so I’ve been in a relationship for 5 years now. And I see a lot of posts about how people think relationships mean having butterflies forever, your heart beating faster when they walk into a room, about cuddling together every night, legs intertwined, that you’d be so happy to live together you’d sleep on a double bed with each other every night.
And its not really like that, at least not to me.
You stop getting the butterflies when you live together. Your heart no longer speeds up when you see them, but instead, everything calms down. When youre in the room with them, you feel calm, and secure. When you cuddle them you feel your heart beat slow, and the sound of their breathing carry you towards comfort. It doesnt feel like a roller coaster anymore, it feels like home.
You don’t sleep curled up with each other every night, legs twisted between theirs so tight its hard to tell where yours begin and theirs end.
Instead, you sleep comfortably, side by side, sometimes facing different directions. But every night, you find yourself scooting backwards on the bed so you bump into them. You snuggle against their arm, or stroke their hair as they fall asleep. There are nights when my boyfriend, in his sleep, reaches around me and pulls me to him, like a child with his teddybear, like I am his comfort.
In the wee hours of the morning before the dawn breaks, when the world is blue and you see through cracked eyes, you curl into their chest and inhale their scent before drifting back to sleep.
Kisses aren’t always romantic and firey anymore. But there are so much more of them now. There are cold kisses when you’re eating ice cream in the summer, and sticky kisses over breakfast pancakes. There’s “im leaving now” kisses, and “one more kiss before you go” kisses. There’s sleepy morning kisses before work, when you don’t remember the alarm going off but instead the press of their lips against yours is what brings you into the day.
There’s kisses before sleep, and, you are so sweet with the things you do kisses. There’s kisses because you treat animals so tenderly, and I’m so glad i’m with you and not someone else kisses. There’s quick kisses in the aisles of the grocery store, when its loud and you gravitate together, when instead of having your own personal space and their own personal space, its both of yours together, and you step into their chest to take up less area together.
You don’t always text each other with confessions of love and care like you used to, because that’s a given now, and you’ve moved on to quirky inside jokes about the life youve built together. You share looks of exasperation and amusement in public, your own little world against the outside one.
Relationships aren’t always a fairy tale. They’re not always fireworks and sparks, at least, after the start.
But they are a quiet rhythm and hum of love and care. It’s not a fire in your soul, but one in your hearth, keeping you warm and comfortable, comforting you as you drowsily drift into sleep.
….oh man, this is about to become very embarrassing for you.
first of all, i’m not even participating in the blackout nor am i organizing it so i don’t even know why the hell you’re coming to me with this. if you’ll notice i’m still reblogging art and still posting writing. which tells me that what you’re doing is going through the tag, finding anyone who’s posted about the blackout, and sending them useless asks because it’s how you get your rocks off. because apparently a harmless tumblr protest upsets you so fucking much that you have to go and insult people over it. you must have a lot of time on your hands.
if you don’t like the protest, don’t participate in it. if you think it’s not going to do any good, fine. don’t participate in it. i don’t understand why you’re so angry about people participating in a protest that doesn’t affect you. the fact that you are angry shows me that you’re entitled. either you’re a content creator who thinks that you’re entitled to the notes that the people currently protesting aren’t going to give you for two lousy weeks (which, grow up) or you’re a consumer who thinks you’re entitled to the fanart and fanfiction that people on this site post for fucking free that you will be without for two lousy weeks (which, again, grow up). there are plenty of users not participating who are still posting and still reblogging, so the fact that you feel the need to send messages like this to complain about people who are protesting for personal reasons is about the most childish thing i’ve seen all week.
and here’s another tip, hot off the press. since you’re apparently so offended by a harmless protest that doesn’t affect you, why don’t you do something that you do think will help with art theft instead of insulting people about this protest. why don’t you spread information about proper etiquette around reposting? why don’t you hold an event where people can report any stolen art they see? why don’t you write up guides for new artists/writers who don’t know how to report their stolen content?
bet that didn’t occur to you. because you’re too busy complaining about what other people are doing rather than trying to do something positive for once. because you don’t really care about art theft and you don’t really care about remedying it. you just want an excuse to insult people on anon for doing something that you don’t particularly care for. again, that is childish, entitled, rude, and proof that you really must have a lot of time on your hands.
please entertain yourself with something else. and if i see you in my inbox again, i’m blocking and reporting your ass.
This is all I’ve done so far! I cringed at the idea of doing a comparison because my own art looks terrible when compared to the original masterpieces, but since others have done it I figured I may as well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The most fun part about doing these pieces is that I feel I’m exploring the original painters’ mind a little. And hopefully learning something from them in the process! :P
