Sym Main

"If I didn't know any better, I'd start suspecting you were gay, Harrington," Eddie says one time when Steve absentmindedly traces his fingers over the smooth skin of Eddie's cheek. It sounds joking, but there's a coldness behind it, and Steve pulls back immediately, ashamed of the way he loves Eddie and the brusque confirmation that Eddie doesn't feel the same way.

Robin is the first one who notices that something has changed. When she asks Steve if something is wrong between the two of them, he tells her about what happened and says that it’s fine, that he’s trying to respect Eddie’s boundaries, and that he just needs some time to get over it. When she later asks Eddie the same question, Eddie answers that it’s fine, that he just needed to set some boundaries so that he could get over his unrequited feelings for Steve.

I feel like a dj exclusively playing requests from slightly feral girls with impeccable taste and i'm loving it, here you go @corrodedcoughin :

The tension in the air between them is almost tangible and the sensation of Eddie's fingers so softly touching his skin leaves Steve barely able to think anymore. There's something in those big brown eyes that tells him he's safe.

'If I didn't know any better, I'd start suspecting you were gay, Munson,' he murmurs.

'What if I am?' Eddie's question is little more than a whisper against his skin.

'Then we have something in common.'

Eddie keeps staring at him.

Look, I know it’s annoying and tiring, what with our xenophobic, racist, capitalist, and ableist world and its nonstop injustices and grievances. But as a Chinese-American woman who’s experienced my fair share of verbal harassment for my race and gender, I’d really appreciate it if you would take a moment to read and reflect about the anti-AAPI hate crimes taking place not just recently, but since before the beginning of the pandemic. It’s too easy to sweep these things under the rug in the interest of attending to more urgent crises and social justice movements, but the AAPI community shouldn’t be an afterthought in the big picture of things, especially marginalized groups within this group, including working class, sex workers, those who don’t fit into so-called “model minority”. Credits to Dear Asian Youth on IG. I haven’t seen it shared on Tumblr yet, but maybe it has already; either way, it would be nice if you could reblog it as well. If you’d rather not read, feel free to keep scrolling but unfollow me first. Image ID at the end.

Image ID:

Image 1: On March 16th, a gunman murdered 8 people at several Asian-run massage spas in Atlanta. Six of the victims were Asian women. CW: violence, mass shooting, racism, death

Image 2: What happened: At 4:50 PM, the first shooting occurred at Young’s Asian Massage in Acworth, where four people were murdered. Around 5:47 PM, Atlanta police responded to another shooting that occurred at Gold Spa, where they found three women shot. While at the scene, police received a report of shots fired at Aromatherapy Spa, where the body of another woman was found.

The police later arrested the shooter in Crisp County at approximately 8:00 PM, who later told law enforcement that he has a “sexual addiction.”

Image 3: Fetishization: Cherokee County sheriff Jay Baker reduced the shooting to the perpetrator having a “really bad day” because he wanted to “eliminate” a “temptation” from his “sexual addiction.”

This justification stems from “yellow fever”, an outdated and racist ideology that objectifies and fetishizes Asian women and contributes to the dehumanization of sex workers. Yellow fever promotes the belief that Asian women are exotic, submissive, and docile.

Comments like “love you long time” and “happy ending” continue to stigmatize, fetishize, and downplay violence against Asian women.

Image 4: Despite evidence of racial bias, many publicized attacks during the pandemic have not been treated as hate crimes, leaving many in the AAPI community to believe that anti-Asian violence is not being taken seriously. These crimes are rooted in racism and hatred towards Asian communities. CALL IT A HATE CRIME.

Image 5: RISE IN ANTI-ASIAN HATE CRIMES: Stop AAPI Hate recently released its latest national report, which shows that 3,795 anti-Asian hate incidents have been recorded from March 2020 to February 2021. A majority of these incidents (68%) were reported by women.

The increase in anti-Asian sentiment can be partially attributed to the widespread use of terms such as “Kung Flu,” “Chinese Virus,” and “Wuhan Virus” by high-profile officials such as former U.S. President Donald Trump. Many continue to use these terms, despite how it has instigated harassment and violence toward the Asian community.

Image 6: A GLOBAL ISSUE: The rise in anti-Asian hate crimes is not a uniquely American issue. In countries with significant Asian populations such as Canada and the United Kingdom, hate crimes against Asians are also increasing.

Canada: In Vancouver, hate crimes against Asian Canadians rose by 717%. Hate crimes in Ottawa increased by 57%, with most of the victims being of East or Southeast Asian descent. Montreal reported a spike of 30 hate crimes and racist acts specifically targeting Asians.

UK: The UK has seen a 300% increase in hate crimes targeting East and Southeast Asians since the start of the pandemic. Anti-Asian hate crimes have increased after every lockdown period, rising from 261 to 395 per month between April and June 2020.

Image 7: WHAT CAN YOU DO? Check the tagged accounts! Share this post to raise awareness. Share resources and informative posts on social media:

·        Safety Tips from Stop AAPI Hate

·        Stay Safe from Hate booklet by the Asian American Federation

Donate to the cause

·        National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, Georgia Chapter

·        Asian American Advocacy Fund (AASF)

·        Butterfly, an Asian and migrant sex workers network

Check in and support your Asian friends. Use your voice to uplift and amplify the AAPI community.

Image 8: Attend Bystander Intervention Training from Hollaback! & AAJC and call out microaggressions and racist jokes.

Follow Asian news and activists

Support working class Asian families by supporting their businesses

Mental Health Resources

·        CalHOPE emotional support hotline: 833-317-HOPE

·        National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) (nqapia.org)

·        Asian Mental Health Collective (asianmhc.org)

We demand more than solidarity. We want solutions.

Image 9: SOURCES

·        NPR: 8 People, Many of Them Asian, Shot Dead At Atlanta-Area Massage Parlors; Man Arrested

·        AP News: Georgia massage parlor shootings leave 8 dead; man captured

·        Huffington Post: In 2021, Asian Canadians Document Hate Crimes To Be Believed

·        NBC News: Anti-Asian hate crimes increased by nearly 150% in 2020, mostly in NY and LA, new report says

·        STOP AAPI HATE NATIONAL REPORT

“Costume designer Mayes C. Rubeo ensured the cast wardrobe enhanced the authenticity of each episode. […] As the series segued from black and white to color, Rubeo collaborated with the director of photography and production designer to ensure they achieved the perfect overall look. She describes the first three episodes as ‘particularly stunning,’ including a psychedelic 1970s print dress for Wanda in the third episode.”

(when the managers’ backs were turned i was taught to leave the trashbags of bread behind the dumpster rather than inside it, because it was locked after everyone left to prevent people from stealing from it. we would say we were going out to stack chairs and instead stack prepackaged salads prepared that morning in the narrow space between wall and dumpster, but that’s not what this is about.)

we were working valentine’s day, a little bit miserable about it, because customers are somehow worse on a holiday about love ,and even if we were single we didn’t want to be here, and most of us had people we’d rather be spending the day with, and the snappish, hardass manager was working that day, and everyone could not wait for the day to be over. 

we had a boxes of those bakery tissue sheets around and i was twisting it in my hands and i thought about how the first night my uncle spent with my aunt he had to get up early for work but didn’t want to wake her and the whole thing hadn’t been planned, exactly, so he (a roofer by trade and a golden glove boxer by sport) went into the kitchen and took some paper towels and twisted them between his big, scarred hands until it formed a sweeter shape and when my aunt work up it was to a paper towel rose on her pillow. 

so i used a couple sheets of bakery tissue to make a rose and walked up to my coworker who stared at me with a rictus smile and i gave it to her, trying not overthink if it was a weird thing to do. her smile slipped and she asked “you made this?” holding it carefully, like it wasn’t something her two year old son could have made with his pudgy hands, and i shrugged and got more milk from the back. 

then another coworker held the steamer too long when frothing milk, not on accident but because he was irritated, so i rolled another rose and tucked it in his apron pocket as i walked by. then it was just one more of us up front and it was nothing, thirty seconds of twisting paper to take the stack of cookies out of her hands and hand her a tissue paper rose, her lined face lifting into a grin as she proudly tucked it into the chest pocket of her shirt and i may as well have been standing in front of the ovens for how hot my face felt. 

it was such a silly thing to do, i felt ridiculous, giving away hastily constructed tissue paper roses on valentine’s day, clumsy artful garbage. then one of the servers walked by and noticed and so i made her one too, and then other servers came by, leaning over the glass, and complimenting the flowers with big eyes, and i laughed and made more, still not sure if it was sincere, but even if it wasn’t, i figured making them one and handing it over was better than saying no. 

then i went to the back again and the dishwasher yelled out “where”s mine? what about us?” and he was too sweet to ever be anything less than sincere, so someone kept an eye on the door to the manager’s office as i stood in the sweltering kitchen and rolled clumsy tissue paper roses, enough for everyone 

and by the time the day ended, everyone had one, everyone wore one, tucked in their shirt or their apron or stuck in their hair or taped to the top of their pen. everyone was a little less miserable, smiling like we were all on in on the joke, although i don’t think any of us knew the punchline 

yea lol

For a long fucking time

with why my adderall was having such uneven effects and varying efficacy

and the weird pattern of what made it work and not work and if it was building up in my system or not

and fucking nobody told me I shouldn’t drink a glass of Kool-Aid to take the pills with

or eat fucking Pop-Tarts or Life cereal

this is the most useful information I have ever received from tubr and it seems to be confirmed by several other places upon searching