Despite his other less than ideal choices in this episode, I can appreciate that Viserys didn't give a damn about the idea of Rhaenyra just hanging out in a brothel.
the thing with a lot of dark content in fics (especially x reader stuff, because very hardcore stuff has slowly become very popular esp among younger people) is that it lacks nuance and an understanding of the topic they are writing about. this is also goes in with a lot of smut, and the way people writes kinks to be borderline abusive/misogynist (or not even borderline, it’s just abuse) shows how there’s a lack of understanding about the topic they are writing about. this really isn’t me saying you can’t write about dark topics- because yes you can (the easiest example to bring up is lolita (the book, not the movie)), but a lot people go into those topics without a care. a lot of people write about kinks without a care, and it ends up reading as very tacky and gross.
he says i hate everyone except you and that is addictive and that is kind of romantic and beautiful because you're young and you're kind of a sarcastic asshole too and you don't like bad boys, per say, but you don't really like good ones either. and you like that you were the exception, it felt like winning.
except life is not a romance book, and he was kind of being honest. he doesn't learn to be nice to your friends. he only tolerates your family. you have to beg him to come with you to birthday parties, he complains the whole time. you want to go on a date but - people are often there, wherever you're going. he's just so angry. about everything, is the thing. in the romance book, doesn't he eventually soften? can't you teach him, through your own sense of whimsy and comfort?
at first - you know introverts often need smaller friend groups, and honestly, you're fine staying at home too. you like the small, tidy life you occupy. you're not going to punish him for his personality type.
except: he really does hate everyone but you. which means he doesn't get along with his therapist. which means he has no one to talk to except for you. which means you take care of him constantly, since he otherwise has no one. which means you sometimes have to apologize for him. which means he keeps you home from seeing your friends because he hates them. you're the single exception.
about a decade from this experience, you'll type into google: how to know if a relationship is codependent.
he wraps an arm around you. i hate everyone except you. these days, you're learning what he's actually confessing is i have very little practice being kind.
The newspapers start printing salacious and baseless stories about the Fire Lord dating Councilman Sokka, and in his increasingly frantic attempts to prove this isn’t true Sokka ends up getting into increasingly compromising situations with Zuko until finally he shouts, “I’ll prove it to you!” in front of a massive audience and kisses Zuko to show it means nothing.
Except whoopsies, it means everything, and they look at each other a little staggered, Zuko touching his mouth.
And now the papers have a picture for their front-page story.
Ya Arthur Lester is pretty smart considering he's made it out of a lot of tough situations but then again he also did homoerotically degrade a bloodthirsty serial killer as his first instinct so I think I'll take his intelligence with a grain of salt
the way Liu Kang would look at Kung Lao in mk11 like he was the greatest gift God let roam the Earth. like I'm really glad we got to see him and Kitana kiss in mk1, but where's my Kang-Lao hug?????