Interesting thing about Lincoln.
As a person and a politician, he was defined by his way with words. He was a lawyer, which involves speaking in courtrooms and appealing to audiences. He rose to national prominence because of how well he did in a series of public debates. He wrote speeches that have lasted through the ages because of their concise yet vivid phrasing.
He understood the world through the lens of storytelling. He had anecdotes for every situation, and constantly used them to provide metaphors explaining his stances or his strategy or his view of an issue.
As president during a Civil War, a huge part of his job was crafting the narrative explaining what they were fighting for. The Gettysburg Address reframed the national narrative so the founding moment of the country wasn't the ratification of the Constitution--as the South claimed--but the Declaration of Independence that listed the ideals that all the states should be held to. Of course, the South was doing the same thing, so that the conflict was not only a battle of muskets and cannons--it was a war of stories.
And he was killed by an actor.
In a theater.
He was struck down by an opposing storyteller in a palace of artifice. An actress made a point of cradling his dying head in her lap so she could have a part in the drama. He lived by stories and died as the center of one, in a place made for telling such stories.
It's poetic and tragic and so shockingly fitting that the war of stories claimed him as its central victim.
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kinda nsfw niche funky idea including Unai Emery and the Aston Villa stadium, and yes, I will elaborate. Read more at your own risk if you know me. (all is a work of fiction etc.)
(I blame @longeyelashedtragedy for this, for - and I quote - saying "he seems like the type who’d fuck his stadium at midnight")
Anyway. Unai is... special. Different. Probably neurodivergent, if we like throwing these terms around. He's a bit of a mess, but also in desperate need to have things under control, to micromanage everything. His long talks and motivational speeches are legendary - and it's no secret that not all his players bought into his style of speaking and describing and demanding stuff, especially considering how he looks and how intense and passionate he can get when speaking about his one true love, football. I mean, imagine how kids behaved towards the one nerdy guy who would make a 20-minute-long presentation about his very niche topic of interest at school and struggled a little bit with getting some points across although it was obvious he was passionate. What a weirdo! I doubt some of the big egotistical star players have a lot of time for someone like that.
So maybe at times, Unai struggles to feel a connection with the players. Or maybe he does, but as always, he wants more. He desperately tried to build the connection with Villa fans, which so far has been a great success - they love him. Maybe he wants even more, he wants to understand the DNA of the club etc., all the usual stuff, but Unai means it, in his own weird way.
He is el enfermo de futbol, "sick for football", he's been laughed at (in a joke-y way) that he fucks football. maybe he doesn't quite do that, but he "experiences everything very intensely", and even his feelings about football are not all that... normal? with his obsession with details, planning, and micromanagement, he loves all of that - the smell of grass, getting out the cones before training, the material of the seat in the dugout, his beloved clipboard with papers with tens of different scenarios that he wrote by hand presumably during long night work sessions.... And these things are like the physical representation of football. Don't forget he started at 3rd division of the Spanish league, doing everything himself, and kinda retained that approach and mentality until today. He is the custodian, he is the "protector", he is the one responsible for the club. Sometimes it didn't work out. Now everything seems to be working out.
Enter the stadium, the place of magic. "This is really a home, not only a Stadium."
utvaddiction? For him, definitely. He's addicted to work, to progress, and to football. And the stadium represents all of that - the possible future, the dreams, the historicity of the club. Don't forget Unai co-owns a historic club Real Unión in Basque country, where his grandad used to play! He knows what history means in football. He spoke about this in an interview with Michael Calvin about how you can smell the football in England at the stadium with the crowd, and I don't think he was exaggerating. He wants to smell it, he wants to touch it, he wants to feel it. Not the round ball used for playing but the abstract football, but that's only possibly through its physical representations.
Basically, he wants to fuck the idea of football.
Where better than at a stadium, at midnight, probably after a winning match, when the memory of the crowd and the smell of football is still present?
Lets say the cameras don't work at night. Or he - of course - knows which spots around the stadium are hidden from cameras. It's basically jerking off in an empty stadium - but in a very frantic manner, with all the reasons described above, it's not just about rubbing a quick one out lol, it's intense and deep and maybe he gets to rub himself against a seat. Or, if there are really no cameras, he would probably want to get on the pitch actually. While being very respectful and fearful, almost afraid to lay his hands on the sacred grass but - I mean he's religious. He fears and loves at the same time, right? Does the same there as well. A football pitch is a sacred place and he worships it in the best way possible, knowing that this is the most intense and for him a lasting way to build and have a connection with the club that nobody else can understand.
Thanks for coming to my ted talk, you can unfollow now.
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Sukuna has never said no to you.
It didn’t matter what the request was, simple or complicated, easy to fix or a days-long job, Sukuna was always at your side, completing the task as fast as he needed to to keep you satisfied. He would love to deny it, you’re sure, but evidence proves time and time again that he puts your needs and wants at the top of his priority list.
And you were curious how far you could go with it.
The two of you are sitting in your underwear at the breakfast nook, warming yourselves in the bay window while the morning sun starts on the leftover night time chill. It wasn't quite time for breakfast, still too early for the both of you. In the meantime, you sip on your morning brews, preserving the comfortable silence. Sukuna is flipping through the day's newspaper, his eyes are groggy with sleep and he hasn't said more than a handful of words to you yet. He wasn't a morning person.
You were starting to change that.
"Kuna," You call to him, nudging him with your foot from your corner of the window bench.
"Hmm?" He doesn't look up from the paper, but his hand reaches down and grabs your foot, pulling it into his lap. His thumbs start to subconsciously knead at your muscles.
"I want these." You hold up your phone, which you had previously been scrolling through in an attempt to find something ridiculous for this exact moment. You were sure you had found it, something even Sukuna would find unnecessary.
And yet, he merely glances at your screen, takes in the sight for all of two seconds, and then returns his attention to whatever news article he was in the middle of.
"My wallet's on the counter." He clears the sleep from his throat not sparing a second look.
You blink at him in surprise.
"D-Did you even see what it is?" You flip your phone around to make sure you were displaying the correct thing.
Sukuna is frowning before he looks up again, curious at your persistence. He gently cups your hand, bringing it only a minuscule amount closer to examine your screen a second time.
You were on one of the most luxurious brand’s websites, showing him an incredibly regular pair of panties, no straps, no details, all black- with one of the most outrageous price tags you had ever seen for something so ordinary.
Sukuna cocks a brow at you over your phone, "Can't imagine you need more panties when you're constantly stealing my boxers. But whatever, hand it over. I know my card number-"
"Kuna," You interrupt him with a surprised laugh, holding fast to your phone when he tries to pluck it out of your hands, "they're a thousand dollars."
He glances back, his eyes focusing lower on the screen where you know the price tag to be. The newspaper in his hands drops down, momentarily forgotten by what he sees. For a moment, you think you've found his limit.
"Wait, are those red one's assless?" He points just below the price, where the recommended products are depicted. "Get those too."
You drop the phone down so that he meets your eyes, which are wide with shock.
Sukuna always took care of you. Always insisted on being the provider of any single thing that you may need; a warm meal, a soft bed, anything your eyes twinkled at that was available for purchase- even if you would never think of buying or owning it. Granted, you never wanted much in terms of material possessions, so you didn't realize the true extent of Sukuna's leniency until now.
It was slightly intimidating, and part of it felt wrong. Sukuna had money, plenty of it, but that didn’t mean he should feel the need to spend copious amounts of it on you just because you could ask him to. He was giving you too much power, it felt like.
You huff through your nose, frowning at him, which only has him tilting his head further to the side in question.
You ignore it, setting your phone onto the window seat and crawling your way closer to him, until you can gather up his face in your hands and lock his gaze into yours.
He glares at you past smushed cheeks, but doesn't make a move to break free of your hold, humoring you. "The hell are you doing-"
"You know you don't always have to say yes to me?"
Now that has him taken aback. His mouth automatically opens for a witty response, but your question seems to have effectively taken the words from his mouth. You can see the cogs in his head turning, and what you wouldn't give to peer inside his mind and hear his thoughts.
It takes him a moment, but eventually that familiar confident smile stretches across his sleepy face. His hands seem to instinctively slide their way up your bare legs until his fingers grip your hip bones, pressing into you.
He hums, "When have you ever said no to me?"
You scoff, ready to give him a prime example, but end up coming up short. The two of you loved to tease each other with disobedience, but in the end you were eager to give Sukuna anything his heart desired. You loved to please him, it was one of your favorite things to do, in fact.
"You never ask anything ridiculous of me." You remind him, smiling as one of his warm hands slides back down your waist and dips into the pair of his boxers you were sporting that day.
"You know what's ridiculous?” His voice wraps around your throat, and suddenly has you swallowing past the delicious grip. You're folding into him before you even realize it, at the mercy of his calloused hands. "The implication that I wouldn't do just about anything for you."
You can't help but sigh hopelessly, although it comes out as a desperate noise that pleads him for more. You really were all his, just like he loved to tell you.
"Now hand me your phone." It's a whisper, coaxing you. "I wanna see you in red."
You can’t say no.
At least it was mutual.
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