18. “it’s my younger siblings wedding and my mother won’t shut up about how i’m going to die alone”
(I changed it to father. Because Castiel.)
Castiel tossed his letter on the table. Sam looked up from his laptop. “Something wrong?”
“Hannah’s getting married.”
“Your sister Hannah?
That’s great… wait.” The familiar
taste of foot filled Sam’s mouth. “Your
younger sister Hannah. The one who’s
eighteen and still in high school.”
“She won’t be by the wedding, they’re getting married in
June after graduation, but yes. That Hannah. Dad apparently volunteered to mail my
invitation, because it was tucked inside this.”
Castiel held up a three-page letter.
“A list of reasons why I should be ashamed of myself and my life. Wouldn’t most parents be proud of their son
being responsible and focusing on his studies in medical school instead of
marrying someone just for the sake of being able to say he was married?”
“You’d think, but then again, remember how my dad kicked me
out of the house for earning a full-ride scholarship to Stanford?” Sam set his laptop aside and got up to hug
Castiel. “You want to really make him
mad?”
“Uh-oh. That’s your
scheming voice.” Castiel leaned in. “What’s the scheme?”
“Take me to the wedding as your date. Introduce me as your boyfriend.”
Castiel blinked and looked up at him. “Wouldn’t that contradict everything I’ve
told him about being aromantic?”
“Your dad doesn’t believe you anyway, and it’s not for a lack
of you explaining it to him like you would to a four-year-old. Besides, it’s totally possible to be in a
relationship without it being romantic.
Sure, he’ll probably pull the ‘how is that different from a really close
friendship’ card, but at this point, you might as well accept that his
ignorance about aro stuff is willful, Cas.”
“And you’re willing to play along with that? Try to convince everyone that we’re a couple
even if we’re not doing typical couple things?”
“Sure. Or, you know…
we could not play.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I’m already looking for a one-year internship
here in town so I can stay with you while you finish medical school and still
have the flexibility to move with you wherever you end up doing your
residency. Any time we start talking
about the future, we’re talking about it like we’ll still be living together,
still be one of the most important people in each other’s lives.”
“What about sex?”
“What about it? Are
you not attracted to me anymore?”
“You said…”
“I said I don’t do friends with benefits or casual sex
because I need a strong emotional connection to be attracted. We’ve been living together for five and a
half years now, I think it’s safe to say we’ve got a strong enough connection.” They’d met freshman year when Castiel hit on
Sam at a party and Sam turned him down.
They’d spent the night together anyway, talking about their classes and
their families and their backgrounds, and moved in together at the start of
their sophomore year.
“I thought you needed a romantic connection.”
Sam shrugged. “I don’t
need to act on it. I’m good, Cas. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about this
anyway, what with my graduation from law school coming up. If you’re not interested, that’s fine, we’re
still best friends and bros, but this isn’t just some whim to appease your father
while pissing him off.”
“Wow.” Castiel sat on
his bed. “I need a little while to think
this over. I’d written off this possibility
years ago, but now it’s here and it is so tempting.”
“Take all the time you need, just don’t let it distract you
during clinic.” Sam picked his laptop
back up. “Of course, if I don’t get this
stupid essay written, I’m not going to graduate…”
Holy Sh*t, @ladylilithprime, that gif!!!! I haven’t had my coffee yet!!!!!
*melts into a karate puddle and flops into her Moose Bucket ™️ to soak in her morning coffee*
*mmmm sooooo gooood*
(your best guess if it’s the coffee or the gif lol)
So, @beingcouy and I wrote a silly, fluffy little script format story to go with this picture and the other merfolk pics of Team Free Will. It’s below the cut if you want to read it.
The story features liberal use of text emoji faces, tiny hearts, and the ships Destiel and Mooseley.
Embarrass your protagonist. Make them seem weak and vulnerable in some way.
Shoot someone. That always takes the reader by surprise.
In relation, kidnap someone. Or, rather, make it seem to your protagonist like someone has been kidnapped.
Have one of your side characters disappear or become unavailable for some reason. This will frustrate your protagonist.
Have someone kiss the wrong girl, boy, or person, especially if you’ve been setting up a romance angle. It’s annoying.
If this story involves parents, have them argue. Push the threat of divorce, even if you know it won’t ever happen. It’ll make your readers nervous.
Have someone frame your protagonist for a crime they didn’t commit. This could range from a dispute to a minor crime to a full-blown felony.
If this is a fantasy story involving magic or witchcraft, create a terrible accident that’s a direct result of their spell-casting.
Injure your protagonist in some way, or push them into a treacherous scenario where they might not make it out alive.
Have two side characters who are both close to the protagonist get into a literal fist-fight. This creates tension for the reader, especially if these characters are well-developed, because they won’t know who to root for.
Make your protagonist get lost somewhere (at night in the middle of town, in the woods, in someone else’s house, etc.)
Involve a murder. It can be as in-depth and as important as you want it to be.
Introduce a new character that seems to prey on your protagonist’s flaws and bring them out to light.
If it’s in-character, have one of your characters get drunk or take drugs. Show the fallout of that decision through your protagonist.
Spread a rumor about your protagonist.
If your protagonist is in high-school, create drama in the school atmosphere. A death of a student, even if your protagonist didn’t know them personally, changes the vibe.
If your story involves children, have one of them do something dangerous (touch a hot stove, run out into the road, etc.) and show how the protagonist responds to this, even if the child isn’t related to them.
In a fantasy story, toss out the idea of a rebellion or war between clans or villages (or whatever units you are working with).
Add a scenario where your protagonist has to make a choice. We all have watched movies where we have screamed don’t go in there! at the top of our lungs at the main character. Make them go in there.
Have your protagonist find something, even if they don’t understand the importance of it yet. A key, a document, an old stuffed animal, etc.
Have your protagonist get involved in some sort of verbal altercation with someone else, even if they weren’t the one who started it.
Let your protagonist get sick. No, but really, this happens in real life all the time and it’s rarely ever talked about in literature, unless it’s at its extremes. It could range from a common cold to pneumonia. Maybe they end up in the hospital because of it. Maybe they are unable to do that one thing (whatever that may be) because of it.
Have someone unexpected knock on your protagonist’s door.
Introduce a character that takes immediate interest in your protagonist’s past, which might trigger a flashback.
Have your protagonist try to hide something from someone else and fail.
Formulate some sort of argument or dispute between your protagonist and their love interest to push them apart.
Have your protagonist lose something of great value in their house and show their struggle to find it. This will frustrate the reader just as much as the protagonist.
Create a situation where your protagonist needs to sneak out in the middle of the night for some reason.
Prevent your character from getting home or to an important destination in some way (a car accident, a bad storm, flat tire, running out of gas, etc.)
Something I’ve been thinking about lately is how I often try to “justify” my attraction to women – even when nobody judges me for it.
Even silently in my head.
I found a dance video on youtube the other day and I really loved it. It was a really challenging choreography and they were dancing in high heels. It wasn’t a sexual video in any sense, I was just really impressed by their talent and… I do it right now, don’t I?
I instantly jump to making up some excuse on why I’m “allowed” to enjoy that video, to explain that I’m not gross for liking that video.
You know, I could just say “I loved that video because it’s so attractive when women dance like that”. I wouldn’t need to apologize for that. Yes, they were talented – and they were hot. So what. The world’s not going to end.
But I guess a part of me doesn’t trust in that. That part heard my mom tell me I’m disgusting, heard people say “Eww, are you lesbian”, heard people compare my attraction to bestiality, heard guys say “Can I watch”… and it believed them. It believed them that my attraction is something weird, gross, freaky, kinky, wrong.
The part isn’t as loud anymore as it used to be, I know that it’s lying. I know that they are lying. That little voice in my head isn’t me and it certainly isn’t the voice of reason – it’s just all the homophobic bullsh*t I heard and internalized.
I believe that most of us hear that voice sometimes. If you catch yourself, listening to it, I want to give you the advice to not get angry at yourself for it. I never found “You need to fight your internalized homophobia!” very helpful – you’re not the villian here. It’s not your fault that you’ve been exposed to hate.
You don’t “need to fight”, you deserve to heal. And that doesn’t happen over night or with a loud bang. Instead, it might be a soft anyway.
They made me feel like I’m gross – I will love women anyway.
With all my love,
Your Tumblr Mom
I have a lot of asthetic attraction to women, and I thought for a long time that there was something “wrong” for enjoying the beauty of something like a woman dancing! Its still there but not as much any more…
This is not a ship specific bang! The only specifics we have is that the monster is the focus and a canon monster (Got Witch!Sam falling for his brother? How about Demon!Dean taking Abbadon up on her offer? Maybe a fluffy little day in the life of Were!Garth and his pups!)
Karate Girl 