❥ A Perfect Experiment : Wally x Reader (She/Her Pronouns, Named) ✿

Chapter Masterpost: [  ♡   ♡    ♡ ]

Chapter Five; Can’t Help Falling in Love ( A/N: This chapter has a lot of music involved with it! If you’d like to listen along, click the [♫] SONG NAME - ARTIST as you see them! ) ●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・● The four of you arrive in the square, and go your separate ways. Barnaby, who had carried Wally limply under his arm all the way over for some reason, dragged the boy over to the snack table to start the party up straight away. Howdy had his work cut out for him, that was for sure. You and Poppy scooch over to an empty table, and are quickly met by Julie, hiding her intentions with another pot of flowers that she sets up next to your record player. “Did you bring the goods, Buttercup?” She asks in a hushed tone, pupils darting from side to side. “Buttercup?” You raise your eyebrow, and Poppy pulls the cable out of your hand to start plugging things in. “Its your code name!!! I thought of ‘em myself. You’re Buttercup, Poppy is Pigeon, Sally,” She points across the field where Sally is, running an extension cord from Home to plug in the lights, “Is Honey, and I’m the Captain!” She shoves a thumb against her chest proudly. “Why do we need code names?” You settle into one of the folding chairs, and rest your head on your hands, peering up Julie. Your eyebrow remains cocked. “Every successful mission has code names. Scientific fact.” Julie waggled her eyebrows at you oh-so charmingly. Well, you can’t argue with that logic. You lift the record up from its resting spot, and Julie squeals, grabbing it from your hands and spinning. “There he is!!! The King Himself! This is going to be PERFECT!” She hands it back to you, bouncing up and down vigorously. Elvis’ face gives you a suave smile from the record sleeve where he rests, and you nod. Excellent choice. “Now!! Here's the plan.” Julie slaps a crudely drawn crayon map onto the table, pulling the two of you in close… ●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・● Julie’s plan had you DJing the event, to wait for her signal. This was more than fine with you, you loved your record collection and were beyond psyched to show it off. Besides, you could dance just as well from the comfort and privacy of your chair. The sun had just set, and with a nod and a flourish, Frank had lit his project ablaze. It turned out to be an intricate bonfire, and it lit up the clearing beautifully, well worth his hard work. The beats from your speakers bounced around your neighbours, their booties shaking wildly. Phase one; Lull them into a false sense of security. It takes a boatload of willpower to keep the malicious smile off of your face. Something about this secret agent mission thrilled you, though you would never admit it. You’d gone home earlier briefly to change into something more party-appropriate, as had everyone else, it seemed. Your party outfit was based on extensive testing and focus groups, discussed amongst groups of experts, and had 100% chance of making you look ‘Just cute as a button!’ according to the top expert, Julie. By ‘extensive testing’, you of course mean that it won third place in the fashion show that you, Julie and Sally had put on in the comfort of your home. You’d claim nepotism, but the way the girls had looked at each other, it was obvious that they’d already tied long before you’d even moved to Home. The dress itself was pastel pink, some sort of pleather, tighter than you’d like, with a tall white collar and no sleeves. What it lacked in sleeves though, it made up for in a big poofy skirt, pink with a white underskirt as well. You paired it with a white belt, a pair of go-go boots that Julie had gifted you, and a bow sitting off to the side of your short hair, feathered back for the occasion. Just perfect, you concluded, and perfectly matched to your classy, fashionable friends!!! Sally’s outfit was out of this world. She had glitzy striped pants with frills going down the side, and the poofiest blouse you’d ever seen. Next to her, dragging Frank on to the dance floor, was Julie. She was absolutely dolled up, taking every advantage that this party gave her. You didn’t think her hair could get bigger before, but seeing it curled up into a beehive proved you wrong. No amount of science would be able to figure out how she got it to stay in place with all that crazy dancing. Frank had barely changed up his own outfit, merely opting to swap out his dress shirt with one with shorter sleeves for the heat, and leaving his bowtie at home– you weren’t sure what you preferred! You watched as Julie popped his collar, causing the two girls to start to giggle madly. Poppy’s usual shawl had been switched with one made of a beautiful lace, and the pearl necklace she’d included added that touch of grace and maturity you expected from her. Howdy had a short-sleeved dress shirt on, burgundy with little white flowers on it, and you had to admit he looked so charming with his hair slicked back like that. Barnaby might’ve been your favourite of all of them, you took one look at the vest he was wearing and wheezed out a laugh. It was the EXACT same as his usual vest, but with layered frills for days. It was probably to match Wally’s outfit, an expertly starched white dress shirt, and striped pants with the same layered frills on the ends of the legs. They looked adorable apart, but together it was almost too much for you! That left Eddie Dear, who had apparently only left to finish his evening rounds for the mail, returning a little shocked to find that everyone else had dressed up so fancy. Julie had a solution, however, discarding his cap and bag and setting a flower crown on his head. He looked absolutely delighted by it. [♫] Jailhouse Rock - Elvis Presley “Well don’t you just look cute as a button,” You almost couldn’t hear Wally’s suave tones over the music, but the compliment made you light up. “Th-thank you, Mr. Darling!!! I was a little worried I’d never get the chance to wear something like this,” You admitted with a laugh. He settled in next to you, and set a plate of snacks down beside the record player, “Ha ha ha. Who would’ve thought a little spit and polish would make everyone so happy?” He wondered aloud, “I thought you could use some company. You looked awfully lonely over here.” “Who could be lonely when they’ve got the king around?” You ask with a cheery laugh before lifting and taking a bite of one of the sandwiches he’d brought, following it with an appreciative ‘Mmm!’. Wally started looking around, checking behind your chair and frantically checking behind the two of you. It takes a few moments before you realise he’s looking for the King, and you nearly choke on your bite when it comes to you.

You manage to swallow it, and reach over, lifting up the record sleeve and pointing at the picture on the cover. Realisation floods the puppet’s face, followed swiftly by a blush across his cheeks. How cute… You hand him the sleeve to examine further, returning your attention to the sandwich he’d so kindly brought for you. Wally checks the sleeve over thoroughly, making sure that this ‘king’ wasn’t some strange intruder he had to be wary of. When he was satisfied of the lack of sentience, he finally took a good look at Elvis himself. He sure had excellent taste in hair, that was for sure. It was weird, though… Why was there a big lipgloss mark on The King’s cheek? You seemed to be so protective of your record collection… He felt a weird feeling shoot through his heart, and shoved it along with the record sleeve away, turning his focus on the rainbow monster that had scurried to the tableside. “Are you ready for phase two, Buttercup?” She asked, slamming a hand on to the table. The record skipped, and it only took one sour look from you to get her to apologise, giving the record player a gentle pat. “Ready and waiting, Captain!” You give her a lazy salute, and are given a determined nod from her before she hurries back to her station. You hear another monotone laugh from beside you, and peer back towards Wally. “Buttercup?” “... Its my code name,” Your cheeks feel red hot, and you reach up instinctively to cover them. He laughs again, and you swear you hear him mumble ‘Adorable.’... But that just can’t be right. Ugh, you can’t afford to be distracted now, no matter how sweet his compliments were!!! You take in a deep breath, and take note of where everyone is on the dance floor. It was time for phase two. Group one had Honey and the Captain herding the target to the center of the dance floor; distracting him with hijinks and pranks and lightening his usual dour mood. They were right on track, and you make a mental note to compliment them on their excellent espionage. Group two was doing even better! Pigeon had lured the bait into the perfect spot, the two of them bounding to the beat almost next to the bonfire, and Howdy gave you a nod from where he stood, ready to swoop in. “Just.. A second… More…” You mumble to yourself, your trigger happy hand sitting above the needle. You’d know where to move on the record even if you were blind and deaf; the trap was only the most beautiful song that the King had made, and you’d get this to go off without a hitch. You’d promised her, after all. Wally squints at you, and only just manages to start asking you what on earth you’re up to when you see it; the signal. Frank’s back is turned to you, and Julie gives you a spastic wave. Not the most subtle, but y’know, it worked. The record scratches. The music stops. Everyone stops dead in their tracks. The Bait and the Target look around with concerned expressions, and Howdy dives from his hiding spot. [♫] Can’t help falling in love - Elvis Presley The music starts back up. The piano is soft. Dancers pair up as if it was planned– even though it totally wasn’t, you swear. Sally grabs Julie, squeezing her girlfriend close and leaving Frank floundering. Poppy is scooped by Howdy in a very, very subtle move that leaves Eddie flushed. You’re on the edge of your seat, squeezing the tablecloth anxiously in your hands. Eddie seems to realise whats happened first, and with a nervous laugh, he turns to Frank, offering a hand. But… Frank hesitates. Your heart stops, and without thinking, you’re gripping Wally’s shirt and sinking back in your chair. Oh, you didn’t think of this happening. What if he blows it? What if he gets mad? Oh, you can’t watch. But you also can’t look away. You feel Wally’s other hand rest on your head, not petting or rubbing, but just resting. Even that kind gesture couldn’t pull you from this train wreck. “OOPS!” Julie to the rescue! She shoves Frank hard with her hip, the puppet stumbling forwards into Eddie’s arms. Yes!! The whole neighbourhood watches with baited breath. Eddie laughs heartily, and takes that as a yes, starting to move backwards to get Frank back on his feet, and leading him in the dance. You can’t contain your excited wiggle. Yes! Mission accomplished!! Julie and Sally each shoot you a wink, and you give them two big thumbs up. Wally is practically in stitches next to you, and wipes a tear from his eye,

“Is this what her big plan was?” He asked, peering over at you quizzically. You laugh, and nod in response. Wally scooches his chair closer to listen as you explain the plan quietly to him. You lean a little closer to him, your arms brushing against each other as you watch the fruits of your labour. The two of them look to be having a serious conversation under their breaths, both with blush tinged cheeks, and tiny smiles across their faces. Absolutely flawless. You take in a deep, calming breath. Wally smells like apples, naturally, along with distinct undertones of… licorice? Haha, weird. It suits him, strangely enough. You wonder briefly what you smell like. Probably latex gloves? How disappointing. You wish that there was a nice smell that late nights at the observatory could give you, aside from graphite and notebook pages. “Weird,” You mumble under your breath, eliciting a questioning noise from Wally. “Oh. Well, the lights can make it hard to see the stars, but… Ah, it must be a new moon. Silly me.” Wally stiffens next to you, but you don’t have time to question it before you’re scooped up unwillingly into another puppets arms. [♫] A Big Hunk O’ Love - Elvis Presley “C’mere, you!” Barnaby sets you gingerly on one of his arms, lifting you out to the dance floor and the giggles erupt from you, no matter how hard you’re trying to hold them back with the nervous hands over your face. “You didn’t think you’d get to just sit there all night, did’ja??? Time to boogie!” His laugh was deep and you could feel it through his arm, him not even bothering to put you down before he started shaking his booty to the new song. You can’t! It’d be too embarrassing! You can’t see them, but there are definitely eyes on you. No… Noooo! The boogie, alas, was too infectious for your weak heart, and you felt the wiggles overtake you in Barnaby’s arms. Your shoulder dance seems to be the secret key to him putting you down, and he gives you courage in the form of a hand held and a big grin on his face. Can’t say no to that face, or the king’s bouncy tones, for very long at all. Before you realise what's happening, you’re swinging to the music, and the idea of embarrassing yourself has floated somewhere into the upper atmosphere. Maybe you’d find that fear again one night while stargazing, floating through the stars where no one can hear it. ●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・● Wally relaxes through the next few songs, leaning back in his folding chair and taking the occasional unseen bite from the remaining sandwich on the plate. Barnaby was right, of course, he was going to be sore in the morning. Maybe for a few mornings after that, too. Something about the reckless abandon with which you took to the dance floor, though… He couldn’t take his eyes off it for more than a moment. You look so, SO unbelievably silly. Like you’d practiced these spastic wiggles a million times before. He leaned forwards, setting his head dreamily in his hands. Ha ha ha… Was that an air guitar he saw? “Absolutely… Adorable.” He drolls, and his brain takes a quick halt. Adorable. It wasn’t the first time he’d said this about you, not even tonight. And it's not like he didn’t compliment his other friends… A pang shook through his chest, and he clutched the front of his shirt… No, something about this was different… And something about your questioning gaze earlier… This was oh, so dangerous for him. So why hadn’t he stopped you yet? There were countless ways, methods he’d used before, methods he’d use again… Maybe you just needed… More distraction. Right; that was the problem. Well, that much he could do without arousing too much suspicion. He unbuttoned his top button, and smoothed his perfect hair, and stood up. If there was one thing Wally Darling could do, it was dance. With a pop of his collar, he strode on, ready to show these kids a thing or two. ●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・● [♫] Devil in Disguise - Elvis Presley You’d been tossed between a few eager partners at this point, including but not limited to: A dance with Julie in which you’d mostly just shook your hair, a brief exchange with Eddie Dear, who’d thanked you under his breath while staring across at a certain someone, and a wild dance with Poppy who shook her feathers in ways you hadn’t even imagined before. This latest one was graced with Howdy, and you’d made a comment about how you needed to run an experiment to see if your hypothesis was correct; more limbs DEFINITELY made for more fun in a dance partner! You had him almost completely hysterical when something stole his attention away. Apparently it was someone cutting in, and you’re shocked when one of your arms is pulled upwards, giving you a spin and a dip. Wally Darling grins down at you, and you melt in an instant. Whoa. He gives one of his slow, droning laughs and pulls you back up, leading you with both of your arms now, swaying you quickly back and forth with the bouncing melody. It was as if he was shaped perfectly by the gods to swing it to Elvis. He switches from a slower portion of the song, swaying back and forth with you, to effortlessly spinning you out and then back in, your hand landing smack dab in the middle of his chest. You felt like your brain was going to pop. He lands the finishing blow perfectly, and as the song ends, he bonks his forehead against your own, staring in to your eyes briefly before stepping back. He pats you on the shoulder and moves on to his next victim; leaving you standing there as if nothing had ever happened. Your hands fly up to hide your red hot face. Uuuugh! You deserve a good sit down after that. (A/N: I was asked to tag @elegantkidfansoul with the update! If you’d also like to be tagged, feel free to let me know! ^v^ This update was a little long, but it was so fun to write eeee!!!)

Red Dead Redemption Scenarios: Listening to them sing

Pronouns: None Mentioned Physical Sex: None Mentioned Rating: T/Drinking Warnings: Drunk singing, kissing, neck kissing, lap sitting, fluff

Abe: 

The ranch hands get together sometimes, when the boss isn’t around. Abe likes to sing when the inevitable songs come up. He likes to sing to you, to be specific. He’ll meet your eyes even when you’re not sitting together and you can’t help but grin at the attention. He sounds nice, clear and usually on key, more than the other hands at least.

Bill Williamson: 

Bill is always much more confident when he’s drunk. He sings louder, which is nice because his voice is unconventionally nice while he sings. He’s less nervous around you, more likely to initiate intimacy even in front of the gang. So as he sings along with the group by the fire, Javier’s guitar guiding them, he pulls you into his lap and puts his arms around you. His singing turns more into a mumble because he feels the need to press kisses to your neck. Then he sings softly into your ear and you can’t help but lean back into him so you can feel that slight rumble in his chest as he does it.

Charles Smith: 

His voice is like heaven when he speaks and it’s even better when he sings. Hidden to most by the loud voices of the gang, you get to hear it as you sit between his legs. The rumble of his chest against your back makes your shiver and his voice in your ear is transfixing. He has such a deep bass, even if it’s quiet. You find yourself unwanting to sing along yourself because you want to listen to him for as long as possible. Even if he doesn’t quite know the right notes or he messes up the words, it sounds perfect to you.

Colm O’Driscoll: 

He has a lighter voice, a little more high pitched than most men. If the boys weren’t so scared of him they might point it out. You love it though, how he lets himself settle after a few bottles of whiskey. One of the boys always has some instrument and plenty of others gather around to be stupid when it’s dark, but it’s Colm’s voice that you always try to focus on. Even when you’re not in his lap or next to him you listen for his voice.

Kieran Duffy: 

He’s enjoying himself for once. Letting his voice go along with the rest of the gang. You’re not sure if he’s drunk, only watching him from a distance as you help Pearson clean up. It’s nice to see, to hear him let himself go. When you’re finished you join the campfire circle and Kieran smiles as you sit next to him and put an arm around him. He sings along still, maybe even louder now that he knows you’re listening.

Micah Bell: 

It’s mostly a mumble, one only you can hear because you’re leaning on his shoulder. His voice is low compared to the rest of the gang, but it’s steady as he quietly hums along and only occasionally says the words. He smiles on occasion, dipping his head so no one sees that he’s actually enjoying himself. He has a place somewhere and he’s slowly falling into it. It’s nice to see, it makes you smile as you watch him. Your hand finds its way into his and he turns to you, taking a moment to press a steady kiss to your lips before he lets you take your place back against his shoulder. He continues to hum along and you think you could listen to it forever.

Sean MacGuire: 

He’s drunk beyond belief, sitting on the ground by the fire with you sitting between his legs and leaning back into his chest. A few of the gang have started the singing along with Pearson’s instrumental. Sean sways slightly, his arms around you and dragging you with him along to the melody. His voice reflects his lack of sobriety as he mumbles the lyrics in your ear between kisses. Then the song changes and it’s much more upbeat, so Sean releases you and sings a little louder as he leans away from your ear. You lean back into his chest and listen to him go on about the nonsense words with a distinct lack of care for being on key. He laughs as he comes back to hold you again, pressing a kiss to your cheek and grinning against your skin as he starts swaying with the music again.

my pronouns;  she/they - 24 years old

My personality traits: I'm quite shy at first but as soon as I'm more comfortable I'm more extroverted, I'm very much a listener but I can get energy boost and become quite talkative

my hobbies: I love painting and drawing as well as dancing, I used to dance for 10+ years but I retired seeing as I was a contemporary dancer as well as a ballet dancer

my movies/songs/food/places/books: movie: anything by Tim Burton

song: closer by kings of Leon

food: pizza

place: parks or a small book café

Book: classic literature (too much to choose)

if i have any pets: I have 2 cats

My dreams and aspirations: my dream is so travel and work full time as a photographer

zodiac sign/MBTI: virgo and ENTP

your aesthetic: its a mix between dark academia and street fashion but I always wear black and grey. I have a lot of tattoos including my neck tattooed and a full sleeve. I also have short black hair

the group i would like you to pick from: stray kids

(I absolutely adore your blog and writing btw 💕💕)

Thank you so so so much! I'm so glad you enjoy my writing 💗 also thank you a lot for participating, it means the world to me!

Now let’s get to your ship!

-

So as I was reading the information you submitted, my brain was chanting Hyunjin, Hyunjin, Hyunjin before I even knew you wanted me to pick from skz lol. So I guess I'll go with that.

My reasoning behind it:

- you love dancing, painting and photographing which is something that we all know Hyunjin enjoys, so I think that having the same hobbies could be a great bonding element for you <3

- you are a Virgo which goes perfectly with Hyunjin's Pisces (I'm Pisces too btw and Virgo's are my favorite lol)

- you love classical literature and I read somewhere that Hyunjin reads Austen sooooo another thing you might possibly have in common

- plus Hyunjin apparently has a few tattoos as well so I think he would treat yours like a work of art and I personally think he would love it!

- also cafe dates with Hyunjin???? yes yes yes

-

"Here," Hyunjin murmurs as he hands you your cup of tea, making you give him a grateful smile.

The strong aroma of it spreads through the room, intensifying the cozy atmosphere created by the golden glow of the little lamp and fairy lights in Hyunjin's small atelier.

You sit by one of the easels, admiring one of Hyunjin's displayed works while he takes place by the second one, looking at you with small smile on his plush lips.

"You like it?" He asks and you nod with a grin.

"Of course, I do. You know I love your style," you state, watching as Hyunjin's cheeks darken at your praise and he adverts his gaze to his own cup.

"Thanks," he says sheepishly, making you smile.

Hyunjin invited you over today to have a little catching up session since you two didn't have enough time to see each other these days, mainly because of his tight schedule after the comeback. He picked you up after his dance practice and took you to their dorm, offering to maybe paint a little if you felt like it and you could never say no to your pretty friend.

"So any idea what we'll be working on?" You ask and he smiles, his eyes meeting yours again.

"I don't know, honestly. I somehow lack inspiration these days," he admits and you hum, trying to think of anything he could find entertaining.

"You could paint me," you offer and Hyunjin chuckles.

"No, I'm not doing that," he refuses, taking a sip of his own tea.

"Why? It's a great idea," you state, awaiting his explanation.

"I don't think I can capture your beauty the way you deserve," he says, avoiding your gaze, his words making your heart stumble in your chest, your cheeks warming up.

Silence settles in the room for a second, a quite awkward one if you were to judge but you decide to break it by clearing your throat.

"Okay, you- you don't have to do that, of course. Then we can- maybe we can paint a countryside or something like that? That's quite calming," you offer, knowing that Hyunjin probably needs something like that these days, to get rid of all the pressure he must feel because of the comeback.

"Sure," he murmurs, glancing at you nervously and you give him a little smile, even though you're still a bit surprised by his previous statement.

And so the two of you put down your cups and prepare all the supplies you might need before getting into it.

The calmness of the room really helps you focus on the painting, getting your mind in just the right place but with Hyunjin beside you, you can't help but feel distracted. You keep glancing at him every other moment, thinking about what he said earlier.

You and Hyunjin are really close but you never really crossed the friendly border. You are not used to hear compliments like that from him.

"Everything okay?" He asks, his melodic voice tearing you from your little stupor and you realize you've been staring at him for a while now, long enough for him to notice, making you quickly look back at your canvas, your cheeks burning.

"Yeah, sure," you offer, hoping he won't comment on it.

"Oh, okay," he murmurs, getting back to painting, but you can feel his gaze on you every other minute.

You feel like you must do something about this, you have to assure he was probably just joking before. To ease your mind. And to get rid of that silly flutter of your heart.

“Did you- did you mean it?” You ask, focusing on your art, too afraid to face him.

“Mean what?”

“That you think I’m beautiful?”

Another silence, this time much heavier than before, both of you stopping the gentle strokes of your brushes, your gazes unintentionally finding each other, both of you apparently flustered.

“Y-yeah. You are beautiful, Y/N,” he states, small smile tugging on his lips, his words turning your heart palpitations into a mess. So that didn’t really work out.

“T-thanks, Jinnie,” you murmur, sheepish smile on your face as you dip your brush in the paint, ready to get back to work, when there’s a little ruckus behind you as Hyunjin approaches you.

You glance up at him, lips parted in surprise as you come face to face with him.

“You- uhm- you have something here,” he says softly, raising his hand to wipe the little bit of green painting from your cheek with his thumb, the gentle touch stealing your breath away.

Your eyes meet his and he gives you a little smile.

“I was right before,” he states and your brows curve in confusion.

“There’s no way my art could ever capture your beauty.”

Sad and weird Gavin request: we've all agreed that he plays acoustic guitar, right? So, he and the freelancer lie together in bed and a little "But if you're tired, we can sing something, you always say that I'm not half bad at it" (is it another song lyric? of course it is), so they lie beside each other in the dark, he holds the guitar and plays and they sing and he hums along. In my head the song is this https://open.spotify.com/track/5AXtfKmvP4AL0vqS2AKstj?si=815fb4f66bf74cc5 (can send you the lyrics translation, of course) but you can choose whatever sad blues you want. Thank you in advance.

(a/n: teddy. ur mind. is so smart. sad blues gavin my actual beloved . i used lyrics from 'as the world caves in' bc i . yea. imso sorry this took so long i hope its okay!!! also u can pry gavin using the petname 'precious' from my cold dead hands. after yk. the confession and all that)

gavin x reader (freelancer)

reader's pronouns: they/them

cw: overworked freelancer :( what is new

gavin almost always knew what the freelancer was feeling.

it wasn't even a demon thing– not entirely. it was just a gavin thing. or maybe a freelancer thing? he felt as though in getting closer to them, he's gained such a deep, intimate understanding of them. what makes them happy, upset, what makes their brain tick or their nose scrunch. and he loved it all. even the sad or angry bits. it was all so unapologetically them.

so when they stumbled through the front door just minutes ago, hours later than they were meant to, he could immediately tell how tired and annoyed and disappointed they were. and he was determined to lend a helping hand, no matter what form it came in.

he thought hard as he watched them undress, their brow furrowed and mouth clamped shut as they changed into a pair of shorts and one of his t-shirts. they hadn't said a word since they got in, just a quick wave and a half-hearted smile sent his way before they moped off to their shared room.

feeling them slump onto the bed beside him, he sent a glance towards them. they were prostrated on the mattress, legs hanging off the side and arms stretched out in front of them.

"deviant," he started, resting a hand firmly on their back. he chose his words carefully; asking if they were okay was a dumb idea. anyone with working eyes and half a brain could take one glance at them and immediately grasp that they were, in fact, not okay. he didn't want to poke and prod either, he'd usually just let them talk about things bothering them at their own pace. eventually he settled on his broad question, hoping that they'd have the energy to answer.

"how can i help? what do you need?"

there was a moment of silence and for a second, gavin thought they'd fallen asleep. eventually though, their voice, muffled and laced with exhaustion, reached his ears.

"don't wanna talk about it t'night."

he traced small, soothing circles in their back, just between their shoulder blades. he grinned as they melted into his touch. "that's alright, precious. we don't have to talk. is there anything you do want to do?"

after he didn't receive an answer, he carefully continued. "we could order some food or watch a movie? or if you're up to it, we could cook something easy together? it's all up to you, baby."

they sluggishly pushed themself onto their knees and looked over to him, the dark circles and bloodshot eyes a clear indicator of their lack of proper rest.

"or... if you're too tired, i could sing for you? maybe try to lull you to sleep? you always tell me how you love my singing."

they nodded, movements slow and weighted. without hesitation, gavin lifted his guitar from the side of the bed and arranged himself and the freelancer into a comfortable position.

"any requests, my dear?"

they thought for a moment. "i'm sad. and... i don't know if i have the energy to feel better right now. can you sing a sad song? the one i like, the one about the world ending?"

gavin leaned over to kiss the top of their head before readying his hands on the strings, fingers pressing in beside the frets.

"of course. anything for you, deviant."

he began strumming, the chords floating through the quiet room and flitting into every nook and cranny. he loved playing this song. not because he liked the song itself, really, but rather because of the sentiment it held for him. the singing was originally accompanied by piano but, with the help of the freelancer, gavin was able to transcribe it into an amateur guitar piece.

it felt so personal, a treasured memory. going through trial and error, trying and failing and trying again many times to translate the notes by ear. but they did it, in the end. and now it was another soft and sweet experience added to the proverbial gallery in gavin's mind.

my feet are aching and your back is pretty tired

and we’ve drunk a couple bottles, babe and set our grief aside

gavin could immediately feel their body relax into him as he sang and they eventually began to hum along with him. it was broken and off-key, cracked with the echo of unshed tears, but in this moment it was the most beautiful sound gavin’s ever heard.

the papers say it’s doomsday the button has been pressed

we’re gonna nuke each other up, boys ‘til old satan stands impressed. 

their humming had evolved into a quiet singing now, their voice meshing nicely together with gavin’s, even if it did sound half asleep. gavin relished in the relief that he brought his deviant. he basked in the warmth and contentment radiating off of them, even if it wasn’t the type of emotions he was accustomed to. 

he couldn't feed on these feelings, but he didn't mind. not at all. it wasn't about feeding anymore, and it hadn't been for months now. it was about them and him and the both of them together and the way it made him feel. it felt like he was weightless and floating with every second he spent by their side and he eagerly drank every moment in. when it came to his precious deviant, he was completely and utterly insatiable.

and here it is, our final night alive and as the earth runs to the ground

gavin could feel the freelancer’s soft gaze on him, adoring the lines of his face, admiring his plush lips and his sloe-eyed, half-lidded gaze, the cherry red hue piercing and warming and cherishing their very being with just a look. their voice began to slowly fade from the song as they buried their face into gavin’s neck, careful not to get in the way of his arms. they sighed lightly as they listened to gavin’s smooth, honeyed voice. he truly was divine, they thought.

oh girl, it’s you that i lie with as the atom bomb locks in

oh it’s you i watch tv with as the world, as the world caves in

by the time he’d finished the chorus, he let his gaze travel to his deviant’s frame. they were, unsurprisingly, completely still aside from the rhythmic rise and fall of their chest and the soft fluttering of their eyelashes. he continued his soft strumming, ensuring that they were deep in slumber before he stopped.

they deserved the good rest, he thought. they were working so hard in their classes and with magic mastery in general, taking every challenge onto their shoulders and insisting they handle it on their own. it was both infuriating and admirable, a combination that his deviant had often ignited in their friends and one that their spitfire of an elemental had tried to help them break. but alas, here they were. trying, yet again, to be everything for everyone. 

even if its just a bit.

but this was their time to rest. they trusted gavin with themself and he would be damned if he let anything interrupt these few, precious hours they had because god knows how hard they'd push themself come morning.

there was one thing gavin did know, however. something he knew with every muscle and bone, every ounce of magic that flowed through his veins and every speck of love he held in his chest for them. he knew that no matter how ragged they ran themself, how hard they pushed or how overworked they were, he would always, always, be there to lighten their load.

@the-phantoms-library @theodorebasmanov @planticusp @sunberrybush @myanettes @daviah @bug-likes-monsters

Cold - Technoblade

Hello - this is my first post so if you see this follow me because I crave human validation 😎👍

I originally posted this on wattpad but nobody was interacting so I’m posting it here :)

Word count: 1800

Trigger Warnings:  Blood/injuries

Pronouns: They/Them

Platonic/Angst/Whump

Summary: Y/n is injured and caught out in a snow storm - will anyone reach them in time?

***

The snow stung against y/n's skin, they were starting to become numb all over from a combination of blood loss and the cold. They had been trekking along since the end of the war in L'manburg; which wasn't ideal seeing as they had been pierced by a piece of debris from the explosion.

The shock of Wilbur and Techno's betrayal stung more than the physical pain itself - they needed to get away, have a fresh start. They didn't tell anyone they were leaving and they doubted anyone had even noticed. Y/n had no clue where they were going and had had the misfortune of ending up in the snow.

The cold was really starting to have an effect on their body, their skin had a waxy look to it and they were shaking like a leaf due to the lack of a jacket - again, another big mistake on their part. If they didn't find anywhere dry and warm soon they feared that they would either bleed out or freeze to death - neither of which were very nice options. Their crisp white shirt was soaked through with crimson, they weakly tried pressing their hands up against the wound only for them to come away slick with blood.

As they pushed themselves up from the ground a spark of pain shot through their body causing them to sink even deeper into the snow; on second thoughts, maybe a nap wouldn't be so bad - the snow was nice and comfy after all. They curled up and slowly lost consciousness.

***

Techno continued on his horse Carl, searching for his home that had secretly been in the works for months, it was hidden far away from L'manburg - he doubted that they wanted to see him after the little stunt that him and Wilbur had pulled. It was located by a village in a snowy land that he had just entered; he pulled his large cloak closer to him, it was thick and kept him warm even during the harshest winters.

He was starting to approach the forest near his home when he saw a small pink stain to his right, thinking it could be an animals print he approached. He jumped off of Carl and peered down at it - it looked to be a footprint, but nobody knew where he lived. That wasn't right.

He peered up to see more going up over a snow mound, he followed the trail to see them getting crisper and darker, they eventually joined together to make a continuous line of blood - these were clearly fresh, but the question was, who or what had caused them?

He made it to the top of the mound and looked down to see the trail lead to a large crimson stain against the fresh snow. He picked up speed and saw a mop of (hair length and colour) hair - he recognised that, it was y/n. What on earth where they doing out here?

He ran towards them in a state of panic - how long had they been here?! He fell to his knees beside them and flipped them onto their back. Their skin had a greyish-blue tint to it and frost had formed on their eyebrows and lashes. He unclasped his cloak and went to scoop them up when he was suddenly hit by the severity of the situation - they were bleeding out fast, like REALLY fast. He pushed his hands against the wound; even their blood was ice cold. He felt something nudging his shoulder and whipped around to see Carl by his side.

He weighed out his options and carefully wrapped them up in his cloak, the deep red a stark contrast to the fresh snow. He sat atop of Carl and rode into the forest with them in his arms. The silence was all of a sudden eerie and crushing compared to the peace he felt from it earlier. The trees sped past him in a blur and he finally made it to his quaint wooden cottage, he tumbled to the ground in a panic and dismounted y/n from his noble steed.

***

Y/n lay there in the snow: it seemed more solid than before, and warmer, and- where were they? This definitely wasn't how they remembered it, the cold was no longer wrapping its death grip fingers around them, they no longer felt stinging on their front - infact they felt pressure wrapping round their middle.

They forced their eyes open slowly, that really did not help with the pounding in their skull. They gazed around the room, they could faintly make out a shape in the corner - it looked to be a rapier, they weren't interested in getting on this persons bad side. They didn't know where they were and were starting to panic - who had done this?

They could make out the faint shape of bandages by their waist, unfortunately their shirt was still stained - whoever had done this couldn't have even cleaned their shirt or something smh. Pick a struggle.

They pulled the blanket closer to them, it was very comfortable; it was quite heavy and had a fur trim around the edge almost like Techno's--

Nononono- they couldn't be here. He had betrayed everyone. They had trusted him - to some extent anyways. They sat up abruptly - not smart. They let out a gasp of pain, the dark threatened to consume their vision. They placed a hand on the edge of the mattress to steady themself. After much trial and error they managed to sit upright.

They calmed themselves enough to take another look around the room. There were a few worn maps on the walls showing L'manburg and its surrounding areas - their heart ached at the sight of the familiar structures; party island, the podium, the various towers dotted all over the land - all gone, all blown up.

There was a small fire illuminating the dark room, and also the mass on the floor. Their blood ran cold - colder than it already was anyways - y/n had hoped for some time to leave before he got back. Luckily he was asleep on the floor and was a relatively deep sleeper. They slowly but surely pushed themselves up from the bed and wobbled towards the door, leaning on the walls for support. This was perfect, they would be able to make it away before he even woke up!

"What are you doing?"

Ah- turns out he wasn't a deep sleeper, that was a fatal flaw in the plan.

They slowly turned around to see a sleepy but amused Technoblade stood in the middle of the room staring at them.

"Uhh- I was going on a walk." 👀🤠

"Is that so?"

....

"Yup."

They started aggressively coughing, the speaking hurting their cold and sore throat.

"Get back in bed, you need to rest," >:(

"I'm fine, I don't need to rest - resting is for the weak."

"Everyone has to rest, even I rest."

"That's because your weak."

He stared them in the eyes, looking thoroughly unimpressed.

👁👄👁

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yeh."

"Get in bed."

"No."

"Yes."

It went on like this until he started to walk towards them - slightly pissed off. He picked them up and placed them onto the bed.

"I don't need to rest!"

As soon as they said that, coughs wracked their body.

"You sure about that?"

They quickly tried to sit up to run off while his guard was down - but he pushed them back down as soon as they attempted anything. He held their arms down so that they couldn't escape, they tried wriggling free but to no avail. They quickly gave up.

"As much as I want you to rest right now, it's freaking me out that I can hold you down this easily."

"What are you talking about- I'm" their sentence was interrupted by more coughing "-super -strong"

He gave them a skeptical look not buying a word of their bullshit.

"I'm gonna go get you some water for that cough, you stay right here - okay?"

They nodded.

He walked off and climbed down the ladder.

They crawled out of the bed, ignoring his very clear rules and made their way over to the map of L'manburg on the wall. They stroked the coarse paper littered with so many of their favourite places - the forest where they liked to make flower crowns for everyone, the cliff top where they could think about life and how it's so very meaningless. 😶

Y/n sunk to the floor; tears threatening to spill from their eyes. It was so unfair, a beautiful nation destroyed by power hungry people. They had no idea whether Wilbur was still alive, they never saw him after the explosion. They missed him, they missed the land before the government - where they would all dance to Wilbur's songs around the campfire speaking nothing of governments and laws.

"Y/n?"

Techno walked up behind them and hesitantly placed a hand on their back, not knowing what to do because, social situations are awkward dude - am i right?

"You good?"

They whipped around slamming their fist into his chest in a futile attempt to hurt him,

"It's all your fault!" They said through tears, "We trusted you!"

He took their fists in his hands, staying silent while they had their tantrum. They soon grew tired; slumping into his chest, staining his shirt with their tears. They stayed their for a while, his embrace warm but his attitude still cold.

***

I did not proof read so if there is a section that got deleted or some shit then just let me know 🧍‍♂️

Please send me requests people (no smut/nsfw) - make sure to include pronouns pls.

Hange x f!Reader Oneshot

Summary: Squad leader Hange is a very busy scientist, so having Moblit and Y/N on their team is a great benefit to their work; so much so that Y/N finishes Hange’s work so that they get time off! Little do they know that the socially awkward Y/N has a passion for astrology, so one night she works up the courage to take Hange star gazing!

Genre: Fluff, Smut 18+

Warnings: spanking, cunnilingus, fingering, swearing, 69-ing, this oneshot is GOOFY af

Universe: canonverse

Word count: 3.9k

A/N: This oneshot is based on the song Space Girl by Frances Forever, I love this wlw song so much I just had to. In this one shot Hange’s pronouns are she/they but I mostly use they/them pronouns! Although in the song the singer refers to her space girl as a ‘cancer’ (astrological sign) I have left the reader’s sign ambiguous so you can insert yourself in! Also I don’t know how advanced the canonverse is with astrology, especially with astrological stories behind the constellations but we won’t focus on that its just a cute (probably inaccurate) oneshot. AFAB!Hange. I am so sorry it’s so long for a oneshot!! I just love them so much 🥺

When squad leader Hange Zoe is in the zone, they will work throughout the day and throughout night with no breaks and no signs of stopping; unless they quite literally pass out. If ever they got in that position of dropping at any moment, you and Moblit would be there to either complete the work or to catch Hange before they fall. You had always admired Hange’s determination and stamina, that alongside their eccentric personality, had you weak at the knees.

If you were honest with yourself, you had quite fallen head over heels for Hange the moment you saw them, their smile felt like a kick in the heart and a thousand butterflies in your stomach. It wasn’t until you helped Levi bathe Hange did you realise your feelings towards them, desperately looking away from their body with great embarrassment. Levi always rolled his eyes at your actions, but he’d usually have a faint smirk on his face as you try and wash them whilst attempting to keep your eyes closed. You and Levi were quite close, despite his quiet (and rather passive aggressive demeanour), a friendship with him was meaningful and he definitely cared more than he’d let on. He, alongside Moblit were the only ones that knew of your passions with astrology and space; he’d always say something like “it’s quite fitting, you’re head is either in the clouds or up Hange’s ass”. The funny little bastard.

Your captain would tease you regularly, especially when he noticed your longing stares; whether it be out on expeditions or back at HQ. He’d reach for your head and shake it, waking you up from your day dream. “Your obsessive pining will get you killed, scout” and “Keep it together space girl” were a regular thing Levi would say. You couldn’t help it, Hange was your moon and all the stars in the sky, all things you’d happily gaze at forever.

As mentioned, the bathing sessions were a great opportunity to get advice (and teased) from Levi. One bathing session he told you that he’s pissed off that you hadn’t revealed your feelings yet. How could you? Hange probably didn’t feel the same way, and neither did they have time for it! Changing the subject slightly, you would say “Poor Hange, always working so hard!”

Its true, Levi would usually have to knock them out to bathe them because they worked so much; you suppose the only ick that bothered you about Hange was their lack of hygiene - they just can’t help it. All of that energy dedicated to work, they rarely had any spare time to do anything else; but you were determined to make today different.

You heard of a meteor shower that was expected around 11pm that night, a spectacle you were adamant not to miss. You decided that if any time was the perfect moment to reveal yourself to Hange, tonight is the night. You day dreamed the whole day, picturing the two of you under the stars. Between paperwork, you would check regularly and calculate the time and position of the moon whilst the meteor shower happened; it had to be perfect.

“A waxing crescent” You whispered to yourself

“A what what?” Hange fluttered over to your table making you jump, you attempted to hide the paperwork of calculations; absolutely nothing must be revealed otherwise the surprise will be ruined.

“Squad leader H-H-Hange! I uhhh nothing!!” You stuttered, looking to their perfect, smiling face. You wanted to both die and dance at the same time, to grab them by their collar and kiss them passionately. Hange leans on your desk, looking at you with a cheeky grin.

“I do hope you’re doing your work scout! You don’t want to be working for 2 days straight like last time!”

“That won’t be the case tonight Hange!”

“Oh?”

“I recon if I work solidly for the next 2 hours I will be completely finished!”

“Really? Ugh I technically have like 4 hours left of paperwork too do, I don’t really even have time to scold you on how obviously distracted you are Y/N” Hange sighed, lifting their goggles up to pinch the bridge of their nose. Your eyes light up, seeing their face without goggles was just...

“Well if you give me part of your work, we will be both finished in 3 hours. Anything else that needs doing I will do!” You offered, Hange darts their eyes at you, an excited expression on their face. Without any warning they grab your hands into theirs and puts their face mere inches away from yours. Your face heats up, staring at their lips, you hold everything back from just leaning in to kiss them.

“You’d do that?? For me?? Well aren’t I lucky to have such a kind assistant!!!” Hange exclaimed

“If you both give me some of your work, I am happy to complete whatever’s left” you hear Moblit say across the table. Your eyes turn to him as he gives you a knowing wink. Gods bless Moblit. “That way you two get to leave early tonight, I hear there is some kind of astrological event on tonight”

Your face dropped, as much as Moblit was helping you, he must have looked at your notes as he walked past; nosy dickhead. Hange placed a hand under their chin and thought for a moment, before they had the chance to say anything about it (worrying they’d say its stupid or something) You stood up in your seat.

“Squad leader Hange! We can watch it tonight together if you’d like!!!” You blurted out, sounding more authoritative than you’d wanted. Hange’s eyes widen and observe your shaking body.

“But what about work?? I am sure after this paperwork needs doing they’ll be-”

“I’ll do it! Even if it means I work into the morning. It’s something that Y/N is passionate about so please!! I can always get Nifa or Abel or both to help me out!” You could hear the panic in Moblit’s voice. You take what you thought about him being a dickhead back, he’s doing you such a favour. The both of you look at each other and then back to Hange, trying to gage what their response will be.

A roar of laughter fills the room, followed by a long sigh. “As long as you are sure Moblit, that is real sweet” Hange turns to you and grabs your hand again. “Tonight’s a date then, what time and where?”

‘A DATE???’ You panic to yourself, did they really call this a date. You scream in your mind, wanting to just faint there and then. You collect your emotions and take your hand away from theirs, coughing into a fist. “10:15, walk south from the back entrance of HQ and head towards some bushes and the oak tree. I will meet you there” You said, you wanted to be far enough from HQ so you wouldn’t be disturbed.

“Sounds perfect! Now, lets get some work done!” Hange exclaims, sitting back at their desk and scribbling even faster than before.

The three of you continued to work, you were the first to finish and left the office to get changed into your casual gear. You pull out some perfume that you saved months up for from the market, it was a beautiful scent that you only used on special occasions. You looked in the mirror and hyped yourself up, “come on Y/N you are a lover and a fighter. Titan killer in the streets, pussy killer in the sheets” You slap yourself for saying something so embarrassing out loud.

Once dressed, you head out to the spot with blankets, pillows and a couple of lanterns; if you were to be there a while, you wanted to be comfortable. Once everything is laid out, all you had to do was wait. You felt the nerves building up, as time passed and drew near to Hange’s arrival, you had looked at all of your notes over and over. You lined star charts up and spotted all sorts of constellations to point out to Hange when they were there, you looked at the notes with all the stories behind the constellations and tried to identity any planets that were visible. You kicked yourself, wishing you’d be able to afford a telescope; apparently Saturn is aligned with Mars and that would have been an incredible sight to see.

You hear a noise behind you, oh lord here they come! You scramble at your notes, looking at the more complicated details and stuffing them into your bag.

“Y/N I could do with a little bit of help!!!” You hear Hange yell out, clear struggle in their voice. You stand up to see them behind the bush holding a very large telescope. You rush to their side and help carry it in front of the blankets.

“Hange! Where did you get this telescope from??” You exclaim with delight, Hange’s face blushes at your excitement and rubs their neck.

“Well after Moblit told me that you’re passionate about astrology, I took a deep dive into what is so special about tonight. A meteor shower right? And the planets Mars and Saturn?? Well so I uh....spent my savings on this baby to see it” Hange said awkwardly, your mouth agape and eyes wide, they spent all of their money on a telescope just for this?

You lunge forward and give Hange a massive hug with excited giggles. “Hange thank you so much!! It’s going to be so amazing I promise you!!!!”

Hange blushes wildly, resisting the urge to kiss you. “Well, it’s nice to see someone so excited over science just as I am, makes me feel a little less weird”

“Oh trust me, in school when we were taught about astrology I seemed to be the only person interested! I would spend hours just researching the constellations and zodiac signs! No one really wanted to be my friend, so uhhhh well I suppose I shifted my focus on Titan fighting and work with you and your science squad. It’s not space, sure, but I too felt lonely in my hobbies!” You explained, Hange’s heartstrings felt a tug, picturing you as a kid is just too cute.

The two of you carried on with conversation, you pointed to the sky and explained the stories behind the constellations. No matter how complicated the story or science, Hange seemed to want to know more and more; you even had to pull out your notes to answer their questions. In Hange’s mind, they had spoke about the science of titans for years and never bothered to ask you where your true passions lie. They questioned why they never asked, perhaps they were too nervous? Hange always put on a mask of being this optimistic, eccentric scientist and even acted cocky in front of you, but secretly they were just as insecure and shy towards you. They wanted to get to know you, but of course the element of dying at any point worried them; if they got too attached, especially romantically, it would hurt more. However, since the two of you are out there, looking at the telescope and talking so much, Hange’s fears lifted, even if it was for an evening.

Using the telescope, you pointed it in the direction of Mars and Saturn, both planets basically next to each other, a wonderful view to see. They weren’t super clear of course, the telescope wasn’t that powerful, but you could clearly see Saturns rings; something Hange got super excited over, asking you millions of questions. It wasn’t until the both of you sat down, waiting for the showers to come did you gulp and turn to Hange.

“Hange, I hope you don’t mind but I really would like to talk to you” You began, nervously fumbling with your fingers

“We’ve been talking all night??”

“AHH no I mean I have to say something okay. Please don’t say anything until I uhh finish because I just kinda wanna blurt it all out okay??” You really are stuttering and slipping up on your words, Hange gives a reassuring smile and nods. “Okay, I uhh...” You were interrupted by the meteors shooting across the sky. Mesmerised, you didn’t move your face away from Hange, just your eyes, they took this opportunity to lean in and kiss you. Your eyes widen in shock, what are they doing?? They’re going to miss the meteor shower! Despite this, you relax and close your eyes, leaning into them and deepening the kiss.

“Hange...”

“As you were sooo distracted, your turn has been cancelled. I’ll go first. Y/N I really like you, I have done for a while, and I know you and Levi bathe me together, and sometimes...sometimes I hear you”

“Ahhhh!!!!” You yell out in embarrassment, Hange lifts a finger to your mouth

“Ah ah ah, I am not finished yet! I find you breath taking, I even get so overwhelmed by the way you just stand there! It makes me want to work harder, so much so I would purposefully knock myself out so you could bathe me...oh gods that sounds bad. Not in that way I JUST REALLY ENJOY HEARING YOUR CONVERSATIONS WITH THE CAPTAIN!!!” Hange is now the one getting all flustered, waving their hands erratically. They didn’t want it to sound weird, but they aren’t exactly experienced in expressing their feelings.

“Hey no I get it, sort of...but yeah I really like you too and I guess I’ve never...I UGH words” You pathetically confess, earning a laugh from Hange.

“We’re not very good at this are we, space girl?” Hange moves their arm around you and pulls you in to a hug. Your eyes light up at your little nickname, they definitely do listen to yours and Levi’s conversations. You take this opportunity to kiss Hange, feeling their soft lips on yours.

“You’ve showered haven’t you?” You smirk into the kiss, Hange looks at you, confused and a little insulted.

“How ... whaaaa?”

“You smell delicious” you say boldly, in fact Hange did shower before meeting you tonight, for the first time in ages. They of course laugh at you, and confess. You both sit there for a moment, watching the rest of the meteor showers, colours of gold and silver shooting across the sky.

“How beautiful” You whispered to yourself, Hange looks at you and smiles

“Not as be-”

“Nope. That’s so cringey” you joke, Hange slaps your legs earning a weird moan/yelp from your lips. You cover your mouth in embarrassment. Hange looks at you with curiosity, what a response to just a playful slap. Hange’s face confidently smirks, taking your chin in their hands.

“What was that?” Hange asked seductively, walking two fingers up your thigh. You shiver at how foreword your squad leader is being.

“Nothing...”

“Do you think I’ll be able to get another noise like that out of you?” Hange moves their face forward, practically whispering next to your ear

“I uh...oh look the meteors! They are still going!” You panic, the air is thick, your heart fluttering at how close they are getting. Not that you wouldn’t want to...it’s just moving so fast that you couldn’t barely keep up.

“The meteors can wait”

“I mean technically...” you’re words at cut off by Hange kissing your neck, testing the waters a little before going right ahead. You softly moan out Hange’s name, heaving a little bit at the intensity. So long have you envisioned yourself in this position, being kissed by your squad leader; you’ve thought about it and you’ve touched yourself to it. You may be feeling a little awkward now, but you shiver with anticipation to see how far this could go.

“Are you okay?” Hange asks, looking at you with a little concern, they can feel you tensing under their touch, even shaking a little. “I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable”

“No! No definitely I’m okay I’m just inexperienced. I mean I’m not but it’s different when it’s you because I...I like you and I want to do this but, can we start off slow?” You ask nervously, Hange gives you a tender kiss on your forehead and holds you close.

“If you ever want to stop, please tell me okay?” Hange asks, you nod at them eagerly before pulling them close in for a confident kiss. You lean back onto a pillow, allowing Hange to hover above you, lips still connected. What a feeling this is, never would you imagine getting this close to them; you savour every moment. Hange sits up and takes off their shirt, revealing a binder underneath before taking that off too, your eyes fall to the exposed skin; a lump in your throat. There Hange is, straddling you and pinning you down, half naked and stunning.

“Gods...” You whisper under your breath, Hange snickers at your cute expression before attacking your neck. They plant several erratic kisses all of you, earning a mixture of moaning and giggling.

“What happened to going slow?” You chuckle out, Hange stops immediately and changes their expression.

“I can slo-”

Hange’s words are cut short as you flip them over underneath you, their eyes wide and breaths manic, that is until you sloppily kiss their lips. Hungry noises leave either of your throats as you fight for dominance; you suppose the issue here is that the both of you are so eager, so keen to please that you clash - but in the best possible way. One final flip and you find yourself locked onto the floor under a very horny squad leader. And by locked, it means having Hange gripping your jaw with one hand and the other being intertwined with yours.

“Be my good little space girl, let me see you” Hange unbuttons your shirt, one button at a time, almost painfully slowly. 1...2..3...4...and suddenly your chest is on full view. You attempt to cover yourself, but too late, Hange is already kissing every bit of skin they can see, uncapping your breast from your bra like a hungry animal and latching their mouth onto a free nipple. They graze their teeth and tongue over your sensitive bud, sucking slightly. You reach a hand up to their head and grip their hair slightly, enjoying the sensation. Whilst you are so distracted, Hange reaches a hand down to your trousers, you don’t even notice them unbuttoning them; it was only until their hand was ghosting over your underwear did you look down. They then press a finger against your clothed pussy, feeling your growing excitement.

“Wet already?” Hange scoffs against your breast, you can’t even answer; either from embarrassment or your panting. Hange thinks back to your little yelp, they would love to hear you make such a noise again. “Over my knee sweet pea” Hange ordered, without hesitation you stood up and allowed Hange to sit down, here you bend over their knee, raising your ass into the air to give them all the access they need. After pulling down your trousers to your ankles, they take extra time to look at you; you’re hot and bothered, shaking a little in anticipation. Hange looks to your perfect ass, stroking and groping it slightly, thinking about all the little red hand prints they will leave on you.

“Such a good girl” Hange mewed before landing a harsh slap across your cheek, you yelp out in a mixture of pain and pleasure. Enjoying the noise so much, Hange slaps your ass over and over, allowing little to no breaks between each hit - you knew this isn’t quite how spanking works but it feels good and Hange definitely was enjoying watching your ass jiggle with each slap.

“Ow!” You yell out, that last hit was a little too hard; Hange, feeling sorry kisses your now extremely red behind.

“I’m sorry, I got a bit carried away; here...” Hange moves their hand over to your underwear again and slips under the fabric to stroke your aching clit. Whatever pain you felt had all disappeared to the sudden wave of pleasure that is Hange. They spread your pussy a little, allowing their middle finger to trace your folds and stop at your clit; here, Hange uses their middle and index finger to rub the sensitive nub, interchanging their technique from circling to a forward to back motion. You could feel the knot build up in your lower abdomen, imaging yourself cumming onto Hange’s fingers. That was until they pulled their fingers away, you let out a disappointed moan and looked to your squad leader with pleading eyes.

Without word or warning, Hange lowers themself down and repositions you over their face. You were now suddenly close to Hange’s pussy, unfortunately still clothed, as you fumble at their belt you could feel Hange lift your ass up a little and look down to see what you’re doing. They smirk, hands leaving you and helping you pull down their trousers and underwear; much better.

You wasted no time but to dip your head at their entrance and lapped up their juices, hands either side of their propped up legs and making sure to be especially rough on their clit. Hange moans out painfully, how long had it been since they were in this position? Your ass is forcefully lowered onto Hange’s face, you feel them lick and suck at your clit, feeling your knot tighten one more. Your legs begin to shake, you won’t be lasting long and Hange can just sense it.

“Y/N look! The meteors are going again!” Hange yells out, you stop licking and look immediately up to the sky; but this was a trick because Hange pulls you down further, inserting 2 fingers into you and eats you out rougher than before, earning an eruption inside you, bursting and almost painful as you cum hard onto their mouth and fingers.

“Venus~!” You strangled out, shaking heavily above Hange who cocks their head to the side.

“Venus?”

“Uh..yeah sorry I don’t know why I do that...” you breathlessly panted out

“Don’t apologise, its cute” Hange strokes your ass, giggling at their little space weirdo. You position yourself above Hange, taking them by surprise as you cup their pussy with your hand.

“Got you” Was all you could say before inserting two of your fingers inside your squad leader. You arch your fingers inside of them, using your thumb to draw circles over their clit as they pant and whine under you. Using your free hand you grab both their wrists and hold them above their head, giving you full view of their body. As you finger fuck them, you reach down and kiss them, moving your lips from theirs to over their neck, sucking hard; making sure to leave a dark mark. That was it for Hange, their whole body trembles and cums undone; what you didn’t expect was the flood that left their body, squirting all over you.

“Globular Cluster!!!” Hange screams out, they were a hot mess, melting into the blanket. You crawl next to them and snuggle into their chest. They begin to stroke your hair, leaving forehead kisses.

“Globular cluster?” You ask cheekily, Hange laughs and pats your back.

“Listen, if you are going to scream out space words during sex instead of my name, I might as well do it too!”

“That is too adorable”

“As are you Y/N, do you think my space girl could love an earth...ehhh girl?”

“There is a gender neutral word for that you know, earthling” You giggle, Hange huffs a little, cheeks dusted with a pink blush.

“But yes, this space girl loves her earthling” you say, kissing their head. The both of you spent the rest of the evening just staring at the stars, Hange continuously asking questions including “What’s my zodiac sign?” and “Is yours compatible with a Virgo?” - not that it particularly matters whether you are astrologically compatible with Hange, you already knew you were.

Ice General Part 4 (Rex x reader)

{masterlist}

Warnings: my attempt at writing sparring, female pronouns...that should be it

<- Previous

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

“Gentlemen, set your blasters to stun.” 

Never before had such a command, given simply and without any emphasis, sent such unbridled bewilderment shooting down his spine. It caused the captain to freeze for a moment as his fellow clones wasted no time following the Ice general’s order before they collectively pulled on their helmets and took up their stance-aiming for the general. “Ready?” Came Y/n’s smooth voice once more, prompting Rex to jump into action and follow the lead of Commander Fritz who stood across the makeshift battlefield from him. His stance was wide, solid, evidence of the years of training he and his fellow clones had gone through-he seemed oddly calm for someone about to open fire on their own general. “Begin!” And all hell broke loose. Fritz, Empio, Jekyll, Hyde, and Codex opened fire immediately giving Y/n barely any time to react. But react she did, nonetheless. In one fluid movement, she snatched up her lightsabers and ignited the blades before flicking away the blaster bolts like it was nothing, and aiming them back at the soldiers who quickly dodged. Phantom, Boom, and Nexus took a second before catching on to add to the growing chaos. Rex was still lagging behind. This was...an unusual style of sparring for the man. 

“Ay, Captain Rex, you might want to wake up!” Bolt’s perpetual sing-song voice called out to compel Rex to get his act together just in time to flinch out of the way of stun blast zooming towards him. With a readying shake of his head, Rex resolved to at least participate even if he thought this was borderline dangerous. He aimed and fired at the general’s exposed back. She reacted sharply, turning on a dime to slash at the ring formed by the stun shot and sending it into the dirt before whirling around to counter another one and another one. It was here that the circle formed by the clones began to morph and evolve-steadily increasing the pressure on the general. Ice reacted accordingly by growing more and more mobile which made it more difficult for the clone fence to take on a solid and maintainable shape. Without warning, Fritz, Jekyll, and Hyde dove for Ice-catching her, the shinies, and the captain off guard. Y/n was quick to deactivate her sabers so she could dive out of the way of them. Codex, who seemed to figure out what the three older clones were trying to set up, signaled to Nexus and began to fire on Y/n who was forced to twist impossibly to get out of the way of the onslaught of stun shots. Phantom and Boom moved in next but they were lacking coordination and their shots began getting in the way of each other. Rex was about to whistle to get their attention so he could help them with their sloppy form when Empio beat him to it. 

“Phantom, Boom, aim for either side of her-it’ll keep her pinned so she can’t activate her sabers.” The quiet captain barked sharply through the comlink in Rex’s borrowed helmet which startled him given how he had never heard his fellow captain speak any louder than a whisper. He wasn’t able to dwell on it for too long though as Empio’s order came too late. Y/n managed to activate one of her sabers, the green blade returning to its duty of acting as a shield, and she had already begun sending the shots back. Codex didn’t have enough time to dodge. He was the first to go down-defeated by his own deflected stun clipping his calf. Empio let out a curse. Next went Nexus. 

“E and Phantom-move to her six! Boom, Jekyll, with me. Rex with Hyde-he knows what to do.” Fritz’s voice cut through as he darted away. Hyde had just enough time to grumble under his breath before running in the opposite direction of Fritz. Hyde stopped firing and Rex was given the chance to make out Fritz’s plan-pull Y/n’s focus in different directions by splitting the clones into groups where they could bombard her with concentrated fire. Good, but the general had already shown that she could handle deflecting shots from all directions. What was different about this? 

“Captain Rex,” Hyde’s voice crackled through the channel, “Fritz is going to begin by firing on Y/n, Boom and Jekyll have orders to delay their own shots by two seconds. Then E and Phantom will fire on a two-second delay and then us. Got it?” The sergeant’s voice was clipped, clearly portraying his distaste for being paired with Rex. “It’s a new strategy he’s testing out.” He huffed, unamused. Rex blinked. Ah. Great, testing out a new strategy at the moment it would be needed was always a good idea. “There he goes.”

Rex looked away from the sergeant in time to see Commander Fritz fire on the general, followed by Boom and Jekyll. Y/n deflected them well enough. With a pivot of her body that allowed her to keep most of the clones in her visible spectrum, she calmly flicked the shots away including Rex and Hyde’s and took down Boom. It was like she knew that Fritz would try this. Which might explain why Rex suddenly heard Fritz’s voice crackle to life inside the helmet. “Rex, Hyde, E, and Phantom, charge her.” Hyde, Fritz, and Phantom wasted no time and mimicked the early attempted tackle. Y/n, acting purely on instinct raised her hand with two fingers splayed and picked Hyde and Phantom up before pushing them away. The two soldiers skidded on the dirt out of the makeshift ring they had set up meaning they were out. Which meant that now it was down to Empio, Fritz, Jekyll, and Rex. Now that she didn’t have to compete with three soldiers trying to tackle her at the same time, Y/n had enough time to latch on to Empio’s fist. She spun the Captain around to effectively use him as a shield against the continuing bombardment from Fritz and Jekyll. Jekyll wasn’t fast enough in diverting his shot and ended up stunning Empio who crumpled to the ground. Rex heard Fritz grumble under his breath - it appeared as though his plan was falling apart in front of him. Once again, his borrowed helmet crackled to life. “Ok, new plan. Jekyll and I are going to try and pull her focus - Rex, keep your fire concentrated on Ice. Jekyll and I will keep her busy and try and to give you an opening.” Rex barely got a ‘yes, sir’ out before Fritz and Jekyll put the plan in motion. The three all kept their fire trained on the Ice general. Y/n kept up the fight, deflecting each blast as best she could but it was clear that she was getting tired - her strikes were getting sloppy, her turns not as sharp, and the deflections of the stun shots flew wherever they pleased. 

Fritz and Jekyll, true to the commander’s plan, had succeeded in dividing Ice’s attention though by taking up positions on either side of her which forced the young Jedi to rapidly turn on her heel in order to deflect the shots. That left her back open. Rex seized his chance, raising his borrowed blaster he prepared to fire at the Jedi whose back was still turned towards him. The shot rang out. Y/n turned and deflected it. She was tackled to the ground. Fritz was on her back, trying to muscle the lightsabers out of her hands while Jekyll aimed his blaster off to the side of her head. Rex followed his lead. “Do you yield?” Fritz barked out when it became evident Ice couldn’t get out of the pin she was in.

“I...yield.” She sighed and whoops and hollers erupted from the gathered clones. 

“Where does that put us Bolt?” Fritz yelled to the medic already making the rounds through his brothers that had been knocked back or stunned. 

“Clones seven, General five.” Bolt hummed merrily as he helped Empio to his feet. The captain staggered a bit before brushing Bolt off to make him go help the others. Meanwhile, Jekyll and Fritz grabbed Ice’s arms and hauled her to her feet the same time a whispered ‘damnit’ slipped out. 

“Drinks on me the next time we’re on Coruscant then.” She chirped in the monotone way she speaks despite the loss. 

Hyde, who was still sat on the ground snorted inside his helmet. “Drinks are always on you, Ice.” She stuck her tongue out at him. Hyde took the helmet off just to retaliate. And a ghost of a smile slipped onto Ice’s face but it was gone in a flash. 

Ice was looking at him. “That goes for you and your men too, Captain Rex.” Her face betrayed nothing, her tone even less. But before he could stutter out so much as a ‘thank you’, Bolt had intercepted by wrapping her cloak around her (Rex noted he took extra care to not touch her skin and even helped hide any that was exposed). Fritz led her away with a gentle tug on her cloak sleeve with the rest of the men following after. Bolt stayed behind with Rex, wordlessly standing next to him with hands clasped behind his back. 

He didn’t say anything till Codex and Boom were out of earshot. “This was her idea, y’know.” Bolt’s voice cut through the silence. Rex turned to him to find the medic looking at him out of the corner of his eye. “To invite you to therapy.” 

“Therapy?” The modulated sound of Rex’s own voice startled him and he remembered he still had Bolt’s helmet on. He snatched it off of his head. “How is this thera-”

“Course, I’m the one that told her you were awake.” The statement made Rex’s stomach plummet. Bolt turned to face him entirely. “I know you think we’re hiding something from you, Captain. But, believe me, we’re not.” His face fell and Rex was surprised by how small his brother looked in that moment. “We’re trying to forget.” His sing-song voice was quiet. “Will you let us?” 

Bolt plucked his helmet from Rex’s hand and started to walk away and the captain was left wondering what his next move should be.

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

Today was the last day. Tomorrow, the 205th were being shipped out to who knows where and the 501st were going back to Coruscant. Rex should feel excited. Coruscant meant he got the closest thing to a break he, as a captain in the GAR, would ever experience. But he wasn’t. 

Maybe he should’ve felt sad to be parting with the 205th - he could see some of his brothers animatedly chatting with some of the the younger members of Glacier company - but he wasn’t close with anyone. He thought, starting this assignment, he might be close with Fritz but given his strained relationship with the general who seemed closest with Fritz that didn’t seem like an option in the near future. Maybe Jekyll or Hyde? But the same thing that applied to Fritz applied to them. The shinies seemed too scared to talk to him and those in between, neither the shinies or the Veterans, tended to keep a respectful distance. They befriended the other men of the 501st but stayed away from Rex. If he was honest, he felt like a hornet that attacked the queen bee. 

He wanted to resent Ice. But Bolt’s words stopped him. 

And made him want to apologize. So, he went looking for Ice. He didn’t care if they didn’t become friends, he’d be okay ignoring what he suspected was going on between Ice and Fritz, he’d eventually let Jannex 1 go. He would just apologize for making Ice and the Veterans feel uncomfortable and then forget he ever met them. A solid plan...if Ice had been alone. 

As it was, she was with Skywalker and Fritz in the hastily resurrected tent that was serving as the center of operations for the whole mission looking up at the holographic forms of Mace Windu, Yoda, and Ahsoka. Something was happening and Rex immediately began to walk faster. He entered into the darkened tent trying to hide the silent shame clawing its way through him - why didn’t he know there was a meeting going on? 

“Ah, Rex - just in time.” Skywalker greeted him. 

“Sirs.” Rex greeted as professionally as he could with a bow of his head. Y/n turned to look at him but said nothing, just stepped to the side to create a gap between her and Anakin. Which allowed him to walk in a straight line right up to the com they were all gathered around. 

“As I was saying-” Mace Windu picked up where he left off, “I’m sorry to have to do this to the both of you but the presence of the droid army on Elaroth highlighted that a sweep of the nearby Outer Rim planets would be well advised.” 

“Accompany, Y/n L/n for the first few, you will, Skywalker.” Yoda added on upon noticing the growing confusion on the young knight’s face. 

“With all due respect, masters, my battalion should be able to handle a sweep on our own. I know that the 501st is long overdue on leave.” Ice piped up without warning, admittedly startling Rex as he had quite forgotten that she was standing right next to him. 

“Know this, we do, young L/n.” Yoda began in a gentle voice. “Suggested that Skywalker accompany you, it was, by Master Mundi.” 

Something shifted and all present felt it. Rex chanced a glance at Ice’s face and it looked like she’d seen a ghost. Or been stabbed. 

“M-” her voice cracked and Y/n cut herself off to clear her throat, “may I ask why my master would do such a thing?” Her voice was measured but even Rex could hear the underlying venom that dripped from each word. Wordlessly, Mace Windu and Yoda turned to Ahsoka whose hologram reached forward as if to press a button. A moment later, the image of a planet placidly spinning appeared before them. 

Yoda looked right at Y/n. “To Jannex 1, you must go.” 

Taglist: 

@tararuthven / @questforgalas / @000ayfh / @pinkiemme / @obi-robi-kenobi / @apocalypticwafflekitten / @cherryxcyarika / @justalittlecloud 

Notes: 

Gasp :0, me, actually working on my multi-part fics? 

Next -> (Coming at some point)

So, what’s “Her Sweet Kiss” actually about?

There are a lot of posts about “Her Sweet Kiss” going around already. I might be kinda late to the party but hear me out. By now, plenty of people have started interpreting it as Jaskier’s song about his heartbreak over Geralt sending him and you know what? That’s great. Love it. Amazing. Superb.

But you know what’s also hella damn sexy?

Cold, hard, textual evidence. And damn, does the text deliver.

(Actual analysis starts underneath the line break bc this got longer than anticipated.)

edit 12/01/20: The whole thing’s now available in Brazilian Portuguese, courtesy of the extremely kind @sunshine-any.

So, just or a minute, I want you to forget all about Jaskier, and Geralt, and Yennefer, the events of “Rare Species”… Actually, I’d like you to just forget about the entirety of The Witcher until I get to the point. We’ll get back to them later. For now, let’s just pretend that “Her Sweet Kiss” is like any other song you might hear on the radio by an artist you’ve never heard of before.

And now, only now, without any of the show’s baggage, let’s have a look at what’s going on in this son(g) of a bitch, starting out with the first couple of lines:

The fairer sex, they often call it But her love’s as unfair as a crook It steals all my reason Commits every treason Of logic, with naught but a look A storm breaking on the horizon Of longing and heartache and lust

Okay so, you’ve got a narrator figure (whom, for simplicity’s sake, I’ll be using he/him pronouns for) and you’ve got a nameless woman he’s singing about. The song’s about love, but not the happy kind. Love robbing someone of all logic and reason is a staple of love poetry, but in this case the narrator frames it as a betrayal. The woman’s love feels “unfair” to the narrator, and he blames her for his loss of logic and reason. A single glance of hers and the narrator is overcome with a whirlwind of emotions – longing, heartache and lust. However, “a storm breaking on the horizon” suggests a sense of distance coupled with these emotions rather than a sense of immediacy.

She’s always bad news It’s always lose, lose So tell me love, tell me love How is that just?

These lines expand on the idea of unfairness. Her mere presence pains the narrator and “it’s always lose, lose”. In other words, there’s nothing he can do that will lead to a favourable outcome for him. A third party which the narrator addresses as “love” is introduced and he asks them “How is that just?”. It’s quite apparent that he feels wronged. At this point, the “love” he’s addressing could refer to a number of things. For example, he could be addressing the woman (think, “Why do you do this to me, my love?”); he could be addressing the concept of love, yet another staple of love poetry, (think, “Love, why do torment us humans like this?”). I don’t think it’s either of them, for reasons I’ll be getting to in a minute.

But the story is this She’ll destroy with her sweet kiss

The refrain is rather straight-forward, so I’ll spare you the repetition. By going out of his way to state “But the story is this” the narrator solidifies his position as a narrator figure, telling a story. You could take this as a suggestion that he’s not quite in the midst of things. He sings about how “She’ll destroy with her sweet kiss” but he’s vague about it. There’s no concrete mention of what she’s destroying. It could be their relationship, the narrator could be the narrator’s heart, let your imagination run wild, for now, because the second stanza clears all of that right up. Kind of.

Her current is pulling you closer And charging the hot humid night The red sky at dawn is giving a warning, you fool Better stay out of sight

Now would you look at that. Our narrator isn’t singing to himself, nor is he simply singing to a nondescript audience. There’s a third party (whom i’ll be using they/them pronouns for. Remember you don’t know anything outside of what’s written in the lyrics) he is addressing, who is captivated by the woman, and the narrator claims they are missing distinct warning signs. The narrator’d rather they stayed away from the woman.

I’m weak my love, and I am wanting

And this is where we start to get the whole picture. The narrator addresses the third person as “my love”. Which bears a lot of significant because it turns everything we’ve established so far on its head. (For one, it implies that when he asks “tell me love / how is that just?” it’s this “love” he’s talking to, not the concept of love, and certainly not the woman). He’s realised that “his love” is falling for the woman. The reason he feels the woman’s love is “unfair as a crook” and why it’s causing him so much pain isn’t because they’re involved in some ill-fated romance; it’s because the one he calls “his love” is the object of the woman’s love and he feels like no matter what he does, he’s bound to lose them one way or another. He’s pushed into the role of an observer while the woman and “his love” were getting entangled, hence his assumption of the role of a narrating figure rather than a figure with agency. Looking at “I’m weak my love, and I am wanting” and the following lines as a whole is kinda tricky because there’s a number of ways you could read that. It could be that the narrator is admitting that he’s tired of fighting the inevitable, hence feeling weak and wanting. However, the narrator could also be admitting to his shortcomings – as in “I know I’m weak and that I’m lacking [as a companion, perhaps? just one example]”.

If this is the path I must trudge I welcome my sentence Give to you my penance Garroter, jury and judge

Essentially, what’s happening is that the narrator is giving up. He’s accepted the way things are (or the way “his love” thinks things should be, as “sentence” suggests that some sort of judgement has been passed or a decision been made) and assumes responsibility for what wrongs he might have done his lover. By uniting the roles of “garroter, jury and judge” in “his love” he’s basically giving them (and them only) free reign over his fate. Cue the refrain.

But the story is this She’ll destroy with her sweet kiss

Now for the fun part. Because this isn’t just some random song created in a vacuum. Remember how it is a song sung and composed by Jaskier? And remember the episode it appeared in? There are some minor differences, of course. I won’t start guessing about how this might relate to Jaskier, Geralt and Yennefer’s relationship because then we’d be bridging over into speculative territory and I only wanted to try and figure out what’s going on with the lyrics. Some have pointed out that, in the episode, Jaskier originally debated making the line either “gorgeous” or “lovely garroter, jury and judge” before eventually using neither. Others have pointed out that, in-universe, Marilka also acknowledged that “Geralt” and “Garroter” sound somewhat similar, which could be interpreted as an intentional parallel from the actual writers’ side.

In conclusion, I’m shamelessly stealing someone else’s observation that “Her Sweet Kiss” totally is the “Jolene” of the Witcher-Verse.

Make of that what you will.

edit 06/01/20: Tiny caveat. I was too lazy to get into the whole thing about "real author” vs. “implied author” vs. “narrator” vs. “characters who just so happen to be writers”. Just, keep in mind, Jaskier is a bard who makes a living off his art. Writing songs is his job, and oftentimes a good song is one that makes people emotional. A lot of stuff in ep. 6 can be used to support the interpretation that HSK’s about Jaskier’s actual heartbreak over Geralt and Yennerfer’s relationship. But, I also cited “cold, hard, textual evidence” which, at the end of the day, boils down to “HSK is about a love triangle” and “Jaskier was working on Her Sweet Kiss around the time he and Geralt parted ways”. It’s a conspicuous parallel that may yet affect future episodes but, please, don’t misunderstand me as treating it as a foregone conclusion. What I was trying to say is, “here’s what we can gather from the lyrics themselves” and it can mean as little or as much as you want it to mean for Geralt and Jaskier’s relationship.

Best Queer Anime

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Diverse storytelling is one of anime’s most appealing qualities. Want a show about superheroes? There’s a series for you. Ninja? You, too. Demon slayers? Yup. Not interested in action or horror? Don’t worry. You can find series about high school volleyball teams, people who transmigrate to another world, and workplace romance. It’s not an exaggeration to say that there’s an anime for everyone, no matter their tastes or preferences.

Given the wide variety of stories, there’s a lot of anime about LBGTQ people and the queer experience. To be clear, anime has more than its fair share of problematic portrayals such as uninterrogated crossdressing tropes, unchallenged homophobia and transphobia, and comedy at the expense of a queer character. But these things are hardly unique to anime, unfortunately. Despite these shortcomings, the format does have great series exploring the LGBTQ experience in different contexts and genres so here are some of the best queer anime to watch.

Yuri on Ice

One of the series that launched Studio MAPPA into its present-day prominence, Yuri on Ice takes us into the world of championship-level figure skating. It revolves around struggling Japanese figure skater, Yuri Katsuki, and bored Russian figure skater Victor Nikiforov, who audaciously agrees to be Yuri’s coach. While the sport and respective cultures of its leads are infamously known for their real life homophobia, Yuri on Ice deliberately presents a story where none of that is present. And with a film expected to drop at some point in the future, now’s the time to watch this gorgeous series if you haven’t already.

Bloom into You

In this high school romance, two girls unexpectedly connect when they each turn down romantic confessions from male classmates. Their new friendship takes a surprising turn when the older girl, Touko, reveals to the other girl, Yuu, that she’s in love with her. Despite Yuu not yet returning her feelings, their relationship continues to evolve when Touko asks Yuu to manage her campaign to become student council president and then later when they help put on a school play. While the original manga is more explicit about the girls’ eventual happy ending, the anime still brings to life a realistic portrayal of self-acceptance and changing feelings during the teen years.

No. 6

When No. 6 opens, we meet Shion, a privileged boy with a bright and promising future. But because this is a dystopian story, that doesn’t last for long. One night, Shion helps another boy named Nezumi. Unfortunately Nezumi is an enemy of the state and for his kindness, Shion is punished by being stripped of his elite social status. Fast forward a few years, the boys meet again, and their reunion leads to the uncovering of a vast government conspiracy. If you like wild sci-fi plots to go with your queer themes, No. 6 is the show for you.

Wandering Son

While there aren’t yet many anime series that explore the trans experience, Wandering Son does a stellar job making up for that lack. The show focuses on two kids, Shuichi and Yoshino, who meet in fifth grade. Shuichi is a trans girl and Yoshino is a trans boy, and Wandering Son follows the two friends from elementary school into high school, chronicling their respective journeys with their evolving gender identities.

Revolutionary Girl Utena

One of the biggest anime of the 1990s, Revolutionary Girl Utena was a trippy rollercoaster ride. It explored self-identity and gender roles against the backdrop of underground duels at an elite academy. Revolutionary Girl Utena was the anime for many queer feminist girls and for good reason: the idea of a princess who’d rather be a prince and save herself instead of being saved is one that resonated then and still resonates today. For this reason, and many others, Utena would go on to influence some of today’s biggest animated series like Steven Universe and the new She-ra: Princess of Power.

Doukyuusei: Classmates

Casual anime fans may want a break from the intense stories and long-running series that pervade the format. Some hardcore anime fans may too! Doukyuusei is a film that portrays the sincere and heartfelt relationship between two high school boys who fall in love. That’s it. That’s the story. And it’s a good one.

Given

Given takes a different approach to high school romance. Ritsuka aspires to become a musician, but he’s lost his passion for playing the guitar. And as any creative person can attest, losing that fire for the thing you love most can make life seem mundane and dull. Lucky for him, he meets the quiet Mafuyu and hears the other boy’s golden singing voice. The series is one that music enthusiasts everywhere should watch—even if only to peep at the episode titles and the songs they reference. A follow-up film explores the complicated relationship between the two other band members, Haruki and Akihiko.

Land of the Lustrous

Set in the distant future, Land of the Lustrous introduces us to the Lustrous, a race of crystalline lifeforms. They wage a constant war against the Lunarians, a hostile race that likes harvesting the Lustrous’ bodies. They’re actual gemstones, remember? It kind of sucks. The anime preserves the intentions of the original manga and makes the deliberate choice to refer to the Lustrous with they/them pronouns. After all, what would gender look like in a crystalline lifeform? They certainly wouldn’t resemble conventional, Western concepts of gender, that’s for sure.

Princess Knight

A series for the classic anime fans, Princess Knight is based on a manga by the legendary Osamu Tezuka. It follows Sapphire, a girl who has both “the blue heart of a boy and the pink heart of a girl.” Considering the manga was first published in the 1950s, this genderbending premise was groundbreaking, even though some aspects are now dated. Without Princess Knight, we wouldn’t have later iconic series like The Rose of Versailles and Revolutionary Girl Utena.

And one final bonus…

The Stranger by the Shore

While this film doesn’t hit FUNimation until next month, the premise is unabashedly queer and familiar to many LGBTQ folks. Shun is a novelist who was cut off by his family after he came out as gay. When he meets the recently orphaned Mio, he must grapple with the past to move on and embrace his future.

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What are some of your favorite queer anime? Let us know in the comments!

The post Best Queer Anime appeared first on Den of Geek.

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located in southern california, 

goliath valley is a high-profile private neighborhood, home to a variety of stars and those connected to them.  painters! poets! actors! musicians! directors! you name it. one of goliath’s key selling points is its exclusivity, only accepting the best of the best--or so they say. money can’t buy you happiness, but it certainly can buy you a mansion. this gated community isn’t the utopia one might think. with a clear divide between those living at the center of goliath and those closer to the gate, it’s difficult to completely leave the real world behind. 

tldr: a small-town style rp about wealthy/celebrity neighbors. themes of fame, class, and identity are at the center of our story ! but really: this is pretty low stakes.

RULES: muses and muns must be 18+ as there are mature themes involved. there is no set activity rule but you will be contacted if you are inactive for more than three days with no notice--this includes ic or ooc.  this is discord exclusive. no need to make a tumblr. no need to use any gif icons in replies.  do not godmod. be kind to each other. please respect triggers. any nsfw should be placed in a nsfw tagged channel. nsfw and triggers should be hidden by spoiler text.  drama ic is great. drama ooc is not. boundaries should be respected at all times. no bubble roleplaying.  no problematic fcs. please contact me if there’s someone you are uncomfortable with. please follow the yes, and and no, but rules when writing and plotting. keep the flow going!

APP SAMPLE + LOGISTICS: you can send your app to me through submit or tumblr dm! please do not take a lack of acceptance personally, it’s first come/first serve. those who just miss the cap will be the first to know about any extension! each mun is allowed two characters to start.

( faceclaim, gender, pronouns ) wait, you didn’t know first last lived here ? they’re what they’re rich/famous for living on road name. i read they’re a age in numbers zodiac originally from location. apparently they’re pretty two positive traits but also two negative traits. sometimes, when you drive by their house you can hear them blasting song by artist. they’re so different in person, they remind me of 3 character aesthetics. written by alias, age and pronouns.

LOCATION OPTIONS:  (there are obviously more streets than this, but these are the important ones) shiloh circle. the center of goliath, where the richest of the rich will live. eastman drive. the next tier of houses, slightly less expensive than those on shiloh. bristol lane. the next tier, typically home to c & d listers.  scott street. the last tier, closest to the gate. they’re the smallest of the houses.

currently at a cap of eight muns. may expand to ten under special circumstances !

8/8 SPOTS TAKEN!

( sky ferreira, non-binary, she/they ) wait, you didn’t know heaven fields lived here ? they’re an ex-child star living on shiloh circle. i read they’re a 26 year old pisces originally from orlando, florida. apparently they’re pretty captivating and friendly but also erratic and secretive. sometimes, when you drive by their house you can hear them blasting delete forever by grimes. they’re so different in person, they remind me of the resurgence of fairycore, the legacy of the olsen twins, and the soothing sound of synth . written by syd, 23, they/them.

( aaron tveit, cis-man, he/him ) wait, you didn’t know luke bradley lived here ? they’re the son of famous actors living on bristol lane. i read they’re a 30 year old cancer originally from los angeles, california. apparently they’re pretty charming and easygoing but also vain and cowardly. sometimes, when you drive by their house you can hear them blasting the rat by the walkmen. they’re so different in person, they remind me of people who vape at inappropriate times, the tendency to deflect with dumb jokes, and unmistakable wasted potential   . written by syd, 23, they/them.

( im jinah, cis female, she/her ) wait, you didn’t know tallulah “tally” hong lived here ? they’re an heiress/socialite living on shiloh circle. i read they’re a twenty-seven year old aries originally from new york, new york. apparently they’re pretty astute & alluring but also darwinian & supercilious. sometimes, when you drive by their house you can hear them blasting out the bottle by lolo zouaï. they’re so different in person, they remind me of treating walks of shame like a runway, three passport photos & a bite as big as her bark. written by jules, 23, she/her.

( sian lilly, cis female, she/her ) wait, you didn’t know annick warner lived here ? they’re an actress/influencer living on bristol lane. i read they’re a twenty-three year old gemini originally from toronto, ontario. apparently they’re pretty enchanting & creative but also risqué & careless. sometimes, when you drive by their house you can hear them blasting the worst in me by kaytranada ft. tinashe. they’re so different in person, they remind me of treating most spaces like a concert venue when any of “your songs” are on, fogged-up car windows and lux lavender baths with prosecco and plenty of natural light. written by jules, 23 and she/her.

( richard madden, cis man, he/him ) wait, you didn’t know donny lister lived here ? they’re a photographer living on bristol lane. i read they’re a 32 year-old leo originally from hoboken, new jersey. apparently they’re pretty observant and social but also pretentious and proud. sometimes, when you drive by their house you can hear them blasting ahha by nate ruess. they’re so different in person, they remind me of empty train cars at 2am, always carrying a lighter despite quitting smoking years ago, and rambling about ephemerality and commercialism every time he walks into a gift shop. written by jace, 23, he/him.

( zoë kravitz, cis? woman?, she/her ) wait, you didn’t know meadow fields lived here ? they’re an ex-child star living on shiloh circle. i read they’re a 28 year-old gemini originally from orlando, florida. apparently they’re pretty adventurous and intuitive but also abrasive and closed-off. sometimes, when you drive by their house you can hear them blasting killing boys by halsey. they’re so different in person, they remind me of scuffed doc martens, campy horror movies, and trying just a little too hard to act like you don’t know all the words to disney songs. written by jace, 23, he/him.

( katie stevens, cis woman, she/her/hers ) wait, you didn’t know andrea matthews lived here ? they’re a singer/songwriter living on scott street. i read they’re 26 year old cancer originally from paradise, california. apparently they’re pretty adaptable and creative but also insecure and paradoxical. sometimes, when you drive by their house you can hear them blasting body in a box by city and colour. they’re so different in person, they remind me of freshly made beds, a cracked iphone case, and always nodding. written by diana, 24 and she/her/hers. 

 ( froy gutierrez, cis man, he/him/his ) wait, you didn’t know sebastian 'bash' guerra lived here ? they’re an actor living on bristol lane. i read they’re 22 year old leo originally from san diego, california. apparently they’re nurturing and protective but also self-sacrificing and irresolute. sometimes, when you drive by their house you can hear them blasting frank d fixer by jason mraz. they’re so different in person, they remind me of family dinners around the table, always having sunscreen, being the knight in shining armor. written by diana, 24 and she/her/hers.

( delilah belle, cis woman, she/her ) wait, you didn’t know riley hargreaves lived here ? they’re an actress living on shiloh circle. i read they’re a 25 year old pisces originally from santa barbara, california. apparently they’re pretty intuitive and charismatic but also spacey and docile. sometimes, when you drive by their house you can hear them blasting boys by charli xcx. they’re so different in person, they remind me of layers of gold chains around her neck, a wardrobe full of denim and neutrals and the constant pressure of needing to charm the whole room. written by jay, 23 and she/her.

( kail peery, demi girl, she/they ) wait, you didn’t know maxine ‘max’ hill lived here ? they’re a musician living on scott street. i read they’re a 21 year old leo originally from chicago, illinois. apparently they’re pretty fervent and loyal but also dogmatic and temperamental. sometimes, when you drive by their house you can hear them blasting i am king by nasty cherry. they’re so different in person, they remind me of the obnoxious sound of popping gum, making deliberate eye contact from across the room to assert dominance and unintentional all-nighters. written by jay, 23 and she/her.

( lorenzo zurzolo, cis male, he / him ) wait, you didn’t know bandit knox lived here ? they’re an actor living on eastman drive. i read they’re a 23 year old scorpio originally from reno, nevada. apparently they’re pretty resilient & convivial but also facetious & heedless. sometimes, when you drive by their house you can hear them blasting debra by iDKHOW. they’re so different in person, they remind me of under eye circles so dark that they look like he  just came back from the dead, a messy head of curls that hair & makeup are always badgering him about on set, and anxiously fidgeting with the rings around his fingers. written by gray, 24 and she/her

( christina nadin, cis woman? (she doesn't rly know), she/her ) wait, you didn’t know juniper darling lived here ? they’re an artist living on scott street. i read they’re a 21 year old aries originally from chicago, illinois. apparently they’re pretty jovial & observant but also pigheaded & gullible. sometimes, when you drive by their house you can hear them blasting dog years by maggie rogers. they’re so different in person, they remind me of mistaking paint water for a cup of tea, modern music played exclusively from vinyl records, and long hair wound up in a messy bun that's held together with a paint brush. written by gray, 24 and she/her

( diana silvers, cis woman, she/her ) wait, you didn’t know charlotte arnault lived here ? they’re an artist living on eastman drive. i read they’re a 24 year old leo originally from paris, france. apparently they’re pretty talented and charismatic but also lazy and irritable. sometimes, when you drive by their house you can hear them blasting dinner & diatribes by hozier. they’re so different in person, they remind me of expensive cocktails with ridiculous names, diving into a pool with all of your clothes on, and the need to be the most interesting person in the room . written by morgan, 19, she/her

( riz ahmed, non-binary, he/they ) wait, you didn’t know rasul rajani lived here ? they’re an up-and-coming indie film director living on eastman drive. i read they’re a 35-year-old capricorn originally from newton, ma. apparently they’re pretty ambitious and hardworking but also aloof and mercurial. sometimes, when you drive by their house you can hear them blasting money machine by 100 gecs. they’re so different in person, they remind me of chain smoking cigarettes to stay awake, a dog-eared notebook filled with scribbles and storyboards, disappearing into the wallpaper at a film premiere’s afterparty. written by char, 24 and she/her.

❝ WE ARE ALL WEARING MASKS. THAT IS WHAT MAKES US INTERESTING ❞

huh, who’s LUKE MITCHELL? no, you’re mistaken, that’s actually JIMBO “WICK” BLISHWICK VI. he is a 35 year old PUREBLOOD wizard who is CEO OF A WIXEN TECH & MEDIA COMPANY. he is known for being CALCULATING, FRAUDULENT, HEDONISTIC, CONCEITED, and AMORAL but also CHARISMATIC, AMBITIOUS, INNOVATIVE, METICULOUS, and PERSONABLE, so that must be why he always reminds me of the song IT’S LONELY AT THE TOP BY BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY and STYLISHLY RIPPED JEANS AND SUEDE SHOES, PURELY AESTHETIC AND MISLEADING SOCIAL MEDIA FEED, NEATLY TRIMMED BEARD AND SANDALWOOD MUSK, HORN RIMMED GLASSES WITH SMUDGES ON THE LENS, MOLESKIN FULL OF ENDLESS CODE AND FUTURE TECH INNOVATIONS, EXTRAVAGANT PENTHOUSE OVERLOOKING THE CITY, WHISKEY STONES AND EMPTY DECANTERS, and CHARMING PERSONABLE SMILES WITH MALICIOUS INTENT HIDDEN UNDERNEATH THE SURFACE. i hear he is aligned with THE DEATH EATERS, so be sure to keep an eye on him.

GENERAL

FULL NAME: Jimbo Dashiel Bartholomew Blishwick VI NICKNAME(S): Wick, Jim, Dash, Bart (yes he legit will go by any of these) AGE/DATE OF BIRTH: 35, 02/16/1994 OCCUPATION: Tech & Media Mogul GENDER: Cis Man PRONOUNS: He/Him/His HOMETOWN: Dallas, Texas CURRENT RESIDENCE: London, I guess ALMA MATTER: Ilvermorny, Horned Serpent BLOOD STATUS: Pureblood

BIOGRAPHY

MEET JIMBO BLISHWICK: THE YOUNG AMERICAN CHANGING THE WIZARDING WORLD ONE STATUS UPDATE AT A TIME. 

I’m not sure exactly what to expect when the invitation comes in. It seems archaic to be communicating over owl. There was even a part of me that thought I should revert to the “email” form which my subject is so fond of. What if the wixen tech mogul’s fondness for typing meant he had poor penmanship? To my delight not only was Mr. Blishwick’s handwriting clear as day, but it came with a gleeful acceptance to be interviewed. So it was on that high note that I made my way to Blishwix HQ in London to meet with the illustrious CEO. What I had expected was some pristine corporate office with dark leather and wood accents, sterile and admittedly cold and disconnected from the world. What I was met with was surprising. Blishwix is anything but old school in its style. Much like the young hip branding that accompanies its many products and services, the corporate HQ of Blishwix is sleek, modern and very accessible. It’s a open space of mostly glass walls, the bull pen dotted with standing desks and stability balls replacing wheeling chairs. Towards the entrance to the main floor there is a food bar, one which changes weekly I’m told. This week it’s a cereal bar, last week it was a sushi bar, the next week it’s expected to be a pho bar. Employees are scattered around it with tablets and laptops, giddily conversing around mouthfuls of rainbow marshmallows and corn flakes. There’s also several corners tucked away with velvet cushions where some team members curl up with headphones and e-readers or handheld video game consoles. Designated comfort zones, the tour guide describes them as. It’s the Blishwix goal to make sure the employees are all comfortable, so whenever they get stressed out or overwhelmed, there’s always a little place they can escape to in order to calm their nerves. In truth, Blishwix looks less like a company and more like an urban hang out for pretty hipsters in crop tops and flannels. Surely the big man on top would have a more professional set up, right? 

Even the display in the bull pen did not prepare me for Jimbo Blishwick’s personal office. It’s one of a few closed off areas to the side of the floor, wide with tall glass walls over looking the bull pen, and predominately empty save for another bean sack, a slim desktop atop a standing desk, and a row of bookcases displaying dozens upon dozens of novels, all of which I can’t place and among the only print media to be found anywhere in Blishwix. “They’re muggle books,” says a voice from behind. When I turn and get a first glance at the figure leaning casually against the glass door to the office, my gut instinct is that this is just another one of those twenty something year olds squeezing stress balls on the work floor. He’s tall, wearing a handmade beanie in a burnt orange color -- One that is, frankly, not a good pair with his golden hair. His neatly trimmed beard and horned rimmed glasses speak of an elegance that doesn’t exactly match the acid wash tattered jeans or the faded t shirt worn under an oversized cream cardigan. The shirt is colorful and bears a phrase that doesn’t come easy to me. Woodstock. Perhaps this is another “muggle thing”. It isn’t until he draws close enough that I recognize the bare footed man. It’s Jimbo Blishwick himself. “Call me Wick,” he easily responds to my surprised expression, knowing full well he wasn’t what I expected. Instead of holding out a hand in a formal handshake and then pulling up a chair for the interview, he engulfs me in a hug and ushers me into the love sack. It’s awkward at first, but eventually I melt into it. It’s just as comfortable as it looks, and their use in the designated comfort zones make more sense to me now. Wick opts to sit crosslegged on the floor, a large coffee in one hand and a bowl of granola balanced on his thighs. He sips the coffee as my eyes wander the space, finding small and interesting little things to ask him about. 

The first thing that draws my attention is a set of crystals sitting on the top of his desk, and when I ask he lets out a howling laugh that echos throughout the office, surely drawing the attention of his hard playing -- and hardly working -- employees beyond the glass walls. “Oh, I had a bit of a headache,” he says with a somewhat amused grin. “My wife said they might help.” The wife in question isn’t some darling stay at home mom you might expect. In Wick’s own words: She’s the reason the “Boss Girl” phrase was invented. Selene Blishwick is as shrewd a business person as her husband is, and perhaps a bit more progressive. As I attempt to shift a bit in the cushion, Wick relays some confidential information about some of their upcoming branding collaborations. Each is more unconventional than the last, and they all have one vital thing in common: Selene Blishwick is the one that found them. I’d go into detail, but Wick swears it would become a marital problem if I spill the big secrets before they’re due to come out. Instead he offers a sly grin and taps a single finger to his lips. “Our little secret, then you can be the cool hip one among your friends who knew all about it before it came out.” An exciting proposition, though I realize that I do need something I can share with the public from this visit, and as Wick’s bowl of dry granola gets emptier I fear I’m running out of time. So I set out to do what I’d planned: a profile on the CEO of Wizarding London’s premiere tech company. 

When I ask Wick what was the event that kickstarted his long journey to bringing the wixen world into the 21st Century, he answers in one simple phrase: “A pen pal program.” I was surprised to say the least, but it all became more transparent as I urged him to elaborate. What ensues is a story about the overweight son of a MACUSA politician who was teased and bullied all his life and struggled to maintain platonic connections. “I had no friends,” he says, a sad truth but it comes out with a light and airy laugh. “But I didn’t make it quite easy for people to be my friend.” Despite his laid back and easy going charm, Wick reveals a disabling shyness and insecurity that kept him from engaging with the world. The only one privy to his thoughts and personality was the journal he carried with him wherever he went. “I always thought I sounded better on print than in person. I could be whoever I wanted to be on paper -- Handsome, smart, clever and fun. I just could never bring that outwards, you know?” I think we can all sympathize with the young Blishwick’s plight. It didn’t help that he had quite the shoes to fill. Sixth in his line, the Jimbos that came before the media mogul were all tied to American politics. They’re all charming and ambitious men, but Wick says he just didn’t have it in him to be a lawmaker. “Big Daddy” -- yes, that’s the moniker his father, Jimbo the fifth, goes by -- “He’s just built to be a Senator, I’m just the apple that fell a little too far from that tree.” Secluded and distant, educators began to worry that Wick’s development would be halted by the lack of socialization between him and his peers. So one Ilvermorny professor had suggested Wick be one of a handful of students elected to partake in a cross continental penpal program. “Fabricating friendship,” he called it. What they didn’t know is that the program would lead to a lot more. When I ask him who his first penpal is, if it’s someone he still has direct contact with, he lets another one of those amusing grins slip. “Oh yeah, very much so. I’m actually married to her.” 

A fifth year at Ilvermorny, Wick was matched with a Hogwarts student a handful of years younger than him by the name of Selene Rowle. According to Wick, their correspondence lasted throughout both of their schooling and beyond, until he had taken a chunk out of his trust fund in order to travel to the United Kingdom to meet in person. He says that’s the only time he used his family’s money to get where he is now -- literally using it to transport across the Atlantic. Leaving behind his family’s estate in Texas and the promising job at MACUSA his father had acquired for him, Wick came to London in order to meet his long distance friend for the first time. The only person “who really knew what he was about” he says. I ask if it was for romantic reasons. He thinks about it while he sips his drink. “I guess in hindsight it does seem a little romantic.” Whatever his reasons, Wick came and he never turned back. He said that one of the first times they interacted in person, he and his future bride had lamented on their past communication and the long waits between letters. “We felt like we’d left things off on cliff hangers so often, and you’d have to wait forever just to get some kind of answer to those burning questions the last letter gave you. It was one of the most frustrating things.” The pair wondered what it would have been like if there had been a more instantaneous way to talk with wizards across the globe. After all, Wick had concluded, the muggles did it just fine. During his teen years, the Texan said he had grown very interested in what nonmagical civilization was like. A “No-Maj Studies Class”, as they call the Muggle Studies program in the states, had a unit on the technological advances of the nonmagical community during much of the modern era. The professors tried to teach the students that this was all building towards a very dangerous threat to the magical community: exposure and the fast spreading of information over the internet. Wick saw something different. “As I thought about how I wished I had a better gateway to my penpal during my teen years, I just kept thinking about how muggles had that already figured out. They could instantly send letters to anyone anywhere in the world. No long wait times for traveling owls or anything like that. It was instantaneous.... And why shouldn’t we be like that?” 

It was this very thought that birthed the company the Blishwicks lead now. 

So how do you bring the magical world safely into the 21st Century as dictated by the nonmagical? That was no easy feat. For his part, Wick said he had to learn all about something that didn’t exist in their world, something that didn’t interact well with magic. And how do you study muggle tech without magic interfering? Simple: You “become a muggle”. That’s when I realized there was a book I recognized on his eclectic shelf of reading material. Daisy Hookum’s best seller My Life as a Muggle. It’s the first book on the shelf, in the most pristine condition. A first edition, and it’s even signed by the author herself, though Wick doesn’t remember the meeting. It has a simple message in it: I hope you enjoy the time you spend in the nonmagical world and make memories as fond as my own. “Oh yeah,” he laughs, “I did tell her I was also voluntarily giving up magic in order to help kickstart my company.” He says it with an air of unfamiliarity, like he only vaguely remembers the moment. Still, he presses on with the story. A controversial choice for the son of a self proclaimed “conservative-traditional” pureblood senator, Wick was shortly disowned by the American Blishwicks for his choice to give up his magic for two and a half years to live among the muggles. But it had purpose. “I may have lied my way into an internship with a tech company in Edingbrugh. I was trying to learn as much as I could about this muggle innovation. If I wanted to create something similar for our community, I needed to master their version.” He says it took more than the two years he gave himself to live among them, and he’s still studying it to this day, but after that amount of time he had the ground work he needed to then create his tech and media empire. The biggest obstacle wasn’t even in creating the highly secret magically encrypted network which allows smart phones to be used in the wizarding world. No, for Wick the biggest hurdle to pass over was the longstanding traditional values the community had. “I think there’s an innate fear in not just advancing the community, but in mirroring any sort of progress than the muggles have done. There’s nothing wrong with it, I mean we have adapted enough of their inventions into our own world already so why not take it a step further?” He refers to radio and electric hook ups that appeared in a lot of wixen homes in the past century. 

Blishwix started out small, creating and selling smart phones and desktops primarily with the idea in mind to change the way we communicate. Email was one of those first muggle digital contraptions that made its way into the wixen mainstream and has stayed, but within a short decade the company’s offerings expanded to mirror exactly what the digital world of the muggles looks like now. It’s becoming more and more rare to see wixen without a Loquix* in hand, or a Blishwix desktop at home. The Wixpix social media app, in which users post photos taken from the cameras on their cellular devices and add witty captions which can then be “liked” or “commented” on by users across the globe, continues to grow in popularity. And now the media and tech giant is rolling out a “streaming platform” -- a sort of home theater in the form of an app that catalogues film and television programs created by wixen for wixen. There’s Accio, an application that allows you to ask random questions and receive an answer instantly; Portky** which allows users to request forms of transportation when they desperately need it, including ministry-approved portkeys (or so it claims, we haven’t used it yet here at the Prophet). There’s even applications for those lonely wixen looking to find a love connection. Erised is one such app where user profiles are made with a handful of photos, a small ‘about me’ section, and a few small details that can be provided to prospective dates in order to help connect those with similar interests and hobbies. The married Wick does not have an Erised profile, but his assistant allows me to scroll through her’s and even swipe a few times on other profiles. I accidentally match her to someone she admits she can’t see herself interested in, but we all have a good laugh about it. These are only a few of many “experiences”, as Wick refers to them, offered by the company in order to branch the magical people from across the globe. “What is more beautiful than seeing people from different cultural backgrounds and walks of life coming together and sharing ideas and thoughts so quickly?” I realize as I’m sitting there in that bean cushion, scrolling through a prototype of the next Blishwix tablet that I know so little about the world beyond my little corner of it. I suddenly understand Wick’s enthusiasm about expanded communication. 

It’s all pretty exciting to see coming together, it’s almost impossible to understand what more could be done by Blishwix. So when I ask him what’s next, Wick gets a very eager look in his eyes. “There’s a lot of places we still don’t have our tech in that I think would be all the better for it,” he solemnly reveals, and I’m shocked to hear it. Since visiting Blishwix, I have seen their product seemingly in every corner of Wizarding London I explore daily. Who isn’t using connected to their expansive network at this point? “I would love to do a partnership with the Ministry. As the governing body, I feel like we can offer them so much that could continue to further develop the community and continue progressing us into the future. If we could get our desktops in every Ministry Department, we can further the sort of work that keeps our world moving. Just imagine how we could expand Law Enforcement, Education or Wellfare departments if we can make all the relevant information they need all the more accessible to their employees? Think about how much easier it would be for them to process information on our fast and reliable network.” 

On the topic of Education, Wick reveals his ambitions don’t stop with the Ministry. “I would love to see Blishwix in schools like Hogwarts,” he says, revealing what may be the biggest bombshell yet. “This whole dream started because of a chubby boy who had no friends in school and wanted a faster way to communicate with the one he made far away. I think a lot about that and how my life would have been different had I had this kind of technology available to me. If there are lonely kids like me who could have that, or even kids who are just struggling to get the information they need to be successful in school, and I could give them what they need to advance in life? Then I could say I’ve done what I initially set out to do. Until that day, I would say that Blishwix hasn’t been a success yet. Even teachers could benefit from the use of the internet and all the resources we have out there which we now have access to.” I begin to wonder if the technological genius is actually more of a philanthropist. “I don’t know, you tell me,” he quips when I muse out loud. Our interview comes to a halt by this point, and I’m left with so many more questions. What is Blishwix cooking up for the wizarding world next? What kind of innovations will define the company’s next decade? These, and so many more, questions are left unanswered as I walk out of Blishwix HQ, a takeaway bowl of fruity cereal in one hand and my previous generation Loquix in the other (scrolling through shopping apps in order to find that “love sack” I spent much of the afternoon lounging in).

The same day I begin writing this piece out, Blishwix has announced the Loquix VI, their most advance smartphone yet. They livestream details of their upgraded OS and hardware reveal on the company’s social media, an event I watch while typing this article up on my worn out typewriter. Halfway through and I’m out of ribbon, and I silently curse myself as I order a new set online. All the while the Blishbook Pro is being revealed on the stream, its sleek wireless keyboard and slim expandable monitor shimmering under the stage lights. I join in with the loud gasps from the shareholders crowding the conference room where the event is being held. The irony of this isn’t lost on me, and as I sit here writing out these last few paragraphs with a quill in my cramped hand I begin to realize exactly why I admire Jimbo Blishwick and his forward thinking. At least he’s not sitting here with ink blotches in obscene places, running to his editor’s office just barely before deadline with a mess of typed and handwritten article. I remember in that moment, drenched in the rain while rushing through the offices of the Prophet, the first line in his owl response to my inquiry for the interview: 

You should have just emailed. 

Touché, Blishwick, touché. 

*Portky app idea comes courtesy of Kim ( @strvngemagics​ ) **Loquix phone name comes courtesy of Vic ( @cfdiggorys​ / @moodyparis​ / @aarlingtons​ ) Both gave permission to use / mention these galaxy brained concepts in the intro and credit for their conception goes to them. Thank you guys so much!!

TL;DR: Wick is full of shit. What can I say? Here’s the ‘Murrican lad who claims to be some hip and cool CEO of a wizarding tech and media company. Okay he’s I guess apple meets zuckerberg. Idk I’m not galaxy brained enough for this afheiahfpea hence the very oddly written bio. Wick’s a pureblood from america who supposedly forsake his family’s purist ways and then decided to create a company modeled after muggle tech in order to “bring the wizarding world into the modern era”. In actuality? He’s a fucking bigot who created a network that he could use to spy on people who may be enemies of the cause. At least that’s how it’s being factored into the DEs. His theme song is “Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell bc he’s always watching you. Gives off this very laid back and down to earth and charming persona just so he can gain your trust and meanwhile he’s leaking your information to the DE and helping them further their agenda. Some extra tidbits not seen above: 

He’s got some daddy issues which are leaking into his parenting. Aka he is not exactly excited to be a father but you wouldn’t know that from his Wixpix feed which feature so many “cute” dad photos with his baby boy. In order for him to become his best self, his dad had to make his life a living hell and he believes that’s how he’s gonna have to handle Zephyr as well. 

He is smart, yes, but he’s not some brilliant innovator like the world thinks he is. His empire is built on stolen material which he simply “adapted” to the magical world. He’s not original, but he is clever. 

He’s not a fighter, clumsy with a wand, had a severe stutter as a kid which made it very hard for him to cast spells etc, so he avoids battle often and instead offers up his company more for espionage for the DEs. He’s better suited to behind the scenes mayhem, and that’s kind of the way he likes it. 

He’s a coward. He’s hiding behind computer screens and tbh if things get really sticky he’s likely to try and sell out the DE in order to save his skin. Has an escape plan to the states if things get really sticky but the likelihood of him succeeding are slim to none. 

He acts very charitable and humble and kind but he’s conceited as hell and he’s a real shady bitch sometimes. Talks shit on everyone behind their backs

He’s had a few affairs here and there despite being married. Even with that, he is in love with his wife and feels a sort of fealty towards her. She’s a very important part to the company, she’s pretty much the brand of it and so he relies on her a lot to help manufacture their image even just as individuals to help the rouse. 

BODY IMAGE TW/EATING DISORDER TW. Wick has some body image issues due to his past tbh. He got bullied a lot as a kid for being overweight and quiet, his solace was in food and he was a binge eater. As he got a bit older, he made some desperate choices in order to lose weight to gain a slimmer figure. It wasn’t healthy, it landed him in hospital a few times, and eventually he had to meet with nutrition specialists and therapists in order to work out a more healthy mindset on food. He’s still harbors body imagine issues, but he’s learned to be better about it. Still, he maintains a very strict diet and work out regime because he feels his image is one of the most important things about him. He did meet Selene when he was slim and athletic and therefore thinks it’s best he maintain the figure even just out of fear she wouldn’t find him attractive otherwise. 

is any of the stuff he said in this interview true? Idk, idk

Idk, I hate this man and this bio afheuiahfpea I’ll end up rewriting it eventually. 

MISC

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Bisexual ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Biromantic LANGUAGES: English FAMILY: Jimbo Dashiel Bartholomew Blishwick V (but they call him “Big Daddy”; father), Cricket Blishwick née Berkeley (mother), Beaufort Harland Blishwick (younger brother), Cora-Lou Blishwick (younger sister), Selene Blishwick née Rowle (wife), Zephyr Blishwick (infant son), and by extension all the fucking Rowles I guess PETS: TBD FACE CLAIM: Luke Mitchell ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Aquarius MBTI: hm PINTEREST: (coming soon)

WANTED CONNECTIONS

interns - a couple new grunts at the blishwix HQ. they can be any affiliation, but if they are DE affiliated then they’ll know a little bit more about what is going on behind closed doors at the company. could be fun for future plotting purposes. 

co conspirators - other DEs who similarly to wick lead a double life in the public eye. philanthropists, media stars, all sorts of “do gooders” who are banning together in order to break “harmful stigmas and stereotypes and join the wixen community globally”. blishwix mission statement aims to create a platform for wixen of all types across the world to interact free of prejudice and judgement and to bring the magical community into a modern era free of harmful ideologies. of course that’s a fucking lie, so if you play a baddy bad who’s pretending to be goody good then this could be a fun collaboration. 

partnerships - alternatively, let’s see some honest to good people and groups get schemed by these fuckers. this would involve some potential screwing over but no worries, at the end of the day blishwix will tank and then your character can get their sweet revenge on this man and his corrupt business. 

idk hmu with ideas. 

Wait Until I’m Back

ღ first post of my reject list.  This means this will not be continued and was essentially a part 2 to I Don’t Wanna Waste This Moment

pairing: namjoon x gender neutral reader

genre: angst, fluff?

wc: 3k

title credit: this song

warnings: cursing, namjoon is angry for most of this, Jin gives some bad love advice, they/them pronouns

date: April 7, 2020

Namjoon fought against the youngest member but it was no use. Jungkook’s hold on him wasn’t going to ease up until he shoved Namjoon into his seat. Namjoon stood, only to be pushed back into his seat by Jungkook, who pulled his face mask down to fully look at his leader. “We don’t have time for your unrequited love, hyung.”

“It’s not unrequited, they just said so! I need to get off and tell them I love 'em!” Namjoon is growing hysterical as he struggles against Jungkook while the other members look on with bemused expressions. 

“Jungkook, what’s going on?” Taehyung is the first to speak, the others leaning over his shoulder to see Namjoon trying to fight off the maknae. 

“Namjoon is trying to get off the plane,” Jungkook explains curtly, his fierce eyes not leaving his leader’s. 

“Are you sick?” Jimin’s worried voice speaks up as he tries to analyze the situation. 

“He’s not sick, he’s trying to get back to Y/n,” his eyes move upward to meet Jimin’s, who quirks his head to the side in confusion.  

“Are they sick?” Jin asks as he takes a step forward to inspect the situation further. By now Namjoon has stopped trying to get out of Jungkook’s iron-clad hold, breathing heavily for his efforts. 

“They’re in love with me,” Namjoon murmurs, his thoughts reeling in his head as you appear in his mind looking utterly heartbroken at his lack of response. 

“Isn’t that a good thing? You’ve loved them for years,” Yoongi finally speaks up as he takes a seat across from Namjoon. 

“I didn’t have time to say anything before Jungkook dragged me away,” Namjoon huffs in anger and annoyance as he pushes his hand to push Jungkook away from him as the flight attendant appears to inform them of their impending departure once they are all seated. 

“You can tell them when we get back,” Jin states firmly as he sits beside Namjoon, making Jungkook move to the back. 

“In three months?!” Namjoon screeches, his head falling into the palms of his hands before he harshly tugs at his hair, making Jin grip his hands tightly to hold them in his lap.

“Stop! You’re acting like a child, Namjoon. Y/n wouldn’t want you behaving like this,” Jin scolds him, making him roll his eyes before ripping his hands out of his hold to cross over his chest with his hands tucked under his arms to keep him from pulling at his hair in frustration.

“I’ve waited so long for this. How can I just leave when they finally tell me they love me? They probably think I don’t reciprocate their feelings.” Namjoon is stressing out again, his leg fidgeting as the boys talk quietly behind them.

“Text ‘em,” Hoseok suggests from his seat as the flight attendant walks by to make sure everyone has their seatbelts on.

“This isn’t something you text.” Namjoon shakes his head as he sighs heavily. What if this had been his only chance? What if by the time he came back, you’d be over him? What would he do then?

“What if it’s too late when I get back?” Namjoon airs his worries out loud, Jimin shaking his head as he looks at Taehyung for answers, but the younger doesn’t know what to do in this situation either.

“They’ve probably loved you for years. Another tour will not change their feelings about you? If their feelings are genuine for you, they’ll be there when you get back. They’re aware of what your job is, this isn’t for the faint of heart. Why do you think none of us get involved with anyone? It is what it is,” Jimin tries to come off sympathetic, but by the look on Namjoon’s face, he knows he’s missed the mark.

“Why now?” Namjoon groans out in frustration, blinking back tears he refuses to shed. Jin gives his shoulder a squeeze before turning his attention to the window as the jet begins to move slowly, making the flight attendant go over the safety information, despite them hearing it every single time they fly.

Namjoon tries his best to keep himself occupied, not wanting to let his thoughts drift off to you because he knows his heart will clench in pain at having not confessed. He wondered if you felt as dejected as he did, perhaps worse? He hoped you weren’t sitting in your room crying, wondering why he didn’t love you back when all he wanted to do was run back to you and kiss you. Years, years, he had waited for this moment. Imagined it hundreds of times, but his fear always held him back. ‘Don’t ruin the friendship’ he would tell himself every time you were wrapped up in his arms 

Every time he had to leave, it got harder; his need to stay with you growing each and every day; every departure tore him apart inside. He couldn’t keep doing this, couldn’t keep leaving you, but what other choice did he have? Despite wanting to build a life with you, he couldn’t give up the one he had because it wasn’t just his life he had to consider, it was the lives of the other six men sitting around him; his family.

An angry huff escaped his lips as he tries not to draw too much attention to himself. But the others can sense the tension in the jet, their eyes roaming to glance at him before returning to their activities. The air is thick with tension, everyone too scared to speak above a whisper as to not upset their leader, but what else are they to do to keep occupied? Unlike Namjoon, the rest of them had actually gotten some sleep, so they didn’t want to sleep anymore. There was nothing left to do until Namjoon finally fell asleep, giving the opportunity to relax slightly before landing in Osaka.

The moment the jet landed, Namjoon was awake as he made sure he had his belongings so he could sprint off the jet towards the cars. He was eager to get to his hotel room in hopes of video chatting with you, but he knew that there was a small possibility that you wouldn’t want to speak with him, not after he left you without a response.

Namjoon tried to be patient, but as the minutes ticked on, his patience began to wear thin as he huffed and grumbled until he was finally allowed off. He walked past everyone, not caring to slow down and wait for his members as his security team greeted him at the gate. He adjusted his face mask before walking with his head down and his sunglasses resting on his nose. He didn’t feel like greeting the paparazzi as he normally would, so he just walked on by without giving them as much of a glance or a wave. Later on he would feel guilty about being rude, but right now all that mattered was you.

The moment he sat in the SUV, his knee bounced up and down in anticipation.  He would have to wait for another member or two to join him before they could take off. All he wanted to do was go, his anger boiling through his veins as he waited and waited. His phone was in his hand, his fingers hovering over the screen as he bit his lip, deep in thought. What could he possibly say to you? How could he confess over text where you couldn’t hear the sincerity in his voice? This wasn’t how he imagined he would admit his feelings for you. This wasn’t romantic in the slightest. Had he known, he would have made some grand gesture for you, but he knew you would have been just as happy with a simple date, like your bike rides by the Han River.

“Fuck!” he cursed, agitated with everything and everyone, his members delaying their arrival because none of them wanted to be cooped up with him in a tighter space than the plane. Namjoon was a force to be reckoned with, besides Jimin, when he was angry. It took a few more long minutes before the door opened and Jin popped in.  

Namjoon blinked once as the door shut before he asked, “is it just us? Can we go now?”

“Yes, everyone else is getting into the other cars. We’ll be leaving in a moment,” Jin replied as he put his seatbelt on and tried to keep his gaze forward, but he could feel the heat of his leader’s anger radiating off him. The tight space felt tense, making it hard to breathe as the door opened and the driver got in before a security guard climbed into the passenger seat. Namjoon felt slightly at ease when the car started and began its route to the hotel.

 The moment Namjoon got to the hotel, he pushed past Jin to get out of the car, startling everyone in the SUV. The security guard rushed after him, making sure he was safe as he led him inside and to the elevator. Namjoon was fuming. His anger hadn’t dissipated in the slightest as he watched the floors ascend on the elevator until it finally came to a stop. His security guard stopped him from exiting the elevator, an angry huff escaping him as he waited for the guard to give him the all-clear to enter the hallway. Namjoon held his room key in his hand, following the guard as they walked down the hall, stopping in front of his room. He handed his card over to the guard, who took him and asked him to wait while he did one last sweep of the room to ensure it was safe before allowing him inside moments after.

Namjoon slammed the door, throwing his bag on the bed as he checked his phone once again to see if you had responded to any of his messages or phone calls, but all he had was texts from the other members asking if he was okay.  He ignores the messages, calling you one more time as he takes his laptop out of his bag, starting it up and hoping he’ll have better luck if he tries reaching you with both electronics.

He knows he only has until after lunch to reach you before he has to go to rehearsal and he’s desperate to talk to you before then, otherwise he’ll be unable to focus. At least, the concert isn’t until tomorrow night, but he needs to make some headway in this before then.

Your phone goes straight to voicemail once again, making him groan as he lays in his bed. A tentative knock on his door has him sitting up, getting out of bed to see who it is, he’s not surprised to see Jimin standing there with a sheepish smile.

“I was wondering if we could have lunch together so we could talk,” he mumbles as he looks at his leader. Namjoon sighs, running his hand through his hair before stepping to the side to allow Jimin in.

“Just order whatever, I’m still trying to reach, Y/n.”

“Still no luck?” Jimin asks as he takes a seat at the desk, turning the chair to face Namjoon, who shakes his head.

“Do you want me to try?” Jimin offers as he takes his phone out of his pocket.

“Yeah, maybe they’ll answer you,” Namjoon says hopefully, biting his lower lip as Jimin presses call on your name, placing it on speaker as it rings once but goes to voicemail.  

“Hey, Y/n. It’s Jimin. I just wanted to check in to make sure everything is okay. Call me back,” Jimin hangs up, looking at Namjoon with an apologetic smile as he sets his phone on the desk.

“Thanks, Jimin. Hopefully, they will call back soon or after soundcheck,” Namjoon sighs as he sits on the bed, allowing Jimin to order lunch for the two of them.

You watch the phone ring in your hand, hitting ignore as you climb into the SUV, clutching your bag tightly as you get comfortable and put your seatbelt on.  Your door is closed and you look straight ahead, nerves pooling in your stomach as you look out of the window, watching the buildings go by.  You know you should have answered Namjoon’s call or even Jimin’s but it didn’t matter at all now because thanks to Jungkook, you’d be in their hotel in a few minutes.

You weren’t sure what Jungkook needed from you that had you urgently get on a flight to Osaka, but the way he sounded so desperate, begging and pleading for you to come to see him had you wondering if something was wrong, perhaps with Namjoon?

You didn’t want to face Namjoon, not after what happened earlier in the day and to be frank, you weren’t too thrilled to see Jungkook either, but what could you do, you were here now.

“Your bags will be taken to your room.” You nod at the security guard as you’re led inside the hotel and to the elevator, a room key in the guard’s hand as the elevator shuts. You’re thrumming with apprehension, biting your lip as you arrive on your floor, the staff giving you perplexed looks before your situation is explained and you’re handed an ID badge before being escorted to your room.

You set your bag down, a knock on your door seconds later. You open the door, seeing a bashful-looking Jungkook.

“Hey,” you greet him, allowing him into your room before shutting the door.

“Hey, I’m glad you made it here safely.”

“Yeah, me too. Are you going to tell me why I had to rush here? I don’t exactly want to look at you or anyone else for that matter,” you admit angrily, making Jungkook recoil as he steps back.

“You, you just need to be. I’ll explain later, but talk to Namjoon, please. I have to go but please answer Namjoon’s phone calls,” Jungkook insists as he rushes out of your room. You roll your eyes as you take your phone out to see a few more missed calls. You know he’ll be heading out for the rest of the afternoon, so you decide it’s best for you to wait until Jungkook lets you know that they’re back.

You take a shower, order lunch, unpack a bit and think about what you’re going to tell Namjoon when you finally speak to him after you blatantly ignored him the entire day.

Hours later, your phone rings, wakes you up. You grumble, reaching out to get it just as it stops ringing. You look at your ringing phone again and sit on the floor against the wall, not wanting to show that you’re at the hotel as you inhale deeply before answering the call.

“Y/n!” Namjoon shouts, surprised you’ve actually answered his call.

“Hey,” you murmur with a slight wave.

“Hey,” he responds, cheeks tinted pink as he gulps. He didn’t think about what he would say once he got a hold of you.

“I’m sorry about leaving earlier, I didn’t even get to say anything.”

“Forget about it, Joonie.”

“No, I don’t want to forget about it, Y/n,” his voice is firm, his gaze smoldering as he looks at you through the screen.

“Joon, I shouldn’t have said anything. You don’t feel the same and…”

“How do you know I don’t feel the same? Did you hear me say that? No, you didn’t,” Namjoon scoffs, but you sigh.

“Hold on, Joonie,” You say as you turn the camera off, rising from the floor as Namjoon asks if you’re still there.

Namjoon wonders what you’re doing, hearing rustling before the sound disappears altogether for a moment. Perplexed, he scrunches his brows as he sees the time still ticking before the sound comes back.

“Sorry,” you apologize, but don’t turn the camera on.

“Is everything okay?” Namjoon asks, worried as he wonders what you could be doing. Before you can respond, there’s a knock on Namjoon’s door. “Hold up, I gotta get the door. Don’t hang up!”

Namjoon opens the door, ready to tell whoever it is to fuck off, only to be shocked to see you standing in front of him with your phone in your hand, hanging up the call.

“Joonie,” you say before you’re scooped up in his arms, hugged tightly, the guards on the floor peek at you before returning to their duty as Namjoon pulls you into his room, shutting the door.

“What are you doing here?” 

“Jungkook insisted I come,” you state as Namjoon releases you to look at you, wondering if he’s imagining you in front of him. You cross one arm over the other, feeling awkward as you look down at your feet, biting your lip.

“Of course, I’m glad you’re here! Really! I didn’t want to tell you how I felt over a text or a screen. Y/n, I know you’re probably upset and you have every right to be but I didn’t want to leave you and I tried to get back to you but I couldn’t. I love you too, so much. I know I should have said something sooner, but I just couldn’t find the words and I still can’t. I know my career is something that will keep us apart, and I don’t blame you if you don’t want to be with me because of it but if you do, if you do want to be with me despite it all, I promise to do whatever it takes to make us work.”

You can feel the tears welling up in your eyes, sniffling as Namjoon walks closer to you, hugging you. He kisses your forehead, holding you tight as he feels your arms wrap around him.  

© jjungkookislife - I do not allow reposts or translations of my work on any platforms, this includes Youtube.

previous

Punk’d History, Vol. VIII: This Machine [blank] Fascists

Photo by Richard Young

It has the appearance of a worrisome pattern: any number of punk rock’s founding figures embraced the symbolics of Nazi Germany. Ron Asheton, an original and indispensable member of the Stooges, played a number of gigs wearing a red swastika armband, and liked to sport Iron Cross medals and a Luftwaffe-style leather jacket. Sid Vicious loved his bright scarlet, swastika-emblazoned tee shirt, and Siouxsie Sioux, during her tenure as the It-Girl of the Bromley Contingent, mixed her breast-baring, black leather bondage gear with a bunch of “Nazi chic.” And how many early Ramones songs (inevitably penned by Dee Dee) referenced Nazi gear, concepts and geography? “Blitzkrieg Bop,” “Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World,” “Commando,” “It’s a Long Way Back to Germany,” “All’s Quiet on the Eastern Front,” and so on—for sure, more than a few.

“Appearance” is the key term. Poor Sid lacked the sobriety and smarts to have much of a grasp of fascism as an ideology. Siouxsie was just taking the piss, and gleefully pissing off the mid-1970s British general public, for much of whom World War II was still a living memory. Asheton and Dee Dee? Both were sons of hyper-masculine military men. Asheton’s father was a collector of WWII artefacts, and the guitarist shared his father’s fascination. When the Stooges adopted an ethos and aesthetic hostile to the late-1960s prevailing Flower Power rock’n’roll subculture, the Nazi accoutrement seemed to him fitting signs of the band’s anger and alienation. Dee Dee hated his father, an abusive Army officer who married a German woman. Dee Dee spent some of his youth in post-war West Germany, in which Nazi symbols were highly charged with anxiety and vituperation. Casual veneration of Nazis was a convenient way to reject the triumphal ennobling of the Good War, and of the military men associated with its traditions. And (as Sid, Siouxsie and Asheton also noticed) it really bothered the squares. 

None of that makes the superficial use of the swastika or phrases like “Nazi schatzi” any less offensive — it simply underscores that in the cases noted above, the offense was the thing. The politics weren’t even an afterthought, because the political itself had been dismissed as corrupt, boring or simply the native territory of the very people the punks were striking out against. If that’s where the relation between punk and fascism ceased, there wouldn’t be much more to write about.

The post-punk moment in England provided opportunities to rethink and restrategize the nascent détournement of Siouxsie’s fashionable provocations. Genesis P-Orridge and the rest of Throbbing Gristle were a brainy bunch, and their play with fascist signifiers was a good deal more complex. The band’s logo and their occasional appearance in gun-metal grey uniforms clearly alluded to Nazism, with its attendant, keen interests in occult symbols and High Modernist representational languages. TG’s visual gestures were also of a piece with an early band slogan: “Industrial music for industrial people.” Clearly “industrial people” can be read as a highly ironized coupling: the oppressed workers marching through the bowels of Metropolis were a sort of industrial people, reduced to the functionality of pure human capital. TG seemed to impose the same analysis on the middle-managers of Britain’s post-industrial economy, and their uncritical complicity in capital’s cruelties. But it’s also possible to argue that industrial people are industrious people; like TG, industrial people (middle managers, MPs) can get a lot of stuff done. They can produce things. They can make the trains run on time. And what sorts of cargo might those trains be carrying? What variety of conveyance delivered the naked “little Jewish girl” of “Zyklon B Zombies” to her fate?  

To be clear: I don’t mean at all to suggest that TG was a fascist band. Like their punky contemporaries, TG traded in fascist iconography in a spirit of transgressive outrage, expressing their hot indignation with equally heated symbols. And other British post-punk acts flirted with fascist themes and images, ranging from ambiguous dalliance (Joy Division’s overt references to Yehiel De-Nur’s House of Dolls and to Rudolph Hess; and just what was the inspiration for Death in June’s band name?) to more assertive satire (see Current 93’s appealingly bonkers Swastikas for Noddy [LAYLAH Antirecords, 1988]). But a more problematic populist undercurrent in British punk persisted through the late 1970s. The dissolution of Sham 69—due in large part to the National Front’s attempts to appropriate the band’s working-class anger as a form of white pride—opened the way for a clutch of clueless, cynical or outright racist Oi! bands to attempt to impose themselves as the face of blue-collar English punk. And literally so: the Strength through Oi! compilation LP (Decca Records, 1981) featured notorious British Movement activist Nicky Crane on its cover. It didn’t help that the record’s title seemed to allude to the Nazis’ “Strength through Joy [Kraft durch Freude]” propaganda initiative.  

Of course, it’s unfair to tar all Oi! bands with an indiscriminate brush. A few bands whose songs were opportunistically stuck onto Strength through Oi! by the dullards at Decca Records — Cock Sparrer and the excellent Infa Riot — tended leftward in their politics, and were anything but racists. But for a lot of the disaffected kids sucking down pints of Bass and singing in the Shed at Stamford Bridge, it wasn’t much of a leap from the punk pathetique of the Toy Dolls to Skrewdriver’s poisonous palaver.  

In the States, a similarly complicated story can be recovered:

In numerous ways, hardcore intensified punk’s confrontational qualities, musically and aesthetically. The New York hardcore scene made a fetish of its inherent violence, which complemented the music’s sharpened impact. So it’s hard to know precisely what to make of the photo on the cover of Victim in Pain (Rat Cage Records, 1984). If inflicting violence was an essential element of belonging in the NYHC scene, with whom to identify: the Nazi with the pistol, or the abject Ukrainian Jewish man, on his knees and about to tumble into the mass grave?  

Agnostic Front seemed to provide a measure of clarity on the record, which included the song “Fascist Attitudes.” The lyric uses “fascist” as a condemnatory term. But the behaviors the song engages as evidence of fascism are intra-scene acts of violence: “Why should you go around bashing one another? […] / Learning how to respect each other is a must / So why start a war of anger, danger among us?” That’s a rhetoric familiar to anyone who participated in early-1980s hardcore; calls for scene unity were ubiquitous, and the theme is obsessively addressed on Victim in Pain. But the signs of inclusivity most visibly celebrated on the NYHC records and show flyers of the period were a skinhead’s white, shaven pate; black leather, steel-toe boots; and heavily muscled biceps. Those signifiers clearly link to the awful cover image of Strength through Oi! The forms of identity recognized and concretized in the songs’ first-person inclusive pronouns have a clear referent. 

Agnostic Front wasn’t the only NYHC band to refer to and engage World War Two-period fascism. Queens natives Dave Rubenstein and Paul Bakija met at Forest Hills High School—the same school at which John Cummings (Johnny) befriended Thomas Erdelyi (Tommy), laying the groundwork for the formation of the Ramones. Rubenstein and Bakija also took stage names (Dave Insurgent and Paul Cripple) and formed Reagan Youth. But unlike the Ramones, there was nothing tentative or ambivalent about Reagan Youth’s politics. Rubenstein’s parents, after all, were Holocaust survivors. The band’s name riffed on “Hitler Youth,” but specifically did so to draw associations between Reagan and Hitler, between American conservatism’s 1980s resurgence and the Nazi’s hateful, genocidal agenda. Songs like “New Aryans” and “I Hate Hate” accommodated no uncertainties.  

Still, it’s interesting that Victim in Pain and Reagan Youth’s Youth Anthems for the New Order (R Radical Records, 1984) were released only months apart, by bands in the same scene, sometimes sharing bills at CBGBs’ famous matinees of the period. And while Reagan Youth toured with Dead Kennedys, it’s Agnostic Front’s “Fascist Attitudes” that’s closer in content to the most famous punk rock putdown of Nazis.

It’s odd what comes back around: Martin Hannett, whom Biafra playfully chides at the track’s very beginning, produced much of Joy Division’s music, moving the band away from its brittle early sound to the fulsome atmospheres of the Factory records, and to a wider listenership. “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” similarly addresses a formerly obscure, tight scene opening to a greater array of participants, some of whom were attracted solely to hardcore’s reputation for violence. Like “Fascist Attitudes,” the Dead Kennedys’ song itemizes fighting at shows as its chief complaint, and as a principal marker for “Nazi” behavior. Biafra’s lyric eventually gets around to somewhat more focused ideological critique: “You still think swastikas look cool / The real Nazis run your schools / They’re coaches, businessmen, and cops / In a real fourth Reich, you’ll be the first to go.” The kiss-off to punk’s vapid romance of the swastika (it “looks cool”) complements the speculative treatment of a “real fourth Reich.” Both operate at the level of abstraction. The casual, superficial relation to the symbol’s aesthetic assumes a sort of safety from the real, material consequences of its application. And the emergence of a fascist political regime is dangled as a possible future event. That speculative futurity undoes the “real” in “real Nazis.” The threat is ultimately a metaphorical construct. The Nazis are metaphorical “Nazis.”  

Still, it’s the song’s chorus that resonates most powerfully. So much so that the song has found its way into other artworks.

Jeremy Saulnier’s Green Room (2015) is frequently identified as a horror film on streaming services. We could split hairs over that genre marker. The film gets quite graphically bloody, but there’s no psychotic slasher killer, no supernatural force at work. And cinematically, the film is a lot more interested in anxiety and dramatic tension than it is in inspiring revulsion or disgust. It terrifies, more than it horrifies. What’s especially compelling about the film (aside from Imogen Poots’ excellent performance, and Patrick Stewart’s menacing turn as charismatic fascist Darcy Banks) is its interest in embedding the viewer in a social context in which the Nazis are a lot less metaphorical, a lot more real. In Green Room, the kids in the punk band the Ain’t Rights are warned about the club they have agreed to play: “It’s mostly boots and braces down there.” And they understand the terms. What they can’t quite imagine is a room — a scene, a political Real — in which fascism is dominant. Their recognition of the stakes of the Real comes too late. The violence is already in motion. In that world, the Dead Kennedys song provides a nice slogan, but symbolic action alone is entirely inadequate.  

OK, sure, Green Room is a fiction. Its violence is necessarily aestheticized, distorted and hyperbolized. But perhaps the film’s most urgent source of horror can be located in its plausible connections to the social realities of our material, contemporary conjuncture. You don’t have to dig very deep into the Web to find thousands of records made by white nationalist and neo-fascist-allied bands, many, many of which deploy stylistic chops identified with punk rock and hardcore. You can listen. You can buy. (And yeah, I’m not going to link to any of that miserable shit, because fuck them. If you do your own digging to see what’s what, be careful. It’s scary and upsetting in there.) It feels endless. And the virulent sentiments expressed on those records are echoed in institutional politics in the US and elsewhere: Steve King (and now Marjorie Taylor Greene, effectively angling for her seat in Congress), Nigel Farage, Alternative für Deutschland, elected leadership in Poland and Hungary. Explicit white supremacist music also has somewhat more carefully coded counterparts in much more visible media (the nightly monologuing on Fox News) and in very well-positioned, prominent policy makers (Stephen Miller, who’s on the record touting “great replacement” theory and is a big fan of The Camp of the Saints). It’s a complex, ideologically coherent network, working industriously to impose and install its hateful vision as the dominant political Real. 

Sometimes it feels as if no progress at all has been made. Maybe we’re moving toward the reactionaries. Contrast Skokie in the late 1970s with Charlottesville in 2017. And now if the Neo-Nazis have licenses for their long guns, they can strut through American streets wearing them in the name of “law and order.” It’s even more disturbing that a subculture that wants to clothe itself in “revolution” and “radicalism” is so tightly in league with institutional politics. Say what you will about Siouxsie’s Nazi-fashion antics, no one suspected that her prancing echoed political activity, policy-making or messaging in Westminster.

So what’s a punk to do? It’s certain that a vigorously free society needs to preserve spaces in which unpopular speech can be uttered and exchanged. Punk should pride itself on defending those spaces. But speech that operates in conjunction with an ascendant political power and ideological agenda doesn’t need defense or energetic attempts to preserve its right to existence. In October of 2020, that speech (in this case, speeches being written by Miller, texts by folks who have spent time in Tucker Carlson’s writer’s room and songs by white supremacist hardcore bands) has become synonymous with political right itself.  

So now more than ever, it’s important to be active in the public square, to stand up to the fascists and to say it, often and out loud:

Jonathan Shaw

I'm the "do u think Taylor gay " anon from earlier and I asked so bec people on twt actually think she's gay and that she has queer coded her lyrics and stuff...which is so...idk like i get why you might think her lyrics have sapphic undertones due to the lack of pronouns and you're allowed to interpret songs that way but saying that she exclusively sings about women using male pronouns so as to closet is so ?? she said "as an ally" and "a community I'm not a part of" but then she also said "gay pride makes me me"... so...idk for me personally, she has implied at being straight in the vogue interview™ and her sexuality is none of my concern so unless she straight up says "I'm not straight" I ain't buying all the she is actually a gay inside a closet thing

if taylor is “part” of the community she isnt a lesbian, shes somewhere in between so changing her lyrics and saying she only uses he pronouns to cover up her sexuality is actually extremely biphobic ?? also i do not think theres anything wrong w understanding taylors songs through a queer interpretation, specifically if you r queer. theres a lack of representation so looking for it in unique places is so so so incredibly valid. but as taylor has made clear, especially w folklore, she often isnt telling her own stories and is drawing inspiration from elsewhere. for example, even though shes straight, im sure she is fully aware of how gay seven is. i think its one of the gayest songs ive ever heard lmao. but never once have i listened to it and thought ‘that means taylor is a lesbian’ because shes not. we know for a fact she is not. i dont know anything abt the twitter community at all and like u, i agree that theres sapphic undertones in many of her songs, but i dont think its fair to her, especially as her fans, to put any identity on her that she hasnt explicitly put on herself publicly

a n t i g o n e   k e n n e d y   g r a v e s

basics:

name: antigone kennedy graves. pronunciation: an·ti·guh·nee keh·nuh·dee grahvs. meaning: antigone- in place of a mother, unbending, against, compared to, like. kennedy- misshapen head or fierce headed. birthday: september 13th. age: nineteen. pronouns: they, she & her. sexuality: pansexual. siblings: archibald graves (triplet), ajax graves (triplet). parents: john graves & elaine graves nee kennedy. other family: darcy kennedy (grandmother). languages: english. current residence: the graves triplet’s london flat. hometown: boston, massachusetts; new york city, new york.

wizard fun:

hogwarts house: ravenclaw. year of graduation: 1979. occupation: intern at the department of mysteries. pet: none. tig does bring home many strays to care for, though. blood status: pureblood. species: witch. patronus: goldfish. it symbolizes prosperity. it brings good luck and good fortune. with its golden scales and colorful patterns, they are associated with much wealth which it will share to those it guides. the gold fish is naturally strong. a big fish for its kind, it swims powerfully to get to where it wants. it also symbolizes a dragon in ancient eastern and oriental traditions, with legend holding that it can transform into a water dragon. its transformative powers make it a sign of power and virility. they exist in naturally serene environments. to view the goldfish and koi is to be reverted into a meditative state. this brings about a feeling of calmness and peace to those that see this animal as a guide. it causes those that see it to be still as well, easing their worries and letting their minds work more freely.  boggart: the memory of her parents bodies in their caskets. the idea of her brothers there with them. amortentia:   candy apple.  one of tig’s favorite treats that reminds her of the best memories of carnivals and festivals with her brothers back at home.  lavender.  lavender has always been tig’s favorite scent. her mother wore it in her perfume and tig also wears it. they used to grow small planters of lavender in their back yard too.  sea salt.  antigone loves the ocean. she always has. it is a life long dream of hers to live her life on the beach next to the ever present waves.  wand type: 9″ willow wood, thunderbird tail feather, springy.  willow is an uncommon wand wood with healing power, and I have noted that the ideal owner for a willow wand often has some (usually unwarranted) insecurity, however well they may try and hide it. while many confident customers insist on trying a willow wand (attracted by their handsome appearance and well-founded reputation for enabling advanced, non-verbal magic) my willow wands have consistently selected those of greatest potential, rather than those who feel they have little to learn. It has always been a proverb in my family that he who has furthest to travel will go fastest with willow.  thunderbird wands were powerful but difficult to master, and were good for transfiguration work. wands with thunderbird tail feather cores, like the birds the feathers are taken from, are able to sense danger and can cast curses on their own. wands with thunderbird tail feather cores have been known to fire curses pre-emptively when supernatural dangers are present. affiliation: neutral.

appearance:

height: 5′4″. hair color: strawberry blonde. eye color: teal. typical hair style: antigone wears her hair long. it has soft curls that almost look beach like in their waves. she often wears her hair up in a simple ponytail with a big bow.  fashion style: tig wears sneakers, straight lined skirts or dresses, peter pan collars, and sweaters. she likes a soft palette of pastel colors. she occasionally wears overalls and high waisted shorts. her skates are always on her person. she loves floral patterns, simple colors, and plaids. [ fashion ] distinguishing features: tig has a look of otherness about her. her eyes are never quite focused on what is in front of her. she has a sprinkling of freckles on her face and a few scars on her arms from being caught in a rose bush as a kid.

personality:

positive traits: contemplative. amiable. open-minded. negative traits: unreliable. naive. nervous. theme song: something wild by lindsey stirling ft andrew mcmahon

headcanons:

tig doesn’t usually have pockets, actually. if she does, it’s because she’s wearing her overalls and if that’s the case, she has rocks and sticks in her pockets. she usually wears a dress or skirts that lack pockets, but she makes up for it by almost always having a pink knapsack with her. it was a gift from her brothers on one of their birthdays. in her bag, she almost always has a deck of tarot cards, a tiger’s eye and turquoise, bandages, dice, mints, bubblegum, an ink pen, a quill and ink pot, colored pencils, ribbons, sheet music, and there is always an assortment of sticks, leaves, and flower petals.

antigone has always been partial to the spring. she likes to watch the world bloom. tig has always had a special and loving connection with nature and it certainly feels the most powerful during the spring. the air is refreshing and breezing, and she will spend hours just laying in the grass on those days. 

she’s a rainy day kind of girl. is there anything better in this life than being caught in a spring shower? antigone graves thinks not. rain is even more beautiful to her because it can make her divinations decidedly more clear. she will stand letting the raindrops in her face for hours and has been caught doing it before. as a younger girl, her grandmother would chide her for coming home soaking wet and catching colds from it.

biography:

TW: death, parental death

The Graves family is one of the most well-known and revered pureblooded families in America and has been so for generations. John and Elaine met through an arranged engagement. However, unlike many who found themselves in a similar position, the couple fell deeply in love. They took up residence in a large colonial house right outside Boston. John focused on climbing the political ladder at MACUSA while Elaine delved into a promising fashion career.

Their pregnancy came as a bit of a shock several years into their marriage. That is, to everyone but John’s mother, a well-known seer who had long said they would have a rare miracle arriving. While they hadn’t planned it, they were both very pleased to begin a family. The surprises continued when they were told that they would be having triplets. Elaine opted to take a step away from the world of fashion so that John might continue his work in Congress. His career was at a crossroads that could not be put on hold. In fact, the choices he made during this time would change the course of his entire family.

The triplets were born just as the Massachusetts leaves had begun to change color and fall. Autumn welcomed them to the world. Antigone was born the middle of the three. A brother on either side and all born just before midnight.

Their childhood was one filled with incredible privilege and opportunities. The triplets were very well educated. Even before they started school at the Salem Institute for Witches, they were well versed in both general education and magical theories. From the beginning, Antigone showed a particular proclivity towards divinations, herbology, and care of magical creatures. Her grandmother was happy to groom her seeing abilities. She always had an innate curiosity. Her wonder for the world often drove her to study anything that she could care for, whether it be flora or fauna. No one could deny that she had a desire to care for things. A trait that was always praised and encouraged by her family.

It was in the triplet’s third year that rumors began to swirl about her father’s political dealings. He had obviously been angling to become President for some time. However, his staunch belief in pureblood supremacy and ties to controversial movements left the public torn in opinion of him. Antigone struggled to believe that her father, one of the most loving and kind men she knew, could ever be how these people described him. They even portrayed her mother as some sort of icy woman. That’s how she knew it all to be untrue. Her father even publicly stepped back from his more controversial views, appeasing most.

What she thought of the rumors would cease to matter as they ended their fourth year of school. An owl came to their headmistress in the dead of night. John and Elaine Graves had both been found dead in their Boston home. An angry citizen who disagreed with his views was the final word, but Antigone certainly didn’t believe it. It didn’t feel right, and all seers knew to trust their instincts above everything. There were too many signs that indicated it was not any wizard. It had to have been a hitwizard, although there was no telling which side ended up hiring them.

While their mother had no siblings or much family to speak of, John had a previously estranged sister in Europe who agreed to take in the now orphaned triplets. It was a large paradigm shift for Antigone and her brothers, who had always been taught that halfbloods and purebloods who did not remain so were dangerous to their way of life. Their father had not said more than a few sentences on his sister for the entirety of their lives. Frankly, Antigone forgot that she had an aunt more often than not. For the woman to show such open kindness and hospitality has her questioning everything that she’d ever been taught growing up.

Moving to a new country and beginning school in an entirely new place still feels like the carpet was pulled out from under her. However, Antigone realized her potential for change here. The last thing she wanted was to end up like her father and mother. Perhaps there was more she could learn from being more open-minded. That being said, she is realizing that there is more to learn and unlearn than she ever realized before and at times, it was all impossible to keep up with.

Hogwarts held its own set of challenges. The curriculum was different, there were people who had known each other for a lifetime that she’d barely remember, Antigone never knew who she could trust and who she couldn’t. What’s more, the world outside was storming. There was a brewing war that they had all been thrust into, and she had no idea where to stand. What she did know was that the images in the leaves told her horrible stories of the future. Stories that terrified her.

Graduation came before she knew it. With her father’s name in politics and her grandmother’s reputation as a seer, Antigone was offered several jobs off the bat. Finally, she decided to take on an internship in the Department of Mysteries as it felt like where she was most needed and useful. Working inside a government that she barely understands in a job that is nearly impossible to explain is a trial in and of itself. Luckily, it does the job to distract her from everything which wants to pull her towards either side of the conflict surrounding her.