#it’s mainly them but i love the trope of platonic soulmates so much

[hbfengxi]

brother by kodaline terrorizes my psyche every 15 business days

#yunmeng shuangjie #it’s mainly them but i love the trope of platonic soulmates so much #and like. the tragedy in it is so much more devastating for me

[xenon-demon]

I fucking love pretty much every version of the “celebrity x Just Some Guy™” trope that there is for Steddie, but in honor of having a totally reasonable amount of wine I’m going to tell you about the version I’m currently thinking about all the time, one of my dumbest yet also funniest AU concepts: modern!AU with streamers Steve & Robin and Hardcore Fan™ Eddie who writes reader-insert fic about Steve.

Steve and Robin, aka EvenStevens and BirdBox_ on Twitch (“My name is spelled with a P-H, Robin, that’s such a stupid name.” “No, it’s actually even better this way! You don’t want to just use your real government name for something like this, and you would just make your username ‘SteveHarrington01′ or something equally uninspired-”) frequently stream together and have a shared YouTube channel. They got popular doing reaction videos that quickly devolve into the pair of them bickering on camera, and since the internet just loves the ‘snarky woman and her emotional support himbo’ dynamic, they got very big, very quick. Plus, it certainly doesn’t hurt that they had the combined might of Dustin and Erica to help them bend the algorithm to their whims.

While most people recognize their platonic-with-a-capital-P soulmatism, there are still some that are convinced they’re secretly dating - they can’t decide if it’s hilarious or absolutely maddening that every time they try to disprove the rumors, they somehow get stronger. Robin doesn’t feel comfortable coming out to the internet yet, and without that trump card some people just can’t understand why they’re not dating.

...there are other sections of their fandom, however, that absolutely do believe they’re not dating. Mainly because they’d rather be dating Steve or Robin (or both!) themselves, and write all the reader-insert fanfiction you could ever possibly need about it. Robin is largely ambivalent to the concept of fanfiction being written about herself as long as they’re not writing smut, since at least that way they’re not insisting she’s dating Steve.

Steve on the other hand finds it absolutely hilarious how despite how much he’s changed, he’s back to being the heartthrob he used to be in high school - and, he’ll be honest, he thrives on the attention. He’s given everyone the green light to write whatever they want - dared them to make it raunchier, even - to the point where it’s a running joke that Steve will read your reader-insert fanfiction about him unless you tag it with some form of ‘Steve don’t look’. He even used the prevalence of fic about himself to come out on stream.

(Steve’s in the middle of re-organizing his flower field in Animal Crossing when he’s interrupted by a donation. “Hey Steve, really sorry to tell you this but people are writing porn about you... and they’re making it gay. Like writing about you getting fucked by a dude. Just wanted you to know so you can say something about it.”

Steve stops dead, his screen freezing on his open inventory. “Hey, uh, why the fuck would I have a problem about a fictional version of me bottoming? Or- wait, do I seriously give off homophobic vibes? I’m literally bisexual. Hey Dustin, can you ban that guy please? Christ, the nerve of some people. If that’s how you feel about people being gay, or about people writing things that I’ve already said I have no problem with, you can leave this stream right now because I don’t want you here.“)

Many people lost their minds after that stream, one of them being popular tumblr blog whorefireclub.

Eddie didn’t plan on starting a tumblr blog for self-insert fanfiction about a twitch streamer. Really he didn’t, and every time he thinks about it in terms that plain he kind of dies a little on the inside. It’s really all Gareth’s fault, for getting fed up with Eddie’s dumb parasocial crush on a streamer and daring him to just “get it out of his system already”. So, using a bare-bones anonymous tumblr and many, many beers as his cover story, Eddie posted some of the most quickly written and unedited pieces of writing he’s ever produced in his life.

Except he wrote it with an AMAB reader character - and for those of you unfamiliar with the reader-insert sphere, that’s like fucking hen’s teeth. People are pretty good at making things gender neutral at least in their descriptions, and sometimes the anatomy is vague enough that it’s ambiguous, but the majority is written with AFAB genitalia for the reader character.

Eddie’s little drunken post blows up, and at first, he’s never regretted a life choice more.

After thinking about it, and seeing just how many people left comments with their reblogs or came into his askbox directly to thank him for giving them the representation they wanted, he starts to feel a bit better about the whole thing. In fact, it kind of tickles his “protector of the outcasts” instincts; there are people who can’t enjoy the content they want to because it doesn’t gel with their anatomy or gender identity. Eddie could, hypothetically, if he wanted to be absolutely insane about this one hot streamer guy, help fix that problem somewhat.

A couple of months later and he’s become “the guy who writes inclusive reader-insert fic”. While a fair amount of his work is gender-ambiguous, both in anatomy and in avoiding gendered language, more than half is written for anyone who finds themselves underrepresented in the usual reader-insert scene; anyone AMAB, AFAB people who can’t do female language, he’s even written a few oneshots with intersex reader characters. He did research for it and everything. It’s certainly not how he planned for this to work out, but it’s actually kind of... nice. He’d written a lot of fanfiction in his youth, mainly about Lord of the Rings and Star Trek, and while this isn’t how he’d imagined returning to the hobby it’s actually really fun. (It’s making his celebrity crush on Steve a million times worse, of course, but he’s in denial about that so it’s totally fine.)

He’s a little shit, so his blog header has - underneath his personal details - a PSA that reads “Steve, don’t look at this unless you have the balls to shout me out on stream ;)”. Eddie thinks he’s absolutely hilarious.

Right up until he wakes up to find his following has exploded overnight, and upon checking his DMs from his mutuals realizes that - oh shit - that bastard actually did it and talked about his blog on stream.

And Steve said he liked it. Steve likes the porn that Eddie wrote about him. Jesus H. Christ, Eddie is so unfathomably fucked.

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

if this were to exist as a fic it would be told through social media posts/DMs. one of those fics that uses unconventional (i.e. non-prose) formatting, you know the ones. the concept actually came from the fact I fucking LOVE fics like that, I’m a slut for any of that House of Leaves-type shit. one time I read a fic that consisted of 8 short stories and each one had a HTML puzzle you had to solve to be able to read it, e.g. one you had to highlight because the text was in white, another you needed to hover your mouse over to make it scroll through the text - I can’t remember the rest but it was SO COOL.

(or, to put this another way, I read homestuck at a formative age and it forever changed how I feel about formatting stories.)

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #robin buckley #steddie au #stranger things #charlie writes things #streamer au #streamer!steve harrington #writer!eddie munson #this is such a dumb au but i think it's so funny #eddie and steve flirting with each other via reader-insert fic that gets less and less subtle #steve has a secret fan account btw because of course he does #and he's always reblogging eddie's stuff and saying how hot it is/how much he likes it #also the pinned post on eddie's blog is him yelling at an anon for coming to him and asking why he doesn't ship stobin #HEY MAYBE WE WON'T DO SOMETHING THE CREATORS HAVE REPEATEDLY SAID THEY DON'T LIKE? AND MAKES THEM UNCOMFORTABLE? HOW ABOUT THAT? #<-- is what eddie's response boiled down to

[jebiknights]

What are your top five "they either would or should put 'It's Complicated' as their relationship status" ships for Star Wars?

iofjgdfijs OH GOD I feel like a lot of my ships would do that but hmm my top??

(in no specific order tho)

Quinlan/Obi-Wan: this one may seem weird as an "it's complicated" but I think that Quinlan and Obi-Wan probably live in this weird in between world of "we are madly in love with each other" and "we are platonic soulmates/heterosexual life partners" (like the trope not that either of them are straight lol). They're exclusive and they're open. They keep falling in love with pretty girls who could murder them. They have semi-successfully co-parented two children together into knighthood.

Rex/Ventress: oh man I have been thinking about this ship in the back of my mind since you first starting sharing those "romance protag" videos dfijssiths. they are mortal enemies they are allies of circumstance they are both being held back by their lives even when they are feeling like they are doing the right thing they are also probably making out in the middle of a hostage situation when ventress is supposed to be interrogating rex and they are both angry about it afterwards.

Mandocule: (mainly thinking of Boba/Din/Fennec/Luke/sometimes Cobb but others too) I think polycules always make things a little complicated (I say as a polyam person) but especially when you have like... several bounty hunters, two of which turned community leaders, a former son of a "smuggler"/rebel turned Jedi, and a former slave turned sheriff, and it just gets... so chaotic. Especially when you consider the amount of trauma, daddy issues, mommy issues, and more this group has collectively, and they are all trying to co-parent a baby jedi who is older than the majority of them. All of them are probably wanted criminals on at least one planet.

Cody/Anakin: while I do think that they could have an actual "we talked it out" relationship, I think what is almost more likely for them specifically is that... lmao they wouldn't. They are both kinda sleeping with a superior/subordinate. They are butting heads all the time but kind of obsessed with each other. They would kill for each other but also might team up to kill Obi-Wan because he is driving them nuts. They both have extreme little brother energy and have both been usurped by a babier sibling that they are suddenly in charge of (Rex and Ahsoka). They both are a lot deeper than they give the other credit for, and they probably only really figure this out after they've already started fucking.

Padme/Sabe: I wasn't going to put this one on the list originally but the more I thought about it the more I realized it is up there even though I don't talk about it often. It's got so much good potential for juicy undefined tropes. Sabe is literally Padme's bodyguard/knight to her Queen, even moreso than Anakin is. She is hopelessly devoted to her and would do anything for her, and Padme is the same back but is also the one actually in a position of power and is extremely important to society. They're in love and have probably been in love since they were kids, even if Padme marries Anakin. And Duty would hold them back in a way it wouldn't for a lot of other ships in star wars. Their love is always there in the background!

this took me way too long to do but it was so much fun thank u nixy

#the problem is so many of my fave its complicated ships are either polycules or situationally complicated #so tried to reflect ones i almost always see as complicated lol #asks #phoenixyfriend #so if this ends up in the tags but i wanna tag for organizational purposes later on #also no there arent any clone ships on here bc tbh the way i view clone dating culture involves a lot of unspoken rules #and just works a bit different than natborn dating culture since they were raised to die yaknow #much more cest la vie and live for the moment #codykin #codakin #rextress #quinobi #obiquin #mandocule #padme/sabe #sabe/padme

[sunshine-scented]

HELOOOO ITS ME AGAIN~٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡

I’M SO HAPPY TO SEE THAT YOU GOT MY MESSAGE AND HONESTLY YOU’RE SO SWEET TO STILL ACTUALLY DO MY REQUEST TYSM AWAHHH (GIVING YOU PLATONIC KISSES FR)

PUTTING THAT ASIDE I WANT TO GET TO KNOW YOU A LITTLE MORE SO IS IT OKAY IF I ASK SOME QUESTIONS?

APOLOGIES IF I ACCIDENTALLY SPAM YOUR ASK BOX WITH MY REPLIES OR GENERAL RAMBLINGS IN THE FUTURE, I DON’T WANT TO OVERWHELM YOU SO IF YOU NEED TOO YOU CAN TELL ME TO STOP ♡

ANYWAYS DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE GENRE TO WRITE WHEN IT COMES TO DOING ONESHOTS OR HCS FOR YOUR BLOG? (fluff, angst, ect)

WHOS YOUR FAVORITE LMK AND WHY? DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE EPISODE?

OHH AND (I know this is rlly basic buuuut) WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR? HAVE ANY PARTICULAR FAVORITE WHEN IT COMES TO FOOD OR BEVERAGES?

Take care for now and I hope your day/afternoon/night is going well!

- 🧋 ♡

No! Don't ever stop! I really like to talk to people so I don't really mind you rambling on my asks. You can talk about the most basic things and I'd still gladly read them ♡

I dont know if I have a favorite genre but I do have a favorite love trope, it's definitely soulmate AU, and the classic Childhood Friends to Lovers!! Goshh I'm a sucker for those stories

I have a very well amazingly hidden attraction to Nezha hehe, but I still also like the funky monkey man Sun Wukong as well! Just not as much as Nezha ;)

My favorite episode is all Nezha scenes on yt I think is the Amnesia Wukong one until the Forging of the samadhi fire (I forgot the episode number and I'm too tired to check, whoops) mainly because that's where Pigsy gets to shine with his whole doubts against monkey king until the boiling point where everyone realizes he was practically leading them to failure. It's so interesting to see the characters change based on their personalities!! Ack I'm rambling, my bad~

My favorite color is Red! And Pink because of Nezha because of how bold and dominating the color looks as itself ♡

#.shinx talks #ahh!! i love these qna anons so much ♡ #so cute~♡

[magicaltear]

5 things you never get tired of writing

Tagged by: @ailendolin​

Rules: List five things you never get tired of writing. It can be tropes, themes, characters, phrases, whatever brings you joy. Then tag more writers!

1 - Hurt/Comfort Like you mentioned in your own post, it also brings me a lot of joy to explore deep human emotions and empathy. I haven’t written about physical injuries all that much, but most of my favorite characters have canonically been through the wringer. I love giving my characters space to grieve, to breakdown, to feel. These quiet moments are usually neglected or rushed by the entertainment industry, so I love dedicating lots of time to them. We all need a gentle touch and encouraging words every now and then, even something as simple as an “I know” to reassure us that we are understood and not alone in our pain.

2 - Historical Accuracy One I never expected to enjoy so much, tbh. I started using this tag in my 1917 fics, and I think it is safe to say that it’s a double-edged blade. I adore history and research, and I’ve gotten to learn so much these past 3 years, but it is easy to become overwhelmed with all of the information or spend more time than needed doing research. I often have to pull back and refocus on my actual plot. Still, having historical accuracy in my fics is very satisfying, and I’ve found that it breathes life into the story and makes it coherent.

3 - Finding beauty in unexpected places This shouldn’t be surprising considering I mainly write about soldiers and superheroes. When the situation is dire, when you have to fight side-by-side with others to protect the world, you start realizing that there’s beauty to be found everywhere. I don’t like writing characters who are stoic or who run from their feelings. Instead, I like it when they embrace them and allow themselves to feel every little emotion until their chest is full to bursting. The best example I can think of is that comic book page of Iron Man going up to hover right in the border between space and atmosphere just to breathe.

4 - Platonic Relationships What can I say? Writing ships and romance is fun, but I also love providing my characters with a solid support system. Their friendships are meaningful and important too! I often like to toy with the “will they won’t they?” line, but I leave that to the readers’ discretion when I do. When I’m writing very angsty fics, I prefer to focus on the support a platonic soulmate would provide rather than a romantic one. It might just be me, but I’m usually not comfortable with grand shows of romance whenever I’m feeling sad.

5 - Canon Disabled Character Is this surprising? I feel like I’m the least surprising writer out there. One of my absolute favorite characters to write is Doctor Strange, of course I’m going to focus on his disability in my fics. It always bothers me how the MCU constantly forgets that its heroes have disabilities, so I make sure to touch on that on my fics. Chronic pain, trauma, Tony’s breathing issues, PTSD, broken bones that didn’t quite heal right, you name it. Disabilities come hand-in-hand with stories set during WW1 and superhero universes, and I hate it when writers forget to include moments where this can be shown because they are focusing too hard on big action scenes and explosions. Well, not in my fics!

Tagging: @atypical-snowman @kiki-shortsnout and @writeyourownstory

#tumblr game #ailendolin #tear-chan talks #writing and stuff #fanfiction

[kbirbpods]

Click below for my "dear podficcer," letter for Summer Swap 2023!

Dear Podficcer,

It's me, Kaje, I'm the problem I'm kbirb pods!

Things I like, regardless of fandom:

THEMES: trans/nobinary characters (extra points for neopronouns); gender exploration in general; found family (genfic or otherwise); angst with a happy ending; polyamory; good asexual or aromantic representation

TROPES: fix-it fics!! extra points for time travel or time loops in fix its; fake dating/marriage; mutual pining; soulmates (AU or just clearly soulmates); crack treated seriously; rivals-to-friends/lovers; oops only one bed

AUs: soulmates soulmates soulmates; regency era (or any different era); modern AU; crossovers, provided i know the other fandom or the fic doesn't require knowledge of the other fandom!; college/sport AU; fantasy/fae AUs

PODFIC SPECIFIC: anything epistolary (texting/chat fics especially but letters and such are also fun to explore); including music / SFX if you're comfortable; including bloopers if you have them/are comfortable exposing them

RATINGS: Contrary to popular belief I do not hate explicit fics so really any rating but I generally prefer G-M I guess

Do Not Wants (triggers, squicks, please no):

major archive warnings (major character death is okay so long as it's temporary and resolved); unhappy endings; I really don't like pregnancy, which includes MPREG (I like a/b/o dynamics minus that aspect) - kidfic is cool I just don't want pregnancy as a theme & especially not graphic depictions of it; suicide/self-harm "on screen" (mentions of past suicidal ideation/self harm are fine if not a flashback/graphic); non-/dub-con or any depictions of rape (once again, recovery is okay if done well); adult/minor relationships or relationships with unaddressed/starkly imbalanced power dynamics; any sort of poorly depicted mental health tropes (no BPD or other personality disorder bashing, no institutionalization, no "split personality" as a trope) - i really like explorations of PTSD/trauma but it has to be handled with fidelity and gentleness

Main Fandoms I Would Love to Receive:

Star Wars: I love so much Star Wars that to split them like I did on AO3 would make this post too long. I think it's easiest to say this: I prefer Clone Wars, Rebels, anything about Jon Antilles, and anything Ahsoka Tano.

My main ships are: Cody/Obi-Wan, Kallus/Zeb, Hevy/anyone (consensual), Finn/Poe or Finn/Poe/Rey, blackkat rarepairs (mainly Jon Antilles/anyone), Jon Antilles & Fay (platonic), Waxer/Boil, Fives/Echo, Kanan/Hera, and Quinlan/Fox My favorite characters are: Hevy, Fox, Ahsoka, Leia, Poe, Fives, Luke, Jon Antilles, Fay (Legends) My favorite themes/tropes are: force sensitive clones, trans!clones, force sensitive Leia, modern AUs, Domino Squad lives

Ted Lasso: My current hyperfixation! My favorite ships are Roy/Keeley/Jamie, Ted/Trent, Roy/Keeley, and Jamie/Dani. Ted & Rebecca as platonic soulmates/besties in general. I love explorations of how much Dr. Jacob sucks and fix-its for the ending!

Batfam/DC: I can be picky and yet not? Basically, I just prefer no inner-Batfam fics of the boys because I truly view them as brothers. My favorite ships are Jason Todd/Roy Harper, Dick Grayson/Wally West, Harley/Ivy, Tim Drake/Kon, and Wally/Artemis from Young Justice. This is the fandom that I specifically am obsessed with found family in. I love exploring Alfred being the boys Grandpa and Bruce's complex dadhood.

The Locked Tomb: dying waiting for Alecto news..... I'm definitely Gideon/Harrow on main; I really like fics where one or both of them are trans/nonbinary. Nona is my favorite character so explorations of her found family (the household or the friends or all of them) are important to me. Cam/Pal is important to me. I love modern AUs a lot.

Additional Fandoms I Love:

Teen Wolf: I'm basic and therefore Sterek on main! But I also really love Scisaac and never get enough content for them. Boyd/Erica is always so good. Scott/Isaac/Allison and Scott/Allison hold a special place in my heart, too. I'll never say no to Lydia/Allison or Lydia/Kira either. Found family is incredible for this fandom, too, especially Mama McCall adopting any of the pack! Magic!Stiles is my shit and I love explorations of the Hale family being alive. Genfic is wonderful.

Our Flag Means Death: Obviously Blackbeard/Stede is a big deal and I ship it forever. But my heart belongs to Jim/Olu and any explorations of Jim's gender identity! Pining Izzy Hands makes me weak, as long as he's not being abusive towards Edward or Stede.

All for the Game: My two main pairs are Jean/Jeremy and Allison/Renee but of course Andrew/Neil is always a yes. Andrew/Neil/Kevin is my weakness. My favorite friendships to explore are Renee & Andrew, Renee & Jean, Allison & Neil, and Renee & Neil. (Can you tell who my fave is). I like any fics exploring any of the Fox friendships, though!

The Old Guard: I really like fics that explore the gang's experiences in other time periods. Andy/Quynh is my OTP along with Joe/Nicky so any fics about them. Nile/Quynh is my favorite rarepair in the fandom. I like fics that look at Andy & Booker's friendship and why they're definitely platonic soulmates.

I selected a few other fandoms like First Kill; The Adventure Zone; Red, White and Royal Blue; Good Omens; The Tarot Sequence; and Sandman. I didn't talk much about them because I'm basically just into the main ships for them (Juliette/Cal for FK, Taako/Kravitz for TAZ, Aubrey/Dani for TAZ, Alex/Henry for RWRB, Crowley/Az for GO, Rune/Addam or Rune/Addam/Brand for TTS, Hob/Dream for Sandman). For Teen Wolf and First Kill I don't like Mature/Explicit fics unless they're adults in it. My favorite TAZ eras are Balance and Amnesty.

Fandoms/Ships I Will Create Content For:

Anything I listed above with any of the caveats! This would get really long if I repeated those again. THAT BEING SAID: I will create content for those fandoms even if it's not one of my listed ships.

However I will not create podfic for the following ships: STAR WARS: Rey/Kylo, Leia/Luke, Rex/Ahsoka, any Master/Padawan relationship, or Palpatine/Anakin. BATFAM: inner!Batboys as mentioned TED LASSO: Ted/Jamie (love Ted & Jamie tho) AFTG: Andrew/Aaron SANDMAN: Dream/any of his siblings

Other fandoms I will create content for:

ATLA: Zuko/Sokka, found family Star Trek: Spock/Kirk, Spock/Kirk/Bones, Kirk/Bones Leverage: OT3 is Hardison/Parker/Eliot LOTR / The Hobbit: Gimli/Legolas, Eowyn/Faramir, Boromir/being alive, Bilbo/Thorin. I like anything just exploring the lore and history of the universe and its cultures Venom: Venom/Eddie(/Annie/Dan) The Witcher: Yen/Jaskier/Geralt, Jaskir/Geralt, Geralt/Triss, Yen/Triss Sense8: anything I can find! it's small but there's nothing I won't do in this fandom, honestly... Trigun: Vash/Wolfwood (the only thing I know about it) Marvel/MCU: Steve/Bucky, Clint/Bucky, Kate Bishop/America Chavez, and Spideypool (as long as they're both adults). WITH A LOT OF CAVEATS... Harry Potter. I will only podfic trans-centric Tonks who does not get with Remus or Wolfstar with a happy ending.

Love, Kaje / kbirb

#dear podficcer #summer swap #dear creator #podfic #podficcers #podficcing #summer swap 2023 #creator letter #podfic letter

[badbucky]

I got a question that you don't have to answer. What's all your fav ships from any fandom whether they are canon or not. And all the reasons why you like them.

ohhhh anon this is a good question!

i honestly wish my brain wasn’t such a frying pan of obsessions that change every other week, but off the top of my head the ships i’ve been thinking about the most lately are probably:

roy/jamie (ted lasso) has been my main ship for ages by now and it’s honestly a little unhealthy how often i think about these dumbasses. i think its mainly because both characters are just so incredibly complex, and they both have some of my all time favourite arcs. the two of them have always felt like two sides of the same coin to me. i could talk forever about roy's urge to protect his loved ones vs jamie's inherent need to feel protected (as shown in the ep. 'mom city'.) not to mention the good old grumpy + sunshine trope. there's also just the undeniable chemistry between them because brett and phil are literal platonic soulmates irl.

roy/keeley/jamie (ted lasso) is another one of my faves. a lot of it is for the same reason as stated above, but with keeley added to the mix because we can't deny that she is the center of roy and jamie's universe, whether that be romantically or platonically. she's the only person that has bothered truly getting to know both of them: and she's the only person to stand up to them and tell them they need to work on themselves. their traits all add up: when keeley feels suffocated by roy's need to be close, roy doesn't have to feel rejected and alone because jamie will literally cling to him like a koala any chance he gets.

fatin/leah (the wilds) and listen its been so long since i watched the wilds but i will never forget Them. leah singing "home is when I'm alone with you" while cradling fatins jaw. the looks they share. "why are you looking at me like that?" she asks wHILE LOOKING AT HER THE SAME WAY.

lottie/nat (yellowjackets) i am a casual shipper here but all i’m gonna say is: the bathtub scene. nat helps wash and patch up lottie. idk they’re just precious.

steve harrington/eddie munson (stranger things) is one of those 'i didn't really consider it until i saw someone else ship it' things for me personally, but listen they're just cute to imagine. its the whole jock x nerd thing, but i'm not as emotionally invested in this ship as much as i just enjoy the idea of it.

i probably have so many other ships that i should be mentioning but i think i've already talked too much. also! feel free to scream about ships to me, even if i don't know the ship i'll probably scream back

#anon #asks #am i a hopeless romantic? possibly #answered #i definitely forgot a bunch of ships but as long as ive put royjamie out there you probably get what i like #long post

[chronicowboy]

001 ghosts and 002 buddie !! 💖

001: ghosts

Favorite character: ahhhh um either captain or thomas

Least Favorite character: the fucking posh neighbor who calls his dog bitches

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): idk its not really a shippy show for me ?? but ig mikealison, captainhavers, robinjulian, kittymary and idk cant think of another lol

Character I find most attractive: thomas probably but thats leftover crush from horrible histories when i was a kid

Character I would marry: oof alison ??

Character I would be best friends with: the captain without a doubt we're already besties <3

a random thought: the reason the show is so good is because the actors write it themselves so they all know they're characters so well

An unpopular opinion: idk if i have any unpopular opinions ?? but i kinda think it would be cool if the show ends with mike seeing the ghosts somehow

My Canon OTP: mike and alison

My Non-canon OTP: the captain and happiness

Most Badass Character: thomas in the flashback to the moment when he died but the overdramatic one with the guns and grenade

Most Epic Villain: oh thomas' cousin?? the one who stole his gf that was like fucking evil but impressive ngl

Pairing I am not a fan of: idk if there are any?? oh fanny and the body of humphrey

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): um i cant think of one

Favourite Friendship: oof so many but the captain and kitty

Character I most identify with: probably thomas in a weird way

Character I wish I could be: alison maybe

002: buddie

When I started shipping them: i can give you an exact date on this which is 19/01/22 but mainly because that was when i watched s2e1 id probably shipped them by like proxy because of tas for ages

My thoughts: i mean i have so many but most of them just amount to incoherent rambling about how they're a family and they keep choosing each other and they're in LOVE and they deserve to be HAPPY

What makes me happy about them: the fact that they are the least platonic best friends in the history of best friends, like touching ur homie on the shoulder is no homo but touching ur homie on the shoulder as ur thumb presses into their collarbone whilst u tell them there's nobody else in the world they trust more with their kid than you is decidedly homo

What makes me sad about them: the fact that they can't see how much they're loved by the other and that their timing is always so wrong and they don't think they deserve to be happy

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: infantlizing chris or like erasing his disability, thats the main one but i have many specific icks that I'm not gonna get into

Things I look for in fanfic: oh so much, mutual pining YES PLEASE, load me up on the unrequited not actually unrequited love trope, give me a good old amnesia au and im yours, you want a kudos gimme gimme gimme idiots in love, domestic fluff is a yes please, but ill be here for some hurt/comfort

My wishlist: um give me a genie in a lamp and my three wishes are - eddie healing, eddie sexuality crisis, love confession

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: nobody. literally no one. they're soulmates, they built their lives together until they became one, there's literally no other choices for them.

My happily ever after for them: the ideal is them happily married for the rest of their lives and becoming girl dads and chris being the best big brother <3

#sami answers #ahhhh this is so long but thank u for asking ily!!! 🥺🥺

[bee-calm]

hi i hope it's ok if i ask your opinion on a few tbhk ships? terukane and mitsukou? i'm just curious!

dw im always happy to ramble about stuff !!!

under the cut bc, like usual, this got way too long

okay first up, terukane. man. i have a Very complicated relationship with this pairing hhfgfhf lots to unpack here. i do actually like it quite a lot still even though i dont talk about it much (i know a lot of people dislike it so i kinda just keep my thoughts to myself), but its also definitely one of those ships that just. Wouldn’t work in a canon context. they’re both pretty awful to each other for various reasons and akane is. you know. Akane. so there’s his whole weird obsession with aoi to factor in- so as they are in canon right now i really can’t imagine them as having a healthy relationship at all. it kind of rubs me the wrong way when people depict them in an actual relationship (beyond like. awkward one-sided feelings) exactly as they are in canon without any development, because it just wouldn’t be good for either of them. 

HOWEVER in an au context or even a post-canon context where they’ve both worked through some of their issues and gotten to a point where they can see eye to eye a little better? that i can get behind bc their dynamic is SO fun. theres just something about the ‘im supposed to kill you but for personal reasons i will be falling in love with you instead’ trope and the prospect of teru liking the SINGLE person who absolutely hates his guts which really gets me. u cant beat the ‘two bastards you would only ever willingly inflict on each other’ dynamic

so yeah i definitely have a love-hate relationship with terukane, mainly because im not a huge fan of how akane’s character is written and handled, but i do still like it quite a lot. i mean i wrote a 40k word fic about how they could potentially fix their issues and start to work well together, i think thats pretty telling hhdgdhd

mitsukou now... comfort ship...... might as well be canon at this point bc come on. have u seen them.

mitsukou really means a lot to me because they’re just two characters that absolutely understand each other and make each other better people just by being around. kou really seems to catch onto the deeper meanings behind the dumb stuff mitsuba says, so he’s not thrown off by his insults or the fact that he hides when he cares about stuff- and on the other hand mitsuba really seems to notice when kou is struggling, something kou really doesn’t even seem to catch onto himself, most of the time. they just complement each other so well and it makes me really happy. soulmate behaviour, you know?

theyre probably one of my favourite ships to write too because theyre just SO ridiculous and i love them for it- mitsuba doing olympic-standard mental gymnastics to avoid admitting to himself that he likes kou versus kou falling head over heels but still being like [is this a pigeon meme but replace pigeon with ‘good platonic friendship’] is an absolute delight to imagine. they both care about each other so much too even if they bicker a lot, and its just... man..... i love them

dont even get me started on how much borderline canon content they have too- looking at you, minamoto ‘how about i die too so we can stay together forever’ kou- i think one of the main reason they’re so enjoyable to make content for is the fact that they have such a well fleshed-out relationship even in canon, so theres a lot to build off !!!

they genuinely just make me so happy- they work so well together and they deserve the world (even if they do make me sad ALL THE TIME)

#anonymous #thank u so much for asking! #today on 'ley does not know when to BE QUIET' #letterbox

[oboe-she-didnt]

I just finished watching the X-Files and I have a lot of thoughts

Yes it’s 2021 and I’ve finally finished a show I should have seen ages ago. Normally I might make a YouTube video with all my thoughts but I feel like doing something more immediate and since no one I know has seen it...here I go.

Going in nearly blind (besides knowing “Mulder’s the believer and Scully’s the skeptic” thank you ATS, Mulder/Scully is one of the quintessential ships of fandom history, and there was a reboot or something a couple years ago) I found myself rather hooked from the beginning. I enjoyed the practical effects, the seasons-long mysteries (though sometimes not knowing the answers got frustrating), and the way the show managed to stay fresh for its original 9 season run. It was definitely a well-crafted show with a good balance of monster of the week episodes (further divided into procedural monster of the week - your average monster/witch/freak of science killing random people - and character-based monster of the week - the haunted house on Christmas is the first episode that comes to mind) and lore/mythology building episodes (everything tying back to the alien conspiracy aka anything that said “Written by Chris Carter”)

I can see where the Mulder/Scully chatter has come from. I was definitely shipping them very early on, and not just in a “ooh they’re rivals so of course I’m gonna ship them” kind of way I was expecting going in. They are one of those examples of fictional soulmates, platonic, romantic, two people who are essential in the others’ lives. They are the epitome of “the best romances come from people who work well together”. Literally. They balance each other, even when sometimes the roles would get flipped. You need a logician and you need a believer in your search of The Truth. I also appreciated overall it seemed an equal balance between each of the pair getting “damseled”. It wasn’t Mulder saving Scully all the time (another thing I was kind of expecting). The one thing I’m still puzzling over is which one I would consider the one main protagonist, if I had to choose. My gut says Scully, she’s the audience insert brought into this fantastical world who grows to open her mind a little. But by the end, it’s Mulder who has all his questions answered, his purpose for coming to the X-files complete. Mostly. Pretty much. There’s always another conspiracy, though.

I will stand by my early observation that my absolute favorite parts of the show are Scully’s right arching eyebrow and Mulder’s inability to function like a normal human when she’s out of the office. I never thought I’d get emotional over pencils stuck to the ceiling but it happened.

And now a rundown of thoughts on all the main characters...

Mulder: Two things I said most often to the TV: “you cheeky little shit, you’re gonna get yourself killed” and “oh honey I want to give you a hug!” I also wish I had done a little more BTS research besides figuring out where and when to watch the 2 movies because that would have saved my two season litany of “he’s gotta come back, they wouldn’t kill one of the main characters off offscreen, he’s written and directed episodes, I would have heard at some point if he got fired, Chris Carter’s just pulling a conspiracy of his own, he’s fucking with the audience by pulling him off the credits, right right RIGHT?” and then I should have figured out the reboot was LITERALLY STILL THEM so that would have saved my The Truth litany of “well all his mysteries are solved so I guess his arc’s complete, it’s a supernatural show so I GUESS you can kill off one of the mains in the finale, but there’s too much build up to save him, I would have heard about it if it had THAT kind of ending, right right RIGHT?”

Scully: Two things I said most often to the TV: “Yes you go girl!” and “oh honey I want to give you a hug!” Gillian gets all the credit for wearing those fucking heels for that long and probably didn’t get paid enough for it (though I appreciated their little callout to it in the movie episode). I’m glad they only went to the mystical pregnancy well once, though the build-up was a little too heavy-handed. I can’t wait to rewatch and see the gradual development of her knowledge and understanding, so much so that by the time it becomes her and Doggett as the team, Scully is absolutely without question the “Mulder”.

I also would say, about both of them, that they need a vacation...which they did get...probably not the vacation I was hoping for them.

And now for many less thoughts about the rest:

Skinner: flip-flopped maybe a couple too many times for my liking. Wish we knew a little more about him. Definitely the first person to ship the two of them.

The Lone Gunmen:

AKA “ahh it’s my boys!” (me squealing every time I saw their actors’ names appear in the credits). Nice little extension of the team and interesting to see technology from “back then”. Loved how they used their stories as little breathers after really heavy two-parters. 

Frohike: adorable little grump who knows his kung fu

Langly: did he just choose not to cut his hair for 9 years or did they not let him?

Byers: marry me

Smoking Man: or whatever nickname you want to call him. Yes, I know they revealed his name but I’m not bothered to look it up now. The definition of “you aren’t dead in a supernatural show unless you die on screen” (though he goes and breaks that trope too because hey fan service!). Had me saying “ugh this bitch” every time he appeared on screen so I guess he got the job done.

Krycek: also had me saying “ugh this bitch” and I wish I didn’t learn his actor’s name so early on so I would be more surprised when he showed up in later seasons. I think he worked pretty well as a secondary bad guy and is another I’ll be watching more for in my rewatch.

Marita: grew more tired of her the longer she stayed on. Became less interesting when she was revealed to be in with the Syndicate. Nice to have another female character, though.

Jeffrey Spender: my catchphrase with him was “I wanna slap his little weasel face”. I figured out who he was before it was revealed, though that I blame on my ability to recognize actors...unless it was supposed to be an easy enough twist to figure out? (I guess the actor made enough of an impression in the “greatest hits of Smoking Man: America’s assassin” episode for them to want to keep him around). Did not like him one bit until Season 9. Then my thoughts were mainly “JEFF!? They’re entrusting the safety of William to JEFF!?”

William: okay the episode “William” was pretty much me saying “what the FUCK was that?” and I’m mad I didn’t figure out the Jeffrey twist that time. As for the character, kid deserves better. I was waiting for a Once Upon a Time style knock on the door “hey, I think you’re my mom” at some point but NOPE he had a purpose and they were sticking to it! The ambiguous powers (AKA which came first, this or Stranger Things 2?) were a little annoying, I suppose, but there wasn’t enough time, or interest, to explore it all. Also, pandemic? That sure hit differently to a viewer today than it would have a couple years ago holy shit.

Doggett: didn’t like him at first, which I guess you’re not supposed to, but then he turned into a big old teddy bear. Whatever happened to him? Dude deserved a shout-out in the reboot.

Reyes: loved her from the start, a different kind of “Mulder”. HATE what they did to her in the reboot. I thought she and Doggett were supposed to live happily ever after.

Okay, I think I’m pretty much out of thoughts for now. Excuse me as I start watching all over again, free of some of this “what’s gonna happen next?” anxiety since I now know where it’s all going.

#xfiles #x files #mulder #scully #mulder and scully #first time viewing

[moistestmango]

What fics would you recommend the most?????

IeHi!! I mainly read Tim and Wally-centric fics so I hope it’s alright that I only recommend fics abt them! ^^;;

I’d recommend all of allegrezza’s wally/batflash fics but they’re sadly deactivated ;-;

For Tim Drake (+ batfam) fics, I’d recommend anything by maychorian, incogneat_oh, musafir, Shirokokuro, heartslogos and CluelessKitten (there are def more authors out there but I’m having a little trouble focusing and writing so I’m def missing some more but u can check my bookmarks if u wanna! MoistMango bookmarks)

For Wally West (+ batflash, superflash (kon/wally) and birdflash) fics, anything by BatFlash11, Stormrace (all fics are fem!Wally, platonic!batflash), EiswolfZero, Taisi (some kon/wally + if you also happen to be a One Piece fan and love Luffy-centric nakamaship fics then they have plenty of fics like that too!)

Fics I especially adore:

Obs! I’m probably missing on including warnings so do read the tags before reading just incase!!!

Tim Drake-centric fics:

- “Look At Me” by CluelessKitten on AO3. A/B/O dynamics, fem!Tim. OBS! Read tags for warnings! No matter how many times I re-read this I’m always in awe. It’s well written and I like how the author mixes ABO with the characters identities in here (if that makes sense).

- “Executive Assistant To The Batman” by heartslogos on AO3. Alternate dimension, civilian!Tim. This one is hilarious!

- “The Adventures Of Tiny Tim” series by heartslogos on AO3. De-aged Tim!! One of my favorite things ever!!! Adorable as heck!!!

- “Go Back To Sleep” by LokisonofLaufey on AO3. Sweet hurt/comfort and fluff, platonic!Jaytim and dicktim!! 

- “Joker Junior” by Help__Obsessed_Artist on AO3. JJ!Tim with PTSD, aftermath of brainwashing/torture, angst and hurt/comfort.

- “The Green Knight” by gypsydancergirl, hauntedlittledoll on AO3. AU!, mute Tim. Author hasn’t updated in a while but it’s really good!

- “(Un)Wanted” by Mika-rin (mikachan) on AO3. Angst and hurt/comfort, childhood trauma.

- “Sleed Dreams” by heartslogos on AO3. The other batbros and batdad caring for sleepy!Tim, which is one of my absolute favorite tropes.

- “Year of Fallen Angels” by maychorian on AO3. Amazing!! Got so much angst and hurt but also comfort and fluff to balance it out. Hurt!Tim! 

- “It’s Always Bring Your Robin to Work Day” by audreycritter on AO3. Fluffy and fun, father-son Bruce & Tim! 

- “free (as a bird)” by hollow_city on AO3. Autistic Tim. Hurt/comfort, brotherly love and good dad Bruce! 

Wally West fics:

- “assumed serendipity” by squijim on AO3. Barry & Wally, fluff and hurt/comfort.

- “Speedster Family” series by ImaKaraTabiHe on AO3. “A series of one shots/shot stories about Wally West's life as Kid Flash dealing with being a kid hero, the League, his Team, and of course the Rogues (he IS their Baby Flash after all).“

- “These Small Hours (Still Remain) by CluelessKitten on AO3. Platonic Wally and League. Fem!Wally.

- “Leaps And Bounds” by Earthiana on AO3. Read the tags! Fluff and angst. Kid Wally!! ;A; Barry and Iris (+ the rest of the League) caring for Wally.

- “When I’m Gone” by CluelessKitten on fanfiction.net (same author on AO3). One of my absolute fave fics of all time! Fem!Wally. Justice Lords. Angst, tragedy and family. Implied/undertone of batflash but it isn’t too obvious if you’re not into that. 

Batflash:

- “The Cuddles of Batflash” by Dragonfire13 on AO3. As it says on the title, cuddles of batflash uwu. Hecking cute. Great pick me up!

- “Comrades in Arms” series by laceymcbain on AO3. 11 works. lots of UST and flirting. A blend of comic and JLA (animated series) verses. 

- “Slumped” by BatFlash11 on AO3. Fluffy and cute cuddling. Have re-read this countless of times lol.

- “Monitor Duty” by CoffioCake on AO3. Flirting! Confessions!

- “Seeking Help” by EiswolfZero on AO3. Fluff, getting together.

- “If Sadness Is a Color” by Jazyrha on AO3. Lord Batman and Wally. Explicit smut. Bottom!Wally. Semi-public sex, hurt/comfort.

Birdflash:

- “Nowhere I Won’t Find You” by et2brute. Explicit smut, Bottom!Wally. Fix-it fic. 

- “Nightly Excursions” by FlowerBox (Ieznos) on AO3. Explicit smut! Bottom!Wally. 

- “my heart on your skin” series by PotterheadAvengerDemigod on AO3. Soulmate!AU. Fluffy. A lil bit of angst. Very cute!

- “when I’m away I will remember) How You Kissed Me” series by PotterheadAvengerDemigod on AO3. Works 1 to 6 are birdflash. Lots of kissing, very cute.

#I want to include more but I'm lazy OTL #also this isn't properly written and tagged but oh well ;-; #replies #fic recs #I only read tim-centric cute and fluffy hurt/comfort batfam and wally batflash and birdflash fics lol

[i-say-vol-you-say-tron]

How to Write Romance by Someone Who Has No Idea What They’re Doing

Hi. I’m Lilly, and I run this garbage heap of a blog. I’ve decided to start a series of tips on tropes I’ve come across in books and movies, and I would appreciate it if you could send requests on what you want to hear about. There is a slight mention of rape and abuse, as some people still think these are valid romantic tropes, but that should be all for warnings. Thank you!

Reminder that tumblr doesn’t like the word f*ck, so it’s censored. No funny business in the comments.

ALL THESE TROPES, REGARDLESS OF WHAT THEY ARE REFERRED TO, ARE MEANT TO APPLY TO ALL GENDERS AND SEXUALITIES. ANYBODY CAN BE A GOOD PERSON, AND ANYONE CAN BE A PIECE OF SHIT.

(Trigger warning) Abuse/Rape

Note: I do not condone abuse or rape in any situation. I do not excuse it whether it was done by a man or a woman. However, I recognize that this is a thing that happens to real people and is also used in fictional works. This is not a proper resource for writing abuse/rape victims, and I encourage you to do further research on this topic if you wish to write about it.

Do Not: Have the character afflicted give their abuser “a chance to change their ways”. Not one single chance. Chances lead to abuse happening more than once, letting the cycle repeat. Stop it. Don’t use rape as shock value. Don’t have the rape victim fall in love with their rapist. It’s disgusting and demeaning to those who are actual rape victims.

Do: Have your character afflicted identify that they’re being abused - whether physically, emotionally, or mentally. Have them get out of the situation as soon as they can. Let your character deal with the trauma. Have them flinch, get panic attacks, be afraid to enter a relationship. Use their past abuse as a motive for them to work for a better life for themselves.

Stockholm Syndrome (aka “abductor/abductee” or “master/slave”)

Do Not: There are mainly don’ts for this, and do I really need to say why? Denying someone human rights is not okay. Treating someone as an object is not okay. Forcing someone to love you is not okay. I would usually just advise to ignore this trope altogether, but I actually have two ways of this trope done correctly (so read the do’s before commenting)

Do: Two examples of how to do this right are “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Ancient Magus’ Bride”. Neither woman in these stories is treated like an object, abused, or had their freedom taken away. Belle from BatB is allowed to roam the castle, use its library, and request food and drink whenever she wants. Chise from TAMB sold herself into slavery and was bought by someone who not only treated her as an equal, but used every resource at his disposal to help prolong her life. Both of these women are treated with equality, respect, and their feelings developed naturally and not by force.

Amnesia

Do Not: Have someone manipulate the amnesiac’s memories/feelings. This is forcing romantic opinions on someone who has probably just gone through something traumatic. If you do choose to have someone manipulate the amnesiac, make it clear that they are the antagonist and not the love interest. Do not have someone pretend to be in a romantic relationship with them prior to their accident. This is emotional manipulation.

Do: If the amnesiac had a relationship prior to this accident, have them go slow. Have them be aware of the situation and attempt to be helpful. Have them realize the protagonist might be uncomfortable if they were to start acting as a couple right away.

Blackmail (“Date me or else”)

Just don’t. It’s creepy and weird and legitamtely terrifying. Feel free to use it for drama, but not for romance.

Enemies to Lovers (or hero/villain)

Do Not: Have them be abusive. Abuse is not cute. It is not justified in any situation, no matter how much you hate someone. Even if you claim to love them, that doesn’t justify hurting them in any way, shape, or form.

Do: Have them realize that they might not hate each other. Slowly construct a healthy relationship. Start with having three tentatively work together. Have them harmlessly tease each other until they realize the other isn’t as bad as they thought.

Boy Hates Girl (“He’s mean to you because he loves you”/“Boys will be boys”)

Do Not: Let the bully have romantic attention. Something like this is a gateway to abusive relationships. If you allow someone to show their “love” by hurting someone, then you are failing at showing them how to deal with feelings in a healthy way. The bully doesn’t learn how to express their feelings properly and the victim doesn’t learn that this kind of relationship is toxic and wrong.

Do: Have the victim fall for someone that treats them write. Make sure this new person is genuinely kind and helpful, and that they are someone who doesn’t use the bully’s actions as a fear tactic.

Celibate (“I choose not to fall in love.....except with that one person”)

Do Not: Have someone pressure the celibate into being in a relationship. They made a vow, they chose what they want to do with their life. Respect that choice and move on.

Do: Have the celibate develop close platonic relationships with those around them. Use this trope to focus on character development rather than romance.

Long Distance Relationship

Do Not: Use this for drama. Do not have one partner accuse the other of cheating while they are away. Do not have them actually cheat while their partner is away. I suggest to avoid this trope unless you have a valid, well-written reason for keeping the characters apart. Alternatively, you could use the long distance aspect as a reason for two characters to break up, due to the idea that they’re drifting apart over the distance, but stay away from unfaithfulness as it’s tired and overdone.

Do: Have them be lovey-dovey despite not having seen each other in ages. Have them still be engaged in their relationship no matter how little time they spent together. Have them dote on each other because they won’t be able to stay for long. Have them book a flight only to see the other for a few hours before heading back to where they came from.

Love at First Sight/True Love/Soulmates

Do Not: Have them fall in love immediately. Sounds weird, but relationships take time. Mirror real life. You wouldn’t marry someone you just met (eat your heart out Disney). Even people in arranged marriages take time to know the other person and make sure they actually like them and they’re not a piece of shit.

Do: Have them spend time with each other. Have them learn each other’s interests and likes. Have them become friends before starting a romance.

Cheating (just read before commenting)

Do Not: Have the protagonist find their “true love” by cheating on their partner. It’s not dangerous and sexy, it’s immoral and wrong.

Do: Have the protagonist be cheated on. Want to reveal that a side character is a piece of shit? Now you know how to do that. If your protagonist falls in love with someone else, have them let down their current partner easily. At least have them think things through before breaking it off, or even have them realize it’s just a stupid crush and that they should stay with their current partner.

Love Triangle

Do Not: Just don’t. It’s been done to death. Let it die. It’s also weird. “Hey I like two people and I can’t choose. Fight over me.” Like wtf? If someone did that to me, I’d be out of there in an instance. Have fun with the other person, because I’m never talking to you again.

Do: Write a healthy poly relationship instead. Don’t like it, I don’t care. This is my list.

Fridge (“My partner is dead and I’m on a mission to avenge them”)

Do Not: Have them fall in love after being immediately introduced to the love interest. They just lost someone they loved - they don’t need a replacement. Don’t have your live interest try to seduce them or pressure them.

Do: Have them fall in love.....later. Much later. Like “Book Two” later. Let them grieve. Let them mourn. Give them time to heal.

The Nice Guy

This is the person that is absolutely terrible, but still believes they’re entitled to date people because they’re “such a nice guy”. Someone literally juust died because of this, so please stop using it as a romantic thing.

Do Not: Make this person the love interest.

Do: Make this person an antagonist/villain/random annoyance. An example of this done right is the movie Megamind.

The Age Gap

There are different variations of this trope, so I’m going to list all the versions I can think of:

Do Not: ⁃ Pedophile: Have an adult character date someone who is a minor. This includes minors who “look/act mature for their age”. It’s still illegal you sickos. This also included teenagers putting advances on people older than them. ⁃ Immortal/mortal: 300+ monster dating an eighteen year old (I’m looking at you Twilight)

Do: ⁃ They’re both young, but consenting, legal, and a few years apart (ex. 18 + 19/20) ⁃ Both are consenting, legal, but are older adults with a larger gap (ex. someone in their 30s and someone in their 40s)

Opposites Attract

Do Not: Have one person invested in the relationship and one person doing f*ck all. An example of this would be two roommates. You wouldn’t want one doing all the housework while the other sits on their ass and does absolutely nothing. “Opposites attract” means personality traits, not willingness to be in a relationship. It also means don’t do “ugly vs pretty”, “plain vs interesting”, etc.

Do: Have their personality traits vary. Have one be organized and the other scatterbrained. Have one like chocolate and the other vanilla. Have them argue over what type of music is better. Have them differ on little things.

Please send me requests on what you want me to do next!

#how to #how to write #writing #writing tips #writing tropes #long post #trigger warning rape #trigger warning abuse #tw rape #tw abuse

[sometimesrosy]

A fan asked Bob at SW4 if Bellarke will happen or not in s6 romantic wise and he laughed and said ‘mmmm..s7’ laughing. So do you still think that they were telling a 2 season story instead of postponing Bellarke till their relationship no longer runs its course?

I didn’t hear that. What I heard was Bob saying he couldn’t say anything about bellarke because it would all be a spoiler. So to me, anything he says after “I’m not telling you,” especially if it’s vague and he laughs while saying it, is not evidence. 

I’m just going to assume that he’s not going to tell us anything, no matter how much we want his statements to be confirmation or denial. And as that statement doesn’t say much, contradicts what he already said, and I did not see what he said or the context of it, it doesn’t make sense to consider it evidence before more information can clarify it.

When I talk about Bellarke, I’m not REALLY looking at the external commentary. I might take it into consideration, but as always, I am analyzing the TEXT. My speculation is based on the text. I DO listen when JR tells us what themes and stories he’s going to explore in the main story or in the character arcs. Because that’s part of understanding story. But I don’t take the commentary ABOUT the show to be the show itself. Everything they say has to be held up against what is happening in the story.

When people listen to actor comments at cons, especially after them saying they aren’t telling, and then use that as the ENTIRETY of their understanding, that’s not analysis. That’s gossip. I don’t like gossip. 

Taking what they say and applying it to the canon to see how that affects your interpretation makes it analysis. “If I look at s5 with this quote in mind, how does it affect the story or my understanding of the story.”

My theory that they were telling a s2 story didn’t actually come from Bellarke. It came from Raven, I think. When I felt dissatisfied at her lack of story and character development. She’s always gotten big character development before, so what happened? Murphy got all the character development, and usually his character arc is a side story. And then I was like, hey, he got more development than usual and Raven got less. Oh wait, that’s kind of like they just expanded the story to fit two seasons instead of just one.

And THEN I took that theory and started holding it up against all the other storylines. And i noticed that MANY of the storylines were left hanging. Madi becoming Heda, Kabby, Zaven, The Blake siblings, despite how IMPORTANT a story it was, it left us with Bellamy nearly denying that she’s his family? There’s no way that couldn’t feel unfinished. It’s too important to the entire story. Echo’s story really barely got started. JR told us her story was about family, belonging and loyalty, AND that her character ended season 5 “controversial,” but we never went INTO those themse and Echo wasn’t controversial, so I thought, okay, I can see where those themes COULD fit, and there’s a start to them with the raven-shaw argument, but we never go there. So that said to me that he was talking about his WHOLE story arc for Echo– but we have barely started it? So that’s where it’s going? So he’s telling the story as if s6 was the s5 story. And that fits with my expanded s5-6 storyline. 

And THEN when I look at Bellarke’s place in the story, and it feels like so much was left unsaid, and there are literal major secrets that affect Bellarke’s relationship that are just HANGING there waiting to be spoken to change everything, it is clear that their relationship story is still smack dab in the middle. 

I don’t even know what you mean “postponing bellarke till their relationship no longer runs its course.” You mean baiting? No, man. I think bellarke is currently romantic in canon, so it’s not baiting, it’s HAPPENING. They are smack dab in the middle of it. Love stories are about what happens BEFORE they get together. Getting together is the CULMINATION of a love story. If you stop in the middle of a love story, They aren’t a couple. Heck, you can stop nearly at the end of Pride and Prejudice, and there is no Eliza and Darcy, because we’ve just found out that Darcy is engaged to another woman and his aunt has told Eliza that she has NO CHANCE WITH DARCY. it’s over. donesies. “postponed till their relationship no longer runs its course.” But if you get to the END of the story, you find out that was the motivation for Darcy to realize that Eliza actually cared for him. And he came back to her. And asked her again. And she said not one word to tell him to stop. And then they got married. End story. Bait? No. STORY. 

So what was the Bellarke story line for season 5? They start off separate/dead. 5.01 is about them living WITHOUT each other. The REUNION was a slow reveal that lasted through 5.01, 5.03 and 5.04, and still leaving us kind of unsatisfied. They kept taking steps towards each other, but never really felt TOGETHER until…. well, until the last 30 minutes of the season finale. 

I said. What does that mean then? That means that season 1 was a bellarke story. from 5.01-5.13 in which they told the story of how Clarke and Bellamy were reunited– as soulmates. And I thought about the season and realized that each episode, even the ones where they were not together showed movement IN THE STORY OF HOW THEY CAME BACK TOGETHER. The WHOLE season was about the NON ROMANTIC REUNION.

AND YET! And yet, within the non-romantic reunion of partners, the head and the heart, they dropped HEAVY romantic feelings visible to all. Which were plot points that turned the story. And THEN they refused to to talk to each other about them, or admit that was going on. So now we have the non-romantic reunion with CANON romantic feelings hanging over our heads. 

2199 days of pining. Bellamy torn between his official girlfriend and his soulmate who was back from the dead. And NEITHER of those stories resolved, but both affecting Clarke, Bellamy, Madi, Octavia, Marper and Echo– although she doesn’t know it yet. And THAT she doesn’t know it yet means it’s a story still happening. 

And yet it’s not a cliffhanger. The cliff hanger is the planet. The Bellarke relationship hit a pause in it’s development in their reunion, like the moment before it revs up the engine to go faster, with that 2199 reveal, and Bellamy’s changed behavior but lack of confrontation about it. It’s like a bated breath as we wait for the other shoe to drop. 

So then it became clear to me that they were telling a romantic story in s5. 

I then compared the story they were telling to my speculation for last year, because, of course, I was wrong about it happening so fast. And when I compared the s5 to my ideas about how Bellarke would develop I realized that my theory for last season was actually still correct and still on target, but only half way there. I was rushing the set up because I saw it in my head as the tropes that were already clear. But they did not rush it. They slowly set it up in 5.01, 5.03, 5.04, 5.05…. yeah all season. pulling it out of stories with characters who were not Bellarke, and so actively making romantic Bellarke PART of the narrative for all the characters. 

It was clear to me that s5 was a slow burn love story about the obstacles keeping the soulmates apart. Clarke’s death was solved. Their changes as people was actually the longest story there, and was solved. Their conflict over Octavia and Wonkru was solved. Clarke feelings of not being his people was kind of solved, but that might expand into belonging and spacekru in season 6. So she got back together with BELLAMY but not the rest of the family– wait that’s half way through the story. S5 INTRODUCED B/E and made it a REAL obstacle (in the trope of soulmates it is not going to stop them so i don’t worry about it, but in the narrative it’s a REAL obstacle,) that has been presented, caused Clarke to draw back, served to point out that Bellamy’s love for Clarke is not platonic but ROMANTIC, and put to bed, literally, until morning. A story that is HALF WAY TOLD. 

So. Like, my theory was influenced by some things that JR said, but mainly is working on narrative storylines that are being told, being set up, being resolved or not resolved. Look. I write novels. When you start a story, you finish the story. The 100 writers are proving that they come back to stories to finish them, and it might FEEL like they aren’t addressing them, but they are. The fandom feels unsatisfied with the stories (like bellarke or the blake siblings) because those stories halted in the middle. But if you TRUST them to finish the stories, you can see they are setting up the events that would naturally finish those un finished stories, and they’re using the other characters and the plot to do so. 

So then I take Bob’s (unconfirmed, i still need to see the source,) statement and say, how does that reflect upon what I know and interpret with the show itself and what he and other people have already said.

First question is: What does “romantic” mean? Because if you ask me “is romantic Bellarke going to finally happen in s6, I personally am thinking… errr it’s happening now, so what do you think counts as romantic if you’re not counting the romantic story on screen? Are you looking for the trifecta of confession/kiss/sex? Are you looking for established couple? Are you looking for the culmination of a romantic relationship is marriage, family and children? Then knowing that he’s not allowed to talk about ships, and you’re putting him in an awkward position and he’s awkwardly laughing. I mean. You don’t count romance in front of you so he can say anything, right? None of it will be a spoiler because you don’t see it. Maybe you never will until after you get kiss/confession/sex and an acknowledged relationship where they get to be official. IDK. Sure. s7. Go crazy.

me: stick to the text.fandom: BUT THE GOSSIP IS CONFIRMATION OF RANDOM THEORIES THAT ARE NOT BACKED UP BY CANON!!!

i don’t know nonny. If you don’t want to interpret the show with me and would rather be like BUT BOB LAUGHED AT ROMANCE, i don’t know what to tell you. You kinda got the wrong blogger. Although maybe not, because I just showed you how i dealt with extra-narrative commentary within my analysis. 

Listen. I’m a story geek. That’s what I like. Story. Narrative. Writing. Sci Fi. Character development. When I fangirl, it’s through these things. I am not, nor have I ever been into gossip, rumors, fanwars, shipwars, stan or antis. I like talking about stuff I love. Fandom is too interested in fandom politics, power plays, who said what, character assassinations, and invalidating the canon so that fanon and fandom can be more important. Not my thing. Don’t come to me and go “AH HA!” what do you think about canon now? Did that statement change canon? No. Does it work with canon? No. Did bob already tell us he’s not telling us? Yes. Let it go. They aren’t giving us confirmation of Bellarke, one way or the other. 

#the 100 #bellarke #romantic tropes #gossip #stick to the text #speculation #i find myself more annoyed at nonnies because it feels like they want to prove me wrong rather than asking to talk about theories #i don't know if it's my impression the reality or the nature of anon

[daisymondays]

if you were to rec someone five of your fics that sum you up what would they be?

Hii, i think I literally got this ask about two months ago at this point and I’m extremely sorry I never actually answered you …. but im here now !!!

The reason this took me so long to answer was because it really made me think about what kind of writer I am, how i’d advertise the kind of things I write, like what about the fics summed me up, but i’m going to try now.

1. Karma’s A Fake Orgasm

There’s another abandoned mug, festering with mould in the living room — Steve offically has the world’s worst roommates. And complains about them. Often. Bucky, tired of his lack of action, decides it’s time to avenge Steve’s sleepless nights and unsanitary conditions once and for all. They’ll pretend to be the world’s most annoying couple: excessive PDA, loud fake sex, and general repugnance. The plan sounds easy enough; it will be strictly platonic. Or will it?

Why: I think this fic sums me up in a fair few ways, but mainly the tone. It’s a fun fic at heart and I just really love making people laugh, i think all the MCU characters have such brilliant comedic potential that for someone like me is just my dream, i truly love getting to write just the very human moments of this fic where they’re joking around as friends. It’s tropey and there’s pining, and really its a self indulgent fic that I really enjoyed writing so yeah I think it sums me up quite well. Also it was meant to be 5k and is ofc now 55k which is the epitome of me and anything I do writing wise

2. Highly (in)Compatible 

Draco’s been shagging The Prat Who Lived on and off for a few months when his soul mark starts to change. Draco’s had to accept a lot of adjustments to his life, but accepting that Harry Potter could be his soulmate is one step too far. It can’t be true? Can it?

Why: at heart this sums me up because I completely made everything more difficult than it needed to be, but no, I guess it’s pretty me as while I will joke about hand waving things way in writing, I do like there to be an explanation, it bugs me when there isn’t, and so I used this fic as a chance to get to the core of how soul mates could exist and why, and how it would work, and the point of soul marks etc etc. I spent half of my childhood always having an irritating why hanging on my tongue so is my but why fic. Also it looks at mental health (ding ding ding) and has a Draco POV voice that is so close to my own speaking voice that I had friends tell me it sounded like me speaking at times so take from that what you will

3. If We Were Honest

Two years ago, Draco and Harry had a whirlwind secret romance that ended in heart-break. Since then Draco’s written a best-selling novel based on their relationship, but with one key difference—the characters get a happily ever after. Now Harry and Draco are reunited for the first time since their break-up, but can they rewrite their own ending?

Why: this fic is my inner angsty mess that I don’t show that often and here it is. I always want to write really feelsy almost poetic stuff but have a tendency to lean more to realistic and humorous character voices, that are more over dramatic in their feelings, but this was me being able to explore that side of the table and trying harder with the language and imagery. Also, a lot of queer pride in here and as i approached my first pride month as a baby bisexual that was important to me, getting happy endings and the difficulty in embracing sexuality sometimes and learning to be comfortable in who you are. Also that sometimes people fuck up (speaking from experience there LOL)

4. A Place of Learning

When Pansy returns to Hogwarts all she wants to do is keep her head down and pass her N.E.W.Ts. However, between drinking games and a new roommate, Pansy is reminded that nothing at Hogwarts is ever simple.

Why: so something that is very important to me in fandom is the fair treatment of female characters especially due to a lot of internalised misogny they’ve been shat on a lot in the past. Also there is such a disportinate amount of w/w to m/m work, and like i’ve written predominantly m/m too but i do like to try and write w/w fics too!! ((I have plans for possible Peggy/Natasha for MCU)) So this fic was me bringing fun tropes aka 8th year, drinking games and roommates to Ginny/Pansy in a hope to encourage people to read it!! its my usual and its got strong banterous friendships, a bit of pining and feels, and i think it sums me up in my just general determination to make sure femslash isn’t totally overlooked

5. Strings Attached

Draco Malfoy’s never been interested in dating, and he’ll be damned if that changes because of Harry Potter in joggers.

Why: this sums me up not so much for the content but again usual, banter and some feels, but for the reasons I wrote it. I wrote it after a conversation with some mates about being a bit tired of a few dynamics we were seeing in HD and I was bored of Drarry at this point and no intention of writing it for the joggers fest then ofc, bam sat down and cracked 15k in three days – and i really like how this fic turned out too – so i think this sums me up in the things i will do to prove a point and just how bloody fast i write sometimes, its ridiculous honestly. But yeah, i think again its a strong me vibe just in it

So here you go Nonnie, 5 fics of mine and some rambling about how i think they best represent me. Really I’m here for banter and feels, and hopefully no damp squibs. Thanks for the ask

#gracie speaks #gracie writes

[kbirbpods]

Voiceteam 2024 has brought about the need for a new pinned Dear Podficcer Letter! This is kind of a year-round one of sorts for ease of access. This are the fandoms/tropes/etc that I always love, not just what I am hyperfixated on! For events I tend to focus on hyperfixations + always have the section about what I will make outside of my wants ~

So, please look below the cut for my general letter.

Recent-ish letters: Purimgifts '24 | ITPE '23 | Summer Swap '23

Things I Like, Regardless of Fandom:

THEMES: trans/nonbinary characters (extra points for neopronouns); gender exploration in general; found family (genfic or otherwise); angst with a happy ending; polyamory; good asexual or aromantic representation; genfic

TROPES: fix-it fics!! extra points for time travel or time loops in fix its; fake dating/marriage; mutual pining; soulmates (AU or just clearly soulmates); crack treated seriously; rivals-to-friends/lovers; oops only one bed; secret identities

CROSSOVERS!

AUs: soulmates soulmates soulmates; regency era (or any different era); modern AU; crossovers, provided i know the other fandom or the fic doesn’t require knowledge of the other fandom!; college/sport AU; fantasy/fae AUs

Star Wars AUs/Tropes (yes they need their own categories): no Order-66/Order-66 happens differently; force sensitive clones; Jon Antilles lives; [insert clone here] lives; Anakin doesn’t fall; Palpatine dies; Domino Squad Lives; force sensitive Leia; modern AUs; trans clones

PODFIC SPECIFIC: anything epistolary (texting/chat fics especially but letters and such are also fun to explore); including music / SFX if you’re comfortable; including bloopers if you have them/are comfortable exposing them

RATINGS: Contrary to popular belief I do not hate explicit fics so really any rating but I generally prefer G-M because I can be picky about what explicit content I’m absorbing.

Do Not Wants (triggers, squicks, please no):

major archive warnings (major character death is okay so long as it’s temporary and resolved); unhappy endings; I really don’t like pregnancy, which includes MPREG (I like omegaverse dynamics minus that aspect) - kidfic is cool I just don’t want pregnancy as a theme & especially not graphic depictions of it; suicide/self-harm “on screen” (mentions of past suicidal ideation/self harm are fine if not a flashback/graphic); non-/dub-con or any depictions of rape (once again, recovery is okay if done well); adult/minor relationships or relationships with unaddressed/starkly imbalanced power dynamics; any sort of poorly depicted mental health tropes (no BPD or other personality disorder bashing, no institutionalization, no “split personality” as a trope) - i really like explorations of PTSD/trauma but it has to be handled with fidelity and gentleness; and I have a random trigger about cockroaches

as a note: I do not like slave!fic but acknowledge that the situation of the clones is, at it’s core, a form of slavery. so while i ask for slave!fic AUs to be fully avoided, I do appreciate fics that tackle that aspect of the Clone Wars series with tact, fidelity, and honesty.

Fandoms & Characters I Would Love to Receive:

Star Wars: I love so much Star Wars that to split them like I did on AO3 would make this post too long. I think it’s easiest to say this: I prefer Clone Wars, Rebels, Rogue One/Andor, anything about Jon Antilles, anything about Hevy & the Domino Squad, anything Ahsoka Tano, Mandalorian culture (including Din & Grogu content!), and Mandoa as a language.

My main ships are: Cody/Obi-Wan, Kallus/Zeb, Hevy/anyone (consensual), Finn/Poe or Finn/Poe/Rey, blackkat rarepairs (mainly Jon Antilles/anyone), Jon Antilles & Fay (platonic), Waxer/Boil, Fives/Echo, Kanan/Hera, Quinlan/Fox(/Jon), Quinlan/Obi-Wan(/Cody), & Fox/Bail/Breha [also Clone OC ships!!] My favorite characters are: Hevy, Fox, Cody, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Leia, Poe, Fives, Luke, Jon Antilles, Fay (Legends)

Ted Lasso: My favorite ships are Roy/Keeley/Jamie, Ted/Trent, Roy/Keeley, and Jamie/Dani. Ted & Rebecca as platonic soulmates/besties in general. I love explorations of how much Dr. Jacob sucks and fix-its for the ending!

Batfam/DC: I can be picky and yet not? Basically, I just prefer no inner-Batfam fics of the boys because I truly view them as brothers. Jason is my boy forever & always. My favorite ships are Jason Todd/Roy Harper(/Kori), Dick Grayson/Wally West, Harley/Ivy, Tim Drake/Kon, Tim/Bernard, Tim/Kon/Bernard, and Wally/Artemis from Young Justice. This is the fandom that I specifically am obsessed with found family in. – I love exploring Alfred being the boys’ Grandpa and Bruce’s complex dadhood!

The Locked Tomb: I’m definitely Gideon/Harrow on main; I really like fics where one or both of them are trans/nonbinary. Nona is my favorite character so explorations of her found family (the household or the friends or all of them) are important to me. Cam/Pal is important to me. I love modern AUs a lot.

Our Flag Means Death: Obviously Blackbeard/Stede is a big deal and I ship it forever. But my heart belongs to Jim/Olu and any explorations of Jim’s gender identity! Pining Izzy Hands makes me weak, as long as he’s not being abusive towards Edward or Stede, so Izzy/Ed or Izzy/Ed/Stede is always choice.

ATLA: Always and forever a Zuko/Sokka shipper, specifically obsessed with found family in this, gen fic exploring the universe at all is super important to me!!!

All for the Game: Jean/Jeremy forever and always. I will always always eat up Jerejean fics. Of course Andrew/Neil. Renee/Allison. Andrew/Neil/Kevin is perfection. And really just... Gen fics around the Foxes or Trojans will always bring me so much joy.

A RARE ASK: I am super into both Dragon Age & Mass Effect. The former is much easier to find fandom for and there are a lot of fics with blanket permission statements. For Dragon Age, DA:O is my favorite (especially Alistair) or any sort of Hawke!centric fics. But in April 2024 I became re-obsessed with Mass Effect & anticipate it lasting a while. My rare ask is for Mass Effect fics - specifically Shep/Garrus or Shep/Liara (or them as a triad). Or gen fic!! But I feel like I am on an island here lol

MISC OTHERS: The Old Guard; First Kill; The Adventure Zone (Balance & Amnesty); Red, White and Royal Blue; Good Omens; The Tarot Sequence; Teen Wolf; Fallout (New Vegas, Fo4, & the show); Legend of Zelda; and Buffy (especially genfic & crossovers).

Authors with BP that I love, as a starting point:

Flowerparrish, trixree, wanderingjedihistorian, hoebiwan, blackkat, cac0daemonia, elismor_aswell, SunsetsOverLA, friendoftheJabberwock

#dear podficcer #voiceteam #voiceteam 2024 #summer swap 2024 #(just in case) #podfic #dear creator #podficcer #kbirb pods

[boy-banders-writings]

Meant To Be

Group: SF9 Member: Taeyangie! Genre: Fluffy-angst because that’s all I’m good for. Soulmate!AU, non-idol!Taeyang, and some mess; collegeAU because I’m trash Request: Yes! Hello~ I saw that your requests are open! Could you do your take on a SF9 Taeyang scenario? Maybe something involving the soulmate trope of being able to see what is written on your soulmates skin on your own :) //I fell in love with your recent Taeyang scenario and just had to see more >< Length: short|medium|long-ish|idk man A/N: This has been a WIP for a while & I hope whenever it is finally posted you enjoy it, thank you for requesting. I really hope everyone understands it takes so long because I’m a college senior who has none of my shit together ever! *nervous laughter*

At the age of fifteen, all of you kids were told about the soulmate system if you guys didn’t know about it already. They had an Elder come in and explain it to the room full of rowdy kids what the system is, how it works, how each of them will find their soulmates one day.

It didn’t really interest you at first, in fact you thought the system was rather dumb. You didn’t get to choose who you loved, you were assigned someone who was “perfect” for you. Whatever that meant. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to find the person you’d end up spending your whole life with because you wanted too so badly. Your parents had showed you early on in your life just how wonderful the system could be. They were the perfect example as to why you secretly could not wait for your turn. They were happy together, they were a support system for the other. They were the poster couple of a happy and healthy marriage.

However there were always downsides, your soulmate was assigned to you and it was a societal standard to marry when a couple found each other. It was taboo to marry someone that was not your soulmate, yet there were plenty of stories. One person had fallen in love with another, they would have created a life plan even if they knew in the back of their minds it could fall apart. Then a soulmate would show up or happen upon the couple. If both chose to stay together then the soulmate was left to be alone. That was something that scared you, meeting the love of your life only to have them want nothing to do with you. Those horror stories stayed with you from the first time you heard them, always at the back of your mind.

Of course as teenagers no one took the system seriously. Everyone had a few serious relationships here and there, dating was mostly casual since parents were strict about the soulmate system. It drove everyone your age mad and  it wasn’t a huge deal until you turned 20 anyway. None of you teenagers could understand the need to be so proper about things when you wouldn’t even be able to start looking until then.

Because for whatever reason on your twentieth birthday you were able to see any mark on your body that your soul mate made on theirs. You essentially became white boards for the other. There were countless stories of soulmates sending messages via this system, leaving addresses on arms or names on hands, even numbers on hidden body parts.

The day you turned 20, you awoke with a scribble on the back of your left hand. It seemed to be a girl’s name and number. The audacious feeling that boiled in your stomach had sat with you all day. 

“Good morning birthday girl!!” Inseong busted into your room, a small wrapped present and a cupcake with a single candle.

“You’re especially annoying in the morning Inseong.” You groaned as your brother started to loudly sing to you, the pillow you put over your head not doing a damn thing.

“C’mon! You can finally see what your soulmate is up too!” Inseong was a hopeless romantic who ate the soulmate idea up, “You can find him! Her! Them!” You peaked up at him from under your pillow. “You know I don’t discriminate. Especially since I thought the guy down the street was mine.”

“I know Inseong.” You chuckled, remembering how quickly Inseong had accepted it himself when he saw a similar writing on the wrist of a guy in the neighboring apartment complex as his. “You were ready to propose to him the next week.”

“If it were meant to be, I feel I would have been very happy. He was a nice guy, but his soulmate is much sweeter than him. And that guy can cook!” Inseong set the cupcake on your bedside table and sat beside you.

“You still meet up with them?”

“Of course, almost confessing to a complete stranger lead me to Sammie.”

“That’s right.” You thought back to Inseong’s current girlfriend, who was more of a really good platonic friend where they both act like a couple because they haven’t found their soulmates yet. “How is she? She hasn’t been over lately.

“Her last message to me yesterday said that her workload was recently tripled because two coworkers quit in the same day and she’s currently dying.”

He moved you around and pulled you into a sitting position and started examining your arms.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking for signs of--AH HA!” He pulled the back of your hand closer to his face. “They’re a player? I’ll have to fix that.”

“Okay, keep the protective older brother in check please.” You tried to laugh it off.

“If your soulmate is a shitty person I’m beating the shittiness out of them. Now old still.” Inseong pulled a black marker from his back pocket and scribbled over half the numbers, in no particular order to render the number useless. Then he drew a weird looking animal out of the name.

“Why does it have to look so phallic Inseong?” You groaned, looking at the new mess on the back of your hand. “I have class in a few hours.”

“They’re already being a dick, so it’s fitting.” Inseong ruffled your already messy hair. “Just scrub it off in the shower, if it still looks like a dick afterwards I’ll draw something less, dick-ish.”

“I swear.” You grumbled. 

But you made a wish, blew out your candle, thanked your brother, and bounced off to the shower. After you had gotten yourself ready and managed to get most of the phallic picture scrubbed from your hand, you flew down the stairs to find Inseong in the kitchen.

“Eat before you go.”

He had prepared a simple breakfast for the two of you to eat together. After you made sure all you would need for class was on the counter by the door, you helped Inseong set the table and happily started eating.

“You think you’ll find them quickly?” Inseong was moving his food around, not really eating.

“I -- I don’t know.”

The atmosphere had taken a more solemn turn suddenly. You stole a glance at your brother to see him staring blankly into his bowl.

“It doesn’t really bother me if I do or not.” You shrugged. “I have a lot on my plate right now, and I have you.” You paused to grab his hand. “We have each other and frankly that’s all I need right now. But if fate were to bring whoever it is to me, then so be it.”

“I hope it would end up Rowoon ya know.” Inseong joked. “Zuho even, if it were someone we both already knew it’d be so much easier.”

“You and I both know I’d end up killing Zuho, he’s my polar opposite.”

“Opposites attract!” Inseong rolled his eyes.

“No, if you hadn’t drop Social Psych you’d know that’s not true.”

“Technicalities.” He waved it off. “What about Rowoon then?”

“He’s my best friend Seong, of course I love him but I don’t think I do in that way. If he ended up my soulmate I wouldn’t be upset it’d just be weird.”

“That’s understandable.” Inseong smiled at you, ate a few spoonfuls of food before putting his stuff in the sink and grabbing his things. “I took an early shift today so we can go out for your birthday. So don’t make too many plans after class and invites your friends, it’s on me tonight.”

“Alright, don’t work too hard, I’ll see you later Seong.” He waved as he slipped on his shoes and left the apartment.

Ten minutes later you were mirroring his actions and heading to the bus stop to meet Rowoon. He was half asleep as you tugged him onto the bus after you and found a pair of open seats. He mumbled a quiet happy birthday before nodding off, head on your shoulder. Knowing he was probably up late either working on assignments for his classes or playing games well into the morning with Zuho, the latter being more plausible. You wake him up at the stop outside the university and the two of you trudge to the cafe on campus.

“My usual please.” Rowoon told the older cafe worker behind the counter we knew as Jaeyoon. “And her usual, it’s on me today.”

“Ah! Morning kids!” Jaeyoon’s smile blinded you so early in the morning. “I’ll get them, just a moment.”

Jaeyoon jumped into relaxed action, doodling your names on two cups and going to work. Rowoon waited by the counter making lazy conversation with Jaeyoon as you stepped towards the display. There wasn’t a lot of baked goods out yet since the cafe had been open maybe an hour. You had been mindlessly wondering around the familiar cafe for only a few minutes when Rowoon called you over.

“C’mon (Y/N), our classes start in twenty.” You looked down at your watch an noticed it was in fact 7:40, your 8:00am class was on it’s way.

“Thank you Jaeyoon.” You smiled at him as he finished your drink on the bar just out of your sight. “Why are there sprinkles on it?” You tilted your head a bit to the side.

“Happy Birthday!” He grinned bright, presenting you a colorfully topped drink. “Rowoon made the request so blame him if it tastes funny.”

“Thanks Jae.” Rowoon rolled his eyes. “You could have just acted like you knew.”

“I knew it was coming up but with the extra hours I’ve been working the actual dates have slipped my mind the last few weeks.” He shrugged. “And the last time I tried to flare up her usual she didn’t talk to me for a few days, our (Y/N) is very particular.”

“It was a day, mainly because I was busy but believe what you want.” You  stuck your tongue out at him. “Inseong is taking me out to eat tonight and said I could invite some friends, when do you get off?”

“I’ll be done about 4 today, since I opened.”

“We’ll both be out of classes by then, we’ll meet here and you can walk back with us.” 

“Sure, that’d be a lot of fun, thanks kid.” He ruffled your hair.

“I’m in a decent mood so I’ll ignore that.”

“Okay you two, we have class remember. See you later Jae.” Rowoon tugged you away as the two of you were playfully glaring at the other smirks adorned on your faces.

As you bid your see you laters, you took your normal seat in class. Your creative writing class had an interesting array of students, from wide-eyed freshmen to stressed seniors hoping for an easier class amongst their major based classes. You pulled out you notebook and pencil, loaded up the slides on your ipad mini and took a few sips of your drink as the rest of the class filtered in.

The room was chilly like usual and you were thankful for grabbing a thin hoodie on the way out. You had tucked your hands into the pocket of your hoodie as you heard the usual classmates enter and take up the row behind you in the amphitheater-esk classroom. Without meaning to, in the rather quiet classroom you listen to the conversation going on behind you.

“Hwiyoung, did you finish the short story for class today?” A voice you’ve heard all semester sounded tired.

“I finished it yesterday after class, is that look saying you didn’t?” The studious younger guy behind you chuckled.

“Dawon wanted someone to go drinking with him and obviously you can’t go, and he guilted me into it.” A soft voice groaned from directly behind you. “I only got about half of it finished.”

“It needs to be turned in before the end of class, if you want to finish it I’ll take notes for you.”

“The notes are online but I’d appreciate that.” You heard him get settled and start up his laptop before you heard their loud friend, the one named Dawon enter the room.

“Taeyang, Hwiyoung, I’m gonna need notes from one of you, I need to sleep.” You rolled your eyes at that, this Dawon guy never took notes in class. Granted, the class was an elective for most and a seemingly decently easy class.

“Did you at least finish the short story?” The tone from Hwiyoung was doubtful, and his question was followed by a crunching sound.

“Of course, 750-word story? I finished that before I went out last night.” Out of the corner of your eye you say Dawon shoot them finger guns before he folded his arms on the table in front of him and thumped his head down.

“Incredible.” The disbelief in Taeyang’s voice made you smile to yourself.

The trio made class pretty entertaining with Hwiyoung always up to participate in discussion, and on the days Dawon is awake for the lecture he’s always making the 8:00am lecture more lively and enjoyable.

A few quiet moments later, aside from the quiet snoring from Dawon, the creative writing professor walked in at the bottom of the room and set up for class. You resigned yourself to doodling on the open notebook page when you felt a weird tickle on your left forearm. Like someone was writing on your arm.

After a moment and a quick glance to see if anyone was looking, you slid your hoodie sleeve up just enough to see in plain and quite pretty print a simple statement.

You can see me now

A chill ran down your spine. You soul mate was reaching out to you. The tickle came again as you watched the words appear on your arm.

Happy Birthday soulmate

In your neatest print you use the black pen to the right of your notebook to reply just under the last message.

I can uh thanks

You watch as a small daisy is sketched onto your arm and a blush rises onto your cheeks and you start to feel too hot in your thin hoodie.

I’ve waited for you for quite a while

Oh? How long?

Turned 21 in February

Just a bit older then

Only a year

You looked up every few moments to copy notes, the tickle on your arm making it hard to focus on the lecture but the thrill of actually talking to your soulmate sent your heart into an erratic beating pattern.

What are you doing?

Lecture, unsuccessfully taking notes

Am I bothering you?

No, the lecture is boring. What about you?

Trying to finish an assignment, also unsuccessfully

Already pretty similar aren’t we

You added a smiley face as an after thought because if this were a text conversation you’d have sent the laughing emoji. The conversation, if you can call it that, pauses as the lecture drones on. By the end of the class you realize how covered your arm is in this person’s pretty handwriting and yours.

In a haste to get to Rowoon to tell him you quickly pack your things as the professor dismisses the class, reminding the class about the short story due in ten minutes. You hear a grunt as Dawon wakes up and stretches and a successful sigh directly behind you. You don’t realize your sleeve is still up until you stand and see Dawon staring at your arm. In a sudden flush of embarrassment, you yank your sleeve down and shove your stuff into your backpack. Just as you stand straight up and turn to leave you come almost face to face with Taeyang behind you, who was leaning forward to get the rest of his things from the edge of the table just behind you.

As your eyes meet, for the first time being this close you can see how pretty and clear his eyes are. You’re so close to each other in this moment you could count his eye lashes. Dawon sees this but stays silent. Hwiyoung is who breaks up the moment by asking them if they wanted to grab something to eat at the campus cafe before their next class.

Embarrassed you run off, leaving the three guys standing there, Taeyang’s two friends trying to figure out what they missed.

You bolt towards Rowoon’s classroom to see him waiting and the two of you head off towards the Social Psychology class the two of you have together. As you walk across campus you fill Rowoon on what happened and show him the writing all over your forearm.

“Look at that? Barely old enough for this soulmate business to have taken affect and you’ve found them.” Rowoon smiled as he ruffled your hair much to your dismay.

“You know I don’t give the soulmate idea much pull in my life.”

“I know, but wouldn’t it be nice? To find the one meant for you.”

“I guess, but I don’t even know who they are. Inseong asked me something similar this morning.” You shrugged, as the two of you entered your classroom and found your seats.

The conversation dropping as class started soon after you got situated. Class flew by because you loved Social Psych, lunch went by quickly as well. Then your last class each, yours being a 3-hour lecture, went by surprisingly quickly and before you knew it you were back at the cafe to pick up Jaeyoon.

“Drinks are on me!” Jaeyoon giggled, raising his hand to catch the server’s attention. “I made bank on tips today.”

He quickly asked for a few bottles of soju, even though he knew that you wouldn’t drink nearly as much as the three guys around you. Meat was cooking and conversation was flowing. The stress from the day melting away from the group gathered around you.

“I know as kids we’re warned about eating dessert before dinner, but I brought this from the cafe for you.” Jaeyoon’s grin went to each ear as he pulled a small box from his bag and set it on the table before you. “It’s only right that we have cake in honor of the twentieth anniversary of your birth.”

“Why did you say it like that?” You giggled, covering your face with one hand as you opened the box with the other. “That you Jae.” You thanked him sincerely, eyeballing the cake before you. “It’s big enough for all of us to have some too!”

“I didn’t know what else to get you to be truthful, Seong here was suppose to go with me to help pick something out but this asshole doesn’t make time for me anymore.”

“Sounds like a lover’s quarrel.” Rowoon muttered, hiding the remark in his glass of beer.

“Sorry I’m late!” Zuho waves as he drops down in the open seat between Jaeyoon and Rowoon, giving you the biggest smile he can muster. “Happy Birthday (Y/N)!” And he slides you a gift, as he notices the situation.

You heard Rowoon’s remark and choked on the sip from your own glass of beer. The coughing fit draws the attention of the tables directly beside you and Inseong quickly apologizes as Rowoon pats your back holding back his giggles.

As you look up you see at the table directly ahead of you, your three 8:00am classmates staring right at you with two people you don’t recognize. For a moment, everything freezes before Rowoon smacks your back rather roughly and you shoot daggers at him.

“That hurts!” You whined, bending out of the swing of another pat when that tickle hit your arm again. “You shouldn’t be mean to the birthday girl.”

“Okay, quit playing the meat is done cooking, let’s eat.” Inseong pulls all the attention to him as he’s cutting the meat into a pile on a plate in the middle and putting more onto the grill. And the eating begins, the conversation dies down to occasional comments, like Zuho informing all of you that his dance classes he is teaching are going well.

The table straight across from you and your friends and brother keeps looking over after hearing your coughing fit earlier. You don’t notice because of the four guys around you keeping your attention on them.

“She’s in our class.” Dawon addresses quietly, metal chopsticks resting in the corner of his mouth, waiting as Hwiyoung and Chani finish cooking the meat.

“(Y/N)? Right?” Hwiyoung asks, looking between Dawon and Taeyang.

“Yea, that’s (Y/N).” Taeyang agrees quietly, focusing on the drink in hand.

“What class?”

“Creative writing Hyung.” Dawon looked from the table you were at to his friends around him. “The class Taeyang is always staring into nothingness during.”

“Nothingness?” Hwiyoung perks up, “He’s always staring at her!” He very obviously points at your table.

“Don’t do that!” Taeyang jumps and jerks Hwiyoung’s arm down.

“Oooooh! Is she really pretty hyung?” Chani teases, his back being towards your table and not having seen you.

“She’s the quiet type in class, very cute and studious. She’d put our Tae to shame with her grades.” Dawon teases Taeyang by pulling on his ear.

“All his stories are about her.” Hwiyoung adds, ducking when Taeyang goes to smack the back of his head.

“Ah, this is the girl you’ve told me about.” Youngbin rests his chin on his hand, watching Taeyang blush.

“Can we not talk about this here?” His friends watched in deluded joy as Taeyang’s face was pink.

“It’s her birthday.” Dawon’s tone is casual. “If you haven’t talked to her before, why not now?”

“We’ve have a few times before, mostly in classes we’ve had together.” Taeyang tries to play it off. “I wouldn’t even know what to say to her right now.”

“How about ‘happy birthday’?” Chani laughed at Taeyang’s discomfort.

“Here.” Dawon pulls the bag from his side and hands it to Taeyang. “Figured since you like her so much you can give her this for her birthday.”

Taeyang, under the watch of his friends around the table, very slowly peaks into the bag to see a small plastic box with a red velvet cupcake and a small bouquet of daisies and some other tiny yellow flower.

“Her favorite flavor of cake is red velvet and she likes daises.” Dawon chirped, feigning boredom.

“How do you know that?” Chani asked completely and blatantly shocked.

“We have a mutual friend. (Y/N) and I.” He shrugged, a glint in his eye. “Besides, something tells me that Taeyang here and (Y/N) would make a good couple.”

“The only problem here is she is surrounded by three friends and her brother, and they all look intimidating meaning Tae will never make it over there.” Hwiyoung pointed a chopstick at his older friend.

“10 bucks he does.” Chani stuck his hand out towards Hwiyoung.

“Really? Alright, 10 bucks he won’t.” They shook on it.

“I can help.” Youngbin stood, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

The remaining guys at the table watched in shock as Youngbin walked over to the table you were at and sat down between your brother and a friend.

“Inseong?” Youngbin smacked your brother on the bak lightly. “I don’t think I’ve seen you since we graduated college!”

“Youngbin! Wow! What are you doing here?” Inseong spun around and gave the new face a quick hug.

“This is where some of my juniors frequent and they invited me here tonight, what about you?” Youngbin turned to face everyone at the table. “Hello, I’m an old classmate of Inseong here, I’m Kim Youngbin.”

“I’m Kim (Y/N), Inseong’s younger sister.” You bowed your head, greeting your brother’s friend.

The rest of the guys introduced themselves as Inseong sat there beaming.

“We’re here to celebrate (Y/N)’s birthday!”

You noticed the way Youngbin stared at your arm for a second, the arm that was still covered in the conversation with your soulmate throughout the day. He caught sight of a familiar hand writing before smiling to himself and focusing on your face.

“Happy Birthday (Y/N), my juniors were just saying that you looked familiar. Do you have class with any of them?” He motioned towards his table and everyone looked in time to see the four very obviously pretend they weren’t trying to listen in.

“I have a class with Dawon, Hwiyoung, and” You paused, locking eyes with Taeyang, “Taeyang. We have a lecture together.”

“So you do know them,” Youngbin’s grin seemed mischievous, “One of them heard it was your birthday and got you something but he’s too nervous to come give it to you himself. I know it’s your birthday and all but if you go over there he’ll give it to you.” Youngbin nodded behind you and as you looked up, Dawon left for the bathroom.

In the next moment Hwiyoung grabbed Chani by the sleeve and dragged him away, a wrap hanging out of Chani’s mouth. You once again locked eyes with Taeyang and you felt your entire body heat up.

“Oh, Inseong she’s blushing.” Youngbin loudly whispered to your brother.

“Go on.” Inseong encouraged, ignoring Youngbin. “We’ll wait for you to get back.”

“Alright, I’ll be back shortly.” With a deep breath and an encouraging look from each of the guys, you stood and moved towards Taeyang.

He quickly started scribbling a message in the card he found at the bottom of the bag. A quick happy birthday and well wishes. When he looked back up his hand froze because you were right in front of him.

“May I sit?” You gestured to the seat beside him Youngbin had previously been in.

“Go ahead.” Taeyang’s voice was quiet, just like in class. “I -- uh, here. Uhm... Happy Birthday?” He offered weakly, his cheeks and ears pink.

You looked down to see a cute card in one hand with a cupcake box resting on top of the card and a bouquet of daisies in the other hand. Shock was evident on your face at the thoughtful gifts, you hadn’t talked to Taeyang as much as you would have liked so you had no idea how he knew you liked these two things so much unless he made a lucky guess.

“Dawon helped pick them out. He uhh - he said that you liked daisies the most. I can’t take credit for the gifts. But please accept them.”

You gingerly took them from Taeyang, trying to control your own blush when you practically held hands as you took the gifts from him. You smelled the flowers first, daisies smelled so fresh and pleasant. They were simple and beautiful too. You looked into the cupcake box to find quite a large single red velvet cupcake with a little edible heart on the side. Then the note that fell onto the table caught your attention. You set the box down and cradled the flowers as you opened the card. His little message and the encouragement at the end made your heart swell a little, even if it wasn’t completely his idea it was still really sweet. 

“Thank you Taeyang, this was really sweet. Thank Dawon for me too. I appreciate the flowers and the cupcake so much.” He watched with a smile as you put the card into your pocket. “I must return to my brother and friends though, they get rowdy with my watchful eyes.”

“Of course.” Taeyang stood with you. “It was no problem, (Y/N). Uhm, happy birthday again.” He watched dumbfounded as you sent him such a pretty smile.

“I’ll see you in creative writing later?”

“Yea, of course.”

And then you were walking back to your table and Taeyang’s heart was beating so fast he felt it was going to give out. Youngbin apologized for interrupting and promised to call Inseong later that week and rejoined Taeyang at their table. Slowly the rest of the table returned, Chani was ten dollars richer, Hwiyoung was ten poorer, and Dawon seemed to be waiting for something to happen. Before anyone could ask him about it, especially Taeyang, they heard you gasp.

You stood back up and walked straight to Taeyang, a small card in one hand you hadn’t seen before. You immediately grabbed the sleeve of his jacket of his left arm and pulled it up to reveal all the writing that was a copy of the writing on your arm. You just stared for a moment, Taeyang started to panic because you weren’t saying anything.

You wordlessly pulled the sleeve of your hoodie up to show him your arm, a perfect match to his.

“How?”

“This.” You handed him the note you found hidden in the bouquet.

All it said was “Check his handwriting again” which definitely would have been weird, but when he looked between your arms he understood what it meant instantly.

“Dawon?” Taeyang spun on his heels, without force enough for you to let go of him. “How did you know?”

“I saw her arm this morning in class. I recognized that handwriting immediately. It felt too good to be true and I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Especially since you woke up me freaking out about the picture you woke up to on your hand.” Taeyang flushed again.

“Oh my god.” You covered your face, Taeyang had seen the dick drawn on his hand this morning. He must have thought you did that. “Inseong drew the dick this morning.” You admitted sheepishly, only to find yourself wrapped in a hug.

“I’ve waited quite a while for you.” Taeyang murmured to you. “Who would have thought that my soulmate would end up being the only person I’ve crushed on since high school.”

You moved to check your ears, had Taeyang just confessed to liking you? Liking you for an extended period of time? After a moment, you hugged him back, just burying your face into his chest and holding him tight.

“I don’t really believe in this soulmate stuff and I’ve heard you talk about how you don’t either but if you’d give me a chance, I’d like to try believing.” Taeyang asked quietly, trying to look you in the eye, but the focus flitted around a lot. “I mean, if you’re meant to be, we could alteast give it a chance right?” 

“I’d really like that actually.” You could only smile, things worked out surprisingly well, like it didn’t feel real.

The cat calls and hollers followed from the mixed of the groups you two had been eating with. Inseong and Rowoon were cheering the loudest, almost being overtaken by Dawon who single handedly was screaming.

“I knew you’d find them quickly.” Inseong mused, staring at the two of you with hearts in his eyes. “But looks like we need to take a talk, your name is Taeyang right?”

You chuckled when Taeyang gulped, ultimately agreeing to take things slow since the two of you weren’t too far into your college degrees. Even with the slow burning relationship you were happy, and the fact that this happened so quickly after being about to really see your soulmate, it felt like a 1 in a million chance.

#sf9 scenarios #sf9 taeyang #yoo taeyang #sf9 #bbwritings #request #this took so long to finish #i really hope you enjoy it!!