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backup-baby-backup · 6 months

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Cruel Summer: the hit that was meant to be?

Pictured: dramatic reenactment of us waiting for Cruel Summer to be a single for 4 years.

Background

This summer is the apocalypse.

-- Lover Journal entry, dated 29 August 2016

We all know about the cruel summer in question, right? To be fair, technically the cruelty of the summer stemmed from "a desperate summer love that might be doomed from the start" and "some element of desperation and pain in it, where you’re yearning for something that you don’t quite have yet", and not whatever Kim Kardashian was doing on Twitter, but given how those two events occured basically simultaneously, it's not outrageous to claim both experiences informed each other.

In 2018, Taylor went on the Reputation Stadium Tour. Between shows, Taylor started working on Lover, getting into the studio with Joel Little, Frank Dukes and our favourite producer Jack Antonoff. For Cruel Summer, however, there was something special: Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent, was a credited writer on the track.

St. Vincent had worked with Jack for her 2017 album Masseduction, so much like how Lana ended up in the studio with Taylor, we can safely assume that Jack brought the two together. On 6 June 2018, St. Vincent mentioned that she had reworked one of her songs from Masseduction, Slow Disco, into a poppier production with Taylor's support. With this in mind, we can probably assume that she had cross passed with Taylor around this time. Taylor was papped recording at Electric Lady (Jack's stomping grounds) on 18 July 2018, which lines up with this theory. [1]

The failed single push

I’m not trying to blame the global pandemic that we had, but that is something that happened that stopped Cruel Summer from ever being a single.

-- Taylor Swift after performing Cruel Summer on tour in Pittsburgh, 17 June 2023

Cruel Summer had been a fan favourite from the get-go. When Taylor held listening parties for a select group of fans, it was the song that most people had positive feelings about. When Lover (the album) dropped in August 2019, it was the third most streamed track from the album, leapfrogging I Forgot That You Existed despite it being the second track. People started to lament the... poorly-received lead singles the album had. (I have nothing kind to say about those two tracks so I won't say anything.)

Then for a while, nothing happened. Taylor released Lover and The Man as singles to various degrees of success. The Man's disappointing (by her standards) chart run probably reignited discussion about how Cruel Summer would have smashed if it were only given a proper push and the GP had understood its talent. Then COVID came along, Lover Fest was delayed indefinitely, and it seemed that the Lover era was over, replaced by Taylor locking herself in with Joe Alwyn and drinking wine.

Then June 2020 came around, and...

Now how do we know that this is true? Apparently, Cruel Summer was added to AllAccess, a website where radio programmers download singles serviced to radio. While I can't verify this myself, I have seen numerous independent sources claim that Cruel Summer was uploaded to the site specifically on 17 June 2020. [2] Some radio website also ran with the story in early June, so I am inclined to believe this.

And it's not like there weren't any official hints...

Top to bottom: Spotify "enhanced album" promo mural, You Need To Calm Down music video, Amazon Music commercial, Lover music video [3]

The catch, however, is the Cruel Summer never got an official add date. An add date is "supposed to tell [radio] stations when to add a record to its playlist". Without an official add date, stations usually won't play your new song unless it's really hotly requested.

So the song didn't get a full label push and quickly died off, despite getting some radio play in 2020 (from anecdotal evidence), not appearing on the charts. And then in July folklore came out of the blue, and with it ended the Lover era, and seemingly all hopes for Cruel Summer world domination.

A music video?

While Taylor HQ is normally as hard to infiltrate as Fort Knox, over the years bits and pieces of information have leaked about her intentions for the rest of the Lover era. Chief among them was, apparently, to officially release Cruel Summer as a single to accompany her live shows in the summer of 2020. A music video was even filmed, before being scrapped when Taylor moved into the mythical forest of folklore.

-- Official Singles Chart (UK), 27 June 2023

Well, would Official Singles Chart lie? They do say "apparently" though, maybe to hedge their bets a little.

The problem with this claim, however, is the timeline. On 27 January 2020, Taylor released The Man as a single. She dropped the music video on Feburary 28th. Assuming a similar rollout for Cruel Summer, the music video would've come out in July. Given how the pandemic had basically put all possible filming activity to a standstill in March, it seems implausible that a music video would be filmed that early in advance, especially without knowing that the pandemic was on the horizon. Or maybe it was fully CGI and filmed in the luxury of her LA house, I don't know.

But I think there's a different catch here. Note how the above source claims that Cruel Summer would have been a single to "accompany her live shows in the summer of 2020", namely Lover Fest. According to the planned Lover Fest schedule, by the summer of 2020 she would be performing in Europe, including headlining Glastonbury.

Now consider Taylor's usual single rollout. Fearless, Sparks Fly, Red and New Romantics were all the last or second-last singles pushed from their respective albums, all of which got tour videos. [4] It seems that given how Cruel Summer would be the fifth single pushed according to the original plans, it most likely would've gotten the tour video treatment as well. Which makes sense: imagine a music video with her performing under broad daylight to huge crowds at festivals!

Cruel Summer 2: The Return of the Hit

With the advent of the pandemic something interesting happened: people started re-discovering old songs and making them into hits again. Catalogue streaming amounted to a whopping 70% of all streams in 2022. Running Up That Hill, a song from the 1980s, went viral again thanks to Stranger Things and this new ability that

Maybe it was because people wanted something familiar to go back to in a world where nothing was familiar anymore. Who knows. Many other music critics have written better articles about this phenomenon. What does matter, however, is that releasing singles from an album from years ago was now commercially viable. Sia, Lady Gaga and The Weeknd all did it to various degrees of success.

So when Cruel Summer, a song which had been among Taylor's most streamed songs for a while, acted as the tour opener on the Eras Tour [5], it would only further gain in popularity from then onwards, even re-entering the Billboard Hot 100 before it was even officially promoted to radio. And so her label moved to capitalize on this trend, and finally released Cruel Summer as a single on 20 June 2023, almost 3 years to the day after its original planned release date.

The million dollar question: would Cruel Summer have smashed if it was released as originally planned?

I'd say no. The general public had already moved on from Lover as the lacklustre The Man performance demonstrates. Besides, without the accumulation of popularity that Taylor had with folklore, evermore, the re-recordings, Midnights and the Eras Tour, who know where her career would've been?

(By the way, even if Cruel Summer had been the lead single there is absolutely no way it passes Old Town Road for #1.)

Timeline

Summer 2018: Cruel Summer is likely written around this time.

23 August 2019: Lover is released.

27 January 2020: The Man is released as a single.

27 February 2020: The Man music video is released.

5-12 March 2020: According to Steve from the IC, band rehearsals for Lover Fest took place during these days, with a whopping 32 songs.

19 March 2020: California enters lockdown due to COVID-19. Taylor was living in Los Angeles at this time.

17 April 2020: Lover Fest is officially delayed.

27 April 2020: Taylor writes cardigan, her first collaboration with Aaron Dessner and the beginning of the concept of folklore.

6 June 2020: Steve posts that cryptic message about folklore, signifying that the album was mostly complete by this time.

17 June 2020: Cruel Summer is uploaded to AllAccess, incidentally the same day as Steve teases cardigan.

20 June 2020: The European leg of Lover Fest would have begun on this day.

20 June 2023: Cruel Summer is officially released as a single.

23 October 2023: Cruel Summer hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Conclusion

Stream Cruel Summer.

[1] Cruel Summer is also the only Lover song to be registered on the US Copyright Office with a creation year of 2018, rather than 2019, suggesting that it was an early cut. (credit: @taylor-on-your-dash)

[2] Surprisingly, people have also claimed that I Did Something Bad was added to AllAccess in a similar fashion.

[3] That being said, if we take that hint in the Lover music video as hinting towards a Cruel Summer single push, this also means Afterglow was also meant to be a single...

[4] Do not quote me on this, Taylor herself didn't acknowledge that chorus of Miss Americana & The Heartbreak Prince either.

[5] Getaway Car should've been here...

#taylor swift #cruel summer #lover

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kelsiersshadow · 3 years

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my roommate’s reading oathbringer and it’s fun

“i think you have a funny scene coming up”

“yEAH real funny!!! she just got stabbed!!!!”

“oh no! no i meant before...”

“oh. oh yeah when she essentially flashed her boyfriend and her boyfriend’s boyfriend that’s also her boyfriend. that was funny.”

#im so happy that she got the vibes #book talk #will i ever stop using this site like i’m supposed to use twitter?#probably not

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shurisneakers · 3 years

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harmless (i)

Summary: Bucky volunteers to go stop a small time villain, but nothing can prepare him for what exactly he has to deal with. (Bucky x villain!reader)

Warnings: cursing, nonsense writing

Word count: 1.5k

A/N: listen i just needed something to keep my mind busy and a perry the platypus!bucky and dr. doofenshmirtz!reader was the only thing i could think of. dont have any high expectations from this series, you will be sorely disappointed.

If you have any ideas for this series, lemme know!! it’d be cute to write!!

here’s my ko-fi if you’d like to support my writing <333

Series Masterlist

Bucky Barnes, for all intents and purposes, is edgy.

His SHIELD salary is definitely enough to afford him a simple beanie, gloves even if he’s that eager. His long hair, though a spectacle in itself, isn’t as good at keeping away the cold as he claims it to be.

It’s a personal choice, a fashion statement even, to be roaming the streets in a long flimsy t-shirt that does nothing to accentuate his broad shoulders, and tactical pants that look a little too comfortable.

It’s cold. He says he likes it, to appease his blond haired best friend who insisted that he wear a cardigan at least. He won’t like it in a while, but he would never admit it.

The bike ride to the other side of town for a minor mission takes longer than he expected. The wind rushing by gets his adrenaline racing.

Official missions are long and gruelling, and oftentimes not fun. But it gives him a purpose.

It’s easy, therefore, to find him brooding when he’s not on one.

No one wants their room to be on the receiving end of Bucky’s stress-cleaning sessions. His baking is more appreciated.

So when there’s news of a small time villain creating havoc again, it made sense that he volunteered to go sort it out. No one else wanted the job. They’d all been at it before.

SHIELD didn’t seem particularly bothered either.

“It’s not that serious, Barnes.”

“I’m going.”

“Just stop her from doing whatever dumb plan she has today. She seems to have a new one every week.”

“Can I-”

“This is not an assassination mission.”

“Fine. Can I-”

“No.”

“Fine.”

He didn’t know what to expect. He had an idea of how they should be. Smaller villains tended to be more aggressive, vicious to prove their point. They were here to stay.

He wears his regular gear. Enough knives to make a butcher look away in shame, and guns including, but not limited to, his biceps.

He finally pulls the bike to a stop a few metres away, leaving it out of reach in case things got too out of hand. He didn’t want to have to walk back to the Tower, and his friends, as much as they loved him, would never go out of their way to pick him up. Little shits.

The address is a dingy, plain concrete house near an old construction site. It was flat and felt more like an afterthought than an actual building. It looked more like an abandoned Walmart than an actual villain lair.

The only entrance is the door in the front. He counts to three, lifting his leg to kick it down.

It falls down ungracefully, loud and creaky like it was bound to the doorframe by rust.

The only light source inside is a green light. All the way at the other end on an elevated platform is a desk and a chair facing away from him. He can’t see much other than that.

Someone’s laughter comes back loud and booming. He raises his gun, feet apart in a defensive stance.

“I’ve been expecti-” the voice pauses mid-sentence- “Did you just kick down my door?”

He looks behind him to where the wooden piece is on the floor. He certainly did.

He can finally see you as you stand up, green light illuminating your face. You reach over to the side, pressing a few switches.

He squints when all the lights turn on, pulling the both of you from darkness.

“Dude!” you cry out, face twisting into what only could be described as a mix of horror and disdain. “What’d you do that for?”

He doesn’t say anything but he doesn’t lower his gun either.

“You’re an Avenger, just fuckin’ pick the lock or something. This is expensive!”

He only watches as you whine, looking beyond him at your now demolished entrance. You take a few steps closer, jumping down from the elevated platform.

“Insurance isn’t going to cover this.” You drag your palm across your fist before extending it towards him. “Pay up.”

He wasn’t sure if he heard you right.

“What?” he finally asked, voice gruff.

“All you superheroes go around, destroying walls and cars in the name of world peace like you own the damn thing. Not today, bitch boy. Pay up.”

He doesn’t have his wallet with him. He didn’t expect to need it.

“I’m supposed to be stopping you.”

“You can do that once you pay for my door.”

You sound resolute, unshaken. A little annoyed. There’s what appears to be a gun in your hand, although it’s unlike any weapon he’s seen before.

“What’s your plan?” Bucky looks at your hand. Your stare follows his. You lift the thing up and he tenses.

“I was going to freeze some jerk but now my plan is to get you cancelled on Twitter.”

“Why?” his eyebrows knit together in confusion.

“Local superhero destroys property of tax paying citizen for no good reason.”

“I mean-” he shakes his head, discarding what you’re saying, “-why were you going to freeze someone?”

“Because I wanted to. But you’ve ruined the mood now, so that won’t happen.”

He blinks, lowering his weapon when he realises you weren’t making any attempt to move. “What’s your ulterior motive?”

“Nothing! I just wanted to mildly inconvenience that stupid fuck for being such a prick.”

He doesn’t know what to say.

“Is that the freeze ray?” Bucky asks instead, raising his gun when he realises there’s a very real chance he could end up like his best friend.

“You got a problem with it?” You hold it up carelessly.

“I can’t let you use that.”

“That’s all you’re going to do?” you huff, “Is this what you call an intervention? This is so boring.”

“Give me the freeze ray and no one has to get hurt.”

“No one was going to get hurt in the first place, genius. All this does is slow him down for 5 minutes so he misses the subway.”

There’s nothing technically that evil about what you’re doing. He doesn’t even know how you ended up on SHIELD’s radar. He gets why no one was particularly driven to take this seriously.

“And for fuck’s sake put that gun away. You’re not scaring me.”

He doesn’t oblige, even though something tugs at him, telling him that you’re speaking the truth.

“Here, take the stupid thing.” You don’t bother waiting for his response, bending over and sliding the gun towards his feet. “I’ll find another way to get back at that dickhead.”

It hits his boot with a small thud. He looks down. Its design is ridiculously comical, like you ripped it straight out of a kid’s TV show.

“Next time, bring some drama. Wear a cape or something.” You wave him off. “Now get out of my lair. I need to fix the door.”

“You don’t have another one of these lying around, do you?”

“Why, do your friends want one too?” The glare you give him is dangerous. He doesn’t react to it. “No, it’s limited edition. I don’t build the same thing twice.”

“You have others?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know, weather boy?” A smile grows on your face, dropping as quickly as it arrives. “SHIELD will tell you if I do. Now leave.”

Bucky looks at the freeze ray in his hand. He supposes his job is done. He was told to stop you, but you didn’t seem to have any inclination to go on with your plan.

“You can ask them if you want, they know about me.” You roll your eyes. “Go ahead, call them.”

He doesn’t want to take a chance. As odd as the situation is, it’s still novel and he isn’t quite sure how to deal with it.

He tucks your weapon under his arm, pressing his phone to his ear.

“Yes, Sergeant Barnes?” Maria’s voice is crisp as ever.

“I confiscated a... freeze ray.” He feels ridiculous even saying it. “But I’m going to bring her in to SHIELD headquarter-”

“That won’t be necessary.”

“But we can’t trust-”

“We’ve been keeping tabs on her for a while. She’s more or less harmless. You can take the rest of the night off, Sergeant.”

He cuts the call, not entirely at ease with the smug, expectant look on your face.

Still, he couldn’t disobey direct orders.

“I’m gonna... go.” He mentions towards the gaping hole in the wall.

“That would be ideal, yes.” You nod, crossing your arm over your chest.

“Okay.” He hesitates, but finally takes a step backwards. He peeks over his shoulder as he leaves, but finds you swivelled away from him again.

He steps back outside. The cold greets him again like an old friend. The weight of his weapons feels stupidly embarrassing now.

It’s a long drive back to the Tower. He keeps replaying the entire story in his mind. He’s unsure of whether he made the right call, but no one else really seemed to care.

He had seen weirder things. It came with the gig.

He leaves it at that.

“How’d it go?” Steve asks him when he walks into the living room.

“T’was fine,” he answers, toying with the stupid device he took from you. Maybe he would test it on Clint. He had been getting annoying lately. Breathing too much in Bucky’s general direction.

A part of him feels guilty for his carelessness towards your building. The other part is just bewildered.

That night he looks up the cost it takes to replace a door, making a mental note to draw some money from the ATM soon.

Next part

#bucky x reader #bucky barnes x reader #mcu fic #bucky fic #bucky barnes fic #bucky fluff #bucky barnes fluff #bucky angst #bucky barnes angst #harmless fic #winter soldier x reader #Winter Soldier #bucky barnes #bucky

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hornime · 3 years

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for your viewing pleasure | suna rintarou x gn!reader

camming was addicting in a way; he could be as lazy as he wanted with it and people would still lose their minds over the tiny crumbs he left them. it was suna’s sadistic little game, and he loved it.

warnings: 18+, college au, camboy!suna, male masturbation, mentions of drinking

w/c: 1k (this was not supposed to get this long oops)

a/n: no because suna is literally the perfect candidate for camming. he’s so fucking effortlessly sexy that it pisses me off but i KNOW i’d be pressing that follow button in half a heartbeat.

for your viewing pleasure: part one ↓ | part two

“fuck.” suna let out a guttural groan, his right hand moving rapidly along his shaft as he braced himself on his other forearm, naked body splayed out on his white bedsheets. “my hand feels good ‘round my cock but i’d rather it was you,” he grunted out to no one in particular. he took a shaky breath. “hngh, you know, if you were good, i’d cum inside. you’d like that, wouldn’t you? stupid whore, all desperate for some cum.” a few thrusts later, his stomach clenched and balls tightened, cum spilling heavily from his blushing tip. “oh god,” he moaned, “feels s’good.”

as he recollected his thoughts from his heart-pounding release, he reached forward and clicked the red button on his phone, stopping the recording. after playing the video through to ensure that nothing above his neck was in the frame, he posted it on twitter with a suggestive caption and headed to the shower. this was suna’s almost-nightly routine: film something filthy for his almost forty thousand followers and bask in the strange satisfaction of thirsty comments praising his cock and begging to get fucked. camming was addicting in a way; he could be as lazy as he wanted with it and people would still lose their minds over the tiny crumbs he left them. it was suna’s sadistic little game, and he loved it.

looking back, it’s almost inevitable that he started filming his solo sessions for attention, and eventually for some side cash.

suna was always good with cameras—throughout high school, the miyas consistently kept him on his toes; he was constantly anticipating an opportunity for the perfect shot of osamu getting a set straight to the face or of atsumu getting tackled in retaliation for said set. just like on the court, he was observant: he always knew the best angles, the best lighting, and the best positioning, all coming together to form the perfect picture.

and as for the porn part, well, he was a teenage boy once. he’d watched his fair share of erotic videos on all kinds of sites before stumbling upon the vast expanse of homemade clips on twitter, instantly understanding the appeal. a few months after he turned eighteen, he made his own account, figuring that he might as well use his cock for something other than his own pleasure. his peers always gave him hell for his apathy, especially in bed, but on the internet, strangers were in awe of just how little he cared—and how much hotter that made him.

by the time he reached ten thousand followers, he’d opened a venmo, making a few hundred dollars within a week. this isn’t too bad, he thought to himself. i could definitely get used to this. and he did, establishing a pretty solid side gig as a college student that could always use some extra cash.

speaking of college, suna wasn’t really one for parties. in fact, him attending the same party you were, being in the same room you were, and overhearing the only possible conversation that could possibly interest him, were all by complete coincidence. but damn, if he isn’t glad the fates aligned in his favor.

suna, in typical wallflower fashion, was standing against the wall, solo cup in hand, not doing much other than observing those around him and occasionally indulging in the flirtatious glances of a few other partygoers. thinking back, he wasn’t sure how he got so close to you and your friends, or why he was so keen on hearing what you had to say to them. all he knew then was that you were a familiar face from one of his classes, and you were irritatingly attractive. he could probably point to at least five different posts on his account in which he was thinking of specifically you, a person of definite sexual interest, while masturbating.

you’d been drinking, undoubtedly to the point of being tipsy, because there was no way you would’ve been talking about porn, especially at that loud of a volume in the middle of a party, sober. the few beers you’d downed had comfortably warmed your body, making your brain a little fuzzy and your actions a little more reckless. so when your friend had brought up the subject of pornography, you were quick to jump in.

“ya see,” you slurred, “for all the good stuff, ya needa be on twitter. your first mistake s’gunna be going on pornhub or xvideos or some dumb shit like that. you gotta be looking for the good kush on twitter. the homemade stuff. s’authentic and real.”

suna raised a brow at that, taking a short sip of his drink, curious as to what you were going to say next.

“and once you’re on twitter, you gotta find some good,” you waved your hand vaguely, “content creators. ya know? some accounts you can rely on for all your needs.”

your friend asked you a question that suna couldn’t make out through the reverberating bass of the music.

��me personally? all right. this is my biggest secret, like, this guy is the holy grail of twitter porn. the user is...”

suna nearly spit out the alcohol settling on his tongue as the username of his secret account escaped your lips. holy shit, he thought to himself, trying to control his quickening pulse. the idea of you using him to get off was way more arousing then he thought it could be. did you ever time your orgasm so that you both were cumming at the same time? did you stare with envy at his hand, wishing it was you? with nothing but your imagination and your fingers, did you pretend it was him looming over you, making you feel good?

his cock stirred impatiently in his pants. shit, i’ve got to chill the fuck out.

“i’m telling you, this man has the prettiest cock i’ve ever seen. like, you guys know, i hate sucking dick. ‘s the worse thing ever ‘cus their balls always smell like old cheese. but for this guy,” you rolled your eyes back dramatically, “i’d get on my hands and knees immediately. t‘so long and thick and curved and pink,” you gushed. “and his voice is so hot. i’d let him do anything to me.”

suna smirked from behind his cup. he likes you. maybe if you play your cards right, he’ll let you suck the pretty cock that you adore so much. and maybe if he plays his cards right, you’ll let him record it so he can watch it whenever he wants, and show off to his followers what a cockhungry slut you are.

making solo porn was getting boring, anyway.

>> part two

#i just know he has the most beautiful cock on the planet #and i want it in my mouth rn #kinky.inky #haikyuu smut #haikyuu! smut #haikyu x reader #suna rintarou #suna rintaro imagine #suna x reader #suna rintaro x you #suna

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miscelunaaa · 2 years

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disclaimers | miscelunaaa

Please read the following carefully before interacting with my blog or sending an ask. Help keep this a safe space by respecting not only my boundaries, but the boundaries of others as well :)

Also, if you’ve found yourself here, consider reading “soft-bodied” reader-insert characters and inclusivity. It’s an essay I wrote after trying to approach writing plus-sized, or soft-bodied, reader insert characters with a different mindset. I think it’s a valuable read.

I: All of my work is intended for mature readers, which means that you should not interact with it unless you are 18 or older. I am within my full rights to block you if I find out that you are a minor and that you’re here when you’re not supposed to be. This policy is not just to protect myself, but to create a safe environment for other writers wherein we can talk about adult things as adults. If you’d drag me on Twitter for being “to old to stan,” get the fuck off my blog right now.

Note that for me, this includes liking my fics and following me! If I see your age in your bio or otherwise, I’m going to block you! This is to protect myself and my space here! Don’t be stupid!

II: My work is only found on this blog and on ao3. Note that I have multiple pseuds: the only ones I am currently active on are powderedsuga and miscelunaaa. Do not repost, translate, or use my work for any unauthorized purposes. You DO NOT have my consent to repost ANYWHERE, even if you credit me. This includes sites like Wattpad, YouTube, and Instagram. Because apparently posting shit on insta is a thing now and honestly why the fuck is that a thing??? The same goes for all banners, which were created by me unless otherwise stated. They’re pretty plain so like ... idk why you’d want to steal one but I digress. Should my blog for whatever reason disappear off the face of the planet, I crosspost everything to AO3 and can be found there. One simply never knows what’s going on in the background with this hellsite, so if you want to make sure you can continue to read my work if I leave Tumblr or get booted or whatever, subscribe to me on AO3.

III: While we’re talking about blocking, this is not a safe space for fatphobia, xenophobia, ableism, racism, or ANY manner of phobia based on sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. Full stop. Discriminatory conduct gets an immediate block. If you follow me with your main and it’s something like a thinspo blog or is filled with any phobic content whatsoever, you will be blocked immediately and you’ll stay that way.

This include self-harm blogs and blogs that mention eating disorders. Do not interact with me. Instead, please seek the help you need and deserve. You are worthy of care.

IV: Unless otherwise marked, all of my work is written from the perspective of a female reader. Moreover, unless otherwise noted, most of my work takes place in a nondescript US-American location. If this is not the case, or if there is something important about the reader you need know (i.e. reader is plus-sized, disabled, etc), I will be sure to leave it in the warnings or notes for the piece.

It bears mentioning that I myself am a fat, white woman. I try to keep my readers as inclusive as possible for this reason. I want others to be able to enjoy my work. This will most evidently manifest in smut scenes, where it a very unlikely you’ll ever read about an insert-character being tossed around like she’s a toy. I find that language radically exclusive, at least personally, though I know I’m not alone in feeling this way. It really pulls me out of a fic, depending on the context, so I avoid it in my own writing. This also means I avoid flowery discussion of underpinnings, extravagant clothing description, mentions of breast size, overuse of “you’re beautiful,” etc. Some of us read fics to escape reality, but when you’ve lived with internalized fatphobia all of your life, some realities are hard to escape from. I try to accommodate that for myself, and I hope that it can in turn accommodate you as well. See the essay linked at the top for more on this.

V: Be sure to read all of the warnings and notes that come with each work. I aim to be thorough and I will sometimes reference something that happens in conversation between characters that can be triggering or frustrating for some (think language around a character’s own body, antiquated views on sexual desire and virginity, etc). Please note that just because a character does or says something doesn’t mean I agree with the character or view it as an acceptable behavior. ALWAYS READ THE WARNINGS BEFORE READING.

VI: Which, by the way, practice safe sex. Make sure you stay educated on current forms of birth control and for the love of god, use them. Make abundant use of condoms. Have conversations with your partner or partners about possible infections, and then of course communicate about the boundaries that everyone involved has. My fics are about people. They are meant to have a certain sort of reality to them, but they are NOT INTENDED to be manuals, blueprints, examples, or function as advice for how to behave around your sexual partners or how to engage in relationships with potential or extant romantic partners. Just because you read about it in a fic or in a book doesn’t mean that it’s a healthy or realistic depiction of what romantic relationship should look likes. Fanfics contain elements of the fantastic; this can be positive or negative. Please keep this in mind when engaging with them.

For historical fics, this is especially important to note. Condoms as we know them did not exist before the early to mid twentieth century, and even then, did not reach wide availability until later. Thus, condoms aren’t used or depicted within the sexual encounters in these relationships. My advice remains. Use contraception and have conversations. Don’t use fics as a model for your own relationships and make sure to maintain a healthy mindset with the medium. Protect yourself by having knowledge at hand. Your personal safety is more important than erotica written by a stranger online.

VII: This is not a safe space for solos, antis, mantis, sasaeng/fansite content, or anything of the like. Simple as that. That Twitter shit stops at the door. Sasaengs are stalker fans and most fansites are stalkers so congrats: that pretty picture taken with a super zoom lens on a dslr was taken by a person with no respect for boundaries or consent. These people are legitimately dangerous for the health and well-being of not only BTS and other k-pop groups, but fans as well: they are extremely rude to fans and often get physical with folks at concerts. They endanger others by crowding airport entrances just for a fucking picture of member getting off a plane. A lot of y’all haven’t spent enough time lurking on Twitter and it shows. These people are bad. I refuse to support them. Do not slide into my dms or asks with fansite pictures, nor any other dubiously acquired content (leaks, private schedule stuff, content that looks like it was taken from a tree, etc). Even if you don’t mean anything by it, I don’t think this content is good or appropriate. We should respect the privacy and safety of all artists and their fans. Cell phone content is a different matter, for the most part. Like if they’re on stage at a concert, great! It wasn’t taken for financial gain. Clout maybe, but good luck monetizing a pic of Namjoon on his hands and knees barking like a dog at PTD LA.

VIII: As for biases: most people have biases simply because nature has gifted us the ability to have preference and connection. If you take that shit further than intended, I’m fucking blocking you. This blood runs purple to the core and each member is beloved will be treated as such in this space.

A note on this in combination with the Twitter shit: This includes romantic shipping of the real people that constitute BTS. I read a lot mxm on AO3, but never in a way that posits the pairings depicted as reality. The members of BTS are their own people and they should be treated as such. I find it grossly inappropriate to ship real people; we don’t know anything about their personal lives! I think it’s foolhardy, if not verging on idiotic, to ship based on the interactions we’re shown in things like Run!BTS and Bangtan Bombs. Their friendship is special. Let’s not take things out of context and make assumptions about their personal lives to begin with, but especially with regards to possible romantic pairings. It is not fair to them to assume their sexuality or identity; they will share these details with us if and when they are ready. This is all to say: If I use a ship pairing name, I’m using it to refer to fic pairings or friendship pairings, and it is never intended to romantically ship them in reality.

IX: Lastly, the characters in my fiction may bear in some way the likenesses of real people, but are not intended in any way to speak to how these folks exist in reality. The real people are heavily inspiring for me; I make absolutely no claims to accuracy in their depiction nor do I claim to have any knowledge of their personal lives. I don’t know them. None of us know them. That’s okay and emphatically important to keep in mind while reading fan works. Remember that this is fiction and that it’s meant for entertainment.

This is something I’m going to comment on because I’m seeing an uptick in this sort of fic, and I want it here on the off chance that someone comes to this post wondering if I've talked about it (though I doubt anyone reads this shit anyway ... I digress). I do not write nor do I read idol-verse or idol!au fics. For me, it toes a lot of lines with reality and such content very VERY frequently oversteps a lot of very clearly set boundaries for the members. I can count on one hand the number of idol fics I've read that didn’t feel like massive, unhinged, obsessive oversteps. They’re buried somewhere in my AO3 bookmarks if you’re curious. If you’re a mutual, I’m sorry, it’s just not something I'm comfortable with reading or interacting with at all. I’ve watched people get overzealous and petty about me not reading such content and it’s just not something I want to have any part of, and I'm not getting myself sucked into that shit now or ever again. I’m not here to speculate on their personal lives and/or invade their privacy. They’ll share what they want to share when they want to or when they think they can. I don’t need to know everything or fill in any blanks just to feel like I've got an up on other folks in the fandom. I don’t want that shit near my blog and if you’re a mutual I will merely tolerate seeing it on my feed. Do not expect me to read it. Do not ask me to read it. This is a boundary I'm not willing to cross for myself or them. If you’ve got a problem with that, go fuck yourself :)

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©miscelunaaa 2022

last updated: 10.15.2022

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corpsedaydream · 3 years

Text

crash

so, here i am with a new one shot.

so before anyone asks if i’m gonna be posting frequently again or anything, i process things by writing about them. if something is running through my mind over and over and i can’t think through it on my own in my mind, writing about it generally helps me. this past weekend was supposed to be a fun long weekend away w my friends but it quickly ended when i experienced something pretty traumatic. i haven’t been able to sleep at all the past couple nights and so i started working on this. originally it was just going to be something private to help myself w the panic i was feeling then i started adding a muse into it and then i realised i was still writing about corpse without even meaning to, so i guess he’s still got me feeling musey.

anyway, i thought about keeping this private bc i’m still rly shaken up about what happened but idk feels like a shame to just let it sit on my computer.

idk if i’m back to this blog yet, i still feel indifferent about it. i’m signed out on my phone and was signed out on my laptop until just now and haven’t opened my inbox.

anyway. here’s the one shot.

word count: 1666 words (i’m not kidding)

trigger warning: car crash, panic attack

__________________________________________________

crash

Wake up. Wake up. Wake up wake up wake up.

The words repeated over and over in your head. You’d had dreams about crashing your car before, but usually you woke up just before the point of impact. This time you didn’t.

This couldn’t of happened, this can’t be real, this is a a dream, I’ve got to wake up.

But you were already very much awake, this was very much real.

The colour had already drained from your face, tears were welling up in your eyes and your heart had already sunk. Your hands were trembling, your chest was completely still, you weren’t breathing in that moment. Your body had reacted before your mind had completely caught up.

“Fuck.” Was all you managed to say as realisation had hit you. You’d gotten into a car crash.

You looked around you, wondering how the others cars on the road were still moving when it felt like your world had just come to a stop when your car had its collision. You heard your dad’s voice in your head, all the things he’d told you when he taught you how to drive, had - god forbid - you ever ended up in a situation like this.

You went through the motions as well as you could. You were in a state of shock and physically, you were definitely there, but mentally, you really weren’t present. You were having an out of body feeling in the most terrifying way, it was a defence from the panic that had overwhelmed you.

Corpse felt a surge of anxiety. He had no idea why, either. All he was doing was looking through fan art on twitter, he hadn’t seen anything that usually would make him feel like that. It just throttled its way into himself seemingly out of no where.

It was especially odd seeing that today had been such a good day. Waking up beside was usually something that put him in a good head space.

So he started to call you, you always made him feel better. But then he remembered you were driving and you were a cautious driver, you never answered your phone when you were behind the wheel. You’d told him in the past how tenacious your dad had been as a driving teacher and it had really stuck with you.

Just as he was about to hang up, knowing you weren’t going to answer, you did.

“Hello?” Something was off. Corpse heard it right away in just that one greeting from you.

“Are you okay?” He didn’t even greet you back, he already had anxiety running through him and the unsettling tone of your answer of the phone had only made it increase.

“I think so.” You were so monotoned. Corpse had never heard you speak this way. You were a lot of things, but monotone was not one. You were expressive, bright and dramatic.

“You think so?” He repeated in a questioning way, wanting to know what was wrong.

“Yeah.” You responded so plainly again. Corpse almost wanted to ask you who was he speaking to right now, because surely this couldn’t have been you. This person had your voice, but this was a person he did not know right now.

“What’s going on?”

“I crashed my car.” You said it to him so simply. There was no emotion behind it. His heart thundered as if a terrible hail storm had just broken out.

“What?!”

“I crashed my car.” You repeated. Once again so eerily unemotional.

“Where are you?!”

Corpse shouldn’t have been driving in the state he was in, but he needed to get to you. His emotions were running so high and he couldn’t comprehend why yours weren’t.

After what felt like the longest drive of his life, he reached the crash site. His panic peaked when he spotted the ambulance, immediately thinking the worst. But then he saw you standing to the side of it. You were up and talking to the paramedics, that was at least a good sign you weren’t seriously injured.

“(Y/N),” He called for you as he got out of his own car. And just like your voice on the phone, your movements were so robotic.

You were normally so open with your emotions, you were such a readable and honest person. When you were happy, you shined, when you were mad, you yelled red, when you were sad, you cried oceans. But Corpse had never seen you in a true state of shock. He’d never seen your fight or flight response. And apparently it was a stillness and unresponsive, the complete opposite to how you were normally.

“Are you okay?” He knew you probably weren’t, but he couldn’t find any clue to how you were feeling. Until his footsteps brought him closer to you.

You didn’t respond to him at all. Even words felt like too much right now. As he neared you, though, he spotted the signs of fear your body displayed that your words did not. Your hands and arms were trembling, your shoulders were slumped, your face was completely pale, sweat dotted all over your forehead despite it not being a hot day, tears were slowly spilling from your eyes one by one, your chest was moving unevenly as you struggled to breathe properly.

“Baby, c’mere.” Corpse didn’t hesitate to gather you in his arms. Holding you so tenderly against him. That’s when he felt that it was more than just your arms and hands that were trembling, your entire body had a slight shake to it. He knew you were experiencing true terror in that moment.

The time between your banged up car getting placed onto a tow truck and arriving back at your apartment felt like a blur.

You’d just gotten off the phone with your insurance provider when you’d heard Corpse.

“Are you in any pain?”

"What?” You’d heard him perfectly but you hadn’t once thought about how this had affected you physically.

“Are you in any pain?” He repeated himself.

“I’m not sure.” And you weren’t, but the paramedics had said that adrenaline would be coursing through you right now and adrenaline was the biggest distraction from pain. “I’m gonna go have a shower.”

“Okay.” Corpse watched you with concerned eyes until you disappeared behind your bathroom door. He so badly wanted to help, wanted to make you feel better, break you out of this state you were in that he was so not used to.

You didn’t know how much time you’d spent in the shower. But it was long enough that the sky had grown darker and the moon had replaced the sun by the time you emerged. Once you’d gotten dressed, you made slow steps towards your bedroom. Your hands were trembling more violently than before and your breathing was speeding up.

The shock was finally wearing off and reality was getting ready to slap you hard across the face.

“Corpse...” Your voice was so silent, almost as if you couldn’t form a word due to the air that seemed harder and harder to breathe as a panic attack started to take control of you.

Corpse might not have even heard you had he not been on such high alert for you right now. But he was, and so he did he hear you and when he saw the state you were in, he instantly got up from his spot on your bed where he was waiting for you and was wrapping you up tight.

You were hyperventilating so dangerously, your heart felt like it was being encased in treacherous clouds that tightened with every intake of air you struggled to get.

You couldn’t remember the last time you had cried this way. You were breaking down.

Corpse was completely holding you up. Had it not been for him, you would be a crumbled heap on the floor.

The both of you didn’t sleep that night.

Every time you were close to drifting off, the crash would replay in your mind on an insufferable loop and you would jolt awake and the panic would restart all over.

And every time, Corpse was right there to hold you through it. He didn’t sleep due to how concerned he was about you.

The next day was a little easier mentally, but a lot harder physically. You’d gotten so much emotion out the night before that now the pain could have your attention.

Everything from your hips up felt sore, stiff and tense. Every time you moved your neck was scary because it felt like it was about to snap. But worst of all was your chest. It was hard and painful to breathe. The paramedics had warned you about this. The impact to your chest was going to take the longest to recover from. You kept your breathing shallow, any other kind of breathing made you wince and Corpse noticed.

“You’re hurting.” It wasn’t a question, he was stating what he noticed. He’d known the signs of someone in pain. Plus he had also taken note of the bruises that had appeared on your skin, the colouring of them looking like a painting of a galaxy, all purple and blue.

“A little bit.”

“Mhm.” He knew it was more than a little bit, but he wasn’t about to argue with you. He looked over you laying beside him, grateful that you were still here, you were alive. A car could be replaced, but you could not.

You were flat on your back because that was really only the current position that felt even the tiniest bit comfortable right now. Corpse was on his side, one of his hands supporting his head as he leaned over you. His other hand began to soothingly run his fingers through your hair and you let your eyes flutter close at the touch.

“Tired?”

“Yeah.” You mumbled back, keeping your eyes shut and feeling exhaustion take over you.

“Try sleeping, baby. I’ll be right here.”

#corpse #corpse husband #corpse x reader #corpse husband x reader #corpse imagine #writing #mine

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hualianff · 3 years

Text

More Than This VI 《V》

It’s no surprise XL gains his own taste of fame after walking the red carpet with one of the most sought-after actors in the country. He doesn’t mind it, going as far as to create a few social media accounts to interact with fans and scroll through their photos and edits of him. He has a few fan sites too, but only for fancy events where he chooses to be recognized in public.

XL and HC agreed before sharing their relationship with the public that they would maintain a strong sense of privacy when it came to their personal lives. They only share what they want to. The paparazzi who manage to take photos without permission are immediately disciplined so it doesn’t happen again.

(“I can’t believe you did it.”

“Hmm, Gege said he was okay with it.”

“I know! But I didn’t expect you to actually....” XL stares at a recent selfie of them HC had posted on his Twitter, taken the night HC won his award. “We look like we just had sex.”

“Nobody’s gonna know.”

XL raises an unimpressed eyebrow at his boyfriend. HC insists again.

“Nobody’s gonna know-”

“They’re gonna know,” XL says with a sigh, pointing to the hickey marks clearly visible on the photo. HC rolls over closer to XL in their bed, scrutinizing the image on XL’s phone.

“Oh, I didn’t see those when I posted the photo.”

“San Laaang!” XL cries, pushing at the taller man’s shoulder before burying his face into his pillow. HC makes XL breakfast in bed as an apology and promises to not drunk-post anything again.)

Eight months after officially dating–which is over two years since they met–HC asks XL to move in with him. XL doesn’t even need to think about his answer, a simple “Yes! Yes please!” escaping his lips. Both HC and XL’s faces light up with overjoyed smiles.

They seem to have had the same idea about where to live, purchasing a home they’ve been eyeing for months! The best aspects include a massive yard (front, side, and back) for XL to tend to, a hot tub, and a spacious living and dining room area to entertain guests. It’s not the grandest or most impressive residence by size or feature. In fact, the first months have them living in a half-finished, rusty house with the prettiest garden you’ve ever seen.

It gradually gets better. HC and XL knew they would have to do a lot of work to improve the shape of their home. Over the next year, they repair and remodel the house themselves, simultaneously adding value to the property and curating the style to fit their dream home. XL makes sure to post progress photos on his social media. His most recent selfie of HC and himself in hardware glasses got over 500k likes! He pinned HC’s comment that said, “Gege is my own very handyman!”

(HC, in a sleeveless tee, shorts that show off his ass, hair pulled back into a high bun: “Gege, you’re the boss now. Tell me what to do.”

XL, struggling not to gawk at HC’s side boobs: “O-okay, first, can you smash those cabinets-”

Cue them making out against the counter when it’s the only part of the kitchen that is fully done.)

***

Having a partner who considers the outdoors as a second home is a special experience. XL often takes HC on dates to national parks and plant nurseries. They go on weekend camping trips where XL teaches HC how to properly filter water, summit long stretches of terrain, and stay warm during cold nights with below-freezing temperatures.

(HC, trying to fit into XL’s sleeping bag: “Hi, gege-”

XL: “San Lang, you have your own sleeping bag that you can actually fit in.”

HC: ‘But I’m cold. Gege helps keep me warm.”

XL: “Fine. But let’s use yours because it’s bigger.”

HC, kissing XL’s forehead: “Thank you, my love.”)

On their hikes, XL points to different plants, explaining their origins and why he finds each one particularly beautiful. At first, HC picks up random flowers on the way home and then he asks XL about what flower fate gave him that day to gift his beloved. (“San Lang, that’s not allowed!”) HC eventually stores all the random facts in his mind, always eager to listen to XL talking about his passion. He also learns to keep his hands from digging up “poor, helpless plants from their home soil.”

However, this unfortunately doesn't prevent HC from accidentally squishing some plants in their yard that he thought were just weeds.

(HC, thinking he’s a good partner: “Get out, stupid weeds. CHOP CHOP!”

XL: “SAN LANG STOP, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”

HC: “Gege always works so hard. I just wanted to help you in the yard today because you deserve it.” 🥺

XL: *sigh* “I appreciate the gesture, San Lang. But those particular grasses took months to grow, and you just killed them-“)

***

Countless media outlets try to stir up trouble like they typically do with celebrities. Especially when HC has roles that involve romance, articles claiming HC and XL are on the brink of breaking up receive lots of attention. However, what gains more attention are the videos the couple posts on Youtube or Instagram live of their reactions to their “scandals.”

(XL, reading a headline: “Actor bachelor Hua Cheng and co-star Yushi Huang seem to be cozying up after a late-night shoot.’”

HC: “I’m not a bachelor, the fuck?”

XL, smiling: “You could be. Me as well. We can be bachelors together.”

HC, chuckling: “All right. If gege is, then so am I.”

The comments: “That doesn’t make any sense!?”

HC, reading another headline: “HC’s lover found with a mysterious third party??”

XL, exclaiming: “Oh, that’s Shi Qingxuan! You know, the designer for all our red carpet outfits!” 🥰🥰

HC: *nodding along*

XL, cheekily: “-and my secret second-lover”

HC: *blanches* “What.”

XL: “Kidding!!!! San Lang is the only one for me, hehe.” *kisses HC’s cheek* “Okay, next one!”)

Everyone watching the videos is 50% confused and 50% entertained as HC and XL make light of any drama the media portrays them in. Viewers accept that of course, the rumors aren’t true; HC and XL are still very much in love.

They’re in love with each other and will continue falling for many years to come.

***

HC doesn’t like watching himself on screen. However, he does enjoy previewing his own movies for the first time with his boyfriend.

While XL watches the new movie, HC observes XL’s reactions. It helps that XL is a conversational movie watcher too. XL’s narrations consist of horny comments during the sexual scenes (“Ooh, that’s hot. Nice tongue.” “Thank you?”), side remarks about the plot and characters (“San Lang, your character is very rude.” “...”), and dramatic reactions to the huge reveal scenes where HC becomes a human punch bag. (“Oh my goooosh, San Lang!! It was him all along- AHH!!”)

As a perfectionist, something you have to be in HC’s field of work, HC is incredibly self-critical of his performance. Which is another reason why it’s nice to have XL watch alongside with, who never has a shortage of praises for his boyfriend.

(HC: “Fuck, why did they leave this shot in the final? I’m supposed to be mourning for my dead lover but instead, I look like I’m crying out of daddy issues. Why did no one tell me!? It looks so bad-” *pointing to himself on the screen* “-stop looking so constipated-!”

XL, squeezing HC’s nape and massaging his shoulders: “San Lang, no one thinks that except for you. You did everything perfectly. Please acknowledge your hard work and just enjoy the movie.”

HC: *sigh* “You’re right. Okay. Thanks, gege.”

A beat of silence. HC cuddles closer to XL.

HC: “Love you.”

XL: “Love you too.”)

***

XL now knows HC’s movies well enough to quote HC’s lines in his movies to make him laugh. HC happily indulges him, questioning after breaking character, “Gege, are you sure I’m the actor out of the two of us?”

One time, HC and XL are in their kitchen re-enacting a scene with HC as the investigator going to a bartender for more information on his suspect. HC has XL caged against the counter, asking in a teasing manner, “How can I repay you for your help tonight?”

XL lowers his eyelids, looking up through his lashes, flawlessly depicting his character. “Any restrictions on your offer?”

“No, darling. Name a price, a brand, a desire. Right now, anything is on the table,” HC says huskily. XL slyly bites his lip.

“Anything?”

“Anything.”

XL brings a hand up to cup HC’s jaw, then smooths it down his neck, traveling down his bare chest. XL tilts his head to expose his neck, wanting to build up his boyfriend’s anticipation. But before he can say his next line, HC effortlessly throws XL over his shoulder like a bag of rice.

“San Lang, wait, this is not how it went in the movie!” XL shouts, a little dizzy from the sudden lift turning him upside down. HC takes long strides to their bedroom, plopping XL on their mattress and blanketing him with his larger frame.

HC only utters a husky “we’re improvising” before diving down to devour XL’s lips. XL’s arms hook around HC’s neck, holding him impossibly close.

***

After a filming shoot where HC’s character gets beaten up–HC performing his own stunts–he heads home beyond exhausted. He just wants to take a relaxing shower and cuddle his boyfriend in their warm bed.

HC arrives at their house a little past midnight. He opens the door and finds XL’s back facing him, quietly humming a song as he takes care of the vase in the living room. The sight makes HC smile.

However, as XL turns around, the vase slips from his hands and explodes into pieces on the ground.

“San Lang! What happened to you!?” XL cries out, the panic in his voice only comparable to the day he had confessed. HC stands in the doorway confused. Was something wrong with his appearance?

XL is on him in an instant, his pupils shaking as he frantically asks, “Does it hurt a lot? What happened!?”

HC blinks, expression blank as he still doesn't understand what has freaked XL out. But as the shorter man gently caresses HC’s face, it suddenly hits him.

The make up!

HC urgently starts rubbing the fake bruises off his face. “Gege, I’m okay! It’s just make up, none of this is real. See?” He holds his hands out for XL to see as the pigment stains HC’s palms. “I’m so sorry! San Lang is dumb, he didn’t mean to make you worry,” HC murmurs as he takes XL between his arms. He really loves this man too much.

XL’s teary eyes shine glimmer as HC embraces him. “Y-you’re sure you’re okay?”

HC nods, leaning into the slender hand that cups his cheek.

“Thank goodness,” XL breaths out as he buries his face into HC’s neck. His next words are slightly muffled. “It looks…so realistic.”

“Yeah, the make up artists are all quite talented, aren’t they?”

XL clings tighter to HC.

“Very much so. Let’s shower so we can properly wash it off.”

“All right,” HC says. “Wait, we?”

XL tugs HC toward the master bathroom.

“Hush, let’s go.”

***

They lay in bed together after four long months of separation. Both of them had been in different parts of the country; HC filmed a drama series while XL traveled for several high-profile projects. Their respective busy work schedules limited communication to brief video chats and text messages, which never seemed enough.

Now, with his head resting on HC’s chest, their legs overlapping comfortably, XL finally feels like he’s where he belongs.

“Why did you choose me?”

Tactical fingers massage XL’s scalp, lulling him into a serene state of bliss. XL nuzzles further into his boyfriend-sized pillow.

“It’s not like I can choose who I fall in love with, Gege,” HC states with a light chuckle. “But if you want an answer, it’s because you are everything I’ve ever wanted in a partner.”

XL looks up at his boyfriend, mouth forming a shape of an O.

“That simple? Even when we made a deal to have no strings attached?” XL asks. HC groans at the reminder of their initial agreement.

“Yes, which was a dumb decision on my part.”

“I agreed to it too. We were both dumb.”

They are silent for a moment. It’s not the first time they’ve talked about or referenced their insecurities when it came to confessing their feelings. XL’s luck when it came to dating someone who could love him for every part of him was practically nonexistent. HC’s constant grappling for his self-identity and worth rendered most of his relationships superficial. And temporary.

Always temporary.

“I can’t believe you thought I didn’t like your plants though. They’re so pretty. And fascinating.” HC says, breaking the silence.

“They take up half our living room space.”

“So? You work with plants all day. They’re bound to be a part of your personal life as well.”

XL’s heart bursts with a sudden fondness. It’s a wonderful thing to be appreciated for the little things.

“I’m glad you think so,” he says happily. HC hums in response, sending vibrations to where XL’s cheek lays on his chest. “I can’t believe I didn’t know you were a famous actor for the first three months we…”

“Met up for sex?” HC finishes with an impish grin.

“Yes,” XL laughs.

“It was nice not to be recognized for once. With you, I could just be myself,” HC says with ease he never thought he would be able to do. He’s struggled with letting himself be vulnerable his whole life. It turns out, HC just had to find the right person. And thank god he did. XL is more than HC’s outlet from his career. He’s become HC’s closest friend who knows him the best; he is HC’s number one supporter in any endeavor he pursues; he makes HC feel important. XL sees and loves HC for who he is. No amount of fame or wealth could come close to comparison.

“Gege?”

“Hmm?”

“Does it ever bother you that my life is always everyone else’s business?” HC softly asks.

“Well, the fame can be a bit…uncomfortable,” XL admits. “But you’re an amazing actor. And a remarkable person. I can’t blame your fans for loving you so much, you know? I also got to ride in a limo-“

“Which you rode very well-”

XL flicks his boyfriend’s forehead.

“You’re so predictable.”

“You would’ve said the same thing given the chance. Don’t lie, gege.”

They go back and forth a little longer, never once creating unnecessary distance between each other as they roll around until they’re on their sides. Facing each other in their bed that’s been vacant for months, HC and XL are inseparable.

“As I was saying, fame is something that comes with your job–your passion. You can’t control it, nor does it solely characterize who you are. Besides, I get to be a part of your life! That’s all that really matters,” XL continues. He shifts forward so their bodies are closely pressed together. XL plants a kiss on HC’s chin, then whispers a confession that tilts HC’s entire world on its axis.

“I’ve been waiting my whole life for someone like you.”

HC’s world spins and spins until all that he sees is his beloved, gleaming brighter than all the galaxies without the power to disrupt their orbit. He wraps his arms around XL and kisses the top of his head.

“Me too, Gege.”

Bonus:

HC watches wearily as XL salivates at a showering scene where HC’s bare ass flashes in the frame. XL turns to HC with a serious look in his eyes.

“San Lang! Hiking has done your ass wonders.”

XL sneaks a grope to a meaty cheek. HC chokes.

***

“You can’t be late to your own premiere!” XL cries incredulously.

“Try me,” HC purrs into XL’s ear, delicately kissing the lobe.

XL gasps as teasing hands roam around his torso, one of them slipping down to cup his behind. He vaguely thinks about how SQX is expecting them in the next hour to help with their red carpet outfits. But when hungry lips attach to the sensitive column of his neck, XL is a goner.

“Gege doesn’t have to do any work. Just lay back and look pretty.”

(Brainchild with @no-one-says-hi!)

#tgcf #heavenly official's blessing #hualian #hualian au #cerdrabbles #fluff #Actor HC #Landscaper XL #fine.

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fayrinferno · 3 years

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Tagging is exhausting and so is Tumblr, yet I’m still here (and why)

So despite all the crap that has been going on now with Post+ and tumblr trying us again (they won’t stop until there’s noone left but the pornblogs, I guess), I still browse here, enjoy my parts of the community, and like a ton of posts... but very rarely get around actually posting... and when I do, I put like 100 reblogs in the queue, trying to tag stuff, which, ngl, exhausts me. I think I might change that habit I had ever since joining tumblr in... 2013, I think? Crazy.

So unless I have something to say, I’ll just try to hit reblog/queue instead of like. Without tags. I might add them later via the mass post editor. Might not. That’s the only way I can currently ensure some sort of regular activity and presence here, while being super busy and save the actual free time I have for something more creative/productive.

I’d like to stay in touch because I have not yet switched to other platforms as many did and if I was supposed to do my own original posts only, well, it would just be an occasional tumbleweed rolling around the desert. And I mean, once in two months occasional. Nobody cares about that. Well, nobody might care about this either, but felt like saying something to explain the change. This won’t concern my other blogs (that are neglected again, I’m aware), I’ll just try a little experiment here.

So why even continue trying with this hellsite? Well, I could start a twitter account, but tbh, I don’t see it as an alternative for my content and, at this point, I only see my own website as one. I want to continue with the fandom translation, writing, and art as well, and I don’t see myself posting that on twitter, I really don’t. This site had the perfect potential for fandom (plus fandom porn, let’s be honest... regular porn, too, but that’s beside the point). But it never continued to improve and develop as such. Instead, it just puts on parts of shitty supermarket costumes it can afford to try and impersonate some more successful and trendier websites that have long perfected them because, hello, they specialized on them and invested much more effort and resources than tumblr ever could.

Over the years, they tried to add parts of whatever social media site/app was in at the time (now it’s patreon I guess), but they couldn’t embrace what it really is, which is a fandom hellhole full of people nostalgic for livejournal or myspace. I’m not here to become an influencer or to make extra 5 bucks; I’m here because I have a handful of friends and mutuals here that I, huge surprise, don’t want to put behind paywall; because I can still html-edit my profile and pretend it’s a website and still fill my dash with such content as I like instead of being constantly monetized by consuming monetized vomit and weird psyop content attacking me from all sides in what is supposed to be my free time.

Anyway, tl;dr, less tags and more posts from now on.

#I mean the patreon wouldn't even be such a bad idea if you came with it first because you tried to do something original years ago #and if you thought it through including the legal and copyright implications #now it's just laughable but I guess if youtube can try that ridiculous stuff why can't this clown website right #anyway how did I get here?!?#tumblr meta #block of text #long post #about

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what-do-1000-swords-look-like · 3 years

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Misha tag on Tumblr = J2 conspiracy against Destiel fans - huh?

Okay I have to get my thoughts out on this because while this had me rolling in laughter, I was like hmm, I wonder how these people arrived at these points/genuine beliefs. Like the tag was swimming with not only anti-Misha posts but also comments about how deluded we destiels are (of course, acutally wbk but I guess to them, destiel shippers are somehow threatening to their way of life? again ship and let ship man, what is so hard about that? why do people have to call any shipper crazy or accuse them of trying to make a straight character gay, I don’t get it, like is there an actual valid reason you take it so personal? that it makes you so angry and uncomfortable that you need to attack others or make the ship invalid? but I digress, that’s not the point I’m trying to make here)

Man. I knew there was destiel hate out there, we all did (especially after 15x18, then 15x20) but daaaaammmmn. Every time I think I’ve seen it all, I always manage to get surprised. So I went through the Misha tag, looking up his tweets from the events of yesterday because I was curious to see what else had been said, but whoa, I didn't realize so many people are out there hating on him, Cas, Dean being anything other than arrow straight, and fans of any of the four topics. Like I knew it was bad after the finale, but just seeing some of these posts that are recent...wow. Even people laughing that destiel shippers got what they deserved for the dropped story and character development of Dean, Dean’s death, and queer baiting. Like?

But then I saw some of the comments and while I get (I guess?) all of these opinions as to why destiel doesn’t exist/destiel shippers are crazy and got what they deserved/Misha baited us for years & is a horrible actor and liar/Dean is in love with Sam but only platonically and their love should be considered part of the LGBTQ+ representation under the aromantic and asexual spectrums because while Dean/Sam was both of their romantic endgames “they’re soulmates” it’s purely platonic (?)/that the show planned to make fools of destiel shippers who they consider fanatical and unhinged which is supposedly confirmed by the brother of J2′s bodyguard on Twitter or (some social media site)/Jensen hates destiel shippers & purposely sunk the ship to make way for a Sam and Dean ending that he & Jared knew the fans wanted all along is supposed to make me laugh more than anything, it really made me stop and think for a second.

In light of them mentioning these supposed fanatical & unhinged fans that apparently harassed Jensen and Jared repeatedly at cons and other events, that Misha baited his fans or something like that, and all of these theories as to how destiel doesn’t exist and what the show/actors/writers planned, I just wanted to put this out there:

I myself was a casual viewer of SPN and did not ship destiel from the jump in season 4. I was not a hardcore fan of Misha’s (I did not follow his social media or any of the other cast members’ social media until about 2 months ago when that episode [15x18] happened). I was a fan of Jensen’s before SPN even started thanks to Dark Angel, Smallville, Dawson’s Creek, and Blonde. The only romantic interest I ever saw possibly being a good one for Dean (before I dipped out at season 6) was Jo. I didn’t ship it but I considered it. I actually dipped in and out of the Castiel/Anna portion of the fandom during season 4 for a bit but in the end, it didn’t do it for me and I was out completely. I have never been to a con (not an SPN one anyway) nor have I ever interacted with any of the cast or crew, on social media, in person, or elsewhere. So, there’s no bias on my part or any idol worship or anything like that for any cast member.

I’ve stated in previous posts that my SPN journey began back in season 3. I binged season 1-2 on dvd sets (damn that was a long time ago), caught up on whatever I missed for season 3 on reruns, watched live until season 6 when things started to get a little weird, then got back into it the very end of season 9 (I believe), and then watched live until the end of the series. I didn’t come around to the idea of destiel until season 15 started airing and it became obvious that they were romantically coding the relationship between the two characters, and they were moving the Dean & Cas tension (not just romantic) to the forefront for the season, as a main arc. It became so blatantly obvious that you couldn’t ignore it even if you wanted to. It was there right in your face. I’ve talked about it at length here and here. Hell they even brought it to the forefront in the narrative using the story itself, threading it in with the main story tension Dean & Cas have over Jack & Mary which I also talk about here. It’s there and anyone with two eyes, two ears and half a brain, anyone who pays attention to the episodes, the story the writers themselves were telling as well as the actors/editors/score composer/cinematographer - it’s all right there. That is what made me sit up and take notice.

I remember thinking to myself at the time “damn they’re really going for it, aren’t they?” Not that I thought it would become canon or that Dean and Cas would even acknowledge it in dialogue with each other or other characters in the show like Sam. I thought it was just something they were doing to amp up the drama, to make fans happy while also not completely giving them exactly what they wanted (this was months after the GoT finale so I was not taking anything at face value and still don’t to this day). But then it kept growing and growing until we saw that scene in 15x03, then 15x09, episodes where moments stood out to the GA (like myself) (think “why is Dean getting that emotional? is it because he can’t find Cas? I don’t get it, why is he crying? why is he down on his knees? he never prayed on his knees before? I know he’s apologizing but Dean doesn’t cry like this” & “why does this feel like a breakup scene? if this was between Dean and a woman or Cas and a woman, this would be a breakup? okay this has to be a breakup, Cas just told him he’s leaving and waiting for Dean to stop him so this definitely is a breakup scene” -- at that point, I knew something was up. So I started considering the pairing and I liked what I saw. Regardless of how Dean hooks up with women left and right, I liked the idea of what Cas presented in his life. So the more and more I considered, the more and more I fell in love with the idea. And since I’m a ho for symmetry and parallels, after seeing that these two were soldiers that Daddy had fashioned to fight and be weapons yet they were trying to deviate away from their fathers’ set up narratives of their lives, a human and an angel no less (being on two different yet very similar journeys), I was hooked. Before you could say assbutt, I was on Tumblr, DeviantArt, and Pinterest looking for destiel everything. The more I saw and read, the more I fell in love with the pairing.

And then I did something which I am still glad I did (though sometimes wish I hadn’t after what happened in the ending of this show & doing research for this goddamn meta and kicking myself for not getting out earlier when red flags went up), I went back for a rewatch. I had never seen most of season 6, 7, 8, or most of 9. Welp, suffice it to say, I was then a goner to the idea of destiel. Season 8 felt different to me from the jump, and while I thought I hadn’t seen any romantic tension from Cas and Dean before season 15, I quickly realized how very wrong I had been, considering I had missed some of their interesting moments in earlier seasons.

Which is interesting because I think around when season 9 was airing (? - not sure if this is correct) Jensen said at a con that Dean and Cas didn’t have a lot of screen time in season 9 which he and Misha were relieved by because they weren’t playing the two romantically and didn’t see the relationship as that and yet:

Misha was told by Jeremy Carver, the showrunner of seasons 8-11, to play a “jilted lover” when Dean kicks Cas out of the bunker in season 9 and they reunite in Rexford - this whole episode (9x03) is Dean trying to reconnect with Cas and Cas struggling to adjust to being human -- I mean, how does Cas’ reaction to Dean showing up here not read romantically? It’s obvious he’s affected and not just “surprised” because why? Look at the shot they chose to show: how the camera focuses on Cas’ reaction after he sees it’s Dean and then the smile Dean gives him and then Cas’ “what are you doing here?” like a jilted lover

Dean was originally scripted to say “I love you” to Cas in 8x17, the same episode that featured Cas beating Dean with the intent to kill him on Naomi’s orders, the same one that features this lighting that has never been seen before in Heaven (or ever will be seen again afterwards) during the scene where Dean was going to say “I love you” to Cas:

Side note for point above: And the only reason “I love you” didn’t make it to screen is because Jensen didn’t think Dean would say it (I happen to agree with him, it wouldn’t have made sense for Dean’s character, especially not at this point in the story) so they changed it “I need you” instead but still kept in the shot with the lighting above

Then we also have that whole moment in 8x07 where Dean reacts to Cas (4:30 - x) in a way that is not necessary and doesn’t communicate what it actually is that is causing this reaction in Dean physically. It’s not shock, it’s not surprise, it’s not a flinch in fear or disgust. it’s not even a happy smile or a wtf moment. That recoil for lack of a better term (I’m just describing the way his body physically moves in that second) could have happened without the leg movement, without Dean’s fingers starting to curl into an open fist so to speak. And they certainly didn’t have to have it happen right after Cas (the other character facing him in this scene) has changed his appearance (again calling focus to the physical) and says “Better?” to which Dean nods. It could have been intended as surprise at how cleaned up Cas looks now compared to how dirty and gritty he looked moments before, that Cas is now back in his full angel suit so to speak where he was in scrubs before, or it could be Jensen’s (or the director’s) interpretation of the script direction, but it went full ham for no reason, and not only did Jensen act it this way, the director shot it this way, the editor used this shot, and the showrunner (& network by extension) left it in.

Then we also have the flirting scene in 9x09 (sorry to burst your bubble if you don’t see this as flirting but it reads as Cas being a bit flirty, maybe that’s just Misha trying to show Cas as hammered after drinking beer like Dean says & Cas being lighter and more playful, more human, it obviously affects him differently than it did when he was an angel, but there’s a few moments there that seem a bit flirtatious even if it was unintentional, not to mention what do they talk about? Cas having sex with April & notice how he doesn’t act this way towards Sam only Dean, whose bottle does he clink his against? Dean’s; notice when he mentions April who he looks towards - Dean)

To be fair, I don’t know much about what Jeremy Carver’s intentions were for the series when he was the showrunner other than that he wanted to dig deeper into the emotional part of the story for both Winchesters, and move it away from underneath the lore it had gotten buried under by the end of season 7 (perhaps if someone knows more on his era and showrunning style they can enlighten me) (I also don’t know much about where Dabb intended to take the series from 12-15, except across the finish line after they confirmed it before writing the final season, but I tend to think if he wanted to move away from any possible romantic coding between Dean and Cas, he had three seasons to do it but instead seemed to increase it more and more each season until he then turned it up to high in season 15 - it could all be queer baiting like mentioned in the article I linked above but it doesn’t make sense in the story to keep doing it, regardless of ratings and viewers, to keep consistent with the story Dabb told himself in episodes he penned - not sure though, again please enlighten me if you know more about it)

And I tended to agree with what Jensen said in that video above (at first), I saw them more as kindred spirits, best friends, a brotherhood, soldiers (when they needed to be I mean) in the trenches together, but after watching these seasons it was apparent that there was so much more than that (knowing how seasons 10 - to the beginning of 15 panned out). So here I was, seeing all of this for the first time and damn if that didn’t make me see things through a whole different light. I read some fantastic and brilliant meta pieces on here not only concerning destiel but also the story telling within SPN’s narrative, for Dean himself, for both Winchesters, the lore -- all of it. (like I said, ho for symmetry and parallels over here, don’t even mention foreshadowing, that’s a word for foreplay in my mind) And just like that, I was gone. I took a flying leap off of the destiel cliff and haven’t looked back since (until 15x20 happened that is, which made me question everything).

But when I went back over it (before the finale and after it), I kept noticing little things that I mentioned here and here and here. Even a parallel I noticed for them that wasn’t romantic here. Not to mention the whole co-parenting thing with Jack I talk about here (though this post has more to do with Sam). Not to mention the bi-coding Dean was given at certain points in the series here. Then how it was obvious from the story that’s been told since season 8 that Dean loves Cas back even though he never explicitly said it since the narrative didn’t allow him to address it one way or the other in the end, to close up that part of his arc. And this isn’t me saying this with shipping goggles on or desperate for my ship to become canon. That I needed for Dean to have a love interest to make him more interesting in my eyes (he’s one of the more complex and best written characters I’ve seen on television in recent years) or to make the story better or because I was a huge fan of Cas or even Misha or I just wanted to ship something period. It makes sense in the narrative because the writers eventually put it into the narrative and kept working it until it did. Until it couldn’t be ignored by even casual viewers such as myself who had been watching the show without any romantic intentions or projections on this particular series or its characters. As the writers themselves have said over and over again, this show wasn’t about romance, for anyone. Had it become that, I admittedly probably would’ve stopped watching when I did and not returned. As much as I love Dean as a character, if I wanted romance, I could’ve watched Jane the Virgin or The Vampire Diaries or even Twilight. I didn’t start watching SPN for any of those types of stories.

But regardless, it doesn’t take away from the very obvious coding they eventually did for Dean and Cas as a romantic pairing. And that’s before Robert Berens crafted the confession scene from 15x18, before they knew Cas would be headed in that direction.

So saying destiel is only the creation of some half-cocked insane fans is ridiculous. It’s been there all along in the narrative, first as a hint and then full blown. And while some of us may disagree on when it actually started in the series (only the people bts know and they’re not talking, personally I still side eye season 8 and the whole Purgatory story line for the shift but that’s me), it’s there. There are plenty of eloquent and brilliantly written metas that cover this topic so much better than I ever could. Have a read. It’s all there.

As a matter of fact, I’m currently working on this big ass meta that has taken me about a month now pointing out the similarities of SPN’s coding of destiel to another infamous romantic pairing on another infamous show and it’s just hard to ignore at that point (although I suppose you could try).

As far as queer baiting goes, I can’t speak on that. I really can’t. It’s very possible and I’ll leave other people who are much smarter than I to go over that (and they have, again look up these amazing metas and posts on here). But I will say, at this point, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

Not to mention quack quack

Though I do think there is some very thorough points some have made that has showed that maybe the writers intended to go the whole way with both Dean and Sam’s (separate) romantic endgames but then COVID/interference happened, regardless of from whom, but we will never truly know until someone speaks out and I don’t bank on that happening anytime soon.

As for J2/the show having this big conspiracy against the fans:

I highly doubt (no actually, I know) that these two grown ass men (J2) did not sit here and plan this whole thing as a blatant screw you to fans, destiel or otherwise. You know how I know? This and this -- someone who cares about the story this much for the character he’s been playing for 15 years & the final product that they put out as far as story & character go, is not sitting there thinking, you know why don’t we do this so we can give a giant middle finger to those destiew hellers? It’s laughable, really. Not only do they have much bigger things to worry about in their lives, both personal and professional, than that but how ridiculous and stupidly petty is that? For one corner of the fandom? And for the record, Jared was not thinking any of those things either, for crying out loud. These men are professionals who cared deeply about the show and its fanbase/audience from all different corners of it. Maybe Jensen didn’t care for the whole destiel thing in the beginning (we know he didn’t) but he’s still a professional, the relationship evolved in the story line, and he did right by his character and said story, whether we liked it or not. Not to mention, neither of them have power or authority in this manner as proven by the video linked up above of Jensen not agreeing with the ending at first and being told he was too close to Dean and have it explained away from a fan’s perspective.

As for the show, I can’t speak for that. Again, I don’t know for certain and no one bts is talking. We may never know. But again...

I joke but who really knows? I doubt they did that just to screw with one corner of the fandom that maybe they’re not crazy about (now if you mentioned this was say JRoth, then I might buy into the idea). I think they did whatever they wanted to guarantee the most ratings, the most $ pocketed, the most to set up new $ coming in & a guaranteed new viewership (Walker), and what they felt went back to the spirit of the pilot in order to keep said viewers while getting both boys away from any type of romance. That’s a more likely scenario imho.

And as far as Misha baiting the fans or fanning the flames as you call it - look, I don’t pretend to know a lot about Misha’s public persona. Like I said above, I only started following him recently on social media but I don’t know much about him other than the tweets I see him post, his IG videos, and what I’ve seen from either interviews or con videos on YouTube. Other than that, I don’t know the guy. But I highly doubt he baited anyone. I think, from what I’ve seen posted all over social media in regards to destiel, he was actually sympathetic towards it (meaning he didn’t shut it down when it was talked about except when they weren’t allowed to actually talk about it from the show/network or it made someone else uncomfortable), and entertained the idea just like some actors do when fans bring up ships involving their characters to them (take Bellarke, Clexa, Becho, Steroline, Jafael for example, canon or not). I think he was open to discussing it, viewing it from those fans’ perspectives, and just in general having a discourse with the fandom about it. I don’t see that as baiting or fanning the flames at all. Do I think he participated in some good old fashioned PR after the show learned about the popularity of the ship, Cas as a character, and he and Jensen due to chemistry? Yes. I think they played it up at cons, on red carpets, in interviews, etc. (not to mention, they appear to be actual friends, just as much as Jensen and Jared or even Jared and Misha himself) but so do other actors on different shows and for some films (see Kit Harington and Sophie Turner at the 2019 Emmys, see Gwendolyn Christie and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau doing press together for season 7 & 8, see Kristen Stewart doing press junkets around the world for Eclipse with Taylor Lautner, just to name a few examples). I mean, hello:

(tbf, this is network PR, neither actor planned this)

PR is a very powerful and interesting entity all on its own and that’s how it operates. But that doesn’t mean Misha or even Jensen baited or fanned the flames. They’re doing their job while at the same time entertaining the fans who have paid money to see them at their cons, and just appear to be genuinely enjoying each other’s company and having fun, like they do with other cast members who have also appeared at these cons. So, if anything, I think after what we learned once 15x18 aired, it appears that Misha genuinely supported the pairing from Cas’ POV, but everyone views it how they want I guess.

And for the whole Dean and Sam should be considered aromantic and asexual (platonic?), covered by the LGBTQ+ umbrella? Umm...

And Wincest (or the bros only) was always endgame? Welp, for Wincest endgame: 1:15 - x, compared to a similar reaction in 10x05, compared to 0:17 - x

Not based on the narrative they set up. Not at least without closing up both boys’ arcs which I think we all know they didn’t really do by dropping the narrative and all development to get to 15x20′s episode.

You know, like I said up above, ship and let ship, I guess. But regardless of ships, if you think it was only supposed to be the bros in the end (whether Cas, Eileen, or Jack came back or not), that’s not the ending the story was telling, that the narrative was leading the viewers towards. (which imo I think is where the show majorly failed besides Dean’s death/Sam’s ending and the messages it sent out to the audience as a whole)

I mean we all know it was going to be:

(just kidding but you know I had to throw that in there) no in all seriousness, this is where the narrative was leading us regardless of any ships or fan opinions, this is what the story seeds planted and was supposed to have a payoff in the end:

I couldn’t find a gif for leader!Sam but yeah that was there, too.

The journey could have ended with both brothers but Dean’s and Sam’s endings to their arcs didn’t make sense. Not with the story they’ve been telling for these two characters for 15 years. 15x20 could have happened after 1x01 and been a successful ending. Not after 14 additonal x01′s and more.

So, insane? Not so much. Forcing my desires and my projections and my will onto the narrative through some incredibly impressive Jedi mind trick or through tweets? Didn’t happen. J2 purposely setting up a disappointing ending for both of their characters to screw with a group of select fans or Misha baiting them the whole time to be able to go “sike”? Nope.

tldr; substitute the “you” for “we” if you please x but that says it all

Edit 3/20/21: for those who asked, this was in regards to posts on the Misha tag on here (at that time) not only spewing hate about Misha but also stating that J2 purposely wrecked the ending of the show in order to mess with the fans/viewers and flip them off (and all of this was supposedly confirmed by J2′s bodyguard brother on Twitter *insert eye roll here*) - all ridiculousness but I went into the Misha tag to get some good wholesome Misha content and found that pile of festering turds that stunk to high heaven and did not appreciate it one bit - use the tagging system antis, JFC

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unmaskedagain · 4 years

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Best Birthday Wishes

Quick one shot. I rushed through at work. Nothing special. But I thought this was a decent idea.

It took less than a year for Lila to make due on her promise to turn the class against her. Most of her former friends would go out of their way to avoid her. Some took the cowards way out and just did nothing; Adrien and Rose. A few went out of their way to bully Marinette in a misguided idea of revenge; mostly Alix, Kim and Alya. The ice-out got even worse when Marinette resigned from being class president and no one (Lila) could managed to manage to do the job as successfully as she did. School field trips were with really bad or just cancelled altogether. School dances sucked. Fundraisers always fell short. No one would speak to Marinette because, as Alya said, if she just stopped being such a brat none of this would’ve happened.

Marinette shrugged it all off. She had decided if they could buy into Lila’s lies and turn against her so easily, they weren’t worth her time or effort. She made friends in other classes Aurore, Ondine, Claude and Marc quickly became her best friends. Once she did this, and the rest of the school saw she was out of the clutches of her class, the drama club quickly approached her and commissioned her for work for the school play. They were right to do so, as Marinette gave them a great deal, mostly because someone offered to pay her instead of just expecting her to do it. The art club practically got on their knees begging for help with funding their field trip. Comic Book club did the same but Marinette did one better and got them a tour of Marvel studios.

The funniest request was from the home economics class and cooking/baking club who just wanted a tour of her parents’ bakery. And maybe an internship or two, pretty please. Her mom and dad had been stunned when she asked. However, they were more than happy to lend a hand, and an internship, to the next generation of baker’s.

The best part was that no one expected her or left her to do the all work herself. The other students, her new friends, made sure that it was clear they were on a team. And if they asked her to make them something, they expected to have to pay for it. This allowed Marinette to have a lot more free time then she thought she’d get.

So much so that Marinette decided to create a website for custom designs by MDC. Once she spread the words about that, Jagged and Clara requested commission, naming her as the designer. This sparked a slew of celebrities reaching out for their own MDC design; from futball players, a few tv stars, singers, directors, a b-list movie star, were among them. Marinette got to meet them to do the designs.

Word quickly spread about the lovely young designer who didn’t bat an eye when she met them, and provided better quality then they could ever dream of. That brought in other celebrities. Celebrities who, when they publicists called Marinette, she fainted. She swore her heart stopped.

When one celebrity asked for a environmental fabric, Marinette was quick to show ones she had already created. It was a synthetic fabric that she created with the help from a local engineer and scientist who’s wedding dress she designed. It was cheap and easily replicated. The material was a hit; gaining the attention of Prince Ali who was always looking for new go-green projects to fund.

Marinette learned quickly just how tight-knit her class seemed to be. So close, other students don’t even try befriending them, after seeing many others fail. It was like there was a wall around Bustier’s class and no one could get in. And those inside never even bothered to really look outside it. It was suffocating to think about.

Marinette ended up joining the fashion club, gamers’ club, and got on the student council. Her popularity at school rose dramatically. Though, her classmates never realized.

When Marinette’s birthday rolled around, her classmates snickered when they realized that no one would be planning her birthday party. Alya guessed she spend the day with her parents but otherwise alone like she deserved. Alix vocally hoped even her parents forgot what day it was. Kim nodded along because Marinette was mean to Lila, and Lila was… Everything. A few were sad that Marinette would have such a bad birthday.

Bustier’s class were surprised when they received a text invitation to Marinette’s birthday party. Lila gets an idea and of course gets someone else to instigate it; Alya.

When Marinette arrives to class, Alya is quick to tell her that they can’t come to her birthday because they already have plans. She makes sure to add that Marinette wasn’t invited.

Marinette just shrugged, and said, “Okay, just trying to be nice.”

“Little late for that,” Alix snapped.

The class expects Marinette to announce that she cancelled her party but the news never comes. On the day of her birthday, they all threw a picnic to celebrate their new “Everyday Ladybug” Lila.

It wasn’t until Monday, did they learned just how bad of a decision that was. The moment they walked into school, it was clear that something was amiss.

“Jagged Stone was there!” A student said excitedly as she showed off the pictures of her phone. Alya tried to sneak a peek but couldn’t get close enough.

“I saw Chrissy Teigan.”

“Clara Nightingale,” Another said as Nino walked by. “I nearly died.”

A group of girls were giggling with each other. “Stranger things,” One hissed with a red face. “I got pictures with Finn from Stranger things.”

“Screw Stranger Things,” A girl taunted. “I got pics with the Stark sisters.”

“They have real names,” A girl tried to correct.

“Who cares?”

Nathanial overheard Marc saying something about a party, “Jagged Stone dedicated a song to her. And Clara brought her up on stage.” He wanted to ask his old comic book partner what he was talking about but after Lila convinced him to go solo, Nathanial couldn’t bring himself to.

Rose heard, “Prince Ali was there. They danced together. It was so sweet,” While walking through a crowded hall. And nearly had a fit trying to figure out who said it.

“Jonas brothers!”

“Gigi Hadid!”

“Selena Gomez!”

“Tony Stark!”

And the name drops went on and on until the entire class thought they were going crazy. Particularly Lila who was used to being the only ones dropping names.

When the warning bell rung, Sabrina, surprising was the first to ask the question on everyone’s mind, “Does anyone know what’s going on?”

Heads shook no. Alya stood up frustrated, on her phone, “No. But I’m going to find out.” Within seconds the determined expression on her face, shifted to surprise, then disbelief, then shocked. And when she looked up, the stunned look was still on her face. “Marinette’s party,” She said slowly as if she couldn’t believe what she was saying. “Everyone’s talking about her party.”

“No way,” Alix sneered as she pulled out her own phone. Others followed suit. Lila had her phone out before anyone could blinked.

Jaws dropped. Marinette’s birthday was a tag trended of Twitter, Instagram and nearly every social media site. Celebrities who couldn’t make it gave their best wishes to the young designer.

The pictures were everywhere. Marinette with one celebrity after another. Even Ladybug (Master Fu letting Trixx, Tikki, and the other Kwami giving their regards) wished her a happy birthday.)

They quickly recognized the faces of other students they knew at the party, some pictured with a celebrity or two, themselves.

“Luka was there,” Juleka whispered.

Mylene frowned, “He performed without us. Without kitty section.”

“Prince Ali,” Rose whispered. “Marinette danced with Prince Ali.”

Lila quietly seethed. How could this happen, she wondered. How come she never knew Marinette knew all those celebrities. The worst picture of them all didn’t even include a celebrity just the mountain of presents she got.

Adrien was supposed to be my way in, Lila thought with a frown.

Alya gasped, “You were there!” She hissed at Chloe. “You don’t even like her.”

“But I was invited,” Chloe smirked, “Of course I was. Dupain-Cheng throws the best parties.” She stated. “Like I’d be stupid enough to miss it. Even Mama went. But that was mostly because Miranda Priesley announced she was going. As did Wilhelmina Slater. It seems anyone and everyone in fashion wanted eyes of Marinette Dupain-Cheng, MDC, the up and coming designer for the stars. Including Gabriel Agreste,” She added with smug look.

This caused Adrien to frown. He didn’t know his father had been invited. Or that he’d actually gone. Why didn’t Marinette tell him?

The bell rang just as the bluenette in question walked into class. Only to once again see all eyes on her. She ignored them and went to her seat in the back. Marinette had a great weekend, and so was going to let anyone ruin her good vibe.

“So… Marinette,” Lila purred, in a way that reminded Marinette of the way she said Adrien’s name. “How was your birthday?”

Marinette eyed her suspiciously, “Good. More people than I thought came.” That was an under-exaggeration if that was possible. She didn’t know exactly how word spread but she blamed Jagger… And Clara… And Audrey Bourguis… Nadja.

“Girl, everyone was there,” Alya said excitedly. “Ladybug was there. I forgot you two knew each other.”

“Yeah,” Marinette raised an eyebrow. “I figured.”

Alya continued on like she never said anything, “I’d have killed to be there. Jagged Stone sang you a song.”

“Well I’ve known him for a few years now,” Marinette said, because, duh. “He’s like my uncle.” Her crazy, wild, decide to do an entire firework show, and nearly get everyone arrested uncle. “I went to his wedding. I design Penny, his wife’s dress. And his tux. And the bridemaids gowns. The tux for Fang,” Freaking Fang.

“Fang?” Ivan asked.

“His pet crocodile,” Marinette answered. “The same pet he’s had for twenty years. Anyone can find article about Fang, if they. Checked. Their. Resources.”

If Alya noticed the callout, it didn’t phase her as the girl didn’t even blink.

Nino looked confused, “I thought he had a cat?”

Lila’s eyes widened.

I thought you had a brain, Marinette nearly snapped. “Turns out a lot people were wrong.”

“Why didn’t you tell us who’d be there?” Adrien asked. “That my dad was invited. I would have gone. He hates parties.” (“He hates fun,” Chloe snorted.)

“Yeah,” Alix huffed. “Do you have any idea how awesome it would’ve been to meet a pro-skater.

“Or a Futball player,” Kim added.

“A director!” Nino went. “Or those actors.”

Marinette leaned back in her seat. “I didn’t know who all was coming,” She said. “You were invited. I just to invite Everyone I worked with as well. It was a party for a fourteen-year-old girl, I didn’t think they’d come.” At all, what’s so ever. Marinette had just did it to be polite.

“Worked with?” Rose’s mouth opened in awe.

“I designed for them,” Marinette offered. “But I didn’t think they show.”

“Nearly everyone in school was there,” Nino complained.

“No,” The bluenette was quick to correct. “I invited my friends; the ones I know from gamers club, design club, drama club, backing club, the students council. And I invited you, because I thought it was the polite thing to do.”

The clear distinction between the two was obvious.

“My friends came,” Marinette said. “Celebrity or otherwise; they all came. They wanted to wish me a happy birthday. Because they care.”

“Some of could’ve had our big breaks.” Alya snapped, anger in her eyes. “You invited us because you knew we wouldn’t show up!”

Marinette just stared at her before shaking her head, “I had guessed you wouldn’t,“ She admitted, and then smiled. But you were invited.”

#ml salt #ml fic #marinette dupen chang #Marinette deserves better #class salt

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universitypenguin · 3 years

Note

What happened to u? U okay?

Hello!

First off, thank you for your concern. I appreciate it and I needed it after the past two days. To answer your question - I'm doing great.

I don’t have a lot of context about your question, but I’m guessing your concern is due to my recent blocking spree. A day ago, I went through my followers list and found some minors. I’ve previously seen smut fanfic writers concerned by underage people interacting with their posts. Until I had to block a few of them, I wasn’t aware how uncomfortable it would make me feel.

Since the blocking spree, I've had a lot of thoughts. I'm about to spew them everywhere. You might regret asking me if I was okay. Sorry about that. No one needs to read this whole manifesto about my rollercoaster of emotions the past few days. But in the interest of transparency, I'm posting this very long note.

What I want my readers to know is the following:

Tumblr is both a place for fanfiction and a social media site.

When I interact with followers and write explicit content, I have to be careful about what I'm saying and who I'm saying it to.

I don't intend to block or purge my followers in the future.

As long as I appropriately tag and put warnings on my work, that is adequate protection for my blog. Everything I write containing explicit content is tagged.

However, I won't interact with users who don't have an age stated in their bio.

There have to be boundaries, given the content of my writing. But I've also come around to the realization that I'm not capable of policing every interaction. Tumblr is a public forum. Minors following me makes me uncomfortable. But by the same token, my work is clearly labeled at 18+ and so is my blog.

There's a lot of explicit content out there for minors if you really think about it. In my high school freshman English class we talked about the book "The Color Purple." Believe me, that was explicit and we were only 14. Any minor with a library card and a Google browser can access a lot more intense content than what I write. I hope they're all being safe, but I can't have a melt down blocking spree again.

I'm not a cop, I'm not a parent, and what minors consume is down to them and the adult responsible for them. If I know someone is a minor I'll block them, should I notice they're trying to interact with me. Otherwise, I'm not purging my followers ever again. It's too much drama. I'd rather leave Tumblr than do that twice. I'm tired and I'm starting to work on my post graduate classes, I work full time in a demanding job, I'm in the process of editing my novel, and trying to keep up with my personal life. Quite literally, I don't have time to block. Writing fanfic is supposed to be my fun time. Let's keep it that way.

Due to the fact that some people I blocked were later unblocked after I took a closer look at their blogs, I'm posting a full explanation below. A quick summary is this:

After only writing for three months, I'd amassed 500 followers. On Monday I blocked almost 200 of them. Then I reviewed my block list and editing down some people who were prematurely blocked. [I assume the anon is one of the unblocked who had me disappear from their dash. Sorry!] This blocking thing isn't sustainable. In the future I'll run my blog differently as far as interaction goes in an effort to be responsible.

Continue reading for the saga of:

The Great Blocking Spree and Existential Crisis of an Erotic Fanfic Writer.

The Blocking Spree:

On Monday I realized a thirteen year old was following me and interacting with my work. This creeped me out.

*Commence blocking spree*

Then I realized how daunting my followers list was. I had 500 followers prior to Monday. That day I blocked about 200 people (some of them prematurely - more on that later.) So after the daunting task of trying to assume, to check bios for ages, to review blog content and determine the user's age, I was tired. Today, I even took a moment to reconsider if I wanted to use Tumblr. Because if all this is my responsibility, maybe I don't have the time or dedication to manage it. When I can be chill, I try to be. This attitude also affected by blocking. It contributed to me unblocking people. When I was doing the blocking spree, I'd give people with no age in their bio a fair shot by reviewing their posts.

I blocked some bot accounts, then a bunch of blank blogs, some ambiguous people who very well could be of age. For the first 100 followers I was pretty aggressive. Then my attention span dropped off and I was a bit more ambivalent. I realized I was doing a crappy job of moderating and wondered what the point was.

The point was that the thirteen year old interacting with my work freaked me out. When I found two sixteen year old followers, it pushed me to continue the purge.

So on I go, blocking. I'm so responsible for doing this, right? But my methodology is crap. What is context for being an adult? Someone had posted about budgeting advice. I thought the budgeting advice was too good for it not to have come from an adult. But my father's a financial advisor and to be honest, I could have given that level of advice at fifteen just from osmosis. Someone had pictures of themselves entering their marijuana plants in the Oregon State Fair. Okay, you've got to be over 18. I didn't block them. Someone else complained about their stats professor and I didn't block them. But in retrospect, one of my high school friends got permission to take college level math courses when we were seniors. She was seventeen when she had a stats professor. The thought circles back - what am I accomplishing here? Next, I went back and unblocked someone who ranted about her Tinder matches being 60 year old men. I wondered if their post was even real. I've lied on the internet before. Nonetheless, I persisted and worked through all 500 followers. When I was done I had 312 followers left.

Post Blocking Spree Existential Crisis:

I know that all the blocking in the world can't stop a teenager who wants to read smut fanfic. I'm not much for posting on social media and I'm not used to a lot of anonymous interaction online. Honestly, I got rid of my SM accounts during college when I felt it was wasting my time. This is the first time I've really use a social media site to post content since college. My twitter account is unused, my Instagram is for close personal friends only, and my TikTok is for mindless consumption of cat videos. (I've trained the algorithm to feed me only cat videos, it's great and I highly recommend it.) I don't post on TikTok, so I don't consider it full use, just lurking.

Okay, Alice, get back to the point....

Right, being anonymous on social media. My blocks are a fence and it's based on self identification from the blogs that follow me. I have little faith in underage consumers to out themselves. I have even less faith in their honesty or respect for an adult's boundaries. They're at a stage in life where they want to push the boundaries. Telling them no is all but inviting them in. I did my blocking spree because I was worried about backlash from someone's parents. But what reasonable judge would come after a fanfic writer? Come on. Logical thoughts but me emotional distress was still brewing.

Why I am the one responsible for who clicks the follow button on my blog? I've always clearly identified what I write and tagged my work as smut.

That thought snapped me out of my whirlwind of anxious thoughts. So I started looking into the laws. My regular work involves medicine, not the legal profession, so I was lost. I found some state level laws that made me glad I'd gone on a blocking spree. California and Florida have specific language in their laws about 'providing minors with explicit content.' But what exactly is that? What I researched applied to the following activities: co-writing smut fanfic with other people, sexting, roleplaying and online messaging.

I run a fanfic blog with limited interaction. I've never done an ask. I don't roleplay on here and I don't want to.

The blocks weren't personal. They were partly based on the awareness that Tumblr is an interactive site and a place that's had a problem with child pornography in the past. But I'm not the smut police. I suck at blocking, and I doubt I did a good job of purging my followers list. This is when it hit me that boundaries are only what I can enforce. They've never been about how other people relate to me, only how I relate to them. (Wow. I've never sounded more like my mother in my life...) After this thought, I started considering what actions I ought to take if I wanted to keep posting fanfic on Tumblr.

My Post Blocking Spree Clarity...

It's up to me who I interact with. I don't have to reply to every comment and re-blog, but I'd like to. I'm stuck between wanting to write for everyone and handling interactions on a social media site that's mostly anonymous.

The fact remains: I can't be the smut police because I suck at it.

What I've decided is that I'll make it very clear on my blog that this is an 18+ space where I publish erotic fanfiction. Smut will always be appropriately marked. I'm not going to interact with reviews, re-blogs, and messages from accounts who don't have their age in their profile. I won't include them in my tag list either. The internet is a public forum. Just as with publishing erotica, once it's out there online for download, it's done. As a ghost writer and an author, I don't control who buys my original fiction, which is just as spicy as my fanfiction. (Trust me, it's explicit. I once had a romance editor tell me I should dial it back on the smutty parts of a novel because "it's a lot of sex for a non-erotica market.") The key difference on Tumblr is about interaction. And that's something I can control. I can decide when I reply to other users. What brought me around to this was the realization that even after the blocking spree, I can't review every single like I get. That's an amount of time and mental energy that's beyond me. Just the past two days have been exhausting and sapped my will to write. Which sucks because I need to go write the next chapter of "Restitution" before tomorrow.

I think the reasons I went on the blocking spree are nuanced. The thirteen year old freaked me out. So did the other underaged people who had ages in their bios. But it also relates to my work. In my job I've seen some nasty child abuse cases. Early on in my career, when I was a 23 year old new hire, I was working on an autopsy for a child abuse victim who'd been murdered by their parent. It was so terrible and graphic, I had to ask one of my older colleagues to take the case. This colleague didn't like me. But she took one look at my face and took the file. She closed out the review without a question and never brought it up again to anyone. I was very grateful. Where I used to work (and where this incident took place) was a major city that holds the unfortunate title of being the human trafficking capital of the US. And something I learned working there was that most human trafficking victims go with their captors willingly. In two years at that job, I never saw one who'd been kidnapped from a dark alley like you see on TV. They were all groomed on social media and thought they were escaping their families (who were often overbearing, toxic, or dysfunctional) for a get away with friends. It was a fun adventure with their internet buddies, until it wasn't.

In retrospect, the underage interaction I found on my blog made me react because of what I've been through. The autopsy case kept coming back to me today while I was at work and I've finally untangled my emotions enough to figure out what caused my melt down. When I was blocking, I was feeling an anxious motivation that I know can only stem from the stress I deal with at my job. Don't feel sorry for me about this - I know my work in medicine helps a lot of people and it's a tremendously satisfying career.

Our Saga's Resolution & How I'm Going to Deal With This In The Future...

- - - - -

In post block clarity, I offer this conclusion:

I'm writing on a public forum. My work is appropriately tagged as smut. In the future, I will also use the tag #no minors to help with filtering. I've always asked underage people not to interact. And on a public forum, what more can I reasonably do? Going forward I will only interact with those who have their age posted in their bio. But blocking sprees and policing every interaction isn't feasible.

I'll review how I'm going to run my tag lists as well. I need to think it over and let my followers know my decision as to if I'll continue using them. Because tagging is definitely interaction and my current tag list was not screened at all. *face palm*

Finally, to my readers who have blank blogs or don't have an age listed. I respect your right to privacy and I'm careful with my personal information as well. But I've also had an uncomfortable two days. If you've lasted through this venting session until now, you must understand that I'm upset by underage interaction. I'm setting my own boundaries and going forward, I'll own my side of the internet. No interaction from me, unless I know your age. Full stop - no exceptions. I think it is reasonable for me to suggest that you leave something on your blog that signifies you are not a minor, whatever that may be. Someone who I didn't block that stands out in my memory had a bio that said "90s baby." It was simple, direct, and left no doubt they were over 18. No age reveal and not even a name. If you put something like this on your blog it'll help explicit content creators feel more comfortable about their interactions.

I went on a spree this Monday and I admit to being heavy handed and aggressive about pruning followers. I had an emotional reaction due to work stress and I didn't think things through logically. I'm relieved for the chance explain myself and set new boundaries that I'm capable of sticking to in the future. But remember - the block button is on my side of the screen. At the end of the day, you might be unhappy with me for the block, but it's my button, it's my blog, and I'll use it as I see fit.

Thank you for reading.

#tw vent #tw child abuse #tw trauma #tw violence #tw human trafficking #penguin blog update #new rules #i'm sorry #its been a long week #I almost left tumblr over this #blocking spree #clarity #smut #no minors #smut fanfiction #smut writing #smut blog #I talk about my work trauma from medicine #boundaries

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sunshinejihyun · 4 years

Text

Wedding Bells - Saeyoung Choi

Summary: A dating app brings two unexpected people together

A note about this work: All of the RFA members have significant others (besides Saeyoung, MC is used for this fic as normal) that are referred to by name. Those are my OC’s and they’re the names I use when I play those characters routes. I just needed to give everyone a happy ending, okay?

Here is a quick breakdown: Yoosung and Wenyn Zen and Briar Jaehee and Cordelia Jumin and Luce

You can meet all my OC’s here!

Word count: 5.4k

Masterlist

“What do you mean I have to have a date to your wedding?” Saeyoung Choi stood staring out his kitchen window, his phone pressed against his ear and his best friend, Yoosung was spewing some ridiculous ideas into his ear.

“I mean just that. Bring a date, everyone thinks you have a girlfriend.” Yoosung’s voice sounded muffled on the other end and Saeyoung’s brow furrowed. “Sorry, Wenyn was trying to tell me something. But seriously, bring a date or else!”

“Where am I supposed to find a date in the next two weeks?” Saeyoung rubbed at the part of his nose that his glasses rested. “You know what - never mind. I’ll figure it out. Talk to you later!” Before Yoosung could get another word in, Saeyoung was pressing the end call button.

Two questions were ringing clearly in his head: first, why the hell would Yoosung tell everyone he was seeing someone and where the hell was he supposed to meet a girl to bring to a wedding on such short notice?

Sitting himself down at his computer, Saeyoung found himself looking at dating sites, only half considering making an account. After one bad tinder date, he had ended up deleting himself from the app (and hacking into her phone to erase his number, but that was a different story) and vowed to never go on another dating app. But desperate times called for desperate measures, so he’d have to make do with the resources he had which is how Saeyoung found himself signing up for Tinder for the second time.

“Any luck on the date hunt?” Yoosung had stopped by Saeyoung’s bunker in hopes of stowing away for a few hours; wedding planning was tough and the blond needed some time away from it all.

“No, I rejoined tinder but it seems the only people who match with me want me to pay for their OnlyFans - I don’t even know what that is! - or just don’t respond! I’m getting frustrated.” Saeyoung whined, glaring at his blond friend. “Tell me why you had to tell everyone I was seeing someone?”

“I don’t know! You’re the only one from the RFA not bringing a date, I didn’t want you to feel left out!” Yousung replied, looking over Saeyoung’s shoulder and swiping right on the tinder profile Saeyoung was currently looking at. “What if.. You make your own app?”

“My own app?” Saeyoung echoed and Yoosung nodded, letting Saeyoung bounce the idea around in my head. “I’d have to hack some websites like Facebook and Twitter to advertise it, but that would be a good idea.”

Yoosung grinned, happy to have supplied Saeyoung with a good idea and patted his friend on the shoulder. “Alright, I’ll leave you to it. Wenyn’s probably freaking out wondering where I am since I said I was going to the convenience store for milk. I’ll text you later and check on how your app is coming along!”

Saeyoung barely heard his younger friend, mind already reeling as he started figuring out how to design his new app.

“MC! Good morning, the usual?” Jaehee Kang was standing behind her bakery’s counter, cleaning the steam spout on the coffee machine as you approached the counter. Ever since Jaehee and her partner Cordelia had opened up this shop, you’ve been a frequent customer and have become friends with both the women who ran it.

“Good morning, Jaehee! And, yes please.” You replied, looking down at your phone and chewing your nail nervously.

“Something on your mind?” The girl’s long hair was tied back today and you laughed as she continually pushed a piece of hair that fell out of place before starting on your coffee order,

“Eh, it’s nothing bad. Just having a family party and everyone’s expecting me to bring a date. A date that I definitely don’t have.” You locked your phone before shoving it in your pocket so you were able to grab your drink from Jaehee.

“I have a friend who just finished designing an app,” Jaehee’s voice was soft as she spoke of this person, like they were someone who she held very dear to her heart. “It might help you with your problem. It’s called Wedding Bells, look it up on the app store.”

“Wedding Bells? I’m not looking to get married!” You laughed and headed for the door, letting the next customer order from Jaehee. She sent you a small smile and a wave before putting all her attention on the man standing in front of her.

As you were walking back to your house, curiosity got the best of you and you pulled out your phone before searching Wedding Bells on the app store. A simple ‘W’ was the app’s logo and the description was: ‘Looking for a fake date to a wedding or another family function? Look no further! With Wedding Bells, you’re connected with other people looking for dates!’

Without thinking about it too much, you downloaded the app and when you got home, you sat down and started filling out your profile. It asked for specifics, like the exact date and time you needed someone with you as well as your likes and dislikes and from there gave you a small list of 10 people they think you’d be a good fake date for and vise versa.

Scrolling through the first two profiles, you were virtually unimpressed. These people seemed bland - like they had no personality, which was probably the reason why they weren’t able to find dates. The third profile you clicked on had potential, he seemed funny in his answers and like he actually cared about how people perceived him. Plus he was good looking, which was always a bonus. Throwing caution to the wind, you decided to message him.

MC: Hey, Saeyoung! I see you need a date to a wedding, what a coincidence, I’m also in need of a fake date to a family function.

You put yourself out there, now no one could say you didn’t try. Just as you were about to exit out of the app, you noticed that Saeyoung was typing so you stayed, anxious to see his response.

Saeyoung: MC! Greetings! Yep yep yep I need a date… it’s to my best friends wedding and everyone thinks I have a girlfriend! You have any experience in the being-a-fake-girlfriend department?

MC: Can’t say I’ve ever been someone’s fake girlfriend, but I have been a real girlfriend once or twice so I think I can handle it!

Saeyoung: Amazing! I think I’d be a great fake boyfriend if I did say so myself! Would you be interested in being my fake girlfriend?

MC: Only if you’re interested in being my fake boyfriend!

The rest of the night was spent chatting with Saeyoung. You had even switched over to a video call at one point and the entire time was spent with you both choosing outfits for the other to wear to the events. You had even caught a peek at him shirtless a few times during that process, which was a very welcome surprise.

“I can’t believe it’s already 3am,” Saeyoung whispered. You were both currently laying in bed, each holding their phone with one hand, your head being popped up by the other. “You’re so easy to talk to.”

“You are also,” you admitted, moving your hair out of your eyes. “I think I should probably get some sleep now.”

“You should, you’ll need that beauty rest for the wedding.” Saeyoung teased, sticking out his tongue at you.

“Says you! You look like you haven't slept in days!” You watched as he closed his eyes, his breathing starting to slow. “Goodnight, Saeyoung.”

Sleepily opening one eye towards you, he sent you a crooked grin. “Goodnight, beautiful MC.”

The wedding day was approaching fast and Saeyoung was a nervous mess. Throughout the week of getting to know MC, he had quickly come to enjoy her silly little texts she would send during the day and the nightly phone calls that went into the early morning that they spent planning their fake relationship and just learning about each other.

Saeyoung was curious about MC. She was quick to laugh at his jokes and was even speedier at supplying her own remark back. She would be the perfect date to Yoosung and Wenyn’s wedding, she was so perfectly in sync with him that no one would be able to suspect that they haven’t been together for the last six months and he only hoped she thought the same about him.

“Hello? Saeyoung?” Her voice brought the redhead out of his thoughts and he zeroed back in on what she was saying. “As I was saying, give me a run down on your friends that I’ll meet at this wedding! I’m gonna need to be on my A game if I want them to like me.” Saeyoung smiled at the bright girl in front of him, so eager to please his friends and set in on telling her about his friends and their significant others

“Your chariot awaits, m’lady!” You opened the door to your apartment to find Saeyoung standing there, a corsage in his hand and a goofy smile on his face.

“Why thank you, my good sir.” You replied before accepting his outstretched hand. “I got you a pink boutonniere to match your tie and my nails, I hope that’s okay.”

“I’ve never gotten one of those before so the fact that you even got me one makes it more than okay.” Saeyoung answered honestly before leading you to a red sports car sitting out front. “Figured we’d arrive in style.”

“Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said you had a nice car!” You exclaimed, getting in the passenger seat, careful not to wrinkle your dress. “What is it you do for work again?”

“This and that,” he answered nonchalantly before throwing you a grin and putting the car in drive. “Now, are we ready to go?”

“I was born ready, fake boyfriend.” Saeyoung laughed at that before turning on the radio. The beginning of the car ride was spent with you and him quizzing each other on your fake relationship but by the end, you both were belting along to the loud music blaring through the speakers.

“At last we’ve arrived!” Saeyoung exclaimed before getting out of the car. “You stay there, I’m going to come open the door for you and then put this corsage on your wrist.” Sitting still, a smile played on your lips as you watched the lanky man run around to your side of the car and open the door for you. “Wrist please,” silently holding out your left arm to him, he gently gripped your hand, thumb rubbing a soothing pattern for a second before letting go to slip the band on your wrist. “There, it looks good! Matches your dress and everything!” It did, although it wasn’t what you would have picked out for yourself. The corsage was adorned with deep green and white flowers and light pink and silver ribbon woven throughout. It went well with your black and green dress, and it was from Saeyoung which was the most important part.

“Okay, now let me put this boutonniere on your jacket.” You opened the case before pulling out the simple pink rose with white ribbon wrapped around it. “These get a little tricky to put on, so hold still.” You warned, hand poised with one of the needles ready to pin the flower to his jacket. As you were about to pin it, Saeyoung shifted his weight from one hip to the other and you pricked yourself, blood immediately blooming at the small wound. “Ouch!”

“Oh man, I’m so sorry MC!” Saeyoung replied, gently grabbing your hang before bringing the finger up to his mouth and gently sucking on the wound to clean it of blood. You watched him, open mouthed and he immediately dropped your hand, face flushing red. “I have no clue why I just did that.”

“MC?” You heard your name being called and you turned to find Jaehee and Cordelia making their way over to you and your date, Cordelia’s arm was wrapped around one of Jaehee’s, both of them with confused smiles on your faces. “I didn’t know you and Saeyoung knew each other?”

You glanced nervously at the boy standing next to you before clearing your throat. “Yes, Saeyoung and I have been dating for six months now.”

Jaehee sent a confused look your way. “What are you talking about? Just last week you were in the shop complaining about not having a date to a family function. I recommended trying my friends app and…” her speech slowed down before she stopped completely, realization dawning on her face. “Oh! I see, you downloaded Saeyoung’s app and you two are now pretending you’re in a relationship.” “Don’t worry!” Cordelia’s bright smile was a welcome change after the awkward encounter. “Your secret is safe with us! Have a nice time guys, we’ll see you inside.” Jaehee bowed her head to you both before reconnecting her hand with her partners, both of them whispering quietly to each other as they walked inside the venue the wedding was being held in.

“Jaehee said I downloaded your app?” You turned to pin the flower again and this time he let you step closer. You could feel Saeyoung’s breath disturbing some stray strands of your hair as you adjusted the flower so it was sitting straight on his jackets lapel.

“Surprise?” Saeyoung’s face was contorted into an awkward sheepish smile and you rolled your eyes with him. “I didn’t want you to think I, like, hacked your list to put me on there because I needed a date. The algorithm naturally matched us, I had nothing to do with it. I created the app and then answered the questions same as you and every one else who’s using it.”

“I think that’s really impressive, Saeyoung. And it’s another fact that I know about you - you create apps - that we can sell to make our relationship seem real.” You found yourself getting lost in his eyes. Normally when you video chatted with him, he was wearing glasses but today he must have been wearing contacts. His honey colored eyes portrayed his every emotion, and it would have been easy to spend all day looking into them.

“Umm… we should probably head in.” Saeyoung suggested, holding out his hand for you to intwine your fingers with him. “Ready, darling?”

“Yes sweetie,” you giggled, letting him lead you into the venue. When you walked in, an impeccably dressed man with long silver hair waived you both over.

“Saeyoung! We were starting to worry that you wouldn’t show up. And you must be MC! So nice to meet you, I’m Zen and this is my girlfriend, Briar.” Zen gestured to the girl sitting next to him and you smiled at them both.

“Nice to meet you both, I’ve heard lots about you guys.” You replied, Saeyoung nervously squeezing your hand as he watched Zen’s face. Zen was the tough one to trick; he was an actor so it was super easy to tell when others were bluffing around him.

“All good things, I hope?” Zen looked at you curiously and you flushed before turning teasingly to Saeyoung.

“Mostly,” Saeyoung sent you a small smile and you smiled back before finishing your sentence. “You know Saeyoung, he has to throw some weird facts in about everyone. He was telling me about the time he sent a picture of him dressed as a maid and you-”

“Okay! I get it, he’s an annoying jerk who promised not to tell that to anyone.” Zen’s face dropped into a pout and you internally ‘aww-ed’ when Briar leaned over to kiss his bottom lip that was sticking out.

Soon after, the service started which made it hard to talk to anyone. As Yoosung was saying his vows, you looked over to find Saeyoung swiping away at a tear that had filled his eyes and you reached over and reattached your hands, squeezing gently. “You okay?” You whispered.

“Yeah,” he whispered back, leaning his head on your shoulder. “I’ll tell you more later but I never expected to be friends with these people for this long, let alone see my best friend get married. Just kinda hit me all at once.” You didn’t respond, opting to rest your head on top of his and you both stayed like that, your breathing in sync with each other for the rest of the ceremony.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I think that was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.” Zen remarked once Yoosung and Wenyn had walked out of the venue as man and wife. “It’s time to head over to the reception.”

You and Saeyoung took your time walking over to the reception hall, your hands still connected and a comfortable silence settling over the both of you. “What did you mean earlier?”

Saeyoung stopped and pulled you to a small bench, both of you sitting down, your thighs pressed together. “When I met this group of people, I was working for a secret agency as a hacker. I couldn’t make friends then and when I did, I’d have to change my identity eventually and never talk to them again. With the help from Jumin, I was able to successfully get out and start over after deleting my data and information from their systems.” Saeyoung turned his body slightly to face you and you could see how hard this was for him. His lip was trembling and he had a deep sadness etched in his eyes that was replacing the normally playful gleam. “That’s also a reason why I never met anyone romantically, I didn’t want them to get to close and then have to hurt them in the long run.”

“But you don’t have to hide anymore, you can be with someone now.” You pointed out and Saeyoung smiled sadly. “Have you thought that maybe…” you trailed off, shaking your head almost like you were physically trying to rid yourself of the thought. “Never mind.”

“You can ask me if you want to,” Saeyoung encouraged, his smile causing your heart to stutter for a moment before it permanently picked up speed. You swallowed hard and wiped your sweaty hands on your skirt before smoothing it out, playing with the hem to avoid meeting the eyes that you continuously find yourself lost in.

“Just hypothetically… do you think you’ve already met the person you could be with romantically?” Your heartbeat was in your ears and you could barely hear his response after you turned to look him in the eyes. Those damn eyes. They were already hard to resist but when he was looking at you like you were the only person in the world and you were sitting so close to him that you could feel his breath on your nose, those were the only things in the world you could look at in that moment; everything else in the world had faded dim behind those golden eyes.

“MC…” Saeyoung’s hand came up to gently push your bangs from your eyes and when he did so, his fingers lightly brushed your forehead before his palm rested on your cheek. “I…” he inched closer to you and you could feel his breath against your lips. Not wanting to waste a moment more not kissing Saeyoung, you met him the rest of the way. The kiss was awkward and clumsy and your teeth clashed quite a few times - it was his first kiss after all - but everything about it in that moment was just so Saeyoung and it had you yearning for more. Saeyoung’s other arm wrapped around your waist and pulled you up so you were straddling him, your knees resting on either side of his legs on the bench, feet dangling off. Once he had pulled you closer, his tongue quickly darted out in search of yours and when you eagerly met his with your own, he moaned softly, sending a shiver down your spine. Pulling away once, he softly pecked your lips again before helping you off his lap. “Well that was…” you giggled as he adjusted his pants, hands covering his crotch, and waited for him to speak. “That was-”

“A sight for sore eyes?” A black haired man cut off Saeyoung and you watched as his cheeks flushed red at the sight of the older man. “I wasn’t aware this was a soft-core sex warehouse, I thought it was a wedding reception.”

“Um, Jumin… this is my girlfriend, MC. Darling, you remember me telling you about Jumin?” You immediately straightened up where you were sitting, eager to make a good impression on another one of Saeyoung’s friends.

“Yes, I do. Saeyoung told me that you helped him get out of a bit of a sticky situation. You seem like a very good man to have done that for him, and without you I never would have met him. So, thank you. And you must be Luce?” You directed your attention to the small redheaded girl standing side by side with Jumin.

She nodded her head and Jumin cleared his throat. It was crystal clear that when he was in a room, he naturally commanded the attention of everyone around him and you found yourself shrinking into Saeyoung’s side as he fixed his stare on you. “We should be heading in, yes? We wouldn’t want the bride and groom to think we’re all being rude.”

Once Jumin and his wife walked inside, you buried your head in Saeyoung’s chest, face blaring red in shame. “That was mortifying!”

You could feel his laugh vibrate through his chest as he cupped the back of your head holding you to him. “At least now they have no reason to doubt us!”

Pulling away from him you frowned before standing up. “We should head on in,”

“We should,” Saeyoung agreed, linking your fingers together. You turned to go and as you did, he pulled you back to him, sweetly connecting your lips once more. As your chest collided with his, you let out a ‘hmph’ sound that caused the redhead to smile and softly nip at your lip. “I couldn’t help myself, you’re so cute.”

“So are you,” you admitted and he laughed before letting you lead him into the wedding reception.

The reception was already filled with dancing, drinking, and all other kinds of celebrating when you and Saeyoung finally made it inside the room and when Yoosung and Saeyoung made eye contact, the blond quickly made his way over to you both.

Without saying anything, Saeyoung wrapped his arms tightly around Yoosung’s shoulders and you saw his amethyst eyes widen in shock before closing as he let out a deep sigh, wrapping his arms tightly around his best friends waist. You looked away from the pair, letting them have their moment, and made eye contact with Jaehee who quickly made her way over to you.

“It seems you and Saeyoung are getting along well?” She nudge your side and sent a wink your way, causing your face to flush as you look at the ground. “I mean, I’m glad it’s you he ended up bringing, instead of a complete stranger.”

“I’m starting to think you’re right,” you admitted, glancing at Saeyoung and when your eyes met he smiled and threw a cheeky wink at you before excusing himself from his conversation and crossing the room to you, quickly wrapping his arms around your waist from behind.

“Jaehee, what are you and my gorgeous girlfriend of six months up to?” You felt Saeyoung pull you closer and you immediately relaxed in his arms, moving side to side to the beat of the music.

Jaehee narrowed her eyes at him and sighed, pushing a piece of her hair out of the way. “You’re really subtle at this,” she remarked sarcastically. “Anyway, I should be getting back. I’ll catch up with you both before I leave.” You watched as she wandered back over to her girlfriend and taking her hand, spinning her around.

Turning in Saeyoung’s arms, he tightened his grip on your waist as you wrapped your arms around his neck. “Dance with me”

“I don’t dance.” His voice was low and husky as apposed to his normal higher voice with a teasing lilt, something that sent a shock straight to your stomach and caused butterflies to permanently reside there.

“Please,” you begged, tugging on an unruly lock of hair that was sticking out from the back of his head. “For me?”

Saeyoung brought his lips up to your ear, brushing them against it as he spoke. “Everyone will be looking at you if I take you on that dance floor. I want you for myself. Next time, I won’t be able to handle myself if you wear a skirt that short, you’re driving me crazy.” That last word was barely a whisper but it left you a mess on your insides, your legs felt like jelly.

“I’m yours, if you’ll have me.” You whispered back and before you could say anything else, his lips connected with yours for the third time that night.

“Aw, look at these two love birds.” Zen teased as you both broke apart. “Do we hear more wedding bells in the future?”

You and Saeyoung shared a look before bursting out laughing. No one but Jaehee, Cordelia and Yoosung understood why something like that was funny, but they all looked on at the both of you with small smiles playing on their lips - they were just glad Saeyoung was happy.

After the reception, Saeyoung and you were in his car, his hand resting possessively on your thigh and when he pulled up to your apartment building, he turned to you. “MC,”

“Saeyoung.” You replied, reaching out to brush some hair from his eyes. “I don’t want to go inside. That means leaving you.”

“I’ll see you the same time next week.” He replied, a faraway look in his eyes. “I can’t wait to be your fake boyfriend again.”

“I can’t wait either,” you agreed and leaned in to rest your forehead on his for a moment before getting out of the car.

“Hey, wait!” You turned around and watched as Saeyoung got out of his car, walking up to you and cupping your face. “I don’t want to be your fake boyfriend next week.”

“You don't? Well, I was under the impression that we were getting along well but...” The end of your sentence fell off as your brows furrowed in confusion and he was quick to retrace what he said.

“No, not like that! I don’t want to be your fake boyfriend because I want to be your real boyfriend. I know it seems sudden, but it’s not really! We talked for a week before this and I enjoy your company and people say that when you know, you know. And I know. You’re the one for me, right now in this second.” His eyes were pleading with you and your heart swelled as you listened to the words coming out of his mouth.

“Would you be interested in being my real boyfriend?” You asked, a small smile playing on your lips as you repeated the words he asked you a week ago, only this time you were asking for real.

“Only if you’re interested in being my real girlfriend!” Saeyoung replied, before his lips delicately brushed yours, just long enough that he could inhale your breath and leave your heart beating in your chest.

“Text me when you get home, I want to make sure you made it safe.” You said after he had pulled away to study your face, eyes brimming with tears. “Hey, what’s going on?” You cupped Saeyoung’s cheek and he leaned into your touch, closing his eyes and letting a tear roll down to his chin.

“No one’s ever said that to me before,” he replied, eyes opening and looking at you intently. “It feels nice to have someone care like that.”

“Well get used to it mister,” your thumb brushed under his eyes, catching another tear before it could fall. “I’m gonna care the heck out of you.”

Saeyoung laughed and you found yourself laughing with him, eyes welling with tears as well, and when he noticed you were both crying tears of joy, he laughed harder, causing you to as well. “I should get going, let you sleep.”

“I don’t want to say goodbye,” you whispered, moving to wrap your arms around his waist. “I just said hello.”

“It’s not a goodbye.” Saeyoung promised, pressing a kiss to the crown of your head. “I promise, it’s a see you soon. And I’ll text you when I get home safely.”

You looked up at him to find you already looking at you. Saeyoung was looking at you like he couldn’t believe you were real, almost like you were part of a dream and every moment he was expecting to wake up. “You better,” you jokingly threatened before standing on your tip toes to press one last sweet kiss to his lips.

After watching him drive off, you followed the steps up to your apartment and hopped in the shower, checking your phone after you had dried off. Two notifications had popped up in the time you were away from your phone.

First checking the message from Saeyoung, a smile danced across your lips as you read it: Just got home. sweet dreams. I know I’ll dream of seeing you again.

You quickly replied that you were glad he made it back and you’d dream of him as well before you checked the second notification from Wedding Bells. It was a message from someone on your list of 10 people and you exited out of it before deleting the app. There was no need for it anymore; you had someone to bring to weddings and family functions now.

A week later when you introduced your family to your boyfriend Saeyoung, you proudly showed off your relationship with him, eager to display to your family how amazing he is. He did well too, got along with your younger cousins and helped your mom cook dinner and by the end of the night, everyone couldn’t wait to make plans to see the both of you again. Saeyoung had not only wormed his way into your heart, but the rest of your family’s as well.

“I think they liked me,” Saeyoung joked once you guys had left your parents house. You both were back at your apartment, him holding you in his arms as you both lounged on the couch.

“Are you kidding me?” You laughed, moving your head to press a kiss to his jawline. “They loved you. I haven’t seen my family that enthusiastic about anything related to me since I graduated college. I’ll have to keep you around purely for that fact.”

“I’m sorry I don’t have a huge family for you to meet.” Saeyoung’s voice drooped and you shook your head smiling at him.

“What are you talking about? I met your family at Yoosung’s wedding. Like it or not, but those people love you. Family isn’t blood, it’s the people who love you unconditionally. And there’s a whole bunch of them for you specifically.” You had turned so you were facing him. “Everyone who I met that day cares so deeply about you, never for one second think that you don’t have a family.”

“What would I do without you?” Saeyoung’s forehead came to rest against yours and you laughed, ruffling his hair.

“Perish, probably.”

“I care for you more than I probably should.” He admitted, honey eyes locked on your own.

“I don’t know about that.” You responded. “I care for you a lot too.”

Saeyoung leaned in to gently brush his lips against your own and he pulled back, a goofy grin on his face. “Am I the smartest person in the world for creating that app, or what?”

“Or what.” Grinning back at him, you squealed as his fingers prodded your side, hitting a ticklish spot. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” Your laughter rang out in your quiet apartment and Saeyoung wanted to record that sound to have it play whenever he forgot how beautiful your laugh was. “I’m extremely grateful that Jaehee recommended me the app that you made that resulted in me meeting you.”

Saeyoung didn’t respond, instead opting to hold you close and pull you onto his lap before both of you settling back down. He played with your hair as your eyes started drooping and once your soft snores filled the room, his eyes closed as well, content to fall asleep holding you.

#my writing #saeyoung choi #saeyoung x reader #saeyoung x mc #mysme 707 #707 #707 x mc #mystic messenger #mystic messenger fanfic #mystic messenger fan fiction #mystic messenger x mc

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wildlyminiaturesandwich · 5 years

Text

It’s time we talk about SimsDom again.

Most of you probably already know who and what Simsdom is but for those that don’t, Simsdom (or SimsDomination) claim to essentially be a CC finds website, which in essence I suppose they are... But don’t get your hopes up for a Lana replacement because they are SO much more than that. And not in a good way.

I know this is an old subject, and most people probably thought it was all over and done with, but Simsdom is still around and what’s worse is that I’ve noticed a growing trend among my fellow Game Changers who create content for Youtuber and Twitch/Mixer of promoting the site by using it to do CC shopping haul videos and streams, which is encouraging their viewers to use Simsdom. I’m not going to name names or point fingers but it made me realise that maybe some people don’t understand just how bad Simsdom is for the community in general, but especially for the amazingly dedicated CC creators of Simblr. And it’s just so disappointing to see people that some many in the community, including myself, look up to promoting this garbage site!

If you’re curious to know why this is a problem, I’ll explain under the cut. If not, keep scrolling... But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

If you visit the Simsdom website (which I’ve purposely not provided a link to because you absolutely shouldn’t visit it) you’ll notice a whole bunch of custom content is available there, more than likely you’ll even find quite a bit from some of your faves like @peacemaker-ic, @nolan-sims, @storylegacysims, @crypticsim, @renorasims, @savvysweet and MANY more. My stuff is even on there as well and if you’re a creator, the chances are high your stuff is too; whether you want it to be or not.

But don’t be fooled, myself and most of the other creators whose content appears on their site did not give permission for our content to be shared on there. In fact, most of us have specifically asked Simsdom to remove our content from their site. I say “most” because there are some people who willing uploading their content there (god knows why). The easiest way to the tell the difference is to look at who posted the content. If you see this:

That content has been shared by a bot, without the creator’s permission and more than likely against their many requests that Simsdom NOT share their content. If it says the name of the actual creator instead of “Exchange”, that creator uploaded it themselves.

You might also ask why anyone would care if their content was shared on a CC finds blog, after all, it means more traffic to our blogs and content, right? First of all, whether it brings in more traffic or not, is beside point. These creators have specifically requested Simsdom not share their content and they have been ignored, disrespected, threatened, and harassed. Simsdom claims that their users make up 30-90% of Tumblr creators traffic, but I call bullshit. I check my Google analytics every single month for traffic coming in to both my Tumblr and Blogger from Simsdom and I can tell you that LESS THAN 1% of the COMBINED TOTAL traffic from BOTH BLOGS comes from there. And when you understand how they operate, you’ll understand why that is.

- UPDATE -

In reference to Simsdom’s response to this post, they linked 5 creators that they claim meet their crazy statement that their site provides creators with 30-90% of their traffic. So I just thought I’d point out some interesting facts I noticed while looking at those sites.

One of those sites is dead; literally, it doesn’t exist anymore, if it ever even did. Another, @simiracle, is a fellow Game Changer who reblogged this post, so I’m guessing they don’t have support there. And the other 3 are alpha CC creators, none of whom have ever uploaded any of their CC to Simdom, nor have they ever mentioned Simsdom on their sites in any way. However, all three earn money on their own content via either adfly, adsense, patreon, or some combination of the three; my guess would be they wouldn’t be too happy to find out Simsdom is making money off them too.

You see, Simsdom might sometimes link back to the original creators site, but often times they don’t. I’ve noticed quite a bit of the content of my own on their site directly links to the file on SimFileShare, completely bypassing both my Tumblr and my Blogger. This might not seem like a big problem, but what about if the creator has put specific instructions, requirements, or notes on the original download page that if the downloader doesn’t read could result in broken/unusable CC, or worse, a broken game?

- UPDATE -

In reference to Simsdom’s response to this post, they linked to SimFileShare’s page on SimilarWeb and claimed that I was lying about direct-linking to my files there because their site does not appear in the list of referring sites. What they failed to mention is that that list only shows the TOP 5 sites that link to SimFileShare regularly. There are still 385 other sites that aren’t shown and can’t be seen without having an account with SimilarWeb. Convenient, huh?

I also said they only direct-linked SOME content. With my content it was only about 4 or 5 things out of the 15 or so they have on their site and I didn’t check anyone else’s stuff but I have heard other creators say the same thing. So of course they’re not going to show up in the top 5 if it’s only SOME links.

But wait, there’s more.

Anyone downloading from their website without an adblocker is forced to wade through potentially harmful ads as well. Notice the blue button that says “download” at the top? That’s not a real download button and if you click it, it will instantly begin shoving pop ups in your face claiming you have a system error or that your local law enforcement agency has detected illegal activity from your IP. Yes, I clicked it. There is nothing of importance left on my HDD (it’s all stored safely on an external drive that isn’t connected to the PC at all) because this drive has been slowly dying for weeks and I’m destroying it tomorrow and replacing it with a brand new one, so I decided to take a chance.

These ads, which are on pretty much every page of Simsdom, are what’s called “Ransomware”, and it’s whole purpose is to distract you with fake pop up “warnings” when you click on it so that you don’t realise it’s actually downloading a very harmful file to your computer in the background. It’s designed to be next to impossible to close the pop ups, so that even if you somehow became aware of the download happening, you couldn’t get past the pop ups to stop it before it’s had time to finish downloading and automatically begin running it’s payload when it’s done.

What payload? That’s the scariest part, you won’t know until it’s too late. It could be something as simple as a trojan that will force your PC to mine bitcoins, which is still harmful because these mining trojans are resource hogs and put a massive strain on your CPU. Or a trojan designed to target and encrypt specific files on your computer (usually sensitive ones) and demand you pay a literal ransom (usually either in bitcoin or pre-paid cash) and if you don’t, your files will either be complete erased or leaked.

Or worse still, it could be something even more sinister such as a key-logger; a piece of spyware that is designed to track and log EVERY. SINGLE. KEY. you touch on your keyboard. So every password you use, every online banking key code you enter, all the conversations you have via Discord, Twitter, Tumblr, or any other form of instant messaging, that fanfiction you’ve been working on that you are too scared to show anyone in case they think you’re a pervert, your credit card and bank account number you use to shop online, what porn you look for, even your Google search history (regardless of if you’re incognito); all of it will be no longer private and in the hands of someone who could use it to steal your identity, empty out your bank accounts, charge thousands of dollars worth of goods to your credit card, or expose every little strange thing you do on your computer that you thought no one would ever find out about, unless you pay their ransom.

Scary huh?

Also notice that those Get Famous recolours I made don’t say that they actually require Get Famous? Why is that a problem, you say? For most people it’s not, you see “Get Famous Recolours” and you automatically know you need Get Famous to use them, but what about people who are new to using CC and don’t know that for my recolours to work you need the pack they came from? Yeh, that’s a problem, because that particular download is one of those ones that leads straight to SimFileShare:

It leads directly to the merged file, which is NOT the only file available for download in that set, just the largest. But no one who finds my content on Simsdom will ever know that will they? Nor will they read the part of the download page that clearly states Get Famous is required to use the recolours.

I hear you saying “But adblockers are a thing”. Yes they are, but that doesn’t solve the issue of them linking straight to the file. And also, here’s what happens when you try to download something from Simsdom with an adblocker enabled:

You’re forced to wait 180 seconds before the download button appears. THREE WHOLE MINUTES in which you cannot move from that page or the counter will stop, and it will only restart when you go back to that page and stay there for the entire three minutes. Even Adfly isn’t that gross.

So, all of that isn’t enough to discourage you from using this vile site you say? Well, let me introduce you to the person/people who run the site. There are plenty of examples floating around Tumblr of how disrespectful, arrogant, immature, and disturbing the owner/s are (just search for “Simsdom” and you’ll see) but here’s just a few posts showing “receipts” of what happened to creators when they ask for their content to be removed from the site: Here, here, and here.

They have threatened to doxx several creators, tried to blackmail others, threatened to shut down some people’s sites, and even actually refused to remove people’s content unless they say “please”; as though these creators are six year old children who need to learn a lesson for not wanting THEIR content on someone else’s website!

All of this was said AFTER they made a post on their Tumblr saying they would respect creators wishes to not have their content on their site. I myself had a run-in with them as well but I don’t have the receipts because as soon as they finally agreed to remove my content (after almost 4 days of arguing with them and being threatened several times) they blocked me... and they continue to share my content to this day. That’s part of the reason why my motivation to create has been so low lately; I know its just going to end up over there, locked behind a paywall making money for these disgusting people and tricking simmers into thinking they have to pay to access my stuff.

But back to the story! Once they realised 99% of Tumblr creators — the people they get most of their content from — were going to ask to have their creations removed however, they changed their mind and instead started refusing to remove content. In fact, if you go to their website and use the contact form and choose the option “Remove my Content” they literally ask if you are Tumblr creator or not, and if you say you are, this is what you get:

And that “Our Rights here” link? That leads to this nonsense that literally contradicts itself with almost every single sentence:

“Creations can’t be uploaded without the creators permission... but we do not need permission to share your creations” “Feel free to contact us to ask to remove your content... but actually don’t bother contacting us asking to remove your content because we won’t” “SimsDomination is a free website... We don’t steal any content... *literally has other people’s free content locked behind a paywall and charges people membership fees to remove said paywall*”

And as for the EA terms part... I have news for you Simsdom, YOU are the only one breaking EA’s terms of use by putting content behind paywalls. I’m an EA Game Changer, I have actually read the terms of use AND spoken at length on the topics of earning revenue from CC, and why paywalls/memberships/exclusives are against EA’s terms of use with the Sim Gurus, have you? Didn’t think so.

If you had, you’d realise that we are allowed to earn revenue from our CC by having ads on our blogs/sites provided they aren’t deceptive — you know, like that ad with the big blue button you have that shows up on every single page of your site — and don’t lead to anything malicious, which yours do. I clicked several of the ads on your site and they all either lead to disgusting 18+ websites, started producing ransomware pop ups like I described earlier, or tried to download a mysterious file called setup.exe to my computer (which was most likely a trojan as well). We are also allowed to earn revenue via donations and Patreon early access systems provided the content is also made available for free to the general public within 14 days.

We are not, however, allowed to lock content behind Patreon exclusives, memberships and paywalls such as Adfly; which is exactly what you are doing. Like Adfly, you are not only potentially exposing underage children to 18+ content and risking the safety of people’s PCs, but you are also forcing them to wait to click a link and charging membership fees to avoid having to wait to download said content that isn’t even yours; content that you have been asked REPEATEDLY to remove. That is the very definition of a paywall. It is NOT the same as Pinterest or Facebook AT ALL, they might have ads but they aren’t malicious and they do not force people to wait to view content.

- UPDATE -

In reference to Simsdom’s response to this post, this is probably one of my most favourite Simsdom lies, because it never changes but it’s so easy to prove false! “Users don’t need to pay to download any content and don’t need to wait to download them” Oh really? Shall we take a look at your site on the old SimilarWeb that you love so much?

How strange. If you don’t make people wait, then why do you need adfly? And if no one has to pay, then why do you need premium memberships to get rid of the ads and wait time you don’t have? Odd.

Also, lets talk Adsense. I never said I had a problem with you having ads on your site; I said I had a problem with the TYPE of ads on your site. If you seriously don’t think your ads are in any way harmful, I’d suggest you take another look at your Adsense, because either it’s been hacked or you seriously don’t know what you’re doing. Oh, but that’s right, “Google will never display suspicious ADs“... Mmm hmm, you just go right on believe that. Yeh, it’s definitely not possible for Google to be hacked... Nope, definitely not.

Also, if you use your Adsense revenue to pay for your site.... what happens to the extra? Because based on your SimilarWeb page I can take a rough guess at how much you earn every month through Adsense alone and there’s no way your site costs that much to run. For that matter, where does all the extra revenue from Adfly, Short.st and this mysterious “other” go? And all the revenue you get from your premium subscriptions that you totally don’t charge people money for?...

Is that fish I smell?

You are not doing anyone any favours here, so stop pretending that you’re in this for anything other than money. Stop sharing content you’ve been asked REPEATEDLY to remove/not share and breaking EA’s and many creators TOUs!

If you’ve managed to make it this far, congrats lol I know this has been long and probably boring but thank you for taking the time to read the whole thing. All this post was meant to do was explain why people should not support Simsdom, and why I’m so disappointed in other Game Changers for promoting it, but it kind of got away from me a little.

Oh well, now you know what Simsdom is and why I will NEVER support them or willingly allow my content to be shared on their site. And if you do decide to still use their site, just... please be careful. My content will always be free and safe to download, just like the majority or CC creators here on Tumblr. Don’t pay for something you can get for free from the original source.

Also, if you’re looking for a Lana replacement (aka a good CC finds blogs that isn’t shady af like Simsdom) check out @maxismatchccworld!

- UPDATE -

This isn’t in relation to anything specific, just the situation as a whole. It seems Simsdom has just removed the search box from their website completely:

I’m sure it was totally legit reasons and not at all because they didn’t want anyone searching for their own content on the Simsdom website. Just like it wasn’t for that reason the last time too...

#VERY IMPORTANT #DownWithSimsdom #Boycott Simsdom

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andaleduardo · 3 years

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Where, besides Tumblr, can people find you doing fannish things? (Obviously only mention sites and usernames you actually want to be found at. Don’t expose your secret identities on my account.)

What other names have you gone by on these platforms, including Tumblr, if any?

When did you join the IT fandom? And what got you into fandom, to begin with?

What are your favorite ships, or characters, if any, and why? What do they mean to you?

In what ways do you participate in fandom? (ex. Posting memes, reblogging/commenting on content, writing fanfic, making fanart, creating fanmixes, etc.)

Do you have any in-fandom inspirations? Other members of the community that drive you? (And if you have the time/energy, in what ways do they inspire you?)

Name and link some of your favorite works, please!

Do you have any works of your own that you feel particularly proud of, or wish more people would’ve consumed? Please provide links if possible.

Have you ever participated in a fannish event (ie. IT Week, a fic Big Bang) or applied to be a part of a fanzine? If so, which ones, and can you please link them?

Without any form of bashing or lashing out, what is something you feel this fandom is missing?

We’ve talked about it before but I wanna thank you one more time for all the thought you put into these questions and for sending them to me, honestly <33

Okay this is probably going to be a long post I’m sorry in advance,,

- Besides tumblr and AO3 (it’s the same username) I don’t have any more fannish accounts, I have a twitter so I can keep up with the IT content over there but my account is private I don’t really interact there I just observe 👀

- Jesus what a good question, my first name on tumblr was eds-spagheds, that was also my first name on AO3, but then the second movie came out and I had to make good use of that iconic line

- Okay buckle up I love this story. So, It chapter one came out in 2017, but I hate horror movies with a passion, I never watch them, so when my friends asked me to come see it with them I said no, right. Fast forward one year. One random day in high school I think I caught the flu or something and I was feeling like absolute CRAP but me and my friend (the same one that invited me to see It on the cinema) had already made plans for that afternoon, that were: watch IT chapter one at her house. I tell you, I was laying on her couch having fever dreams while we waited for another friend of ours to show up, I was thinking to myself, I’m gonna go home, I feel like shit I don’t want to watch a horror movie that I’m gonna have nightmares about tonight. Anyway, I didn’t leave, they convinced me because they said “you love stranger things you’ll love this too”. The three of us sat down to watch the movie. Me, a dumbass, said this on the first seconds of the movie: “Can you imagine how bad it must feel to enter a fandom based on a movie? Like, with stranger things you can rewatch all the seasons but with a movie it’s just, the same 2 hours to obsess over and over.” No, I didn’t know there was a book, mini-series, or a second part. Yes, I got to know them all in the following months because as soon as I finished the movie I knew that was it for me.

- Okay favorite ships? We’re all tired of this answer but reddie. However, I like every single ship imaginable between the 7 of them, to me they’re all soulmates and I love all the dynamics possible. I lovE all of them, ships and characters. I think I related most to Ben, because of the unrequited love, body image and food issues. That part on the book about Ben’s mom feeding him unhealthy things and him trying to eat better and then the guilt trip? man, that hit too close. But like many people say, we all relate to every loser in a different way.

- Sighs. I don’t really participate anymore... First 2 years I was on fire with content, I did fanart and wrote prompts, one shots, full fics.. now I literally just reblog things and try to give love to the artists. I guess you can say I’m retired

- That’s a difficult question, all of the art I see inspires me, all of the fics I love inspire me, before, I guess they inspired me to create my own content for the fandom but since I don’t create anymore, they just, make my day really much better. I appreciate every single content creator of this fandom, you don’t know how much joy it brings me

- Okay okay!! This is impossible to get right because I will forget many many people for sure but over all this time there’s some works that really stick with me and that I think about every other day:

a (number) neighborhood of seven by BookRockShooter

I Might Be Dreaming (I Might Be Dead) by batwake

two falling sparks by zach_stone

Predicament Bondage by dgalerab

Now What I'm Gonna Say May Sound Indelicate by IfItHollers

& That's For All Time by tossertozier (rednoseredhair)

In Over Your Chest is Way Too Deep (AKA Surf Bois) by speakslow

5555 by weepies

- Yes! I wrote a handful of things but my absolute favorite one is this: Late at night when I like who I am, in the dark where I’m finally me

- No :( Sadly I never participated in any fandom event as a creator, but I love to see everyone’s work when one happens ! I bought the loser’s zine and it’s my most prized possession

- Hmmmm tough question, I think a little more empathy? There are so many kind and amazing people here but there are also some people who are... not. I see a lot of discourse over useless things like adults being in the fandom is somehow bad because the losers were once kids? like, are we forgetting this story follows these people from their childhoods through their adulthoods? And are we supposed to stop liking things after we turn 20 or? And when people who write Richie’s parents as bad parents are regarded as edgy teens who just want to cause Richie pain??? like what the....? so many people have only watched the movies and i’m sorry but in the movies there’s nothing that shows Richie’s parents as good parents, that’s only in the book, why do we attack these people then? maybe they relate to Richie and they have bad households, don’t we all project ourselves on our favorite characters?

Anyway, that’s all from me, if anyone reads this far I’ll be impressed but I had a lot of fun with these 👉👈

#long post #asks #so many good questions aA #It 2017 #It 2019 #the losers club

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ohnobjyx · 4 years

Text

Why does it snow?

(Yes, I’ll keep using the snow theme, it’s fitting).

Part 3: Underlying issues

Okay, so I’ll try to explain in this post why people reacted so strongly to this matter. Let’s keep in mind that, as a country, they underwent an extremely fast technological and economic development. I don’t want to talk about politics, but let’s not forget that it’s a esential part of every society, as it constitutes how it’s governed.

Disclaimer: I try to keep things objective (if I include my personal opinion, it’s in cursive and in brackets), but I’m biased because of the XZ friendly content I’m usually exposed to and by my own views of their situation. Open to discussion, but please make sure you’ve enough information to do so.

So, let’s go!

For better or for worse, XZ’s fans incident touched issues Chinese netizens have had for years now. People did discuss about this before, and it will probably be discussed in the future.

Let’s keep in mind that I present here a rather negative view of a part of the C- society. That’s because we are placing a magnifying glass on a small part of the fandom, so by no means all C-fans are like this. These are all a minority.

“Fan quan” culture

This is a big one. “Fan” in this case is an anglicism, so it means “fan”. “Quan” means “circle”, as the people who belong to the same group. The best translation for “fan quan” would be “fandom”, but it has more connotations than fandom has.

So in a fandom there is a lot of people that share a common interest, XZ, in this case. There are groups in w/ibo for people that belong to a certain fandom, and that’s different than following the supertopic of that said interest.

To enter the group, you have to apply for it, and a moderator has to accept you in the group. Belonging to a group like this is accompanied by some rules, like “be loyal to the celebrity”, “not mentioning other celebrities in the group”, “supporting your celebrity by getting their endorsements” or “defending him”.

(We are talking about before... after this incident, a lot of groups have “relaxed” in their rules, and now they consist more in “don’t enter in discussions with other fandoms”, “don’t create heated discussions”, “be rational in your pursue”, at least in XZ’s. This however, is second-hand information: I’m not in any group, neither XZ’s nor WYB’s, so I don’t know how they are right now from the inside).

So a fandom can change a fan. I’m sure there’s a psychological investigation somewhere out there about how these things work. It’s in this kind of environment that “extreme” fans appear.

These are fans are willing to go to great lengths to show their support for their idol, some of them going to points like sasaengs, invading the idol’s privacy. They act in ways that perturb the normal progression of things, they are very disruptive, and some of them even try to buy votes for their idol.

(Please remember that these are a minority, but when you have 30 million fans... even a small percentage is a huge number of people. In Western countries, these kind of “fans” also appear from time to time: stalkers that go to great lengths to chase a celebrity).

The fandom culture has shapen how the entertainment industry works. It’s a symbiotic relationship:

Celebrities are successful and popular thanks to their fans, who all belong to a fandom with their name. They depend on them, as fans are more likely to watch a film or a drama if their favourite actor/actress appears in it, no matter what genre (that’s why companies also analyse what kind of people conforms their fandom, to target the kind of genre would more likely be watched by the celebrities’ fans). They also depend on them for things like endorsements, as some fans see buying things recommended by their celebrity as an act of “loyalty”.

However, fans have a large influence on what a celebrity does. The idol is severely criticized if they do something the fandom doesn’t approve of. There has been instances where people drop the fandom if the idol choose a role the fandom doesn’t like (like how WYB lost fans for trying for a BL drama, he wasn’t even casted yet), and an idol can lose their popularity if they choose a partner the fandom isn’t happy with (or if they choose a partner at all, we’ve said that there is a type of fans that fantasize with being said idol’s partner, so if they have a bf/gf or if they marry, these fans’ fantasy is broken).

So we can see that the extreme fans are a problem, and why celebrities can’t outright reject fandom culture. They can disagree with the most extreme ones (like how WYB and XZ did in May), but they can’t simply say, “let’s dissolve all of the groups”.

That’s why in recent years, a lot of people has been rejecting the fandom culture. But a big fandom and an influential idol can also serve to positive purposes, like charity and public welfare projects.

That’s what XZ has been trying to do, to show that fandom can still produce things that are useful for the society, and to avoid people being ashamed of being his fan.

State control

As we know, the cultural industry in China is subject to state control. However, have you ever wondered why did only ao3 get banned from the country? What about the page that hosted MDZS original novel? And other fanfiction sites? The website that hosted the novel wasn’t an “illegal” one. In fact, it’s very public, and they earn money by people paying subscriptions to their page to access their content, that’s not just limited to BL novels.

(Heavens know that the novel was very explicit, and that it’s just a drop of water in the ocean: there are thousands of works like this one out there).

So, why did 2/27 provoke so much anger? Because the accusers took advantage of the power of the government.

Fandom culture gives an important boost to economy. It’s not just about entertainment, with the endorsements, fandom culture promotes consumerism (people buy things not because they need it, but because it’s endorsed by their favourite artist).

That’s why the government doesn’t only tolerate them, but even promotes secretly this kind of culture by not strictly enforcing laws and regulations. That’s why websites and novels that don’t comply with Chinese censorship laws have been “allowed” to exist until now (take for example the whole “danmei” genre, that MDZS belongs to). As long as no one reports them, the state will turn a blind eye to these kind of websites.

(Many of you may be asking, if a novel is “allowed”, why censor the tv drama? Well... the cover of the book wasn’t even remotely explicit, but videos and images of two men kissing each other, that’d definitely be banned by the government. Text is subtler that a picture, I suppose).

In words of a former worker of the state regulation department, if there exists such a content, it needs to be censored. However, this places the regulation department in a tight spot, because it subjects them to rejection from the people and the anger of the commercial companies.

Usually what if there’s no report, the department won’t investigate even if they’ve heard that the content is questionable, but if it’s reported, they must look into it.

So the fans didn’t just report it, they announced loudly and widely that they were reporting it, so the department could only investigate, there was no other option. By that time, the matter had originated great conflict and discussion, and, after arising so much controversy, and with people knowing what kind of content had been reported, ao3 could only be banned if they didn’t want to people stop taking the government seriously.

Thus, in this case, the regulation department has been used as a weapon in this fan war. This is not to say that the government is “innocent”, it’s to say that the accusers had reported the work and announced it knowing exactly what would happen.

This has been a phenomenon in the last years: the “report culture”. People use this as a weapon: they know that if they report, your content is going to be banned. So it can be used as a threat, leaving the other party defenceless if their content is really not approved by the country.

However, this kind of behaviour has enacted the rejection from the general public, as it’s seen as a cowardly behaviour: you don’t like their content, so you report them, knowing full well what’s going to happen.

(To put it simply: there’s a guardian, a keeper, in the playground, that it’s in charge of the children in the playground. This keeper has set rules that the children must follow, but there are too many children, so he can’t keep an eye on every single one. However, he will listen if a child goes to him and tells him that another has broken a rule. He’ll go and teach them a lesson. But the keeper is busy, and sometimes likes the things the children do, even if they are breaking the rules, so he turns a blind eye on them. But if he ignores the children who tell on their mates, and doesn’t punish the wrongdoer, other children will start to do as they please, so he has no other option than to punish them. Other children realize this, and soon, calling the keeper is made into a very effective threat against other children.)

This brings us to a point that’s very important...

We have to take into account that all industries have to show their loyalty to the government, no matter who they are. So the celebrities and the companies behind them, no matter what they think, have to express their loyalty and nationalism, especially since they are in such a visible spot. Even if they don’t have such feelings, they must pretend at least (but the majority are very patriotic, since it goes into the younger generations’ education).

So before considering to criticize their government, we must be aware that both WYB and XZ, as well as any other Chinese idol you might like, live in there. Expressing very anti-governmental opinions identifying as their fans might actually hurt them rather than help them (this was a problem from twitter a few months ago, from what I know. So please, don’t do that).

Some haters actually spread rumours of celebrities being unpatriotic quite frequently, to make the government look into it. These kind of rumours are the deadliest for them, and can actually retire them, so please, be careful with what you say while saying that you are their fan.

That’s also why XZ can’t say anything about ao3 being banned from the country, no matter what he thinks. Better not to enter that place.

“Xiao xianrou”

In recent years, more and more new celebrities are very good looking. So much that it’s more than just a suspicion that they get their jobs because of their looks rather than actual talent. They also get numerous fans because of their beauty. These young idols receive the name of “xiao xianrou”. It’s very noticeable when you compare them to the older generation of artists, who don’t have a face that would stop a crowd, but have a lot of talent.

Being a xiao xianrou doesn’t mean that they don’t have talents (XZ is considered one too), it’s just a name that these new celebrities receive. However, people feel that new celebrities nowadays are very good looking, but have no skills.

(This is just an example of what it’s called xiao xianrou. Remember, it doesn’t mean that they are talentless!)

Of course, not every good looking artist nowadays must be completely useless in anything else (we can all think of 2 good examples). In fact, people who get into the industry, and manage to stay there and continue working after, let’s say, 5 years, definitely has something more than just good looks. But people also feel that to stay in the industry when one isn’t so handsome must be purely because of their abilities with acting/singing/dancing.

However, it’s also a fact that some of the new dazzlingly beautiful idols have singing or dancing abilities that aren’t so outstanding. A lot of good plots and dramas have been ruined by actors who are handsome and beautiful, but don’t know how to act to save their life.

So for people who are very upset with this, when they saw the news about XZ and the comments of the antis saying that he had no acting skills, they thought that this was just another one of them, and jumped on the train of criticizing without actually knowing how his acting skills are or what happened. It was just a way of venting their displeasure with a whole other issue that has actually nothing to do with XZ.

W/ibo (W/)

This platform is a part of the problem. To start with, w/ earns money the same way twitter and instagram do, so for them it’s essential that people spend a lot of time in their website/app.

While positive people spend time on their platform, another group that do that is haters and antis.

W/ is full of netizens spreading hate, insults and cyber-bullying other people, but the platform itself doesn’t do anything to change this. And this happens because W/ profits from it. The more time a hater and a anti spend in W/, the more W/ profits from it. Sometimes, it’s W/ who sets marketing accounts that attack a certain idol.

Moreover, an account with lots of followers will get more money from the platform (like youtube). That’s why people that have no particular reason to hate xz turn into antis and dedicate themselves to spreading hate, gaining followers from people who resent him from 2/27 or fans that hate him for any other reason. And that’s also why haters accounts appear and spread, and why W/ doesn’t always block them.

This is why when a celebrity or any other people who got insulted or has been systematically attacked on Internet, they can only report it to the police and let lawyers handle the issue. However, legal processes are long and take time and money, so many people don’t do it (especially idols, who can have a lot of antis).

Seeing that people are starting to realize this, and protesting about being left defenceless on the Internet, W/ started recently a project to stop malicious content and hate (looks like just playing the part to me, tbh).

Another problem this platform has is the privacy inside the communities and the false accounts.

This platform holds communities where people can talk and share things they like. However, in groups of fans of a certain idol, there are also “spies” that sell information about the characteristics of the group or antis that disguise themselves as fans to continue spreading rumours and false news from inside the group.

This is what happened a little earlier in February, before 2/27: an anti got into a bjyx group, but all of his comments were to belittle XZ and praise WYB. Even if people know that this is not true, after seeing it for a while, it’s bound to affect their image of the idol.

And last...

This is not exactly a “problem”, but I couldn’t include it anywhere else.

The economy and money is why XZ’s company haven’t given him up yet. For one, XZ has signed many contracts with several companies, so he can’t leave even if he wanted to, because he’d end up with a debt in the millions. For another one, the companies don’t want to give up on him yet, because he himself hasn’t committed any grave mistake (like, none, in fact).

If it comes to it, they’ll “kill the hen and get the eggs” (meaning they’ll get what they can and discard XZ) but for now XZ is still very popular and he’s earning a lot of money for the company. So, right now, XZ isn’t a failed investment, just a very dangerous one (in case his reputation deteriorates again), but companies have put too much money on him to give up at the first sight of problem. That’s why XZ’s Studio is valiantly trying to separate XZ from those crazed fans, and declaring them from being independent of XZ.

Actually, one of the companies he signed with was on the verge of bankruptcy when they signed the contract (before CQL, I think). After the boom last year, they were actually counting on him to reverse their situation with the new dramas, but they didn’t expect 2/27. So now, they are one of the most interested in getting XZ back to work, and to air his dramas successfully. It’s for selfish reasons, but it serves XZ’s interests.

However, companies do and will dare to “lick the blood from the knife” (it’s a continuation of the previous idiom, to lick the blood of the hen and it means to get even the last drop of profit).

If XZ doesn’t enter the government’s black list of celebrities, they’ll continue to get the earnings from his fans’ “offerings” (the crazed fans who buys his every endorsement + rational fans buying their favourite artist’s endorsements they actually like).

The future of the entertainment industry is uncertain, from both economic and social (epidemic) points of view, so this is to be taken into account when considering this problem.

←Part 2: A sudden snowstorm | Part 4: Plum blossoms in the snow (I) →

#gg's situation #part 3 of 7 #my post

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