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gimme-mor · 3 years

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ACOTAR THINK PIECE: ELAIN ARCHERON, UNTOUCHABLE

*DISCLAIMER*

This will be a long post.

Please take the time to read this post in its entirety and truly reflect on the message I am trying to send before commenting. My goal is to use my background in Gender and Women’s Studies to deconstruct the comments I have seen on Tumblr and Twitter and bring awareness to the ACOTAR fandom.

The reason I am tagging “Elriel” in this post is to call attention to the arguments in the Elriel fandom that: weaponize Elain’s femalehood to shame real life people for their opinions about Elain’s character and her relationship with Lucien; victimize Elain’s character in fandom discussions; and coddle Elain’s character, which limits fandom discussions about her narrative development and prevents the ACOTAR fandom from holding Elain accountable for her actions and inactions in the same way that the fandom holds other characters accountable for their actions and inactions. It is for these reasons that I WILL NOT remove the “Elriel” tag from this post because all of the above points contribute to the toxic discourse surrounding Elain’s character.

I urge those who use these arguments to understand their implications, why they are problematic, regardless of intent, and reexamine their contributions to the ACOTAR fandom. I WILL NOT tolerate anyone who tries to twist my words and say I am attacking people and their personal shipping preferences. In fact, I AM CRITIQUING THE ARGUMENTS THEMSELVES NOT THE PEOPLE USING THE ARGUMENTS.

Also, I highly encourage the Elriel fandom to read this post because it addresses how the concept of choice as an argument enables arguments to exploit social justice and feminist languge in order to vilify Elucien shippers, among other problematic things.

Elain Archeron is one of the most polarizing characters in the ACOTAR fandom. Though opinions about Elain vary, arguments in the Elriel fandom cite society’s perception of traditional female characters in comparison to non-traditional female characters as the reason behind the hate, and this belief is used to provide an explanation as to why other characters in the series are favored over her. In the series, Elain is portrayed in a wholly positive light and this image carries over into the Elriel fandom, painting her character as a good and kind female who has been unfairly wronged and a victim of circumstances that were out of her control. When arguments in the Elriel fandom oppose other viewpoints in the fandom, they fall into one of three categories:

Category 1: Weaponize Elain’s femalehood to shame real life people for their opinions

Maybe people who hate Elain are just jealous of her in a weird way similar to when someone hates the pretty, nice, and charming girl in school just because she is too perfect

Disliking Elain is misogynistic

What happened to feminism? What happened to women supporting women? What happened to she can say no? All of that disappears the second you force Elain to be with Lucien

Elain antis are misogynistic

All Eluciens are Elain antis

Antis claiming they’re feminists when in reality they hate on Elain and Feyre but love Nesta

Elain antis are such sore losers. Y’all were that bunch of people who could not get over being rejected from hanging out with the cool kids so y’all are projecting your hatred towards pretty people now to get validation

I don’t get how Elain’s love for gardening equals boring for some people. I’m sorry your misogyny finds traditionally feminine activities boring

Why are you attacking a female? What did Elain do? Where are your feminist voices?

The fandom is misogynistic towards Elain

If people loved Elain they would ship Elriel

If you hate Elain it says a lot about your feelings toward women

If you hate Elain because she has no “development” then you must hate Azriel because otherwise you’re misogynistic

Eluciens are turned off by the idea of a woman that has the autonomy to reject a man for the simple reason that it is her choice

Eluciens are all about feminism and “it’s HER choice” until it comes down to females not wanting a male

Eluciens don’t respect Elain’s feelings when they ship her with someone that was part of her trauma and makes her feel uncomfortable

The way some Elucien shippers completely disregard how uncomfortable Elain is around Lucien is so hilariously not funny. Prioritizing being mates over Elain’s feelings is just regressive

It’s hard as a fan of Elain to see someone ship her with a person who makes her physically uncomfortable to be around. Wouldn’t you want both characters to be happy to be around each other

Imagine if SJM saw all the awful things her “stans” had to say about Elain

It’s true that we know comparatively little about her, but is she really boring or do you just not value stereotypically feminine traits?

So y’all are just gonna tell me you prefer Elucien over Elriel? Even though Lucien treats Elain as if she’s something that belongs to him? The only reason he wants to be with her is because she’s his mate, he doesn’t respect her, doesn’t treat her as his equal, even though that’s what mates should be? He doesn’t bother to look past what’s on the outside to see her for who she is. And Elain is obviously repulsed by the idea that she should belong to anyone or have no choice in who she can be with. Azriel is her friend and the only person who sees her quiet strength. He has so much faith in her, in her abilities; he’s the one who kept her company when no one else did, he’s the only one who bothered to see her for more than her brokenness. You’re going to tell me you still prefer Elucien over Elriel?

The more I see Gwynriels that ship Elucien out of their hate for Elain, the less I can understand Elain stans that ship Elucien. Pls Elain has made it very clear that she doesn’t want Lucien, why would you ship her with him? Do you hate her too? Smh

The real question would be, if you care and understand Elain why would you ship her with Lucien (where she canonically shrinks when he is near)?

People crying over Helion and Lucien’s mom not getting to be with each other and her being forced into a relationship she didn’t want, but also ship Elucien? Just say you hate Elain

When Elain’s book is out, Gwyn stans will look like clowns and I will laugh because they set her up by shipping her with Azriel just because they hate Elain. Watch them play the victims now because Elriels are clapping back the hate they’ve sent towards Elain

As romantic as wanting girl who is visibly uncomfortable around a guy who caused her trauma to end up with the said guy. Guess their standards for romance are in hell

Category 2: Victimize Elain’s character

Gwynriels only want Gwyn with Azriel because they despise Elain

Gwyn stans and Gwynriels are Elain antis

No one in the books dislike Elain, so why are there so many people who do?

Elain hasn’t done anything wrong or questionable to warrant the hate she gets

Not having Elain’s POV makes it easy for people to be swayed a certain way about her character if you already don’t relate to her in some way

It’s been years since this series came out and we haven’t gotten a lick of an Elain POV, but people still hate her for what? We don’t know her thoughts, dreams, or aspirations

We haven’t even had Elain’s perspective yet and people are passing these judgments off on her

Elain antis who say she’s boring are just cruel when she has obvious symptoms of PTSD like Feyre and Nesta

Gwyn is one of the most overhyped characters and that’s only because most people hate Elain and they couldn’t wait to find a random girl to ship Azriel with

Nesta was abusive to her sisters but Elain (who has only ever been kind) is painted as the villain

From the text we know that Elain is the epitome of feminine stereotypes (gentle, gardening, baking, non confrontational for the most part). Yet people still call her boring or deny that she has any interesting character traits?

You can’t love Nesta and hate Elain

People hate Elain because of internalized misogyny and lack of taste. All the girl does is tend to her garden and mind her business and they treat her worse than Tamlin

Does Gwyn deserve all this support? Of course yes! She is amazing! But where’s that support when Elain was in the same situation as she? Where’s that support for her right now? Why do they idolize Gwyn for her interactions with Azriel and hate Elain for having any interaction with him?

It’s not even a ship war anymore, they just hate Elain

People hate Elain for no reason

Some of y’all don’t like feminine traits and it shows

We know less about Eris and Helion but people don’t call them boring. Why would rejecting femininity make Elain more interesting?

Elain has had a lot forced upon her

The main reason I believe most people love Gwyn so much is to get Azriel away from Elain. It’s not a secret that Elain has been a widely hated character for years so suddenly we get a new female who has a minimal amount of interactions with Azriel and BOOM. New ship that once again doesn’t make sense (just like Azriel x Emerie after ACOFAS)

Elain hasn’t done something so terrible for her to get this hate. At this point some of you are just being misogynistic and you don’t want to accept it. Don’t call yourselves feminists and then say bs like this, it’s embarrassing. She’s pretty and everyone agreed to hate on her

Just a personal feeling, but I feel like a lot of the Elain hate stems from internalized misogyny. That to be a strong female lead, you need to pick up a sword and fight. That to be strong, you need to adapt traditionally masculine traits

Elain is feminine. She is beautiful. She loves to bake and garden. She is docile, quiet, observant, and a people-pleaser. All traditionally feminine traits. Yet for some reason, she’s like the worst in these people’s eyes?

I think also maybe a lot of people can’t relate to her femininity? That her being so beautiful and quiet doesn’t allow for the people who dislike her not to self-insert? Most of the hate stems from people not wanting Elain to be with Azriel. It’s mean, but maybe the people who hate Elain literally just can’t self-insert if they have a story and that’s why they’re vehemently against it?

Poor Elain. The Cauldron dealt her a bad deal. Upon emerging as Fae, she is immediately declared by Lucien as his mate, never mind that she was already engaged to a prick. Her love life is not good

It blows my mind how they really think that they can compare all the shit that Elain gets with some dumb jokes about Gwyn on Twitter (and yes, the “hate” towards her started mostly because Elriels are clapping back, it was bound to happen)

I would think of it as anti-feminist with Elain and Lucien because she has consistently stated that she does not want him so if she was forced to embrace the bond that would be taking away her right to have a choice but with Az she feels comfortable around so if they were mates then Elain would be happy and feel safe which again should be the priority for women to feel safe in their relationships with anything and to not be forced into any type of situation aka the mating bond in this

Category 3: Coddle Elain’s character

Elain has value the way she is, in all her domestic girly glory. Not every character has to be badass

We don’t speak of Elain’s flaws frequently because everyone else already speaks badly of her, mainly in an unfair way

There is definitely something deeper going on with Elain but by no means will she ever be evil or any less feminine. That goes against everything we already know about her

It’s ok to critique Elain because she needs growth but y’all keep forgetting the shit her and her sisters went through

The last “bad” thing Elain did in ACOTAR was not help Feyre when they were impoverished and I’m tired of people acting like she’s a terrible character when it was their father’s responsibility. It happened 4 books ago and Feyre has forgiven both Nesta and Elain

Elain’s character and the evil Elain theory are a great example of the trend where people only consider female characters interesting if they reject femininity

We don’t know enough to hate Elain

Many people want Elain to turn evil (which in my opinion seems to come from a place of internalized misogyny)

However we don’t tend to talk about her faults, at least not publicly, as that has been, and still is, done to death, and I--personally, at least--find it much more fun to theorise about potentially interesting aspects of the overall plot, than dwell on negatives

And ultimately, I would be shocked if Elain has a more karmically-charged story than Nesta, considering that Elain’s “wrongs” are so much less severe and bad than Nesta’s, and Elain has already apologized for them (or paid the price in other ways, like through what Graysen did)

I guess I also think Elain has suffered and been punished enough. I hope her story is about finding hope in terrible situations, and learning to love her new life, and choosing her own path after everything that has been done to her. I don’t think she needs to be punished anymore or face any additional trauma

Also, why is she being judged on her decisions as a human at all? Fae are monsters to humans! They enslaved them for thousands of years, and the Wall was erected to keep them out

Like I’m sorry, but think Elain would want to leave her ONLY FAMILY AND FRIENDS for the Spring Court where she has no one because--oh look, lots of flowers!--is the craziest thing I have ever heard

Her sisters are in the Night Court. Her nephew is in the Night Court. Her closest friends (Nuala and Cerridwen) are in the Night Court. Her love interest is in the Night Court. Her extended family is in the Night Court. Her home is in the Night Court

SJM isn’t going to keep two sisters together and split up the third. Especially not keep Feyre and Nesta together and separate Elain. They were either all going to end up in separate places, or together. Not 2 here and 1 there

Compared to the other female characters in the series, Elain is the only character whose femalehood is at the center of conversations; this is because arguments in the Elriel fandom fixate on it when discussing her character. While Elain, Feyre, Nesta, and Mor are all representations of white womanhood and white beauty, Elain epitomizes the most fragile version of white womanhood. It’s easy to blame society’s perception of traditional female characters in comparison to non-traditional female characters when it comes to the discourse surrounding Elain’s character because it: falls in line with the fixation on Elain’s femalehood to silence opposing viewpoints; is a simplistic explanation that fails to tackle the underlying issues with Elain as a character, the same issues that are downplayed in-universe; absolves Elain of her wrongdoings; prevents the ACOTAR fandom from holding Elain accountable for her actions and inactions within the series; and diminishes the impact Elain’s actions and inactions have on those around her. It’s not that Elain is hated in the fandom because she’s a traditional female character; it’s the fact that arguments in the Elriel fandom deflect a critical analysis of Elain’s character because she’s a traditional female character who embodies the ideal white woman in need of protection. White fans and white-aligned fans of color, especially white women, have a tendency to vehemently defend, gatekeep, and coddle white female characters in fandom; this makes it difficult for other fans to engage in critical discussions about these white female characters because they’re viewed as flawless and all around perfect characters despite evidence to the contrary. Since Elain is viewed positively by the other characters in the series, it has rendered her character untouchable to any perceived slight or criticism in fandom discussions because those negative opinions challenge what has been said about her character thus far. And as a result, her character has been placed on a pedestal and implicitly hailed as the epitome of white womanhood; and when she’s criticized, it’s seen as a direct attack against white womanhood. Arguments in the Elriel fandom: exploit feminist language and perpetuate white feminist tactics under the guise of defending Elain’s character; center Elain in conversations about female oppression in the ACOTAR world and uphold white feminist ideologies in their critique of ACOTAR’s patriarchal society; and use the fragile white woman narrative to victimize Elain in Lucien’s presence, playing into racial biases that are associated with white supremacy’s defense of white womanhood.

Feminism is a social movement that seeks to promote equality and equity to all genders, and feminists work toward eradicating gender disparities on a macro-level, in addition to challenging gender biases on a micro-level. As feminism became more mainstream, a flat and oversimplified version of feminism emerged: mainstream feminism. The mainstream feminist movement is meant to represent all women, but rarely does it center conversations around issues that concern most women. The problem with mainstream feminism is that it’s just a popularized version of white feminism. White feminism has relied extensively on an individualized understanding of women’s oppression, exclusively from the lens of privileged white women. White feminism only focuses on the oppression experienced by white, able-bodied, affluent, educated, cishet women; and it views gender as the key mode of privileged white women’s oppression, isolated from the privileges granted by their other social identities. White women can be and are oppressed under the patriarchy but only because they are women; their identity as women does not exempt them from the privileges granted by their whiteness. The term white feminist does not mean any feminist who is white, but refers to feminists who prioritize the concerns of privileged white women as though they are representative of all women. However, the term is not exclusive to white people. Because white feminism is so pervasive, people of other racial and ethnic backgrounds often buy into white feminism, believing that if they work hard enough, they may be able to reap its rewards.

Just like white feminism, mainstream feminism only recognizes the identity of being a woman, assumes that all women share common experiences of gender oppression, fails to address other social identities in relation to overlapping systems of oppression, and disregards privilege in relation to various social identities. Just like white feminism, mainstream feminism is palatable because it doesn’t seek to challenge the systems in place, instead its goal is to succeed within them. Essentially, mainstream feminism and white feminism are extensions of performative feminism. Performative feminism is a type of performative activism that’s used to describe feminist views that are surface level and solely for the benefit of one type of person. It’s a pretense which often has nothing to do with genuine activism. Arguments in the Elriel fandom normalize and promote performative feminism because the topic of feminism is only referenced when discussing Elain. This indicates that these arguments are engaging in disingenuous discourse to push a personal agenda within the ACOTAR fandom, and it becomes more apparent when they use white feminist tactics to shut down opposing viewpoints:

White feminists weaponize and exploit feminist language to silence the opinions of other women, especially when they’re called out for their problematic behaviors

White feminists use the phrase “Women supporting women” to defend other white feminists who exhibit problematic behaviors instead of holding them accountable

White feminists weaponize phrases like “Women supporting women” and “You just hate women” to attack other women who disagree with them on any given topic

White feminists use phrases like “All women face challenges” and “Stop pitting women against each other” to sidestep conversations about privilege

White feminists divert conversations away from privilege and towards the Trauma Olympics to equate their struggles to the oppression of marginalized people

White feminists skirt around the realities of other forms of oppression and discrimination, downplaying the experiences of marginalized people

White feminists diminish or ignore the ways in which gender oppression affects other marginalized people

White feminists paint those they harmed as aggressive, mean, or divisive when confronted with the ways they have harmed a marginalized group

White feminists deflect criticism by focusing on the anger or emotions being expressed rather than the issue that is being discussed, invalidating the concerns of marginalized people

White feminists speak over marginalized voices in an attempt to sound “woke”

White feminists get defensive and insist there’s no way they could be a part of the problem because of what they’ve done to help marginalized groups already

White feminists say they don’t see color in an attempt to obscure racial issues that need to be addressed

White feminists center and victimize themselves in conversations about racism, which derails necessary conversations from taking place

White feminists who are white weaponize the intersectionality of their race and gender to avoid accountability

Feminism is not meant to be approached from an individualistic perspective nor is it only about addressing the experiences of privileged white women, it involves addressing the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, (dis)ability, and other social identities as well; and it involves addressing how these social identities relate to privilege. Moreover, feminism is not about women upholding complete loyalty to other women because of a shared gender identity, and to claim that it does implies that women should be held to different emotional standards than men. If men are able to dislike and criticize other individual men, real or fictional, without their characters being compromised, why aren’t women granted that same privilege?

It’s clear that SJM set up the ACOTAR world to mirror a patriarchal society, and that the imbalance of power between males and females stems from sexism. Arguments in the Elriel fandom analyze the ACOTAR world through a feminist lens to show how ACOTAR’s patriarchal society, to which the mating bond is innately tied, contributes to female oppression and limits their agency. When choice and free will are emphasized as part of Elain’s arc, they imply that Elain, through the mating bond, experiences female oppression under ACOTAR’s patriarchal society because of her identity as a female with that identity being the focal point of her oppression in the world. Elain is one of the most privileged characters in the ACOTAR world: she’s High Fae; she’s the sister of the High Lord and High Lady of the Night Court, which gives her access to wealth and political influence because of that connection; she’s able-bodied; she was magically blessed by the Cauldron; and she lives in Velaris, a place that grants females autonomy and power because of the beliefs of Rhysand and Feyre. Arguments in the Elriel fandom trivialize female oppression in the ACOTAR world because they disregard the fact that Elain’s privileges prevent her from experiencing female oppression in the same way that other marginalized females in the world do. The mating bond being one such example because those around Elain are not forcing the bond on her, instead they’re allowing Elain to reach a decision about the bond for herself; a privilege that other marginalized females in the world probably wouldn’t have. Just because Elain has endured hardships in her life and is a female in a patriarchal society, they do not erase the privileges she holds within the ACOTAR world. The failure to include Elain’s privileges in discussions about Elain being a female in a patriarchal society feeds into white feminist ideologies because white feminism operates from a very narrow perspective; it doesn’t take other intersecting identities into account when it examines gender oppression, leaving no room for discussions about privilege (or lack thereof) in relation to those intersecting identities. When discussing oppression in hierarchical societies, it’s imperative that privilege is also included in the conversation because privilege and oppression are not mutually exclusive; they equally affect the ways in which people navigate those societies through their social identities.

Rather than attributing Elain’s uncomfortability to her new life as a Fae female or the mating bond itself and her trauma to the Cauldron, the King of Hybern, or Ianthe, they’re placed on Lucien to cast his character in a negative light. Moreover, fandom discussions portray Lucien as a possessive character to further emphasize Elain’s discomfort despite the inaccuracy of this characterization in canon. Arguments in the Elriel fandom play into racial biases when it comes to Lucien (a male character of color) because they mischaracterize his character in order to victimize Elain (a white female character), placing her character in the role of the white damsel in distress. In Western society, the concept of womanhood has been conceptualized from a Eurocentric perspective with femininity and feminine attributes favoring white women. It’s the idea that a certain type of femininity is only inherent to white women as they are seen as the embodiment of an ideal womanhood. White womanhood has been a symbol of innocence and purity, and white women have been viewed as fragile beings in need of protection. The reason white womanhood functions within white supremacy is because it’s the same idea that has motivated white men to kill and beat black and brown men. The so-called protection of white women has been used as a justification for the horrific violence committed by white men because black and brown men were stereotyped as aggressive and seen as a threat to the virtue of white women. The white damsel in distress trope considered white women as worthy of protection because of their perceived innocence and purity; women of color were not granted that same treatment because they did not fit into the ideal image of womanhood. Over the years, this trope became a means for white women to exercise limited power in a patriarchal society with white women weaponizing their status as the damsel much to the detriment of black and brown men. It’s through the white damsel in distress trope that white supremacy sustains its dominance in Western society. The misrepresentation of characters of color in fandom, the dismissal of their importance to the overall story, and using them as tools in arguments centered around white characters are the foundation of fandom racism; they’re examples of how racism moves silently in fandom spaces. Instead of examining their behavior and taking constructive criticism from fans of color, white fans will often double down on their bigotry and center their uncomfortability in the conversation when confronted with their complicity in fandom racism. White fans expect fans of color to swallow fandom racism in its many forms in order to not ruin the experience of fandom, dismissing the fact that racism is prevalent in nearly every aspect of society. This mentality ensures that no one is held accountable for the harm they caused and alienates fans of color in fandom spaces.

To reiterate what I mentioned in my first think piece: terms like “oppression”, “the right to choose”, “feminist”, “feminism”, “anti-feminist”, “anti-feminism”, “internalized misogyny”, “misogyny”, “misogynist”, “sexist”, “sexism”, “racist”, “racism”, “classist”, “classism”, “discrimination”, and “patriarchy” are all used in specific ways to draw attention to the plight of marginalized people and challenge those who deny the existence of systems of oppression. Yet these words and their meanings can be twisted to attack, exclude, and invalidate people with differing opinions on any given topic. When social justice and feminist terms are thrown around antagonistically and carelessly to push a personal agenda, it becomes clear that these terms are being used to engage in disingenuous discourse and pursue personal validation rather than being used out of any deep-seated conviction to dismantle systemic oppression. Being an ally, activist, or feminist is not an identity, it’s a practice. It requires: ongoing self-reflection; holding ourselves accountable; listening to marginalized people; educating ourselves; dismantling implicit biases; challenging those around us who are exhibiting problematic behaviors; and action behind our words.

It’s important to be aware of the language that is used within the fandom when defending or critiquing characters and ships. It’s also important to question how an argument is framed and why it’s framed the way that it is to critically examine the intent behind that argument: is it used as a tool to push a personal agenda that reinforces problematic behaviors, or is it used as an opportunity to share, learn, enlighten, and educate?

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Tagging: @spell-cleavers @bookofmirth @m0bulidae @ilya-boltagon

#elain archeron #elriel #acotar fandom #acotar: fandom critical

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amandajoyce118 · 4 years

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Agents Of SHIELD S7E01 “The New Deal” Easter Eggs And References

In the season seven premiere, most of the team ends up in 1931 New York thanks to some time travel shenanigans. We love shenanigans, right? The is the last season premiere ever, and it’s bittersweet, but I’m diving right in.

As always, if you don’t remember this from the last few seasons of me writing up Easter eggs (posts are tagged aos easter eggs if you want to read old ones), this list assumes you have seen the episode. There will be spoilers.

Again, spoilers. Turn back now if you don’t want them. Okay? Good.

The Episode Title.

It’s a reference to FDR’s political work. I mean, Coulson even references it and says the episode title in the show. I kind of love when show’s do that? This show didn’t used to, but they did it a lot more the last two seasons, so maybe it’s a thing now.

The Title Card.

I feel like it’s unfair to call this an Easter egg, but if they didn’t put a 1931 timestamp on the top of the episode, the title card could have told you what era the team was in. Whoever was in charge of designing it did a great job making it look like a classic film title card.

Faceless People.

Okay, so the chronocoms erase the faces of the people they wish to resemble. This isn’t really a thing in the comics, but there is a character called “Faceless One.” He happens to be an alien who wants to conquer Earth as well, but is basically a big yellow ball with legs, so I doubt there’s any connection other than the cool effect.

Coulson’s Data Flood.

Okay, we get that literally everything Coulson says when he’s not talking to Daisy, Mack, and Jemma are quotes from previous seasons, right? Good. He even downloads the information on Ghost Rider, his own death, last season, etc.

Deke Has A Workstation.

Okay, not an Easter egg, but I think we need to take a moment and appreciate that Jemma built Deke a workstation and Fitz left him the tool we saw way back in season five. Why? Because Deke never feels like he belongs and he wants so badly to be close to his family, and now, we see that they thought of him while upgrading their ship. He has a place. And it’s right next to Jemma.

Elena Is Quarantined.

That’s because she was infected by the shrike in season six, not because the writers are psychic and knew there would be a massive epidemic going on when the show premiered. (Sorry, typed that before I realized Jemma was going to actually say it in show, so it’s staying in.)

Gemini And Koenig.

Gemini is actually a pretty popular name/codename in Marvel Comics, so it being used as, supposedly, the code name for the person in charge of the speakeasy made me laugh. It’s much more likely here that the bartender didn’t react wrong to the use of the word, that it’s used to weed out pretenders, hence the double barrel shotgun he affectionately calls the twins. I also like that it’s a tease for a Koenig appearing since we initially thought the Koenig siblings were twins and it turns out there are too many for us to count at this point (not really, I’m exaggerating, but great that grandpa or great-grandpa Koenig looks exactly like the modern day Koenigs. I mean, come on, they’re clones or something, right?).

“It’s not exactly your first time being separated by space and time.”

Okay, look, if you have to keep inserting meta humor into a show about how often you separate your main couple, maybe you should stop separating your main couple. (Yes, I know, Iain de Caestecker had another job he was working on in seasons six and seven, but seriously, it’s not funny. Your audience is tired of it.) I mean, to be frank, Fitz is one of my favorite characters in the show, but I didn’t really miss him in this episode? That might sound bad, but I don’t think they needed to comment on him being gone so much considering Jemma told them at the end of season six she didn’t - and couldn’t - know where he was.

Wilfred “Freddie” Malick.

Daisy explains who he is, but look, it’s the father of Gideon Malick, the same Gideon who became the leader of Hydra after a broken SHIELD (and the Avengers) decided to squash all of its heads, the same guy who got Ward interested in visiting an alien planet where he ended up as Hive. He’s, like, ancient school Hydra, not just old school Hydra. What doesn’t make sense here is that they’re saying the SSR forms in response to Hydra. Technically, the SSR forms, and then they learn about Hydra, unless I’m misremembering, which is totally possible.

The Substance.

So, I gotta wonder… what’s in the test tubes? The earliest we go in the MCU is Captain America, which is still a whole decade after the events of this episode. Prior to that, Hydra experimentation did create the Red Skull, but… still not sure what’s in the tubes. I don’t really have a frame of reference from the comics to speculate either since Hydra was into literally anything and everything.

New York.

Okay, so I’m curious if anyone knows where they filmed their 1931 New York scenes. I have questions. Because they use the same couple of blocks for all their outside scenes, which makes me think it’s a studio backlot (which would definitely help keep the script quiet) and they’re going to use a different part of the lot next week. A friend asked me if I thought it was the same as the one used for Captain America when he’s in Brooklyn in his first movie. Cap’s first movie’s Brooklyn scenes were filmed on a Universal Studios lot where they had New York building facades and street signs. If you’ve been to the theme park, you basically know what it looks like without the 30s/40s dressing. I think it’s the same lot, and I say this because I actually kept thinking that they used the set pieces Disney used for The Newsies movie in 1992 while watching the episode. Do you know where that was filmed? On the Universal Studios backlot’s New York street set up right after it was renovated in 1991. Huh.

So, Mark Kolpack basically answered this on twitter when discussing VFX. They filmed their New York street scenes on the Warner Bros. backlot, not the Universal one, so I guess the people in charge of designing the set pieces did a great job because they look pretty much the same.

This Picture.

This boxing poster was shared by Jed Whedon on instagram. Honestly, I didn’t spot it in the episode, but that could just be because I have a small television screen and I can’t read the signs unless I pause on a computer and zoom. I have bad eyes, guys. Sorry. Usually signage is something I spot on a second or third watch, but according to Whedon, this is set dressing in the episode somewhere. Probably on the street the characters walk down multiple times.

Let’s break down the names. Kitson is George Kitson, a story editor, writer, and production assistant on the show. He wrote this episode, and, actually, next week’s episode. The planet Kitson was also named for him. Titley is Craig Titley. He’s a producer and writer for the show, probably best known for writing “4,722 Hours” at this point. Brown is such a common name, but I’m going to guess it’s for Garry Brown who has directed a handful of episodes and is also a producer on the show. Bell is, I’m thinking, Jeffrey Bell, one of the producers and writers on the show. Tancharoen is for Maurissa Tancharoen, one of the showrunners, or you know, maybe her brother, who has directed several episodes (including this one!), or her father, who is in charge of transportation to sets. Gierhart is, I’m assuming, Billy Gierhart, who has directed a lot of episodes of the show, though I don’t think he’s directed any since 2017. (If you look at the matchups, it ends up being writer vs writer, producer vs producer, director vs director when you assume the Tancharoen is Kevin.) It says there are four main events though, and only three are listed?

Not sure if the October 15 date is intentional, but if it is, that’s the day “Eye Spy” aired in season one? Steve Roger’s mother dies on October 15, but in 1936. Not sure if that’s even canon since it’s in a promotional comic, not in anything on screen.

I’m sure there are more, and if you guys spot them and tell me, I’ll add them in. If I notice any on a rewatch, I’ll add them in as well. Who’s looking forward to the time traveling this season?

#agents of shield #aos easter eggs #aos spoilers #aos season 7 #i wrote a thing

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psycho-slytherin · 4 years

Text

Bonus chapter: Truth or Dare

Thanks to @minprismpowermakeup for the idea~ <3

Context: This takes place around Strangers ch. 33, after y/n and Yoongi have begun filming Moon Over the Sea. This content is not relevant to the main Strangers plot.

WC: 1.8k love it when a bonus chapter is longer than some actual content

|mlist|

A/N: Namjoon really wrecked me during the awards stages ok I’m not projecting I’m just projecting

“Okay, y/n, truth or dare?”

“Truth,” you yawn, making yourself comfortable. You’re sleepy, it’s past two in the morning, and you don’t wanna get up.

“Anyone got a good one for the token ARMY?” Hoseok asks, looking around at the other members sprawled on various pieces of furniture and carpet. You stick your tongue out at Hoseok on hearing your title.

“Do you have a crush on anyone?” Seokjin asks from below you, tipping a mostly-empty beer bottle at you.

“I already answered that, and no.” You swat the eldest member, who’s laying on the couch with his head in your lap. “Bitch, I just ended a relationship and webcomics continue to convince me that men are trash. Besides, I barely get to sleep– when am I gonna have time to catch feelings?”

“Blehhh, boring.”

“I can drink if y’all can’t think of anything,” you say, already reaching for the bottle to refill your wine glass. Hey, you were feeling classy tonight.

“No, wait, wait, I have one!” Jungkook leans forward eagerly. “Have you ever written... fanfiction?”

Ah, shit.

You press your lips together to keep a straight face. Lately it seems you’ve been using more of your acting skills when you spend time with the boys than you do for school and work combined. “Have I ever, at any point, written fanfiction for any fandom? Yes.”

“Was it…” Jungkook leans even closer, his long hair almost hitting you in the face. “BTS fanfiction?”

You smile, choosing your words carefully. “Unfortunately, Kookie dearest, I already answered my truth.”

“She’s avoiding the question!” Jungkook hollers, far too loudly for the time of night. “You guys know what that means~”

It’s as though all signs of sleepiness have vanished– every member sits up, and with Jin’s weight off, you realize your legs have fallen asleep.

“C’mon, guys…” you’re met with seven pairs of eager eyes, focusing on your favorite. “Et tu, Yoongs?”

A corner of Yoongi’s mouth turns upward in that oh-so-familiar smirk. “What can I say– I’ve got a cat’s curiosity.”

“Don’t let Holly hear that,” you reply, tossing a pillow at him. He snatches it out of the air without moving from his curled-up position in his favorite armchair. You’re reminded again of how he’s so adorable when he looks that small.

“So?” Jimin asks eagerly. “Have you ever written fanfiction about us?”

You could lie. God knows it would be easy. But the far more fun option wouldn’t be lying… it would simply be not telling the truth.

“I would love to answer that, but unfortunately it’s not my turn anymore,” you reply airily, delighting in the boys’ groans. “So, Joon, truth or dare?”

“Dare,” Namjoon replies, his eyes confident. He really could bring anyone to their knees with just a glance. As your first bias, Namjoon has always had a special effect on you.

“I dare you to let Kookie and Tae tickle you.”

“Wait, what?”

You check your watch. “For, say, one minute.”

Namjoon backs away nervously from the predatory advance of the maknaes, all signs of bravado gone. “C’mon… ah, y/n, this is too cruel…”

“Who was it that dared me to drink a shot of soy sauce?” You ask smugly. “And who dared me to catcall Jin?” Your plan is to distract the boys, and luckily you have plenty of material to work with. Namjoon especially always seems perfectly sadistic when assigning dares.

“As if you weren’t thinking that stuff anyways,” Seokjin says dismissively.

You roll your eyes, focusing on the leader’s imminent torture. “One minute, starting… now!”

At your signal, Taehyung and Jungkook leap like feral dogs upon Namjoon, who falls to the floor with a thump, laughing uncontrollably: “Ah! Guys! S-sto-ah!”

You sit back in satisfaction as the clock winds down, figuring you’ve suitably distracted your friends from their original prey.

Your hopes are dashed soon enough. Namjoon gets back up, fire in his eyes. “Y/n.”

Dammit. “Yes, Namjoon?”

“Truth or dare?”

Well, what does he think? “Dare.” Obviously. You’d die before letting them read the stories that you, in your lust-addled fangirl’s mind, wrote so long ago.

“I dare you to give Yoongi hyung a hickey.”

Wait, what? “Yo, Joon, that’s not cool–” Yoongi is quick to complain, but Namjoon silences him with a raised hand. Meanwhile you’re frozen to your seat, feeling as though all your blood has simultaneously rushed into your face and fled your body entirely. Sure, you guys have toed the line of what’s proper during these late-night games, and as the only woman you’ve tended to get the brunt of it, but to give Yoongi a hickey? To press your lips, your tongue, your teeth to his smooth skin?

Now that you think about it, you’re pretty sure you’ve written that into a fanfic at some point anyways.

“Dude. No.” You say, at last finding your voice. “C’mon, that’s ridiculous.” You spare a glance at Yoongi, who you can tell is trying to keep a straight face. Still his clenched jaw and rapid blinking give away his anxiety, and– no. You couldn’t do something like that to Yoongi, who so clearly would hate it.

Namjoon raises a brow, his expression void of mercy. “You could always choose truth.”

You laugh nervously. You didn’t anticipate this, and now… “Can I take a drink instead?”

The leader shakes his head. When he speaks, it’s as though his voice is made of steel. When did he become so intense? “Nope. Truth or dare. Pick one.”

You inhale deeply. Dammit, Yoongs, you owe me one. “Truth.”

Immediately all tension melts from Namjoon’s gaze, and he breaks into the dorky grin you’re so familiar with. “Yes! Quick, guys, before she changes her mind!”

Your eyes widen. “No, wait–”

Hoseok pounces. “Have you ever written BTS fanfiction, and if so, what was it about?”

Fucking hell. You’ll get Joon back for this.

“Uh…” Should you lie? Every instinct is telling you to steer the boys as far from the truth as possible. Still, you’re buzzed, and it’s late, and–

“Yes. I have.”

Jungkook bursts out laughing, his nose scrunched as he slaps the couch. “I knew it!” The others celebrate in similar fashions:

“Ten bucks says it’s a ship fic!”

“Reader insert, it has to be.”

“Have you guys even heard Emo Y/n? I bet it’s super sad.”

You snatch Jungkook’s drink out of his hand and take a swig. You’re starting to realize you’re gonna need something stronger than wine if you want to survive the night. “How do you guys even know those terms? Who’s been corrupting you with Tumblish?”

“Twitter,” Taehyung replies, shuffling over and draping himself over the back of the couch, his head resting on your shoulder. “ARMYs kept tagging us, they thought we never saw.”

Out of the corner of your eye, you notice Yoongi staring at the ground, smiling softly, his fingers laced together. Huh.

In the meantime, the remaining members have continued with their buzzword arguments. You begin petting Tae’s soft hair absentmindedly while waiting for the others to calm down and hopefully forget this entire conversation by morning.

“It’s probably crack.”

“No, fluff!”

“Angst, I told you!”

Jimin suddenly pipes up, his voice sleepy and soft. “What if it’s… smut?”

A hush falls over the room, and your breath catches in your throat. You don’t remember writing anything explicit, most romance scenes were mainly innocent, full of vague implications of other goings-on…

Wait. Your eyes widen. You did write that one scene, on a dare from Lisa… fuck. You rack your brain– what was it? You wrote it almost four years ago, you can hardly remember. It was about Namjoon, right? He was your bias around that time.

“Y/n, would you ever write smut?”

“Ha, maybe if someone paid me!”

“Ooh! Is that a promise?”

It was all a joke, but you did end up posting it on your Tumblr at some point or another, classifying it as dumb and crackheaded. Regardless, that means it’s online. And that means…

They could find it.

“Y/n-ie?” Taehyung waves a hand in front of your eyes and you jump, nearly colliding with him. “You zoned out for a bit~”

“S-Sorry.” You notice the boys are all still looking at you. “What?”

“Your truth. What was your fanfiction about?”

You sieze on the vague question. “Well, funny you should ask, I think I wrote one about Hobi here going to space, which was–”

“The hell? Did I die?” Hoseok whines. “Y/n, you traitor–”

“Wait, so you’ve written more than one?” Yoongi interrupts.

“I mean…” that’s safe to say, right? “Yes.”

Namjoon taps your shoulder. “Have you ever written smut?”

Jeez, what was with his confidence tonight? “I–”

“If you tell us the truth, we’ll make Joon hyung rap Expensive Girl,” Hoseok sings, swinging a shoe in his hand. Wait, is that your-

“Huh? Hold up, hold up, that wasn’t part of the deal!” Namjoon’s facade quickly fades in liu of genuine terror.

Yoongi slowly rises for the first time that night, his grin nothing short of malicious. “You wanna play sadistic games? If Y/n completes her truth, you have to do that dare.”

“Y/n, I changed my mind, don’t tell us,” Namjoon begs, turning to you.

Oh. Oh, the power coursing through your veins. Either way, you win. You could keep your dark secret, or torture Namjoon just a little bit more. What a glorious choice to have.

“You know what?” You drain your wine glass, the alcohol lending you courage. Namjoon wanted to make you give Yoongi a hickey, he deserves this. And you were younger, a simple fangirl– besides, it’s not like they’re going to ask you to read it. “Yes. I did write a smut fic once. And you know what, Joon? It was about you.”

You giggle and sit back as the members do the “OHHHHH!” thing that boys never seem to grow out of.

Instead of going red like you expected he would, a shit-eating grin spreads across Namjoon’s face. He seems more… well, pleased than anything.

“What was it about?” he asks.

“Joon,” Yoongi warns, his voice a note deeper than usual. You shoot Yoongi a grateful smile– how does he know you so well? As for the fic, you genuinely don’t remember, but knowing it was smut, and knowing it was about Namjoon…

“I dunno, dude, probably some daddy kink shit.”

Namjoon cocks his head. “Daddy… kink?”

You jaw drops, and in your bordering-on-drunk state, you can’t help but blurt out: “You don’t know what a daddy kink is? I thought you had one!”

The leader scratches his head. “What?”

You can’t help but laugh, the drinks finally hitting you hard. “Oh my god. C’mon, gather round, my students.” You reach out, clasping Jimin’s and Jin’s shoulders. “let’s teach you guys about fanfiction.”

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discoursecatharsis · 6 years

Text

Hi! I know it’s been a few days, but as a kpop stan for 5+ years, and a fan of the group involved in the Cup/cak//ke-situation, I have something to say. Hopefully, I can shed some light on what happened as well as kpop, sexuaization, and the fandom as a whole.

(I wish I could insert a Read More, because this is long).

I’m going to start by saying, I have no idea why this whole Jung.k00k & Cup/cake thing blew up. This is not the first time Cup/cake made sexual comments about the B//TS members, and for the most part stan twitter found her funny. If fans didn’t, they didn’t make a big deal out of it, unlike what happened a few days ago. I’m not on twt, so I can’t say exactly what happened and why, but I’m going to guess it was a mix of Jung.k00k being the youngest member (A 97er, so the same age as Cup/cake), a fan-favorite, and maybe a callout twt post about how people need to stop sexualizing the BT//S members that people bandwagoned on and used to justify dogpiling Cup//cake. That’s usually how shit like this happens, and while unfortunate, it’s far from uncommon.

(Personally, I don’t care about what Cup/cake said and she should not have been bullied for it, but I think there’s a major difference between someone with a platform and tons of fans saying something, and someone posting their M-rated fanfic on AO3.

For instance, just about a month ago there was a Korean rapper, SanE, who gestured at a female idol, Re//d Velv/et’s Iren3 while singing a sexually suggestive lyric. Everyone called him out for sexual harassment and on twt people were even calling him a rapist & pedophile – even though Irene is 26. However, unlike in the Jung.k00k situation, no one made mention to the R-rated fanfics, tweets, tweets and gifs that fans, both male and female, often make about Iren//e and her group members, as a means to call fans hypocrties.

Again, even though I didn’t think either situation was a big deal, I don’t think people have to be comfortable with what Cup/cake or SanE did. I did notice a difference in reactions to reactions, which I think is unfair. Anyways, it sucks that this situation happens, that Cup////cake was hurt and bullied because of this.)

The kp//op fandom has a strange relationship with purity culture. I make mention of this because I feel like it has a hand in why Cup/cake-gate even happened. It’s k///pop fans digesting skewed Korean fan-culture norms and combining it with the overall advent of purity culture in western fandoms. For instance, this week, right after Cup/cake-gate Jung.k00k, was being called a sexual-harrasser and rapist simply because people thought he was staring at a woman’s chest. I’m not even joking. You can read about what happened here and here – but long story short a fan cropped a gif so it looked like he was oogling this lady, and Korean antis caught hold of it and ran with it. And thus, Stare-gate.

And again, this isn’t the first time. Usually it’s on a smaller scale, such as Stare-gate, but a few years ago, k//pop went through Lolita-Gate. Like most witch-hunts, it started out with good intentions: a girl group was going to debut and people were raising concerns that the members (half of which were under 18, the international age of majority, and most of which were under 19, the Korean age of majority) were being oversexualized. And then these three commercials (Warning: The first two are SFW-ish, the last is definitely NSFW), all of which starred the then 16 y/o T///zuyu (the youngest of her group) dropped and shit blew up. People began having an actual conversation about the sexualization of minors, but being that the group T///zuyu was in, T//wice, was already experiencing a lot of backlash for unrelated things, fans felt like the group itself was being attacked (And it some cases it was) and the conversation steered from constructive criticism to fanwars real quick. People began pulling in other groups, not because they had actual concerns, but because they didn’t want their faves to be the only ones being talked about.

And then a former idol dropped pics that people felt sexualized minors. Even though she herself was an adult and had spent her entire childhood being the target of sexual comments, the conversation went from “These are disturbing trends in this industry” to “These people (who often were actually put in situations of being sexualized minors) are the problem”. The nail was put in the coffin when singer-songwriter I//U dropped an album where among the themes of loneliness and misunderstanding, and a certain mature, she talked about the childishly-sexual image that was her company sold her with.

(For the record, Korean idols/artists do not have the same level of autonomy as American idols/artists, and when I///U blew up she was pushed with this “little sister” type image.)

And somehow talking about this and satirizing it, made her a pedophile. While she eventually apologized, her image, as well as the image of several other people who got swept up into the issue, took a dent.

There are tons of times where stuff like this happened, some as trivial as a twenty-seven year old woman being babied, to as damaging as a teenager being called a rapist for accidentally brushed against a minor’s chest.

So this reaction to anything sexual or perceived sexual is not uncommon unfortunately. A good portion of K////pop sells itself on being sexually non-sexual, which is why these things happen all the time. Idols who dance sexually also advertise dating bans and sexual naiveté. Idols who promote innocence do so in a way that can be sexually construed. And this isn’t me trying to fear-monger and trash k///pop (I hate when people do that) but I’m just trying to succinctly describe what I’ve noticed in all my years as a hard-core stan.

Something else I’ve noticed is that, these things tend to blow up as a reaction to male (hetero)sexuality. Lolita-gate happened because people felt that these young females were being infantilized and sexualized in order to accrue and appease an older-male stanbase, however there was not a similar reaction on the flip side of the coin in regards to young males being infantilized and sexualized in order to accrue and appease an older-female stanbase. Both do happen, but I feel like when it does it’s not approached with nuance, so the issue gets lost in the talk.

Again, an example: the commercial I posted earlier with the 16 y/o gyrating in the elevator. Completely inappropriate, right? Yes. However, just recently there’s a group where a 16 y/o is singing about something innocent enough, but the breathy moans on the chorus coupled with the oral fixation throughout the video, does give it a sexual flair. And then she began promoting another song with two other girls, that is again more sensual, yet I’ve yet to hear any real backlash. Granted, they aren’t anywhere near as popular as T///wice, but they are a well-known fan-favorite. And their fanbase, especially among western stans, is mostly female. As opposed to T///wice, who early on, gained a reputation of having lots of (older) male fans.

(And even as a fan of this group L//00N//A, I can’t even mention it without being dog-piled as trying to start shit)

Or, like I mentioned earlier, I//rene. She’s very popular among guys, and sometimes gifs of her wardrobe malfunctions circulate the Korean interwebs, and that leads to a lot of nsfw discussion regarding her body. She also has a lot of female fans who do and say the same things (especially her western stans), but the anger is 100% directed at the male fans because how dare they.

Anyhow, because I dumped a lot on you that you probably do not care to read, and this was more a response to the asks I saw you had on Cupcak//e-gate – It’s complicated. The reaction that you see towards one situation is often times not the same reaction you’ll get in another, usually because fandom politics takes precedence over the actual issue.

And don’t even get me started on slut-shaming in this fandom, which either comes from outright misogynists, or misogynists pretending to be feminists.

Oh, and yes, shipping is something often encouraged by companies. I can’t think of any group that’s debuted that hasn’t had some sort of company-pushed ship. The fanservice and bromance has definitely died down since the earlier days when the likes of TV//XQ and SU//JU had members kissing on stage and the like. A lot of it is borrowed from j///pop idol & visual-kei culture.

BTW, I know this is long, so feel free not to post it, especially considering how OT it is!

(submitted by anon)

You just submitted this long post, complete with linked sources, that you obviously worked hard on... how can I not post it?! Thank you so much for all this insight into this issue and fandom! I didn’t realize how much fandom politics and history there was behind this. It’s really interesting that reactions vary depending on the situation.

#submission

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kpop-magick · 7 years

Text

BIG BANG: you famous errywhere

A/N: anon: exo or bigbang reaction to you being a really famous rapper? not just in korea but worldwide

I did this kinda like first meeting for some and not for others and like getting into a relationship and i also kinda added in hints that (Y/N) isn’t necessarily korean oop

shit this doesnt really fit the request does it? ooopsie

my titles are really dumb omo

i also kept writing rappers as wrappers so if you find a mistake ^-^’ sorry

i also kinda like.. went to fuckin TOWN on this.

G-Dragon: Power couple AF. You two met when you were doing a photo shoot for a international magazine, it’s main story was about rappers who were world famous and a bit about their stories, there was you, GD, Lady Leshurr(a rapper from the UK) and Valete (from Portugal). The whole issue was about you all, the rappers. The director of the shoot and the editor of the magazine said that you two would do photos together, out of the four you two were a pair and the other two would do pair photos. After asking why it was you two together (not that you minded), they went on to explain their reason for putting it girl-boy would because it would be a better dynamic, it’s ‘appealing’ to the populous. Plus your aesthetics matched up fairly nicely. You two got to talking, trying to get comfortable for the shoot and before you knew it, the shoot was done and Kwon Jiyong was leaving with (Y/N)’s number in this phone. You two texted for awhile before you actually brought up the idea of collaborating on a piece together; there was no hesitation on his part when he agreed. Spending hours and hours on end together, you get pretty close to a person, and that’s exactly what happened with you and GD. You bonded. And not too long after the song was finished, you went on to shoot a video which was even more time spent together. Neither of you minded, of course. You shared a lot of interests and your conversations never got boring; not even once. It was truly amazing how close you two became. Once you had the final cut of the video, you both sat in his studio and released the videos on your respective social platforms (twitter, facebook, youtube, etc etc) at the exact same time. Let me tell you.. The reaction from your fans and his..Woooo.

b o i

The most common thing said about the track was ‘this is lit’ or ‘fucking awesome’ stuff along those lines. Not much negatives, like of course there are always negatives but those you could always handle. o m o The ships tho. All the fans were asking, “Oppa, are you dating (Y/N)?” ‘Are they dating?” “Is GD seeing fellow world famous rapper (Y/N)?” At first, you two laughed it off. It wasn’t like you two minded. But one article in particular got Jiyong thinking. It made so many good points, and a lot of the comments on the video on his Youtube channel started to grasp his attention. By this point, Jiyong didn’t want you to ever leave. It’s like you inserted yourself into his life and he can’t.. No, he won’t let you go. Anywhooo~ The article was putting out all these points, trying to prove that the two of you were seeing each other. ‘(Y/N) seen coming out of G-Dragons studio at 3 am” “Seen together getting coffee.” Little things you two had done during the making of the song and video but he couldn’t help but start to see you two as.. well... kinda a couple. You had so much in common. What pushed him over the edge to make the move was the comments. He was astounded by them. “Is GD-oppa and (Y/N)-unnie dating? I hope so they are, they look so good together!! >.< !!” “They have to be dating! In the video, they look so comfortable around each other! It DEFINITELY was not acting!” “They’re so perfect together!! Ahh! Oppa, I’m so happy for you!!”

Wow. It was amazing the response to sheer rumours. But then he got an idea, he grabbed his phone and sent you off a text.

It was so casual, like nothing changed. You took it slow, not like molasses slow but like.. A nice kind of slow that’s not boring af. It wasn’t confirmed for a very long time, dates were late and a lot of them consisted of in the studio because you were both finishing up albums. But eventually, the public found out. Your close friends and family all knew but you kept it out of the media for a long while. But once the world found out you two were together..

You two became THE rapper Power Couple.

T.O.P: When you two initially met, it was pretty chill. You were judges for a new rap show, rappers from all over the world came to perform and well.. You and some other well known rappers judged. Not too difficult. You met on the first day of briefing(like when the director and writers explain stuff), neither of you really could finish introductions because it kinda just went like..

“Hi, I’m-” “(Y/N), I know who you are. I’m--” “Big Bangs T.O.P; yeah I know who you are too. “ ;P

From there, it was all light conversations in between takes. It took you two awhile to really become good friends and exchange numbers; doing so after the finale of the show, which was a fair while after you two initially met. Casual texts were shared until you were finishing up your most recent; calling him up for him to do a feature, saying it was an eye catcher. You talked him into it, letting him know the part was pretty much written; all he had to do was come in and record. But almost surprisingly, he went further than that. On the outside, Choi Seunghyun looks like a rather cold person but get under that and he’s actually... Well.. Pretty weird, in the best way possible. He decided to come into your private studio and discuss everything with you, recording, adding a few things here and there. And he even took a big leap with saying they should do press for it, release teaser photos; maybe even shoot a teaser trailer.

Well dang, that was a fun time. When the teasers were released, the media had a field day. Both negative and positive comments, as per usual but it was great. There was so much buzz. So you decided for the first ever performance of anything from this album it should be the song you made with T.O.P and you wanted him to be there. So you asked him to, ready to almost plead but he agreed wholeheartedly.

The performance went off without a hitch. It was great, you both had fun and you discovered your hidden adoration for the Korean rapper. You didn’t have long to think on it, because apparently he had thought about it too. And made the first move.

And it just took off from there.

Taeyang: He hadn’t planned on meeting you at a fashion show, well.. He hadn’t really ever planned about meeting you. Yes, you were both pretty fucking famous but you two never had any form of interaction. And now here you two are, sitting side by side at a fashion show. To be fair, you didn’t plan on this either.

You two definitely didn’t plan on wearing outfits that worked well together. He sat on the right in pretty much all white while you were on the left decked out in black. Definitely an unintentional aesthetic.

During the show, you two would nonchalantly converse; talking about the styles to the designers then it went on and on; going from favourite fashion designers to favourite artists then it went onto favourite foods. After the shows were wrapping up, you two ended up chuckling about your respective outfit choices. It went from there, you went to the after party together. It was just so relaxed, talking to Youngbae was easy; for both you and him. He thought you were pretty great, he mentioned a few times about how he liked your rapping style. Time passed, drinks were had and numbers given to the other and then you both went to separate sides of the party, figuring you two should socialize with others; lest you have a scandal on your hands.

But you two were still texting each other from the other side of the room; you discovered a lot about him before you left the party. For one, he was actually rather stubborn. When he decided on something, well.. He didn’t want to let it go, so when he suggested he should teach you some dancing and you refused; you never heard the end of it until you gave in.

It took him only 3 days.

3 days.

You became weak when it involved Youngbae, he had become a true friend to you in all the time you two talked. Boy was he happy you agreed. Triumphant one isnt he? You had to admit it though, you had a lot of fun with him. You two laughed and joked; having a great time. You even did learn some of his dances, Good Boy was a favourite.

He suggested you two do this more often. You agreed. But then he added a little something at the end. “But like a date..”

Oh.

Daesung: He honestly wasn’t one hundred percent sure if you really were (Y/F/N), the (Y/N) when he saw you at this party, a benefit of some sort. What if he asked and he was wrong? Well, too late, he asked. After you nodded, he smiled and introduced himself, you exclaimed that you were a fan and boy... Was he happy to hear that. You two got chatting about everything, from your hard work and dedication to where you’ve traveled and where you still want to travel to. You became fast friends, Daesung was almost pinching himself. (Y/N) was world famous! So was he, but still. He was a big fan and they just exchanged numbers. Like holy shit.

w o w

You two started texting on and off, occasionally sending photos of where you were. And slowly but surely, you two were such close friends. He was so.. Great, funny, caring and like it was amazing. Good thing he thought the same as you. So texting soon became video calls, a lot of the time you two were in hotel rooms or backstage, rarely in the same time zone. There were times where you talked for hours. Once you were backstage, getting your hair fixed before a concert, snacking away on something and face-timing Daesung. That’s when the stylist asked how long you two had been dating.

Girl, that blush could put a lobster to shame.

You both were bumbling messes as you managed to get out that you two weren’t in fact dating. The stylist apologized politely, but anyone could’ve seen she was shocked that they weren’t a thing. But that little incident sparked everything into motion. BIG BANG members and their stylists, as well as your team started a betting pool (respectively) about when you two would start dating, or at least admit your feelings for one another. Everybody could see it. Apparently not you two. A bunch of fucking clichés you two were.

It took 2 weeks and 4 days. You two were in the same time zone, the same country in fact! You were trying to get him to tell you where but he, for some odd reason *wink wink* he wouldn’t tell you. I wonder why. hmmm so mysterious. It was all part of his plan. It took a bunch of organizing but he was able to get into your dressing room (not like that you pervs) You were sitting in a chair, waiting for the hair stylist, playing a game on your phone when you felt hands playing with your hair; you assumed, of course, that it was your stylist. But then it got weird, they were just messing around, playing with your hair. So you tore your attention away from the game, about to ask what the hell she was doing, when you see Daesung. Boy, were you happy. You couldn’t help but hug him, skinship may have been something a bit too personal in Korea but you were casual about it. Automatically, you were like “what the fuck? why the hell didn’t you tell me where you were, you meanie!” He chuckled, rubbing his neck, getting rather nervous. And that is when he just word vomited everything he had planned to say. But you had heard enough of what he said.

“You’re lucky you’e cute and I like you too.. Sheesh I was worried when you wouldn’t tell me where you were.”

“Sooo, you worry about me?~~;)”

“Dae, I swear...”

Seungri: He was a secret fanboy, no denying it. You were the (Y/N), the amount of times he’s listened to your songs is hilarious, okay maybe not hilarious, more sweet. Before he even met you he had a crush on you. Like, the (Y/N). He had actually been to a few of your concerts, of course secretly but still. It showed how much he truly enjoys your music. He may or may not have a playlist of your songs and interviews on his phone.

So when it was reported that you were sighted in Korea, in Seoul of all places when he was actually in Seoul? He couldn’t help but try and cross paths with you. Somehow. You two were both world famous, but Big Bang and (Y/N) had never crossed paths, never been to a party or benefit together, never had a concert in the same city let alone country at the same time. But now, you were in his turf; his home. He wanted to meet you. And you two did meet. At a club of all places. (what did y’all expect? a park?)

Your first meeting you two kinda performed together, kind of. How this happened? Well, you were found out. Somebody recognized you and of course, a fuss was made. You were brought up on stage, everyone cheering you to rap, to perform for them.

You weren’t really expecting for this to happen, you hadn’t really anything prepared. But hey, you weren’t world famous for nothing. The lovely little maknae of Big Bang swooped in for the rescue. Not literally but he got into the DJ booth and started a beat, one you could follow well. It was similar to your style, so it wasn’t that hard to freestyle and perform for everyone.

After a little awhile, you said your thanks before making your way into the VIP area of the club, now that management knew you were here (and you performed for them for free might I add not a lot of famous artists would do that lets be honest) management placed you in the VIP section automatically. And that’s where you met, he got there just before you. You recognized him because A) you saw him going to the DJ booth B) he’s a member of Big Bang. Duh.

You gave him your thanks and he complimented you on your skills. It all was downhill from there. By the end of the night, you two had exchanged numbers with promises of keeping in contact.

You two messaged for a while, both going on tour soon so texting quickly turned to phone calls before concerts and face timing after them. Falling into this routine was simple and fun, easily becoming something that you definitely looked forward too. Was it weird that Seungri was the last person you wanted to talk to before going to bed? Maybe it’s a sign. Like a pretty damn large one. That, sweet (Y/N) is when you realize that.. Shit, you like him, Lee Seunghyun. Seungri, maknae of Big Bang.

fuck

You didn’t want to ruin a pretty much perfectly amazing friendship. But you couldn’t keep talking to him knowing you were hiding the secret so.. You sent him a text.

Well damn. That worked out well.

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