#but i’m familiar with its bisexuality

[ash-and-starlight]

hades atla bisexual simulator

#id in alt text #hadesgame artstyle is the most poggers thing on this fucking earth let me just YOINK steal it #i haven’t played a single minute of hades in my life btw #but i’m familiar with its bisexuality #it calls to mine like a siren’s song #i wanted to add lil dialogue options to them but my brain farted before it got done so. this is what u get :3 #zuko #sokka #suki #yue #pondering the orb #my art #also: LAST ART OF THE YEAR BESTIE BELOVEDS THANK U FOR MAKING THE MORTIFYING ORDEAL OF SHARING ART SO MUCH FUN #KISSES FOR ALL

[billiewena]

TWO YEARS SINCE NOV 5TH, 2020 as summed up by Supernatural (sequel to this)

⤷ bonus

image ID & context below:

[image ID: screenshots of Supernatural paired with screenshots of various tweets, news headlines and Tumblr posts.

1. Castiel coming out of a closet in SPN 12x08 with screenshots of articles and videos called “Supernatural’s Misha Collins Appears to Come Out as Bisexual,” “Supernatural star Misha Collins appears to come out as Bisexual in the Best Way”, “Misha Collins Comes Out as Bisexual Footage”

2. Kevin Tran in SPN 8x01 saying “You know I’m not gay, right?” With screenshots of articles that read “Supernatural’s Misha Collins Apologizes for ‘Misspeaking’ After Appearing to Come Out As Bisexual,” “Misha Collins Is Getting Clowned About Being Bisexual Then Coming Out As Straight,” and a tweet by Misha Collins that reads, “This was not my intention so I need to correct the record: I am not bisexual. I happen to be straight, but I am also a fierce ally and the last thing I want to do is falsely co-opt the struggles of the LGBTQIA+ community 3/5”

3. Castiel telling a waitress in SPN 14x15, “And between various, steamy, erotic musings” with a screenshot of musician Perfume Genius tweet linking to the article “I have had sex with every actor from the TV show Supernatural” with the caption “I have had sex with every actor from the TV Supernatural. What follows is an account of each erotic event followed by a letter grade.”

4. Dean in SPN 10x10 saying, “And it ain’t gonna cost me a dime” with a screenshot of a tweet from @DiscussingFilm that says, “Nextstar will acquire 75% of The CW for $0. Instead, Nester will assume a significant portion of The CW’s current losses, which could exceed $100M.”

5. Dean in SPN 3x11 saying, “Come on. You love this song and you know it” with a screenshot of spnamvarchive and the 77 total videos in the #honeypie tag. There is also a screenshot of a text post by user iloveyoucas that says “OOH GIRL DONT YOU STOP DONT YOU STOP TIL YOU GET ENOUGH HONEY OH HONEY HONEYPIE HONEY HONEY HONEYPIE OOH GIRL DONT YOU STOP DON’T YOU STOP TIL YOU GET ENOUGH HONEY OH HONEY HONEYPIE HONEY HONEY HONEYPIE” with a gif of people dancing and a screenshot of a Honeypie AMV of Dean Winchester by afeelingsoweet.

6. Lilith in SPN 15x05 saying, “and his very weird, very perv-y obsession with you” with a headline that reads, “Jensen Ackles on his naked Soldier Boy intro on The Boys: ’Nothing on but a sock.”

7. Castiel in SPN 12x18 as he listens to a man say, “You know…like the Queen of England” with a screenshot of a post by whyissupernaturaltrending that says “Sept 8, 2022 - Supernatural trends because the Queen died” with a screenshot of Supernatural trending #1 on Tumblr.

8. Marie in SPN 10x05 saying, “But this is transformative fiction” with headlines that read: “Supernatural Prequel ‘The Winchesters’ Starts on The CW,” “The CW’s The Winchesters is a prequel to ‘Supernatural’”, “Jensen Ackles and The Winchesters Team Promise to carry on the Supernatural Legacy: ‘Trust us.”

9. Dean in SPN 10x05 responding to Marie saying, “You mean fan fiction” with headlines that read: “The Winchesters is a Soulless, Bland Attempt at Recapturing the Supernatural Magic”, “The Winchesters: 8 Biggest Retcons From Supernatural,” “Supernatural’s Spinoff Prequel ‘The Winchesters’ Offers Familiar Pleasures but Struggles building Its Own World: TV Review”

10. Dean in SPN 14x13 saying, “They always talk too much" with a tweet by nuttyforackles recapping a conventional panel that reads, “I should have said I love you too and hugged Cas… people will sexualize that but it’d doesn’t have to be, we were brothers in arms” - Jensen Ackles #spncon #vancon

Bonus: Lucifer talking to Dean in SPN 5x03, saying “Whatever you do, you will always end up here” with the Tumblr logo edited over Lucifer’s head.

/end ID]

#here's to two years friends! #destiel #deancas #November 5th #nov 5th #nov5thposting #spn #supernatural #ntjdmakesthings #I had a moment of panic because netflix stopped allowing screenshots on mac but luckily ya boy found a workaround #my entire career as a screenshotter was almost ruined though

[wildlife4life]

Fuck-It Friday Coda

Tagged by the amazing @hippolotamus @jesuisici33 @wikiangela and @tizniz (who dropped a whole new fic!) Thank you so much! Hope you all are just as hyped for bi-buck as I am!!!!!!! Not much to say than what's being said everywhere for 7x04. Here is my coda this historic episode and it can be read on ao3 as well. Enjoy!

It’s never really a surprise anymore whenever Buck runs into Tommy at the 118’s favorite hook and ladder bar. Hell, before they broke up, Tommy took him to this bar on a couple dates. Awkward dates but dates all the same.

Buck is waiting for the latest rounds of drinks at the bar when a familiar hand lands on his shoulder, “Hey Evan.”

He whirls around and comes face to face with the very man that opened Buck up to whole new world. “H-h-hey Tommy.” He greets nervously, gaze flickering over to where his team, Maddie, Athena, and some friends from dispatch sat.

Tommy catches it and smirks, “Here with the entire crew huh? What’s the cause for this meet up? Didn’t see or hear about any big Buckley heroics over the radio waves.”

Buck finally catches Eddie attention, and his partner stiffens slightly at the sight of Tommy. They were all still friends, mostly, but after the pilot ended things with Buck, sides were taken… in more ways than one.

“You lied back then. In your loft, before I kissed you.” Tommy stated, staring out the hanger doors, hands shoved deep into his flight suit’s pockets.

Wretchedness gripped Buck’s throat tightly. He knew where this was headed, and for just the briefest moment he wanted to fight it. Fight for what he and Tommy had. “I didn’t lie. I wanted to get to know you, I thought-I still think you are cool, and I just wanted you see that.” His voice was high and tight with the brittle lie.

Tommy shook his head and Buck caught his grimacing smile, “Buck you need to stop lying to yourself and open your damn eyes. I have and you want to know what I saw?” His voice cracked with anguish.

Buck’s lower lip trembled, and he could feel the prickle of tears. He didn’t want to know. He didn’t want to face it. Because if he opened his eyes to what Tommy is seeing, the despair would be 10 times worse than what he’s facing at the time.

Always the bravest of two of them, Tommy scoffed at Buck’s silence and pushed on, “You weren’t vying for my attention. You never have. Evan you never did any sort of chasing in this relationship, I did. I so was blinded by how endearing and open you were about your best friend, that I failed to see you misplacing you’re confused emotions onto the nearest person showing you affection. Me.”

The tears began to flow when Buck shook his head, “No Tommy. I liked you; I just didn’t know about that part of myself until you showed it to me.”  He tried defending.

His boyfriend snorted, “Liked. Past. Not present.”

And Buck’s heart dropped into his gut.

Finally, Tommy looked at him and everything in his stomach becomes rancid at the utter heartbreak on the older man’s face, “I’m glad I could help you embrace your bisexuality. Truly I am. I know how freeing it can be.  But Evan, those feelings you’ve have for men, for that one special man have always been there and instead of facing them, you took the easy way out with me. And fuck man, it hurts. It really does.”

“Tommy…” Buck started, but Tommy’s hand gripping his wrist silenced him.

“Evan-Buck. Its-well it’s not entirely okay, but you didn’t know or see and neither did I. At least not until you came back from Chim’s bachelor party. You two couldn’t even look each other in the eye and you’ve been off since.”

That’s because he and Eddie got into the biggest fight of their lives during Chimney’s bachelor weekend.  Because Eddie had been acting off since Buck came out, even though he promised nothing would change. Because Buck once again became enviously green when Eddie kept his attention on the private bar tender. Because Eddie looked Buck in the eye and asked, ‘Why does he get that part of you?’ in the middle of their screaming match that Buck still has no idea how it started but ended there. Because they both walked away, too scared to confront any of those feelings. Because Buck knew deep down, he wanted to give everything he was giving to Tommy, to Eddie and so much more.

“You are such a wonderful man Buck and I know it was never your intention to hurt anyone. But us being together, it’s destroying me and you and...” Tommy sucked in a sharp breath, “And Eddie.”

And there it was. Everything that Buck has been denying since Tommy confronted him in his loft.  The person who was really behind Buck’s complex and confused emotions those few months ago. It was time Buck accepted it. It was time to open his eyes. It was time to let Tommy go.

Buck let out a sob and tugged Tommy into a tight embrace, “I’m sorry, I really am.”

Tommy sniffled, “You have nothing to apologize for Evan.” He pulled back and put Buck at arm’s length, giving him a wet smile, “I was more than honored to be your queer awakening and guru.”

Buck barked out a soggy laugh, “You turned my entire world on its axis man, but in the best way possible.”

“You’re a special one Evan and Eddie… god what you two have and what it can be.” Tommy shook his head chuckling, “I can’t stand in the way of that anymore.”

The younger firefighter stuttered out a breath, “I think that’s more on me than you.” And gets a hum of agreement from his now ex-boyfriend. He stuck a hand out, “Friends?”

Tommy didn’t even hesitate and slapped his own hand into Buck’s, squeezing tight, “Absolutely. Just give me some time, and yourself as well.”

Buck took two days after the break-up to mourn what had been his best relationship to date, to wallow in his unknown carelessness, and to confront those mixed emotions that drew him to Tommy in the first place. Then he packed his duffle and went to work.

Chimney was the first to confront him since Tommy turned down a night out at the karaoke bar and explained that he and Buck broke up. Hen followed because those two paramedics tell each other everything. Bobby reminded Buck that he was willing to listen before giving his shoulder a squeeze. Ravi seemed, relieved, but sympathetic. And Eddie pulled him into the tightest embrace asking, “Why?”

Buck didn’t give him the entire answer. Simply stated, “It wasn’t working.”

Months later Buck gave him the entire truth by taking a page out Tommy’s book and kissing Eddie senseless with a firm grip on his chin.  Eddie, who was babbling away in his kitchen about not seeing what was in front of him and desperate to know if Buck is willing to give Eddie every part of himself, kissed Buck back with ferocity. When they pulled apart Buck finally told him why Tommy ended things, “He saw what we were all too scared to look at.”

That was almost a month ago and Buck is deliriously happy with his life, with his boyfriend, with Eddie. He doesn’t need to be weird or nervous around the man that helped lead him here.  So, he winks at Eddie, telling him it’s all good, and gives his attention to Tommy. “No big newsworthy rescues. Though Chimney did rescue his 100th cat.”

Tommy shakes his head laughing, “An almost impossible feat.”

“Very much so.” Buck comments, “We’re here to celebrate Maddie’s promotion at dispatch. Officially a supervisor.”

“Hey good for her!” Tommy exclaims, “Honestly surprised it took this long. Her voice seems to be on all the major calls lately.”

Buck nods, “Yea. Would have been a different ending for all of us after the bridge collapse last year if it weren’t for my sister.”

“Man, you Buckley’s and your heroism.”

Buck blushes, Tommy Kinnard always the charmer. The other man smirks, knowing the effect he has on him still. “You look good Buck. Happy. Wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain firefighter that’s all over your Instagram lately? Hm?”

As if summoned by Tommy’s mere mention of him, a red Henley covered arm snakes its away around Buck’s waist and warmth lines up along his back. “Hey Tommy, good to see yuh man.” Eddie greets smoothly before nuzzling close to Buck’s ear, “Get that drink order in yet babe?” He asks just loud enough to be overheard by certain people close by.

The pilot’s smirk broadens, but gives a friendly slap to Eddie’s back, “Good to see yuh too Diaz. Been a minute.”

Eddie nods and his nose moves along Buck’s jaw at the movement, making him tremble, “It has. Maybe we can meet up to spar sometime.”

Before his bisexual awakening and the admittance of his true feelings, hearing his boyfriend make plans with another man would have sent him on a downward spiral. Now, thanks in part to Tommy, Eddie, his sister, and the entirety of the 118, but mostly himself, Buck is secure and at peace with his place in their lives, in Eddie’s life.

But that still doesn’t stop his big hearted, ever thoughtful boyfriend from asking, “I know I’ve only taught you the basics, but you could join Evan.”

Buck leans back into Eddie’s embrace and brushes his lips against his partner’s cheek, “Hmm. I’d rather go for the title on more equal grounds, and I really want to save myself the embarrassment of Tommy seeing my ass get kicked.”

His ex snorts out a laugh, while Eddie’s cheeks pinken at Buck’s innuendo of the actual kind of sweaty, half naked situation they want to be in. “Still shameless as ever huh Evan?” Tommy comments.

Buck shrugs, “Nothing to be ashamed of. My boyfriend is hot and I prefer to have my ass handed to me in more intimate ways. But you two can kick, spin, and punch your little hearts out. I’ll enjoy some time with Christopher, maybe even take him to a field and play the much superior sport, football.”

“God you really do not like basketball huh?” Tommy retorts with a shake of his head, probably remembering the first and last time they played, ending with Buck almost breaking Eddie’s ankle in a confused jealous rage.

“I won’t let him near anything orange and spherical.” Eddie jokes giving Buck a tight squeeze. “But if you are up to it, I would love to come over and go a few rounds. You do have a pretty sweet set up.”

The LAFD piolet grins, “Bring the Chevelle too, we can give it a once over.”

Buck makes a mental reminder to give the back seat of said car a good cleaning because the last time he and Eddie drove it out, Buck took Eddie apart in back seat and a t-shirt wipe down definitely did not suffice as ‘clean up’.

Eddie clears his throat, and his blush deepens. Yea, he’s thinking the same. “Sounds good. I’ll shoot you text and set up a time.”

Knowing the conversation is coming to an end, Buck flags down the bar tender before looking over at Tommy, “You should join us. Drinks are on,” He pauses trying to remember who lost the credit card roulette and laughs when it comes to him, “Drinks are on Josh.”

Tommy softens at the invitation, “Drinks with the 118, haven’t done that in a while. I’m in. Miller lite to start.”

Buck laughs, “Yea I know. Go join the others, Eddie and I got this.”

“Yea, I know you do. BuckandEddie, the dream team. Happy for you both, truly.” Tommy kindly states, then gives a shoulder pat to the two of them before strolling away to join the 118 and dispatchers. They faintly hear loud cheers and greetings when he gets close, their friends and family always happy to see the man who put his life and career on the line for them.

Buck places their drink order and when the bar tender slides away, Eddie pulls him back into his chest and growls into his ear, “You may not be green with envy anymore, but I sort of am.”

A shiver runs down Buck’s spine at his boyfriend’s possessive tone and knew all too well that their time at the bar was going to be short lived…unless.

“It’s no Chevelle, but the jeep is parked pretty close.” Buck breathlessly tells him.

Eddie gives him a wicked grin, “You want to take me in the jeep?”

“Wanna go for another title?”

I put in so many references from the episode and previous episodes too, as mini celebration to the 100th episode. Hope you all enjoyed! If you want to know when I drop coda fic go interact with my pinned post. Tagging (no pressure): @try-set-me-on-fire @devirnis @bi-buckrights @exhuastedpigeon @cal-daisies-and-briars @bidisasterbuckdiaz @rainbow-nerdss @daffi-990 @dangerpronebuddie @theotherbuckley @watchyourbuck @perfectlysunny02 @aroeddiediaz @loserdiaz @diazsdimples @fortheloveofbuddie @rogerzsteven @lemonzestywrites @evanbegins @bi-buck-coded @glorious-spoon @thekristen999 @spotsandsocks @sunshinediaz @lover-of-mine @hoodie-buck @elvensorceress @bucksbiawakening @giddyupbuck @goforkinard @bekkachaos @thewolvesof1998 @eddiebabygirldiaz @spaceprincessem @bibuckbuckley @honestlydarkprincess @doublecheekeddiaz @prosperdemeter2 @transboybuckley @nmcggg @monsterrae1 @missmagooglie @bigfootsmom @911onabc @911-on-abc @homerforsure

#fuck it friday #tag game #coda fic #my fic #911 abc #911 spoilers #911 fic #7x04 coda #future fic #buddie #buddie fic #evan buckley #eddie diaz #tommy kinard #jealous #possessive eddie #break up #get together #buck learns a few things from tommy #buck/tommy

[johannestevans]

So you finished Our Flag Means Death…

What show do you want to obsess over now?

Also read on Medium / / Read on Patreon.

So, Our Flag Means Death, unexpected workplace romcom chock-a-block with anachronistic 18th century fun, piracy on the high seas, gay and trans and otherwise genderweird and queer characters, not to mention neurodivergent and disabled ones, is over for at least another year. You’re aching for something of a similar flavour to fill the gap — especially if, like many of us, the finale has left you disappointed and eager to watch a show with a bit more care for its queer audiences.

Want recs?

After finishing Our Flag Means Death, I’m in the mood for…

Ed cradling Stede’s face in S1 of Our Flag Means Death. Via IMDb. 

… more (relatively) light-hearted queer comedy!

The most obvious example I can start with is, of course, What We Do In The Shadows. While its fifth season was weak, its sixth season was in my opinion its best ever — a spin-off of the Taika Waititi-directed (and starring) mockumentary film of the same name, WWDITS is a fun-filled, ridiculous and deeply silly show starring a variety of incompetent and bumbling and blood-thirsty vampires and their various friends, enemies, and companions. It’s constantly and continuously queer, with the majority of the cast of characters being openly bisexual, and one of them being gay and having an emotive coming-out arc with his family.

Nandor (Kayvan Novak) and Guillermo de la Cruz (Harvey Guillén) in WWDITS. Via IDMb. 

WWDITS follows the adventures of Guillermo de la Cruz, fat and gay and badass and so fucking pretty, the familiar to a vampire named Nandor the Relentless, a big himbo ex-warrior plagued by insecurity and ready to enter in power struggles with anybody from a fellow warrior to a household appliance, and the rest of Nandor’s household — Laszlo Cravensworth (once an English aristocrat, still a dandy, charming, slutty, and well-spoken — and often tinkering with experiments or DIY), Nadja of Antipaxos (once an impoverished member of a Mediterranean village, dramatic, intelligent, sharp-witted, and wry — and often getting involved in various misadventures), and Colin Robinson (an “emotional vampire” who feeds by boring those about him, dull, mundane, and painfully cringe at all times in the best of ways). As a mockumentary, its tone is silly and light-hearted, but it’s not without its emotional stakes, and there’s so many references to other pop culture vampires. 

The BBC’s sitcom, Ghosts, is a great sitcom to go for if you’re in the mood for more of a neurodivergent found family vibe, with sumptuous costumes and a complex and intriguing cast who have a lot of wonderful moments with each other. The show follows Alison and Mike, who inherit a manor house and find when they start to refurbish it that it’s full to the brim with silly, ridiculous, and unrelentingly friendly — not to mention antagonistic — ghosts. Ghosts, like Our Flag Means Death claimed to be prior to its S2 finale, is a tremendously loving and kind show — it spends a lot of its time building up flawed characters and encouraging them to change and grow, giving you time as a viewer to love them. 

See any familiar faces? Many of the Ghosts cast also appear in Horrible Histories. Via IMDb. 

The show is not as continuously or constantly queer as WWDITS, but it does have elements of queerness dotted around the main cast, particularly in the character of the Captain, the ghost of a WW1 soldier who was never deployed abroad, but spent his time in service yearning for the intimate company of a fellow soldier. 

Brendan Scannell and Zoe Levin in Bonding. Via IMDb. 

Want something a little weirder, a little kookier? Crave a bit more of the BDSM flavouring around Our Flag, more whips, more leather, more latex, more kink? You might like to try Bonding — this show features a woman who begins moonlighting as a dominatrix and then employs her gay BFF as her assistant. It suffers from the tendency shows like this have to sideline Pete a bit as the gay BFF, with some of his characterisation being squandered to prop up the less interesting protagonist, but it’s really funny and honestly super heartfelt. 

And if you want really weird, really kooky, and unabashedly and delightfully and wonderfully queer, there is always The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo, which is a gorgeously funny and loving gay comedy that you can watch online!

Apart from those above, you might like to try Special (a sitcom exploring the romantic and sexual misadventures of a deeply selfish and flawed character a la Stede Bonnet, this one a young gay man with cerebral palsy), Schitt’s Creek (a sitcom about a posh family falling on hard times and featuring several queer characters, particularly the bisexual David Rose, played by Dan Levy), and Grace and Frankie (a show about two ageing women who are best friends, and whose husbands leave them to start a romance with one another). 

… more of the stunning cast!

You’ve watched Our Flag Means Death and you’re craving more of the spectacular and incredibly skilled cast. 

If you want more of Nathan Foad (Lucius Spriggs) particularly, you’re in luck — last year, Foad wrote and served as executive producer on a show loosely inspired by his early life as a weird boy growing up gay in Nottinghamshire, Newark, Newark. It’s very silly, funny, full to the brim with love, and also deeply silly and willing to get in touch with the cringe side of life. It’s only three episodes, but starring the unparalleled Morgana Robinson as the harried mother of Leslie, the closeted-but-not sixteen-year-old who is trying desperately to lead the tragic gay life he’s seen on TV, it really makes the most of that limited runtime, and it’s so fucking good. Nathan Foad even has a cameo in it as a freaky and overfamiliar employee at the bowling alley. 

He has a cameo in another great show, too — Bloods is an incredible sitcom about two NHS paramedics working in an ambulance together. It’s rapid-paced, it’s messy, it’s horrible and hilarious, and it stars Jane Horrocks as Wendy across from Our Flag’s Samson Kayo (Oluwande) as Maleek. The two are chalk and cheese in the front seat of their ambulance together, and Kayo is so incredible in the lead role balancing Maleek’s own desire to appear as cool and tough whilst also being vulnerable and having his own insecurities, especially because Wendy challenges him on so many points. Wendy is great as well, the two an exercise in contrasts, but Kayo and Horrocks are spectacular among an equally spectacular cast — you get to see so many different dynamics at the depot and in other settings, amongst other NHS staff, and the show is non-stop with the punches and the punchlines. If you really enjoy how well-balanced and how fitting the soundtrack to Our Flag is, you’ll love the music and its pacing in Bloods. Foad’s cameo in this is as Wendy’s neurotic and kind of a fuck-up son, and he’s so messy.

If you want more of Joel Fry (Frenchie), he stars in the first few seasons of Plebs — this is a goofy comedy set in Ancient Rome, and it’s not dissimilar to The Inbetweeners in its tone and content. Some of the jokes are funny, sometimes. I don’t recommend it because it really gives Joel Fry his full acting chops — but he’s hot and he’s funny and he’s cute in this, and even if you’re not super passionate about the show, if you like Frenchie, you probably will like Stylax too. 

Joel Fry and Con O’Neill (Izzy Hands) also both play characters in season 2 of Ordinary Lies, which is an anthology series, so you don’t need to watch season 1. The premise of the show each season is that the narrative jumps between characters in a workplace and explores the ramifications of the small lies they tell themselves and each other. While O’Neill’s role is a more typical set of lies that concerns adultery (or not), Fry’s involves vigilanteism and attempts at superheroism, and the plot is quite fun. This show is obviously a drama, and is tragically heterosexual on many points, but for all that, has its good and intriguing elements too. 

But what about Con O’Neill doing what he’s good at — playing wet, pathetic men? Very wet, very pathetic men? In Happy Valley, O’Neill plays a gloriously wet and pathetic man named Neil Ackroyd, who enters into a relationship with the protagonist, Catherine Cawood’s, sister, Clare. Clare is an alcoholic in recovery, as is Neil, and they have a really sweet and mutually supportive relationship — Neil’s particularly gorgeous in the most recent series, where he really dotes on Catherine’s grandson, Ryan, and he and Clare play a great duo. Neil is introduced in the beginning of season 2. 

The premise of the series is that Catherine Cawood, a police officer in Yorkshire, is attempting to solve crimes while at the same time her grandson, Ryan, is curious about and desires to make contact with his father, whom he has never met. Ryan’s mother was raped by his father and died by suicide after Ryan’s birth, whereon Catherine raised him alongside her sister. Happy Valley is a cop show, and Catherine Cawood is really funny as a character. She’s a deeply conservative and cruel, reactionary woman who constantly engages in police brutality whilst trampling over people’s rights — she believes that people are born evil and bad, effectively, and while she often talks about the effects poverty have on people’s outlooks, lifestyles, and actions, she can’t quite make that connection with her beliefs. As a cop show, it’s really interesting because it’s very pro-cop and tries to be on Catherine’s side for much of her crueller actions, but at the same time is so starkly blunt about the awful shit she does that it doesn’t exactly make you put faith in cops no matter the intent. Clare Cawood, and then Neil, are naturally far more critical of Catherine’s perspective. 

But if you really loved Izzy at his best in S2, if you love Izzy full of love whilst also being precise and cold and calculated in the defence of his family, if you love him beautiful and wonderful and unabashedly queer, you’ll undoubtedly adore Val, who appears in Uncle as the transfem and gorgeous dad of Gwen. Uncle isn’t a great TV show, it’s an example of one of those shows where they give a deeply dull cishet white dude who feels insecure a show where he sort of masturbates about how much he sucks and how he’s unlovable, but really, isn’t it on the people around him to love him anyway?

But Val is great. She’s so much fun, she’s funny and sharp and full of quips, she’s flirtatious, she’s hot, and she has some tremendous gender stuff going on as well as some gorgeous costuming throughout. If you like Uncle’s humour, watch all the episodes — if you don’t, just skip everything that doesn’t have Val in it. Val is where the good stuff is. 

Or don’t watch it at all, and just watch this scene pack on YouTube: 

Taika Waititi appears far more in great movies than he does TV shows, although he’s also one of the producers on Reservation Dogs, which is excellent — it’s a native-led and starring comedy series, and it rocks. Most of the time when Waititi does TV, it’s in cameos. 

Apart from the cameo he makes in the What We Do In The Shadows TV show, I mentioned in the sitcom section, Taika Waititi also appears in the Flight of the Conchords TV series, starring the band members of the band of the same name. Rhys Darby also appears in every episode as Jemaine and Bret’s fictional manager, Murray Hewitt, and Murray is such a fun, bizarre character — and with a wholly different facial hair situation than you might have imagined for him before. 

Wholly different facial hair. Via IMDb. 

… more sailors!

Pickings are slim for a good pirate show, or indeed, any good show with nautical flavours to it — scenes at sea are high budget and hard to shoot, and as was evident with much of Our Flag Means Death’s second season at the hands of HBO Max, many studios do not want to proffer the budget for such things. 

Let’s start with the best of recommendations — a show that’s unapologetically queer, anti-imperialist, anti-establishment, and full to the absolute brim with pirates, historical and fictional. Interested in Mary Read, Anne Bonny, Calico Jack, Benjamin Hornigold, Israel Hands, or of course, the inimitable Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Teach, real historical pirates who are portrayed and played with in the course of Our Flag Means Death, and want to see a very different take on them? Enjoy lesbians constantly scheming to kill each other, torture each other, and generally make one another miserable (sexual)? Read Treasure Island, perhaps, and ever wonder what came before?

Not-Yet-Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) and Thomas Hamilton (Rupert Penry-Jones) in Black Sails. Via IMDb. 

Black Sails has all of the above and more — while it is very queer and anti-establishment, I will say that it’s far more similar in tone to Game of Thrones than to OFMD. The comedy bits are hilarious in part because the stakes are so high, but Black Sails is firmly a drama, and a gritty, violent one at that. It lacks the escapism present in OFMD — there is constant and continuous sexual violence, brutal gore and brutality, racism, classism, deep misogyny and homophobia from the society around the characters. The characters on offer are varied and complex, flawed, and interesting, but your mileage may vary with how much you vibe with them. 

Making use of some of Starz’ old set pieces for Black Sails, including some of their ships, the new One Piece live-action reboot — an adaptation of the anime of the same name (itself an adaptation of the manga) — is a fast-paced, fantastical, and colourful new release. If what you loved about Our Flag was its playful relationship with real-life piracy and chronistic details, its flexibility with “reality” and its eagerness to play around with tropes and expectations, with its creation of found family through a ragtag and varied mix of individuals. What it isn’t, unfortunately, is textually or explicitly queer, let alone as unabashedly queer as Our Flag and Black Sails are respectively. 

HMS Terror and HMS Erebus sailing through the surface ice in The Terror. Via IMDb. 

If you’d rather have queer sailors at any cost than having ones that aren’t explicitly queer, there is, of course, season 1 of The Terror. Based off of Dan Simmons’ magical horror reimagining of the real events of the lost ships in the Arctic, the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, the first season of this anthology horror series is itself a deeply anti-imperial story following the events of two British ships that become stranded on the ice whilst attempting to discover the North-West Passage, and in so doing poison themselves and the land and people around them. Stuck in place in a cold and unfamiliar environment that does not have sufficient resources to sustain them — and in any case, an environment and resources that as invaders of, they do not know how to live in relationship with — they are hunted by an Inuit spirit, a representation of and manifestation of the imbalance they’ve caused by their mere presence. 

The Terror has a few more explicitly gay dynamics in the book than in the TV show, but the show does feature an unstable, cannibalistic bastard of a man whose favourite hobbies are identity theft, violence, and emotional manipulation — and he’s gay. Representation win! 

As you might imagine from that description, The Terror is not a cheerful, happy show — it’s deeply violence and very at home with hopelessness, but has some fascinating exploration of British imperialism, whiteness, class dynamics, queer men on ships, and chilling horror. 

And it’s not a TV show, but I would be remiss if I did not mention and recommend Taika Waititi’s favourite romance movie — Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003, dir. Peter Weir). Based off of Patrick O’Brien’s long-running Aubreyad, starting with Master and Commander, this film is about Captain Jack Aubrey and his duet partner and best friend (wink wink) Stephen Maturin, the ship’s surgeon. It’s a gorgeous film and while of course not explicit, it’s pretty fucking gay — although unlike the other pieces I’ve mentioned, as Napoleonic-era fanfiction about British navymen, it’s not nearly as critical of British imperialism as one might like, with the majority of the criticism coming from Maturin, and might leave a poor taste in the mouth compared to pieces more critical of the British imperial evil. 

… more queer period dramas and historical shows!

Anne Lister (Suranne Jones) contemplating her hat and gloves. Via IMDb. 

Let’s start with a historical drama — Gentleman Jack, starring Suranne Jones, is set in the early 1800s and is an biographical look at the life of the cryptic diarist and all around delightfully butch lesbian dirtbag, Anne Lister. Apart from the obviously intriguing concept, the show has some sumptuous costuming and set designs, and there are so many different characters and dynamics throughout. I’m always a sucker for an epistolary piece, and as it’s based off of Lister’s diaries, this show has a lot of epistle work throughout. 

If you’re a sucker for lesbians in period dramas, though, you might just like Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries — the eponymous Phryne Fisher is not the lesbian in question. She’s a flapper and private detective in 1920s Melbourne, complete with a little golden gun, and is very hetero — but her best friend, a doctor named Mac (short Elizabeth MacMillan), is gay, and she’s so much fun. Where Phryne is really high-energy and excitable, constantly jumping from idea to idea, Mac is a lot chiller and more smooth, and she’s so suave and so much fun. Miss Fisher is a fun show — alas, a cop show, but it’s a lot more light-hearted, and it does a lot of playful stuff with the period and particularly with costuming details and things like cars, weapons, and various inventions. 

Getting dressed and leaving the boytoy still abed. Via IMDb. 

If you’re open to a miniseries that’s a lot dirtier and nastier than much of the above, have I got the recommendation for you: A Very English Scandal. Starring a relatively innocent and easily manipulated Ben Whishaw across from the deliciously greasy and depraved Hugh Grant, this is a dramatisation of the Thorpe Affair — a political scandal in the UK in the late 1970s — and it’s so fun and so sexy. If whilst watching Our Flag you’ve been giggling and kicking your feet whenever the more fucked up shit goes on in intimate ways, you will almost certainly delight in this one. 

… more of… something. Surprise me!

You might have heard of NBC’s Hannibal, which is a gay take on the dynamic between Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham, but the same creator, Bryan Fuller, also did Pushing Daisies, which is a gorgeous 2-season show that was cancelled long before it ought have been. It explores intimacy at a necessary distance, and has some wonderful queer themes throughout, and stars Lee Pace. 

The new TV adaptation of Anne Rice’s books, Interview with the Vampire, is glorious — it’s openly and unabashedly gay, it’s so full to the brim with depth, and unlike other shows I can mention, it really doesn’t try to shy away from the cruelty of abuses in intimate relationships, or try to shift the blame for abuse entirely onto the back of the victim in a last-minute attempt to foster more sympathy for the abuser. Interview goes so deep into the loneliness and isolation of being separated from society’s mores and expectations, of how that isolation leaves you at much more risk of leverage and abuse by intimate partners, of the brittleness of found family under heavy pressure, and alongside all of that, like… 

It’s a vampire show! It’s sexy! It’s full of blood and horror and misery and grief — the grief of being alive when you should be dead, and at the same time, being halfway dead when you seem to be alive. It’s funny and it’s dark and it’s just full to the brim with poetry, has some honestly gorgeous dialogue, and on top of all that, it’s well-paced, beautifully costumed, and tremendously shot and scored. Watch!

Looking for queer movies, as well as TV shows? I have a big rec list of gay movies here:

#musings #our flag means death #i'm gonna write about how shit the ofmd finale was and what a pisstake it was in the week #but in the meantime here #have this #watch a better fuckin show #Youtube

[nervouscupcakeinspace]

BTS FIC RECS (PART 10)

Jeon Jungkook/Jung Hoseok | J-Hope

blood orange by seokabunny *

“We should’ve held you off from it longer, huh? You got to it so early. Everyone else had to wait.” Hoseok’s voice is buzzing warm and sweet in his ear. “Taehyung and Jimin were twenty-three. Jin-hyung was twenty-seven for his first time.” Jungkook’s drooling, slack-mouthed over the hinge of Hoseok’s shoulder. He can smell the dried sweat all over his pretty, tanned skin. “Hyuuung—” “You were twenty-one, baby. None of the others got it that young.”

Jeon Jungkook/Kim Namjoon | RM

baby by feraljk *

Jungkook wanted Namjoon to be his leader for life—not just on stage, not just at work, not just anything. Every day, every hour, every minute, he wanted Namjoon to be his sun.

begotten by macabre

Jeongguk was ready to start his family. With or without the man of his dreams.

soft skin, soft eyes by babiestbat *

Yoongi hums, tilting his head. “I bet Jungkook would be up for it,” he considers, swirling the rest of his whiskey around in his glass. “He’s really into being eaten out.” Namjoon’s glass slips out of his hand. Thankfully, he’s sitting on the floor, and the glass just bounces a little before settling. “What?” he says. Yoongi laughs brightly, gums on display. “Aish, don’t look at me like that. He likes it a lot! And you know he thinks you’re hot,” he goes on. (Namjoon does not know that, and he feels faint at the thought.) “He’s already seen you at your worst, you could sneeze into him and I’m pretty sure he’d just laugh it off. He’s a perfect first, too. He likes just about everything.” *** Namjoon's never eaten someone out. Yoongi knows the perfect candidate.

Jeon Jungkook/Min Yoongi | Suga

HGU by sseoltangie (WIP) *

Disaster strikes and as a consequence, Jungkook lands himself in prison. But he's tough—all he has to do is survive the next months. At least that's what he thinks. Until he becomes the cellmate of attempted murder convict Yoongi.

Jeon Jungkook/Park Jimin

Come feed the rain by vminkookminv

Jungkook gets teased by his classmates a lot for being a pissbaby. Jimin finds out why.

Jung Hoseok | J-Hope/Kim Namjoon | RM

Lost in the Lights by mangust_d

Alphas around the world are losing their knots due to a mysterious illness. Hoseok convinces Namjoon to try one last thing before he succumbs to a sad, knotless life: visiting an alphas-only club.

Kim Namjoon | RM/Min Yoongi | Suga

Divine and Raw by anon1792 *

It starts, as these things are wont to, with an offhand comment.  Yoongi, in Namjoon’s old don’t be a prick cactus sweatshirt from an adolescent trip to the US with its stretched loose wrist-holes pushed up to reveal his pink elbows, half asleep and half scrolling through his phone while Namjoon works on his dissertation, mumbles, “If you get tested tomorrow, I’ll let you raw me.” Namjoon stumbles and slams his chin so hard into the coffee table, he sees stars.

If Nice Guys Finish Last, Meet Me in the Back by NinjasWearSneakers *

Namjoon has been secretly in love with his best friend Yoongi for years, so he’s familiar with the pain of watching him date other people. Now, Yoongi is getting married, and Namjoon is his best man, so he’s been trying very hard to prepare himself for the pain of that whole ordeal. However, something much more painful happens instead, leaving Namjoon to try to help Yoongi pick up the pieces.

Just Got the Taste For It by deepslowpanic *

“Maybe that guy just wasn’t your type, Namjoon,” Yoongi says after a few moments of quiet, That could be true. The guy was cute, but he wasn’t exactly what Namjoon thinks he’s looking for. Though he’s not entirely sure what that is, not sure about his type, or quite how to figure it out. “Thanks, hyung.” “Of course,” Yoongi says. “I’m here to guide you on your baby bi journey. I’m like your spiritual guide.” Namjoon snorts. “To what?” “The prostate, obviously.” -OR- Newly out as bisexual, Namjoon is trying to figure out his type and exactly what he’s looking for. But every interaction with his (kind, patient, pretty) roommate pushes Namjoon closer to thinking he might already know…

whoopsie daisy, never knew that was your boo, baby by rayfelle *

Not knowing how to respond to this sudden possible courting situation, Seokjin shuffles away to continue his shopping. Was it a courting gift? Seokjin has never met the human man, but it’s not like that matters much to wolves. Do humans operate the same way? But the human offered him food, which points towards courtship. Once back home Seokjin tries to google his questions, like his coworkers often recommend he does. Google, sadly, does not help at all. (or: a human starts courting Seokjin in the middle of a supermarket - he is determined to do his very best in return while Yoongi has no idea what he has just started)

Garden of Eden by sseoltangie

"But how can we…" Yoongi continued, whispering, scared to burst the bubble, scared Namjoon would leave as soon as he’d spoken the words. “When we’re both omegas.”

Kim Seokjin | Jin/Min Yoongi | Suga

driving getaway by silklace

“I’m not upset.” Seokjin nods. “I can tell by the way your face is all red. And blotchy.”

is this love? by sweetbubble3

four months after breaking up, yoongi logs into his and jin’s stardew valley co-op farm only to find that jin has been playing without him.

love you snow much by caprikoya *

Seokjin stomps into the chalet and shucks off his coat and boots at the door, cheeks and nose burning with the cold. When he throws open the door to the bedroom, Yoongi sits up from where he’s still cocooned in the duvet on the bed. “Did you win?” He asks, blinking blearily at Seokjin with his eyes still puffy from sleep. Seokjin doesn’t answer, because Yoongi knows that solo snowboarding is not a sport that you can win at, and is just being a little shit. Seokjin’s heart swells– he’d missed Yoongi having the energy to be annoying. To show his affection, he climbs onto the bed and sticks his freezing hands down the back of Yoongi’s shirt. Yoongi shrieks like some kind of bird of prey, and then promptly bites Seokjin on the arm. -or- After a long busy period at work keeps them away from each other, Seokjin and Yoongi take a vacation.

SEALed With a Kiss by deepslowpanic (WIP) *

“We’re mates,” Yoongi says simply. “We’re married now, you put my coat around me. Now you’re my husband.” “I -” Seokjin cuts himself off. He feels insane, all of this is insane. It doesn’t make sense, there’s no way Seokjin is suddenly married to a - a - seal? “That’s not how human marriage works,” Seokjin says finally, voice cracking a little. “You can’t just say we’re married.” “Why not?” Yoongi does not seem deterred at all. “That doesn’t matter. Humans are stupid anyway. But you’re hot and you smell nice. You’ll be a good mate. With your broad shoulders, your swimming abilities must be admirable. And you can fish, a provider.” He nods, as if this is all settled. “So you’re my husband.” -OR- Burned out from work, famous YouTube chef Seokjin heads to winter-quiet Jeju to escape for a while. His only goals are to relax, and try to find his spark again. When he rescues a naked man on the beach, Seokjin couldn’t have predicted what he was in for. But an accidentally acquired husband in the form of soft, impish selkie Yoongi might be just what Seokjin needs.

Big things come in small packages by teamkimseokjin (closetfairy) *

Seokjin discovers a new kink when he sees Yoongi rubbing his little round belly after a big meal. Okay, so maybe it's a little more than just a kink..

somebody does love (but i'm thinking `bout min yoongi) by missandrogyny *

One thing that Seokjin’s learned after knowing Yoongi for so long is that if he doesn’t want to talk about it, he really doesn’t want to talk about it, and he’ll do anything and everything to dodge the conversation. It’s why it’s so frustrating to deal with him sometimes; he never wants to talk about things, and if Seokjin’s being honest, he too doesn’t want to talk about things, which means that it’s highly possible for the both of them to just exist beautifully in Not-Talking-About-Things harmony. Hoseok and Namjoon have told them repeatedly that it isn’t healthy or mature for them to be acting like this, which is why Seokjin, being the older one, is out here trying his best. But Yoongi is stubborn on good days and a downright pain in the ass on bad ones, and after three more times shooting down Seokjin’s attempts to talk about it, Seokjin decides to do what any self-respecting man would: He talks to his girlfriend about it. (Or: College AU where Yoongi writes an unhinged pining song, and Seokjin just can't get it out of his head.)

Kim Taehyung | V/Min Yoongi | Suga

i wish you would by lessisabore

alone in his mountain cave, a dragon pines for his human ex-boyfriend

POLY RELATIONSHIPS

OT7 - Relationship

count on me by yeoboluvr

scoring highly on the submissive rating was supposed to guarantee a life of being dommed and pampered. for jungkook, it meant suppressing his instincts, fighting his body, and hiding from his hyungs.

Echoless City by mangust_d (WIP) *

On the same fateful night, Yoongi goes missing during a covert operation, and an injured hybrid is found fleeing from his handlers. Compassion is a luxury afforded to few, but who could resist a bunny in distress? OR: The story of how Seokjin tried to carry the entire world on his broad shoulders and failed miserably.

wisteria by feraljk (WIP) *

Hoseok had gone through four foster packs in the past twenty-two months, and, with two months before he would be sent away for good, he was being given to a fifth. He tried his best to not go soft when he knew it would all be taken away, but even a feral omega latches on to the feeling of home.

Lost Under the Moonlight by ArianneMaya (WIP) *

After being accused of something he didn’t do, Jimin discovers he’s a wolf shifter and is put into the Shifter Reintegration Program. On paper, the program is intended to give ‘unconscious shifters’ in the carceral system a chance at a better, healthier life. In practice, for an unpresented omega like Jimin, it means being handed over to a pack who wants to bitch him. No matter what the program entails, the Bangtan pack wants a new packmate, not a slave. And after running his whole life, Jimin might just find somewhere to call home. That is if he can bring himself to trust them.

dwell by macabre (WIP) *

The pit was the worst prison alphas could be sent to. It was a place to die with no hope, no dreams, no sun. Just a pit so deep in the earth it might as well be hell. Then, an omega is sent down as a prisoner. For the first time ever. Into an ecosystem already designed to eat itself alive.

Jeon Jungkook/Kim Namjoon | RM/Min Yoongi | Suga

daffodils by feraljk (WIP)

Some submissives could live by themselves, could take care of their own spacing and dropping and eating and everything else, but Jungkook - he wasn’t like that. He was weak, his family had always told him so. And now, breaking down in front of a strange dom in a bathroom while he was at work, he’d proved them right.

Jung Hoseok | J-Hope/Kim Seokjin | Jin/Min Yoongi | Suga

You Really Float My Boat by deepslowpanic

“Hoseok-ah? Yoongi whips his head to the side, staring at his husband in confusion. “What?” “Hi, Seokjin hyung,” Hoseok says, voice sweet as honey. “Hi, Yoongi hyung.” “Hello Seok-ah,” Yoongi rasps. When he turns his head, Seokjin is staring at him. “You know Hoseok?” Seokjin asks. Yoongi nods. “I know Hoseok.” he blinks. “You know Hoseok?” Seokjin nods back. Huh. “Wow!” Hoseok gasps, clapping his hands together. “This is so strange! Who would have thought my ex-boyfriends would have ended up married?” -OR- When Yoongi agrees to go on a cruise with his husband, he doesn’t expect to run into his ex-boyfriend. And he definitely doesn’t expect to find out Seokjin dated him too. Shared memories bring up forgotten feelings, and maybe a vacation is the perfect time to let loose.

Jung Hoseok | J-Hope/Min Yoongi | Suga/Park Jimin

only two people by silklace *

Jimin looks up at him. That is, Jimin looks over him. All over him. When his gaze lands on Hoseok’s face, his expression stretches into something annoyed even with all that heat in his looking. “What.” “C’mon.” Jimin swallows. “Come shower with me, baby.” Jimin scratches at the back of his neck. He’s still gripping his phone in his other hand. “Yoonji know you call me that?” It’s not really a question though, not when Jimin knows the answer.

Kim Namjoon | RM/Kim Taehyung | V/Park Jimin

can't look away by eron_less

When Namjoon video calls the guy he's been seeing late one night, he's not expecting to find the guy's best friend in bed with him. Turns out, he's kind of into it.

(* Personal favorites)    

MASTERPOST FIC RECS PART 1

MASTERPOST FIC RECS PART 2

MASTERPOST FIC RECS PART 3

MASTERPOST FIC RECS PART 4

MASTERPOST FIC RECS PART 5

MASTERPOST FIC RECS PART 6

MASTERPOST FIC RECS PART 7

MASTERPOST FIC RECS PART 8

MASTERPOST FIC RECS PART 9

#bts fic rec #bts ot7 #hopekook #namkook #yoonkook #namseok #jikook #namgi #yoonjin #taegi #bts poly #fic recs #my fic recs #bts #mine

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/728886929370857472/httpswwwtumblrcomolderthannetfic728767139305

Agree with this. I mean I’m an academic who in grad school was often in discussions with people who were Terminally Online, but the dumb ways they applied tumblr discourse in class were usually the least of their problems (as in they were often awful people in their ACTIONS outside of class. That said I’ll never forget the person, who was not a gay or bisexual man himself but was a straight trans man who acted like that identity meant he could speak for the entire LGBTQ community based on stuff he read on Tumblr and never doing the actual class reading, claiming that the way Wayne Koestenbaum described gay man’s attachment to female opera divas in The Queen’s Throat had “consent issues.” This was a guy who later got investigated by Title IX for graphically discussing his sex life with other grad students, including female TAs when he was a student instructor).

But I think where I saw the most obnoxious and insidious ways that Tumblr discourse shit infected irl academic discourse was you’d have some older academic who wasn’t super online but cared a lot about social justice and wanting to do the right thing, and would hear about some concept third hand and think it sounded good and not have the broader context a regular Tumblr, Twitter, etc. person would have to know why it wasn’t, or that the person behind it was abusive or didn’t really know their stuff (I’m thinking about stuff like Medieval POC being promoted by academics who just liked the idea of highlighting more instances of POC in pre-modern European history, didn’t know that the person behind it was a racefaker with a history of deeply racist statements, and weren’t specifically art historians or really digging all that deep into her posts to know that she was getting some basic stuff wrong). My frustration a lot as a grad student who is familiar with Tumblr, and with the feminist blogosphere of the late 00s/early 10s before it where a lot of “Tumblr social justice” first developed, was trying to explain that there were people within that culture who were pro-SJ and feminist and antiracist and so on, and from marginalized groups themselves, who had legitimate objections to these concepts being applied to academia that didn’t come from unfamiliarity or “college students just need to grow up” style thinking that you saw in Jonathan Chait style thinkpieces.

For instance, I objected to and continue to object to “mandatory trigger warnings” because I’ve read about and seen in action how they’re often used by students to box in female and POC faculty — already disproportionately hurt by student evaluations — for not running their class or discussing issues of race, gender, etc. in a way that perfectly fits their ideas from Online Discourse. They’re harder on us for this than similar white male faculty, especially older ones, and older white male allies need to be more aware of this when they extrapolate from their own experiences. (Also students IME will get way angrier if a film by or about marginalized people is “triggering” even though it’s impossible to show some aspects of systemic misogyny or racism on screen without doing that — think movies like Do the Right Thing — than they will a similarly “triggering” film by and about white dudes that has no larger Social Point to Make with its triggering content. And I say this as someone who always gives students a heads up beforehand, but some really think that those movies shouldn’t be shown AT ALL and I’m increasingly getting students asking me to accommodate trigger warning requests for vague Tumblr stuff like “unreality” and I’m so tired.)

Thanks for letting me rant about “Tumblr SJ” and academia in your inbox lol

--

[vacantgodling]

right, sexualities of all my MAIN characters from ALL my wips (as i can best describe them)

i'm leaving out rouge ocs like stellan or lauchlan just cuz they don't have a story they're just vibing lol. i'm also leaving out ones where i genuinely don't know yet like itri or seamus.

hyacinthus shrapnel (paramour) -> gay but extremely picky. he was wholly uninterested in sexuality and sex AT ALL until amon

amon (paramour) -> gay and he’s being very whorish about it

lavendula calderon (requiem for the monochrome) -> bisexual but hasn’t really been able to explore her attraction to non-men until the story starts.

erecia (requiem for the monochrome) -> straight-lesbian. she’s butch & troibemme (nb in this universe) but would consider herself bigender she/he in our terminology and fully considers herself both a man and a woman at the same time. she would honestly prefer the label straight-lesbian more than sapphic bc she’s not a woman all the time and that speaks to her experience more than anything.

narcissus spokes (prim & provocative) -> aro-graysexual (sex and romance positive). it’s something she comes to discover throughout her narrative. she doesn’t really experience or feel romance or desire for sex in a traditional way; she desires being wanted so she wants those things for herself but she doesn’t experience the actual attraction herself. she didn’t realize it bc on paper before her divorce, she didn’t have to question any of it—being with myrtus and being casually intimate but never hot and heavy seriously never bothered her. once he leaves though, through meeting new friends (i’m cooking) and generally going through it grants her new perspective.

tagetes gunn (empire) -> aroace (kink positive). the only attraction they have is to power.

kirsi sunniva (alizath) -> bisexual, with a preference for mascs

quill (teardrops of the gods) -> bisexual, with a preference for femmes

darren de leon (vampires don't take roadtrips) -> bisexual with a preference for mascs. he actually thought he was gay for most of his life until he turned like 14 and then he realized "oh, girls are kinda hot too"

julissa vaughn (donut wip) -> bisexual & polyamorous. the dream ending of this wip is her, joaquin, andres, saul and daisy ending up in a quintouple but alas.

noi randiche (noi, alone) -> nblm. they're nonbinary and they like men so. they don't really like labels anyway, but if they had to describe it that's what they'd say.

jenna magboo (jenna the reaper / jenna the witch king) -> bi-ace lesbian. she and carlos are in a qpr basically but in terms of fleeting romantic feelings she'd align more with lesbian (all of her 'crushes' have been women or femme-aligning but she doesn't experience attraction That strongly) but she also doesn't think she's had enough experience to say she's not bi also. lesbian is an important label to her especially because both of her mothers are lesbian, but she also knows she's young and likes the complexity of her labels.

carlos carvalho (jenna the reaper / jenna the witch king) -> aroace (sex/romance repulsed). in a qpr and is a caretaker of jenna - though when i say they're in a qpr its a very unspoken thing between them. like, jenna's whole goal is to become a witch and then make carlos her familiar so they're never separated, so i think that's very explicit about what they are to each other pff.

n blackburn (dead rites) -> the way that n barely registers his sexuality bc he's married to his work LMAOOOO. he'd say that he's pan, it really has more to do with the mental connection than physical attraction for him so anything is fair game (but again... married to his work actually)

beau bellerose (dead rites) -> gay gay homosexual gay

jihan (supernatural dads) -> pan, he's too old to have a preference and he's very open to experimenting.

hue rvynwell (supernatural dads) -> gay and he definitely had a crisis about it when he was growing up. however in his family it was such a nonissue LMAO they were like "why the hell would we care about that just make sure you have a kid" and whaddya know, he had 2!

piper fairwind (tcol) -> queer probably but she doesn't really think about any of that. if she were in our world, labels would be like the most meaningless shit to her LMAO.

san dearborn (tcol) -> aro-queer. romance is just not something she can wrap her head around however she does get into a... teammate with benefits relationship in book 2 that i think is funny as fuck.

deux undershield (tcol) -> literally the first cishet character to appear on this list LMAO

forte symphonia (tcol) -> bisexual

clear brightendale (tcol) -> gay and he's hiding So Deep in the closet he needs someone to tell him its ok to come out lmaooo (aka: literally everyone)

di absyna (lukewarm rejection) -> gay but at what cost (his strict religious parents being generally horrible is one cost pff)

toph (lukewarm rejection) -> bisexual and a menace, but mostly attracted to mascs.

nyseah nicoletti (nondisclosure) -> she's trans heteroflexible basically. she's mostly attracted to guys but she also definitely cares more about a connection than anything else so she's open to exploring. (also she's pff married to my partner they love her LMAO)

donte macbride (nondisclosure) -> gay but more than being gay, he's fucking exhausted.

alona springwell (nondisclosure) -> the second cishet to appear on this list LMAO.

dagmar (celestial weddings) -> being mspec and polyamorous is literally just the default sexuality of the world of celestial weddings so yeeee.

graves (the graves we dug) -> FAGGOT COWBOY YEEHAW. pff but yeah he's gay. and sad.

dove (the graves we dug) -> another faggot cowboy lmao he's gay.

calvin im (purple haze) -> the first cishet dude on this list

jake deluna (purple haze) -> bisexual but he has a rough time coming to terms with this.

nevaeh (god eater) -> tbh i don't think nevaeh even knows what sexuality is (being a beacon of paradise is a very isolating lot in life) but i think they're probably gray across the board. the idea of romance or sex isn't really something they have much of a concept in their brain yet but they're curious about it.

little bear (god eater) -> mspec polyamorous; he doesn't really have time for relationships most of the time but he's definitely open to being ridden by anyone who wants to give it a go.

taj (god eater) -> pan and very in... some sort of codependent infatuation with thei.

thei (god eater) -> pan and tired. in a codependency relationship thing with taj.

lennon rhapsody granger (gothica) -> a surprise cishet appears.

aurora o'rion (gothica) -> bisexual and a whore about it

morrigan briarcos (gothica) -> gay and longsuffering. lennon is his (1) exception.

chidori jonson (train master chidori) -> just generally considers himself queer :)

nyoka (the virgin of mt heredosa) -> demi. its verin or bust.

verin (the virgin of mt heredosa) -> mspec but he's a centuries old god so like the concept of sexuality is mostly funny to him. he likes what he likes.

red (red death and the oracle's favor) -> aroace (sex repulsed bc of trauma). her and hel are in a qpr and i'm obsessed with them and their relationship

hel (red death and the oracle's favor) -> gay but loves red more than he loves dick and that's saying something. he doesn't expect her to say it back or feel the same as him but she cares about him in her own way and he's extremely not normal about it. he also wants to jump arden's bones and Did.

arden (red death and the oracle's favor) -> gay but he can't be gay and the king so he's very closeted. not unaccepting of it but he definitely is not talking about it and only allows himself to indulge with hel under the cover of darkness.

ranger pellish (sixteen candles) -> aro-bisexual and Very sex positive. he's such a slut and he lives by that. him and nan are basically a qpr.

nanette rosenfeld (sixteen candles) -> lesbian but she & range are inseperable and she's definitely given him the strap on many occasion to make him shut the hell up.

tuker hayes (sixteen candles) -> disaster bi with a 13 year long crush on vani he's hopeless.

vanilla vega (sixteen candles) -> demi-pansexual <3

roger grant (sixteen candles) -> probably not straight but is he willing to admit that to himself right now? absolutely not :DDDD

marvin (marvin & linda) -> sexuality doesn't matter because the company is more important (probably gay but yknow. his identity is kind of irrelevant to him)

linda / stephen (marvin & linda) -> mspec but marvin's the first person he's had a connection with on a romantic level.

prosper morning (the white shirts) -> hasn't thought about it too hard, but he definitely thinks marin is attractive and he Hates That a lot.

jane morning (the white shirts) -> she hasn't thought about it before so unknown

marin (the white shirts) -> gay asf

noh bell (noble) -> gay gay homosexual gay space super solider teehee.

peri (peri & dandy) -> outside of dandy, most lifetimes he's demi-gay. but he's really only ever attracted to dandy

dandy (peri & dandy) -> outside of dandy he's pan but he's also only ever looking for peri and only sleeps with people who have "peri energy" (whatever the hell that means lmao)

utah (broken clouds) -> fagggggggggggggggggg

gator (broken clouds) -> faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggg

slug (broken clouds) -> literally they don't know or care about any of that.

sjaak de witte (btaf) -> if he were in modern times, he'd be bisexual probably. and suffering.

biscella (btaf) -> another surprise cishet but i think in modern times she'd also probably be bi i just don't think in the canon verse she had the thought or bandwidth to explore her attraction to women (much to azelie's sadness)

#dude idk what to tag this as PFF #character stats #ig #idk

[irishavengersassemble]

Game of Survival: Part 1

After tragedy strikes Rafael Barba’s little sister moves back to New York City for a fresh start. Will she be able to move on with the help of her loving big brother and perhaps find happiness with a certain lieutenant  in SVU.

Hey lovlies. I know its been forever, but I had this idea for a series and I just had to write it. 

Series takes place at the beginning of season 18 of Law and Order: SVU and has references to One Chicago. Reader is canonicallly bisexual and in her mid-thirties. 

Pairings: Olivia Benson x Barba Reader   Sonny Carisi x Rafael Barba 

Header belongs to me. 

You let out a small sigh as you took in the familiar office that you’d not stepped foot in for over a year. Taking in the cozy office of your older brother you settled on the comfy brown couch knowing it would probably be a while before he came back from court.

He was always busy that didn’t mean that he didn’t have time for you, given you lived hours away and you both worked insane hours.

You usually didn’t hear from each other apart from a weekly phone call whenever you both had time which didn’t seem often these days.

Glancing down at your phone your e/c eyes landed on the different apartment listings that you’d been scanning through.

Nothing had caught your eye in all honesty this had been a spare whim of the moment decision one that you’d not regret.

You’d needed a change. A change had been needed for a while and you’d finally decided it was time, time to head home and start over and get a fresh start so to speak.

Severide and Casey had helped you pack up your things over the weekend and you’d made the long drive from Chicago back to New York with nothing but your car and a small U-Haul.

A deep huff fell from your lips as you found the couch growing more comfortable by the minute the long drive catching up with you.

The next thing you knew you were being startled awake as Rafael’s surprised voice filled your ears stirring you from the dreamless slumber you’d fallen into.

“Y/N? Y/N Wake up. What the hell are you doing here?” Your older brother retorts his voice holding so many questions ever the lawyer.

 You groaned opening your eyes finding your big brother of nine years sitting beside you on the couch. He was dressed in one of his well-tailored suits his light brown hair combed back in a neat style.

“Hi, Rafa. Sorry, I fell asleep. It was a long drive. Ummm. I’m back in New York permanently this time. I moved out of Kelly’s place this weekend and drove the twelve and a half hours straight through.” You said knowing your brother was processing what you’d told him his mind was always a step ahead of the conversation.

He knew that the past few years had been hard for you and that ever since the incident you’d been trying to pick up the shattered pieces of your life.

What was left of it. How you’d been able to keep going at all had been a surprise to you.

It was evident the only reason you’d made it this far was the love and support of your family and friends. Those closest to you the people you considered family had helped you through the roughest time of your life they’d helped you pick up the pieces and try to throw your life back together.

Rafael sat there for a moment glancing over at you with a concerned brotherly brow.

He knew it had been hard for you after you’d lost Leslie, you’d been a broken shell of the woman you once were.

The woman who had a ferocity and a fire in you a fierceness that hadn’t dimmed even with the rough life you’d come from had disappeared.

You were softer now than you’d once been quiet and calm, gentle, they’d always been attributes you’d carried yet they seemed to control you these days.

Rafael had been surprised when you’d told him of your plans to go from paramedic to police officer after losing your fiancé several years prior.

He’d worried his mami and abuelita had worried, yet you’d managed to pass through the academy with flying colors and soon became a damn good cop with an even better reputation.

“Well, this is entirely unexpected but it's great to see you Hermana.” Rafael purred pulling you into a tight hug pressing a kiss to your head as you clung to him finding comfort in his embrace.

“I take it you don’t have an apartment or anything settled out yet which is fine. You can stay with me until you find a place.”

“But what about Son-“ You started not at all wanting to impose on your brother and his boyfriend who was over at Rafael’s so much you were surprised that your brother hadn’t asked him to move in yet.

That wasn’t any of your business and you really weren’t the best person to come to when it came to relationships or relationship advice.

Your big brother’s voice filled your ears startling you from your thoughts that had been getting away from you over the past few weeks.

That’s another reason you’d decided to move the city was too different, too quiet, and no matter where you look Leslie was everywhere.

A change had been necessary, you’d wanted to heal actually heal, and being with your family had seemed like the best way to go about that.

“Oh don’t worry about Sonny. You know he loves you. You’ve gotten along. You staying with me won’t be an issue.

I’m sure you’d much rather stay with me than mami anyways.” He chuckled knowing your mother would have his head if she heard his comment.

“Alright, Rafa I’ll stay with you if you insist.” You sighed pulling out of your big brother’s hold rolling your eyes at him.

Rafael could be many things a sassy pain in the ass for starters, but he’d been the best big brother ever since Lucia had taken you in and adopted you when you were eight years old.

Even though Rafael was nine years older he’d always made time for you and though you were close with your mother you and Rafael had been thick as thieves for as long as you could remember.

“I do insist just like I insist on taking you to lunch. Come on. When’s the last time you’ve had a decent meal?” Your big brother quipped raising the infamous Barba brow in your direction.

A sigh fell off your lips Rafael knew you better than anyone having a little sister who was a first responder and working the crazy hours you did you’d often forgotten to eat.

“Last night…” The words tumbled out of your mouth as Rafael’s face hardened giving you a knowing expression forcing a deep huff from your lips as you continue.

“Okay technically it was the night before Herman and the rest of the gang threw me a going away party at Molly’s.” The words tumbled out of your mouth as you stood standing to your feet as Rafael walked you out.

The light brown-haired man rolled his eyes knowing an order of your favorite Chinese food was calling your name.

“Come on let's get some food into you before you blow away or pass out on me.” Rafael sighed throwing an arm around your shoulders as he led you toward the elevators.

“Rafa I’m fine. You act as though I don’t eat. Trust me when I can I do. You know this. I have the Barba genes maybe not literally but metaphorically.

With Abuelita and Mami’s cooking, it was only a matter of time before I become a foodie just like yours truly.” The words tumbled from your mouth as you gave the man a once over followed by your first real smile ever since you’d stepped foot back into your hometown.

“I’m not a foodie.” Your brother sassed knowing that he actually was a foodie and when he’d started dating Sonny that had only intensified. It didn’t help the chatty Italian man was an exceptional cook and one of his main love languages was acts of service.

You were grateful that Rafael had found someone like Sonny, he was warm and loving and made sure that Rafael was taken care of and you appreciated it more than he’d ever know.

It had been hard being away from your family for so many years, but when the opportunity presented itself to move to Chicago alongside joining Firehouse 51 you’d been unable to say no.

Back then you’d been a fresh-faced twenty-four-year-old who was ready to pursue your dream of being a paramedic and saving lives.

Now after a decade in Chicago you were back in New York for a fresh start you knew this would be good for you and that’s what Leslie would have wanted for you as well.

She’d have wanted you to be happy and continue your life not wallowing in the grief that had been all-consuming for the past two years.

You owed it to yourself and you owed it to her to find happiness again. That’s what she’d wanted for you to enjoy living again even with her gone.

It was the only way you knew to keep her memory alive. You needed to start living again and maybe in time you would.

Going out for dinner with your big brother was a good start you felt much calmer as you leant into Rafael’s side glad that you had such a strong support system behind you.

#law and order svu #one chigago #law and order x reader #olivia benson x reader #rafael barba x reader #leslie shay #barisi #matt casey #kelly severide #christopher herrmann #chicago fire x reader #sonny carisi

[vashhanamichi]

And what are you up to with that wonderful work titled Venus as a Boy? AND The Partisan - I am super intrigued about that one.

Hello darling thank you for answering the meme btw, I need to head to your blog and demand my snippets soon... So Venus as a Boy is Voldemort and Bellatrix in a Voldemort Wins scenario playing with one bisexual fawn Harry Potter who is flustered and angry and horny about his new evil Daddy and Mommy. It's not incest but they wish it were. Here it is:

“Does he love you?” She asks. Dawn colours the room in gentle mauve, lilac, silver. The french windows are open and the curtains billow in the breeze. Beyond, her sister’s gardens, and further away the boy’s own alcove, the enchanted and delicate prison in which he spends his sainthood, a melancholic bird, for he too was meant for greater planes. That her Lord’s arrow has crippled Harry Potter beyond repair, that this languid doe won’t ever run free again, fills her with breathless pleasure.

Voldemort’s triumph is careless, elegant. As if his expanding empire, the death of Dumbledore, and the capture of the Chosen One are expected notes in a familiar piece, hit, one by one, by a competent pianist.

“He loves me,” and his voice is tender. Between them she’s the greatest sadist. She’s wet again. “...and he thinks he can change me.” Voldemort adds. Bellatrix laughs, giddy with the thought, and feels, such is the strange coil of her nature, a sudden affection for Harry, for faring so well at a victim’s trade.

“Oh, he’s perfect.” She says. “Poor thing. I almost feel sorry.”

“Almost.” Voldemort agrees.

As for The Partisan...well. Omega Harry, Alpha Ron and Beta Hermione are Horcrux hunting. Say Ron never left. Say he stayed and matured, carrying the locket around his neck. Say he changed...

My saviour, Harry thought, my balm. Even delirious as he was then he knew himself to be of a baser realm than his two best friends. Inside, the growing hollowness, and if Voldemort wouldn’t fill it then Ron must, Ron whose scent had matured, changed in the eleven months they had wasted hunting for the Horcruxes, a reek of old wine and clear water on stone. For all his arousal and the whorish creature it turned him into, Harry couldn’t detach himself wholly from shame, from guilt; half-naked, legs spread around Ron’s waist and hips swaying, a constant friction against that which could tame, fulfill and damn him, he still repeated:

“Please. Ah, please, please, don’t look. I’m sorry, I’m sorry...”

“I won’t look,” Ron promised, in the steady, adult voice he had grown into the last few weeks, “I won’t look.” Harry felt those words against his hair, against his ear. Ron’s arms were stronger than his had ever been and held him so firmly that soon his struggle ceased. Under him, he noticed, the Alpha was hard. “I’ll take care of you,” Ron continued, carressing his hair, and in the dark he sounded like someone else. In its peak the fever lulled Harry in and out of that room, between Ron and Voldemort’s voyeristic presence. “Be good for me now.” The Alpha commanded.

“Thank you.” Harry moaned. “Thank you. Oh, Tom. I’ll be good, I promise.”

#ask meme #my fic #bellamort #harrymort

[super-cosmic-library]

When I get up the motivation, I really want to write a fruity four Selection au, where Robin and Nancy are chosen to participate in competing for Prince Steve’s hand in marriage, but along the way, Robin befriends Steve and they strike up a deal for her to be his woman on the inside in exchange for him keeping her in the competition so her family can continue getting compensated for her participation and she doesn’t have to return home where she will run into her ex.

However, the fic deviates from Maxon and America’s story when Steve tries to kiss Robin, and she’s like, “um, ew, no. I’m a lesbian.” A fact which she has been keeping from him because up until that point, she had thought he might kick her out of the running because of it, but she wagered that he won’t now because they are good enough friends. And he doesn’t kick her out. Instead, he realizes the deep feelings he had for her were friendship, which he has never felt because he didn’t get to grow up around people his age. So, they spend the night joking around, and Robin tells him all about her ex Vickie and seeing her hanging on her exboyfriend right before Robin left for the Selection.

Meanwhile, Robin is starting to fall for one of the other contestants, Nancy. Nancy, who everyone thinks is the perfect candidate for the One--that she will be Steve’s princess. And Robin, much to her own pain, is pushing Nancy to be the One as well, because she thinks the other girl is straight. (She’s not, she’s having a bisexuality crisis all thanks to Robin, and maybe that makes her a little mean like Celeste, only she’s not trying to show Robin up to gain Steve’s attention. She’s competing with Steve for Robin’s attention.)

During this, Robin and Steve are taking a walk through the palace, shooting the breeze (talking about boobies), when Robin stops in her tracks, spotting a familiar face in a guard. A one Mr. Eddie Munson has traded his guitar for a gun, so he could be at the palace to protect his best friend, Chrissy (who is also in the competition). Robin and Eddie grew up in the same caste, so they are pretty good friends. Steve decides to have Eddie guard her room because Robin’s been homesick lately, and Eddie will provide a familiar face. However, as Steve continues to keep hanging out in Robin’s room, he strikes up a friendship with her new guard. A friendship that feels different than the one he has with Robin, but no less deep. And Eddie is starting to feel the same way.

So, by the time the competition nears what should be its end: Steve choosing Nancy, and Robin returning home, the country is blindsided when Steve chooses a lowly guard, and Nancy and Robin (who Steve knew had feelings for each other) get together instead.

And of course, we’ve got to have the rebel attacks, but in this universe, it’s the craziness of the Upside Down that they’ve got to protect themselves from. Unfortunately, Chrissy is not saved in one of the attacks (rip), and Steve, Nancy, and Robin help comfort Eddie while he is in mourning. Also, Steve’s parents are killed, leaving Steve in charge of the kingdom (and pretty much free to marry whoever he wants).

Also, in this au, the contestant age requirements begin at 14 (which makes Steve, 19/20, want to projectile vomit), so Max get selected, and the rest of the Party apply to work in the palace so they can be with her. During one of the Demogorgon attacks, the fruity four and the Party get separated from everyone else, and they have to defend themselves from some Demogorgons, then hunker down in a panic room until they are released. This leads to them all bonding, and Steve getting his kids more friends (even if they are much younger than him). Also, because Max is in the competition, Steve has to pretend to take her on dates, but in that time spent together, he learns about her home life, and decides to keep her in the competition, same as he is doing for Robin. However, the two of them form a big brother/little sister relationship, and after the competition ends, he offers to let her stay in the palace and bring her mom as well, so they don’t have to keep living with Billy and his dad.  

#fruity four #steddie #ronance #stranger things #the selection #steve harrington #eddie munson #robin buckley #nancy wheeler

[squish36-writes-and-draws]

It's Easier if I'm to Blame, Yeah, It's Easier to Numb the Pain

Word count: 2919

TW: Near-death experience

Taglist (lmk if you want to be added/removed!): @stellar-lune @faggot-friday @kamikothe1and0nly @nyxpixels @florida-preposterously @poppinspop @uni-seahorse-572 @solreefs @did-i-say-you-could-get-up @rusted-phone-calls @when-wax-wings-melt @good-old-fashioned-lover-boy7 @dexter-dizzknees @abubble125 @hi-imgrapes @callum-hunt-is-bisexual @xanadaus @callas-pancake-tree @hi-my-name-is-awesome @katniss-elizabeth-chase @arson-anarchy-death @dizzeners @thefoxysnake @olivedumdum @loveution @notyourlegacygirl

On Ao3 or below the cut!

Once again, this was a thing for my creative writing class, but this one was actually supposed to be a fanfic, not just a barely-concealed fanfic like the other two. Essentially this is that one scene in Neverseen where Fitz and Dex become friends. Yes, I know it's been done before. I've done it before. This is the most hinged fanfic I could write and to be fair I wrote kotlp chapter 3 like two years ago and this is from Fitz's pov. It's completely different

    “Can I…um…talk to you for a sec?” Dex asks, his voice sharper and brighter than it has any right to be, ripping a spiraling Fitz out of his daze. 

    For Physic to admit so plainly that he just nearly died that’s—that’s terrifying. 

    Sophie might go through that on a far too regular basis, but for Fitz to get that close to his own demise makes him feel things he’s never felt before. It’s a kind of fear and a lack of control he’s never had before, even while he was watching Sophie drag herself back from the edge of fading away. 

    It’s an even deeper affront to his being than that. Elves are supposed to have an indefinite life span; they aren’t built to process the concept of their own mortality. 

    “Uh…sure,” Fitz replies slowly, glancing up to find Dex studying the floor. 

    Fitz’s Mom herds Keefe and Sophie out of the room, and Physic follows suit, her bejeweled half-mask glittering in the sterile lights as she goes. Keefe, ever insufferable, proclaims that he’s going to be eavesdropping. Fitz throws a pillow at him for his impunity. 

    It is very quickly made obvious that this was a bad decision as Fitz’s chest screams with pain. 

    The inky veins of arthropleura venom may have been drawn out of his skin, but he still has a long way to go before he’s fully healed. Physic’s scolding tells him as much. 

    The look Physic gives Keefe as she warns him to not throw it back is unexpectedly familiar, but Fitz can’t quite figure out why. At least the pillow isn’t allowed to make a return. Keefe is sure to remember this, though. Fitz will regret it one day very soon. 

    Dex waits for several seconds, head turned to the door, watching for the slightest sign that Keefe might be making good on his promise. Eventually he gives in and turns his attention back to the floor, gaze occasionally flicking up at Fitz. 

    Fitz smiles reassuringly, to no effect. 

    “I’m so sorry,” Dex whispers, voice ragged. He’s so quiet, Fitz wonders if Dex actually said anything or if his thoughts were just so loud that Fitz’s Telepathy picked up on them. 

    The next time Dex dares to look at Fitz, a tear streaks down Dex’s cheek. He quickly swipes it away.

    More than that, though, is the guilt etched into every single line, every single freckle. 

    Guilt is the most dangerous emotion an elf can have. Fitz has seen its effects. His father’s mind broke from the weight of Prentice’s conviction. 

    The ironic part is that Prentice’s sentence was to spend the rest of his indefinite lifespan with his mind broken for assisting the Black Swan and, now, Fitz, Biana, and their Mom have joined that exact same organization.  

    And, yes, Sophie was able to heal his Dad, but what if she couldn’t this time? What if Dex shattered and Fitz was the reason why? 

    I’ve already had to go through losing someone because of Prentice’s exile. I can’t let it happen again. 

    “Dex, listen to me.” Fitz waits until Dex’s eye contact lasts for a whole second. “I don’t blame you. I don’t blame you in the slightest—”

    “It was my gadget! It’s why you’re like—like this!” Dex’s voice cracks as he gestures to the bed Fitz is going to be trapped in for the next week. 

    Fitz’s hackles rise, meeting Dex’s anger head on. Anger is a safe emotion, at least until he starts saying things he’s going to regret. But he doesn’t care if he regrets what he’s saying so long as Dex understands. 

    “Correct me if I’m wrong, but last I checked, you aren’t a Charger. So unless you’ve suddenly manifested another ability and then didn’t spend a week proclaiming it to anyone who would listen, that was not your fault.”

    Dex’s voice takes on a dark edge. “Zarina wouldn’t have been able to do this.” 

    Memories of Councillor Zarina, lightning crackling in her palms and the faint whiff of ozone it caused as the air electrified, rush through Fitz’s mind. “She would’ve happily electrocuted any one of us if she thought it was the right thing to do.”

    “Since when has the Council acted upon ‘the right thing?’” 

    Fitz’s mouth opens to argue that the Council isn’t malicious, just overly cautious with a tendency to cover up every possible controversy, no matter how small, but he thinks better of it. The memories of Sophie’s Ability Restriction surface, too fresh in both of their minds to ignore. 

    Dex probably blames himself for that, too. But that isn’t his fault, either. He set out to build an Ability Enhancer. It was the Council that twisted it into what it became. He was just following orders to not get his family banished. 

    “Since when have you not blamed them for every inconvenience you’ve ever experienced?” Fitz smiles amusedly, a recent event coming to the forefront of his mind. “I think one day I heard you probably working on your gadgets around five in the morning cursing them out. I don’t think they gave you that paper cut.” 

    “Okay, most importantly, why were you awake that early? And how could you hear me? We are quite literally in separate treehouses. And, also, it was a splinter, not a paper cut, thank you very much.”

    Dex’s petulant smile doesn’t quite reach his dimples. 

    “I’m surprised Biana hasn’t told you about the horror stories of living with me. I’m apparently what’s called a ‘morning person’ and I should be placed in the Sanctuary to prevent the extinction of my species because it’s critically endangered.” 

    Dex’s smile widens, becoming more sincere. He looks like he almost wants to laugh, but his lips stay pressed together. That’s when Fitz makes it his personal mission to make Dex laugh before he’s allowed to leave this room, even if humor as a coping mechanism is Keefe’s specialty. 

    Fitz’s grand plans are suddenly impeded by a coughing fit, every muscle in his chest protesting with every single movement. A metallic taste tinges the back of his tongue and the skin of his chest feels impossibly tight. Between coughs, he can see the guilt flashing across Dex’s face, and it makes his chest ache in more ways than one. 

    Fitz doesn’t even get the chance to catch his breath before Dex begins a rambling apology. “I’m sorry I did this to you, and I’m sorry about the Ability Restrictor, and I know it wasn’t used on you but I’m still sorry about how it turned out, and I’m sorry for that day you came to the store and I acted like a buffoon, and I’m sorry for—”

    Fitz interrupts him before he can work himself into even more of a mess. “How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t blame you for what happened with the arthropleura?”

    “But you should.” 

    “There was absolutely no malicious intent behind anything that went down. You need to stop blaming yourself.”

    Dex shakes his head. “Intent doesn’t absolve me of responsibility.”

    “Fine, then. Why don’t you blame the Council? You can do that. It’s very easy to get pissed at Councillor Zarina for short circuiting your gadget. It’s even easier to blame Councillor Clarette for calling the arthropleura there in the first place. Who’s to say no one would’ve gotten hurt if your mini smoke machine gadget thing hadn’t decided to be extra explosive?”

    Dex looks…thoroughly unconvinced. 

    “Or, if you want to think about it this way, I share responsibility too. If I hadn’t thrown your gadget down the hallway, things could’ve gone very differently. Worse differently, but still differently. You can blame me for everything, you’ve done it before.”

    Dex has returned to studying the floor, the uneven lines of light gray grout separating the slightly darker gray tiles. It’s the only room Fitz has seen in the entirety of Alluveterre that doesn’t feel like it’s a treehouse. It’s empty, cold, and smells faintly of hand sanitizer. “I used to hate you, you know,” he whispers. 

    His inflection on the word ‘hate’ seems to imply that those feelings might not entirely be in the past, but they certainly aren’t what they used to be. He wouldn’t be getting this worked up if someone else—like Stina—was the one impaled by the antennae of an oversized millipede. 

    “Yeah, I do,” Fitz replies simply, not breaking eye contact. 

    “And that doesn’t bother you?”

    “I mean, I don’t entirely understand what I did to merit that kind of response, but, like, you’ve been more than willing to tolerate me in recent months. Why should I let that bother me? The past is in the past and it’s not like it’s going to reemerge.” 

    Dex turns away from Fitz, now studying the window that looks out onto the treehouses that make up Alluveterre. 

    Fitz can’t really see outside that well with the whole staying-horizontal thing, but Alluveterre itself has taken on a new atmosphere after going to Exile. 

    It should feel more open, but they’re both just as underground, just as claustrophobic. 

    The feeling of being trapped in that place, struggling for every breath as the venom coursed through his veins, is going to haunt him for a long time.

    Maybe that’s the real Vacker legacy…nearly dying in the middle of Exile going to visit Prentice. 

    The surrounding circumstances around the visit couldn’t be much more different. His Dad went down there with Sophie to break Fintan’s mind. He went there to break Prentice out. 

    So much has changed in so few months, there’s no saying where it might go here. All Fitz knows is that Dex is an incredibly skilled Technopath and that he would rather have Dex on his side than against him.

    Dex has the capacity to be scary when he wants to be, but he can also be incredibly stuck in his own head, like right now, as he continues to stare out the window. 

    “What if the past does reemerge?” he whispers. 

    Fitz looks at him, but he doesn’t turn to make eye contact. “Nothing is going to be a linear process. If you end up deciding that your initial opinion of me was correct, I might get a little mad. That’s just how I react to things sometimes. And I also have an intense desire to be liked by everyone—holy Exile, what was in those painkillers?”

    Dex’s response is almost automatic. “It was actually the Oremideae leaves. I think your Great-times-a-gadjillion-uncle-cousin-whatever discovered them. They’re really good at preventing infection, but they also inhibit a little bit of the blood-brain barrier, both physiologically and psychologically. I didn’t realize they’d kick in this quickly…but, I mean, they were crushed...which would increase absorption rate. I can go if this is weird for you.”

    Fitz can barely focus on the details of what Dex is saying. He goes off on alchemy-adjacent tangents quite often during the limited instances they’ve interacted and as much as Fitz wants to learn new things, there’s something so inherently distracting about Dex. 

    “You don’t have to go. Just don’t get mad if and when I say something stupid.”

    “I’m sure you won’t say anything stupid.” Dex’s attention lands on Fitz once again, and he takes a few steps toward Fitz’s bed-prison. 

    “You never know. I am very untrustworthy in that regard.”

    Dex is only a large step away from the foot of Fitz’s bed. He sighs. “I really am sorry for everything and a half.”

    “I thought you were supposed to be good at maths. Infinity plus half an infinity is still infinity. It won’t change. There’s no reason to operate on an infinitely large quantity.”

    Dex’s tone is flat as he says, “It was hyperbole.”

    “Oh.” That would make a touch more sense. I’ll just blame it on my brain not functioning, that’s completely plausible. 

    Dex lowers himself onto the farthest corner of Fitz’s bed. It’s way larger than the ones that Elwin has in the Healing Center at Foxfire, it’s still really close compared to Dex’s normal trend of staying as far away from Fitz as physically possible. 

    But it’s not a level of closeness that’s anything significant in any other case. 

    Dex’s words are low, almost to the point where Fitz thinks his filter has slipped to the point of accidentally reading Dex’s thoughts, but it doesn’t have that familiar echoey quality and Dex is avoiding eye contact once again. 

    “I just want you to know—really know—I’m so sorry about what happened to you. I’d like to promise that it’ll never happen again, but that’s just not something I can guarantee with any level of certainty. That terrifies me to no end, but I guess it just comes with being a Technopath. Hurting everyone around me is just…inevitable.” 

    “Maybe,” Fitz concedes, “but you’ve also saved us so many times with your Panic Switches and even those first two gadgets today that didn’t malfunction. I don’t remember if you heard about me when my Dad’s mind was broken, but, well, I was a bit of an absolute mess and I lashed out at Sophie. Maybe hurting everyone around me is just an inevitable part of my personality.” 

    They sit in silence together for a long moment. 

    Fitz breaks the silence first. “I guess that means that we should be friends. Mutually assured destruction and all that.”

    “Even despite the fact that I used to hate you?” 

    “Yeah. A little animosity will keep things interesting. It’s an integral part of why I’ve tolerated Keefe for so long.”  

     Dex’s laugh isn’t as light as it used to be, back when they didn’t know each other. They’ve both been through so much, and there’s still so much unknown ahead of them in the future. 

    “‘Interesting’ is certainly an interesting word choice. But I guess I’ll try. That’s the biggest commitment I can make. Don’t be mad when I start acting like a blockhead again.” 

    Fitz smiles, struggling to keep his chest muscles from throwing another fit, this time induced by laughter. 

     Dex has been subjected to the worst of the prejudice it can offer, he’s still here fighting for change. He can be bitter at times, but it’s well deserved. Justified, even. Acting like a blockhead would be the least of Fitz’s concerns if he was in Dex’s situation. 

    The idea that the worst Dex could do is act like a blockhead is just so far outside of what he should be allowed, it’s almost comical. 

    Or maybe it’s those Oremideae leaves. 

    Fitz is enveloped by a strong urge to give Dex a hug, but he can’t tell whether it’s from pity, admiration, the realization that he’s truly broken through Dex’s shell for the first time, or something else he can’t quite describe. 

    And that’s the same time that the playful grin drops from Dex’s face. 

    “I should probably leave you to rest and heal. Let me know if there’s anything I can do or get you or—”

    “Actually, I do have one small request, if you don’t mind.” 

    Fitz immediately regrets saying that, but there’s nothing he owns that’s more important to the healing process. 

    “I don’t mind at all. What can I get you?” Dex’s face is lit up, even if he doesn’t want to show it, with the rush of being helpful. It’s the one thing Fitz remembers from that day at the store—Dex’s absolute delight when he knows where something is. 

   “Under my bed, there’s a stuffed dragon. He should be pretty obvious. Please try to keep him away from discovery by others.”

    “By ‘others’ do you mean Biana or Keefe?” Dex asks as he stands, leaving behind an empty, warm corner of the bed. 

    “Yes,” Fitz answers, realizing he’s been smiling like a complete and total doofus long enough to make his face muscles hurt. 

    Dex is gone for a long minute before he returns, brandishing a ruby red dragon, its eyes and sparkles twinkling in the fluorescent lighting as its wings slowly flap from the movement. 

    Elwin may have given Mr. Snuggles to Fitz when Fitz’s Dad’s mind shattered, but it’s hard to remember a time before it was in his life. 

    Fitz hadn’t noticed the emptiness settling into his chest after Dex left, but now that he’s back, Fitz is filled with the kind of longing that doesn’t want him to leave again. 

    “Thank you,” Fitz mumbles as he squeezes Mr. Snuggles so hard it takes a few seconds to return to its original shape. 

    Dex smiles. “Like I said, let me know if you need anything.”

    “Likewise,” Fitz replies. “Although my capabilities might be a touch more limited at the moment.”

    Well, that’s an understatement of the century. 

    Dex leaves without further comment, and Fitz settles himself down into his pillows, clutching Mr. Snuggles close to his chest, the familiar soft fabric a comfort to his otherwise aching muscles. 

    He’s almost drifted off into sleep when Keefe saunters into his room, apparently brought in by the power vacuum left in Dex’s absence. 

    And then his gaze lands on Mr. Snuggles sticking out from under the covers. The unrestrained joy as he wrestles Mr. Snuggles from Fitz’s dazed grasp is refreshing to see after knowing there’s been so many weeks that Keefe has been in such a dismal state. 

    Less refreshing is him parading Mr. Snuggles around and yelling through the entirety of the tree houses of Alluveterre. “You guys have to see this!”

    Unmapped stars, have mercy on me.

#kotlc #fedex week 2023 #kotlc fedex #fedex #detz #kotlc detz #dex dizznee #kotlc dex #fitz vacker #kotlc fitz

[memoiremunson]

Authentic Self - Eddie Munson x Bisexual!Fem!Reader

Eddie Munson x Bisexual!Fem!Reader

Summary: you finally come out to your boyfriend Eddie as bisexual and he comforts you.

A/N: I meant to post this on the last day of September as a gift for Bisexuality Visibility Month but I forgot! Sorry! However, I wrote this from a deeply personal place and hope someone can find comfort in it as I did. Writing is so powerful and such a great tool to find comfort. Also, Eddie Munson means so much to me and I'll never be truly able to explain it but this is a love that will never change. Anyways, cheers to my fellow bi people and I hope you enjoy! <3

Word Count: 1,565

Warnings: crying, homophobia, protective Eddie, angst

● - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ●

The sobs ricochet throughout your body. Your shoulders ache as they tremble and rattle. The tears continue to flow in a steady stream down your cheeks. Your breaths are uneven as your lungs grasp for more air. You were headed to the only place you felt safe. A place where you felt truly loved and cared for. Eddie’s trailer. 

The walk to his trailer was a far and dangerous one, especially at night. You were bound to get an earful when you arrived from him, but this simply couldn't wait. You could have called ahead and asked him to pick you up but you had hoped the clear, cool night air would calm you, to which it did to a certain degree. The pocketknife that Eddie gifted you for your birthday shifts slightly in your pocket, reminding you of its power if need be. Thankfully, you make it unscathed and not needing to pull out the blade. 

Finally nearing the dirt road that leads to his trailer, your breath mellows out. The racketeering of sobs evolves to a tearful whimper and sniffle. You know the moment you see him everything will come rushing back but for now, you find an eye in the storm. As you glance up from watching your shoes, you notice the lights that illuminate the Munson’s front porch. You smile lightly at the calm ambiance it emanates. 

The pebbles scratch underneath the soles of your shoes as you make a stop before the staircase. Taking a big breath, you walk up each creaking step. Despite how many times you've been up these familiar stairs, the creaks feel louder than ever before. 

You can hear the tv playing softly, meaning Eddie must be working on his campaign as he liked having the background noise when his music got to be too distracting. You rap three soft knocks at the door, each one feeling heavier than the one before. You focus in on your knuckles, feeling yourself begin to drift into your own mind. Before you venture too far, the hinge of the door opens, bringing you back as you gaze upon those beautiful, warm doe eyes. 

Immediately, he absorbs your appearance. Each emotion of shock, concern, and worry spread across his features. 

“Sweetheart, what’s wrong? Are you alright? What are you doing here so late and-wait, did you walk here by yourself?

Each question whirls past you, overwhelming you and simultaneously easing the ache in your bones just hearing his voice. 

You immediately bring him into a hug, nuzzling your cheek into the soft faded Dio shirt he opted to wear for the night. 

His body reacts faster than his brain as he expands his large hands over your back, protecting you from whatever seems to be bothering you. The rumble of his chest indicates he’s starting up his interrogation again. 

“Baby, you're scaring me. What’s going on?” His voice is laced with a gentle but firm tone. 

“I’m- I’m fine. I just, well-” His shirt slightly muffles your words but his attentive ear catches them. 

“Come on, let’s get you inside, yeah?”

 “Yeah, ok.” 

He slightly breaks your embrace to lead you into the familiar second home and guides you gently to the couch.

Still holding onto your shoulders, he seats you on the faded fabric. He leans his body towards yours, meeting your eyes as he ducks his head slightly. His eyes scan your face, the worry evident and unmoving. Yet, he waits for your words. 

“I-I don’t know where to start, Eds.” 

“That’s ok, just take a deep breath and tell me about now. Where’s that pretty little head of yours right now?” 

Right now? You were thinking about how gentle he is, how much of a rock he is in your life.

“I’m thinking about you ... a-and how gentle and loving you are to me.” The tears begin to silently fall down your face again, this time, his ring-adorned fingers being there to catch the delicate tears.

“I-I came over because I needed you, Eds. I needed my Eddie because I don't-” your breath catches in your throat as your words work to fight the lump in your throat, “I don’t have anyone else I can tell this to.” 

His hands now clutch onto both of yours. He nods along to what you say, absorbing every detail. 

“Ok, baby. You know I’m always here for you and I’m glad you trust me. Whatever it is, you can tell me.” 

“I know.” You say as you give him a watery smile. He waits for you to speak again, anticipating your every word. You take a deep breath and sigh. 

“I just couldn't handle the weight of this anymore, Eds.” 

“What weight, sweetheart?” He asks as he suddenly feels his heat begin to sink. 

“Me being …” You pause, the word catching on your tongue. This was it. The moment that had driven you mad, made you feel like a freak, the real reason you felt like an outcast. It was a truth you had been harboring for years. You had suppressed it, not realizing it until you got older and your brain became more developed. You had run from it but you couldn't take it any longer. The fear that held its grip on you from this would unclench now, with him. 

“I’m bi-bisexual, Eddie.” 

The words hang in the air. The world suddenly felt as though it zoomed in on the two of you.

“Oh, sweetheart… I’m so proud of you. I love you. Thank you for telling me.” 

“Oh Eddie, I love you too and I don't want you to think that I’m not committed to you or-” He cuts you off.

“No, shh, shh, shh, sweetheart. I wasn't thinking that.” 

“Ok,” you reply.

There's a beat as you both process what's been said. You decide to continue in your explanation of what led you to come out to him. 

“So I’ve been dealing with this for a long time and I- it's just - it’s been heavy on my mind lately and getting to be too much holding it in.” 

He nods slowly, acknowledging how vulnerable you are being with him right now. 

“And tonight it just …bubbled up and finally spilled over I guess.” He hangs onto your every word. 

“I snuck out of my window because my parents- they..,” You feel yourself begin to choke up as you think of their harsh words. 

“Breathe, sweetheart, it’s ok, you got it,” he comforts.

You swallow the lump and continue. 

“They said some really nasty things about gay people at dinner and I had to pretend like it didn't affect me but as soon as I got to my room, I just-I just couldn't stop thinking about their words and I lost it.” The tears tumble out of your eyes as your hands begin shaking out of pent-up anger, sadness, frustration, and pain. 

Eddie’s grip became harder, grounding you at the moment to remind you he was there for you and would always be there. He leaned his forehead to yours, brushing his beautiful nose against yours. 

“My beautiful girl, you are so strong and I am so sorry that your parents are dickheads.” 

“But that’s the thing, Eddie. you've met them. They’re not necessarily bad people but-” 

“But they’re dickhheads.”

“Yeah.. you're right…they are.” 

Eddie, now feeling even more protective, says, “How dare they make my sweet girl feel this way, huh.” He looks into your sad eyes. 

“You’re perfect to me. If being bi is who you are, then it’s who you are, sweetheart.” 

You give him a watery smile to which he reciprocates. You now notice how the soft lamps in his living room illuminate his face and the ringlets in his hair, giving him a soft glow. You were convinced he was an angel sent down to you. How divine it was that you had someone who loved you for you. 

“Thank you, Eddie. I love you.”

“Of course, baby. I love you too.” 

You each give each other a shy smile before he begins to lean in. 

“Is this alright?” He asks softly as he moves in closer, indicating he wants to kiss you. 

“Yeah,” You breathly say. 

His lips meet yours tantalizingly slow but you feel the passion and love poured into the kiss as it becomes all-encompassing. 

You gently kiss him back, following his lead as he caresses your lips. It’s a short kiss but it leaves you breathless. 

He pulls back, before motioning you into his arms. You lie against his chest as he brings his hand to caress your hair, the other brushing your forearm. 

You sigh in contentment. You’ve finally realized who you are. The road ahead of you is scary, but you have the warm embrace of someone who loves you so deeply. The pain won't go away immediately after admitting to yourself that you are bisexual but there's now a path towards healing and growth. You have much research to do and it all seems overwhelming but you know that Eddie is going to be there for you every step of the way. Maybe tomorrow you’ll tell him your bisexual awakening or reveal the hints that you had when you were younger but that's tomorrow's problem to deal with. Tonight, you were going to enjoy the heat that radiated off Eddie’s familiar embrace and focus on the soft humming from the long-haired metalhead boy that you were so in love with. 

Thank you for reading, Angel! <3

#eddie munson angst #stranger things #eddie munson #eddie munson x fem!reader #eddie munson x reader fluff #eddie munson x reader angst #stranger things x reader #stranger things 4 #eddie x y/n #eddie munson x bisexual!reader #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fic #stranger things fic #eddie munson fluff #protective eddie munson #eddie x reader

[thrilling-oneway]

You are so right with m/f stuff! I’m not familiar with a lot of VBS shipping discourse, but it’s annoying to see how people can’t write an analysis on how important Tsukasa is to Rui without others dog piling them and saying they’re delusional and ignoring canon for their yaoi “with no content”. (At least on twitter, tumblr is much better with this) And as someone whose also bisexual, it’s so annoying seeing people use bisexuality as a gotcha to ship m/f and act as if its progressive and that it gives them the okay to hate on f/f and m/m pairings.

YES YES EXACTLY. God I hate when people keep saying that ruikasa has no content and their dynamic is underdeveloped whenever anyone talks about them. Like as biased as I am because I like the ship, they do have a very developed dynamic regardless of if you like the ship or not. Literally there's three events about it (potato and pandemonium + it was a pretty big background element in curtain call), one of which is the third event in the game. like if you don't like ritk that's perfectly fine, but when people are dogpilling ritk shippers for talking about their dynamic/pandemonium chapter 8/wtv and saying they're reaching, especially if the person doing this is an account dedicated to another rui ship/are a rui fan, it's a bad look because you're literally ignoring a very significant part of his arc. Ignoring massively important aspects of a character you claim to like just because of a ship is low. This fandom is way too set on everything being about shipping like bruh no one is telling you that you had to view pandemonium as romantic you can view it as platonic perfectly fine and not need to erase parts of rui's character to justify your rui/female character ship.

it's an especially weird situation with VBS as well. as much as I hold the earlier EN fandom to a higher standard there was a lot of discourse around VBS and the fact that they're implied gay. like it used to be a situation where if you admitted you shipped m/f vbs you would get jumped. as a comeback people would accuse biphobia but i never saw huge amounts of people being actually biphobic. saying "an and kohane are quite heavily implied to be lesbians (and it makes some people uncomfortable to see them shipped with men)" is a true statement but people didn't need to attack others over it. not liking a bi headcanon isn't biphobic unless you're actually being biphobic about it yknow? luckily it calmed down after a while but now you get jumped for not shipping m/f which leads us straight back to the statement about an and kohane. gbr the situation with vbs shipping nowadays is much worse than the situation when i first joined, obviously partially bc of the massive increase in fandom size but mainly because people are spewing actual homophobic rhetoric over akty ankh (someone literally tried to claim heterophobia was real bc of people not liking m/f vbs a couple months ago. actually this has happened multiple times).

AND YES GOD THIS FANDOM'S APPROACH TO BI HEADCANONS IS SO FUCKING ANNOYING. Like people only use it as a way to make m/f ships more queer and try to 1 up people with it because oh yes male/female couple are not the norm at all and they're so cool and different and if you add a bi/pan hc on top of that it makes you more progressive (/s). HCing a character as bi does not give you cool points and the fact that so many people only do it for m/f ships pisses me off to no end because people treat it like Straight 2 when bi people can be in m/m and f/f relationships. People can hc whatever they want ofc but it's so obvious sometimes that people are only using bi hcs as a way to quickly round off their hcs for every character so they can multiship or justify their m/f ships as queer and at that point I'd rather they just hc'd them as straight because I don't like seeing my identity used solely for the purpose of making a ship more queer because someone doesn't want their m/f to be a hetship.

#sorry this is late i forgot to hit post for 2 days orz #asks

[sapphicbookclub]

Author Spotlight: Jenna Jarvis

Although club members got to read it a little earlier, Jenna Jarvis's Ride With Me is now available for everyone! To celebrate the release, check out Jenna's essay on writing about road-trips and the outlaw below.

Ride with Me is a queer romance about a pair of disaster bisexual sisters-in-law who take a long drive west across the United States together. One is trying to run from her marriage, the other trying to have her great American road-trip. It’s my first non-fantasy book, but in many ways it felt very familiar for me to write, since Digging for Heaven was also, in its way, about travelling with someone. I love nothing more than a good road-trip story. In fantasy, all my favourite sections of the Song of Ice and Fire and The Lord of the Rings or more recently N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth series were the ones trapping two or more unlikely characters together for the duration of a journey. I loved reading about how they deal with the mundanity of putting up with another person for an extended length of time. Comedies like A Goofy Movie, Little Miss Sunshine and Are We There Yet? delighted me as a kid and gave me a love for stories about people only talking about their problems after reaching boiling point. It can be easier to talk seriously when in motion, and these films hinge on that. The famous Ladybird scene of our titular character throwing herself from her mom’s car to avoid further conversation with her is often on my mind when writing car dialogue.

There’s a lot of things that have mythologised the United States for me. It's inescapable, omnipresent as a cultural hegemony with a history and mythos invented in full performative view of the world. Their road-trip stories are inextricable from the aesthetics of the western, and the long and loaded history of going west to reinvent yourself: enmeshed with the colonial legacy of manifest destiny. To celebrate the legacy of the solo gunslinger canonised by the movies is to ignore the black and brown bodily reality of the cowboy, and the question of who becomes memorialised or pitied when living beyond the grip of “society”. With his camp imagery and post Brokeback cinema impression the cowboy has become a popular queer hero. But as with most things in American history whiteness is still critical to that image, and that extends to the movies playing with the image of the outlaw going west.

Thelma and Louise’s Thelma spend much of the end of the film in a t-shirt emblazoned with the confederate flag. The Devil’s Rejects has Otis quote white supremacist Charles Manson. In To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, a dream of a queer comedy about three drag queens in an impractical car, race is an absolutely cutting and often jarring wedge between the characters and to a lesser but key extent between the film and a modern audience. The Blues Brothers both uplifts and pushes from the centre its black characters, the plot pointless and voiceless without them and yet never very interested in them. Supernatural ran for fifteen seasons from the Bush administration, its characters driving around their country unchecked executing those more outside of society than themselves. Throughout the series they are regularly assumed to be white supremacists. None of this theming, to me, reads as incidental, even if it wasn’t intentional on the part of the various creators.

But road-trips always feel hopeful too, at least while they’re still moving. They’re romantic, in a sense of riding off into the sunset with a Just Married sign (Just Married being another hugely influential movie to me, I’m sorry to say) – but also to leave alone, as to an extent both of my characters feel they’re doing at the beginning. The act of driving at all is empowering: the act is proof you’re of age, and deemed trustworthy by society, and bold enough to control a dangerous vehicle (can you tell I can’t drive). It’s the fantasy of getting away from it all, of maybe never returning to where you came from. It’s the opening/ending of Showgirls, it’s the high midpoint of Barbie, it’s the hysterically cutting twist of Gone Girl, it’s a cross-genre favourite focus for an endless number of songs.

I’m probably going to keep writing road trip stories forever, because they’re some of my favourite ways to make characters interact with each other. But as with any genre or structure I approach, it helps to keep in mind what’s come before, in both an inspirational and damning sense. So many of the images that sing to me that I wanted to write about here are also coming from a symbology of American capitalism and individualism – the highway and car, or in this case, van - over lands forcibly emptied of their indigenous people. That haunts most stories tackling them, and remembering those ghosts felt critical even when writing a light-hearted rom-com.

For more on the complicated queer history on the cowboy check out Kaz Rowe’s video on it which I was trying really hard not to completely plagiarise here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0AOwdODmMA

#wlw books #booklr #lgbt books #contemporary #book recs #sapphic books #diverse books #guest post

[deargodhelpmeaaa]

Duckman review

If you are, at all, familiar with my infamous post “ranking my most prominent fictional crushes out of ten” then you will recall that among the horrible men I listed there was a stupid, bespectacled yellow duck named Eric Duckman. So what the heck even is an Eric Duckman anyway? You probably are unfamiliar with him unless you’ve seen those random clips from his show that had a brief heyday on YouTube. He’s a character from this 90’s cartoon (if the art didn’t give that away) that was actually very adult oriented. At the time, it was pretty unheard of to have an adult cartoon out that was dirtier than the simpsons.

Today, however, I’d argue that most kids shows are on par with the simpsons in terms of their maturity. The simpsons is no longer the edgy show that it used to be. It’s very tame by today’s standards, and duckman was sort of one of the first cartoon series to outdo it in terms of edge.

sooo….. was it any good?

Online, I have seen almost nothing but people singing praises for the show, a couple critics here and there and I am, as much as I love the show… one of those critics.

The show reminds me a lot of the Amazing World of Gumball. I’ve seen people compare it to Bojack Horseman and it’s… really not. The characters in Duckman are pretty static and none of them are really that complex. It just seems that way since this show has a main character who is a horrible person with some redeeming qualities and a backstory to sort of but not completely justify his behavior.

Gumball is a much better source of comparison because the shows are both very meta, at times obnoxiously and pointlessly so, but at others it is actually quite charming. The humor in both is pretty absurdist and shockingly inappropriate at times. Both are vaguely satirical at times as well, duckman a bit more overt with its satire than gumball.

I mention earlier that I like the main character quite a lot. He’s my favorite archetype: egotistical, socially incompetent, treated like utter garbage by the narrative. He’s handled okay, sometimes really poorly; it varies per episode. In some the show is like “wow this guy sucks” and nothing else; in others we see some of the depths of his character, the best of this being the episode “About Face” which is a surprisingly nuanced narrative for this show? We sometimes see his insecurities, his desire to do better for his family, his worries about seeing other women after the recent passing of his wife. Most of this is in season 1. It’s pretty good.

What I like about it is that the show never pretends like he’s this great person or anything. It knows what he is and it punishes him for his bad behavior. It does the same for the other characters who are being kind of assholes as well. The show makes an attempt to show how these other characters are right about something’s but in their behavior may be doing something wrong, like Bernice’s bullying of duckman or the teddy bears constantly preaching at him, and duckmans own behavior itself is also shown to be pretty wrong albeit humorous at times. Cornfed however is based and awesome B) I can’t remember right now what his problem was but the show made his relationship to duckman pretty interesting.

Also for some reason I think people ship duckman with him I mean Duckman did offer to have sex with him one time so I see it.

My problem with the show starts with just the characters being kind of flat. Like I said before, people were singing praises for this thing, calling it 90s Bojack Horseman. Sure, duckman has some depth, but the others…. Eh…. I was really hoping to see some depth from duckmans sister in law who he lives with, Bernice (I mean of course I fucking was look at the website I’m on) but she really never went past this bitchy stuck up feminist stereotype who wanted to find herself a husband (the writers probably made her like men to avoid making her an offensively stereotypical lesbian, though it seems she might be bisexual anyway lol) and seems to maybe kind of care about Duckman deep down.

Duckman himself as I’ve said before is a pretty good character especially by the shows standards, but in some episodes he is just annoying and nothing else. And I mean really annoying.

Duckmans kids are just eh to be honest. Like they do their job and his relationship to Ajax is kind of interesting, but none of these characters are especially funny or interesting nor do they go that far beyond their initial premises, giving the show pretty little to do with them in the long run. Ok I lied Ajax is kind of funny sometimes.

What I like about the family aspect of the show is that it isn’t a completely abusive family, with humor being derived from the characters treating eachother like shit all the time. Duckman is an asshole, Bernice is an asshole, the twins are kind of jerks, Ajax is literally just Chris griffin. It’d be easy to just make them abusive and nothing else but the show actually tries to make them sort of love eachother at the end of the day. Duckman still cares about his kids, of course he does. Bernice does too and she wants her nephews to have a better influence than their dad, who sucks. The twins don’t respect him but resemble him in some ways they don’t want to admit. It’s too bad they don’t explore this more!!!

I’m just skipping past the dog that does nothing and the grandma who is in a coma like state and umm communicates exclusively through farts look guys it’s a fucking 90s cartoon I told you it’s more like gumball than it is like bojack horseman and I’m not your mom im not as sophisticated as I look!!!!!

The female love interests for duckman vary in quality. Some of them are kind of interesting even if we only see them through the lens of their relationship to duckman, sometimes their existences are pretty funny, but especially in the later seasons they’re just kind of stupid.

The stuff with Duckman and his dead wife is kind of interesting, especially since if I remember correctly, it was her idea that if she died, duckman would instead live with her sister Bernice since she knew he wouldn’t be able to raise their kids on his own. I wish the show explored his dependency on her more, and really just… her in general. I think it’s sort of implied that his dependency on her was in some ways a kind of bad thing since like after her death, he becomes a wreck, but he still always loves her. I really appreciate Everett peck (god rest his soul) for making the executive decision to kill her off as she was still alive in the pilot which made duckman look like more of an asshole for wanting to see other women, and the concept of her being too focused on other things rather than him also wasn’t very compelling and kind of makes him look worse if that’s what we’re supposed to sympathize with. Changing it absolutely was the way to go.

we see some glimpses of duckmans parents. Again he has a pretty interesting relationship to them. He accidentally killed his own father, who was very hard on him, and his mother, much like him, was a hedonist, especially after the death of his father. She was neglectful much like his father was.

I’m not dissing my boy cornfed, who is duckmans detective partner (not in a gay way but in a detective way. Probably in a gay way too tho idk) He’s cool. I do wish they did more with him though, since it’d be interesting to explore his own flaws despite him foiling the most flawed man on the planet. Literally my only complaint.

The last character to talk about is king chicken. He’s voiced by Tim curry, and is hyped up to be sort of this major villain for the show. The premise behind his relationship is simple: duckman bullied him back in high school, and it’s revealed in the only good king chicken episode (the dinner party one. Forget the title) that duckman only did that because when king chicken there wasn’t around to bully, everyone would turn around and pick on him. Now after all these years, king chicken wants to get his revenge on duckman, as he now seems to be much more successful than he is. Theres also, for some reason, at least on duckmans end, some sexual tension between the two of them?it’s a great premise honestly, and us tumblr bitches love ourselves some good old enemies to lovers, rivalries with weird tension kissimessmitude type stuff.

But I did say there was only one good episode about this guy. Yeah…. It’s the last episode of season 3 and one of I think 2 truly good episodes in there (season 3 kind of sucks lol) which is a dialogue driven experimental episode based on who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf where we get some interesting insight on the relationship between duckman and king chicken, and sort of king chicken and Bernice (who King Chicken also has romantic tension with).

Ok so you probably noticed how I was complaining about how the characters aren’t that complex, about needing to explore depth. You may ask me: “wait isn’t this thing a comedy? It’s like gumball, you said! It doesn’t need that much depth, idiot!!!!” Errmmm yes it does actually. This isn’t because it’s a comedy but because of the type of comedy it sets out to be. Season 1 in particular wants to show us new sides of these characters (mostly duckman) in each episode. It sets the show up to be something that might deconstruct or arc him, and a good chunk of the episodes are trying to do this.

For instance season 4 has one where he meets a girl he knew back in detective school, we get one in season 3 even trying to flesh out Bernice who wants to be a mother but can’t find the right man for her.

We get one I think in season 3 where he has to hold back his veneral desires when they hire a tutor for the kids (I think?) who happens to be a woman he finds really hot.

We get one in season 4 where a sycophantic intern tries to exploit his vices and ruin his life, and he’s too gullible and desperate to notice.

These all sound like good premises but the execution is often quite janky. It doesn’t tend to go far beyond the premise and the writers often find themselves not knowing what to do, so they end up getting lazy and give up on the story.

I think the show could have been fine staying static like that, though I think after a while they would end up needing to write long term character arcs. I saw they planned to potentially write a romance between duckman and Bernice which is a strong indicator that this was what they wanted to do. That doesn’t mean that the episodes would still be good though because it would also need to be funny and entertaining on top of doing things with the characters, and the writers shouldn’t want to just give up on it like they do with so many episodes.

I honestly did enjoy some episodes that don’t try to be deep and just are stupid fun. I’ve indicated here that the show isn’t great at being deep. Season 1, some of season 2 and the Virginia Woolf episode are really the only times this show does it gracefully that I can think of off the top of my head and otherwise, the execution is rather clunky, as the show often does a poor job balancing humor with heart, with serious moments feeling quite forced and often sappy. It reminds me a lot of my earlier personal comics (and weaker current ones) in how it will switch from funny to serious, in a feeble attempt to be bojack horseman, but credit where credit is due for it coming out prior to the show I just now accused it of copying!

It is in a way quite ahead of its time. I won’t deny it. The simpsons obviously did much of what this show tried to do but better, but I will never not love the vulgar, hideous but honest, underground cartoon like feel of duckman. It over simplified things, gets a lot of things wrong and is often quite outdated (I have issues with the one flew over the cuckoos nest episode, as asylums did not look like that in the 90s) it’s a good time capsule from the 90s honestly as it is easily the most 90s thing I have ever seen.

is the show funny? I mention comedy a lot here. Uh. Kind of. It’s hit or miss. It’s either like they asked a horny version of Berdly from deltarune to write for them or it’s genuinely funny with some very interesting in between.

now the art. Yes! I love the art!!! It’s good but some of the character designs are kind of concerning to me. I think some of the really ugly and mannish women they draw are supposed to be trans and it’s not good. I get it the 90s are like that and I’m not saying ugh trans rep and whatever I just think the trans women should look as hot as duckman does when he’s wearing womens clothing. Jk but fr they don’t need to be that mannish it’s kind of dehumanizing and gross and adds nothing to the show and didn’t age well is all.

And before anyone thinks I’m doing the tumblr bit where I get mad at a lack of body diversity: no I don’t care and I think the over sexualized but kind of disgusting designs are hilarious and make a good commentary on duckmans own views towards women as well, and add greatly to the absurdist humor of the show.

All in all it looks great to me. Really ugly but that’s why it works imo and the colors are really nice. The studio behind this series is klasky csupo by the way. They made stuff like rugrats, wild thorn berries, aaaaa real monsters… I love their style and while it doesn’t show that much in my posts on here more of my personal art kind of copies it a bit.

last thing is voice acting. This show has a star studded cast. Jason Alexander, famously known as the guy who played the short balding guy from Seinfeld, actually voices the main character! And he’s great! He was definitely type casted tho lol. Tim curry I think I mentioned earlier was the voice of king chicken. We also have Gilbert gottfried, who surprisingly enough does not voice a talking bird in this show! I want to say there’s some other big names here too, like I think the guy who voiced cornfed or something. Zappa, yeah that Zappa, did the intro theme and some of the music for the show and his son voices Ajax and he’s great. I think everyone did pretty good with this show in terms of acting, it’s really just the writing that is super hit or miss here.

quick talk about the finale. I hate it lol. It’s obvious they were gonna reveal something like it’s all a dream or oh no that’s not his wife it’s an alien shapeshifter pretending to be her. They were told to do a cliff hanger ending to increase ratings. Seeing as how there have been no new episodes in like over 30 years I think it’s safe to say that it didn’t work.

long story short. The shows super hit or miss, not great at balancing humor and serious moments, with a cast of characters that never properly gets fleshed out enough besides the main character, who though rightfully treated as what he is: kind of a jackass who it seems will never amount to anything, the show still does revolve around him so many of the characters are made interesting through their relationships to him and not to each other and they themselves often aren’t interesting on their own either- which is a problem I have too in my own writing, and weirdly enough I also tend to write characters who are duckman like as well…. so it’s okay.

what stands out to me about this show is just how much it appeals to my interests. I mentioned time and again how the main character is literally my favorite type of character ever down to his appearance: which is that he’s a skinny little bastard wearing glasses. He also could be in a way described as a cross between the two characters this blog, thus far, has seemed to be dedicated to (Berdly and filthy frank, as he is basically just a pretentious gross bird guy) not to mention that i initially made this blog to post Seinfeld memes which is…. Crazy. It really just feels like something I would make and that makes sense because I can often be found kind of copying it-

I also just love 90s stuff, and I like stuff that’s super edgy, inappropriate and satirical in nature, and this show does that pretty right. It’s dynamic between a screwball duck and a straight laced pig is an obvious callback do Daffy Duck and porky pig and duckmans womanizing and status as a detective is a likely reference to Howard the duck (which I still need to read). He sort of looks like a simpsons character and much of the show pays homage to the simpsons, homer cameos in it and it references it a ton. I love the simpsons, it’s a massive influence on me as well. I see hints of underground comics influencing it but that might be just the cartoon characters being vulgar thing here.

today honestly…. I won’t lie this show is much better than 99% of adult cartoons being made today, but in a way this show is sort of the norm. I think it is kind of ahead of it’s time, I think in other ways it’s exactly of it’s time. It’s a very interesting show to me and even though I have many qualms with it and the poor writing I do really love it over all.

#Duckman #klasky csupo #90s cartoons #analysis #media analysis #character analysis #review #Cartoon #cartoon review #The simpsons #the amazing world of gumball #deargodhelpmerant #Essay #long post