamped around his length to tightly. Then, after a few more movements of his hips, he leaned down and his head was hidden in the crook of your neck as he held onto you tightly as if he never intended on letting go as he coated your inner walls white and he pushed his hips into you one final time as he moaned deeply.

You could feel the way he was spilling himself inside of you, filling you to the brim and you gently held onto him. You let your hands gently scratch his back as you kissed his broad shoulders to try and calm him down from his high. You felt so content in this moment with him as you just held onto him. You could hear the way he was panting and you chuckled softly since you were out of breath too. Then you moved your head as best as you could to kiss his temple.

“You’re so perfect, Dean..” You whispered against his skin and he carefully lifted his head from your neck and tucked a strand of slightly sweaty hair behind your ear.

“Not nearly as perfect as you are, Sweetheart.” He smiled down at you and you grinned.

“You know… I think that was the first time I’ve actually made love to anyone.” He admitted and you started to feel a little bashful.

“Maybe those witches were onto something. Maybe we’re soulmates after all.” You giggled breathlessly and Dean chuckled.

“Whatever this was.. is… I think it’s better than any kind of magic those bastards could have conjured up.” He said, which caused you to chuckle again as you snuggled int his chest.

“The sweetest kind of magic.” You said.

You knew that with Dean, it would gradually get easier to let go of your regrets and your guilt of past relationships. He was always there to listen, he had become your confidant, the one person you could rely on more than anyone else and this was exactly what you imagined this feeling you had would be like.

Falling in love like this was a better feeling than you ever could have imagined and you knew you had fallen for the right person after all.

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@deans-spinster-witch @roseblue373 @fanfic-n-tabulous @hobby27 @jackles010378 @nancymcl @prettyinplaid94 @chriszgirl92

[cheriecoke]

Who do you think Is Gojo, Nanami, and Geto’s type?

₊˚⊹♡ NANAMI

it takes a lot for nanami to commit to a relationship, given his line of work. in the canon universe, i think nanami would really want to be with another sorcerer. he’ll always worry about his partner, but he’ll feel much better about being in a relationship if he knows his job won’t put the person he loves in a vulnerable position.

opposites do not attract in nanami’s case. i think he would want someone more similar to him.

i see him with someone on the quieter side, a person that opens up much more once they're comfortable.

and once they are comfortable, nanami gets to see a whole new side to them, which is so special to him. his partner makes him laugh, & they see the more relaxed side of him as well! <3

bc of this; i just think he would just feel more connected to someone more introverted and with a personality like his own.

someone who he can sit in silence with and it won’t be uncomfortable.

also someone who’s okay without public displays of affection. he likes to keep his personal life private. (he’ll hold their hand all the time though! sometimes a quick peck on the temple, but that’s only when he’s feeling extra sappy)

his partner would need to be a good listener. it takes a lot for him to be vulnerable with another person. nanami won’t fully commit himself to a relationship if he doesn’t believe that they value all of his thoughts and emotions.

nanami is definitely someone who would need his space at times, so it would be important that his partner understands and values alone time. another reason why i think he’d be better suited to someone who’s more reserved like him.

he thinks very deeply, so he wants to be with someone introspective, educated or who enjoys learning.

if the relationship is serious, it’s important to him that they’re able to have stimulating and thoughtful conversations.

someone who is passionate about something. it doesn’t matter what, it could be something silly, but he falls more and more in love when his partner cares deeply about things.

mostly bc he loves seeing their face light up when they talk about the things that they adore!!!

nanami being a big reader is my favorite thing ever, so i see him with someone who likes to read too. it doesn’t matter what genres though.

i personally think nanami is very frugal. he wants to save money for retirement and travel, so it would be important to him to have a financially conscious partner. memories are more important to him than gifts and material items <3

(although he’ll sometimes splurge on expensive gifts for his significant other!)

i think he’s very clean and organized, so he’d want his partner to be the same. i can’t really see him living with someone that’s messy.

also, someone who appreciates the little things in life! <3 and who can make him smile so much :(

nanami doesn’t like casual dating, so he won’t be interested in anyone until he knows their personality well

so i feel like any relationship he has will stem from a friendship first. mostly because he finds it difficult to open up to others.

overall, he wants someone who is mature, intelligent, and polite. kindness is an attractive trait!!! if they can’t treat people with basic respect (gojo not included), he won't be interested.

₊˚⊹♡ GOJO

of the three of them, i think gojo is the least particular when it comes to what he wants in a partner.

he notices appearance first, but that’s only because he’s open to casual relationships. the reason being that it takes a long time for gojo to let himself fall in love with another person- but that doesn't mean he wants to be alone all the time either.

(he fools everyone into thinking he doesn’t want a serious relationship when that’s actually all he wants)

it’s hard to find the right person though because gojo is looking for someone who doesn’t care who he is. he can usually tell if someone is interested in him just because he’s “satoru gojo,” and that is something that will immediately turn him away.

he craves someone who will treat him like a normal person! he doesn’t want to be the strongest sorcerer in his private moments.

obviously, also a significant other with a sense of humor. gojo wants to make them laugh and laugh with them in return.  he is not above excessive teasing and joking, so if that’s going to bother his partner, it probably won’t work out.

but i think he’d still look for someone who also has a practical side, someone that can really ground him. they’d have to be light-hearted, but serious when they needed to be.

gojo feels troubled and lost a lot, so really, he's searching for someone that can be an anchor.

because of his power and status, he feels like he forgets that he's allowed to be happy too :( so he wants to be able to count on his partner for support when he needs it, and in return, he will be twice as supportive!!

also, he'll need someone who is empathetic and good at reading him. gojo is famously horrible about keeping his feelings to himself.

emotional intelligence is key for his partner. gojo always wants to tell them how he feels, he’s just had to be strong for so long that he doesn’t know how.

so, it’s important they won’t shy away from those conversations and will encourage them from time to time.  

though they also need to understand that sometimes, he just wants to do something that will take his mind off things.

for that reason, i think he’d want a partner with a spontaneous streak, who’d be up for going on a dessert run in the middle of the night if he asked <33

someone who doesn’t mind if he’s clingy and will miss him when he’s away.

in the same vein, someone who can deal with the fact that he has to put himself in danger a lot. (he always feels bad about leaving)

opposed to nanami, someone who is comfortable with displays of affection. gojo will talk about his partner all the time and will probably not take his hands off them when they’re around.

 also someone who doesn’t mind being spoiled. he will spend far too much money on his partner, it’s one of his favorite ways to show he loves them so so much <3

overall, someone that brings out genuine happiness in him. he’s been through a lot, and I feel like so much of his positive emotions are forced. if they can make his smile so hard it hurts, then he’s found his match.

₊˚⊹♡ GETO

i'm not really a geto girl and i’ve never written for him :( so this one is a bit harder for me!

but... definitely a sorcerer. lol.

i think loyalty will be the main trait that he looks for in a partner. he's serious about his goals and values, and he knows that what he believes may seem wrong to others.

so he doesn't want to doubt that his partner will stand by his side, even when he makes mistakes.

although, i think he'll also want someone that can make him laugh. he's so focused on all the bad in the world that he needs to be reminded that there can be good moments too :(

he’ll love someone that has a soft spot for kids

someone who will always make a genuine attempt to understand him, even if what he's saying begins to make little sense.

he keeps his thoughts to himself a lot, but when he feels particularly vulnerable, he needs to know his partner isn’t going to think he’s weak.

someone who is strong enough to protect themselves.

like nanami, he doesn't want to constantly be worried that his significant other will be at risk because of him. he’s made a lot of enemies.

i see him with someone very quick-witted or outspoken. he wants someone confident to be at his side.

also, someone who cares about their appearance and makes an effort to take care of themselves

he's going to be drawn to people that are interesting. his partner will have many layers to them, and he’s fascinated to learn new things about them at any given time.

but, regardless of whether or not they have a tough exterior, geto will ultimately be drawn to someone with a loving heart.

someone who will understand that for change to come, sacrifices sometimes need to be made :(

geto's partner would need to appreciate a simple life. he's a very passionate lover, but it's hard for him to reconcile his dark ambitions with his softer, romantic side.

he doesn't always have the time for grandiose displays, and though he'll make it up to them in other ways, he doesn't want to be with someone who might doubt his affection.

if he's distant, they need to respect his space. but know that if he drifts too far, he might be out of reach completely

but also someone that will treat him with the gentleness that he craves (even if he never says it)

he knows he's cared for more than he realizes by the sorcerers he’s protected

... but the moments when his partner plays with his hair or kisses him on the cheek with a smile: those are the moments that make him truly feel appreciated. :(

overall, geto will want someone that he can trust.

he'd need someone to lean on, to support him, so that he can believe he's making the right decisions. he wants someone to come home to, that he never has to doubt will love him despite everything he’s done.

i definitely did not describe myself at all in nanami's section! i got a little carried away w gojo and nanami. <3 sorry geto's is a little bit shorter :( this was so fun though, thank you for the request!!

[dano-or-not]

This is my blog and I make the rules which means I won't feel embarrassed about loving the mp100 characters and appreciating their existence so much that I make a whole appreciation post. Positive affirmations people.

Serizawa says it's never too late to start over and/or try something new. Find beauty in the mundane. Love him for that.

Ritsu says it's important to express how you feel to your loved ones even if you're scared it may hurt them. They care and would want to know anyways. Love him for that.

Sho says to stand up for what you believe in and you can be angry with someone and not let yourself get wrapped up with their bad decisions while still caring about them. Love him for that.

Tome says it's okay to be a weird little girl and when you find your crowd not as many people will judge you as you think. Love her for that.

Teru says be there for other people and remember to repay kindness. Love that for him.

Takenaka says don't assume people are how they come off as at face value. Love him for that.

Awakening Lab kids say don't let other people having more skill in an area discount your hard work or discourage you from continuing to improve. Love them for that.

Dimple says it's important to actually listen and pay attention to other people and being on top isn't everything. It's okay to sit back with your loved ones and enjoy the ride. Love him for that.

Reigen says be passionate about everything. Fight for your loved ones, fight for strangers, fight for what you want to do, fight for your values, etc etc. Respect the people in your life and own up to your mistakes and shortcomings. Children and adults should be treated as such. You aren't the most important person in the world. Everyone matters. Do what you want in life so long as you're kind. You are not a monster. Love him for that.

Mob says remember and empathize with other people. Understand why they are the way they are. Be grateful for what and who you have. Always continue to improve yourself. Keep trying even if it's harder for you than it is for others. It's okay to be upset; you should be upset! Tell others how you feel, both the positive and the negative. Tell others you love them. You can't give up out of fear of what may happen in the future; you have to find out. You are not a monster. Love him for that.

[shannonsketches]

Rewatching Battle of the Gods and mAN. If you're ever scrolling my dbTag and going 'Sketches, what do you mean Toei does the same plot but completely changes the story, that makes no sense.' I'm talking about Character-Driven Storytelling. And the difference between Toriyama's Character-Driven Story and Toei's Plot-Driven Story is Most Glaring in comparing Super's movies and the anime retellings of Super's movies, because the screenplays for the last four movies were written by Toriyama, and obviously the show was not.

I saw BotG back first when it came out, before the anime was released, and The Point Of It was that it was the very first Dragon Ball story in which Goku failed and Vegeta was left in the position of The Protagonist, due to all of the growth he experienced in DBZ (Beerus in this movie takes Goku down immediately, and does not compliment him at all. King Kai, in this movie, has nothing rude to say about Vegeta and just warns him not to engage with Beerus because Goku just tried and lost, which freaks Vegeta out). So even while Goku still is the guy who gets to fight Beerus in the end, the majority of the movie is about Vegeta's efforts to not have a fight at all.

Like this is the Whole Thesis of Super (as Toriyama wrote it). Vegeta is being handed the mantle of Earth's Guardian (because as Piccolo points out later, he was a Prince and is becoming nostalgic as he gets older (as so many do), so his role is slowly coming full circle back to a proud inherited leadership position, which Goku has no interest in.)

You may have seen me complain about Vegeta and Bulma's dynamic being weird and bad in the anime despite them having been married for ~12 years by this point.

That's because the reason for and the dialogue from when Vegeta gets to the party was completely revised. In the show, Vegeta goes because Bulma yelled at him.

In the movie, he is still wearing his armor because he left training and went straight to the party with the Express Purpose of keeping everyone safe. Bulma not only knew Vegeta was training and expected would be there eventually, but also immediately recognizes something is wrong when he does finally arrive, because he is still wearing his armor, and she notes that him being broody like this is, by this point, unusual.

His behavior is, of course, is because he because he is trying to sense Beerus -- who he has just been told would destroy the Earth if anyone engaged with him. The game of the whole movie becomes Vegeta acting Completely Insane and throwing his pride aside to make sure everyone is safe, because protecting Earth and his family has become his top priority.

His frustration isn't because he finds her or any of the Z Fighters annoying. It's because he is trying to manage a problem that he can't tell anyone about, for fear that the other fighters will get involved and try and solve the problem -- especially if they learn this man's harmed Goku -- and Vegeta knows their good intentions will only make matters worse.

His outburst is because Bulma is (two glasses of champagne into her day and) trying to talk to him while he's trying to concentrate on locating this massive incoming threat he can't find. And what's more is that his raising his voice to Bulma is a shock to everyone.

Including Bulma.

Because the point is he is not normally like this.

And even though Vegeta can't sense Beerus' ki, he knows when Beerus is present, because he is suddenly terrified.

And then the gag becomes that Beerus speaks to Vegeta only, and Vegeta doesn't yet remember exactly who Beerus is or what he looks like, so he looks Completely Insane trying to find him,

When Vegeta does finally find Beerus, he immediately remembers who he is and treats him with the utmost respect, because he understands how Heirarchy works (this is completely changed in the anime, and turned into an attempted fight, for some reason).

Because he will not tell anybody what's going on, who Beerus is, or why he's there, because the risk is JUST too high, he just plays along with Bulma's assumption that they're friends of his. Which means Bulma (who is absolutely plastered) happily invites them to come party with everyone, leaving Vegeta the incredibly comedic task of running context-free interference for the universe's most temperamental god while the most fight-minded people on the planet are getting drunk.

Toei loves pretending Vegeta can't interact with people in a normal way, but Toriyama loved reminding the class that Vegeta is a seasoned professional with 25+ years in a semi-corporate military force who can and regularly does behave as one.

The whole bit of this arc is Vegeta being so scared of his planet and his family being destroyed (again) that he is willing to sacrifice his pride to herd a cat, because Dragon Ball has always been a comedy and Toei is so bad at remembering it's a comedy

I will also die mad that in the anime Gotenks fights first, when in the movie Trunks (as he has before) got involved when he saw Beerus beat his dad, and Vegeta begged him not to fight. Gotenks getting spanked (literally and figuratively) by Beerus is also what got Vegeta back on his feet.

Then there's this (y'all when I tell you someone at Toei fucking hates Vegeta,,)

For context, in the anime Beerus compliments Goku and insults Vegeta. Surprisingly no one, in the movie it is The Opposite. Beerus never says a bad word about Vegeta (and doesn't say anything to Goku after their first fight), and compliments his fighting instincts. And that's before Bulma gets hit.

In the anime, Vegeta can't do anything to Beerus, who drags him for like two minutes straight. Then he walks away from Vegeta, who cannot bring himself to stand, and takes his aim.

In the movie, Vegeta gets back up when Gotenks is knocked down, compliments Beerus, and accepts that the gap is too wide between them. Beerus decides it's time to be done here and charges directly at Vegeta.

Vegeta does not defend himself, does not dodge, does not flinch, and does not break eye contact. Then he says it might be an honor to be killed by Beerus (complimenting Beerus) (where in the anime he says it might be a proud way to go (complimenting himself)), and is ready to die on his feet.

(note: He doesn't say anything about pride, because his actions speak for him, as is very commonly the case with Toriyama's Vegeta, whose pride is loudest in his quiet confidence, not in his insecure outbursts).

The other major difference I absolutely hate in the anime is that for some reason they decided Beerus hitting Bulma was a long, drawn out, dramatic thing.

In the anime almost a full minute passes between her hitting him and him hitting her back. She hits him first, then lectures him, then the rest of that time is spent cutting between Beerus winding up and Vegeta reacting to him winding up, despite The Rest of the Party standing Right There and anyone could've easily pulled her away (Piccolo, for example, is unharmed and standing, and is literally like ten feet from where it happens. He has expanding limbs. Non-Issue of Moving Bulma).

NO. [spray bottle sounds] BAD WRITING.

The point of that moment, in the movie, is that it's a 'blink and you'll miss it' moment. THREE SECONDS pass between the moment she strikes Beerus and the moment he hits back. Vegeta only has time to be shocked that Bulma slapped him, because Beerus' rebuttal happens So Quickly, absolutely no one could've reacted fast enough to stop it. And even if it had been more drawn out -- because Vegeta had Beerus follow him away from the party to fight so that nobody else got hurt, Gotenks and Bulma both end up following him out there, and while everyone else stayed back and watched, nobody was close enough to stop it.

The point of that moment is to be Shocking. There is no wind up, there's no drama, there's not even a music cue. It is Completely Unexpected, for the characters and the audience alike, and that's why Vegeta has such an extreme reaction. He had No Time to brace himself for what was about to go down and No Time to change it.

This is another scene that was fully About Vegeta that Toei made About Someone Else (Beerus), changing the shot to a group shot of his power up and immediately having Beerus block all of the attacks, where Toriyama said, "Vegeta's strength scared the SHIT out of Beerus for a hot sec"

And if you've been following along in my vent tags about why Toei's writing is so bad and what they constantly center everything around, you can probably guess why the premise for this movie was changed so dramatically. But if you're new here, it's this:

It's because Vegeta's SSJ1 could do what Goku's SSJ3 couldn't.

And Vegeta didn't even notice, because he is not Trying to beat Goku. After his own fight and until he shows back up, Goku's probably only mentioned twice, because this ain't about him. Vegeta's not even really trying to beat Beerus here. He's not trying to prove anything. It's not about power or pride or saiyans or being the best, it's PURELY about protecting the people (specifically in this instance, the woman) he loves. ALL of which become the theme of, "Vegeta you are stupid powerful when you can stop overthinking everything."

But that's not allowed in Toei's writing room, nO SIR!!!

Bonus Part 1: Someone at Toei Hates Vegeta part 41238712: The episode About Vegeta's Response to Bulma Getting Hurt is basically titled 'Yay, Goku's Back', because despite stretching this 1hr45m movie out into 14 Episodes, the one that is about Vegeta surpassing Goku (in the movie) and fighting to defend his wife of Over a Decade is a five minute fight scene followed by twelve minutes of Oolong's two minute rock-paper-scissor gag.

What was the fight scene, you may ask??? Instead of having Vegeta know he's not strong enough and still stand in Beerus' way, for Beerus to say 'chill out, I told you it's over' and tap Geets on the forehead to knock him out cold, like the movie --

They decide to have Vegeta just stop trying mid-fight, have Beerus tell him he's too weak to be a threat, then add that he had more fun fighting Goku before knocking Vegeta on the chin and having him land on his back fully conscious.

God I hate Toei's writing aksldjlaskdalkj

Bonus Part 2: That thing Vegeta spent the entire movie trying to avoid telling his wife because it would've scared the shit out her and ruined her party, scares the shit out of her and definitely would've ruined her party.

Crazy that he knew that and did everything in his power to keep it from becoming her problem. He treats her like she's his wife or something ahahaha 🔪 toei 🔪 hahaha

anyway if you figure you've seen the anime so you don't need to watch the movies cause they're basically the same no they're not they're only the same in terms of Basic Plot Points, PLEASE do yourself and your writing skills a favor and watch the movies

[respectthepetty]

The Loyal Pin - Episode 14

I was going to save this episode for last in my Sunday watching like I normally do, but if I'm going to be mad at Pin, I need to get it out of the way, so let me get this point out of the way as well - - -

WHAT IS PIN EVEN SAYING?!

If she thinks marrying a horrible man is her karma for breaking Anin's heart, you know what actually fix that? NOT MARRYING THAT MAN! Pin gives her reasons: she can't embarrass the family and taint their reputation, but like . . . SHE NEVER HAD TO MAKE THIS DECISION IN THIS FIRST PLACE! Anin doesn't give two fucks about anybody but her, and Pin is thinking about everyone else. She is saying she must now live in hell because she did make this decision, but she isn't the only one in hell because she damned both her and Anin to this sentence. Just because I understand her whys doesn't mean I have to like, and I. Don't. Like. It!

And to make me more upset is Pin being pressed about every girl who has been SUPPORTING Anin even though Anin has been a loyal Blue Beauty to Pin SINCE DAY ONE as if Pin ISN'T GETTING MARRIED IN A WEEK! My babygirl is too beautiful and too perfect to be dealing with this.

And that's why Penelope has no color!

I pray that I see Anin in pink by the end of this story, but right now, I'm proud of her for maintaining her color throughout all of this.

AND HER PETTINESS!

Because, in this house, I respect the petty!

Anin understands the importance of a queer community and my beautiful and perfect babygirl is helping her in her time of need just like Anin has helped her.

Yet Penelope is over there just looking miserable and colorless. Once again, I understand her, but what does she want Anin to do? Help her plan her wedding? Redecorate her bedroom, so her future husband will be comfortable in it?! I WANT ANSWERS, PENELOPE!

Of course this cabrón sucks. We've done been knowing that.

Anin ran IN HEELS to get that man, and if a woman is running in heels, you know that shit is serious. GET HIS ASS, POSH SPICE!

Anan sits at the table with To Sir, With Love's Yang as the best brother to ever exist in a QL because, unlike Anon, he does not trust Kuea because his ass IS NEVER AT WORK, which has been pointed out several times.

And he trusts what my girl Prik is saying about this very important matter because Prik has proven to be elite in getting information! Prik isn't a simple gossip. She is a chismosa and that takes skills.

This motherf*cker.

Not even seeing Pin in her and Anin's colors is making me happy right now. Anin's mom is in red, and the sight of Patricia is pissing me off that I'm seeing more red, so let's get back to murdering Kuea.

And this is what I mean by skills! Prik understands how to treat herself and how to make small talk! She doesn't look suspicious like rich chick Anin. No! She easily got the information and a snack by merely asking where that hot guy was today.

And even though Anin said "Yes, ma'am" slightly irritated when Prik told her to move, Anin better appreciate that without Prik's excellent talent, she wouldn't have known any of this. Prik didn't even have a car! She was just walking around and getting the chisme. The royals could NEVER!

THIS MOTHERF*CKER!

Girl, no! Just like Penelope, I get her reasoning, but this man done lied to you a million times. Your baby deserves better!

PATRICIA! I HATE YOU!

And now I am back where I started. Penelope believes Anin but will stay with Kuea because . . . reasons.

Anin is probably trying to figure out why she loves this pendeja so damn much. Girl, why we love the people we love just doesn't make sense sometimes. This is one of those times.

My Mexican grandmother is coming out in me because all I keep thinking is Penelope better be drinking lots of water if she wants to keep crying all these tears.

Prik telling Penelope that Anin left with Aon, then telling Penelope to smile shouldn't come across as Prik being loyal to Anin, but if I was Prik, I would get my digs in where I could too. I'm not romanticizing being poor, but that big bed in that big house ain't worth it, girl. Anin wanted YOU!

And now this is where my feelings get hurt by the colors, and I start singing Adele.

"WE COULD'VE HAD IT ALL, ROLLING IN THE DEEP!"

"NEVER MIND, I'LL FIND SOMEONE LIKE YOU! I WISH NOTHING BUT THE BEST FOR YOU!"

THIS MOTHERFUCKER!

Anan, get up right now and smack your bother. My beautiful and perfect babygirl is right next to him and she will help you. Start a fight, so the wedding gets postponed.

I FUCKING HATE THIS!

Whew! That was an amazing hour of television. Blessed to be alive the same time this is airing.

[furiousgoldfish]

Isn't it messed up that how we're treated for the first part of our life decides what we feel worthy of afterwards? Even if it was not a fair treatment, even if it's cruel and damaging, it's just logged into our minds that it's normal and exactly what we deserve – it would be too much for our child self to recognize that people do not always get what they deserve.

But as an adult you know that how people are treated is not what they deserve and it still messes with you! If people around you treat you with respect, care, consideration, warmth, affection and welcome, then you naturally feel worthy of those things, EXCEPT if you've been treated worse in the past, in which case you think this new scenario is just a farce and everyone secretly hates you and is pretending to be nice. Or they're doing it to manipulate you and are just waiting to trap you in some sort of hostage situation (which does happen sometimes). But even at that point what you experienced earlier feels like the Default! Everything else you experience afterwards is compared to it and if it's Much Better Treatment, fake. If it's Similar but Little Better, then it feels like, a bit more comfortable and like you've finally achieved and deserved something better but you still feel like you constantly have to work for it and repay it thousandfold.

You would hope you could get that feeling of inner worth and feeling valuable and important from just working on yourself and building yourself up, but in social situation you're still going to assume that you'll be treated badly even if you don't believe you deserve it. We rely on experience in that domain more than anything we tell ourselves in the mirror. Consistent and reliable positive treatment from others can repair our feeling of worth eventually but it's still a struggle to explain to yourself that if you really meant something to the world, why did nobody stop that insane amount of abuse that you were exposed to, it never manages to make sense.

Struggling to believe you matter and struggling to see yourself as valuable member of society really has little to do with you and your efforts to make it so, and so much more with what other people have shown you, and consistently did to show you that you're valuable to them. And if that accumulates to barely anything, you're going to feel that and it will decide you level of worth that you feel when interacting with people. If someone knows how to hack this or fix this I would also love to know.

[roosterr]

white flag ✹ ch 4

note: i had to rewrite this chapter TWICE. im sick of it so pls enjoy. also forgot to mention on here that I have been away this week on a little holiday. didn't stop me writing tho lol.

pairing: ghost x gn!reader

wc: 2.3k

no use of y/n

readers callsign is 'stingray'

summary: while you're gone on a mission, ghost has time to ponder your relationship, and comes to a long awaited realisation

warnings: ghost's pov, mentions of blood and injury, lil bit of angst

ao3

【prev】 || 【next】

ghost never knew how to feel about you.

at first, he really did hate you; you were the bright-eyed new recruit with seemingly endless optimism, he simply couldn't help but be annoyed by you. honestly, he half expected you to tap out a week into the job. you were just so… normal, he found it hard to believe you were cut out for this line of work.

of course, he trusted price's decision to hire you, and deep down ghost knew he wouldn't have recruited you if he didn't think you could handle it, but he looked down on you anyway. it didn't matter how good price thought you were, you'd have to earn ghost's respect.

it was infuriating, the way you fit so easily into the dynamic of the team. they all liked you right off the bat, even the captain, who was notoriously hard to impress. he observed you from afar, watching how you easily broke down their walls and fell into place next to them like it was nothing.

if he was honest with himself, he might have even called it jealousy. it seemed that everything was so natural to you; everything that he struggled with, you did with such ease you made it look like child's play. he especially hated the way you could just be a person. you didn't lock up every time someone spoke to you, you didn't need to sit with a visual on every available exit, and you didn't need to analyse every person you met in the fear that the second you turn your back they'll stab you in it.

you pissed him off, but what was worse than anything else about you, is that ghost had to fight with himself not to like you too.

it was the first time he got sent on an assignment with you that he began to understand why everyone seemed to get along with you so well. the ruthless efficiency with which you did your job was almost shocking to see. he couldn't have predicted how well the two of you worked together; like a well oiled machine, by the end of the mission he didn't even need to communicate verbally, you could just tell what his next move would be.

he finally understood why price fought so hard to get you on the one-four-one – and he finally found it in himself to respect you.

but that didn't change the way he felt about you beyond the field. you were soft, too kind, and too optimistic, you weren't hardened by the job like him. so he went out of his way to be tougher on you than he was with the others, and he rationalised it by telling himself he was helping you; that without a little toughening up, this world would break you, and for some reason, he couldn't stand the thought of that.

when you started to resent him back, it made his stomach feel heavy in a way he'd never felt before. it was new, and uncomfortable, and it scared him. he wasn't sure when he first noticed it, but it only got worse when he came to the realisation that you didn't care for him like you did for gaz and soap.

you could joke around so easily with them, but you go quiet when he enters the room. you never meet his eyes, and make sure to never be physical with him. when he addresses you over comms, you answer with a quick 'yes sir' and that's the end of it. ghost would never admit it, but the distance between you hurt – even if it was by design. 

as he lay awake that night, he thought about what it would be like if you treated him the same way you treated the others. he couldn't stop the tiny smile that pulled at his lips as he imagined laughing with you, sitting next to you, touching you.

he imagined you, taking his calloused hand into your own, so gentle and kind like you always were, and the way his pulse skyrocketed scared him into staying up the rest of the night.

after that, the way he saw you changed. where he used to think you were soft – and therefore weak – instead he saw the way you chose to be kind. when once your constant jokes with the others was an inability to take things seriously, now it was your specialty way to keep up morale, and ghost actually found himself chuckling at a few of your quips.

it was like his entire perspective had shifted, everything about you that used to annoy him gradually became something he appreciated about you.

it took him a while, but he finally came to the conclusion that he… liked you. 

but it was bittersweet, because he already knew you didn't want him, and he doubted you ever would. you'd never see him in the same light, he'd ruined his chances before he even knew he wanted one.

maybe it was for the best, though. you deserved better, someone who would treat you right, someone normal. he already knew you didn't want him, and he could never blame you for that. people like you don't fall in love with people like him, that's just the way it is.

so he resigns himself to burying the feelings he harbours for you. you never had to find out, if you did you'd surely be disgusted by someone like him being interested in you. he couldn't handle rejection like that, not from you.

when price told him he'd have to take you in when your house burned down, he was fucking terrified. it shook him to his core, how much he liked the idea of the two of you living under the same roof. he did his best to avoid you, leave you in peace like he assumed you wanted; but you – wonderful, kind you – wouldn't just leave him to his misery.

you were being nice to him, and he couldn't figure out why. he assumed it was because he was doing you a favour by letting you stay with him; he couldn't even trick himself into believing that you might be doing it because you liked him.

every night, he'd go back to that fantasy of existing with you, by your side instead of at arm's length. you were so close, just a single door separating you, his hands started sweating every time he passed by the living room.

he knew he was a goner the morning you woke up before him. he'd scarcely ever seen you in a casual setting, but walking into the kitchen and being greeted by you sitting at the table, the domesticity of it all hit him like a bullet to the chest.

it was exactly what he wanted, and it scared the shit out of him, so he panicked. he needed to stay away from you, for your own good, so he did what the ghost does best.

he ran away.

he didn't even consider what you'd think, he just had to get away, before he said something he'd end up regretting.

when you came through the door, soaking wet, and laid into him – which he knew he deserved – he immediately regretted leaving you behind. seeing you cry, knowing it was because of him, it made him feel sick. he knew he never wanted you to feel that heartache again, especially if it was because of him.

he'd give anything to start again with you, go back to the beginning and do it all right this time, but the only thing he could do was try and make up for what he'd put you through.

the hot chocolate was a peace offering; he knew you loved it – he even knew about the stash you had of it hidden in price's office, away from the other soldiers. he half expected you to just tell him to piss off, but when you accepted it, he felt his heart soar.

it ignited a spark of hope within him. more than anything, he just wanted you to like him, it didn't matter if you never saw him the way he wanted you to.

he intended on waking you up the next evening, before he left for the pub, but when he saw how peaceful you looked while you slept, he couldn't bring himself to disturb you. 

you stayed with gaz and soap most of the night, and he spent the night watching you from the bar and dimly lit corners, assuring himself that you were okay. when it came time to drag you home with him, he had never been so nervous. taking care of people was the exact opposite of his strong suit, especially when they started crying at him.

he almost couldn't believe his ears when you said you liked him.

he'd dragged you home with an arm wrapped around your waist, his head feeling light as a feather. by all accounts, he should've been annoyed at having to look after you in your inebriated state, but he found himself smiling under his mask the whole way home – even when you almost threw up on him.

when you rested your head on his shoulder on the bathroom floor, he might've actually short-circuited. all thoughts except for you evacuated his mind, and a wonderfully warm feeling blossomed in his chest that made his stomach flutter like never before.

he came so close to spilling his guts to you, but then he remembered that you were drunk, and you most likely wouldn't remember it if he did. so he resigned himself to tucking you into bed with an uncharacteristically gentle touch.

the next day, sitting on that park bench with you, laughing with you like he'd wanted to for so long – it was everything to him. it sent his pulse through the roof, it was complicated, and it was so pleasantly warm.

the logical part of him knew that this would only end painfully for him, but found himself willing to risk that if it meant more of these moments with you.

but of course, he'd fucked it all up at the first opportunity. he'd screamed in your face and he had yet to even apologise for it – for any of it. he felt immeasurably guilty, but he was so scared he couldn't even force himself to be around you.

even price had yelled at him for how he'd treated you. you were traumatised, you had a very real phobia as a result of the house fire, and he felt like a fucking fool for not noticing. he swore to himself he'd make it up to you, he'd grovel at your feet for the rest of his life if he had to, and if you never forgave him he still wouldn't blame you.

he regretted it – of course he did. he let his fear consume him; the fear of you getting hurt, of losing you, and not being able to do anything to save you.

almost as soon as the words had passed his lips, he realised what he was doing, he heard himself. the anger in his voice, the fearful look in your eyes as they glistened with tears, it was everything he didn't want to be.

he felt just like his–

no. he refused to even entertain that thought. he'd never be… that. you deserved so, so much better than the broken husk of man that he was. no matter what he did, he would never deserve you; and it was selfish, but he still hoped that you could somehow forgive him.

it's only been a few days since you left on that assignment for laswell, but he's found that being alone in his house didn't bring him the same comfort it used to. the silence never bothered him before, in fact he greatly preferred it, but now it just felt empty. like there was something missing, leaving a hole in the space it used to occupy.

deep down, the rational part of simon knows that it's you, of course it is, but you wanted nothing to do with him right now. he knew he had to fix things, he would never get over the hollow feeling in his chest if he didn't. that's why he was currently standing at the edge of the runway in the middle of the night, watching the ramp of the helo lower to reveal you, gaz, and the captain.

you looked shattered, like you hadn't slept for days – which was probably true – and he was suddenly overcome with the urge to gather you into his arms and not let go. he wondered if the remnants of dried blood that were visible on your hands and face were yours.

he felt his heart rate pick up as you made your way closer to him, his icy stare softening when he sees how you drag your feet across the tarmac.

when you were close enough, he reached his hand out to grasp your arm, opening his mouth to speak, but he never makes contact.

you sidestep him, and he feels his heart break in his chest. any words he was planning on saying die on his tongue as he turns to watch you slip through the doors without a hint of acknowledgement to him.

price gives him a rough pat on the shoulder as he and gaz pass by. "fix it, simon." he murmurs, before disappearing through the doors as well, leaving him alone outside the building.

he will fix it – he'd do whatever it takes because simon doesn't just need you, he's come to the alarming conclusion that he loves you – he just has no idea how.

taglist p1: @sofasoap , @siilvan , @mockerycrow , @i-love-ghost , @projectdreamwalker , @achelois-is-here , @adamsloverboy , @thatchickwiththecamera , @chickensandwich69 , @batmanunicorns523 , @tiny-kasper , @dezibou , @pampeop , @cumbermovels , @goth-boi-atlas , @berryjuicyy , @guiltgoreglory , @postmodernrevolutionist , @untoldshortsofthefandoms , @delilah-grimes , @sunflowerqueen1416 , @luvssemma , @ghostslittlegf , @imonmykneessir , @kenz-ee , @eistro-phobia , @rzmarona , @alanalanalanalanalanna ,

@cathnoneofyourbusiness , @madsothree , @geisterfvhrer , @lazyninjaphilosopher , @aliilium , @koi-feish , @chaoticgoblindev , @clear-your-mind-and-dream , @thrivig-n-jiving , @lesterous , @glitterypirateduck , @slu77ym4nw415ts , @livelaugh-light , @trulylavendedarling , @stateofcatatonia , @rivalriotrenegade , @yoichiislovie , @nirvanaaaonly , @ameliaamareeee , @batmanunicorns523 , @sapientiia , @thesecretwriter , @susanmukami , @ryze1113 , @stars-andfreckles , @spya1 , @tunaa-luvchrm , @tzutology , @kuruksenshi

if your name is crossed out, i can't tag you for whatever reason, sorry! ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

Razi's Guide to Challenging Coercive Control in Society and Your Personal Life

Part 1 - A Functionalist Perspective on Self-Creating Morality

I'll be blunt. The only person free from the risk of being abusive are those who were never alive at all. There is no easy solution to being a good and just person, and no matter what arena of our lives we interrogate, there will be actions we have taken or deeds endorsed that were unacceptable, likely even in the moment.

The truth is, there is no specific set of instructions I could give you to earn you such an outcome. But why should we refuse to try?

Many of us have learned to internalize fear of failure, especially fear of moral failure, as a fear of excommunication from the social fabric of survival. This combines poorly with a world in which the only person who is successfully non-coercive in their navigation of the world is the person who is unafraid of being told they HAVE exerted inappropriate pressure or coercion, and who is unafraid of the trial and error involved in learning the balance of people they love or live with. You have to fail morality with an open and curious mind in order to have even a hope of succeeding in morality. A connundrum for many a nervous system even when the brain sees true.

So lets be clear, the question of how to observe your own use and wielding of coercion and control is essential for EVERYONE, no matter who you are, what your values, or how your history has played out. Thinking otherwise is its own risk factor when assessing risks for abuse. Specifically, behaviors of and exertion of overcontrol actually often raises the risk measure of an abuse victim's safety assessment (in this case referring to The Danger Assessment commonly utilized in domestic violence safety assessment, linked below) more than a physical assault would, as it is historically a higher predictor of who will harm or kill a victim when they attempt to differentiate within the relationship or leave it.

So what are the foundations of coercive control? Well, interestingly enough, researchers have been working to answer this question for a while! There are a lot of really useful and in depth conversations about this, but here's a succinct introduction to it. **a reminder, this is about how to interrogate YOUR OWN behavior for patterns of coercion and control more effectively. The information contained in this post is NOT an effective way of identifying abusive/coercive thoughts and behaviors in others, although ultimately the better you understand your own risks and maladaptive behavior patterns, the easier it is to cultivate relationships with healthy and adaptive boundaries for all parties.

*these screenshots are cited from an article about self-reported abusive and coercive behaviors during perceived in-group conversations such as on estranged parent web forums and represents an effective intro summary of patterns of coercive/abusive relationships in many mixed-hierarchy relationship dynamics from other existing research:

The important thing about realizing we all carry at least SOME of these coercive/abusive beliefs is that we must allow the inevitability of that reality undermine the shame and fear society encourages us to feel about the possibility of committing a moral failure, and sppecifically doing so while being able to maintain the somewhat contradictory side-by-side reality that these moral failings, every time they occur, must be treated as if you have done serious harm which must be REPAIRED. Specifically, we must set aside the idea of self-flagellation/punishment as "repair" and we must stop seeing apologies as a performance of remorse and contrition. Apologies are an opportunity to communicate to a person that you respect and hear their feelings, and that you will continue to act with love to the best of your ability. People rarely feel displays of guilt make good apologies. They often feel like an apology has been properly made when they feel their experience of distress was recognized and given genuine kindness.

So rather than looking at this list and justifying the ones that hit a little too close to home, the experiment for this week, the last week of 2024, is to actually ask the question "what if believing this really does hurt me and others?" What would it mean to you, in the life you have led, to consider the possibility that these beliefs are themselves abusive/coercive, and that when you act on them, so are you. If you have decided to come along with me on this long-term self-study, perhaps you'll journal along with me (in public or in private) on that question.

For now, I'll get the ball rolling. One of the dysfunctional beliefs that resonated the most for me is:

Emotions cause actions. When I feel something, I can't not act on it, or at least it would be wrong not to.

I have spent many sections of my life in abusive relationships, and the idea of not acting on the feeling of hurt or emotional lashing out sits VERY poorly with me both in concept and in practice. I genuinely do believe that such emotions ARE wrong not to "act" on, but I have come to understand that to "act upon" an emotion like that must often be an internal or curated affair. For example, there are times that my wife says things that feel hurtful, and because of how I experience them, I can struggle at times to "remember" that my interpretation is not the only available one. It is rare, when I do remember this, for a thing my wife said to be INAPPROPRIATE, even when it is hurtful. And I have realized that how I talk to her about the hurt feelings from appropriate statements must look very different from a talk about the rare INAPPROPRIATE and hurtful comment. Critically, being clear with each other about these two types of conversations means we are better equipped to treat things that were both hurtful and inappropriate with real seriousness, without detracting from or sacrificing our ability to discuss more complicated navigations of hurtful but appropriate episodes/statements. Example: sometimes my wife lets me know she's feeling overextended physically and like she can't keep up on her own and can't get help. This is ALWAYS a hurtful conversation for me because I am aware of the truth of what she says and we are BOTH aware that truth is largely beyond my control. My wife, in these moments, is asking me to sit with her in love with the knowledge that she is hurting as an outcome of trying to do an entire household's physical labor alone and that she fundamentally cannot expect help from me even though we both wish that were not so. She is not asking any ACTION of me. She is not asking CHANGE. She is not asking for APOLOGY. She's not even asking for GRATITUDE. But she *is* asking TO BE SEEN BY HER PARTNER IN HER WHOLENESS. In the same example, there have been a time here or there when, whether in response to defensiveness from me, or overwhelm in other areas of life, she has expressed this need to be seen in ways that were truly unkind or inappropriate. When these occurred, it was entirely necessary for her and I to sit down and talk through why/how that could not repeat, but importantly, it happened AFTER she and I got through a conversation about her feelings. It did ME (let alone her) no good to challenge how she expressed a reasonable feeling in an unreasonable way in the moment. And in fact, taking the time to make sure she felt fully heard is often integral to her ability to hear me in turn. I like to call this the assumption of good faith. I know that my wife loves me and that I love her. I am allowed and in fact will require healthy boundaries to maintain this love in a healthy way. And healthy boundaries are best discussed with unconditional regard for all parties involved, which means that while some boundaries may not change based on someone's feelings about it, but those feelings may indicate certain needs that would - if met - better facilitate the outcomes you want. This is NOT abuse apologia, and inherently does not accept that certain boundaries (such as hitting or restraining another person) can be safely crossed. It does however name that many boundaries may require mutual agreement on how they can effectively manifest/be maintained.

A lesson I am choosing to take in from this exercise is the lesson that it can be emotionally easy to match energies when I feel someone is pressuring or aggressing me, but I know that my intellectual preference, and the choice I would least regret after the fact, would be to de-escalate that feeling rather than add to it. Because of my abuse history I often struggle to differentiate between "holding a boundary firmly" and "being mean", which can mean BOTH that I fail to adequately hold or communicate boundaries AND that I am prone to lashing out if I "bottle up" a boundary for too long and genuinely say something unkind an inappropriate. And while I may feel justified in my feelings, that can never translate to justifying inappropriate behaviors that stem from those feelings.

As 2025 dawns, what lessons are you taking into the year for yourself?

[problemnyatic]

maybe internet leftism would be more effective if so much of it wasn't framed in this sneering, shame-on-you language that seems mote intent on guilting people for not being leftist enough than actually extending an understanding hand to people who people who, believe it or not, do actually realize that something is deeply wrong with society despite not being Properly Enlightened And Educated on All Of Leftist Theory as to why.

Yeah, we all post the You Are Not Immune To Propaganda jpeg, but do you still have an internal threshold of propaganda exposure by which others stop being human to you? Do you write off anyone who doesn't already understand the things you do as stupid? Do you understand that to create a genuinely far-reaching movement, you need to be willing to reach people that are substantially different than you and meet them on their level?

Yeah you believe everyone deserves human rights, but do you actually respect the differences in life experince you'll face when engaging with people outside your circle of theory-reading leftists?

And just to be excruciatingly clear: none of these are rhetorical questions. None of these are accusations, and if your response to these questions is to get defensive rather than to self-reflect on whether your practices reflect your principles, I urge you to then ask yourself if your desire to create effective change is being impeded by your apparent need to feel like a "good leftist".

I really, really get feeling frustrated with the world, with how fucking many people seem content to just buy propaganda, with how frustrating and exhausting it is to walk people through the baby steps of what feels like having a very basic grasp of reality. Your outrage is justified and your feelings are very real and deserve to be respected. I'm not here to tone police people expressing their very real anger and grief at the horrible ways global imperialism is hurting us all.

My point here is that, when your goal is to actually inspire others to seek further education on leftist matters, to actually increase the total amount of leftism in the world, you need to be asking yourself if the methods you are using are actually effective. It can feel excruciating to be patient when the world is already so on fire, but you can't just shame people into not needing to be met on their level. It demonstrably does not work, and will work against all of us if the impression you're giving others is that leftism is the mean, scary option even to people who genuinely mean well and want to do better.

I see so many posts rightfully trashing on the widespread culture in the US and beyond of teachers and authority figures simply punishishing people who don't know what they're expected to yet, instead of actually teaching them. I see so many posts on here about how it's okay to need to learn life skills you were never taught. Why does this seem to evaporate when it comes to teaching others leftist theory? That's not rhetorical either, please, really, genuinely ask yourself this question, let it sit with you for a long time.

I know how urgent it is to get people to come around. I'm panicking too. I'm angry, and I'm frustrated, and I'm dumbfounded at how long its taking so many folks to get a fucking grip on what's so broken about society. But I understand that the assertion that the answers should be obvious does nothing to change the fact that, to so many people, to enough people, it isn't. That we need to meet them on their level, with kindness, if we're to get them on our side. Leftism starts at home. It starts with your personal relationships, how you treat others when it's inconvenient and difficult.

Leftism starts with kindness.