#First we had a couple of Extremely Unrequited Crushes

[slvt4em1lyprenti2s]

Emmy

Summary: You’ve had a crush on your best friend Emily for a while but see her flirting with JJ, or so you think…

Word Count: 2.1k

Fluff, self doubt? slight miscommunication

Pairings: Emily Prentiss x fem!reader

!NOT PROOFREAD!

Reader POV:

Why does she have to sit like that?? Like it's so hot. Never thought I'd have a thing for man spreading but here we are. To be honest I never thought I had a thing for brunettes but then Miss Emily Prentiss waltzed into my life and now my perspective of everything has changed.

She's talking to JJ about something and I see Jayj brush over Emily arm, she's flirting, teasing. I'm suddenly grounded again and look down at the file I'm supposed to be working on. I can feel that godforsaken lump in my throat forming. Fuck sake, I can't cry at work. Especially over some stupid unrequited crush. I though Emily was just busy and that's why she's been blowing me off more lately but clearly not. She's found someone else.

I knew Emily would never like me, but damn did it have to hurt this bad? We're best friends which doesn't help the situation although I thought I made my feeling abundantly clear with my glances, touches, comments and flirting. Clearly not. I look up again at the sound of Emily laughing. I could listen to her laugh in repeat all day, it's the best sound in the world in my opinion. But, I soon realise the reason her head is thrown back and her cheeks have become flushed is because of JJ. She's laughing at some joke she made.

I take this as my queue to take my work and go sit with Garcia for a bit, she's like my sister we don't have secrets. I tell her everything, she tells me everything. That's how we work.

I'm walking down the corridor lost in my head and accidentally bump into Rossi.

"Hey, kiddo. Slow down, your gunna run someone over if you keep that speed up!" He said light heartedly with a warm smile. I look at him and mumble a sorry before I try continue my previous beeline to Pen's office. He obviously realised something is off as he grabs my bicep before I can run off again.

"Y/L/N, are you okay?" Those stupid three words, 'are you okay?'. I hate it when people ask because then the waterworks take that as their signal to turn on.

I turn and look him, teary eyed. "Yeah, I'm okay, ah uhm I was just going to see Garcia."

I say chocking back tears.

"Oh kid." He immediately brings me into his embrace, rubbing my back soothingly. This is his way of saying 'I'm here if you wanna talk but I won't press' and that's why I love Rossi. He's always there but never forces you to talk before you happy to. I pull away after a minute.

"Thanks Rossi. I needed that, but I should get to Penelope I have a couple things to run by her." He could tell I was lying and that I was only going to Pen because I needed to talk to her but he went with it anyway.

"Okay well, I'm around if you need okay?" I nod and continue walking to Garcia's office.

I knock the pattern that me and Pen made up my first day on the team so she'd know it was me knocking on the door. "Come in my love!" I hear her call out cheerfully from the other side. Her chair swivels round so she can see me and her once chirpy mood is instantaneously changed to one of extreme concern. "Oh honey what's wrong?" She says as she brings me into a hug.

"It's stupid, Pen." I say realising how childish I'm being right now.

"No," she says pulling away so I can look he in the eye "Your emotions are never stupid. Don't invalidate your feeling y/n/n. Ever." I smile gratefully at her and pull a chair from the corner and sit next to her at her desk. "Okay, so..." and off I went.

I told her about my massive crush on my best friend and how we have been flirting on and off, spending more time alone together, the glances the lingering touches. I told her everything. My cheeks were stained with tears by the time I finished.

"Honey, I don't understand why you're crying though that's all so amazing, what's got you down?" She says the confusion evident in her voice.

"She's been blowing me off so much recently and I didn't know why but I think I just figured it out." My skin around my nail is now bleeding slightly where I've been picking at it. A habit both Emily and me share.

"What is it?" Garcia says realising my hesitation.

"I don't wanna sound jealous or crazy or just downright mean but I think she likes JJ. I mean just now they were talking in the Bullpen and JJ was touching her arm and it wasn't just an innocent touch you know? I could just tell. Then when I tried to ignore it and finish my work I heard Emily laugh at one of her jokes and I looked up to see Em with her head back laughing and Jayj's hand on her shoulder." I choke back sobs while ranting to Pen when someone knocks on the door. "Shit." I mumble under my breath and Pen tells me not to worry and just face the computers and look busy. So I do just that.

"Hey Garcia I need a really quick favour from you if that's okay?" I hear the person say from the doorway. At this moment I think the universe must have it out for me at this point. The person who needs a favour from Garcia is the exact woman I've just spent the last 30 minutes crying over. Emily Fucking Prentiss.

"Oh hi y/n/n!" She says all too cheerfully to be the person who's been cancelling all her plans with me.

"Hi Emmy." After I say hi back I immediately regret it because you can hear the tears in my voice, it's gone all groggy and horrible.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" she rushes over to my side after she hears me speak and brings my head to her stomach as she's standing and i'm sitting. Even though she's the reason I'm in this state to begin with I can't help but wrap my arms around her waist and stuff my head into her shirt and take in her comforting presence.

"Uhm I'm gunna leave you two be for a minute." I hear Pen say before she leaves and I hear the door click shut.

Goddamnit Garcia. I think to myself.

"What's got you all worked up, huh?" She says in the most soft, loving voice I've ever heard which just makes me swoon even more.

"Okay, look Em, I'm gunna say a lot of things and I just need you to listen right now okay?" She grabs Garcia's chair and sits opposite me, our knees brushing as she takes my hands in hers to make me stop picking my nails.

"Okay, go for it. I'm all ears." she stares into my eyes and I gaze back into her honey brown eyes, god I could stare at them all day and never get bored.

"You're the reason I'm crying Emmy." she looks taken aback but keeps true to her word and let's me continue nonetheless.

"Emily, I am so scared to say this but there's truly no other way to explain why I'm so upset without telling you. I'm so helplessly in love with you it hurts Em. I thought I was dropping hints with the flirting and the touches and glances but clearly I wasn't obvious enough. You keep blowing me off and saying you're too busy to hang out but I realise now that's not the case. I saw you and JJ in the Bullpen today and the way she was looking at you and how her hand lingered on your arm, and the way she held your shoulder when you were laughing. Even just the way you laughed you threw your head back and everything. Emmy, if you're into JJ that's fine but I just wished you told so I could be let down gently and not feeling like I've been stabbed in the heart."

About halfway through my little rant I started crying again and she started to say my name to try get me to stop talking but I wouldn't listen because I needed to get my feelings out in the air.

"Are you done?" She asked as she brings my hands, that's she's still griping, into her lap, causing me to lean a little closer to her.

"Yes." I say quietly so only she could hear.

"Okay now I'm going to do something and you're not allowed to interrupt me, okay?" The only expression I could see on her face was love and admiration which confused me but I nodded anyway.

"Good. Now, what I want to say is, I love you too y/n/n." A smile is plastered across her face as she confesses to me, my face was quite the opposite. My jaw was on the floor and my eyes were slightly wide.

"What do you mea-" all of a sudden her finger on my lips silenced me.

"I'm not finished." She says with a smirk.

Her finger that was on my lips, now rests on the side of my face cupping my cheek. Her thumb is brushing over my skin as she pulls me in.

Our lips collide and I know it's super cliché but I felt sparks. It's like all the doubts I'd ever had had just dissipated within a millisecond of her lips being on mine. Her free hand moved to my waist as I deepened the kiss by weaving my hand into her raven curls and pulling her impossibly closer. Slowly she coaxes me off the chair and into her lap, and she rests her hand on my hip the other firmly planted on the back of my neck, making sure I don't pull away. Her lips glided across mine like we had done it a thousand times before. Her tongue grazed my bottom lip asking for entrance which I gave her.

After a few minutes of just making out her lips detached from mine and made their way to my neck. I leaned my head to the side to give her more access. She pulled down part of my shirt and sucked at the pale skin. She pulled away and kissed the now purple spot on my chest before covering it back up with my shirt and making her way back to my mouth.

This time the kisses were sweet and short, we broke apart to look at each other when I broke the silence.

"What does this mean Emmy?" I say, My voice full of hope.

"Well my tongue was just down your throat I hope it's clear what this means." She joked and I let out a laugh. "I want to be yours y/n/n, if you'll let me. Also, I never had nor will I ever have a thing for JJ, I promise sweetheart." The use of the nickname made me smile brightly and she noticed taking a mental note to keep using them. She kissed my forehead as I began to speak. "Of course I'll be your girlfriend Em."

At this she kissed me, but this one felt different. All the love and passion we had for one another was poured into this short interaction.

We pulled away as we heard the door click open again and watched Garcia walk in.

"Oh my god! You guys!!" She squealed delighted at the scene in front of her. I smiled and climbed off Emily's lap. "Are you two..?" Pen said, gesturing between me and Emily.

"We sure are!" Em said, looking at me lovingly. I just nodded and thanked Garcia for listening to me cry for nothing before making me way to the door.

Emily's hand found it's way into mine as we began to walk out of Pen's office both smiling and chatting quietly just to one another.

As we walked back into the Bullpen Rossi looked out his office window and gave me a thumbs up, I returned the gesture and sat down at my desk, filled with happiness and briming with excitement about what the future holds.

[dungeonmeshimybeloved]

Hey there! My names eage, I'm 22 and this is my dungeon meshi sideblog! I sometimes draw but I mainly write fanfic

Updates every Thursday!

Fanfic masterpost

The Bed They Made

Chilaios, ongoing, everything is the same but Laios is knocked up and no one but Chilchuck knows

It was a mistake. It was supposed to be a one-time thing, and then he wouldn't ever think of it again. Yes, it was a risky move, one that was both incredibly fun but also so stupid in hindsight. Of course, the one time he caved to his desires, this happens. With his party leader of all people! Laios is carrying his fourth child. And he didn't even know it. Not yet.

Hug me like you mean it

Chilchuck and Laios, 2546 words, pre-relationship

Chilchuck has exceptional hearing, and Laios is terrible at hiding his feelings.

Sick in the Head

Chilchuck and Laios, 2091 words,

Laios thought he knew Chilchuck well enough, but now he wasn't sure. Since his fight with Shuro, he started questioning what exactly he knew, and it made his stomach twist. So when Chilchuck asks to talk to him alone, he can't help but prepare for the worst.

Mana Sick

Chilchuck and Laios, 1288 words,

Coming back from searching for herbs to cure Marcilles petrification, Chilchuck stumbles upon Laios in the throes of mana sickness, and reluctantly helps him

"No, I'm the one whose honored."

Chilaios, ongoing, 9,126 words, based on the smiling friends qoute

Sometimes when Chilchuck drank, he would start spouting nonsense. Looking back, this was probably one of those times.

We Run Faster than Others

Marcille and Fionil, 6509 words, post Canon hurt/comfort

Marcille has a nightmare and Fionil does her hair.

Sleepless Nights

Unrequited Chilaios, 6690 words, pre-canon, Laios has a guilty crush

"Hunger, Lust, Love, and the weird ways we connect"

Chilchuck was always on his mind. Laios wasn't sure when it started. They had worked together for a couple of months, maybe a year, he wasn't too sure. But he knew one thing for certain, and that was Chilchuck was endlessly cool, confident, and skilled. After a certain point, the half foot had popped into his head and made a place for himself.

Language Barrier

Chilaios, 3873 words, pre-Canon Hurt comfort

Over the years, Laios had seen the many sides of a drunk Chilchuck. There was the affectionate variant—one of the more common sides—where Chilchuck was sappy and sweet to the point it felt out of character. There was also the angry variant. This one was more like Chilchuck's usual snippy attitude, but turned up to an extreme. Right now, Chilchuck was neither affectionate nor angry, but... well, it was hard to describe.

Chilchuck has a moment of weakness, and Laios stays with him despite it.

The work of Nightmares

Laios and Chilchuck, Laios and Marcille, 1504 words, Laios has a fucked up nightmare and Marcille suffers for it, part 1

In the middle of the night, Laios began to shake from a nightmare ravaging his mind. Marcille dives in to help him but finds a gruesome scene.

The Laios with terrifying eyes

Chilaios, 3726 words, Shapeshifter episode gone wrong, part 2

Among the duplicates of Laios, one of them stood out particularly well. No, it wasn't the one who towered high enough to hit the ceiling, or the effeminate one who spoke in a breathy voice.

It was the one with wide, hungry eyes. He stood with his back straight, taut, and braced, an 'innocent' grin stretching along his face.

Plagued by Visions of You

Pre relationship Chilaios, ongoing, 4,897 words, porn with plot - Chilchuck gets struck by a horny beam, part .5

Laios is haunting him. Despite being alive, he has infested every part of his mind, clouding every thought, and Chilchuck was sick of how aroused it made him.

Chilaios week

The Laughing Wolf Tavern

Gen, 6683 words, day 1 - Drinking buddies/Seasons

A series of moments across the first year of their working relationship, highlighting the tumultuous relationship between the ever curious fighter and the prickly lockpick. The best way to bond was over booze after all!

A wounded Changeling

Chilchuck and Laios, 3345 words, day 2 - Changelings/Wounded

Fascinating was the only way Laios could describe the whole situation. Swapping to a different race entirely posed issues and highlighted the things he liked more about his old body, but it also gave him a lot to wonder about. Such as - was a headpat supposed to feel a certain way? It didnt feel bad, but it wasnt good either. Without this occurring, Chilchuck would have never done that, and Laios would have never found his answer.

To hold a Half-Foots tools is a Privilege, not a Right

Chilchuck and Laios, 524 words, day 3 - Hold/Carry

Chilchuck reflects on how he's come to trust Laios with carrying his lockpicks.

When I wake up next, I know you'll be there

Chilchuck and Laios, 3544 words, day 4 - Nightmares/Trust

In the dungeon, they were all well acquainted with death. If you hadn't yet met them, you were incredibly fortunate, or it was creeping up on you when you least expected it. Nightmares were just as familiar. It was as unavoidable as death itself, since it came with the territory. Number one is to thoroughly prepare for the worst-case scenario. There would be no nightmares if no one died. No party was ever that lucky, however. Which leads to the next best thing: relying on your party for support. Confiding, or better yet, sharing a bedroll together, chased the bad dreams away most times.

You've Got Some Nerve, Laios

Chilaios, 1658 words, day 5 - Shapeshifter/First Kiss

The group has been infested by shapeshifters, and Laios chooses to utilize information that only the real Chilchuck would know to lure out the fake.

Is it too late?

Chilaios, 3397 words, Day 6 - Beach episode

He followed Marcilles advice, went back to Kahka Brud, and spoke with his wife. She asked that they separate for good. In terms of marriage. So, he came back to Melini. He had nowhere else to go. Even if this place felt like the furthest from home... it held some special people.

Marcille will probably cry when he breaks the news, Senshi will usher him to the kitchen and show him how to make a dish to give him something to do and help him reflect, Izutsumi will give him an awkward pat on the back, and Laios... Laios would sit him down to eat.

Of course I came back for you

Chilaios, 11,401 words, Day 7 - Freeday! Laios got eaten by the dragon

Laios Touden was the biggest idiot in the world, he went and got himself eaten by a dragon! Of course Chilchuck would delve back into the dungeon with Falin and Marcille to get him back, even if that meant confronting things he would rather keep buried.

[three--rings]

You Should Watch Moonlight Chicken

Welcome to my formal rec of this show, which has stolen my heart so completely over the last few weeks.

What is it?

Thai BL series from GMMTV which has just finished airing (as of March 2, 2023). The characters all revolve around a chicken rice diner called Moonlight Chicken. It's got eight episodes a little over an hour each.

Couples:

Jim and Wen:

The main characters and couple are Jim (left above) and Wen (right). They meet when Wen passes out drunk at Jim's restaurant one night and they end up talking and flirting and then going home for a "no strings attached" one night stand.

Afterwards Wen is determined to attach strings but Jim holds firm to his "no complications" rule. Wen starts working part time at the diner in a not-at-all-sneaky plot to win him over.

Heart and Li Ming:

The adorable teen couple of Jim's nephew Li Ming, who he is raising, and Heart, a boy who has been extremely isolated since becoming deaf three years ago. They quickly develop a friendship and learn to communicate and it's heartwarming and adorable right up until it deal with very real issues of ableism.

Other characters:

Alan

He's Wen's not-quite-or-maybe ex. It's complicated. The show might be just as much about Wen and Alan as Wen and Jim, but theirs is a breakup story.

Gaipa:

He's a young friend of Jim, with a massive crush on him. Unrequited love and his relationship with his amazing mom is his focus. Standout performance from the actor.

Saleng:

The token straight. I felt bad leaving him out, okay? He's a good boy.

Okay but what's it ABOUT?

Life. Love. Relationships. Growing up, healing, building community and family even in the face of adversity.

Could you elaborate?

Okay look, the way the plot of this show was sold was "One Night Stand leads to complications when one of them already has a boyfriend?!? Drama!" Which is downright misleading. I showed up for messy gay drama and got a profound piece of queer cinematic art about the struggles of modern life and love and relationships.

This is honestly not your typical BL series at all. It really does feel a lot more like serious drama, queer film, etc than what we are used to. (I'm not saying it's ALONE...just rare.) It feels like a director/creator coming into their own and really stretching their abilities.

The cinematography is gorgeous, creating a quiet and pensive mood throughout. The acting is remarkable, excellent across the board with some real stand-out performances from the "side" characters.

The plot flirts with melodrama/soap opera turns but it always comes down on the side of grounded, realistic takes. I'll just say there are some moments that really hit me because they reflect experiences I've had in my life so well.

This show is very Adult to me. And by that, I don't mean steamy or sexy. It's really not, despite the first episode. It's a very chaste show, all things considered. I mean Adult in terms of These are Problems Adults Have. Dealing with the ending of relationships, getting over past relationship trauma, dealing with grief and loss, figuring out what you want in life, having to be there for your ex because they need you and you still care, etc. Just life, sometimes messy and painful, but ultimately beautiful.

If you can't tell I could go on for a while. But honestly, even if you're not a BL watcher normally, I recommend you give this a try. It's a feel-good show that will make you cry.

Okay where do I watch it?

Good news! The show is available for free on YouTube in its entirety! Just look for the GMMTV official channel.

Content Warnings under the cut to avoid potential spoilers but they will remain vague

Having sex while under the influence of alcohol but fairly lucid, cheating as a topic, breakups, ableism and parental neglect as a result, death of a partner, death of a parent, motor vehicle accident aftermath, age gap relationship(s)

[skylights422]

New X-Men '97 tomorrow! I am very excited! But I also had meant to make more posts reviewing the first three episodes. It was going to be multiple posts over different topics, but I am short on time and organizational energy, so I am just gonna make two posts over the biggest topics: The Romance Drama, and The Plot. Romance drama first! It got Long, so it's under a cut. xD (And a quick disclaimer that any negative opinions on the canon writing of couples doesn't mean I dislike people for shipping any of it; I almost never ship anything personally just as a matter of personal preference, but am very much a Ship And Let Ship/Don't Like Don't Read kind of person)

First, I will just say that the Jean/Scott/Logan drama was...always the most boring and confusing part to me in the 90s show? I just didn't feel like they did enough to show why Wolverine was SO in love with her when it seemed like they never spent any time together normally or had any major bonding moments? So I felt like he was just pining based on appearance and the fact they were teammates, which...is fine I guess but not the sweeping, dramatic unrequited love it was always portrayed as.

(I mean Wolverine was so torn up about them getting married he REFUSED TO ATTEND and instead spent time trying to kill an illusion version of Scott in the Danger Room, that's. Very dramatic! And for what? Maybe they covered it a little bit in an episode I haven't re-watched yet but I remember Past Me at least not finding the explanation impressive enough lollll)

So, I'm not...super looking forward to more of it in this new show, but also expecting it since it was always such a feature. I'd rather not have Jean kinda date Logan just because she's mad at Scott and Logan wants to? But it won't shock me. By and large I have made peace with my dislike for that particular love triangle since I'm otherwise such a fan of both series. (And so far anyways Logan has been a little less weird about his unrequited feelings even if they're still pretty obvious)

THEN we have the Rogue and Magneto romance. This one I have had more mixed feelings on. My kneejerk reaction was confusion and dislike - I didn't know until I looked it up after the episode that they were together in the comics, and since they weren't in the previous show, it felt...really random. (Also I am just not much a fan of couples with large age gaps, obviously Rogue is an adult and can do what she wants, it's just not my cup of tea. Plus Rogue and Gambit is one of maybe, like...five? Couples in media? That I have any investment in AS a romantic couple lol, but mostly I was just not looking forward to more romantic drama in general since it's just not something I tend to enjoy much)

Now I have two opinions. One is simply that I am Over feeling bothered by it and just curious to see what they do with it, since Rogue and Magneto do have some compelling thematic reasons to have scenes together anyways. And Rogue and Gambit definitely COULD have a mature conversation about it, which would actually be pretty neat.

Now my main quibble is that it was introduced so suddenly, and with so little explanation. As a general rule, I do NOT consider 'it happened in the source material' to be a valid excuse for anything in an adaptation unless it also makes sense within the established lore/characterization/etc. of the adaptation itself. A Doylist explanation existing does not remove the need for a solid Watsonian one, and if there just...isn't a Watsonian explanation, then I feel it is lazy writing at best, actually terrible writing if done badly enough.

There's definitely still time for them to give some kind of flashback or explanation for Rogue and Magneto though! You can introduce new aspects to character's pasts, in general. So I am holding out my final opinion to see if they do that, and in what way.

On a smaller, technically still hypothetical note, next for romance drama we have: Morph crushing on Wolverine. I do agree that it's extremely possible, even likely, that Morph seeming Interested in Wolverine in this version is deliberate - I mainly say hypothetical because I have seen some VERY overtly queercoded stories/scenes/etc. be written genuinely by accident, and at this point I'm really not sure how it was intended (like, if it's meant to be anything bigger than the scene itself or not).

And once again, I have mixed feelings on it. On one hand, having an openly gay character in an X-Men cartoon is good! It's nice to see some diversity in orientation. And Morph makes sense since they are the closest to a blank slate as you can get with a pre-established character, only being in nine episodes total of the original series - very spread out ones, as well.

But well, there's two reasons I feel kind of egh about it. One is that nearly all the Established Duos that got a lot of attention in the original show were romantic ones, and as someone who is fundamentally more invested emotionally in non-romances, I really liked the thought of having a best friend duo to fixate on. (We do still have Magneto and Xavier but XAVIER IS DEAD RIGHT NOW SO IT ONLY HALF COUNTS)

The other is that it...would almost definitely be another unrequited crush. Which for one, is just drama that isn't interesting to me. But also I dunno if 'sad gay bravely accepts never getting with the love of their life' is amazing rep for...friendships OR gay people??? Like you could write it so that Morph is genuinely fine being 'just' friends, and maybe in an ideal world that would even kick Wolverine into considering he could maybe be More Normal About Jean. But I worry about their friendship falling apart or it being made out to be 'not enough' to Morph and ultimately just making everyone look bad (and also if they push too hard on the Sad Morph Angle I feel like it could just be another case of villainizing people for not returning affections which I just, REALLY HATE)

SO I'M ON EDGE ABOUT IT. Possibly they won't do much with the concept at all, which I'd frankly prefer. Possibly they'll find a way to write the one-sided romance that is actually considerate to both sides and doesn't destroy their friendship. Possibly they'll even introduce other gay couples somewhere in the show so the rep for it isn't all riding on Morph's shoulders! But I am also very aware how easy it would be to do this wrong. SO WE'LL SEE.

[fcknstar]

PROMPTS THAT CAN BE REQUESTED

#1 - a character who must confess their true feelings by midnight, or risk losing it all.

#2 - a character who risks everything to pursue their heart’s desires.

#3 - a relationship, either romantic or platonic, that is being affected by jealousy.

#4 - a story — romantic or not — about two characters who can’t find the right timing.

#5 - a story that includes (or subverts) the enemies-to-lovers trope.

#6 - someone asking out an old crush, only to realize their crush doesn’t remember they’ve ever met before.

#7 - about a first date that surprises both people, but in different ways.

#8 - a love story about an older couple who’ve been together since they were teenagers.

#9 - a romance where your character falls in love with the last person they expected to.

#10 - a romance where the characters pretend to be dating each other.

#11 - a romance that involves one partner saving the other from a fire.

#12 - a story about high school sweethearts coming across one another after many, many years apart.

#13 - a story about a relationship where one person is always running late and the other is constantly kept waiting.

#14 - a story about someone falling in love for the first time.

#15 - a story that involves love at first sight.

#16 - a story about unrequited love.

#17 - story about two unlikely people falling in love.

#18 - a love story that ends with: "I've made a huge mistake."

#19 - a love story that unfolds in a foreign country.

#20 - a romance that blossoms between two bookworms.

#21 - a story that only consists of love letters.

#22 - "I think I've fallen in love with my self-professed mortal enemy."

#23 - cupid offers to shoot an arrow into the person you love. He warns you that if the person already has a pre-existing affection towards you, it will disappear when the arrow strikes.

#24 - you've been bumping into the same stranger for months. Finally you decide to say hello.

#25 - you have the ability to make anyone fall in love with you. You've just fallen in love for the first time. Do you use your power?

#26 - someone with anxiety falls in love with someone extremely adventurous.

#27 - it wasn't love at first sight. But now you were starting to see them in a new light…

#28 - a story about a character in search of something or someone.

#29 - a character who yearns for something they lost, or never had.

#30 - a character who feels like they're cut off from something.

#31 - start your story with the line “We have plenty of time,” and/or end it with the line “We were never going to make it.”

#32 - a story about a character who’s trying to fill an empty space, literally or metaphorically.

#33 - a character pretending to be someone they’re not.

#34 - a story involving a character who cannot return home.

#35 - about someone trying to atone for a mistake they’ll never be able to fix.

#36 - a story about a person longing for family.

YOU ARE TOO ABLE TO REQUEST PHOBIAS CAUSE IM STARTING IT!!

ONE IS ABLE TO COMBINE CERTAIN PROMPTS TOGETHER IF THEY FIT!!

IT CAN BE ANY CHARACTER I FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH!!

[weebsinstash]

Honestly valentino is such a dramatic bitch that if you did ever leave, saying fuck it you’ll figure it out as you go, he’d lose his shit. Torn between worried and pissed and it would be so delicious for those who love runaway readers

Protags/FLs/Readers what have you that run away are my bread and butter and i need to do more running away fics. Funny enough I have a few ideas in my drafts but homie there's so much to dig through at this point 💀

Imagine setting a really polite two weeks notice on his desk (that you don't really owe him) about how you're moving and getting another job, and you're extremely nervous because he doesn't say anything after you leave it in his office, and he waits until your literal very last shift when you already have some sort of other arrangement set up or trying to when he finally says "so what the fuck is this about you trying to quit?"

I imagine so many different ways he's shitty to you. Ripping up your letter right in front of you, catching it alight with a lit cigarette before dropping it into a trashcan, merely crumpling it up and throwing it on the floor to show you your feelings and your wants are absolutely nothing to him, he really finds it so funny you were just going to try and leave? As far as he's concerned you have absolutely no reason to leave and it would have only negative consequences if you did. And considering he was already a grown ass man and has been dead for a few decades, I can imagine him acting like you're just some dumb little girl, just some cute little bimbo with all her big stupid ideas that doesn't know how to do shit compared to him.

Not to mention the grief you'd catch if you ran away and had to be rescued, say a rival of Val's has had his boys watching all his lil errand runners and knows you fetch his shit sometimes and they scoop you up to ransom you back, not knowing you've ran away and to your knowledge your former Overlord boss has forgotten about you. Meanwhile Valentino goes to do a drug deal or whatever mafia dealings he does and, oh what a surprise, there you are, tied up and gagged with your big watery eyes looking up at him in fear while also silently begging him for help while he's developing a rager and realizing you look pretty cute when you're bound and helpless. I've even thought of like, he saves you from being kidnapped or like has you resuscitated from overdosing or trying to kill yourself and he slaps you with the bill just so you owe him a debt he can slap interest on and keep you indebted to him for literally forever. And if you don't show up when he summons you, it's just a couple of texts to his Goon Group Chat and an order of "bring this bratty lil shit back asap" before you're being dragged back by his henches

Outwardly he'd try and act tough but we all know Val doesn't take his little "breakups" well. At first he says you're just a loser and he doesn't need you, doing his typical self-soothing denial routine of going to the salon, buying himself new things, posting to social media about how everyone is useless and he doesn't need them, like what he does when he breaks up wirh Vox before getting back together.

Homeboys up on here like "mothpimp posted at 2am: bitches ain't shit but hoes and tricks"

hellraiser42069, sending a photo of a familiar certain someone from a distance: I was just at the corner of 6th and mulberry, ain't this your bitch big v

mothpimp, already dispatching some of his lackeys to retrieve you within .00001 seconds: pfff that's stupid im a pimp not a simp 🙄 I don't chase no one 😤"

You finally see him again and he's clearly been pampering himself which is a dead giveaway for how you've gotten under his skin and he's all "look who came crawling back" when he knows full damn well he had to kidnap you to even have a conversation and fully refuses to acknowledge he's being legitimately creepy because you aren't even making him money like Angel or his other workers,you're just like. An unrequited crush almost. A little pet/companion/future fleshlight.

It's common with pimps and sex trafficking to force the workers to get tattoos or certain identifying marks of ownership to designated who they belong to but I imagine depending on the kind of story you've craving that Val's version of this, for the Reader, is basically having you constantly wearing things he's given you if not outright deciding what you wear and look like 24/7. That big hunky hellhound at the bar thinks you look cute? His pickup line dies in his throat when you spin around and you're wearing a choker with a big red bejeweled heart and he instantly knows that if he so much as says hi to you that there's a particularly aggravated moth sitting right across the room ready to shoot him dead out of sheer possessiveness

[sailorstarr-chan4]

40 Day Anime Challenge 2023 Edition - Day 22: Healthiest anime couple

Zen x Shirayuki (Snow White with the Red Hair)

Synopsis: "Shirayuki was a young girl born with unique apple-red hair. She meets a famous but foolish Prince Raji, who falls in love with her at first sight and orders her to become his concubine. With nowhere else to go, Shirayuki cuts her hair and escapes to a neighboring country. While traversing through the forests, she meets a young boy, Zen, who helps her after she boldly cures his wounds but then gets poisoned by an apple given to Shirayuki. Meanwhile, Prince Raji sends out henchmen to search for her. What will happen to Shirayuki? What is Zen's true character? A fantasy story between an optimistic heroine and a prince who constantly stays on her watch."

~

These are just..... perfect. There's no other word to describe them. They are Literal Couple Goals. These two made what would ordinarily been a dull, but harmless anime into one of the most romantic, refreshing, sweetest series I've ever had the privilege to witness. I feel like anime (let alone media as a whole) often jumps from one extreme to the other when it comes to writing romance: either the Slowest Burn to Ever Slow Burn or Insta-Love. The in-betweens are usually previously established relationships, so we don't really see the blossoming of their love, except maybe in flashbacks or narration, if we're lucky.

Zen and Shirayuki are somewhere in the middle, though you could argue they fall closer to Insta-Love. BUT! They still take their time! There's a spark in the beginning, yes, and Zen falls for her faster than Shirayuki comprehends her own feelings, but there's no pushing or dubious consent. All romantic moments are in the mutual heat of the moment (ie, a hug after an intense moment, their first kiss, etc), and though there's classic "prince going after his damsel" moments, it's the natural course of events with their characters and relationship, not forced or uncomfortable.

Romancing aside, they also just respect and trust each other so implicitly, it's a huge reason why their friendship is the key factor to them falling in love. They are bot strong, idealistic characters, but admit to each others' faults when in each others' presence, and build each other up. There's no needless bickering or insults; even their arguments are respectful and mature, because they'll apologize when they overstepped a line.

But to me, here's the part that astounds me the most: it's commonly said about healthy relationships in fiction is that while they are VERY much the ideal in real-life, in fiction, they're often...... well boring. Often the healthier relationships in fiction have either extreme circumstances to test their love, are Power or Warrior Couples and mostly work as a team not traditional lovers, or are so Wacky, Over-the-Top, and Unorthodox in their shenanigans that they are memorable by default. But plain old normal healthy couples that are memorable and relatable? Not so common.

Whereas, Zen and Shirayuki have all the makings of a Bland, Forgetful Run-of-the-Mill couple, but somehow???? they're not??? Maybe it's because of the great chemistry between the voice actors, or the fact that there are some moments of outside circumstances trying to get in their way to spice things up, or maybe Obi's presence adds to the tenion (Obi is Shirayuki's bodyguard, who has an unrequited crush on her). But Zen and Shirayuki THEMSELVES never once doubt each other and go out of their way to communicate clearly, and that I think is what attracts me to them so much.

While it's all well and good to have relatable couples (those should be the default to keep fiction interesting, don't get me wrong), I don't mind the occasional Ideal Couple, as long as they're likable, memorable, and ACTUAL good representation of what a good, healthy relationship is all about.

[hoyeonjvng]

Under the cut will be some connections wanted for Hoyeon. Feel free to like this or reach out if you would like to connect with her. ♡

-- 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏:

• Ride Or Die: Ryan Reynolds.

• Best friends:

• Platonic soulmates:

• Childhood friends:

• Online pals:

• Emotional support:

• Sibling like friendship:

• Act like a married couple:

• Wing (wo)man:

• Party/drinking buddies:

• Good influence:

• Bad influence :

• Enemies to friends:

• Mentor:

-- 𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐂:

• Ex's on good terms:

• Ex's on bad terms:

• First love:

• Will they / Won't they:

• Celebrity crush:

• One night stand:

• Summer fling:

• Friends with benefits:

• Enemies with benefits:

• PR relationship:

• Unrequited love:

• Matched on a dating app:

• Blind date:

• Teenage crush:

-- 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑:

• Enemies:

• Frenemies:

• Rivals:

• Former best friends:

• Work colleagues:

• Casual acquaintance:

• Roommates:

• Met at an event:

• Mutual friends:

• They share a secret:

𝐈𝐍 𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐇 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒:

❝ I want to be a part of it, New York, New York. ❞

When Hoyeon left South Korean to pursue a modelling career in New York, your character was the first person she became close to. Due to that, they have a special bond and she holds them in high regards.

❝ I had a few, got drunk on you and now I'm wasted and when I sleep I'm gonna dream of how you tasted. ❞

It was supposed to be a one time thing, they promised each other it wouldn't continue but it's been months now and they can't seem to stay away from one amother. Almost like an addiction, Hoyeon can't seem to stop thinking about him.

❝ I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain, it's 2am and I'm cursing your name, so in love that you act insane and that's the way I loved you. ❞

They used to be an item and while things were often chaotic, it was something real and rare. Eventually they called an end to their relationship and moved on but they often compare current relationships in their life to the one they shared. It isn't healthy, they're both hung up on each other but don't think they're a suited match so they keep their lingering feelings to themsleves.

❝ I had all and then most of you, some and then none of you, take me back to night we met. ❞

They were extremely close at one point (plotonic or lovers, either works). Something major happened causing a rift between the two. They keep the reason why secret (we can work out a reason) and haven't contacted one another since the day they said goodbye to eachother, however they often reflect on the times they shared together, missing the other person dearly.

[butchratchettruther]

Thinking about how comedically bad nearly all of my partners have been

[stardew-saloon]

how would sam be around a shy crush/partner?

Hi, thanks for the ask! It’s amazing how many I get about Sam haha

I’m pretty shy when it comes to my partner so I’m writing this with my experiences lmao.

Sam with a shy partner!

At first, Sam had no idea you were shy. He’s very outward about his affection and enjoys flaunting the fact that you two are together, so when you don’t really reciprocate that he’s more than a little confused.

He starts to think that maybe he’s too much for you, or his enthusiasm is unrequited. Sam brings it up to you one day, asking if he needs to back off. He avoids any mentions about a break up because of his enthusiasm. He’d much rather stop being public rather than separating entirely.

After a long and relatively painless conversation, Sam eventually realizes that you’re just shy! You love it when he’s affectionate with you, it just takes a lot of hyping yourself up before you can do the same.

Honestly, he’s relived it was just that, and not anything extreme like he was thinking. Sam tries to ease you out of your shell after that, though it takes a long while before you can even consider being as touchy with him as he is with you.

Even before you two were together, you were pretty shy. You didn’t really avoid Sam, you just avoided being alone in a room with him. Being with Sebastian didn’t help any since he provided next to nothing for conversations. Abigail would always have to be there if you were with Sam so you wouldn’t get too flustered.

Sam never caught into that, though. He never caught onto a lot of the things that you did, really. He was always just happy to see you! It didn’t matter to him that you two weren’t ever alone until you got together.

Once he figures out that you’re shy around him, Sam never tries to push you or force you to come out of your shell. He always asks if he’s allowed to hold your hand, hug you, or kiss you. You could be at your damn wedding and Sam still asks if it’s okay to kiss you.

It’s endearing, how hard he tries. Abigail makes jokes about how he probably asks before he walks into the same room as you. Sam always turns to you and asks (in a very fake and panicked voice) if he needs to. It’s a cute joke they have.

Jodi probably noticed your crush on Sam before he did. She saw how nervous and fidgety you were around him and immediately knew. But she’s not a snitch, so she didn’t say anything. Maybe she gossiped with Caroline a little bit, but what else was she supposed to do? Keep a secret like that to herself? Hell no.

In conclusion, Sam is one of the Best Partners Ever. We all knew that, though.

Sorry if this is kinda short! Ran out of ideas towards the end. I’ve got like, four drafts and a couple asks so hopefully I’ll have another headcanon out by tonight! Have a nice day everyone. :}

[bonnini]

Well I promised you a post about my bi Geoffrey Martewall headcanons so here it is guys <3

So…as I previously mentioned in a tag under one of @agapantoblu's posts, I've been half-seriously headcanoning Geoffrey Martewall a.k.a. the best character in the Hypervesum series as a clueless bisexual for... well, for some time. Let's say a year and a half. I've never bothered actually sharing these headcanons online because I didn't really have a clear idea for an actual argument in support of this claim of mine, but now I’m finally ready to put the all the reasons why I get extra-strong bisexual vibes from Geoffrey Martewall into words. Beware…it’s a lot of words :’’)

Exhibit A: Geoffrey and women

1.1. Geoffrey’s taste in women is just too good

Listen. LISTEN. Our man’s taste in women is IMPECCABLE: he could, as Brianna said herself, have chosen to take any young noble maiden as his wife, but he decided to go for a woman that 1) is a couple years older than him 2) is not noble at all and, you know, used to be just a poor paesant before coming to Châtel-Argent 3) already has a son who was fathered by a French knight to whom she was never married and that she had to raise as a teen single mom 4) at the time of their first meeting had a crush on his current worst enemy. LISTEN!!!!!!!! Geoffrey’s taste in women is suspiciously good, way too good, in fact, to be that of a medieval straight guy. I mean…Ian, a man who comes from the 21st century, fell for the textbook angelic maiden, while Geoffrey literally did not even bother looking around for some young blushing bride and just decided that the hot milf who threatened him with a pitchfork in book 2 was his first and best choice. What an Absolute Fucking King. This choice of his is, in my opinion, very telling of the kind of view he has of romance and women in general.

Which brings me to the next point, namely:

1.2. Geoffrey appears to have an attitude towards women and a view of womanhood that are significantly more modern than those of an average knight of his time

Is it just me or is Geoffrey actually the one with the most… modern mindset out of all the knights starring in the saga? There are a couple of specific scenes that kind of make me think of him as an outlier among his peers, and although some of those are definitely there for the purpose of showing us that Martewall is indeed a rather peculiar knight, others contribute to creating the picture of a character that is almost… out of place in the 13th century? 

Allow me to expand a bit further on the “Geoffrey and women” topic: we saw how chivalrous and respectful Geoffrey was towards an unconscious and injured Brianna. First he made sure her son was comfortable with him warming her up using his own body, and reassured him he meant no disrespect by removing her clothes; then, he proceeded to strip her in the most methodical and detached way possible, which let us know Geoffrey respects a woman’s body and modesty the way any proper, courteous medieval man would. But then there’s another, and in my opinion far more interesting, instance in which Geoffrey is seen interacting with a woman: I’m talking about his brief conversation with Blanche of Castile in book 3. Here we see 1) how Geoffrey treats women he is not attracted to (“not attracted to” as in: women he has no interest in romancing), and 2) to what degree he actually respects female authority. 

Our first introduction to Blanche is the scene in which Guillaume, Ian and Henri de Bar are talking about her right before the audience in Paris, during which we learn that the vast majority of noblemen do not take her opinions seriously and do not appreciate seeing her talk during political debates. Even Henri de Bar, although he does not mean to be insolent, raises an eyebrow at the thought of a woman participating in conversations that concern military strategy, while Guillaume seems almost amused at Ian’s heartfelt defence of her speeches. Which is why Geoffrey’s brief interaction with her stands out so much: when she starts talking about the war in England with him, he carefully listens to her as if she were just another male superior officer: he does not appear even slightly surprised by her competence, he does not try to dumb down the topic of discussion, he listens carefully to what she is saying, he offers his opinion only when she asks for it and he answers her questions in the most straightforward way possible. At no point during the conversation does he ever attempt to pull the condescending “with all due respect, madame…” to correct or contradict her statements. He is not in courteous knight mode, he is in soldier mode, and is unfazed by the fact that the one he is discussing logistics and war strategy with is a delicate looking princess.  Once again, the author is fleshing out Geoffrey’s character by having the protagonist and point of view character draw a direct comparison between him and other men. Martewall does not simply respect women as in “oh I’m a proper knight and I use my blade to protect defenceless maidens”, he actually, genuinely respects women. 

Which in my opinion is such an interesting facet of his values and personality: in the second half of book 2, Ian notices how thoroughly Harald Martewall managed to drill the code of chivalry into his son’s head, and remarks on the fact that the Martewalls are all perfect examples of the True Old School Knights. Both Harald and Geoffrey are the embodiment of the honourable, unyielding, upright warrior trope, and they perfectly fit the image we modern people conjure in our minds when we think of a knight of the Middle Ages. This specific aspect of Geoffrey’s set of values gives his character a strong, let’s say “old-fashioned” connotation, and yet said set of values seems to come from an internal source rather than rely on tradition and external rules. He, for example, got rid of his helm and shield when he saw his adversary in combat was not fully equipped, but he also willingly assisted the Dauphin in taking over England despite having previously sworn an oath of loyalty to John Plantagenet, since his sense of honour compelled him to aid the man who provided him with the help he needed to get his home back. Geoffrey is way more likely to base his choices on what his own moral compass compels him to do rather than resort to convention and tradition to tell right from wrong. This makes Geoffrey a perfect blend of both old and modern qualities, and in the context of his relationship with women he tends to lean quite heavily on his more modern side.  

Let’s go back to discussing his first introduction to Brianna for a second: he witnesses Brianna express her unrequited attraction to Ian, flirt with him and even mock-kiss him straight on the lips, and yet not only does that not make Geoffrey respect her any less, it also does not concern him at all later in book 3 when the story hints at the fact that he might have an interest in taking her as his wife. This is a rather unusual attitude! I mean, even the exuberant Etienne de Sancerre, who has shown an overt preference for feisty and confident women, grumbles and protests in jealousy when his wife Donna and Daniel greet each other with a hug while out in public, deeming the gesture to be inappropriate. What I’m trying to say here is that this is a man who is waaaaay ahead of his peers in regards to his view of women and womanhood, and who also appears to be very confident in his masculinity (so confident, in fact, that the thought of having to “put women in their place” never once crosses his mind), hence why I keep sensing the most excellent kind of bisexual vibes coming from him.

Exhibit B: Geoffrey and men

2.1 Jerome and Geoffrey’s friendship makes NO sense

And I mean it. Yes, we do read about Ian wondering how two people with such different sets of core values (ok maybe Jerome lacked core values all together lol) could have ever been friends, which means that yes, readers are in fact meant to notice how misguided Geoffrey is in his commitment to honour this bond of friendship and avenge Jerome’s death, but the more I think about this, the more I convince myself that this whole situation is, in fact…really weird.

Let’s start from the beginning: so, Geoffrey’s anger over Jerome’s death is the main source of conflict between him and Ian, and it puts the plot of book 2 in motion. Now, we never actually saw Geoffrey and Jerome talk to each other in book 1 (because at the time of its drafting the author had not yet planned on writing a sequel for it) so all the available details about their relationship (mind you, there aren’t that many) have to be gleaned from Geoffrey’s recollections present in book 2 and pieced back together in order to get a clearer picture. Another fact that should be noted is that we also never saw Jerome talk about Geoffrey (again, because Geoffrey wasn’t really that relevant to the plot of book 1): Geoffrey’s words are the only source available when it comes to trying to reconstruct what their interactions might have been like, which means that our perspective on their friendship is going to be inevitably, extremely one-sided. 

So here we go, book 2, chapter 5: Geoffrey has decided to abduct Ian and Daniel and drag them to his home in England to get some answers and avenge Jerome’s death and he currently has Ian at his mercy, so he immediately starts asking questions. He asks why he currently is not home, he asks why his brother has no knowledge of his whereabouts, he asks if his name really is Jean Marc de Ponthieu, and these are all very dangerous questions: they pose a real threat to Ian’s credibility. But then, when Geoffrey asks why Jerome was so certain he was an imposter, Ian breathes in relief, because that means Geoffrey knows nothing about the ambush in Couronne.

But. Wait a second.

How could Geoffrey possibly not know about Couronne? That’s how Derangale KNEW without a shadow of a doubt that Ian and Jean de Ponthieu were never the same person! Dude was busy forging incriminating letters left and right with Ponthieu’s help??? He was the one who helped Ponthieu and Renaud De Dammartin set Isabeau up to be assaulted by Claude de Dammartin??? Geoffrey explicitly says Jerome was obsessed with Ian, so Derangale must have talked his ear OFF with all his incessant rambling about him being an imposter…and Geoffrey did not bother asking him about the details of this weird doppelganger theory of his ONCE? We know how sharp and observant Geoffrey is. We know he is perceptive, and straightforward in voicing his opinions, and not easy to fool. We know he is the type of guy who likes to ask direct questions and get believable, clear answers in return, so he MUST have asked Jerome why he was so sure about the illegitimacy of Ian’s identity. How did Jerome answer? Did he make up a lie on the spot? Geoffrey is equipped with a very functional built-in anti-nonsense super-sensor (the one that allowed him to immediately spot all the places in which Ian’s deception and intentional gaslighting were coming off at their seams even after Ian had managed to convince Geoffrey’s own father that he was Jean de Ponthieu’s second-born son), so if that was the case – if Jerome had indeed tried to make up some story about why he knew who the real Jean de Ponthieu was – Geoffrey (in theory) would have easily been able to tell that he was being lied to. 

Do we then have to assume Jerome simply replied with “I just know”? Well…the text implies that this is the most plausible option: as Ian and Geoffrey’s heated conversation goes on, we realize that the only reason Geoffrey believes Ian to be an imposter is…because Jerome said so. And this, in my opinion, says a lot about both Geoffrey’s relationship with Derangale and his current emotional state. Let’s really think about what this little kidnapping stunt of his must look like from an outside perspective: Geoffrey just decided to abduct a man whose identity has been publicly confirmed by Guillaume de Ponthieu, one of the most powerful men on French soil, who also happens to be a relative of king Philippe Auguste (which means Ian has ties to the royal family as well lol???), who ALSO confirmed that Ian is the youngest Ponthieu brother and PERSONALLY BESTOWED the title of Faucon du Roi upon him. Geoffrey does not (currently) have a shred of proof against Ian: he just chose to believe that Ian is some random foreigner who has been allowed to pretend to be a nobleman and marry Isabeau de Montmayeur by the count of Ponthieu and the king of France because that’s what Jerome believed. Jerome stood alone in front of the entire French court, subjecting himself to ridicule, to denounce Ian as an imposter and Guillaume as a liar (and readers know he is 100% right, but look at this from the perspective of one of the characters who are not involved in this intrigue), which are such far-fetched, absurd, ludicrous accusations, even the closest of Jerome’s friends would have demanded at least some evidence in order to give his version of the story some credit. And yet Geoffrey, who has not been given even one crumb of information on the real Jean de Ponthieu’s actual political alignment, simply decided to stand with him against the rest of the world. 

And then, Ian starts answering Geoffrey’s questions by telling him all the vile things Jerome did to him, his family and his friends (while still carefully avoiding the Couronne topic): he tells him of his sadism, villany and criminal actions, and Geoffrey does not believe a single word of what he’s saying. He straight up calls all these accusations lies, and he urges Ian to stop insulting a knight of England his peer and a man of honour deserving of respect. Geoffrey refuses to listen to any negative remark Ian has to make and threatens him with violence when he insists on calling Jerome an unworthy man. “Jerome wasn’t a liar”, he says; “he was my friend, and you killed him”. This is exactly what I meant when I said their friendship strikes me as extremely weird: I mean come on, really? Derangale was a textbook piece of shit. He was violent, vengeful, and arrogant, and yet Geoffrey describes him as a “man of honour”??? It almost seems as if he and Ian are not even talking about the same person??? The sadistic felon Ian met in Cairs is nothing like the friend Geoffrey has such a high opinion of. Which can only mean one thing, namely that when he was with Geoffrey, Jerome was on his best behaviour. And in order to have adapted his behaviour to fit Geoffrey’s expectations of a good and honourable friend, Derangale must have had a very clear picture of the kind of person his “friend” was. Jerome knew Geoffrey would never have allowed all that malicious shit to happen under his watch, so he decided to keep all his plotting a secret from him. Geoffrey never was Jerome’s accomplice in aiding Renaud de Dammartin, Ferrand de Flandre and Jean de Ponthieu steal the Montmayeur fief for king John, and therefore has no reason to believe Ian’s words. 

There are two things about this situation that strike me as particularly weird. First of all: Derangale wasn’t just witholding information from Geoffrey, he was also hiding his true nature from him. And Geoffrey…never noticed? Geoffrey, who can usually smell bullshit and deception from a mile away, who has no difficulty in telling a man of honour from a felon, who normally would not bother wasting his time being friends with such an insufferable prick, never managed to guess the true nature of Jerome’s character? Huh??? And secondly: why exactly did Derangale ask for help from a guy he was so sure he would never have been able to turn into one of his accomplices he had to actively keep parts of himself and his plans hidden for months up to the battle in Bouvines? What we know, thanks to Harald Martewall, is that Jerome was the first to reach out to Geoffrey back in book 1: apparently, the two of them used to be friends as young boys, then stopped seeing each other for a couple of years until Derangale decided to pick up the phone and give him a call. Geoffrey was in England, minding his own business, when Jerome contacted him to ask if he was willing to join him in Béarne. He, as sir Harald recalls, “was busy raising a cavalry troop for Ferrand De Flandre, and wanted my last-born as champion in a tournament”. It is not difficult to guess why Derangale asked specifically for Geoffrey to join his faction. Martewall is, simply put, the baddest bitch in the area: he is easily the scariest and most skilled warrior out of all the knights we get to meet in the saga, and an experienced tournament champion is precisely what Jerome needs for the little show he has in plan for Béarne. What I really want to know here is: couldn’t Derangale have called for literally any other English knight to help him win? Why did he risk enrolling a guy he knew would never have approved of his schemes and totally could have kicked his ass if he ever found out about his misconduct? Couldn’t he have called for a couple more champions who would have been overjoyed at the opportunity of beating the shit out of all those French knights? Why did it have to be just him and Geoffrey against the ENTIRETY of Philippe Auguste’s lineup? Why was he so confident in his ability to manipulate Geoffrey? Oh AND. This is an information that is nowhere to be found in the actual books but it is something I asked the author to confirm because I was just too curious: Geoffrey…did not have fun in Béarne, like at all. He did not care for the show Jerome wanted to put on, he did not enjoy participating in that display of strength and superiority, and he was grumpier than usual during the whole ordeal. So our man Jerome basically decided to rely exclusively on Geoffrey’s excellence and made him travel all the way to Béarne instead of putting together a slightly larger faction of fellows who could have maybe shared his immoral cause (like hello?????? it’s literally JUST the two of them against ALL the French nobles competing at the tournament lmfao??? I mean ok girl!!! give us drama! give us spectacle!) despite knowing that 1) he would have had to completely alter his behaviour around him 2) he could never have explained to him why he knew with absolute certainty Ian was an imposter and 3) Geoffrey would have intensely disliked being at the centre of theatrics. Like…I get that Geoffrey is your most skilled friend when it comes to the art of jousting, but… his presence is also a bit too inconvenient in this context? I mean really? You didn’t know any other knights in the area who could have been available as champions? You had to call for Geoffrey? Specifically for him? Haha girl ok! (oh and you also saved some of the custom higher quality blades you had made for your squadron to arm Geoffrey? Ok! Oh and you decided to pick Geoffrey as the other leader of your special squadron? Girl Ok!!! The guy would leave your ass in less than a second if he ever found out about your awful crimes so keeping him at your side is quite the risky move, but you do you I guess).

And another thing is, not only did Geoffrey hate every second of that charade, he (and this is also information that I got directly from the author) was downright shocked at Derangale’s unprompted act of violence against the young count of Grandpré… that was something that caught him completely off guard and that left a bitter taste in his mouth. It makes total sense for Geoffrey to feel this way, that’s very in character for him. What actually, really surprises me is Geoffrey’s reaction at hearing Ian mention this particular incident. You were there, says Ian, you saw Derangale attempt to kill a friend of mine with your own two eyes, and yet you insist on threatening me for calling him a criminal and an assassin. And that’s what finally prompts Geoffrey to lay hands on him. He silences him with a slap so violent it almost makes him fall on the ground. Geoffrey reacted with anger and disbelief when Ian was describing him heinous crimes that he never witnessed and did not believe to be true, but only resorted to physical violence when Ian forced him to acknowledge and condemn an action he actually saw Jerome commit. This brief scene alone is enough for me to confidently conclude that Geoffrey is, there are no other words fit to describe his current emotional state, deep in DENIAL. He hears an uncomfortable truth he has no way of denying, he lets that send him into a violent rage, he acts that violence out and then he ends the whole conversation there. He just. Leaves. And he repeats the same exact pattern of behaviour a second time! Book 2, chapter 12: Martewall starts to interrogate Daniel, who tells him about Derangale’s first attempt at kidnapping Isabeau AND manages to have one of his own men confirm his story. Then Geoffrey becomes visibly agitated, to the point he inadvertently breaks the rod he brought to beat information out of his prisoner in fucking two, CHANGES THE TOPIC OF DISCUSSION ON PURPOSE, and then when Daniel insists on bringing the conversation back to Derangale’s crimes he draws his sword, points it at him in another fit of anger and then! He LEAVES!! AGAIN!!! Bro???????????? You keep saying you “want the truth” and yet when you finally get it you cut the conversation off because you don’t like what you’re hearing? Hello???

“You insist on defending him only because you do not want to admit you have been lied to and manipulated by him”, this is what Daniel says to Martewall’s face, and the most articulate rebuttal he is able to come up with on the spot is “that is not true”. He absolutely did not expect to be confronted with such merciless answers, and he has no idea how to cope with Ian and Daniel ripping into the image of the good and honourable Jerome that only exists in his mind, so he just rejects anything negative they have to say and breaks things like a moody teenager.

His behaviour is extremely erratic. For the entirety of the first half of book 2, Geoffrey is clearly not his usual self. His own father tells him he does not recognize him anymore. And when Sir Harald confronts him and makes an attempt at urging him to release Daniel, Geoffrey reacts with something I would almost describe as a…temper tantrum? Sir Harald’s request for an explanation from his son is more than legit: after all, he just learned from Daniel that Geoffrey decided to kidnap a renowned nobleman on a whim, without any evidence of his supposed crimes, WITHIN THE BORDERS OF HIS FIEF IN FRENCH LANDS. That could get them in SERIOUS trouble with both his brother Guillaume de Ponthieu and Philippe Auguste himself, as Salisbury will later remark on. I mean, this action is not only dishonourable, as Sir Harald will be very quick to point out, but also extremely stupid. And Geoffrey is not stupid. Like, at all. He knows when to shut up, his rage is usually under check, he is not prone to acting out in anger or taking rash decisions. But here, Geoffrey is letting his emotions run rampant. His father is being perfectly reasonable, and he replies quite disrespectfully by stating that he is not a young boy anymore and that he will not allow for any reproach o interference on his part.

It should be noted that Geoffrey’s troubled state of mind is not solely the result of Jerome’s death. In fact, in chapter 12, Geoffrey makes it clear why he is so angry and frustrated. He lays out all of his reasons to his father:

“I’ve always done my duty and I lost my honour because of those to whom I owed my loyalty. I fought loyally until the very end, I paid my defeat with imprisonment, only to discover at my release that my name is associated to those of a friend deemed a felon and a king judged a coward; I return to my homeland and I end up on a list of traitors because of you! I am forced to be subject to the last two accusations, but the first…that one I intend to acquit myself from with any means necessary. At this point, I have already lost my dignity as a knight and you are the last person who can reproach me for it, since you are the one who dealt me the final blow”.

Geoffrey’s words reveal that he is also doing all of this for himself. He is now more desperate than ever to prove Jerome was always in the right, since this seems to be the only means of coping with the loss of his precious honour. The thought of having been friends with a felon of this magnitude is something Geoffrey could never, ever tolerate, because what would this say about him as a person? This explains the state of denial he currently is in: he has done something he would normally see as despicable by kidnapping Ian in his own lands, but he could excuse acting like a vulgar bandit if only he managed to force a confession out of Ian and avenge Jerome’s death (have I already mentioned Geoffrey has NO business being mad about Jerome meeting his demise at Ian’s hands? Dude was killed in fair combat. On a battlefield. Ian did not assassinate him or anything of that sort, there simply are NO good reasons as for why Geoffrey could ever want to “avenge” his friend’s death?? like there’s literally nothing to avenge here??? Lol???). And although Geoffrey is indeed defending Jerome’s honour because he feels that his crimes, if proven true, could reflect badly on himself, Geoffrey’s words still betray real attachment and a genuine feeling of affection for Jerome. Ian himself will later recognize their bond as valid by directly comparing it to the sentiment of friendship he shares with Daniel. At the time of Ian’s abduction, Geoffrey did not yet know that he would eventually be forced to fight yet another war once he’d finally reach his home: at that point in the story, Geoffrey’s motives for taking Ian and Daniel as prisoners had little to do with him wanting to gain back the honour he now feels his father tore from him by ordering him to side with him against their king. The primary motivation for his disreputable conduct in chapters 4 to 10 was, in my opinion, grief.

Another thing that I find extremely interesting and that in a way contradicts what I mentioned above about Geoffrey not being able to tolerate the thought of having been friends with a criminal, is that once he starts to come to terms with the proof of Jerome’s misconduct…he never disavows their friendship. What he says once he finally accepts Ian as his friend and lets go of Jerome’s obsession is: “I did everything in my power to honour our friendship, going even beyond common sense”. He never tries to claim they were never really friends or proclaim he wants to cut all ties with such a man. And towards the end of book 3, when Geoffrey and Ian are discussing what Ian’s exile really implicates and Ian is finally forced to admit he never was Jean de Ponthieu, Geoffrey all of a sudden brings Derangale into their conversation to reflect on how Jerome was right all along and how happy he is to learn that he at least did not lie to him about this one specific thing. Well, maybe I’m reading too much into this, but I was expecting him to focus on the sheer amount of lies he had been fed by…you know, Ian, the friend who happens to be alive and whom he is currently confronting. He does not even seem interested in asking Ian to explain himself, it is Ian who apologises to him, completely unprompted. They were having a conversation about Philippe Auguste and Guillaume de Ponthieu wielding the power to destroy his life, and after several beats of silence and intense consideration, what Geoffrey decided to say out loud was “I’m happy Jerome didn’t lie to me about you”? Ummmmmmm ok??????????? Lying to him certainly was not the worst thing Jerome has ever done? What about the many crimes he committed against Ian, his friends and his family? What I’m trying to say here is that Daniel’s argument about Geoffrey having been manipulated by Jerome must have cut deep, since here he is, bringing this up again. Derangale died more than two years ago, and Geoffrey already gave up on trying to redeem his honour and reputation, but he appears to be still in the middle of the process of learning to truly let him go. Dealing with the idea of having been deceived in such a cold way by a close friend to whom he though he owed unwavering loyalty is proving to be challenging. I might be delusional but I can only make sense of the fact Geoffrey brought Jerome into their conversation about Ian only to briefly touch on a strictly personal matter that concerned his own feelings and his private relationship with Ian’s old archenemy if I assume Geoffrey was, at this point in time, still dealing with some very intense and complicated feelings (….furthermore…………it doesn’t…really…make sense…for Geoffrey to be happy about Jerome telling him that Ian’s identity was a hoax…since the whole point of telling him that…was getting his help in destroying Ian and not really “being honest” with him…like…Geoffrey, love, why are you so desperately hanging on to these miniscule scraps of “““honest and genuine interactions”””, why do you still treasure this literal MICROSCOPIC CRUMB of “““sincerity””” on Jerome’s part…hello…………………???). Sorry but this whole Jerome/Geoffrey mess just exudes one-sided, unfulfilled and unacknowledged tenderness in copious amounts once you really start to read into it. My personal interpretation of the situation is that Geoffrey is having such a hard time trying to make sense of the extent of Derangale’s manipulation and condemning him as someone who was always undeserving of his friendship and devotion because he completely lacks the tools to properly analyse and interpret his own feelings on the matter.

2.2 Geoffrey and Ian vs Geoffrey and Jerome

I’m touching briefly on Ian and Geoffrey’s friendship dynamics in book 3 mainly because I think that their relationship will provide me with some good clues and parallels that could be of help in determining what Geoffrey was like when he was in Jerome’s company, since the third instalment in the series gives us such a wonderful and complete picture of the kind of friend Geoffrey is. Remember how Geoffrey immediately sided with Ian against Gant without asking for evidence against him and came to Ian’s rescue twice despite having very important businesses to attend to? Geoffrey has repeatedly shown that he has a tendency to be aggressively protective of his closest friends, to the point he has no problem resorting to extreme violence to ensure their safety (Ian, bleeding on the floor, gripping Geoffrey’s arm: “please tell me you took at least one of my assailants alive I’m going to need a witness???????” Geoffrey: “…” Ian: “…” The pile of corpses right behind them: “…” Geoffrey: “…sorry lol I kinda dealt with them in a bit of a heavy handed way” Ian: whimpers and collapses in his arms). Geoffrey’s attitude in regards to Ian’s enemies perfectly explains why he never had any qualms siding with Jerome against Ian despite the fact Derangale wasn’t telling him shit about the supposed evidence behind his outlandish claims. This is actually part of his regular pattern of behaviour: Geoffrey has consistently shown a thorough commitment towards undying trust and unconditional support through direct action. He might seem cold and aloof since he is never seen behave in an overtly friendly or approachable way when he is out in public (he also does not smile ONCE throughout the whole trilogy), but this right here is, in my opinion, a very affectionate man who is capable of forming true and intimate bonds with a handful of hand-picked men whose company he deeply treasures. Let’s talk about how Geoffrey U-turned at the speed of light to go back and help Ian corner Gant even though he was in the middle of carrying out an extremely important mission for Blanche of Castile. Let’s talk about how Derangale did not even have the time to fall to the ground after Ian delivered him the finishing blow, because Geoffrey literally teleported behind him to catch him, hoist him on his horse and take him to safety (let’s also talk about how Ian later found Derangale’s corpse among those of all the abandoned fallen soldiers the imperial army was not able to retrieve, and saw that his dead body had been laid on a shield with care, which means Geoffrey probably was the one responsible for preserving his dignity in death since we know for a fact he was there to hear Derangale’s last words and witness him die – I am literally about to start screaming please send help :)))))))). Do not let his grumpiness and harsh words fool you, Geoffrey is the most dedicated best friend another knight could ever ask for.

HOWEVER, the main difference between the two relationships I am comparing is that Geoffrey’s support of Ian is always unconditional, but never irrational in the same way his pursuit of revenge on Jerome’s behalf was, and at no point in the story does Geoffrey fail in evaluating Ian’s character or intentions. Furthermore, Ian’s gaslighting game was ON POINT in book 2, he was warping reality around Geoffrey like a damn magician, but Geoffrey never fully bought into his carefully crafted lies. And yet I am expected to believe that Derangale was such a skilled master manipulator he was able to conceal his true nature and agenda from Geoffrey for months? Hello??? PLEASE! Make it make sense!!! The ease with which Derangale was able to withold crucial information from him is extremely suspicious. Really? You mean to tell me Jerome Derangale had one of the least gullible people in the saga wrapped around his finger for years and never once slipped and misbehaved in front of him? Sorry I know at this point I must sound extremely redundant but Geoffrey’s selective blindness towards anything that concerns Derangale really is the weirdest thing ever, like, uh oh! Are you sure you didn’t catch any overly soft feelings for your bestie? So…I’m gonna say it: my theory on why Geoffrey’s behaviour was all over the place in the first chapters of book 2 is that he has always been completely unaware of the true nature and extent of his emotional attachment to Derangale, and this cluelessness of his contributed to worsening his already frustrated state. Furthermore, I also think Derangale must have noticed something was going on with Geoffrey and decided to use it to his advantage. Dude was a bit too confident, suspiciously confident in his ability to keep Geoffrey at his side without having to disclose any kind of compromising information.

In conclusion:

What I’m trying to say here is that I’m pretty convinced Geoffrey Martewall is not one of the straights. To sum all of this up, he:

-drinks astronomical amounts of his own extra strong brew of respect women juice on a daily basis

-has a tendency to get very attached to a few selected male friends who he then proceeds to protect with everything he has

-never noticed his old friend (👀) was lying to him, acted in a very out of character and erratic way for a while after his old friend’s (👀👀) death and was ready to commit actual crimes in an attempt to honour his old friend’s (👀👀👀) memory.

So. Yeah. The bi vibes are there. I would rather die than give up my Clueless Bisexual King Geoffrey Martewall headcanons! Sorry but a straight Geoffrey would make zero sense to me. Your honour can’t you see!!! this guy is WAY too cool not to be bi!!!

I rest my case.

P.S. I cannot BELIEVE I’m actually posting this monster on the day of the anniversary of the battle of Bouvines??? I swear I didn’t do it on purpose, at first I was really annoyed at the fact that putting this together was taking me weeks but then yesterday while I was editing I realized I would eventually be able to publish this on the very day Derangale died and Geoffrey was taken prisoner :’’) Perfect timing am I right?

[latinasmoak]

the sweetest life (and the loving is easy when you’re with me)  

tumblr version: 

"It all started with an eclair. "

(Modern Polin AU) A mini series on how a couple of delectable desserts have the power to make Penelope Featherington's dreams come true.

rating: mature

tags: tooth rotting fluff, seriously so sweet it’s cavity inducing , it starts off sweet but we will be getting smutty in later chapters!

Chapter One: Mocha Eclairs 

It all started with an eclair.  

No wait, Penelope was getting ahead of herself.

It all started when she finally moved out of her mother’s home. The day when she realized that she was free from all the backhanded compliments, the nitpicking statements or worse, her mother’s “helpful” advice that wasn’t really helpful at all.  Penelope loved her mother, she really did but Penelope would also be the first to admit that they had nothing in common and those differences often led to moments of extreme dislike and disappointment. But that daily torment was the past, now that she was in her own flat, and out of Portia’s critical eye, she was only privy to criticisms when she deemed it necessary to visit her mother, which to no one’s surprise, wasn’t often. And more importantly, living on her own - oh alright, with Eloise Bridgerton as her roommate of course - Penelope was finally free to indulge in one of her favorite secret hobbies. Baking.

When Penelope couldn’t write, she found that redirecting her brain power to learning the techniques and rules of baking, a satisfying distraction. (Self taught and with nothing but online tutorials, plenty of hands on attempts and several spectacular failures, Penelope felt a spark of excitement when, eventually, her creations didn’t turn out as complete disasters) . She still remembers the day her pastry attempt finally didn’t crumble or fall in on itself! When she had taken a bite and sighed with pleasure at how delectable it had turned out to be. To say she felt complete joy and satisfaction was a vast understatement. Her baking steadily improved and now she’s reached the point where sharing her creations with her favorite person was no longer unthinkable.

A flutter of butterflies erupted in her stomach and Penelope took a deep breath, trying to settle her nerves. Before her very eyes was her own take on a mocha eclair; lightly brown, oblong choux pastry filled with an espresso creme patisserie. It was topped with a dark chocolate mascarpone and simply decorated with chocolate shavings. It looked divine and it smelled heavenly and all the while Penelope’s heart was about ready to burst. She had only one person in mind while she was making these treats, the one person who was constantly in her thoughts.

Colin Bridgerton.

Colin, her best friend’s older brother who was also her friend...sort of. At least she considered him her friend and Penelope dearly wished he felt the same. Well, if she was honest, she would prefer it if he viewed her as more than just a friend, but Penelope had been Eloise’s friend since childhood and because of that she was, unfortunately, like another sister to him.

Penelope shook her head, her loose curls flying about as she attempted to redirect her thoughts from the depressing spiral of her unrequited love. Instead she focused on boxing up her beautiful chocolatey creations. She was after all, expected over at the Bridgertons’ for dinner.

What was unexpected, was the sound of the front door opening and Eloise clamoring her way in. Penelope tilted her head in confusion as she stepped out of her tiny kitchen and followed the sound to see El.

“Why are you here? I thought we were meeting up at your mum’s place?”

Her shouted question was met with silence. No response came from her best friend as she zipped her way to her room, mumbling something utterly incomprehensible.  

“According to her, she needed something from her room quite urgently , and no it could not wait, so here we are. At least we can all head to mum’s together.”

A distinctive male voice answered her, startling her enough to make her flinch. Her stomach dropped and her heart began pounding double time, but not just because of the fright, no... even without turning just yet there was no way she could ever mistake his voice. So melodic and captivating as it was, Penelope merely lifted her hand to her heart, willing it to slow down as she turned around to face the man of her dreams.

“C-Colin, you startled me.”

She tried to laugh off her reaction, cursing the fact that his simple presence was enough to make her body go haywire.

A little crease on his forehead appeared as he frowned. “I’m sorry Pen, I didn’t mean to give you a scare.”

He scratched at the back of his head, a small smile making its way onto his face.

“I thought you would have seen me behind El.”

Whatever she was about to say next was interrupted by Colin sniffing the air and casually heading towards the kitchen. “Pen, what is that? It smells really good in here,” his voice got softer the further away from her he got and Penelope quickly chased after him, knowing better than to leave him alone with a box of sweets. Penelope knew the instant he noticed her eclairs. It was hard to describe how excited he was, but his whole being came alive at the sight of food.

“Where did you buy these? Can I try one?”

Instead of answering, Penelope booked it, managing to reach the box before he did. A little miracle as she zoomed past him before standing in front of her treats, using her own body as a barrier to keep the man with a black hole as a stomach away. If she hadn’t been so busy trying to catch her breath, she would have laughed at the astonished look on his face. Colin had clearly not been expecting her to react like that but it wasn’t long before his stunned expression morphed into one of humor, his eyes alight with fondness.

After a few deep breaths Penelope finally had the capacity to answer without wheezing,

“I didn’t buy these. I made them. Yes you may have one, but not now. I was going to bring them to dinner.”

Penelope nervously pushed back her loose curls behind her ear before continuing.

“I know you Colin, if you eat one now, you could be tempted to finish the whole box and that wouldn’t be fair to your brothers and sisters.” she teased.

He didn’t need to know that the reaction she was looking forward to the most was his. In fact, Penelope had gone to great lengths to hide how pathetically in love she was with the third Bridgerton brother. From the moment boys had stopped being icky to her, her heart had belonged to him. It wasn’t just that he was ridiculously handsome and charming. Or that he was constantly smiling and having a good laugh. It was the fact that deep down, he was so... kind . He included her when he didn’t need to and he listened whenever she found the strength to push her shyness aside for actual meaningful conversation. Colin more than any of the other Bridgerton siblings -with perhaps the exception of Eloise- made her feel like she belonged . A feeling that was hard to come by in her own family. To feel it with him was something she so deeply treasured.

What started off as a childhood crush simply grew with every new detail about him she collected through the years. A soft and simple affection that bloomed into a deep, unshakable love. Of course, with every year that passed, her love grew stronger; the heaviness of the unreciprocated feelings began to build up too. The pain settled in her heart, encasing it bit by bit. She learned to tolerate the pain because the alternative, to cast him out completely, was unbearable and impossible. She’d rather have him as a friend, if nothing else. For now that was enough.

“You made them?”

Colin perked up and he leaned in closer, his height giving him the advantage to look over her and peer at the box.

“I didn’t know you could bake! Why didn’t I know? I feel like that is information I would know.”

His furrowed brows and mumbling was so cute Penelope had to squeeze her hands into a tight fist to resist the urge to softly brush away the wrinkles on his forehead with her fingers. And oh how she wanted to lightly cup his face and stand on her tippy toes for a simple kiss on his lips.

She pushed those thoughts aside and instead she laughed, oddly pleased with his reaction, with the knowledge that he cared. Cared enough to be disgruntled that she had secrets.

Pushing at his chest so that he would back up, Penelope looked up and smirked.

“Bold of you to assume you know all my secrets, Bridgerton.”

-

A huff of shocked laughter escaped him; this was a new side of Penelope, and Colin couldn’t help but be a little awed by the sight of her. There was this new confidence about her, and he liked it.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had been surprised so many times in such a short amount of time. Since when did she bake well enough that her pastries looked like they were ordered fresh from a bakery? Since when was she fast enough to be on one side of the flat one moment and a second later right in front of him? Since when did she know how to smirk?

Nevermind that she was still adorably flushed, her bright blue eyes brimming with mischief as they met directly with his gaze. He was soon distracted by her deep red curls flying loose around her face. An unnamed feeling spread through him as he looked at her and he shifted his stance, backing away a little and letting her hand drop from his chest.

He was a little dismayed at the sudden urge he felt to get closer and wrap his arms around Penelope’s soft curves. To personally push her curls behind her ears before tilting her head and - stop. Stop. Where did that thought even come from? Trying his best not to think about where his mind was venturing to, Colin instead took Penelope’s full body defense of her treats as a challenge. God knows what was taking Eloise so long, but he would take advantage of this time to charm his way to a snack. The smell in the kitchen was absolutely mouthwatering and he couldn’t imagine Penelope not excelling at whatever she put her mind to, so he was positive in the knowledge that those eclairs would be delicious.

Throwing away any shame, Colin Bridgerton immediately clasped his hands together in a praying motion. He widened his green eyes pleadingly before setting his mouth into a perfectly formed pout.

“Oh come on Pen, please? Just one. I’m hungry.”

Penelope was not impressed, her single brow rising was enough to inform him of this.  

“Colin you are always hungry! The sky is blue, water is wet and Colin Bridgerton has a black hole for a stomach.” She uttered dryly.

Colin pressed his hand over his heart dramatically as he gasped.

“Penelope! What a barb!”

Her resulting giggle was music to his ears, but he still had not given up on his endeavor. If regular pouting wasn’t enough, he would have to try something a little more drastic, but he was committed to this now.

-

Penelope’s mouth dropped open as soon as Colin went down to his knees, once again his hands clasped together, this time with him shaking them back and forth as he whined.

“Pen have mercy on me, your friend, who is so hungry and only wants to try your food. Please Pen. Please.”

Stunned, Penelope takes a few seconds before covering her face with her hands and bursting into laughter.

“Oh my god. Colin! Stand up! You are so bloody ridiculous, I can’t believe you just did that!”

She leaned forward and offered him her hand, still laughing, but she was shocked when he didn’t immediately reach out.

“I’m not getting up until you let me have an eclair, Pen.” He grumbled.

Rolling her eyes she giggled as she agreed to his demands. The fact that she had been able to resist him this long was enough of a victory for her. A few weeks ago the pouty face would have been enough for her to cave.

“Oh alright, yes! I’ll let you have one. Now get up.”

She helped pull him up, not really needing to do much since he was strong and agile enough that he didn’t really need her support. But it meant a lot to her that he still accepted her help, for she would always freely offer it. And if a spark went through her at the mere brush of their hands, and a tingling sensation followed as he gripped her tightly, well she would keep pretending like it was nothing. Even though it was everything.

After ensuring that they’d washed their hands, she pulled out a paper plate for him. Penelope then carefully opened the box and pulled out a single mocha eclair. She watched as his green eyes gleamed with pure want, and for a second she was insanely jealous over the fact that he would never have that expression on his face as he looked at her. She snapped out of it though, getting jealous over a pastry was a new low. Even for her.

Penelope held her breath, her stomach tangled up in knots as she waited for his verdict. Trying her best not to let her eyes linger on his mouth too much, she watched as Colin took his first bite of her mocha eclair. The one she’d made especially for him, with all the love and care she never had the bravery to share aloud. She almost looked away, something about seeing him eat a treat she made with her own hands felt a little too intimate, but his moan of appreciation had her unable to tear her eyes away from his face.

His expression… it was bliss. Green eyes widening before closing as he took in the flavors she incorporated for him, that heady mix of chocolate and coffee.

Penelope could only blush as her heart beat a tad bit faster and a beaming smile made its way onto her face as he took another hearty bite.

“That good, huh?” She said cheekily, feeling confident in the face of him devouring the sweet instead of, say, spitting it out politely.

“Inf oh ‘ood”

His mouth, still stuffed, made his response sound like pure nonsense but the approval was unmistakable. Penelope wrinkled her nose a bit at him attempting to speak with his mouth full but even that lapse in manners was utterly endearing.

Damn him .

She was so caught up in her joy that he liked it that she almost missed him reaching out for another one as soon as he had taken his last bite. Penelope’s eyes widened in alarm and she reached out for her box of eclairs.

“No! Nope! Colin the agreement was one eclair! I did not make this whole box for you! I did, in fact, make them with the intention of sharing with your whole family!”

She stepped out of his reach, protecting the rest of the pastries from his never ending appetite.

“Pen,” Colin whined, his eyes staring longingly at the box.

“You can’t just let me try one of the greatest eclairs I’ve ever had in my life and expect me to only be content with one!”

He reached for the box again, single-minded in his attempt to satiate his craving for another bite. The fact that Penelope had made it still had him in awe. When he had taken his first bite, the urge to groan had been practically overwhelming. It was like ambrosia, an explosion of flavor, the bitterness of the coffee followed by the sweetness of the chocolate and creme. He was distraught when he had opened his eyes to realize that he had devoured his whole eclair. He needed more.

Penelope turned her back on him, cradling the box and using her own body as a shield, shaking her head back and forth all the while. Another huff of laughter escaped him, she was so cute, protecting the sweets for his family. A noble endeavor indeed but he was much taller and the wall she made was nothing compared to his height. He stepped forward, his chest to her back, his arms wrapping around hers, Penelope stiffened in his pseudo embrace but Colin didn't notice as he finally had the box in his hands. Just in time too, as Penelope let go and twisted her way out of his arms.

“That’s not fair! Using the fact that you’re a giant against me is rude.”

Penelope was amazed that her voice wasn't shaking considering her heart was threatening to beat out of her chest. What was that? She had been so close to melting into his embrace, the urge to lean back against his chest and breathe in his scent had been so strong. How dare he do this? Didn’t he know she was only so strong? The fact that she could still feel him around her was enough to drive her insane.

“It’s not my fault you are so tiny, Pen.”

Colin grinned as looked down at the box, lifting the cover and mentally counting how many were left, “Come on Pen, there’s enough -” his sentence was cut short when Penelope grabbed the box from his hands unexpectedly and bolted to the other side of the counter, leaving him standing there in utter shock.

“Again? When did you get so fast? I swear I only blinked!” Twice now she had exhibited an alarming sense of speed.

“You guys are cute.”

Both Colin and Penelope are startled when a husky voice enters the conversation. They had completely forgotten about Eloise being in the flat with them. Caught up in the impromptu tug of war over the eclairs. They looked over at Eloise’s grinning face. Neither one of them sure they liked the twinkling light in her expressive brown eyes.

“I was here for a solid ten minutes enjoying the show, but mum’s waiting for us so let's get a move on.”  

Eloise then grabbed the box from Penelope’s hands and headed towards the door.

“Let's make haste people!”

-

It didn’t take long after that dinner for Colin Bridgerton to become a frequent guest in Penelope’s kitchen. What started off as simple requests for his favorite treats quickly became an insistence on her part that he was to be her sous chef and help her clean up. Not that it was ever a chore, but if she was to dedicate so much of her time to feeding him, it couldn't be for free. His time was more than enough of a payment for her and every dessert she made was a labor of love. It was liberating in a way, to channel all her feelings into the dough and creams and treats. She was no longer bottling it all up, no longer letting it stew and fester and morph into agony.

And it was indescribable, the joy she felt to see Colin enjoy her food so earnestly. To see his hearty appetite satisfied by her own creations. Penelope felt like she was high in the clouds, he was always texting her new recipes they could make together or locations of different bakeries they could try. She never expected any of this, the fact that their friendship would grow into something deeper. Of course she still yearned for them to be more, and she constantly had to remind herself to not make a big deal out of normal platonic affectionate gestures. She was content for now, to have him at her side.

It all started with an eclair…

But it all escalated with a strawberry crème brûlée.

|| CHAPTER TWO  ||  || AO3 ||

[artificialqueens]

Galactica, Chapter 81 (Group Fic) - TheDane/Veronica

A/N: Click here if you’re looking for previous chapters (or here if you’d rather read on AO3). 💫

Previously: Sutan and Violet skipped out on their party plans, Bianca’s friends deeply disapproved of her new relationship, Adore struggled to get over Pearl, and Alaska harbored a secret unrequited crush on her best friend Jinkx.

This Chapter: New Year’s Eve continues, full of love and betrayal.

***

“Well? What do you think?” Bianca asked, when Courtney stepped away to greet Alaska. Her voice was low, and she was trying extremely hard to appear casual, but Jinkx could see the anxiousness in her eyes.

Jinkx grinned. It wasn’t very often that she had any kind of leg up on Bianca Del Rio, and she was prepared to milk it.

“Hmmm…”

“Come on!”

“I think she’s incredible. Gorgeous, charming, and she clearly has good taste-” Jinkx batted her lashes, framing her face with her hand, in an obvious reference to Courtney gushing all over her about what a big fan she was. Then, she gave Bianca a once-over. “Well, good taste about some things.”

“Oh, fuck off,” Bianca grumbled, bumping Jinkx with her hip, suddenly looking more like herself than she had all night.

Jinkx laughed, feeling quite pleased with herself. The truth was, Courtney was everything she’d been expecting, based on what Alaska had told her: vibrant, fun, bursting with warmth and positive energy. The only surprising thing so far was Bianca. She’d known her for almost twenty years, and hadn’t ever seen her so sparkly-eyed and doting. This relationship was clearly making her happy, giving her a new kind of brightness, and that was lovely to see.

“No, but seriously,” Jinkx continued, linking her arm through Bianca’s. “I think you guys make a great couple. Sugar Mama is a good look for you.”

“I...” Bianca opened her mouth, at first looking like she was about to protest that characterization, but then seemed to think better of it, her lips twisting into a smirk. “Yeah, well…”

Jinkx laughed, watching as Courtney gave Alaska a hug and skipped back to them, arms immediately winding around Bianca’s waist, eyes shining with love as she gazed up at her. Bianca whispered something into her ear, too soft for Jinkx to hear, before kissing her gently.

It was all disgustingly cute, Jinkx noted, nose wrinkling just slightly.

***

Raja held Raven’s hand as they slowly moved through the Henri De Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition at MoMA, the evening's guests all holding little glasses of champagne, the low tone of constant chatter all around them.

The dinner had been lovely, Raven taking obvious delight in the decadence of it all, but Raja had to admit that she missed her brother, Sutan’s absence on New Years like a little hole in her heart.

She knew he was sick, knew that it made sense that he was spending the evening at home with Violet, but Raja couldn’t help but feel forgotten.

Sutan had confided in her that he told Violet he loved her, and Raja wasn’t jealous. She wasn’t, because Sutan and Violet had only been together for about 6 months, and she had been his best friend since before they were born, their history spanning literal decades compared to Violet’s months.

In all honesty, Raja had been wavering about whether or not she wanted Violet to come along for Aspen, Kahmora a complete disaster when she had joined them. After the ‘love’ reveal though, she was happy for the opportunity to spend a few days with her brother’s girlfriend, and figure out her exact motivation for being with him, to scratch deeper and see what was hiding underneath that polite surface.

“Ooh” Fame turned around, a smile on her lip. She was wearing all white and looked positively radiant, her hand on Patrick’s elbow. “What about this one?” She pointed at one of the pieces, a group of women all standing together. “Don’t you think that would look fetching in the master bathroom?”

“Well,” Patrick looked at the painting, his other hand in his suit pocket. “Where else would you put a late 19th-century avant-garde?”

“Oh please,” Fame slapped Patrick’s arm, and Raja had to quickly take a sip of her drink, hiding her smile. “It’d be a print. You can’t hang actual art anywhere near a shower. Don’t play smart.”

“Of course, love.”

Raja had to admit that she loved how much Patrick adored needling Fame, giving her small pushes towards the edge a game they often played together, since Fame was so easy to toy with. If it had been anyone else, Raja would have stepped in to stop them, but with Patrick, she knew that he’d always be there to help put everything back together.

“I like that one-” Raven pointed to a large painting of a woman in a low cut blue dress, brown curls spilling down, two other women at her side.

“You would,” Raja pressed her lips against Raven’s temple, lowering her voice to a growl, the woman in the painting basically showing off her breasts, “wouldn’t you, you dirty girl.”

“Raj!” Raven gasped, slapping her chest before giggling.

***

Dahlia smoothed down her scarlet-colored velvet gown, surveying the club with a smile. She would never have admitted it, but when Pearl invited her to this party just yesterday, she’d immediately gone out and splurged on a new dress--and she was glad she had, because she looked like a million bucks. The top was draped, held up alluringly by delicate straps that threatened to slip down her shoulders at any moment, the waist fit her like a glove, and the slit showed off her long legs to perfection. She tossed her glossy dark hair over her shoulder, loving the many pairs of eyes that were so obviously drawn towards her.

“Can I get you a drink?” Pearl asked, voice low and sexy in her ear.

They’d started their own party earlier, pre-gaming and fooling around in Pearl’s apartment as they got ready. Dahlia had been in the middle of straightening her hair when Pearl’s fingers slid up her thighs, which nearly caused her to burn her ear. At this point, they were each about five (or so, they hadn’t really counted) drinks in and fully ready to have the night of their lives.

“Sure.”

“What do you want?” Peal asked, lips grazing her neck.

“Surprise me,” Dahlia said, biting back a whimper. She turned to Pearl, cupping her cheek and saying, “I’m gonna go wash my hands.”

She continued to feel her fantasy as she walked across the dance floor to the restrooms, humming slightly to herself as she stepped up to a sink, hips swaying as she washed her hands. She was just about to reach for a paper towel when she glimpsed a figure in the mirror behind her, coming out of a stall.

Adore.

Dahlia felt her heart sink. What on earth was Adore doing here, looking at her with that hurt puppy expression, completely destroying the delightful buzz that she’d had going on?

Apparently wondering the same thing, Adore burst out, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m...it’s a party.”

Adore swallowed, and for a second Dahlia felt the guilt tighten in her chest. They hadn’t seen each other since that awful gig, when Dahlia had ditched the band and left with Pearl. She’d spoken to the others a few times, intentionally failing to mention that Pearl was more than a one-time thing.

She and Adore had been friends since high school, but for the first time in almost ten years, looking into her face was like looking at a stranger. Dahlia didn’t like to think about how much she’d hurt her, their friendship now probably beyond repair. For a few days after their fight, Dahlia had held out some hope, but when more than a week went by, and then two, and then three and no communication from Adore, she realized that it was truly over between them, despite Aja’s insistence that there was still hope, that she’d be fine after she nursed her wounds for awhile.

“I didn’t know you’d be here,” Dahlia said, feeling defensive as she added, “Believe me.”

“Yeah, but how did you-”

At that moment, the door to the bathroom banged open, and in waltzed Pearl, still turnt up to 100, holding two drinks in her hands.

“Heyyyyy, D, are you ready to fuck this party up?!”

Adore turned toward her slowly, a look of horror on her face as the situation dawned on her.

Pearl looked hot as sin, her blonde hair spilling over her shoulders, a black long sleeved crop top clinging to her fit arms and shoving off a tone stomach, a skirt tight around her hips and ending just above her knees, a gold chain digging into the skin on her waist, her heeled boots making her ass look amazing. But Adore didn’t appear to be admiring her beauty or chic fashion sense. Instead, the look on her face was one of pure disgust.

“Are you…” Adore turned back to Dahlia, asking, “Are you here together?”

“Hell yeah!” Pearl exclaimed, before Dahlia could respond. She shot Pearl a look, trying to tell her to shut up with her eyes, but it didn’t do any good. “It’s good to see you, Delano. You look hot as fuck tonight. Want a drink?”

Adore blinked, clearly trying to figure out how Pearl could be such an absolute fucking idiot. (Dahlia was wondering the same thing.)

“...No. No, I don’t want a drink. I want you to leave. Both of you!”

“Why should we leave?” Pearl asked, sipping one of the cocktails. “We don’t have the problem here, and you don’t have to have one either.”

“Because! I’ve known Jinkx since I was a kid and my sister’s here and you’re just here to...why are you here? This isn’t even your scene!”

“I thought it would be a nice change of pace,” Pearl said. “You seriously need to relax, I thought we said we were gonna be friends.”

“Friends? Are you fucking serious, Pearl?”

“Yeah? Why not? It’s not like we ever really worked as a couple.” Pearl held out the other cocktail glass, which Dahlia assumed was meant to be for her, shaking it slightly, the ice clinking against the sides of the glass. “Jack and ginger…Isn’t that your drink? Consider it a peace off-”

“Pearl! What the fuck is wrong with you?! Do you have brain damage?!” Adore cried, slapping her hand away, liquor sloshing over the side of the glass. “You cannot seriously be fucking one of my oldest friends and think everything is gonna be cool! Or that you can buy me off with one cocktail from a fucking open bar!”

“This is so boring.” Pearl groaned slightly, rolling her eyes. “You’re totally ruining my buzz.”

“Good!” Adore yelled, voice hoarse, the tears filling her eyes telling Dahlia that they had about 30 seconds before a full emotional meltdown. She put her hand on Pearl’s arm, trying to signal for her to shut the fuck up so they could get the fuck out.

“Adore, there’s no need to make a scene. Why don’t you grow up and come do shots with us-”

“Do shots with you?!”

“Yes! We can all have some fun, and - what?” Pearl finally noticed Dahlia’s nails digging into her wrist, turning to her with an annoyed expression, which Dahlia ignored.

“I’m sorry,” Dahlia said instead, directly to Adore, as sincerely as possible.

Adore took a deep breath, eyes dull and glassy as she said, “Whatever. I just...please, just-”

“We’ll leave,” Dahlia assured her. After everything that went down, it seemed like the least she could do.

“But-” Pearl began, still not getting it.

“Pearl! Enough! Come.” She grabbed Pearl’s arm and pulled her towards the door, turning at the last second to give Adore one last, “Sorry.”

Adore nodded, tears brimming in her eyes. Her sorry clearly wasn’t enough. It probably never would be. She held her gaze for one more split second before she couldn’t stand it anymore and pushed the door open, shoving Pearl through.

***

“Hurry up lovely eyes!”

“I am, calm down-”

Sutan grinned as Violet grabbed yet another stack of papers from the living room table, moving them out of the way as quickly as she could, the table not at all ready for dinner, since neither of them had expected to be home. They were waiting for their food, the local Chinese restaurant nearly groaning on the phone when Sutan had placed his order, so he had promised to tip generously, though he always did anyway.

Sutan watched Violet, a small smile on his lips as the ends of his girlfriend's hair was still damp, the blue wrap dress and the thick socks so unlike the gown Sutan knew she would have otherwise worn, not that he himself wasn’t in a pair of loose sweats and a sweater.

Sutan didn’t normally pay much attention to what Violet was doing on the living room table, since they both preferred to either eat in the kitchen or at the TV, but it seemed like he should start checking in more, everything he stumbled upon utterly fascinating.

So far, he had seen completed patterns for skirt embroidery, all marked in Violet’s neat handwriting and completely idiot proof, his girlfriend clearly still not trusting the tailoring department to do their job while they were away in Aspen.

He had spotted what he assumed was the beginning of Raja’s MET clothes, seeing his twin's face stare back at him highly amusing. Violet had already done several small collections, fabrics and sketches all stapled together in little collages that gave a quick overview of her thoughts.

“Where do you want me to-” Sutan took a stack of paper from the table, wanting to help Violet, but all he managed was to make his girlfriend whip around, her eyes wide.

“Careful!”

“I am!” Sutan laughed, hooking his thumbs on top of the layers of fabric so it wouldn’t go anywhere as he walked over to the chest of drawers, putting it down to the side. “I didn’t realize you were so messy, Violet.”

“Please,” Violet snorted, leaning on her crutches with a raised eyebrow. “Like you’re one to talk, Mr. Kitchen Table.”

“Ha!” Sutan grinned, the taunt hitting exactly right, though he hadn’t actually thought about the kitchen table in forever, the surface somehow always clean when he needed it.

***

In the elevator, Dahlia fumed silently as she slipped on her coat. She’d been expecting an epic and glamorous night, not the shitshow that had just occured. Even more annoyingly, Pearl seemed unfazed by the whole thing.

“So, where to?” Pearl asked, her voice obnoxiously chipper.

“I don’t know,” Dahlia replied sullenly.

Completely oblivious to her tone, Pearl soldiered on. “There’s this great dive bar a few blocks from here, it’s-”

“A dive bar?” Dahlia cut in bitterly. “Dressed like this?”

Dahlia had not dropped nearly $300 on a new dress and spent two hours getting ready to end up in a dive bar. She crossed her arms.

“Well...I... Okay, if you want another fancy party, I can find one.” Pearl pulled up Twitter on her phone, scrolling through her feed. “I know my boss is at that MoMA thing, but I bet we can find something better-”

Suddenly though, even the thought of another extravagant party left a terrible taste in Dahlia’s mouth.

“Maybe I should just go home,” Dahlia sighed.

“What? Why?” Pearl’s head was tilted, confused, and looking at her big blue eyes, Dahlia couldn’t hold in her exasperation for a second longer.

“Because! I’m not really in the mood to sip champagne after all that! I know you’re like, hashtag unbothered by the whole thing, but it kind of sucks that I lost one of my oldest friends!” she burst out, just as the elevator reached the lobby.

Pearl touched her gently on the hand, saying sincerely, “It’s her loss, D.”

Dahlia sighed. She appreciated that Pearl was making an effort to be all ride-or-die, but it just felt too much like dismissing her feelings. She had lost something, something important, and she felt like shit.

“I just...wonder if it was worth it…” Dahlia admitted, and Pearl’s brow creased, finally bothered for the first time.

“I didn’t force you to come out with me,” she said quietly.

“I know,” said Dahlia.

“Or to fuck me.”

“I know.”

They stared at each other, a few moments of awkward silence passing before Dahlia finally looked down. It wasn’t fair of her to put all of this on Pearl, she knew that. But she couldn’t help feeling a bit resentful.

“If you really want to go home, I can get you a cab,” Pearl finally said.

Dahlia swallowed, a deep sigh leaving her. “Okay…”

So much for her epic, glamorous New Year’s Eve.

***

Still shaking a little from that awful confrontation in the bathroom, Adore walked towards the bar to order a drink. She’d been doing her best not to think about Dahlia or the whole mess with Pearl over the holidays, but Aja had asked her a few days earlier if they were gonna work things out, for the sake of the band.

Adore was thinking about it--after all, she loved her band. She loved writing music and she loved performing, and Dahlia had been part of it from the beginning. So she was trying to work up the energy to talk to her again. Or, she had been until tonight.

The fact that she was still dating Pearl was the last thing Adore expected. From Dahlia, that is. From Pearl, at this point nothing would surprise her.

Ugh.

She glanced around the room, wondering where the fuck Courtney was. Of course, she finally spotted her with Jinkx and Bianca, perched on a sofa, hanging on her sister’s arm...and likely her every word, if the look on her face was any indication.

Adore rolled her eyes, in no mood for Courtney’s slavish puppy love at the moment.

“What can I get you?” asked the bartender.

“Double Jameson,” Adore replied immediately, then after half a second added, “Actually, make it a triple.”

“You got it.”

Adore put her head on the bar and groaned slightly. Beside her, someone chuckled drily.

“Sounds like your night is going about as well as mine.” The tall blonde grinned at her sheepishly, recognition dawning in her eyes. “Wait, aren’t you Courtney’s friend?”

Adore puffed out her cheeks. She’d been known as ‘Bianca’s sister’ for most of her life, and she was resigned to it at this point. But now, she was gonna be ‘Courtney’s friend’? When would she just be herself? “Yeah. I’m Adore.”

Thankfully, the bartender set Adore’s drink down just then, allowing her to take a giant sip.

“Alaska,” supplied the blonde. “I work with Court at Galactica. I love her so much, she’s just the sweetest thing ever. She talks about you all the time.”

Frustration reaching a boiling point, Adore burst out with, “Yeah, Courtney’s the fucking greatest. My best friend. Although you wouldn’t know it tonight, since all she cares about is my fucking sister and the moon that apparently shines out of her ass.”

Alaska looked taken aback for a moment, and Adore squeezed her eyes shut, embarrassed.

“I’m sorry, I’m just...yeah, I’m just having a real shitty night, and I...please forget I said all that.” She couldn’t help finishing with, “Even though it’s true.”

Alaska laughed, a long infectious laugh that made Adore smile in spite of her wretched mood. “Consider it forgotten…But are you okay? Feeling a little left out?”

“I mean, I guess. I don’t know. I just saw my ex, who is now dating my former friend.”

“Ouch.”

“Why don’t we talk about you instead? What’s your story?” Adore asked her.

Wincing, Alaska sipped her drink. “Let’s not. I’m…sort of going through it tonight.”

“Oh yeah? Is it worse than your friend of ten years fucking your ex right after you broke up, and then the two of them showing up pretending like everything is normal and your ex asking you to fucking do shots with them?”

“Uh…no…not worse than that. Jesus.” Alaska shook her head and gestured to Adore’s drink. “You sure a triple’s strong enough?”

Adore laughed and shook her head. “It’s not. But I’m working with what I’ve got.”

“Yeah. Yeah, I hear that.” Alaska reached out and put a hand on Adore’s. “They both sound like assholes, by the way.”

“Thanks,” Adore said gratefully, looking into Alaska’s kind brown eyes and feeling seen for the first time all night. She cleared her throat. “...Okay, I just told you my shit. Wanna tell me yours?”

“Well…” Alaska chewed nervously on the straw in her own cocktail. “I have this friend…”

“Yeah…?” Adore prompted.

“I’m in love with her, and she doesn’t feel the same way, so I come to these things to torture myself.”

“Fuck.” Adore nodded, completely understanding this girl’s pain. She tossed back the last of her drink, then slammed the glass back down onto the bar, thinking that they may as well have some fun. “Fuck it. Do you wanna dance?”

“Sure!” Alaska said, a beautiful smile blooming on her face.

*

It wasn’t until they were on the dance floor, Adore’s hands circling Alaska’s waist, that she began to feel how tipsy she was. She hadn’t intended to drink, and certainly not to this point, but here she was. Thankfully, Adore didn’t seem to mind supporting her weight.

She leaned in close, mouth right up against Alaska’s ear, and said, “Your friend is a dumbass.”

Alaska giggled. “Thanks, I think?”

“I’m serious! You’re totally hot.”

“Shut up.”

“Fuck you, I will not!” Adore held her tighter. “Is she here?”

Alaska glanced to the side of the room, where Jinkx was laughing with someone. She nodded.

“Wanna make her jealous?”

“How are we gonna–” Alaska was cut off by Adore’s soft, warm mouth against hers, plush lips pressed to hers, hands pulling her closer. After her initial surprise, she relaxed into the kiss, winding her fingers in Adore’s long, messy red hair and opening her mouth, letting her tongue inside. It had been so long, and she maybe responded a little too ardently. Maybe let it go on a little too long. Maybe pressed against her too hard…but damn, she felt good.

Adore pulled her head back, grinning wickedly, and whispered, “Is she looking?”

“Is…what…oh, shit.” Alaska suddenly remembered what she was doing and glanced to the side without moving her head. “Yeah, she’s looking,” she answered softly.

Adore kissed her again, sliding her hands down to her ass. Alaska’s heart raced and she whimpered slightly. Adore released her again and winked. “Happy New Year,” she said, sauntering away.

Alaska brought a hand to her mouth, watching her walk away with a slightly dazed expression. She caught Jinkx’s eye for a split second and then looked away, blushing.

***

[evitachristine]

Anti-Hophie Rant

So I finally finished reading One True King, and this is what I have to say. It’s long. 

WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS!

Before I get into this, just a small warning: If Hophie is your OTP and embodiment of perfection, this text is not for you. I will not argue with anyone, alright?

To start this off, in my opinion OTK is the weakest of the series. It just feels like a connection between the last book and the fact that Tedros has to become the King. Some might argue that the second book was the worst, well, I disagree. It’s not just because Hophie happens here, but I kind of believe that when the internet spoiled to me that my hated ship was going to happen (because I had to wait until the book comes out in my country), I was expecting more from it. That I would actually be convinced it’s meant to be, which didn’t happen. Also the execution of some characters (Ahem...Merlin) was just...why. It seemed to me that there were a lot of other fan services in this book, apart from Hort and Sophie getting together, but more about that later. 

 I need to remember this for good, and next time I become a fan of something, I will avoid its fanbase. I do not mean to offend anyone, but a fanbase can really ruin a platform, especially when the platform is still developping and the fanbase is influencing it, which I believe did happen a lot with SGE. I will not deny that a fandom can improve such thing - that is definitely true as well - but sometimes the line between improving and ruining is slim, and if it doesn’t ruin the platform, then it might ruin a couple of fans’ experience of it. 

Now to the point of me hating Hophie.

As I mentioned in my previous post, and above. When I discovered the fandom and found out that people are shipping Hort and Sophie, I asked myself “But why? Sophie doesn’t like Hort.” and I kind of thought this was a joke or a meme ship. I always ship characters where both sides have at least a visible bit of attraction towards each other. Whether its friends to lovers or enemies to lovers. Hophie, until the last book and half, was not the case. It was a typical example of unrequited crush, Sophie once only used Hort to make Tedros jealous. But if my mind isn’t tricking me, she was always disgusted by him and even during their first encounter, he attempted to harass her! And the fact that “they were still kids back then” is not an excuse to me. 

Allow me to make a slight turn from SGE. When I was about 8-10, my mum took me to see an opera called Turandot. I will not bother you with opera, but long story short: A princess is very beautiful and a lot of men want to marry her. So she is giving everyone three questions, if they answer incorrectly, they are executed. Everyone are getting executed until a prince in disguise arrives and is in love with her, answers all questions correctly. Princess doesn’t want to marry him tho, so he asks her to guess his name and if she succeeds, he will gladly die. The princess doesn’t feel love at all and doesn’t want to fall in love. She believes she is a saint. Then in a dramatic duet the prince kisses her and ALL OF SUDDEN the princess falls in love with him. 

Whew. Sorry, I tried to make this as short as possible. I remember asking my mum after this: “Why is the girl always forced to love the boy?” Little me didn’t like this idea of a “magical kiss” already, lol. Mum’s answer was “Because it was written by a boy.”, but that’s not even my point here. Do you see the pattern? Girl keeps refusing guy but in the end he still gets her. THIS RIGHT HERE is the main reason why I hate Hophie. It reinforces the stereotype that if a guy is persistent enough, he will get the girl even if she said no a million times. 

Another note I’d like to say about this, and I’m going to receive hate for this opinion. I started book 1 when I was 16. Now I’m in my early twenties and I get that most SGE readers are still teenagers. The age of crushes, clumsy love experiments, etc. OK now I sound like a grandma. But I think this is where Hophie stems from. Everyone are seeing themselves in Hort. Your crush doesn’t like you back, his crush doesn’t like him back. Something like Éponine in Les Misérables. If Marius and Sophie both fall in love with the person who likes them, it’s like the crush of the fan does. Can we call this the Hort-Éponine complex? 

Aside from that, I believe that people who already experienced both sides of unrequited love (like yours truly grandma, right here), meaning Sophie’s side of it, are less likely to support such ships. 

I will now dive into the OTK “resolution” of this pairing. First let me just say, this book made me, if not hate, then at least strongly dislike Hort’s character. The first half of the book and even a some time after before he finally gets with Sophie, his character is disgusting to me. He is so obsessed with her, even while he’s still dating Nicola. As in my previous post, it’s like a huge part of his character is only “I LOVE SOPHIE”. While he’s still with Nicola, he never fails to mention “his FRIEND Sophie”. I will now paraphrase because I read a translation, not the original, but even when Hort’s singing to the guards to distract them so Agatha and Tedros can sneak into the Library, he sings something along the lines “Girlfriend Nikki and friend Soph”. I’m not sure if this was meant to convince the reader that Sophie ending up with Hort is a good idea, but with me, it did the exact opposite. 

In general, their “romance” feels extremely rushed to me. Compared to Sophie’s previous love interests, regardless of who they were as people, these two have zero chemistry. It seems as if Sophie decided to settle because there was no other guy for her. And the description of her suddenly being in love with him, as mentioned above, is another of those “magical kiss” stories. It is hardly believable and kind of... shallow. 

There even were several moments when Rafal was mentioned. In COT, when the protagonists wanted to flee Camelot but Sophie decided to stay, she saw Hort flying to her and she mistook him for Rafal. Goodness. Even in OTK there were a few moments when it seemed that Sophie still has issues from that relationship. Very few, but they were there. 

Therefore I refuse to believe that the reason for this was anything other than to satisfy the majority of the fandom. In addition, the entire book feels like one huge “fan service”, as other ships are “sailing” as well. We have Hestadil and Bogden/Willam, but these two are at least believable. Hestadil started, even tho inconspicously, two books ago, and it resolved naturally. And beforehand they were close friends, so there’s that. As for the boys, they were side characters, so we can only think that all resolved while they were off the scene. 

To sum it up, I thought of three different endings I’d prefer for Sophie. 

On the first place, this was mentioned several times by other people, is that she should have stayed on her own. That happened in TLEA, but this time, really. I hated that OTK made it seem that she really needs a partner. Yes, love, but heck... is romantic love the only thing that is out there? How about friendship? Content with oneself? Pursuing hobbies that you love? Freedom? Come on. Awesome characters that end up single AND ARE HAPPY should have more representation. And I think Sophie would have been amazing like that. 

On the second place I have two things. First, Sophie with a girl. Only I’m not sure who. Maybe Nicola, or Betty if she survived. Or maybe, people might hate me for this, but... Dot? I don’t ship it but I think it could have been cute. Maybe they would start off getting closer as friends and the rest would be left up to the reader’s imagination.

The other preferable ending I have at second place was originally on the third place, but some weird nostalgia overcame me when reading OTK and I had to move it up. People will hate me. But if Sophie should end up with a guy, it should have been Rhian. Yes, I know what you are thinking right now. But think about it. That guy really believed he was Arthur’s son. Imagine if he found out the truth. Something tells me it would be really hard for him at first, but in the end, if he found out that Japeth really only wants Aric, he could’ve joined the protagonists. In my opinion Sophie had the best dynamic with him, before it all spiralled downwards with snakes etc. Maybe he could pretend to help his twin but in the end... I believe I read something like this somewhere on Tumblr as well. Also this kind of feels as if it could have been Soman’s original plan before he turned to pleasing the fans. Or maybe I’m just fantasising too much.  Regardless of how much you’re cursing me right now, I believe Rhian deserved better and shouldn’t have died. After all, he was the better twin. 

As for Hort, well, before OTK I didn’t really care for his character, I didn’t dislike him but he wasn’t my favourite. I simply wished him well hoping he’ll get over Sophie so he can be happy, either with Nicola/someone else, or on his own. After the last book made me resent him, I’m not sure. He could have died, but I know that is cruel. 

He could have been slowly realising that he doesn’t need Sophie, his love would fade away, maybe Nicola could break up with him in the process, then they would get back together, at a natural pace, realisation, etc. Or they wouldn’t, or they wouldn’t break up at all, just separate on different missions, and then reunite and realise they were truly meant to be together all along. 

Whew, if you made it here, congratulations. If you read this as a Hophie shipper, I’m not taking away your opinion. I just needed to let this out. Hope we can respect each other. 

...But I still kinda wish we could get another version of OTK where Hophie doesn’t happen. 

[eldritch-elrics]

For the ask: MXY

How I feel about this character

i love him so much. mo xuanyu is one of my absolute favorite character archetypes - the vessel. not important as an individual, only important for how his body can be used to store another soul. it’s just a special level of tragedy and....... wow.

plus! just! there’s so much more interesting stuff about him! his demonic cultivation - the fact he was able to actually pull off a sacrifice summon! his hunger for revenge! the way his narrative is twisted by everyone around him! how he fits into the theme of untold stories! and more..

hey also fun fact! the character for the “xuan” in his name, 玄, is used in the first chapter of the daode jing to talk about...... god i don’t know if i can explain it but it’s like the origin/merging of the concept of namelessness/unity (dao) + the concept of naming/deconstruction and there’s this line about crossing the threshold of that blackness and getting beyond dualisms and that kind of reminds me of mxy’s disappearance from the narrative and WELL ACTUALLY this is just gonna become me ranting incoherently about daoism if i get into that so i will not. 玄 is probably a common character used in all sorts of contexts and i’m just making a big deal out of it because i’ve read the daode jing too many god damn times

All the people I ship romantically with this character

there are, unfortunately, no healthy relationship prospects for mo xuanyu. i do think he gets a couple unrequited (or semi-requited) crushes - most notably on xue yang and nie huaisang. those are super interesting ships to explore (i’m planning to write a mxy/xy fic!) with lots of depth and lots of fucked-up-ness. another headcanon i have is that he fantasizes about wei wuxian lmao (but doesn’t really feel anything about him)

My non-romantic OTP for this character

mxy & nhs as caring-but-secretly-manipulative platonic/mentor-student relationship is my jam. there’s sooo much potential oh man

jgy!!! i think mxy cared so much about jgy. and then of course it’s all shattered. in an ideal world mxy would be closer with all his siblings - i also wonder what his relationship with qin su might’ve been if they’d been allowed to be proper siblings!

super interested in aus where mxy somehow survives/comes back and is able to meet wwx. like maybe an au where mxy’s spirit lives on in wwx’s brain? LOVE that shit. body sharing is one of my favorite tropes

i’m also interested in the concept of him meeting wn while wn’s still locked in the jin dungeon...

i had an au concept where he meets xxc too but that one was kind of weird and complicated

My unpopular opinion about this character

so we all know that mo xuanyu is extremely traumatized. i think he was also very neurodivergent even before he was traumatized, though, which 1. contributed to his reputation of “insanity,” 2. made it easier for people to pin blame on him for things he didn’t do, and 3. made him very easy to misinterpret/misunderstand. so, something like him harassing qin su? he wasn’t trying to harass her, but it came off that way because i think he has issues with boundaries (which i’ve talked about before) and communication. then of course someone like jgy took advantage of that and used it to kick out mxy. knowing that no one would believe him if he told the truth: see “bad at communication.”

...which is basically to say that i don’t think his breakdown after getting kicked out of jinlintai was the start of his issues; i think he was always neurodivergent in some sense and everyone around him was just horrible at dealing with that

also, i don’t think the way he responded to his trauma was pretty! even though he is the ultimate victim i can definitely imagine him lashing out and hurting people even before the sacrifice summon. he really needs some therapy

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

i wish he’d been remembered more. i wish wwx had tried to get to the bottom of who mxy really was. i wish he hadn’t just been pushed aside and forgotten. i want him to have friends! i want him to be loved! i want people to try and understand him rather than use him for their own gains!

on the other hand, his narrative absence is so powerful

THIS GOT REALLY LONG! thank you!!

[louisa-reyes]

( sofia carson, she/her + cis female, 23 ) | well of course you’ve heard of ( louisa reyes ), right? they are a ( second ) year student living in ( the town of rye ) taking ( law & theatre ) at rye university, and as per the blinds, they are like ( a million dollar smile flashing at the cameras, the facade breaking down behind closed doors, believing in love at first sight ), but that may just be because they know ( redacted ).

this took me longer than i care to admit to write but hi friends ! this is louisa.

google doc.

tldr — she’s the daughter of a high profile lawyer and a socialite turned actress who had an affair and along she came. she’s been more or less in the public eye her entire life and it became worse when she decided to follow her mom’s footsteps as an actress. she’s the definition of a nepo bb like got her first couple of gigs bc of her mom and she actually on her way of making a name for herself until her dad threatened to cut her off if she didn’t go back and get a degree - so she got stuck with law and theatre.

so outwardly she comes off as a huge ditz, like no thoughts just looking at life through rose colored glasses. she seems harmless and naive mainly bc of this bubbly, friendly persona who loves love, love attention, and couldn’t hurt a fly. but she’s not are harmless as she projects. she’s extremely stubborn and loves chaos, drama literally runs through her veins and she thrives off it. she won’t think twice before stepping over someone for her convenience and loves to manipulate and blackmail ppl to get what she wants.

headcanons

she’s bilingual: english & spanish

did a few acting gigs as a kid but then her parents split and she found herself flying back and forth between california and new york.

while she picked up acting again during her senior year of high school, she wasn’t new again to the camera. her mom’s part of one of the real housewife shows and she made the occasional appearance here and there.

well aware of how much of a nepo bb she is. doesn’t really bother her.

she can’t cook or bake. she tried once, almost set the house on fire.

terrified of swimming

wanted connections

chaotic squad — people to scheme and cause drama with.

the project — someone she for some reasons sees as a ‘project’ and is trying to make them more fashionable/popular/something.

ex’s — bad terms, good terms, idk we can insert some drama here.

found family — she doesn’t get along with the rest of her family which despite her saying she’s okay with, she’s not. just people she’s found that she considers family.

good influence — she’s lowkey unhinged, just making bad choices left and right. someone to talk some sense into.

bad influence — she loves stirring drama and chaos, someone that she tries to take under her wing to “live a little”.

bad blood — enemies. they don’t get along for whatever reason. maybe she did something to screw them over.

unrequited crush — she’s crushing on them hard. she’s also v stubborn and is focused on getting what she wants. cue the desperate attempts to flirt and win them over. it’s funny, it’s pathetic, it’s louisa being a mess.

friendzoned — someone who has feelings for her and she’s completely oblivious to. she’s always talking to them about her latest crush and trying to find someone for them to date without realizing things.