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Gilded Constellations | wolfstar x reader

Series Masterlist | Previous episode

Pairing: Wolfstar x Reader Word Count: 6 K Warnings: none Prompt: What will happen when you face a boggart on DADA? On top of that, it's finally the long awaited day, the quidditch trials, will you make it into the team? This IS a wolfstar x reader fic, but it's incredibly slow burn. They won't start all dating each other until we're very deep into the story, but I promise the long wait will be worth it.

Chapter 7: "Peaceful Easy Feeling"

A week had flown by while at Hogwarts. You were becoming closer and closer to your Gryffindor classmates, and you couldn’t be happier. This morning James reminded you like four times that the quidditch trials would be later that day. He’d given you a list of the things you’d need and made sure you were aware of the fact that he wouldn’t be the only person to choose who made it to the team, so you had to fly as gracefully as you always did, and better.

“You sure you’ve got everything ready?” He asked, yet another time as you walked towards the Great Hall after divination.

“Yes James,” you replied exasperated “I’ve got my broom, and my goggles, and the cape you gave me, and Remus’ sweater from the other day –because he said it would be cold–, and Sirius’ goddamned lucky hair tie too.”

“Excellent, At what time will I see you?”

“4 pm,” he was about to say another thing “Seriously Potter, one more quidditch-related question and I won’t even show up,” you warned.

He nodded “I was actually gonna ask you If I could copy your DADA homework?” He said with a guilty smile “I totally forgot with all the quidditch stuff and Moony is pissed at me because he reminded me of it every night but I forgot anyway.”

You rolled your eyes but took out your parchment and handed it over. “You better change it a bit so Nightshade doesn’t find out, remember she’s really good at spotting stuff.” He nodded profusely.

Your DADA teacher was very strict, absolutely charming, and elegant, but strict nonetheless. Last time she discovered someone had been copying someone else’s homework –Tom copying Beth’s– she took 10 points from each of them and gave them detention until they did the entire thing again. Thankfully Lily had been very participative in that class and the points she won almost balanced out the ones they’d lost.

From your table, Remus was the first one to spot the two of you. He was sitting besides Sirius, and he waved as soon as he saw you, you smiled, and went to take a seat.

“Where’s my hair tie?” Sirius asked as soon as he saw you.

“Nice to see you too Sirius,” You said as you raised your arm and pulled the sleeve of Remus’ sweater back, waving your hand in the air to make its position obvious.

“No, no, no. You need to have it on your hair for it to work,” He said, you raised your eyebrows at him. “Here, I can do it for you.” He grabbed your hand, pulling his hair tie from your wrist and placing it on his, standing up behind you. He then started toying with your hair, brushing it back with his fingers.

“What the hell is that wanker doing to your hair love?” Beth said, pointing at Sirius as she took a seat in front of you.

“Infusing luck into my hairstyle or something,” you shrugged and leaned in to grab a slice of pie from the table, but you were abruptly pulled back by Sirius' hand in your hair “Ouch!” you exclaimed, furrowing your brow in discomfort. You tried to turn your head towards Sirius to glare at him but he firmly grasped your head with both hands and guided it back to face forward “Sirius, stop pulling on my hair!”

“Why? Don’t you like it?” He teased in a flirty tone, fucking Sirius Black.

“Oh course not, goddamnit!”

“Well then! Stop moving until I’m done, Would ya?”

You took a deep breath and attempted to nod, causing your hair to be pulled yet again, you winced. Deciding it was best to remain still, you shifted your gaze toward Beth, who offered you a sympathetic smile. When you finally stopped moving you used your wand to skillfully levitate the food towards your plate and gave a satisfying bite to a piece of fudge. Meanwhile, Sirius gently tugged at the left side of your head, and surprisingly, you found yourself relishing the sensation of his fingers playfully caressing your scalp.

“Hey Potter,” You heard someone shout from the entrance, “See if you can catch this!” the person said before launching a quaffle towards your friend, who swiftly dodged the ball, leaving you in its way instead. You turned your head, feeling another pull from Sirius’ hands on your head but managed to kinda catch the ball as it hit you sharp on the stomach, pushing you back into Remus’ chest, who’d turned to hold you from falling further.

It took you half a minute to get your breath back, and then you turned to the place the ball had come from, Sirius and James were angrily walking towards the person that threw the ball, it was the unhinged boy you saw sitting next to Regulus on the train.

“What the hell Crouch?” Sirius seethed, “You could’ve hurt someone!”

“Hey Volkov,” You heard James shout to a tall boy in Slytherin robes “Keep your dog on a leash, would you?”

Barty just laughed in response “You cowards, you dodged the ball!” He said in between maniacal chuckles.

Feeling a mix of frustration and exhaustion from the hit, You let your head fall on Remus’ shoulder -who was still holding you– and took a deep breath to compose yourself. Finally deciding to intervene, you stood up and strode towards the confrontation. As you glared at the Slytherin boy who had thrown the ball, his laughter started to cease, being replaced by an uncomfortable expression. In hindsight, it might have been a reckless move, you could’ve easily gotten caught for it, but there were no teachers around at that particular moment.

“What the fuck?!” He said after the ball fell on the floor, thick red liquid dripping from his nose “You b*tch!” He roared before he launched himself towards you, being stopped by the towering Volkov boy and Regulus, who’d just arrived at the scene.

“Oops, I guess I threw it the wrong way,” you taunted sarcastically. “Maybe if you were as good at dogging as my boy Potter here,” you said pointing at James “you wouldn’t have ended up in that pathetic situation.” With a dismissive flick of your hair, you turned on your heel and walked back to your table, Sirius’ made ponytail swaying behind you.

Volkov and Regulus practically dragged Crouch out of the Great Hall before James and Sirius finally returned to their seats beside you. You looked at your food with a frown, the hit of the quaffle right in your stomach had taken your appetite away, so you just grabbed your goblet and drank some of the apple juice you’d served yourself earlier.

“You alright?” Remus asked, concerned.

You nodded, Sirius walked back, looking guilty, and sat down beside you “Sorry,” he mumbled.

“For what?” you frowned, confused.

“I could’ve tried to stop the ball, and all I did was yank your head for you to see it.”

“Aww… Sirius is worried about me,” you teased, trying to lighten up the mood “I’m good tho, you do remember I’m a quidditch girl, right? I’m used to getting hit by quaffles.” Sirius shook his head with a little smile forming, “Besides, it was Potter who left me in the line of action,” you emphasised "Potter" so that he would hear you. He turned to you mortified.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he turned to you frantically “I didn’t mean to, I didn’t calculate you were behind me, I’m a seeker, dodging is almost all I do.”

You looked at him with a frown and then laughed, letting your head fall back. James looked completely distraught. “It’s fine James, I was only teasing you.”

Lily gave James a look of disdain “But you should’ve caught it,” she said before pulling a list from her bag “Now, changing the subject, these are going to be the extra-curriculars for this year.” She placed the list in the centre of the table.

You leaned in to take a look, “Apparition?” You asked, “On 6th?”

Beth nodded “I’ve been waiting for this course since 1st, they say Dumbledore is the teacher sometimes.”

“I’m up for that one,” you said, and Lily wrote your name next to apparition.

“You can still choose something else since apparition is only a 12-week course.”

“Uh… Magical Theory?” You asked, looking through the list.

“It’s for creating spells,” said James.

“We’ve been taking it since 3rd,” Remus chimed.

“You’d probably like it,” concluded Sirius.

“I’ll take that one too, then.” You told Lily, who wrote your name on it, “Though Ghoul studies sounds good too.”

“Oh, well, the times clash, but if you want you can come to the Tuesday class with me?” She offered with a smile. You nodded, and then she continued asking the rest of your classmates about their selection for the year.

Once she was done, everyone stood up and you all walked together to your Defence Against the Dark Arts Class. The teacher had moved all the chairs and tables to the back of the room, leaving a large empty space in the middle of the room.

Professor Nightshade was leaning on her desk, looking as graceful as ever, with a little smirk as everyone walked in. “Today, we will be learning how to deal with Boggarts.” The atmosphere in the room quickly became tense. “Mr. Pettigrew, please step forward.”

Peter gulped and walked towards Seraphina, who whispered something in his ear. He nodded, still with a worried look and the professor walked towards a large chest she’d placed at the front, opening it. Some mist came out and it started to transform into a giant rat trap.

You heard Sirius burst out into a laugh from behind you, James jabbed him with his elbow and gave him a warning look. Sirius nodded, giving James an apologetic look.

“Riddikulus!” Said Peter from the front, and the cheese on the trap started growing and growing until it ripped through the cage and caused it to break down. Everyone laughed, causing the boggart to sink back into his chest.

“Excellent work Mr. Pettigrew!” She said and called Beth to the front. When the boggart came out it turned into a huge piece of magical chess, a knight with a giant sword, lunging at her.

She looked to the side, placing her hand over her hand in instinct, “Riddikulus!” She half screamed, the sword became an air balloon and the horse had turned into a cute Merry Go Round one instead. Everyone laughed at it.

Seraphina urged everyone to make a line, and soon enough everyone was facing their own boggart. Sirius dressed his mother in a childish way, with ponytails and everything, Remus made the moon blow up into hundreds of sparkly confetti. Lily turned a Death Eater into a clown. And then it was your turn.

Lily gave you a thumbs up as you walked closer to your teacher, “What do you expect to see?” She asked you calmly.

“I… I don’t know, not sure how a boggart would represent loneliness,” you said, trying to add a bit of humour to the situation. She nodded and walked towards the chest, asking with a rise of her eyebrows if you were ready, you nodded. Soon the dark mist turned into the creature from your nightmares. You stared at it in shock, it looked as imposing and dangerous as it did in your dreams, and then it growled.

From the back of the room, Remus gave a worried look to his friends. “How can she–“ started Sirius.

“–be scared of Moony?” finished James with a frown.

“We haven’t even had a full moon since she got to the castle. There’s no way she’s seen him.” Whispered Peter.

You took a while to react, Seraphina was about to intervene but you raised your wand and whispered “Riddikulus!”. As you steadied your breaths the giant creature started becoming smaller, turning into a small little chihuahua dog, causing the entire class to burst into a laugh.

Tom walked from the side and placed an arm over your shoulder, still laughing “That was brilliant (Y/L/N). Didn’t expect you to be scared of werewolves, tho.”

You turned your head back to the place where the boggart had stood earlier “That- That was a werewolf?”

Tom nodded “We saw them last year on DADA, it's a short chapter, but that’s exactly what they look like.”

You frowned, trying to acknowledge the information. You took a deep breath and went to take a seat, Lily walked towards you then, “You ok?” She asked. She already knew about Remus’ condition and wanted to ask if he was alright too, but he was already having a hushed talk with the boys.

“That was it.” You said, “It’s the creature from my nightmares!”

Lily stayed next to you, rubbing circles on your back, taking quick glances at Remus every couple of minutes. So far, Remus and you had hit it off well, in fact, you’d gotten closer to the boys in a week than most people had in the 5 years they’d been together.

Meanwhile, Remus’ head was in a whirlwind. While James, Peter and Sirius discussed how it was possible that your boggart had been Moony he couldn’t stop himself from going down a self-destructing hole. His new friend was scared of him because he was nothing more than the scary monster Witches told their children about at night. He was the boogie man of the wizarding world.

When the class was over, Remus excused himself and went straight into the common room, you’d had enough time to relax along with Lily and decided to approach the boys, pulling out your quidditch gear from your backpack. You frowned when you noticed someone was missing “Where did Remus go? I thought he was going to come see the try-outs.”

“He said he was feeling a bit shaken,” said Peter and started walking, being quick to change the topic “You feeling ready?”

“I was born ready,” you answered cockily, tightening the ponytail Sirius had made for you earlier. As if cue he walked closer to you and grabbed a stray hair from the braid he’d done on the side of your head and set it back in its place. You were still getting used to Sirius’ touchiness, so you cleared your throat “James, you took my broom to the pitch earlier, right?” you asked, he nodded in response.

As you arrived at the imposing field, you saw a long table placed close to the bleachers, Potter and Sirius walked towards the table taking a seat next to Marlene, and a tall curly-haired boy who you identified as the Gryffindor Head Boy.

“Gather 'round everyone!” Shouted Marlene, all the kids that aspired made a line in front of the table.

Both older and younger kids stood next to you, all looked eager to show off their flying skills to the Gryffindor team.

James stood up, and everyone became quiet, he smiled “All right lads, first we’re testing speed.” He said with a smile “Grab your brooms, and do three laps around the castle.”

You nodded, hovering over the air in a line, along with the rest of the students trying out. Marlene and Sirius went up in the air towards key spots before James gave you the sign to go. You took off and went straight towards the first mark line. James and Teddy had charmed golden light hoops in the air that you had to pass through if you wanted your laps to count. As you were flying you saw Sirius marking the speed of the players with a chronometer and Marlene making sure everyone was following the rules. You were the first one to get back to the pitch, followed by a brunette girl with an athletic build.

“(Y/LN), Davis! Excellent job,” said Teddy when he saw the two of you arrive.

The rest of the kids arrived one by one afterwards. James smiled, as Sirius and Teddy talked in the back, writing notes on the parchments. “Excellent job everyone, now it’s time for the next exercise. You will be playing a tag game.” He said as Teddy came forward and handed each of you a handkerchief. “The game is simple, you will place the handkerchief on your belt. And the rest of the players will try to take it from you. If you lose your handkerchief, you’re out. You will be evaluated on how much you last, and how many handkerchieves you get in the end. The court is the limit, like in a quidditch game. If you fly off limits, you’re out of the game. Any questions?”

A smaller boy raised his hand “What if someone pushes us?”

James nodded “Great question! Same rules as quidditch will apply for this game. Sirius and Marlene will make sure you’re not committing any fouls. Your game starts in 3…2…1… Go!”

You were in the air in an instant. Far higher than everyone else, to get a good view of everyone. You spotted the boy who’d asked the question earlier and you dived straight towards him, passing by him, swiftly taking his handkerchief in your hands before he even noticed he was out, you took a break right before hitting the ground and continued speeding in the lower parts of the court, passing over the table where Teddy and James were sitting, causing some of his parchments to fly around, Sirius laughed when he noticed.

“Show Off!” James shouted at you as he adjusted his glasses and rearranged the parchments with a wave of his wand.

As you flew off, you turned back to give him a small wink and located your next target, a red-haired boy that looked about your age, you assumed he was a seventh year since you hadn’t seen him in your classes. You propelled yourself forward and shot up like an arrow in his direction, dodging the Davis girl as she attempted to claim your handkerchief. You took the redhead’s handkerchief in the blink of an eye and continued flying in circles like a hawk, placing yourself in the highest spot.

You saw Davis turn to you, a smirk on her face as she shot upwards, thinking you hadn’t noticed. But you dived down straight towards her, like a game of chicken. Neither of you broke off the path until you were almost touching each other. Everyone was staring in awe and worry at the two when you turned your whole broom upside down, passing right beneath her and taking her handkerchief. She landed shortly after, still stunned by your manoeuvre, sitting along the Redheaded boy and establishing a chat.

By now, most players had been taken out by the few that were left on the field. A younger-looking boy, who flew gracefully to avoid being taken out. A heavier girl with blonde hair that was looking around trying to find someone to catch and Tim, a boy from your class whom you weren’t particularly close with. You dove for him as the younger boy flew towards the blonde girl. You got Tim’s handkerchief, but the smaller younger boy had been faster to take the girl’s cloth and went straight for you, too fast for you to notice. Taking it seconds after you’d outed Tim. You saw him swiftly pass in front of you and waved with a smile and your handkerchief in his hand, before he flew towards James and the rest of the team, you followed behind him, shaking your head as you admired the boy’s skill.

By the time you got down, everyone was taking their handkerchiefs out. You had taken a total of 4, and tied with Davis, who also had gotten four. The smaller boy, who’d taken yours, had 6 handkerchiefs, counting his own.

“Gale! That was brilliant!” Marlene praised him. He smiled at that, meanwhile Teddy and James were busy talking to each other.

After a couple of minutes James stepped forward “Now we’re testing for keepers’ abilities,” he said motioning towards the hoops, One by one you’ll take turns, Teddy, someone chosen randomly and I will be trying to score, while Mckinnon and Black will be doing their job and trying to throw you off your brooms with the bludgers. It’ll be like a quidditch game, except, you will only have yourself to defend the goals, and maybe a little help from beaters, who will also attempt to throw the bludgers at us… Questions?” No one said anything “Fantastic! (Y/LN), you’ll be scoring with me and Teddy in the first couple of rounds, Davis, you’re defending.”

As you flew into the air you saw James throw the ball towards the left hoop, Davis saw it coming and he blocked it with his broom, you dived for the ball and once you had it you saw a bludger coming in your direction, you flew downwards and threw the ball to Teddy, who scored. You turned towards Sirius, who had batted the bludger towards you with a reproaching expression. “Sorry love,” he mouthed before flying towards the other bludger, shooting it at Davis, who managed to dodge it but left an opening for James, who had the quaffle, to score. By the end of his time, the girl had successfully blocked around 70% of the shots.

Next up, was the redhead boy you’d taken the handkerchief from. You were still playing as a chaser, but Teddy was switched by Davis, so now the two of you were working as a team, and damn did you make a mean team. Davis passed the ball when she saw an opening and you scored several times, so did she. James was impressed by your coordination, especially after the chicken game you’d played in your brooms in the tag exercise. The redhead stopped around 50% of your shorts.

With the next person they kept the same player set, and Tim managed to stop around 70% of your shots. The more you and Davis played together, the better the two became at guessing each other's shots. You already knew James well enough, so the three of you as chasers made an amazing team. Eventually, James switched with Teddy, and the three of you were almost unstoppable, leaving everyone with a 50% or less block rate. Gale, the boy who’d taken the handkerchief from you, was up, and he was good, he stopped almost 90% of the shots. When it was your turn, James made you switch places with Gale.

He was a great chaser too, probably as good as he was as a keeper. Coordinating fantastically well with Teddy and Davis. As you stood your guard, you saw a bludger coming straight towards you, propelled by Marlene’s skillful shot, you instantly knew Gale would attempt to seize the opportunity and score, just like James had done earlier. So locked your gaze on him and as the bludger closed in on you, you swiftly manoeuvred your broom backwards, gaining the necessary traction to execute a handstand atop the handle, allowing the bludger to whizz through the narrow space between your head and the broom while your suspended legs propelled the quaffle aside, successfully blocking Gale's shot.

The strain on your arms intensified, and gravity tugged at your legs, urging you downward. Acting swiftly, you yanked your broom, executing a seamless 180 until it was once again nestled between your legs. You heard some of the spectators from the bleachers gasp and cheer when they saw your manoeuvre. Shifting your focus back to the chasers, their impressed expressions fueled your determination. Gale, in particular, was so stunned he momentarily froze, until Teddy hurled the quaffle towards him jolting him back into action.

He grabbed the quaffle and attempted to score again, you blocked the shot with the back end of your broom. By the end of your time, you started getting a bit more tired, the sky was getting dark and the cold was kicking in. You started feeling sluggish, your hands were so cold you cursed yourself for not bringing gloves, and they hurt from gripping your broom so tightly.

With all of the factors combined, you became slower, you had been flying for at least 4 hours at this point and you hadn’t flown that much since the past June or something. Eventually, the chasers managed to score like 3 times. One after you got a cramp on your left hand, and tried to shake it off, the other one when Teddy did a sick feint, making you think he would score and shoot the ball to Gale, who scored from the other side. In a real game, that goal would’ve been disqualified since the two of them were in the zone, but today, it counted because it was practice. The last one was because Sirius shot a bludger to your face and you ducked, flying towards the left hoop where Davis had shot the quaffle, but even as you stretched your arm, it didn’t reach on time. You blocked a few more shots made by the three of them and James called the end of your turn, letting everyone come down towards the grass. In the end, you had managed to block about 95% of the shots, according to the redhead boy, who was animatedly talking with Tim.

You were so tired that you decided to lean onto your broom, using it as support as James spoke “All right, if you hear your name, please step forward,” he said before adjusting his glasses and grabbing onto a list “Tim Klum, Lucas Platanis, Anne Davis, Gale Thomas and (Y/N)(Y/LN).” You all took a step forward. “Tim, Lucas, you’re gonna be on reserve, mainly as chasers, but McKinnon and Black will train you as beaters in case any of them can’t make it to the match.”

“Davis,” he said looking at the blonde girl “You’ll be a chaser.” She nodded and jumped excitedly. “And finally, Gale and (Y/N), you’re as good as each other, you were both excellent chasers and keepers, Gale you proved to have more resistance, especially towards the end when (Y/N) looked a lot more tired, but she had a better block to shot ratio than you did on the keeper test, which is why, she’ll get to decide which position she’d like to play.”

You looked at him with your eyes opened wide, and he nodded in reassurance, a soft, ecourging smile accompanying his nod “I- um…” you stammered. “I think I’ll be a keeper?”

James nodded “It’s settled then. You may go rest.”

“Hey (Y/LN),” called Teddy “You’d make a really mean seeker, you know that right?”

You smiled “I was a seeker in my older school,” you told him politely “And I can totally cover for James should he need it, but I’m pretty thrilled with the idea of being the keeper for the team. I like a good challenge.”

“All the keepers from the other teams are boys,” he informed “You will need to perfect your resistance and be extremely careful when we play Slytherin, they won’t hold their shots just because you’re a girl.”

You were taken aback “I sure hope they don’t!” You responded, “It’d be too boring.”

He smiled at that and gave you a pat on the shoulder “I’m excited to have you on our team.”

Once Teddy left you to go talk to Gale, Marlene approached you, with a huge grin on her face “You made it!” She said as she grabbed your shoulders, “And you’re so fast too!” She praised.

“Thanks,” you said with a blush creeping up your cheeks, yeah, you may be able to be cocky on the playing field, but when someone you admire praises you like that, you will get shy, it’s how the world works.

“Oh,” she grabbed onto your arm and linked it with hers “I’ll be so refreshing to have you on the team, although you’ll see Potter can sometimes get a bit in the control maniac mood, especially when we’re close to a game.”

“Don’t talk shit about others behind their back, Marlene!” You hear James shout from the table, as he was packing up the stuff.

“He heard that?” You asked with a frown.

She shook her head “He just knows me well.”

As you continued walking Peter, Lily and Mary joined you, “It was brilliant, that backflip? I’d never seen someone do it in school!” Peter mused as he walked beside you.

“I– thanks!” you mustered.

You frowned as you looked through the field “Remus didn’t make it?” You asked, Peter and Lily exchanged an awkward glance between the two of them “Is he still feeling off?”

Lily was quick to nod “he said it might have been the food.”

You frowned, neither you, nor Remus had eaten that much, and you were pretty sure you’d both had only a couple of bites of the same Shepard pie, so whatever he had, wasn’t because of the food. But you decided to push the thought to the back of your mind. You arrived at the great hall shortly after, with Peter going over the highlights of the tryouts, praising you over and over, and mentioning how excited he was for the first game with the new line-up.

When you arrived he started telling Beth about it, who hadn’t been able to go because she was still in detention with Professor Nightshade. “And then she did this freaking amazing handstand-backflip, dodging the bludger Marlene had shot at her, AND–“ he paused dramatically “blocking the god damned quaffle Gale had shot. It was brilliant Beth, you should’ve seen it.”

“Oi, wormy, stop talking about her like she’s a freaking superhero, it’s gonna get on her head,” said Sirius as he placed his arm over your shoulders “She’s already pretty haughty as it is.”

You turned to him with a fake offended expression “Haughty? But look who’s talking?”

“I’m not haughty!”

“Sirius, you might be the cockiest person I know.”

“Well, then, we’ll make quite a pair,” he said with an air of disdain.

Once sitting at the dinner table you grabbed a couple of desserts and placed them on your plate. James raised his eyebrows as he motioned towards it “Only sweet stuff?”

“I’m knackered,” you complained “I need this, urgently.”

He raised his hands in surrender. “Just curious.”

You nodded and gave a bite to your scone. Moaning from how freaking good it was. “The elves outdid themselves today.”

“Or you’re just hungry,” said Sirius, you pulled another scone and shoved it in front of his face, and he gave it a small bite. He moaned too, taking the scone from your hands and eating it by himself.

“You were saying?” He rolled his eyes with a little smile in response, nudging you with his shoulder.

While that exchange was happening Mary leaned down to whisper something at Lily “They’re even feeding each other now!” She said in a half excited tone.

Lily turned to her “Stop it! They’re gonna hear you.”

Once you were done eating, and realised Remus hadn’t made it down for dinner, you grabbed a couple of scones and toast. Since you didn’t know what Remus liked on his toast with, you grabbed all the spreads and put them on different sections of the toast, making a very funny-looking and colourful piece of bread. You placed a piece of bread on top and then put everything on a cloth napkin.

James had gone to talk to Teddy and everyone was still eating, so you excused yourself, “Imma head back now,” you said to Lily, “kinda tired.” She nodded in acknowledgment and waved you goodbye. It took you a couple of minutes to get to the fat lady’s portrait but once there you whispered the passwords and walked into the common room. You spotted Remus sitting in front of the fireplace with a blanket over him, his legs bent and his arms wrapped around them, staring at the fire as if it were the most interesting thing.

“Hey!” You said with a smile “Lily told us you were feeling off.”

He looked up at you, and nodded “How did you do?”

You walked over, sitting almost beside him “I made it to the team,” you smiled “Peter can’t stop talking about it. I think I surprised him with a little trick I did.”

“Congrats!”

“I brought you this,” you said raising your hand with the napkin on top, “they said it might have been your stomach, some sweets could make you feel better.”

He smiled “Thank you,” he said “I was a bit shaken by the boggart, I guess.”

You nodded “I can relate.” He winced but you didn’t notice as you were looking at the fire. “The scones are out of this world,” you said as you handed the napkin over to him. He unwrapped the knot at the top and grabbed one of them, giving it a bite and smiling.

“Mhmmm…”

You smiled “Told ya,” you took a deep breath and let yourself fall on top of the rug. Placing your hands under your head for support. “Sometimes when I’m feeling bad, I like looking at the sky.”

He chuckled, “I’m not such a big fan.”

“You don’t like stargazing?” You asked, frowning and turning your head back to look at him.

“No, I- do like stars,” he corrected “but I sometimes find all the other stuff, a little anxiety-inducing.”

“Only stars then,” you said, smiling as an idea popped in your head. You pulled your wand and started launching bright balls of light to the ceiling, recreating the night sky as best as you remembered.

Eventually, he let himself fall on the rug beside you, “What are you doing?” He asked.

You smiled mischievously and pointed at the candles that surrounded the room “Nox,” you whispered, suddenly the lights at the top of the ceiling were the only visible thing, making it look like a clear night sky “There you go, only stars.”

Remus laughed, “You know, they’ve got a similar thing on the Ravenclaw tower.”

“Do they? Is it as pretty as mine?”

He laughed, “Theirs was cast by Rowena Ravenclaw.”

You chuckled “Well, theirs might be prettier, but this one?” you pointed at the ceiling “this one is ours.” You had replicated the night sky as best as you remembered, but you’d also added several stars that didn’t really exist, one for each one of your friends, and they were the brightest.

“That’s yours,” you said pointing at one of them “That one is Peter’s, next to James’, obviusly. Sirius is on Canis Major,” you said, drawing the lines in between the stars with your wand. “But he’s brighter than the rest,” you said, since you hadn’t added an extra star for him, just made his brighter.

Remus chuckled “He is indeed.” There was a comfortable silence and Remus spoke again “And you?”

“Me? I guess I didn’t make myself one.”

He then grabbed his wand and threw a small but bright light towards the ceiling.

“A comet?” You asked as you realised the trail of light trailing behind the star he’d created.

“I’ve always found them intriguing. They appear suddenly, blazing across the sky,” He said, “kind of like the way you showed up, out of nowhere.”

You laughed “Well, at least they’re pretty, even if fleeting.”

“But you won’t be,” he said pointing at the comet he’s created, “It’ll circle through the rest of the stars you made, forever.”

You took a deep breath, realising how fast you’d been accepted by Hogwarts and your new friends. They had all been so kind, guiding and welcoming. Never leaving you out, even inviting you to clubs and other reunions they had created long ago. You knew the fact that you’d met Sirius before was of great help, but in this moment, you realised, that even without meeting him, Remus, and James and Lily and Marlene and everyone would’ve been just as welcoming. You remembered a line from a book you’d read long ago “Profound connections can be formed in the briefest of encounters.”

It happened with Sirius during your vacation, and now it was happening here in Hogwarts too. And you smiled, looking at the sky you’d created. Moving to England might have been one of the best things to ever happen to you.

Series Masterlist | Next Chapter

TAGLIST: @rayrlupin @callmelovergirl @warcelia @ireneop @endversewinchester @moonyunebi @smuttysluttybitch @mazzymoons @drugs-for-memes @sofiacblair @vmpir3lvr @remuslupinisbae @rabluver @willgrahamisalesbi4n @thatobsessedreader @orkwardx0 @itskailey24 @hell0-kittie @belovedmoony @blacksgarden

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A/N: My sweet boy Remus deserves the world. Barty is a little deranged, but thet's why we love him, I'm sure he'll hold a grudge for what happened, though. Little sneak peak: next episode is gonna be spicy, so stay tuned <3

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lurkingshan · 3 months

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10 Things I Love About Ossan's Love Returns

Y’all. Y'ALL. I am stunned right now. I am verklempt. I never thought I would end up here. But here I am.

I bounced hard off the original Ossan's Love. Like, hard. I DNF'd and immediately memory holed just about everything I knew about it. But people I trust (namely @isaksbestpillow and @twig-tea) said this new series was an improvement on the original, and that I didn't have to go back and try rewatching the first series to dive into this one. So of course I, a jbl devotee, had to give it the old college try.

AND TO MY SHOCK AND AWE, I LOVE IT. This show is excellent. This is Japanese media at its absolute best, showcasing the precision in writing, directing, editing, and acting that they can reach when they are firing on all cylinders. This is the kind of comedy only a Japanese production can get right, because it requires a mastery of all these elements that you just can't get in less mature filmmaking industries. This is the best example I have ever seen of this kind of broad comedic style grounded in real stakes.

So let me tell you why this show, which is available for the international audience on Gaga (and with subs coming from Sirii, as well!), is worth your time:

This is a story about an established relationship between adult characters. Y'all know how I feel about the dearth of this we get in drama! Maki and Haruta have been long distance for four years and are moving in together to start their married life as this show begins.

The writing is unbelievably strong. Everything that happens matters, the characters always make sense, and the jokes are genuinely so fucking funny.

Kurosawa, or Chief, as I refer to him, is one of the funniest characters of all time, in any drama. The way this man had me laughing out loud in every scene! I felt like I got a workout.

This show is a feat of editing. I have been watching a string of shows recently that are getting hamstrung by bad editing, so let me tell you, it was a true pleasure to watch a drama that executes editing tricks so deftly and with such an eye toward sharpening its story and enhancing its jokes.

It has excellent female side characters. We have Chizu, my favorite lady bestie who is here to whip Haruta into shape at all times, and Chuoko, an actual archer who also has her own little romance going, and Haruta's mom, an unbothered legend who just wants to eat her food and get to her dates with her boyfriend.

There's a mystery! Next door to Haruta and Maki are two creepy mfers (brothers?) who are Up To Something. Or not! I don't know but I’ll find out!

We are getting an actual dialogue about gay marriage. Haruta and Maki consider themselves married, but have no legally binding contract and have not yet had a wedding, and they talk about this and their feelings about it often as they are negotiating their lives together.

We may have some aroace rep happening?? This is still pending but my radar is pinging hard for Takegawa to join the incredibly shortlist of explicitly aro and/or ace characters in bl.

DID I MENTION THIS SHOW IS FUCKING HILARIOUS. I cannot overstate the number of times this drama had me straight cackling in three short episodes. I had to get up and do some laps to walk it off.

The show is extremely well paced and I trust it not to waste my time. No small thing in these bl streets! The odd episode order (9) and tight pacing of each of the first three episodes tells me the creators of this show know exactly what they are doing and how much time they need to execute their vision.

This show is airing live for the next six weeks and I strongly encourage you to watch it and come join the fun with us!

#ossan's love returns #ossan's love #japanese bl #shan recommends #10 things #shan shouts into the void

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mikuni14 · 3 months

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The last 2 weeks have provided me with amazing experiences from the BL series fan community. Moments when several series with very active fandoms are aired at the same time are very rare, and with the end of 2 series this week, I'm already mourning this wonderful, one-of-a-kind experience.

I have been camping in the following tags for many days and each one is different and unique: Love For Love's Sake I can't put into words what this show and fandom has given me. The number of absolutely insane analyses, meta, touching declarations of love to this series from moved viewers, and beautiful gifs is staggering. The series is excellent, the audience's reaction is also wonderful, it was such a great experience. Which doesn't surprise me, because it was people's reaction to real ART, which is always something special. The series itself is 10/10 for me in every category: love story, plot, actors, emotions, my investment in the story, quality, execution, even the "heat", because even though there were no love scenes, the guys were able to convey that they are very into each other 🥰

Dead Friend Forever I also enjoy the fandom experience immensely, the tag is full of great analysis and meta. The plot is so interesting and full of surprising twists and turns that there is always something new to discuss and come up with wild theories. The series is still ongoing, but for this moment it's also perfect for me and 10/10: love story (hehe), plot, actors, emotions, my investment in the story, quality, execution, also the "heat" (hehe).

Pit Babe I rate the fandom experience as *chef's kiss*. Tag is also full of interesting analyzes and meta, amazing gifs of Way. The fandom is generally very cheerful and unhinged, which is GREAT ✨ But what's most interesting is that if someone who didn't know Pit Babe checked the tag now, they would never guess who the main character and main couple of the series are (and this doesn't only apply to tumblr!). I find this incredibly funny 🤡 I'm not that interested in the series itself, so I won't rate it. I treat it as pure fun and entertainment, so I have zero expectations for the finale, especially since, of course, I've already stumbled upon possible spoilers. Personally, what I will take away from the entire series is my deepened love for Nut and a fascination with Way, whom I want like little girls want a new Barbie doll.

Last Twilight Another wild fandom experience lol I practically didn't visit the tag of this series at all, but I spent the last two episodes there in full camping mode, in a tent and cooking coffee after coffee over the fire 😄 Fans have once again soared to the heights of perfection, writing amazing analyzes and meta responses to the crap of the last episodes. The criticism was precise, justified, systematized, methodical and accurate 👩‍🎓 As with LFLS, it was an intellectual experience. The fans provided better entertainment than the series itself lol

The Sign hmm, for several weeks the tag has been dominated by BillyBabe, which is not strange because only this couple is responsible for BL aspect in this BL series 😄 I rate my fandom experience with The Sign in two categories: "until episode 7" full of amazing meta, analysis, beautiful gifs and enrichment for me as a fan, overall 10/10 and "after episode 7" which I spent mainly on… liking BillyBabe's photos and videos . Which is ok, because, well, I do like them a lot 😉

Two of the above series have already ended, although fans are still present, two more are ending this week. That's why I would like to take this opportunity and say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to all the fans, those who wrote emotional entries, deep and thoughtful meta, funny posts, created beautiful gifs, analyzed endlessly the smallest details and posted photos and videos of their favorite actors. You all made these last few days so interesting and fun. I hope there will be more days like this in 2024! 🥰

And now I'll only have DFF…

#love for love's sake #dead friend forever #pit babe the series #last twlight the series #the sign the series #thai bl #korean bl #bl drama

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whittingsonder · 5 months

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Ok there’s a lot of valid reasons to hate on TikTok but I still think that the week after the “Dream vs Gumball” situation on that app was one of the best things to came out of social media ever

At least five incredible animations. Someone turned it into a full gumball episode. The edits were coming out by the minute. Censorship was EVERYWHERE. THE MEMES.

The creativity people put to use absolutely pummeling Dream with those videos/tweets was INSANE. Legendary social media moment. 10/10

#dream situation #tw dream #dream neg #dream vs gumball #not to mention they all had a million+ likes #absolutely incredible

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cassberry · 7 months

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(Looking to watch 3rd Life, Last Life or Double Life? Here you go!)

If you are looking for a guide of some Limited Life episodes to catch up on for no particular reason at all (certainly not a new season being around the corner), I've got you covered!

Now I'm not going to lie, trying to curate this list for Limited Life broke me. The mechanics of this season meant that you gained time by killing other players and in doing so it felt like 50 things were happening all at once constantly across the server. As such I haven't been able to get absolutely everything onto this list, but I did try my best to get all the important events and a wide range of perspectives!

WARNING: Incredibly long read more where I go over why I picked certain POV's and what to expect. I do so love to ramble. Spoilers ahead!

SESSION ONE

Skizz - Breaking from tradition from recommending Grian first because you need to watch Skizz's POV first out of everyone unspoiled. The way things unraveled this episode felt like a sitcom in the best and worst ways lol

Grian - Just a good solid first episode honestly and with the start of the Bad Boys™ how can you not love it.

Scar - I really have no words for whatever is the dynamic of the Clockers because you really just have to see it to understand. It’s a fun episode and as Scar, Cleo and Bdubs have set up near spawn, you always get to see something interesting.

Big B - Big B’s episodes are always a treat as he does super long ones that give you a little more insight into what's happening on the server, rather than just the big events. But if you wanted something specific to watch, his last 10 minutes of this episode were a blast.

SESSION TWO

Joel - Bad Boys Bread Bridge was both the most amazing and ugliest build on the server and I’m so glad it was made. Also Joel gets some amazing kills this episode that are so tense to watch.

Martyn - Look this one is here because of a little personal bias. Martyn shouts me out in the episode so I couldn’t not add it lol It’s also a very good episode in of itself in that it introduces the Mean Gills and I’ll always be a Mean Gills supporter. Also that Tilly roast? oof

Pearl - Pearl is constantly on the move this episode and living up to her Nosy Neighbour title so watch her episode if you want some good gossip and to see the lay of the land.

Tango - Tango always delivers a solid episode and as he was building the TIES Tower a majority of the time he receives a lot of foot traffic through the area creating some fun interactions.

SESSION THREE

Scar - And in this episode of Limited Life, Scar rediscovers the joys of minecart TNT.

Impulse - Impulse is such a fun boogey to watch, and the way he edited this episode around his thought process of who to kill was great.

Grian - Kind of a different episode this session as Grian was sick so he was afk the entire time. It was very very very funny to watch, but as he wasn’t interacting with anyone you’re going to miss a lot of context if you only watch his POV. You should still give this a watch though!

Joel - Watching poor Joel run around after Grian trying to keep him safe was incredibly entertaining lmao

SESSION FOUR

Scott - I believe Grian said it best, but this session felt like a final session with the way the yellows were chasing after the greens. It was pure chaos the entire time and Scott beautifully evading them all until his descent into yellow was perfection.

Tango - Tango is here for the same reason as Scott but as the last green the final hunt for him was terrifying to watch.

Cleo - I love Cleo’s episodes and this one was just a joy. She was slightly sick this week but I feel like that only lowered her inhibitions to do some out of pocket stuff.

Jimmy - The exciting saga of Judge Judy and Executioner continues in Jimmy’s episode this week and if you didn’t know anything about it, that's ok! Neither did anyone else on the server except for Jimmy, Pearl and Big B lmao consider this the best episode to watch if you want this plotline covered.

SESSION FIVE

Etho - Considering the episode starts off with Etho having to babysit Bdubs, then an awkward family dinner and an explosive game of catch, I really couldn’t have asked for a better Etho video.

Big B - This session was a lot more calm than the previous, so there was a lot more alliance talk happening. Big B has a great perspective on all that as he and Pearl get up to a tonne of mischief that causes some problems with some alliances they already had.

Scott - Once again this was an alliance building week and Scott’s episode really highlights some of the more fun things that happened to make and break some relationships.

Grian - Poor Bread Bridge o7 you will be missed. Thankfully M-Rye 5 was there at the end to rain chaos from above. (<-sentences that make no sense out of context)

SESSION SIX

Cleo & Pearl - I couldn’t choose between either of these two this session. Both Cleo and Pearl were out sick so they handed over their accounts to two other players. I won’t spoil who they are but these episodes were amazing.

Jimmy - The Bad Boys were going through it this week goddamn lol It never stops being funny how much of a mess everything becomes when they get together.

Martyn - It was his birthday this session and he’s just a little guy! Surely nothing would go wrong at his birthday party? And certainly not caused by him!

Tango - The last half of Tango’s episode is just a comical amount of deaths that only get funnier and funnier as the time between them shortens.

SESSION SEVEN

Skizz - Oh Skizz. You are too good for this world. His ending for this episode was heartbreaking and Affirmation Station will live on in my heart forever.

Scott - I love watching Scott run around the map and hunt people down because he is so good at the game! I believe he had the highest kill count this session and I loved every minute of it.

Joel - (Major Spoilers) Ah Joel it just wasn’t meant to be! But hearing the desperation in his voice grow higher and higher as the clock ticked down was nail biting. Scar - Just a good Scar episode honestly! Shows what the Clockers are up to during all the chaos and a great view of the server devolving into anarchy.

SESSION EIGHT

Martyn - WOOOO YESSSS LETS GOOOOOO (<- does that count as spoilers???)

I distinctly remember being on the edge of my seat this whole episode and Martyn delivers in every way possible for a fantastic final episode of the season.

Impulse - I haven’t mentioned it yet but Impulse’s editing this season went wild and it's none more apparent than in this episode. He and his team went crazy for the finale.

Etho - Such a fun episode!! The twist at the end with the diamond sword coming into play was everything I could have wanted and more.

Pearl - It was really a toss up between Pearl and Scott for this last spot, but I loved her perspective for the one last minigame on the server.

BONUS

Bdubs - Do you have a spare 12 hours to dedicate to Limited Life? Then oh boy does Bdubs have a video for you! Instead of weekly videos he decided to collate all his episodes into one mammoth video which was an absolute blast to watch over a weekend! It’s a really interesting POV to watch because when LimLife was airing Bdubs would just appear all over the map and we never had any idea what he was doing so it was awesome to have some concrete evidence of his shenanigans. Definitely give this one a watch if you’re in the mood for a marathon!

IN SUMMARY…

I swear if the next season is as messy as this one, I think I’m going to have to start taking notes when it's airing because I think this took years off my life haha if you think I’ve missed anything please tag it because I would love to see it! I definitely could have added more POV’s per session like I did with the Last Life and 3rd Life guides, but I think a more curated list helps keep down the overwhelming nature of trying to watch a million Limited Life episodes.

But really, I loved watching Limited Life live so I’m glad I give myself an excuse each new season to go back and watch the season over again. There are so many little foreshadowed moments that you don’t see on the first watch and honestly it all just makes me more excited for the new season! Thanks for reading <3

#limited life smp #limited life #life series smp #trafficblr #mcyt #this was meant to be done ... ages ago but you know life gets in the way lol #i still love doing these :D #so im glad i got it done before the new season drops friday!#berry.posts

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vestaclinicpod · 17 days

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Audio Drama Sunday - 14th April ✨

Oh my god, the audio sure did drama this week!!

👻 @tellnotalespod (S2E7.5) HOW did none of us put this together sooner?! Oh my god, what an absolutely INCREDIBLE little twist. I love the undercurrent of hopeful resilience in Tell No Tales (Leo is going to get with the programme really soon 🤞) and I am screaming, crying and throwing up imagining the end of season reunion 😭 HOWEVER, don’t think I missed for a second that Riley is asking for another packet of painkillers . . . it would be so like him to think that 16 paracetamol is two doses of paracetamol but still! He needs to be okay!!

🌲 @hellofromthehallowoods (147) hhhhh what a GOOD episode. There’s something different about the horror of season 4 that I want someone with a literature degree to talk to me about for hours. Can we please talk about how the murder victim had a treble clef carved into them . . . i.e. the symbol at the start of a piece of music. It’S SO CLEVER I love the intricate details of this show!!!!! And, can we also talk about how emotional I feel about Clem (namer of everything) is in love with Shelby (has a cat named Cat). There’s something in that which is giving me palpitations.

🦀 @thesiltverses (39) You wouldn’t think one would be happy to have silt in their ears, but I am!! I’ve missed this story so much and I loved the twist in this episode. Carson has practically wrapped Shrue in a bow and handed them to Carpenter and Hayward. I can’t WAIT for that conversation.

🧳 Travelling Light @monstrousproductions (17) Oh this is so beautiful! Do humans do this with ice?? I think we should 1000% do this with ice! I don’t have voting privileges (yet 💸) but I think they should go easy on their foes in the snowball fight. I would love to see how adorably smug Óli is if allowed to win 🥺

🤴 Inco @itmeblog (S3E20-34) If anyone takes SAWA away from Nova again I am going to throw HANDS. I’ve always considered SAWA to be endearingly overbearing with her prompts to Nova but we got such a good glimpse of how vital she is in the library/archives and I love her 😭

♦️@grottopod (8) Grotto finale! I loved the music at the start of this episode and it was so satisfying to hear David get to express some of his frustrations. Season two sounds like it’s going to be wild.

⚔️ @camlannpod (7) This episode KILLED me. Here are the quotes that made me scream: “GWEN: You can’t love the mental illness out of someone.” (10/10, true, valid, hurts) “PERRY: Eat a dick, Kay.” (11/10 the crowd goes WILD) “RHIANNON: (calling to the group as they leave) Cousin. About your lover. You didn’t fail him. You just needed more time.” (1/10 OW?????? OW OW WHY? OW!!!!) “MORGAN: You’re just as bad as Arthur. Worse. At least he was honest about it.” (??/10 JAW ON THE FLOOR) I need this podcast forever 🥺

🖥️ The Magnus Protocol (11) Oooh I liked this episode!! I love it when you’re left to fill in the blanks in a horror story - my mind is still whirring through so many awful scenarios.

🍎 @notquitedeadpod (XXXIV-XXXV) ah! I’ve accidentally caught up to Not Quite Dead! What will my Sunday afternoons look like now?? There were so many moments in these eps which made me laugh but I’m mostly just so in awe of how complex and real these characters are. Neige genuinely feels 10000 years old and shaped by the trauma of each of them. I need to check the release schedule because I cannot wait for more!!

Have a good week of listening, everyone! 🌈

#audio drama sunday #tell no tales #hfth spoilers #tsv spoilers #travelling light #inco #tmagp spoilers #camlann #not quite dead #the grotto

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gothicbarbie · 4 months

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TOP 30 BL'S OF 2023

It's that time again! The end of 2023 is here, and 2024 is upon us! Once again, we were blessed with some truly amazing BL series and I have tried my hardest to rank them all. I could only narrow it down to 30 this time cuz there were so many good ones. If a BL is not listed, it probably means I haven't watched it yet, but it is likely on a "for later" list.

GOD TIER 10/10

1. The Eighth Sense (KOREA) Absolutely ADORE this series, it was so well done. Beautiful filming and locations, each episode felt very different in terms of setting, the pacing was nice, and the chemistry was really good too between the main pairing. It was great to get some nice kissing moments as well. Def. one of the best KBL's I've seen ever and easily fits into my top 5 BL's of all time.

2. I Cannot Reach You (JAPAN) One of Japan's best series imo. Very cute storyline, I found both characters extremely likable and fun. I love their cute friendship and subtle build up. I really enjoyed watching this one.

3. My Personal Weatherman (JAPAN) Another great one from Japan, with lots of high heat scenes. Parts of the storyline were a little confusing to me at times but I think a change of scenery could have benefited the series, but regardless, I still really enjoyed it week to week.

4. Kiseki Dear to Me (TAIWAN) Probably my favorite Tawain BL ever after We Best Love. I mainly just loved the chemistry between the two couples, they were both really fun to watch and had wonderful chemistry as well as lovely kissing scenes. Def excited to rewatch this one in the future.

5. Our Dating Sim (KOREA) It's hard to believe this was from 2023, but I recently rewatched the whole thing and it held up! It was a very fun and cute series, and the build up with the main pairing was so well done. It really felt like the writers took their time with this series.

TOP TIER 9/10

6. Stay With Me (CHINA) Shocking to see a chinese series on this list, but this is one of my all time favorite BL series. Some people might argue that it isn't BL, but I highly disagree. We got a few "cheek" kisses and most romantic scenes were heavily implied but for me, it was still worth the watch. The ending was rough to say the least, and I really hope we get a season 2 to sort of rectify that, but regardless, I really loved it.

7. My School President (THAILAND) Another series that feels like it was SO long ago, but is def. at the top of my list for Thailand. Gemini/Forth's chemistry was on point and I loved the cute moments and subtle build up in this one.

8. A Shoulder to Cry On (KOREA) My only critique with this series is the lack of a kissing scene. I know for some people that isn't important, but to me it is and I was a bit frustrated to get nothing after such incredible build up, but regardless, the series was really nice and I loved the tension between the main two characters.

9. City Boy Log (KOREA) This one is still ongoing and not quite a BL series technically, but its scripted, and we get lots of BL moments, so I will count it in my list. I am loving the web style filming of this series and both couples a lot. I hope the main pairing gets the opportunity to be in an actual series together.

GREAT 8/10

10. Utsukushii Kare 2 (JAPAN) Sadly haven't been able to see the movie just yet, but the 2nd series was pretty well done. Not as enjoyable for me as season 1 but I still really enjoyed watching the main pairing navigate their relationship.

11. Never Let me Go (THAILAND) One of the better series from Thailand this year imo. I really liked the chemistry between pondphuwin and the episodes were packed with some pretty interesting storylines and build up, it was very fun to watch.

12. Ameiro Paradox (JAPAN) I've seen some people hate on this series, but personally I loved it. I found the chemistry between the leads to be super strong and I loved the build up to them recognizing their feelings. The kissing scenes were great as well. There were a few blah plots but overall I really enjoyed it.

13. Moonlight Chicken (THAILAND) Something about this series felt a bit more mature to me and it was a nice change from some of the cheesier bl's that try so hard to be funny? I really loved all the pairings in this series and the storyline was nice.

14. Tokyo in April (JAPAN) For me this one started out great but then kinda lost me near the end. I did love most of the storyline but other parts were super frustrating to watch. I enjoyed the manga a bit more I think? But still, it was nice.

15. Bed Friend (THAILAND) Loved this one on first watch but on rewatch it was just okay for me. I think some of the plots were just over-dramatic and too depressing. But the friends with benefits plot was well done and the chemistry between the main two was really strong. It was fun.

16. A Breeze of Love (KOREA) I might have enjoyed this one a bit more had I seen the eps slower. Because I binged it's hard to get a good grasp on it but I did really like it. I liked the chemistry between the main couple and there was a sweetness to it I enjoyed.

17. Love Class 2 (KOREA) I think I slightly preferred the overall storyline of season 1, but in this one I preferred all the couples. For me that was the biggest draw. It was a tad bit confusing at first, but then it started to come together near the middle. Not the absolute best from Korea but enjoyable.

Good 7/10

18. Bump up Business (KOREA) Great chemistry between the leads but unfortunately the plot fell a bit flat for me. I feel like they could have done so much more with it. The kiss was also extremely weak, but that was expected. It was a nice series to binge, but not one of my favs this year.

19. Destiny Seeker (THAILAND) Parts of this one were really odd and I think part of my issue was having wonky subs, but regardless, I really enjoyed the series and especially the chemistry between the main pairing. Loved watching their story build, their banter was so fun. I also liked the side pairing but wish they had a bit more focus.

20. Why R U Korea (KOREA) This one did not remind me of the OG at all, which is fine, but overall I found this series to be a tad slow. There were good and bad moments.

21. Love Mate (KOREA) Some of the KBL's this year get a bit confusing and I mix them all together... this is one that sort of got lost in the shuffle for me and I would need to rewatch to give a better opinion on it but I know I did enjoy it.

DECENT 6/10

22. HiStory 5 (TAIWAN) Sadly didn't enjoy this season of HiStory as much as past seasons but it was okay. I think it had some good moments but overall left me a bit underwhelmed.

23. The New Employee (KOREA) Didn't love this one as much as others have seemed to. I didn't find the chemistry to be that strong and I also am not fond of office romances, but it was okay.

24. Dangerous Romance (THAILAND) This one was forgettable but again, had some enjoyable moments. I think I liked it more in the beginning rather than the end.

25. If It's With You (JAPAN) Sweet series that simply just fell flat for me because it just felt too short so I couldn't really get invested in it. But it was cute.

26. My Story (FILO) This one was good, I liked both pairings a lot and there were some decent kissing scenes, but there were also a lot of cringey moments and moments I had to fastforward. For The Philippines I think it was one of the better series this year, but it's not at the top of my list.

27. Sing My Crush (KOREA) Another KBL that is so quick that you can binge in one night... this one didn't deliver for me as much as it did for others. The chemistry was good and it was sweet but I just found myself a bit bored of it. Still cute tho.

28. The Director Who Buys Me Dinner (KOREA) The plot is weird AF and I am not a big fan of like historical past lives romance type of plots but I did enjoy the chemistry between the main two. It might be a bit higher if the ending wasn't so weird...

29. Starstruck (KOREA) Another KBL that is a bit forgettable to me but from what I remember I enjoyed it.

30. Bon Appetit (KOREA) See above. lol.

Honorary mentions: These were good but not quite good enough for my list. I liked them but had small issues with them. Either cheesey or boring plots, or the chemistry was lacking for me. Also they are in no particular order:

1. His Man 2 (KOREA) - Not BL at all, but a reality series which was AMAZING. LOVE LOVE LOVED the ending pair... but couldn't put it on the main list because it's not scripted.

2. Minato’s Laundry 2 (JAPAN) -season 1 was amazing, this one didn't hold up. Hated how awkward they were as a couple and it just felt too unrealistic to me. Regardless, i still love the chemistry between the main two and liked seeing them again.

3. Hidden Agenda (THAILAND) - love joondunk and wish they would get a better storyline. This plot was all over the place but the chemistry was there. The kisses were top tier!

4. Only Friends (THAILAND)- i did love the messiness of this one and there were some fun pairings with hot scenes, but overall I felt the SL was a bit chaotic and some characters never really grew. I wish they had leaned into the sexy/messiness of it a tad bit more tbh.

5. Stay by My Side (Taiwain) - cute but a bit forgettable. I did enjoy the chemistry a lot in this one tho.

6. You Are Mine (Tawiain) - same as above, except the pairing wasn't as exciting for me.

7. Our Dining Table (JAPAN) - i know everyone loves this one and it was very cute and sweet, but a bit too slow for my taste.

8. End of the World With You (JAPAN) - some interesting plots and fun to watch, but overall a bit messy and problematic at times? lol.

9. Til the World Ends (THAILAND) - see above.

10. Jack O Frost (JAPAN)- decently cute series but the tone of it was a bit too depressing for me.

11. The Day I Loved You (FILO) -started great but was too emotional/sad for me after a few eps in.

12. Unintentional Love Story (KOREA) - seems a lot of people loved this one but it wasn't really my cup of tea. I found the plot very slow and the main couple was kinda bland imo. But I am willing to rewatch it and give it another chance soon.

13. Between Us (THAILAND) - technically this started in 2022 but it finished in 2023, so I'll include it. It was okay but not great. Much better series for bounprem but still found myself a bit bored.

Watched these ones in 2023 but they didn't make much of an impact in me. They had good and bad bits but to me, mostly bad. lol (No particular order)

1. Jun and Jun

2. Past-tenger

3. Love Tractor

4. Egoist Movie

5. Happy Merry Ending

6. Be My Favorite

7. A Boss and a Babe

8. Step by Step

9. Naked Dinner

10. Wedding Plan

11. My Dear Gangster Oppa

12. Cutie Pie 2

These series were forgettable or annoying imo and and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend them to anyone. However, they might be worth skimming through like I did? Good luck! lol. (In no order)

1. Hit Bite Love

2. Naughty Babe

3. Laws of Attraction

4. Remember Me

5. Love Bill

6. 609 Bedtime Story

7. All the Liquors

8. Be Mine Superstar

9. House of Stars

10. La Pluie

11. Our Sky 2

12. Venus in the Sky

13. Tin Tem Jai

14. Middleman’s Love

15. Future the Series

16. Tie the Knot

17. Luminous Solution

18. Bake Me Please

19. Our Winter

20. Stay Still

Shows I watched in 2023 but that are from previous years:

1. Bad Buddy (loved it!)

2. Advance Bravely (weird but enjoyable)

3. Why You Y Me (good)

4. Ghost Host Ghost House (okay)

5. La Cuisine (meh)

6. Win Jamie’s Heart (forgettable)

7. Kabe Sa Doujin (blah)

8. Catch Me Baby (skimmed for netjames only)

9. 21 Days Theory (what is this again?)

10. Innocent the Series (already forgot it)

Tried and Quit: I just couldn't get into these at all... I will probably not watch these ever.

Crazy Handsome Rich

Dinosaur Love

Low Frequency

Love Syndrome 3

If a show is from 2023 and not listed above, then likely I plan to get to it later. Either I tried the premiere and it didn’t capture me at first, I couldn’t find the episode when I tried to look for it, or I simply just haven’t had time for it yet.

A few on my list that i plan to watch because I heard good things about them are: I Feel You Linger in the Air, Lost in Translation, Beyond the Star, Shadow, My Universe. Plus many others. Let me know if there is a show you really loved that I didn't mention so I can check it out!

Oh, and here are all previous lists since TUMBLR is being a little bitch and not saving the tags.

2022: https://gothicbarbie.tumblr.com/post/705139242020618240/my-top-20-bl-series-of-2022

2021: https://gothicbarbie.tumblr.com/post/705227666795741184/my-top-15-bl-series-of-2021

2020: https://gothicbarbie.tumblr.com/post/705674738528354304/my-top-15-bls-of-2020

2019 and earlier: https://gothicbarbie.tumblr.com/post/705678223200174080/my-top-bls-of-2019-and-earlier

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williamrikers · 4 months

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Some Personal Favorite BL Moments of 2023

this is inspired by @lurkingshan's post, thank you for that 😊

Best Show

be my favorite, hands down. this show hooked me right from the very beginning, and each week it kept outdoing itself. the kindest, most compassionate storytelling mixed with some absolutely amazing character journeys and a strong message at its heart, bmf will stay with me forever (and not only because i managed to snatch one of the utterly gorgeous box sets for my collection). 12/10 puffball music boxes

Best Scene

alan and wen pre- and post-breakup at the start of episode 5 of moonlight chicken. i've rewatched these nine minutes more times than i can count. both first and mix do some incredible acting here, and it's such an utter joy to watch. 5/5 crying firsts sliding down a wall

The Scene That Came For My Life The Most

look, i've talked about only friends episode 6 [4/4] before. you all already know that i desire mew carnally for what he did with that audio tape. i have also rewatched this scene an embarrassing amount of times. 96/69 illicit sex tapes

Most Rewatchable Show and Best Main Couple

this one goes to a boss and a babe. i have already rewatched this show twice this year, and i love it more on every single rewatch. i regularly lose my mind about how much i love this silly little show and start waxing poetic about how much this love story means to me, how much i adore gun and cher's weirdness, their communication, their commitment, their gentleness, their mutual respect, the way they help each other and heal each other, the way they make each other feel safe and loved, which my friends from the bl besties server can attest to. maybe one day, i'll put all of my ramblings into a coherent format, but for now please trust that this show is absolutely wonderful and extremely special to me. 1000/10 gaymer friends sleepovers

Best Premise (That Was Utterly Ruined By The Show)

i've got to say dangerous romance, although step by step comes in at a close second. after the second episode of dr, i was out here writing hundreds of words worth of meta, and then... well, then the show became what it unfortunately is, now. i still want to see the show that i was promised (a thriller about two poor brothers who get into hot water because of money issues and end up having to turn to crime to survive, all while the younger brother slowly falls in love with the biggest bully at school, and over the course of the show the bully needs to learn to become a better person and help sailom overcome the trust issues he should have had from growing up constantly threatened and sometimes physically abused by members of the mafia.) -20/10 stupid fucking windmills for ruining something that could have been amazing

Best Side Couple

tiwpor, you will always be famous to me. my school president itself might just have given us crumbs, but i licked those tiny crumbs right off the floor with delight, and when our skyy 2 made it canon, i lost my entire mind. i could not have asked for more. 2/2 couples t-shirts

Best Date

yang and phumjai on their practice date in episode 4 of love in translation was probably the sweetest thing that happened on any bl in 2023. in the later episodes, they had many more beautiful moments together as well as some incredibly amazing physical intimacy (plus, in the extended iqiyi cut, one hell of a foreplay scene), but their sweet date before they had even confessed their feelings has stayed with me. 11/10 slices of pandan

Best Beach Scene(s)

never let me go wins this one. no other show was as devoted to showing off their beautiful beach locations as nlmg this year. watching this show made me yearn for the sea. 1/1 tattoo of your boyfriend's name

Best Rooftop Scene

despite the stiff competition in the form of bmf and cherry magic thailand, last twilight has this one in the bag. the pain, the pining, the heartbreak, the complicated feelings, the desperate kiss... they even lampshaded this trope in the dialogue. stellar scene. 12/10 sunflowers

Best Sensuality

we've had a lot of high heat bls this year, some of them still ongoing, and since billy infamously said "a lot and deeply", i feel like the next episode of the sign might just blow all of our minds. i'm not awarding a best sex scene here so i won't have to eat my words in a few days—however, i feel confident in saying that when it comes to raw sensuality, no one is going to beat ray and sand in only friends this year, no matter how hard the characters on pit babe, playboyy and the sign might be trying. truly, nobody embodies sensual attraction like first and khaotung do. 69/10 sausages that represent blowjobs

Best Minor Character That Stole The Show

gotta agree with the masses here and say nawin laws of attraction. what a guy. every day i miss him. ∞/10 unhinged ex boyfriends

Best Viewing Experience

this is not bl, but it might as well be: midnight museum still feels like a fever dream, i have no idea what the plot even was, i understood maybe 10% of what was happening at any given moment, and i've never had more fun watching anything. this truly is the show of all time. 5/3 roles played by gun atthaphan

Wildest GMMTV Moment

also not a bl, but the piploy pissing in the car scene as an act of revenge in wednesday club would go down in history, if, you know, people had actually watched this show. what can i even say. 3/3 gratuitous pissing scenes

Most Anticipated Show Of 2024

i just had to find a way to mention my golden blood in this post. i am yearning for this show with an intensity i cannot describe. i literally need to see joss bridal carrying gawin as much as possible, it is on the baseline of my hierarchy of needs. no matter whether this turns out to be trashy fun, high camp, an actually serious show, or all three, i win. gmmtv could not have given me anything better to look forward to next year 💖

#bl stuff #*mine #be my favorite #moonlight chicken #a boss and a babe #only friends #my school president #love in translation #never let me go #last twilight #midnight museum #wednesday club #my golden blood the series

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episodeoftv · 8 months

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Round 2 of 8, Group 2 of 4

propaganda and summaries are under the cut (May include spoilers)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 5.16 The Body

tw Death of a major character, grief, dealing with the death of a parent

Buffy, Dawn, and their friends deal with the aftermath of Joyce's death.

The purposeful removal of music for the whole episode, the grief portrayed, the portrayals of people with varying amounts of interaction with death. It hits so hard.

This episode killed me. I have never watched anything that has fully emcompassed the feeling of loss and what it's like to experience death close to you than The Body. It is an absolute gut punch in the best way. I actually had to take a week off of watching Buffy to recover because I was so destroyed. 12/10 I don't think I will ever be able to watch this episode of TV ever again

One of the greatest depictions of grief and bereavement of all time. Both formally inventive and unique in its cinematography, sound design, editing etc. while also being an incredible personally affecting emotional experience.

There’s another buffy episode that probably deserves the title more, but I did have to give this one some recognition. For a whacky silly show about vampires, this episode is maybe the realest portrayal of death and grief I’ve ever seen. It’s not just a sad episode that makes audiences cry - I mean it is that - but it’s also this incredible examination of what it’s like to lose someone, and how the world shifts on its axis when that happens. The lack of any non diegetic music is an amazing touch to give this episode a sense of distance from all others. It’s real in a way that’s hard to watch but also unforgettable. Certain scenes and lines will always stay with me and will forever shape my feelings on life and loss.

Avatar: The Last Airbender: 2.07 Zuko Alone

As Zuko tries to make it by in exile without his uncle, he remembers how his father became Firelord and what happened to his mother.

#buffy the vampire slayer #btvs #avatar the last airbender #atla #poll #polls #round2 #r2g2

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tomatoland · 7 months

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The TopMew scene that was cut was redundant. We already know top is remorseful and Mew is angry. So I’m not surprised it was cut. He should have kept in the other Top scene though where he turned down the hook up. That would have been more impactful for the character.

Oops, I totally did not see this until now. I doubt you are still around, anon, but I’m going to answer this because I finally organized my thoughts.

I wasn't referring to just the break room scene in that post. It's a cascading effect. There is Mew's softened dialogue in EP 6 confrontation, the two previous cut TopMew scenes, and the break room scene. The fact that Jojo said he wish he kept those earlier two TopMew scenes should not be the case. He should not be regretting anything. Everything he wants to show us, should all be on the table. It is HIS art vision. And if they were not editing the episode the same week as it aired, he would have been able to realize that he wanted to put those scenes back in and done so.

That's what I meant by pacing and confirming the storyline is progressing the way he wants. But what is happening is one cut in one episode is leading to another cut in a future episode because there is no basis for the action anymore. As a result, we are losing overall continuity. And who knows what else they'll have to cut because of the editing choices they've already made. Which is why I am worried, they won't have the scenes left to make this a satisfying TopMew reunion at the rate they are going.

I wish we didn't have the interview where Jojo said that because it's making me not trust him with TopMew anymore. If he realized earlier that those scenes didn't fit, they should have done re-shoots but instead we just have cascading cuts.

Removing all these scenes is removing depth from TopMew. It is making them into surface characters. And none of this deleted footage is canon so there is that too.

Yes, definitely, the scene were Top is trying to move on is incredibly important to learning about Top and how he feels about Mew. And they should have kept that regardless of what random people in the fandom think.

But even the deleted scene of Mew's revenge fantasy of wanting to physically hurt Top from episode 7 is important because it provides a basis for his violent thoughts and words in the break room scene. I wish they had shown it at least the TopMew portion as a flash like an intrusive thought while he was in the tub. Everyone has intrusive thoughts, right? No one could fault Mew for that.

So by not showing us that Mew has had violent thoughts, now Mew's anger in the break room scene seems to come out of nowhere so it no longer fit.

I don't agree about the break room scene being redundant. The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.

So instead of knowing that Mew is still incredibly angry and therefore his actions are irrational, what we got was Mew saying "okay" to trying it again with Top here by the pool and then at the end of the episode, inviting Boeing to go wakeboarding with them and saying shit like this to him.

Oops. I meant to cut the collage below in half, but I’ve already hit 10 images, so read left column and right column separately.

Now, Mew just seems wishy-washy. I would rather have seen the depth of Mew's pain and rage then absolutely nothing at all, his indeterminable poker face however sweet it looks.

Mew being wishy-washy/indifferent or just deciding to get back at Top on any given random day means their relationship doesn't have a viable path forward right now. Because if they cannot communicate honestly and vulnerably about what happened with Boston, their relationship cannot ever heal and get healthy. They'll just always be stepping around the cracks. This is the albatross I was referring to in this post.

Mew has never broken down and cried. We've gotten the lone tear, here or there. And we know from this BTS that they have footage of Book crying his heart out. As the viewer, we haven't seen it because Jojo is not painting us a picture.

But removing the break room scene also removed depth from Top too and TopMew's relationship in general.

It shows us that Top is really sorry and willing to show with actions not just with his words that he wants Mew to move forward, so THEY can move forward. Him being unsure of how to handle a wrathful Mew, but still wanting to try. Him saying he already talked to Boeing, since Mew is deeply insecure about him. Him holding Mew's hand and trying to break down this fortress Mew has built around his heart piece by piece.

The song I posted of what I thought the scene could be saying if it had stayed in. Top's POV: "Love, I don't know how this shit works, but I know we could work things out if we just work together." And that's the key phrase "work together."

And this appeasement photo and answering a fan's tweet that we're going to see happy Mew soon. Jojo thinks we're so dumb.

All I want to do is scream back, "But are they ever going to TALK?!" TopMew cannot just solve this with sex. We need soul vulnerability. And I'm bloody annoyed because prior to episode 10 that is literally all they needed, but instead TopMew went backwards.

#topmew #ofts #only friends the series #tomat answers #asks #top tanin #mew witsarut

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shortpplfedup · 10 months

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Episode 10 has put me squarely in my Jeng feelings in a way I have not obsessed about a character probably since Teh Krittikorn Saetun. After watching him compartmentalize his way into a complete abdication of responsibility this week, and having read literally every piece of stellar meta the fandom has churned out, but especially from folks like @bengiyo and @nakasomethingkun about the corporate setting actually being the point of this story...I'm completely down the rabbithole, no way out guys. I vacillate between my optimistic and pessimistic expectations on how satisfactorily this story will wrap. @lurkingshan and @neuroticbookworm STAY on Tee's ass and I can't quite say they're wrong. But the thing I'm now 100% sure about is that the romance is not the point of this story. The romance is here in service of points Tee wants to make and themes he wants to explore around capitalism and queerness (second time Tee is going hard at this idea, after poking at it in Lovely Writer). Tee is using romance because it's the most effective way to make queerness legible for and saleable to a general audience, WHICH IS IN ITSELF A COMMENTARY ON CAPITALISM AND QUEERNESS BUT I JUST BLEW MY OWN DAMN MIND AND HAVE TO PUT THAT IDEA DOWN FOR NOW.

Jeng, Jeng is the character sitting at the intersection, at the tension point between capitalism and queerness. Jeng, who thanks to @waitmyturtles DRILLING Asian family dynamics into my head over the last few months, I have realised is incredibly unlikely to be able to escape his fate as the heir to Jian Group. Why does Jeng work TWO FULL TIME JOBS? Because he can only have the things he wants if he also accepts the things he never wanted. He can't abandon Jian Group, but he can build next to it an entire other life: Pearl & Oliver, queer speakeasies, doing his little part to minimize food waste and support a marginalized community, and Pat. COMPARTMENTALIZATION. For all Jeng's big talk about work/life integration, he doesn't even consider that he can mesh the things he wants with the things he's obligated to do until Pat points it out to him under that bridge. Shouts to the homie @wen-kexing-apologist for breaking that scene down and making me realise that moment is the closest Jeng got this episode to the shape of the relationship he actually wants with Pat. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I say all that by way of preamble (I'm a long-winded bitch, strap in) on the way to one of my actual points: nobody actually KNOWS Jeng Kittiphong Atthachiranon. Even the two people closest to him in the story, Jaab and Tae, only know pieces. Pat barely knows him at all, because even though he desperately WANTS Pat to know him, the boss thing was a barrier to that, and now they've speedrun straight into a unholy mess when they should have been truly getting to know each other. You can see how, were it not for Jeng's slow motion rolling breakdown (of which his intense infatuation with Pat is honestly part and parcel) and Pat's role at Jian Group, these two could have spent a year at this pace, fucking and talking and falling in love and it would have been FINE. But the life Jeng never wanted broke containment and rolled over Pat, and now here they are.

@plantsarepeopletoo pointed out how the narrative punishes characters for going too fast or out of order (Jaab and Jen), and rewards those who take their time and stay the course (Chot). We thought Jeng would be the latter. That's the Jeng we're introduced to: calm, sensible, logical, responsible, in control. But that Jeng is a TOTAL SHAM, that Jeng is a façade built to meet the world's expectations of him, a carefully crafted and cultivated image of cisheteropatriarchal corporate masculine perfection. The Jeng who has been panting after Pat for the better part of a year and doing absolutely INSANE shit to get next to him, that's the real Jeng. This episode was Jeng trying to rebuild the wall between his two lives after having it collapse last ep and utterly failing BECAUSE PAT NOW IS PART OF HIS LIFE ON BOTH SIDES OF THAT WALL. He cannot neatly compartmentalize Pat into his Desired Life, because Pat also has to exist in his Expected Life. And Pat doesn't actually know Jeng, because this is all happening too fast and out of order, so he doesn't know that Jeng is in the middle of a full-on existential crisis as his two worlds collide.

Sidenote: Pat accidentally hit on Jeng's compartmentalization tendencies early in the show I realize, when he drunkenly whinged about how he couldn't understand why Jeng felt like two different people, and he didn't know which one was the real one. I think that sort of bullseye targeting at the heart of Jeng is one of a host of reasons Jeng fell so hard and so totally for Pat: he thought Pat understood him on some level. It's why having to come out to Pat, having to explain himself when he thought he didn't have to, knocked him onto the back foot and things haven't REALLY been right with them since.

It's so sad, and SO QUEER that Jeng is living this double life and it's slowly breaking him. He's coming apart at the seams trying to hold it all and not lose any of it. Jeng talked a good game about work/life integration, but the flip side of that is bringing your whole self to work. And he can't do that, he can't even think of doing that, right? But he's gotta do something because now Pat has been dragged into the mess, and worse yet Pat has brought Jeng's Desired Life to the direct and un-ignorable attention of the key figure in Jeng's Expected Life: his father. And while I think Jeng's father is aware of his Desired Life (disapprovingly natch, but silently allowing it as long as Jeng continues to live his Expected Life), I think he's stood ready to stamp it out the minute it becomes a problem. And the problem has arrived. That's why Jeng looks so sick when he realizes that Pat went to his father to resign. The shit has truly hit the fan. Compartmentalization is over.

#step by step #step by step the series

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gunsatthaphan · 4 months

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🏆 Top 10 of 2023 💫

a few anons have requested this and I was also kind of indirectly tagged by @blneobin, @elizabethsebestianhedgehog and @khaotungsfirst for slightly different posts but I decided to just combine them all into one 😄 hope that's fine with everyone ✌🏻

My watchlist wasn't very extensive this year due to time reasons but here are my personal highlights:

Don't think I have to explain much about this one lol (she says as she proceeds to write a whole paragraph) After the masterpiece that was The Warp Effect and the disaster that was Never Let Me Go, I was nervous about what Jojo was gonna cook up with this one lmao but luckily my fears were unjustified. The watching experience was absolutely insane and it turned me into a different person in the time between August and October lmao. It wasn't perfect, I got annoyed at times but overall it's undoubtedly my number 1 this year. SandRay my loves, my babes, my roman empire lmao. I loved their story so much, they were the main characters for me lol but it was such a good ensemble in general and each cast member was the perfect fit for their respective characters, including Mond as Boeing who was the cherry on top of all the madness and also my boy Mix as the first Only Friends Stay guest, leaving room for imagination lmao. It was raw, real and unapologetically chaotic aka my favorite kind of plot. pure perfection. Jojo outdid himself once again. 10/10.

No words just vibes. It went by SUPER fast and I'm still mad that they chose to air an 8 episode show twice a week like whose idea was that?? To air a treasure like this in the course of 4 weeks is more homophobic than Jim's family lmao. But anyway. Doesn't change the fact that it was an incredible production, so visually stunning, so carefully written and so well executed down to the tiniest detail. It deserves every single award it won because what a masterpiece. It made me extremely emotional but in the best way. I'm still in awe. amazing. life changing.

I kinda hate to admit this bc it was SO full of crack lmao but it was SO much fun?? I had low expectations but I had the best time from start to finish. It made me laugh so hard I frequently dislocated my lungs lmao, the overall watching experience was just incredible. Story-wise it was sprinkled with the typical Domundi nonsense, the surreal cartoonish vibes were dominating and it was overall another show where I couldn't tell you what the plot was afterwards lmao - but everyone who lived through the Cutie Pie experience wouldn't expect anything less from these people lol. I loved it.

We're only halfway through but I'm so obsessed with it that I'm including it lmao. It's SO adorable and pure, offgun are back with the puppy honey vibes in all of their fully evolved glory lol, the writing is excellent imo and it's the perfect balance between silly, cheesy and honest emotions, good communication and the notorious offgun magic lol. Whenever I say I want a good romcom, this is what I mean. I was so annoyed when it was announced as I was convinced it was gonna be a downgrade from Not Me but it's really not. It's just another show where OG can showcase their dynamic in a completely different setting. I love it.

I'm still having mixed feelings about this one due to obvious reasons but looking at it from the outside I have to include it because objectively speaking this was an excellent production. The narrative was intelligent and worked so well, my boy Gawin was shining so much as Pisaeng, I still can't believe he wasn't the first choice because he's literally the perfect fit for this. I loved the symbolism, the blossoming romance and just Pear. that's it. just. Her. she was incredible. G&K had good chemistry, I was struggling with K.'s presence but the show was just so good that it overshadowed the rest. Loved it.

This show got a lot of hate which I sort of understand as it was low budget, cheesy and with heavy lakorn vibes but on god it really hit the spot for me lmao. JaFirst are my runner-up babes lol, I love their dynamic so much and seeing them make their comeback in this with completely reversed roles had me squealing lol Punn was the most adorable cookie, others cringed, I blushed lmao I loved the setup so much and him and Achi were everything. period.

Another show that's still airing but I'm really liking it so I'm including it as well lol. It's surprisingly well written and Pavel is doing fantastic in his comeback, I had lowkey written him off after the disaster that was Coffee Melody but he's back stronger than ever. Love that for him. The rest of the cast is very solid too, a lot of familiar faces who all stepped up their acting game since I last saw them with a special shoutout to Thanapon who is doing amazing. The story is super interesting and goes so far beyond just the racing stuff which was my apprehension when starting it. And even the omegaverse stuff is not as bad as I thought (so far.. don't wanna jinx it lmao). It's overall doing very well. Love it.

This one also got a lot of backlash lol but I loved it!! JoongDunk are my second FirstKhao lmao they're very dear to me, their on-screen dynamic is good actor carries weak actor and I'm aware of that lmao but to me they just work so well. Idk what it is. Even though Dunk's acting leaves room for improvement, they have a ton of chemistry and they're mastering the secret crush plot. This was fun and light, not too serious and I found it very enjoyable. the only thing that irritated me was the butchering of AouBoom like what in the world was that. Tee probably added them because he had to and disregarded them in the process but their story was abysmal. But putting that aside, it was a very nice show.

This was very brief for Mame standards lol and I was considering dropping it after episode 2 but then it surprisingly picked up, I started to really get into the story and SunnyPak worked very well for me. I was surprised that they just disappeared afterwards as I was expecting MMY to milk them like the rest of their couples but oh well. Mame made her GL debut in this which I appreciated but I wish they had casted someone else as Marine because sorry sweetie but she was terrible lmao rip. Yiwa was a very sweet and likable character and she deserved a better partner. That plus the special episode being stupid as hell, It's getting raking #9 lol.

This whole season was... a very wild rollercoaster ride lmao. I would say it was a 50/50 for me, half of the episodes were fun and the other half were horrendous lol. My personal highlight were The Eclipse episodes, they were pure fluff and adorableness, paired with some minor dumb fights but overall this was exactly what I was craving after the ordeal AkkAye went through in The Eclipse lmao but also I could easily sit through 10 episodes of Akk and Aye just being cute and cuddly and doing absolutely nothing else because duh. They're my comfort couple 🥺 I also quite enjoyed the ATOTSxBBS crossover and also surprisingly the ABAAB and NLMG episodes were a lot of fun!

thank you 2023 for - once again - giving us good gay food lmao. here's to an even better 2024 🧡

#top 10 #bl dramas #bl drama #top 10 bls #top 10 of 2023 #🧡

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archandshri · 2 months

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23rd Feb '24 - [arch] OH RISO my beloved!!!!!! ft. cyberpunk hermitcraft soup group

A cliffhanger!!!! And now I have to wait a month for you to upload the second half?? How will I cope :’’0

For real, it’s so awesome to see your process and the sheer amount of inspiration you take! In particular, I thought ‘Sit on Two Chairs’ and ‘This Was Our Pact’ were particularly yummy.

I think book covers are really hard. You have to sum up a book’s energy in one image, make it stand out and show just enough so people want more. Exploring the narrative through those full pages is really interesting - though this is something you did for fun, it could be a really useful technique for getting to know a narrative. When I’m designing my comic covers, I always do it last - that way I’ve had practice with the visual style and I’m thoroughly familiar with the themes, so I guess spending a bit of time with the characters and narrative in this way helps for standalone book covers too. Of course, it helps if you have the time for that XD

Okay!! Onto what I've been up to!!! [warning this is a beefy post I'm sorry for your poor reading brain]

The past two weeks have been really enjoyable! I’ve been playing a lot with slow world-building, in sketchbooks, google documents, and voice notes to friends. Letting myself really sit with concepts, think about the characters, let them play in my head with no expectations. With this relaxation and lack of pressure, some beautiful narratives and interactions have been developing. I’m starting to need a name for a world/ the story. I’m not quite ready to give them a full introduction to the internet - I know it doesn’t but it feels like there’s some accountability to *produce something* and this slow development is really important for the quality and my skill building. It’s really hard to take on, but we actually don’t have to make the perfect thing now! In fact, it’s impossible. Pressure on ourselves makes it so hard to make something good if we’re always grasping at the final result. In the meantime, while those characters develop, I have been working hard on my basic skills. I wrote about characterization last post, but this week I focused on setting and colour. I was inspired (once again) by Hermitcraft. I’ve seen some really incredible illustrations of Minecraft builds in the fandom, and it seems like a great exercise.

Bdouble0's Season 10 Base illustrated by @applestruda [source] and The Red Zone, built and illustrated by Bdouble0 [source]

One of the creators on Hermitcraft, ImpulseSV, created this build in a recent episode. It takes inspiration from the last season of Hermitcraft, where he was part of the ‘soup group’ with two other players, and his current base concept - a cyberpunk city. I also LOVE his new character design, so I wanted to place him in the scene.

Screenshot from Impulse's video and new impulse design by @maxx-doodles

Here are some initial thumbnails I did, trying to figure out the composition. I wasn’t sure of the vibe yet, so I tried some rough thumbnailing, and drawing on an isometric grid and other perspective techniques. I’m going a bit mad for characters at the mo, so I wanted to place some in the scene. I found the angle of the isometric grid steep to place characters comfortably, so decided against that.

Looking back at it, I love the second! But I believe I was struggling with the perspective. I decided on the last one eventually.

Now, I absolutely adore all of the players in the Soup Group, and I am BIG fan of redesigning their notable characteristics to suit different settings. So yes, I decided to put all of the soup group in the image.

PearlescentMoon (left) from my comic and GeminiTay's Hermitcraft Season 10 design [from this thumbnail] (right)

Here's the sketch of the final image. I really enjoyed coming up with cyberpunk versions of them all. I used the impulse design almost exactly, with a few extra interesting details since he's mostly viewed from the back. For PearlescentMoon (middle) I kept her fringe, dark hair and gave her a glowing moon symbol on her top. For GeminiTay, I kept her long ginger hair, antlers (but glowing!) and took inspiration from her new season 10 design - a dark blue jumpsuit to match her dark blue clothes in her new design, and the braids she is often drawn with. I also gave them edgy new hairstyles. And a robot arm. I don't have lore for that.

As usual, I filled each flat colour-to-be with black and lowered the opacity to play with the values. Then I added colours one at a time, aware might be riso printing it. Originally I stuck to trying to make it printable (making the colours out of ones I could make my layering 2-3 colours at different opacities), but as I went on, I decided to drop that and focus on the quality of the image in a digital format alone. I did keep the grayscale version above with all the separate layers in case I needed that if/when I came to riso printing it. Below are the main two digital colour schemes I tried out.

I settled on the one on the left, with the blue tones - the foreground characters really pop. I put a few details in Gem's hair, colour variations etc, and cropped it for Instagram. I actually much prefer the cropped version - it sits better in a rule of thirds.

Now the moment we've all been waiting for :'')

RISO!!!!!!!!!!!

I returned to Cardiff after a couple of months away and was delighted to spend my first day back at The Printhaus, an awesome shared print studio where I have basically made my home. A few of my awesome friends happened to be there, so I spent the day playing around with this image with their help! (please check them out they're very cool - Gavin helped me a lot (we hung out at Thought Bubble, remember? and Rhi gave good crits too!!)

For those who don't know, risograph is basically a shitty photocopier that can only print one colour at a time. However, you can play with gradients and opacities, and layer colours really nicely to combine. I've done a lot of single-colour tonal work with riso but this is my first go really layering.

First, Gavin showed me how to separate the channels in Photoshop, using the flat image uploaded to the 'gram. We copied and pasted these layers in grayscale and added blending modes to each layer to replicate what they might look like when printed.

With blending modes, the digital mockup looked like this!!

This bit goes into technical details for replicating what the print might look like for those who might want it - feel free to skip :)))

I copied and pasted the Cyan, Black and Magenta layers as greyscale (as you can see above)

I made all of the greyscale layers multiply layers since risograph ink is transparent and we wanted to see how it layers. The ink usually comes out a bit lighter than you think, so it's good to bear that in mind. I used a clipping mask over each greyscale layer and a blending mode. WHEN YOU PRINT, PRINT IN GREYSCALE, NOT COLOUR.

Here's how I split the colours from CMYK to the riso colours, their hex codes and the blending mode I used to replicate the colours:

Cyan - Mint [HEX#82D8D5] Screen Magenta - Fluorescent Pink [HEX#FF48B0] Screen Black - Blue [HEX#0078BF] Overlay Yellow - scrapped for colour scheme purposes

Blue, Mint and Florencent Pink layers in greyscale in Procreate.

Riso printed Mint and Florescent Pink layers on separate paper, followed by the two layered together.

We always start with the lighter colour inks first, because sometimes the rollers can pick up the ink and cause extra marks where you don't want them. The first two colours came out great!

The first time we printed the blue, it came out very dark (left, first image). I have had this issue before - my last book, Winter Wellbeing, came out much darker than I wanted. Now I realise that the blue ink is super sensitive. All the 'white space' that is covered by a low-opacity blue on the left is only 2%, and yet it has come out pretty strong. We tried printing it on one of the misaligned images just to see, but it took all of the brightness out of the neon soup sign at the top of the image (second image). So I changed the values and pushed them way lighter, so it just pushed the values of the darker bits slightly, and brightened some of the lineart (right, first image)

And this is the final riso printed version!! I'm so so happy with how this came out. It's so different from the original digital version, and I actually love that.

I didn't create new colours in the way that I intended to - I wanted to play with overlaying purposefully to create specific colours eg. orange for the hair etc. But!!! I'm really happy with how it came out. That will have to be a project for next time.

Also, many copies are slightly misaligned, so in future I think I'd do flat layers for the colours a more blobby style with the linework on one layer only so there's less of a chance for obvious misalignment. design for the riso, rather than riso the design.

Overall though, this feels like a super cool step up and a milestone for me. Super happy with how it came out!! And I'm excited to play with colour some more. Can't wait to see the rest of the Lionheart brothers! Enjoy your weekend :)))

Archie 🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺🕺 <3

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