#first gen mc

[creator-of-calm-queer-chaos]

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé Book Review

HOLY CRAP!! It deals with such important topics SO WELL I LOVE IT!!!

Okay here you go:

Fast facts:

Title: Ace of Spades Author: Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé Pronunciation Guide: Fa-ree-dah Ah-bee-keh Ee-yee-mee-deh Genre: YA Thriller Rating: 10/10

Review:

When you mix the mystery/thriller quality of One of Us is Lying but better with the complexity of race from The Weight of Blood but better, you get Ace of Spades. I cannot put into words how much I loved this book. It genuinely held me on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading it. It deals with genuinely difficult subjects with a skill level I have NEVER seen before. This story is supposed to be dark, and to shove the horrors of systemic racism at you so you cannot ignore them, as so many people do. If you are able, and especially if you are white, I beg you to read this book and to actually think that shit like what happens in the book is real. We see it in slightly more toned down versions more frequently, but this shit happens. It is supposed to be dark. And it is supposed to teach you a lesson about what gets hidden away.

Okay, okay, what's the plot?

Devon and Chiamaka are the only two Black students at Niveus Private Academy, a fancy high school made of white legacy students. Devon is a musician with dreams of getting into Julliard to help his mom and younger brothers get out of their struggling home. Chiamaka is a popular girl who, while her family is well off and stable, doesn't have a legacy to lean back on.

As Devon and Chiamaka enter their senior year, they are made Prefect and Head Prefect, respectively. Chaimaka is not shocked. Devon is. At first, it seems like senior year will work out splendidly.

And then Aces comes into play. An anonymous texter (or texters?) starts sending texts to the entire school with information about Chiamaka, Devon, and a few other students - information that they all thought they had buried deep.

Chiamaka and Devon end up teaming up to uncover a nasty history of racism, secret societies, and discover just how far Aces is willing to go to bring them down.

Told in a dual perspective, this book explores the horrors of systemic racism and what it means to be Black in a world of weaponized white privilege.

DUN DUN DUUUUN!!!!

Seriously though, it is a fantastic book. I read it for a book club and I cannot wait to discuss it.

It deals with some pretty heavy topics, so I will put those, along with how prevelent/how much it is discussed below the cut. Spoilers in the sense of that these topics will be discussed, but no plot details. I would suggest skimming those, or feel free to message me if you just want a yes/no answer about a specific topic.

Again, I want to highlight that this book is dark. It is supposed to be dark. If you read it and think it is a fluffy thriller, you have missed a fundamental part of it. This book is about racism and the depths of white privilege - and weaponizing race.

Check out Àbíké-Íyímídé's website about Ace of Spades here, and where to buy it: https://www.faridahabikeiyimide.com/aos

Potentially triggering topics and how long they are dealt with (spoilers in the sense of these things will come up, no major plot points are revealed. Some small scenes will be spoiled.)

Racism: The entire book (more obviously in the second half) deals with racism. This includes institutions that are explicitly trying to ruin the lives of Black students specifically. This includes benefits of having white legacy parents. This includes what it feels like to have curly hair, and the power that wearing your 'natural' hair can have. This book deals with racism, and it does not hide how terrible it is.

Stalking: Aces stalks Devon and Chiamaka. Like, explicetly stalks them. There are major invasions of privacy that happen. A character is photographed changing - levels of stalking.

Homophobia: There is quite a bit of homophobia throughout the book. A character is non-consensually outed, multiple friendships/relationships are broken because of fear of how people would treat them if they knew they were queer, and a character is beaten up (it's show as a memory) because he is gay (in this scene/memory, he remembers being called slurs)

Bullying: Most of this story is about bullying. I don't know how else to put it. People are assholes in this story.

Toxic friendships: There are many many toxic and fake friendships, including when the main character is the toxic one.

Death/murder: A character killed another character pre-start of the book (we do see this scene in a vivid memory/nightmare, more in this in car accident/death), and that haunts them throughout most of the book. We learn about a group of people who killed at least one person, though we do not know how.

Hate crimes: There is a group of people who commit terrible crimes (including murder, as mentioned above) to people of color. This is a major premise of the book, more explicitly in the second half as the characters figure out what is going on.

Drug dealing: One character dates a drug dealer and works for them at one point. The person they are dating gets arrested later in the story.

Drug use: A character is revealed to have been using drugs, and it is rumored that another character also used drugs. These themes are present for about a page each.

Car accidents/death: A character gets into a car accident with another character that kills someone, and they do not report it. This haunts one of the main characters throughout the story. The accident is described in detail for a few pages, and the character has flashbacks to aspects to this scene multiple times.

Suicidal thoughts/attempts: It is mentioned that a character tried to commit suicide very briefly (the whole conversation lasts less than five lines).

Gun violence: A character is held at gunpoint towards the end of the story. This part lasts about two pages.

Police brutality: It is mentioned that a character is killed by a police officer (we do not know the character who was killed). This part lasts for only a few lines.

Incarceration: A drug dealer above gets incarcerated, and a main character visits them in prison. A main character's father was incarcerated, and we read a memory of the main character visiting their father in prison as well.

Sexual assault: There are two instances where characters were assaulted, one where a character does not remember pictures being taken of them, and another where pictures are found of an unknown character and a character describes the photos as feeling nonconsensual and as if she was being 'used.' Each of these instances are maybe a third of a page long.

[llamagoddessofficial]

Have you ever done a full Mafiatale au for the boys? Not just Hit but MF Sans, Red, and Skull?

OUP

Just three mafia guys. Lookin for love.

Sans: Pretty lies.

... Maybe you like that. Maybe you like that he gives you something gentler to believe. Maybe you like that he washes his hands before he ever gets home. Maybe you like that he tells you he's a boring banker, he never lets you even suspect his darker side, he never smells of dust or gunpowder. He just offers you comforts, normalcy, love... he just wants to keep you safe. His eyelights look harmless, his grin looks soft. Who, him? In the mob? Look at him, darling, he can barely tie his own tie before work without you. What a silly question. Let's go get Grillby's.

Sans will do anything to keep his darling safe, and in the dark. His love language is lies.

Red: If Sans is pretty lies, Red is the scary truth. He despises the thought of lying to the one he loves and he makes no effort to hide how dangerous his life is- he flaunts it, he wears it on his sleeve. Being with him is flashy and exciting... but no matter how gentle he is with you, it can still be damn frightening. Especially when you, as his partner and a new member of his family, get a front-row seat to just how violent he can be.

With him, there's a lot to fear. But you'll never have to be afraid he's hiding anything from you. Red is the only one you could actually reasonably leave, if you really wanted to; as heartbroken as he'd be losing the love of his life, he understands if his life is too much. If you genuinely expressed a desire to return to normalcy, he'd do everything in his power to ensure you were free. You'd never even catch a glimpse of his world again.

Skull: ... He has the dirtiest hands of the group. As much as the other skeletons like to posture, everyone has heard the stories about Skull... and everyone gives him more than enough room. No matter who you're affiliated with, you simply don't fuck around with Skull.

... He loves intensely, and he loves forever. But he hasn't got the confidence to truly pursue, because he's terrified of scaring you. He really believes that nobody as lovely as you could ever be anything other than horrified at his attentions. His bad habit of trying to buy love often shines through- constantly giving pretty things whenever he believes his looks, words (and worth) fail him. Outfits, jewels, access to exclusive places, anything and everything to do with your hobbies. He tried to approach you, and you looked frightened? Enjoy three month's rent already being mysteriously paid off.

His hope is that if he piles enough nice things on you, you'll be too distracted to think about leaving him. He's not exactly got the ability to sweep you off your feet... but he's not got the ability to ever let go, either.

[ruluxe]

So I'm really in love with Astarion....

[penrose-quinn]

See me eat my words and not post anything on Benkei's bday :'''')

Buuuut it's BD Foundation Day yesterday and I still want to post that Benkei fic in February at least (see me jinx myself again jdjdj). On another note, god I wanna go to Chiba! The highway referenced here is Tokyo Bay Aqua Line which connects Kawasaki to Chiba. I lucked on the timeline for this bc it was made around 1997 so the boys could drive there :3

[grapecaseschoices]

Lloyd Duarte

He has a name! And a board. I like having aesthetics and qoutes, because it helps me feel out the character. It also answers the buzzy in my brain to CREATE without taking [much] effort.

[theophagie]

Granted it wasn't the only thing, but pokémon is like my fandom mother and even though I'm not into it anymore I still feel a lot of affection for the whole franchise both for childhood nostalgia reasons and because 1) the anime and the games contributed to turning little me into a hardcore a shipper before I even knew what shipping was 2) a bit later its manga was one of two things that most allowed me to actually learn english

[timegears-moved]

[alanwake2]

hey kpoppies learn your kpop history

[15ktherapy]

shelby shubble taught me how to make dragon eggs out of push pins when I was like twelve she’s always been this rad and I love her forever

[weepingseraphstranger]

Am I the only one who has a problem with Beemoov MCs? Candy looked toooo basic and this new one looks like she was made from random gacha items. I get it, it fits because their looks are basically place holders, but come on. And the Baristar outfit looks so bad. The special outfits were kind of a miss when it was High School life but they had gotten better with Love Life (skipping University because I took a break during that and missed any and all events) that I thought it was going to stay like that. The goose is absolutely adorable though, I give them that.

[solaireverie]

op81 | best he'll ever write

summary: [ author!oscar piastri x f!driver!reader — social media au ] being the partner and muse of a celebrated author means that fans start connecting the dots sooner rather than later

faceclaim: gracie abrams

author’s note: i'm secretly a ya romcom book girlie and i feel like that shows SO MUCH in this fic 🙈 delusional for life!

[ masterlist / guidelines / lola's masterlist / series masterlist ]

liked by logansargeant, oscarpiastri, liakblock and 534,230 others

geotag: melbourne, australia

yourusername short break down under 🐨

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user great race at the australian gp y/n!

↪ user first points of the season let's goooo

↪ yourusername and hopefully many more to come 🙌

logansargeant STRAYAAA 🦘🇦🇺🦘🇦🇺

↪ yourusername VEGEMITE ON TOAST 🤤

↪ user sometimes i forget that logan and y/n are both gen z 😂

user the puppy is so adorable 🥺

↪ user i wonder whose it is 👀 y/n's said that her schedule doesn't allow for pets

oscarpiastri not my birthday cake...

↪ yourusername sorry not sorry 😉

↪ user who the hell is oscar piastri and why is y/n replying to his comment 😭

↪ user don't you talk about my favourite best-selling author like that 🤺

oscarpiastri has added to their story

seen by yourusername, logansargeant, jennyhan and 124,203 others

you replied to oscarpiastri's story

liked by oscarpiastri, logansargeant, landonorris and 3,393,210 others

tagged: oscarpiastri

yourusername can't believe that little kid is now a 3-time nyt best-selling author 🥹 so proud of you oscarpiastri 💗 i haven't been able to put eighty-one seconds down 📖 available in bookstores near you!

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user i love how y/n always supports and promotes oscar's books 🥺

↪ user they're so adorable together my heart can't take it

oscarpiastri Thanks for the encouragement. Couldn't have done it without you 👍

↪ yourusername damn right you couldn't have 😤

user okay but who took the photo of y/n 👀

↪ user i'm betting it was oscar 😜

↪ user hello what 😳😳😳

↪ user oh my sweet summer child...

liked by yourusername, hachetteaus, johngreenwritesbooks and 293,192 others

tagged: yourusername

oscarpiastri Thank you to everyone who's been on this journey with me. Eighty-One Seconds is finally yours and we can't be more happy to share it with you. As many of you have guessed, it is my homage to Y/N and all the time we have spent together. My wife, my love, my heart. I'm grateful that you're in my life. Forgive me for re-using my words, but here's to eighty-one more years together.

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user hold on a damn second 🤚 his WIFE??? when was this a thing 🧐

↪ yourusername 🤭

↪ user give us answers please 🙏 i haven't had peace since oscar posted this

yourusername i love you too, oscar jack piastri 🤍

↪ user oh he literally named his mc after himself 😭

↪ user GOODBYE??? JACK AS IN HIS MIDDLE NAME??? oh my god they really weren't subtle

williamsracing signed copy when 😏

↪ hachetteaus already on its way 🫡

user honestly i'm surprised they managed to hide their relationship for this long 💀

↪ user oh they did NOT we were just blind

↪ logansargeant I didn't find out until I got the wedding invitation in the mail 🤝

↪ landonorris i think that's just cause you're oblivious mate 😂

↪ logansargeant what???

↪ landonorris they literally make out all the time in williams hospitality

↪ yourusername lando... 😒

user if your man isn't writing a book professing his love for you, what's he doing with his life?

↪ user oscar's set the standard 😌

likes and reblogs are appreciated!

taglist: @scenesofobx @vellicora @boiohboii @julesbabey @flannelforthetoads @misartymis @c-losur3

[mx-paint]

Some of y'all are weak. Y'all don't need a reason to say your fav fictional character did nothing wrong you just have to say they're your little meow meow and everything falls into place.

[penrose-quinn]

Mind the typos, I rewrote this scene. Might rewrite it again, if I feel like it. In the light of TR 260, I was willing to wait for a few more chapters for Wakui to drop that BenWaka backstory, but it seems kind of unlikely now. I'm still hoping I'm wrong about that tho! Anyways, I'm just gonna do my thing and make up shit.

Imagine the leader from one of the largest gangs in Kanto recruiting you only for you to have the balls to say, 'lol no maybe you should meet my friend :)'

Then he's actually chill about it and goes, 'yeah sure :)'

[fluttershys-lament]

cant believe i went 16 years of my life not knowing that gen 3 mlp had a Show....im watching it now...

[lost-in-lamentation]

kissed off guard.

what better way to surprise your lover than a gentle kiss?

content: catching the brothers off guard with a quick little kiss. (all brothers × gen!reader).

fluff + a little bit crack. suggestive for asmo + lucifer, nothing explicit.

belphegor; right as he wakes up.

it's not uncommon for you to be the one who wakes the youngest in the mornings. belphegor has had centuries of practice of sleeping through his brothers yelling voices, so who else better to wake him up than you? you decide to test how quickly you can wake him up, and there's no faster technique than a kiss. waiting for his eyes to flutter open, you call belphegor's name softly, watching for the moment he pushes himself off the bed. still groggy, he blinks slowly at you, eyes remaining half closed. at least, until you press a light peck on his nose. the avatar of sloth shoots out of bed in record speed, one hand pressed to his mouth and the other clutching at his chest.

"what was that?!" belphegor shouts at you, backing into a wall.

you shrug nonchalantly, a smile tugging at the corners of your mouth as you turn on your heel and head out the room. "just wanted to try something out."

═  ˎˊ˗

beelzebub; while sharing food.

beelzebub sharing his food with you is the highest honour. on the other hand, you sharing your food with beelzebub is a given. if you don't give him some, he'll most likely steal some (by accident, he swears) anyway. you've never minded, and most of the time, you'll order extra so that you can have enough for yourself even with the gluttony demon helping himself to your meal. this time, you made sure beelzebub didn't see you grab a popsicle for yourself, hoping to set him up for a little surprise. when the demon returns to your side, his gaze flickers between yours and the popsicle. of course, he says yes to the bite that you offer him, waving the popsicle in front of your face until he takes the bait. just when he gets close enough to you, you steal the popsicle away, instead placing your lips where his are.

beelzebub stares at you a good moment, cheeks reddening before he pulls back and snaps his head to the side to avoid looking at you. "er... sorry... i didn't think you'd move it..."

"it's okay, beel. besides, you still technically got a taste, right?" you purr, taking delight in the way his face flushes.

═  ˎˊ˗

asmodeus; in the bath.

it's rather hard to catch someone like asmodeus off guard. you figure that he has a sixth sense when it comes to anyone within 6 feet who wants to give him attention. so, your last resort is to catch him in his most vulnerable state; while he's taking a bath. it's an idea that takes multiple tries. some days, you wait and listen outside his private bathroom, hoping to hear the light snores that accompany the demon when he's tired enough to fall asleep in the tub. the day that it happens, you're silently cracking the door open, thankful that the door doesn't creak as it allows you space to enter. as if you had experience in pulling pranks that required you to be quiet (which you do, thanks to satan), you crawl over to the bath, peering over the edge just enough to see asmodeus' resting form. you inhale once, gathering your courage, before leaning over and pressing a chaste kiss on his shoulder.

asmodeus splashes himself awake at the sensation, soaking you in the process. "you-! MC!"

"got nothing to say for once, hm?" your teasing lilt almost has him fuming, but there's another desire that's threatening to take over first.

═  ˎˊ˗

satan; after stealing his book.

during one of your regular cat café outings with satan, you decide to have a little fun with the blonde. satan, as smooth as ever, was always one step ahead of you when it came to flirting. he was just too in tune with everything that you were; it was both your favourite and your least favourite thing about him. it takes a while for you to set the whole situation up. everytime satan turns to pet a cat or take a sip of his drink, you shift closer to him, all the way until you sit shoulder to shoulder. the demon only gives you a curious glance, but returns to his reading in no time. you focus back onto your book as well, waiting for when satan becomes immersed enough in the story that he doesn't notice your hand creeping towards the spine of his book. in a flash, you snatch the book away from him, and as he turns to give you a glare, you place a gentle kiss right on his cheek.

"oi, w-what's the deal?" satan stares at you, hand hovering right over where you kissed him.

you hold his book in front of him, smiling like you didn't do anything. "oh, just felt like it."

═  ˎˊ˗

leviathan; when he wins a game.

you watch leviathan's screen with much anticipation. he had been playing an all night tournament and was close to the end, which meant you could give him his little surprise soon. you spent the night in his room by accident, falling asleep in his tub while he mashed the buttons on his controller. of course, when you wake up in the morning, he's still going for it, eyes red from staring at the screen, but no less focused than before. the good thing about leviathan being distracted by games means you can do almost anything without him noticing. so when you see the end of his game marathon approaching, you crawl out of the tub and set yourself behind him, waiting for the screen to light up in victory. as soon as it does, leviathan whips around to wake you and tell you the good news, but you're faster. you're kneeling behind him already, and when his face is within reach, you cup his cheek with one hand and brush his bangs away with another, kissing him softly on his forehead.

leviathan stutters incoherently, trembling hands dropping his controller before he releases an unfortunately high pitched squeal. "g-give me a warning!! like a two- no- three month warning before doing that!"

"sorry, i just wanted to surprise you," you say as you stifle a laugh, trying to peel leviathan's hands away from his face.

═  ˎˊ˗

mammon; after getting into his car.

a midnight car ride is one of your favourite ways to wind down after a long day, and mammon knows it. he can already sense the exhaustion that drips off you, and your first man is always ready to offer the passenger seat to you once he's done all of his errands. tonight, mammon has some extra work to do for lucifer, but he hands you the keys to his car and tells you to wait for him there while he finishes up. as you get into the car, you decide to pull a sneak attack on him later, which leads to you leaning the seat back and tucking yourself into your hoodie as you wait. with the amount of times you had already fallen asleep in mammon's car, it was almost easier to just fall asleep instead of pretending. but you keep yourself awake, and you're glad you did when you hear mammon open the driver's door and mutter to himself about how you had gone and fallen asleep before the ride. you feel him hover above you as he tries to buckle you in, but before he can finish, you wrap your arms around his neck and tug him close, kissing him on the underside of his jaw.

mammon blinks at you, dumbfounded, before placing his hands on your shoulders and pushing himself away. "you- you're a jerk! why'd ya do that?!"

you brush his hands off, returning your seat to the right position and putting your seatbelt on. "i could just tell the great mammon needed some affection."

═  ˎˊ˗

lucifer; in the middle of a meeting.

it's not your fault for being so distracted. it's definitely lucifer's for being so dedicated to his work that he can't give you the time of day. so, you can't blame yourself for always shooting him a glance, even if he's already tried to reprimand you for not being focused. you groan internally everytime you look at the clock; you were fairly certain that this meeting didn't need to be two hours long anyways. by the time the meeting is at the ending remarks, you don't even realize it, having stared off into space for at least the last half hour. as you blink yourself back into reality, you make out the figures of lucifer and diavolo talking to each other about the budgeting for RAD classes, which you should be involved in, but can't bring yourself to join. instead, you decide to get lucifer's attention, beckoning him over with a wave. lucifer raises an eyebrow at you, but another wave of your hand has the avatar of pride walking over to you. you stand up to meet him, waiting for lucifer to stop in front of you before you pull him in, sealing your lips with his. lucifer's eyes widen in shock before promptly closing in bliss. for a second, he forgets where he is, until he hears diavolo laughing heartily from across the room. he quickly pulls away from you, straightening his uniform.

"... MC, please save these sorts of things for another occasion and not the meetings," lucifer says, voice cracking at the end of his sentence.

you send a wink towards diavolo, having to stop yourself from laughing at lucifer's expression. "that's lucifer speak for 'later tonight.'"

a/n: if you saw this while it was unfinished... no you didn't 😭😭😭

[yinyuedijun]

end notes for 'translation' (spoiler warning!):

hello <3 if you're here then it means you read my cursed aventurine fic about cultural loss and the fear of being understood. thank you for sticking it out with me! much appreciated.

i wanted to add some notes here to explain my intention with some of the details in this story, because it touched on some very sensitive subjects and I don't want to be misread:

I do not believe that dialects or any type of language variant born from displacement, genocide, or diasporic communities are somehow lesser than the “original” dialects. However, I do think first/second gen speakers that lose their language (especially for political reasons or displacement, etc) can experience a lot of anguish over it, and that’s reflected in Aventurine’s narration.

Aventurine did not believe the racist Avgin stereotype he brought up (nor would I write a narrative where such a stereotype were true). However, the stereotype happens to overlap with some of his survival traits that he hates about himself, hence he used it as part of his power play. The interaction also has some relation to the way that marginalised persons sometimes weaponize or internalise the stereotypes they need to endure, as well as what it means to be the only representative of your race, but that's a whole other subjectivity in this narrative that I will choose not to discuss.

I think this will be obvious to multilinguals so this is a note directed at monolinguals: I don't think enduring abuse in a formative language necessarily “ruins” the language and turns it into a “dialect of abuse” in the way that having a second language being violently forced upon you will. In my experience, a mother tongue is a mother tongue, and it will always hit you in a sensitive way, particularly if you are experiencing cultural loss—which the MC has, in the context of colonialism and displacement (only vaguely implied in the story but it's relevant context). Nevertheless, the MC has a much more complex, adult native-speaker relationship to their mother tongue than Aventurine does with Avgin. This is what those ending passages were getting at.

Finally, I am aware the relationship between the MC and Aventurine is unhealthy, and I hope that this would have been obvious from the narrative. I don't condone relationships like this and I think both characters should get some therapy instead of routinely gaslighting gatekeeping girlbossing each other (and themselves). But for better or worse, that is a narrative I will not write for this couple.