#my poor neglected reading list...

[euphoria-looney]

Who Said Money Can't Buy Happiness?

Yan!Batfam x Neglected!Reader

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"Three things don't play about myself, my money, or my man. Mention one of them and best believe I'm gon' be at your head." 'Neva Play' by Megan Thee Stallion ft. RM

Divider Creds: @selysie , @lil-liaa and @bernardsbendystraws

This plot was inspired by @niwaart, @mimiiiiiiiiisstuff, and esp @coldilikeit

Oh crap, I'm still here.

Despite what manhwas tells you, being sent back in time is not fun. There is no technology, no social media, and I'm being literal here. I've regressed, and the social standards are so goofy. I shouldn't complain too much; I got a high title for reincarnating.

This sucked. I thought that was all a dream yesterday, this can't be happening to me.

Well, I have 500,000 gold coins, which makes me one of the richest people in the world.

Imagine this currency: copper, silver, and gold.

Since I've woken up, I might put the plan that I had in my mind into action.

Let's see if this is just like the movies.

I clapped my hands, and my magic started working. It was getting me ready, brushing my hair, changing my clothes, and applying skincare!

Why did I struggle so hard with the maids yesterday if it was this easy?! I guess that part was on me, but let's be honest, I did no wrong, so that mistake didn't happen.

A person knocked on my door, opening it to see a butler.

"Pardon me, princess, but I had been misguided by the other employees here and have arrived late, from today onwards, I'll be your butler."

I looked at him up and down, almost having a stroke, tell me why he looked like Aldira. My secretary? Though I did tell that biggie if I was going down, he'd come with me.

"No offense, you seem diligent at your job, but why am I not having a maid?"`

"All the maids were too afraid to become your personal assistant, and I took the position, I hope you don't mind that"

Damn, why are you so blunt?

"Your name?"

"Aldira's, Your Highness."

The way he carries himself and how he acts, on top of that, the name, why if I didn't know any better, he sounds just like my Aldira in my past life.

No, that is absurd.

Aldira's POV

For the longest time, I've had only one friend stick to me since we were at least teenagers.

My parents were strict and expected nothing but the best from me, from my grades to my activities and the future path that would await me.

My parents were at best middle class, and that I'm grateful for, don't get me wrong, but if I wasn't as intelligent as I was I would have never gone to Gotham Prep, got in with a scholarship, and excelled.

Unlike those dramatic shows or novels, I was not bullied for being the smartest in the school or being too poor to be one of them, instead, I would be what students admired and compared to.

Many people talked about me positively, and I carried an image that was something every parent would want.

But every time I checked the scoreboard, there was one person behind me in terms of rank, [name] Wayne. Though she went by [name] [last name] for some odd reason, one I would not figure out until later on.

The way we went was goofy, it wasn't cliche or anything. We had been invited to the same study group and my parents believed it would be a good opportunity to build connections with the upper class.

The study session turned boring quickly though and I was left doodling to myself while everyone was studying or asking me to help until I saw a pencil tap my journal making me lift my head to face her, [name].

"You read 'I Became the Male Lead's Adopted Daughter' too?"

That shocked me, how did she know that... is she a stalker?

Her eyes kind of pointed to my phone where the notification of a new chapter upload of the said manhwa popped up.

"Yeah, you read these types of stories too?"

"Sometimes."

And we hit it off from there.

"Can you believe some of the girls are saying we're dating?" I sipped on my black coffee as she drank her matcha latte.

"Wasn't it Parcilla, the girl who has a very weird crush on you?" She questioned me, making me nod.

"You biggie, that means I might be the next target to be bullied because of your fan club, nah, I'm too amazing to be the one bullied."

I slapped her upside the head from that comment.

Don't be fooled though, because behind her laid-back personality, she had a huge ego that could make anyone want to beat her up, she just never expresses it so she's easily likable and I enjoy that personality of hers.

Flash forward and we both have jobs and have monthly meet-ups.

I was busy typing away for my report on a report for my job as manager of a high-end company, of course, I couldn't complain. The salary was good, and I was able to save up for my family to get out of Gotham and head to another part of the world, they urged me to go but then I wouldn't be able to hang out with [name] which I know was a stupid reason but long-distance relationships were neither of our thing.

"Ugh, at this point these imbeciles won't give their report in time for our next meeting and we'll have to push it back to next week or something," I grumbled before hearing the timer go off indicating it was time to take off our face mask.

"Why don't you come and work for my company?" I heard her get up.

"Work for your company?" I repeated.

"Yeah, I mean it's non-profit, comes with many benefits including good insurance that fully works and not half-assed you, and it's triple your pay rate." My eyes widened at that preposterous claim.

"Besides, I need an assistant or secretary, it'd help me a lot." I went over to her and stole the tea that she made and took a sip.

"Fattie."

"IT'S TEA!"

"MY TEA THAT I MADE! YOU SAID THAT YOU DIDN'T WANT ANY!"

And I agreed and they're not lying when they say working together makes or breaks a relationship, as our friendship just grew even more.

Then one day on our hangouts she recommended a new novel to me.

"'I stole the loving family of the Villainess'? Now... the girl I know has no good stories at the moment, but what is this?"

"It's so bad that you want to continue reading the story. And I'm also a little biased since one of the characters has my name."

"No way."

"You want to bet?"

So I read it. And wow, she was not kidding. Also, how the hell did they incorporate her bearing a saintess into this?! As if it wasn't absurd enough...

So, while texting her what she wanted to eat while heading to our shared apartment, an out-of-control truck hit me and before I knew it I was in the story.

Talk about cliche and I arrived at the scene when [name] would shove Serena off but [name] was acting out of character making up some new dialogue, great, it's an even bigger cliche, someone reincarnates into the Villainess, bet she's going to end up forgiving everyone that was rude to her though.

Typical.

After the party and everything, Alfred, our head butler, asked us which one of the maids would volunteer to be Princess [name]'s new assistant. Since no one was going for it, I applied. I mean, the pay rate was great, and I've done my fair share in the retail industry, I know how to deal with goofy entitled customers.

So, why does she seem so familiar? I can't put my finger on it.

What if that's my [name] from my other life?

No, that's absurd and too fictional to work.

Heading to the dining room with my butler close behind, I eventually arrived.

"You're finally here big sister!" Serena's voice interrupted the wholesome family in front of me. Seems everyone had their fill already.

"You're late. Again, how disappointing." Palmola's voice was a sharp knife cutting through the silence that had developed.

"Well, I won't ruin your moods for too long, I have an appointment that I can't miss, so I'll just take this." I whisked away my breakfast and called for my new assistants to prepare a carriage for me.

"And where exactly?" Bruce demanded.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know you cared about where I go and return from." I scrunch my face before heading off.

"I am your father [name]."

"Your majesty, the only people in this room who are talking are the Emperor and a princess, not father and daughter."

Aldira opened the carriage door, allowing me to step in before going in himself.

"May I know where you're headed today, Your Highness?" The coachman asked.

"The mine at WestFord."

"The mine that has been empty for years? Why, my lady, why would you ever need to go there?

"Exploring."

I'm taking a gamble on this and meeting John Constantine before purchasing it.

I sent him a letter before heading to bed last night and got a reply.  

'It would be an honor to sell this cavern to you, Your Highness.

Sincerely,

Duke Constantine.

Well, it was more detailed than that but that's the premise of what he wrote back.

Stepping off the carriage I arrived at the cave. I noticed the Duke.

"Your Highness, how are you doing this fine morning?" He reached out a hand for me to shake.

I took it, his grip firm before I pulled away as did he.

"No need for small talk, it seems this cave would be fine."

"Your Highness, don't you think you're being too rash?! We haven't looked yet!" Aldira came in front of my face frantically.

"I have a hunch. But do me the honor of looking around before I seal the contract."

He didn't need to hear another word before rushing in, before coming out and began making calculations with his magic.

"At best this cave should settle for 45,000 gold, right Duke Constantine?"

"Indeed, young man, Your Highness, would you mind that price?" He asked me before I nodded.

Pulling out a contract, we both read the terms and conditions before signing our names, making our names and the contract glow, making the contract finalized with no loopholes and in no way to break it unless both parties agree.

"What powerful magic you have, unlike the rumors."

 I shrugged, fanning myself, “There are things many people didn’t know about me, but what does it matter? Why should the public know anything about me?” I questioned the Duke.

He chuckled to himself before shaking his head.

“No, not at all, Your Highness, everyone has things they’d like to keep to themselves after all. May I inquire if you will attend today’s coming-of-age celebration at the Acentro Twins?” The last event we went to that became a topic that’s still being talked about most times [P!name] would stay home while the rest of her family went, worsening her reputation.

Which doesn’t make sense, shouldn’t that make it better?

This world is so hateful of my girl.

“Indeed, it would only make sense to. Well, if that’s all I should be off, I have no time to waste, after all a lady needs her time to get ready.” I walked back to the carriage, and Aldira followed me close behind.

The Marquis family, the Acentro. Known for being great in the business world, and even better for their swordsmanship abilities. Recently, the daughter of their house decided to go against society's customs and do archery. But that got overshadowed by the canceling of my engagement.

She and her brother are both very cunning and intelligent, from what I heard, so their coming-of-age ceremony will be huge, last I checked. It would be good if I made relations with them. 

“Aldira, you'll be attending the ceremony with me, no?” 

He looked away from the windows and nodded, “Yes, your highness.”

I just can’t shake the feeling that he’s from another world like me, my Aldira.

“Aldira, you seem to know a lot about business, where do you come from?”

This seemed to catch him off guard as he didn’t respond right away like he usually does.

“Somewhere far, is all. One that is rather advanced but I think it’s gone now.”

“Have you ever heard of someone named ‘Batman’? Silly, right? But that weird name just came to me.”

Batman, Gotham’s vigilante superhero. My good-for-nothing father slowly started acknowledging me after I left the manor. It’s quite uncanny how, in both lives, I still have him as my father, though that could be said for my entire family in this world except my Palmola and Serena.

That made him shocked, eyes widening, looking into mine, like he was thinking over something.

“Are you [name] [last name], Your Highness?”

“Depends, will you still make me coffee in the morning if I confirm that I am, my dear secretary.” 

At that, he practically lunged at me, wrapping his hands around my waist, his head laying on my lap, this would be a terrible position to be in. I patted his head and was also relieved about the revelation, but it was kind of obvious.

“Holy crap, this was not a cliche I expected.” He pulled away, holding onto my shoulders.

“Tell me about it, do you think there are other reincarnations in this world?” He shook his head.

“My system tells me that I’ve located the only other reincarnation in this world, I knew it was you, I just didn’t know it was my [name].” 

“System?” I asked.

“Yeah, did you not get one, I have one that shows my stats and has a quest for me to do.” This is too many story plots for me to handle.

“No, this is crazy, anyway of that system getting us home, though?” Aldira shook his head at that, making me slouch in my seat. 

I scoffed, “This has been one crazy day that I did not expect.”

“Your Highness, we have made it home.” I heard the coachman announce. Aldira helped me down. Back in this miserable place, right after I left it in my previous life. Thoughts and prayers in the chat guys. 

I decided to take a fat nap, setting an alarm before waking up to this monstrosity.

Maids running around like there was a killer on their backs, and were getting outfits and attire ready, crazy how I got no help at all though. By the time I got myself ready and was finishing the touch-ups on Aldria’s, I spotted my family in a family set of clothes all matching.

It was expected though so nothing I should worry about. 

“Wouldn’t this just cause more scandals for you [name]? We’re matching right after your broken engagement.” Aldira scolded me but didn’t back away from receiving my help.

“Don’t kill the mood, Al, just look at how cute we are matching.”

He could only sigh, massaging his forehead, but behind that was a small smile.

What could interrupt this wholesome moment, how about the buffoons behind me?

"Don't you think you've done enough damage to the family, imagine? First the engagement and now your outfit? Matching with a common servant?" Damian scoffed.

"It's called, My entire family decided to choose an outfit and left their 4th princess out of it, but still included the peasant girl. Or did I leave the part where I had a matching outfit?"

"We didn't- I just- You shouldn't speak to your little brother that way, young lady, have some etiquette.'' Palmola inquired.

"Right. My brother."

Barbara coughed into her fist.

"Well, we'd like to inform you that Serena might just be attacked riding alone so she'll have to retake your spot.

"That's fine, I wasn't planning on going in a carriage anyway, too bumpy for my taste, and wouldn't want to leave Aldira alone." I pinned our matching jewelry on his suit and brushed dirt away from his outfit.

"Anything else?" I turned to face them. Some looked hesitant but Palmola took the lead and left. Walking with grace to the carriage.

"How do you feel about teleportation? I'm not one to be late to an event."

"Would love to try it, die wanting to try it, let's do it." Aldira bluntly stated.

"If we die, you can't blame me."

"On second thought-," I snatched his hand before we got teleported.

Arriving at the front of the line, I fixed my outfit.

"That was not bad, great even." No side effects, why yes, magic truly is a blessing phenomenon. Aldira also looked fine, so it seemed I managed this spell just fine, but is anyone surprised? It's me, after all.

The guard standing there nearly jumped out of his boots and bowed lowly. "Welcome, Your Highness! Ehem, Entering her Highness, Princess [name] Wayne!"

"You see that, Al? Even in this life, I'm too important and pretty to ignore."He deadpanned at me.

"That's because you're a very, and I mean very controversial princess. In a bad way. Remember how the original princess got executed because she was rude to the peasant MC?"

"That's why I hated the novel so much, duh. I still can't believe we're stuck here," I was exasperated.

The murmurs that were once stuck in regular conversations go into gossip, between the fact that I arrived without my family once again, and that my attendant wasn't a female but rather male.

I arrived before the twins and got my gift from my special storage.

For Artemis, a bow and arrows, and Apollo, a lyre.

"What an incompetent girl! The gifts are switched." A woman scoffed

"A woman holding a bow, please, what a mockery." A man grumbled.

The twins examined the gifts before looking back up at me.

"A bow?" Artemis grinned at me with a raised eyebrow.

"And a lyre?" Apollo added.

"Indeed, I hope you guys enjoy it, I picked it based on what I believed would suit you guys." I curtsied before going down to the ballroom.

"They play a huge part in the novel in the business industry, not only that, Artemis is known for being the best huntress of the time and years later, with Apollo also being skilled in the music industry and known for understanding how to use a bow and arrow to.

Why, it'd be a shame if we let this opportunity slide to not get on their good side and eventually have them cooperate with us, my dear Aldira." Aldira only gave me a plate of food and started making one for himself.

"Yes, while you're acting like a mastermind over there, honey, how about we eat food before I pass out from the amount of stress I've accumulated." I took his and my plate and put it away on our separate table.

"Can't, dancing in a few moments, can't throw up on the dance floor, and you, being the lucky guy of the night, are joining me."

"We didn't know how to dance back at our high school dance." I flicked my hair back and accidentally hit him in the face.

He coughed out some of the hair from his mouth and squinted at me.

"Our 'dances' that we did were scandalous for their times and even more if we do it here." He's so dramatic.

"Announcing the Waynes, the moonlight of the kingdom!" that door entrance guy announced.

"Look it's Serena, her outfit makes her look so different but she fits right in!"

"I want that outfit too! So chic and cute!"

"She might as well be the fourth princess rather than-"

"Shh!"

Aldira takes another bite of his food and can't help but grit his teeth. This world was just like the last one he was in, how he was still mad when the oldies from their modern time switched their tone on you once you built your multi-billion company on your own.

Before his attention was snatched away by you again, like always uncaring, which was one of the reasons he had admired you, not only because you were his friend.

"That's what makes it fun, Al, don't be a party pooper." Just then the orchestra started, I dragged him away from the food he just got for us and reached the dance floor.

It was just slow steps, one hand on his shoulder and the other on his arm.

"Look, isn't that her?"

"Dancing with... a butler."

"Do you think..."

The chorus soon came along and I was twirled a few times by 

Aldira, before gliding in between his legs and making a swift recovery, twirled some more before he dipped me to the ground, our faces close, our bodies closer to each other and the song finished.

(Dance scene summed up, creds to the idea: @randomlyappearingartist)

"See, I told you this was fun." He could only sweatdrop and sigh before pulling the both of us up and escorting us back to the food.

"D-Did you see that?"

"Didn't she just divorce Prince Connor?"

"You don't think..."

"What other reason, and the look she gave that servant."

"There's no mistaking it."

I finished my food and stretched out of  tiredness, "Man, I wonder what got this event in a stir..." I mumbled.

"We have to schedule a meeting with the twins soon, by the way, I have to get them into my business if I want it to blossom." Aldira nodded before telling me that he was off to get more food.

"Well, I'm going to the balcony, I was feeling claustrophobic with the amount of people crowding the room.

I was on the balcony waiting for Aldira to come back soon after grabbing another plate of food. Behind me was an approaching Grand Duke of the North with signature black hair and red eyes. His outfit's color base was black with red being the secondary base, gold details that showed off the title and golden buttons, a fur coat surrounding his neck, and the cape down to his heel.

Grand Duke Isnwalt, Onyx Isnwalt. He played a major influence on the world, both feared and respected, but didn’t become a main lead but rather just an important figure in the world. I think Serena interacted with him once but her love interest got jealous and dragged her away from him, and he didn’t think much of the interaction other than that it was weird.

“What do I owe the pleasure of meeting the Grand Duke of the North, Sir Isnwalt?” I turned to him and curtsied. 

“Right now you and that butler of yours are the talk of the ball, with your dance moves from earlier, surely you would know why I approached you.” He swirled his champagne in his glass, and a deep chuckle accompanied his words.

“Why I wouldn’t say the dance was all that interesting.” I tilted my head back at him. He put his glass down on the balcony ledge and focused his attention back on me, both of us just staring back at each other before he finally spoke.

“That butler of yours… he’s interesting…” I had to turn away and let out a little stifled laugh. Never saw that coming.

I heaved a deep breath in before turning back to him.

“I-is that so?” I pinched my thigh from laughing again.

“Indeed, not like any other person I’ve ever met, would you mind letting me meet him?” Maybe it’s the way he’s so straightforward about it, or maybe it’s because he’s so serious about it, but it’s making me laugh. But I can’t- I have to hold it in.

Be who you are for your pride~

“I’ll have to think on that, Grand Duke Onyx” I spread my fan out placing it in front of my face. “For you see my butler is very important to me and we have so little time to be separate from each other as he’s such a hardworking servant to me.”

Just then, with great timing, I would say Aldira's showed up, and the Grand Duke approached him, holding his hands and giving the kiss to the tip of his fingers before staring at him.

I took a sip of my champagne, basking in the romance.

"Oh..." Aldira looked shocked before quickly pulling away. He awkwardly laughed before pulling away.

"What the hell.." Aldira scrunched up, making Onyx chuckle in a deep tone, and, what hold on is that blush coating his cheeks?

"You're not like anyone I've ever met before, you're... different, (fine shyt) darling. And you smell rather... sweet."

Wait hold on...? Smell? I feel like I'm forgetting a huge thing about this novel.

Aldira shivered from hugging himself and turned to look at me for help, making me step in.

"Aldira, This is Grand Duke, Onyx Isnwalt. An influential personal worldwide who has contributed very much to our kingdom, and has been labeled the lady and gentleman killer."

He was jaw dropped before whispering in my ear.

"Man idgaf about who he is, I'm getting harassed."

I pulled out my fan, which was my new favorite thing to do now, and whispered back.

"I understand and was going to ask for business cooperation and use you as a guinea pig, but we don't have to... unless..."

Onyx coughed into his fist, making both our attention go to him.

"Dear..."

Aldira hesitated before replying. "Aldira..."

"Aldira," He said slowly before smirking to himself.

"May I have the honor of inviting you to dinner with me? Tomorrow at the Brits Restaurant, anytime you'd like.

"Look, I appreciate the gesture-"

"50 gold as compensation for your troubles"

Aldira hesitates but his greed overcomes his thoughts and he accepts.

I felt like I was interrupting something until Aldira turned around and tugged on my sleeve. "Can we go now?" I smiled and nodded before going to the break room.

"So, how was that?" He deadpanned at me.

"Not fun." He laid his head on my shoulder but then we saw a woman with pink hair looking lost.

I approached her, making Aldira's sag down.

"Are you lost, miss..." 

“Oh! Starfire, Princess of Tamaran.” I curtsied that she was Dick’s fiance.

“Prince Richard's fiance.” I stood up and looked at her.

“You know him?”

“I am a citizen of Wayne's Kingdom.” I played it off.

“My escort and I could take you to him.” Aldira stood up and walked next to me.

“We can?” I elbowed his stomach.

“Yes, we can.”

As we made it forward, you could see the picture-perfect family, a girl in the center of their attention laughing, with a cute little giggle.

“Ehem” I coughed into my fist.

“[N-name] I wasn’t-” Serena started… I think she has the wrong impression on why I’m here.

“Not you, you” I directed my attention to Dick

“Your fiance has been waiting for you, big brother.” 

“Big brother? But he only has four? And if you're not the three I've already met you must be the youngest... however, you’re not the blonde girl with blue eyes." Starfire asked, though not in a mocking way but geniuen curiosity.

This was a major plot point in the future that [name] goes batshit crazy on.

However, I could feel my eye twitching, it's laughable how they treated her despite her position it's almost like they forgot who decided to shoot the load creating her, and if weren't for the fact she was got embarrassed everyday it's the fact that those incompetent nincompoop contributed maybe it's the fact that they favored a peasant over her.

It's hard, not to feel a little annoyed by the display, almost enough to chuck glass on the ground and shove it down their throat till you shred their voice box.

...

But I could never do that, I'm too nice, too kind.

Some were waiting for the drama to unfold, what's next would [name] grab Serena's hair then leaving one of her family members to take Serena side like always, throw a tantrum, or something most.

Others were excited to gossip about the scandal of this entire event.

Most were watching with interest.

Then [name] made a move, slowly turning around and slightly titling her head.

“What did you just say?” [name] directed her attention to Starfire.

Most were sweating, some were ready for the inevitable…

Anyway, this is more of a filler chap. Then anything but hey we got some new characters! Might make something that has face claims for my ocs, idk.

Did you like? 😏

Spring Break has arrived so guess who will be working their booty off (probably).

Anyway taglist. Hopefully I didn't forget or mispell anyone.

Also, send in a request in stuff and hopefully I get to them!

@kittzu @charlenexoxo1 @bat1212 @silverklaus @sillysealsies @roseytheteacup @iliveinyourwallsrat @cozmie @tomoyaki @cynniee @jsprien213 @kore-of-the-underworld @anonymoushehehehe @ninihrtss @devia @fanficloverlol @masterradd-28 @aigenarated @welpthisisboring @h-ib @diemdurantia @alishii @random4137 @totired0-0 @00hellohello00 @sh4rk-k1d @shadowytravelerlover @r-u-s-s-i-a-h @paperhermits @ocean-mochi @simpingpandas @crazycaoticsimp @candlejuice @twismare @itsberrydreemurstuff @delias-stuff @shycreatorreview @randomlyappearingartist @not-aya @c4xcocoa @midnightgrimoire @time-shardz @narcisolefay1 @ryuushou @animerules898

[beloveds-embrace]

So, someone may have already thought about this, but after reading the comments from other folks in the neglected!aus of the Dukedom, I'm looking for a sliver of hope for poor Duchess.

What if there is a newly-hired maid who actually gives a shit about Duchess's well-being, but also not one to take bs? When she notices the duchess being treated unfair, she's quick to ask the rest of the staff. They're no help, and John just turns a blind eye to it. "If you're so worried, then why don't you take care of her yourself?" says half-heartedly.

Challenge accepted (with the utmost diligence).

Because regardless of how things are, she's not gonna let The Lady of The House wither and waste away. Anything Duchess needs, Sweet Maid will be the one to take care of it, not accepting any help or pity from anyone. Plus, less problems means less rumors.

The manor was cold.

Not in the way that stone and drafty halls made a place cold, but in the way that loneliness settled into the bones of a home, making it hollow. You felt it in every ignored whisper of your name, in the meals left at your door but never shared, in the glances that once lingered but now flickered away, as if your presence was something to be endured rather than cherished.

You had learned to sit in that silence, to let the days pass with only the ticking of the grand clock to keep you company. No one seemed to mind that the Duchess of the house was wilting. Not the servants who barely acknowledged you, not the man who had vowed to be your partner in all things.

So it was a surprise when a sharp knock interrupted the monotony of your existence.

You barely had the energy to respond. “Enter.”

The door swung open, and in stepped a young woman dressed in the crisp uniform of the household staff. But unlike the others, she did not hesitate in the doorway, did not cast you a wary glance before hurrying off to complete some other, more important task- because you were at the bottom of the list of importance to them.

No- this one marched inside with purpose, hands on her hips, bright eyes scanning the room like a general surveying a battlefield.

“Oh, absolutely not!”

You blinked, fully looking at her. “I beg your pardon?”

The maid- Shirin, you would later learn- looked positively appalled, her gaze darting between the untouched vanity, the dust gathering in the corners, the discarded meal trays with barely a dent in them.

“This is unacceptable!” she declared.

You almost laughed. You had never heard one of the staff speak so freely before, but you didn’t mind. At least she was speaking to you.

Instead, you tilted your head, studying her. “And you are?”

Shirin straightened, her expression softening when her eyes met yours. “Shirin, Your Grace. I’ve just been hired, and let me tell you, I do not approve of how they’ve been treating you.”

Your lips parted, but before you could respond, she was already moving- striding toward the heavy curtains and yanking them open, letting sunlight pour into the dim room.

“Goodness, no wonder you look so sick! They’ve been keeping you in the dark like some tragic ghost.”

You winced at the sudden brightness, but you found yourself watching, entranced, as Shirin moved with swift efficiency. She gathered the abandoned trays and muttered under her breath about the nerve of leaving food for a Duchess like she’s a stray cat, shaking her head in obvious disapproval.

You frowned. “Why does it matter to you?”

Shirin turned, her brows furrowing in genuine confusion. “Because you’re you!” she said, as if that should be obvious.

You didn’t know how to respond to that.

With a huff, Shirin clapped her hands together. “Alright! First things first, we’re getting you properly bathed, dressed, and fed. No more arguments.”

You raised a brow. “I haven’t argued.”

“Oh, you will,” she said knowingly, already heading toward the bathing chamber. “But I’m terribly stubborn, and I always win, my lady.”

For the first time in ages, you felt something unfamiliar flutter in your chest. Something warm. And you weren’t quite sure what to do with it.

Within minutes, Shirin had the bath drawn- hot water steaming as she added fragrant oils with a hum. She returned to your bedside, hands on her hips.

“Well?”

You hesitated. You didn’t even know why- and yet tou hesitated.

She softened, stepping closer. “Your Grace,” she said gently. “You deserve to be taken care of.”

Something in you cracked, and without a word, you let her help you to the bath.

She was kind but firm, helping you undress without making you feel small, washing your hair with a gentleness that made your throat tighten. When you were clean and wrapped in the softest robe, she helped you to a chair before the vanity, brushing creams onto your face with careful strokes.

“See?” she murmured. “Not so bad, my lady.”

You let out a breath you hadn’t realized you’d been holding. “No,” you admitted. “Not bad at all.”

Shirin, and you found yourself helpless against the warmth of it. She squealed when she noticed your own smile.

By the time you were settled in fresh clothes, Shirin had already changed the linens, aired out the room, and brought in a meal that smelled heavenly. The warmth of the plate alone almost made you tear up.

She cut the food into small bites- not in a condescending way, but in a way that said she simply wanted to make things easier for you.

You took a tentative bite, and Shirin lit up.

“Oh, thank the stars, you’re eating!” she cheered.

You gave her a look, but there was no real heat behind it.

“I always win, my lady. I told you so!” She reminded you with a wink.

And for once, you didn’t mind losing.

Meanwhile, the rest of the staff had noticed Shirin’s warpath.

She was sweet with you- warm, chatty, the very definition of a doting maid. But with them?

“Oh, no no no,” she had scolded Johnny that morning. “You expect the Duchess to eat this?” She had snatched the meal away with a huff, muttering about standards before personally overseeing a proper one.

And when she had cornered John, her expression turning so positively icy, she hadn’t even pretended to be intimidated.

“If you’re so worried, then why don’t you take care of her yourself?” he had muttered, dismissive, too focused on his work to care about a singular maid taking pity on you.

Shirin had only grinned. Fine. She will take the very best care of you!

[murdockparker]

Of the Same Mind

Benedict Bridgerton x Reader

Summary: A mutual distaste in a certain author—should he even have the grace to be called that—leads to an unexpected meeting.

Word Count: 1.9k

Warnings: mentions of drinking/alcohol, pregnancy, fluff, time skip

A/N: a cute lil request! made me actually read a little Byron myself to get the gist! and it wasn't that terrible I'm so sorry to disappoint

Dull. 

Everything was dull. What was supposed to be the social event of the season was shortened due to poor weather—an outdoors event of sorts, it seemed, Benedict really didn’t pay his mother much attention when she explained the whole ordeal. Thus, half of the ton was crammed into Lord Whitehill’s home instead of his luscious grounds, all due to the pouring rain. Most conversation was boring, most of the ladies were whining about the rain, the men whining about their whining wives and daughters. 

At least the drinks were good. 

“…seriously think that fodder is worth your breath?”

Benedict’s ears perked up, focusing on a conversation that was decidedly not about the current weather. A breath of fresh air. 

“I-I did not mean to insult you, miss,” a young gentleman sputtered, his face rosy red. “I only meant to indulge you in poetry of the highest regard—” 

“If that was your intention, you would have chosen from a finer list of poets. Byron?” The lady nearly laughed out loud. “Byron is the bottom of the barrel, as it were, so your intention was ill-placed.”

“Byron is a well-regarded poet—”

“By who? Chamber pots?” 

Benedict nearly spat out his drink. The action alone brought the attention of the arguing couple to him—both sets of eyes trained on the tall Bridgerton at once. “Oh,” he fake coughed, “it seems the drink went down the wrong way, please, forgive me.”

The man—who Benedict now recognized as Lord Whitehill’s son—scoffed. “Bridgerton. You are well versed in the arts, are you not?”

Benedict nodded. “I dabble.”

“Would you please explain to Miss (Y/L/N) that Byron is a novel poet,” Mr. Whitehill asked, “and that she should be flattered I recited poetry for her, regardless of the poet?”

Miss (Y/L/N). So that was the lady’s name. 

“But that would be lying, Whitehill,” Benedict gasped, pressing a hand to his chest. “And I am ever a gentleman, raised to never lie, especially to a fine lady such as Miss (Y/L/N).”

She smiled at that. 

“You do not agree?”

“Oh I certainly agree with Miss (Y/L/N),” Benedict said quickly, setting his glass down. “Byron is a mockery to the art—meaningless words and jaunty titles, why, I tried to read his latest and it put me right to sleep.”

“I fear I had the same reaction,” Miss (Y/L/N) said, turning to Benedict in earnest. “Right before I decided to throw it to the flames.”

They both laughed.

“Imbeciles, the both of you,” Mr. Whitehill said, pushing past the newly acquainted pair. “Keep insulting me like that and I’ll have my father throw the both of you out into the storm.”

“Mr. Whitehill,” Miss (Y/L/N) said softly, her eyes melting into puddles of apology. “I fear we were not insulting you, but rather your taste in poets. I also fear there is a stark difference in that, for if I were to insult you, I’d make a more fitting jab, more educated in that regard.”

The shorter gentleman stormed off, steam nearly pouring from his ears. Benedict laughed.

“I must say, Miss (Y/L/N),” Benedict leaned down. “You have quite the sharp tongue.”

“I am known to be rather well spoken,” she beamed, standing a little straighter. “Perhaps it is my taste in literature?”

“For that, I believe we are in agreement,” Benedict said, grabbing a fresh glass from the table beside him. “May I offer the lady a beverage?”

“Only if you decide to share whatever’s in that pocket of yours,” she pointed to his chest. Benedict’s ears went pink. “Do not think I did not see you pour an added flavoring into the lemonade—it seems impolite that you would neglect to share.”

“It would be impolite,” Benedict said, carefully pulling his flask out of his coat. “I am surprised you saw that, though, given the crowded room.”

“You are a tall man, Mr. Bridgerton,” she said, taking the glass from his hand. Benedict poured a healthy amount of clear liquor into her cup before adding the rest to his own. “I would have found it hard to ignore you.”

“Your first season? I presume?”

“Technically,” she said, looking up into his blue eyes. “My family, we just moved to Mayfair. My father came into some money and relocated us here this year, my brother is set to study at Eton in the fall.”

“And you?”

“I am now expected to marry a rich and eligible bachelor,” she laughed into her glass. “Which I really have no problem doing, save for the fact that gentleman is nothing like Mr. Whitehill.”

“Mr. Whitehill is rather rich,” Benedict smirked. “Would that not placate you?”

“And listen to him dribble about Byron? Perish that thought,” she said. “When I do marry, I expect my husband to be of the same mind, a similar taste in the arts.”

“You know,” Benedict nearly whispered, “that is an admirable thought. But how will you find this man?”

She looked him up and down, quickly and all at once, returning to drink from her glass.

“I suppose I will know when I find him,” she smirked.

Benedict smiled back. “Well, please let me know when you do, I feel rather invested in your prospects.”

“You will be the first to know, I assure you,” Miss (Y/L/N) said, nodding her head. “But, if I may be so bold, if you are not currently preoccupied, would you care to further our discussion on Byron? It is hard to find someone who agrees with such a… contrasting opinion of the poet.”

“Why, Miss (Y/L/N),” Benedict finished his glass, offering his arm, “I was afraid you’d never ask.”

—

The gardens on the property were lovely, so lush and full of life. She made good on her promise to keep them well maintained, only keeping the finest blooms and plants in their care. It was always the perfect place to spend time on days like today, sunny, a gentle breeze. 

They had given the governess a day off, her mother had fallen ill, it was the least the Bridgertons could do for her.

“Mother!” 

The lady looked up from her book, eyes meeting with her eldest daughter. Blue eyes, just like her father.

“Yes, darling?”

“Might I go inside to grab other books? Aunt Eloise recently sent some to Father and I want to read them.”

The lady gave her daughter a trying look. “Do you not think they may be above your comprehension level, my love? They were intended for your father, after all.”

“No need,” a looming voice bellowed. “I have them right here.” 

She didn’t need to look up to know who it belonged to. “Benedict, I thought you were spending time in the studio this afternoon.”

“And miss spending time with my darling wife and children?” Benedict grinned, the crooked way she fell in love with. “That seems foolish on my part.”

“Father!” Their eldest exclaimed, running over to the tallest Bridgerton. “You brought the books?”

“Indeed,” Benedict nodded, handing the parcel off to his daughter. “Aunt Eloise thought we may have better use of these than her and Phillip do.”

Their daughter lit up with excitement—ever the reader, she was. It took a village to keep their library stocked with appropriate books for her age, but she was quickly out-reading her entire family’s collection. “Thank you, Father!”

“Well,” Benedict said modestly, “you must write to your Aunt Eloise and thank her, I had little to do with such a gift.”

“What about me, papa?” 

Their son, only a few years younger than their daughter came bounding up past his escaping sister, clearly having been playing in the mud. “Do I have any gifts from auntie?”

(Y/N) opened her arms. “Not this time, sweetheart, but come here, let mama wipe that dirt off of your nose—” 

“No!” He exclaimed, turning from his mother. “Dirt makes me ruggable—like Uncle Colin!”

“Rugged,” Benedict corrected gently. “And, no, dirt makes you dirty. You need to stop spending so much time with Colin…”

“Once baby brother is here I will,” their son nodded, putting both hands on his hips, looking down at his sitting mother.

“Oh darling,” (Y/N) said, trying to raise to her feet. Benedict quickly offered his hands, pulling her up. “Baby will not be here for a few more months.”

“Then more time with Uncle Colin!”

Benedict and (Y/N) sighed, watching their adventurous son run back to the mud. “We must write Colin, tell him of the monster he has created.”

“Our eldest is such an easygoing flower,” Benedict said, noting how she was carefully skimming through the various books on her lap. “Our son tests our patience.”

“And how do you think this one will be?” (Y/N) asked, placing his hand on her swelling stomach. She only had two or so more months until the delivery, if she had been correct on the conception. The latest Bridgerton wedding seemed to be the culprit, stolen kisses and a romantic rendezvous to the greenhouse away from the party—it was a perfect recipe for baby number three. “Calm and collected? Devilish and adventurous?”

“I pray they are just like their mother,” Benedict rubbed her belly affectionately. “And perhaps a bit more behaved than their brother… I suppose I should also write my mother an apology.”

“Whatever for?”

“I reckon my brothers and I acted much like our son,” Benedict said sheepishly. “Acting like Bridgerton boys, I am afraid.”

“As if that is the only explanation,” she giggled, leaning into his side. “But I am sure your mother would appreciate such a gesture. Perhaps you should send her a bouquet from our garden, too?”

“An excellent idea, my love,” Benedict said, pressing a kiss to her temple. “What a brilliant mind you have.”

“Father, Mother!” Their daughter called out, waving them towards her. “Aunt Eloise sent a book by an author I have never heard of before.”

“Oh?” Benedict quirked his brow, walking with his wife over to her. “And what author may that be?”

“A Lord Byron,” she said, showing the book with a deep brown cover to her parents. Benedict scooped the tome quickly from his daughter’s grasp, holding it close to his chest.

“And you shall never read such filth,” Benedict said seriously.

“Oh Benedict,” (Y/N) laughed. “Perhaps we should allow our daughter to expand her mind—come to her own conclusions on the matter? Surely Aunt Eloise meant the gift in kind.”

“Aunt Eloise clearly meant to send it as a cruel prank,” Benedict corrected.

“What is so wrong with that author, Father?”

“A shorter conversation would be what is not wrong with this author,” Benedict said, turning to call his son. The little boy ran over to his father’s side, ever eager. “Take this and bury it, preferably far away from here.” His wife could not stop her laughter, watching their son hurriedly run over to the new rose bushes, making good work at digging a deep enough hole for the book. “You,” Benedict pointed at the girl, “are forbidden to read anything written by that lowly man.”

“Oh Benedict,” (Y/N) admonished, trying hard to stop her laughter, “forbidding her from reading seems silly—”

“Are we not of the same mind on Byron?” Benedict asked. “I rather think that is how we met, is it not, dearest wife?”

She pursed her lips, fighting a smile. “We are.”

“Besides,” Benedict stood a little straighter, “the roses could use a bit more sustenance.”

She could only roll her eyes.

[willofthequill]

Shining Starlet

Hot off the press, a new filthy smut-tastic one shot of my beloved Kyojuro Rengoku!

If you prefer to read on AO3 please click here!

Summary: Your husband, Kyojuro, is about to leave for several days for a teacher's workshop. But before he leaves, he has one little thing he needs to do so you both will be able to survive the separation.

WC: 2000+

CW: MDNI, SMUT, Fem reader, established relationship, PURE SMUT, making a sex tape, vaginal fingering, penis in vagina sex, some dom/sub, light choking, creampie - for the full list of CW please check the AO3 link.

“How many days will you be gone again?” you pouted as you stood at the sink, drinking an ice cold beer.

“Four days,” Kyojuro answered from where he sat at his desk, eyes focused on the laptop screen in front of him. “The workshop starts the morning after we land and we leave to come back in the evening on the day it wraps up.”

“I’m gonna be lonely,” you whined playfully. You knew you would be fine but you were still going to miss your husband. 

“My poor wife,” he smirked. “So neglected.”

“What are you doing?” you asked as you finished the beer and tossed the can in the trash.

“Finishing up putting in grades so I don’t have to worry about remembering to do it while I am gone,” he said, fingers moving over the mouse and keyboard as he spoke. 

His hair was down and tousled. While his tie was laying on the counter by your keys, he still wore his button down shirt and tie. You glanced at the clock and saw it was after 7pm. By now he was normally out of his monkey suit, well fed, a beer in, wearing his favorite joggers and laying on the couch with you.

You walked over and wrapped your arms around his shoulders, kissing the side of his head. “Babe, its late. You can finish up tomorrow.”

“I’m almost done,” he said, ducking his head to kiss your hand while he continued to work. You sighed and started to walk away when he grabbed your hand and pulled you back to him. He glanced up at you. “Stay and keep me company.”

“I’ll be on the couch,” you chuckled, gesturing a few feet away from the desk where he had his laptop set up.  

“Too far,” he said.

You laughed as he moved you so you were sitting on his thigh with his arm wrapped around your waist. “Is this better?”

“Mmmhmm. Much,” he grinned at you before turning back to the computer to keep working. 

You leaned back against him and watched him work for a few minutes before pulling out your phone to mess with it while you waited, content to at least be touching him. And that’s when Kyojuro’s true intentions became clear. 

Without ever taking his eyes off his computer screen the arm around your waist began to readjust. His large hand wandered under your shirt to your breasts, mindlessly tracing circles on your skin and around your nipples. You bit your lip and adjusted yourself just slightly so that his thick muscular thigh was more between your own. 

You rested your head back on his shoulder and tried to keep focusing on your phone as his fingers toyed with your nipples. His hand moved down your body, nudging your thighs apart. It became increasingly hard to pay attention to the phone in your hands as his fingers ran up and down your thighs, traced over the swell of your mound, traced the lines of your panties. 

You felt his hard on pressing against your hip and wiggled back just a little bit on it, grinning at the low groan he let out. “Something wrong, my love?”

“You just reminded me of something I wanted to do before I left,” Kyojuro said, something about his words making you raise your eyebrows. 

His hands moved to position you fully in his lap, legs draped over his. Kyojuro’s fingers slid under the material of your shorts to rub against your panties. “Mmmm, so wet already.”

“Mmmmhmm,” you said, moving a hand to the back of his neck, your fingers stroking lightly over the sensitive skin. “Very.”

“Good,” he said, kissing the side of your neck. “Lets get rid of your shorts and panties, huh?”

“I thought you needed to do something for work?” you teased, moving your legs and hips to help him strip you bare from the waist down before settling back into your position. 

“For my trip, not for work,” he said, mouthing at your neck. 

His large warm hands cupped your inner thighs, squeezing the meat of them before sliding to your knees. You let out a small gasp as he lifted your legs so your feet were against the edge of his desk. Your eyes got wide when you looked at his computer screen and were greeted with the sight of your shiny pussy and the red recording symbol glowing.

“Uh…Kyo?” you asked unsure.

“This is for us only, of course. I would never show another soul,” he said as his hands slid down your thighs towards your pussy. “This is for while I’m gone, to tide us both over…”

“Ah, I see,” you said, spreading your knees even more to the side, watching the screen, almost hypnotized. “Don’t stop, love.”

His thumbs spread your cunt open, tracing up and down your glistening folds. He slid one finger into your tight hole, groaning softly at how wet you were. He nipped and kissed your ear, speaking loud enough the mic would catch it, “Good girl. So wet for me. I guess my suspicion was right about this being something you would enjoy doing together.”

You whimpered and nodded, not even realizing your hands had moved on their own will to your breasts and you were teasing the tightened buds sticking out under your shirt. 

“Why don’t you pull up your shirt, my love? It’s in the way of your hands and my eyes,” his voice had a honeyed tone to it and you could feel his cock straining against his pants and throbbing against you. You did as he said, lifting your shirt up to just above your breasts. “Keep going, I didn’t say to stop.”

Your fingers ran back and forth over your sensitive tips, pulling on them lightly and moaning as your gaze caught his in the recording. You watched him add a second finger to your soaking cunt. The squelching noises were loud enough that you were sure it was being recorded with how close he had the laptop to your location.

Kyojuro slid his other hand from your thigh to start teasing your clit, moving his hands in a way that kept your cunt spread open, the recording catching every single detail. Your hips jerks and your mewls got louder and more frequent as he sped up his motions. “You’re getting close, aren’t you? You’re getting so tight on my fingers.”

“So close, so close,” you choked out, your hands had left your breasts and were braced on the arms of the computer chair. 

“Cum for me, my love. Cum all over my fingers. If you’re a good girl maybe we can watch this again tonight at bed time, Hmmm? Does that sound good?” 

You were panting and shaking as he spoke such filthy things and his fingers fucked into your cunt so perfectly. “Want that. Want that bad….. Ahhh!!”

The tension in your body snapped like a twig as your orgasm slammed into you. Your moans of his name were accompanied by moans of enjoyment of the scene from behind you and words of praise. “There you go. Just like that… so beautiful, look at yourself! You’re such an incredible sight to see when you fall apart in my arms like this… I’m such a lucky man…”

His hand slowed as he worked you through it, careful not to overstimulate you. His hand left your clit to rest on your throat to turn your face towards his so he could kiss you passionately as you came down from your high. 

“Want to feel your cock inside me… please, baby,” you said, kissing at his lips in a hungry manner. 

“Such a hungry little thing,” he chuckled, giving your cunt a squeeze and a light smack, making your thighs shake and him grin like the Cheshire cat. His hand slid under you and undid his pants and zipper, pulling out his hard length, the blushed tip already shiny and leaking with his want for you. 

He took his cock in his hand and smacked it up against your wet cunt several times, making you mewl and your hips jerk on each contact. “Turn around, I want you to face me as you ride me.”

You stood up and turned around, straddling your husband happily. Kyojuro held his cock at the base and helped you line up and lower down. “Oh fuck, you’re so big, Kyo. You’re so fucking deep.”

He growled low in his throat and pulled your head to his so his lips could claim yours. His hands slid to your ass, squeezing the globes tight in his warm palms as he encouraged you to start moving. He put his chin on your shoulder, keeping an eye on the recording, not wanting to miss anything. 

You held on as his feet planted more firmly on the floor and he began thrusting up into you. His hands kept your back bowed out and your ass cheeks spread. You looked over your shoulder at the screen, your cunt clenching on his cock at the sight of his cock plowing in and out of your sodden folds. Your eyes took in the cream coating his cock more and more on every thrust and forming a ring around his base. 

“That’s it, my love. Doing so well! You’re taking my cock so well, good fucking girl,” he said, absolutely lost to the moment and the sight of the video. 

“Oh fuck, Kyo! I’m gonna cum again!” you said, nails digging into his clothed chest.

His eyes met yours, the video forgotten as he felt his cock throb even harder at the look on your face and in your eyes. You leaned forward and kissed him passionately, throwing your head back as your orgasm hit and tore you apart.

“Oh fuck, I’m gonna cum, my love. Gonna fill you up, give you every drop in that pretty little cunt,” Kyojuro had become absolutely pussy drunk and lost in the moment, his hips pistoning up into your spasming, juicy cunt over and over again until he came, slamming you down one final time and holding you there as he filled your cunt with his seed. 

You pressed your sweat speckled foreheads together before kissing him gently several times. “Are you done, Director Rengoku?”

“Almost. Turn around for me,” he grinned up at you and you knew what he wanted. You would be lying if you said you didn’t want it too…

You lifted up your hips, feeling his still softening cock slipped out as you stood and readjusted your position to be facing the camera. Your renowned gentleman husband wasted no time pulling your legs up and open. You saw his smirk in the camera and a feeling went through you.

He rested a hand on your throat as he held you to him. His other hand slid down your body to your sensitive cunt, spreading your pussy open wide with two fingers, making sure the recording got a clear view of your well fucked cunt full to the point of dripping with his seed. 

And then the devil of a man that you married moved those two fingers right back into your now cum filled cunt, building up speed at a much faster pace this time. 

“You did so well my love, so well. But what kind of director would I be if I went with the first take instead of seeing what else my shining starlet was capable of, hmmm?” Kyojuro grinned and kissed your neck. 

“Your shining starlet, huh?” You mimicked, moaning when his fingers hit that special spot inside of you, making your vision go white for a moment. “Oh fuck, Kyo!”

“Yes, my shining starlet, the love of my life, the queen of my heart, the sexiest woman on Earth, my precious little succubus,” he said as his fingers on your throat tightened just a little bit and the hand between your legs began to fuck into your cunt in earnest. He smirked as he once again held your gaze on the recording, “Keep your legs spread nice and wide, my flame, and show me just what this pretty little pussy is capable of.”

[another-lost-mc]

When MC Needs Surgery

Featuring: The Demon Brothers, the Dateables (most briefly/vaguely mentioned) + gn!Reader

Content/Warnings: Mentions of unspecified health problems, surgical procedures and medical devices. Relationships with the cast are intended to be platonic but may be interpreted as romantic in nature (friendship was the focus here rather than romance). Word count: 3.2k.

A/N: This is dedicated to surgery!anon who requested something for their upcoming surgery. Based on the vague details mentioned to me, I assumed there might be some overlap with my own experiences which is what this is loosely based on. I guess I wrote what I would've liked to have read before my own procedures. I hope this provides some comfort to you as well.

PRE-OP

Some of the demons might wonder why they can't just find some spell to fix what's wrong with you, because how tricky can human anatomy really be? But after Satan does some research and helps you explain to the others (in easy to understand terms while being sensitive of the private details you might not want to share), they realize that perhaps your medical care is best left to the professionals after all.

Lucifer, Diavolo and Barbatos handle the logistics of your care before and after your surgery. Details from your appointments with your medical team help them get a better idea of how long your recovery will be and where you should stay once you leave the human world hospital.

There is some disagreement about whether you should stay at the House of Lamentation or the Demon Lord's Castle. There are pros and cons about staying at the House of Lamentation.

Pros: all of the demon brothers are there to help you when you need assistance.

Cons: all of the demon brothers are there.

One of the concerns – and it's a reasonable one, if you ask anyone but the brothers themselves – is that they might be too demanding of your company in your condition or inconsiderate of your privacy, and possibly neglectful of your need to rest comfortably and quietly.

As the other alternative available to you, the Demon Lord's Castle has spacious rooms so that you'll be able to have everything you need. Your friends are welcome to come and go within reason, but their visitations will be limited to prevent you from being overwhelmed. Ultimately, the choice is left to you.

When you start attending your pre-op appointments, Lucifer goes with you if you don't ask one of the others to go in his place. He's one of the best choices despite his unfamiliarity with the medical ordeal you're about to go through. He quickly picks up on the details of your procedure and the types of support you'll need during your hospital stay and once you're discharged. He helps you prepare a list of questions and concerns for each appointment; the doctors and nurses can't brush your questions aside easily, not when Lucifer is there to ensure that the answers you're given meet his satisfaction.

Later on, Lucifer provides updates to his siblings and your other friends who are keeping tabs on these developments. It's best that they're all aware of what to expect and so that they can help you prepare for what's to come.

In the days leading up to your surgery, everyone does their best to ease your nerves but do a poor job of hiding their own anxieties. It doesn't really register as a real thing that's about to happen until you get notification that your surgery is only a couple days away, and suddenly it feels very, very real.

Lucifer prepares for your long-term absence from RAD and makes sure that any of your obligations – your clubs or student council duties or your part-time job – are dealt with. He buys anything and everything the doctors recommended for your recovery once you return home. If any modifications are required for your bedroom or private bathroom, he plans to have those completed during your hospital stay. (He's grateful your room is already on the first floor of the house, although he would've built one for you if he needed to.)

Mammon and Levi spend as much time with you as they can when they're not busy with other things they try to keep secret: Mammon's new job so he has extra money to buy you get-well presents (bigger and better than all his brothers) and the games and movies Levi has been ordering since he anticipates your recovery will be boring. What better way than to pass the time (hopefully with him?). Satan wanted to go to your appointments with you but he kept grumbling things like, if someone cuts you open, I'm going to cut them open. He's been focusing his efforts on researching which sorts of potions, elixirs or spells might help you recover faster and obtaining the materials he needs for them.

Asmo took you shopping (more than once) to pick up the items on your pre-op checklist of things to bring with you to the hospital: comfortable loose-fitting clothing, slippers, basic toiletries like your toothbrush. Everything he picked for you wouldn't fit in three overnight bags, let alone the single duffel bag you planned to take with you. He just put everything in your dresser and closet and insisted they'd be useful once you were discharged and allowed to come back home.

Beel was curious about your diet recommendations when you come home and he realized that the spicy Devildom foods you like are probably going to be too difficult for you to eat for the foreseeable future . He spoke to Lucifer and Barbatos about his concerns, and they plan to stock the fridge and pantry with all the recommended foods that would ease your recovery and reduce the risk of complications later. Beel took you out for dinner one evening, as a sort of last hurrah. He felt guilty that he didn't realize how serious this was and he admires you for being so brave about something he can't imagine going through himself. He offered to follow your post-surgery diet with you as a show of support because he doesn't want to be insensitive and eat all the delicious foods you won't be able to.

Belphie gets a bit irritated that his brothers take up so much of your time leading up to your surgery date. If you've been feeling tired or unwell leading up to your surgery, you put on a brave face for their sakes but he knows better. He can't take away your pain or discomfort, and he certainly can't fix you the way these human world doctors claim they can, but he can help you relax after a long day of appointments and preparations and pretending you're not as nervous as they all are. He can sense your anxiety rising as the date of your surgery draws near: you're not sleeping as well as you used to, tossing and turning into the late hours of the night and showing up to breakfast looking worse than you did the morning before. Fortunately, that's something he can help you with. He leads you to the attic to sleep and tries not dwell on how long it'll be before after your surgery when you'll be able to climb those steps again. He lulls you into a comfortable, dreamless sleep so that you can as much rest as possible leading up to the big day.

The evening before your surgery, the brothers are practically vibrating from nervousness. Everyone seems on edge and distracted. Asmo ruins his eye makeup from getting teary-eyed and he's especially clingy. Dinner is awkward when the brothers remember that you can't eat your regular diet anymore. You're limited to bland fluids in addition to the jug of prep you need to drink. You drink the powder mixed with ice-cold water and gulp it down – after the first pouch, you disappear into your bedroom. Eventually you come back and rinse and repeat, drinking and refilling that jug until its as empty as you are. (Beel was curious and drank a bit of it despite your warning that he probably shouldn't – his stomach made the strangest sounds the rest of the evening.)

When it's time for bed, you expect to collapse onto your mattress and toss and turn until your early-morning alarm goes off. What you don't expect is for Lucifer and his brothers to lead to you his room with the giant bed that happens to be big enough for all of them. The mood feels somber and you can tell they're as nervous as you are – even Cerberus spends the night in Lucifer's room, lifting his heads up once in a while to check on you while he keeps guard at the foot of the bed. It's the Devildom's most awkward cuddle pile, but eventually you fall asleep surrounded by seven very worried demons who can't manage to sleep themselves.

THE HOSPITAL

Your alarm goes off early that morning – far too early for your liking, but you're eager to get this entire thing over with. Most of the brothers are already awake and finalizing preparations to accompany you to the hospital. You have time for a quick shower and toss on a comfortable shirt, sweatpants and slip-on shoes – you don't need to look good where you're going, and you won't be wearing these clothes for very long.

The others arrive so Barbatos can summon a portal for everyone to take. Despite your many reminders, everyone insists they want to come and support you, including your friends from Purgatory Hall and Diavolo himself.

(What you suspect but don't know for certain is that Diavolo arranged for your care in the human world hospital you'll be staying at. There were concerns about visitor limits and securing the largest and best private room for your recovery, but a generous donation from the Hotel Corvo corporation helped ease some of those administrative hurdles.)

You're only allowed one support person to accompany you to the surgical unit, so the others grab coffee and pre-packaged muffins and slowly make their way down to the waiting area. Lucifer – or whoever you asked to accompany you instead – sits with you while you wait for your name to be called.

Time passes in a blur. You put on a starchy hospital gown and housecoat while you tuck your belongings into a plastic bag and carry it with you. The nurses direct you to a chair and go over the standard medical questions you've answered a million times before. You look away when the IV goes in, and on the other side of you, warm fingers squeeze your hand.

You're tired and nervous and there are too many thoughts racing through your mind, but you sit in silence while the clock ticks down. You shuffle awkwardly down a sterile hall with too-bright lights when it's finally time, and you hope the smile you shoot over your shoulder at your companion is convincing. (It's as unsteady as you both feel when you disappear with the nurse who leads you to the operating room.)

Maybe it's the exhaustion or the empty, upset stomach distracting you while you sit on a table and ignore the cool fingers and pinching sensation in your back while they prepare the epidural because you barely feel it. You lay on a narrow table with a blood pressure cuff on one arm and your IV in another, and when the medications quickly pull you into a dreamless sleep, you feel a last-minute sense of comfort knowing that your friends are waiting close by and they won't let anything bad happen to you.

While you're in the OR, your friends make themselves comfortable in the visitor's lounge and they wait for news. Four hours, six hours, eight hours later – none of them want to leave until they can see you're alive and well with their own eyes. You warned them all it would be a long and boring day and they insisted they wanted to come no matter what.

Some of them fidget in their seats and pace when their nerves get the best of them. Levi's handheld beeps and the buttons click noisily as he plays his game, and Satan tries to focus on a paperback he picked up in the gift shop. Mammon spends way too much money buying Nevada tickets from a vendor in the hospital lobby (“It's for charity, ain't it?!”) and rubs it in Lucifer's face when he actually wins something. Asmo frets with embarrassment when he sees the SCENT-RESTRICTED FACILITY poster on the wall and covers the scent of his expensive fragrance with a dampening charm to avoid upsetting the staff (and makes note to skip the heavily-scented body products for future visits). Belphie accompanies Beel to sample the cafeteria's food, multiple times.

Throughout the day, small groups take turns leaving the waiting room to grab fresh cups of coffee or sandwiches to snack on. Diavolo and Barbatos confirm with the hospital staff that your private room is ready with the special amenities they requested for you, including a cot that an overnight guest can sleep on. You chose your preferred companion in advance, and none of the others dared voice their petty disappointment that they weren't chosen instead. What matters most is that one of them is with you at all times to assist you in your weakened state (they called it protecting you, but you tried to reassure them without success that they were being too dramatic). The others are free to visit as much as they like, as long as you're comfortable with it of course.

It feels like eternity before news reaches your friends as your surgery ends, and then another update a couple hours later when you're moved from PACU to your hospital room. The nurses have already gotten you settled into your accommodations by the time the first visitors hesitantly step inside to see you. Despite the preparations and expectations and warnings, they're still not prepared for the machine humming and beeping at your side as it pumps various medications through your IV. There's a remote looped around the bed by your arm that lets you administer more pain medication through your epidural.

It's gotten late and the surgical ward is quiet except for the ambient sounds of nurses chatting quietly at their station or other machines beeping in nearby rooms. Against the standard-issue hospital linens and the thin gown you wear, you look more vulnerable than they've ever seen you, their perfectly imperfect human who’s gone through so much in such a short amount of time. Perhaps it's a good thing that you're overcome with exhaustion and only have fleeting memories of your friends' worried faces when they each came to see you before bidding you goodnight with a promise to come back in the morning. Some struggle to contain their emotions more than others, and there's a collective understanding between all of them that perhaps they've taken you for granted because they never want to see you like this again – not if they can prevent it.

Your nighttime companion sits at your bedside most of the night and watches over you in case you show signs of discomfort or pain. They pull the cord to alert the nurses when you wake up queasy and you request something for your upset stomach with your scratchy voice and dry throat. You can't eat or drink yet, but the nurse leaves a small plastic cup of ice chips at your bedside – it's enough to remove the cottony feeling from your tongue and throat, and you can sleep once more.

Your demon friends aren't familiar with modern medicine and none of them know what the bags of fluids hanging next to your bed are. RINGERS scrolls across the screen of the IV pump but it’s anyone’s guess what it means. All they know is that it seems to be important as it’s one of the last medications you stop taking before your IV is eventually removed. Tonight and throughout the days that will soon follow, the machine beeps loudly – and often – when the bag runs dry. They remember which button to hit to turn off the awful alarm so that the disturbance doesn't wake you while they wait for a nurse to come with a replacement.

RECOVERY

The first few days are some of the most challenging, but all of your friends are there to support you as much as they can. At least one of them is present when the surgeon and his residents make their early morning rounds. You can't bear to look at the staples and incisions hidden under the thick dressings that cover a large part of your lower belly, but the surgeon and nurses all claim that things look fantastic. You can't help but snort at the odd feedback, and Asmo reminds you that there's plenty of creams that can help with minimizing those scars later, if you want them. (He prefers you exactly the way you are, scars and all, but he keeps his opinion on that subject to himself.)

Your post-surgery diet is severely restricted until you're able to tolerate basic fluids again, and solid foods are introduced slowly too. Beel reads over your daily menu selection and glares at the abysmal tray of hospital food that is delivered to your room. He tastes some of the dishes and wonders how they can make something as simple as broth or cream of wheat so unappealing. Barbatos sips the lukewarm mug of tea on your tray that you ignore with each meal; you warn him that it's not good, and the pain in your stomach is worth it when you shake with laughter at the offended grimace that sours his expression. He promises to bring you drinkable tea from now on, and he and Beel both bring acceptable alternatives to your hospital fare in accordance with your current meal plan.

One of the most challenging things you didn't expect – and it catches your friends off-guard too – is how difficult it is to get up and walking again. After a few days in bed with the epidural numbing you to the worst of the pain and being mostly stationary aside from some breathing exercises, it's time to get up and take the literal first step towards your journey home.

Your friends scoff at the idea of a physiotherapist coming to help you, until they hear the first cry of pain when you sit up on the edge of the bed and breathe heavily like it's the most ardious feat you've ever accomplished. It's another reminder that this was a tremendous thing for your delicate human body to go through, and even though they can't just take away your pain or fix things magically (no matter how much some of them might want to), they'll do what they can to help.

They don't tease you when they slip your shoes onto your feet, and they don't stare or ask about the various bags of fluids hanging from the IV pole you lean on for support while you shuffle your way around the ward one lap at a time. They match your pace and are ready in a moment's notice to support you if you lose your balance, and as soon as they sense you're pushing yourself just a little too hard, they help you back into bed where you fall asleep not long after.

Things carry on that way until the surgeon announces tentative plans for your release. By now, you're bored out of your mind and eager to be anywhere but in that bloody hospital room. Your friends are eager to have you home again, and the air is charged with excitement for the first time since your surgery. Everything you need for your recovery at the House of Lamentation – medications and supplies and your diet plan and anything else you could possibly need – are ready for you.

On the day you're finally discharged, they help scan your room to make sure all of your personal items have been packed away for the trip home. One of them carries your duffel bag for you while a couple others carry boxes filled with the numerous gifts, cards, and vases of flowers that filled nearly every available space of your room. (The human world flowers have started to wilt, but the arrangements from the Devildom and the Celestial Realm, including the bouquet you received one day with a note signed only with “M”, are still blooming flawlessly as ever.)

[my-mind-mansion]

A slow, peaceful morning in bed with the Radio Demon

(Alastor x reader/cuddles/motivation/care)

{Since my bedtime fic got a few likes, I wanted to post it’s sister story. Hope you all enjoy my imagination!! Requests/story ideas??}

It was about an hour before you had to be up for the day and you were sound asleep in Alastor’s bed. He had let you sleep in his room last night. You were honored. You felt a hand in your hair, gently petting you. You could feel yourself waking up, leaving your dream realm to be met with Alastor’s kind smile. You gasped and nearly panicked. “Oh no!! Am I late?!“ you started to sit up.

Alastor gently pushed you back down on the pillow. “Shhh.. there’s no need to worry, my dear. I made sure you were awake in plenty of time. You can relax for a bit in my bed before you actually have to get up.” He said as you caught your breath from the adrenaline rush of thinking you were late.

He chuckled softly, inching closer to you and pulling you into his chest. He put a hand in your hair and his other hand on your back. “Give yourself a deep breath for me, dearest.” He said, his radio-filtered voice bringing you the warmest sense of comfort. You took a deep breath and then a peaceful exhale. That felt good. Your heart calmed as he rubbed your back.

You smiled up at him as your body was nearly limp in his arms already. He smiled down at you, speaking soft sentences to soothe your soul. “Good morning, sweetheart. I trust you slept well!” Your heavy eyelids, still fresh with sleep, were fighting to stay open. He chuckled under his breath as he played with your hair, encouraging you to take another deep breath.

You were so relaxed in his arms. You were basically drunk on him. The radio host had you under his spell as you clung onto every word he spoke. “I once read a story about a flower that blossomed and thrived, despite its poor environment. It rarely got watered and it’s pot was way too small. The poor bud was neglected and abused, but somehow the lovely bloom persisted on.” he rubbed your back.

You had been smiling up at him. He was so charming and knew how to evoke whatever reaction he was seeking. He continued on. “That flower is you, my dear. Despite all your troubles and heartache, you continue on. I’m so proud of you. You are so important to me. I wouldn’t let anyone else sleep in my bed, you know.” You blushed slightly as you nodded off, teetering between sleep and wake. Alastor chuckled as he noticed. “It’s alright, my delicate rose. Close your eyes. You have time.”

You had immediately fallen back asleep in his arms; all part of his plan. He had given you 30 minutes to go back to sleep after waking up. Those 30 minutes felt more like 4 more hours. When he roused you awake for the second time this morning, you smiled and sat up. You were feeling refreshed and relaxed.

You stretched and dangled your feet over the edge of the bed, smiling back at him. “Ready to finish that to-do list?” he asked rhetorically, cheering you on. How out of character for Alastor to actually be supportive and encouraging. He snapped his fingers and your favorite breakfast appeared on a tray next to you.

You weren’t sure if Alastor was giving you this special treatment in order to manipulate you, or if he had ulterior motives. All you knew was you were really enjoying the attention, and didn’t care if he didn’t actually mean it.

He set out your clothes and shoes for the day as you ate the personalized breakfast he had made according to your taste. “You.. really don’t have to do all of this for me.” You said, slightly flustered as he knew the exact outfit you wanted to wear today. “I know. I only aim to make your life easier, dear. It’s my own personal responsibility to care for you.” He said. Slightly concerning, but oddly sweet?

[mathildeaquisexta]

How to request a document reproduction on the French National Archives website (without paying anything)?

Setting the scene: I'd like to obtain a digital version of this file, because online, only a brief unhelpful description is shown and the visual is not available.

If you don't know how to navigate through the website to get to the archive you want, I've explained in this post how to search for a specific item in the French National Archives' virtual reading room. You really should read it before this post, because there are many details I won't go into again.

You're ready? Okay, let's get into it.

Once again, you don't go to the official website, but to the virtual reading room. This is systematically the place to go to search for documents and leaf through inventories. You can access it here.

In real life, if you go to the Paris or Saint-Denis sites and ask to consult the archives, you'll be required to register by filling in a form with your information (not much personal details, they often just want to know if you're here for personal stuff like genealogy, or if you're studying documents for university-related works), and you'll be given a card.

Here, online, it's basically the same thing. You'll need to create an account. Don't worry, it's completely free. Be careful to go to the Espace personnel" (personal account) and not the "Accès sécurisé" (secured access).

Once you have clicked, the website will inform you that creating an account will give you access to the following options:

Order or reserve a document

Request document reproductions

Request search assistance

Save your search results

So really, I insist, this is a step you shouldn't neglect. And of course, this also works if you live in a different country!

Okay now, let's get back to our document.

I'm not going to explain a second time what a class mark is and how to find it, once again I refer you to my other post which explains everything in detail. Just know that the item that interests me has F/7/6712 as its class mark.

There's a lot of information. Just know that the first thing to do is to set aside your document in what we call the “panier” (the cart). Yep, the shopping cart, just as if you were buying clothes on a website. There is also an option to “reserve” the document, but this implies that the archivists will put aside the physical version of the document and wait for you to come and consult it directly in Paris or Saint-Denis. Yeah, no. Let's save ourselves a shit ton of money, all of us are way too poor for this.

This is what the cart looks like (image below ↓). This is where you will store all the class marks that interest you, but which you can't or don't want to have reproduced immediately, so you can easily find them later. As you can see, I've already put aside a few. You need to look at the access conditions right away to check whether you can make your request or not. If you look carefully, you'll see that some of the Carnot family archives I wanted to obtain are blocked because they're in such poor condition that the archivists don't want to risk damaging them further by scanning or even opening them.

However, for the document I want to get today (the last one on the list), there's nothing written in this section, which means that everything is fine and I can proceed.

So we click on "Demander une reproduction" (ask for a reproduction) :

In this space, you need to be as specific as possible about what you want. For example, if the class mark is linked to a file with... let's say 600 items (and this often happens), you specify that you only need the documents associated with the numbers 4, 96 and 546, so that the archivist doesn't have to scan 600 documents one by one for nothing and cry all day.

Then here, you specify why you want this document and what you're going to use it for (for me, this will be personal and private use because this specific research of mine isn't related to work or university, but you can see the “professional use” option also exists).

And this is where you need to listen to me very carefully, because in the price list for document reproductions, there's only one free option, and that's the jpeg or pdf scan. Trust me, I systematically ask for this option, and the scans are always of excellent quality. Currently I got +1000 Fouché-related documents without paying anything and without needing to move from my couch.

Of course, the prices aren't exponential, in fact they're quite reasonable (for example, if you want a paper photocopy sent by regular mail, it'll cost you between 15 and 30 eurocents. That's fine for a single sheet, but if, like me, you need files with more than 300 pages, it quickly becomes a problem).

And finally, you submit your request and you wait for 3 to 6 months.

They will most likely send you an email with a password-protected link they'll give you, to a site where you can send very large files (they often use WeTransfer), and you'll have a limited time to open it so be careful to use an email adress you check regularly when you create your account.

And you have your document. Good job <3

[onastarstring]

Satellite Part 1

Masterlist Part Two

Fresh off his first solo tour, Harry unexpectedly runs into a childhood friend. When it becomes clear that the intervening years have not been as kind to Violet as they’ve been to him, he vows to do whatever he can to help her and her infant daughter—so long as he can keep his lingering feelings for her under control.

Okay, two important notes before we start;

This is my first fic in a really long time. Concrit is welcome, but please be gentle.

This honestly started as a sort of personal project/vent fic, and the whole series is going to touch on some sensitive topics. A lot of Violet's past experiences are somewhat based on my own, and I began writing this, initially, because it was very cathartic. All of that is to say that if you are not in a place to read about past child abouse/neglect and sexual assault (will be discussed but not explicitly depicted) or mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, some mild self-destructive behaviors, or poor living contitions/food insecurity, then please skip this fic. Your mental wellbeing is wayyyyy more important than a silly little story.

The best way to welcome one's son home after he's been gone on tour for nearly a year is to send him a grocery list.

Apparently.

Harry didn't mind, of course–especially not when he knew he'd be getting a proper, home-cooked meal out of it. But still, he couldn't deny that what he really wanted to be doing was taking a nap, and he wasn't the only one, if the crying baby at the other end of the bread aisle was any indication.

He looked up, expecting to exchange sympathetic smiles with the crying child's parents, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her.

“Violet?”

She jumped, dropping her shopping basket as her arms crossed protectively over the baby, who was secured in some sort of complicated looking fabric harness.

“H- Harry?” Her big, brown eyes were wide behind her coke-bottle glasses.

“God, it's been ages,” he said, his heart in his throat. “How are you?”

“’M alright… Are–I mean, I suppose you're doing well?”

“I am, yeah.” He knelt to pick up her basket. “Babysitting?”

“Oh, no. She, er–she's mine.”

“Oh.” He paused for a moment, shocked. “What, er, what's her name?”

“Gwendolyn.” She adjusted the harness, allowing him a peek at the tiny baby.

Tentatively, he stroked her cheek. “She's darling. How old is she?”

“Three months.”

“Your parents must be so happy.”

She looked down, rubbing the baby's back soothingly. “Not really…”

He raised his eyebrows, studying her for a moment. Her features were the same, but up close, he could see that the girl who'd grown up down the street was gone. The neat ginger plaits she'd worn her hair in had given way to a hasty ponytail. Her freckles were stark on her pallid skin, and there were dark circles under her eyes. Her clothes were worse for wear, and even her glasses seemed to have been snapped in half and taped back together.

“Oh?”

She cleared her throat. “It was nice to see you, Harry, but I've got to get her home.”

He glanced down at her shopping basket, which he still held. “Is there anything else you need? I'm just grabbing a few things for my mum, and it looks like you've got your hands full.”

She hesitated for a moment. “No, that's… that's all. You don't have to carry that, I can-”

“It's no trouble, Vi. It's the least I could do after you spent all those years helping me with maths.”

A feeble smile crossed her face. “Thank you.”

“Don't mention it.”

They walked in companionable- if somewhat tense- silence. Harry watched her soothing little Gwen, noting how jumpy she seemed. Violet had always been a shy girl, very bright but very sheltered. Her parents were infamously overprotective. He wasn't sure she'd ever been allowed to go over to a friend's house, and, outside of school, he'd only been able to interact with her while they sat at her family's kitchen table, studying together while her mother watched them like a hawk. She'd always been given to a bit of anxiety, but now… it was as if she was truly afraid of some unseen n'ere-do-well.

At the checkout counter, she seemed to be adding up the cost of each item as she removed it from the basket. Two pints of milk, a small package of store brand nappies, a jar of peanut butter, three of those horrible, mealy apples, and a battered box of granola bars that had been marked clearance.

She chewed her lip as she counted the bills in her wallet, glancing back at the total on the register with tears in her eyes. “I… I guess I'll have to put a few things-”

“Just add hers to mine,” Harry cut in, smiling at the cashier, an acne riddled teen who couldn't have looked less excited about his job if he tried.

Violet stared at him for a moment. “Harry-”

“It's not a big deal. It's a drop in the bucket for me, if that.”

“You always were too kind to me,” she murmured.

“What are friends for?” He took their bags, watching as she tugged her jacket around the baby. “Did you drive?”

She shook her head. “I don't have a car, I just walk.”

It was mid-July, but it wasn't a particularly warm day, and as they approached the door, he could see that the wind and rain had picked up.

“You'll blow away out there. Let me give you a lift, yeah?”

She glanced out at the rain and relented, shoulders sagging. “Alright.”

He smiled and placed a gentle hand on her back, guiding her out the door. Violent hunched over, trying to shield the baby from the rain as Harry unlocked the doors of his car. He opened the passenger door for her, making sure she was settled before depositing their bags in the back seat and settling himself behind the steering wheel.

“I'll admit, I was a bit surprised to see you so far from home. You're living around here now?”

“I came out here for uni,” she said softly. “Turn right here.”

He followed her directions to a rather unsavory part of the city, and when she indicated the building in which she lived, a chill went down his spine.

“You live here?” He couldn't hide the horror in his voice as he watch a fat rat scurry across the crumbling cement steps of the derelict building.

“It's not that bad on the inside, really.”

He turned to her, bewildered.

“It's a roof over our heads.”

“Violet, the biggest rat I've ever seen is living under the steps! I can't believe your parents would let you live here- or your husband, for that matter.”

“’M not married. It's just the two of us.”

Oh.

“I… I'm sorry, I didn’t realize.” He tried to ignore the way his heart fluttered at her words.

“’S alright.”

He hurried to get out of the car, hoping she hadn't noticed his embarrassment. “Here, I'll get your bag.”

She nodded, seemingly resigned to him helping.

The lobby of the building- if one could call it that- was dim, lit by a single, bare bulb which hung sadly from the ceiling. The chipped and stained linoleum floor was caked in a layer of grime, and he couldn't tell if the hideous wallpaper had yellowed with age or if it was meant to be that color.

In the corner by the lift (which was sealed off with caution tape), stood a card table, covered with errant papers, magazines, and an overflowing ashtray.

Violet nodded to the staircase, the door to which was propped open with a breeze block.

“How long has the lift been out?”

“Since before I moved in,” she said, mounting the steep, rickety metal stairs.

“And how long ago was that?”

She hesitated for a moment. “Nearly a year.”

He paused. “You were going up and down these stairs while you were pregnant?”

She didn't respond, just kept trudging on up to the fourth floor landing, which spat them out into a hallway that was as dim and dingy as the lobby, now with the added benefit of mildewed carpet.

Aside from the one that led to the stairs, there were four doors, two on either side of the hall. Violet led him to the left door on the front side of the building. She snatched the yellow slip of paper that had been taped to the door, but not before he saw the words Eviction Notice printed in bold letters across the top.

“The lock sticks sometimes,” she explained as she leaned on the flimsy door, twisting the key.

“I'll give it a shot.”

Violet stepped back reluctantly, and he took her place, putting as much force as he could into turning the key. Finally, it turned, and he opened the door, his heart sinking.

The flat was tiny, the only light coming in through a small, cracked window. On the far wall, under the window, was a sagging sofa with a pillow propped against the armrest and a blanket draped over the back. On one side of the sofa, a small dresser seemed to double as an end table, and a bassinet- propped up on a stack of phone books and magazines where one of the legs was broken- sat on the other side. To the right was a door that presumably led to the washroom, and a flimsy accordion door, left half open to reveal a closet, which contained a single broom. To the left, a kitchenette with a stove, a small refrigerator, and a steadily dripping sink.

“Vi…”

“Please don’t. I… I know.”

Harry turned, taking in the water-stained ceiling, the peeling wallpaper, the wind rattling the glass in the window. When he looked back at Violet, tears were streaming down her face.

“I can’t lose her, Harry. She’s the only family I have. Please don’t-”

“Oh, Violet…” He slipped his arms around her.

She stiffened at first, but just for a moment.

“Let me help you. Please.”

“You’ve already done so much, I can’t ask you to-”

“You’re not the one asking. I am. Vi, I have a place of my own, a spare room with a warm bed. You’re my friend, and I can’t let you live like this, especially not when there’s a child involved.”

“We haven’t seen each other for nearly six years, Harry.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re my friend. If something were to happen to you, or, god forbid, to Gwen… Please, Vi.”

She sniffled, looking down at the baby, who had finally fallen asleep. “Alright. Alright.”

He squeezed her hands. “Let’s get your things gathered up, yeah? I was going to my mum’s, I know she’d be happy to see you, and I think she still has some of mine and Gemma’s baby things. We’ll get a good meal in you, get you set up with anything you need.”

Violet nodded, quietly resigned to accepting his help. From the closet, she produced a backpack and the old duffle bag Harry knew had once carried her pointe shoes and leotards. He couldn't help the pang of anger he felt, watching her move about the small space, gathering her meager possessions. Had her parents been so cruel as to deny her her own clothes, her beloved books, her childhood mementos? Nearly everything in the flat seemed to be at least second hand, and he suspected that the sofa and dresser had come with the place.

It only took a few minutes for them to pack the bags, mostly with Gwen's clothes and other baby supplies.

Harry picked up the backpack and slung the duffle bag over his shoulder. “Is that everything?”

Violet nodded, chewing nervously at her fingernails.

“Come on, then.” He held out his hand.

She took it and offered a small weary smile as he led her back down to the lobby. She paused for a moment to drop the yellow paper and her key on the table, then hurried to the door.

“You don’t have to say anything you don’t want to, you know. We can just tell Mum that you’re staying with me for a little while and leave it at that,” Harry assured as he once again opened the car door for her.

“That would probably be best.” She climbed into the car, rubbing Gwen's back soothingly.

They were both quiet for a while, Violet resting her head against the window as Harry navigated through the city. The rain was coming down harder, and the subtle electric buzz of an impending thunderstorm was in the air. It wasn't until they were on a quieter, more suburban street that Harry spoke again.

“I'm always here to listen, if you want to talk.”

“There’s really not much to say.”

“Still… You’re not alone. Not now. Not ever again, if I have anything to say about it.”

She glanced over at him. “Why are you doing all this, Harry?”

He sighed.

Because I was in love with you. Because I might still be. Because I know you wouldn't have put yourself in this position willingly.

“Because I care about you.”

She fell silent again, turning back to the window.

Harry pulled into the driveway just as the first bolt of lightning flashed across the sky.

“Oh, please don’t wake up now,” Violet whispered, trying to soothe the startled baby.

Harry hurried to grab the groceries and Violet’s backpack, into which they’d packed Gwen’s things, and made his way to the passenger side. He shrugged his jacket off, draping it over Violet’s shoulders as Gwen wailed miserably. “That’s an impressive set of lungs she’s got. Come on, let’s get you inside before-”

“There you are! Harry, I was beginning to worry- And… oh my days, Violet Warren?” Anne stood in the doorway, tea towel in hand. “Come in, come in, before you catch cold.”

She ushered them inside, giving Harry a quick hug before turning to Violet.

“Oh, Violet, it’s so good to see you, dear. And who is this little one?”

Violet blushed, still trying to calm the baby. “Oh, i- it’s nice to see you too. Er, this is Gwen, my daughter. I’m sorry, it’s a bit past the time she’d normally eat, she’s not normally this fussy.”

“You’re alright dear. I can see about warming up a bottle, or if you just need a private place, you’re welcome to use the bedroom.”

“That would be wonderful, thank you, Anne.”

She smiled. “It’s no trouble. Just down the hall and to the left, dear.”

Violet nodded appreciatively and disappeared down the hall.

“I hope you don’t mind my bringing her,” Harry said softly, following Anne into the kitchen. “I ran into her at the shops, and…”

“It’s perfectly alright, love. I’ve always been fond of her. The poor dear, I’d heard that she’d had a falling out with her parents, but…” She shook her head sadly.

“Actually, that’s sort of why she’s with me.”

“Oh?”

“I offered her a lift home from the shop…” He paused, trying to stop the tears that were quickly forming in his eyes. “She’s been living in the most horrible little flat. I mean, it wasn’t fit for wild animals, let alone people.”

“Was it a counsel flat? Surely there should be someone checking in, making sure it’s safe?”

“I doubt it, if the eviction notice on her door was any indication. Do you need any help?”

Anne shook her head, filling the tea kettle and switching it on. “No, no. Dinner will be ready soon, you just sit down, your sister should be here soon, and then we can eat. She was being evicted?”

Harry sat at the kitchen table, running a hand through his hair. “I guess so. I didn’t think twice about it, I just asked her to stay with me. It took a bit of convincing, but she agreed.” He glanced up and, upon seeing his mother's bemused expression, added, “Don’t look at me like that.”

“I just think it’s sweet that you still care about her so much.”

He shook his head. “I couldn’t let her keep living like that, or worse.” He paused. “Do you still have my old cot? Little Gwen is going to need a place to sleep, and on such short notice…”

“It should be up in the attic. The frame and the mattress should be up there, and the changing table. I think there’s a box with blankets and things… Please don’t tell me you drove all the way here without a car seat for her.”

He wilted a bit. “Well…”

Anne sighed. “There should be one up there, as well. I’ll help you bring everything down.”

“I’ve got it, Mum. You just stay here and make sure Vi’s alright, yeah?”

“Alright, dear.” She gave him a peck on the cheek. “But be careful, just because things are disassembled doesn’t mean they aren’t heavy.”

“I will, don’t worry,” He said, already heading for the stairs.

By the time Harry came back down with the first load of baby furniture, Gemma had arrived and joined their mother and Violet in the kitchen.

“-should be very proud of him.”

“Oh, we are. Though I can't say I'm surprised, he always had a soft spot for you, dear.”

Gemma laughed. “He was absolutely in love.”

He blushed, hurrying out to the car before he overheard any more of their reminiscing.

In the kitchen, Violet sat, sipping from a large cup of chamomile tea while Anne and Gemma fussed over the baby.

“I can't get over her hair,” Anne cooed, gingerly stroking Gwen's wispy auburn curls. “She looks just like you, dear.”

Violet offered a small smile, glancing up as Harry entered the room.

"I found the old travel cot, and I've got everything else loaded in the car. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were hoping to pass all this down to one of us, Mum " He teased, setting the cot up by Violet’s seat.

“One can only hope,” she said with a laugh. “For now though, I'm happy to see it all put to good use.”

“Thank you so much, Anne. You don't know how much this means to me,” Violet said.

Anne smiled and rubbed her shoulder tenderly. “No need to thank me, dear. I'd rather it be put to use than have it sitting up there collecting dust.”

Violet smiled and stood, gently laying Gwen in the cot.

“Now then, why don't you set the table, Harry- and Gemma, would you mind helping me put the finishing touches on the roast?”

Violet moved to help Harry, gathering plates from the cupboard.

“You don’t have to help, you know. You're a guest.”

She leveled her eyes at him from across the table. “I like to feel useful.”

He sighed. “Okay.”

Dinner was a quiet matter. Most of the conversation came from Anne and Gemma asking Harry about the tour, which Violet was glad for. She'd never been very good at making conversation–a side effect of her sheltered upbringing–and she was still quite overwhelmed by the day's events.

How strange it is, she thought, to be sitting here, listening to him talk about all the wonderful places he's been.

As a teenager, she’d longed to be able to talk to him without the imposing presence of her mother. He was one of the few people at school to be outwardly nice to her, rather than pretending she just didn't exist. She was sure that her mother had picked up on the schoolgirl crush she'd developed for him, if the smug look she wore for weeks after he'd gone off to be on X Factor was any indication.

“Well, he's headed for a life of sex, drugs, and rock and roll,” she'd said. “And that's exactly why your father and I wish you'd give up all this art nonsense. You're a bright young lady, it would be a crime to waste your potential like that.”

Maybe she was right.

“–Violet?”

She jumped, startled.

“Everything alright, love,” Anne asked.

“I- yes, I was just… lost in thought.” She blushed.

Anne gave her a tender smile, reaching across the table to pat her hand. “Would anyone like some more potatoes?”

“No, thank you,” Violet mumbled.

“I suppose you three should be headed home soon. It's been a long day.”

Harry stood. “Are you sure you don't want me to-”

“Harry,” Anne said softly, taking his plate. “Go home, love.”

He smiled. “Yes, Mum.”

After giving both his mother and sister a hug, he folded up the travel cot and took Violet’s backpack.

“Shall we?”

Violet nodded, cradling a still sleeping Gwen in her arms. “Thank you again, Anne. I really can't thank you enough.”

“You don't need to thank me at all, love. You're family, and you're always welcome here.” She gave Violet a kiss on the cheek before turning to her son. “You be careful on the way home. You've got precious cargo.”

“I will.” He kissed her cheek and ushered Violet back to the car.

The rain had stopped by then, and as she bent to secure Gwen in the car seat, the light of the setting sun made Violet’s hair glow like a curtain of fire.

Harry shook his head as if to dislodge the thought. “All set, then?”

Violet nodded, rubbing at her temples.

“Let's get you home.”

“Sorry ‘bout the mess,” Harry mumbled as he led Violet into his house. “Haven't had time to unpack yet.”

“It's alright. I can help you, if you'd like.”

He chuckled, motioning for her to follow him upstairs. “Should probably get you two set up, first. First door on the left is my room, we'll put you across the hall.”

He opened the door, stepping back to let her enter first.

Violet’s eyes went wide as she stepped into the spacious room. “A canopy bed?”

Harry shrugged. “I set this room up for Mum before she moved. She said it made her feel like a princess.”

“I can imagine…”

Harry set her bags down on the bed. “That door's the closet- there's spare sheets on the shelf- the other's the washroom. Should be clean towels in the cabinet.” He looked around. “Why don't you start unpacking while I bring the crib in?”

Violet nodded, still processing that this room would be hers. Two large windows overlooked the garden, with sheer curtains—cream with spring green embroidery—that matched the duvet's colors. She perched hesitantly on the bed. The wallpaper's faint trellis pattern added to the room's gentle femininity, though the pale green bedding gave it a slightly clinical feel. Still, she couldn't deny it was a beautiful room, far nicer than she felt she deserved.

“Well, I suppose we should get our things sorted,” she said, pressing a soft kiss to Gwen’s forehead as she adjusted the harness a bit.

As Harry brought up the disassembled crib and changing table, Violet laid the contents of her bags out on the bed, sorting everything into neat piles.

“Should be some hangers in the closet,” Harry said, eyeing the small array sadly. Seeing it all laid out like this, it struck him how little they really had. Most of it was Gwen’s- her little clothes, baby shampoo, swaddling blankets- Violet had a few changes of clothes, a toothbrush, soap, and little else.

Not anymore, he thought. From now on, they’ll have everything they need, and more.

“I think I’m going to give her a bath, unless you need my help?”

He looked up. “No, I’ve got it.”

Violet smiled, scooping up Gwen and carrying her to the bathroom, leaving Harry to the furniture assembly.

“There we are, little love, fresh and clean and ready for bed,” Violet cooed as she stepped back into the bedroom.

Harry looked up, setting aside the instruction booklet for the changing table. “The cot’s all set. Oh, look at you in your little duckie jim-jams,” he murmured, reaching to stroke the baby's cheek.

Gwen gurgled happily from her mother’s arms, her tiny hand wrapping around his finger.

Violet’s heart ached at the sight. “She must really like you.”

He grinned down at the baby. “The feeling’s mutual.” He turned back to Violet, hoping she didn’t notice the tears in his eyes. “I’m almost done with the changing table. If you’d like to take a shower, I can keep an eye on her for you.”

“That… That would be very nice, thank you,” she said, gently laying Gwen in the cot.

“’S no trouble.” Harry offered a lopsided grin. “Besides, I’m sure you’d like to relax a bit. It’s been a long day.”

“That it has,” she agreed, taking her pyjamas from the bed.

She stepped into the bathroom, flicked the light off, and turned the shower on. In the dark, with tendrils of steam curling up around her, she sank to the floor. The cleansing heat of the water melted away the tension in her body, if only for a moment, and she began to cry.

“I failed,” **she mumbled, pulling her knees up to her chest. “I couldn’t even care for my own daughter. And now… now I'm here, taking advantage of poor Harry.”

She brought her fists down on her thighs, two sharp strikes to the already bruised flesh. It hurt more there—a long-winded, throbbing ache that reared its head every time she took a step—than her mother's quick slaps ever had.

Slowly, she dragged herself to her feet, taking up a flannel and the bar of soap.

“Your mummy loves you so much, little one,” Harry murmured, gazing down at the infant, who had once again wrapped her tiny hand around his finger with remarkable strength. “She's so brave… soon you'll get to know the bright girl that I remember. I promise, I'm gonna help you both in any way I can.”

The bathroom door opened, and he looked up with a smile. “She's almost asleep.”

Violet—flushed pink from the hot water and dressed in button-up pyjamas—crept over, smiling when she saw how Gwen was clinging to his finger. “She's not usually so fond of strangers,” she whispered. “When I had our neighbor, old Mrs. Thomas, watch her for a little while, she put up such a fuss…”

Harry looked back at the baby, trying to ignore the fluttering of his heart as Violet’s arm brushed against his. “I suppose you're both tired.” Carefully, he slipped his hand from Gwen's grasp. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Harry.”

For a moment, she half expected him to lean down and press his lips to her forehead—but, of course, he didn't.

“I'll, er, I'll be across the hall,” he mumbled, hurrying out of the room as if he'd been burned.

Harry lay in his bed, staring blankly up at the ceiling, for what must have been hours.

He'd nearly kissed her.

Standing there, her hair falling in damp curls halfway down her back, she'd been so beautiful. The sight would have driven his teenaged self mad with want, but now…

Now he wanted to hold her, to comfort her.

He knew, however, that this was not the time.

She'd made it clear that she felt she owed him, and he wouldn't take advantage of that, intentionally or not–especially when he could tell that there was more to her story than what she'd shared.

He sighed and glanced at his alarm clock, which kindly informed him that it was nearly midnight. His fingers itched for the journal on his nightstand, desperate to jot down the half-formed lyrics that buzzed in his brain like an infestation of lovesick honeybees.

That's when he heard it–Gwen crying.

It was faint at first, but quickly built to proper wailing.

He waited for a moment before stuffing his feet into his slippers and pulling a blanket over his shoulders.

Weary from the day's events, he didn't think twice before opening the door to Violet’s room, though he instantly regretted it.

She was on the bed, her pyjama top unbuttoned, tears streaming down her face as she cradled Gwen in her arms. When she heard the door, she froze, looking up at him like a deer in the headlights.

“S- sorry, I-”

She hurried to cover herself. “I didn't mean to wake you-”

“No, I was already awake, I just… I'm sorry, I should have knocked. I just heard her crying and thought I should check on you.” He averted his eyes, but his face was burning. “Do you… need anything?”

“No, thank you.”

Harry nodded, backing away and closing her door as quietly as possible.

“Damnit,” he hissed, returning to his own bed.

For a brief moment, before she'd detected his presence, they'd looked almost like a painting–a modern Madonna and child, both dressed in threadbare pyjamas and bathed in the soft glow of a bedside lamp. But the moment she noticed him, fear had flashed in her eyes.

[generalluxun]

I hope you know that I don't take issue with you criticizing Miraculous on principal and that I've long learned that one fan's treasure is another fan's trash. Nobody need to like something completely and if asked, I'll probably rattle off on my own list of things I felt Miraculous could have handled better.

I guess... part of it comes from how there's a lot of negativity around Miraculous and, while they are entitled to express that, there's not enough for my side of "I love it overall, wart and all." Part of this is likely YouTube and Reddit promoting what happens to get the most clicks.

Hell, Tumblr reccommended that post to me when I was editing a Miraculous post for correcting. You know, in that corner where nine posts they think you'll like show up? I just have horrible practice when it comes to walking away because it eats at me that I'm letting somebody go uncontested in this age of poor media literacy (again, not trying to accuse you of anything).

What I'm trying to say is... I had you all wrong. I might not get your "potential" standpoint because Miraculous hasn't missed its potential for me but I'm not you. And I shouldn't have to be.

I... hope this rambling is coherent enough. I really don't want to offend anybody.

EDIT:Just added the readmore because the post was so long. Hey, Thanks for reaching out. That takes a lot. I appreciate it. In the spirit of sharing I'll run by exactly where the show 'missed the mark' for me. The first is just a 'potential' argument, and the others are sort of a chain of similar-and-escalating choices that... I don't know. They're not good. They hint at something just.. wrong I guess? In the writing room. I don't understand the choices, and I hope they're corrected. They *matter* in my opinion.

The first one (the potential argument) comes at the end of S2/Beginning of S3. The OG5 heroes they had there were SUCH a good setup. Nino, Alya, Marinette, Adrien, and Chloe.

Nino&Alya=Established couple who know each other's IDs

Adrien and Marinette=the promised couple, don't know each other's IDs.

Adrien&Chloe Childhood friends

Marinette&Chloe rivals (light bulling as of S2 but really nothing like the S5 retcon would have us believe at this point)

Chloe->Ladybug fangirl

Everyone knows Choe's ID, she doesn't know Anyone's ID

Alya-> Thinks for herself, yet very loyal.

There's just so many angles and storylines in JUST those 5. You could have never once touched the secondary heroes and you could have feasted on that. I'd say Kagami and Luka just because of how important they are on the civilian side could have been part timers, but yeah. The rest? I don't hate the class, they're fun! But you're stretched so thin trying to cover so many heroes that you don't get to really dig and explore. I've seen the other heroes called 'Marinette's pokemon' and it's kind of true, sadly. S4 was a parade of one hit wonders, they even had to stuff 4 into the final one! You could have tackled all the powers with fusions and let the other civilians be cool civilians. It'd make the 'Resistance' in S5 all the more interesting.

That's not to say there's nothing good about how it was done or it's the worst ever for not sticking with the sentai format. It's just a choice that's indicative of the surface level skimming. And it's got us in S6 with a 16(?)v1 scenario which is.... really low stakes as far as these things go. Yes they can course correct it somehow, but they *already* had to do that in S5. so having to do it again... you see how it was a setup for problems.

That honestly would have been all well and fine if the show hadn't gone as it did down another path. This is a 'Please read to the end' because there are a lot of takes on this and I'd rather not be lumped in with some of them.

It started with how Chloé was handled, is bad *for the audience of children watching the show*, and I have a very real problem with that.

Chloé is an abused child. Full stop. There is no arguing this. Neglect, verbal and emotional abuse. Not just from Audrey. It's on screen. People with actual degrees in the fandom have chimed in on this.

They didn't *have* to make her an abused child. I'm not sure they *intended* to do it. t is what they put up on the screen for eyes to see though.

Once you put an abused child on screen. It is my belief that you have an obligation as someone writing children's programing for children to see, to be sure that child's abuse is A)recognized in-universe and B)shown to get help.

This doesn't mean Chloé needed to be a hero, or even liked by her peers. She's just a classic example of a child who responds with anger instead of sadness. She's a 'bad victim' and bad victim kids are often overlooked because they DO tend to bully their peers(they can't fight back against adults so they pick on those they can) The message *needs* to be 'You too can get help' for any in the audience who identify with her, not 'You're just bad, oh well.'

The sow had Marinette push Chloe to act more like Audrey (Queen Wasp ending) which- is actually a perfectly reasonable mistake for Marinette who grew up in a loving household! But it was never revisited, it's basically ignored. yet, pushing a child back int the abuser's care, showing her that she might gain affection by emulating her mother *even harder*? ooof.

Strip away liking or hating Chloe when you think about this, and liking or hating Marinette. Just think about this in broad 'That's a child' terms.

The S3 fall- not terrible honestly! The finale even seems like it gets it. Master Fu's voiceover says 'Some lose hope' when they're showing Chloé. *lose hope* that's not someone gleefully embracing evil, that's a tragic oversight. The show actively built up that Gabriel and Nathalie -along with Lila- deliberately targeted and isolated Chloé. That's horrific, and you can have a payoff from that!

But- there was nothing. The kid manipulated by the two grown adult villains is just 'a villain' from then on. No consideration, no hints, just evil and evil, framed as the worst, we even added a whole 'Was here all along honest' character and retconned some very specific things to make her more eviler! It goes on right up to the point where her own father throws her to the abusive woman that *he a grown man* is divorcing. Let that sink in. He won't stay with Audrey because he knows how she is, but he's quite willing to throw his daughter away to her rather than take responsibility for the child he raised(badly) and try to fix it.

Which leads into the not-Chloe parts of things that as I said go kind of hand in hand. S5 went on a binge of very sudden and questionable 'redemptions' Every crappy dad out there got one. (plus two honorable mentions)

Jagged? He at least was *only* a deadbeat who left his kids alone despite living in the same city for 15 years... and he's the best of them!

Felix!-No he's not a dad, but we had such a very weird 180 on him. He shows up, is cruel to Adrien, tries to force himself on Ladybug, and is shown to be an all around heel. Gabriel Agreste(the episode) continues this, and then in Strike Back he passes ALL the miraculous and Adrien's amok to Gabriel without a care in the world. 2/4 of a seaon later he tries to wipe out humanity. As an excuse we get hints about his dad. Then right before the end we find out his backstory is basically Adrien's backstory with enough changed that they hope the teacher won't notice. One kidnapping later, he's one of the good guys now! He's just a little guy! Poof! Kagami, the girl who THRIVES on honesty, just kinda is like 'nah, everything is cool, and spills LB's secret to him.' It's s weird. This coming from someone who clocked Felgami from the moment they had the side-eye in Gabriel Agreste. I figured a well executed enemies/rivals to lovers though, not.... whatever this mess is. The only saving grace of canon Felgami is that there is no excuse against Lukloé now. Felgami is literally 'She'll fix him.' 🤣 (note: Even though they basically had Felix's abuse-photocopy-backstory off screen, I would still want him to get *help* for it too. all abused kids need to bee shown getting help. Kids need to see there is help to be had. Help doesn't generally look like 'Free girlfriend and Miraculous' though.)

Nathalié-This is probably the least-problematic after Jagged, but we do still have the fact that Nathalie already murdered one Senti-being wiht free will, and arranged for Fei to be an orphan again. (She knew exactly who Cash was when she hired him). We needed a bit more than a last second gasp to sell this one. On her own I don't think this would stand out as much, but it's just one more in a line of 'Redeem everyone but that one blonde girl' choices.

André! The guy who raised Chloé. The one who *showed her how to cheat, steal, and abuse power* Twice in the series she even explicitly states she learned what she does watching him. We've seen this guy, a grown man, bully and abuse his power, engage in corruption, and it's stated this is how he's been his whole career. But oh no, he's actually just a sad little guy who wanted to make movies. It's all his *daughter's* fault! she's so heartless. She sprang from Audrey and started controlling the happless *grown man* before she could even walk.... or something.

And then after André's supposed redemption, we have him run from all responsibility as a father, and steal Zoé apparently? (S4 indicates Mr. Lee is alive and involved in Zoé's life. I'm pretty sure that Andre did something wildly illegal there. 🤣)

And then Gabe! What a kick in the teeth there eh? Now this one does take some outside-of-show information, but not Twitter. The writers did an actual commentary on the finalé explaining their intent. That was a redemption for Gabriel. The light is him ascending into heaven with Emilie, That was supposed to be Ladybug 'winning'. They legitimately believed the 'All the times I tried to be a good father' was warranted. I think they *thought* they were writing Movie!Gabe, and just missed the mark so hard.

That ties back into Adrien's abuse, which was also pretty obvious all throughout the show. More people care, because Adrien is a 'good victim' (sad and meek) so they take pity. Yet- The writing team doesn't seem to really *see* it as abuse. Gabriel just *really* loved his family and was *misguided*. And... yeah....

With all that having happened. This whole 'Marinette keeping the truth from Adrien' plotline just feels so icky. The boy has had no agency. He's got literally control rings. He's been lied to his whole life. Now his girlfriend, Ladybug, Marinette, the show's actual protagonist is lying to him.

There's so little hope they'll handle it well, considering *waves to the previous paragraphs*. Revelator and Alya's anger is the tiniest glimmer of hope that *maybe* with the end of the contract at the end of S5, there's a different set of priorities. It's just worrying, and why every time this specific thing comes up, I have concerns.

The writing room has shown they're shockingly insensitive to the topics they toy with. They can do lighter-side stuff just fine! But when it hits something heavy... oof.

Child abuse is a Very Big Deal for me. I'm a survivor myself. My own went under the radar, which is why *recognizing it in all it's forms* is extremely important to me.

Again-ML never had to do anything with this, but they *chose* to put it in, and once it's in, feel they had an obligation to handle it well. That's an obligation I don't feel like they've met. It's also not something that will improve if those who do see it just go silent and ignore it.

Silence and ignoring is exactly how abuse thrives.

If you're interested I could go into more detail on some of the specific examples of on-screen abuse elements that are present. I knw I left stuff out. In some cases it's so strange because you *think* they must be aware, but if they are then how could they just leave it unaddressed?

I'd love to get answers, but that's not an option.

Well, I bet this answer was more than you bargained for! Maybe it'll provide some clarity as to where the harshness comes in. To be clear, I really want Miraculous to be *better*, not to die. want it to address the abuse it's already displayed in a reasonable way. Once that's done, the hackles will go way back down.

If I lose any and all hope it ever will be addressed, then I'll probably walk away and just warn other parents off the show.

[starrycassi]

I think a lot of young queers folks (like me. Not trying to be all elderly about this I'm literally a gen z) today need to watch the good oldies about our community.

⚠️: I don't mean, in any way shape or form to insult the newer queer shows/movies. I love SPOP. I love TOH. I read and loved Heart stopper. However, because of the restraint of mainstream media, they have a very... palatable?? way to portray the community. I am NOT blaming the creators (who I'm sure would love to go a bit further down on their portrayals if given the option)

SO! I have nice recommendations that I, personally, enjoy a lot. They're in no particular order.

A classic, for starters. But I'm a cheerleader!: Very campy, barbie-y, funny and free on YouTube. A cheerleader is sent to a conversation camp when her social circle realizes that she might be into girls. (It has a very unrealistic portrayal of conversation camps, though. Very cartoony) my comfort movie fr fr

Priscilla, queen of the desert: A trio of drag queens travel across the desert on a big, old bus. They fight, there's some falling in love. They talk a lot about gender identity, queer childhoods and similar topics. I've only been able to find this one (and most of the ones on this list, since I don't have any streaming devices) on illegal websites. There's very, very direct homophobia, SA, physical abuse, child neglect, yk, the American dream. The queens are the funnier thing ever, the romance plotlines are absolutely delightful and well-rounded. Focuses a bit more on the community itself and interpersonal relationships. All around, a solid 10/10.

Kinky boots: A very prude, engaged man inherits a shoe fabric. He's running out of ideas to stay in business, until he meets a drag queen. Same warnings (and themes!) as the last one. This one has a stronger focus on how the characters become more accepting and how our queen navigates being faced with them. I've rewatched it like a hundred times.

The birdcage (2000's) or le cauge aux folles (1970'): A gay couple runs a drag club. Their son brings home a conservative girlfriend and her family. This is more comedy lenient, but funny as fuck nonetheless.

Paris is burning: this one is a documentary, btw. Focuses on the life of drag queens in the 80's. Nothing I didn't already say on Priscilla tbh.

Saving face: A chinese-american girl that lives in a VERY conservatory and secluded community is trying (and failing) not to fall in love with a ballerina. At the same time, her mother (a widow, how scandalous!) gets mysteriously pregnant and gets kicked out of their family home. This one will hit close to home if you're from any ethnic, homophobic household. Cried a lot. Then cried some more. Happy ending, though!

D.E.B.S: THIS IS THE FUNNIEST, CUTEST MOVIE EVER. It's a full on romance comedy for when the mind is a bit too tired! The main plot is that, in a school of girls being trained to be top-notch spies (very totally spies type) a girl who's the top of her class falls in love with the biggest villainess they ever faced. More of a coming of age thing, that also explores the good old dilemma of choosing what the hell you're supposed to do with your life once you turn 18 (relatable tbh)

And now, for a book (in Spanish, though) we have "Las Malas": Narrated by a trans, poor prostitute. Extremely realistic in its narrative voice, cruel and very hurtful sometimes. This is actually one of my favorite books ever, it's so fucking underrated that I'm going to die if no one reads it. There's EVERYTHING. It genuinely drives me crazy to read this. We have queer moms, a child found in a freezing park, suicides, literally anything happens. I love it.

If anyone has any suggestions PLEASE drop them. I'm begging u

[starmocha]

STOP I JUST READ ENDLESS SUMMERS AND I CAN ONLY IMAGINE READER'S PAIN. Like she probably found out she was pregnant right after she found out he "died". Everything happened so fast. The banquet, the news and then this. She was probably in shambles, my poor baby😭😭😭

I definitely see Tara and Zayne and like being the first ones to know. Zayne first as her primary care physician. Bc mc also got protocore syndrome so it was indeed a miracle both her and the baby made it as that could have lead to complications. And Tara? Tara was definitely there for support. I am a certified Tara lover and I so think she would be MC's rock, helping her with everything: baby shopping, decorating the nursery, trying to cheer her up. Trying to help her move. If mc would need it in her third trimester, she'd probably be willing to move in with her pre and post birth to help her recover and not stress.

The first time they tried to make braised chicken wings, they probably burned the kitchen 🥹

I just hope our queen was not alone during those times. That she had someone to take her hand as her life changed so fast😭😭🙏🏻🙏🏻

😭 NO, YOU'RE SO RIGHT WITH ALL OF THIS.

🥺 Like imagine she was grieving, not taking care of herself, so she wasn't even aware of the signs or symptoms (missed period, loss of appetite, fatigue etc.), and then suddenly being hit with this bombshell news, and feeling so many emotions. Guilt for neglecting her body at the risk of the baby's health, heartbroken because she thinks Caleb is "dead," but also finding a way to pull herself out of her grief for the baby's sake, because in her mind, the baby is her last hold on Caleb so she must stay alive and find a way to move forward.

Imagine how she desperately hoped the baby looks like him (or part of him), only to realize their daughter looks completely like her, but there is one solace in that, her daughter has Caleb's eyes. Whenever she looks at her daughter's eyes, it brings her both joy and pain.

My headcanon is Tara is baby girl's godmother and no one will take that away from me 🥹 Tara is absolutely ✨The Friend✨. She remembers the first time MC thought she lost Caleb to the explosion, so to be told this time he has truly "died," she was not going to let her friend fall into despairs or feel alone or anything. Of course now Caleb is on her list for making MC thinks he was dead again...

The first time they tried to make braised chicken wings, they probably burned the kitchen 🥹

THE WAY I HOLLERED 😭😭😭 pls Xavier is upstairs and he hears a firetruck and thinks, "I didn't use the kitchen today..."

[loganwritesprobably]

Law with the 3° genre, prompt (y.)

Since there's no specification, I'm pairing Law up with a gender neutral reader

Find the prompt list here

Content/Warnings: Law/GN!Reader, hurt/no comfort, break up, reader decides to leave the crew

If you had to hear one more stupid word from his stupid mouth, you were going to lose your mind. Breaking up with Law while underwater in the Polar Tang, still days away from your next island, may have been a bit of a mistake but you just couldn't do it anymore. You couldn't keep pretending. It had to end. Everything was tense, and uncomfortable, if he entered the room you immediately left, and the other crew members were struggling with the discomfort. Not one of them tried to criticise you though, they sympathised.

Law did not seem to understand how serious you were, though.

He went out of his way to seek you out, searching for you when you had downtime to try to speak to you. You avoided him at all costs, often walking away while he followed you, ignoring every word that he said. If he did it again, you were going to develop a serious violence issue.

You were sitting quietly in the kitchen, reading a book, and enjoying just being alone for a while. There was a lot you needed to organise, and you needed silence to do it. Feelings to sort through, things to plan, and decisions to be made. You'd already moved all your things from Law's room back into the crew's room, and you were sleeping in your old bed again - still alone, but at least now it was by choice.

That was why you'd split up with Law, you couldn't deal with the way he treated you anymore.

He was never around, always prioritising work over you and even yourself. It was one thing for him to put the crew before you, because you understood that - he was a Captain, that was his job - but to even neglect himself to the point where he was snapping at you and other crew members; making poor decisions; missing all his time with the people he claimed were his friends.. you weren't willing to put up with it anymore. You couldn't date a man who had all these responsibilities when he couldn't take care of himself.

Did you even want him as your Captain?

Hence, things to think about.

Law walked into the room, and for the first time in several days, you didn't leave. You were capable of ignoring him while he puttered around to finally feed himself, you were reading a good book. Instead of doing that though, he sat in the chair beside yours, and just stared at you. It was hard to concentrate on you book when he was staring at you so intently but you kept your eyes on the page, refusing to bend to whatever he was trying to do.

"Since you're finally done running, I want to talk about us." He said eventually, and you sighed, slamming your book closed. "There is no us Law, get that into your thick skull." You hissed, standing up from your chair to leave again, retreating to another quiet room to gather your thoughts. "Why aren't you even willing to hear me out? You'd think I'd hit you!" He yelled, and you froze. "Why? Because you act like you have no interest in yourself, never mind me! We barely spent any time together, and when we did half of it was me forcing you to look after yourself and the other half was you being grumpy or mean because you can't do that for yourself! I'm done with it Law! Grow up a little - then come back and talk to me." You'd turned back to face him, eyes wild, chest rising and falling rapidly with your anger. Law stared back at you, mouth hanging slightly open, understanding finally dawning on him.

"I'm not getting back on the Polar Tang after this island. I'll find my own way - I don't want you as my Captain anymore."

Requests are open! See below links for my other works, and how to leave requests. I write both canon/canon and canon/reader requests for your enjoyment

AO3 | Fanfic Masterlist | Request Rules | WIPs | Recommendations

Tags: @claryeverlarkf @uselessboots @cainnoable

[wc-confessions]

Yo. This is going to be a long rant since I am currently reading Tallstar’s revenge. I really hate Sandgorse. And I kind of hate Palebird, but mostly Sandgorse. (Cw; Abuse) I put the warning since Sandgorse is clearly abusive, though people tend to overlook that. So I’ll be explaining a little bit about what he’s done to Tallpaw. When it comes to the abuse toms in the series, people tend to often ignore or just downright deny that. (Ex: Crookedstar ironically enough and I’m not talking about on Rainflower’s end. Goosefeather, Tigerclaw (To be clear from Mapleshade and Pinestar. Pinestar is neglectful while Mapleshade groomed him). So I will argue with you if you disagree that “Sandgorse isn’t abusive"; he is. He’s a god-awful father. If CPS was a thing in this universe, I’d call them on him. 

Early on in reading Tallstars Revenge I liked Sandgorse for his passion for digging and because he seemed like a super caring father at first. But as the story progressed, he just started pissing me off. I hate how he cares more for damn tunnels than he does for Tallpaw’s own well-being and what he wants. I hate how he tried to force Tallpaw to do something he didn’t want and then cold-shouldered him for rightfully being terrified. As I got to chapter 14, it’s clear he’s just plain emotionally abusive, and overall, he's an emotionally absent father from Tallpaw. He doesn’t care about Tallpaw’s feelings and often dismisses how visibly uncomfortable he was. 

He insulted his son and brushed off his concerns when the tunnels flooded. I liked him and genuinely thought he was interesting since nobody ever elaborated on why he was "bad,” but Jesus. Nobody ever said he was outright abusive. Like Tallpaw himself says, “But what I want didn’t seem important.” That is how terrible Sandgorse is. That is how his Abuse affects tallpaw. All throughout chapter 13 of the SE, he constantly thought about becoming a tunnel just to please Sandgorse. It’s so fucking obvious that Sandgorse is a shitty and abusive parent. But then again, abuse in the Warriors universe is often overlooked because of how poorly written and portrayed it is and because, in general, not many readers are educated on the different types of abuse and factors involved. That or either they just deny it even exists. I feel so bad for Tallpaw. Even after how Sandgorse treated him, he still loved his father enough to run away from home just to avenge him. Sandgorse is such an ass. And he should’ve even been grateful at all that he had a tallpaw considering his other kit finchkit died. And I love Sparrow (so far, let’s hope he’s still an angel). I love how he pushed Tallpaw to care about what he wanted instead of trying to make Sandgorse happy. I love that he encouraged Tallpaw to follow his own path instead of letting him think that his feelings and what he wanted didn’t matter.

 Ew and the dirty looks Sandgorse kept giving Tallpaw Chapter 14; Page 250; (digital copy)

“Tallpaw snapped his head up and tried to catch Sandgorse’s eye. Before he pushed his way through the heather, his father shot him a look that stabbed Tallpaw’s heart.”

Someone, please help this poor child. Even Dawnstripe (who is his mentor if you haven’t read the SE’s or haven't read Tallstar's yet) could see how shitty he treated Tallpaw.

“Dawnstripe brushed softly against Tallpaw. “Why don’t you run to the first marker?” she suggested. “It might wake you up a bit.” Tallpaw heard sympathy in her mew. She saw how Sandgorse looked at me.”

“Why can’t I have normal kin who care about my training and who are proud of me?”

The fact that he feels so unloved by his parents is genuinely tragic to me. He’s one of the cats in the series that deserves better than anyone. Along with Bumble,Turtle Tail, etc. There’s probably some others, but I have bad memory, so I can’t list them all. This poor cat is continually plagued with grief and feelings of failure, feeling like everything is his fault. It was heartbreaking to see that he thought Palebird would hate him because he felt it was his fault her friend Brackenwing died. Even Sandgorse believed that he’d killed Brackenwing. Though Palebird imo is just as shit about believing it too, I won’t just shit on him for that.

And Sandgorse is such an ass for shit-talking his own son to Sparrow: “A flood scared one of the apprentices, so yeah, it’s all his fault that we can’t tunnel, and I hate him.” And then, in the next chapter, he just dies. And Tallpaw risked his life to save his abuser.  I cannot stress enough how much he deserves better than what he got. He risked his life; he was fully ready to throw away everything just to save his father. He didn’t care how badly he’d treated him; he still loved him. And Hareflight pisses me off. He saw how Shrewpaw kept bullying and picking on Tallpaw and didn’t do anything to stop him, but as soon as Tallpaw beat Shrew's ass, he wanted to act like Tallpaw was in the wrong. In fact, I wouldn't even call it bullying at that point because it's gone so much farther than that. 

.

[asher-agere]

LAST KOTLC RAMBLE (Maybe)

SO. I just just just finished my copy of Unraveled and I NEED to say my thoughts because. OH. MY. GOD????? Huge spoiler warning

I would like to start off with Alvar because he’s my biggest take away. I feel like before when we saw Alvar… It was from Sophie’s point of view. And let’s face it, for most of these books Sophie idolized Fitz. Her perception of Alvar was tainted by Fitz’s hatred, and by only seeing the bad parts. Keefe however… Man Alvar was really a brother to him. I never realized how similar they are both in experiences and how they act but… Yeah

Alvar knew what to say to get through to Keefe. He knew what Keefe was thinking and how to get him to STOP thinking. As someone who can relate to Keefe (No I’m not a genetic experiment, sorry to disappoint) it was scary seeing him depressed. Like… That’s what he’s like when he’s alone. Even when he’s been vulnerable around Sophie he always jokes. But Alvar understands him so completely… It’s gotta be frustrating. So he just stopped trying. And Alvar pushed him to keep on trying

On a similar note at the beginning when Keefe was losing his concentration at the beginning during his third light leap and wanted to just “let go”??? UHH WHO GAVE HIM THE RIGHT TO BE SUICIDAL? EXCUSE ME? I’M NOT LETTING THAT MOMENT BE FORGOTTEN. HE’S ALWAYS BEEN SUBTLY SUICIDAL BUT GUYS THAT WAS SO OBVIOUS. WE CAN NOT KEEP IGNORING THIS. It’s not like people are ignoring his poor mental health, it just feels like no one really talks about the severity of it… Because it’s severe guys

Let’s talk about… Cass Lordeman. The second I read that name it all clicked into place. In the Sencen family… Keefe isn’t the only one Mommy Dearest traumatized. Cassius was put through a lot. He needed a break. Before they even had Keefe, Cassius had his escape. Creating distance between him and his wife. Then he had a son. And it’s not right to drop his hobby just because of that right? But Cassius went to far. He neglected his son in the process. Not to mention. Being jealous and punishing your son because he’s more skilled than you? At DRAWING? Cassius just needs a therapist guys… I still don’t like him but let’s think his character through not just hate him

Small note, I really think Keefe and Alvar could’ve just like. Said they were autistic? Like hear me out. Keefe overwhelmed by all the different emotions? That’s a sensory overload my guy. Alvar played up the amnesia pretty well honestly, not much to critique there. But like just saying they were autistic would’ve gotten them some calmer and clearer explanations

Also I loved seeing the LGBT+ community represented in these books… For so long I’ve questions what elves and other intelligent species think of that, but this book really cleared it up… The elves don’t even think about that. It’s like me as a child feeling masculine but not realizing I can just change my gender identity to feel more comfortable. They were never shown options, so they didn’t think about it. So when they viewed LGBT+ couples they were accepting. They had a blank slate and no reason to be judgmental

ALSO THE TIMEZONES ARE FINALLY EXPLAINED. All the elves are just. Synced? I want more of an explanation kinda but honestly good enough man. Now it doesn’t just feel like a forgotten detail

AND FINALLY. THE MOMENT. THE CHAPTER. THE ENDING. T H E K I S S. The chapter being called “Everything” instantly had me squealing and kicking my feet because THAT’S WHAT SOPHIE IS TO HIM. SOPHIE IS LITERALLY HIS EVERYTHING. I love Keefe talking to Silveny about how worried he is… Silveny didn’t really help but it’s ok. KEEFE TALKING ABOUT SOPHIE IN RED??? “Almost like the color existed just for her” HELLO MR. ROMANTIC. I would swoon and die on the spot. Also the difference between Keefe and Fitz… Sophie started worrying about match lists, surely remembering Fitz. And Keefe just. Doesn’t care? I love him so much guys you have no idea- Also Keefe almost pumping his fist when they kissed was so cute- LIKE THAT’S NOT EVEN HIS FIRST KISS. IT’S NOT SPECIAL. IT’S SPECIAL BECAUSE IT’S HER. First thing he said afterwards was to check if she regretted it… Afhfhfhgjghhghfhf my hearttttttt

That’s all. Just thoughts I needed to say because. Yeah. I could go on and on about Keefe and Alvar though guys… Would anyone be interested in KOTLC agere content? Just curious…

[gali-la]

FIC REC FIFTEENTH

I've been so busy lately I've been neglecting the good fics of AO3. In the spirit of getting back into it, I'm gonna make a list (or recommendation list) of the fics I read and like over the course of the month!

Disclaimer—these are not One Piece specific, despite the majority of this blog being so. 'Tis whatever strikes my fancy

(tagging the authors whose blogs i know/can find because i need you all to know i love you sm. feel free to yell at me)

SFW FICS

Bad Hair Day by Aerle [2.9k, One Piece]

Ratings: General Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply Relationship(s): Thatch/Izou Additional Tags: Hairdresser au Summary: When Thatch is about to close his hair salon early because of the heat, a last minute and rather desperate customer shows up. Notes: Absolutely adorable fic!! from a favor for a near-stranger to sweet small talk and conniving matchmaker friends... this one has so much packed into a cute little one shot. Absolutely recommend!!

go ahead and bite off more than you can chew by gendervapor ( @gendervapor14 ) [1.1k, One Piece]

Ratings: Teen And Up Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply Relationship(s): Charlotte Katakuri/Donquixote Rosinante Additional Tags: Romance, first kiss, insecurity, domestic fluff, established relationshipSummary: "You—you hardly know what I am, what I look like. And you think I’m planning to wed you? I couldn’t." Notes: Sweetest thing on the planet written by the sweetest person on the planet (ya im a little biased. fite me). The delicious insecurity and subsequent reassurance all topped of with a first kiss!! this fic will forever have my heart and soul <3

OP Rare Pair Week Day 5 - Season by ArgelTal ( @chaoticargeltal ) [1.3k, One Piece]

Ratings: General Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply Relationship(s): Akainu | Sakazuki/Ryokugyu | Aramaki Additional Tags: Admirals polycule, cute, fluff, domestic fluff, fluff and humor, one-sided crush, pre-relationship Summary: Day 5 of the One Piece Rare Pair Week, prompt: Season. Aramaki hates winter. The cold is terrible on his plant body and the sun is too weak. But then he finds a new sun in Sakazuki. Notes: Absolutely adorbsss I love the dynamic between all the admirals. I'm normally not a marines fan, but this fic could just about make me one XD

Those freckles are misleading by Lerya ( @lerya-fanfic ) [1.4k, One Piece]

Ratings: Mature, No Archive Warnings Apply Relationship(s): Marco/Ace Additional Tags: miscommunication, mutual pining, modern au Summary: Marco couldn't deal with this, he had only just started teaching history at Grand Line University, there was no way he was putting all of that on the line because he student was flirting with him. He's less than stellar sex life can't be the reason why he'd dare to do this. The 'student' in question is hot though, but still not worth his job. Notes: A lot of this fic was me just laughing at Marco, poor guy. Thank god Izou comes to the rescue—I'm pretty sure Marco wasn't gonna survive much longer. Ends with a sweet date and a night spent together!! Absolutely worth reading

challenge by starbitz ( @j1rouz ) [1.3k, One Piece]

Ratings: General Audiences, No Archive Warnings Apply Relationship(s): Zoro/Luffy Additional Tags: feelings realization, first kiss, roronoa zoro and vinsmoke sanji bickering, roronoa zoro-centric, slice of life, fluff, canon compliant Summary: "You don’t have a romantic bone in your big, dumb body,” Sanji quips, giving Zoro a hearty shove. Notes: One of my favorite zolu dynamics—captain and his first mate being silly and dumb together. This fic totally captures that in the best was possible <3 beginning to show up sanji and ending so sweetly

for what it's worth by de_winter [6.8k, One Piece]

Ratings: Teen and up audiences, no archive warnings apply Relationship(s): Thatch/Izou Additional Tags: modern au, getting together, friends to lovers, mutual pining, cabin fic, first kiss, Summary: A year since they’d seen each other in person, and Izou had once again forgotten how good Thatch looked. An impossible feat, now that he once again laid eyes on those shoulders. With each passing year, Thatch seemed to look better and better, and his sweaters seemed to be getting smaller and smaller at the same rate. Notes: One of my fav Thatch/Izou fics. the way theyre both so in love with each other... GOD its fucking delicious

Observe When I Am Dead by Augment [8.3k, One Piece]

Ratings: Mature, creator chose not to use archive warnings Relationship(s): Zoro/Luffy Additional Tags: angst, thriller bark fallout Summary: Kuma offers Zoro a slightly different deal. Notes: god the PAIN with this one. absolutely recommended read 10/10 zoro's devotion and silence—god it hurts and tastes so GOOD

pay you in love without returns by wishbone [3k, House M.D.]

Ratings: Teen and up audiences, no archive warnings apply Relationship(s): Greg House/James Wilson Additional Tags: gift giving, friends to lovers, lack of communication, joke proposal is treated seriously, marriage proposal, relationship advice, wedding rings, angst with a happy ending Summary: When Wilson tells House how much he spent on the Hammond organ he gifts him, House makes a mistake that will reveal their feelings for each other. Notes: Poor wilson—though to be fair, they're both idiots in this one, and i wouldn't have it any other way. if you want some feels and some happy endings with a dose of oh god that hurt you're dumbasses, this is the fic for you!

honest with you by astrange_one [8.8k, My Hero Academia]

Ratings: Teen and up audiences, Creator chose not to use archive warnings Relationship(s): Yamada Hizashi/Aizawa Shouta Additional Tags: fluff and angst, hurt/comfort, mutual pining Summary: Hizashi doesn't want to be a burden to anyone, but he forgets that things are different now compared to back when he was in foster care. Because if there's one thing he's perfected over the years, it's keeping his problems to himself. He's used to it, after all. It's just that Shota doesn't like it when he does that. Notes: this is angsty as HELL. Total Mic whump (yum) with a happy ending. delicious

Eye of the Beholder by Heronfem [6.8k, My Hero Academia]

Ratings: mature, no archive warnings apply Relationship(s): Sero Hanta/Todoroki Shouto Additional Tags: Falling in love, idiots in love, didn't know they were dating, oblivious, humor, romance, first kiss Summary: “I’m just saying,” Mina says, propping her chin in her hand and pouting, “it’s unfair. It’s totally unfair. We were all fools and our punishment is too extreme to be borne. The gods are making us pay.” Bakugou cracks an eye open from where he’s sprawled out with his head in Kirishima’s lap. It’s a nice day, closing in on the end of summer during their third year of school, and the heat is fully upon them. “What the fuck are you talking about?” “That,” she huffs, and points. “Oh,” Bakugou says wryly. “That.” --- Or, Sero gets hot over summer break and Todoroki gets his man (though not without a few bumps along the way) Notes: the obliviousness is STRONG with this one. Paired with Todoroki's not-quite-perfect understanding of social cues, this is *chefs kiss*

Shovel Talk by nirejseki [1.7k, The Flash]

Ratings: not rated, no archive warnings apply Relationship(s): Barry Allen/Leonard Snart Additional Tags: canon divergence Summary: Barry warned him that people might try to give Len the shovel talk, now that Barry had decided to bring his and Len's year-old relationship into the light. Len never said he was going to be nice about letting them. Notes: Len is a little shit and I love him for it. he also doesn't take shit from anyone. it's fantastic.

Everybody else is second best by barrylen [3.8k, The Flash]

Ratings: teen and up audiences, no archive warnings apply Relationship(s): Barry Allen/Leonard Snart Additional Tags: fix-it, light angst, fluff Summary: Barry couldn't stop sneaking glances at Leo and Ray. Leo had a plan, of course. Notes: I'm a sucker for fix-its. thats it. i cant stand the fact that they killed len off and every fix there is ill swallow it whole

Mr. Blue Sky by BeauregardsTaxicab ( @beauregardstaxicab ) [269k, The Flash]

Ratings: Teen and up audiences, no archive warnings apply Relationship(s): Barry Allen/Leonard Snart Additional Tags: canon divergence, humor, friendship, angst with a happy ending Summary: Shortly after Barry is struck by lightning, Iris discovers that not only does he have a secret boyfriend, but that boyfriend is Leonard Snart, a notorious thief. She learns to trust him, however, as they both begin looking into Dr. Wells for Barry's sake. Over the nine months that Barry's asleep, their team grows and they discover more frightening details about the man who was currently keeping Barry alive. Together, they have to figure out the whole truth and make a plan to keep Barry safe before Dr. Wells catches onto them, or there will be no stopping him... Notes: I read this entire thing in a week. maybe less. (and finished it this morning!!) i am INSANE over the coldflash dynamic in this one. It's so good, so sweet, they're so in love and i want to cry. the plot is FANTASTIC i was hanging on every word. I can't explain how much i loved this—every single twist, every single moment of agony and happiness, there was no tearing me away from this. It is worth every single one of the 21 chapters and the 268,722 words within them. 1000/10. im never recovering. i need to leave five hundred comments once i regain brain function

NSFW FICS

Mantra by goldsaffron [4.9k, One Piece]

Ratings: Explicit, Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings Relationship(s): Silvers Rayleigh/Gol D. Roger Additional Tags: observation haki, kenbunshoku, pre-canon, getting together, sharing a bed, strangers to lovers, domestic bliss Summary: Rayleigh and Roger meet, and Rayleigh promptly develops telepathy. At least, that's what it seems like, because Rayleigh swears he can sense Roger's emotions. Affection, jealousy, desire--but is Rayleigh just imagining it? There's no way Roger wants him like that... right? Alternatively, how Roger and Rayleigh discovered kenbunshoku haki and fell in love along the way Notes: the TENSION between these two. goldsaffron is one of my favorite Roger/Ray authors, and this one SHOWS IT. the build up and series of events to lead up to the final wall breaking down and both of them giving in... absolutely love this fic. i think ive read it like, three times in the past couple of days

you heat me like a filament by priestkink [6k, Spider-man: Spider-Verse]

Ratings: explicit, no archive warnings apply Relationship(s): Miguel O'Hara/Peter B. Parker Additional Tags: Body worship, body image, blow jobs, intercrural sex, fantasizing, established relationship Summary: Peter thinks Miguel is unfairly, distractingly hot. Miguel shows Peter that he is, too. Notes: Body appreciation but in the "I'm so obsessed with you how DARE you think you're anything but perfect and exactly what i want" my favorite vintage. regular revisit

shallow then halo by xarvel [1.9k, Spider-man: Spider-Verse]

Ratings: explicit, no archive warnings apply Relationship(s): Miguel O'Hara/Peter B. Parker Additional Tags: Trans Miguel O'Hara, Trans Peter Parker, established relationship, use of AFAB terms Summary: Peter trembles above him, both hands on Miguel’s chest as he moves, and if Miguel could drown in this, he would. “There you are,” he murmurs, and Peter huffs out a laugh, turning to kiss the inside of Miguel’s wrist. Notes: toe-curling smut with a smattering of sweet dirty talk. nothing better than fucking three orgasms out of yours boyfriend and then losing your own mind (with love)

just for show by arxaris ( @arxaris ) [1k, My Hero Academia]

Ratings: explicit, no archive warnings apply Relationship(s): Sero Hanta/Todoroki Shouto Additional Tags: PWP, fake/pretend relationship, getting together Summary: “Shouto,” he gasped, vaguely wondering when they had switched to using given names all the time, instead of just in public. “Wh-what are we - oh, fuck - what are we doing?” “Fucking,” Todoroki panted. “Specifically, I’m riding you.” Sero huffed a laugh that turned into a moan. “Not what I-I meant, baby,” he replied, and suddenly he was distracted again, trying and failing to remember when exactly pet names had been brought into private, too. Just like this, it had sort of just happened. Notes: TASTY AS HELL. i love seroroki pissing off endeavor, and I love them getting together over it even more

We Keep Rockin' by orphan_account [1.7k, The Flash]

Ratings: explicit, no archive warnings apply Relationship(s): Barry Allen/Leonard Snart Additional Tags: jealous len, possessive len Summary: They'd been in this situation before, Barry pressed against the nearest surface, Cold fucking into him with a rhythm that was anything but gentle. Yet despite the rough and hot and heavy movements of their typical exchanges, Barry couldn't help but feel like there was an underlying rage to Snart’s thrusts tonight. Notes: the possessiveness, the jealousy—perfect and delicious. I love this fic so much.

if you made it to here, thanks for sticking around!! go give love to all of these wonderful authors, and I will see you on the next fifteenth o7

[kimaratomoya]

Would you mind doing a character analysis of Toby? This guy has so many layers and it’s driving me crazy-

Toby Billings analysis for the anon!! Also you don't have to anon!!!

Please I want to know who the Toby fan is, of the few people I know of who know him, a lot of people misinterpret him...

Thanks for asking about him!!! He's my favourite little guy!

THIS IS USING THE ORIGINAL BOOKS! NOT THE GRAPHIC NOVELS! THEY CHANGED HIS PERSONALITY AND PARTS OF THE STORY IN THE GRAPHIC NOVELS! PLEASE READ THE CANON STORY, NOT JUST THE GRAPHIC NOVELS!!!

⚠️TW: Mentions of SH and Suic!de (Canon to the story)⚠️

Basic info:

- Youngest of two

- Competitive (For a reason)

- Loves Arcade Games

- Constantly second to his older brother

- Friends with Reggie (we love Reggie on this blog)

- Occasionally has something in his mouth (toothpick)

- Nickname "Tobes" from Connor

- Bullied by his brother, blatantly

- Short fuse (also for a reason)

- Ignored by is dad unless he does something wrong.

- Not super good at school

- Basically ignored by teachers because he never lived up to his brother's shadow (kinda ironic)

- Tabitha? Was she meant to be a love interest? Not done well.

- Does not want therapy

- High School

- No friends anymore

- Nightmares :(

Ok so I clearly have a favourite because I analysed him a lot more in depth but also he's such a character. Just his basic stuff is pretty bad tbh. Lots of isolation and bullying in his own home. Doesn't seem to want help, or know how to ask for it. Does allow Tabitha to help but clearly dislikes it. The short fuse definitely comes from him watching his brother throw tantrums when he didn't win, and growing up in that household, he probably picked that up. There's a lot of issues there.

- Self image issues

- Low self esteem

- Basically abused/neglected

- Barely hesitates to harm himself to get rid of the rabbit

- Seems to go into a bit of a depressive state after Shadow Bonnie is sewn into him

- (⚠️TW⚠️)Is completely willing to scratch off his skin, and almost drown himself to get rid of the shadow

- Literally makes a list of how to get rid of it and the only thing he refused to do is to burn it off

- Cannot eat because of Shadow Bonnie

- Refuses to let Connor win, even when he tries to call off the competition

- Cracks his knuckles when he's nervous

- Doesn't trust people

- He isolated himself (which is his opinion, from other clues in the book, I feel like it was mutual)

- (⚠️TW⚠️) Literally kills himself to win

Oh boy. So a few little personality quirks, cute. But also omg the poor kid. He's very much hurt at home, no one cares. Isolates himself, but it is also probably a self preservation technique because he was definitely in some type of abuse/neglect situation. His willingness to hurt and kill himself shows a lot of underlying issues he most likely was already going through and Shadow Bonnie just brought it to a head. He suffers a lot of physical and mental trauma throughout the book and relates it back to previous trauma from before the incident.

- Mother left when he was around 5

Woo mother issues. We actually get a heck in on her in The Breaking Wheel where she is Reed and Julius's robotics teacher. She seems like she may have some mental health issues herself, with how she acts and treats them, which may explain why Toby had some underlying issues.

- Honorable mention that Reggie likes Tabitha

Toby is just a little guy and I want him to have a happy home life and I want him to be happy. He's such a guy. Scott really did him dirty tbh. But he's also a well developed character with a lot of layers and mental illness.

Tried to keep any AU and fanfiction stuff out of this.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.