#RON STANS HELP ME OUT HERE | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

beamtori · 6 months

Text

𝟓-𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰

nonidol!jacob bae x afab!reader

you've heard plenty of things about certified campus crush jacob bae, but when you finally meet him, you decide to find out if the rumors are true.

6.0k words (ITS ONLY THIS LONG BC OF THE PLOT), strangers 2 lovers, tutor!jacob, mentions of physics (yuck), swearing (not from jacob 💀), SMUT (minors dni), penetrative sex, oral sex (f.receiving)/face riding (m.receiving), cum eating, fingering, kind of sweet..., kissing, this was kind of tame ngl, pet names (smart girl, angel, baby, beautiful), barely proofread i am up past my bedtime 🤣

a/n: there is hope for me yet o7 @winterchimez here's the thing 💀, @zzoguri @snowflakewhispers to the jacob stans...

“OH MY GOD, YN!”

Your friend Ronnie's voice drew you out of your bubble, and you ripped the earbud out from your ear without looking up from your laptop screen. “Yeah, babe.”

“Jacob Bae just walked in—” Her hushed squealing was paired by an insistent tapping on your arm from across the table inside the café.

You made a face, taking the other earbud out. “Who?”

Ronnie's face flattened into incredulity. “The guy I have literally been talking your ear off about for the past month.”

Jacob… Jacob Bae… ah, Jacob. The name echoed something familiar in your near-empty noggin. Sometimes names just didn't stick when you were busy with other things like the torque and force mechanics you were trying to nail for your physics midterm in two weeks. “Oh right.”

“Damn,” she swore, twisting over her shoulder toward the entrance. She turned back to face you with a pout. “He just left.”

“He didn't get anything?”

“No,” Ronnie sighed. She twirled her pen around between her fingers, then tapped the top edge of your laptop screen. That was what pulled your eyes away from it. “I feel like I haven't seen your eyes in the last ninety minutes, Yn.”

You huffed a laugh, scribbling a note on your scratch notepad about how you performed the last exercise incorrectly. Just like the last one. “We are here to study, Ron.”

Ronnie gave a small smile, but the edges were down turned. “Yeah, I know we said that, but it was kind of an excuse for me to get you out of your apartment.”

“I go out of my apartment,” you protested.

Her eyebrow lifted as she reached for her iced coffee. “Besides for food or class.”

You opened your mouth, then snapped it closed after giving it more than a moment's thought. “Listen,” you ended up with as a response.

Ronnie snorted. “See? I haven't hung out with you ever since your last physics midterm, Yn. It's normal to worry about your friends, you know?” She nudged you teasingly from across the table.

You finally set your pen down to massage the pulsing headache beginning to form between your eyes. You wrinkled your nose up. “I guess you're right.”

“I know I am,” she mused. “Hey, if physics is overwhelming you, then you should totally go check out their tutoring center. I'm sure they have one.”

Your shoulders immediately slumped. Just the thought of the physics student center sent a queasy churn to your stomach. It wasn't that the people there weren't nice, it was just the fact that you hadn't had the best track record with tutors. No matter how hard they tried, no matter what method was used, you could never seem to get it down. Most of the time, you just forced yourself to buckle down until some miracle got you to get the correct answer. (Awful learning strategy, but you would take luck over skill at this point. Your GPA needed the luck.)

“You're probably right,” was what you said to her anyway. You knew she was just trying to help.

Shaking the negative thoughts away, you lowered your laptop screen to swap your pen for your untouched beverage. “Tell me about this Jacob guy again. How do you know him?”

Ronnie's eyes lit up, and you found yourself slowly relaxing again. “I'm pretty sure he's everybody's campus crush or something. Every time I bring him up with my other girl friends, they also seem to know about him? Which is crazy.”

You nodded. “Yeah, this is a pretty big uni.”

“Right? But—” Ronnie groaned, slumping back in her sleep. “He's so hot, Yn-ie. I swear to god, his smile makes my fucking panties melt.”

You nearly snorted your drink up and out of your nose, and your friend slapped a hand over her mouth when you realized she said that out loud. “Please,” you wheezed, swiping your thumb at the corner of your lips. “So he's that attractive? Is he a good guy though? Like does his physical traits overcompensate for a… uh, an awful personality or something?”

“That's the best part—”

Your eyes narrowed. “No way.”

“He's literally the nicest person on Planet Earth, I swear to god, Yn.”

“You've talked to him?”

She paused. “No…”

You sent her a pointed look. “Then you can't say that unless you've talked to him, Ronnie. That's just how it works.”

Ronnie pursed her lips, gesturing vaguely with her hands. “It's just something you have to trust me on! Everybody knows he's super cool and handsome and just a top notch, cream-of-the-crop—”

“Not me,” you pointed out with a laugh.

“That's because your head is where your calculator is.”

You gasped, pressing your beloved scientific calculator to your chest as if hiding it from your friend's words. “You take that back! She's been more loyal than any man, thank you very much.”

Ronnie rolled her eyes. “Okay, that's probably true, but Jacob's gotten five-star reviews from everybody!”

“On what account?” You scoffed.

“You just have to trust me,” Ronnie repeated, emphasizing her words with a cheeky smile.

Your face contorted into one that clearly gave away your disbelief. “Okay, sure.”

Despite your reluctance to go in the first place, you found yourself walking down the hallway of the physics department building toward the student center. There were usually TA office hours held here throughout the week, and a couple of the physics professors even came here to hold their own help sessions, but the hour you chose was none of those. Frankly, you had zero faith you were going to be able to learn this from someone else successfully; there was just something weird about how your brain worked.

Nonetheless, you were desperate.

The room was rather bustling when you arrived with nearly all of the group tables filled up with students helping each other work through the problems. Anxiety settled in your gut like a parasite, and you meandered toward the side of the room where there was an open single desk. Maybe if you just sat here and worked on your problems by yourself, you could technically still say you came to the student center like a coward.

With a sigh, you began pulling your materials out from your bag to get to work. Immediately, you realized that you had last stopped working on an awful problem you didn't even know how to start.

“Hi!”

You startled, head whipping upward fast enough to give you whiplash. Heat swarmed up to your neck and ears.

There was a guy standing in front of you with a boyish smile and wearing a deep purple Laker's hoodie. With a sweater paw, he gave a wave, repeating his greeting. “Hi, I'm sorry I snuck up on you. I was wondering if I could be of any assistance?”

The way his dark brown hair curled over his forehead and the way his molten brown eyes shone so warmly in the fluorescent lights was throwing you off your mark. And that was only when you weren't already stunned by the absolute beautiful smile adorning his—you snapped out of it.

A sheepish smile wormed its way onto your face, and you cupped the back of your neck. “Oh, that's okay, I tend to get kind of oblivious with my surroundings,” you laughed nervously. Why was the way he looked at you making you so clumsy with your words? “Uhm, I guess maybe? I've kind of been stuck on this torque problem for a while.”

You swallowed, spinning your laptop around to show him the practice problem on the screen. His eyes skimmed over the words, tongue jamming into the side of his cheek.

“Oh, I see,” he said kindly. “This problem is notoriously awful, but I have a trick for getting through these ones if you'd like.”

“Oh, really?” You couldn't help the hopeful tilt in pitch at the end of your question, and you watched him drag over a spare chair to sit adjacent to you.

He settled next to you, his knees knocking against yours, and you both blurted out apologies to each other. “Sorry,” he murmured. “May I?” He gestured to your writing utensil and notepad.

“Yeah, of course.”

He twirled the pen between his fingers. “Ooh, these ones are nice to write with. Super smooth.”

You nodded. “Yeah, for sure! They also last really long, too.”

There was an interesting gleam in his eyes as he peered over at you. “That's also true.” He shook his head, a sheepish chuckle falling from his mouth. “I'm sorry, I just realized I completely butted into your study session, and didn't even introduce myself.”

You couldn't help the small flutter in your chest. Oh, the bare minimum of chivalry, and yet, here you were feeling so woozy from it. “It's no worries,” you assured him, “I really would have just stared at this thing before giving up, so.”

He brushed a hand through his hair. “I totally get that. Physics isn't for the faint of heart, so you're already doing great by coming here for help in the first place. I'm Jacob, by the way.” He accompanied the latter with an outstretched hand toward yours.

You licked your lips, managing a small smile and clasping his hand in a shake. “Nice to meet you, Jacob—” That name sounded familiar, “—I’m Yn.”

But there were probably hundreds of Jacobs who went to this school. There was no way that the one time you happened to come to the student help center, the Jacob Bae that Ronnie gushed to you about just happened to be the guy to help you.

It was ridiculous.

“Yn,” he repeated, as if trying the way your name tasted on his tongue. “Nice to meet you, too,” he beamed. You realized how your heart stuttered every time he smiled.

His eye contact lingered, and then he cleared his throat. “Sorry, shall we?” He motioned to the problem, and you nodded eagerly.

“Yeah, let's do it,” you said. You subtly brought your hand up against your cheek and felt your skin. It definitely was hot to the touch; why did this guy have to be so attractive? If you weren't going to learn anything because of your weird learning quirk, you weren't going to learn jackshit because the man teaching you was just that distracting.

It turned out miracles did exist.

“You would not believe what happened to me this afternoon.”

You paced about the bedroom in your apartment with your phone on speaker and broadcasting Ronnie's voice. You had just gotten home from the physics student center, your heart rate still over the speed limit and your skin warm. There was a giddiness and adrenaline making your fingers twitch, and frankly, you couldn't sit down for this.

“Why? What happened?” Your friend asked in earnest.

You massaged your lips together. “Okay, you know the other day when you were telling me about that Jacob Bae guy?”

You could hear the excitement creeping into her voice. “Yes…”

“Do you know what his major is?”

“I'm pretty sure it's physics...”

You had to stop and slap your hands to your face. The sound was loud enough for Ronnie to hear on the other side, and she began barking out the standard “What happened? What happened? Tell me what happened!”

“Okay, so I went to the physics student center to try and get help, right?” When you heard Ronnie's hum of acknowledgment, you continued on, “And there's this one problem I've been stuck on for an illegal amount of time. And this guy comes up to me and asks if he can help me, and Ronnie—Ronnie, he was so—”

“Hot! Panty-meltingly attractive?”

You nearly bursted into laughter at how ridiculous all of this sounded. “He was just so cute. Like fine-cute. And he actually helped me, dude. You know my weird schtick about people teaching me—”

“Oh my gosh, for real? He was actually able to help you out?”

You flopped onto your bed, grinning at the ceiling in pure relief and accomplishment. “Yes! If he's the Jacob Bae you were talking about…” You sighed, shaking your head, “He gets my stamp of approval.”

Rather than coming back to your apartment defeated as you thought you would, you left with a newfound confidence in your abilities to understand physics, new tips and tricks from Jacob, and… you were probably going to frame the little “You did well today, Yn! Super lovely meeting you. x, Jacob” note he left for you in the corner of one of the notepad leaflets. It was his faith in you and unrelenting patience that got you through your practice problems today.

Maybe you weren't a lost cause after all? Crazy.

“I told you!” Ronnie exclaimed.

You drew an arm over your eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Gloat all you want.” You were still proud of yourself, and way too satisfied with how the day went.

“Well, hello hello,” Jacob chuckled as he sidled up by your desk with a white lollipop stick hanging out from his lips. His eyes were crinkled in amusement as he peered down at you with his hands shoved into his pockets, hair tucked beneath a black baseball cap.

“Hey,” you chirped. “How're you?”

He smiled around the sweet in his mouth, stepping over to drag a chair beside you as he always did. It had been about a week since you first met him, and you had yet to fail to come to the tutoring center once. “I'm great. How about you? Ready for the exam tomorrow?”

Your hand met your forehead, and your expression coaxed a chuckle from him. “I definitely feel more prepared than a week ago, but it's still nerve-racking. The horror stories I've heard, Cobie…”

Something appeared in your view. You blinked, surprised, when you realized Jacob was holding out a little lollipop in front of you bundled in a standard paper wrapper.

“Encouragement,” he said simply, giggling at your doe-eyed expression.

You broke out into a smile and accepted the lollipop from him, eagerly twisting the wrapper off to pop the great into your mouth. “Thanks, man.”

“Yeah, no worries. I had extras and thought you might need the extra boost.”

“That's really sweet of you,” you said in earnest. “I haven't had a lollipop in forever.” Your lips pursed around the head as you took the strawberry flavored pop out of your mouth to look at the glistening surface in the tutoring center lights.

You licked your lips of the juices, not catching how his eyes darted to watch you do so.

He cleared his throat, shifting his lollipop from one cheek to the other. “So, what did you wanna go over today?”

It had been a little over a week since you first met Jacob and came under his tutelage. It seemed the chemistry-turned-physics major always happened to be free to cater to your needs every time you walked in for help. Everything Ronnie had told you that day in the café had been true—not only was Jacob an absolute stud, he was also a perfect angel. You couldn't believe such a divine human being even existed, let alone continued to find your company amusing enough to still tutor you one on one without payment.

(And you couldn't believe you were even able to focus around him. There were always gentle brushes of his hand against yours, lingering glances that made your neck heat, and the like. Your heart cartwheeled in your chest with more agility and frequency than your physical body could.

By the time the physics midterm exam rolled around, you were feeling much more prepared for the material you would be tested on. The exam flew by in the blink of an eye, and before you knew it, you were breaking out of the examination hall and into the cool autumn evening. Your stomach growled as you wandered down the street toward the university district to find dinner.

Adrenaline still pumped through your veins from the exam, but your mood was substantially higher than it was after the first exam.

You stood outside one of the ramen shops in the district, head cocked to the side as you contemplated the menu plastered on one of the windows.

“Yn?”

You broke out from your food-searching daze, your lips pulling into a smile as you greeted Jacob coming down the sidewalk toward you. “Hey, Cobie. What's good?”

Jacob grinned as he sidled up beside you, one of his hands carding through his hair before sticking itself back into the pocket of his dark bomber jacket. “I'm just looking for dinner," he chuckled. “Did you just come from the exam?”

“I did,” you confirmed with a bob of your head.

“And? How'd it go?”

Your smile widened, and you ducked your head for a second. “I think it went pretty alright,” you admitted. “I don't wanna jinx myself though. But I think I do deserve a reward for making it through, don't you think?”

Jacob nodded. “Oh, for sure. You've been so good for m—I mean,” he coughed, amending his words, “You've worked really hard these past couple weeks and so it deserves a little celebration. Are you… are you here with anyone?”

“Definitely not,” you winced sheepishly, “since I just got out of the exam and all—I don't usually make plans right after tests.”

“I see; I get that.” He rubbed the back of his head, tongue ghosting over his bottom lip. “Well, I'm not really here with anyone either. Would you mind some company?”

You met his eyes and your heart did the little hop-n-skip it always did when you made eye contact with him. “Yeah, I'd love some company, actually. I'd love to repay you for all the help you've given me recently.”

He chuckled, swinging the door to the shop open for you. “Trust me, it was my pleasure, Yn.”

If there was one thing you knew for sure, Jacob was a gentleman through and through. If chivalry was dead, then Jacob Bae was dead—okay, maybe that was a little morbid to think about on your way home, especially when the man in question walked right beside you, hands tucked into his jacket pockets with a wistful little smile on his face.

Dinner had gone splendidly—except for the fact he had a feeling you would want to pay for his meal and subtly slipped the waiter his card before you could. The cherry on top was his offer to walk you home—only if you were comfortable—and though you knew that definitely wouldn't even out the ledger, you accepted his offer. More time with him? Yes, please.

“This is my building here,” you murmured, worrying your bottom lip between your teeth as reluctance for this evening to end worked its way up your throat. You inclined your chin to the apartment complex coming up just a few hundred feet ahead.

“Ah,” he said under his breath.

The two of you stopped in front of the entrance to the lobby, facing one another. “Thanks for dinner,” you said for what seemed like the fifth night.

He beamed. “Anytime, Yn. I loved hanging out with you.”

If you wore a heart rate monitor, it probably would have been screaming at you right about now. “Uhm… would you… like to continue hanging out with me? I mean, like, coming up?” You nudged your thumb behind you in the direction of the doors. Was that too forward of you?

His eyes widened a smidge, and his smile softened at the corners. “I'd love to.”

A giddy sort of feeling bubbled up in your chest as you and he shared wide grins, and you led him up to your apartment. Your hands shook slightly as you arrived at your door, your keys jingling against one another as you sorted through them for the right one.

“I wasn't expecting company, so I hope you don't mind the mess,” you laughed nervously, fingers pinching the right key to insert into the lock.

He gave a kind smile. “Oh, it's no worries at all. Actually, can I—I should probably say something before we go in.”

Your movements stopped short and you turned to face him, wide-eyed. “Uh oh,” you mused half-heartedly, “this is the moment you tell me you're a serial killer.” Please don't be a serial killer…

That coaxed a bright laugh from his mouth, and your heart melted a little bit. He shook his head, “No, no. Nothing of that sort, I swear! I just…” His lips pressed into a smile again and he confessed, “I'm attracted to you, Yn. Ah, there it is; I said it.”

He released a nervous giggle, cupping the back of his neck.

Starstruck, you lost the key in your hand. “Me?” You stammered. Were your ears deceiving you? “Like… in a not-just-friends way?”

Jacob nodded. “Yeah, in a not-just-friends way.” Then quickly added, “I mean, if that makes you uncomfortable, I can totally leave. We can be just friends, too, if you're okay with that. I just think you're gorgeous, and smart, and—”

“Can I kiss you?” You blurted.

“Please do—I need to shut up.”

And you gladly shut him up.

You stepped forward and closed the gap between you, his hands coming up to cup your face as your lips met. He tasted like spearmint from the gum he offered right after tonight's meal—always thinking of everything, this one. His mouth was soft against yours, something tender and gentle, giving you enough space to pull away if you wished.

But you didn't. Good lord, you wanted more.

Your eyes fluttered open just as he did, his nose bumping against yours.

“Inside?” He murmured.

You nodded. “Yeah, inside.”

You fumbled with the keys into your apartment, hand blindly flipping the light switch on as Jacob found your lips again, hands grappling onto your waist. His foot kicked the front door shut behind you both as shoes came off.

Your back met the wall just as you slid a hand into his curls. The sound of keys hitting the floor echoed in your ears, but your other senses were far too overwhelmed with Jacob right now—the smell of the cologne clinging to his clothes, the soft earnestness of his mouth against yours, his hard body pressed up—

“So sweet,” he groaned, squeezing your sides. “Could eat you up.”

You whimpered at his words, his mouth breaking away from yours so you could both shove your jackets off your shoulders. “You shouldn't say things like that,” you breathed, pressing your hands against his chest.

The corners of his lips curled upward. “Actually,” he drawled, dropping his mouth near your ear, “that's not a bad idea.”

Your knees nearly buckled. “Huh?”

Your mind went fuzzy as he attached his lips to the side of your neck, suckling sweetly against your pulse, your skin, your collarbone.

“You're a smart girl,” he chuckled warmly, the vibrations sending something just as warm to your panties. “You can figure it out.”

He smiled against your throat, feeling your pulse skip. “There you go,” he purred.

You knocked your head back against the wall at the thought of what he was insinuating—planning—to do to you. When you turned your gaze down, you nearly whimpered again at the sight of him sinking down to his knees before you with a wicked grin on his face.

Forget angelic—this man could be the Devil if he so wished.

“I have a bedroom, you know,” you attempted to joke, but you were also dead serious. Was he seriously about to…?

His hands—large, warm, veiny, and studded with rings—smoothed over the fabric of your skirt, not daring to venture under until you gave him the go-ahead. “We'll get to that,” he promised. “May I?”

You wrestled down a swallow, blood hammering in your ears. “Yeah,” you croaked.

Jacob licked his lips, then pressed a featherweight kiss to the side of your knee. He glanced up at you in silent question. Was that okay?

You nodded in approval, moving your hands into his hair and to cup the back of his head.

He continued on, kissing his way up your inner thighs, until his head dipped beneath the hem of your skirt and you could feel his hot breath fan over your clothed cunt.

Your breath hitched when you felt him blow cool air at the wet spot that collected at the bottom of your underwear.

Jacob's warm laugh met your ears. “You're so cute,” he murmured. His nose nudged you through the damp fabric, and he marveled, “You're so wet for me—can’t wait to taste you.”

Your fingers tightened in his hair. “Please, Cobie.”

“Almost there, angel. You've been so good for me.”

A whine fell from your lips at that, and you slapped a palm against your mouth. God, you sounded so desperate, and maybe you were.

He slowly tugged your underwear down, and you stepped out of them. With the barrier out of the way, Jacob went right to work, licking a broad stripe up your slit and sensing you careening against his face.

“Shit,” you swore, one hand grappling onto his shoulder.

Jacob held you upright with one of his arms looped under your thigh to anchor you into place. His nose bumped against your clit as he wormed his tongue through your folds.

You grounded your hips against his tongue, his mouth, his face, begging for more.

His lips latched onto your puffed up clit next, and your head knocked back against the wall again. “Jacob, please—”

He teased your opening with one of his fingers, then dipped it into your weeping cunt. The metal ring was cool against your pussy lips, the sting delicious, as he thrusted his fingers in and out of you as his mouth sucked on your clit mercilessly.

“Jacob, right there—please, please, please—” You tugged the strands of his hair and he groaned into your pussy, the vibrations going straight to your sensitive nub. You rocked your hips against him, desperately chasing after your own high.

You felt a second finger enter you, and the two digits curled and jammed against the soft, gummy spot inside you.

He licked your clit, replacing his tongue with his thumb for a second. “Close, angel?”

“Mhm,” you bit your lip. “Please, I'm so close.”

You moaned as he reattached his lips to your clit, vigorously suckling it until it was bruised, his fingers ramming up into you in tandem. His arm tightened around you as you cried out, your fingers clawing into the meat of his shoulder—your knees buckled, your vision went white for a split second, and fire erupted in your belly as you went over the edge.

Jacob's tongue lapped up all of the slick that had collected, and you sucked in a breath when his tongue dove through your folds and made you clench around the appendage.

When his head came out from under your skirt, his hair was a ruffled mess (thanks to you), and his face gleamed in your arousal and his sweat. He met your eyes, sticking his two fingers in his mouth to clean them.

You nearly went over again at the sight. “Fucking hell,” you exhaled, curling an arm around him as he clambered up to his feet.

Jacob smiled, swooping in to kiss you again so you could taste yourself on him. His hands smoothed down the sides of your body before coming down to cup the backs of your thighs. “You feeling okay?” He murmured into you, coaxing you to wrap your legs around his waist, thumb grazing the skin on your leg.

“Mmh,” you hummed against him, breath hitching when your bare pussy brushed against the rough hardness in his jeans. “Definitely better than okay. What about you?”

“Same here.” He cradled your head with one hand, and held you up with his other. “Do you want more?” He asked you breathlessly, pulling away.

His hand smoothed over the top of your head fondly. You nodded. He seemed to always be wanting to give. “Only if you want more.”

“Yeah, baby. Where's your bedroom?”

He had scooped you up and laid you out over your bed sheets like his own personal feast—and to be so very honest, you wouldn't mind being his meal every single day.

“This is cute,” he said cheekily with his knee pressed into the mattress as he climbed over you onto the bed.

You cupped the side of his face to draw him down to you. “You didn't even look at the room,” you mused into his mouth.

He hummed deeply, maneuvering your head back to deepen the kiss. He pressed his tongue into your mouth, the rough surface massaging against your own and making you forget your own name. “Anything you—” he said at last, “—I find unabashedly cute.”

“Unabashedly, you say?” You teased.

Jacob broke away only to tear his shirt over his head and to give you space to do the same. You pulled your shirt over your head and swiftly undid the clasp of your bra, your eyes fixing on the carved muscle flexing on his stomach as he settled back over you.

His tongue darted out of his lips. “Like what you see?”

You couldn't deny it; who were you trying to fool anyways? “I do.”

Maybe he was surprised by your forwardness. A bit of pink brushed his cheekbones and he leaned over you to press a kiss to your lips. “I can say the same about you, beautiful.”

He trailed one of his knuckles down the valley between your breasts, your chest rising and falling with your every breath. Goosebumps rose upon your flesh as he went, and you were itching to feel his mouth on your skin again.

“Can I touch you some more?” He murmured, eyes darting up to yours.

You nodded earnestly.

Jacob bracketed his arms next to your body and lowered his mouth over one of your nipples. Your fingers found his hair again with a gasp, arching yourself into his mouth and relishing the feeling of his skilled tongue swirling around your perked nub. His other hand gently massaged your other breast, squeezing the mound affectionately.

You covered his hand with yours, urging him to fondle you harder, rougher. The way his skin felt against yours was heavenly.

You sighed his name, wrapping one of your legs around his waist to grind your pelvis against his hardness.

He groaned around you, “Ugh, Yn.” He popped his mouth off your breast, lips trailing down to your belly, all while he grinded into you to chase some form of relief.

“Jacob, please,” you rasped, urging him with a harsh thrust. “Wanna feel you.”

You were tugging your skirt down your legs next, accompanied to the sound of his belt buckle clinking and the denim falling to the floor beside your bed. His erection tented his boxers, and his face looked flushed, but he dug around in his wallet for a spare condom before coming back to you.

When he yanked his boxers down, his heavy cock sprung up and slapped against his stomach. You pushed yourself up onto your elbows to watch him tear the condom packet open with his teeth before sliding the rubber over his throbbing cock.

He groaned softly under his breath, a muscle in his jaw feathering as he wrapped his fist around the head and squeezed himself lightly.

“You're really hot,” you said then, catching him off guard and making him grin boyishly.

He laughed, leaning down to find your lips in a sweet kiss. “Yeah?” He murmured. “You walked into the tutoring center and I knew I was gone, I thought you were so pretty.”

Your chuckle was muffled against him. “Trying to one-up me, Jacob?” Your mirth sobered slightly as he rubbed the tip of his cock between your slickened folds.

Jacob nipped at your bottom lip. “You’ve always been a fast learner.”

As he pushed himself into you, stretching you out inch by inch, you melted into him, fingers digging into his shoulders and his face burying itself into the hollow of your neck.

Your stomach rose and fell with your quick breaths. “Holy shit,” you moaned, mouth falling open as you clung onto him. You could feel him filling you up, the condom doing nearly nothing to hide the ridges of the veins along his shaft. They rubbed against your walls, and you clenched desperately around him.

Jacob moaned loudly, his hips twitching against yours. “Baby, please," he choked out. “You're so—god, you're so tight.”

“You can move now,” you told him softly, cupping the back of his head.

You felt him nod, and with a groan, he pulled his hips back and pushed them into you again. The first thrust was delicious, the second and all the rest were sublime. With every drag of his cock against your walls, you could feel your stomach clench, the pressure building inside you.

His hips slammed against yours desperately, the bed rocking with your movements beneath you and knocking against the wall—thunk, think, thunk—a steady rhythm. He seemed to be consistent in everything he did.

Jacob pressed his body weight against yours as he moved against you. The room filled with the sounds of both of your bliss, and the lewd squelching noises every time he fucked himseld in you. You could feel the wetness and sweat dribbled to your thighs and your ass; barely comprehending just how messy this would be.

“You feel so good, angel,” he groaned, reaching down between your bodies to flick his thumb over your clit.

You yelped, the sensation nearly tipping you over. “Jacob, oh my god—”

“So good for me,” he murmured, sweat dripping down the curve of his sculpted nose. “Gonna come again for me? Nice and pretty as always?”

Your head nodded vigorously, your hips rising to meet his, pelvic bones smashing against each other, his balls slapping against your ass. “Shit, I'm so close!”

You could feel yourself being cranked and wound up like a jack in the box—the precipice was in sight and just in your reach.

Jacob's thrusts grew sloppy, but rougher as he reached his own high. He grunted against your skin, and you both came at once, his hips stilling inside you as you clenched down hard around him.

“Jacob,” you cried out for what seemed like the thousandth time tonight, while his own voice hoarsely grunted your name by your ear.

For a moment, you let your breathing and heart rate steady. You gently brushed your hand against the back of his head as his arms wrapped around your body and he littered your skin with kisses.

“How was that, angel?” He murmured to you, voice husky. He raised his head up to meet your lips with his.

You kissed him back. “It was really good.”

Jacob gave a warm chuckle, eyes crinkling with a smile. “Yeah?”

“Five stars,” you joked.

That drew a slightly louder laugh out of him, and he carefully pulled his softened cock out of you. Swiftly tying the condom off, you directed him to the waste bin beneath your desk.

Jacob settled onto the edge of bed next to you and one of his hands cupped the side of your face, his thumb trailing over your cheekbone. “I meant it—you’re really, really gorgeous. And I know this kind of moved fast, but I'd really like to see where this goes.”

You bit your lip around a smile and met the twinkle in his eye. “I feel the same way.”

You slowly sat up and draped yourself around him, one of his hands holding your forearm to return the gesture. “How's a bath sound?” You asked. You wanted to do something for him now.

He grinned, pressing a kiss to the side of your head. “I would love that.”

a/n: abrupt endings are my weakness 💀 someone remind me how to write a conclusion

tbz m.list

#the boyz smut #the boyz x reader #jacob bae x reader #jacob bae smut #the boyz scenarios #the boyz imagines #the boyz oneshot #the boyz drabbles #jacob bae imagines #jacob bae drabbles #jacob bae scenarios #jacob bae oneshots

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cimerran-714 · 3 months

Text

Well, as many people love to claim that Ron's not at fault for abandoning the Trio in Deathly Hallows (some Ron stans instead prefer to shift the blame to Harry instead by reading things out of context), I thought I'd analyze the entire scene here.

So, to start with, I really like Ron. But I do not think that you have to excuse everything a character does in order to like him. Now, Ron fans would probably just claim that I am lying about liking Ron, but I don't care about that.

Let's get started, shall we?

“So, would he have hidden the sword well away from Hogsmeade then? What d’you reckon, Ron? Ron?” Harry looked around. For one bewildered moment he thought that Ron had left the tent, then realized that Ron was lying in the shadow of a lower bunk, looking stony. “Oh, remembered me, have you?” he said.

Okay, so it begins with Harry looking for Ron, and he notices him lying next to a bunk "looking stony". He makes a comment asking whether Harry's remembered him.

Now, how does Harry respond to that?

"What?” Ron snorted as he started up at the underside of the upper bunk. “You two carry on. Don’t let me spoil your fun.” Perplexed, Harry looked to Hermione for help, but she shook her head, apparently as nonplussed as he was. “What’s the problem?” asked Harry.

Harry's understandably confused. He says "What?" and then exchanges a look with Hermione, who's similarly perplexed. And then, Harry asks him again what the problem was. He just says "What's the problem?" and nothing else.

“Problem? There’s no problem,” said Ron, still refusing to look at Harry. “Not according to you, anyway.” There were several plunks on the canvas over their heads. It had started to rain. “Well, you’ve obviously got a problem,” said Harry. “Spit it out, will you?

Ron refuses to elaborate & just says that according to Harry, there's no problem. Harry replies by asking him to "spit out". Well, that maybe he considered rude, but how would you even respond to it? They were discussing Horcruxes & Ron's talking about how the others "remembered" him now, that Harry shouldn't let him "spoil their fun", and that Harry doesn't think there's a problem.

Considering the context, it's a valid thing to say.

Ron swung his long legs off the bed and sat up. He looked mean, unlike himself. “All right, I’ll spit it out. Don’t expect me to skip up and down the tent because there’s some other damn thing we’ve got to find. Just add it to the list of stuff you don’t know.” “I don’t know?” repeated Harry. “I don’t know?”

Ron looks unlike his usual self as he then implies that he doesn't care about what they had found out, and that it's Harry's fault. That's why Harry repeated the same thing. He was just surprised and shocked.

Plunk, plunk, plunk. The rain was falling harder and heavier; it pattered on the leaf-strewn bank all around them and into the river chattering through the dark. Dread doused Harry’s jubilation. Ron was saying exactly what he had suspected and feared him to be thinking. “It’s not like I’m not having the time of my life here,” said Ron, “you know, with my arm mangled and nothing to eat and freezing my backside off every night. I just hoped, you know, after we’d been running round a few weeks, we’d have achieved something.

Ron talks about how the Horcrux hunting wasn't similar to his expectations.

Again, Harry responded calmly:

"I thought you knew what you’d signed up for,” said Harry. “Yeah, I thought I did too.” “So what part of it isn’t living up to expectations?” asked Harry. Anger was coming to his defense now. “Did you think we’d be staying in five-star hotels? Finding a Horcrux every other day? Did you think you’d be back to Mummy by Christmas?"

For Harry using the phrase "back to Mummy", remember that Ron agreed to come to help even though Harry said that they shouldn't, and now he's upset that it's not working out & is sulking. Anyone would have gotten angry. Seriously, Ron just makes it sound as if Harry forced him to come along.

"We thought you knew what you were doing!” shouted Ron, standing up, and his words pierced Harry like scalding knives. “We thought Dumbledore had told you what to do, we thought you had a real plan!” “Ron!” said Hermione, this time clearly audible over the rain thundering on the tent roof, but again, he ignored her. “Well, sorry to let you down,” said Harry, his voice quite calm even though he felt hollow, inadequate. “I’ve been straight with you from the start, I told you everything Dumbledore told me. And in case you haven’t noticed, we’ve found on Horcrux—”

Ron's words are scathing, but remarkably, Harry is STILL calm in his response. He's composing himself as he explains to Ron that he did tell them everything that he knew.

"Yeah, and we’re about as near getting rid of it as we are to finding the rest of them—nowhere effing near in other words.” “Take off the locket, Ron,” Hermione said, her voice unusually high. “Please take it off. You wouldn’t be talking like this if you hadn’t been wearing it all day.” “Yeah, he would,” said Harry, who did not want excuses made for Ron. “D’you think I haven’t noticed the two of you whispering behind my back? D’you think I didn’t guess you were thinking this stuff?"

Well, Hermione IS being unfair by blaming it on the locket. We do know that Ron left even after he removed the locket, and like Harry said, they were whispering behind his back.

Further on:

"Harry we weren’t—” “Don’t lie!” Ron hurled at her. “You said it too, you said you were disappointed, you said you’d thought he had a bit more to go on than—” “I didn’t say it like that—Harry, I didn’t!” she cried. The rain was pounding the tent, tears were pouring down Her- mione’s face, and the excitement of a few minutes before had van- ished as if it had never been, a short-lived firework that had flared and died, leaving everything dark, wet, and cold. The sword of Gryffindor was hidden they knew not where, and they were three teenagers in a tent whose only achievement was not, yet, to be dead. “So why are you still here?” Harry asked Ron. “Search me,” said Ron.

Read the last part. Harry asks him why he's still there and Ron replies by saying that he doesn't know. THAT is when Harry asks him to leave; Ron made it clear that he does not even want to remain there any more.

Remarkably, Harry is STILL replying calmly when he asks him to go home.

"Go home then,” said Harry. “Yeah, maybe I will!” shouted Ron, and he took several steps toward Harry, who did not back away. “Didn’t you hear what they said about my sister? But you don’t give a rat’s fart, do you, it’s only the Forbidden Forest, Harry I’ve-Faced-Worse Potter doesn’t care what happens to her in there—well, I do, all right, giant spider and mental stuff—”

Ron talks about how Harry doesn't care about what happens to Ginny.

And incredibly, Harry is STILL calm.

“I was only saying—she was with the others, they were with Hagrid—” “Yeah, I get it, you don’t care! And what about the rest of my family, the Weasleys don’t need another kid injured, did you hear that?” “Yeah, I—” “Not bothered what it meant, though?”

“Not bothered what it meant, though?” “Ron!” said Hermione, forcing her way between them. “I don’t think it means anything new has happened, anything we don’t know about: think, Ron, Bill’s already scarred; plenty of people must have seen that George has lost an ear by now, and you’re supposed to be on your deathbed with spattergroit, I’m sure that’s all he meant—” “Oh, you’re sure, are you? Right then, well, I won’t bother myself about them. It’s all right for you two, isn’t it, with your parents safely out of the way—” “My parents are dead !” Harry bellowed

There you go. Ron insults Harry's parents greatly by talking about how his parents are "safely out of the way". At this point, Harry, who has been remarkably calm overall, loses his temper.

Honestly, you know what happens after that. Harry responds to him by asking him to essentially fuck off, and Ron begins to escalate it physically and attack Harry (a fight was averted by Hermione's shield charm).

And then Ron left even AFTER having removed the locket. Don't blame it on the locket, it's a weak excuse.

So, to summarize:

Ron started the argument.

Harry replies in a mostly calm manner.

Ron insults Harry's dead parents upon which the latter finally loses his temper.

Ron leaves after removing the locket.

Yeah, sorry, I am still 100% going to blame Ron here.

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pr33tylul · 1 year

Text

Request: y/n starts to feel self conscious around Harry and other people.

This request was suggested by @Fr3nch1e

House: gryffindor

Year: 6th year

(Ps No voldy moldy cheese so bambi and lily are alive in this but won't talk or come up 🤭)

(Another thing... STAN JAMES POTTER)

I'll shut up now.

Y/n stood there in her gryffindor dorm room that she had shared with her best friend Hermione granger. She couldn't help but to compare herself to her. She looked in the mirror looking at the reflection, she let a few tears fall. Just standing there in her undergarments sucking in her stomach. She looked away disgusted at her reflection . She put on her robes and looked in the mirror again. "Why couldn't I be pretty like Hermione?" She thought to herself. Hermione was perfect in every way. Why couldn't she have the body like most girls around hogwarts?

She had walked out of the portrait door as the bell to the first class had rang. She'd missed breakfast.

"Y/n where we're you? You weren't at breakfast Harry was looking everywhere for you?" Hermione whispered to her friend as they had worked on brewing a potion.

Y/n didn't look up at all as she could feel the chosen ones eyes dig into the back of her skull. "Overslept, sorry" she let out a nervous laugh.

Y/n knew Harry had notice a change in her behaviour, she knew Hermione did to. It wasn't like y/n to 'oversleep.'

"Is everything okay with you? You've been acting a bit different?" Y/n was quick to answer "different? Different how?" She let out another nervous smile. "Y/n I'm your bestfriend if you need to speak to someone you know I'm always here right?" "I know Hermione and everything is fine" she lied.

Y/n had sat at the gryffindor table uncomfortable. Ron was stuffing his face like normal, Hermione having her nose stuffed in a book and then Harry just holding her while eating. Y/n looked down at her plate as she started to put on some fruit and some bread. It didn't take her long.

"Is that all you're eating baby?" Harry looked down at her. "Yeah not hungry really. Guess that's what you get for oversleeping"

"So you're not gonna have a slice of butterscotch tart? Your favourite?" Ron had piped up into the conversation. Y/n shook her head as Ron raised his eyebrows. "Weird." He put a spoonful of jelly in his mouth. "Y/n you've been oversleeping all week. What do you do at night?"

She didn't answer Hermione's question. Y/n had carefully moved Harry's hand from around her waist and stood up. "I'll see you after class" she pecked Harry's lips then walked off.

"God Hermione what have you done to the poor girl. Class don't start for another 20 minutes." Ron had laughed while Hermione had rolled her eyes. Harry on the other hand had gotten up and followed her.

Y/n had walked into the common room. Y/n made her way to her dorm to the very same mirror she was looking in this morning.

She lifted up her top to see if she'd looked any bigger. Thoughts ran through her head. Did Harry think she looked overweight? "What was he thinking when he was holding me" she thought. Again tears sliped down her cheeks.

"Y/n?"

She turned to see her lover.

"Harry, shouldn't you Be at lunch?" She wiped the tears and tucked in her shirt. "What's going on? Why are you crying." He moved foward to hold her but she stepped back. "Why do you keep pushing me away?" His voice raised a little.

"Do I look overweight to you?" The question had slipped out. Harry's face had dropped when she said it. "No why would you think that?"

That was it. The tears just kept coming and coming.

"Out of all girls you picked me? Why? There's nothing pretty about me? You could of had Ginny she's perfect for you. Perfect body. She's bloody gorgeous unlike me." She took a breath "I hate myslef Harry. Look at me I'm a disaster!" She shouted. "I'm so fucking ugly, so fat and just disgusting" she cried.

"Y/n you have no idea how wrong you are. Love your perfect. In every way shape or form. Your not fat or ugly. Your beautiful. That cute little laugh you have, that smile" he walked closer to her. Wrapping her arms around her. "No one's perfect" she looked away from him. "But your perfect to me" He forced her to look at him. "I fell in love with you because of how nice and caring you are. How beautiful you are. I love every little thing about you and that includes your body."

Y/n had let out a little smile as Harry wiped her tears away.

"I love you, so much" y/n said pulling him into a kiss. "I love you too, always."

#harry james potter #harry potter x reader #harry x y/n #harry potter x y/n #harry potter x you #harry potter smut #harry james potter smut #harry james potter x you #harry potter

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fanfic-lover-girl · 1 month

Note

I'm sorry though if I last ask seemed rude but I just am weirded out? How you can hate on a character who did something for revenge and to stop someone from spreading lies that can destroy lives vs someone who literally mocked someone's death? Like seriously Cedric died in front of Harry and the first thing he does? Mocks Cedric's death. And you somehow forgive Draco but hate on Hermione, ok. All I'm trying to say, it's fine to love a character but please don't hate on other fans without actually knowing the context and everything. Don't blatantly go around hating a character without knowing why that happened and what led to that action. Hope you have a great day <3 Draco is a complex character, I know but so is Hermione and I wish you would understand that.

Well, thanks for the follow-up. I don't know if you are a different anon from the other one who has been condescending to me. If you're not, then don't mind my slightly annoyed tone.

What's there to be weirded out by?? People have character preferences. Preference is not always positively correlated to character morality. Which I spoke about here:

How you can hate on a character who did something for revenge and to stop someone from spreading lies that can destroy lives vs someone who literally mocked someone's death? Like seriously Cedric died in front of Harry and the first thing he does? Mocks Cedric's death. And you somehow forgive Draco but hate on Hermione, ok.

Because Draco's actions are painted as bad by the narrative. While Hermione's are not. That is why I can get over Draco being a jerk, but I can't stand Hermione. And I hate her even more when fandom tells me her actions are justified. Kidnapping someone inhumanely is NEVER ok and I refuse to tolerate people's glorifying it. If Hermione wanted justice, she should have reported Rita to the authorities. As I have said before, if Hermione was criticized for her flaws properly I would probably like her more. I wouldn't love her but I wouldn't hate her. But JKR and general HP fandom have made me despise her. I wish she died and Ron ended up with another girl. Hermione being a complex character means squat if she gets away with everything.

All I'm trying to say, it's fine to love a character but please don't hate on other fans without actually knowing the context and everything. Don't blatantly go around hating a character without knowing why that happened and what led to that action.

I know the context alright. But what Hermione did is still not ok. So my disdain is justified. I can hate Hermione as much as I want. Until someone can prove to me why I shouldn't. I don't go to anti Draco accounts and argue why they shouldn't hate him. My interactions with her fans/stans have not helped in the slightest either. And as I read more of the books, I am not impressed. I would never use Hermione as a positive female role model for my potential future kid.

Anyway, have a great day as well. But unless I say something incorrect about Hermione or the trio in the anti tags, please don't engage me again. I am tired of repeating myself.

#anti hermione granger #anti hermione stans #hp fandom critical #anon #draco malfoy #anti romione #harry potter series #rita skeeter #goblet of fire

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fuckmymunson · 2 years

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↳˗ˏˋWhat your favorite HP character says about you:ˊˎ˗ ↴

a/n: don't @ me, this is just a big ol' joke, and you have no idea how much I laughed while doing this. These are my opinions and I’m mostly making fun of myself, so keep that in mind! <3.

↳- Marauders Era! -༉‧₊˚✧

James Potter: The straight A+ student now suffers from raging anxiety and drools for old men. No, come back, I'm talking to you.

Sirius Black: How are your mommy issues going on, dear? Is this one your favorite because it's cool, or you're just really horny? And, how's that desire to get everyone's approval going on?

Remus Lupin: We get it, you like this one! Shut up for five minutes. How do you cope with your daddy issues? Oh, yeah? You don't care? Then why are you crying?

Peter Pettigrew: How does it feel to be ignored in the group chat? Oh, sorry, I wasn't paying attention.

Lily Evans: Mommy issues, probably bisexual, middle sibling vibes.

Marlene Mckinnon: I wanna make fun of you, but is so obviously correct. Also, how’s your relationship with your parents? Do they know you're not straight?

Regulus Black: How do you cope with your depression? How does it feel to have the weight of the world on your shoulders? Why do you pretend everything’s fine?

Severus Snape: Thank you for letting me know to ignore all your future opinions. Please, stop ghosting your therapist.

Bellatrix Lestrange/Black: Officer, is this one, right here. I’m terrified of you, please stay 10 meters away from me.

↳- Lighting Era! -༉‧₊˚✧

Harry Potter: The safest option, maybe a little bit overrated, but is still a good one! You have an insatiable desire for sub-boys. Bisexual vibes but you only date gamer boys, nothing more.

Ron Weasley: You’ll never grow out of this phase. You wear converse and you have a transparent phone case. You order matcha, at Starbucks, with oat milk.

Hermione Granger: This may not be everyone’s favourite, but it’s yours and s’ok. Marina stan, Hermit the Frog on repeat.

Draco Malfoy: This was a big part of your sexual awakening. Daddy issues. You smell nice.

Ginny Weasley: Book biased? You have worryingly anger issues. Movie biased? Please seek help immediately.

Cedric Diggory: You have impeccable taste. You’re gorgeous, be my bestie, no questions.

Fred and/or George Weasley: Perfect out-of-the-box pick! The quality is just high and enough, and the popularity is low enough. But I know what you read, you want both at the same time, am I right? Disgusting (call me xo).

Luna Lovegood: So true. You’re right, you’re correct. You are insane, your mental illness is getting worse every day, but, at least you have a good sense of fashion. Gay vibes, stop playing with your septum please.

Tom Riddle: Nostalgia makes the good things seem great. S’just a phase, I promise. Is like the default settings when you start reading/watching HP.

Voldemort: This was the perfect outside-the-box pick, like, 10 years ago, but so many people that didn't wanna be mainstream picked it that it became mainstream. Please stop with that superiority complex, you’re a very ordinary human being.

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wolfpants · 2 years

Text

one year in fandom? surely not?

But yes, technically, that's what today is for me! A year since I posted my first fic, a year since coming out of the murky shadows and into somewhere a bit less shadowed (I'm a soft goth, it's a lifestyle)? In that time, I've published 21 fics, and almost half a million words, something I never thought I'd be able to accomplish this time last year when I shyly asked my friend if my writing was decent enough to post online. Those first few months were so tentative, so quiet honestly, and I can't believe where I am today, but the most rewarding thing, besides sharing all of those words, has been meeting all of you talented folk! I wanted to pay tribute to those who have helped lift me up, who have welcomed me into this sprawling corner of the internet with open arms, who have encouraged me to do more, to be more me, to grow as a writer and as a participator in fandom. You have my eternal love and gratitude. My confidence only began as a tiniest seed - you all have helped it grow.

@academicdisasterfic - my best boy n twin flame; your writing is a revelation of authenticity, of heart, of what it is to be human in the real world and a world full of magic. You are a very special person, and I hope you know this.

@wrapped-up - one of my first connections here and my fellow beer lover! Your writing is so effortless, so beautiful, and I feel like I’m hanging with best mates whenever I read your words.

@oknowkiss - are we each other’s evil twin? Maybe. You write the most genius, sexy, witty fics all wrapped up in the most pretty, pretty words, I am in constant awe of you.

@moony-saraneth - the most dedicated cheerleader I know, you mean so much to so many people here, and I’ll never forget how you’ve helped me grow my confidence with your warm and generous encouragement.

@lou-isfake - Licurici is basically my personality these days. What an insanely beautiful fic from start to finish. Your words, like you, are brimming with so much generosity and consideration and kindness.

@nv-md - your talent blows me away every time you post something new, and what’s more, you are full of so much heart and grounded wisdom and do so much good in this fandom. We’re so lucky to have you.

@lqtraintracks- your talent needs no introduction really, your vivid characterisation and scorching smut is legendary. But you also welcome everyone here with such open arms, you give incredible advice and support (all of which has been invaluable to me), and your force in this little corner of the internet is unparalleled. Thank you for being so kind to me.

@coffeedrgn87 - a fellow caffeine fiend and one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met! I love our chats about Dronarry and all of the possibilities and scenarios these three boys can end up in. Thank you for being so lovely.

@the-starryknight - I am so in awe of your masterful prose. You write so stunningly, so thoughtfully, so lovingly. I still pinch myself every time I see a comment from you on ao3. I feel so lucky to have met you here.

@getawayfox - you are such a ray of gorgeous sunshine. Your art is so stunning and I still pinch myself every time I remember that you were inspired to make art from my fic! I’m not worthy.

@krah18 - I have so much enjoyed all of our book chats and reminiscing over early MLM, Blockbuster and old movies! I can’t wait for another year of nostalgia and chatting fic!

@sitp-recs - your rec lists are so thoughtful and so carefully curated. You bring so much community not only to Drarry, but all of the rarepair readers, writers, and fans that you lift up. I am so thankful to you for giving The Hollow a platform and a spot on your blog.

My discord sprinters, banterers, and all round good eggs with talent overflowing from you all in waves - @tackytigerfic you are an absolute legend and your words have literally kept me up to the wee hours; @sweet-s0rr0w my fellow Ron stan and crafter of such evocative fics that stay with me for weeks after reading them; @skeptiquewrites you write romance like no other, my good lord; @sorrybutblog you paint such vivid and gorgeous pictures with your prose, I could live in every world you create; @corvuscrowned, the spooky storyscapes you cook up are absolutely out of this world, and your characterisation is always so insanely good; @m0srael, it’s been an absolute joy being in your orbit, your writing is so incredibly delicate and expressive; @ghaniblue Human made me breathless, absolutely one of the best fics I’ve ever read; @basicallyahedgehog whenever I see you pop up on my feed or in my comments my heart swells with joy, you are the best cheerleader ever; @phoebe-delia what can I say - you are one of the most beautiful souls I’ve ever met, so sweet, so charming, so willing to go full caps on comments, you absolute legend; @phd-mama you are a master of sweet fluff and hot smut; @pineau-noir your characterisation is always so full of heart and authenticity; @maesterchill - what can I say? Your fics haunt me (in the best possible way), your writing is so soulful and romantic; @thebooktopus- your reclists literally got me through the year, so thoughtful and full of dedication - you are so dearly loved here; @makeitp1nk- I adore seeing your cleverly crafted microfics pop up on my feed!; @teacup-tai- a kind soul and a champion of rarepairs and incredible femslash, I’ve loved getting to know you!

To the artists who brighten up my feed, @ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm, @bluebutter-art @short666bread - every time you post something new my heart sings. I am blown over, constantly, by your talents, and the way you can bring to life images only I could have dreamt of before.

I am missing people. I know. But just know that, if we’ve interacted here - squealed over fic, over headcanons, art, or music (!!) - please know that I appreciate you, I cherish you. Thank you for a year of joy.

#fandom stuff #thank you

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thecarnivorousmuffinmeta · 2 years

Note

Do you have any advice for writing a 'heretical' blog without being canceled off of tumblr? I thought people here get in serious shit for being mildly controversial, but you're living proof that it's possible. How have you not been bullied off of tumblr yet?

Ha.

I wish I could help, but I'm not entirely sure how I've managed. I will say that occasionally I do get very angry reblogs from this or that side of fandom I've offended (Snape stans, Marauder stans, Ginny stans, Ron/Harry stans, Dumbledore stans, etc.) and I've also gotten some nasty anons from time to time (one very upset ginny stan sent me over five hundred death threats). But on the whole, I've only seemed to upset people here and there and have somehow not said something so controversial as to be chased out with pitchforks.

I think the key is to know your fandom.

Harry Potter and Twilight both are currently in a phase where the majority of fans are actively questioning the authors. Where before, those who disagreed with the golden god JKR were to be stoned, now people are encouraged to actively divorce themselves from the world written as she intended and seek their own path.

That helps quite a bit in my being able to say outrageous things and most people saying "Well, she's fucking nuts clearly" but not being otherwise too offended by the idea of my existence.

There are other fandoms on tumblr where if you even profess to not liking the source material, you will have a lot of angry people after you. Those I would not recommend touching.

I think just acknowledge there's two sides, note that this really is an opinion and just one way to see things that most will disagree with, and most people will leave you alone or just dismiss you with a shrug.

Any other words of wisdom, @therealvinelle?

Best of luck.

#about this blog

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alldrinkingaside · 1 year

Text

MARCONI INVENTED the First Long-Distance Wireless. I NEARLY Destroyed One!

Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, who is credited as the Inventor of the Radio, was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1909. Radio Shack opened their doors in 1921 and closed them in 2015. Jim Anders received a DIY Radio Kit circa 1960. Something like a Mr. Potato Head, it was a box that contained all the parts necessary to build your own radio from scratch: Spools, Wires, Screw, Control Knobs, Gizmos, a Ceramic Filter, Nuts and on and on.

I should have been given a Mr. Potato Head instead. It would have been more my speed. I knew nothing about electronics then, and not a whole hell of a lot more about electronics now.

"You alone can do it, but you can't do it alone" - Dr. Ron B

This Quote by Dr. Ron became something like "When I tried to stay sober alone, I wound up drinking alone" for me. I knew how to drink. My Resume included a 50,000-drink history. I drank every day for 30 years. If I was sick, I drank a pint or more of Blackberry Brandy, my self-prescribed cure-all. My only respites from drinking during all those years were during my increasingly more frequent and progressive hospital visits for alcohol poisoning.

"You alone can do it, but you can't do it alone" - Dr. Ron B

I could and did get drunk alone, but clean and sober? No way, Jose. No way, Dr. Ron.

My experience has shown me that my addicted brain will continue to lie to me long after all alcohol and other substances have left my body. Effects upon behavior, thoughts, memories, dreams, actions, wishes and emotions (however you may wish to experience and describe it) will linger long, long after you taper off or go cold turkey. It seems Addiction stands waiting for you to let down your guard so that you may once again become entrapped by it.

A brain changed by years of drug and alcohol use needs to stay connected to the human race or the hamster wheel of addiction may hypnotize you back into its futile spin.

If you wish to think that you are somehow different than the multitudes who have preceded you, proceed with caution. When I thought that way, multiple relapses followed.

I am reminded here of "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" by Paul Simon. To refresh your memory, one Stanza goes like this:

"Slip out the back, Jack

Make a new plan, Stan

You don't need to be coy, Roy

Just get yourself free

Hop on the bus, Gus

You don't need to discuss much

Just drop off the key, Lee

And get yourself free."

Recovery is just like that, but instead of "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover," it's "50 Ways to Live Life Sober" and all 50 Ways are with the help of others.

For my third and final time (today): "You alone can do it, but you can't do it alone" - Dr. Ron B

With your little old self, you might start with Mr. Potato Head and work your way up to a DIY RadioKit. But if you're anything like me, when it comes to Recovery from Drugs and Alcohol, my simple recommendation is NEVER DO IT ALONE.

*****

Check out my NEW Non-Fiction, BECOMING UNBROKEN: Reflections on Addiction and Recovery (Find it on Amazon, Book it here): https://lnkd.in/dkF767RT

Or immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in my Autobiographical Fiction, ALL DRINKING ASIDE: The Destruction, Deconstruction & Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal (Find it on Amazon. Book it here): https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c

#alcoholism #addiction #recovery #books

I hope you enjoy BOTH of my BOOKS on ADDICTION & RECOVERY! (Print & Kindle Versions of Both are Available!)

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smmpanel · 2 years

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Social Media From the Trenches

On March 18, 2010, Susannah Greenberg organized a panel for the Women's National Book Association on Book Marketing Online. She invited some of the people in book publishing who are engaged in digital marketing, and it made for an interesting discussion. The panel was open to questions throughout and many of the questions kept coming back to social media.

After the panel was over, I realized I had some questions of my own for my fellow panel members which they were gracious enough to answer. Here is my interview with Ron Hogan, Director of E-Marketing Strategy, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Kate Rados, Director of Digital Initiatives, Chelsea Green Publishing, and Abby Stokes, teacher and author of Is This Thing On?: A Computer Handbook for Late Bloomers, Technophobes, and the Kicking & Screaming

Fauzia Burke: Ron, from a publisher's perspective, you had talked about the importance of having a personal touch when engaging in social media. What does that mean and can you give us an example?

Ron Hogan: People are much more likely to "bond" with other people than they are with a corporation, so as much as possible you should approach and engage them on a personal level. Decades before we had "social media" or even the Internet, Stan Lee understood this, connecting with fans with his monthly "Bullpen Bulletins," a conversationally toned column that gave folks a peek inside the Marvel offices while promoting the newest comics. By introducing readers to the artists responsible for Marvel's comics, Lee cultivated a fan culture that endures to this day.

FB: Kate, you talked about doing "personal PR," why do you think that is important not just for authors but for people in publishing as well?

Kate Rados: Especially in this economy, personal PR is key to any career. Most of your jobs and your relationships (with media, vendors, influencers) come from recommendations and relationship building. Social media is the best place to start making friends within your industry and frankly, that's how people collaborate these days.

FB: Abby, you said you have been active on social media for a year, and I wonder if you had set out with a goal for Facebook and Twitter?

Abby Stokes: I didn't set out with a goal for each medium, but definitely had numbers in my mind at the outset with Twitter. I discovered over time that Twitter followers can be fickle, for good reason, and discovered that the more I posted what was interesting to me and less about self promotion, my numbers increased. By the time that was happening, I was less invested in the numbers and more into the fun of finding interesting things to post. When I stopped thinking about the numbers a slow and steady increase started to happen. I didn't ever think numbers with Facebook, but instead wanted to find people who I hadn't seen or heard from in a long time and had a desire to reconnect with.

FB: Kate, you have been doing social media longer than most people in publishing, what are the biggest lessons you have learned?

KR: Stop selling. Be friendly; be passionate; be genuine. LISTEN.

FB: Ron, do you feel your experience as a blogger helps you with your current publishing job? How?

RH: My background as a blogger definitely comes in handy as an online marketer. One, I have a hands-on understanding of the territory; I haven't read every blog that's out there, but I've been around long enough to find some I admire...and I know effective ways to find more, even in areas I'm unfamiliar with. Two, I've been on the receiving end of marketing pitches long enough that I have a sense of what does and doesn't work when trying to approach bloggers. (I'm not saying my reactions to marketing pitches are universal; I have enough friends in the blogging community who feel differently about various types of pitches than I do to maintain an open perspective.)

FB: Kate, you said you use Twitter to get most of your news, what did you mean and why is it the best way to get news?

KR: It's not necessarily the best way to get news, BUT I use it on a regular basis for two purposes: 1) As I mostly follow publishing people, I hear about the latest news from my tweeps before it hits the mainstream blogs. And, I get people's opinions attached to the news right away, so I can get a temperature of how people are reacting. And 2) I set up lists for my niche blogs so I can get breaking news and re-tweet or add to the conversation. For instance, Chelsea Green is all about sustainable living, so my 'green' list helps me keep in touch with the latest news. And for the record, I still do use Google Reader which in my opinion is the best way to get news--and I use it within an inch of its life.

FB: When I talk to most people about social media they say,"I have no time for it." Abby you said, you have a schedule of 15 minutes in the morning and 15 at night. Did that evolve or did you have that schedule in mind from the start?

AS: I was concerned from the get-go about time management because my schedule is tight. When I teach I don't have access to a computer the same way people do in an office environment. Sometimes I can sneak a peek on my iPhone between appointments or while in transit, but not always. That put a natural limit on when I can communicate. I suspected that if I didn't "water and feed" the people who followed me on both Twitter and Facebook I wouldn't keep them coming back. That's what keeps me disciplined about posting on both twice daily when possible. It is a nice routine now that I catch up and share at the start of the day and at the end Cheap smm panel.

FB: Kate, what are the three sites you can't live without?

KR: Only three?! Regarding social media, I get some good takeaways from Mashable. I also live on Gizmodo and GetGlue. And about 50 others per day. It's a sickness.

FB: Abby, have you achieved your social media goals?

AS: I really enjoy both Twitter and Facebook now. They are a part of my daily routine as much as e-mailing or calling a friend. Not a goal, but a lovely benefit. From a practical point of view, I have increased the number of people who are aware or me--a definite goal achieved. I had no idea that Twitter would be such a wealth of good information--a bonus.

Social media is growing in importance on a daily basis. Both Facebook and Twitter have been real assets to us in broadcasting publicity features, as well as building relationships with authors, publishers, agents, journalists, Web editors and bloggers. I am finding that it is also a great way to show potential clients our results in real time.

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buckyseddie · 2 years

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little crush

pairings — draco malfoy x fem!granger!hufflepuff!reader

summary — in which, draco finds out about her crush on him and confronts her.

word count — 1.7k.

warnings — hints of anxiety, panic attacks, and harassment/bullying, harsh/toxic!ron, angst, fluff.

notes — i really wanted to make an imagine about draco, because he’s my ultimate fav hp male character <3. and honestly, let’s be honest, he deserved way better, and he really did deserve a redemption arc. and i’m still forever bitter that he didn’t get that redemption arc. we don’t stan j.k. r*wling in this house. PERIOD. gif and divider creds to owner!

p.s, feedback is very much encouraged and appreciated <3.

main masterlist

IT WOULD’VE BEEN LIKE ANY other day — normal.

if [y/n]’s twin didn’t race over to her and pull her into the potions’ classroom and tell her that everyone knows about her secret.

“what the bloody hell do you mean, ‘mione? are you sure you didn’t just mishear the conversation?” she asks anxiously, brows knitted together.

“yes, for the millionth time, i did not mishear the rumor! everyone’s talking about your crush on draco. i don’t know how people found out, but everyone’s talking about you.” hermione exclaims to her sister as people start to pile inside the classroom.

“no freaking way! this is not happening…” [y/n] trails off, her heart beating extremely fast in worry.

all she can think of now, is what is she going to do? her nonexistent reputation is completely ruined!

hermione simply stands there, waiting for her sister to collect her thoughts and accept what has happened.

but, like that’d happen with her. not once has [y/n] granger ever stayed calm and accepted anything for what it is.

“you know what? this doesn’t change anything! i just need to get through this class and i’ll be just fine.” [y/n] states completely in denial, shaking her head.

sighing, hermione takes her seat beside her sister, not sure how any of this is going to work out for [y/n].

and for the first few minutes, [y/n] actually starts to believe that everything will be okay.

that is until draco malfoy walks in and his undeniably gorgeous, piercing grey eyes meet hers.

when he smirks, that’s it for her; all her denial and self-confidence crumbles away.

“oh, god. i can’t do this. what am i going to do?” she whispers, her voice breaking as the tears start to build up.

hermione notices this as [y/n]’s breaths start to get shaky.

“hey. you’re going to be fine, okay? everything is going to be just fine. i know you’re scared, but i’m here. i’m not going anywhere and i’m going to help you through this — every step of the way. just try and focus on me and do your best to slow your breathing.” she tells her, grabbing her hand and squeezing it in order to comfort her panicking sister.

sighing, [y/n] focuses on her sister as she tries to slow down her breathing.

it doesn’t work right away, but after focusing for awhile — only on her breathing — it eventually goes back to normal.

throughout [y/n]’s panicking, both sisters hadn’t even realized that class had already begun.

before [y/n] can thank her sister for helping, professor snape interrupts, “ladies, is there something more important than my lesson that you’d like to share with the class?” he asks sternly, glaring at both sisters.

“n—no. i’m sorry, sir. nothing is more important than your lesson.” hermione excuses as snape rolls his eyes and turns back around to continue on with his lecture.

after awhile — other than the constant judging eyes and constant dramatic whisperings — things seem to calm down a little.

at least until draco does the expected; he turns towards the granger girls’ direction and sends a flying origami note straight into [y/n]’s hands when snape isn’t paying attention.

[y/n]’s heart pounds at a fast pace as she slowly and shakingly opens the note.

her heart drops and tears blind her eyesight at the words written in draco’s writing.

i heard you’ve got a little crush on me. how flattering that is, darling.

before she can think, [y/n] balls the paper up and tosses it to hermione.

she stands up abruptly, stealing everyone’s attention.

without another thought, she grabs her things and races out of the room.

once she makes it into her dorm room, she slams the door shut and falls down to the ground, the tears finally falling as the sobs leave her tense body.

minutes later, after all the sobs and cries are out of her system, she gets up and sets her things on her bed.

she wipes away the smudged, dry tears as best as she can.

then, she walks down to the great hall, just in time for lunch.

instead of sitting with her housemates, [y/n] sits down with her friends, who look up at her with worry — all except for ron.

“please, don’t ask about me.” she states as hermione opens her mouth to say something, but then clamps it shut.

“aren’t you going to eat some food?” harry asks in concern when he sees her simply fidgeting with her hands in her lap.

“not hungry.” she mutters uncomfortably.

“okay. i know i said i wouldn’t say anything, but this is ludicrous! she’s acting like she didn’t know this was going to happen. she’s to blame for all this bloody drama! she knows what kind of a bloke malfoy is. what did she think was going to happen? he’d accept her for who she is?” ron exclaims, clearly frustrated and not caring about his friend’s feelings.

“ronald! what the hell!” hermione exclaims, scowling at the red head.

“what’s wrong with you?” harry asks, glaring at his friend.

“no, guys. he’s right. i mean, i — of all people — should’ve saw it coming. he’s not a good guy? okay, i get it! but, even if it hurts that he doesn’t care about me at all, what actually matters is that one of my best friends cares more about being right than supporting his friend through hard times. so, thank you so much, ron, for your honesty and showing me what really matters.” [y/n] states, her voice nearly breaking.

without another word, she turns around and hurriedly rushes out of the great hall, not even noticing all the eyes on her — every single hogwarts house saw the entire exchange between ron and [y/n].

including draco, who watches her with confusion and another unknown emotion.

once she exits the great hall, [y/n] finally lets the waterworks leave her body and rushes to her favorite place where she goes to when she needs to think or be alone.

it’s an abandoned corridor that barely anyone enters anymore.

she sits herself down on the ledge by the window and holds her knees up to her chest as she lets her head fall, the sobs escaping and the tears falling freely.

“i thought i’d find you here.” hermione says from behind her.

[y/n] looks up to see her sister standing in front of her, arms crossed with draco stood behind her.

“uh, what are you two doing here?” she asks in a raspy tone, wiping her tears away as if they were never there.

“well, i wanted to check up on you, so i left the great hall. and this git wanted to as well, so i said that i’d bring him here.” she explains as [y/n] sighs, refusing to look the slytherin boy in the eyes.

“and now that i see that for sure you haven’t set yourself on fire, i’m going to head back. i’ll talk to you later, [y/n/n], okay?” hermione says as [y/n] nods.

“you two should talk,” she tells her sister, before turning to draco, “i know it seems like she wants nothing to do with you. but, i promise it’s just her self-defense mechanism. she likes to act like she wants nothing to do with you when she’s really just hurt.” she explains to him as she turns to walk out of the corridor.

“so, you wanted to check on me? why?” [y/n] finally asks, turning to actually look up at him.

“yeah. i wanted to make sure you were okay since my note and what weasley said to you seemed to really upset you.” he admits, walking to sit beside her on the ledge.

“it’s whatever. honestly, draco, you don’t need to try to make me feel better just because you feel bad for not caring about me the way i do about you.” she states, trying to hold in the tears as she moves over for him, so her legs lay over the edge of the ledge.

“but… that’s the thing. i do think of you like that. that note i gave you, i was trying to make you smile because it was kind of obvious people were giving you a hard time.” he states, looking over at her intensely.

“draco, please. don’t try to make me feel better about this, okay? i get it. it sucks when you find out someone likes you, but you don’t feel the same. so, naturally, you do anything you can… to help take away some of the pain. i know you don’t like me because you’re the invincible slytherin prince. and i’m the plain and simple, shy, naive girl that no one cares about. don’t lie to my face to make me feel better. just be honest.” she sighs as more tears fall down her already red cheeks.

“i’m not lying about this. but if you want the entire truth… fine,” he sighs, inhaling sharply, “i do feel that way about you. i’ve always felt this way. at first, i thought the whole quiet girl thing was cute. but then, i saw how your friends treated you. they treated you like you were fragile. so, i started to watch you more closely whenever you were around me. i learnt that you’re the kind and loyal and genuine and selfless and caring and loving and happy type of girl that everyone takes advantage of. you like to portray yourself as happy and positive so no one worries about you, or so no one ever knows the pain you’ve endured. you light up a room just by your smile. people get inspired by you because of who you are. and after i started to realize these things about you, i didn’t just admire you. i started to fall in love with these parts of you until i realized how you make me feel. i just never told you any of this because i was scared you couldn’t love such a damaged bloke like me.” he says, leaving her completely speechless.

“w—what?” she asks, utterly surprised.

“do i need to spell it out for you?” he asks, rolling his eyes.

her eyebrows furrow in confusion as he cups her cheeks.

he pulls her towards him as their lips meet.

the kiss is full of urgency and passion and desperation — a kiss that both teenagers have been waiting for, for so long.

“so, just to make it clear, you do have romantic feelings for me?” she asks, giggling at his smile.

“should i make it clear again?” draco asks with a smirk.

“yes, please.” [y/n] giggles.

and with that, he closes the gap between them once more.

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moonlightdancer26 · 2 years

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I saw you post that Romione and Remadora have a special place in your heart and you notice a pattern. Elaborate?

YAY! I was hoping someone would ask that!!

I’ve always found many similarities between Romione and Remadora, here are some of them:

1. Their haters.

Wolfstar shippers and Harmony shippers. I’ve explained many times that I think of Wolfstar shippers as the Harmonians of the Marauders fandom. Wolfstar and Harmony shippers are extremely toxic, attack others, and insist that their ship is canon. Wolfstar and Harmony shippers are the reason I started hating these two ships.

The better love interest in Romione and Remadora (Ron and Dora, obviously) gets hated on and gets called abusive and manipulative merely because they “got in the way” of two awful ships.

2. Their balance/dynamic.

Ron is lazy (affectionate), fun, carefree, and is overall a very chill person. Tonks is bubbly, fun cheerful, and a bit silly (affectionate).

Hermione is hot-tempered, stubborn, serious, and organised. Remus is self-loathing, peaceful but serious, and prone to sadness.

In my opinion, one of the best things about these two ships is that they (Remus x Dora and Ron x Hermione) balance each other out.

Ron and Dora would help Hermione and Remus loosen up, have fun, and see the other side of life. Hermione would help Ron to become more organised and to pay attention more, Remus would help Dora learn there’s a different side to life.

3. The fans’ victim-blaming.

(This one is not a good similarity ☹️)

Hermione stans blame Ron for Hermione assaulting Ron and getting him mauled and injured by canaries (it literally left cuts all over him). They say it’s his fault because he kissed Lavender, despite the fact that a) Hermione showed zero hints that she liked him and b) he and Hermione weren’t even together, he’s available and has a right to do whatever the fuck he wants.

(Even if he knew Mione liked him, HOW DOES THAT JUSTIFY HER MAKING HIM BLEED???)

Wolfstar shippers blame Dora for Remus planning to abandon his wife and unborn child. They say it’s her fault because she “wasn’t good enough” (which seems so misogynistic tbh) or that “he didn’t truly love her,” despite the fact that Remus trying to abandon them was a problem with Remus himself (his insecurity and cowardice), and that he would’ve done the same if it were anyone else.

Here are some others:

THESE TWO SHIPS DESERVE MORE SCREENTIME (ESPECIALLY Remadora)

THEY WERE BOTH DESTROYED IN THE MOVIES, ESPECIALLY ROMIONE. FUCK YOU DAVID YATES.

Despite Remus and Hermione sometimes treating Dora and Ron badly (Hermione more so than Remus, obvi), you can tell that Remus and Hermione deeply love their partners and would do anything for them.

Romione and Remadora both get labelled as “toxic” (sure, there are some problematic factors, but they’re not toxic) and get hated on by a majority of this fandom when they don’t deserve it.

When I look at Romione and Remadora’s similarities, I think to myself it’s no wonder why they’re both my favourite canon couples (tho Romione beats Remadora). I think I may have a certain type when it comes to ship dynamics. 😆

Thank you for asking (I was dying to get an ask telling me to elaborate), I hope my answer was satisfactory! Have a nice day. <3

[Wait should I tag this as anti Remus and anti Hermione?? I MEAN IT’S NOT (I love them both) BUT I KINDA BASHED THEM??? idk idk]

#romione #remadora #similarities #ship dynamics #ron weasley #ronald weasley #dora tonks #nymphadora tonks #tonks #harry potter #i just won’t tag mione and remus #hp

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cardierreh15 · 3 years

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The Guy Next Door

Hey guys! I hope y’all enjoy this one! Captain Syverson stans, this is for you ❤️❤️ Here’s Chapter 4.

**I do not give permission to copy or repost my work!

Warnings 18+: Mentions Of Death , Mentions of Spousal & Child Loss , Cursing , Angst , Smutty/ Suggestive thoughts , Food Play Kink , Body To Body Touching(Dancing) , Flirting & Some Romance .

Pairing: Henry Cavill(Ronan) x Curvy African American Woman(Amunet-POV)

Description: Amunet & Ronan get to know one another and find that they may have a deeper connection.

Word Count: 3.9K

Chapter 4: Rendezvous

It had been a few days since their last encounter and their communication was a little less than satisfying. He was always working and even if they weren’t in a relationship, poor Netty couldn’t help but think that maybe he didn’t even have time for their friendship. But she was left wondering because she simply had too much time on her hands. Amunet wasn’t working at the moment and decided that she would take the state requirement test to be a licensed teacher in the state of Florida. But also decided that she could wait for the next school year to start her on her new career path of teaching.

Since she was at home (still unpacking), it left her with just too much time to think. Amunet had moved away sure but her “problems” never escaped her. She was going through a box one evening while looking for her crystals she had brought with her, when she saw her family photo album. Her thumb gently traced over the engraved “H” on the navy blue hard cover. With a slight bit of hesitation, she opened the book which revealed several pictures of her and her lost husband, Gideon, in high school. A whimper slipped from her lips as she did her best to keep her heart from breaking once more. They looked so happy, so young, wild and free. Amunet knew this would be a trap for her feelings, knew that she would be a sad and skulking mess for the next few days but, she couldn’t help it. It was like she wanted the pain, knowing they were not here… it was the closest thing she had left of them. So, she kept flipping the thick pages. Looking at the photos of the day when they got married back in ‘08. She was now a crying mess. She flipped the pages once more, and then she saw her greatest pain.

Pictures of her ultrasound when she was pregnant with their son. It caused her to break out in a harder sob as she would remember those beautiful moments with their boy. Running her finger tips over his cute little face when he was just a toddler, a tear just fell over the plastic. ‘Mommy misses you so much my love…’ she was barely inaudible. It just didn’t feel real, and she would often wake up at night thinking that they would just walk through that front door. And that feeling brought her so much dread.

Her vulnerable moment was interrupted by a muffled buzzing. She ignored it until it stopped, but then— it had returned. Amunet quickly scrambled to her feet and walked over to her sofa to find her phone sitting between the cushions. Ronan. She waited a moment before she slid that green button to the right. Sniffing, mouth coated with the stickiness of tears. ‘Hello?’

‘Hey you— hey ar—are you crying?’

‘No,… no. It’s nothing.’ She lied.

Ronan didn’t want to press her, but he was concerned for her. ‘You know you can talk to me if you want to Netty. Here— I know I’ve been pretty distant over the past few days and I want to make it up to you. And— I want to make you feel better. How about I come over tonight, we order some take out and we just talk? How’s that sound?’ He was so thoughtful, and that alone made her feel a little bit better, knowing she could have him as a shoulder to cry on. ‘That sounds great Ron. I would love that.’

The two conversed a little more, and Ronan managed to get a few laughs out of her before he had to hang up and head back to work.

7:03PM had finally came around and Amunet was on her second glass of wine. She kept glancing at her watch and she was starting to come to terms that he wasn't coming. She would understand, it was Tuesday and she was pretty confident that he had to work the next day. But all of the doubts were shoved to the side when she heard the door bell. 'Finally... you show up.' she stood up, rushing to the half bathroom to fix her hair. Then there was a knock at the door. 'Just a second!' She called out as she pulled out her lipgloss and ran the thick liquid over her full lips. Massaging her lips together, she popped her lips and fixed her cardigan. She switched off the bathroom light and rushed to open the front door.

A huge grin was pulled on her lips, but quickly faltered when it was just the delivery driver for their food. 'Hi! Order for Amu-' 'Amunet, yes. That's me.' The driver handed her over the receipt for her to sign and she tipped him before carefully grabbing the heavy brown paper bag. 'Oh! Miss, the guy that ordered had us write something for you in the bag.' She stood there baffled for a second but she couldn't help but smirk as her cheeks begun to heat up like a tea kettle. 'Thank you.' And with that she shut the front door.

Quickly placing the brown paper bag on the counter, she took a breath before she pulled the staples apart and opened up the bag. A folded piece of paper rested on top of the containers and she quickly picked it up. Damn near tearing the paper part, it read: I will be there soon. You don't have to wait up for me. -Ronan

Oh he just made her heart ache. But not in the bad way, the kind that made it skip a beat or flutter. Amunet folded the paper back together neatly and walked into the living room, turned on the television and switched it to a 90s-00s RnB music channel. She walked over to the dining room table and refilled her wine glass. She took a long sip to ease the nervousness that coursed through her body.

She had drank her wine halfway when she heard a knock at the door. The sudden noise caused her to flinch, spilling the red wine over her khaki cardigan. Letting out a heavy sigh that was followed by a string of cursing, 'Goddammit! Fuck, fuck. C-I'M COMING!' She quickly snatched off her cardigan but the wine had soaked right through, staining her white long sleeved shirt. Annoyed, she quickly walked into the laundry room and threw her cardigan in the washer. The door bell rang this time, 'I'm coming! Just a moment!' She was such a mess right now. She had figured that it was Ronan, and she was afraid that he'd just bail. So Amunet just sucked it up, walked to the door and pulled it open.

The light from inside of her home lit up his face and in an instant, a grin curled on his face. His eyes drank her in, as if he was trying to study the pores in her face. Like he was trying to find an imperfection. But the bright stain of red wine on her chest quickly captured his attention. It had resembled blood, it had him taken back for a moment. 'Oh- You've... you've made a mess!' He pointed gently before a chuckle left his lips. 'Oh - yeah. May have had a little bit too much tonight.' Netty giggled before stepping to the side and jerking her head for him to come inside.

Netty watched him walk into her home, she shut the door behind them and locked it. She watched him take in his new environment. 'You've gotten a lot done since breakfast.' She smiled proudly and placed her hands on her hips, holding her chin high. 'Well, thank you! I have a lot of time on my hands, i figured why not put my living room, dining room and kitchen together.' Truth be told, most nights couldn't sleep. 'Hmm. Well it look's nice Netty. Nice work.' Ronan had turned to face her and deadly blue eyes roamed her body.

'You should probably go change, that red against your skin is quite distracting.'

'Well what if i don't want to change my shirt?' Netty argued back as she folded her arms over her busty chest. 'Alright- then i'd just have to rip it off of you.' Amunet's mouth went dry and her eyes slightly grew. But before she could stop herself, 'I'd like to see you try.' She knew she fucked up. A gasped slipped from her lips and she found herself covering her mouth with both of her hands. 'OH! No- no I didn't..' Ronan smirked deviously as he begun to approach her. She backed up until she felt the cool wall against her back. Towering over her like some kind of beastly creature, he tilted his head down, inhaling her soft floral scent before raising his hand, and slipping it beneath her shirt. Looking down at her cleavage.

'Ronan- this is bad...'

'I know. But what fun is it being good?'

And with little to no effort at all, he tore her shirt straight down the middle.

The red wine was still stained against her brown flesh and now seem as if it was becoming sticky. Ronan’s mouth salivated at the sight. Netty stared up at him as he took her in once more before he quickly captured her lips in a kiss. It was slow, teasing as if he was trying to test the waters. But when she returned the kiss, it grew aggressive. From her lips, he used his thick tongue to lick from her mouth to her neck, collarbone and finally — the wine that was starting to dry up on her breast.

‘Ronan? … Ronan are you alright?’ She asked, waving her hand in his face. Amunet watched as he blinked himself out of what had seem to be a trance. ‘Oh— yeah,’ he chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head. ‘Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind.’ And boy did he. ‘Mmmmhmm. OK, well. Make yourself at home while I go change my shirt.’ She walked past him and climbed her stairs, and walked down the long hallway towards her bedroom.

Shutting the door behind her gently, she took a deep breath, holding her hands up halfway as her eyes were closed. ‘Al—alright. It’s just dinner. You haven’t been alone with a guy in about a year and a half. But this is strictly platonic! He’s your friend, you’re his friend! No big deal!’ She cackled nervously and walked towards her closet and snatched a soft pink knitted sweater (she has a thing for sweaters and long sleeves) off of the plastic hanger and went to clean up her mess in the bathroom.

Walking back downstairs to meet her guest, he was sitting on the sofa with his leg crossed over the other while holding a glass of wine. ‘Well, looks like you’re pretty comfortable.’ She giggled and rested her elbows on the top of her cushions. ‘Let’s go eat. I know you told me not to wait but— I thought it would’ve been rude.’ Ronan tsked his tongue at her 3 times before speaking, ‘I see the problem we’re going to have in our friendship— you don’t like to listen now do you?’ He pushed himself up from the gray sofa, careful not to make the mess she had made but in “2.0”. Amunet stood up straight and laughed, ‘You know you’re sounding a lot like my father!’ She spun on her heels and started for the kitchen, ‘Hm. What’s his name? I may have met him.’ He chuckled before finishing off the final swallow of his glass.

The two sat down at the dining room table with their wine glasses basically filled to the brim. It had seem to be a stressful week for the both of them and it was only TUESDAY! ‘So, what made you choose your line of work? I wouldn’t have taken you as the “play with the dead” type of guy.’ Amunet sparked conversation as she dipped her sweet and sour chicken in the bright red sauce. ‘Well, looks could be deceiving yes?’ He answered and she rolled her eyes, ‘why do you have to be soooo mysterious!?’ She asked with a bit of humor in her voice.

‘Because it’s the only way to keep you interested.’

Damn. It left her with nothing to say really. She just tapped her fork against the glass plate before she decided to play dumb, ‘Who says I’m interested?’

‘Well Amunet you wouldn’t ask if you weren’t.’

He was so right.

Amunet sighed and let out a small chuckle, ‘OK! Fine. I’m interested— now, will you tell me?’ Ronan gave her a smile as he pat his lips clean. ‘My father ran the funeral home that I work at. It was pretty much a family thing— a business, if you will, to deal with the dead. Literally my grandfather owned it and his father before. Back in the day before the Mob was disbanded, my grandfather use to help them deal with dead bodies— you know, tweak somethings, lie in autopsies records… very bad shit. So, that made him very good money, and in turn— my father grew up wealthy and smart.’ Ronan had taken a sip of his wine, now feeling a little more buzzed. Amunet was already drawn in by his family’s history already!

Resting her chin on her fist as her elbow rested on the table, she continued to listen. ‘My parents raised me up in the morgue. I was always there — I’ve witnessed the scariest of things and the serenity too. But then… my father fell ill. My parents had me late in life. My dad is 87, my mother is 80. I’m 38.’ Amunet’s eyes raised, ‘No way! You look great for almost 40.’ She teased. She was caught up with him, 37. But it wasn’t lady like for a woman to blurt out her age. She was sure it’ll come up in conversation. Ronan’s cheeks flushed pink as he smiled, ‘Well thank you. The stress from work is turning me slightly gray but — I’d rather have that than shrivel you like a raisin.’ The pair cackled together before he continued.

‘So when my father fell ill— he couldn’t work. He had Stage 3 Colon cancer and him going through chemotherapy, being sick and stuff was hard on him. So they turned to me to run the business. Mm, could you imagine? A 16 year old kid, running such a business?! I was only a Sophomore in high school!— so I grew up a little quicker. I had to quit football, track— anything I enjoyed… had to be placed on the back burner. And it got old, really fucking quick!’

Amunet sympathized for him; after all it wasn’t fair. The time in his life when he was suppose to be having a blast and being a kid was stripped away from him because his parents thought it was imperative to keep their business alive. She could tell that he resented them for that. And she understood. ‘Wow, so you were owning a business at 16 years old? How did that collide with high school? I know you had to be exhausted.’ She was worrisome, poor little Ronnie.

‘Very. I went to school every day, had to miss my last 2 class periods, and I ended up having to take summer school to make up those classes. And even get a tutor. Literally, if I wasn’t at school— I was there or I was at home sleeping. I just had no time in between to have fun.’ He sighed, ‘So I did that for 2 years and my senior year… I decided to plot and plan. My father was doing much better and I knew I had to leave before I was stuck again. So I got in contact with an Army Recruiter, did everything I needed to do so I could leave.’

Amunet's eyes grew at the new found news. 'You were in the service? My husband was in the Army for sometime.' She looked to the side, before her head fell forward. 'Oh? You're married?' he asked pretty startled by the news. 'Was-' she corrected him, her head rising to look at him. 'My husband and son died about a year and a half ago. He'd just gotten out of the military a month prior to that.' She sniffed, trying to squeeze back those tears but no matter how hard she tried, the harder it became. 'Oh, Netty- God I'm so sorry!' He didn't know what to say or do. He never wanted to experience a loss like that. She'd lost two of the only beings that she would die for. Ronan's head fell in shame, as he was about to get mad because he thought he was being toyed with.

She wiped her cheeks and took a heavy aspirated breath, trying to catch the sob as she felt the tightening in her chest. 'You know- it just doesn't feel real sometimes. I never imagined-... it would be me. Lonely like this in a completely different state.' She rolled her eyes as she picked up a napkin and wiped her slightly smeared mascara. Ronan swallowed his spit before, 'You're not lonely Netty.' Then he'd given her a reassuring smile and nodded, 'I can't imagine losing someone... that close to me. I'm sure they were so lucky to call you mommy and wife.' He'd then reached over and grabbed her hand, running his thumb over the back of her smooth brown skin. Amunet looked up from their hands to his face, glaring at him with eyes filled with thick tears. 'Thank you Ronnie.'

'Of course... if it's still too raw we can change the subject. I don't like to see you crying.' He gave her a chuckle and then she joined in before shaking her head. 'No, no. It's OK. I want to know everything there is to possibly know.'

Girl, only if you knew.

Ronan smiled and let go of her hand before reaching over to grab his glass of wine. 'What MOS was he in?' She let out a shaky breath as she looked up in thought, '31B, E-6. He was in for about 12 years.’

‘Awwww he was an MP?! Jeez, I remember they gave us so much hell when it was time to go through the gate, haha!’ The both of them laughed, ‘Well, he enjoyed it! He always enjoyed putting those Captain’s in check.’ Ronan stared at her with a blank face, ‘Oh- Oh no. You’re one of those—‘ She laughed as she clasped her hands together, ‘Yup! 18A—‘ ‘Special Forces.’ Ronan smiled in surprise, ‘You know your MOS codes. 'Well,' she smiled softly before taking a sip of her wine, 'When you've been around the military long enough, you pretty much get the lingo down.' She placed her glass on the table, 'So, what did you do? Where did you go? Do you have any pictures?' Ronan sighed with a deep breath, thinking of where to begin. " So i was actually enlisted at first and while i was in basic training I was given the opportunity to go to selection. I ended up making it through and went to school, which then allowed me to be able to commission as an Officer.' He said before taking a bite of his Lo Mein, 'I've did two rotations to Afghanistan, and Iraq. I've been to Germany, Japan, South America, Korea, Egypt and United Kingdom- Let me see if i have any pictures.' Ronan then reached in his pocket and pulled out his phone.

Ronan found a picture and turned his phone around for her to see. She leaned in, her eyes narrowed as she studied the photo. ‘Oh?’ She said in surprise as she took his phone in her hands. He smirked and bit his lip, ‘You’re a lot bigger here!’ She joked and handed him over his phone. ‘Oh— ha haaa, very funny.’ He laughed as he put his phone in his pocket. ‘You wanted to know what I did with these muscles? That picture was your answer.’ And then he shot her a wink.

‘Oh pleeeease!’ She laughed out loud, her head falling back. ‘So why did you get rid of the beard?' Her eyes lifted from her food to the hunk that sat across from her, 'I gotta say It does look good on you.' Her eyes fell back to her food as her smirk never faltered. 'Well, working with the dead requires a lot of tender care. So my hair, hands have to be covered up. I don't think I would've been too keen with walking around with a beard cover all day long.' Ronan shrugged and sat back in his seat, 'But if you want me to grow it back I will.' He grinned, his tongue slipping out to lick at his bottom lip to lubricate them. Amunet sucked at her teeth as her face heated up with a vengeance; looking away to think of something else to talk about. But nothing came up!

The pair sat surprisingly, in comfortable silence before he looked over at the 50" that was mounted on the wall. The song had caught his attention, Alicia Keys- "You don't know my name." 'Who is that? Her voice is phenomenal!' His eyes seem to have twinkled at this newfound news. 'That's Alicia Keys. This is the music my mother use to play this music for me when I was younger.' She smiled at the distant memory of her and her mother in the kitchen, bumping hips and mixing food together. 'Can you dance?' He asked, interrupting her thoughts. 'Kind of?' And with that he stood up, holding his hand out for her to grab. She laughed, her leg crossed over the other as her eyes followed him, 'Ronan, what are you doing?'

'Here, come dance with me.'

He had this small smile on his face, 'Come on. Would it be a real dinner date if we didn't dance?'

'It would still be a real dinner date.' She laughed as she finished the rest of her wine. 'But fine. I'll dance with you.' Amunet reached up, placing her smaller hand in his much larger one and he effortlessly pulled her up to her feet.

She placed her hand on his shoulder, and gave it a gentle squeeze. She couldn't help it, it would probably be the only chance she got to touch him so she took advantage of the situation. Her other hand rest in his palm, their hands squeezing one another gently as his other hand rest at the small of her back. Her breasts were pressed against his firm chest, pelvis to pelvis as they swayed slowly to the RnB music. Amunet looked everywhere but him. But him on the other hand, tried to gauge her attention. 'You know it is kind of awkward that you're looking every where else but up here.' Amunet scoffed and finally worked up the courage to look at him, 'I'm sorry. It's been a while since I've been this close with anyone.' Ronan gave her a concerned look, 'We can stop if you feel uncomfortable Netty.' His voice as smooth as melted chocolate. 'No,' She objected, 'This is nice.' she said softly as she finally allowed her chocolate brown hues to stare into his icy ones.

Maybe Amunet was fond of Ronan after all.

🚩🚩

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hamliet · 3 years

Text

What Does It Mean to Save?

I keep seeing it said that Deku, Ochaco, and Shouto will “save” Shigaraki, Himiko, and Dabi, but that there will be no redemption and/or no survival for them. I’m truly not trying to vague these posts and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but literary criticism is fundamentally responsive so I’m writing this anyways.

I personally think that’s not BNHA’s definition of saving nor of redemption. So here, have a deep dive into literary tropes related to redemption, genre, and character arcs as they pertain to BNHA and the question of: what does it mean to save Shigaraki, Touya, and Himiko?

Before we begin, let me say that while we might be personally uncomfortable with redemption (there’s a redemption arc in BNHA I am personally quite uncomfortable with), that doesn’t inherently mean the narrative won’t go there. The key principle I’m operating on here is BNHA’s message that heroes save people. It’s held up as the highest ideal.

So let’s talk redemption in BNHA-verse. With this guy, whose redemption arc I dislike in principle but accept as part of the story so don’t come for me stans and/or antis. I’m analyzing because it shows us what redemption means in BNHA-verse, whether or not that is satisfying to you personally as it fits/does not fit with your own morality/philosophy.

If Endeavor can be redeemed and live, and he’s Bakugou’s negative foil, I highly doubt Shigaraki and Deku as well as Touya and Shouto and Ochaco and Himiko will be any different. Why? Because Enji is an adult character. The others--well, Himiko’s age we don’t know, but we do know that Shigaraki and Dabi are technically adults. But does the story consider them adults?

(It doesn’t.)

Child-coded characters are generally more likely to survive a redemption, which I’ll explain more later. First I have to define what I mean by child-coding, because I DO NOT mean this in the way it’s often (mis)used in fandom wank. Child-coding is a real thing, but it is not done to infantilize and it has nothing to do with shipping.

Child coding frames the character as a child for a few narrative purposes to convey a story’s theme or purpose. For example, if it’s a coming of age story coding a character as a child even if they legally are not emphasizes their journey to an understanding of self-actualization, or a true understanding of self with self-awareness and an understanding of self-value. An example of an adult coded as a child is The Kite Runner, wherein Amir is a legal adult for half the story, even married for fifteen years so we’re talking 30s-40s, but he does not truly become an adult until he returns to his homeland and takes responsibility for a childhood sin. In Attack on Titan, the main characters are now nineteen, but are still struggling to take responsibility as adults and have only started doing so now that their mentors/parental figures have started dying.

Along those lines, in any kind of story, you can code a character as a child of someone, regardless of biological relationship, to convey the type of relationship they have (usually a mentor one). For an example of this, see Bungo Stray Dogs’ Dazai and Akutagawa. Despite their two year age difference, Dazai recruited him to the mafia, abandoned him, and Akutagawa desperately seeks his approval. Usually in these stories a character will “overcome” their parental figure. This can be done through overcoming their need for the parental figure’s approval in stories where the parental figure is kindly (such as in Harry Potter, when in the final book Harry, Ron, and Hermione leave the Weasleys to find the Horcruxes despite Mrs. Weasley’s please) or through like, killing/stopping/leaving the parental figure when they are abusive (see fairy tales like Rapunzel and Cinderella). The parental link to self-actualization is because it is childlike (and a part of actual psychology that is reflected in literature) to see yourself as a part of your parent; self-actualized person would see yourself as a distinct person from your parent, but also acknowledge the ways in which they’ve shaped you.

So, how do you code a character as a child? BNHA isn’t subtle about it, because Horikoshi seldom is subtle about anything. The villain trio are all coded as children.

Shigaraki Tomura:

Who cannot achieve self-actualization so long as AFO has access to his body, as he’s literally trying to possess him. He’s trying, but it’s not gonna work because Shigaraki can’t keep AFO and become an adult at the same time. It’s a choice the narrative is setting up: your dream of destroying, or your freedom? (To get the latter, he’ll probably have to destroy AFO).

Todoroki Touya, who is repeatedly emphasized as a small child when compared to his siblings, and yes, I know he’s now tall. Specifically he’s spotlighted as the child of Endeavor:

And he’s the least self-actualized one in a lot of ways, contradicting himself constantly. I’m not Endeavor, DUH! But these are Endeavor’s flames! He’s gonna have to choose one or the other, because the tragic irony is that the more he takes out his rage on those around him, the more like Endeavor he becomes.

And Toga Himiko (who might well literally be a legal child), who is actually the most self-actualized one thus far, because she rejects Curious’s child insistence (Curious holds her in a Pieta pose, based on Michelangelo’s statue wherein Mary holds a deceased Christ):

She’s still got, like, a way to go though:

Because Himiko also wants to be like the people she loves to the point where she loses her own identity in them, which is er, not self-actualization. So she’ll have to choose whether or not she really wants to be like the people she loves or whether she wants to live her own way, which she herself tells us how that would end (death):

Deku said it himself: it’s good to focus on what someone is doing now. And look, I have issues with this statement and how it’s framed. I’ve talked about it at length and it was doomed to fail because Shouto himself told us long ago that it was annoying to hear a righteous speech by a stranger when you hadn’t gone through the same, plus Endeavor kinda failed by choosing being a hero over a dad here. But, the principle is that if the past doesn’t preclude Endeavor from seeking a better self, why would it preclude three characters coded as children, one of whom is literally somewhat the product of Endeavor’s sins? BNHA doesn’t think the past keeps someone from a better future.

So what about Dabi’s counterpoint, which is indeed valid? Well, redemption doesn’t mean the past forgets, either. It’s complicated and nuanced, and we can debate how well Horikoshi strikes this nuance (it’s got its flaws), and admittedly I don’t know how this will go down in the future. But it is asking Endeavor: how do you redeem yourself to the people you’ve hurt? And we have Endeavor asking this question to Touya’s shrine. I mean, the foreshadowing is obvious. Endeavor has to redeem himself by trying to save Touya. However, it will still probably come down to Shouto to save Touya.

For our three villains, it’s a little harder to predict... well, sort of. For Shigaraki it’s extremely obvious: he has to help take down AFO. Dabi probably has to do something to help his family (siblings probably), but it’s vague. Toga needs help and not condemnation, but presumably she’ll help Ochaco with something.

So, is this redemption? I’d define it as redemption in the eyes of the narrative. To address what makes a redemption is another essay unto itself, but if we bring in the oft-compared Star Wars example: did Darth Vader get a redemption? Did Ben Solo? Everyone says yes to both. However, only Luke witnesses Vader’s redemption, and only Rey Ben Solo’s. So the rest of the galaxy? Doesn’t think so. When I say they’ll be redeemed, I’m defining it as their role in the eyes of the narrative, not whether or not society will accept them or even whether their victims will forgive them (of note, in canonical novels, Leia never forgave Darth Vader despite learning he was her father and obviously knowing Luke’s account of his redemption was true).

So, redemption in a narrative doesn’t mean all of society has to forgive and accept them. Dabi has still like, murdered 30 people--many of whom were thugs, but he himself acknowledges they didn’t deserve to die. Additionally, he himself also acknowledges that the families left behind--their feelings matter:

But why does that mean they have to die? Why even does it mean they have to languish in prison forever? (If there’s even a safe prison at the end of BNHA which I kinda have doubts about.) Heroes have also killed: see Hawks as Exhibit A. In fact, some people want revenge on the heroes precisely because they arrested or killed their loved ones (jail isn’t held up as a rehabilitative place in BNHA’s world. In most countries it isn’t in real life, either, but again that’s for another essay). So why don’t the League’s feelings on Twice’s death matter just as much as the feelings of unnamed and unseen (and thereby less important narratively) characters?

Additionally, regarding death... the villains routinely get called on their death wishes. Himiko’s determination to decide how/when she dies is called out because this is right before Twice overcomes his trauma to save her, and the next arc they appear in is when Twice dies trying to save her again. Dabi’s suicide wish keeps him from getting close to others, and it keeps getting thwarted. Shigaraki’s obsession with destruction and death is clearly not a good thing, and his rejection of his family’s desire for them to join him in death this past arc is growth.

In other words: what Dabi said and what Snatch said about families and how they feel matter for the villains too. The villains are their own weird found family (Dabi as the deadbeat prodigal brother of both his families). Their deaths--Magne’s and Twice’s thus far, and I’m not ruling out further deaths in the future--affect the others. People’s feelings on losing loved ones matter. The villains are people, as Himiko said herself this arc:

Their feelings about each other matter:

How would Touya dying affect the Todorokis? At least they saved him spiritually, I guess, but that’s absolutely lame narratively, and if you have Enji eventually do a sacrifice to save Dabi (pretty likely, even if I personally think Enji will survive said sacrifice) then what’s the point of Dabi dying? How would Himiko dying affect society? As a martyr like Curious wanted her to be, even a redeemed one? A tragic warning story? What even is the point of Ochaco saving her if that’s the case? If Shigaraki dies, well, who would mourn besides Deku? How would Shigaraki dying affect the surviving members of the league? He just couldn’t be saved physically?

It’s not impossible some of this happens, but it doesn’t seem like great writing, especially with panels like, oh, these that show us BNHA’s perspective on death:

Sacrificing something is a type of death that occurs in stories; this should happen in a redemption arc, which is why I’ve been saying Enji needs to sacrifice his hero reputation to help save Touya and even then it’ll still be Shouto imo who does the saving. But physical death?

If you want further analysis of the latter two panels and how they relate to the ending, see here.

We already have another villain who will definitely die redemptively (Kurogiri--an adult coded character--because he’s already, like, dead), and Spinner and Mr. Compress aren’t coded as kids so I hold them with anxiety towards the end. But again, this isn’t me being ageist or saying this is the way things ought to be in fiction or real life: it’s me looking at writing tropes and saying that child-coded characters tend to survive their redemptions. See: Zuko. Why? Because the death of children or child-coded characters is a tragedy. When a child-coded character dies redemptively it doesn’t feel like a happy ending and if framed as such, it’s often criticized for bad writing (see: Ben Solo). Curious even called this out in her fight with Himiko. I would hope Horikoshi doesn’t end the story being like yeah Curious was right that’s the best use of Himiko’s/Dabi’s/Shigaraki’s arcs:

Additionally, as for the believability of a character getting a new chance after so much destruction and murder... well, it’s kinda a thing in shonen and even in seinen? For better or for worse, it’s a thing. We have Vegeta in Dragon Ball Z and Kaneki Ken in Tokyo Ghoul (Kaneki, by the way, is absolutely an inspiration for Shigaraki). We can debate how well-written these redemptions are (I personally have been quite critical of Kaneki’s despite wanting it to happen narratively), but it can be done. BNHA’s Japan especially isn’t as harsh a world as Tokyo Ghoul’s Japan, so it would make even more sense for something like Kaneki’s ending.

The reality is that the cycle of revenge via hurting people and then leaving hurting families and loved ones has to stop somewhere. Someone has to be the bigger person and step up and be like “naw.” That’s heroic. That’s brave. That’s sacrificial itself. Justice itself doesn’t really exist in its purest form without mercy.

There’s another genre-reason I don’t see death or jail as likely (I could see, like, maybe a mental health ward like Rei’s? But it’s too soon to speculate).

If saving is considered a good thing for the story, if it’s truly the highest ideal, then saving someone should be rewarded by the narrative. The characters who save should have a positive result to show us this a good thing.

This is why it doesn’t work for the heroes’ end journey to be accepting that some people cannot be saved. The notion of just accepting that you cannot do something, you cannot save everyone, you cannot, cannot, cannot, is called out as a flaw of society. Determination, on the other hand, is rewarded.

We see it with Deku as well as with Mirio.

So, what if they save them and the redeemed characters then go on to sacrifice themselves in their redemption and die (come to the same end)? If saving changes absolutely nothing for the saved person, if it’s too late for the saved from themselves to change and/or do anything that matters besides die, then the narrative theme of saving as important is left unemphasized at best and undermined at worst. Simple intrinsic knowledge that the kids “did the right thing” doesn’t cut it for a story with so much focus on physical saving when the kids are already doing the right thing; moral struggles about whether to choose to be good aren’t really Deku, Ochaco, or Shouto’s arcs. It works for Aizawa’s arc with Kurogiri, but not for the kiddos. If BNHA was more of a philosophical/spiritual text, that would indeed make sense, but it is not. Genre-wise, BNHA is a fantastical superhero optimistic story, not a gritty real-world set drama.

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vivithefolle · 3 years

Note

I just wanna ask, and don’t get mad at me cause I’m genuinely curious, how do you stan Ron? Like, I like him, but he is definitely misogynistic (slut shaming Ginny, treating hermione like she owes him something and being mad that she kissed someone years before, always objectifying Fleur, and acting like girls who aren’t pretty aren’t worth much). Like, by DH I feel like he definitely has mostly grown out of it, but still 6/7 books he’s kinda unbearable IMO

how do you stan Ron?

Like this:

OH MY GOD HAVE YOU SEEN. HAVE YOU SEEN HIM DID YOU SEE MY BABY OH MY GOD. WHEN HARRY’S ARM HAD GONE KABLOOIE BECAUSE OF LOCKHART AND HE. RON. HE WAS. HELPING HIM GET DRESSED???? OH MY GOD BABY???? HHHHNNNNGGGG. AND. AND. AND ALSO WHEN HE. OMG. WHEN HE WAS PUTTING FOOD ON HIS FRIENDS’ PLATES LIKE. MOM FRIEND ALERT MOM FRIEND ALERT MOM FRIEND ALERT. AND THE WAY HE’S ALWAYS BLUSHING AND BEING EMBARRASSED AT THE SLIGHTEST PRAISE BUT ALSO HE’S SO DESPERATELY SEEKING IT BUT HE KNOWS HE CAN’T TAKE IT AND EEK EEK EEK THAT’S SO CUTE SOMEONE HOLD ME IT’S ADORABLE RONALD WEASLEY YOU ARE SO GOING TO BE THE DEATH OF ME IT’S ILLEGAL TO BE THIS CUTE!!!!

Ok and then.

he is definitely misogynistic

No. And here’s why.

slut shaming Ginny

Yes, that was wrong. And guess what, that’s also something he probably - scratch that, definitely - picked up from his mother. And also his brothers, recall how Fred and George too don’t like to see Ginny go around with boys. There’s also something to recall: Ron was there when Ginny was taken into the Chamber of Secrets and learned later that it was because she had trusted an older guy. You seriously wouldn’t be paranoid about who your sister dates after that? It was wrong. Yeah. And he more than learned his lesson when Ginny clapped back by virgin-shaming him and basically told him that he was childish because he hadn’t have a relationship yet. So would that make Ginny sexist too? Or is it just for Ron?

treating hermione like she owes him something

..................... uuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhh... when? When the fuck did anything like that happen?

He made a prat of himself at the Yule Ball, that much is obvious. But he didn’t tell her anything like “you should be with me” or didn’t insinuate anything of the sort. He was a jealous bitch but kept attacking Krum, not Hermione.

If you mean in sixth year when he treated her with “icy, sneering indifference” for the course of two weeks, yeah that was bad but that’s not “treating her like she owes him something”, the fuck?

being mad that she kissed someone years before

Yeah. I know. And that was bad, ooooh you got me to admit Ron did bad stuff, that’s what you want to see, right? And I reckon he was also mad that she hid it from him, and that he had to learn it from his sister of all people. We see Ron handles what he considers betrayals terribly. I have some meta discussing the possibility that he has a form of Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria.

always objectifying Fleur

Um... no, he doesn’t. He makes a stupid comment about her once in GOF then stops. Let’s also fucking remember that Fleur is a Veela, she literally makes guys stare at her as part of her powers!! I’m not blaming her because she’s literally born that way, but you can’t blame someone who is under magical compulsion either.

acting like girls who aren’t pretty aren’t worth much

So tell me why he was friends with Hermione then?

Because Hermione wasn’t Emma Watson the super hawt sexy model goddess. Hermione was Mrs Generic. Until this once at the Yule Ball when she got the pretty princess perfect Mary Sue makeover but then stopped because she had to remain ~relatable uwu~.

Again. Ron made stupid sexist comments. But it’s actively shown that he doesn’t follow up on them. If he did indeed live by the motto “girls who aren’t pretty aren’t worth much”, explain to me why he wasn’t simping and drooling all over Padma Patil who is explicitly stated to be one of the prettiest girls at school when she was his date? Why exactly did he ignore her and was a miserable twat the whole evening instead of basking in the joy of having snagging a girl that was “worth it”? Well surprise, it’s because HE ACTUALLY ISN’T LIKE THAT AND WHAT HE SAYS IS MAYBE SHIT HIS “COOL OLDER BROTHERS” SAY AND HE THINKS THAT BY EXTENSION IT WOULD MAKE HIM COOL TO REPEAT IT. MIMETISM, THAT'S BASIC FUCKING HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY FOR FUCKING TODDLERS MY FUCKING GOD.

Like, by DH I feel like he definitely has mostly grown out of it,

............

...................................

...............................................................

so. so why. so why wouldn’t you. use that. as a reason. to stan him.

like.

fuck all the “hurr durr ron weasley the boy who made it out of the friendzone!!!!” bullshit, let’s start going with “Ron Weasley, the Boy who became a Man, and not one of those 'uugghh im such an alpha male’ ones but one that’s got the balls to say ‘hey love, I’ve got an idea, what if you kept doing that job you love and feel passionate about while I support you and do the majority of the childcare while also working a smaller job on the side so we’re never short on money’“

Why you people gotta be “yeah I like Ron BUTT” when you know full-well this fucking awful fandom will rake him over hot coals over the slightest mistake he does - worse, will actively go out of their way to interpret his positive moments in the most negative way possible??? Fuck off with that bullshit. Ron dared to say bad stuff omygah big deal, he was forgiven for it all and you’re just all cowards looking to feel “pure” by telling yourself “oh yeah but he was problematic once uwu”. FUCK. THAT. NOISE.

but still 6/7 books he’s kinda unbearable IMO

And IMO he’s not, funny how that works

So.

I guess it’s impossible to stan Ron because he was problematic uwu.

Ok.

Then I hereby decree that it’s impossible to stan Hermione Granger because:

“I’ll bet you wish you hadn’t given up Divination now, don’t you, Hermione?” asked Parvati, smirking. [...] “Not really,” said Hermione indifferently, who was reading the Daily Prophet. “I’ve never really liked horses.” She turned a page of the newspaper, scanning its columns. “He’s not a horse, he’s a centaur!” said Lavender, sounding shocked. “A gorgeous centaur . . .” sighed Parvati. “Either way, he’s still got four legs,” said Hermione coolly. “Any-way, I thought you two were all upset that Trelawney had gone?” - Order of the Phoenix, ch 27

wow casual use of a racial slur yay!!! A+

And it’s also forbidden to stan Harry Potter either since:

It was raining hard now, and she was nowhere to be seen. He simply did not understand what had happened; half an hour ago they had been getting along fine. “Women!” he muttered angrily, sloshing down the rain-washed street with his hands in his pockets. “What did she want to talk about Cedric for anyway? Why does she always want to drag up a subject that makes her act like a human hosepipe?” - Order of the Phoenix, ch 25

and

“Harry! There you are, thank goodness! Hi, Luna!” “What’s happened to you?” asked Harry, for Hermione looked distinctly disheveled, rather as though she had just fought her way out of a thicket of Devil’s Snare. “Oh, I’ve just escaped — I mean, I’ve just left Cormac,” she said. “Under the mistletoe,” she added in explanation, as Harry continued to look questioningly at her. “Serves you right for coming with him,” he told her severely. “I thought he’d annoy Ron most,” said Hermione dispassionately. “I debated for a while about Zacharias Smith, but I thought, on the whole —” “You considered Smith?” said Harry, revoked. - Half-Blood Prince

Victim-blaming! Nice Harry, nice. Always classy.

Ok, Ginny stanning is already cancelled because she virgin-shamed Ron, right, so who’s left, who’s left... ah yeah:

“There you go,” said Fred proudly. “Best range of love potions you’ll find anywhere.” - Half-Blood Prince

Selling date rape drugs proudly ouh là là. Bye Fred.

"Do they work?” she asked. “Certainly they work, for up to twenty-four hours at a time depending on the weight of the boy in question...” “...and the attractiveness of the girl,” said George, reappearing suddenly at their side. “But we’re not selling them to our sister,” he added, becoming suddenly stern, “not when she’s already got about five boys on the go from what we’ve...” “Whatever you’ve heard from Ron is a big fat lie,” said Ginny calmly, leaning forward to take a small pink pot off the shelf.

Assuming that only girls use love potions, and only on boys. Men never rape in JKR’s world, only women do, you heard it from George Weasley here folks, I’m just passing on the message. Ah and I hope you’re also starting the Fred And George Hate Club given how he’s also slut-shaming Ginny.

“What’s this?” “Guaranteed ten-second pimple vanisher,” said Fred. “Excellent on everything from boils to blackheads, but don’t change the subject. Are you or are you not currently going out with a boy called Dean Thomas?” “Yes, I am,” said Ginny. “And last time I looked, he was definitely one boy, not five. What are those?” She was pointing at a number of round balls of fluff in shades of pink and purple, all rolling around the bottom of a cage and emitting high-pitched squeaks. “Pygmy Puffs,” said George. “Miniature puffskeins, we can’t breed them fast enough. So what about Michael Corner?” “I dumped him, he was a bad loser,” said Ginny, putting a finger through the bars of the cage and watching the Pygmy Puffs crowd around it. “They’re really cute!” “They’re fairly cuddly, yes,” conceded Fred. “But you’re moving through boyfriends a bit fast, aren’t you?” Ginny turned to look at him, her hands on her hips. There was such a Mrs. Weasley-ish glare on her face that Harry was surprised Fred didn’t recoil. “It’s none of your business. And I’ll thank you” she added angrily to Ron, who had just appeared at George’s elbow, laden with merchandise, “not to tell tales about me to these two!”

Ah, good on you for defending yourself, Ginny, but remember, Ginny stanning is prohibited because she’s been problematic in the past and is gonna be problematic in the future and that’s baaaaaaad. Careful kids, don’t get ideas. It’s problematic to like people who’ve done problematic things.

So I guess nobody can like anything or anyone now. Sorry guys. Liking things is evil, what if the thing you liked had, OR USED TO HAVE, *gasp* flaws, can’t take that risk, ohmygah.

#vivi answers #ask #ron weasley #ron weasley defense squad #ron weasley defence squad #hp fandumb #hp fandom #harry potter #harry potter series #fred weasley #george weasley #fred and george #ginny weasley #hermione granger #problematic content

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lunarfly · 3 years

Text

Ok so I decided to finally post the promised: defending Romione (🥺💗💕💖💞💘) against Dr*mione (ಠಿ_ಠ) shippers.

So I've read a few posts about Dr*mione shippers, talking about why their ship is amazing (which had nothing to do with canon btw) and bashing Ron (for no reason) and I'm literally shaking out of anger.

Here are my thoughts:

1. "Ron is too dumb for hermione"

Stop- Just-

Stop.

RON IS NOT DUMB.

Yes, he might not be very interested in school subjects, but 👏 that 👏 doesn't 👏 mean 👏 he 👏 is 👏 dumb 👏.

He is actually very smart! He beat McGonagall's chess game, he is logical and quick-thinking. There's MANY examples of this that I won't name right now, but it's a canonical fact. Ron. Is. Not. Dumb.

And consider he was dumb. So? Would that stop Romione from happening? NO! Hermione didn't mind Ron not being smart. She was just upset that Ron was lazy and wouldn't study anything until the last minute. She wanted to get both Harry and Ron to study according to a schedule.

Is it clear? Intelligence doesn't determine love.

**And this is something that confuses me. This doesn't have anything to do with the point, but why does nobody realize that Harry isn't much smarter than Ron? Yes, he was better at DADA but that requires TALENT, not intelligence. And I'm pretty sure we all know that Ron is talented as well (hopefully everyone realizes that). Nobody uses the fact that Harry wasn't intelligent against Harmione, but everyone uses the fact that Ron wasn't intelligent against Romione. The double standards tear apart the fandom.

2. "Ron bought hermione perfume and Draco could get her something better."

Soooo, you're saying that just because Ron didn't have the money that Draco had means that Hermione didn't deserve Ron?

Wow, this just says a lot about you dr*mione shippers. You only care about the money that Draco has, not his personality. You don't like Ron because he's poor (and I know how FanFics give the "kind Draco" Ron's canon personality so the only "problem" with Ron is his looks and lack of money). And you don't see Hermione nor Ron the way they are. This "point" of yours is literally stating that Hermione should be a gold-digger and get Draco because he can get her the expensive presents that she deserves. Yikes.

3. "Draco can understand the emotional side of Hermione while Ron can't."

Wait

What?

WHERE DO YOU GET THIS IDEA FROM-

Draco is only EVER concerned about his own self, he is a NARCISSIST. He would NEVER care for someone (let alone Hermione) as purely and truly as he cared about himself. He didn't even care about Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson etc. He was selfish. The only reason he could express his emotions was because he had to go through a lot since he realized that killing Dumbledore wasn't as easy as bullying Hermione. This would never ever work.

And even if Ron didn't understand her as much, he STILL comforted her. Take the beginning chapters of The Deathly Hallows as an example. You'll see.

4. "Ron is too immature."

I need help.

Of course Ron was immature when he was 11!! Yes, he acted immaturely many times, yes, he made many mistakes, but guess what? He changed! He changed for Hermione!! Draco didn't change at all, not for Hermione, nor for anyone else. He remained the same bratty bully.

If you could reread the books and read prisoner of azkaban vs deathly hallows, you will definitely see how much Ron has matured. He doesn't argue with Hermione anymore, he comforts her, he's there for her. Yes, he made a mistake but he was manipulated by the horcrux! We don't blame Ginny for what tom riddle's diary made her do, do we? So stop blaming Ron!

Anyways, I think if dr*mione shippers have read the books, they'll know what I'm talking about when I say Ron changed for Hermione. I honestly don't know how you could miss Ron's character arc.

5. "Ron would be jealous of the brilliant Hermione."

What?

If I remember correctly, the reason Draco bullied the trio was because he was jealous of them. His jealousy turned into a 7 year torture for the trio and now you're saying that Ron is the jealous one? Please.

But anyways, Ron has been jealous of Harry and has made a few mistakes. But there are reasons behind them and I can defend him for each of these with arguments other than "everyone makes mistakes" (cough cough* Draco stans* cough cough).

First of all, Ron has admitted being jealous of Harry's fame because he lives with 5 older brothers who outshine him. But that's not really a mistake because he never let it get in his way. There were only 2 situations in 7 years when he left Harry out of jealousy but I think these have different explainations.

No1 Ron left in goblet of fire. I think the real reason that Ron let his jealousy get in his way this time, was not only because Harry got to participate in the tournament which could bring him eternal glory, but more likely because he was disappointed that his own best friend didn't even tell him that he was entering and didn't even help him participate (which wasn't true, but Ron thought so back then).

No2 Ron left in deathly hallows. This one was 100% because of the horcrux and I think we should all accept this by now and stop hating on Ron for being affected by dark magic.

And just like that, Ron never let his jealousy get in his way of friendships. I can't think of a situation where Ron is jealous of the brilliant Hermione so if you remember, please let me know so I can argue against it. <3

6. "Ron and Hermione would break up and remain friends, it's easy to imagine because they didn't have a strong relationship."

This was actually said, someone actually said this-

I'm just going to say that Ron and Hermione are happily married to this day (which definitely proves that their relationship is strong) and give the dr*mione community a moment of silence.

7. "Ron didn't do anything for Hermione and was just a jerk."

Coming from a person who has read and reread the books multiple times, I can assure you that Ron did many things for Hermione.

Of course, he was immature at first, he was mean to her, but slowly he started seeing more of the good in Hermione and started changing for her.

And even when he was immature, he still cared about Hermione and would protect her no matter what.

Let's remember how many times rubbish Ron stood up for Hermione against the brilliant bully Draco. 🥰

Let's remember how cowardly Ronald faced his fears of spiders to help Hermione (and the rest of the school, just how jerkier can he get?). 🥰

Let's remember how ridiculous Ronniekins stood up for Hermione against sensational Snape and got himself into detention (oh yes, this is the book version of the movie moment where Ron agrees with Snape about Hermione being an 'insufferable know-it-all'). 🥰

Let's remember how rotten Ronny comforted Hermione when she was worried about Hagrid and Buckbeak (and he even let her hug him and cry on his shoulder, how rude). 🥰

Let's remember how revolting Ronald sacrificed himself to save Harry and Hermione in the chess game. 🥰

Let's remember how horrendous Ron attempted to hex Draco when he used a slur that was meant to offend Hermione. 🥰

Keep in mind that all of these were done when Ron was still immature and still argued a lot with Hermione.

And these aren't even all.

8. "Ron and Hermione have a loveless marriage."

What the-

I'm sorry, I'm trying to be respectful here but this is crap. And the fact that the person said they also had "proof" from the c*rsed ch*ld but didn't want to spoil it-

As much as I hate the c*rsed ch*ld, I can tell you that it did its job portraying Ron and Hermione's unconditional love. Even in alternative realities, where they didn't get married, they were still in love.

And why would you even think that Ron and Hermione would marry and have kids if they didn't love each other? I need explainations.

Next.

9. "Ron never listens to Hermione."

I'm sorry, what? I'm genuinely confused??

What do you even mean by this? Yeah, they used to argue a lot, and? Ron thinks Hermione is brilliant and wonderful and he follows her advice. I can't recall a moment where Ron won't listen to Hermione, doesn't agree with her and ruins her plans. Anyone else?

Since this one is a big mess and a confusion, I'll move on to the next one until someone explains the points and arguments.

10. "Draco could make Hermione laugh while Ron couldn't."

....

Do I really need to say anything for this one?

Ron was the funniest one from the trio, that's why Harry enjoyed his company so much! Don't you remember the line in goblet of fire where Harry thinks about how much he misses having Ron as his best friend, because without him there's less fun and less laughs? I do.

But what I don't remember is finding Draco's sense of humor funny. I'm sorry but his intellectual level is almost as low as Crabbe and Goyle's. His insults are none other than Potty and Weaselbee, he only got 3 O.W.L.s and all of his jokes were stupid and dumb and their only purpose was insulting people he was jealous of.

These fanfics have rotten people's brains...😬

Anyways, I'm going to stop here. I've delayed this post for very long and I'm so excited to finally post it!

I read a book on wattpad by a dr*mione shipper and it was nothing but a giant headache. That's where I got all of these statements from. Most of the garbage in the book revolved around Draco and Hermione being inseparable and getting over all obstacles (wth) and other stupid stuff like that which really annoyed me. The book was called "why we love dr*mione" and it was by Bittenwizard. You can read and enjoy! Trust me, you'll have lots of content to post about after that 🤠👍

*I always try to be respectful to all ships, but sometimes some of them really anger me because the ships are either toxic or the arguments are plain trash. I'm sorry if I offend anyone.

Thank you for reading this. If you're a dr*mione shipper, I hope I've convinced you to give up the ship or come up with better arguments for it.

If you're an anti-dramione I hope you enjoyed the post. I'll delight you with more anti-toxic-ships content. :)

Thank you once again! <3

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