#There is no universal experience of being a teenage girl

[punkeropercyjackson]

in celebration of me getting my first anon hate comment that just so happens to be transphobic I want to hear more about your headcanons abt the gaang and the characters u think are trans :3

LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOO

SO Zuko is Link level trans to me.I want to get my transmasc version out first,he was an early egg cracker and Ozai is a sexist ass so he was happy to have a son instead of a daughter and Ursa was happy to have a son because Zuko was happy to BE her son.Zuko's transition happened no hassle thanks to being a prince giving him easy resources and he has top surgery scars and his voice is like That because of T and voice training to sound 'intimidating' and he identifies as dragongender since he says 'he's a guy in the way a dragon is'.There's a Zunia moment where Zuko is feeling dysphoric and Nia says he's never known him as anything but a guy and Zuko snarks that they met after he realized he is one and Nia points out they actually met when he was still just figuring it out and insisting he was a guy in the way he talked about himself and that he'd just rolled with it while everybody else dismissed it as him being a tomboy.Cue 10+ gender euphoria for Zuko

And TRANSFEM ZUKO MY BEAUTIFUL WIFE <333 She keeps her birth name because 'Princess Zuko' goes hard and just has an in-universe attachment to it because Ursa named her(/hc)and her storyline in the show has major tgirl swag with letting go of toxicity to not force herself to be Ozai's son,what a Team Mom she is to Aang,Maiko and Ty Luko feel so sapphic to me and she's lowkey kinda a misandrist lmao(instantly beefing with guys for talking to Mai because she thought they were creeps just for being guys,her Iroh roasts that're worse than her Azula ones,how realistically she hates men and trust women because of having a bad dad and a good mom,etc).She's femme presenting in a japanese way and the first people she comes to out to would obviously be Nia and Aang and she was being super jittery and even teary but they showered her in love and acceptance and nobody could really say anything about the Fire Lord being transfem because hello,FIRE LORD.Her transition went as smoothly as her transmasc variant's and she's him but cooler cause she's a girl /lh

KATARA HAS TGIRL SWAG!!!She tries to emulate motherhood despite being 14 so she can be 'a real girl' but still fights against other gender stereotypes like that feminine women can't be strong or else they aren't feminine or even female and her getting so excited to finally have another girl in the Gaang :'))) Her reinforcements of her gender identity are her being transfem and proud of it and rightfully demanding she be aknowledged as female being a core part of who she is and wanting to experience the good parts of girlhood including being thought of desirable FOR being a girl(Thank you gender validation king Aang)and she's mermaidgender.Also 'I was a Teenage Anarchist' by Against Me! is Katara core and so is Punk Tactics by Joey Valence & Brae,I'm just a girl by Cassidy Mackenzie and Bang Bang Bang Bang by Sohodolls.Normie Katara truthers wild asf,that is a punk native trans girl,end.of.discussion!

Aang is transmasc genderfluid and i once described his gender as 'tboy swag in the sense that's so feminine she's a girl but in a guy way'.Any pronouns and obviously the Air Nomads had their own transgender parts of their culture so that's why he's so openly gnc and is only embarrased about it when mocked for it and Nia also practices into Air Nomad transgenderism because Aang teaches him about since it's his heritage like being half Fire Nation(the black subgroup)is!!He physically transitions but Nia dosen't,solidarity🤝🏾🤝🏼

Sokka is a trans man and the token binary of the Gaang.Nothing much to say on this one,it's just vibes and he overmasculinized himself out of trans male insecurity and he transitions physically as well!!Him and Yue were t4t obvs i mean she's literally the moon in addition to her personality????

I consider transmasc girl Toph quasi-canon since she expresses wanting to be seen as a girl but also uses male titles for herself and the Ember Island Player scene deadass had her getting overjoyed to sound like a huge burly guy so testosterone could've saved her.Any pronouns like Aang and hrt but no surgeries for extra gender fuckery

Jet is a trans Team Dad to the Freedom Fighters and diy'd his own hrt with stolen resources from the goverment,KING!!!He was working on doing the same for Smellerbee who is transfem but we didn't get to see it because the 2000s😔She gets her full transition in my verse though and finally is seen as the beautiful girl she's always been♡Also Jet's rizz comes from his brownskin tboy swag /hj

Nia to expand a bit is afab and bigender so he's transmasc and happily uses the trans man label but also he's a black femme so his experiences with gender are really similar to that of trans women's and he relates the most to them when it comes to girlhood next to other black women so he's transmascfem too!He's naturally androgynous so that's why he never wants physically transition and it took him a hot sec to find his style due to his complex gender but Otome Kei was the perfect fit and he's also dragonkin and pinkgender!Zunia is extremely goth4pastel t4t childhood best friends to lovers and The Peace Trio is literally trans parents and their adoptive trans sondaughter

Ty Lee is such a typical femme trans girl(complimentary).She's a girlypop who's super peppy and goofy but she's also mentally hardend due to trauma and dosen't actually know how to approach guys but DOES girls-A lot of Atla lesbians say this is a lesbian thing and i'm like that one 'Why not both?' meme,transbian Ty Lee supremacy.Anybody who slutshames her for her body type is automatically transmisogynistic and hates to see a trans queen winning(and is also probs a conservative who'd rather pin the blame on her than the writers🙄)

Mai is giving tradgoth transfemme.If i'd seen her design as an adult instead of growing up with the series i would've thought she's canonically trans and especially Maiko pics because they're your average alt4alt transmasc4transfem couple.Like Zuko her transition was easy breezy but fitting in with other girls not so much because she was never taught how to,thanks a lot Ukano and Michi /s.Her dysphoria was crazy bad until her and Ty Lee reunited and got to be trans girl best friends again.I think she'd be batkin also!!

And finally,Azula!!She's a nonbinary trans girl and Ozai choose her as his perfect child soldier subject so she'd 'prove' herself as truly worthy to 'fail' by being useful to him.He gave her all the hrt but none of the needed love every child does💀Azula considered herself 'the perfect trans girl' out of a mix of genuine pride and being taught to be traditionalist with her girlhood but learns to let herself stop being a perfect illusion and just a tgirl after her Nia induced redemption arc that was also a healing arc and dating and eventually marrying Ty Lee let her see that there's no one way to be perfectly trans and that she dosen't have to fit herself into a box.She added nonbinary to it because she likes being masc sometimes!

And not related but they're also all autistic.Ty

#sleepyzukka #the gaang #zuko #katara #aang #sokka #toph beifong #jet atla #ty lee #mai atla #zunia #dragon parents #trans zuko #trans girl zuko #trans katara #genderfluid aang #trans sokka #transmasc toph #trans jet #trans ty lee #trans mai #trans azula #t4t kataang #t4t tyzula #avatar:the airbender legacies #nia the dragon nomad #atla geekery #punk katara #💌 #askies

[succubusfuccubus]

Feel like I’m the only vampire chronicles fan who loves the new iwtv series

“Book Louis was white!!!”

He was a slave owner and while Anne Rice contextualizes it real well—she doesn’t try to soften the subject matter, she doesn’t try the “he was nice to his slaves” book Louis is like “yeah I was a slave owner, it was fucked up” —still I feel no attachment to white Louis. It was not the most interesting thing about him.

Anne Rice was weird about any POC in her books. It’s still a white centric narrative, the main cast of vampires is white. Boring. Black Louis is much more interesting. A Black vampire navigating his immortality among a society hostile to his kin is so much more captivating.

Many of the main vampires in her series get a book dedicated to them where they explain their origins, their experience with immortality and their philosophies. Except...the vampires that get their own narrative are white. I would love to see an Ancient Black vampire that was kicking before any racism as it is now was invented. I wanna know their perspective, I wanna see them philosophize.

“Vampires can’t have sex!!”

Later in the books they invent vampire viagra—also cry harder im glad they’re fucking and sucking

“Book Claudia was supposed to be turned at 5 Years old. Book Claudia would kill to be a teenager even!! This Claudia almost looks like an adult!”

Teenagers definitely aren’t adults. Imagine being on the Cusp of adulthood and then you are paused mid puberty unable to develop any further. That would be maddening She looks like a young girl trying very hard to dress older than she is. Also it would be rough getting an actual 5 year old to act her part. Also there's some weird pedophile shit in the books, I'm glad we're writing that part out.

“Anne rice would be rolling in her grave”

Let her roll. Anne rice hated any adaptation—she was a control freak. Look up “interrogating the text from the wrong perspective” it’s her melt down in response to bad Amazon reviews on her vampire chronicles’ “Blood Canticle”

She didn’t even respect her own canon. She retcons it multiple times. In the end she retcons the origin of vampires (which had been established in books 2 and 3) and made it the product of an alien parasite. All bcuz some took a sudden interest in science fiction, she just had to turn it into science fiction

This series is not a masterpiece, it becomes pulp fiction by book 4, almost every book opens up like a personal vlog, Lestat is her Mary sue and also self insert. There is gay ghost sex that turns out to be incest. Actually there is so much incest, ntm the pedophilia it becomes almost unreadable.

God and the Devil are ex bfs that are in a millennia long theological and philosophical debate, also the Devil tries to recruit Lestat as the prince of hell and he drinks Jesus's blood. But several books later, just kidding, that wasn't the Devil that was just a spirit fucking around with Lestat.

The second to last book is called Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis--there are bird-reptile aliens pissed off about the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs and want to eradicate mammals bcuz in every other universe reptiles are the dominant-sentient species.

There is nothing sacred about the original, this is not Beowolf or the Epic of Gilgamesh--this is Anne rice and her self-insert blorbo getting into scrapes. When adapting a piece of fiction the most important thing is preserving the Themes--which the show is doing superbly. What truly matters is that every character in Anne Rice's show is bisexual and polyamorous and a disaster.

If you're that upset about Louis being Black and Armand being Muslim you're just racist and either in denial or you know full well.

#iwtv #the vampire chronicles #amc iwtv #armand #louis de pointe du lac #lestat de lioncourt

[lieutenant-amuel]

People always justify “awkward quirky teenage girls” by saying what teenage girl would not be awkward and quirky as if all teenage girls are the same.

#Personal #But you know even if you’re right not all teenage girls would be awkward the same way #I have nothing against ‘quirky girls’ man I do LOVE this type #but just stop saying that they’re like that only because they’re teenage girls #this is freaking annoying #You know adults also can be awkward #And sometimes people are awkward without any reason this is just their personality trait #It depends on a person people don’t have the same personalities simply because they fit into the same demographic category lol #(yeah this is after I read some takes about Asha) #I don’t mind her being quirky but I beg you don’t say she’s quirky because she’s seventeen #There is no universal experience of being a teenage girl #And please she’s a fictional character I want her to be entertaining not fit into age developmental characteristics

[tomurakii]

Look Kristen is a kid so its understandable and Ally is great and I'm sure has a plan for this. But Kristen should not be a cleric lol. I hope that after the wizard synogue incident Cassandra takes the Archfey deal to keep herself safe and Kristen loses her powers because honestly based on her RP that girl has NO wisdom. She has NEGATIVE wisdom. If you don't like the gods currently on offer but can't take responsibility for keeping a new one alive (because you're a kid) then you should just respec. Pick a charisma-based spellcaster class that doesn't require a bunch of work like the Int classes or responsibility like the Wis classes. Give up your soul to Fig (or just give it back to newly-Archfey Cassandra) for Warlock spells idk.

#like I know kristen is a vessel for exploring the experience of growing up in an abrahamic religion and like. developing as your own person #which is why they're working within the existing forgotten realms universe but foregoing the usual pantheon #and replacing it with Sol and Helio which are just God and Jesus metaphors #but that kind of self-exploration usually ends up in either atheism or non-abrahamic philosophies like buddhism no? #neither of which are compatible with the cleric class. like kristen clearly doesnt really like being a prophet. she cant handle it #have her awaken latent sorcery or something. I'd honestly accept her becoming a druid even though they also have a lot of responsibilities #but like shes GONNA kill cassandra if cassandra doesnt leave her first #and that'll be the second god that she created and then killed with her neglect. she may have been helio's chosen but shes a shit cleric #pretty much all teenagers would be shit clerics #maybe she can come back to it later #but cassandra girl you gotta flee. take your cat and your magic and run #d20 #fantasy high #fhjy #kristen applebees #fantasy high junior year #dimension 20

[vscabarca]

how about a gavi fic where they’ve been dating for a long time but long distance so the whole relationship is basically a secret and the public finds out and the internet sort of breaks and keeps commenting on how gavi is so different with her. if you do end up liking this and writing this please tag me <33

sant jordi - pablo gavi

summary: you visit your long-distance boyfriend Gavi and he accidentally hard launches your relationship.

genre: fluff!

a/n: @weekendlusting that request was so cute, thank you for your patience!🫶🏼 Also, i was listening to this song while writing, check it out for the full experience;)

———

Exhausted, you placed your school bag onto the floor of your hallway, walking towards the darkly lit living room. Just as you sat down, your phone buzzed and Pablo appeared on the screen.

With an immediate smile, you pressed the green button, accepting his call.

„Hello my love.“ He chimed, already laying in bed with his hood up.

„Hey amor.“ You tiredly answered, now also kicking your feet upon the couch.

„How was your day?“

„Exhausing but I wrote my last exam today.“ A feeling of relief washed over your body when you realized you‘d have now two weeks of pure relaxation, without having to do any schoolwork. But this feeling of relief was over quickly. Being in another country, several hours away from your boyfriend was hard. Especially if you had now so much freetime, you would love to spend it with Pablo.

„I‘m proud of you. Any plans for the upcoming days?“ Your boyfriend asked while playing with his hair.

„Not much. I wish I could spend them with you, I miss you.“ You pouted, feeling sad for only seeing him through the screen.

„Fly to Barcelona. I‘m having a few days off and I wanna see my gorgeous girl again.“

That’s how you ended up on a plane on a Tuesday, flying two hours to visit your long distance boyfriend for the next week.

The reunion was more than sweet. Pablo surprised you with flowers as he waited in his Audi for you. You two were over four months together, but still kept the relationship from the public. You wouldn’t actively try to keep it a secret, but also didn’t have the need to show everyone you two were together. After all, Pablo was Spain‘s teenage heartthrob and you were just a normal girl going to university.

He drove to his house first, giving you time to freshen up and put down your luggage. As it was the 23rd of April, also known as Diada de Sant Jordi, a catalan holiday, the city was decorated in red roses and Catalan flags.

As you two strolled aimlessly around a more quiet part of the city, Pablo never let go of your hand. To be not recognized too often, he wore his sunglasses and a cap, looking as handsome as ever.

The touch of his hand made you blush and the smile never left your face.

Suddenly, Pablo walked towards a little shop at the end of the street. It was so small you wouldn’t have noticed it if it weren’t for your boyfriend. Outside, there was a shelf filled with second-hand books and roses. Like the tradition says, Pablo grabbed a book with the most romantic title and went inside to pay. He stood in front of you, his signature smile plastered across his face as he gave you the book and the red rose.

„Feliz dia de Sant Jordi mi amor.“ You couldn’t help but blush, your face turning red from the charm of your boyfriend.

„Muchas gracias Pablito.“ You mused and stepped closer to press a gentle but yet passionate kiss onto his lips.

After you two enjoyed a fun day in Barcelona, you headed back home to cook dinner and have a relaxing night together.

During cooking and occasionally dancing to the music playing in the background, your phone started buzzing almost every two seconds. At first you dismissed it, thinking it was your friend filling you in on one of her hookup stories, but even Pablo turned his head in curiosity after the buzzing wouldn’t stop several minutes later.

„Don’t you think it’s important? It won’t stop.“ He asked with furrowed eyebrows, just as confused as you were. Your phone screen was flooded with people you barely knew asking about Gavi. Gavi here Gavi there, things like „you’re really together?“ or „could you ask him to sign me something?.“

It was so confusing until one of your family members told you to check Pablo‘s instagram.

You opened the app, seeing your boyfriend posted a story. Clicking on it, you saw a picture of you, holding the rose and book in your hands. Written was next to it „Feliz dia de sant jordi mi amor💞“

The blood froze in your veins. Did Pablo realize he just hard launched you?

„PABLO! why did you post me on your instagram account?“ You asked, eyes wide while he just shrugged his shoulders.

„I always do that. I thought you were okay with me posting you on my private account. You know only my family and close friends follow that account.“

Now it dawned on you. Pablo mistakenly posted the picture on his official account, the one with sixteen million followers instead of his private one with only twenty-seven.

„Baby… Of course I‘m okay with that, but you posted it on your main one. The one with sixteen million followers.“ You started laughing in despair, finding the situation oddly funny, even though whole Spain now knew about your relationship with the famous footballer.

Pablo grew red, standing in front of you in horror as he took a look himself.

„Fuck… I‘m so sorry. I swear I didn’t want to post that on there.“

„It‘s fine. I bet there are picture of us anyway from today.“ You said and assured him it was alright. He embraced you in a hug, kissing your head softly.

„At least I don’t have to hide you anymore.“

———

footy.gossip: teenage heartthrob Pablo Gavi is not on the love market anymore ladies!💔

He was seen spending the romantic holiday Sant Jordi with a mysterious girl by his side, buying her roses and a book. What a true gentleman!

view all comments:

user1: she’s really living the Y/N lifestyle…

user2: Gavi is for sure such a sucker for his girlfriend

->user3: I mean you can even see the heart eyes behind the sunglasses😭

pedri: yn finally you came to visit… he wouldn’t shut his mouth

->pablogavi: how could I not

->user4: HE‘S NOT EVEN DENYING IT??

user5: not pedri exposing gavi😭😭

user6: WE WANT A GF REVEAL!!

user7: I just know she dresses him

->user8: fr, the change from skinny jeans to this is a blessing

->user9: pedri step up your game

user10: don’t know who the girl is but… mamá y papá.

author: wish that was you huh?🫵🏻🤨

———

pablogavi: whoops accidental hard launch… anyway yn te amoo🫶🏼

comments are turned off

#pablo gavi #pablo gavi x reader #gavi x reader #gavi #football x reader #gavi one shot #football one shot #fc barcelona #football imagine #football fanfic #barça

[042502]

𝗠𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧 𝗖𝗛𝗥𝗜𝗦 𝗦𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗢𝗟𝗢ᯓ★

Welcome to the masterlist from Chris, it will be divided between Fanfictions, text messages and One Shots. Also between family content, content for adults. horror or suspense content and in Spanish

It is recommended to read with a black background, the list will be constantly updated, you can save it and check the updates.

Every week a survey is published to find out the order of publication, participate!

Comment on this post to be added to the taglist!

𝗙𝗔𝗡𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡

The unwritten rule.

Everyone knows the rule, don't fall in love with your best friend's boyfriend.

𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗧𝗦 - 𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗬 +𝟭𝟴

Sex Scene.

You and Chris are the protagonists of a movie inspired by a fanfiction. (content +18)

I want it I have it.

She was upset because Chris didn't want to go with you on the school trip, you use all your weapons to convince him to go. (content +18)

Owen.

You have a small feeling of jealousy after seeing your boyfriend give guitar lessons to a pretty girl, he will fuck you hard to give you security. (content +18)

Experimenting.

You and Chris are two teenagers who started dating a few months ago, curiously beginning to experience new things together. (suggestive)

Cleaning Cabinet.

You cheated on your boyfriend with your neighbor and the next day you lost your virginity to him in the school cleaning closet. (content +18)

Finger Play.

Let's take this space to enjoy Chris's fucking hands and I think there is no doubt that this boy would know perfectly how to use them. Chris will give you a appreciated orgasm with his fingers inside you in the bathroom of a party they attended. (content +18)

Oral Sex.

Do you really need me to tell you? You're sucking Chris Sturniolo's cock, enjoy bitch! (content +18)

Unfaithful Girl.

Your boyfriend couldn't make you orgasm this morning, but Chris will make you reach the damn climax that your stupid boyfriend couldn't make. (content +18)

Turn Off The Lights.

You have an argument with your boyfriend after a failed attempt to lose your virginity with him, he ends up abandoning you and going to a party, don't worry, your neighbor Christopher will take good care of you in the bathroom at the party. (content +18)

Kiss Without Lips.

Chris went out to party and finds you attractive, he brings out all his knowledge of being a gallant... (content +18)

𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗦𝗛𝗢𝗧𝗦 - 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗣𝗨𝗕𝗟𝗜𝗖

i'm in time?

During a car trip, you and Chris give each other that kiss you've been waiting for so long.

She Loves Me?

Chris, a boy who is in his third year of high school, is deeply in love with a first-year girl and makes a tender declaration.

A Shitty Friend.

you cheat on your boyfriend Chris with his best friend Nate. (Distress)

Interview.

Chris was interviewed a few years ago and today he returns to the same program, they show him how he has changed since then.

Absurd Discussion.

you feel jealous of Chris's new model and you have a ridiculous argument about it.

Bad friends.

Some conflicts with a person you thought was your friend brings you health problems, but your boyfriend Chris is there for you.

Chocotorta.

You record a video with your boyfriend Chris, making an Argentine chocotorta.

Pathetic.

You think Chris doesn't like you, but a rainy afternoon together shows you the opposite.

University.

You and Chris are studying at university... Oh I suck at this summaries thing.

A Joint Together.

You hadn't seen Chris for a month, however you found time to see each other again and share time together, and a joint too.

Tea At Three Am.

Tea time with Chris, a little routine they had begun to get into together.

𝗧𝗘𝗫𝗧 𝗠𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗦 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗖𝗛𝗥𝗜𝗦

Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 | Option 4 | Option 5 | Option 6

NOTES: If you want to be on the taglist leave a comment to add yourself. Remember to like and share with your friends, thanks for reading!

Do you want to read about Matt? Click here!

#੭ 🤍 ! 𝓈 #﹙𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐢𝐬. 𝐒﹚🦌 ， #chris sturniolo x reader #chris sturniolo x you #chris sturniolo #chris sturniolo fanfic #chris sturniolo fluff #christopher sturniolo #chris sturniolo smut #chris sturniolo soft #celebs #christopher sturniolo x reader #christopher sturniolo fanfic #christopher sturniolo fluff #christopher sturniolo x you #christopher sturniolo imagine #sturniolo triplets #matt sturniolo #matt sturniolo x reader #matt sturniolo x you #matt sturniolo smut #matt sturniolo fluff #matt sturniolo fanfiction #nick sturniolo #matt sturniolo fanfic #matt sturniolo imagine #matthew bernard sturniolo #matthew sturniolo #sturniolo #sturniolo fanfic

[familyabolisher]

oh god this idea of "the" teenage girl experience as universally consistent and sacrosanct & its alleged essential characteristics being those of like, madness, wildness, emotionality, histrionics, all explained and exonerated under the aegis of being A Teenage Girl is exhausting. it's so fucking exhausting and i wish we could afford it even a tiny bit of scrutiny when we're doing media crit

#the way people talk about yellowjackets is so tiring. lol

[she-is-ovarit]

Identifying as.

This is Rachel Dolezal, who legally changed her name to Nkechi Amare Diallo. Dolezal is a white woman who identifies as black and insists that she is transracial. Growing up, her religious white parents adopted four black babies, claiming that they "saved them from being aborted", and routinely delivered strict punishments to their kids including Dolezal. Dolezal does not seem to have a good relationship with her parents and, based on interviews, wanted to distance herself from them and distance herself from rural white culture.

"I've never questioned being a girl or woman, for example, but whiteness has always felt foreign to me, for as long as I can remember. I didn't choose to feel this way or be this way, I just am. What other choice is there than to be exactly who we are?"

She apparently "passed as black" for several years before her parents came out and said that she was white and is identifying as a black woman, and she was asked in a TV interview if she was African American and responded with "I don't understand the question". She taught Africana Studies at Eastern Washington University. She crafted a fake story in growing up as black and has argued that she experiences race-based related hate crimes. She darkens her skin and gets perms and started using hair products she observed her adopted black sibling to use. She lied about her father being black and lied that her black adopted brother was her son.

I hope that as details of Dolezal's story are read about, we are able to understand that tanning white skin does not make someone a black person, that blackface is wrong and racist. I hope we recognize that what makes someone black isn't a collection of racial stereotypes, isn't based on feeling a kinship with black people more than with white people, and that being black isn't based on not feeling a connection with white culture. I hope we understand that a black person cannot identify out of racial oppression, and that a white person cannot identify out of white privilege.

Jewel Shuping, age 38 now, was born healthy but dreamed of being blind since age 13. She stated her mother would tell stories about finding her walking down dark hallways at age 3, and mentioned that by age 6 the thought of being blind comforted her. When she was a teenager, Shuping bought a white cane and learned to read braille, becoming fluent in it by age 20.

She claims to have asked a psychologist to pour bleach in her eyes so she could fulfill her lifelong dream of being blind, and that the psychologist "understood her" and agreed to do so after giving her numbing eye drops to help with the pain (which was not ultimately helpful). She deliberately waited to seek medical attention so doctors were unable to save her eyesight. Gradually, over the course of six months, she became blind.

What Shuping has is considered a real mental health condition called Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID), a rare condition in which people who are born without disabilities believe with conviction that the should be disabled. There is another name for this in political activist circles, termed "transableism".

"I went blind on purpose, but I don't feel it was a choice."

Several other people with BIID are pretending to be paralyzed to use wheelchairs, with many not being driven to the point of causing harm to themselves to become disabled but instead living full lives faking being disabled.

I hope that as details of the stories of people pretending to be disabled are read about, we are able to understand that feeling like oneself should be disabled is an incredibly serious mental health condition and does not really mean that a person is "disabled inside". I hope we recognize that identifying as disabled does not make someone disabled, and that feeling a kinship with disabled people or a comfort in the thought of being disabled does not mean a person truly is or should become disabled. I hope we understand how people with mental health disorders claiming to be disabled can place further strain on resources and accommodations provided to disabled people. I hope we understand that inflicting pain, disfigurement, or physical altercations on healthy people to "help them physically match how they feel" is an inhumane way to treat a mental health condition.

Paul Wolscht, who changed his name to Stefonknee Wolscht, was married to a woman for over 20 years and fathered 7 children before deciding to live life identifying as a six year old little girl. Living as a six year old little girl allows Wolscht to escape depression and suicidal thoughts because Wolscht gets to now play - even when in jail in solitary confinement for nine days for an undisclosed reason.

“If I’m six-years-old, I don’t have to think about adult stuff.”

Wolscht still drives and drinks coffee, but does so feeling and identifying as a six year old.

Emile Ratelband, age 69, petitioned the courts to allow him to change his age to 20 years younger because he "does not feel" 69 years old. Ratelband has argued that he did not feel comfortable with his date of birth, that age 69 did not accurately reflect his mental state, and that at age 69 he experiences limits.

“When I’m 69, I am limited. If I’m 49, then I can buy a new house, drive a different car,” he said. “I can take up more work. When I’m on Tinder and it says I’m 69, I don’t get an answer. When I’m 49, with the face I have, I will be in a luxurious position.”

Ratelband even asserted that doctors have told him he has the body of a man 20 years younger, and he said that he was willing to renounce his right to a pension. He argues that if people are able to legally change their sex on documents, there is no reason why he should not be able to change his age.

I hope that as we read these stories of people identifying as a different age, we are able to understand that feeling like you are 20 years younger or 40 years younger does not really make you that age. I hope that we understand that even though identifying as a different age might help avoid suicidal thoughts, being discriminated against on dating apps, or denied resources, it does not really change biologically what is. I hope we understand that there are also broader societal and legal consequences to being able to legally change one's age. That an adult might identify as a certain age to trick kids into trusting them so they can sexually abuse them, and/or that allowing an adult to legally consider themselves a different age would make it easier for adult predators to gain legal access to kids in environments in which they would normally be socially and legally discouraged from being in.

#trans #trans identity #transgender #trans pride #trans people #LGBTQ #lgbtq community #gender #transage #transabled #transracial #racism #ageism #sexism #ableism #disability rights #gay rights #LGB #women's rights #elder rights #mental health

[nocek]

Some Miguel and Gabriella doodles form last month :) I just hadn't had the motivation to turn them into proper drawings.

But the bottom two actually are part of my headcanons:

So starting with the happy one as in the one on the right:

I headcanon that Miguel actually ended in Gabriella's universe on accident and the multiversal travel didn't exist yet (to be more precise it was invented to look for Gabriella's father because Miguel didn't know that he was dead and just assumed they like switched places or something) and he explained the whole situation to Gabriella rightaway (because there is no way to be able to fit into another dude's life without a hitch even with I was bonked in the head recently excuse).

Gabriella was skeptical but decided to approach whole situation sitcom style. Dad was replaced by awkward but caring dude with superpowers - let's help him but also try the new boundaries. So she approached with hey dad runs twice a week and I ride the bike with him. I can show you our favorite route! And then proceeded to extend the route muuuuuch beyond what was humanly possible for her dad. And then beyond what was possible for her just out of curiosity if Miguel will ask to stop. Well he didn't so now after long ice cream break he needs to carry her home because she totally absolutely is beat and cannot cycle anymore (and also this way is more fun).

And the second separate depressing au headcanon that is not as tied to the picture but I guess I'll share it here:

While the Gabriella's universe was falling apart all the spiders there just grabbed as many civilians as possible and jumped through the portals. So Gabriella and couple dozen displaced people are alive at spiders hq and things are maybe better but also worse.

Since Gabriella is alive Miguel can't go sulk in the corner in his office. He needs to put on a front for her. Which most likely doubles the pressure that he already puts on himself.

Gabriella isn't an idiot and figures it out so she also tries to put on a front.

But to add a little spider whimsy and make the whole thing a bit happier - here comes Gwen.

Miguel was just as grumpy about letting her join spider society as was in the movie buuuuut Gabriela decided that Gwen being the slightly older girl with a little bit of alternative vibe is the coolest person ever and we will be best friends. And you are a ballerina!!!! I want to try ballet too!

Which in turn forced Miguel to be nice like to other Gabriella's friends and maybe be a bit more mindful and realize that Gwen needs more than place to stay and new friends and coworkers. She is too young to just jump into adulthood. She needs her father or better father figure.

And he tries to dump that on Peter B which doesn't work because Peter suffers form serious case of baby brain but also sees Gwen more like a equal adult and friend.

Besides the idea of Miguel trying to be nice and failing at because he approaches it form his experience with Gabriella standpoint while dealing with teenager is kinda fun and I like it.

#spiderverse #across the spiderverse #spider man: across the spider verse #miguel o'hara #gabriella o’hara #spiderman #spiderman 2099 #spiderman 99 #long headcanon below the cut #actually i have them even longer with specific scenes in mind #but like i can't write a fic to save my life #so disjointed doodles and random text tidbits is all :< #maybe i should try to do a longer comic #a bit outside of my comfort zone #and outside of my i need to do it quickly or i wont finish it at all zone #ehhh #idk if there is a point in drawing disjointed scenes #it would be hard for anyone to give a damn #and discouragement circle would obliterate me

[little-pondhead]

So, for the Supervillain Danny and Everlast Trio Villains Au's....

What about Jazz?

Since I understand everyone's villain alter ego is based around their trauma and becoming their own antithesis and what not, I'd like to think that Jazz's alter ego would be a bad girl, kinda like Ember and Kitty (the former who mind controlled her twice and the latter who almost took her place while slowly corrupting her), maybe with a hint of Spectra (the school councilor thing, the hospital thing, and that one time with all three of them).

Instead of being the nice, normal girl who tries to be perfect, she's a loose cannon who does all the wild teen stuff, doesn't care about anyone accept for those who are in her 'gang', and will absolutely resort to violence the first chance she gets. Maybe she also has some kind of mind control powers, given how these incidents relate to her being under someone else's control.

Maybe she doesn't come around as often, because she has college and the like, but once she does, things get messy as she takes the chance to let out all her school related stress.

you have read my m i n d

Jazz had almost no childhood since she helped raise Danny from a very young age. She's intelligent and respectful and really wants to be an excellent example for Danny, so she acts as such. Therefore, Jazz never got to go through her 'teenage rebellion' phase. She wears modest clothes and upholds a pretty solid moral code. So here I present Nightingale, the punk-rock social justice warrior who comes and goes like a hurricane. She takes on the name Nightingale to avoid confusion, but once the JL realizes she and Fenton are related, some of the members consider going on a very long vacation to another world so they don't have to deal with this shit.

Now for her powerset, I'm not entirely sure if she should play meta or not. It's a common trope in fics that Jazz has been ecto-contaminated from her parent's experiments, thus giving her some sort of body enhancement. I played on that to give her a set of ears and teeth that match Danny's. She may not have ghost powers, but if she's fighting alongside Team Phantom, she must have some freaky abilities, right? (I love the mind control idea, btw) I feel like Jazz would be the Exception, where she's obviously enhanced in some way, but it's not an obvious power she can consciously separate herself from. It's like trying to tell your body to stop using your eyes. Unless other outside forces are preventing it, Jazz can't really not use her enhanced strength or speed. It drives the JL nuts because either Nightingale is a very weak meta or just an Olympic-level teenage athlete, and no one will spill the beans.

Also, this is personal preference, honestly, but I think it'd be really fucking funny if the DC universe is where Jazz and Danny have all their sibling fights. At home, they have to put up a united front so their parents don't get suspicious and the house doesn't kill them. (Also so none of the rogues takes advantage of their anger at each other) But they're siblings. Even if Jazz and Danny are the best of friends, they have to have arguments over the stupidest stuff. That's practically rule number one of having a sibling. So they go there to blow off steam and duke it out like they've always wanted to. It's mostly to release tension and stress, but each fight is getting more and more elaborate, and this whole thing is ridiculous. None of the heroes get paid enough for this. They're just gonna sit back and watch the show.

#pondhead replies #doodles from a pond #supervillain danny au #let jazz go apeshit #as a treat #GASP #I THINK #INSTEAD OF DANNY ADOPTING CONNER #JAZZ SHOULD #THAT WOULD BE SO FUNNY #also i just realized i spelled 'nightingale' wrong in the sketch #fuck me i guess #danny phantom #danny phantom au #dp crossover #dp x dc #dc x dp #justice league #dpxdc

[illya-roma]

DP X DC PROMPT- (Fic that I'd totally probably might write)

Jason had learned from being a Robin to being Red Hood to expect a lot of things, from fighting the deranged to expecting the unexpected like daina (WONDER WOMAN!) being mind controlled.

But he never expected this.

He usually doesn't come here to begin, not after- after it happened, but he does each time whenever the pits wants to remind hims of what he could have lost. (What he lost, how it hurt hurt hurt. How HE hurt them. He knows that even if they forgive him, they'll never trust him again. The pit laughs from behind)

But tonight, in front of him sat someone?something? what appears to be a teenager from 14 to 16, with red hair that flickers similar to a flame and skin too pale and ears too pointy.

But it?she? sat on one of the headstone with her eyes glazed, too deep in her own thoughts.

A series of bubbles cut her off. She proceeded to put the baby (that seemed completely human) on her shoulder and allowed him to burb. Then cocooned him in blankets and hummed him to sleep.

Right now, he isn't red hood (or Robin). And his gun may not affect her, that is if the child belongs to someone else. (Did the parents give them to her? Or is she related? Have any alarms of a breakout occur that a meta? experiments? escape?).

(He sounds like Bruce.)

"A penny for your thoughts?"

The girl had her eyes on the child, with a small sad smile and flickers of flaming hair. "Just..."

"Just wondering what my grave would have looked like."

He sucked a breath.

"That ones yours...right?"

The girl (child ghost holy fuck!) nodded her head to his own grave. "Y-yeah...it's mine."

"It's beautiful... And well cleaned...They must've cared a lot, mister Jason."

He never thought about that. A well taken grave describes a caring family wouldn't it? (They do care! How is it still clean though?)

"Yeah...but uh...um...What's up with the..the baby?" Is the baby alive?

"Oh...Noone will take care of my baby boy... So.. I had to come back..."

She pushed back a few strands of black hair with tender eyes and the lightest touch. As if he where the most fragile crystle.

Jason could see himself in the child. All loved to the point his own mother would give up everything just for him. Except it was Bruce, it was Bruce that took him in and loved him. Standing beside his bed during nightmares when he cried and taking away the monsters. Sitting with Alfred, cooking together and exchanging stories.

(His family loved him. His family loves him.)

"Would you like to fly with me?"

Robin made me magic

He keeps wiping his face while she put the baby in a safer position. "We can have a brawl for fun after I put little Danny in his bed a-" she stopped mid scentence when looking at him

He sputtered. " Is something wrong?"

With fear in her eyes she floated, creating distance between both of them. She shaked her head in disbelief.

"You...you died..."

He took a step farther, not wanting to scare them away.

"But..b-but your... nononono why do you look like that?!"

He wanted to ask like what, but she disappeared before his eyes. (Did she know he wasn't safe? That he hurt his family?)

...

Beep

"Hey Jaylad, is the pit be-

"B-Bruce"

"Jason, what's wrong? Are yo- what happend?"

"I'm sorry, I'm s-so sorry, I'm sorry! Dad I'm sor-"

"I'm coming, hang in there."

"Little Wing what's wrong?"

"Todd, who hurt you? Who should I kill?"

"Jason, back ups close. Breath with me, alright!"

(His family loves him)

(The pits were silenced)

_______________________________________

In an alternative universe the Fenton are still driving around and setting up traps, unfortunately Jazz is the one who removes them and got caught.

Since jazz is the one that doesn't wear hazmats and dany is still a baby (she makes sure is far from their experiments with ectoplasm), she becomes a ghost who decides that she doesn't want Danny to get hurt and takes him somewhere near a lot of ectoplasm.

Gotham: sweet baby girl, little baby harley.

Let the drama begin.

Chapter 2

#dp x dc #dp x dc crossover #dc x dp crossover #dc x dp #dp crossover #dp x dc prompt #dpxdc #dp x dc fanfic #dc x dp au #jazz was a child but sees herself as a teenager #not and adult like the not dependaple adults around her #and not a child tgat she needs help for #but is still a psychiatrist girl #angst #fluff #? #dp au #dp x dc au

[betterthanburrow]

All Of The Girls You Loved Before - Joe Burrow

Summary: With the two of you having different careers while working for the National Football League, it was destined that your paths would cross again… But, there wasn’t enough time in the world that could prepare you to see your childhood best friend for the first time in 8 years.

Genre: Fluff and Angst (Childhood Friends To Strangers To Lovers AU)

“Your Mother Brought You Up Loyal And Kind, Teenage Love Taught You There's Good In Goodbye, Every Woman That You Knew Brought You Here… I Wanna Teach You How Forever Feels” Taylor Swift; All Of The Girls You Loved Before.

Since your career as a journalist for the National Football League started in 2020, you’ve had the honor of being able to travel all across the United States and been apart of the broadcast team for some of the most memorable football games in the past few year.

Throughout your NFL journalist career; you’ve watched from the sideline as the journalists who have years of experience compared to you do their job of sitting down with football players from the 32 NFL teams throughout the season and ask them questions that football fans want to know about their NFL careers.

As the AFC Championship football game was happening this weekend; the NFL decided to give you the opportunity to interview one of the football players that will be playing in the AFC Championship.

When you were asked to do the interview, you were so excited for the opportunity that was given to you… but when the NFL gave you more information about which football player you would be interviewing before AFC Championship game, your heart sank to your stomach.

It wasn’t a surprise to you that the NFL wanted you to interview one of the most popular football players that would be playing in the AFC Championship… but out of all the popular football players the NFL could’ve chosen for your to interview, the NFL decided that they wanted you to interview the Quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals, Joe Burrow.

The issue with you doing an interview with Joe Burrow isn’t because he has some sort of bad reputation with journalists, because he doesn’t have a bad reputation with journalists. All of your co-workers that have worked with Joe Burrow in some kind of way has only had good things to say about him… The issue with you doing an interview with Joe Burrow is because the two of you have a lot of history together.

Before the world knew Joe Burrow as the Quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals, you knew Joe Burrow as your childhood best friend… The two of you grew up in Ohio together and attended elementary school, middle school, and high school together. It would be hard for you to deny that you had a crush on Joe during your childhood and teenage-hood, but the crush didn’t turn into any more as you made the decision to leave Ohio to attend a college out of the state while Joe had decided to attend Ohio State University alongside many other high school friend and classmates.

The two of you tried to keep in touch as best as you could but; as the two of you were experiencing life beyond the limitations of adolescence’s restrictions, the two of you grew apart… All of a sudden, there were no more texts and calls between the two of you and when you would go to visit in Ohio, you never stopped by The Burrow’s House and the sense of being home was gone when you would drive past their house.

Joe and you had chosen two different career paths that ultimately ended up leading the two of you back to each other… When you decided to take the job opportunity from the NFL to become apart of their journalism team, you knew that one day you would be face to face with the man that you knew once as your childhood best friends but was now a stranger to you, but the honest truth is that you didn’t wish that you would have to be face to face with him so soon.

There wasn’t enough time in that world that could prepare you for this interview, as you’re sitting in the room where the interview will be taking place… Your mind is racing through so many different thoughts as your leg is bouncing up and down because of nerves. As you look around the room to see the only people in here are the camera crew, you hope that they aren’t suspicious of your body behavior.

It was hard for you to not wonder if when Joe would arrive into the room where the interview would take place if he would recognize you… It has been almost 10 years since you’ve seen him in person and while your parents say that you look the same from when you were younger, you knew that you’ve grown up a lot these past few years into the young adult that you are.

“Y/N!” someone says, getting your attention. When you turn your head, you see that it’s the Director of the NFL’s Journalism Board, Irene, who called your name. “Joe Burrow should be here any minute… Do you have all your questions ready?!”

“Yes I do!” you exclaim as you showed her your Index Cards that have all the questions that you need to ask.

“That’s good to see!” Irene says. “All we have to do when Joe arrives is to get his lapel microphone on his shirt and then the interview can get started!”

Another few minutes went by, and before the Director of the NFL’s Journalism Board could start panicking about the NFL Quarterback being behind on schedule… There was a loud knock on the door and then suddenly, the door opened to reveal Joe Burrow and his team were here for the interview.

When the two of you make eye contact, his eyes widen due to the surprise of seeing his old childhood best friend for the first time since High School Graduation… As the two of you continued to stare at each other, not wanting to be the one to break eye contact, Joe’s team and the NFL crew starting having their own discussion.

For the entire day, Joe had been so nervous for the interview and he couldn’t figure out why because most of the time; he was never nervous about doing interviews even though he didn’t like doing interview… Joe knew that you started working for the NFL around the same time that he was drafted to the NFL, but he never thought that the two of you would cross paths.

Joe always felt like it was his fault for the reason why the communication between the two of you stopped, he was always busy with football practices classes, and being a young adult in college… Even though you were busy with your college life too you always tried to communicate with him but, Joe would never answer and then one day you stopped trying to communicate.

It was in that moment when Joe felt like he was once again a teenage boy that had the biggest crush on his childhood best friend… When he would watch you on TV during the broadcast segments alongside other NFL journalists; he could see your beauty just from the TV screen, but it has been years since he’s seen you right in front of him and it wasn’t hard for him to deny that you are more gorgeous than ever before.

Joe knew that he wouldn’t be able to do the interview with you unless the two of you were able to talk… but he knew that the chances of the two of you being able to talk were small because his team and the NFL crew needed to get this interview done as soon as possible, but Joe will take that small chance to talk to you.

As Joe’s teams and the NFL crew that were in charge of working behind the scenes are having a discussion about the interview; the two of you kept eye contact as Joe walked over to where you are sitting at with the index cards in your lap, because he felt like he needed to talk to you before the interview started.

“Hi…” Joe says nervously with his hands in his pockets.

“Hey…” you mumbled. “It’s been a long time hasn’t it.”

“Yeah it has…” Joe admits, “Listen I-“

“if you’re about to apologize for not keeping in contact with me, this isn’t the right time to do it.” you say, interrupting him. “Let’s focus on your interview.”

Joe nods his head and opens his mouth to speak again, but before he could say anything… One of the NFL crew members is calling his name so that they can out his lapel microphone on his shirt, so that the interview can get started as soon as possible.

The short conversation that Joe wanted to have with you didn’t go to plan… As he watched you speak to your manager and some of the members on his team about the interview, he realized that this wasn’t the right time to have any sort of discussion with you that wasn’t about the interview that will be happening soon.

It was clear that you didn’t want the NFL crew to know about the history between the two of you… There are stories about how NFL journalists that have a close connection with a football player could get into serious trouble. Joe knows how hard of a worker you are so he wouldn’t want to risk your career as a NFL journalist because you are one of the best in the business.

As everything for the interview was finally set up and ready to go, there was no more time to wait. It was time for the interview with Joe Burrow right before the AFC Championship football game against the Kanas City Chiefs, which is considered to be biggest football game of his career so far.

When the interview started, after introducing yourself and Joe, there was tension as this was the first conversation that the two of you had in many years… but you remained professional as you asked all of the questions that you had written down on your index cards that were about Joe’s career in the NFL since being drafted in April 2020 and then listened to all of answers that Joe had to your questions.

The two of you sat across from each other and overtime as the interview continues… the tension slowly started to go away as the two of you became more comfortable speaking and listening to each other talk while still remaining professional for the cameras.

The interview was going better than you expected it to go, it was heartwarming to her your childhood best friend speak about his childhood dreams becoming a reality… It was hard for you to not get emotional while hearing about all of the struggles Joe had to go through to get to where he is in his football career in the NFL without you by his side to support him.

There were so many questions that you were asking Joe about the journey of his football career and you were award how overwhelming it could be for him to answer all of these questions… Even though Joe has never been a big fan of doing interviews, the interview that he is doing with you is his favorite interview that he will ever do during his football career.

After 10 minutes of the two of you going back in forth in conversation with you asking questions and Joe giving you the answers that you wanted… The interview was coming to an end, and it’s safe to say that the NFL crew and Joe’s team were very impressed with how the interview went.

“Good job Y/N and Joe! That was an excellent interview!” Irene said. “The interview should be available on YouTube and the NFL website the day before the AFC Championship football game, hopefully it doesn’t take long to edit the interview.”

“That’s good to hear!” Joe’s manager says clapping their hands in excitement. “I have to say… I’m really happy that Y/N was chosen to interview Joe because the chemistry the two of you have with each other made it seemed like I was watching two old friends catch up rather than watching an interviewer and a football player have a conversation.”

Joe looked down to the ground with a small blush on his face as you tried your best to not show a reaction to the statement that Joe’s manager said… You couldn’t hope but wonder if Joe had told his manager about the history between the two of you before the interview.

As the NFL crew starts packing all the equipment after unclipping the lapel microphones off of your shirt and Joe’s shirt… You decided that now was the best time to leave the interview room to go to your office to start working on some articles that needed to be published before the AFC Championship.

It was easy to sneak past everyone as the NFL crew was occupied with packing the equipment while the Director of the NFL’s Journalism Board and Joe’s team were having a conversation… but it didn’t take long for Joe to notice that you were no longer in the room, and he decided that this was another chance for the two of you to talk if he was able to find out where you went.

“Hey Irene… Where is the restroom?!” Joe asked, interrupting the conversation between the Director of the NFL’s Journalism Board and his manager.

“It’s right down the hallway to the right!” Irene replies.

“Thank you… I’ll be right back!” Joe says before standing up out of his chair and walking out the room.

Joe started to walk down the hallway of the NFL Headquarters trying to figure out where you could be… He examined all of the signs that were displayed on the closed doors, Joe figured that if he couldn’t find a door that could lead him to you then the next option would be for him to check the lobby of the NFL Headquarters.

It didn’t take long for Joe to find a door that had a sign with your name on it, he assumed that his was your office and it made sense that this is where you would be after doing your job of interviewing him… Joe said a silent prayer that this is where you are and then he knocked on your office door.

He thought that he would’ve heard your voice to invite him inside your office, but instead he heard footsteps coming closer to the door as his heart started to race… When the door opened to reveal that it was you behind the door, he was so happy that he found you.

Meanwhile, you were surprised to see Joe right in front of you. When you took the opportunity to sneak out of the interview room, you weren’t expected Joe to follow you to your office… But something that you knew is that if Joe had followed you to your office it meant that he thought this would be the right time to talk to you, and you still don’t think now is the right time to talk.

“Joe?!” you exclaimed after opening your office door. “What are you doing here, I thought you and your team would’ve left the building by now?!”

“I couldn’t leave without getting a chance to talk to you.” Joe confessed.

“Joe… there’s nothing for us to talk about?!” you said.

“What do you mean…” Joe asks as a confused look appears on his face, “There is so much we could talk about… It’s been 8 years since we’ve talked, it’s clear that a lot of things have happened in the past 8 years!”

you sighed… “Joe… now it’s not the best time.”

Joe was about to defend the decision that now was the right now, when he heard his name being called from a distance… The two of you turned your heads to see his manager walking down the hallway and before Joe could try to speak up again, you interrupted him.

“I think you should go…” you insisted. “Good luck on the AFC Championship game this Sunday! I’ll be rooting for the Bengals to win!”

It broke Joe’s heart as you close the door in his face. He really thought that this was the right opportunity for the two of you to talk, but it’s clear to him now that you wanted to remain professional with him even though the interview between the two of you is done.

Joe was still standing in front of your closed office door when his manger walked up to him… His manager didn’t hear the short conversation between the two of you, but was curious about what Joe was doing outside of your office door since it had been almost 10 minutes since he left the interview room.

“What are you doing?!” his manager asked.

“I was just thanking Y/N for the good interview since she had left the room before i got the chance to thank her.” Joe lied as he started walking away from your office down to go back to the interview room.

“Thanks very nice of you.” his manager says smiling as she started to walk down the hallway beside Joe, “Like I said earlier… I’m glad that Y/N was chosen to interview you, I’ve been very impressed with her work for a long time and knew that she would be the perfect interviewer for you before the AFC Championship.”

“Wait… You were the one of set up the interview between Y/N and I?!” Joe asked as he stopped walking, causing his manger to stop walking.

“In a way, yes I was.” His manager answered. “The NFL reached out to me to set up the interview but I made a special request for Y/N to be the journalist to interview you. After you left the interview room, Irene and I were talking about Y/N’s work ethics and how the NFL journalists board are planning on promoting her soon.”

“That’s good to hear!” Joe said as the two of them starting walking back to the interview room. When they got back to the room, Joe noticed that most of the camera equipment was no longer set up and that most of the NFL crew who were in the room before he left to find Y/N were no longer in the room and he took that as a sign that it was time to go back to the hotel.

Joe and his team took their time to say their goodbyes to Irene and the rest of the people in the interview room before gathering their belongings and exiting the room to leave the NFL Headquarters because they had a plane flight to catch soon as Joe needed to get back home to Cincinnati to start practicing with the football team to prepare for the AFC Championship.

-

It’s been over a week since the interview with Joe Burroe happened, and let’s just say that a lot of things have happened throughout the past few days…

The interview between you and Joe was published the day before the AFC Championship football game and it’s safe to say that football fans really enjoyed the interview. Within the first 24 hours, there were multiple viral tweets and viral tiktoks of clips from the interview.

While the NFL journalism board was very impressed by the success of the interview, it was very overwhelming for you to experience because all of a sudden there were thousands of people following and stalking your social media accounts to see if they can find anything to bring attention too... It didn’t take long for football fans to find something to bring attention to; they were able to figure out that you and Joe had known each other from high school due to old photos that were posted onto your Instagram that you didn’t delete, but thankfully football fans didn’t go stalking your Facebook account or they would’ve figured out that you and Joe had known each other since childhood.

Luckily, no one from the NFL journalism board has brought it to your attention that they know that you and Joe have some history together… You hope that if it is brought up in an future meeting; you’ll be able to convince everyone that you and Joe were just high school classmates and not childhood best friends, because you couldn’t risk the position of your career.

The other good news is that the Cincinnati Bengals won against the Kanas City Chiefs and are the AFC Champions for the 2021-2022 NFL season and are going against the Los Angeles Rams at the Super Bowl in less than two weeks… You have watched many football games throughout your life, but you don’t think you had ever been so nervous watching football so it was a relief when the game was finally over.

You were so proud of the Cincinnati Bengals football team, but you were even more prouder for Joe… It made you emotional as you watched him speak at the media press conference about how much winning the AFC Championship meant to him and how proud he is of the football team for making it all the way to the Super Bowl after a long football season.

What made the AFC Championship victory even more special is that you go to celebrate the victory in your childhood home in Ohio with your mom, who has been a longtime fan of the Cincinnati Bengals football team since she was a little girl.

The city of Cincinnati was alive as the people were celebrating the AFC Championship victory for days… Everyone in the city was wearing their Bengals merchandise and making it known that they were proud of the football team that represents the city.

The AFC Championship victory allowed people to talk with each other no matter where they were… They could be at the park, in line at the grocery store, at the bank, or any other place in Cincinnati and the conversation was about the AFC Championship.

It’s been few days since the AFC Championship football game and there was only a few days left of your visit in Ohio before you had to leave to catch a flight to Los Angeles to prepare for the Super Bowl… Due to the success of the interview with Joe Burrow, the NFL wants you to be apart of one of the pre-show broadcasts alongside other NFL journalists which was an opportunity you had never had before.

You were at the kitchen table, proofreading one of your articles on your laptop when you heard the keys unlocking the front door… When your mom asked you what you wanted for lunch, you begged her to order your favorite food from the local Mexican Restaurant that you have eaten at in many years and after a while, your mom finally agreed to order and pick the food up at the restaurant.

The front door is unlocked and you hear your mom’s footsteps as she walked to the kitchen after closing the front door… You can tell by the expression on her face that she is in a very good mood, which wasn’t strange to you but it still made you curious as to what is making her so happy on a Thursday afternoon.

“You will never guess who I ran into at the Mexican Restaurant!” your mom exclaims as she’s putting the bags of food on the kitchen counter.

“No… Hi, Hey or Hello. We’re just going straight to the point?! you ask as you start to open the bags of food to search for your plate-lunch.

“Just make a guess.” your mom says, but before you could think of a guess of who your mom met that has her so happy, she decides to give you the answer.

“I ran into Robin!” your mom exclaims, as your heard the name you stopped everything that you were doing to look at your mom with a shocked look on your face.

Since the AFC Championship was bringing the citizens of Cincinnati together in union; it’s no surprise that after 8 years, two mothers who are very supportive of their child’s careers in the NFL were reunited again.

Robin and your mother, Matilda, became close friends when the friendship between you and Joe started and tried to remain close friends even when the two of you grew apart… But overtime, it became harder for the two women to remain close friends and grew apart.

“I couldn’t believe who it was when I saw her, but then she sat next to me while I was waiting for the food and she recognized me.” your mom explains. “It has been so long since I’ve seen her, I think the last time was at your College going away party… It was just by pure coincidence that Joe begged to have food from the Mexican Restaurant just like you did.”

“Oh… well that’s good to hear!” you say, as you grab your plate lunch and walk back to your seat at the kitchen table.

“She also talked about how much she loved the interview that you and Joe did and that she was so happy that the two of you are friends again!” your mom says as she is sitting down next to you at the kitchen table with her plate lunch.

“Mom… I don’t think Joe and I are friends again, all we did was work together for one thing. I haven’t talked to him since the day of the interview.” you explain.

“According to Robin, Joe is happy that you’re in his life again.” your mom says.

“I wouldn’t say I’m in his life again… It’s more like I showed up in his life again after 8 years.” you say. “I’m not saying we can’t be friends again, it’s more like we haven’t had the chance the talk about why we stopped being friends… And I don’t think we’ll have to time to talk before I have to leave Ohio.”

“Well… maybe you’ll have time to talk to him tonight.” you mom suggests.

“What do you mean?!” you ask.

“Robin invited us over to their house to celebrate the success of the interview between you and Joe and to celebrate the AFC Championship victory for the Bengals!” your mom exclaims and once again, you stopped everything that you were doing to look at your mom with a shocked look on your face.

“Wait a minute… We’re going to The Burrow’s House tonight?!” you asked.

“Yes! It’s been so long since we’ve been at their house, I remember when we used to go over there almost every weekend… “Now you have the time to talk to Joe before you leave Ohio maybe you could finally tell him about the crush!” you mom teased.

“Mom!” you exclaim.

“What?! Do you really think that I didn’t know about the crush that you had on him ?!” your mom asked. “I always thought that the two of you would’ve gotten together by the end of high school… I guess life took the two of you on different patches but, now your paths are crossed again and this could be the opportunity for you to confess your feelings.”

“Mom… I stopped having a crush on Joe years ago when we were in high school.” you admit. “I stopped liking him in that kind of way when I realized that he would never like me in that way.”

Your mom reach for your hand to give a squeeze of comfort before letting go and then she responds “Darling, I watched the two of you grow up from being young kids to young adults. I promise that even if he didn’t like you a romantic way, he likes you in a special way… And I watched the interview, I could see his eyes light up when talking to you just like his eyes lit up when he was younger. I don’t think 8 years apart changed anything for the two of you; I think you just have to be smart on how you want to handle the universe giving the two of you a second chance.”

You sat in silence to take a moment to think about what your mom just said as she stand up to bring both of your plate-lunches to the kitchen counter since the two of you were finished eating lunch… When she walks back to the kitchen table, she gives you a back hug and a kiss on the forehead and you smile at her.

“In a few hours we’ll leave to go to The Burrow’s Head, Robin gave me her new phone number so I’ll text her to see if she needs us to pick up something from the store after we leave our house.” your mom says.

“Alright! That’s sounds like a good plan!” you exclaim, then your mom walks out of the kitchen to go into the living room as you grabbed your laptop to start working on proofreading your articles before you have to start getting ready to go to The Burrow’s House.

-

The hours of the afternoon went by fast and a wave of nostalgia hits you harder than you could expect as you and your mom are walking up the pavement towards the front door of The Burrow House… It has been years since you’ve walked along the pavement, but you still feel like the little girl who is on her way to The Burrow House for a play date with her best friend.

When the two of you walk up the patio steps to reach the front door of The Burrow House, before your mom could knock, the front door is already started to open…“Matilda! Y/N!” Robin exclaimed after she opened the door and moving to her left side to let the two of you in the house “It is so good to see the two of you again!”

“It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve been here!” your mom exclaims, pulling Robin into a hug.

When the hug between then is over, Robin looks over to you and smiles with tears forming in her eyes.

“Y/N! It’s been way to long since I’ve seen you!” Robin exclaims, pulling you into a tight hug. “It’s so good to see you, I missed you so much!”

“I missed you too.” you say, as you start to get emotional as well. It’s been so long since you’ve seen Robin and you’ve always considered her to be another guardian in your life that you could trust.

“When Joe told me that you were the one to be interviewing him before the AFC Championship, I didn’t believe him!” Robin exclaims as the two of you are pulling away from the hug. “And then I watched the interview and still couldn’t believe it, I was just so happy to see the two of you together again!”

As the three of you walk out of the front door hallway, you’re looking around the house to try and see if there are any differences. While there are a few differences that are easier to recognize such as some new furniture and decor items, new photos in the picture frames, and the new wooden floors… There is still the sense of familiarity that causes a heavy feeling in your chest.

“Is that Matilda and Y/N I see?!” a recognizable voice loudly asks that causes you to jump and turn around.

“Jimmy!” your mom exclaims as the two of them walk towards each other to hug. “It’s so good to see you!”

“I didn’t believe Robin when she told me that she saw you earlier today!” Jimmy says. “I can’t believe you’re here again in our house after all of these years!”

Since your dad had passed away when you were a toddler, Jimmy was someone that you always considered to be a father figure in your life. Whether you were having car troubles or had a clogged drain, Jimmy was always there to help you and your mom out whenever it was needed.

When your mom and Jimmy pulled away from the hug, Jimmy immediately pulls you into a hug and you couldn’t help but get emotional once again of being reunited with people you love in The Burrow House.

“It’s so good to see you again!” Jimmy exclaimed, as the two of you pulled away from the hug. “Look at you! Look how much you’ve grown, I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve seen you!”

“It’s good to see you too Jimmy!” you say.

You continue to look around the house as the three of you make your way into the living room, you noticed that there was no sight of Joe yet which made you wonder if he was home… It was hard for you to not start overthinking that Joe left the house because he didn’t want to see you again after the way you acted on the day of the interview. You hope Joe was smart to realize that you did want to talk to him, you just didn’t want to have the conversation at your work place.

“Where is Joe?!” your mom asked as the two of you sit in the coach. “I assumed he would be here because after all… this is a dinner to celebrate the success of the interview and the AFC Championship victory!”

“Joe is stopping at the store to buy the ingredients for salad that I forgot before coming over to the house… I was so focus on getting the ingredients for my lasagna that I forgot the salad!” Robin exclaimed. “He should here soon because he texted me that he left his house almost 15 minutes ago, I know he’s excited to see Y/N.”

Your cheeks turned red as you blushed and looked down at your hands to fidget with your rings. You couldn’t help but feel like a little girl with the biggest crush on Joe again… You didn’t know if loved or hated how Joe is able to have so much control over how you feel like he did when the two of you were growing up.

While your mom, Robin, and Jimmy were engaging in conversation; you sat and listened as you look at the collage of framed photos that were nailed wall … There were a few new framed photos like from Joe’s college graduations and NFL football games, but the majority of the pictures on the wall you recognized.

A few minutes later, all three of you looked towards the hallway after hearing the front door was being unlocked which meant that Joe was home… Your fingers started to fidget with your rings as you began to feel so nervous to the point where you think you are more nervous to see Joe in his childhood home then when you found out that you had to interview Joe.

It didn’t take long for Joe to walk into the living room with grocery bags hanging from his arm as he goes to say a quick hello and giving a hug to his parents before walking over to the couch. “Hello Miss Matilda!” Joe exclaims as your mom stands up from her spot on the couch to give him a hug.

“Hello Joe!” your mom says, as the two of them are hugging. “It’s so good to see you after so many years! Look how handsome you’ve grown up to be!”

“Thank you.” Joe said, as they pulled away from the hug. “It’s good to see you too!”

When Joe looks over at you and smiles as you stand up to hug him, you can feel your heart beating fast… The high didn’t last long since you didn’t want to make things awkward in front of your mom and his parents.

“It’s good to see you again Y/N.” Joe says as the two of you sit next to each other on the couch with some space in between the two of you.

“It’s good to see you again too.” you reply, as cross one leg over the other to get comfortable on the couch.

“Joe… I think you should bring the grocery bags to the kitchen.” your mom says, as she points to the grocery bag that was still hanging from Joe’s arm.

“Oh! I forgot that was there…” Joe exclaims. “I’ll be right back-“

Before Joe could stand up to walk the kitchen, Robin stops his actions. “Just hand me the bags, I was about to walk to the kitchen to check on the lasagna… How about you and Y/N go to your childhood bedroom to catch up while the three adults talk?!”

“Mom… Y/N and I are adults.” Joe says as he hands his mom the grocery bags before she walks out of the living room and into the kitchen.

“Joe… You know that the two of you will always be a kids in your mother’s eyes.” Jimmy states.

“And in my eyes as well…” your mom says. “I just can’t believe the two of you have grown up so quickly. I remember when the two of you were just little kids playing on the elementary school’s playground.”

“Don’t start bringing up their childhood memories or else I’m going to start getting emotional.” Robin yells from the kitchen as she can overhear the conversation.

“It’s more like she’s going to start getting emotional again.” Jimmy whispers, “I had to stop her from going her from going through all of the photo albums.”

“I do plan on going through those photos albums tonight with all of us here.” Robin yells from the kitchen, making it known to everyone that she overheard what her husband. “And by the way… The lasagna should be ready in 30 minutes.”

As your mom decided to go into the kitchen to see if Robin needed help and to continue their conversations from earlier that day… Joe instructs you to follow him as the two of you stood up from the coach to walk upstairs to Joe’s childhood bedroom.

When Joe opens his bedroom door, allowing you to walk inside the bedroom first… You noticed that nothing has changed since high school; the furniture is the room were the same and all of his posters of Star Wars and his favorite NFL Teams were still on the wall.

“I’m surprised to see nothing has changed at all.” you say as you sit on the bed while still looking around the bedroom, trying to find something that’s changed.

“Well… I moved out after high school and we already have a guest room in the house, so there was really no point of changing anything.” Joe answers, while sitting next to you. “It’s weird walking into this room because I feel like I time-traveled back to my childhood.”

“There definitely was this weird feeling of nostalgia that hit me when I walked into the room.” you said.

The two of you sat in silence for a few minutes, with Joe looking at the floor while fidgeting with the bracelets on his wrists while you are still looking around the room… It’s been 8 years since you’ve been in this bedroom and everything felt so familiar.

When you look at the framed photos that are on Joe’s dresser, one of the framed photos caught your eyes which causes you to stand up from your spot on the bed to get a better look of the photo… Joe watched as you pick up the framed photo and smile.

“I didn’t know you framed this photo of us!” you ask, as you hold up the framed photo for him to see.

“Yeah… It’s one of my favorite photos of us.” Joe answers. “I just didn’t know it would be our last photo.”

You frowned as you look down at the framed photo. The photo in the frame was of the two of you at your high school graduation, neither of you knew at the same time that it would be your last photo together.

Your heart sank to your stomach, you didn’t mean for your friendship to end the way it did… The two of you just didn’t know how to communicate with each other due to the long distance of him in Ohio while you were in another state because of college.

“I’m sorry Joe.” you say, putting the picture frame back onto his dresser and then walking to the bed, sitting back down in your spot. “I’m sorry for a lot of things…”

“There’s nothing you need to apologize for…” Joe said.

“Yes there is!” you exclaimed. “Our friendship ended because we were terrible at communicating with each other because of long distance and then when you try to talk to me, I told you that there was nothing for us to talk about when there is so much I have to say to you!”

“You don’t need to apology for anything.” Joe says. “If anything I should apologize… You always tried to reach out to me to talk to me when I was at Ohio State and I never responded because I was busy doing nothing important. I’m the reason our friendship ended.”

“I’m not going to let you blame yourself.” you say as you scooched over to where Joe was sitting while placing your hand on top of his hand and giving you a smile…. Joe gave you a smile right back which causes your heart to start beating fast in your chest again and when you take your hand off of Joe’s hand, you swear you saw the smile on his face disappear for a second.

“And don’t say that our friendship ended… I don’t like the sound of that, it’s makes it sound like there was a big fight or a betrayal.” you say. “Let’s just say that our friendship took a break.”

“A break in our friendship does sound better than saying our friendship ended… because we’re friends again right?!” Joe asked.

“Yeah…” you sighed. “Just friends.”

There was a confused look on Joe’s face because of the way you responded. “Is there something wrong with us being friends?!” he asked. “You’re not going to risk your job because of our friendship right… I wouldn’t want to put you in that position.”

“No… No!” you say defensively. “There’s nothing wrong with us being friends.”

“You’re fidgeting with your rings Y/N.” Joe says. “You always fidget with your jewelry when you’re nervous.”

You didn’t realize what you were doing until you looked down at your hands to see that you are fidgeting with your rings... The fact Joe knows your cues for when you’re nervous just proves that he knows you so well after all of these years even when you’ve been apart.

“What are you nervous about?!” Joe asked. “Are you nervous about us being friends again because I promise that we won’t have another break in our friendship ever again.”

“I’m not worried about us being friends again for the reasons you think.” you reply. “I just don’t know if I can handle us just being friends again.”

“What do you mean?!” Joe asked, because he is so confused on why you are nervous to be friends again.

“I had a crush on you during our years in elementary school and middle school.” you confessed.

“Wait a minute… You had a crush on me when we were kids?!” Joe asked. You slowly nodded your head.

“Wow… I never realized it.” Joe surprisingly exclaimed.

“Wait… You never knew?!” you asked.

“No… I swear. I never knew about the crush that you had on me.” Joe said in disbelief.

“I thought it was obvious that I had a crush on you because everyone pointed it out to me.” you said.

“So… You only had a crush on me when we were in elementary school and middle school. Did the crush go away when we got to high school.” Joe asked.

“All those years I thought it was a silly little crush but then we got to high school… you started flirting and dating around with other girls and that’s when I thought that I’ll never have any chance of romance with you so I did everything that I could do to get rid of the feelings I had for you. It took a long time but by the end of high school, I didn’t have any romantic feeling towards you.” you confessed.

“Oh…” Joe sighed. “Because when we got to high school, that’s when I started to have a crush on you.”

The expression on your face was an expression that Joe couldn’t understand… He didn’t know if you were confused or surprised at his confession.

“You had a crush on me in high school?!” you asked.

Joe nodded his head and the expression on your face showed him that you were even more confused and surprised than before… “Wait… but you were always flirting with other girls and going on dates, why were you doing all of that when you had a crush on me?!”

“When I realized that I had a crush on you, I didn’t think that you and a crush on me… So I tried hanging out with other girls and flirting with them to try and distract myself from the crush I had on you so that I wouldn’t ruin our friendship.” Joe admitted.

“Oh…” you said.

“But then during our senior year… I realized that I couldn’t keep it a secret because it was tearing me apart on the inside. So I had made the decision to confess my crush on you after our high school graduation.” Joe confessed. “But then after our high school graduation, you told me that you would be going to a college out of state and I didn’t want to confess my crush to you incase it would change your mind about going to a college out of state because I didn’t want you to stay in Ohio just for me.”

You turned to look at the framed photo of the two of you at your high school graduation that was on Joe’s dresser and your heart sank to your stomach… When you turn around to look at Joe, you see the sorrow expression on his face.

“I wish you would’ve told me.” you say.

“Why?!” Joe bitterly asked. “So that you would tell me that you didn’t have a crush on me or that you would give up your dreams of going to a college out of the state to stay with me in Ohio!”

“Joe… we could’ve worked something out.” you say.

“Y/N… It was so hard for me to communicate with you after you left Ohio. I still had a crush on you when we got to college, it was getting harder and harder to live my life without you in it while having this big secret to myself. So I stopped our communication and I regretted it every single day for 8 years so that’s why I blame myself for our friendship ending.” Joe said.

“I told you not to blame yourself and I told you not to say that our friendship ended.” you muttered.

There was a few minutes of silence between the two of you. Joe didn’t know what to say next, he confessed his truth just like you confessed your truth… Just a few minutes ago; the two of you were on the same page of being friends again but now, the two of you didn’t know if there could be a chance of a friendship. 

As the two of you sit in silence, you could hear your parents voices downstairs in the kitchen as their laughing about something that was said in their conversation… You thought about what your mom said in her kitchen when you were nervous about talking to Joe about the history between the two of you.

“I don’t think 8 years apart changed anything for the two of you; I think you just have to be smart on how you want to handle the universe giving the two of you a second chance.”

This moment was the universe giving you and Joe another chance; not another chance to be friends, but another chance for the two of you to be together… You had your first chance when the two of you were in high school, and now 8 years later you have another chance to make sure that your paths are crossed forever.

“I thought that those feelings went away forever, but then when I saw you for the first time in 8 years… I realized that those romantic feelings never really went away.” you confessed. “That’s why I’m nervous to be friends again, because I can’t handle us just being friends because I want you in my life as mine.”

Joe didn’t know what to say as he blinked a few times and pinched himself on the wrist to make sure that he was dreaming… Because how was he w supposed to believe that after 8 years, the girl of his dreams was right in front of him confessing that her feelings for him never went away after all of this time apart.

Since he didn’t know what to say, Joe decided to let his actions speak lounder than words as he reach over to place the palms of his hands on your cheeks as he pulled you close to him, kissed you and hummed in glee when you kissed him back with no hesitation.

As the two of you were kissing, your hands were wondering from his shoulder to gripping the material of his shirt… While his hands were moving from your cheeks to your arms and waist to pull you into his lap as your arms were wrapped around his neck.

Things turned from an innocent kiss to a make-our session, the grip Joe’s hand had on your waist as he started to slowly rock your hips back and forth causing him to groaned from the pleasurable pressure.

The two of you were in your own world and forgot that the both of you are currently making out in Joe’s childhood bedroom while your parents are downstairs… In the moment, the two of you felt like teenagers who are sneaking around and hiding your relationship; When in reality the two of you are adults that had been hiding your true feelings for each other for over 10 years and are making up for lost time.

As the make out session was getting more heated, with your lips now kissing his neck as he groaned whispered sweet nothings under his breathe while sitting controlling the rhythm of your hips on his lap… The only thoughts on your mind right now were thinking about how you could pleasure him in other ways.

“Joe! Y/N! Dinner is ready!” Robin exclaims.

His mother’s voice causes the two of you to snap back into reality as the two of you freeze in the moment and realize where you are… You pull back from your spot to see his face again, with his hands still gripping your waist. When you look at his neck, you spot a few small bruises that were barely noticeable right now.

“We’ll be downstairs in a minute!” Joe yells.

“I guess we have one minute to look like we haven’t been making out for almost 10 minutes.” you whisper. “We better hurry up and fix ourselves up before one of our moms comes to see what’s taking us so long.”

The two of you quickly start fixing yourselves up, as you had to fix your lipstick and blouse while Joe had to fix his pants to try and hide his boner… When the two of check the mirror and see that you both look out together, it was time to go to the kitchen for dinner.

As the two of you exist his room and start to walk down the hallway to the stairs, Joe stop in front of you… “I want to say, before we go downstairs… I don’t want what just happened to be a one time thing… I want us to make this relationship work.” he stated. “We can talk more about it later but I just wanted you to know this before you start overthinking everything.”

“Okay… I understand.” you answer. “We’ll talk about things later and work it out between us.”

“That’s good to hear.” Joe says. “I can’t lose you again for another 8 years because of lost communication.”

You gave Joe a small frown as you lean up to give him a quick kiss. “We’re never going to lose each other again.” you promised.

Joe nodded his head and then the two of you continued to walk downstairs to make your way into the kitchen where you say your mom and his parents preparing their dinner plates.

“I was just about to go upstairs to tell the both of you that it’s dinner time!” Robin exclaims, “I guess nothing really has changed between the two of you in 8 years.”

Joe and you looked at each other and smiled, knowing that while Robin is right about how nothing has changed between the two of you in 8 years, there are some things that have changed between the two of you… but the things that have changed are changing between the two of you for better not for worse.

-

The five of you sat down at the dining room table and ate the lovely dinner of salad and lasagna that Robin has spent hours cooking as you all chatted amongst yourselves about the your careers, the interview, the AFC Championship victory, and the future of what are the plans after football season ends.

Robin stuck to her word because after everyone was finished eating dinner and the kitchen was cleaned with the plates and utensils were in the dishwasher… Everyone was gathered in the living room with photo albums in their hands, looking at all the photo memories throughout your childhoods.

You and Joe were sat close to each other on the couch as the two of you were looking at a photo album with photos on every page throughout your elementary school years… As Joe was flipping through the pages, one of the photo caught your eye which causes you to grab Joe’s hand to stop him from flipping the pages.

“I forgot about this photo… This was always my favorite photo of us!” you exclaim, pointing to the photo. It was a photo from a Halloween Party that happened when the two of you were in 2nd grade, Joe was dressed up as a NFL football player and you were dressed up as Princess Belle as the two of you were smiling big while holding up a book and a football.

“Which photo are you talking about?” your mom asks and Joe holds up the photo album to show her as you point to the picture since she is sitting in the recliner across from the two of you in the living room.

“That is such a cute photo of the two of you!” Robin exclaims. “That is one my favorite photos as well!”

“I definitely will be framing the photo.” Joe whispers to you as he puts the photo album down in his lap and started flipping through the pages again.

As everyone looked through the photo albums and talked about the memories. You couldn’t help but look around the room and smile because for the first time in 8 years, two families were reunited as one family.

If there is one thing that you’ve learned; is that when the universe gives you another chance, you take that chance… The two paths you and Joe had taken since high school graduation have lead you back to each other. Now you want to know what forever feels like with Joe as your two paths cross over and become one path that the two of you will walk on together.

Author’s Note:

a few months ago; i got a request message in my Inbox from @minidinkoidd to write a story inspired by All Of The Girls You Loved Before… and i’m so happy that i was able to write this fanfiction!

thank you all for the love and support! 🤍

#Joe Burrow #NFL #CFB #LSU Tigers #Cincinnati Bengals #Joe Burrow Fanfiction #Joe Burrow Fanfic #Joe Burrow Fic #Joe Burrow x Reader #Joe Burrow x OC #Joe Burrow x Y/N #Joe Burrow Imagine #Joe Burrow OneShot #NFL Fanfiction

[crazylittlejester]

honestly, the fandom dismisses wars trauma a little too much. Have you noticed it’s always never brought up in his character studies? And when it is, it’s totally brushed off him and cia had a WEIRDDD age gap. It’s also weird hyrule warriors never acknowledges this. I honestly don’t think it’s gonna be recognized in LU but idk. It’s just weird how quickly the fandom brushed over all that. What’s your opinion? Cuz you have cool opinions lol

Disclaimer: Everything you’re about to read is my opinion and my interpretation of a game. I’m not talking about headcanons (unless otherwise specified), I’m just talking about my experience with the game and everything else. All of this is from MY perspective interacting with the canon material from both Hyrule Warriors and Linked Universe. Also! I am dyslexic, my bad for oddly autocorrected words or weird spelling mistakes

A huge reason I started yapping so much on this blog was because I saw a lot of people either actively disliking Wars, making fucking INSANE comments about his body, overly sexualizing him, or just straight up dismissing him all together and it helped me get over my posting anxiety because it genuinely made me so upset. He’s been my favorite character since only a few posts into LU (i originally liked Twilight better based sheerly on design but it took like only a few posts before that changed), and I love HW Link in general, and I thought it was actually crazy that more people didn’t like him. I’ve written several of my own characters studies on him, some of which I’ve posted, others lay trapped in my old laptop in the form of a full on analysis paper, never to see the light of day

You can send a full grown man to war and he will come back with trauma, imagine what happens when you grab some poor teenager and tell him everything relies on him. Literally forget Cia for a minute, Link as a teenager was taken and shoved into a full on war where his men turned on him and in order to survive, he had to kill. Monsters and hylians alike, it was him or them, and he’s the one who made it out. Not to mention he was constantly running all over the battle field trying to prevent the hylian captains from being defeated, and he most certainly lost many people he cared about just because he couldn’t get there in time. He had to carry around the guilt that this war was started because some sorceress was obsessed with him ON TOP of that

This was said earlier by an anon on a post I reblogged, and I’ve been saying it myself for months but I will say it again: If Warriors had been a girl and been obsessed over that same way, I fucking GUARANTEE you people would be taking it more seriously

I literally just typed in the character name and the game she’s from and that is what google had to say about her. If an older man was described as ‘harboring serious affections’ and having a ‘desire to claim’ a teenage girl I literally don’t think it would’ve been glossed over or ignored like it is

I don’t think nintendo was ever gonna elaborate or really recognize it in the game, they never go super in depth on anything in Zelda games from my experience, and I doubt Jojo will really get into it in LU mainly just because she has so much going on with eight other dudes and potentially two more (based on the header on the linked universe blog)

I saw a lot of characterizations of Warriors and opinions of him that made me so confused and also a bit mad, such that he is a womanizer or a stupid twink (of which he is neither), and that’s a huge reason I started writing fanfiction for this fandom. Firstly to just create more content for my favorite character because I rarely saw any that focused on him, and secondly because I didn’t like some (NOT ALL) of how I was seeing him characterized. (i cannot emphasize enough: NOT ALL people in the fandom characterized him this way, I saw plenty of amazing and beautiful characterizations of Warriors)

I do not think he is a womanizer at all, in fact I fully believe his flirtatious behavior is a defense mechanism. I think his ‘woman problems’ are the fact that he’s afraid of women (especially older women) he doesn’t know or trust, but also that’s just my opinion. And I am genuinely a bit worried that now that people have stopped talking about how they noticed he seemed off a few updates ago and now that they’re saying he’s back to normal that people are going to start reducing him to a stupid dramatic twink again, as if Warriors was not the one who came up with the initial plan to fight Dink and was not the first one to fight him. As if this is not a man who lead a god damn army. As if everything he’s done and everything he is no longer matters because he’s ‘pretty’

anyways I have a lot of thoughts about him in general and im just glad the fandom has been treating him better as of late, but i am a bit worried it’s just gonna go back to how it was

thanks for the ask!! sorry i got a bit carried away 😭

#linked universe #linkeduniverse #lu character analysis #hyrule warriors link #lu warriors #lu wars #lu warriors analysis #jes talks #jes ask

[emojellyace08]

Hi! Big fan of your oneshots. Can I request a female Gojo x lookism men characters. Where Gojo dies and is reincarnated into the popular webtoon Lookism but "HE" became a "SHE". Gojo being gojo causes mayhem wherever she goes and rizzing people especially teasing the students at J-high because she is now their teacher. And Gojo is more chaotic than Goo and I imagine her saying to Gun, "I'm the strongest". Since he reincarnated as a girl and in a world without curse energy he doesn't have any CE but he is still super strong just like the OP characters in the webtoon especially since he's an expert in the martial arts. He still has the six eyes but not as OP and draining he just can see really well than the average person.

Female! Gojo Reader x Lookism Cast!

𝐒𝐎𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐋𝐘 𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐈 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐀 (𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐉𝐉𝐊 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐥). 𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: 𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 (𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐲) 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: 𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬,𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 (𝐧𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝)

In the world filled with infinite possibilities, you wouldn't expect to end up in another universe. You, one of the most (if not) powerful sorcerer in the whole world ends up dying in the hands of Sukuna. And you wouldn't expect to get reincarnated in an ordinary world without curses. Well, that's what you thought at first.

You were first confused at how did you turn into a baby. But lucky for you, your family is part of one of the most wealthiest and powerful Yakuza in Japan. Growing up, you were confused about your identity. Asking your mom if you really turned into the opposite sex. "Ma, can I ask you something?" "Sure darling, what's the matter?" she asked with a sweet tone as she prepares your meal. "Am I really a girl?" "Well, physically you are a girl. But if you feel like not fitting with the other little girls, it's okay if you like masculine toys. But inside of you must be always genuinely kind and is ready to help others without wanting anything in return."

You may still have the familiar sapphire blue eyes, hair fluffy like clouds, skin white as snow, and your personality intact with your female body, you still can't help but to feel weirded out in your early life. Without your powers, you felt the familiar feeling of dread linger through your soul. All the training and physique were wasted because of that monster! But you forced your dad to teach you martial arts. He almost scolded and beaten you up for "disobeying" his rules as you are not fitted to replace his heir. Feeling that familiar burst of pride in your heart that wanted to explode and lash out to him and knowing to yourself that you have LOTS of experience in your past life as a Jujutsu Sorcerer, you trained yourself for years to prove your own father wrong and show him who really is the weak one. Time-skip ahead, you successfully graduated and hired as a teacher for Physical Education knowing that you are body-kinesthetic.

You made your way into the school hallways with your bag. Instead of books for your lessons that you will discuss about, it's filled with sweet treats (and some lip balms to keep yourself ✨sexy, gorgeous, and daring✨. You remember high-school days when many teenage boys at your age often fight outside your house when they used to court you. "Sorry, I'm not attracted to men and girls are really scary! Sheesh people are so cheesy these days!"

Knowing your instincts, you tend to be a bit too friendly with other people as you are excited to annoy another living soul in this earth today. "He~~LLO!" you greeted quite loudly as the poor guy squeaked in surprise at your presence. "WUAH FUCK! Oh, shi- I'm sorry sunsengnim!" (teacher). "Oh, NO WORRIES PAL. You must be new here, right?" you questioned as you introduced yourself to the new student. "Well, I am (*insert female name here*) and according to every men and women that I had rizzed, I'm the most prettiest and sexiest woman and teacher in this country. Well then nice to meet you." you winked as to express your friendliness as he awkwardly shook your pale hands with his sweaty ones. "Ah, I'm sorry for the overflowing enthusiasm. Let's go to your new class for us to meet them!" you chuckled as you ate your mochi, even offering to share Hyung-Seok but he politely declines.

The moment you and Daniel entered the Fashion Department class, everyone's jaws dropped as it almost hit on the floor for dramatic effect. And you know that you weren't wasting their time when you gave all those candies as prizes by making up a warm-up game before classes begins as they are already fond of you! The other boys trying to impress you as you platonically tease them even though you have no romantic attraction on them. And the GIRLS WOULD LOVE YOU SO MUCH. Your hair and eyes also makes them fond of you (especially Zoe since she's a Beauty-Nerd). "OMG ARE YOU AN ANGEL OR SOMETHING?!" she squealed as you let her braid her hair as you relaxed on your chair and placed your legs on the teacher's table despite it being against the rules on free time. The others were doing their own shenanigans as you keep telling them to quiet down. "So, you think I'm hot or something? I'm glad you know. Oh Zack stop abusing Jiho's hand it's just arm wrestling!'

And they also enjoy your performance activities too! Since their courses is all about sewing with those mind-twisting history behind it, of course they will get sleepy and stressed out about it. But being the bold and bright-spirited that you are, you know school won't be fun without a little stretch of your body. So you make sure that whatever you teach them sports will be easily followed, yet you tend to forget to uncomplicate the rules since you're pride and confidence gets in the way at times. Sports and a little bit of martial arts (especially with the boys) are so fun! Being competitive, you taught them not only the basic techniques and skills that all can master. But you also thought them discipline when using it as you also sighed to yourself that you can get a bit cocky when fighting too as the adrenaline keeps chasing you to your high when fighting a strong opponent. You can see Daniel, Zack, heck even Jay taking down notes to this. The other departments are also fond with you as they really idolize you as their teacher (especially The Architecture Department).

But despite having your comedic side, it's rest assured that you are not letting anyone slide whoever tries to mess with you or anyone you know or fond with. The bullies will just stare at you cowardly as you look back at them with your striking cerulean eyes yet they seem uncanny because of your menacing expression. "You little fuckers, didn't your parents told you to not disturb anyone in the way?" "WE'RE SORRY SUNGSENGNIM!"

Yet since your family background is REALLY involved with the gangs (and the 4 major crews as you have minor knowledge around it), you started to get involved with the drama. Not only because you want to protect the innocence of your students as you grew fond over them, but because you tend to get a bit bored on teaching and pissing off your co-teachers. You smirked as the thought of fighting strong opponents excites you.

And you're excitement matches up with the sturdy and powerful fighters in this universe. You even helping out your students to bring down some of the most-feared men in Korea like Jonggun and Jungoo. You even got to flirt with them with a moment before you went face-to-face with the two as you declined their offer as they asked you to be their new member for Charles Choi's success.

"Miss, I'll ask you again. Why is it that you don't want to join our team? Are you so worried about leaving your students?" The black eyed male whispered at your ear as crimson-red blood drips down to his chin as you smirked at the bruise you gave him at the side of his lips. "And for a hottie like you, I didn't expect you to be this strong! So why not join us for a million won and even more?!" the blondie exclaimed as he swung his pipe as his weapon of choice. Him looking around at the building with lots of damage done from your fighting. "First of all, that's three questions. And yes, I have no plans to team up with your shitty team since I like hanging out with my students. And lover boy take note of this, I'M GOING TO SHIT ON YOUR FACE BECAUSE I"M THE STRONGEST!" you maniacally laughed as you landed a kick on Shiro Oni's face once again as he's starting to feel aroused excited about the energy that you're giving him. "If so, then LET'S FUCKING KILL EACH OTHER RIGHT NOW!" he ripped his shirt off as he rushed towards you as you did the same with that smile. "OI YOU'RE FORGETTING ME HERE I'M THE MAIN CHARACTER!" Goo replied as he plans to attack you from the back.

#lookism x reader #lookism x y/n #lookism x you #daniel park x reader #lookism fic #gun park x reader #goo x reader

[icedbatik]

I saw this opinion piece in the New York Times and, while I don't normally copy and paste entire newspaper articles, this is an excellent (if scary) read.

Aside from the sections on how much lack of consent there is in today's sexual landscape, hockey fans -- who should be well aware of the dangers of concussions -- might take particular note of the section in which "choking" during sex is linked to brain damage on par with concussion damage.

The Troubling Trend in Teenage Sex

April 12, 2024

By Peggy Orenstein

Debby Herbenick is one of the foremost researchers on American sexual behavior. The director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Indiana University and the author of the pointedly titled book “Yes, Your Kid,” she usually shares her data, no matter how explicit, without judgment. So I was surprised by how concerned she seemed when we checked in on Zoom recently: “I haven’t often felt so strongly about getting research out there,” she told me. “But this is lifesaving.”

For the past four years, Dr. Herbenick has been tracking the rapid rise of “rough sex” among college students, particularly sexual strangulation, or what is colloquially referred to as choking. Nearly two-thirds of women in her most recent campus-representative survey of 5,000 students at an anonymized “major Midwestern university” said a partner had choked them during sex (one-third in their most recent encounter). The rate of those women who said they were between the ages 12 and 17 the first time that happened had shot up to 40 percent from one in four.

As someone who’s been writing for well over a decade about young people’s attitudes and early experience with sex in all its forms, I’d also begun clocking this phenomenon. I was initially startled in early 2020 when, during a post-talk Q. and A. at an independent high school, a 16-year-old girl asked, “How come boys all want to choke you?” In a different class, a 15-year-old boy wanted to know, “Why do girls all want to be choked?” They do? Not long after, a college sophomore (and longtime interview subject) contacted me after her roommate came home in tears because a hookup partner, without warning, had put both hands on her throat and squeezed.

I started to ask more, and the stories piled up. Another sophomore confided that she enjoyed being choked by her boyfriend, though it was important for a partner to be “properly educated” — pressing on the sides of the neck, for example, rather than the trachea. (Note: There is no safe way to strangle someone.) A male freshman said “girls expected” to be choked and, even though he didn’t want to do it, refusing would make him seem like a “simp.” And a senior in high school was angry that her friends called her “vanilla” when she complained that her boyfriend had choked her.

Sexual strangulation, nearly always of women in heterosexual pornography, has long been a staple on free sites, those default sources of sex ed for teens. As with anything else, repeat exposure can render the once appalling appealing. It’s not uncommon for behaviors to be normalized in porn, move within a few years to mainstream media, then, in what may become a feedback loop, be adopted in the bedroom or the dorm room.

Choking, Dr. Herbenick said, seems to have made that first leap in a 2008 episode of Showtime’s “Californication,” where it was still depicted as outré, then accelerated after the success of “Fifty Shades of Grey.” By 2019, when a high school girl was choked in the pilot of HBO’s “Euphoria,” it was standard fare. A young woman was choked in the opener of “The Idol” (again on HBO and also, like “Euphoria,” created by Sam Levinson; what’s with him?). Ali Wong plays the proclivity for laughs in a Netflix special, and it’s a punchline in Tina Fey’s new “Mean Girls.” The chorus of Jack Harlow’s “Lovin On Me,” which topped Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for six nonconsecutive weeks this winter and has been viewed over 99 million times on YouTube, starts with, “I’m vanilla, baby, I’ll choke you, but I ain’t no killer, baby.” How-to articles abound on the internet, and social media algorithms feed young people (but typically not their unsuspecting parents) hundreds of #chokemedaddy memes along with memes that mock — even celebrate — the potential for hurting or killing female partners.

I’m not here to kink-shame (or anything-shame). And, anyway, many experienced BDSM practitioners discourage choking, believing it to be too dangerous. There are still relatively few studies on the subject, and most have been done by Dr. Herbenick and her colleagues. Reports among adolescents are now trickling out from the United Kingdom, Australia, Iceland, New Zealand and Italy.

Twenty years ago, sexual asphyxiation appears to have been unusual among any demographic, let alone young people who were new to sex and iffy at communication. That’s changed radically in a short time, with health consequences that parents, educators, medical professionals, sexual consent advocates and teens themselves urgently need to understand.

Sexual trends can spread quickly on campus and, to an extent, in every direction. But, at least among straight kids, I’ve sometimes noticed a pattern: Those that involve basic physical gratification — like receiving oral sex in hookups — tend to favor men. Those that might entail pain or submission, like choking, are generally more for women.

So, while undergrads of all genders and sexualities in Dr. Herbenick’s surveys report both choking and being choked, straight and bisexual young women are far more likely to have been the subjects of the behavior; the gap widens with greater occurrences. (In a separate study, Dr. Herbenick and her colleagues found the behavior repeated across the United States, particularly for adults under 40, and not just among college students.) Alcohol may well be involved, and while the act is often engaged in with a steady partner, a quarter of young women said partners they’d had sex with on the day they’d met also choked them.

Either way, most say that their partners never or only sometimes asked before grabbing their necks. For many, there had been moments when they couldn’t breathe or speak, compromising the ability to withdraw consent, if they’d given it. No wonder that, in a separate study by Dr. Herbenick, choking was among the most frequently listed sex acts young women said had scared them, reporting that it sometimes made them worry whether they’d survive.

Among girls and women I’ve spoken with, many did not want or like to be sexually strangled, though in an otherwise desired encounter they didn’t name it as assault. Still, a sizable number were enthusiastic; they requested it. It is exciting to feel so vulnerable, a college junior explained. The power dynamic turns her on; oxygen deprivation to the brain can trigger euphoria.

That same young woman, incidentally, had never climaxed with a partner: While the prevalence of choking has skyrocketed, rates of orgasm among young women have not increased, nor has the “orgasm gap” disappeared among heterosexual couples. “It indicates they’re not doing other things to enhance female arousal or pleasure,” Dr. Herbenick said.

When, for instance, she asked one male student who said he choked his partner whether he’d ever tried using a vibrator instead, he recoiled. “Why would I do that?” he asked.

Perhaps, she responded, because it would be more likely to produce orgasm without risking, you know, death.

In my interviews, college students have seen male orgasm as a given; women’s is nice if it happens, but certainly not expected or necessarily prioritized (by either partner). It makes sense, then, that fulfillment would be less the motivator for choking than appearing adventurous or kinky. Such performances don’t always feel good.

“Personally, my hypothesis is that this is one of the reasons young people are delaying or having less sex,” Dr. Herbenick said. “Because it’s uncomfortable and weird and scary. At times some of them literally think someone is assaulting them but they don’t know. Those are the only sexual experiences for some people. And it’s not just once they’ve gotten naked. They’ll say things like, ‘I’ve only tried to make out with someone once because he started choking and hitting me.’”

Keisuke Kawata, a neuroscientist at Indiana University’s School of Public Health, was one of the first researchers to sound the alarm on how the cumulative, seemingly inconsequential, sub-concussive hits football players sustain (as opposed to the occasional hard blow) were key to triggering C.T.E., the degenerative brain disease. He’s a good judge of serious threats to the brain. In response to Dr. Herbenick’s work, he’s turning his attention to sexual strangulation. “I see a similarity” to C.T.E., he told me, “though the mechanism of injury is very different.” In this case, it is oxygen-blocking pressure to the throat, frequently in light, repeated bursts of a few seconds each.

Strangulation — sexual or otherwise — often leaves few visible marks and can be easily overlooked as a cause of death. Those whose experiences are nonlethal rarely seek medical attention, because any injuries seem minor: Young women Dr. Herbenick studied mostly reported lightheadedness, headaches, neck pain, temporary loss of coordination and ear ringing. The symptoms resolve, and all seems well. But, as with those N.F.L. players, the true effects are silent, potentially not showing up for days, weeks, even years.

According to the American Academy of Neurology, restricting blood flow to the brain, even briefly, can cause permanent injury, including stroke and cognitive impairment. In M.R.I.s conducted by Dr. Kawata and his colleagues (including Dr. Herbenick, who is a co-author of his papers on strangulation), undergraduate women who have been repeatedly choked show a reduction in cortical folding in the brain compared with a never-choked control group. They also showed widespread cortical thickening, an inflammation response that is associated with elevated risk of later-onset mental illness. In completing simple memory tasks, their brains had to work far harder than the control group, recruiting from more regions to achieve the same level of accuracy.

The hemispheres in the choked group’s brains, too, were badly skewed, with the right side hyperactive and the left underperforming. A similar imbalance is associated with mood disorders — and indeed in Dr. Herbenick’s surveys girls and women who had been choked were more likely than others (or choked men) to have experienced overwhelming anxiety, as well as sadness and loneliness, with the effect more pronounced as the incidence rose: Women who had experienced more than five instances of choking were two and a half times as likely as those who had never been choked to say they had been so depressed within the previous 30 days they couldn’t function. Whether girls and women with mental health challenges are more likely to seek out (or be subjected to) choking, choking causes mood disorders, or some combination of the two is still unclear. But hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation — judging by what research has shown about other types of traumatic brain injury — could be a contributing factor. Given the soaring rates of depression and anxiety among young women, that warrants concern.

Now consider that every year Dr. Herbenick has done her survey, the number of females reporting extreme effects from strangulation (neck swelling, loss of consciousness, losing control of urinary function) has crept up. Among those who’ve been choked, the rate of becoming what students call “cloudy” — close to passing out, but not crossing the line — is now one in five, a huge proportion. All of this indicates partners are pressing on necks longer and harder.

The physical, cognitive and psychological impacts of sexual choking are disturbing. So is the idea that at a time when women’s social, economic, educational and political power are in ascent (even if some of those rights may be in jeopardy), when #MeToo has made progress against harassment and assault, there has been the popularization of a sex act that can damage our brains, impair intellectual functioning, undermine mental health, even kill us. Nonfatal strangulation, one of the most significant indicators that a man will murder his female partner (strangulation is also one of the most common methods used for doing so), has somehow been eroticized and made consensual, at least consensual enough. Yet, the outcomes are largely the same: Women’s brains and bodies don’t distinguish whether they are being harmed out of hate or out of love.

By now I’m guessing that parents are curled under their chairs in a fetal position. Or perhaps thinking, “No, not my kid!” (see: title of Dr. Herbenick’s book above, which, by the way, contains an entire chapter on how to talk to your teen about “rough sex”).

I get it. It’s scary stuff. Dr. Herbenick is worried; I am, too. And we are hardly some anti-sex, wait-till-marriage crusaders. But I don’t think our only option is to wring our hands over what young people are doing.

Parents should take a beat and consider how they might give their children relevant information in a way that they can hear it. Maybe reiterate that they want them to have a pleasurable sex life — you have already said that, right? — and also want them to be safe. Tell them that misinformation about certain practices, including choking, is rampant, that in reality it has grave health consequences. Plus, whether or not a partner initially requested it, if things go wrong, you’re generally criminally on the hook.

Dr. Herbenick suggests reminding them that there are other, lower-risk ways to be exploratory or adventurous if that is what they are after, but it would be wisest to delay any “rough sex” until they are older and more skilled at communicating. She offers language when negotiating with a new partner, such as, “By the way, I’m not comfortable with” — choking, or other escalating behaviors such as name-calling, spitting and genital slapping — “so please don’t do it/don’t ask me to do it to you.” They could also add what they are into and want to do together.

I’d like to point high school health teachers to evidence-based porn literacy curricula, but I realize that incorporating such lessons into their classrooms could cost them their jobs. Shafia Zaloom, a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, recommends, if that’s the case, grounding discussions in mainstream and social media. There are plenty of opportunities. “You can use it to deconstruct gender norms, power dynamics in relationships, ‘performative’ trends that don’t represent most people’s healthy behaviors,” she said, “especially depictions of people putting pressure on someone’s neck or chest.”

I also know that pediatricians, like other adults, struggle when talking to adolescents about sex (the typical conversation, if it happens, lasts 40 seconds). Then again, they already caution younger children to use a helmet when they ride a bike (because heads and necks are delicate!); they can mention that teens might hear about things people do in sexual situations, including choking, then explain the impact on brain health and why such behavior is best avoided. They should emphasize that if, for any reason — a fall, a sports mishap or anything else — a young person develops symptoms of head trauma, they should come in immediately, no judgment, for help in healing.

The role and responsibility of the entertainment industry is a tangled knot: Media reflects behavior but also drives it, either expanding possibilities or increasing risks. There is precedent for accountability. The European Union now requires age verification on the world’s largest porn sites (in ways that preserve user privacy, whatever that means on the internet); that discussion, unsurprisingly, had been politicized here. Social media platforms have already been pushed to ban content promoting eating disorders, self-harm and suicide — they should likewise be pressured to ban content promoting choking. Traditional formats can stop glamorizing strangulation, making light of it, spreading false information, using it to signal female characters’ complexity or sexual awakening. Young people’s sexual scripts are shaped by what they watch, scroll by and listen to — unprecedentedly so. They deserve, and desperately need, models of interactions that are respectful, communicative, mutual and, at the very least, safe.

Peggy Orenstein is the author of “Boys & Sex: Young Men on Hookups, Love, Porn, Consent and Navigating the New Masculinity” and “Girls & Sex: Navigating the Complicated New Landscape.”

#off-theme #and long #but worth the read

[reiluvr]

🏁 jump start

you just wanted to wallow in peace. a bit hard to do that when two random men ask you to be a "grid girl"?

racer au!! been craving this. pretty much just setting up. this is definetely going to be split up into parts. also i haven't decided whos gonna be the main guy in this so lmk who you like!

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

If someone had told you a few months ago that you'd be standing in the middle of a huge abandoned racing track in the peak of winter while wearing practically nothing, then you would've probably combusted from laughter. You had never been the type to step out of your comfort zone, living by the motto "slow and steady wins the race". You focused on yourself and your grades all throughout high school, the only happiness being when you got accepted into your dream university. It was nothing like the movies though, you didn't immediately fall into the hands of the popular group and have the best university experience. Actually, university ended up being just a more complicated version of high school, you kept your head down and your grades up. It was in the dead of the night, where you were sure no one could possibly glimpse at this side of you, that you’d curl under your covers and pray desperately to any god that would listen, that you wouldn’t feel so alone anymore.

You had, unfortunately, adopted the “I don’t need friends” attitude, but that’s only because you had none. You could scream it off of the edge of a cliff to convince yourself that it was true, but at a certain point, everyone craves attention. For the first time in your life, your grades dropped. You had always been a top student, the slightest drop felt like the end of the world. That’s what lead to the start of your current predicament. You went out one night, pretty late considering you liked to be tucked and asleep by 10. You scoff bitterly to yourself, a bit amused at the irony of going through your teenager phase when you were almost 20. This was what ended up being the fuel for you to impulsively buy a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, walking cluelessly through the streets as you cough at each puff. In hindsight, it might’ve been a bit of an overreaction, especially considering that the ‘horrible’ grades you’ve been receiving recently would be some other student’s dream grades. Yet, it was hard not to be depressed when your entire self-worth was based off of these numbers.

It was nearing around 2 AM and you were…actually, god knows where you were. It seemed as though, in your self-deprecating thoughts, you had walked yourself to the point of being lost. You only snapped out of it because you could hear two very loud men. You hesitantly round the corner, coming face to face with two boys, who couldn’t have been much older than you. They both seemed to be locked in a very heated argument. At a closer look, it was clear they were twins, albeit they couldn’t look more different. The only thing they had in common was their bright pink hair. One of the twins seemed to be trying to calm the other down. You observe him carefully, noting down the washed-up yellow colour of his hoodie and the chipped blue nail polish. You turn to watch the taller twin now, eyes widening slightly as you take in the spiky hair and what looked like tattoos under his eyes? You wince as his words only increase in volume, turning to get away when the smaller twin makes eye contact with you. It feels as though your heart stopped when that prompts the taller twin to look at you as well, his eyes seemingly glowing red.

If you weren’t fearing for your life, you’d be embarrassed at the pathetic squeak that escapes your lips when he starts making his way towards you. You stumble back, each of his steps seemingly equal to ten of your own. You only manage to take a few steps back, eyes blown wide in panic before he’s towering over you, one hand roughly grasping your waist to stop you from stupidly falling over from your desperate scrambling. His grip is nothing soft, fingers almost digging into your hip as he stares down at you. He seems to be analysing you, his- were his eyes red?! You barely even get to process how weird that is before he tugs on your waist, making you stand up straighter as he looks you up and down. You finally manage to find your voice, your mouth opening to tell him to let you go…or maybe beg him. He beats you to it, a sharp grin gracing his face, making his already terrifying features seem even more predatory.

“You wanna make some cash, girl?”

Fuck no. You should have brought something with you, a taser, pepper spray, maybe a knife, anything. The other twin immediately picks up on how your face pales and he jumps in, gently pulling his brother back and shaking his head frantically.

“That is not what he meant! Ryo, you fucking idiot!”

It feels as though you can suddenly breathe again when his hands are off of you, your eyes trained on the taller one, ready to run for it in case he makes any sudden moves. They both let you calm down, the taller one, or Ryo, scoffing at your form. IT’s when you look at least a little more calm that the younger one approaches once again, hands up as if he were approaching a stray cat.

“I'm Yuji, you can call me whatever, and this is my stupid older brother. Sorry about him, he doesn’t speak to girls much.”

Ryo doesn’t hesitate to land a harsh hit against the back of Yuji’s neck, Yuji stumbling forward as he cackles. The display lets you settle down a bit more, an awkward smile on your face as the other one mumbles.

“Call me Sukuna.”

Okay. Not Ryo then.

“Anyways, what he meant was that…Um, okay. This might sound like were trying to kidnap you or something so please just trust us, ah, but even that is a big ask considering you don’t kno-.”

Sukuna grumbles, tugging on Yuji’s collar and pulling him back.

“You talk too much. We have a race starting soon. We’re missing a grid girl. You in, or nah?”

Never in your life would you have agreed. Especially not without asking at least a few questions. A little bad luck on your grades should not have dumbed you down…but apparently it did. You sigh, nodding hesitantly. Yuji practically lights up, immediately calling someone on his phone as Sukuna grins.

“Don’t go home, warm your tires!.....Hmm? Hell yeah we got a girl!”

He seems to listen to whatever the person on the other end is saying. He hesitates, looking you over once before mumbling something into the phone. Sukuna groans once again, snatching the phone out of his hands and mumbling a quick what. He also looks you over, the same way Yuji did before he grins.

“ She could use some work, honestly. Let Shoko know.”

#jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen #jjk #sukuna #sukuna ryomen #sukuna x reader #yuji itadori #jjk yuji #racer au