I started writing yet another tag essay in the notes of a different post where OP posited that the reason established relationships that are rock solid or functional are hard to write and find in fiction because there's missing tension due to the lack of will they won't they, and how one way to solve this in a story is to make the characters insane about each other. (The post is here.)
And don't get me wrong! I like when characters are a little or a lot unhinged about each other! and I also like relationships that self destruct, tragedies that end badly, and all that jazz I enjoy these things a lot! They're good things!
But I'm thinking about relationship tension again and how like, okay yes sometimes we want our characters confess they're in love with each other and get together and sail off into a soft epilogue, etc. This too is love!
But I think fundamentally to deny the fact that two (or more) people can love each other deeply, be totally committed to each other, and yet still have difficulties and life problems to tackle together is an underexplored facet of romance. The mundane of this is where the real romance lies on our day to day as people, and I find this so...rarely? tackled in fiction?
Maybe this is because I'm ace, but I feel that there's a distinct? vibe to these sorts of mature and enduring romances where like, the love is there, the commitment is there, but we still have moments we need to work for it because that's life and we work for it because we find each other worth it.
What is more romantic than compromise with someone you care for deeply? What is more romantic than tackling problems together and trying to come to an agreement and sometimes not being able to but still having done your best and accepted the outcome anyway?
What is a long lasting relationship that isn't about give and take and growing together or coming apart? Aren't those stories interesting? How could any long lasting relationship where people are deeply in love with each other be boring when like, to BE in a relationship with someone for ten, twenty, thirty, sixty years and come out the other side of that saying 'you're the one, you're still the one, you've always been the one' is one of the most wild and rare type of relationships to have?
What sort of sacrifice and compromise and work it takes to build that sort of relationship, isn't that interesting? To persist despite moments of doubt and periods of despair and all the work it takes in mundanity? all the trials a relationship like that has to survive and has survived, isn't that still tension? isn't that still interesting?
Maybe it's just me that I find this more interesting than "will they? won't they?" Either they will or they won't but when I'm reading a romance they mostly will! But do they have what it takes to stay there? And if they do isn't that one of the most interesting things in the world to look at?
Isn't that also love?
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snorrrk mimimi
Wally Darling x Reader
Warnings: he watches you sleep bro :’) fluff though, nothin weird.
although it is not necessary, I highly suggest reading my fics in their recommended order for the best experience! here is the link to all my silly lil wally fics in order. this is #1 :)
When you wake up in the morning, something is different…
“Good morning,”
A familiar sing-song voice gently coaxed you from your sleep. With a grunt and some shifting around, you settled back down, a deep sigh of content releasing from your nostrils.
“G’mornin, Darling,” you mumbled the surname of who you knew that voice belonged to. Your tone sounded more endearing than simply his last name, though.
Gosh, what a nice sleep you had. You were warm and cozy, blanket pulled up and around you, arms hugged around something comfy while a hand carefully rubbed along your back.
A few more minutes wouldn’t hurt, right?
Another deep breath left your body, your mind slipping back into its relaxed, thoughtless state, until a peculiar thought disturbed just that.
Why was there a hand on your back?
Your brows twitched in confusion. Actually, let’s back up even more:
Why were you hearing Wally’s voice, and now his quiet giggles?
Groggy with sleep, you grumbled words incoherent to even yourself, forcing your heavy eyes open and looking up.
“Hi,” Wally’s eyes peered down into yours, his smile spread slightly wider than usual. Based on his expression, he seemed quite amused.
“Hi,” you muttered your reply, laying your head back down, satisfied you got your answers. Now it made sense! You heard his voice because he was here, and felt a hand because it was him. Easy peasy, and back to sleep you go!
…
…
…
But it didn’t make sense.
Why was he here? Why was your bed raising and deflating? Why hasn’t realization struck you yet?
…
A gasp tore through your lips. Your eyes darted open, and you quickly pushed yourself up. Ah, there was the realization!
“Wally!” You exclaimed, staring at the close-proximity face of your very familiar neighbor.
“Yes?” He responded.
You looked down at where you’d been resting. Wally’s body laid underneath yours, plonked on your couch. Your lower half had been situated in the couch space between his legs, your head having rested on his chest, where you spotted a small damp circle on his shirt.
“Please tell me I’m still dreaming,” you begged who knows what as a pool of embarrassment filled your stomach.
“I’m sorry to disappoint, but I don’t believe you are,” Wally gave a little chuckle. “Are you well?”
“I am so sorry,” your hands covered your face as you sat back onto your legs. “Oh my goodness, this is so embarrassing…” you grumbled out, red in the face.
“What is there to be embarrassed about?” Wally’s voice rang out with perplexity as he was unable to find anything wrong.
“I fell asleep on you!” You exclaimed, hands removing themselves from your face. “And drooled on you, among-- other things, probably!” You groaned, shaking your head. How could you have let this happen?
The last bits you could remember were watching TV with Wally last night. He had stayed during the evening for a visit, but you don’t remember discussion of a sleepover. You must’ve trapped him whenever you passed out!
“That’s no big deal, silly,” Wally smiled. “It’s nothing more than a bit of drool. I get paint on me all the time!” Not quite the same, but you don’t point it out.
“But I basically trapped you here! You should’ve gone back to Home, but you had to deal with me instead,” you huffed, lost as to how he failed to see the problems.
“I could’ve gone back to Home,” he corrected, “but I didn’t wish to disturb you and wanted to stay here,” he added, before at least something seemed to click. “Oh, I suppose I see what’s wrong now. I’ve overstayed my welcome. I’m sorry,”
“No, that’s not—" you gave up, letting yourself lay back on his chest with a long groan. What did it matter anyways? You’d been there for a multitude of hours already.
“That’s not the issue,” you grumbled after a minute, more composed after getting that out of you. “You’re always welcome here,” you admitted, the flush on your cheeks partly for a different reason now.
“Ha ha, and you’re always welcome here, if you’d like,” his voice rumbled gently, his hand finding itself atop of your head this time. He loved to drown you further in your embarrassment, didn’t he?
Nonetheless, you relaxed a little, sighing. “I owe you an apology, though. I’m sorry if you felt obligated to stay overnight for my comfort, and I’m sorry for whatever odd things I probably did while asleep,”
“And I’ll tell you once again not to be,” he assured calmly. You could practically hear the amusement in his voice. “You’ve done nothing wrong at all. I hope you don’t mind this.”
Your eyes fell shut. Honestly? You didn’t. Although you were flustered, consciously aware of your current position now, it was… nice.
“… I’m not heavy, am I?”
“Not at all,”
Silence followed Wally’s promise, his thumb drawing shapes on your shoulder.
…
“… Your eyes move a little while you sleep,”
Your eyebrows raised in surprise, body shooting up to attention. “Do I sleep with my eyes open?”
“Ha ha! No, they move underneath your eyelids,” he shut his eyes, tapping his own eyelids for emphasis. “They moved side to side,” his fingers demonstrated the movement, eyes flicking open after.
“Oh thank goodness,” your body deflated in relief, lowering against him once more. “Yeah, they do that. It’s called, uh…” you paused, racking your mind for the term. “Oh, REM sleep, rapid eye movement,” you said as it came back to you.
“Is there a reason they do that?”
“I won’t lie, my minds too foggy to remember right now,” you shrugged with a light laugh. “Did I do anything else funky?”
“You talk,”
“Right, that quirk I knew about,” you giggled, rubbing a hand against your face, flustered by someone else learning your sleeping habits. Especially him of all people…
“Did I say anything eligible?” You asked. Most times you would only mumble, not too often understandable words or phrases.
Wally hummed in thought, looking up at the ceiling as he seemed to try to recall. “Well, for the most part, no,” he decided. “Just some random words. No deep, dark, secrets, ha ha,” he assured with a playful tone.
“Once again, thank goodness. I need to remain somewhat mysterious or else you’ll lose interest in me,” you jested, earning a pout.
“As if that would ever happen!” Wally smiled, shaking his head as he disagreed.
“Yeah, yeah,” you giggled, a blanket of silence falling back into place. You felt content, even a bit giddy to be in your neighbourly crush’s embrace. His clear lack of judgment or concern was comforting, as were his soft hums and gentle touches to your body.
Eventually, after you figured you’ve used poor Wally as a pillow for long enough, you finally pushed yourself back up. “Well Wally, I suppose we should start the day now, shouldn’t we?” Your sentence finished with a yawn, your arms reaching to the sky as you stretched. Wally only hummed as he watched you, head tipping to the side with interest.
“I suppose so, neighbour.”
You sure were a mystery to him, one that he’d like to unravel. There was so much about you he had yet to find out, but couldn’t wait to learn as he spent more time with you! So, for now, he’ll leave out the details of you murmuring his name in your sleep to save you the extra embarrassment. It was cute you were thinking of him, anyway.
here is a lil thing for welcome home B)
here is a link to my silly lil wally fics in their recommended order if you would like :) these can also be found on my ao3 B) I also have a ko-fi if you'd like to support me!
I hope you enjoyed, likes and reblogs are appreciated <3 (gimme dopamine boost RAHHHH)
Posted Friday, April 21, 2023 at 2:35 PM
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I'm thinking about radiodust again, but imagine. Alastor and Angel going on an outing for the hotel together.
(Forced bonding activity, maybe. Alastor tries to get out of it by claiming he had things he needed to do and pick up, and Charlie just said Angel can go WITH him instead for it to count.)
Angel is anxious because he KNOWS how it looks to go anywhere with someone. And despite his face he knows Smiles isn't one to take insults lightly.
Alastor, however, THRIVES off attention and people wanting to know what's going on with him. He loves this, it's fueling him. He might ask Angel to accompany him on ALL his outings from now on because the immediate reaction of everyone who sees them is Very Entertaining.
Once Angel realizes that Alastor isn't going to freak on him for all the attention they're getting just by virtue of being there, he starts to enjoy it. It's nice to do something as mundane as going out with someone (even if it ain't a date), without the expectation for how that will end.
PLUS while they're getting a lot of attention, this is one of the first times he's gone anywhere without someone catcalling him or yelling some version of "Slut!" from across the street. (Someone did happen to yell "The RADIO DEMON is fucking ANGEL DUST?!?!" but they didn't remain in the afterlife long, and since then no one has yelled a single thing at him. S'nice.)
It also until that very moment didn't occur to Angel just how much RESPECT he could garner just by being next to Alastor. He goes into a store to pick something up and is just dealing with his normal level of disrespect and harassment before Alastor pops up behind him to see what's taking so long.
It only takes one instance of a tilted head and focused eyes on the sales associate, with a casual "Is there something keeping you, Angel, dear?" for everyone on this side of the pentagram to immediately assume that messing with Angel Dust means messing with none other than the RADIO DEMON. (If it has the added benefit of pissing off the Vox, AND makes Val a bit more wary about messing with Angel, then that's just a bonus.)
You can take this as platonic or romantic, but Angel swoons a bit anyway at the Southern Gentleman treatment, in either case.
And this is the catalyst for them to begin getting along, without Angel feeling the need to put up his over-sexualized porn star persona as his safest way to interact with Alastor.
(IMO, both huskerdust and radiodust work so well because Angel deserves someone who treats him well and respects him for who he is, and not what he can do for them. He deserves a good ol' fashioned lover boy to take care of him, both romantically and platonically, and that's why I love both ships.)
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