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#should i do more band recs????
brokenbackmountain · 3 months
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south asian music recs pt 1
ok. i might just be very indian but i have barely seen any south asian independent music (NO i'm not counting coke studio), since india's music runs on 1) filmi and 2) coke studio (which again. not counting that as independent music. fuck coke studio). and 1 gets boring while 2. well. the boycotts. also adding that since i have a massive preference for rock music, this post will be primarily focusing on that. sorry about that.
note: this list might also have more of india than for other countries bc i'm indian and thus have more experience with indian music. very fucked up language order to keep you on your toes.
India:
Motherjane (genre: rock; they have a lot of carnatic influences as well): formed in 1996, based in kochi. they sing in english. i would recommend listening to chasing the sun, jihad, and soul corporations
Avial (genre: alternative rock): formed in 2003, based in thiruvanandapuram. they sing in malayalam. i would recommend chekele, aadu pambe, nada nada
Pineapple Express (genre: multi. mixes rock, pop, carnatic, experimental, electronic, progressive): formed in 2016, multillingual, no set place they're based in. i would recommend anthem, jazbaat, dil se (yes That dil se. their cover slaps.)
Agam (genre: carnatic rock): formed in 2003, based primarily in bangalore though many members are from kerala. multillingual. i would recommend rangapura vihara, koothu over coffee, the celestial nymph (manassi dussaham)
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shevr · 11 months
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thinkin back to that post a while ago i'd tagged w/ "sorry for not being hornier" actually; like i know this stacks on top of my general issue with failing to draw more in general but sometimes i somehow feel bad or inadequate for not indulging in drawing nsfw things. never been a thing i feel like ive ever rly naturally left like doing so much
idk if that's me wishing i could feel like it, or wanting to do what the other cool artists do, or just another extension of wishing to do anything
but. monday 2am rambles, nothin serious. i can draw dicks whenever, whatever, no rush
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lifebloodless · 7 months
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Got a good grade in recommending music
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imxnotxhere · 5 months
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Azriel Fic Recs
** Updated 25/02/2024 **
A collection of amazing fics I think everyone should read. Also an appreciation for the writers that carry this fandom on their back.
One Shots:
@tadpolesonalgae
unchained - smut - really hot, i think there's going to be more parts but im not sure
stockholm syndrome - smut, dark!az - please check the warnings before reading!
birthday girl - fluff - very very cute
dreamy - smut - i think everyone needs soft dom!az
@azsazz
the caress of murder and moonlight - smut, rhys x azriel x reader - "Rhysand and Azriel are having a secret meeting out in the woods. Upon hearing your scream, the race to save you, and you thank them in the only way you know how."
after hours - smut, modern au, office au - "You and Az work in the same office and you've been crushing on each other for quite some time. Late at the office one night, he decides to do something about it."
body and soul - vamp!az au, smut - recommend checking the other parts
dirty work - smut
leisurely - fluff
@leafsandstarlight
forced revelations - fluff - "While on a mission with Azriel, reader is tricked by a creature into revealing that her feelings for the Shadowsinger go beyond mere friendship."
bad idea, right? - smut - "You stopped sleeping together months ago, but when Azriel invites you back to his place after seeing you at Rita's you just know you're going to fall right back into his bed."
@acourtofmenandthirst
love you in the dark - angst (really heavy on the angst)
@azrielhours
soft spot - smut, fluff - "Azriel is very particular about his lovers; typically hard-hearted women chosen so they don’t develop an emotional attachment. Reader is one of these lovers, except she’s the sweetest and cheeriest on his roster. This causes Az to begin breaking his rules about intimacy, especially when she unwittingly ends up at his home for work one evening and spends the night."
take care - fluff - "There Was only One Bed trope, reader and Az stay at an Inn overnight, they take care of each other."
i want you to rest - fluff - 10/10 comfort fic - "Reader has a nightmare while on a mission w the boys. Azriel comes to the rescue, brings her to his room to comfort her. She doesn’t want to sleep so he stays with her through the night."
lessons on relief - smut - "Azriel is the last of the boys to lose his virginity"
@azrielbrainrot
i'll be here - fluff - "You feel a little out of place at a celebration in the House of Wind and a certain Shadowsinger comes to the rescue."
such a perfect place to start - fluff - "Something happens that has you questioning the nature of your relationship with the shadowsinger."
maybe we could be the start of something - fluff, modern au, band au - Your friends invite you to a bar and you could never imagine who you'd meet there."
darling i'd wait for you even if you didn't ask me to - fluff, modern au, band au - "You have a really bad day and Azriel is there to help you through it."
@serpentandlily
no going back- angst - "Azriel has been your mate, your husband, your love for centuries. But a certain Archeron sister has him questioning your relationship after all this time. You soon find out that there are simply things that can not be unsaid or undone. And sometimes, there are things you can’t come back from."
@fever-fluff
take my hand - angst, fluff - "Azriel really wants to hold your hand, but he's afraid that he'll hold it too tight."
@writingcroissant
just a little crush - fluff - "Everyone secretly longs for Azriel, but Azriel only longs for her."
hands - smut - "Azriel has really nice hands. And he knows how to use them, too."
@azrielscrown
innocence - smut, fluff
@gothicbabydollz
azriel x archeron!sister!reader - smut
@honeybeefae
desperate times - smut - "While tending to Elain's garden you come across a mysterious flower with an even more mysterious pollen. As the effects of it start to hit you, you have to fend for yourself to get the edge off...or do you?"
@writingsbychlo
be yours - fluff - "you ask azriel how it's possible he's still single."
@lalacliffthorne
idiot - smut - "a fight gets out of hand, and suddenly, everything´s turned upside down"
@safetypinxtales
lonely with you - angst, fluff - "it seems like everyone's found their mates, except you. On a sleepless night you turn to your friend, in hopes that being alone, together, will feel slightly less lonely."
@prythianpages
i've been waiting for you - "Azriel finally meets the one he's been longing for. His mate."
Series:
@tadpolesonalgae
i can't bring myself to hate you - angst, smut (only one chapter for now at least) - this fic is my roman empire, literally obsessed with this. prepare for the pain and to kind of want to hit azriel over the head
the dregs of tragedy - mer!az
eat you up - smut, dark!az - please check the warnings at the beginning! if you're ever in a mood for dark!az this is the perfect remedy (stockholm syndrome is a sort of epilogue? for this)
teeth and talons - smut, demon!az - "you’re accused of witchcraft and sacrificed to the shadow creatures, only to be saved by their ruler who’s suspiciously in sudden need of a bride…"
@azsazz
cupid's chokehold - fluff, angst - this is such an interesting concept - "You are a Cupid, a nearly extinct creature of Prythian. When you get caught trying to shoot Elain with your arrow, well, it's a little hard to explain what you're trying to do."
@leafsandstarlight
inadvertently yours - fluff, angst, smut, fake relationship and arranged marriage are classics for a reason - "As Eris Vanserra’s most trusted spy, you‘ve found yourself spending a surprising amount of time with the Night Court’s Spymaster. When your rendezvous with Azriel is discovered by High Lord Beron, the only way to protect the alliance is to pretend that you and Azriel are madly in love."
annual visit - fluff, smut - human reader, modern(?) au - "Each year on Halloween, Azriel visits the mortal lands with his friends to partake in the human debauchery that occurs. When he meets reader at a local bar, he can't take his eyes off her no matter how hard he tries."
@pellucid-constellations
of oblivious minds - fluff - "You're positive Azriel is in love with Elain. It seems so obvious. But Cassian is laughing at you and suddenly nothing makes quite so much sense anymore."
@utterlyazriel
how long have i searched for you? an eternity my love - fluff - "azriel finds his mate in the most inopportune time and he convinces himself you haven't sought him out for good reason. he couldn't be more wrong."
@azrielbrainrot
i laugh like me again, she laughs like you - angst - "Azriel would give anything to hold you one more time."
the devel i revel in - demon!azriel - "Your duties take you into the forest often but one day you feel compelled to explore further. What could go wrong?"
@acourtofwhatthefuck
bluebird - some fluff and angst for now
studious part 2 - smut
@lalacliffthorne
bat boys roommates - fluff, modern roommates au - there's multiple parts to this au and it's azriel x reader but rhys and cass appear a lot as reader's roommates
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barefoothighlander · 1 year
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call me little sunshine
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
-summary: you come home for summer break to find a new man has moved in next door, he’s charming and mysterious so you welcome him to the neighbourhood
-simon ‘ghost’ riley x innocent fem!reader
-warnings: mdni 18+, dark themes, slight stalker!ghost, dub con, corruption, masturbation (fem), unprotected p-in-v, fingering, creampie, dumbification kinda, size kink, dom!ghost, orgasm denial, ghost has a filthy mouth, spit play if you squint, loss of virginity, oral (fem rec), mention of alcohol, mention of scars, age gap (reader is in 20s, ghost is in 30s)
next part masterlist
a/n: this is pure smut with plot and I regret nothing, this fic contains dark themes so please be advised, also not proofread.
The air was thick, its humidity almost choking you as the sound of thick waves lapping on the beach overtook your hearing, the hot June sun welcoming you as you stepped out onto the porch. You loved being home, even if it was only for a few months, you missed the simplicity of being there, no coursework to worry about, no job weighing on your mind just cold lemonade and swimming in the ocean.
As you situate yourself on your porch, book in hand your eye is caught by the sight of a large broody man moving boxes next door, your dad hadn’t told you that anyone new was moving in, you didn’t even know the previous owners had left, shame, you really liked them, you shake him from your mind and return to your book, settling in against the soft seat cushion.
You read for a while before feeling yourself grow thirsty, moving to the kitchen of the house to find something to drink, as you look out the window above the sink you see him again, only this time he’s not wearing a shirt, it’s tucked into the band of his jeans, every sweat covered muscle gleaming in the sunlight. Your eyes linger on his form before he catches you, stopping what he was doing and giving you a polite smile, you feel your cheeks blush as you return the sentiment with a shy wave, moving out of view to set your back against the wall.  Your skin was hot, you figured it had to be from the weather outside deciding to change into something a little more comfortable for the weather, returning outside in a short white dress, patterned with small bumble bees, it sat low on your chest with thin straps that tied into little knots, perfect for the warm weather.
You glance over toward your car, noticing it could use a little cleaning, grabbing a few rags and making your way over, you lean over the hood, dousing the mental in soapy water, moving around, scrubbing different spots, you stand up, legs drenched in water as you hose down the vehicle.
“You’ll have to clean mine sometime” you hear from behind you, turning your head to see him, he’s practically glowing, you have to raise a hand to the sun just to look at him, he’s close, close enough that you can make out every groove of muscle, every scar that littered his toned form, the only thing you can’t make out is the dark ink that decorated his forearm.
“My truck is pretty dirty” he says breaking your trance.
“Oh,” you laugh
“Guess that happens during a move” He gestures toward a large stack of boxes.
You stifle a laugh, “Yeah doesn’t look great”
He smiles, it’s bright and genuine, “I’m Simon” extending a large hand toward you, you smile raising your hands to show the dirty water on them as he laughs, grabbing yours, enveloping it, lightly running a thumb over the skin, the simple contact making you swallow a lump in your throat.
“Right well, I should probably go shower”
He releases your hands, looking at the wetness on his palm that had transferred, watching your dress blow slightly in the wind, threatening to give him a peek at your ass, taunting him, he clicks his tongue before returning to his own work.
The shower does little to soothe you, a growing sensation in your lower stomach as you enter your room, towel-clad body moving around to pick out comfy clothes, it was nearing nightfall, the sound of cicadas echoing outside your open window, remnants of the sunset bathing your bedroom in a warm glow, you huff a breath to yourself, resting on your bed, hips wiggling a bit trying to ease the gentle thrum between your legs, you try to distract yourself with a book but with every turn of the page you find your mind wandering to him, his broad form glowing in the sun, the gleam of his smile, his dark eyes that stared into your soul. Putting your book to the side you gently move your fingers down your body, ghosting over the hem of your panties, teasing ever so slightly before dipping below the band, gentle fingers circling over your clit. You elicit a quiet moan, not used to the sensation, you continue circling as your jaw falls slack, free hand coming to cup at your breast under your shirt, you quicken your pace, back arching off the bed as whispers of moans fall from your open lips, images of your neighbour flashing before your eyes, you imagine his fingers, rough, roaming over your skin, teasing over your sensitive bud as you feel the coil in your stomach tighten, you grip the sheets as your orgasm washes over you, whimpers of his name falling from your tongue. You lay in your bed breathless, turning over in your bed as sleep takes over your mind.
You woke early the next morning, your skin covered in a thin layer of sweat as the heat creeps in through your window, you rub your eyes and move to get dressed, you had to go into town and it was hot again today, you settled on a simple skirt and tank top, something that would let your skin breath as you packed your bag, bidding your Dad a good morning before getting into your car. Your errands took longer than expected, a harsh rain setting over the terrain as you pulled into your driveway, you catch a glimpse of Simon on his porch, a glass of whiskey in hand as he watched the rain fall, offering him a small smile before making your way to the door, digging through your bag to find your keys, panic setting in when you realized they were nowhere to be seen, you peer through the window, willing someone inside to appear and let you in, out of the pouring rain, but no one’s there. Defeated you turn your back against the wall, huffing a breath.
“Locked out?” you hear him call, standing in the safety of his covered entrance.
“Yeah, forgot my keys inside”
“Did you want to wait inside mine?” he offers
You think for a minute, “No that’s alright, I can handle a little rain” you laugh
“You’re gonna catch a cold” he states plainly
You mull it over in your mind, you really didn’t want to be standing in the rain, you nod and make your way over to him, you miss the way his eyes linger on your form, your clothes soaked, clinging to your skin, allowing him the perfect view of your breasts and ass.
“Here come inside”
The two of you step inside, you look around the room, it’s not heavily decorated but small trinkets litter the shelves, a couple plaques hung around the room.
“Wait here, I’ll get you some dry clothes”
You remain still in your spot, and he returns with a small stack of clothes.
“Bathrooms over there doll”
You smile before making your way, his eyes glued to your curves, watching the way your hips move as you walk away. You close the door, stripping your clothes before throwing on the ones he had given you, no doubt belonging to him considering the way they hung loosely on your body, your hair was drenched but there was nothing you could do about it. You return to him standing at the bar,
“Give me those” he says hand extending to the mess of wet clothes in your hand, taking them from you to throw them in the dryer.
“You can sit if you’d like” he points toward the couch across the room,
Smiling at him before making your way over, he follows, propping himself right next to you, you can feel the heat emanating from his body as he reaches an arm to rest behind your head.
“So you just moved in?” you try to make conversation
He takes a swig of his drink turning to face you, “About a week ago, it’s a nice spot”
You nod, “I grew up here, parents moved when I was 4”
“Mmm I didn’t see you when I moved in”
“I just got back from school, summer break”
“Ah, university?” he asks, innocently enough
“Yea, I’m studying history”
“Interesting stuff”
You nod in response,
“I’ve got some old books upstairs, unpublished works from people who’s names I can’t pronounce”
“Where’d you find them?” slight smile creeping onto your face
“Can’t remember, wanna check them out?”
You nod as he guides you up the stairs, leading you into a small study, a sizeable bookshelf sits in the corner, beside a large grey safe.
“What’s in the safe” you turn to face him, he’s leaning against the doorway pinning you under his stare.
“Nothing you need to worry about doll”
You blush at the nickname, he moves across the room picking out an old leather bound book and handing it to you, his fingers ghosting over yours, the contact sends chills up your spine.
“I haven’t read this one” you say shyly
“Well it’s yours anytime you want it” he says, fingers roaming up your bare arms, your eyes are locked on his, body frozen from the contact.
“Can I ask you a question?” he says, leaning down to place his lips next to your ear, his English accent suddenly thicker, his words drenched in honey, you nod, unable to think of words. “Do you like teasing me”, you quirk your eyebrow,
“Huh?”
He smiles against your neck, his hot breath making your hairs stand on end,
“The tiny dresses, the practically see through tops, bending over right in front of me”
You’re confused, “I don’t know what you’re talking about." He bites at your neck causing a small moan to fall from your lips,
“I think you know exactly what I’m talking about love”
You shake your head, “No I swear-” your words cut short at the feeling of his palms roaming under your loose top, coming to rest under the curve of your breasts, your breath hitches as you feel the pad of his thumb come to swipe over your hard nipple.
“Think you can get away with it hmm, making me hard, serving yourself up on a platter for me”
Your eyes flick to his, “I wasn’t- I didn’t mean to”
He shushes you, his hands moving down to grab at the meat of your ass as he presses his body into you, the firm contact of his length pressing against your thigh making you drop the book in your hands.
“S’alright doll, I’ll give you what you need”
You clench your eyes as you feel his hand cup your sex,
“Tsk, no panties, and you tell me you aren’t teasing”
“Th- they were wet”
“Mm so are you” He strokes two fingers through your slit, grazing your clit, forcing your head to fall forward against his shoulder as your hands grip his shirt. He teases over your clit, as you try to grind yourself onto his palm, desperate for contact.
“Needy girl” he whispers, kissing at your pulse point, he slides a finger into you, groaning at the way you clench him.
“Fuck you’re tight, gonna have to work you open for me huh” He grins a sadistic grin, peering at your scrunched face. He continues fucking you with one finger, his rough palm colliding with your clit, creating the perfect mixture of contact that has you teetering on the edge. As you’re about to tip off the edge he removes his hand, earning a whine from you, whimpering at the loss of contact, the heat still burning in your lower stomach.
“Stand up for me pretty girl”
You do as he says, feeling his arms grip under your knees, easily lifting you from the ground to plant you on the desk, kissing at your collarbone as he finds the hem of your shirt, lifting it over your head. The cool air grazes your skin as goosebumps begin to form, you watch him with doe eyes as he sinks down, lips latching onto your nipple, his hand coming to toy with the other, he sucks your nipple in, biting it lightly earning a gasp from you as he moves to give the same treatment to the other. He sucks at the valley of your breasts as he moves to take off your pants, urging you to lift up a little so he can slide them off, he moves back, hands spreading your legs as he’s looking at your dripping pussy.
“Such a perfect little cunt” he says, placing soft kisses to the inside of your thighs before licking a stripe through your folds, stopping at the top to tease over your sensitive bud, you instinctively clamp your legs, he grips your thighs, spreading your legs wide allowing him to kneel directly in front of you, the sensation is too much, you’re a mess of moans and whimpers, that familiar heat boiling in your stomach as you clench around nothing, he studies your movements, detaching himself at the last second to bring you slowly back from the edge, you try to grab his head to move him back but he stands firm.
“You’ll cum when I want you to”
You whimper,
“Tell me what you want baby”
You force the words from your throat, "I want to cum”
“Use your manners”
“Please, let me cum”
He smirks, fingers pinching at your nipples, bringing his fingers back to your leaking hole, you moan at the stretch, he pumps slowly, easing you into it as he watches your face contort with pleasure before latching his lips back to your clit. He pumps his fingers into you quicker, your moans growing louder, he bites lightly at your bud at you elicit a yelp, replacing his fingers with his tongue, his thumb circling over your clit, you’re so close you could scream.
“Come on baby, cum on my tongue, taste so good” His praise dries you forward, your hands gripping his hair as your back arches, your orgasm taking over your body, a blinding white light obstructing your view as your moans fall from your open mouth.
“Good girl,” he says, moving up to kiss you harshly, “taste that baby? so sweet”
Your breath is heavy, your mind clouded from your orgasm, you feel weightless as he picks you up, laying you back against the desk.
“Wait” you manage, “I’ve never”, his smirks grows
“Aw baby, are you a virgin”
You nod sheepishly, his mind floods with a million ideas, but right now, he has to feel you. He climbs over your body stripping himself of his clothes, your eyes come into contact with his hard length, widening at the sight.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be gentle” he coos, tip teasing at your folds, he grabs your knees, spreading you wide forcing your body against the mattress as he holds you under his weight, even if you wanted to fight back you couldn’t, body weak from his touch. He pushes in slowly, just the tip at first, watching as your eyes squeeze shut.
“Look at me, wanna watch you as my cock splits you open”
You follow his command, scared of what might happen if you didn’t, as he pushes in further, the stretch of him practically tearing you in half,
“Fuck baby not even half way and you’re squeezin me so tight”
You moan at his words as he continues to press into you inch by inch before bottoming out,
“That’s it baby, just relax”
His thrusts are shallow and slow, easing you into it as your hands cling to his shoulders, he pushes in deep as your back arches, your clit grazing against his pubic hair. He places a firm hand on your lower stomach,
“Fuck, you see that doll” You glance down at where your bodies meet, “Can practically see myself inside you”
Your body fights against the intrusion, the pain of him pressing against your cervix, you’re writhing under him but he leans down to cage you against the bed as he starts fucking into you faster. You’re breathless, careless moans slip from your mouth.
“You feel so good, don’t think I’m gonna be able to stop myself”
You moan in response and he laughs, “Only had my cock for a minute and already can’t talk, you cockdrunk baby,” he says, hand grabbing at your jaw to hold it open before leaning up to spit in your mouth, 
“Swallow it” he orders, and you do, the remnants of his whiskey linger, burning your throat as he continues fucking you at a relentless pace, your muscles are weak as he moves back, gripping your thighs tight to your chest, holding you down with his weight.
“I’m gonna fill this little pussy, let everyone know you’re mine” he grunts
You shake your head, trying to tell him no but it comes out as mumbles,
“Shit I’m sorry love, just feels too good”
You claw at him but he persists, long strokes filling you as his balls slap against the skin of your ass,
“Squeezin me so tight, m’gonna cum”
Your attempts at refusal are useless as his balls tighten, pressing himself deep into you as the warm sensation floods your abused hole, fucking into you a few more times making sure you got every last drop before pulling out, he steps back to examine his work, pressing a finger into you,
“Gotta make sure it all stays in”
You groan at the intrusion, the contact making you twitch slightly, he moves beside you placing a kiss on your head,
“Did so well angel”
Your body is jello, limbs exhausted as he holds you tight to him, moving you to the bed across the hall. You don’t know when you fell asleep but you wake up and he’s gone, the remnants of his spend leaking from your sensitive cunt, as you try to get up, noticing the pile of clothes set next to the bed, you dress carefully, trying to maintain your balance and making your way down the stairs, noticing his broad form sat on one of the porch chairs, you creep your way to him, standing by his side.
“Better get home pretty girl, Daddy’s back,” he says nodding towards your father's car in the driveway, your throat is dry, as you walk back to your home, you feel his eyes glued to you, you feel like his prey. You step inside and are greeted by your parents asking about your day, your mind freezes,
“Are you alright honey?”
You take a minute, “Yeah just, super tired I guess, I’m gonna head upstairs” sparing them a smile before making your way to your room, you step into the shower trying to wash everything off you, the warm water soothes your body before you step out, looking at your form in the mirror, noticing a deep purple mark between your breasts, running a light hand over it. You change into pyjamas and settle into bed, your mind is tired, your body is tired, you toss and turn trying to get comfortable, cringing at the feeling of Simon's seed still spilling from you, you turn over in your bed, clenching your eyes shut hoping you were simply imagining him as once again sleep takes over your body.
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starkidmunson · 3 months
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glitter & crimson
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
It’s both exciting and terrifying to be in Chicago when they arrive Thursday afternoon. This is, unfortunately, very often as close to hometown shows as the band gets to these days. They have the night off, before the show tomorrow, when the band will find out if Steve and his friends actually show up to the gig or not. Despite not having a show, the band doesn’t get the whole day off; Paige had booked a few radio interviews before the gig to drum up attention.
He should have seen it coming when the radio host brought up the TikTok exchange. “So, be honest, have you guys coordinated with Harrington and his friends to get him to your show tomorrow?” 
“Not really. Our manager sent info and Steve gave it a thumbs up, but that’s really been it? But we’ve been busy with shows almost every night, and he’s had a lot of travel games the last few days, so we’ll have to wait and see if he’s able to make it out.” Jeff takes over the answer with ease, probably having predicted the attention.
“Did you really not recognize him, Eddie?” The host goads and Eddie lets himself chuckle.
“It may sound kind of ridiculous, but the genuine answer is yeah. I haven’t seen him in, like, 6 years. And, believe it or not, we didn’t exactly run in the same crowds. We knew of one another, I think, but there were hundreds of kids in our school.” Eddie always defaults to the truth in interviews; it’s the simplest route and leaves less room for people to poke holes in the narrative if he’s just honest.
“Will you guys be going to the Blackhawks game on Saturday?”
“We’ll just have to wait and see, man,” Gareth laughs, and just as quickly as the segment started, it’s over with their own latest hit playing them out of the studio.
A Thursday night off in the city wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but the band collectively made a trip to the bar closest to their hotel for wings and a few drinks. One of the guys must have posted something on social media about being out because as Eddie’s walking into his hotel, he happens to check his TikTok to find a message waiting for him.
harrington94 should I take it personally that you guys went out in my town and didn’t ask for recs or anything? 
eddiecc I honestly figured you’d be too busy and didn’t want to bother you.
harrington94 never too busy to show a friend around town. But I do appreciate having a down day, so thanks. 
Eddie wasn’t entirely sure how to answer as he processed Steve’s message. Friends? Is that what they were? Could they even really consider one another that? He ultimately decided not to think too much of it, in favor of keeping the conversation going. Maybe the more they talked, the less awkward the next two nights would be.
eddiecc I totally get it if you want to skip the show in favor of another down day.
harrington94 no backing out on me now, Munson. I’ve finally got the cool card with the Party. We’ll be there, no doubt.
Eddie feels a little smile creep over his face and his ears feel a little warm, but before he can answer that, text bubbles pop up again. He waits to see what else Steve is going to say before he does something embarrassing.
harrington94 now feels like a safe time to confess that I haven’t really listened to much of your music, though, so don’t think I’m rude if I’m not headbanging along with the boys.
That was more like the interaction Eddie had expected from their TikTok exchange. He never expected Steve to know their music and was shocked he even knew their band name when his response had been posted on TikTok.
eddiecc I honestly cannot exactly say I’m surprised to hear this. You never exactly struck me as a headbanger, anyway.
harrington94 i feel like that’s some kind of thinly veiled insult that I’m missing, but you’re not wrong.
The text bubbles appear again, and Eddie waits for him to finish the thought rather than respond.
harrington94 why don’t you text me instead? It feels easier than paying attention to this app I don’t really know how to use.
Eddie was quick to copy the number Steve sent and shoot off a text, weirdly enjoying the exchange the two were having and not ready to call it a night just yet.
__________
A particularly ridiculous meme from Eddie had Steve snorting from his spot lounging across the sofa. The next thing he knew, a pillow was flying at his face. He was able to react quickly enough to block it with his arm, dropping the phone to his chest, before glaring at Robin. She was watching him from the recliner across the living room.
“What the fuck?” He asks, tossing the pillow back in her general direction, more gently than she’d tossed it his way.
“You’re grinning at your phone like you’re setting up a hot date. Please don’t tell me you’re talking to Heidi again.” Robin pleads dramatically, twisting her body in the chair to face him. 
“I’m not grinning at my phone, shut up.” He grumbles, ignoring how hot his neck feels as he blushes. Instead, he picks his phone back up to finish the thought he’d been typing before he’d been interrupted. “I’m just texting with Eddie, that’s all.”
Robin’s eyes widened immediately, and she sprung from the recliner toward the sofa. “Give me your phone!” She demands, grunting as she fell face first into the sofa, missing Steve by an inch. He manuveres away from her without looking up from his phone, making his way down the hall to his room. “Steve, come on!”
“It’s not a big deal! We’re just talking! It’s fine!” He insists, tucking the phone into his back pocket as he turns into his bedroom.
But maybe it was a big deal? Steve couldn’t tell; this was the part he was never really good at. He had a tendency to miss signs everyone else thought were obvious, and he didn’t want to risk making things weird with Eddie if Robin thought he was missing something that wasn’t actually there. The texts with Eddie had shifted from Steve confessing his knowledge of Corroded Coffin was strictly limited to whatever the Party played in the car when he drove them places, to Eddie confessing he knew next to nothing about hockey. It seemed to level the playing field between the two of them, and at least made Steve feel more at ease about the time they’d be spending together between the concert and the game. 
When Steve had asked how the tour was going so far, Eddie had shared a link to an instagram, where fans were finding something to meme from each night of the shows. To which Jeff and Gareth were making memes in response, picking on one another in a way that felt like with some of his teammates. The message that had prompted the most reaction from Steve was the last thing Eddie had sent before Robin threw the pillow; a meme of Eddie looking confused, which Jeff had edited “So he’s not Joe Jonas?” over his head.
In his room, Steve leans over to pick up his charger, but he feels his phone lift free from his pocket. “Hey!” He calls after Robin, who’s sprinting down the hallway, laughing like the menace she is.
“I just want to see what you’re talking about!” Robin says, unlocking his phone. He’s just about to catch up to her, as she slides on her socks into her bedroom, closing the door behind her, right in his face. 
“You’re being a child, Robs, c’mon. Give me my phone back.” He sighs, resting his forehead against the door. He jiggles the handle, but as he’d guessed, she’d locked it behind her.
“Do you like him?” She asks through the door, and he sighs again.
“I don’t know,” He answers, honestly and exhaustedly. “I don’t even know him, you know? We weren’t friends, it’s not like I could tell you anything about him other than Tommy used to buy weed from him and he would stand on tables and yell in the cafeteria.”
There’s a long silence before Robin opens the door, meeting Steve with a little smile. She shoves the phone back into his chest and pats his hand when he takes it from her. “I think this could be good for you. That this could be good for you.”
“I’m trying not to read too hard into it.” Steve mumbles, reaching up to run his fingers through his hair nervously. He glances back down at the screen, to see what while Robin had taken the phone, Eddie had sent another text.
Eddie: How were your games? Are you doing anything special for your day off?
It makes something twist in his chest, that Eddie even cares, and he doesn’t quite know why. It must show on his face, some part of how he’s feeling, because Robin just smiles and nods. Maybe she knows how he feels, part of their weird unspoken telepathy, because she walks further into her room and pats the edge of her bed as she goes.
“Are you going to let me paint your nails for the concert?” She asks. Everything inside of Steve appreciates how she always knows when to give him space to try and figure his shit out on his own.
“Obviously.” He laughs softly, following her into the bedroom to sit on her bed and watch her move around collecting things to paint his nails.
~~~
The following day, Steve spends more time than he would like to admit picking out an outfit to wear to the concert. He can hear the Party starting to get antsy in the living room, even though they’d still be plenty early if they left right now, so he decides to just roll with the white shirt and fitted khakis he’d dressed himself in several hours ago before he started overthinking his choices. He finished the outfit off with a black zip-up fleece and black and white Nikes. 
A final check of his hair had him walking out of his room and into the living room, where chaos erupted.
“It’s about time!” Dustin exclaims, practically bouncing up and down with excitement on the sofa.
“It took you that long to come out looking like that?” Mike asks, but Max just snorts and shoves his shoulder.
“Let’s just go.” Steve rolls his eyes, glancing over at Robin who jingles car keys she’s already holding, before leading the way out of the apartment.
In the car, he shoots Eddie a quick text to let him know they’re on the way. Eddie’s quick to reply, giving the message a thumbs-up reaction. Unbelievably, the Party somehow manages to get even louder than usual once they were inside, and it doesn’t take long for a security guard to find them. They’re led through the back tunnels of Wintrust Arena, and Steve gets a little nostalgic for playing hockey in college. He’s snapped out of it when a girl passes out their pass lanyards and gives each of the Party a voucher for free drinks and snacks. 
“This is too much, really,” Steve protests as she hands him the voucher, but Paige insists with a kind smile. 
“We get this kind of stuff from every venue and rarely get to use it to its full extent. The guys want to do this for you and your friends, just enjoy it.”
The Party loads up on treats at the nearest food station, while Steve and Robin grab beers with Paige. As she collects her drink, Paige hands Steve a palm-sized bag of earplugs. He frowns at them, which makes her laugh. 
“Eddie said this isn't really your usual kind of scene, and these shows can get loud,” she taps her own ears to show she has similar earplugs in. “Should also help prevent headaches or anything else that might keep you off the ice tomorrow.”
“Please, he’s too stubborn to stay off the ice. The amount of migraines he’s played through is outrageous,” Dustin bounds back into the conversation, earning a chuckle from Robin. Steve throws his arm around the younger boy’s shoulders, pulling him just a little too close and too tight. Dustin exaggerates choking noises, flailing around and making a scene, but Steve refuses to let up.
_____
There’s more anxiety than usual thrumming through Eddie as he and Jeff make their way through the arena, to where Paige had said she’d take Steve and his friends for snacks. As they walk up on the group, however, Steve quickly pulls a younger boy with a head full of curls into a headlock. He lets the scene continue for a moment before he nudges Jeff.
“At what point fo you think we should intervene?” He asks with a smile, making Jeff chuckle. Steve, however, freezes, then shoves Dustin away. He turns to give Eddie a sheepish smile, and Eddie can’t help but raise an eyebrow. 
Steve lets out a huff of a laugh, running his fingers through his hair, shrugging and tipping his head in the boy’s direction. “This is Dustin. He’s like my little brother. I’m allowed to pick on him when he’s being a shithead.” Dustin nudges his elbow into Steve’s gut, who’s quick to smack his arm in response. Before Eddie can stop himself, he’s twisting a curl around his finger and biting back a grin. He does, however, make a conscious effort to not chew on his hair. He knows he’d never hear the end of it, fawning over Steve Harrington after a whole 10 seconds.
Eddie offers a hand out to Dustin, hoping Jeff and Paige would let his little tells fly under the radar. Just this once, they seem to, as he greets the Party. “Hey man, I’m Eddie. Nice to meet you.”
“I know who you are, holy shit, man.” Dustin eventually fumbles through, shaking Eddie’s hand and grinning up at him. 
Steve rattles off the introductions for each kid, like a proud mom, and Eddie greets each of them politely, but his eyes keep falling back on Steve. He catches his little smiles and the way he nudges different members of the Party, squeezes their shoulders, ruffles their hair. It’s gentle and sweet and it sends a warm feeling through Eddie’s chest. His smile softens as he watches their interactions. All too soon, Freak leans into the area they’ve gathered in and whistles.
“Shit, guys, we gotta go.” Jeff sighs, and Eddie pats his shoulder before he turns back to the group with a grin. 
“Just hang with Paige and try not to get into too much trouble, we’ll get drinks after?” Eddie asks, looking at Steve, who smiles back and gives a little nod.
As Eddie runs to catch up with Jeff and Freak, he wonders exactly what he’s gotten himself into here.
____
It’s more fun than Steve expects, the concert. The excitement of watching the show from the suite quickly bores the Party, as they realize it’s the same as watching hockey games from a guest box. They eat their snacks and drink some through the openers, but during the break before Corroded Coffin, Lucas and Dustin drag Steve around to the side stage. Robin promises to stay with the others, and reminds Steve to wear the earplugs. 
He’s grateful Paige had slipped them to him as they get beside the stage and he realizes just how loud the crowd is when the lights go down. From where they’re standing sidestage, he can see Eddie, Jeff, Gareth and Freak in a little huddle. They bounce around with their arms around each others backs, before yelling something Steve can’t quite make out. They’re handed their instruments by the crew. As they’re taking the stage, Eddie walks up in their direction and pokes his tongue out at them, before ripping into a guitar riff to make his entrance. 
Despite himself, Steve finds his head bobbing along to the drum beat, and even sings along to the songs he recognizes. It’s hard to take his eyes off Eddie through the whole production. He’s a little ball of energy, bounding around from one end of the stage to the other, bantering with the other guys in the band and drawing the fans into his chaos during talking breaks. During a drum solo, Eddie climbs onto the front of the kit and holds his guitar up in the air over his head. Steve watches, mesmerized, as Eddie holds his gaze for a moment that feels like an eternity but is probably only a few seconds. Eddie winks at Steve, then, before he leaps back into yet another riff. It shouldn’t have had so much of an impact, but Steve finds it kind of takes his breath away.
It’s over before long, and Paige is quick to guide Steve and the boys back to the club box. He smiles as they walk behind Dustin and Lucas, gushing over how great the show was. Back in the box, Steve and Paige agree to meet across the street at Fatpour. He charms his way into using the upstairs as a private room with a signature to the manager and flashes a smile and wave to the few people downstairs who seem to have recognized him. 
The band makes a loud entrance as the Party works their way through appetizers, and Eddie is quick to find his way to Steve. “You seemed to have enjoyed yourself, was it more fun than you expected?” He asks around a grin.
“I never said I wasn’t going to have a good time,” Steve defended through a smile, making Eddie laugh and Steve thinks that might be the best sound he’d heard all night, despite having just seen the concert. Eddie glances around then, locking eyes with a bartender to get their attention.
“What’s your poison?” Eddie asks in the most cliche way, wiggling his eyebrows a little, but Steve shakes his head.
“Strictly on water tonight. Gotta get up early tomorrow.” He says, and Eddie softens and nods. Once their drinks are in front of them, he holds his glass up to Steve in a mock toast.
“To making it the fuck out of Hawkins?”
“Cheers to that.” Steve laughs, clanking their glasses together and taking a sip.
“Any reason you stayed in the Midwest?” Eddie asks, before he can stop himself. “Sorry, you don’t have to… you don’t owe me an explanation.”
“Nah, it’s… a few reasons. Couldn’t go too far without them, and most of ‘em followed me here, anyway. And then the chips fell and I ended up on the Blackhawks and there’s kind of no other team I’d rather play for.” Steve explains, leaning a little closer to Eddie with a smile. “Speaking of; are you ready for the game?”
Eddie can’t help but grin back at Steve and laugh a little. “You know, I honestly have no idea what I’m getting in to here. All I remember from watching games on TV is that it’s violent.”
“Not always.” Steve defends quickly, before showing a slight mercy. “It’s cold in there, because of the ice. You’ll want to wear layers.”
“Layers. Noted.” Eddie stores the information away for tomorrow, suddenly concerned he hadn’t even thought about an outfit for the game before the conversation.
As they talk, Robin appears with a basket of cheese curds but pulls it away as Eddie reaches to take one. 
“What’s your favorite movie?” She asks, and Steve laughs and shakes his head at her.
“Is this a quiz? I’m not good at tests, I flunked out of senior year.” Eddie whines before he stops to think about it. “Uh, well. The answer you’d probably expect from me is Almost Famous, but it’s actually a close second to Dead Poets Society.” 
She narrows her eyes at him but slides the basket in his direction. “I can’t tell if you picked either of those because you thought it was the answer I wanted, or because they’re actually your favorite, so I have to give you curds.”
“They’re actually my favorites!” Eddie laughs around a mouthful of cheese curds.
“Dead Poets is one of Robin’s favorites, too.” Steve offers, and Robin nods.
“Steve will tell you his favorite movie is Risky Business, because he thinks Tom Cruise is hot, but it’s actually Go Figure. You know, the Disney movie about the ice skater who joins her school’s hockey—” Robin is grinning until Steve clasps a hand over her mouth.
“Robin is incredibly annoying when she wants to be,” He grumbles, and Eddie can’t help but laugh at their antics.
“Well, now you’ve got my attention. If Go Figure isn’t your favorite movie, what is?” Eddie asks.
Steve thinks for a moment. “I think Back to the Future feels like a safe answer.” He shrugs, and Eddie glances at Robin to gauge her reaction. She seems to approve, as she gives Steve a soft smile, pats his back, then stands from their table.
“I’ll leave you two alone, I suppose.” She says, leaning close to both of them. “Behave, got it? No funny business before the game.”
Steve flushes and flounders a little, his mouth opening and closing a few times before he just huffs and takes a sip from his water. While Eddie feels his whole face get hot in a blush, he can’t help but laugh a little.
“Is there funny business we could have gotten up to?” He dares to ask, and it’s worth it just to watch the way Steve blushes and bites at his lip. 
“Maybe. But I guess you’ve got to wait until after tomorrow’s game to find out.”
________________________________________________________
Wow! Thank you all so much for the overwhelming support you’ve shown this little idea I had! I might just keep this going as a series, with updates on Mondays (Tuesdays at the latest). This is also double the word count of part 1, oops, lol.
I'm going to try to tag everyone in the replies because I hit the character limit! Tumblr wouldn't take them all, so sorry to everyone I missed, I still love you and appreciate the support!
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dbssh · 2 years
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positively lost me by the rave-ups and starwatcher by the decemberists!
positively lost me : ok i really like this | definetly will be listening to more from this artist!!!
starwatcher: it’s okay | kinda catchy | its very decembrist-ey which isnt bad but yk i can only listen to one prolific indie folk band with that lyrical style and repetitive sound and i choose the side of John Darnielle
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rivetgoth · 6 months
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Black Alternative Music Recs
Not being Black myself, I hesitate to make myself a spokesperson specifically for Black alt artists as I don’t want to be tokenizing or reductive and I’d rather, like, uplift the voices of Black alt people than just make my own lists, BUT, I keep seeing people in the comments of recent posts about Death Grips asking for recs for more Black alternative artists, and I do know a good amount, so as a really basic list I wanted to throw out a few artists I really like—
Light Asylum: Darkwave. Really incredible vocalist, and openly queer. “Dark Allies” is a huge goth club hit but all of her work is great. I’ve seen her live twice and her live concerts are incredible too. One of the bigger Black goth artists.
Ho99o9: Punk/Industrial Hip Hop. Another big one, they’re pretty well known at this point but if you DON’T know them you should. Huuuge variety in sound here, all of it is so fun and solid, absolutely amazing energy.
clipping.: Industrial/Experimental Hip Hop. Really fun and catchy, great lyrics, great mixing, great experimental electronic sound.
Void Palace: Industrial/EBM. Local LA-based act with an amazing industrial dance club sound and vibe. Seen them live and they bring such cool but crazy energy. Really really solid.
O. Children: Darkwave/Post Punk. Really classic gothic sound, amazing vocals, really underrated, theatrical, fun, and moody gothic rock.
Izzy Spears: Industrial/Experimental Hip Hop. Openly gay alternative hip hop artist with a heavy and super danceable beat. I saw him live and he sounded great and had awesome punky energy.
LUSTSICKPUPPY: Punk/Electro-Industrial. Has almost a hyperpop sound sometimes, super high BPM high energy danceable electronic music with a really crazy theatrical style to their performances (kicking myself for missing them last year!). ETA: LSP uses they/them pronouns, corrected now but apologies for missing that irt any older iterations of this post floating around.
Baby Storme: Darkwave/Ethereal Pop. I think she got a bit of popularity on TikTok recently? I don’t use TikTok so idk, but she’s great. Really well mixed, fun, super solid dreamy darkwave with a dancey pop sound intermixed.
Grizz: Darkwave Hip Hop. I JUST discovered this artist, he’s another LA local who just put out a new single that’s getting some attention and he’s really good. Super cool goth fusion sound with really great classic darkwave electronic backing. Check him out!
Cold Gawd: Shoegaze/Post-Hardcore. Iconically sells merch that says “ABOLISH WHITE SHOEGAZE.” Absolute powerhouse of sound; I saw them live and their music sounded torrential, like this intense, powerful storm.
Debby Friday: Dark Electronic/Experimental Hip Hop. Really really haunting and dreamy gothic sound. Collaborates with artists like Boy Harsher. Superbly mixed. Lots of variety in sound but very consistently strong.
Dre Robinson: Industrial/Experimental Electronic. Longtime cEvin Key/Skinny Puppy collaborator. He was on stage with Skuppy during the recent live tour, doing sound and playing the maggot maracas (iykyk). He’s also been involved in a ton of cEvin’s solo work and accompanies him on stage for his live solo shows.
Charles Levi: Industrial/Industrial Rock. Wax Trax!/90s industrial icon, did work for My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult and Pigface. He’s recently had a bunch of serious health problems and has a GoFundMe up of you’d like to donate. He contributed to so much classic industrial rock, it’s crazy.
There’s a billion more. These are just some artists I genuinely really like personally who are Black, and I think all of them deserve a ton of support and recognition as contributors to the alternative scene. There’s so many amazing Black-fronted alternative bands and projects, and I’m just scratching the surface with artists I know and enjoy, Also considered listing some larger names like Yves Tumor and Tricky, but I feel they’re slightly more well known in the mainstream with ~1mil+ listeners on Spotify and I wanted to highlight some slightly more underground voices (to varying degrees—obviously some artists here are more well known than others).
Check them out!! Support Black alternative music!
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gffa · 5 months
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Over the last week, I decided to go ahead with bookmarking all the fics I've recommended over the years on AO3 since I abide by tumblr poll results always (and man pour one out for all the fic that never made it to AO3 or has since been deleted, sooooo many gems lost to time!) and it was a bit more than the ~3,000 I was expecting:
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Hopefully, this will be easier than browsing the hundreds of recs posts I've made, since you can filter for any of the author's tags now! These are mostly focused on Star Wars and DC fandom, but I did my time in the anime mines and occasional tours through some TV fandoms or movies. You can dig into everything unfiltered and start your own filtering, or the bigger fandoms you'll find:
MAJOR FANDOMS: Each of these should have 100+ at minimum and, in the case of Star Wars, literally almost half of them are in that fandom. Look, Star Wars fandom might be a trash fire in a lot of ways, but it is ON FIRE with some good fic. (Older bookmarks not guaranteed to match my current sentiments, especially re: the Jedi, but they did catch my fancy at that point in time!)
STAR WARS: - All Star Wars -OR- All Star Wars minus the Obi-Wan/Anakin ship - OR- Nothing BUT Obi-Wan/Anakin
BATMAN/DC: - DC can sometimes be tricky, but you can do a Batman* search and get most of them (though, sometimes Nightwing* or Young Justice* or Superman* will catch some of the others). Honestly, though, you might want to just do a search for what character or dynamic you like and have fun from there, because otherwise you're getting a face full of my Dick Grayson Is The Center Of The Universe And I'm Making That Everyone Else's Problem agenda. ;)
MARVEL/MCU: - Marvel* will probably get most of the various properties, though you may want to filter for Defenders* or Guardians of the Galaxy* if you're interested -OR- Marvel* without the Thor/Loki - These focus a lot on the Thor* fandom if you want to witness the results of like 8 years of constant voracious reading in that fandom (Minus the ship), because, seriously, I read a LOT of Odinson family fic. - Bonus, just do a search for Maximoff* to find some really good X-Men: First Class-verse because, listen, I have been ALL ABOUT the Maximoff twins since long before the movies or MCU brought them over and I will DIE ON THE HILL of "Marvel, make Magneto their bio-dad again or I'm never reading another comic of yours ever".
TOLKIEN/LORD OF THE RINGS/SILMARILLION/HOBBIT: - Tolkien* -OR- Hobbit* -OR- Lord of the Rings* searches will turn up most of my Elf-hunting, I primarily focus on the Sindar Elves, but look I can't resist my problematic Feanorian faves or that I will die on the hill that Fingolfin is the best ever. (You have NO IDEA how sad I am that so much fic on Stories of Arda or FFNET is not easily bookmarked on AO3, sob. I externally bookmarked a few of the bigger ones, but sooo many shorter faves are missing from my recs tag.)
CLAMP: - X/Tokyo Babylon legitimately bums me out because it's not a huge fandom and yet so much of what was written was pre-AO3 and lost when CLAMPesque went down or was never brought over from Livejournal, yet this fandom (well, the Seishirou/Subaru pairing) still burns brightly in my heart.
MINOR FANDOMS: Ones that probably only have under 100 bookmarks (often around the 20-30 bookmarks range), but will at least give you a place to start! ANIME/MANGA: Bleach | Cardcaptor Sakura | Dragonball | Finder no Hyouteki/Viewfinder | Katekyou Hitman Reborn! | Kuroko no Basuke | One Piece | Sailor Moon | Madoka Magica | Naruto | Princess Tutu | Trigun | Weiss Kreuz | Yuri!!! on Ice
BOOKS: Chrestomanci | Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint
DRAMAS: Nirvana in Fire | The Untamed -OR- Modao Zu Shi
TV SHOWS/MOVIES: Community | Game of Thrones -OR- ASOIAF | Good Omens | Hannibal | Highlander | The Old Guard | Our Flag Means Death | Stranger Things
VIDEO GAMES: Dragon Age: Inquisition | Final Fantasy 8 | Genshin Impact | Okami
BANDS: Arashi
All right, whew, that was actually a fun project, despite how much work it was to hunt down a lot of older faves to see if they were on AO3, hopefully you'll find this useful!
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majorbaby · 3 months
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it takes a conscious effort to break your patterns of consumption and unlearn the notion beauty, interiority, diverse ways of existence aren't exclusive to whiteness or maleness. part of that isn't your fault. certain music is played on the radio, certain shows survive cancellation no matter what, certain people seem to be able to commit the worst possible acts against other human beings and are excused on account of their creative genius. others are selectively punished, with good reason sure, but still, selectively.
now more than ever it's easier to immerse yourself in art made by people outside of the mainstream. reading lists, free resources, playlists... all this stuff is more accessible than ever, but you've got to make an effort to give it a try. it's black history month, the recs are pouring in, go have a look. or take a chance on something absolutely no one has recommended anywhere and if you find something you like, rec it to someone else because the likelihood is they haven't heard of it.
tracy chapman's "fast car" is one of eleven songs that appears on her self-titled debut album. can you name the second hit single from it? if you're american and you fell anywhere left of center as of the 2016 election, it should be on the tip of your tongue if you were engaged in your country's politics at the time, regardless of your level of actual investment in the system. if not, the next time you're doing a task you need both hands with, washing the dishes, having dinner, doing your makeup, put that album on.
there's a post with over 100K notes on here that i see all the time of bruce springsteen and clarence clemons kissing. there's a part of that that is immediately meaningful to many if you're lgbtq, and a part that is harder for non-black lgbtq people to feel the weight of. but it is worth trying to do and was part of the reason why they kissed so often in the first place. clarence clemons was from norfolk, virginia. he released multiple albums outside of his work with the e street band. they may not be for you, but give them a try.
give enough music, or movies, or books that aren't a part of the approved canon a try, and there's no way you won't find something you don't feel as passionate about as you do about springsteen, siken, the beatles, what have you.
james baldwin was a prolific artist. see if you can't find something of his you like more than giovanni's room.
immerse yourself in ringo sheena, who mitski cites as one of her influences.
if you have difficulty paying attention to music you don't recognize, (i get it) make a playlist that alternates tracks you know and love with brand new tracks. start small. 5 faves of all time, 5 you're going to try out. you won't like everything, but you might find yourself looking forward to 6 songs instead of 5 eventually.
for movies, pick an actor whose performance you loved in something and explore their work. last year i picked whoopi goldberg, also a prolific artist, with a vast body of work that's pretty accessible as a result of her constant, intentional effort.
if you're an artist yourself, you can only stand to improve by getting to know your fellow artists better. so expand your notion of what art is. you can do it for free in lots of cases, and you're spending that time listening to music or reading or watching movies or series anyway, what have you got to lose?
anti-racism sometimes means engaging in real-world narratives of pain endured by brown and black people. that pain permeates much of our art, but we're just as three-dimensional as everybody else, and every aspect of our experiences come through in our work. you know that already, because what else is happening when you indulge in various genres. for everything you love or enjoy, there's a brown or black person who's doing something along those lines, in many cases, those genres wouldn't exist in their current form without the influence of our communities, some more than others, depending on where you're from. you can actually keep one foot inside your comfort zone and dip your toe into something else. that choice is both a joy and a luxury.
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allwaswell16 · 4 months
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A fic rec of angsty omegaverse One Direction fics as requested in this ask. If you enjoy the fics, please leave the writers kudos and comments! You can find my other fic recs here. Happy reading!
— Louis/Harry —
💔 Light, Spark and Fire (series) by green_feelings / @greenfeelings
(M, E, 239k, Louis/Harry, Zayn/Liam) Louis and Zayn run a music label, Liam is Britain’s up-and-coming pop star, Harry’s working on taking Louis’ walls down until he builds his own up, and Niall holds them all together without realising he does.
💔 Saving Symphony Hall by @helloamhere
(E, 124k, hurt/comfort) “That’s the attitude,” said Louis, “I’ll tell you tomorrow. Tonight, I need to do some research. Zayn, give me your number. I’m gonna save our symphony.”
💔 Strawberries & Cigarettes by dimpled_halo / @comebackassholes
(E, 76k, exes) Two stories, eleven years, and the two boys that never stopped loving each other.
💔 These High Walls by LarryAlways28
(E, 68k, musician Louis) Harry was raised exactly as a Styles heir should be: sharp as a tack, witty, charming, and powerful. He was the ideal son - until he presented as an Omega.
💔  Maybe You’ll Like the Way I Am by @lululawrence
(NR, 55k, accidental bonding) When Louis’ alpha neighbor asks him to pretend to be his omega for a week, Louis immediately says no.
💔 Your Gift is Wasted On Me by therogueskimo / @bravetemptation
(NR, 54k, neighbors) Omega Louis has severe touch deprivation and is averse to touch. But he’s fine. Really.
💔 Bear with me by 28sunflowers / @vintageumbroshirt​  
(E, 46k, omega/omega) But try as they might, the one fact that remains true is that children don’t save broken relationships. Sometimes things just aren’t meant to be.
💔 Wild Hearts Run Free by jacaranda_bloom / @jacaranda-bloom
(E, 42k, secrets) When fate and Mother Nature conspire to trap the two strangers together, will Harry’s worst fears be proven, or will Louis find a way to break down his walls and lead him into the light?
💔 Canyon Moon by delsicle / @eeveedel
(E, 40k, Lion King au) For as long as Louis has remembered, he has been promised to be mated to Harry, his best friend and the future pack alpha. But Louis’s heart belonged to the forest and to the hunt more than he could ever imagine it belonging to Harry.
💔 Follow Your Arrow by LadyAJ_13 / @ladyaj-13
(T, 36k, canon) They said Louis playing alpha wouldn’t affect anything. It was the best thing for the band, so he doesn’t really regret it except deep in the dead of night, when he bites down on his knuckles to swap the echoing ache of depri for a sting of pain.
💔 Too Young To Know by @2tiedships2
(M, 35k, exes to lovers) the one where Harry doesn’t present as an alpha… until he does.
💔 Compass to my Soul by LadyLondonderry / @londonfoginacup
(T, 31k, canon) Louis Tomlinson, omega, is 1/5 of world famous boy band One Direction. He spends his time hoping his bandmates don’t notice him.
💔 where the lights are beautiful by twoshipsdrifting / @polkadotlou
(E, 31k, accidental bonding) If that had been his life, his goal, Louis would feel pretty good about himself now. As it is…Louis feels like shit.
💔  Sisterwives by @jaerie 
(E, 32k, omega/omega) Louis thinks he's getting everything he's ever dreamed of. Harry helps him find what makes him truly happy.
💔 Compete Against the Stars by amomentoflove / @daggerandrose
(M, 30k, uni) An A/B/O au where Louis finds out he's claimed to another Alpha. Angst ensues.
💔 The Risen (series) by @creamcoffeelou
(E, 28k, cult au) In search of the next breaking story, Harry goes off to do something no one else has been able to do: get the scoop on Louis Tomlinson and his devoted group of followers.
💔  tread lightly on my ground by fairytalelights / @lookslikefairytale
(E, 20k, mpreg) the one where Harry is having Louis’ baby, but Louis doesn’t know it’s his
💔  Keep Me Closer by zanni_scaramouche / @zanniscaramouche
(T, 18k, uni) Louis expects Harry to react poorly, maybe even file a formal complaint and that’s gonna suck ass but Louis won’t say shit cause he knows he deserves it, so he prepares an apology before Harry’s even turned around.
💔 No Easy Love (Could Make Me Feel This Way) by @allwaswell16
(E, 17k, exes) an Alpha Louis/Alpha Harry au where they get a second chance to make things right with the love of their life.
💔 With love comes strange currencies by mediaville
(E, 16k, canon) They're Accidentally Mated and Dealing With It Rather Badly.
💔 Him & I by @notasawrap
(NR, 8k, mpreg) Louis thinks Harry has a lover and he's willing to let's Harry go to be happy with someone else even if it hurts the three of them.
💔 A Silver Lining In A Storm (You Were Lightning, I Was Born) by @fallinglikethis
(E, 6k, arranged marriage) Omega Prince Harry had always known that he was going to have an arranged marriage. But after the death of his first fiancé, a man who turned out far worse than Harry thought possible, his subsequent marriage to the man's brother leaves Harry finding it difficult to trust that everything will work out.
💔 lucky once, could be lucky again by @jaerie
(E, 2k, famous/not famous) Louis has been letting the rich and famous knot him for cash since he found himself walking out on the lavish lifestyle of his rockstar future mate.
— Rare Pairs —
💔 Pride by iwanttowriteyouafic
(E, 86k, Zayn/Liam)  the one where Zayn and Liam strike a deal to help each other through their dirtiest nights, but Zayn's perception of alphas may be preventing him from something purer
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welcometothejianghu · 4 months
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Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 少年歌行/The Blood of Youth
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The Blood of Youth is a 2022 live-action adaptation of the tale of a deposed, disabled, and incredibly cunty prince who's on his way back to settle the score with his asshole father, and the rag-tag band of weirdos he accumulates along the way, including Spear Girl, Bad Monk, and Fire Puppy (pictured above).
I hope you like shounen anime, because this is the most shounen anime something is allowed to be without actually being based on something running weekly in Shounen Jump. What if Nirvana in Fire were also Naruto? It would be the Blood of Youth.
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This show is an underrated gem of action-packed fun that not nearly enough people in English-speaking fandom have seen. In an attempt to correct that -- and ahead of an announced second season and prequel in progress -- I'm here with five reasons you should try it out.
1. Zero thoughts head empty
You do not have to pay an enormous amount of attention to this show to understand what's going on. The show itself does not always know what's going on. It got distracted by a shiny object over there, and now we're all gearing up to go punch the shiny object. We'll get back to the main plot when we're done with the punching.
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It has a million billion plot threads going on at any given moment. Bad guys roll in from sects you've never heard of before, using superpowers with stupid names, only to get kicked into next week. There's approximately eleventy thousand characters -- so many, in fact, that I ran into problems several times while making this rec post, because there aren't readily available photos of everyone I want to talk about. Just look at the DramaWiki cast list. See how it goes on for like fifty screens? That's a little what the show feels like.
Except I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing, because the show knows it's doing this, and it acts accordingly. It telegraphs pretty well who's important and who isn't (and then it goes out of its way to color-code the latter, which is handy). What you're left with is absolutely a manga-style plot, complete with training arcs and semi-relevant sidequests, all working up to the final boss match.
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It is an extremely self-aware show. On multiple occasions, something would happen, I would crack a joke about it, and then a beat later the show itself would make the exact same joke. I wouldn't call it an outright comedy, but it's still very funny, and on purpose. It has no illusions about being some kind of profound, meaningful epic. Mostly it's just here for a good time.
Yet this lightheartedness is what makes the powerful emotional parts really powerful by contrast. The show is not stupid; it's just goofing around most of the time. When it knuckles down, it can be devastating. And you know what? It does wind up being profound and meaningful about some stuff. How about that.
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So yeah, if you're up for something that bops merrily right along and only occasionally rips your heart out, here you go!
2. Putting the poly in polycule
Bisexuals, rejoice! It's representin' time!
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Here you go, I made a relationship chart of about 40% of the show's potential and canonical ships. I could have included so many more, but I only had so much space on the image, so I had to leave out some amazing ones, like the sword hedgehog who's real into this one cougar who could easily wipe the floor with him, or the rich nerd who thinks he has a chance with the aforementioned hot butch, or the fancy MILF who cheated on the emperor with a dreamy jianghu man and is trying not to cheat on him again with a different, slightly less dreamy jianghu man. See? There's just so much.
I would also say these are not exclusive ships. They are extremely inclusive ships. I am a fan of most (though admittedly not all) of the pairings listed here, and in fact of many of the three-and-more-somes indicated by these lines. They're such a cuddle puddle of shared intense feelings that it's hard to imagine anyone getting more than mildly jealous. Moreover, the potential for romance does not get in the way of hetero friendships; a boy and a girl who are each dating other people can go do adventures together, and (mostly) nobody gets weird about it, which is nice. If anything, what makes the overall dynamic so polycule-like is how equally friends and love interests get treated, meaning that it's not difficult to see a lot of crossover potential between those two categories.
If you're like me, you're hesitant about canonical romance, especially when it's straight, mostly because so many straight love stories wind up being tiresome, gross, and/or skull-poundingly boring. You will then be pleasantly surprised by how the canon pairings with members of the main cast are not like this at all!
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Xiao Se and Sikong Qianluo are the main textual romance, and golly gee, they're just cute as heck. As the chart above indicates, I like interpreting them as two Kinsey 6's who have found their single exceptions, Mulder-and-Scully-style. Maybe one of the best things about their relationship is that it gets sidelined all the time for the plot. They're not so busy being in love that they forget to get shit done. Then they get a bit of downtime and get to go on a date, and you're like, aww, those sweet gay disaster babies are gonna do a little bit of heterosexuality. Just precious.
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Tang Lian and Fairy Rui are right up there with the cuteness. She's a sex-positive dancing beauty who wants to ride that pretty boy like she stole him, and he's a shy sword boy so tightly bottled up that he'll explode if he sees a bare ankle. Avoiding spoilers, I will simply say that this is a pairing of two relatively soft people, until a bad thing happens to one of them and the other hardens up about it. If that's your jam, they're here for you.
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Lei Wujie and Ye Ruoye are probably the most magical and the most practical of the bunch. They have a beautiful, super-dreamy, really horny sword-dance meet-cute, complete with its own pop song ... and then that's it, they're basically just together. She likes him, he likes her, good for them. In-laws aside, it's a refreshingly low-drama situation. Besides, I always love it when the hypercompetent woman gets the sweet, devoted himbo who'd do anything for her. Ruoye's had a hard life, and she deserves someone who can dick her down good at night and make her a nourishing breakfast the next morning.
And then there is, of course, The Ship:
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Xiao Se and Wuxin are canonical, textual soulmates. The show treats their dynamic as more important than any other. It's so important, in fact, that the show has to sideline Wuxin for huge parts of the drama, lest everything get too damn gay. They each get a boyfriend catch on the other. They both do fairly reckless things when the other is in trouble. They are the secret hidden happy ending to the series. They share the kind of ride-or-die relationship built on mutually being the hugest bitches in any given room. Whether or not you think this is romance, it is extremely romantic, and the series agrees as much as it can, all things considered.
And if none of those flavors of love float your boat? Well, have you considered ... eunuchs?
3. She likes e4e
So I'm on record as being real into eunuch characters, right? Well, if you're with me on that, you are in for a treat here, because these are some absolutely buck-wild eunuchs.
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There's five main ones, and I can't even begin to scratch the surface of what's going there. Like, really, I don't even think I understood all of what was happening with them. They're kind of the bad guys, but then they're kind of the good guys, but then some of them are the bad guys, but then they're just working for the bad guys, but then they screw over the bad guys, and ... it's just a lot, okay? It's a lot, and it's all happening with this bunch of catty bitches.
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Also, you would not believe the difficult time I had finding any images for this section. I guess for some reason, fandom isn't way into a bunch of canonically dickless color-coordinated middle-aged men in weird hats? Whatever, man, they are missing out. If, however, you have the good sense to be into the intense and complicated (semi-romantic??) relationships among colleagues who also professionally just happen to be missing their external genitalia, buddy, strap in (and maybe strap on, depending).
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Don't let me oversell how much these guys are in the show. They're not. They're vaguely important at points throughout, and they become incredibly important near the end, but they're hardly main characters. They're mostly back at the palace, doing their various schemes and looking absolutely fantastic.
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So if they're such a minor part of the story, why do they get their own selling point? Well, I think their presence is a good example of two specific things about the show:
Specific thing the first: It's so queer -- not gay, but queer. Thinking back to my last selling point, you will notice how many of those straight pairings may look normie on the outside, but once you get down to it are not playing by cishet rules. (For instance, I've seen a lot of people read Tang Lian's resistance to sexual advances as asexuality, which, sure!) Likewise, there are lots of incredibly important, intimate relationships that don't conform to standard romantic pair dynamics. Add to that a lot of bodies with unusual characteristics and conditions, and you've got the makings of plenty of delightful non-normative love stories.
Specific thing the second: There are so many things going on with so many side characters that there's a kink here for everyone. Don't care for eunuchs? How about slinky villains with mind-control powers? Devoted servants who would do anything for their masters? Former bad guys who owe life-debts to the good guys who saved them? Bonded pairs traipsing around the jianghu together? Sons nursing legitimate grudges against the men who killed their fathers? Alcoholic widowers with incredibly slutty necklines? Mysterious cross-dressers with unconvincing moustaches? Vengeful brides? Martial siblings? Murderous royals? Guilt-ridden half-siblings? Boring star-crossed lovers? All these and more! It's a smorgasbord of rarepair fuel!
Also, I just love these toxic drama queens. It's like if RuPaul's Drag Race had the authority to have you executed.
4. The most intriguing outfits I've ever seen in anything (and yes, I'm including Winter Begonia)
Time for a fashion show!
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The asymmetrical fits, the detailed embroidery on everything, the brilliant colors -- everybody just looks so good. And yet everything still looks ... eh, I don't know if "practical" is the word I want, but at least wearable. Nobody's dragging ten-foot trains of fabric behind them or wrapped in eighty floofy layers of gauze (except Rui, but she's special). Their outfits are strange and elaborate, but they don't defy physics.
What's truly stunning is how often they get new outfits. Xiao Se alone changes clothes about once every other episode, and more if he's getting a flashback. He is the fashion plate of the whole series, and every look he serves is pitch-perfect.
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They're not outright color-coded, but the main characters do have certain colors associated with them -- which is extra-fun when you watch those colors bleeding into their friends' clothes as their relationships get stronger. I also think -- and I'm willing to be proven wrong on this point, but I think I'm right -- that they recycle some characters' outfits into parts of other characters' outfits. On more than one occasion, I'd swear that Lei Wujie shows up wearing the left half of something Xiao Se was wearing a few episodes back (tailored to fit him, of course, because that dumb ponytail boy is tall).
Where I think the costume design gets massive points, though, is that the costumes are themselves adaptations.
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Before the live-action series, there was a 2018 3D animated donghua. I have never watched the latter, but apparently the drama is intensely faithful to the animated visuals, to the point where some fights are shot-for-shot remakes.
Of course, you can do a lot more with unreal clothing and bodies in animation -- and you can show a lot more skin, at least according to Chinese content laws. The live-action costumers chose to preserve about as many of the appearance beats from the donghua as they could manage, while still accepting the limitations of real-life bodies and materials. You can see some side-by-side comparisons here. The live-action outfits manage to be instantly recognizable without being slavishly devoted recreating to their inspirations.
So if you're sick and tired of dreary, ill-lit shows with bland palettes, this vibrant, colorful drama may be just the thing for you. It's a rainbow from start to finish.
5. Actually a good central plot?
Despite all the wacky delightful shounen nonsense that this show has -- and it has a lot -- the core of the whole narrative, which is Xiao Se's story, is surprisingly great and cohesive.
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The short version is this: Xiao Se used to be Xiao Chuhe, sixth prince and somewhat heir apparent. Then he and his jerk-ass dad had a falling-out that resulted in the prince's having his martial arts abilities all but taken from him. He's been living the life of a very well-dressed innkeeper for several years, trying to avoid all of that palace garbage. But now his jerk-ass dad is dying, which means that a lot of horrible decisions are finally having unfortunate consequences for everyone, and Xiao Se's got to get back in there to make sure everything does not go to shit and land someone terrible on the throne -- even if it has to mean taking it himself.
His central conflict is between what he used to be and what he's become. Does he miss being Xiao Chuhe, high-ranked martial artist and future emperor? Or is he happier being Xiao Se, long-suffering nobody who can barely run a business, much less hold his own in a fight? What would he be willing to do to get back what he's lost? What are his obligations to himself versus his obligations to everyone else? How much is he responsible for his father's bullshit? And why has he wound up having to babysit this stupid Fire Puppy?
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It's okay, they're best friends now. Lei Wujie decided.
No spoilers, but I liked Xiao Se's ending a lot. I feel it's very true to the character and shows a real understanding of who he is and what he values. And really, at the end of the day, sometimes all you need for a happy ending is your girlfriend, your girlfriend's girlfriend, your girlfriend's girlfriend's boyfriend who's also your boyfriend, your other boyfriend, his girlfriend, and your long-distance for-real soulmate.
Feel like giving the youths a try?
You can find them on YouTube or on Viki. But be absolutely sure that no matter where you watch it, you make sure to go watch the epilogue as well. (And if you get real into the story, well, here's a link to information about all the other adaptations.)
You are also welcome for how I did not spend this post going off for five hundred years on how much I love Wuxin and his funky relationship to Buddhism. I figured that's way too niche of a selling point for most people, and might indeed have even been counterproductive. But know that I could have.
Also, I'm very happy about the announcement of a second season, because that's going to mean Liu Xueyi has to shave his head again, and he looks unbearably good with a shaved head.
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Oh yeah, did I forget to mention the whole motorcycle photoshoot?
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In case you hadn't noticed, the whole cast is stupidly hot. Hachi machi.
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newcathedrals · 26 days
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can i ask you a dumb question how do you classify a 'classic' winnix fic i am so curious
I am so glad someone asked! I am so passionate about the “classic” style of winnix. “Classic” doesn’t refer to when the fic was written (it doesn’t matter if it’s old or not) or its popularity (it doesn’t have to be super popular). It's not a super common term or anything, but I found a pattern in many winnix fics bc I read so much and started thinking of these elements as part of a "genre."
Here are the musts of a “classic winnix” fic:
Not an AU. events line up closely to the progression of the events in the series, no huge divergences. diehard writers even line events up with the real Dick Winter’s book/other Band of Brothers books
If the plot includes time immediately post-war, it often takes place in NJ and involves Dick working at Nixon Nitration
Kathy, Nix’s sister, Nix’s father, and Dick’s family members are part of the plot if there’s any post-war plot
Lewis’s alcoholism is an issue in the plot and in Dick and Nix’s relationship. Nix struggles with some sort of mental health issue: alcoholism, depression, self-worth issues, etc
Nix and Dick both have issues related to their sexuality because of the homophobia of the period. Even if one or both of them have fully accepted themselves, this was a process they had to go through. Almost always, Dick has spiritually reconciled his sexual attraction with his Christianity. Internalized homophobia and societal homophobia are issues that they have to face. 
There are other elements that are definitely not “required” but are super common in the “classic” winnix fic style. Most of the classic style fics will have a few of these elements:
Depending how long the post-war plot of the fic is, Dick and Nix almost always end up farming in the end. Chicken farming, grain farming, and producing animal feed are popular choices. If they end up farming, they always end up in rural Pennsylvania 
Stanhope Nixon is an antagonist and blocks Dick and Nix’s ultimate goals of happiness and peace. He’s an alcoholic, and “gave” Nix the disease through childhood trauma, or even just genetics
Nix struggles to be a father to his daughter, and struggles with this issue. 
Harry and Kitty are Nix and Dick’s closest friends that remain from their time in the war. They’re not explicitly homophobic and accept Dick and Lew as a couple (especially if they’re not outwardly affectionate in front of Kitty and Harry)
Lewis often does not feel deserving of Dick and struggles to accept Dick’s love. Sometimes he thinks that Dick should move on from him and marry a woman, and that he stands in the way of Dick’s “true” happiness and progress in life. Dick has to convince Nix that he’s the one for him, and that making a life with Lewis would make him happiest. 
Bastogne foxhole activities (iykyk)
Some writers pay attention to the speech patterns and slang of the time, and incorporate 1940s language into their writing 
I never get enough of this style! Even though the fics within this “genre” have so many similarities with each other, each writer also brings something new to the style and plot. The longer fics within the classic style also feel the most reminiscent of published novels. Maybe I’ll make a list of my favorites in the classic style (although many are in both of my winnix fic rec posts). The peak of classic winnix is the “What Things We Have Heard Together” series by joissant in my opinion. Some other greats are Fiorediloto’s "The Earth Below My Feet" series and the shorter “Give Me Light, Give Me Life” by an orphan account. But I also find more fics that fit into the "classic" style every day!
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lunaekalenda · 2 months
Text
no panties
warnings: neutral gender fem bodied reader, semi-public, mentions of spit, fingering, oral f!rec, a really little moment of mutual mast. enjoy enjoy. a pretty long smut surprisingly.
Enter a sex-shop needed more valor than you expected. And, specially, having such a man smiling at you and asking if you’re okay, because you froze at the door, fully blushed and shy, playing with the leather band of your bag, thinking seriously about turning around and going back home even knowing everyone would look at you because of your strange behavior. But, once you’re here, what can you do?
Your best friend told you this was the most discrete shop of the city as soon as she discovered your desire to get — finally— something to spice up your nights, even when all the toys displayed on the shelfs as if it were cupcakes did had a lot of adjetives, but not discrete. “Are you alright?” he asks again, and your eyes collide with his. He’s tall, and the messy raven bun gives him an irresistible aura, just increased by his sharp and slanted dark eyes looking directly at yours. He was softly smiling as you nod and got quickly lost between the shelfs, unable to hear his giggles. You awakened his curiosity, he has to admit.
You don’t even know why you’re here, in any case. It was late at night when, drinking with your friends on a near bar, one of them, kinda tipsy, started to tell with lots of unnecesary details how good she spends the nights now that she got something for her to enjoy. All of them started to agreed until the conversation got fixated on the only one that said nothing. You. They convinced you to get one to spend the lonely nights. To discover yourself. And it wasn’t a bad idea, but you’re maybe the most shy thing on earth, and just reading the red sign outside of the shop brought all the blood to your cheeks. It took you a while to push the door, entering the shop with your gaze low and the sundress lifting a little because of the wind.
While you walk between shelfs full of colorful toys, the boy keeps an eye on you, the same joking side smile while his eyes follow your body between the shelfs. You’re pretty, he’s not gonna lie. You’re attractive, and the cute sundress you’re using adapts so well to your body he doesn’t even need to imagine how nice your curves must be under it. He raises a brow when you turn around, cute eyes looking everywhere, open with curiosity. He presses his lips together to avoid a smile when you get closer to a wand, discovering that it vibrates by proximity. He gives a couple steps back, eyes still fixed on your graceful body moving between the corridors and the expositors. You sigh. There are too many things, and you don’t know where to use half of them. He decides to talk to you, silently approaching you as he stands next to you, both looking to rainbow ordered shelf.
"Are you searching something?" the dependent asks, with a side smile and sharp eyes looking directly at you. You feel how every single vein of your body rushes the blood to your cheeks at the same time that your heart jumps inside your chest because of the sudden talk, and you look to the shelfs full of sexual toys in front of you, avoiding his gaze, while nodding quietly. You can hear his calm steps and he easily reaches the shelf. It's ridiculously taller than you, and you can smell his cologne softly on the air. He smiles again. "So, egg? bunny? magic wand? for couples? panty? bdsm?" he keeps the straightest face while listing all the types of vibrators he has in front of him. "Maybe you're more into sucker..." he looks to the shelf on his back and you stop him, softly speaking.
"I... don't really know which one I should use... I never had one." words escape cutely from your lips, as the boy can't help but smile softly. Even when he's used to do these questions, he finds it a hundred times more enjoyable with such a cute customer. Taking a couple keys from his pocket, he smiles at you wider. Godess, he’s so damn attractive.... It’s almost an offense to be this handsome.
"I see... I'll need to make you some questions in order to find which one suits you better..." He points the door behind the shelfs as he speaks to his workmate. "Taking the customer with me for the questionary." the other man nods as his brows go up and down. Once he passes, he makes you enter, closing behind you two. You’re quite nervous. You didn’t know there was a questionary for this things. The attractive man sits in front of you as his gaze analyzes your summer dress. It suits you so perfectly he can’t even look up at your eyes again. He obligates himself, clearing his throat. He makes you sit on a table before sitting in front.
“I’m Suguru, and I’m going to ask you some questions, so we can define what type of toy you should buy, alright?” You nod, blushed again. Answer sexual questions to this man must be some type of divine punishment. He takes his tablet out. “First, did you ever had sexual encounters?”
Wow, the first question and you feel already like disappearing from shame. You nod quietly a couple times. It was a long ago, tho. You think about adding that to your answer, but your voice seems gone. “Was it recently?” you shake your head, thanking the gods for the question of the man sitting in front of you. “Good…” He takes note of “Size: little”, but his head starts to think about that. A long ago? You look so hot and cute… He would definitely change that.
“Do you usually masturbate using fingers or any other thing you can take inside?” Damn, he was using such a vocabulary… Isn’t the room too hot? He’s secretly enjoying the way that your eyes find more interesting places to look at than his face. You’re so blushed… He has been also aware on how your legs press under the transparent table. He crosses them on his ankles, his chest touching the surface as he sits properly, closer to you.
“J-just fingers…” you say quietly, and he takes note of that too, bitting his lip under the thought of yourself, using those little fingers, crying out his name and begging for him. The images are invading his mind as his eyes soflty scan you enterely. He wants to cross the table and kiss you. Fuck, you’re so cute, so red and flustered… He can’t keep making those dumb questions. He stands up, walking behind you. Even when you thought his presence might be intimidating, his touch on your shoulders make you relax.
“You’re too tense answering this…” he whispers, as his hands massage you softly. They sometimes get closer to your discovered clavicle, quickly going up again. Your skin reacts with electricity as his hands keep going. “Relax a little, yeah? Or else, I’ll end making the practical questionary…” It was a lie. Not that he would take things practical, but yes that a practical questionary exists. He never got wild with clients, and less on the shop. But seems like there are first times for everything.
“P-practical?” you ask. You cheeks blush again. How cute. His hands go down, reaching your breasts. You sigh under his touch, even knowing that there’s fabric between his palms and your skin, but already feeling that good.
“Mhm. You know, getting to know your body language to different stimulations.” he coos near your ear, as you press your tighs together again. Of course, he saw that. “Are you interested, honey?” his voice sounds so smooth you can’t help but nod. The attraction feels heavier when he’s behind you, hands touching you as his voice guides your thoughts. “That’s it, how I wanted.” He walks towards the door, closing it with the key, as he comes back. His body is again standing behind your chair, where you can’t see him, as his hand wraps softly around your neck, and the other slides above your chest to squeeze your breast. “No bra, I see…” His gaze goes to your pressed legs, and, with a quick movement, he takes the chair away from the table, walking towards the front, bending over the chair, getting so close to you as if he was gonna kiss you. His fingers lift your dress and quickly take your panties waistband, taking them away with a fast movement. He licks two of his fingers until they’re dripping saliva, getting so ready to follow the explicit images that his mind has been creating for the last 5 minutes. He looks at the stain on your panties under your blushed gaze. Of course, you’re wet. Ridiculously wet. He wants to know how will you end once he’s deep inside you.
“Let’s see…” he takes them, putting them on his pocket, an excuse to see you again. Even when he doesn’t plan to give them back to you. He would probably use them later on the darkness of his room, maybe smell you on them, maybe wrap his cock with them as he thinks he’s fucking you. He gets hard just with the thought of what you two are about to do. His fingers are still wet when he presses them against your core. "You'll may enjoy simple things..." you feel two of his fingers inside, a torturing and slow circle motion while his lips are dangerously close to yours and your body arches on the chair, searching more depth and more contact with his body. You try to kiss him, getting closer, but he parts with a giggle, asif he was having fun with it. "Maybe just a plastic cock will help you, but why should we just ignore that I can fuck you better than that thing could ever?" he whispers as his fingers curve towards your walls. You let a long moan out as your hands grip his shirt, taking a satisfied smile from him. "Just see how your body reacts to my fingers… To only my fingers..." Without a word, he takes them out. Your moan turns sad when you don't feel them inside. He laughs a little. "Remember we're searching your adequate toy, hm?" He kneels softly, eyes shining with lust as he licks his lips, tongue being such a tease while it passes above his pink lips, leaving glossy spit behind. “What I thought when I saw you… Maybe a sucker goes better for you." Without more words, his lips capture your clit, sucking softly, making you tangle your fingers on his raven locks, bun messier than before, and your legs cross behind his body, unconsciously pulling him closer. He won’t say it, but he likes it. How your body presses him, wanting him deeper. It’s a sign of how good he’s doing it.
“G-god…” you moan, as your body arches towards his mouth. He wants to hear you. He wants to hear you calling him. Calling his name. Crying for him, begging. He fantasizes with your voice breaking on a moan. He parts with glossy lips, licking his fingers again as he puts two inside. Your cute eyes seem about to cry from pleasure as your fingers are still tangled on his hair. “Please…” you beg him. “P-please…”. Right were he wanted you. Godess, he’s so hard… An d you’re making him even more, every single minute that passes. His autocontrol is almost reaching the limit line, and he doesn’t know if he will be able to keep looking how you become a mess without exploding.
“You’re missing my name, baby.” he jokingly sings, as his fingers curve inside you, making you gasp for air. His lips trace your neck when you let your head fall back, tongue playing near your jaw as he bites sweetly all way down your neck, including your clavicle, as his fingers keep fucking you softly, slower everytime, almost forcing you to say his name. Your shyness disappears as soon as his fingers move so slow you need to move against them. He kneels again, mouth near his fingers, and you can even feel his hot breath against your folds. You close your eyes, mouth open as he smiles for himself
“Please… Suguru, please…” His tongue licks you again, fingers still thrusting painfully good inside you as your head falls back again with a long moan. He’s enjoying this way too much, how your pretty legs get around his neck to bring his mouth closer, and how you try to mute your moans by covering your mouth with your hand. You look so pretty and so damn hot like that, dripping wet for him as he takes every single drop on his mouth. You taste so heavenly… But, sadly, he has a more needy place on his body, achingly hard against his pants, twitching with every moan he hears. With an audible kiss, the boy parts from you as his fingers also leave your cunt, and you’re already missing his skilled tongue on you. He laughs, unzipping his pants, letting you see the bulge against his boxers. Like that, standing in front of you, half undressed, with his bun almost gone and his t-shirt messy, all his tall body above yours, he sees you so little. There, legs open and fluids and saliva staining your inner thighs, such a cute view just for him. His muscles tense when you stretch a leg towards him, bare foot touching his bulgue softly above the fabric. He can’t wait no more. Taking your leg by the ankle, he gets closer with a long caress on your skin, his other hand rests on the chair back when he arrives near you, body hunched over you. He whispers when he talks, breathy moans leaving your mouth as his hand releases your leg and plays around your wet inner thighs.
“The good thing about working on a sex-shop…” he whispers, opening the drawer behind your chair. “Is the insane quantity of free condoms we get from promotions.” as he says it, he takes an alluminium package out of the drawer. “Would you like to try to put it?” he says, a smile on his mouth as he takes away his underwear, burying his hand on his hair, trying to accomodate it. He’s huge, and your hand takes the little plastic almost trembling, under his patient gaze. “Open it slowly and take it out. I’ll prepare myself, hm? Unless you want to…”
You doubt but, as soon as you see his hand stroking softly, you put your cold fingers on the tip, a moan escaping his mouth. Your fist gets around it and you begin to pump it slowly. His hips begin to rock against your hand without him noticing.
“Please, put it already… I want to fuck you.” he moans. “You seem so tight… I can even feel how good you will squeeze me.” His voice is shaky as both your gazes are fixed on how your hands put the condom on him, his teasing your core again with a sigh, and, as soon as it is done, he takes your body, still using the summer dress, and sits you on the desk, cock perfectly aligned to enter in you with a soft motion of his hips. He does it slowly, he didn’t forget about the first question. Maybe it was the second? He doesn’t know. His brain is shutted off because of pleasure as he buries little by little inside you, until he reaches his end. He sighs and you moan, you’ve never felt so full. Maybe your fingers won’t work anymore from now on.
“Tight and soft… And so, so, wet.” he giggles when your nails get buried on his t-shirt. Using your legs, tangling them on his back, you ask him to move without words. You need him to move. “Hm? You want something, pretty?” You nod. “Use your words. I know you can do it!” he encourages you, even when you can’t put more than two words together and pretend they make sense. You order your words before speaking, voice sore from crying.
“Please, ‘Guru… Move, please.” His laugh is soft as his hips thrust inside you, cock sliding out before another motion against your body. Each one of them makes you moan higher and higher, as you hide your face on his neck and he keeps your legs open for him to fuck. You’re almost folded in two as he keps pounding, that lock of hair outside of the bun against his eyes as your breath and moans collide in one. He sounds so good, so deep and so lewd you want to hear him moan all afternoon. To make him moan.
“Good, baby, keep ‘em open for me.” his finger caress sweet circles on your clit, hand sneaking between your bodies as your lips kiss his neck’s crook, soflty bitting. His hips follow an amazingly sensual pace, waving against you as your gasps and whimes are higher, all of them transformed into love bites on his neck. Those ones are gonna leave a mark Geto will be more than happy to show everyone. He won’t cover them, why? He could brag all day about the best sex he had had in months. Your voice distracts him as a saliva thread connects his skin to your open mouth, eyes closed in an expression of pure pleasure. Geto would gladly capture this in a picture and save it for himself and only himself. Your voice surprises him. “Harder, ‘Guru.” he laughs, and his voice coos on your ear.
“Are you sure?” Nodding, you close your eyes soflty, feeling how he bites your ear soflty. “Good.” His hands push your body slowly, making your back meet the cold desk as you lie on the glassy surface. He would pay to see your ass against the glass, moving with every thrust he gives you, your fluids staining the transparent surface. His hands take your hips, lifting them a bit, as he thrusts harder and faster against you. His hands help your hips to meet his cock halfway as you’re a mess of moans and gasps, unable to do anything more than feel pleasure. Your back arches due to the extreme pleasure you’re feeling. He has edged you twice already, and you feel so close to cumming… And he does, too. His cock ached from being jailed in those pants, and he even caressed it from above the fabric while eating you. You are the best sex session he has had in months, and he’s so stupidly hard… he feels that, if you squeeze him once more, he’ll cum harder than ever.
You’re about to discover it as you cum with a long sigh, a beautiful moan that will be stuck on his head for a long time, that will haunt his mind while working, having a shower or getting a drink. Your cunt clenches and squeezes his hardness, making him moan and keep thrusting you through your orgasm, so in search of his own, wanting to overstimulate you to the point that his dick is pressed against your walls while he cums. He smiles when the thought hits him and he thrusts slower, but harder. “Mmm… good, good, keep squeezing,baby, keep being so tight… I’m so close.” he sounds so needy it makes you squeeze him harder. Your own hand searches your clit as he keeps thrusting, emptying himself with a long groan, letting his body rest on top of yours, mixing your breathes as his hips give soft thrusts against you yet, as your legs still tremble from the experience. He sighs. It was amazing. Both of you try to regulate your breaths as he helps you to stand up, making a knot on the condom and arranging his clothes and your dress. You're red again, but you want to thank him.
"Thanks... It was good." you whisper under his lovely gaze, while he makes a bun again. "B-but I still don't know what to buy... And my panties..." he interrumpts you.
"Come back tomorrow. With a dress. And, just as a recommendation: don't put panties under. You won't lost the panties, and I won't lose time taking them off your body." With a blink, he gets closer for a kiss, bitting you lip. "I'll wait for you tomorrow with more practical tests. and remember: sundress and no panties."
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marvelous-llama · 1 month
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Seventeen recs
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<<original book
most of the mentioned works is 18+ NSFW, MINORS DNI
pls don´t hesitate to hmu, if any of mentioned links doesn´t work or you have suggestions for more fics... thank you so much for all the love and comments
one shots
i like you by @seokgyuu
Seokmin x fem!reader (wc - 11.5k) university AU, roommates to lovers - angst(ish), smut, fluff(ish), crack After having a crush on Lee Seokmin for three years, he somehow ends up wanting to be your roommate. Instead of rejecting him, you decide to give him the vacant room - right after confessing your feelings for him.
under the collar by @miraclewoozi
Seokmin x gn!reader (wc - 4.6k) friends to like kinda more friend-ish friends?, pining - fluff, angst(ish) your unlucky-in-love best friend goes on a date with someone who, by all accounts, should be his perfect person. so... how exactly do you end up being the one who tucks his sorry, drunk ass into bed?
(Not) A Gentleman by @wonusite
Seokmin x fem!reader (wc - 4.2k) established relationship - fluff, smut Your boyfriend is the sweetest man alive—a perfect gentleman. However, you’re determined to show him that he doesn’t always have to be a gentleman.
Love Scene by @cheolhub
Seokmin x fem!reader (wc - 2.3k) established relationship, university AU - angst(ish), hurt/comfort, smut, fluff you’re scared that seokmin might want to go separate ways after graduation, but he proves, in more ways than one, that he wants you. forever.
Best Neighbor of All Time Award by @drunk-on-dk
Seokmin x fem!reader (wc - 6.4k) neighbours to lovers - fluff, smut Seokmin is the best neighbor you've ever had, making it impossible not to fall for his charms.
series
𝘁𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗮 承 : 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 by @viastro
Seokmin x fem!reader enemies to lovers, SMAU - angst, fluff, crack who thought it was a good idea to be in a band with your sworn enemy? that’s right. absolutely no one.
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hlficlibrary · 3 months
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✤ Enemies to Lovers ✤
A series of posts with the top five fics of each category by kudos plus five more hidden gems from that category! Remember to leave kudos and a comment on the fics you enjoyed to show your appreciation! You can find our other recs here.
- Top 5 H/L Fics -
1️⃣ Unbelievers by @isthatyoularry {E, 136k}
It’s Louis’ senior year, and he’s dead set on doing it right. However, along with his pair of cleats, a healthy dose of sarcasm and his ridiculous best friend, he’s also got a complicated family, a terrifyingly uncertain future, and a mortal enemy making his life just that much worse. Mortal enemies “with benefits” was not exactly the plan.
Or: The one where Louis and Harry definitely aren’t friends, and football is everything.
2️⃣ Soft Hands, Fast Feet, Can't Lose by dolce_piccante / @haydolce {M, 112k}
American Uni AU. Harry Styles is a frat boy football star from the wealthy Styles Family athletic dynasty. A celebrity among football fans, he knows how to play, he knows how to party, and he knows how to fuck (all of which is well known among his legion of admirers).
Louis Tomlinson is a student and an athlete, but his similarities to Harry end there. Intelligent, focused, independent, and completely uninterested in Harry’s charms, Louis is an anomaly in a world ruled by football.
A bet about the pair, who might be more similar than they originally thought, brings them together. Shakespeare, ballet, Disney, football, library chats, running, accidental spooning, Daredevil and Domino’s Pizza all blend into one big friendship Frappucino, but who will win in the end?
3️⃣ Collision by itjustkindahappened / @tequiladimples {E, 226k}
Mythology/Fairytale!AU in which Louis is a dainty fairy with a temper who wants to be intimidating and Harry hurts people. Naturally, they hate each other.
(Featuring Liam, the big and not-so-bad wolf who’s got a thing for humans, Zayn, a human with supernaturally good looks, and Niall, the cupid who just wants his job to be easier.)
4️⃣ Flightless Bird by audreyhheart {E, 97k}
AU where Louis Tomlinson is a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet. When his rival from ballet school, moody dance prodigy Harry Styles joins the company, old wounds are reopened and old passions reignited. During the company's production of Swan Lake the secret that doomed their love is finally revealed, but will it be too late?
5️⃣ don't make this easy (i want you to mean it) by wildestdreams / @thelavendrhaze {E, 24k}
“Harry’s a player. All he does is chat everyone up. And guys like him are just--so ugh. He’s got that arrogant, self-assured smirk plastered to his face all the time. Always smug and stupid, like he could get anyone he lays his eyes on. All he does is make me mad and laugh all the time like he knows something that I don’t. That is so annoying.”
“But that’s just Harry,” Niall shrugged at Louis. “He doesn’t even try to flirt or anything. He’s just naturally charming, but that doesn’t mean he’s a player nor that he’s trying to get into everyone's pants. He’s just friendly. And he likes you. He doesn’t usually fall for people, but he fell for you.”
“Oh, should I feel special then?” Louis asked, snorting and rolling his eyes.
or Harry’s a frat boy who is head over heels for Louis and Louis wants nothing to do with him.
HIDDEN GEMS:
💎 An Amazing Race Around the World (And to my Heart) by Thingssicant / @slowlyseducedbycurls {E, 89k}
“This year marks our thirtieth race around the world, thirty seasons of teams bound by friendship, family, and even some people who just band together for the chance at the prize. But this year, we want to remove that dynamic,” Phil said, rubbing his hands together gently.
The cameras were whirring around them, trying to get every shocked face and gasp from the teams. Louis could feel a ringing in his ears, a new nervousness he hadn’t felt during the entire journey to this competition.
He was sweating more now, more than he could blame on the California sun, as Phil started to read the names of the new teams, the members hugging their loved ones before joining a complete stranger in their new allotted spot.
Or an Amazing race Hate to Lovers au
💎 no heart for me like yours (no love for you like mine) by @phdmama {E, 46k}
When Harry Styles, wedding dress designer to the stars (sort of) and Louis Tomlinson, wedding planner and relationship expert (kind of) meet on the occasion of their sisters' engagement, sparks fly. But not the good kind. Louis thinks Harry is a dick and Harry thinks Louis is an asshole.
That doesn't last long.
The road to true love isn't always smooth or uncomplicated. Can two stubborn men find their way?
💎 an ocean in my veins (you'll be diving in) by me_her_themoon / @dreamersdivin-headfirst {E, 31k}
But, since Niall is so talkative to literally anyone with a working mouth, it means that when Louis Tomlinson started to take a shine to him, Harry started to hate him.
Because suddenly, it wasn’t just Harry and Niall, and whoever else wanted to join their antics. It was Harry and Niall and Louis.
Did Harry mention that Louis is a stupid fucking prick? He wants to make sure that’s clear.
[or, harry and louis hate each other and niall just wants everyone to get along]
💎 Spinning Out Waiting for You by amomentoflove / @daggerandrose {M, 18k}
Harry Styles is a year and a half away from graduating with a masters in potions and he has one huge milestone to reach in his academy career: the Matching Ceremony.
From Halloween night until graduation, matched witches and familiars will have to create a talisman to be a physical representation of their bond. One for the witch and one for the familiar. Most pairings last an entire lifetime.
If only it were that simple.
💎 Can't Buy My Love, Can Buy Me Dinner by LadyAJ_13 / @ladyaj-13 {G, 9k}
Is it ethical to accept a dinner date for the free food? And will you hate me when I go anyway?
Fact 1: Louis hates Harry Styles. Fact 2: Louis is temporarily living off toast and spaghetti hoops. Fact 3: ...Louis may be semi-accidentally dating his worst enemy.
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