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kaladinkholins · 4 months

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i know I've mentioned my interpretation of mizu's gender a million times on here but i don't think i ever fully elaborated on it.

so on that note i just wanna ramble about that for a bit. basically, it's my reading of the show that mizu is nonbinary, so let me dig into that.

putting the rest under the cut because it ended being pretty long lol. also here have a cute mizu pic of her being happy and most at ease with herself, symbolised by her letting her hair down. <3 ok let's proceed.

okay note that nonbinary is an umbrella term, and applies to a vast range of gender identities, but it's my personal preference to use it as is, simply because i'm not a fan of microlabels. more power to you if you are though, but anyway.

essentially when i refer to mizu as nonbinary it means that i interpret mizu as a woman, but not ONLY a woman. not strictly a woman. she is also a man. she is also neither of these things, she is something in between, while at the same time she is none of these at all. i've said as much many times, but i just don't want people to think that by nonbinary it inherently means a "third androgynous gender" that essentially turns the gender binary into a gender trinary. not only is that going against what the term nonbinary was crafted for (to go against rigid boxes and categorisation of gender identities), but also, not all nonbinary people fall under that category or definition, and that's definitely not the way i interpret mizu.

also, before anyone fights me on this, let me clarify further that gender means something different to everyone. it's not your biological sex or physical characteristics. but at the same time, gender is not mere presentation. you can be a trans woman and still present masculine—either because you're closeted and forced to, or because you just want to—and either way, that doesn't take away from your identity as a woman. same goes for trans men. if you're a trans man but you wear skirts and don't bind or don't get top surgery, that doesn't make you any less of a man. because gender non-conformity exists, and does not only apply to cis people! some lesbians are nonbinary and prefer using he/him pronouns while dressing masculinely, but that doesn't mean they're a man, or that they're any less of a lesbian. neither does this mean that they're a cis woman.

the thing about queer identities in general is that, like i said, they mean something different to everyone, because how you identify—regardless of your biological attributes and fashion or pronouns—is an extremely personal experience. so a nonbinary person and a gnc cis woman's experiences might have plenty of overlap, but what distinguishes between the two is up to the individual. there's no set requirements to distinguish you as one or the other, but it's up to you to decide what you identify as, based on what you feel. either way, by simply identifying yourself as anything under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, you are already communicating to the world that you are not what a conservative, cisheteronormative society wants you to be.

which is why i find all this queer infighting on labels to be so ridiculous. because we're all fighting the same fight; the common enemy is a societal structure that divides us into set roles and expectations purely based on our biological parts. that's why biological essentialism in the queer community is a fucking disease. because by arguing that women are inherently weak and fragile and soft and gentle and must be protected from evil ugly men, while men are inherently strong and angry and violent and exploitative of women, these people are advocating for the same fucked up system that marginalises and abuses women as well as effeminate and/or gay men.

anyway. i'm going on a tangent. this was meant to be a blue eye samurai post. so yeah back to that— the point i'm trying to make is that there's no one way to identify as anything, and everyone views gender in a specific way.

so with that being said, yes you can definitely interpret mizu as a gnc cis woman and that's a totally valid reading. however, interpreting her as nonbinary or transmasc also doesn't take away from her experiences with misogyny and female oppression, because nonbinary and transmasc folks also experience these things.

me, personally, i view her as nonbinary but not necessarily or always transmasc because i still believe femininity and womanhood is an inherent part of who mizu is. for example, from what we've seen, she does not like binding. it does not give her gender euphoria, but is instead very uncomfortable for her both physically and mentally, and represents her suppressing her true self. which is why when she "invites the whole" of herself, she stands completely bare in front of the fire, breasts unbound and hair untied. when she is on the ship heading to a new land in the ending scene, she is no longer hiding her neck and the lack of an adam's apple. we can thus infer that mizu does not have body dysmorphia. she is, in fact, comfortable in her body, and relies on it extremely, because her body is a weapon. instead, what mizu hates about herself is her face—her blue eyes. she hates herself for her hybridised identity, hates herself for being a racial Other. hates that she has no home in her homeland. these are not queer or feminist themes, but postcolonial ones.*

* and as a tiny aside on this subject, i really do wish more of the fandom discussion would talk about this more. it's just such an essential part to reading her character. like someone who's read homi k bhabha's location of culture and has watched this show, PLEASE talk to me so we can ramble all about how the show is all about home and alienation from community. please. okay anyway—

nevertheless, queer and feminist themes (which are not mutually exclusive by the way!) are still prevalent in her story, though they are not the main issue that she is struggling with. but she does struggle with it to some extent, and we see this especially during her marriage with mikio, where we see her struggle in women's domestic spaces.

on the other hand, though, she finds no trouble or discomfort in being a man or being around other men—even naked ones—and does not seem stifled by living as one, does not seem all that bothered or uncomfortable navigating through men's spaces. contrast this to something like disney's mulan (1998), where we do see mulan struggle in navigating through men's spaces, as she feels uncomfortable being around so many men, always feeling like she doesn't belong and that she's inherently different from them. mizu has no such experiences like this, as her very personality and approach to life is what can be categorised as typically "masculine". she is straightforward and blunt. her first meeting with mikio, she tells him straight to his face that he's old while frowning and raising a brow at him. she approaches problems with her muscles and fists (or swords), rather than with her words or mind. compare this with mulan, who, while well-trained by the end of the movie, still uses her sharp wits rather than brute strength. this is a typically "feminine" approach. it's also the approach akemi relies on throughout the show—through her intelligence and persuasive tongue, she navigates the brothel with ease. mizu, in contrast to someone like mulan and akemi, struggles with womanhood and femininity, and feels detached from it.

thus, in my opinion, mizu is not simply a man, nor is she simply a woman. she is both. man and woman. masculine and feminine. she has to accept both, rather than suppress one or the other. her name means water. fluid.

as a side note, while i do believe mizu is nonbinary, i also primarily use she/her pronouns but this is a personal preference. i find it's easier, plus it's what the creators use, and because, in general, being nonbinary simply doesn't necessitate the use of they/them pronouns. nonbinary is not just a third gender. it's about breaking the binary, in any which way, and that's exactly what mizu does.

also, i'd also like to mention that one of show's head of story even referred to her with the term "nonbinary", rather than simply "androgynous" (see pic below). and it's possible this could be a slip up on his part, in which he believes the terms are interchangeable (they're not btw), but regardless i find it a very interesting word choice, and one that supports my stance.

so anyway yeah that's my incredibly long rambling post.

TL;DR nonbinary mizu rights 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 congrats if you reached the end of this btw. also ily. unless you're a TERF in which case fuck off. ok i'm done.

#mizu blue eye samurai #mizu bes #blue eye samurai #blue eye samurai meta #sorry if this is redundant btw i just cant stop thinking thoughts :3 #btw i am a mixed* southeast asian who is also nonbinary. just in case that's important context #by mixed* i mean i'm asian+asian but diff ethnicities lol. i dont have a white bone in my body god bless<3 #my whiteness is purely learned thru cultural osmosis + bcs my parents taught me english as a first language (boooo 🍅🍅🍅)#also i live in the global south so i think EYE know a thing or two about being gnc in a society of rigid awful gender roles‼️#so likeee i think its ridiculous that its an either-or thing #mizu can be nonbinary while still being a woman of colour ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#also ummm as much as i love queer themes and gay people i wish people would talk more about the racial otherness / community aspect #as mentioned in the post above #you don't need to read bhabha's whole book btw but just take a look at some of his ideas and you'll get what im talking about #like the fact that the fandom mostly ignores those themes in the story makes me feel like :( :/#cuz to me THATS the thing that spoke to me most and its a shame that its just not talked about enough #i mean i know why thats likely the case. but still.#whoops im rambling again 🤪#fandom.rtf #shut up haydar #meta dissertations.pdf

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dahldahlbills · 2 years

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being gay is not enough, renga needs to literally ride the same skateboard

image description in alt text :D

#sk8 the infinity #sk8 the infinity fanart #renga #reki kyan #langa hasegawa #yes reki built an extra lorge board. It’s almost his height #It was a joke at first #A silly little hee hee ha ha #But then he went “okay but wait…”#He just wanted to see if he could actually make it but being able to share a board with langa was also a plus #And ofc langa loves the idea #why would he skate with reki when he could skate WITH reki #Anyway they’re in love they’re so dumb I love them I have a mental breakdown every other night bc of them #reki names all his boards so what would this monstrosity be called I really need to know #I call it the renga loveboard but reki’s too shy to call it that so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#i have spent way to long on this and now starting to hate it so im yeeting it!! Hope you enjoy lol #my art #dahls art

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nellasbookplanet · 21 days

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I just finished my playthrough of me2, and as I put off the overlord and arrival dlcs until the end of it my thoughts on them are very fresh and Must be aired.

The frustrating thing is, they didn’t have to suck. The gameplay, like the shadowbroker dlc, is fun and stands out from the rest of the game! The story and themes of 'how far will you go in sacrificing individual lives in the name of winning a war/stopping extinction' fits well with the overall narrative and emphasis on hard choices! I mostly enjoy them! Only, overlord is completely undone by gross ableism, and arrival doesn’t actually let you engage with the choice it sets up; it fully forces your hand, and then makes the whole thing feel pointless by just having the reapers show up for a surprise attack in the next game anyway. It’s a trolley problem that doesn’t actually let you control the lever and then derails the entire train to hit both tracks no matter what you do.

So, how do you fix arrival? Personally, I would probably keep in the loss of the batarian colony as inevitable, but change the focus. As it is, barely a moment is spared to let it sink in that you're about to end 300 000 lives, and the only 'choice' you get is whether you attempt to (futilely) warn them in a blink and you'll miss it scene. I would've at a minimum added dialogue options where Shepard/the player could’ve expressed anger at how this work could’ve gone on for as long as it did without a warning being sent long before. For a bigger change, that could’ve led into a major conflict: a paragon Shepard trying to warn the colony, while her opponents argue that doing so would jeopordize the project/the hidden base and tries to stop her as part of the final fight of the dlc. If you choose to warn and do it in time, perhaps some small amount of people make it out, with the majority of the colony still being destroyed to keep the tone of sacrifice. If you want to keep it real dark, everyone dies no matter how hard you try to save them, but you should at least have been given the option to seriously try even if it’s hopeless.

But there isn’t really a workaround for how part of the problem with arrival is a problem with the batarians: had the colony been human, turian, or asari, most players would likely have been more upset because those are our allies. The batarians, however, are a one-note species never portrayed as anything other than slavers, criminals, and terrorists. While other species are allowed horrific acts while still being portrayed as complex people capable of both good and bad (need I remind you of the first contact war, the krogan rebellion, the genophage, the quarian's attempted genocide of the geth, the geth's war against biological life, and so on), the player is given little to no reason to sympathize with batarians. Had they been made to feel like actual people while still our enemies from the start of the game, arrival would've felt more like the gut punch of sacrifice it was and less like it was off-handedly writing off a people everyone hates, anyway. There could’ve been a discussion of 'are you more willing to sacrifice those you don’t know/don’t like and what does it say about you; is this a sacrifice or is it selfish revenge with the greater good as cover (a discussion especially brought up if you take the renegade choice)' but instead it feels almost vindictive.

#i am. tired. let's talk overlord tomorrow bc that one. yikes.#mass effect #nella talks #anyway I'm setting up for me3 and am considering mods and romance choices #(will go with the liara romance this time i need to see it through)#I'm thinking about one of the happy ending mods?#narratively and thematically they don’t make much sense but neither do the original endings so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#I wanna play destroy bc it comes the closest to making sense but physically cannot bring myself to kill the geth and edi so. mod.#sigh. thinks wistfully about an ending that actually takes player choice and renegade/paragon into account #renegade destroy as unchanged and destructive. paragon destroy as the survival of synthetic allies #renegade control as shepard becoming an all-controlling corrupted god. paragon control as a benevolent god struggling against corruption #synthesis as a paragon only choice perhaps?#i don’t know. mass effect what do you do to me why are you so good and bad at the same time i hate it here i love it here help

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ihideinbathroomsatparties · 4 months

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remember when they tried to make Hank a disgusting alcoholic but in order to keep it kid friendly they had him addicted to hot sauce instead of actual alcohol

#art #Finding Nemo #Finding Dory #bc I personally can never forget #iirc the primary reason they cut it was because they couldn't figure out how to make it more funny than it was depressing #which... fair #tho I'm now realizing there's also the fact that Hank would have ended up essentially drunk driving at one point if they had kept it in #and truly what is reckless like placing an angry old drunken animal behind the wheel of an enormous truck on the freeway #but like. in any other context...#the image of Hank drunkenly shuffling around while slamming down bottles of hot sauce is pretty funny #also: ''why are they in a void?'' because I drew this past midnight and thus was being lazy so I could go to bed faster :P #(I mean the whole thing is clearly kinda lazy but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)#I probably have to stop ever drawing things w/ zero reference btw bc I worry they maybe look a little off anyway... lol

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janiedean · 14 days

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bro honestly i had to say it.... referring to the israeli occupation of palestine as israel/palestine DISCOURSE is very... improper. from a political, historical and maybe even humanitarian standpoint. you're not obligated to, but i suggest you read something from pappè/khalidi/said/kadman <3 it's important in this day and age to be educated on this matter

anon thank you for the recs which I will check out because I’m interested in reading on the topic in general (I read said in university btw I’m not completely out of touch) but like…. I wasn’t talking about THAT ^^’

the post in question was about the whole k*ndrick vs dr*ke debate and I will absolutely call it discourse when it’s 6k notes of people arguing in a circle while not giving a single source for us foreigners who are not familiar with the topic not being us american or not into rap music, i never heard a song from either bc it’s not on my radar and i’d appreciate a source which isn’t saying if you aren’t familiar with that music scene you have a bias (like i don’t listen to rap music bc 99% of rappers sing fast and I’m esl and I can’t follow it, I do listen to some italian rap so…..:…)

and for that matter i spotted the terf bc she said she was allowed in disliking the whole genre bc misogyny so like… next time ask first what it was about if you’re concerned about it instead of presuming? like sorry swear this isnt meant to be passive aggressive but i wouldn’t refer to the the isra*l/p*lestine question as discourse at any point bc i think it’s the most complicated sociopolitical situation in existence atm which requires more nuance and knowledge to discuss on main than I ever have had or will ever, and I don’t think people getting killed nonsensically at that level is discourse nor I ever did, so again thanks for the recs and I’ll see to check them out but like I wasn’t talking abt it in the first place

#ask post #anonymous #and i’m not gonna discuss either thing on main anyway either #i don’t know enough about either but ik the rap music post at that point was just the usual tumblr fake activism #which is why im p sure discourse was an appropriate word for it #but like if it wasn’t clear my mh right now is rock bottom i don’t feel articulate #i tried it for years it just wore me out and i can’t rn #but like honestly thanks for the recs i didn’t know about #and like again i know k. l. must be a good singer while ik drake was a pos bc he texted teenage girls #and was in that pseudo nazi video with nicki m. which is the ONE thing ik about #so i presume whatever KL is saying is correct but like people eating each other abt it #and bringing BUT YOU LIKE THIS OTHER BAND SO ITS BAD :8/#into it #imvho is discourse so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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orcelito · 1 year

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i do love how i Can read the sound effects in trigun. bc even tho theyre untranslated, i can read katakana & hiragana lol. but also my eyes tend to just glaze over them bc theyre very japanese sound effects, so the sound transcriptions arent exactly what i'd attribute the sounds to (just by virtue of being an english speaker)

but like. here, from right to left, we have "don-don-don", "ga-gigi", and "ba-kan". which i can infer what those sounds are... but also it's simpler to just fill in myself based on what i See what sounds would be here. the only real reason the sound effects are useful (to me) are for knowing how many shots Vash fires (like the "don-don-don" showing that vash shoots 3 times)

other examples of sound effects:

"go go go go", "kyuru kyuru kyuru kyuru" (kyuru being the sound of wheels turning i guess, tho i got No Idea what the go go go go is)

"GAN", "do do do do" (a clang, then four shots fired by Vash)

"BA-BA-TSU", "ni-pa", "ba-tan!!" (sound of rolling??, sound of smile?? then a door shut)

see what i mean lol about the sounds being very Japanese? i can read them, but what they read to is still not very useful if you're not familiar with most Japanese depictions of sound effects (like me)

still nice to be able to supplement my reading with my katakana & hiragana knowledge tho

#speculation nation #trigun #fanny reads trigun #fanny's trigun analysis #probably gonna be my last analysis post today. im gonna have to leave soon #something interesting to note is the mixture of katakana and hiragana #most of these are in katakana. but the 'ba ba' is hiragana 'tsu' is katakana. 'ni-pa' is both hiragana #everything else tho is katakana #i'm also not 100% certain about some of these. the '-n's in particular are a little hard to tell #bc if the dash is too downturned then it becomes 'so'. the difference between ン and ソ.#but theyre also so deeply stylized and blocky im Assuming they mean the '-n' bc of what the sound effects would be #also not 100% certain about the 'tsu' but it sure does look like a ツ there #i can understand why the overhaul ppl said they hadn't done sound effects for the first version of the translation #bc MAN a lot of it's pretty incomprehensible for an english reader Even If they can read the symbols lol #sigh. Such Is Life i guess

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apotelesmaa · 2 months

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My personal hot take that will get me chased with pitch forks and torches if I talk about it is that kanade is a tenma fanon is stupid and ignores so much abt both kanade & tsukasa’s characters. Kanade has her grandma and honami taking care of her and would not benefit from or even desire A Brand New Family. Tsukasa does not go around adopting people as new siblings he considers toya to be his brother because they have known each other since they were children and have been very close since they were children. Too tired to articulate my view on their relationship but something something being there for each other when toya was dealing with his dad being shitty and Tsukasa was dealing with saki being sick & his parents (justifiably. They were doing their best & he does not blame them.) focusing on her so they relied on each other. Tsukasa loving his sister and being unable to help her/separated from her -> friend he loves dearly is also struggling -> older sibling instincts have to go somewhere -> “I have known this guy and been looking out for him since I was like seven he’s basically my sibling” “tsukasa has been supporting me since I was a kid and having my own wants ignored by my dad (& presumably also older aoyagi siblings) he is basically my older brother.” Do I think he would make a great and supportive friend for kanade yes but I also think we should acknowledge that kanade is already getting the support she needs from her own friend group and family.

#no ill will to the enjoyers of that hc I just dislike it (known stickler for canon characterization)#sm1 said ‘if kanade is tsukasa’s sister bc his VA said he’d want kanade as a sister then tsukasa is also rui’s brother as rui’s VA said #he’d want tsukasa as an older brother’ and they were so correct.#this is why we say VA =/= character.#not tagging this I’m not trying to get murdered by ppl who view an opinion as a direct attack on their life.#like if u wanna make that au go ahead it can even be done well I just don’t think it has any support in canon #‘tsukasa adopts ppl’ & he’s just a nice guy who likes to make friends #i think we should also consider how the tenma parents being involved in toyas life also influenced this #w/e. tired. probably not articulating this as well but I have never claimed to be good at conveying my thoughts ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#mostly focused on tsukasa here bc wxs enjoyer I’m sure kanade/niigo scholars could also make points

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sapphim · 10 days

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it's funny to me that of all my hot takes, one of the ones that was most poorly received across the board was "I think alistair may be unreliable or misinformed about aspects of the templar order." nobody in the notes cared for that one.

#seems people are really attached to taking golden boy at his word bc they agree with his poor opinion of them #don't ask me why I've remembered this now idk ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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thesokovianaccords · 7 months

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(press you to) the pages of my heart

four: "come here. let me fix it."

a steggy friends to lovers au (also on ao3)

They were going to be late. Even for them.

(Though Steve would swear up and down it wasn’t his fault. Peggy would swear that he was lying.)

“It’s basically the same costume, anyway. How are you still not ready?”

“I had to send Tony an angry voice note first,” Steve shouted from his bedroom. “Really, it’s his fault we’ll be late.”

Peggy tapped their new and improved badges against the kitchen table. “Pepper’s a natural redhead. It makes more sense for them to be Mulder and Scully. Also, I somehow managed to make new badges, find realistic neuralyzers, and fix my costume before you tied your tie.”

“Well, I got into an in-depth debate with both of them over who deserved a quote-unquote ‘couple’s costume.’ That ate up some time.” Steve walked out into the living room, his eye roll audible across the apartment. “They both had lots of unsolicited opinions, so you’re welcome for sparing you from that.”

“My hero,” Peggy scoffed, grabbing their drinks and dropping next to Steve on the sofa, as he tied his shoes. “Hopefully the party will still be going when we get there.”

Steve sent her an incredulous look, and they both laughed. “Yes, right, fine. It was impossible to even think that with a straight face.”

“Sometimes I still feel hungover from their 4th of July party.”

“Ah yes, the Steve Rogers Birthday Bash, T-M,” Peggy said, holding up her hands in brackets to showcase the trademark with the aplomb it deserved. And because he always glared at her when she did it.

“Yeah, yeah, hilarious. So funny. I’m dying of laughter.” Steve pushed himself to his feet and pulled Peggy up to hers too. “Are you ready, Agent P?”

“What are you saying, Agent S? Don’t I pass muster?”

He gave her a once-over so quick she might have been insulted, if the warm weight of his gaze hadn’t pinned her in place for those few seconds. Her breath caught for an embarrassing moment as his eyes returned to hers. “You look beautiful. And deadly. Perfect, as always—except your tie is crooked.”

“It is not.” Peggy had no idea whether that was true—Steve’s compliments had thrown her for a loop, and recalibrating herself to focus on what he was actually saying was taking longer than it normally did.

He set their glasses on the coffee table and pulled her to their entryway. “Would I lie to you?”

“Yes,” she retorted, but unfortunately her tie was, in fact, listing to one side. “I swear I had it sorted—it must have gotten bored waiting for you to be ready too and decided to relax.”

Steve snorted as she loosened the knot and began to loop the fabric over itself again, but no retort came. He just watched her hands in the mirror as she pulled the long end of the tie through and tightened the knot. But once again, it hung slightly off to the side, and she groaned at her reflection. “These things are bloody impossible. I don’t know how you wear them every day.”

“It just means I have a lot of practice. Come here,” he said, dropping his hands to her shoulders and spinning her around. “Let me fix it.”

Peggy considered the possibility, with Steve’s knuckles brushing against her neck as he re-knotted her black tie, that she was dreaming. Or that she had taken complete leave of her senses. She and Steve were so often in sync—and naturally so, without any conscious thought behind it—that when they weren’t, when they seemed to be in the midst of wildly diverging experiences of the same event, Peggy felt unmoored. Speechless, even. How else could she explain Steve’s efficiency, his apparent immoveabiity, while she was left breathless at the sweep of his hands across her collar? And how was she meant to deal with this new reality, the one where she and her best friend were horribly, perhaps permanently, out of sync, and one wrong word or move could tear everything down?

Steve, oblivious to Peggy’s personal crisis, stepped back and placed his hands on her shoulders again. “There,” he said, a soft smile on his face. “Perfect. As always.”

Peggy placed a hand over the knot and cleared her throat. “As are you, Steve,” she said, relieved her voice stayed steady. “Now, let’s go save the universe. With tequila shots, preferably.”

He laughed and ran his hands down her arms, before taking a single step back. “Yes, ma’am.”

#saturdaystorkclub #steggy #steggy fic #steggyfanevents #steggy au #(press you to) the pages of my heart #thought it was time that I finally participated in one of these!#so here we go - a halloween themed friends to lovers ficlet #and they were roommates #featuring a bit of yearning and assumed unrequited pining #bc ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ that's why #I cannot emphasise enough that this is unbetaed and I am getting back into the writing groove #so thank you in advance for your grace and forgiveness lmao

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