#make it right | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

zepskies · 3 months

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Make It Right

Pairing: Alpha!Dean Winchester x Omega!Reader

Summary: He didn’t mean to claim you. Not like this. Not before he’s meant to die.

AN: This was requested by this lovely anon. I've written Dean returning from Purgatory, so here is Dean returning from Hell in season 4, but with a twist…my first venture into A/B/O! Sorry if I didn’t get the dynamics quite right, I’m still learning this one. 😘

(@luci-in-trenchcoats Thank you for the encouragement! 💜)

Word Count: 4,300

Warnings: 18+ only! For smut, A/B/O dynamics, angst, mentions of torture, PTSD, and hurt/comfort.

You could’ve wept with relief.

You nearly did. Instead, you shuddered as his tongue swept along the fresh mark near the back of your neck.

A mark that claimed you as his.

Your core still quivered with the aftershocks of how hard you came around his cock, which was still buried deep inside you, locked in place with his knot. Dean nosed at your neck and shoulder as he tried to regain his breath, calm his wildly beating heart.

His skin was dewy against yours, especially where your thighs were hooked around his hips. He held himself above you so he wouldn’t crush you with his weight. You appreciated it, and you soothed up and down his sweat-slick back with grazing fingertips.

Through the newly formed bond, you could feel the frenzied haze of it all begin to clear from his mind, soon replaced by shock, and then, remorse. It made a tremor of worry churn in your belly.

“Dean?” you whispered. Your gaze met his with concern as you grasped his arm.

“What the hell did we just… I shouldn’t have…” His voice was coarse and his eyes filled with upset. “Fuck, this shouldn’t have happened.”

Dismay struck you deep, along with a pain that tore at your heart. Your only consolation was that the two of you were locked in this position, so he couldn’t slip away from you.

“How the hell could you say that to me?” you said. Against your will, your voice trembled. Tears began to sting in your eyes.

Dean faltered. He blew out a breath and reached for your cheek.

“You know why,” he said. His face became edged with desperation. He shifted his thigh and accidentally tugged at the base of his knot. You both groaned at the pain that flared between you, where you were joined.

Dean drew in deep, slower breaths in attempt to calm himself. His eyes shut, and his forehead dropped against yours.

“I’ve barely got three months left on my deal,” he said, through clenched teeth. “This isn’t…it’s not fucking fair to you.”

To you either, you wanted to point out, but you shook your head and held him close by the back of his neck. Your fingers trailed up into his hair, your nails brushing his scalp and eliciting a shudder from him.

Your touch both aroused him and soothed him. Your scent was everywhere, now mingled with his own that now covered you like a blanket. It was intense, and a bit overwhelming to his senses.

But it felt right.

“Don’t talk like you’ve already given up,” you said tersely.

It was with more vehemence than he expected. Dean pulled back a bit, just enough to meet your eyes. Your brows had drawn together, almost in anger. Your lips pulled into a frown.

“We’re going to find a way to break it,” you said. You reached up and held his face. Despite the strength of your words, your hands were gentle. “And I meant what I said, Dean.”

Between lusty sighs and the combined magnetic force of your heat and his rut and emotional tensions at their ultimate breaking point, the whispered words against his neck had come from the very center of you.

“Alpha,” you’d said, through abject need and burgeoning tears as you’d rubbed yourself against him. It was both biology and your heart’s longing. “Dean, I love you. Please…”

The tether of his restraint hadn’t lasted long after that. Because even though he couldn’t respond to you in words, he’d shown you in each and every action of his body molding with yours, wrecking you and claiming you on a dingy motel bed.

You deserve better, Dean thought, looking down on you now. You deserved more than what he had to give.

“I didn’t want to do this to you,” he said coarsely.

And yet, he still heeded the pull of you. Your guiding hands brought him down to your lips. It wasn’t the rough, manic, bruising kiss that had fueled your earlier passions. No, this was slow and warm and tinged with bittersweet.

Dean brushed sweaty strands of your hair away from your face. You held him to you and silently prayed that he wouldn’t let go either.

“I know,” you said. Even though the situation shouldn’t have warranted it, you giggled a little. “That makes you just about the most unselfish Alpha in existence.”

He snorted at that. His eyes took in your face, and further down, to the parts of you that weren’t covered by his body over yours. He let out a breath of defeat.

“No, I’m hella selfish,” he said. His lips quirked. “For better or worse, you’re mine, Omega.”

Your smile grew. “Good. Glad you’re finally caught up.”

Dean’s hand playfully tightened in your hair as he growled. It had little heat though, and you had the audacity to laugh. He shook his head and claimed you with another kiss.

You had to be just about the wiliest Omega in existence.

Dean never gave up.

But he also couldn’t fight off Lilith, or the hellhounds that tore his chest open and spilled his blood on the hardwood floors of some poor family’s suburban house.

You screamed as if your very soul was being ripped apart, along with his skin.

The mark on your neck burned something fierce. It had you clamping a hand down over it as you sunk to your knees next to Sam and cried over Dean’s body, his unseeing eyes. It wasn’t right.

You would never be right again.

It took about a week into your self-isolation. When you finally drew enough strength to get out of bed, you finally noticed it in the mirror—in the bathroom next to Bobby’s guest bedroom.

Your neck looked as if something had burned you. Your eyes widened in horror.

When you touched it, you hissed at the pain. The delicate nerve endings of your mating gland were even more sensitive and raw. Apparently, this was what happened when an Alpha mate died before their Omega.

However, even that pain was nothing compared to what you discovered, two months later.

Your mating gland had healed, and the claim mark was gone entirely.

You sank against the wall, all the way to the floor, and you cried until you were exhausted and frayed. Not even Bobby’s offer of a hot meal and a listening ear could penetrate your grief.

You were ashamed of the way you lost track of Sam after it all went down. You’d descended into yourself, and Bobby had been the only one there to catch you. Sam had forged on by himself, down a spiral of revenge, you were sure.

He wouldn’t come back to Sioux Falls, nor would he tell you where he was when you finally got him on the phone. He claimed he was better off alone as he tried to find a way to save Dean, but there was something off in his voice. Something that told you whatever he was doing was dangerous, and wrong.

“Sam, don’t you dare make a deal,” you demanded, through frustrated and sorrowful tears. “Dean wouldn’t want—”

“Don’t fucking tell me…what Dean would want, okay?” Sam seethed. “If it were me, he wouldn’t stop. If it were you, he wouldn’t stop. So don’t tell me to stop.”

“I’m not telling you to stop!” you shouted back. “I’m telling you not to do something stupid! And I’m asking you to let me help.”

There was a long pause on the line. You tried to calm your labored breathing as you waited for him.

“If you really want to help me, do what you can from Bobby’s. I’ll check in when I can,” he said.

And the line went dead.

Two more months had passed by the time you started to feel the barest hint of yourself again. You’d tried to go on a hunt with Bobby, but you really hadn’t been ready for it. Your head wasn’t in it, and that was how hunters got killed.

So you stayed behind and answered the phones for him. You pretended to be FBI and CIA and Homeland Security for fellow hunters trying to get their hands on police files.

You also helped Bobby with research and reorganized his extensive, and ridiculously chaotic home library. He was the only one you knew who could have A History of Paganism next to a guidebook on Chinese tea ceremonies.

But one night, you decided you were sick of sitting on your ass (and all the dust).

You were finally going out for a drink.

Bobby was locked at home in research for a case. You felt bad about bailing on him, but he insisted you were entitled to go out…

Not that you wanted to meet anyone. However, you did realize that you needed to reconnect with the outside world. You’d been staring at the peeling walls of Bobby’s house for four months now.

So you showered, found a simple black dress from deep in your closet, and started to blow-dry your hair. You didn’t do this often, but if you were going out, then you were going to make an effort.

You paused for a moment when a cramp hit your lower belly. You grimaced and pressed a hand there. A shiver ran down your spine.

Shit, not now, you thought. If this was your heat coming on, you would have to take another suppressant before you went out. You knew blocking your cycle wasn’t that good for you, but you hadn’t felt like dealing with it for the past few months. You just weren’t ready to go through another heat, whether by yourself, or with a stranger.

It…it was too soon.

After the cramping subsided for the moment, you continued drying parts of your hair, sweeping the brush through. With the hairdryer so loud in your ears, you didn’t hear the front door opening, or the resulting shouting and scuffle coming from downstairs.

Eventually, there was quiet. And then, heavy boots climbing up the stairs.

You saw the bathroom door push open out of the corner of your eye. You turned and nearly jumped right out of your skin.

Your scream echoed on the walls when you saw something that looked entirely too much like Dean Winchester.

Hit scent hit you then. Warm and musky, a hint of earthiness and soil, but no less familiar. It struck a blow to your chest and forced you to grip the counter for balance. You clicked off the hairdryer.

The doppelganger raised placating hands, though his wide eyes slowly softened as a smile tugged at his lips.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he said.

His deep voice was the same. He looked dirty and disheveled, wearing a familiar gray buttoned down over a black shirt, his usual jeans, and boots. If your memory served, they looked like the clothes he was buried in…

Your hands shook. “Wh…what the hell are you?”

Dean’s smile began to fall.

“Look, I know it’s hard to believe. But I’m me. I’m, uh… I’m back,” he replied. When he tried taking a cautious step forward, you brandished your hairdryer against him—your only feasible weapon.

“You…you back the fuck off!” you snapped. You opened your mouth to shout for Bobby, but before you could, Dean’s trademark smirk took hold of his face.

“What’re you gonna do, blow me to death?” he quipped.

After you broke through a bit of your shock, you spluttered with laughter. And then tears.

Dean’s lips quirked, but he moved towards you in slow steps. He took the hairdryer from you and set it down on the counter. With a slightly shaking hand, he touched your cheek. You closed your eyes for a moment, sucked in a breath, and inadvertently inhaled his scent once again.

Your heart pounded almost painfully in your chest. Your fingers curled into the front of his shirt. You realized it then. You didn’t need silver or holy water to prove it was him. You knew.

Your eyes opened and met his.

“Dean,” you uttered, brokenly.

He couldn’t fucking take it anymore. Dean pulled you into him by your waist. He held you as you shuddered and cried into his chest. His hand clenched in your hair, while the other pressed into the small of your back. It anchored him, and trapped you in the cage of his arms.

He buried his nose into your neck and had to squeeze his eyes shut past a telltale burn in his eyes. Your name fell from his lips, both longing and reverent. Your hold on him tightened.

His lips brushed against your mating gland, igniting sensitive nerve endings and making a tremble run down your spine.

“Alpha,” you whispered.

Dean’s insides clenched in response. He ached for you, just like he had soon after he’d been able to free himself from that pine box in the middle of nowhere. But his brows furrowed.

He pulled back from you, just so he could brush the bare skin along your neck with a gentle thumb.

“What happened to the mark?” he asked. He realized that he couldn’t feel you, not like before. And even your scent was different…like you’d never been claimed by him. Like you weren’t his. That realization hit him like a sucker punch to his stomach.

You frowned and leaned back so you could meet Dean’s eyes. It took you a moment to find your voice, and even when you did, it was uncharacteristically small.

“After…after what happened, it burned like holy hell,” you confessed. Your hands travelled down his chest, clinging to the open edges of his shirt. “Then it was a scar. Then, it was just…nothing. It was gone.”

Fresh tears burgeoned in your eyes. They spilled down your cheeks as your frame shook with a sob, but Dean gathered you back into his arms. As shitty as it was, he started to think this was actually for the better…

“What happened, Dean? How are you here?” you asked.

He shook his head. “I don’t know. Haven’t figured that part out just yet…but something broke me out.”

He knew it wasn’t you who made a deal. Your shock was too real to be an act. He knew, however, that he needed to find Sam.

That could wait though. Dean’s gaze roamed your face. He wiped away the remnants of tears from your cheeks, brushed his thumb across your lower lip. Your eyes met his. He saw your heartbreak begin to fade—into a desire that called to his own. Despite the voice inside that warned him to hold back, he just couldn’t help himself.

When he finally leaned in to kiss you, it felt like coming home. You held his face in your hands and rose up on your toes to meet him. His arms wrapped around your waist and brought you flush against him, but it wasn’t enough.

Kisses became more frantic, with labored breaths and hands moving to remove each other’s clothing. Your sexy little black dress fell to the floor, along with your bra and panties and the rest of his clothes.

“You’re filthy,” you laughed, between the sloppy meeting of your lips with his.

Dean’s response was to peel back the shower curtain behind you and turn on the shower head, as hot as it could go. A growl sounded low in his throat before he bodily hefted you along with him into the shower and under the spray.

For a moment, he let the scalding water beat down on him. You grabbed the soap and drew it over his neck, chest, and shoulders. The suds trickled down his body, washing away the grime of the road, and whatever else he hadn't been able to wipe off after escaping his grave.

He blinked water out of his eyes as he took in the sight of your concentrated face, and your gentle hands washing him. Then the rest of your body, your curves that fit so well in his hands, your breasts that heaved along with your heavier breathing, nipples hard and aching to be touched.

Dean took the soap from your hands and put it back on the dish, shortly before he pinned you against the cold bathroom tile. He ravaged you with lips, teeth, and tongue along your neck, down your chest, and over your breasts. You moaned and held him to you.

You didn't care that your hair was getting soaked all over again. Your fingers ran through his now wet hair as he touched you and drew pleasure from your body.

Your lower belly was beginning to cramp in earnest now, and resonating deep inside you with heat. You felt a flood of slick forming between your legs as your core pulsed with need.

Your scent hit him in a powerful wave, nearly making Dean falter as his eyes rolled shut.

“Fuck. You’re in heat, Omega,” he choked out.

You nodded, though you had to fist a hand in his hair when you felt his fingers between your legs. They swiped between your drenched folds, gathering some slick and circling around your clit. You moaned loudly and arched against his hand. The back of your head pressed into the wall.

“Alpha,” you said. A whine sounded in your throat as Dean’s touch firmed in response. His thumb pressed and massaged your clit while two fingers slipped deep inside your tight channel.

A shiver ran down Dean’s spine, along with your nails grazing down his back. Already he was painfully hard for you. He had a suspicious feeling that your heat was triggering his rut, because he was becoming desperate to be inside you. His whole body felt tingling and alive, and charged with need.

His lips sucked hard on those sensitive nerves between your neck and shoulder, making you gasp. Your inner walls fluttered around his fingers.

“That’s it, Omega. Want you to come just like this before I fill you up,” he muttered. He earned your vocal agreement in response.

But then it hit him.

Flashes of memory. Darkness and blood. Agony tearing at his skin and insides.

And then, inflicting it himself, on other souls just as damned as him.

Your moan of release just barely managed to pull him out of his own mind. He felt your wetness coat his hand. Goddamn.

“That’s my good girl,” he praised. And yet, while his body caged yours against the wall, he couldn’t force himself to continue. He couldn’t back off either. He was fighting every instinct in his body that demanded he take you, right here and now.

“Dean?” you asked, sensing his hesitation. You cupped his cheek, but he didn’t want to look at you.

“I can’t,” he ground out.

Your eyes widened as shock and dismay threatened to overtake you. “What?”

Dean’s eyes closed. He was trembling with the force of both his need, and his restraint.

With a frown of concern, you wrapped a thigh around his hip, but he wouldn’t heed your attempt to bring him closer.

“What’s wrong?” you asked. No, you demanded to know. Because your body was quaking with desire as well. You needed his knot, and you wanted nothing more than for him to make this right—to claim you as his.

But Dean looked like he was in pain. He winced and pressed a fist against the wall by your head. He pressed his forehead against it.

You tried to comfort him with your hands soothing over his shoulders. There you finally caught sight of a mark on his right shoulder. It looked like a burn…a handprint. Your eyes widened with a small gasp.

He followed your gaze, but he eventually looked away with a frown. It was like he didn’t even want to acknowledge it, even if he didn’t know what it was. Whatever had hauled him out of Hell, he doubted it was anything good.

“I’m, uh…” He breathed raggedly through his nose. “I’m not…the same.”

You had a feeling it was very difficult for him to admit that.

Four months.

That was how long he’d been lost to you. That was how long he’d been in Hell. You couldn’t even imagine…

You swallowed past a lump of sorrow, but you weren’t deterred. You grabbed his chin, forcing him to meet your eyes.

“You were my Alpha long before you claimed me,” you told him.

That affected Dean, probably more than you knew. He still shook his head though.

“It’s not right, Omega,” he said, even as his voice trembled. You don’t have a fuckin’ clue… You don’t know what I’ve turned into.

The water from the shower head was growing cold, but you’d never been hotter. The cramps were starting up again in earnest, making your teeth clench at the combination of pain and incredible arousal.

“I need you,” you said, through frustration, heat, and emotion all at once. “I would never leave you like this. I would never leave you.”

His eyes closed again, briefly. His breath came out harshly through his nose when you touched his cheek. Your touch was gentle, but it still ignited his skin and made every muscle in his body coil tight with strain.

It was hard to sort through the base instincts that were on the verge of taking over his mind, and then his body. Deep down though, Dean knew you were right. He knew you would never leave him. And that was kind of the problem.

“Alpha, please,” you said, through your own strain. Again, you took his face in your hands and shook him. It drew his gaze to your face. Your beautiful face that he’d seen over and over in the Pit, used as his own personal form of torture.

His whole body trembled.

You saw his distress, and it pierced your heart. You leaned up and brushed your wet cheek against his, while your fingers slipped into his hair in comfort.

“You’re here. You’re alive,” you said. “And you’re here with me.”

You nuzzled your way down his neck and pressed your lips to his mating gland, making him shiver for a whole different reason. You pressed your body against his and kissed, licked, and sucked at his skin.

“Omega,” he warned, but the growl in his throat was more pleased than warning. He felt your nails graze down his chest and sternum, and soon enough your hand wrapped around his throbbing cock.

He sucked in a breath and pressed his face into your neck. His lips ventured tantalizingly close to the place you wanted him the most, and all the while you stroked him along sensitive flesh. Your thumb circled around his knot, and the dripping head.

“I know you need me too,” you said. You could smell his rut. Your lips edged at a smirk, and you decided to bluff. “But if you won’t make me yours, maybe I’ll find another Alpha who will.”

It didn’t take long before a vice grip closed around your wrist. Dean’s irises were rimmed with black when he met your gaze, half consumed by the Alpha as he pinned you harder against the wall. He grabbed your thigh and hooked it around his hip. And with the other hand he guided his cock to push into you and stretch your inner walls, inch by inch.

You both moaned in relief when he was firmly seated inside you. Your core throbbed around him in a spasm of pleasure. You cried out and rolled your head back against the wall, your nails sinking into his shoulders.

“Alpha,” you shuddered.

“I got you, Omega,” he ground out, just barely holding onto the tethers of himself. His fingers coiled tight into your wet hair and began to pound into you, a rough clip that had you gasping, toes curling as you arched against him.

His lips found your throat and laid a nipping kiss there. All you could do was hold on desperately. You knew he was close when his thrusts grew ragged, when it became harder for him to push into you with the swell of his knot forming. But it wasn’t until his fingers slipped between your joined bodies and circled more insistently over your clit that you came along with him, hard on his throbbing cock.

His teeth sunk into your neck, creating a newly forged bond through a haze of pain and pleasure. You cried out again at the force of it all—the sensations were nearly overwhelming, even more so than it had been the first time he claimed you.

And Dean nearly slipped in the tub.

“Fuck!” He managed to catch himself on the soap dish and the adjoining wall while you grabbed his arms steady. Shit, that really could’ve been disastrous, considering you two were now locked in place.

He glanced down at you. Through wide eyes and panting breaths, you broke first with a giggle. Dean’s lips curved with a smile. Soon enough, he was chuckling too.

The black around his irises receded, and he held you more gently and secure against the wall. After licking the line of blood clean from your neck with a slow, sensuous tongue, he brushed your wet hair back from your face. Then he turned off the frigid shower.

“We really shouldn’t have done this in here. Shit,” he said with a laugh. How were you two supposed to get to your bed? Or at least get dry.

You giggled harder and dropped your forehead against his chest.

“It’s okay,” you said teasingly. “I think this is worth catching pneumonia over.”

Dean shook his head at your antics, but he pressed a lingering kiss to your temple. Smiling bright, you leaned up just enough to reach his lips. Your kiss was slow and tender; a release of your grief, a grateful thank you, and a reminder all at once.

“I love you,” you whispered. “That’s all that matters. We’ll deal with the rest afterwards.”

Dean expelled a long breath. He nodded after a moment, conceding defeat.

“I love you too,” he admitted. And he meant it, down to his bones.

He knew that afterwards wouldn’t be as easy as you seemed to think, but there was no turning back now.

You were his.

AN: And there we have it! lol This was definitely a fun challenge. I might like to try my hand at A/B/O dynamics again in the future, but let me know what you think of this one. 😘💜

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@hobby27 @kazsrm67 @letheatheodore @agothwithheavysetmakeup @jacklesbrainworms @foxyjwls007 @wincastifer @iamsapphine @simpforbuckyb @vanillawhiskeyflavoredkisses @roseblue373 @this-is-me19 @emily-winchester @spnexploration @deans-spinster-witch @deans-baby-momma @iprobablyshipit91

@melancholictearz @nic-kolas @sanscas @sleepyqueerenergy @wayward-lost-and-never-found @thewritersaddictions @just-levyy @samanddeaninatrenchcoat @deanwanddamons @antisocialcorrupt @lacilou @adoringanakin @theonlymaninthesky @teehxk @midnightmadwoman @brianochka @branj19

@agalliasi @venicesem @chriszgirl92 @lyarr24 @ladysparkles78 @solariklees @deansbbyx @candy-coated-misery0731 @curlycarley @sarahgracej @bagpussjocken @deanfreakingwinchester @chernayawidow @beskarfilms @mimaria420

#Make It Right #alpha!dean winchester x omega!reader #dean winchester #dean winchester x reader #alpha!dean winchester #dean winchester x you #dean winchester x female reader #alpha dean x omega reader #sam winchester #supernatural #spn #abo dynamics #reader request #omegaverse #abo au #spn season 3 #spn season 4 #zepskies writes

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absolutebl · 1 year

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Welcome to Tumblr BL Fandom - Here’s Your Primer

memes, insider trading & obsession meta post

The Death Stairs

They haunt us. These same stairs constantly pop up in Thai BLs and we worry that someone is going to die on them (or fuck on them, or both).

BL origin = unknown, we only recently started tracking them (but the actual origin of the death stairs is 99 Home Studio117, RPC6+JM3 ซอย รามอินทรา 117 Min Buri, Bangkok 10510, Thailand. It appears to be a house rented out for filming. Honestly? They should AirBnB that level of fame. I’d rent it, buy a cactus and a chili plant, just for the photo op.)

Rain Makes BL Boys Sick

For which the only solution is a sponge bath administered by another boy with a bowl of water and a damp white towel.

We don’t make the rules, the BL gods do.

origin of the rain=fever = cultural

BL origin for the sponge bath = 2014′s Love Sick

The gayest bridge in Thailand

The Rama VII Bridge has appeared in so many Thai BLs - boys kiss on it and in front of it... A LOT.

BL origin = SOTUS 2016

Honor the Crumbs

Side dishes given very little screen time always end up being everyone’s favorites (especially in the pulps). Also falls under side dish syndrome. This is mostly a Thai BL thing, since they’re usually the BLs featuring more than one couple. (Taiwan is getting there, tho.)

BL origin = @heretherebedork

The Engineering Department is Gay (also Pink Milk)

The hot Thai boy in the engineering smock (red or blue) is either gay or a chaos bisexual. There are no exceptions.

BL origin = SOTUS 2016

Korea’s BL bubble

A world where queer is simply accepted and a hostile society doesn’t exist.

Origin, probably Strongberry’s 2017-2018 shorts, but best known starters are 2020′s Mr Heart & Wish You

Namgoong award for best wingman

Supportive straight(ish) besties! Appear throughout BL history, but really reached peak awesome with Namgoong, so a collection of us just started saying “thank you, Namgoong” whenever this archetype shows up.

BL origin, Light on Me

Korea’s BL formula

(1 short Kpop idol + 1 tall actor / random separation in the last half of the final episode) x a small cast = KBL (usually 6-8 episodes totaling under 2 hrs)

BL origin, 2015′s The Lover

Korean male beauty ideals here.

Korea figured out boys can kiss

To be fair Strongberry always knew this and Just Friends? gave it to us in 2005, it’s just they forgot for a while. A long while.

origin = Korean 2022 BL

speaking of...

Dead fish kisses

This tradition carried for years by Japan’s light BL, early Thai BL like Love Sick, & then Korea. It took Thailand’s 2016 BL (specifically elder gods KarnNut & MaxTul) to start breaking this curse. Could be argued that Ohm in 2016′s Make it Right also paved the way (while BoomPeak exemplify dead fish kissing).

origin = early 2000s JBL when it was still known as Live Action Yaoi

Taiwan = the kings of high heat

Taiwan always serves up the most consistent and authentic chemistry, kisses, and higher heat. Thailand has it as well, but isn’t as consistent about it.

BL origin = 2017 HIStory franchise and every Taiwanese BL since (although Eternal Summer probably started it in 2006)

Taiwan’s marriage equality

Taiwan was the first to feature sanctioned gay marriage in a BL, the first to depict queer engagements - and they regularly like to remind us that it’s legal there. As they should.

BL origin = HIStory 2: Right or Wrong 2017

Thailand’s food = love

Lovers cook, serve, feed, and/or eat together. Always. At least something along these lines in every Thai BL.

origin, well just Thailand in general (and Asia to be fair), but probably SOTUS & Love Sick

Vietnam’s domesticity

Vietnam always depicts at least some of their characters in a home environment, with family life, adopted kids, and more.

BL origin = Tein Bromance Extra

Cactus baby (and chili plant younger sibling)

Hilariously a cactus plant was deployed as a courting gift, spy device, and blooming representation of sexual awakening in MaxTul vehicle Manner of Death. Tumblr adopted that cactus baby.

BL origin = Manner of Death 2021

What China Did

Massive wholesale censorship curtailed/abruptly cut short multiple shows in progress in 2016-2017. Also resulted in rewriting and reshooting of those in production, and more weird and invidious things. This also showed up as a purge (and likely persecution) of Chinese queer vloggers on YouTube, the imprisonment of several danmai authors, and eventually the censored bromances we now get today.

BL origin victim = Addicted, Advance Bravely, etc...

Japan’s lanes

Japan’s propensity to lean in favor of either

sweet, campy, and very low heat live action yaoi shot in a manga style with HEA, or

dark, gritty high heat queer cinema and pinks shot in an atmospheric style with tragic endings

BL origin, Boys Love 2006 & Takumi-kun 2007

History of Japanese BL here and the weeds of Japanese BL here.

#In Strongberry We Trust

Small, queer, Korean production house Strongberry had been producing short form pro-queer KBL successfully for years, long before larger studios picked BL up. But when they transitioned to long form in 2022, we were a little scared they wouldn’t stick the landing. #InStrongberryWeTrust became our mantra.

BL origin = Choco Milk Shake 2022

Faen Fatal(e)

A side character, usually an ex-girlfriend but occasionally an ex-boyfriend, whose sole purpose is as a plot device to drive a wedge between the leads, or cause jealousy.

BL origin = Love Sick

The Thai BL Pulps

Very low budget BL with terrible sound, crazy soapy plots, and earnest acting.

BL origin = Make It Right 2016 (term coined by @heretherebedork & self)

The Mame effect

AKA #oh mame must you?

The mameverse features great characters, killer actor chemistry, and higher heat combined with terrible damaging tropes and non-sensical plot devices.

BL origin = TharnType (although technically started in Love By Chance)

The 2 Moons Curse

When a popular BL franchise struggles to survive over one season and keeps having to recast the leads.

BL origin = 2Moons original 2017

Dread Episode 11

AKA Doom of Ep 11

Explained here.

Golden Rules of BL

Never trust:

a Thai trailer,

a Viki Category,

a Vietnamese sub,

an MDL description,

a Taiwanese title,

Japan,

or a BL made before 2014.

Origin = me over the years

BLoundary Test: has the seme ever respected a single boundary?

BLechdel Test. 2 ukes discuss something that is not their seme(s). Also uke indicates actual interest in sex in a relationship.

(source)

okay what did I forget?

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bengiyo · 7 months

Note

Having dropped Dangerous Romance, I am now down to three shows. As our intrepid BL adventurer, what would you recommend I watch?

Airing or Recently Finished

Of the things currently airing, I would recommend the following.

My Personal Weatherman (Gaga, Viki)

This show has been a fascinating examination of a new-ish relationship with some heavy kink overtones. This show is not so much about the chase, and so much more about how these two could actually function long-term. I've enjoyed reading @lutawolf kink talk about this one, and the leads have some of the best sexual chemistry we've seen from Japan.

If It's With You (Gaga)

We have a sexually active and assured gay protagonist who knows who he is and what he wants. He's also a menace with some sort of trauma. I am absolutely obsessed with him. This show is going to be very short at 5 episodes, so it may be one you don't want to miss out on. Truly, this has felt like nothing else we've had in a long time and I've been thinking about it for days.

Love in Translation (iQIYI)

This just finished and is an absolute delight. This is one of the better executions of a workplace romance we've seen this year, and was the show anchoring me with all the heavy shows and silly shows airing at once. This show had so much heart to it. It had some wobbles towards the end, but the kindness underpinning this show makes it one of my favorites of the year.

Past Shows

Because you're still doing the homework, here are some shows I know you missed.

Make It Right (Grey)

You should still finish this. I still believe this is one of the most important foundational works for what made Thai BL start to feel more queer. This show asked big questions about male sexual maturation and I don't think any of the Thai high school shows have gone there since.

We Best Love (WeTV)

You probably haven't watched much from Taiwan, but this is one of the best examples of why we remain committed to them. Sam Lin and Yu have hands down the top three best paired chemistry in BL.

Rainbow Prince (YouTube)

This camp masterpiece from last year is one of my favorite shows. It is a hot mess, but the songs are fun and the plot is ridiculous.

#answered #drama recs #if it's with you #kimi to nara koi wo shite mite mo #my personal weatherman #taikan yoho #love in translation #make it right #we best love #we best love: no 1 for you #rainbow prince #bl series #thai bl #japanese bl #taiwanese bl #filipino bl

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satturnoindelirio · 6 months

Text

★   𝖻𝗍𝗌   —   𝖻𝗂𝗈𝗌  

ノ ◍ ℐ'𝗅𝗅 𝗍𝖺𝗄𝖾 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝗍𝗈 𝖺 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝗇𝖾𝗐 𝗐𝗈𝗋𝗅𝖽 .

꣹ 𝒴𝗈𝗎 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝗍𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗍𝗎𝗋𝗇𝗌 𝗇𝗈𝗋𝗆𝖺𝗅 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗌 𝗂𝗇𝗍𝗈 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 ⭑

. ݁ ˖ 𝒴𝗈𝗎 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝗂𝗍, 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 ֶָ֢

ೀ ℐ𝗇 𝖺𝗇 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝗇𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍 𝗂𝗍 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗐𝗁𝗈 𝗀𝖺𝗏𝖾 𝗆𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 ꩜

:: se for utilizar, seguir, curtir e reblogar por favor ! por favor não resposteֶָ֢

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lurkingshan · 7 months

Note

Hi....If you don't mind, can I ask, what are your top 10 (or top 7) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

Thank you for the ask, I don't mind a bit! Though I will say that this particular question sent me into a minor existential crisis, because how on earth could I ever pick just 10 things that I love across all media. I don't know if y'all have picked this up about me yet, but I consume vast amounts of media, like...unbelievable amounts of media, it is my great joy in life. I consulted @bengiyo about how to approach this question, and he suggested a frame to help narrow it down: what are my favorites that someone else recommended to me, that I then felt compelled to recommend to others? Hope you don't mind the tweak! As always, keeping this in the realm of Asian media for this blog, here is what I got:

What Did You Eat Yesterday?

When I met @bengiyo and @waitmyturtles I learned very quickly that this was their all-time favorite, and if I didn't like it we were gonna have a problem (jk but not really). I hadn't watched it on my own because until recently (shoutout to our savior Gagaoolala) it was quite inaccessible and I hadn't yet stumbled onto @isaksbestpillow and found her amazing subs. Luckily, I have impeccable taste and WDYEY is in fact a masterpiece, so they watched me watch it, I lost my mind over how unique and brilliant and technically flawless it was, and we are now all bonded for life over our love for this show, which just returned for a second season and will hopefully continue forever. I love it so much I have even started reading the manga, and I am not a manga girlie by nature (I prefer reading prose), so you can be assured I absolutely will not be shutting up about it anytime soon.

Go Ahead

Credit for this one goes to @ginnymoonbeam for watching it first and then sending up a flare for me as a fellow cdrama enjoyer that this one was worth prioritizing immediately. I love big sprawling family stories that unfold over time, I love digging into intergenerational family trauma, I love good dad characters, I love found family dynamics, and I love a well done romance subplot embedded in a much bigger story, so this show hit so many of my sweet spots. It's #1 on my list of modern cdramas and I would recommend it to anyone.

Mo Dao Zu Shi/The Untamed

Speaking of cdramas, I must give a shoutout to @dangermousie who wrote this post summarizing their favorite danmei novels, which I found when I went looking for recommendations and was trying to figure out a way into this segment of Asian media. I admit I am a bit bougie about my reading material and modality, so I really can't deal with machine translations or reading on html pages, and thus I still have not read some of these as I am patiently waiting for official English translations to become available (me and 2HA are gonna have a party in 2024 I tell you what). I had already heard of The Untamed, of course, because I am a human person who lurks in online spaces, but reading the novel got me significantly more interested, and I quickly fell down a months long rabbit hole that included consuming the novel, the show, and copious amounts of fanfiction. This story is so complex and layered and full of fun mysteries and meaty moral quandaries and interesting family relationships and has an A+ second chance romance and one of my all time favorite characters to boot; it really took over my brain for a minute. And while it hardly needs me to recommend it given how popular it already is, I'm still gonna do it whenever I get the chance.

Mo Du/Silent Reading

And while we're on the subject of danmei, let me give a shoutout to my favorite modern danmei novel, which was recommended to me by an IRL friend who is not on tumblr. Mo Du is a sprawling mystery novel that spans five major interconnected cases, and it centers on an exceedingly competent police captain, Luo Wenzhou, and a young business heir/super genius, Fei Du, who start out with an adversarial relationship (but I bet you can guess what happens next!). The crime stories in this are almost shockingly intricate and every detail comes together in the end without a single loose end, which is impressive enough on its own, but somehow the author (Priest, who some of you will know as the writer of Faraway Wanderers aka Word of Honor) manages to also write a perfectly paced, incredibly compelling love story between the two leads that is layered with complex trauma and psychological hot buttons and secrets and lies that unfold organically alongside the mystery. I am in the middle of re-reading it right now and my love for it only grows stronger. The gif above is from a recent attempt to adapt this into a live-action drama that got quickly canceled, but honestly, the less said about that, the better (though Zhang Xin Cheng will absolutely remain the Fei Du of my heart). With China's censorship laws, there will be no faithful live action version of this story, so I highly recommend reading the novel.

Pachinko

While we're on the subject of novels, I must mention another IRL friend recommendation: Pachinko. This one is a sprawling multi-generational family historical fiction epic that tracks the lives of a Korean family that is forced to migrate to Japan during Japanese occupation in the early 20th Century. Y'all, this book is amazing, and it has now been turned into a television show airing on Hulu that is also quite good (though structured quite differently, but that's another post). I learned a ton of real history in the course of reading this, and I found the journey of Sunja and her family so compelling. The book has a real intersectional lens and digs deep into themes of oppression, racism, class disparity, and sexism, and is rooted in Korean values around filial piety, respect for hard work, religion, moral condemnation, and of course, the importance of food to communicate.

The Great Indian Kitchen

youtube

Switching gears, let me give a shoutout to this Indian film that my bestie @neuroticbookworm recently recommended to me and @waitmyturtles. This film is about a modern young woman who enters an arranged marriage with a family of high status (though maybe not of the kind you think) and explores her experience of oppression as a woman in a very patriarchal religious setting. The story is really compelling, I learned about a common experience for women in India, the narrative ended in an unexpected place (in a good way), and I really enjoyed the watch. And this film is on YouTube with good subs which I linked above, so it's quite accessible.

Be Melodramatic

Let's get back to dramas, shall we? I credit this one to @kdramaxoxo, who recommends Be Melodramatic constantly, and thank goodness because otherwise this under appreciated gem would have never landed on my radar. This is a beautiful story about a group of friends who move in together in the wake of personal tragedy and tracks their progress as they heal and move on from their hardships. The themes of grief and growth and change are quite poignant, the relationships, both platonic and romantic, are all very compelling, and the music is beautiful. If you haven't seen it yet, what are you waiting for (@nieves-de-sugui this is definitely a good one to add to your list).

Make it Right

Time for @bengiyo to get another shoutout. This is a Thai bl classic that doesn't get the love it deserves, and he is its number one promoter. I don't know when I would have gotten around to watching this if he hadn't recommended it so highly, and I'm so glad I did. I wrote about this one, why I loved it, and why I think it's under appreciated, and I highly encourage others to give it a try.

Coffee Prince

We will end on an OG kdrama classic, which I watched early on in my kdrama journey thanks to a recommendation from an IRL friend who said it was the best version of the well worn Asian drama genderbend trope that they had ever seen, and my god were they right. Not only was this my first Gong Yoo drama (a life changing experience in and of itself) but this one really took me by surprise for how sharp and progressive it was about gender fluidity, sexual identity, and the struggle toward self-acceptance way back when it aired in 2007. I recommend this one to everyone, and its a great entry point for people who prefer queer media and have (justified) suspicion of mainstream kdrama's treatment of queer narratives.

#what did you eat yesterday?#go ahead #the untamed #mo du #pachinko #the great indian kitchen #be melodramatic #make it right #coffee prince #drama recs #danmei #shan answers

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waitmyturtles · 8 months

Text

Only Friends and More: Watching Asian Queer Shows About Asian Queer Male Sex As a Cishet Woman

Hello! It's Turtles here, your resident cisgender female, heterosexual, South-and-Southeast-Asian-American mama.

I'm joining in partnership with my fellow cishet female elder and very dear friend, @lurkingshan, in taking a minute today to talk to our fellow cishet girlies about the world we are being exposed to via a show that we're holding near and dear to our hearts: Only Friends.

As my friend Shan has written today, Only Friends is presenting a number of paradigms regarding queer sex -- specifically what I will call from here on out, Asian queer male sex -- and how us as cishet women understand, digest, and possibly even judge this sex.

Shan referred to a phenomenon this week that some of us drama clowns saw percolating across our dashes: that Boston's encounter with Top in episode 2 of Only Friends was being described in some circles as an assault.

Shan does a great job to explain a very important point: the interpretation of that scene is dependent on the lens from which that scene is viewed. For instance, a non-Asian cishet female gaze on that scene might very well interpret that scene as a potential assault. A non-Asian cishet female might be using her social understanding of the rules and boundaries of sexual engagement that she embodies and has been raised with throughout her life to come to that interpretation.

What Shan delves into is the importance of identifying what your specific lens is before passing judgment on that scene and other scenes of Asian queer male sex in Only Friends. And, Shan suggests -- hey, try stepping out of that lens for a hot second, and give another interpretation a shot.

In other words: if you are a white, American, cisgender heterosexual female -- and you are watching a show about an Asian queer male community -- by checking your lens in watching this show, you can begin to understand that you may not have the familiarity, the comfort level, and the coded language (verbal and non-verbal) fluency to fully interpret what is being communicated and depicted in totality in this show.

Asian queer male sex looks and behaves vastly differently than sex for cishet females. The language used to engage in Asian queer male sex, the assumptions made about how sex comes about between two or more people, the way sex is approached, the way sex is talked about among friends -- is wildly, vastly different from the way cishet women engage in and about sex.

You know who knows a lot about this? The 100% Asian queer male writing and directing team behind Only Friends. Jojo Tichakorn, Ninew Pinya, Den Panuwat, and Best Kittisak are all Asian queer males. They are the team -- the artists, the darlings, the ASIAN QUEER MEN -- who are giving us this show.

If you a regular reader around here, you'll know that I gave y'all a little homework before Only Friends premiered.

I asked y'all to watch Gay OK Bangkok.

Jojo Tichakorn and Backaof Noppharnach's Gay OK Bangkok, to be exact.

Just like Only Friends: Gay OK Bangkok was about Asian queer men. It was about Asian queer men having sex. Asian queer men having relationships. Having throuples. Dealing with relationship problems. Dealing with HIV. Dealing with dating. Getting tested. Dealing with their jobs and salaries. Dealing with heartache. Experiencing joys of first love. Being there for their heartbroken friends.

Gay OK Bangkok showed us life's joys and life's ugliness -- through the eyes and experiences of out, gay, Asian queer males.

Gay OK Bangkok was VERY GAY AND VERY ASIAN.

We are so lucky to have Gay OK Bangkok as a reference for understanding how sex comes about in Only Friends. Gay OK Bangkok gave us insight into the language that Asian queer males use -- again, verbal and non-verbal -- to engage in sex. It showed friends taking men away from each other for the purposes of romance and sex. It showed hook-ups, drinking, partying, dating. It showed Asian queer males waking up in bed with multiple men. It showed Asian queer males waking up with a man next to them, and maybe not knowing that guy's name. It depicted only Asian queer males doing this.

What Shan asks us to do, when we're watching Only Friends -- or other shows about Asian queer males having love and sex, which are all of our BLs from Asia -- is to understand that if we are cishet women watching these shows, that we are NOT Asian queer males, and we have to check ourselves to not bring our own judgments of how we ourselves engage with sex and love, because we do that differently than Asian queer males.

We can learn about how Asian queer males have sex through our shows. Through Gay OK Bangkok, through Jojo's magnificent The Warp Effect, and through another show that I highly recommend -- that many people thought was problematic, and which I thought was one of the best BLs I have ever seen: Make It Right and Make It Right 2.

Let me tell you about my experience watching Make It Right. Again: cishet Asian female mama here. I knew, going into 2016's Make It Right, that it was known infamously for starting with what a majority of the BL audience called a "problematic" start. The two main protagonist couples, Tee/Fuse, and Frame/Book, start out their sexual experiences in a way that cishet females may call "dubious." Tee first sleeps with Fuse when Fuse is drunk. Frame sleeps with Book after Book messages Frame on a chat app -- Frame goes into Book's room and jumps on Book's body.

Make It Right was written and directed by two Asian queer males: New Siwaj (Until We Meet Again, A Boss and a Babe, etc.) and Cheewin Thanamin (Bed Friend, Why R U, Secret Crush On You, etc.)

When I was watching Make It Right, I messaged my dear friend @bengiyo in a kind of wonderment. I wrote to him, literally, "Sooooo -- I am REALLY LIKING Make It Right so far." Almost as if I wasn't supposed to like it, for all the times I had read about its infamous reputation.

Ben wrote back to me, and he wrote such a compelling, gorgeous message, that I had to center my review of Make It Right around that message. He wrote:

"[New and Cheewin] understand that many early sexual experiences [for boys] are with other boys. And Make It Right asks what life could be if they just didn't turn against each other for it."

Let me tell you something. I would not have ever gotten that on my own as a cishet female. I needed to talk to a queer elder to understand the entire depth of what I was watching in MIR and MIR2.

I wrote in my review of Make It Right that the "problematic" nature of how TeeFuse and FrameBook needed to be contextualized from the perspective of Asian queer males. The word "problematic" here is a judgment. In fact -- for MANY Asian queer males -- drunken hook-ups might be a common way in which one is first exposed to sex. And through Make It Right, New and Cheewin showed us how young Asian queer males -- who are coming to terms with themselves, their minds, their bodies, and their attraction to others -- manage these exposures for the first time.

It was gorgeous to watch. And to learn. And to be exposed to a new-to-me culture of sex and love that I was wholly unfamiliar with as an Asian-American cishet woman.

I want my fellow cishet women who are watching Only Friends to understand that you are in the very BEST hands in Jojo Tichakorn and Ninew Pinya to watch some parts of a culture of Asian queer male sex unfold before your eyes. Like I said before, Jojo has a track record of creating shows about sex that we can trust, in Gay OK Bangkok, in The Warp Effect, and more. Only Friends is going to get into tough, very tough territory -- territory that will include Asian queer men having sex with other Asian queer men, often in scenarios that one might want to jump to judge negatively. I trust Jojo implicitly and explicitly in his storytelling -- in this instance, in stories rooted in toxic behavior -- because he's earned my trust in his past shows.

Before you pass judgment about the sex that you will see in Only Friends, no matter the context: understand that what you're watching comes first and foremost from the perspective of Asian queer males, as written and presented for a majority Asian audience. There are going to be nuances you will miss. (I'll miss them, too.) There will be verbal and body language you will not understand. That is okay. But before you pass any negative judgment: check yourself, check your lenses, check your privileges, and hold yourself accountable before you pass judgment on anything you see.

This got long, but let me suggest -- no, let me exhort you -- to please do your homework while Only Friends is still airing.

1 ) Read @bengiyo's incredible post about Loving Queer Men. Listen and THINK when Ben asks you: do you love queer men when queer men are ugly, or catty, or -- in Boston's case -- horny, or maybe even "cheating"? And ask yourself: from what place/lens/perspective would you call Boston's actions "assault" and/or "cheating"?

2) Read @williamrikers's incredible post about consent among queer men in shows about Asian queer men having sex. This is SUCH an important read, from a queer male perspective, on the sheer joy and delight of watching queer men on screen have sex and depicting queer joy in having queer sex. Root yourself in this lovingness!

3) Watch Gay OK Bangkok.

4) Watch Make It Right and Make It Right 2.

5) Ask yourself what "sex-positive," "accepting," and "accountable" mean to you as a cishet female, especially if you watch shows about Asian queer males, and Asian queer males having sex (and especially Asian queer males having sex outside of relationship settings, and when Asian queer males are having sex with multiple partners, as we are seeing in Only Friends).

6) And finally: if you are a cishet female fan of the shipped pairings of Only Friends, ask yourself if you are truly comfortable watching your favorite Asian actors have fictional sex with other men who are not in their pairings. Ask yourself: "what makes me uncomfortable about this?"

The growth that I have gained from watching Asian BLs -- shows about Asian queer men in love and sex -- has had such a positive impact on my life, that I cannot wait to share this joy and acceptance with my children as they grow up. I will show my children Bad Buddy and The Eclipse. I will show my kids Gay OK Bangkok, so that they may know that there are thriving communities of queer people around the world that we can be allies with. I'm going to teach my kids about acceptance, perspective, and relativity. And to my fellow cishet girlies, I say: it's never too late. I came to BLs when I was already a mom. It's never too late to grow up and into loving and standing up for our queer brothers, sisters, and non-binary siblings -- and to afford all communities that are not our own the joy of living their lives freely, without the auspices of judgment and discrimination.

(Special thank yous and shout-outs are in order for @bengiyo, @neuroticbookworm, and @wen-kexing-apologist for reading this through and offering insight. Thank you, dear friends.)

#only friends #only friends the series #gay ok bangkok #make it right #make it right 2 #jojo tichakorn #ninew pinya #den panuwat #best kittisak #asian queer sex #asian queer love #queer love #lgbtq+#the warp effect

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