#.....that's still a relationship

[wisteriasymphony]

Blue Blood AU - The Bakery

It was one of those April mornings that still seemed like winter. The world was still lingering on to its death-like sleep, and the primroses and peonies planted outside the Dupain-Cheng Bakery were still taking their time to bloom. And in the air, it had felt like it recently rained when it really hadn't. Maybe it was the grayness of the sky that made Marinette think such a thing.

The next customer to enter was a regular—Adrien was his name. He'd often come in once a week just to buy fresh bread, then mostly to talk, though Marinette was hesitant to call him a 'friend'. It was entirely because of her own doubts, and nothing to do with him. Adrien was very courteous and respectful, and when her father joked about the two marrying Marinette would never react with irritation. She was charmed by Adrien, but that was it—just charmed. She worried there was a hollowness to it.

When Adrien entered, a gust of wind seemed to follow behind him, one so cold it might've threatened to cover the tile floor in a layer of thin frost. He smiled warmly at Marinette, leading in another person by the hand—a young woman that stood about head shorter than him, endomorphic and soft like a bruised pear.

"Lovely morning, isn't it?" he beamed. "Hello Monsieur Dupain, Hello Marinette." And then he quickly dived into conversation with her father, asking about the day's batch of bread and pastries and taking an interest in the sweets in a way that he hadn't in any of his previous visits.

Marinette looked over to the tanned young woman beside him, her eyes scanning over every bandage and bruise on her arms and shoulders. That alone didn't mean anything—Marinette knew how often stupid injuries could happen, she'd known reckless people and she was particularly clumsy herself—but Marinette could also just look at her and tell that something was wrong. The young woman constantly looked on edge, never speaking, barely breathing, and she flinched when Adrien raised his hand while making small talk with Marinette's father.

She crept closer to where the young woman was standing, leaning over the display counter. When the woman noticed her, Marinette simply mouthed the words:

"Are you okay?"

The young woman didn't seem to understand it at first—She was surprised that someone found her worth speaking to, yes, but then she knit her brows together and squinted at Marinette. So, Marinette repeated herself, speaking as silently as possible.

"Are you okay?"

The young woman's face fell. Marinette wasn't sure what she was so scared about—She only wanted to help, after all. Then Marinette had this horrible thought that whatever was being done to this young woman was so incredibly bad that she didn't find herself worthy of help, or that any gesture of kindness was seen as someone new trying to abuse her. Marinette took out a slip of paper and a pen from her apron—She'd have the young woman write her name down, maybe even Adrien's full name, and then Marinette would file a report. There was really nothing else she could do unless she found out more, but Marinette couldn't let these two customers leave without doing something.

Another hand took the pen and paper.

When Marinette looked back into Adrien's eyes, she had never seen such an intense desire to kill. Not just kill—Murder. Every other time he'd visited, Adrien had been so kind and nice and even occasionally flirtatious with Marinette, and yet now it looked like Adrien wanted to do nothing more than lunge at her over the counter and slam her head into the tile until everything poured out of her broken skull. His eye twitched—Marinette stepped back. Even if there were three counters between them, it would've still felt too close.

Adrien laced his arm around the young woman's waist, took the baked goods he'd purchased, and hurriedly left the bakery.

For the next three days, the stare Adrien had given her was all Marinette would be able to think about. Morning, noon, and night. While baking, while running errands, as soon as she woke up and right before she fell asleep. It had been so cold, so hate-filled, and now the flickering image of it would haunt her day and night, because it was a promise for revenge (What did he even need revenge for?) that had not yet been settled. Every room would now feel laced with bear traps, and every dark corner would need a light shone into it in case a presence lurked there.

But she couldn't just let this pass, danger or not—What had her mother always said she was? An everyday.... "ladybug". Her mother had always loved ladybugs and the meanings they carried. Sabine said that ladybugs were a sign from God that there was always help, always hope. Marinette needed to be that young woman's ladybug.

#mlb horror my beloved <3 #ml blueblood au #miraculous lb #miraculous fanfic #ml marinette #miraculous ladybug marinette #marinette dupain cheng #miraculous marinette #mlb marinette #miraculous ladybug adrien #adrien agreste #miraculous adrien #mlb adrien #adrinette #adrien x marinette #marinette x adrien #yes it's shipping. the relationship is serial killer & eventual victim #.....that's still a relationship #hehe :3

[noelledeltarune]

EVERY SINGLE DAY there are MILLIONS of characters in their late 20s who get falsely accused of being father figures to teenagers when in reality the description of "weird older cousin" or "step-sibling that moved out before you were born" is 1000000x more apt

#talk tag #IT KILLS ME. REIGEN IS NOT MOB'S DAD. HE HAS A DAD. INGO IS NOT AKARI'S DAD. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CAN ANYONE HEAR ME #(not even necessarily to say that ingo is in his late 20s but still) #(even if he was a 30-40-50 year old no matter how old he is no fucking teenager is gonna call some guy they met as a 15 year old ''dad'') #GAI IS NOT A FATHER FIGURE TO ROCK LEE HE WAS LIKE 13 WHEN HE WAS BORN! PLEASE!!!!!!!! #one time i saw that a ​person wrote a fic where mario was like a father figure to luigi. #they are TWIN BROTHERS. #not what this about but idk where else i can say anything about this. #just horrible #also sometimes someone is just An Older Friend like no familial relationship just a friend or acquaintance who is a lot older than you

[lilith-91]

"Katara was the first one to reach out to Zuko"

Nope, it was Aang

and zuko has never forgotten his words :)

#avatar the last airbender #atla #aang #zuko #their relationship>>>> #their parallels>>> #aang and iroh ultimately makes zuko change sides #and aang is the only reason zuko is still alive

[honeyymistt]

i’ve heard a lot of people say “don’t reach out to your friends first and see how many people will remain in your life. those are your true friends” and i get it. it sucks and it’s tiring constantly being the one to message first, to initiate hang outs but don’t take this so literally. some friendships require initiation. i have lost touch with so many people who genuinely cared about me and wanted me in their life because i stopped reaching out. it’s a hard pill to swallow but honestly some people just suck at it and it doesn’t mean they don’t love and value you. i’ve reconnected with some people over the past few months and it’s crazy how genuinely happy they are to see me and how engaged they are in the conversation. i just think sometimes we’re too harsh on each other & too quick to emphasize other peoples flaws and remove them from our lives but then we’ll all be alone and what’s the point of life then!!!!

#i ramble but idk how else to explain this #some ppl are just shitty at reaching out but they still love with their entire being #these belong to honeyy #reminders #gentle reminders #positivity #relationships #friendships #self care #5k #10k #15k #20k #25k #30k

[reineydraws]

jason is a grandpa's boy and u cant take this away from me!!! they cook together, they discuss literature together, and when jay comes back, they clean their guns together haha. ofc they celebrate their birthday together too! 😌

✨️🎂 hbd jay & alfie 🎂✨️

#jason todd #alfred pennyworth #batfamily #batfamily fanart #dc #dc fanart #batman #red hood #dc red hood #they have one of those relationships where jason outright says he loves alfred the most and alfred refuses to say he has a fave grandkid #but it's kind of just concensus that it's jason cuz he's the only one allowed in the kitchen #i am also a heavy believer in the hc that for a while there jason wouldnt meet up with anyone but alfred #and theyd meet for tea and stuff outside the manor #i love those fics #i was gonna draw an in-between angsty one where alf has a picnic by jay's grave with tea and cake for two but i dont have the energy 😅 #i was also gonna draw a red hood and agent A one with the guns they were cleaning but again: no more energy 💀 #mb i'll save that one for later. i still love the idea so much. :')

[elainiisms]

#yuri #wlw #lesbian #sapphic #gl #i favor the villainess #bloom into you #asagao to kase san #tamen de gushi #the guy she was interested in wasn't a guy at all #handsome girl and sheltered girl #relationship guidelines #she is still cute today #adachi to shimamura #revolutionary girl utena #can't defy the lonely girl #otherside picnic #elainposting

[bixels]

Learning that fans hated Applejack and called her "boring" is crazyyy to me because I genuinely, unironically believe AJ's the most complex character in the main six.

Backstory-wise, she was born into a family of famers/blue collar workers who helped found the town she lives in. She grew up a habitual liar until she had the bad habit traumatized outta her. She lost both her parents and was orphaned at a young age, having to step up as her baby sister's mother figure. She's the only person in the main gang who's experienced this level of loss and grief (A Royal Problem reveals that AJ dreams about memories of being held by her parents as a baby). She moved to Manhattan to live with her wealthy family members, only to realize she'll never fit in or be accepted, even amongst her own family. The earlier seasons imply she and her family had money problems too (In The Ticket Master, AJ wants to go to the gala to earn money to buy new farm equipment and afford hip surgery for her grandma).

Personality-wise, she's a total people-pleaser/steamroller (with an occasional savior complex) who places her self worth on her independence and usefulness for other people, causing her to become a complete workaholic. In Applebuck Season, AJ stops taking care of herself because of her obsessive responsibilities for others and becomes completely dysfunctional. In Apple Family Reunion, AJ has a tearful breakdown because in she thinks she dishonored her family and tarnished her reputation as a potential leader –– an expectation and anxiety that's directly tied to her deceased parents, as shown in the episode's ending scene. In The Last Roundup, AJ abandons her family and friends out of shame because believes she failed them by not earning 1st place in a rodeo competition. She completely spirals emotionally when she isn't able to fulfill her duties toward others. Her need to be the best manifests in intense pride and competitiveness when others challenge her. And when her pride's broken, she cowers and physically hides herself.

Moreover, it's strongly implied that AJ has a deep-seated anger. The comics explore her ranting outbursts more. EQG also obviously has AJ yelling at and insulting Rarity in a jealous fit just to hurt her feelings (with a line that I could write a whole dissection on). And I'm certain I read in a post somewhere that in a Gameloft event, AJ's negative traits are listed as anger.

Subtextually, a lot of these flaws and anxieties can be (retroactively) linked to her parents' death, forcing her to grow up too quickly to become the adult/caregiver of the family (especially after her big brother becomes semiverbal). Notice how throughout the series, she's constantly acting as the "mom friend" of the group (despite everything, she manages to be the most emotionally mature of the bunch). Notice how AJ'll switch to a quieter, calmer tone when her friends are panicking and use soothing prompts and questions to talk them through their emotions/problems; something she'd definitely pick up while raising a child. Same with her stoicism and reluctance at crying or releasing emotions (something Pinkie explicitly points out). She also had a childhood relationship with Rara (which, if you were to give a queer reading, could easy be interpreted as her first 'aha' crush), who eventually left her life. (Interestingly enough, AJ also has an angry outburst with Rara for the same exact reasons as with EQG Rarity; jealous, upset that someone else is using and changing her). It's not hard to imagine an AJ with separation anxiety stemming from her mother and childhood friend/crush leaving. I'm also not above reading into AJ's relationship with her little sister (Y'all ever think about how AB never got to know her parents, even though she shares her father's colors and her mother's curly hair?).

AJ's stubbornness is a symptom of growing up too quickly as well. Who else to play with your baby sister when your brother goes nonverbal (not to discount Big Mac's role in raising AB)? Who else to wake up in the middle of the night to care for your crying baby sister when your grandma needs her rest? When you need to be 100% all the time for your family, you tend to become hard-stuck with a sense of moral superiority. You know what's best because you have to be your best because if you're aren't your best, then everything'll inevitably fall apart and it'll be your fault. And if you don't know what's best –– if you've been wrong the whole time –– that means you haven't been your best, which means you've failed the people who rely on you, which means you can't fulfill your role in the family/society, which makes you worthless . We've seen time and time again how this compulsive need to be right for the sake of others becomes self-destructive (Apple Family Reunion, Sound of Silence, all competitions against RD). We've seen in The Last Roundup how, when no longer at her best, AJ would rather remove herself from her community than confront them because she no longer feels of use to them.

But I guess it is kinda weird that AJ has "masculine" traits and isn't interested in men at all. It's totally justified that an aggressively straight, misogynistic male fandom would characterize her as a "boring background character." /s

At the time of writing this, it's 4:46AM.

#mlp #yeah i wrote this last night during insomnia. #yeah i know an embarrassing amount of crap about this kids show #but whatever it's my hyperfixation i'll store as much useless information as i want!!! #i'm gay and neurodivergent i have an excuse #in case you needed more proof that aj's my favorite character #personal #delete later #unless you like this analysis stuff #i get why they didn't reveal aj's parent's death until way later and why they didn't do much with it but i wish they did #cuz narratively there could've been so much material with aj's grief. like. i feel like we gloss over the fact that she lost her #mother and father as a teenager #i tried keeping my personal hcs out of this to keep it unbiased #but i'll put some in the tags #involving rarijack –– i think aj can be (but not always) very self-conscious about her relationship with rarity #anxieties that she's not the right fit or that rarity will move away and leave her some day or that another woman will take her attention #(like in rollercoaster of friendship?? nudge nudge??). basic seperation anxiety stuff #long post #regarding applebloom whenever i think about her and her parents i think about that scene in steven universe where steven looks up at #a portrait of his mother and openly wonders what kind of sack lunches she would've made for him. that episode still fucks me up

[turtleofthehollow]

I need someone to write fanfiction of Lucifer and Alastor making a deal, but Luci botches the wording of the deal so bad that they end up married instead, and neither of them know how to break the deal, so they're just stuck like this until further notice

You can't tell me it wouldn't be in character for him!

UPDATE: It has been written! Check out the reblogs for the link!

#bonus points if it still doesn't really lead to a romance #they just learn to tolerate each other and form a somewhat functioning relationship #I may just write this myself #eventually #...maybe #radioapple #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin hotel lucifer #alastor and lucifer #alastor #alastor the radio demon #the radio demon #lucifer morningstar #lucifer #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel fanfiction #hazbin hotel fanfic ideas

[pangur-and-grim]

I think another reason I love having cats is bc with people you gotta hold yourself back and not be a smothering over-affectionate creep, but with cats you can just hold them up and be like "I LOVE I LOVE I LOVE YOU" and kiss their little paws, and all they do back is meow at you

[triona-tribblescore]

I thoroughly enjoy the stage of huskerdust where they have yet to fully admit their feelings to each other uvu <3

P2

#doodle comic from yesterday #because i am once again thinking about them #THEY ARE SO STUPID #ok no fr though i LOOOVVEE seing ppl draw them in a relationship dgmw #BUT #I juts find it SO much more fkin amazing when they are still trying to figure out how to go about their feelings and whether to act on them #or not #hehe #tribbleart #husk #angel dust #hazbin hotel #huskerdust #hazbin hotel comic #hazbin hotel fanart #<3

[juicedaloe]

original by @ crawfishcomic below cut

#i don't know the tumblr of the person who posted this in the dunmesh discord. but thank you for the idea #dungeon meshi #labru #kabru starting to openly express his frustration in increasingly convoluted ways because laios will still see him as a friend at the end of #the day is the only way i can see their relationship developing

[bigfatbreak]

What does Tom think of Emilie after meeting her?

the only Agreste he's not massively disappointed with is Adrien himself. It's a good thing that's the only one he plans on sparing.

#my art #long post #dad villain au #emelie agreste #tom dupain cheng #gabriel agreste #nathalie sancoeur #gabriel has memories of being in an almost relationship with nath from the last timeline so he's still weirdly possessive of her #and emelie knows nathalie has a crush on her and has been using that to string her along so she always has an emotional crutch nearby #she does a similar thing to adrien but only because she's built him for it #its different with nath tho. they have history and she likes the rush of superiority she gets #also nath doesn't know that tom is viceroy. she just knows that tom can interpret the butterflies on 'viceroy's' behalf

[ale-arro]

been going a little bit insane about this sentence from Ace by Angela Chen for the past week

#replace this with any other type of significant relationship too #also! this book actually rules btw i really recommend it #i didnt read it when it first cane out bc i was like. well i am already pretty familiar with asexuality and not rly interested in 101 stuff #but it turns out it doesnt feel 101-y at all its a super awesome piece of queer theory and also chen has Good opinions #and not weird watered down ones that i am sometimes wary of in aspec communities (frankly especially ace ones) #i think maybe if more people approached asexuality the way chen does (including and maybe even especially ace people) #i would be more inclined to still ID as ace #but anyways! #aro #aromantic #<- tag selections that reflect how i personally engage with this quote #also #described in alt text #also also #j tag #:/ #aro media

[elvyn]

Idk I just wanted to draw him with long hair

#when it's 2023 and you're experiencing Bleach for the first time #I have a bit of a love hate relationship with this series xD #Buuut in fact I'm lucky that I've only been watching anime for a few years now. #A lot of interesting series with interesting characters are still waiting for me. #my art #anime #bleach #hirako shinji #It's funny that at first I hated his character and now he's one of my favs in this anime

[bumbleboa]

rainy day

#genshin impact #nahida #wanderer #are we still tagging him #scaramouche #my art #I have a love hate relationship with Wanderers outfit #its so pretty but it has no business being this complicated to draw #I gave up properly shading or inking this halfway through

[soracities]

i dont know how else to put this but to approach books (or any media, really) solely for the sake of relatability is genuinely incredibly heartbreaking......to have such little (or such unwilling) imaginative scope that you cannot stretch yourself, even marginally, in a different direction to what you’ve known or are used to knowing when the very POINT of stories is to transport you somewhere else, into someone else, so you can do just that........when fran lebowiz said a book “is supposed to be a door!” and george saunders said good prose “is like empathy training wheels” they were right!!! they were so so so SO absolutely entirely right!!!!!

#thinking about that last post still and i'm having so many thoughts #that people have relatability as the sole criterion is astonishing to me #like how else are you going to develop variegated textures in your relationships w others? #not to be dramatic but it seems like a little death to me. truly. #everything i read as a child and teenager was expressly something as different from my world as possible. bc i wanted to relate as something #other than me #once again it is. heartbreaking #truly it is #p #book talks #idir lúibíní