#he does care a lot about her though. but more in a way of how friends care for each other. even though they barely know each other they

[httpsserene]

Speaking of Mr. Daniel, we all know that he injured himself a while ago. How about the reader faking an orgasm because she doesn’t want to tire or injure him? Daniel frowns immediately upon noticing, but the nurse kicks you out because it’s past hours, and he's longing for the reader. He tries to grab the reader to come back but winces in pain, proving the reader's point. Your pleasure is extremely important to him so he’ll stop functioning if you said otherwise.

𝖍𝖙𝖙𝖕𝖘𝖘𝖊𝖗𝖊𝖓𝖊'𝖘 2𝕶 𝕾𝖕𝖊𝖈𝖎𝖆𝖑 | 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕯𝖆𝖓𝖎𝖊𝖑 𝕽𝖎𝖈𝖈𝖎𝖆𝖗𝖉𝖔 𝕰𝖉𝖎𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓

𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞: 𝐆𝐚𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐆𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩, 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐛𝐨𝐬𝐬

Summary: When Daniel isn’t feeling well, it’s no hardship for her to take of him. Except this time, he broke his hand and is proceeding to be an absolute nightmare to take care of. They haven’t had sex since before the accident in Zandvoort because she’s afraid that somehow she’ll end up aggravating his injury. Daniel, however, has convinced himself that he only exists to bring her pleasure. So, she comes up with a plan to soothe his service dom tendencies. Enter, Operation Fake Orgasm. How hard can it be? Spoiler alert: she’s a terrible actress. Pairing: daniel ricciardo x fem!black-coded!reader(her skintone isn't referenced but she has braids.) Content Warning: 18+ only. mdni. explicit sexual content. orgasm/delay denial. hurt/comfort. caretaking. servicedom!daniel. discussion of pain medication, injuries, and hospitals. dom/sub undertones. sub/shy!reader. praise kink mentioned. sensual beard shaving (it's hot). wet dreams. somnophilia. safe, sane, and consensual. oral sex (m and f receiving). vaginal sex. fake orgasm. mentioned multiple orgasms. Word Count: 3.6k words

Author's Notes: if the tags scare you, i promise it's not that bad!

secondly, thank you for the patience concerning the delay. my sister is doing a lot better now! she had an allergic reaction to pollen; she inhaled so much that her lungs freaked the fuck out on her, and i was in the hospital from 9am-9pm all day. finally got back home so i'm posting it, way late, but at least it's on the same day.

to make up for it, even though my lil sis was nearly taken out by the environment (i'm joking i love her i'm just being a big sister rn), i am releasing episode four on friday! and episode five on either tuesday or wednesday next week!

i hope you all like this episode xxx

prev 2k special join taglist feedback & requests table of contents next ↻

The sound of bedsheets ruffling contrasts with the monotonous beeps of the heart monitor filling the sterile hospital room; the noise is more than enough to have you snapping your head away from your phone to look at your boyfriend. Daniel’s awake and he meets your eyes with a soft groan. You coo at him softly, squeezing his hand gently as he reorients himself.

“What time ‘st?” Daniel croaks out. You cringe at the sound of his dry speech and quickly hand him the glass of water resting at his bedside.

“It’s getting late, baby,” you hum, not failing to notice the slight wince he does when his cast knocks against the bed rail, “I sent Michael back to the hotel not too long ago, around 7. Charles, Lando, Max, and Oscar came and kept me company while you were in surgery. Oscar, I think, was pretty shaken up still—to me, I could tell he felt a little guilty that you’re here with a broken hand and he’s as right rain—so, maybe when you’re more clear-headed you can reach out to him. Yuki and Michael were here the first time you woke up. Still, you were so high on your pain medication cocktail, that I think you were hearing colors and seeing sounds,” you break from your ramble, suddenly standing and reaching over the bed to press the call button, remembering the nurse told you to alert her as soon as he woke again.

“Yes?” Daniel offers, unsure of how to respond to the edge in your tone, “I’m feeling better by the way—.”

A hysterical giggle slips from your lips, and you can see the regret wash over his face when you meet his eyes with a crazed look, “Forgive me, for not asking how you were feeling right away Daniel. It’s almost like, my brain isn’t working properly because I’m fucking worried about you. Yeah? I watched you crash into the barriers, and I heard you in pain—I called everyone on your team to get updates and nobody answered! So, I got on the next flight to Zandvoort after Michael finally texted me with updates, with no luggage, just my phone and a change of clothes—so forgive me, for not checking in on you right away, after you didn’t call me once,” you blink rapidly and Daniel softens, clearly it was a terrible time to deflect with humor, he just hates to see you worry about him, that’s why he avoided calling. He’s usually the one taking care of you.

“A-are you feeling better, though?” you ask shakily, deflating quickly at the sight of his warm brown eyes, “You’re going to set off every metal detector for the foreseeable future.”

“It’s like a 6 out 10 on the pain scale—”

“That’s what I’m here for,” the nurse interrupts in accented English, smiling at the two of you briefly before she moves to Daniel’s side and catching him up on the outcome of the surgery and discussing pain medication. 

“Visiting hours ended an hour ago,” the nurse speaks to you directly, “Did nobody come to escort you out?”

You shake your head in surprise, the time on your phone reads 9 PM—you have no recollection of time passing that quickly since Michael left. Gathering your few belongings, you lean down to kiss Daniel gently, “Be good for the doctors and nurses, Danny. I’ll be back in the morning, okay?”

“No, what—she can’t stay?” Daniel begs the nurse, and she frowns at him apologetically.

Ruffling his hair, you continue, “It’s not her fault—she’s just doing her job. And, we’re besties now,” Daniel stares at you confused, “She’s been coming to check up on me the entire time you decided to cosplay Sleeping Beauty so if you decide to be difficult overnight, she will not hesitate to snitch on you to me. Understand?”

Daniel swallows before nodding jerkily, “Can I have another kiss?”

It’s an easy ask for you to fulfill; but as your lips barely brush his, Daniel hisses out in pain. He tried to use his left hand to pull you closer to him, obviously aggravating the injury. You exclaim worriedly and he tries to pretend that the flare of pain wasn’t that severe. But, as the nurse reassures you that the pain meds will kick in and he’ll go right to sleep, you’ve already decided: that hand will never be in a situation that causes Daniel unnecessary pain again. 

You tell Daniel that same sentence on the flight back to Monaco. He assumed that meant you’d force him to wear a sling or have it constantly cushioned and elevated (which you did anyway). However, he should’ve asked you to elaborate because he was completely blindsided to learn that you really meant all situations. 

You may have gone overboard the first week. You’re well aware that his hand is the only broken thing on his body, but you pamper him as if he’s bedridden with the most severe flu seen in the last century. You cook and order him hearty meals, you have alarms set for when he needs to take his medication, you shower with him to make sure he doesn’t wet his cast—where nothing sexual happens, you killed the vibe the first time he insinuated shower sex in conversation, mentioning the statistics of shower-related deaths—you quickly fulfill all of his requests, even if it’s sitting through a movie you find tasteless; yet, you refuse to fulfill one: sex. 

The doctor pulled you aside while Daniel was getting dressed to be discharged and told you to make sure he’s very careful with his arm, slow and controlled movements only, nothing abrupt. 

And, if there’s one word to describe Daniel during sex, it would probably be abrupt. 

He can’t keep his hands off of you when he’s uninjured. From your first time with Daniel, he showed and proved just how much your pleasure is important to him—he made sure that you understood that he lives and breathes to make you satisfied. But, you also know that he’d ignore his pain if it meant he was making you feel good; and, that’s not something you can risk, not with an injury that could affect his career if it doesn’t heal properly. 

You’ve reiterated that to him multiple times when Daniel tries to deepen kisses, hoping you’ll forget about your stupid sex ban and let him make you feel good. He’s not used to going this long without making sure you’re sexually satisfied. You don’t even allow him to guide you through masturbation, because you know you won’t be satisfied with it even if you get off—it’ll only lead to you falling into his lap begging for more. 

On the eighth day, you’re sitting in Daniel’s lap on the couch, rubbing ointment into the bruises left by the seatbelts of the car. You thought he was focused on watching the entire Dutch Grand Prix he missed out on, not thinking much of how he’s toying with the length of your braids with his uninjured hand. 

You think nothing of the soft sighs, moans, and groans he’s letting out of his mouth as you lightly massage him. All of these noises are common reactions to a sensation that feels good. It sucks that they happen to sound very similar to the moans Daniel makes when he initially fucks into you. You’re just a girl with needs that Daniel never fails to take care of; you’re not used to this, for the same reason Daniel can’t understand why you won’t let him get you off. 

Then, Daniel gasps out a soft ‘fuck’ that has no reason to be sounding that lustful and you start to squirm in his lap. You mindlessly continue to massage him, not exactly proud of the way you continue to strain your ears to hear his noises—and on one particular shift of your hips, you brush across his hard-on that wasn’t there a few minutes ago, and automatically fly off his lap.

In the frantic movement, Daniel tried to use both of his hands to keep you in his lap, irritating his broken hand. You flutter around him worriedly, your words a mix of chastising and displeasure. You don’t hesitate to say that this is exactly why the sex ban is in place (Daniel pleaded that it was a fluke, but you’re not eager to put that to the test).

Three days pass before Daniel deems you relaxed enough to have another attempt at seducing you into an orgasm or two. He approached you in the evening after you had watched him like a hawk as he took his pain medication. He wants you to shave his beard. It’s grown out some since he hasn’t shaved in a week or so. You’re not a professional beard shaver or anything, but you can imagine it’s difficult to shave your face with one hand. And of course, you’d jump at any opportunity to help out your boyfriend and allow him to relax and look pretty. After an unnecessarily long tutorial, Daniel pretends to have 100% faith in your skills and lets you take the first swipe across his cheek. You painstakingly use slow movements and light pressure, not forgetting to pull his skin tight with your other hand and clean the razor off with every stroke. You feel him tense underneath you as you ready to attempt shaving along his jawline. 

Pulling back at the last second, you make to smack his shoulder before hesitating and pinching him instead (it’s his left arm, you don’t want to jostle his cast resting on the bathroom vanity), ignoring his yelp you nag him, “Well, don’t act like I’m about to gouge your throat out or anything! I can feel you freeze up underneath me—it’s not like I want to cut you. I already have to stare at your ugly face every day, I don’t want to make it worse.”

Daniel pretends to be offended at your attack and the two of you bicker back and forth before settling down. The fake roast session calmed Daniel enough that when you brought the razor to his jaw, he remained relaxed. 

You smoothly shave the small area of skin and turn to clean the razor when Daniel speaks softly, “You’re so good,” a slight pause follows, “at this.” 

The praise tingles down your spine and you think nothing of it. Except, it continues. With nearly every swipe along his jaw, he continues to murmur praise with lidded eyes and an alluring tone. Whispers along the lines of ‘good girl,’ ‘just like that,’ ‘you’re so sweet to me,’ and paired with his stare dancing across your face, you dread the moment you finish shaving him. As your razor ventures down his throat, the air grows thick with intimacy. It’s the result of your boyfriend trusting you to repeatedly brush a blade along his throat and your unfortunate kink for praise and acts of service. With the last brush of the razor, you gently set it down on the vanity, exchanging it for cloth you wet with hot water. Ringing it out thoroughly, you gently begin to wipe Daniel’s face avoiding eye contact. When you swipe around his lips, you get distracted by their flushed color, a result of when Daniel bit his lip to make the skin underneath taut for you to shave. His tongue slips out to wet them and you can’t help but smash your lips to his.

It feels euphoric. You’re kissing him frantically, moaning into his mouth without inhibition, and you can feel him laugh as he struggles to match your desperate pace. His hand squeezes at your waist, anchoring you yet furthering your desperation at the strong grip as you try to climb him like a tree, tugging at his hair, shirt, pants, anything you can reach. At this point, Daniel would’ve had a hand in your hair, tugging at your scalp sharply a couple of times to rein you in and move you to his rhythm. You’re a little lost at the missing sensation and you pull away to pout at Daniel like you always do when he spends too much time teasing you.

It takes one look at his blown pupils, smug smile, and heaving chest before it jogs your memory. You step backward quickly to put space between you guys, raising a hand when you see him open his mouth, knowing he’s only going to convince you to get naked for him.

“I’m going to bed,” you state with a pointed finger, “You, are going to get in the shower, with cold water, and think about what you did wrong. And! You will not wake me up for sex.”

Daniel’s face falls, and you can tell he expected you to break, “Wait—you don’t let me shower by myself, what if I fall?”

You turn and leave the room, “It would be divine intervention. Karma, for trying to get me to break my rule.”

Daniel doesn’t wake you when he slips into bed, but you lose the benefit of going to sleep early when you jolt awake before sunrise. Your mouth is dry and your panties are embarrassingly wet. You can’t recall a single detail of your dream. Still, your legs are trembling at whatever scenario your brain decided to torment you with. 

Fuck it. Or fuck him, literally.

That makes sense. You’re going to ride Daniel, it’s the perfect position to make sure he doesn’t move his arm. You work him up beforehand so hopefully he won’t last as long; Daniel has unparalleled stamina usually, but with you constantly denying him for a while…he may wind up quicker. As soon as he cums, you’ll fake yours as well—because he’s only pleased if you're satisfied, otherwise he’ll attempt a round two. It’s that easy, right? You turn on your side and stare at Daniel, his face relaxed as he sleeps. Your synapses start firing as the plan comes to life. The two of you have discussed somnophilia, more on you as the receiving party. Daniel, of course, offered himself to you on a silver platter—any taste of you using him to get off? That’s always going to be a yes from him. So, yes. It is that easy.

You pull the duvet down to the edge of the bed and quietly shift to hover over Daniel’s thighs, never more thankful that he decided to wear only briefs to bed. And that he’s already half-hard; you’re extremely happy that the two of you don’t have a hand on how creative your dreams can get. He doesn’t shift when you pull his cock from underneath his briefs, carefully dragging them

down just enough to not be a bother. He stays under as you get him hard, it only takes a few strokes and some teasing along a vein on the underside. You rise slightly, sucking on two of your fingers before bringing them to rest along your entrance. It’s an annoying experience, you can’t remember the last time you had to stretch yourself out—Daniel’s spoiled you. The feeling of your fingers inside of you is underwhelming, the slight tinge of pleasure would be multiplied if it were him instead but; this is not for you. You are simply performing tonight.

You slide your fingers out and decide on getting Daniel as close to the edge as you can before he wakes up. You lean down to mouth at the head of his cock, knowing it’s incredibly sensitive and the sensation pushes him to the edge quicker than anything else. It can’t be more than a couple of strained minutes—your eyes and ears peeled to make sure you don’t miss any signs of Daniel starting to awaken. Thankfully, you feel him start to pulse along your tongue, a sure sign that he’s getting there.

You pull off, taking a second to breathe as you rest your head on his hip. With one last reassuring exhale, you move to straddle him, one hand underneath you to guide his length to your pussy. The second his head pops into you, you let out a pitiful whimper, eyelids fluttering shut, and your legs begin trembling again. Another realization hits you as you struggle to silently take all of Daniel.

You can’t recall a single time Daniel had forced you to be quiet. He’s always trying to make you scream his name. If he needs to hide your noises he muffles them with a hand over your mouth or his fingers in your mouth. Naturally, you use his tricks and do the same. With two of your fingers shoved in your mouth, you quiet your sounds as your ass meets your (somehow still) sleeping boyfriend's thighs. It feels like he’s in your throat; you know that no matter how long it takes you to make him cum, you’re going to be aching tomorrow. You begin to grind against him, whimpering softened around your digits. You slowly increase your rhythm up to a bounce, doing your best to squeeze around him—Daniel has mentioned before that he can’t resist cumming when you feel like you're trying to keep him inside of you and never let him pull out.

It must work because suddenly Daniel’s hips rock up into yours, and he’s awake with a singular breathy moan of, “Yes—oh, I thought I was still dreaming.”

You laugh airily, letting your spit-slicken fingers fall from your mouth and drop to press against your clit (you’re not actually, you’ve missed it by a mile but it’s all about convincing Daniel), avoiding meeting his eyes knowing Danny will assume it’s under the pretense of you being shy (once again, yes you are incredibly mortified, but you know he’ll be able to tell that you're faking this in a split second).

“H-how long,” Daniel moans out crackly, his abdomen contracting underneath you, “Have you been at this? ‘Gonna make me cum already.”

You nod frantically, moaning out loudly as if you’re on the edge as well. Daniel gets his feet planted and thrusts up into you forcefully enough that your moans turn real. Throwing your head back so he doesn’t see your face in case it gives you away, you continue to moan out exaggeratedly as you feel him cum inside you, pitching your voice and shuddering as if you released as well.

“What the fuck was that?” Daniel commands quietly.

You slump forward, sliding off his softening length and nuzzling into his neck to pretend like you didn’t hear him and to hide. He lets you avoid answering the first time he asks. He takes his good hand and fists his hand in the braids along the nape of your neck and tightens his grasp enough to get you to gasp.

“Mhm. When you cum, baby,” he starts softly, “That’s the quietest you ever get during sex. Usually, it’s because you choke on your breath, even though I remind you to breathe through it every time. You do this cute little thing where you try to slam your thighs shut around me, it doesn’t matter if it’s my hand, my head, or my hips, you try to crush me. It’s also one of the only times during sex when you make eye contact with me on your own, well depending on what position I have you in. I won’t repeat myself.”

You mumble into his chest fitfully before sitting up, “I didn’t want you to hurt your hand, okay? That’s all. During sex, you can never stop touching me and I was afraid that somehow you’d treat your hand a little too roughly and then, boom, you’ll never drive a Formula One car again—”

“Calm down, babe,” Daniel soothes you, bringing his right hand to massage your hip, “I think you’ve overdramatized my injury in your head a little bit. Firstly, I don’t even care if my hand suddenly fell off—genuinely, never deprive me of making you feel good. That hurts me more than my hand aches. Secondly, this entire time I didn’t even move my left hand off the bed. See?”

You look down at his hand and nod once. This entire time you enforced a needless sex ban when you could’ve been riding a high every day.

“Now, if you could be kind enough to let me restore my ego,” Daniel taps you on the ass so you rise to kneel over him, “C’mere and sit on my face.”

You hesitate, the thought of pretending to deny him crosses your mind, but you already shorted yourself of one orgasm tonight. That’s how you find yourself riding Daniel’s face, embarrassingly almost losing control of your legs at the first knock of his nose against your clit. Your boyfriend has mastered the skill of eating pussy and that’s why you feel no shame in just how quickly a few targeted thrusts of his tongue and the pressure of his nose have you shattering apart above him. And as Daniel said, you do choke on your breath as you climax, your legs tighten around his head as well—and you don’t have the strength to be humiliated at how he knows your body better than yourself.

Daniel guides you off his mouth and lays you down by his side only using the uninjured arm, and the care and strength behind that movement sends you shaking again through the aftershock and come down. 

Daniel coaxes you onto your back and nudges your legs open to slide in between them. He trails the fingers of his right hand across your fluttering folds, before spreading you open with two fingers, enamored at the way your relaxed entrance winks at him. 

“You can give me one or two more right? I think you need a reminder of how much I thrive off of making you feel good, pretty girl. Let’s see how many more I can get out of you before the sunrise.”

taglist: @saintslewis @cherry2stems @lorrari @inloveallthetime @mindless-rock @biancathecool @barnestatic @my-ylenia @katekipshidze @darleneslane @lovingaphroditesworld @smoothopz @vetteltea @tallrock35 @iloveyou3000morgan @smartstupyd @spideybv28 @lh383 @loomiscorpse @hiireadstuff @namgification @gg-trini @whatamidoingwithmylife-ramdom @multi-fandom-rando @sweatrevenge5436-blog @bokutos-babyowl @oliviah-25 @landoslutmeout @love-simon

© httpsserene 2023

[love-rosaline]

am i allowed to cry?

*ੈ✩‧₊˚ one slip and falling back into the hedge maze, oh what a way to die.

enemies to lovers, mutual pining // pierre gasly x fem!reader

prequel - how can i be guilty as sin?

authors note - god fucking damn that took a while, im so sorry lmfao😭 here is part 2! hope you enjoy! xx

yourusername

liked by lewishamilton, charles_leclerc, taylorswift and 815,682 others

yourusername surprise!! “guilty as sin?” is out!! i hope you all enjoy, take care i love youu <3

9,152 comments

username ARE WE MISSING SOMETHING

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landonorris i can never look you in the eye again

-> yourusername honey i told you not to listen to it😭

-> landonorris YOU KNEW I WAS ALWAYS GOING TO ANYWAY

-> landonorris it is a very good song though

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-> yourusername YOU’RE WITH HIM?

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Charles couldn’t wipe the knowing smirk off his face. He simply watched Pierre, waiting for more of a reaction as the song playing finally died down, leaving the pair in tense silence.

Pierre’s jaw was slack and his eyes wide as he pathetically turned to Charles for confirmation that this was in fact about him, or to see if he was just as dumbfounded as he was.

“Woah.” Is all he could muster up upon seeing the Monegasques ever cocky expression.

“Yeah.” Charles laughed. “Are you really surprised? It was quite obvious, mate.”

“What the fuck do you mean? The only sign she’s given me in the last couple years that she can even stand me was her not kicking my ass at your party!” Pierre dragged a hand over his face, simply not believing his friends blunt words.

“Okay mate, breathe.” Charles breathlessly chuckled, patting his shoulder carefully. Pierre shot him a warning look, and he holds his hands up in mock surrender. “Why’re you worrying? You’ve been in love with her for like, a year now, isn’t this a good thing?”

“Yeah- yeah, of course,” the corners of his lips curl up into a slight smile. “It was just unexpected, man. But holy fuck, you knew she liked me? For how long?”

“Months! We all figured it out ourselves, we thought you knew!”

“We? Who else knew?” Pierre exclaimed.

“Oh- uhm,” Charles trailed off, laughing nervously. “Lando, Max, Carlos, Oscar, Danny, Lewis, Alex, Yuki-”

“Okay okay! So basically the whole grid, I get it.” Pierre huffed, crossing his arms.

“So…” Charles began. “You gonna talk to her?” Pierre wordlessly fled the room, leaving Charles smiling to himself and shaking his head.

You frowned, dragging yourself off your bed at the sound of rapid knocking on your apartment door.

“Fucking hell.” You mumbled, wondering who on earth needed to speak to you so urgently.

Oh.

You cursed to yourself again, knowing you likely should have seen this coming. But, a small part of yourself doubted Pierre would even take the hint that the song was about him, let alone show up at your apartment.

“Hello?” You asked as you opened the door, feigning confusion as you see the flustered Frenchman.

“You like me?” Pierre breathlessly said, a questioning frown adorning his pink tinted face.

“No,” you laugh incredulously. “Why… why would you think that?”

“Don’t lie to me.” You groan slightly, refusing to meet his gaze as you shake your head in defeat.

“Fine. I do like you. I like you a lot, and I’ve liked you for over a fucking year now, happy?” You rambled, finally meeting his eye with a frustrated glare.

He stayed silent. He knew what was coming, he knew you liked him, but actually hearing you confess it was completely different, he felt as though his heart would burst out of his chest.

Of course, you had no idea what was going through his head as he looked down at you without saying a word.

“Just go away, Pierre. I should’ve never told you.” You moved to close your door, but he quickly stopped you.

“Sorry, I’m sorry. Just… hearing you actually say it. It was nice.”

“For your ego or…?”

“No! Dieu, princesse,” a slight smile finds its way onto his face at the way you were trying to get on his nerves, most likely to distract him from your rushed confession (he was right). “I like you too. A lot.” He places his hands on both your shoulders, almost reassuringly, as he looked into your eyes.

“Really?” You unsurely said. The hostile facade you put up to hide any feelings of undying love towards him melted ridiculously quick at his words.

“To be honest, I thought I made it more than clear.” He grinned. Your brows raised, taking the past year and a half into consideration.

In any social situation, whether it be a gathering of your mutual friends or a large celebration of some sort in which there would be no need to even look in one another’s directions, he’d find any excuse to be right there next to you, ready to annoy you or something along those lines. A prime example of this being the party days prior, or more specifically the interaction that finally led to you releasing the song completely unprecedented.

Or the more glaringly obvious sign, the constant flirting.

“Wow.” You couldn’t help but smile. “You actually like me.” He only shrugged.

“How could I not?” You giggled, leaning further into his hold.

“You’re being so sweet, it’s making me feel like shit for not releasing a cuter song.”

“Don’t worry amour, I like that one perfectly fine.” He smirked, brushing a stray piece of hair from your face.

“Y’know, I was thinking you’d just kiss me but-”

As you’d hoped, you were cut off by Pierre’s lips on yours.

His head lifted from his phone when he heard your laugh. His favourite sound. Your head tossed back as you gently smacked your friend on the arm. Pierre couldn’t help the way the corner of his mouth tugged up into a smile.

He didn’t think it was possible to love you any more, but with every single interaction since unveiling the fact you both held the same feelings for one another, he was falling even harder.

“I thought you two hated each other?” another friend spoke up. “How come you’re sending heart eyes every time you see her now?”

“You know what they say, it’s a thin line between love and hate.” He shamelessly shrugged, just as you turned to him with a smile and a small wave. He didn’t even try hiding his blush.

[kymerawrites]

Sugar daddy Simon x OC

Ghost was sat in a room with his team while they were being debriefed about their next mission. His attention was dragged away from his captain speaking once he felt his phone vibrate insistently in his pocket. He pulls it out, already irritated at the interruption and ready to hang up when he sees the contact name. Shym. Ah, hell. He can never resist shym is his only real weakness.

He excused himself and stepped out into the hallway where he answered the call. “ Hey, sugar. “

He leaned back against the cold wall. He missed her so much, it’s been a while now since they were last together. He wanted nothing more than to see her face even if it’s through the phone. That’s why he never let her send him pictures, in case he lost his phone. “ I’m sorry for not calling earlier.” He said lowly, his English accent slightly thick now with his tiredness.

“It’s fine Simon, never apologize for keeping the world safe.” I laughed

That’s the reason why he loved her so much. Even though she doesn’t know what he does she still understood and respected it. She never pushed him for answers, never nagged him while he was gone and was still by his side when he had his bad days. He chuckled lowly. “ Have you been behaving? “ He asked with a teasing smirk.

“Hmmm, give me an example?”

His smirk widened. He could practically see her pout through his phone and just the image of it made his chest feel tight. “ Have you been taking care of yourself, eating and sleeping well? I haven’t been there to make you. “ He replied.

“I’m doing amazing, the girls are going shopping today, sort of challenge but I’m not participating.”

He hummed and crossed one foot over the other. He hated hearing about her being with the girls, especially when he knew how rowdy they got. Just imagining her in a club or bar with drunk men circling her made that possessive feeling in his chest grow. “ Oh yeah. And why aren’t you going?” He asked, his voice a bit lower.

“They have this challenge, ask their partners for a creditcard and go on a shopping spree.”

He raised a brow at that. He wasn’t surprised that those girls came up with something like that, but the thought of Shym doing it rubbed him the wrong way. “ And you’re staying home because you know I’d never give you my credit card. “ He mumbled.

“No not at all, ofcourse I need some new clothes, want to look all dolled up for you when your back, but I should do that with my own money.” I mumbled

That made him freeze. Now he imagined her dressed up pretty for him and it sent a flare of want and need to his chest. He clenched his jaw and shifted on his feet, trying to ignore the thoughts that suddenly filled his mind. “ Don’t worry about looking dolled up for me. “ He muttered in a tight voice. “ I’d rather take the clothes off of you anyways. “

“Some new lingerie would help with that won’t it? Change of scenery” I whispered

He bit back a curse at her words, trying to keep his voice steady. “ And why is it that you want that all of a sudden. “ He said, even though he already knew the answer. The images filling his mind were sending a slow wave of heat through his body, his eyes fluttering shut.

“Oh baby, haven’t you forgot that the knife play you do torn a lot of my lingerie and clothes” bastard I thought

A smirk tugged at his lips. He knew she was a bit miffed about him damaging her clothes and lingerie. But that just made him smile more. “ I’ve noticed you complaining about it too. “ He stated, keeping his tone calm. But he couldn’t help but tease her a bit, his voice lowering into a low whisper. “ But when it’s happening you don’t really protest now do you?”

He could practically her blush through the phone at that tease, his smirk growing more now. His hand moved up to the back of his neck and rubbed it absently. She was too easy to tease sometimes. “ You like it don’t you, sugar. “ He said, his voice coming out more rough now. He couldn’t stop the images that filled his mind as he spoke, they were starting to effect him too now.

“ You like when I leave marks all over you. “ He continued quietly. “ Leaving you all bitten and bruised in the shape of my hands. “ He knew they were both getting effected by his words. He could hear her breath hitch slightly on the other line and it made his pants tighten in response, biting his lip under his mask.

“ You don’t complain when I rip through your clothes to touch your body. “ He said, his voice barely a whisper now from the huskiness of his voice. He wasn’t sure he could stop the words even if he wanted to. Her soft breaths against the phone was making his chest tighten with need. “ When I use my knife to- “ he stopped himself before his voice got too ragged.

“Amex gold in the 3rd drawer, buy some nice stuff.” He said out of no where

Ghost froze, his mind momentarily distracted from his own lust and his smirk faltered slightly. Was he really giving her his credit card? He didn’t have to. She certainly didn’t need it. But when he thought about it, his eyes darkened. The thought of her buying something with his money and wearing it had his blood heating. He took a slow breath in, trying to push down the possessive feeling in his chest.

“ Are you sure about that sugar? “ He muttered, moving his hand to his jaw and rubbing the skin there. He knew he should be telling her no. But that damn possessiveness he had was making him hard to think clearly. He wanted her in his clothes and in his things.

A grin formed on my face “I’ll make sure I’ll look perfect when you come back.”

A shiver went down his spine at her soft reply. He could practically see that cheeky grin on her face. And he hated the fact the the thought of her in anything of his was making him needy and wanting. She was going to be the death of him. “ Don’t tease me, sugar. “ He muttered, his voice coming out as a near growl.

I laughed “go back to your debrief baby, I’ll talk to you soon.”

Ghost couldn’t keep the grumble from leaving his throat as she ended the call. He was going to be useless in the debrief now. His mind had now been filled with the image of her buying clothes with his credit card. It was almost like she did this on purpose. He put his phone away and took a moment to compose himself before heading back to his debrief.

He was definitely turned on. But he tried to force it down as he walked back into the room. His captain picked up the conversation but he barely even heard it. His mind was filled with thoughts of Shym spending his money, wearing his clothes. It was driving him insane thinking of it.

And I went crazy on my shopping, but kept it on a limit. 5k max, the poor man’s credit shouldn’t become a issue in the future.

I got a facial, new hairstyle, shoes, clothes, makeup and the cherry on top expensive lingerie.

Despite only having a limit on the credit card, it didn’t take long for the charges to appear on his account with every purchase she made.

He groaned when he pulled out his phone to check his credit card usage and saw all the transactions. 5k was gone within an a few hours. But he couldn’t deny that he liked it. She was using his money and buying things they both would enjoy. He bit his lip as he checked how much he had left and decided it wasn’t a problem. He could just ask for an increase if he really needed to.

But the fact that she had just spent 5k on makeup, shoes etc. made him smirk. His mind immediately went to imagining the amount of things she would buy with a higher limit. But he couldn’t let himself dwell on that at the moment. He had a meeting to go to and his captain would notice his distracted state if he didn’t compose himself quickly.

That evening he FaceTimed me, still with his mask on and getting ready for bed, we had a little timezone difference as I was in New York and he was in Chile on a mission

“Enjoying the summer weather right now in chile?”

He was in the room they gave him for the mission. He had just finished changing into some clean clothes after a long debrief and was just sitting down on his bed, checking his phone. He chuckled at her words and leaned back, laying against the headboard. “ You could say that. “ He replied as he shifted on his bed, getting comfortable. “ The heat wave has been a pain to deal with while in the field. “

I scoffed “English lads cannot deal with shite, when can I finally take you to my parents in the Seychelles without complaints?”

He rolled his eyes as she teased him, knowing full well that he absolutely hated the heat. It was ironic given that the first place she wanted him to go to was to her parent’s villa in the hottest place in the world. “ Never. “ He replied. “ Can your parents even handle me, sweetheart? “ He shot back teasingly.

He could tell by her expression that she was pouting at his response. He chuckled at that and felt a pang of wanting in his chest. He missed her face. “ Stop pouting love. “ He chastised, his voice quieter now. “ Can’t believe you’d rather take me to a hot sunny island than a cold snowy one. “

“You want exotic, you get exotic!” I exclaimed. “Wait let me turn on my camera, look at my hair!”

He groaned in response, already knowing that she was just taking the piss now. “ exotic huh? “ He retorted, shaking his head in fake disappointment as he watched her turn on her camera. His eyes widened slightly when he saw the new look, his eyes darkening as he took in the new colour. “ Well… looks good. “ He said, his voice coming out a bit strangled.

His pupils dilated quickly, his hands clenching into the sheets. He didn’t expect her to do that so suddenly. “ Christ… “ He mumbled, his voice coming out in a rough whisper. “ You’re cheeky… “ he said, his tone slightly scolding as he swallowed hard.

He could feel himself growing hard from the brief view and he growled softly in frustration. “ Shouldn’t have done that when I’m not there to touch you sugar. “ He hissed, his grip getting tighter on the bedsheets.

I started to touch my bra “means you need to come back fast.”

His eyes followed your hands as you started to touch your bra. He wanted to touch it. “ You’re not making it easy. “ He grumbled, shifting on the bed and grabbing his mask. “ You’re being naughty when I can’t even touch you. “

He pulled his mask off and raked a hand through his hair, trying to push back the lust building in his body. His eyes were dark as he looked at her. “ You’re being extra cheeky, sugar. “ He said, his voice sounding more rough now.

“Send more cash and I’ll behave..” I laughed

He cursed silently in his mind when she said that. He hated how damn easy she could rile him up, and even more how easily she could get him to cave to her demands. He didn’t even hesitate before he quickly logged into his app and transferred more money.

He wasn’t even sure how much he sent as he was too hasty in giving in to her. The second it was transferred, he looked back up at her, his eyes darker than before. “ Should I send more. “ He growled, his voice coming out as huskier than usual.

I smiled and let me camera see my thighs, red pantie with gold chain on my belly “maybe..”

His breath hitched at the sight of her thighs and the red panties. He closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath to try and compose himself. But it didn’t really help. “ You’re going to drive me insane… “ He muttered, his voice coming out as a low growl. “ I bet you bought them with my card as well.”

“All for you baby, you know I’m your sugar.” I whispered

He felt his chest twist at that and his eyes darkened further. “ Too damn sweet for me. “ He grumbled, his gaze roaming over all the exposed skin on the screen.” When I come back I swear I’ll leave your skin bruised.”

He felt the possessive feeling grow in his chest. This wasn’t fair. She was thousands of miles away and he couldn’t even touch her. “ Teasing me when I’m not able to even hold you. “ He growled as he stared at her. “ You’re going to be the death of me, sugar.”

My hands traveled over my belly towards the rim of my panties

His eyes immediately followed the movement of her hands towards her panties and his breath hitched again. He bit his lip, trying to control himself but failing miserably. “ Jesus Christ… “ He muttered, his eyes glued to the screen.

“Can I touch myself for you si?”

He growled when she asked that, his eyes darkening even more. “ Christ��. “ He was struggling to keep his voice in control now, his chest tightening. “ You want to touch yourself for me, sugar? “ He asked, his voice coming out as a gruff whisper.

He ran a hand down his chest, wanting the touch her so badly it was driving up insane. “ Do it. “ He said, his tone commanding now

He leant back against the headboard, getting comfortable as he watched her intently. “ I wish to Christ you were here in front of me. “ He bit out, his voice coming out as a huff.

My finger making circles, aroused, in need of touch, arched back. He saw it all “I miss you too baby.. but I can’t stay dry forever.”

His breath hitched at the sight before him, his mind starting to race at the sight of her arching back. “ God you’re beautiful.” He choked out, his voice strained as he watched her. “ Keep taking your time… I want to watch every movement you make.”

I started to whimper “send some more money baby I’ll give the best show you want..”

He groaned at the sound of her whine but wasted no time sending more money. “ How much more do you want, sugar. “ He growled out, his eyes glued to the screen, watching her movements.

“Make it… it… 1k” I whimpered

He grunted but obliged, sending the money immediately. “ You’re getting spoiled. “ He muttered as he watched her on the screen. “ But goddamn do I like spoiling you.”

He shifted on the bed, his sweatpants starting to get tight with his growing need. His eyes were fixated on her, his hands clenching the sheets tightly. “ Keep going.. “ He encouraged, his voice coming out as a ragged whisper.

He ached to be the one touching her instead of her own hands. His chest felt tight with want as he watched her movements on the screen. “ Tell me what you’re thinking about.” He asked, his voice coming out in a low growl.

“I’m thinking about you, how you should be ripping my clothes now..”

He growled at her words, his eyes darkening even more with possessiveness. “ Goddamn it… Wish I was there to rip those new clothes to shreds. “ He muttered, his grip on the sheets getting tighter.

He shifted slightly on the bed again, his body feeling like it was on fire. “ You wearing anything that’s mine sugar? “ He asked, his voice coming out huskier than normal.

I kept circling and showed my new heels, clear glass and high “I hope you like them..” I started to moan as I became wetter

He growled softly when she showed him the heels. “ I like all the things you bought with my card. “ He said, his gaze darkening as he watched her move. “ But your new moans are the best thing you’ve gotten with my money so far.”

“It’s VIP..” I started to arch again and it became intense “si…”

He groaned at her arching, feeling himself straining in his pants. “ God… “ He muttered out, his body feeling like it was on fire from desire. “ You’re being extra needy when I’m away. “ He said, his voice coming out as a rough grumble.

“I can’t hold it any longer..” I moaned

He felt the need to touch her growing stronger as he watched her on the screen. “ Don’t hold it anymore.” He ordered, his voice coming out as a ragged whisper. “ I want to watch you….”

And I released, I felt hazy hands wet and sticky from myself

He inhaled deeply at the sight of her release, his body feeling like it was burning with need. He wanted to touch her so badly. “ Christ… “ He muttered as he watched her, his eyes darkening further.

He shifted again on the bed, trying to get some relief from the tightness in his pants. “ I wish I was the one giving you that cum. “ he growled out, his voice ragged. “ Goddamn it… “

He clenched the sheets tightly, his body feeling like it was being consumed by her. “ You look so goddamn beautiful when you come. “ He choked out. His eyes were glued to the screen, taking in every movement she made. “

You make me want to break opsec and come home so bad. “ He growled softly, his body feeling like it was on fire.

“Then make sure those enemies are dead in no time. Now go focus on your job I’m tired baby..”

He nodded, reluctantly agreeing with her. “ Fine. “ He huffed out, his body still feeling like it was on fire from desire. “ Get some sleep sugar, I’ll finish up and be home soon. “ He said, his tone coming out gruff and rough.

“Will do Simon, I love you and stay safe..” I gave a kiss trough the camera

He chuckled softly when she gave him a kiss through the camera. “ Love you too, baby. “ He returned the kiss with one of his own. “ I’ll call you tomorrow, okay? “ He said, his tone still sounding a bit rough, but softer now.

He looked at her for a moment, his eyes softening. “ Sweet dreams, okay? “ He said before reluctantly ending the call, his body still feeling like it was on fire with need.

[one-idea]

Here's an idea: time travel fix it, but the time traveller is Zeff.

Casually fixing what he can for his Eggplant's future Nakama, like bribing Mihawk with a nice wine to mention what Arlong is up to to Jimbe.

I love a time travel fix it with an unlikely hero. Because the Strawhats have a lot of information about what needs to be fixed. Their time travel fix it’s make sense. But the fun ones are their allies who know major events but don’t know everything.

(I saw someone try this with Mihawk and like the man only knows major events that the strawhats get into. Also he’s way more likely just to show up and watch the chaos while drinking wine.)

Zeff being sent back is so fun. 1) he’s a great character who obviously loves Sanji and would want to do what’s best for him. But also 2) he has no idea what half the inciting incidents are! How will he ever know what to stop?

He does have some information though. So let’s say he gets dropped 21 years in the past. He’s still a pirate. Ohara was just burnt last year and Rodger died 3 years ago (fact check me)

Most importantly Sanji is about to be born. His little eggplant is about to be born into one of the worst family on the sea. Well not if he has anything to say about it. He’s still Red-Leg Zeff, the pirate captain.

He knows they can’t do a full frontal assault but some sneaking around gets him to Sora. And a quick “how do you feel about taking all the kids and running?” She’s in. Anything to get them away from Judge.

And it’s stupid easy because they are babies who are only a few days old. Judge only cares about their test results he isn’t watching them. So Zeff and a few of his crew just nab Judges wife and kids, and quite a bit of loot.

Zeff is booking it out of there. But not without kick judge through at least one wall durning the escape.

He makes the decision to quiet the pirate life early. He’s got Sora and the kids to worry about. They open the Baratie early. He knows exactly which cooking staff he’s hiring.

As he separated from the crew he tells them that if they run into a girl named Nico Robin to bring her to him.

He starts establishing the Baratie as a location for all to dine in. But this time he’s focused on making connections. Keeping his thumb on the pulse of both pirate and government movement.

Raising the five kids he’s acquired along side Sora, the genetic programming takes but without it being supported as they grow eventually gets out of their systems. Sanji being the most in touch with his emotions followed by Reiju. Their brothers struggle with emotions but are a lot better and more adjusted than they are in cannon.

About two years into this restaurant one 11 year old Nico Robin is delivered by his old crew. The girl is super freaked out but he sits her down and tells her that’s she’s safe, he’s got ears everywhere and will know if the governmental coming after them, and he won’t let them take her. Plus who’s going to be looking for her at a high class restaurant. It also helps that he’s got a gaggle of children already so she can stay off the floor hanging out with the kids. Sora also dyes Robin’s hair purple and that with age is enough to make people not immediately recognize her from her bounty poster.

5 years later the red hair pirates a bouncing around the East blue and Zeff waits. Waits until one day Shanks comes in one arm short and bragging about his son. (It helps that Sanji and his siblings are helping out so Shanks and Zeff are just casually talking about their kids.) He grabs the captain and pulls him to the side and tells him that Luffy is in danger and that there is another little boy on that island, a boy who is the son of his old captain. Shanks thinks he’s crazy at first but he knows things about Luffy. The scar under his eye, and other things.

Enough to make shanks curious enough to turn around and find Luffy and his TWO new brothers. He quickly collects three children and returns to the Baratie. (Kicks door open while holding three children “you were right!” Zeff surprised by the third child but not mad) (I don’t think he knows about Sabo)

Luffy and Sanji get on like a house fire with Luffy loudly declaring that Sanji will one day join his crew as his chef. And Zeff is standing there watching them with a proud smile, because somethings are just meant to happen.

Meanwhile Shanks as turned to look at Zeff

“anything else I should know about?”

Zeff just snorts “a lot. You still friends with Hawkeyes or have you to made it official yet?”

(With the Baratie around earlier he had to witness young Shanks and Mihawk flirting, it was painful)

Shanks gets sad “he’s mad about well you know…” the missing arm. And Zeff feels bad about that but he had no clue how the man lost it in the first place so there was no way he could stop it.

“If you run into him tell him there’s a crazy kid in the east blue gunning for his title. If he wants to keep things interesting he might want to train him.” (The Baratie is Mihawk’s favorite establishment Zeff could also tell him but he has a feeling the swords master would listen to Shanks over him.)

This is how Mihawk shows up at a dojo where a 10year old Kuina and 9 year old Zoro are training. (A year before Kuina’s death) he sees their skill and hears Kuina’s father’s opinion about females and training. He knows it’s an opinion that is also popular in Wano where this man is obviously from, but it’s not the way the rest of the world works. He approaches and offers to take over the training of the girl “who won’t make anything of herself” and the “feral gremlin using sword handles for teething.” Kuina’s father isn’t to sure about all this but he can’t really refuse the greatest swordsman in the world nor will Kuina or Zoro stay once they hear about the offer.

Mihawk has now obtained one verbally polite girl who will break every rule the moment his back is turn and one backpack leash gremlin.

He and Shanks are regulars at the Baratie for parenting advice. Luffy meets Zoro’s and again claims him as part of the crew. Years later Zoro and Sanji argue over who will be the first official member (Sanji: Luffy asked me first! Zoro: but I was the first one to physically join the crew!)

But currently the three run a muck on the Baratie pulling pranks on their older siblings (Ace, Sabo, Kuina, and Reiju are all the same age) or just Sanji brothers (they are still learning emotions and will sometimes join in on the chaos, other times they are a rival faction but if they ever get to mean Luffy and Zoro put them in their place)

but eventually Luffy runs into Robin (she tries to stay out of the way as much as possible to not get the Baratie in trouble. Zeff tells her she doesn’t have to but Trauma is a thing) Luffy loves her instantly. She quitely reading a book and Luffy joins her for story time and she never gets mad at his interruption and is so patient with him. He looks at her with a grin of a small sun and tells her “when I’m captain you’re going to be on my crew!” Robin is a little freaked out because she doesn’t want to bring the world government down on this little boy. But Zeff talks to her later and tells her that Luffy isn’t a force that can be stopped. It takes time but in the next ten years Robin comes around to the idea of being on Luffy’s crew with Zoro and her little brother Sanji. As soon as Luffy claimed her he told the others. Sanji was pumped! Zoro just accept it but he comes around to really love Robin.

At the same time that the boys are all being adopted Zeff is making some calls and contacts. The Baratie has been open for over 9 years he’s got some high connections. He eventually gets a hold of Jimbei and tells him that Arlong is in the East Blue and causing trouble. (Arlong has just started in the East blue, Zeff has no clue of the time clock) he points Jimbei in the direction of Cocoyashi.

Jimbei gets their right at the time of Arlong raid in the village. He walks in right as Arlong and Bell-mére are having their confrontation. I don’t know exactly what happens (I haven’t met Jimbei yet) but he’s able to stop it.

Bell-mére asks how he knew they were in trouble and he tells them about the Baratie. The village wants to thank the man who alerted Jimbei so Bell-mére goes (she is a retired Marine and probably the best sailor.) and takes Nojiko and Nami with her. Of course Shanks is visiting with the boys and Luffy and Nami instantly hit it off. “This is my Navigator!!!” Shanks is laughing because the kids going to have a whole crew before he has a boat.

Once Luffy is ready to set sail he meets up with Zoro and the two head to the Baratie to pick up Nami, Sanji, and Robin. Zeff points them in the direction of Suyrup village to “get a ship” where they pick up Usopp and save Kaya. (This absolutely does not make Usopp’s feeling of inferiority worse by the time they get to Water 7. No way. It’s not like everyone else on the crew until Vivi and Chopper have known each other for 10 years. He’s not the odd man out in any way.)

Zeff doesn’t have a lot of information about their adventures so he can’t truly stop anything but he does know some thing. (Nami leaving the crew. Luffy and Zoro being from the east blue and having connections with Shanks and Mihawk (Mihawk totally goes the the Baratie to drink during the time skip. Zeff knows Zoro is his kid) he knows Ace is Roger’s son and that he dies. But he doesn’t know anything that isn’t in Sanji’s letters or the news paper (which is full of lies)

He makes the best decisions he can for Sanji.

He saves Sanji from Zeff as soon as possible

Accidentally saving Sora, Reiju, Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji

After Sanji set sail Zeff decides to expand the Baratie. It’s a chain

Patty and Carne take over the East blue branch

Reiju runs the one in the grandline.

Ichiji runs one in the west blue

Niji runs one in the south blue

The north blue doesn’t get one until Judge is dead they all agree on that

Yonji bounces from place to place helping as he is needed

Zeff and Sora open one in the New World.

Zeff might not know everything the Strawhats went through but he knows the major events and by having a home base in almost every sea he’s got ears everywhere. His old crew is still out there acting as ears for him and bring him news.

Anything he can help the Strawhats avoid or remove from their path he sends word

He tells Shanks about Ace.

Accidentally getting Luffy, Ace, and Sabo adopted

Saving Sabo from the Celestial dragons

Giving all three boys the chance to train with the Red Hair Pirates and learn Haki early while also getting a feel for the Grandline and New World

Ace’s death is prevented because he knows about Blackbeards plans and tells Ace to watch out for the man and to not trust him. It helps that Ace grew up with Shanks who never liked Blackbeard at all.

He tells Mihawk about Zoro

Kuina is accidentally saved

Both get to train with Mihawk far before their adventure. Mihawk loves it because the two are “trying to kill him” but they are also competing with each other and it’s MESSY they are so dramatic in their own weird way and he’s living for watching this gremlins fight while he drinks wine. When Perona shows up he finally has a goth child who wants to dress presentable and drink wine while making his other children. The family is complete.

He puts out feelers for Robin having no real hope she will show up

Accidentally gave her a loving home and help her feel safe while also preparing her for the adventure ahead.

He points Jimbei in Arlong direction. He has no clue what Arlong is truly up to.

Accidentally saves village

Saves Bell-mére’s life and kick starts the Strawhats.

The Strawhats still have a lot going on but because of advance trading some received as children and the stronger bonds.

He can’t do anything to Chopper, Franky, Brook or Usopp because their trauma is already passed Franky/Brook or he doesn’t know their stories well enough to intervene, Usopp/Chopper.

But he does make the safest home possible for his little eggplant.

[gallusrostromegalus]

Soul Society is top heavy when it comes to power. With rare exceptions (Ikkaku), the gap between captains and rank-and-file troops, let alone normal citizens, is astronomical. How does Soul Society handle the reiryoku classism problem in and out of the Rukongai? Do the lower seats think of themselves as cannon fodder? Are there any major political factions that try to tackle the issue (ethically or not)?

So the gotei-13 is actually kind of a solution to this problem on accident.

The thing is, as powerful as the captains are, there usually only about a dozen of them, and a maximum of 2600 shinigami total. They are VASTLY outnumbered by literally everyone else, and because they need drastically more food than others (everyone in soul society needs to eat, but shinigami are at a drastically higher calorie demand and risk of starvation), they are VERY dependent on the rest of society. Zaraki made a fair fist of being a roaming menace but even he had to bow to the economy and work jobs to eat.

Hence, there IS reiryoku discrimination but it's largely in the other direction- shinigami are extremely exploited as workers, and that's the GOOD job. Other psychics are frequently drafted, kidnapped, enslaved for imprisoned so the rich and politically powerful can exploit their abilities. Even if a captain class individual were to say, take out a whole clan in self-defense, the rest of society would come down on them like a hammer and kill them or let them starve.

Yamamoto didn't found the Gotei-13 all at once. Originally it was just him, Sasakibe, the 200 spiritually aware students in his dojo, and the dojo was there to train the postal workers how to defend themselves against people trying to kill them for the messages they were carrying, but secondarily so spiritually powerful people didn't get press-ganged into serving the noble houses.

The first organization for psychic souls Yamamoto ever made was a... Relatively Safe Haven. He was also up against a wall dealing with the noble houses and other political factions so he needed anyone who could push back to do so, so a psychic would be expected to serve in at least some capacity. But the souls under his care were free to marry who they chose if they wanted or have children or not, or travel if they felt safe doing so, and even to just be weird without major repercussions, which was a vast improvement over the way they'd be treated as livestock by the noble houses. Even 1000 years later, Byakuya had to fight his family to marry who he wanted. Imagine what a psychic born in a random village and no legal protections would be facing.

So everyone with even an ounce of spiritual capacity was joining the postal service for his protection. It was a boon to the non-psychic messengers too- not knowing if a random Mail carrier could set would-be attackers on fire with their mind made all carriers safer.

...and them the Quincy attacked.

Yamamoto was now even more up against a wall because while having a united front had been helping him it was now a problem-the Quincy were attacking psychics specifically, something that endangered his ENTIRE organization.

...so he hired every spiritually powerful person he could find, including thriteen real bastards directly off of death row and organized them into an army to fucking deal with Yhwach.

Once yhwach was gone though, he had an army. And a lot of nobles looking to exploit or destroy that army.

Fortunately, one of the real bastards he'd hired had fallen for his peculiar charms and become his wife, and what Lady Tsubaki lacked in battle prowess, she more than made up for in political shrewdness. Be magnanimous, she explained. Be generous and speak of peace in our lifetimes and extend the olive branch to those who harassed you for so long. They won't realize it's bait.

So with her help, Yamamoto proposed that his army become the COURT GUARD in charge of protecting the very real and definitely alive Soul King, as well as all the people of soul society from the hollows and other misfortunes that may befall them. Finally, *proper* employment for all those spare heirs and potentially dangerous village psychics, doing the noble work of protecting society.

Why, he even helped found the central 46, a council of sages and scholars and general brain trust to work on the greater problems of soul society (a problem later but at the time, a VAST improvement over the eternally warring clans), that Yamamoto himself would be beholden to, just to show how civic-minded he was.

And just to finally, fully bury the hatchet- Yamamoto offered five of the captain's seats to the five remaining great noble houses, to be passed from scion to scion, ensuring each line would have a place in the direction of this army... Not realizing it was a trap to trick them into handing over any psychics they had, but also the high mortality rate of captains would kill scion after scion and gradually weaken the clans to the point of irrelevance.

And it WORKED.

By the time Ichigo turns up, the scion of the Shihouin clan is in exile with no plans of returning, the Shibas are reduced to a roaming band of pyromaniacs, the Tsunyashiro clan has been gone so long they don't even appear in the manga, and while the ISE and Kuchiki clans still both have representation within the captainacy... The Ise clan only has a brother-in-law and the Kuchiki are at a genetic dead end, and both those men are FAR more loyal to Yamamoto than their own clans.

Yamamoto has done what he set out to do- make a safe haven for the spiritually powerful to work the (not great but still best) protected jobs in the afterlife, destroyed his enemies the great noble houses, and largely wrested government control from them.

It's not perfect, but you can't fault the man for his accomplishment.

[maybege]

Drunken Words Are Sober Thoughts - FBI 11

Summary: The birthday celebration continues but the morning after does not look as fun.

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x fem!Reader

Wordcount: 2.7k | Rating: E (18+ only!)

Warnings: alcohol consumption, hopeless yearning, Josh is annoying af and so are “your” parents

I am not dead and neither is my Hotch obsession, so I am slowly (very slowly!!!) trying to get back into this fic. Let me know what you think, your comments these past months were always an absolute joy to read 🥺

masterlist | crossposted on AO3

You did not know how many cocktails you already had thrown back, each one more colourful than the last.

What had started with a Kiwi Splash had turned into a Sex On The Beach and something else that Emily had pushed into your hand with a grin and a wink. It was hot pink and tasted like sour candy on your tongue. Delicious.

The night went on, the music got louder and you did not know a lot of people in this karaoke bar that the group had chosen but with Penelope and JJ on the dancefloor, you were certainly in good company.

Someone was blaring an offkey rendition of Britney Spears’ Toxic but you could not care less. Your dress was twirling around you, you screamed along with your friends and the rest of the bar for a moment you finally felt like you had found your people. Like you had settled in this strange city away from home with a group of colleagues with whom you had always wanted to fit in.

And how could you not feel welcomed when Penelope threw her arms around your neck and professed her undying love to your dangly earrings?

“Let the birthday girl breathe, Pep,” JJ joked, rocking her hips to the beginning tunes of Get Busy.

“I just think you are beautiful, darling!” Penelope shouted over the music, “Inside and out and you are so lovely and nice and you deserve the best things and I hate to think that you think you don’t deserve the good things this life has to offer you.”

Trying to hide how close her words hit home, you swallowed back the heavy feeling in your chest.

“All right, Garcia,” Emily interjected, taking your blonde friend into her arms, “I think that is enough drinks for tonight. How about we go looking for your hunk somewhere, huh?”

You grinned, pressing a wet kiss to Penelope’s cheek before making your way back to the table the rest of the group was occupying. While drinking all night may be a fun distraction from your usually so boring life, you knew yourself enough to know you needed to drink lots of water if you wanted to function tomorrow.

Though “function” might be too big a word.

The glass of cool tap water – condensation pearling off at the sides – was calling your name and you fought your way through the crowd. It had not seemed this packed with people when you were dancing with your friends but the moment you tried to get to a specific place, your way was blocked by dozens of people just as (if not more) drunk than you.

You were about to squeeze your way between two people (the last hurdle to your table) when they suddenly stepped away from each other. You almost toppled over, squeaking in surprise when your heel got caught in a gap in the creaky floorboards.

It would have made for a nasty fall if it had not been for two strong arms catching you around your waist, gently helping you into your chair.

“There,” Aaron Hotchner's amused smirk greeted you as you looked up, “Drank a little too much, did we?”

“Me?” you asked, finding yourself in the mood to joke, “Never!”

A real, genuine laugh escaped the man before you and you were sure you had never seen anything more beautiful than him laughing. His entire face lit up and the crinkles next to his eyes deepened. You grabbed the fabric of your dress, keeping yourself from tracing the lines of his face with your finger.

Not appropriate, you reminded yourself, So not appropriate.

“Pretty sure you are, though,” he teased back, pushing the glass of water towards you. You smiled in thanks, quickly gulping down a few sips. “You are laughing more than usual, entertaining Reid’s monologues on aviation in the early twentieth century and I am pretty sure,” he looked down between you, “Just like I thought. You are wearing the heels I only ever saw you wear when we celebrated Emily’s birthday at that high-end sushi place.”

“Are – are you drunk profiling me, Agent Hotchner?” you gasped in shock, unable to hide your smile.  

“What happened to Sir?”

Hoping he did not notice the heat spreading through your face, you fiddled with the neckline of your dress, trying to get some air on your body. “Don’t tease me!”

He looked … relaxed. Open. A slow smile spread on his lips as he turned the half-empty glass of scotch in his hand. He was the epitome of confidence and relaxation with how he was leaning back in his chair. You tried to remember the last time you had seen him so … not on edge. No moment came to mind.

You crossed your legs, trying to satiate the pulsing need that had formed in your core. Somewhere in the back of your mind, you tried to remind yourself to not give him anything to read you by. Which seemed impossible considering the man could read you like an open book.

You just hoped you could hide at least a few essential chapters.

The dark-haired man leaned forward then, resulting in his head hovering right next to yours. The proximity was dizzying and intimate and you could not help but breathe him in. He smelled of the scotch and something so masculine it made you daydream about burying your head in the crook of his neck.

 “You sure?” he mumbled, his lips dangerously close to your ear and you audibly gasped for breath, the back of your neck feeling warm as you stared up at him, “Because I have the feeling you rather like me teasing you.” He was so close, looking down at you as his nose almost touched yours and shit you wanted nothing more than to –

“Whatcha doin’?”

“Pen!” you gasped in shock, plastering a big grin on your face in the hopes that she would not see the sheer need written all over your face.

Luckily, your friend seemed to focus on your lack of dancing to notice anything else. She did not even spare a glance at Hotch when he slowly pulled away from you. “Oh, don’t tell me you are getting tired,” she whined, grabbing your hand and dragging you up, “C’mon, let's go back to dancing! Swing those hips, sweetie, we have all night!”

You followed her with a laugh, happy to have the distraction, but not without looking back at Hotch.

And seeing that he still looked at you with a smile.

*

Waking up with a headache was not normally a cause for joy but the morning after your birthday, you still woke up with a smile on your face.

Never in your wildest dreams had you expected the night to turn out the way it did.

The team had shown up with you, not once but twice and even then, continued to make you feel celebrated the entire evening. Hell, Rossi had insisted on covering your tab on the condition that you brought your self-made banana bread to work again. Emily and Derek (and a very drunk Penelope) had sung you the loudest rendition of Happy Birthday you ever heard with Reid and JJ acting as backup dancers/singers.

And Hotch had been the one to see you to your cab when the night had come to an end, making sure you were before nodding at you with a small smile.

A smile that was now on your face as you made your way to the kitchen. You caught a glimpse of the chaos in the living room. Chaos that had not existed when you had left last night. Empty bottles and glasses stacked on top of plates that were not quite as empty and the remnants of the pizzas Josh seemed to have ordered yesterday.

The smell of stale leftovers hung in the air and you hoped that a few slices were left over so you did not have to meal prep for the week.

The kitchen greeted you with much of the same sight and you took a deep breath when you saw your roommate already sitting at the table, a few slices of pizza before him. It wasn’t that you were unhappy to see him, really. You had just hoped to have a few more moments to yourself before being confronted with the events of last night.

“Morning,” he greeted you, chipper as ever.

“Hey,” you greeted back, browsing through the tea drawer. Peppermint? Berries? Earl Grey? You settled on a ginger and lemon brew, hoping that it would help you to wake up.

“That was one hell of a night, huh?”

“It was,” you agreed, “The bar we went to had like three birthday parties at the same time, it was a lot of fun.”

A moment of silence followed and you did not need to look at him to know he did not know what you were talking about. “Oh good,” was what he finally settled on and you closed your eyes, trying to hide your annoyance.

How could it be that the person you had long considered to be your best friend suddenly just … wasn’t the person you knew?

Remembering Derek’s comment from the night before, you decided to take another deep breath and do something you had avoided for a long time: Confront your best friend.

“Josh,” you started carefully, turning around and leaning your hip against the counter, “Can we talk about last night?”

“Sure,” he took another bite of his toast, “What about it?”

“The comment you made in front of my colleagues … That was not okay.”

“What comment?”

For a moment you could feel the doubt creeping up. Was this the right path to go down? Was this worth a conflict with not only your best friend but also your roommate? Was it really as bad as you thought it was? What if he had meant well?

My experience is that the people we need to clarify that about usually don’t care if they mean well or not.

Derek's words echoed in your head and you knew you were right.

“The comment where you implied that I was bad at my job. In front of your friends, my colleagues and my boss,” you recalled, feeling, “That was humiliating and hurtful, Josh.”

A frown formed between his brows. “Why are you so angry? Yeah, so I made a misplaced comment, I am sorry, but didn’t we talk about this already? Besides, it was at a party I organized for you, I think I am allowed to have some leeway here.”

You could feel your eyes bulge out of your head. Was he for real?

“I really appreciate what you were trying to do,” you said calmly, wrapping your hands around the mug and focusing on how the ceramic was warming against your skin, “Really, I do. But did it not occur to you that the only people you invited were your friends?”

“You know them too.”

“I do and they are very nice, I'm sure. But you could have asked if I would have liked someone to join. I left before midnight to celebrate somewhere else with people that I invited.”

He scoffed. “Look, I'm sorry you feel that way,” he threw his hands up, “I was just trying to do something nice and apparently that backfired.”

It did not escape you that the language he used was manipulative as fuck and you bit your tongue from throwing words in his face you would not be able to take back.

“I don’t think this is very productive,” you finally said, “I am going to take a shower and I would really appreciate it if we could talk about this sometime when we are both more clear-headed.”

Though as you made your way to the bathroom, the steaming mug still in your hands, you had the sinking feeling that any following conversation would not bring the closure you hoped it would.

*

As if your day could not get any better, your phone rang just as you stepped out of the shower and into your bedroom.

Recognizing the picture on the screen, you accepted the video call, wrapping your bathrobe a little tighter.

“Hi.”

“Happy birthday, honey!” your mom appeared on the small screen. The living room wall behind her looked just like it had done your entire childhood and you spotted the variety of family pictures she took great care of dusting every week.

“Thank you.”

“Did you have fun?” she asked, “Did you get to go out with Josh and your friends?”

“Yeah, uh,” you hesitated for a moment, “Josh organized a little party here but I ended up going out with the team later. We went for karaoke and it was awesome.”

“You certainly look like you had an awesome night,” she teased and you bit your lip to keep from grinning.

“So … how are you feeling?” she asked and you immediately grew suspicious. You knew that tone and you knew when she was worried.

“Good,” you replied carefully, “Like I said, I had a fun night.”

She hummed and avoided looking at you for a moment and you knew what was about to happen when you saw your father sitting down next to her. Even hundreds of miles apart, you still felt like a child when your parents sat together on the sofa like that one time when you accidentally put a dent in the family car.

“Remember our conversation from a few weeks ago?”

You nodded. “Yeah, I am feeling a lot better now.”

“And I am so glad to hear it,” she smiled and you could tell the genuine worry from where the crease never quite left her forehead, “I talked with your father and we – we think it might be best if you come visit us for a while. Come back home, check

“Just because you don’t think I can't make it as an agent –“

“Hey,” your dad interrupted you gently, “No one is prouder of you than we are, sweetheart, and we know you make for one hell of an agent. But the fact remains that you were miserable for the last couple of months and it might not be a bad idea to try and get to the root of things.”

And by the root of things they meant that you re-discover your passion to become an English teacher at your local middle school.

“I am an adult woman,” you tried again, “I love you and I love that you worry about me. But we need to keep in mind that I made a big move for a job that I was not wholly prepared for. The adjustment period was … longer than I wanted, for sure. But I finally feel like things are moving for the better and this makes me feel like you do not believe in me.”

“We do love you, honey,” your mum assured you, “And I apologize for making you feel like we don’t trust your decisions. I know you are incredibly proud of the work you do and you should be! But I am worried and I would feel better if you took some time off and came to visit us. Allow yourself the grace to breathe, you have been working non-stop since you moved away. There is no way that is healthy.”

You ran your hand over your face, trying to get yourself some time to think over your answer. The horrible thing was you knew your mother was right. Even if you did not want to admit it, you knew that you had been overworking yourself, that ever since Dr Johnson had voiced her doubts, your brain had been on edge and that a break might not be the worst idea.

Especially considering you had not taken any time off since you started your position.

“I hear you,” you started, feeling your eyes sting with tears. But you refused to cry in front of your parents lest they thought they were right and insisted that you come home as soon as possible. The last thing you wanted was to worry them.

“Can you just give me some time to think it over?” you asked, “Taking time off is not as easy as it sounds and I want to make sure that I don’t miss anything important at work.”

“Of course, darling,” your mother agreed, “Let us know anytime.”

But you knew that her anytime meant that your time was running out.

[novembermorgon]

How do you feel about all of King Jaehaerys' daughters? 👀

all of them... WHEW ! heres a saera to break up the text block

i'm admittedly not the biggest fan of many of the pre-dance targs . not in the sense that i dislike them it's just that i've never been all that invested in their characters the same way i am, say, the dunk and egg era ones ... but theyre fun! i think all of jaehaerys kids are definitely really interesting by default on account of being born to a guy who people in-universe tend to praise very highly only for him to turn out a shitty horrible dad that fucks you over for the sole crime of being born as his child. lets take them in order! (it's been a while since i read fire and blood now so bear with me . might have missed or forgotten stuff ...)

daenerys ... to me she's kind of a victim of grrm seeming to kill off a lot of female characters specifically because they don't have that much of a role in the story. sort of a nothing-girlie unfortunately . i do think it's interesting that alysanne went to jaehaerys with the hope of daenerys being heir as the then-eldest child- sort of a harrowing premonition of his treatment of his future daughters. i wish we got more on her.

alyssa is fun! i think she's one of the stronger (in terms of writing quality) of jaehaerys kids, at least early on. she does end up, again, kind of suffering from grrms writing in the sense that she starts having children and suddenly almost loses that .. spirit ..? of her character ..? if that makes sense. i feel that he fumbled a little bit with wrapping her story up and once again falls into the pit of 'women who die in childbirth just because'. not to say i inherently mind that conclusion to a female character's story.. i think it's necessary in a universe like asoiaf to portray the difficulties that come with pregnancy and how that changes a person, but it often feels like a bit of a crutch in asoiaf to write a female character out of the story . other people have had more eloquent critiques of her character than me. but overall she's up there in the ranking for me :-)

maegelle is one of my favourites if only because she hits on a lot of notes i like in asoiaf! being a septa she kind of escapes a bit of the family horror that her sisters has to endure - but that also means she has to watch it from afar. alyssa, daella and viserra all die in relatively quick succession and she's not in any real position to do anything about it. even having escaped the family terrors you are still a victim of them etc. i like that she's got a bit of an attitude lol even though she's clearly a very compassionate kind person ('This is foolish, Father. Rhaenys is to be married next year, and it should be a great occasion. She will want all of us there, including both you and Mother. The archmaesters call you the Conciliator, I have heard. It is time that you conciliated.') - and her ending i think is very tragic, but in an almost sweet way. caring for children that most others are repulsed by, selfless to the end ... i like her.

daella is just tragic. other people have said more than i could ever about her but to me her marriage is truly one of the most horrific things that jaehaerys ever did in part because it's just so simple and not-so-dramatic. he tells alysanne that daella has to be married at the end of the year and she is. she's excited to be a mother to the children he already has. she's happy, despite the horrific situation she's put in - only to be doomed to die after a pregnancy where she has to beg her mother to come see her out fo fear. so terrible. makes my heart ache.

saera... there's a lot you could say about saera. inherently i'm a little bit opposed to stanning on the basis of the optics of prostitution in asoiaf and what it means for her to become a brothel proprietor in a city where there are five slaves to every free man - you can definitely critique her but she IS exceptionally interesting and i do like her. such a character. i feel like her defiance of her father gives such a good insight into how terrible jaehaerys was as a father- even in a book so almost distanced from its characters (in that it's a history book) you can really feel the frustration both of her parents and of saera herself and it really does make for good family drama. i feel bad for her just as i feel that she falls into the pitfall of the endless, vicious cycle that drives forward so many of the themes in asoiaf. delicious and horrifying . i wish we got to know more details about her children and what happened to her during the dance

viserra... ohhh. she might be my number one! right after the saera situation i feel like viserra, in the eyes of her parents, was almost like a reflection of her sister. there were many reasons for them marrying her off (none of which were good) but i think there really is that bite of saera leaving just a year earlier that stings in the back of their minds. just as with all these girls she's tragic and so very interesting and i wish we got to understand her better. trying to 'seduce' baelon is such a harrowing thought - like a cry for help, a need for somebody, anybody to save her from the same fate as almost all her sisters and grandmothers and great-grandmothers before her. it's horrifying to be a woman in westeros and no matter how loudly she cried for an out, nobody would give it to her. she was only fifteen when she died! how horrific is that! her last ride is such a terrible terrible visual to me. she deserved better and nobody around her was there for her in any regard. jaehaerys alysanne baelon i will haunt you for the rest of time.

gael.. :-( there's not much Here but for what it's worth she does intrigue me. the story of her and the mystery bard seducing her... i want to know more!! her mother dying just a year after losing her last daughter - so, so tragic. i think ive said this way too many times now. i don't know. what a horrible collection of fates. jaehaerys you will burn.

[pajulammas]

[Chivalrous Devotion AU] Reference sheets for some of the supporting characters!

Nimue's designs were designed by @tillytilli!

The fic can be read here!

Twitter | Bluesky

More info under the cut!

The Blacksmith:

Maoilios the Blacksmith, known as Smithy, is a 43-year-old two-tailed fox. He's the best blacksmith in Camelot and knows a thing or two about weapons. His knowledge and skills are very appreciated. That wasn't always the case, though. Smithy was very ostracized during his first years, as everyone seemed to think that a two-tailed fox would bring bad luck and curses. Smithy spent most of his time doing research and building swords, which made Arthur was curious about him. Not wanting to scare the fox away, he approached him in disguise and befriended him, nicknaming him Smithy for his blacksmith skills. After seeing that Smithy was just a lonely boy living in a burrow all alone, Arthur invited him to live with him. Smithy was very shocked to find out his new friend was King Arthur himself. Arthur worked hard to make sure no one saw Smithy as a bad omen and took good care of the little fox. It didn't take long for the two to form a close brotherly bond. Smithy really looks up to the king and admires him, even after 35 years.

Nimue:

Nimue is known as the Lady of the Lake. She is a magical fairy enchantress, who disguises herself as a hedgehog to be more approachable to mortals. She knows a lot about sacred weapons, and even gifts them to knights she deems worthy. She often has missions for knights, and Sir Percival especially likes to fulfill them. Nimue has grown quite fond of the knightess and looks forward to her visits. She is also the foster mother of Lancelot, who lost his family and home castle when he was just a little boy. Nimue took him in and taught him how to fight, eventually gifting him the sacred sword made from the stars, Arondight. And when Lancelot had his own son Galahad, Nimue naturally took the role of a grandmother, helping Lancelot take care of the young boy and looking after him when Lancelot had to go on his missions. She also taught Galahad to fight and gifted him a cinquedea which has telekinetic powers. While teaching fighting isn't the most conventional way for parenting, Nimue genuinely cares for both Lancelot and Galahad, and considers them her family.

King Arthur:

King Arthur Pendragon is the legendary king of Camelot and the leader of the Knights of the Round Table, as well as the alternate reality doppelgänger of Sonic the Hedgehog himself. He owns the sacred sword Caliburn which can transform into the legendary Excalibur. He can always be seen carrying its scabbard which was a gift from Nimue. The scabbard protects him, preventing any wound he receives from bleeding. His looks aren't the only thing that resemble Sonic – he's friendly and laid-back but can be short-tempered, has a strong sense of justice, and treats everyone equally. He's a skilled fighter, a fast runner, and the most powerful knight in the land. While he isn't as fast as Sonic is, Arthur is physically stronger than him. However, Arthur mysteriously disappeared three years ago, and no one knows what happened to him. The court isn't worried anymore, as Sonic's arrival's timing was just right – they believe Sonic is the lost king. While Sonic must pretend to be Arthur who has lost his memories, he also wonders what even happened to the king. Will he be back one day, and will Sonic be in trouble if he does return?

[waterfire1848]

For the ship prompts

#7 fake relationship au for tyzula (Ty Lee/Azula)?

Hello, anon!! Thanks for the ask!

Post canon AU

Azula was gonna kill someone. She was actually going to go back to prison, or whatever the hell that asylum was, and she didn’t care. That place had to be better than listening to the oldest council members alive go on and on about wheat distribution.

Don’t get her wrong. Azula knew this was incredibly important. She wasn’t about to say it wasn’t, but it was just so insanely boring. Zuko and her were passing looks to each other, both of them silently begging the other to declare an Agni Kai and get them out of here.

“The final item up for business is Princess Azula’s wedding.” An old man, General Kai, said.

Now that woke her up.

“Wedding?!?” Azula and Zuko yelled.

“Yes. Fire Lord Ozai had it written that if you could not find a potential partner before your eighteenth birthday then I would be in charge of finding you one.” Kai grinned.

Azula wanted to set the man on fire. She and Kai always hated each other because while she preferred to play the long game during battle and believed in putting time and effort into projects, Kai was more of a throw every soldier they had at a problem and see what happens.

The only reason he wasn’t kicked off the council after Zuko came to power was because his wife and Zuko were actually pretty close and she promised him no mutiny would come from her husband. Which was true, Kai never intended to go against Zuko but he did still hate Azula meaning he was definitely enjoying this.

“What? That can’t be a real agreement!” Zuko demanded.

“The Princess signed it herself.” Kai grinned.

“Azula?” Zuko asked.

“I forgot.” She snapped, “Not a lot of time to think about getting married when you’re locking up in a mental institution.” She hissed.

“There’s no issue though because I already have the perfect man lined up for you.” Kai told her, “Commander Aoi.”

“Koh’s Lair, no!” Azula snapped. On top of being one of the most insufferable humans Azula had ever met, and that was saying a lot, Aoi was over ten years older than her. If she remembered correctly, he should be in his early 30s by now. Zuko must have had similar thoughts because he instantly shook his head.

“As Fire Lord, I-“

“Read below, your majesty.” Kai said.

“No future Fire Lord may void this contract. Neither can new laws exacted by the Fire Lord.” Zuko read.

“Ozai is in prison and will die there. His contracts have to be void.” Azula argued.

“Maybe, but you’d have to prove that and you can’t.” Kai smiled, “I’ll send a messenger hawk to Commander Aoi and tell him the-“

“I do have a suitor!” Azula suddenly said.

“What?” Kai asked.

“Yeah. What?” Zuko asked.

“I have a suitor. We just haven’t been public yet.”

“Oh? Who is it?” Kai asked.

“Ty Lee.” The look on Zuko’s face would have made Azula burst out laughing if not for the seriousness of the situation. Kai looked at her in confusion and a bit of anger at the realization that she was about to one up him, “And since I do have a suitor, you can still Commander Aoi that the wedding is off.”

“Your father would have never allowed-“

“Nowhere in that contract does it say my suitor needs to be male. Just that they must be a member of nobility which Ty Lee is and she’s a respected member of the Kyoshi Warriors as well.” Azula’s grin was spread all across her face that she didn’t notice Zuko giving her a concerned look, “Ty Lee is my partner.”

“I think that’s a good place to adjourn the meeting.” Zuko said.

—————————————

“TY LEE?!?” Zuko yelled.

“I didn’t know who else to say!” Azula yelled back, “It’s fine. You’ll find a loophole in the contract or, worst case scenario, Ty Lee and I get married then divorced in which case we’ve fulfilled the contract and nothing more will need to be done.”

“Worst case scenario???? Azula, how do you think Ty Lee will react to this?!?”

“She’ll be shocked, of course, but she’ll understand that this was all to keep me from having to marry Aoi.” The way Azula pronounced his name made it seem like she wanted to vomit, “I’ll tell Ty Lee the news tomorrow morning and inform her of the plan.”

Zuko bit his lip. Yeah. Just a plan. Ty Lee would be just dandy hearing that she was, legally, now dating Azula, practically engaged. Only to also find out that Azula just said her name to get out of marrying a man much older than her, not because she actually liked her. The girl she’d had a crush on since they were kids was now fake dating her but wanted nothing more. Zuko shook his head. This was not going to end well.

————————————

“I’m sorry. We’re what??” Ty Lee asked.

“Dating. About to be married if you want to be specific.” Azula clarified. The way she spoke made it seem like she found nothing unusual or confusing about this.

“Azula, I….I just…how???”

“When I was younger, my father created a contract with me which basically said that if I didn’t have a suitor by the time I was 18 then General Kai could find one for me.” Ty Lee winced at Kai’s name. Even she knew how much the two didn’t like each other, “Kai was about to stick me with some old commander so I told him you and I were dating. It’s only until Zuko finds a way out of this or we just have a quick wedding then get divorced a day later, but that’s only a worst case scenario issue.”

Ty Lee’s jaw had dropped by the time Azula finished her plan which made the firebender uneasy, “Ty, please. We just had to fake a relationship for a few days. Please, I need your help or I’m going to be chained to some 30 something year old man for the rest of my life.”

“Well…wait! You could just marry Aoi then divorce him!” Ty Lee told her.

“Two problems with that. One, the thought of getting married to Aoi for any period of time makes me want to vomit. Two, I can’t. Both of us have to agree to the divorce and Aoi will never divorce me once he’s in line for the throne.” Azula handed the contract to Ty Lee, who quickly scanned it over.

“Azula, why did you ever agree to this?” Ty Lee asked, “You can’t divorce your partner or pick the person for yourself.”

“I had a lot of parental issues when I was younger, okay?!”

“Daddy issues.” Ty Lee smirked. Azula’s face turned red, but Ty Lee spoke up again, “If I’m going through all this then I get to call it what it is.”

“So, you’ll help?”

“Of course I’ll help.” Azula visibly deflated as if, for the first time in days, she felt some kind of relieve.

“Thank you, Ty.”

“But!” Azula’s face fell, “To sell this we need to act the part as well.”

“Right.” Azula nodded. This was a pretty basic fact. Of course they’d need to act like a couple now.

“Which means more than just some kissing and holding hands. We need to have a date where everyone can see us.” Ty Lee told her.

Now it was Azula’s turn to drop her jaw, “A date?” She asked.

“Yes.”

“And…what if one of us has never been on a date?” Azula asked, getting Ty Lee’s full attention now. The acrobat gave her friend, now fake almost wife, a kind smile. She had forgotten how uncomfortable Azula was with this kind of stuff. When Azula first returned from the mental institution, Ty Lee tried to help her meet people but the Princess wanted nothing to do with it. Only Ty Lee noticed that Azula did, in secret, try to meet people but it was difficult with her life and past actions. The most she’d ever done was a few kisses at some parties Ty Lee took her to but never a date.

“I’m thinking a calm dinner in the palace where the servants can see us and then we let them gossip. No one around but us.“ Okay. That came out way more romantic than she has anticipated but it did seem to calm Azula down a bit.

“That sounds good. Does a date mean…”

“No. You don’t have to wear a dress.” Ty Lee confirmed, laughing at her best friend’s hatred of the clothing.

“Thank the spirits. I’ll get something set up with the cooks for tonight.” Azula told her, “Thank you so much for this. I promise you’ll only have to pretend to date me for a few days.” Ty Lee waited until Azula was out the door to look down at the ground.

“Lucky me.” Her voice trembled with sadness.

—————————————

That night, Ty Lee got her best clothes from her house and made sure to walk all around the palace so everyone could see her. She kept making up excuses to go everywhere so all the servants could see her walking around. Finally, she arrived in the dining room to find Azula at the table. She had her hair down and was wearing the best robes she had. When Ty Lee looked closer she realized the fabric was made with spider-snake silk: the most expensive in the world.

“Wow.” Ty Lee whispered, “You look beautiful.”

“As do you.” Azula smiled.

“What’s on the menu today?” The acrobat asked.

“Pig-cow, rice, and egg custard.” Azula told her.

“Ohhhh. I love egg custard!” Ty Lee happily took some from the center of the table and put it on her plate, biting into it as quickly as she could, “Mmmm.”

“Glad it lived up to your expectations. I remember you telling me a few years ago that it was your favorite. I thought making it was the least I could do.”

“You made it?” Ty Lee asked.

“Okay. I, personally, didn’t make it but the chefs did and I’m the one who told them to.” Azula argued, “Same thing.”

“I’d argue that. It felt very different when we were doing wilderness training and I did the cooking while you told me what to make.” Ty Lee chuckled at the memory of the three of them in their tent, all yelling at each other as they tried to make the fish they caught edible.

“If I recall that correctly, I helped by catching the fish.”

“You almost burned them alive so they swam away then Mai hit them with her knife.”

“Exactly. It’s teamwork.” Azula grinned, bitting into her pig-cow, “I must say though that this pig-cow is better than you’re burning salmon-cod.”

“It was burning because you’re a firebender who controls all the flames in a room.”

“So first cooking was all you and now I’m responsible for the burned fish. Make up your mind.” Azula took a sip of her drink while Ty Lee looked at her with a raised eyebrow:

“I have made up my mind. I blame you.”

“Ha-Ha.”

A few minutes of silence filled the room until Ty Lee couldn’t hold it in any longer and spoke up, “Why did you say my name?”

“What?”

“My name. When you were thinking of a name to give to General Kai, why did you say my name? When you were thinking of potential people who you’d rather date than Aoi, why’d you say my name?” Ty Lee asked.

Azula looked down at her plate, clearly taking a few vital moments to think, “You were simply the first name to come up.” She lied.

“Azula-“

“It’s nothing more, Ty. You were the first name I thought of, but that doesn’t mean anything.”

“It doesn’t?” She asked.

Azula’s gaze wasn’t angry or confused when she uttered, “Do you want it to?” She actually looked a little hopeful.

“I…I think I do.” Ty Lee admitted. Spirits, her stomach was doing flip and every second that Azula wasn’t speaking felt like 100 years of waiting.

“I think I said your name first because thinking of potential partners made me think of someone who I’d want to be with, who I’d want to spend my days talking to, who I’d be fine with seeing every day and would accept me for everything I’ve done and was. Can I be honest?” Azula asked.

Ty Lee nodded, “Your name wasn’t the first to come up. It was the only one I could think of.” The acrobat’s eyes grew, “Ty, you don’t have to-“

“How would you feel if we turned this fake relationship into a real one?” Ty Lee asked.

Azula beamed at her long time friend, now girlfriend, “I’d love that.”

[tripleglitchwriting]

My earthspark Season 2a thoughts

Warning: SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE THING!!! And a lot of rambling. And negative thoughts.

As much as i hate to admit it, I was kind of disappointed. It’s not that it was bad, I did still enjoy it, but I feel like there was so much missed opportunity.

The show wasn’t well advertised for, especially season 2. I have a feeling Hazbro doesn’t really care much for it. I think the team that works on the show is great! They’re obviously very talented, passionate, and hardworking, but (so far) season 2 saw a definite downgrade from season 1.

The animation is the first thing that comes to mind. While it is still tv show quality, when compared to season 1 in some parts it feels clankier and less polished. Though I don’t know much about 3D animation other than it’s hard, so I suppose I can’t really critique something I have no practice in.

Then I come to the characters. Here I see the seasons biggest flaw. Starscream’s character arc got completely obliterated, (though they did at least mention his interaction with Hashtag) Nightshade got sidelined compared to the other terrans, and Breakdowns character arc also got the boot.

Breakdown interacted with Bumblebee once, and it was in the finale while they were fighting in the background. If it were just this plotline that got pushed off, I would be fine with it. It’s hard to fit in every single character thread in 9 episodes while also introducing new things. Except it wasn’t just this.

In season 1 they set up the perfect redemption arc for Starscream. Him finally meeting someone that actually listens to him, Megatron’s past abuse and Starscream feelings about his subsequent redemption, it was really interesting to see! But then he pulled a Steeljaw and decided to make New Cybertron. Character wise, sure, I can see why he would want to do that. However, it totally disregards his past interactions. We don’t even know how he found out about the titan, there are so many missing pieces.

Then there’s Cosmos. I think Cosmos is great! I think it’s cool that his voice is Weird Al! I was so excited to get to the next episode and see him take Robbie’s offer to join team Terran and the autobots… and then we don’t see him again. They even set up a potential conflict with Megatron being redeemed! And then nothing! My theory is they couldn’t afford weird al for another episode. Maybe he’ll be back in 2b?

Personally, I don’t like the chaos terrans. It’s an interesting concept, and it isn’t executed as poorly as it could’ve been, but they just fell below the bar for me.

Aftermath has one character trait and it’s hitting things. For the start of his character, that’s fine! Having him only see value in destruction is an interesting foil to Jawbreaker and the rest of the terrans. However, even after the episode with him and Jawbreaker, he doesn’t change. He steals the cave water (which, by the way, how do they get fuel now???? Does it come back???) and goes back to being terrible. I can see what they were trying to do with him, it’s cool having a character that was made to be evil go up against characters who try and Steven universe anybody that shows a hint of the possibility to change. But there’s just nothing interesting about Aftermath. They don’t even dive into his relationship with Breakdown that much after his debut episode.

And then there’s Spitfire. I have mixed feelings about her. On one hand, shes pretty much the shape the hedgehog of transformers. She’s the mean edgy version of an already established ‘good’ character who is designed to be better than said already established good character. On its own that’s pretty overdone, and so is the body switch troupe. It’s a good hook but super predictable. She’s more interesting than Aftermath, at least she has a reason to stay evil, but she just feels like a plot device to create conflict rather than an actual well-formed character. Maybe that’s what she is? On the other hand, her debut episode is really well directed! It was some fantastic shots and combat sequences! I absolutely love what they did with that! The fact she nearly killed Wheeljack was really surprising (in a good way) to me! It even played to Wheeljack character by having him be the first to figure her out!

A good amount of the episodes were as well directed as episode 6. They have a lot of good moments! Some I even laughed out loud at! It may just be the fact only half the season is out, but really 2a felt a bit empty. We got no new characters other than Cosmos (who had like 10 lines and then dipped) the chaos terrans, and the fairmiestero. There were a lot of missed opportunities in that department and in the department of pre existing characters.

Nothing new about Megatron (though I did enjoy the part we got to explore cybertronian culture with the polyhex tournament!) and no comebacks of older characters (where is prowl).

I thought the quintesson lore was pretty interesting though! They will probably be the villains of 2b. I still have hope for the series. They could right a lot of wrongs with the next part of season 2. I sincerely hope these loose ends get tied up.

I’m tired, I have more to say but the energy to type it all out is not there. I also didn’t proofread this so sorry if it’s just rambling and spelling mistakes haha.

[kissingkiszka]

i’m yearning for jake period fluff BAD so here’s my request! jake really wants y/n to stay over. she agrees but then tells him she’s having her period this week. y/n was super nervous and shy but jake was super understanding and caring. he’s adaptive to her needs (advil, heating pad, supplies) and takes care of y/n for the days she spends there. SUPER fluffy, realistic, sweet, and lighthearted.

By Her Side - Jake Kiszka x Reader

Requested! I hope you enjoy :)

Words: 1.9k+

Summary: when Jake finds out the reader is on her period, he does everything in his power to help her feel better.

CW: 18+, MDNI, fluff, periods, talks of pain & period symptoms, use of pain medicine, surprises, cursing, there’s just lots of fluff, use of pet names, I believe that’s all!?

—————————————————————

6:32 p.m.

Jake: Come over?

You glance down at the notification on your phone and let out a loud sigh. You had just gotten your period yesterday and all the symptoms were hitting you like a brick. You reread his text a few times and think of all the possibilities. The second and third days were always the worst for you, and in no way did you want Jake to see you like this. You type out your response and bury yourself under another blanket.

6:36 p.m.

You: I don’t think that’s a good idea.

6:37 p.m.

Jake: Is everything alright?

6:38 p.m.

Jake: Call me.

Of course he’s going to be suspicious, you never say no to spending time with him. You watch as his name and face light up the screen. You let out a groan and lift the phone up to your ear.

“Jake-” You start.

“Hi Beautiful. What’s wrong?” He asks, worried.

“I'm fine. I’m just a bit preoccupied. That's all.” You unconvincingly tell him.

“Yeah, Y/N. I know you well enough to know that you're not fine right now.”

“Jake, I'm fine. I swear.” You had a feeling he wasn’t going to back down until you really told him what was wrong.

He inhales, and you can tell he's growing more concerned. “But you’re not.”

You liked Jake so much, and you really had a strong connection with him. But you just weren’t close enough with him yet to feel comfortable talking about all your period problems. You didn’t know how'd he react- if he’d be grossed out, or if he wouldn’t be understanding, or maybe he just didn’t want anything to do with this stuff. That is what made you the most nervous. It was a weird phase in your relationship that you couldn’t wait to get past. But maybe, this was the push that was needed to get you past it after all.

“Okay, Jake. Maybe you're right.” You fold, clutching your blanket closer to your chest.

“You know I’m here for you, always will be. So, lay it on me.”

“Well…” You hesitate for a bit. “I’m-uh, I got my period yesterday and I guess, I’m just not feeling well.” You shyly admit.

“Oh…” Jake pauses and a lump forms in your throat. “Honey, why didn’t you tell me sooner?” He asks softly.

“I just- I didn’t know how you’d take it.”

“Baby, I’m always gonna be here for you. I mean it. Don’t be scared or nervous to talk about natural things with me.” He takes a breath. “Maybe some company will help.”

“Okay.” You whisper softly.

It's Jake, of course he would understand.

“I’m coming over. Hold tight.” He tells you before hanging up the phone.

You continue to lay down, scrolling mindlessly on your phone while you wait for Jake to come over. There’s no use in getting ready, he’s going to show up soon and you feel comfortable enough to be around him now that he knows what you’re going through.

Even though Jake only lives down the street from your place, it still takes him about 45 minutes until he arrives. You hear the tires pull onto the driveway and decide to send him a text.

7:26 p.m.

You: Key is under the mat. Don’t feel like getting up.

A few minutes later, you hear the door open and Jake’s voice announces his arrival.

“Honey?!”

“In here.” You sluggishly call out as footsteps grow closer to your room.

Your bedroom door swings open and Jake peers his head in. His eyes land on you, laying in bed.

“Hi, honey.” He softly smiles. He walks into your bedroom and you notice he's carrying multiple bags in hand. “You okay?”

“Hi Jakey.” You smile back at him, the only time you’ve smiled today. “Well, I kinda feel like shit. What’cha got there?”

“I would've gotten here sooner, except I made an essential pit stop on the way.” He tells you, dumping the bags on your bed.

“Awh, Jake, You didn't have to.”

“Let me take care of you.” He delicately runs his hand down your cheek, moving any hair out of your face. “There's that beautiful face.”

You begin to rummage through the bags together, seeing the various things he got for you.

“Well, I might’ve gone overboard.” He says as he pulls out a box of pads and a box of tampons. “I didn’t know which ones you preferred.”

“Thank you.” you nod. “That’s very thoughtful.”

“That’s not all.” He enthusiastically takes a bottle of Advil out of the bag and tosses it over to you. He then pulls out some chocolates and a box of herbal tea bags. “I can make this for you, you just let me know when you’d like it.”

“Thank you.” You graciously reach for a piece of chocolate and begin to munch on it. You immediately down the Advil in an attempt to get any sort of relief from the terrible cramps and the aching headache, amongst other symptoms.

“And, since you deserve it…” He reaches his hand into the second bag, and pulls out a bunch of body care items. “I got you a few bath bombs, a face mask, some body wash, and epsom salt. And look, this kind is specifically for periods.” He tells you, pointing to the package that reads ‘menstrual relief’.

You break out into a huge smile, nobody has ever done anything as sweet as this for you.

“Jake-” You sigh happily. “This is so sweet. Thank you.”

Even though your insides felt like they were at war with each other and all you wanted to do was bury yourself under a mountain of blankets for the next week, you couldn’t help but crack a smile. Jake always brought out the best in you.

“No need to thank me. I just want to see you happy.” He smiles and leans over to give you a hug.

He stands back up, and puts his hands on his hips while he thinks for a moment.

“Okay, so…” He begins. “You’re gonna stay here, and I’ll be right back.” He tells you before grabbing one of the bags off of your bed and walking out of your room.

You have no clue what he’s doing or where he’s going, so you begin to scroll mindlessly on your phone. You hear water begin to run in your bathroom. About 10 minutes later, Jake walks back into your bedroom.

“Where’d you go?” you question through a giggle.

“Come on. I’m gonna take good care of you.” He declared, helping you up out of bed.

“I can get up by myself.” you joked.

“I know you can, I just want to help.” He replied.

Feeling his strong arms wrapped around your waist while you went to stand was more than enough to send shivers down your spine.

“Okay, close your eyes and follow me.” He requests with a cheeky smile written across his face.

You sigh and close your eyes. He grabs your hand so he can easily guide you into the other room.

As he walks you across the hall, hand in hand, a relaxing aroma fills the air. You know you’ve entered the bathroom when you feel switch between the hallway's hardwood floors to the cold tile on your feet.

“Okay, ready?” He asks, squeezing your hand.

“Mhm.” You nod softly.

“Okay…open!” He announces.

You open your eyes to see the most relaxing bathroom set up ever. The lights are dimmed, there are burning candles on the countertop, your essential oil diffuser is pumping out lavender oil to help you relax, and there is a fully ready bubble bath awaiting you.

“I made you a bath.”

“Jake!” you gasp. “You did all of this? For me?”

“I sure did. You deserve it the most.” He lets go of your hand. “I’m sorry you’re going through so much right now.”

“It’s fine, Jake. It’s only my period. I get them every month.” You laugh, giving him an embrace. “This is the most thoughtful, sweetest thing anybody has ever done for me.”

“I know periods are monthly.” He laughs. “But if there is the slightest thing I can do for you during it, I will a hundred percent do it for you.”

“Thank you.” You grin, pulling out of the hug. “Stay the night?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He holds your forearms delicately and looks into your eyes. You could feel yourself getting lost in his deep brown eyes, and he gets lost in yours. After a few moments, you both snap back to reality.

He nervously giggles. “Oh! Don’t want the bath to get cold.”

You turn to face the bath and notice a tray next to your sink containing a face mask and one of the bath bombs he had just gotten for you. Jake sees that you notice the tray and carries it over to you.

“Almost forgot, you can use this face mask in the bath, if you want.” He kindly offered. “And I figured you’d want to put the bath bomb in yourself. Watch it fizz up..y’know..” He gives you a shy grin. He makes sure you’ve got everything you need to enjoy your bath time before he leaves you be.

After being able to decompress and clean yourself off in the warm and relaxing bath, you get out and wrap yourself in a fluffy towel that Jake had set aside for you. This was such a nice gesture from him, but it definitely wasn’t out of the norm for Jake. He always went out of his way to show his love, and this was no exception. Looking back, you had no idea why you were so nervous to tell him. You quickly dry yourself off and walk back to your room.

Back in your bedroom, you immediately notice your bed had been made with a set of freshly clean sheets. On top of your neatly made bed laid your most comfortable lounge clothes gracefully folded. Next to them were the boxes of pads and tampons that Jake had just bought for you. You quickly got dressed and wasted no time to make yourself comfortable. Jake was out in your living room, giving you privacy and space until you were decent.

“Darling, may I come in now?” He asks, knocking lightly on the door.

“Yes you may.” You reply, adjusting your shirt.

“How was the bath?” He inquires, laying down next to you.

“It was so nice. I feel so much better now.”

“I’m glad.” He chuckles.

“Thank you, really.” You say, turning to face him in bed. The smell of the clean sheets mixed with Jake’s musky cologne is more than enough to bring you peace.

“No need to thank me. I’m doing the bare minimum for you.”

“Wait, actually-”

“What do you need?” He immediately jumps up, ready to fulfill any of your requests.

“Could you bring me my heating pad?”

“Of course, honey.” He wastes no time and runs out of the room. He doesn’t want to leave you waiting.

“In the bathroom closet!” You exclaim, making sure he can hear you from wherever he is.

A few moments later, he saunters back into your room with it in hand. “Aha!” He plugs it in and hands it to you.

The rest of the night was spent with the two of you cuddling and watching some of your favorite comfort movies together. He even ordered take out from your favorite Chinese restaurant, per request.

That entire week he spent at your place, waiting on you hand and foot. He had you completely spoiled, but he knew you deserved it. Anything you needed, he jumped up at the first chance to get it for you.

[ilexdiapason]

@transfemoliorionsound ok i couldnt find it so im going to rewrite it for you:

the Oli TheOrionSound Would Be A Terrible Father AU

ok so the story begins way back on trollcraft a billion years ago, who's counting at this point, certainly not oli. more importantly it's about a dozen servers ago; oli makes a habit out of hopping from world to world whenever he gets bored of the last one, which is often.

more importantly, on trollcraft he was 21, young and stupid and willing to do stupid things like go out with beautiful women named angela who turn out to be more than a bit obsessed with chickens. (maybe she was half chicken herself? oli didn't stop to ask.) and they spent a wonderful night together, but then she ended up being crazy, so he dipped, and then there was all this business with the mini-mes that basically took his mind off the whole thing. he got bored, he bounced, he took a bit of a sabbatical sleeping on callum and lizzie's sofas before he settled into funcraft, all's well that ends well.

flash forward to empires smp.

oli has been making a tidy little career for himself as a bard, if you ignore the crippling debt! he's got a beach, he's got a tent, he's working on his new album, things are pretty good.

until.

one day there is a knock on his door.

well, he doesn't have a door. instead there is a woman yelling for him from outside his tent. this, quite rudely, wakes him up from his lovely nap.

the woman in question turns out to have a very familiar face. and so does the boy standing next to her.

it turns out that - whoopsie - your actions have consequences, and when oli thought it was all fun and games messing about with angela, she actually ended up pregnant.

enter tommy, who's fourteen, apparently. angela has been trying to find him to make him pay his child support for that amount of time, but oli's just so good at skipping town that she hadn't managed it till now. (oli doesn't ask how the kid is fourteen if trollcraft was only seven years ago - time dilation can get funky between worlds. joel and lizzie have been married about five different times, it's fine.)

except, obviously, oli's in enough debt as it is, he can't also pay child support.

so angela huffs, and shoves tommy into taking a step forward, and then walks away.

... obviously oli has no fucking clue what to do with a child. he's never been a dad and quite frankly he was never planning on it - but tommy is, uncomfortably, a lot like him, only he's about a quarter chicken, which he keeps referring to as making him Slightly Above Average.

he doesn't want to just leave a child alone in the middle of empires, though, so he does the only thing he can think to do and boats the boy directly down the coast to bring to sausage.

except sausage also doesn't know how to take care of an unexpected teenager, because "hermes is nine, oli" or whatever. so now they have to figure out what to do with this boy, and get him back where he belongs - or at least get him somewhere he belongs - before he manages to eat something poisonous, which he's clearly trying his hardest to do the second oli turns his back, jesus christ, was i really like this?

and THATS the au :D

[bumblingbabooshka]

I really wish Tuvok & Harry's relationship had been explored more. (The moments they have together are funny, they're both people who have more personality than others might think) Even if the writers would have rather choked on their own tongues than have two non-white characters on screen developing a relationship that didn't have to do with a white character - I can accommodate that to some extent. Their relationships to Janeway are interesting to think about! Harry is a Gold Standard Ensign who Janeway is shown to favor a lot. She outright states that she cares about him more deeply than she does the rest of the crew and views him almost symbolically as a ray of light and hope. A shining example of a bright-eyed (ever obedient) Starfleet officer who can do no wrong.

Thinking about this compared to her reaction to Tuvok going against her orders in 'Prime Factors'. She is again extremely surprised and uniquely hurt by this betrayal. She's upset with B'Elanna as well but then dismisses her and talks to Tuvok alone.

Again, she positions Tuvok as different from the rest of the crew and almost as a symbolic presence or a tool more than a person. That isn't to say I think she doesn't think of Harry or Tuvok as people but more about how having a working relationship as well as a personal one within the system they're in is difficult and blurs some strange lines. To Janeway, Harry & Tuvok are her friends and people she cares about/cares for but their obedience and usefulness to her is part of what makes them so valuable. She needs them to listen to her orders and put their own personal feelings aside if she's going to command as captain which is more difficult to do the closer you feel to somebody. (As captain you might feel less inclined to put them in danger or more inclined to give leeway. As an officer you might feel more inclined to speak up, be insubordinate, or less likely to challenge the captain when it is expected you do so.) I imagine that for Tuvok it's easier to deal with these boundaries and hard lines which might be difficult to walk for others. He's Vulcan for one, for another he's been in Starfleet and known Janeway for several decades and lastly, he just has a personality which seems to do well with rules and hard lines. He also seems to have a unique devotion to Janeway herself which we can see in episodes like 'Prime Factors' and 'Equinox' which goes further than the typical obligation to a captain. Also, in certain episodes you can see that Tuvok is used to being listened to by Janeway in a way that puts him above other crewmen. When Chakotay chooses not to listen to him in 'Twisted' he goes so far as to argue with him about it. It's interesting to compare Harry's Not Listening to Orders here to him doing something similar in 'Resolutions'. In 'Resolutions' it's against Tuvok and for the captain - though he's going against her explicit orders. For these reasons, his near mutiny is not treated as flagrant insubordination and instead more heartwarming by both the narrative and, most notably, Janeway herself. She doesn't have a harsh word to say against Tuvok or Harry in the end. I like that Harry's a passionate person. I like that he has trouble sitting still and accepting things if he thinks there's another less devastating road to take. I would say that besides Janeway herself he's the one most dogged about his attempts to get everyone home and he, like her, means everyone. Perhaps even more idealistically than she herself.

It can be argued that they're following two different philosophies, both centered on the captain. Tuvok is following Janeway's order that they not contact the Vidiians while Harry is following her determination to do everything possible to get every member of their crew back home. To Tuvok, Harry is grossly insubordinate and disobeying Janeway's order and to Harry, Tuvok's cruel obstinance goes against her spirit. Going back to their relationship, I think it would be interesting to explore how they both deal with feeling so close and so special to someone that they will always (as long as they're working together) be at a distance from. In some ways, their dynamic with Janeway will never be truly equal. How do you deal with a relationship that's stated by the captain herself to be special and which you view as important, different, but still necessitates you pushing your own individuality aside whenever it goes against her? In addition to all this it's notable that both Harry & Tuvok have the strongest connection to Family Back Home. Even Janeway doesn't bring up Mark as a driving force as often as Harry does his parents or the expansive concept of the crews' families back home. It's an interesting similarity between them, they're both so firmly tethered to the alpha quadrant. They're the ones who have people waiting eagerly for them - in the end even Janeway doesn't have Mark anymore but Harry's parents and Tuvok's family will always be waiting for them to return. Also, I just think that Harry and Tuvok have the potential to be so funny together and so unintentionally destructive. They could get away with so much shit that no one else could in a million years and they don't even have troublemaking intentions. So yeah, I wish their relationship had been explored more. Harry is who I perceive to be Tuvok's first friend on Voyager. Tom declares himself a friend of Tuvok's but there's no indication Tuvok reciprocates that, He and Neelix are more frenemies, He and Kes are more mentor-mentee, He and Janeway were friends before all this and with the others he's mostly shown to have a somewhat to outright tense professional dynamic. Harry's the first and only person I can remember at this moment who he seems to have a non-adversarial and fully reciprocal friendship with, though it's not focused on. Harry is the first person who's able to slip past Tuvok's barriers and form a friendship with him (-points to a sign labeled 'Janeway parallels, Harry for captain'-). They both have people in the alpha quadrant they miss terribly and who're missing them. They both doubtlessly feel that drive to return to them (unique on Voyager, to have people rather than just the general familiarity of home to return to). They both have special relationship with Janeway and they both have more to them than being obedient and good. They're funny, they have bite and pride and hidden passions. They've both had trouble with love. Scene where Harry and Tuvok are working on something late at night. There's a radio present, conspicuously, but it's off. Harry begins to complain about how he's missing sleep and subtly making digs about how he hasn't been promoted despite how much he does and Tuvok reprimands him. Harry is apologetic. Silence. Tuvok brings up however the captain's decision making can be difficult to parse at times... and then makes a subtle dig about how Chakotay as the first officer instead of him is an interesting choice. Harry grins and makes a comment about how Chakotay would have let him play music while they worked. Tuvok makes an exasperated face like 'this again?' and says it's exactly that sort of thing which makes Chakotay- and then Chakotay comes in and Harry has to struggle not to laugh as Tuvok Vulcanspeaks his way perfectly through not answering his 'What were you talking about?' question.

[transmascutena]

thinking about how akio sees his younger self in utena and wondering if there's any fondness there. doesn't change the horror of what he does to her obviously but i do wonder

[fiapple]

i'm getting towards the end of the skypeia arc, & i'd like to say just how much i adore the way the female strawhats have been treated.

just... every aspect of how the way their characters have been previously contextualized influences the story-line is treated with a masterful amount of consideration. we're given so many layers to both of them that enrich not only their characters specifically, but the arc, and the one piece world as a whole. without nami & robin having their specific skills, and their specific values, without those being built upon, the story would have come to a halt.

you could not have skypeia without nami & robin being who they are as individuals. not just because they never would've gotten there without nami, but also because the way these women think is itself foundational to the machinations of the arc as a whole.

to be totally upfront, if you think any other strawhats were more central to the skypeia arc than nami & robin were you are full-on fucking lying to yourself.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Been trying to write an analysis on Sasaki and the ending of Entrance Exam for days now and it just wasn't turning out so I deleted it... maybe another time when I can formulate a thought properly...

The only part I'll put here for now was the bit about my amusement with Dazai and Sasaki clearly near instantly realizing the other is a threat, which changed the way I read the scene of them chatting in the booth after she stayed the night. It probably boiled down to:

*sweetly smiling at each other* "oh this asshole has got to go"

Actually I went on an unorganized ramble in the tags so read that if you're interested in my Sasaki thoughts. Maybe I'll clean it up one day and make it proper.