#otp: finnish house mafia

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🌙✨ –;; the first chapter of the revamp of the vamp!pekka and human juuse fic has been posted! go take a read and tell me what you think 💛💙

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Finnish witches?? 😍😮

yes !! 

i’ve had this au in my head for a while now (as you can tell, this tends to be the running theme with me….), loosely inspired by the song ‘l.a. devotee’ by panic at the disco. the basic gist of it is that pekka, tuukka, and kari are a coven in the middle of nowhere, and juuse, a young witch all on his own, is coming to them to study and get better at his skillset. 

pekka is a space witch, using astrology and the stars. he’s pretty much nocturnal, because he does so much of his work at night, and he and tuukka are pretty close by virtue of working during similar hours. he doesn’t have a familiar, but it’s just because he hasn’t found the right one yet. he spends his time working in i guess “wish magic,” as in finding spells and potions to make people’s thoughts and desires come true, if they are abstract thoughts and desires.

tuukka is a black witch, using anatomy and the body. he works in shifts, sometimes needing sunlight for his gifts and sometimes needing moonlight, so he pulls all nighters occasionally, depending what he’s working on. he likes to focus his energy on healing spells, but he also likes to terrorize kari with this cat skeleton that he has, since he can make it move however he so pleases. he has two familiars, a rat and a raven (sound familiar?), and while juuse immediately knows something’s up, he doesn’t press further for fear of pissing tuukka off and having bad shit happen to him, regardless of how often kari and pekka reassure him that he’s not going to do anything. 

kari is a green witch, using herbology and the earth. he’s very nice, if not a bit scatterbrained, and likes to spend his time outside in his gardens and rooting around in the forest looking for more ingredients in his potions, as well as food. often times pekka or tuukka need to go out and bring him inside because he’s been out there for up to three days, and they honestly just want him to shower. kari’s familiars are a sparrow, who tuukka’s raven loves to antagonize, and a doe and, by extension, her herd. 

little juuse is an animal witch, using zoology and the fauna. he, like pekka, lacks a familiar, but that’s because his gifts are to connect with animals anyway, and he’s not sure that he wants to find one just yet. he’s quite young, so he’s still learning what his style is and what he actually wants to do with his gifts. 

at first, juuse’s a little intimidated by them, simply because he feels like he’s trying to join the mean girls but then it turns out that they’re actually all just fools. pekka is the coven leader, by default of being the oldest, but he also is the only one remotely interested in that. juuse spends a fair amount of time with kari, just because he’s a green witch so it’s somewhat close to his own magic, but he does take lessons from all three of them because there’s just some generic magic things that he has to learn. (he’s been self taught until now so there’s some gaps in his knowledge)

it’s like a feel good witchy sitcom, like sabrina the teenage witch meets golden girls, which, yes, until now i didn’t think that that was a possible combination either 😅

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🌙✨ –;; hey so i haven’t written hockey fic in forever but! have some rinnesaros porn! 

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hi that soulmates thing gave me a big feel tell me what else is poppin in that verse

it kept hitting me with feels all night but i mostly am just thinking about how pekka doesn’t want to talk about soulmates, and it’s a defense mechanism that he’s developed over the years. and some of his teammates are just kinda like, chill with it, like it’s totally fine and this is how pekka is and they can respect that, but it takes some getting used to. not that soulmates are a taboo subject in the locker room, but just don’t ask him about it, or if you’re sharing stories, expect him to leave/not participate, because he’s had enough exclusion from gossip circles in his life

meanwhile juuse is very proud of his and he wants to share that he’s so proud of his mark, and that he’s had it since birth and that he already knows that he and his soulmate will be a perfect match, and that over the past couple of days he’s really felt like there’s a connection, like maybe he can meet his soulmate soon; but he doesn’t want to upset pekka, so he plays it down, trying to be casual about it when he’s around the other goalie, but gushing when he’s around the rest of the team

and maybe…maybe someone has seen pekka’s mark before, maybe when he was washing dishes and he didn’t want his cover to get wet and gross, or maybe he even showed them one night as a sign of trust. and maybe it’s been a while since he’s looked at it so he expects it to still be this faint little outline of a small bear paw, but that someone gently points out that maybe he should check it, just to double check - and when he checks it one night, when he’s feeling mighty self-loathing, it’s this solid, nicely filled in, with some details along the outside in swirling patters and whorls and knots and he’s like “oh…..oh.” because he’s seen the details on juuse’s mark and holy shit they look like they could be the same

keep in mind that while all of this is happening, they’re doing well together, getting wins and getting closer as both housemates and as teammates, and they’re really fitting well together, it’s almost like they’ve bonded already and they don’t even notice because why would they notice when juuse’s so worried about accidentally hurting pekka with how much he wants to talk about his mark - also because at this point juuse’s about 98% sure that it is pekka but he doesn’t want to bring it up in case it hurts pekka’s feelings or he can’t convince him or whatever - and pekka is so worried about taking advantage of juuse that he just won’t let himself feel anything

but hot damn do they want to kiss each other so bad

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juuse definitely has very little common sense or street smarts but a lot of book smarts and people smarts so it’s fine and it balances everything out and i think one of the older guys thinks ‘this kid is stupid but he’s always happy? says some really nice things too? imma risk it and ask for advice about x’ and it works out and goes from there but yeah lol once those two get together everyone is like ‘ah i see’ and i think those two definitely own a bunch of fines for pda and being cutesy later

juuse becoming the unintentional advice column on the team because he’s just had to go through most of the stuff himself ( well, most of the time; sometimes he can’t relate, like things to do with kids, but he figures that’s a problem for a later time ) 

as for fines, they singlehandedly changed the locker room economy because of that shit. it got to the point that they were just like “you know what, why don’t we just pay for dinner instead, as a preemptive measure” and just going for it because why not ?? 

but a holiday party with the team ?? 

mistletoe abuse, at every turn. juuse made a flower crown out of the leaves and basically gets to make out with whoever he so chooses at all times - which means that pekka has a lapful of young horny finn for most of the night

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what type of au eoukd you think of where it’s Juuse who holds the upper hand in the power dynamic, how does that play out in either this universe or in any of the other ones?

🌙✨ –;; i think power dynamics are complex and fairly nuanced simply because power takes a lot of forms. in the more obvious way, there’s social hierarchies that favor the rich, the skilled, and (in some cases) the old. so pekka and juuse’s relationship could easily be changed up by having juuse be the starter and pekka be the back up, and/or by switching their ages, so pekka is younger than juuse. and if one introduces other elements to the au - soulmate au, abo au, arranged marriage au, etc. - then that very clearly lays out the power dynamics at play. 

but!! they could be reversed from what one expects!! for example, in boss & baby, it could very easily be argued that it’s juuse who has the power within their relationship. yes, pekka is the head of the family, and yes, pekka is the one with the money, but juuse has a type of sway and influence over pekka that no one else does. pekka controls all, but in some ways, juuse controls pekka. and who’s the more powerful then?

as for the type of au that comes to mind…what about juuse being a rich young fool either at some boarding school or just leeching off his parents money, and pekka works for the family; maybe as a driver or as a member of the security detail. i don’t know what industries are big in finland and all of that but i do know that people love drugs, so what if the saros family is some kind of pharmaceutical powerhouse and his father sent him to america to oversee the expansion of their business, and pekka was sent along to keep juuse safe/keep him in line. and, of course….things happen, and emotions soon follow…maybe. perhaps. definitely.

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i kind of want juuses mark to be like Huge bc like he is so much younger than pekka but also so much smaller (idk if in this verse marks are always on the arm or if they can be anywhere but i would love if this mark just took up his like whole side) and i just want juuse to say fuck it and make a deal of mates/marks and it's a very gross and tear filled kiss just ugh these two//ycmal is so good and if you need any help i got you (i wanted to for a hot minute but yesterday i just said fuck it)

listen, i love the idea of small minimalist marks so fucking much but i really do hear what you’re saying because i was thinking that like, juuse’s mark takes up his entire span of his shoulder blades, which means that shirtless interviews are like, a point of pride for juuse and a point of vexation for the entire team, especially because he’s so endearingly in love with whoever is supposed to be symbolized by that yet they’re not in his life. it’s almost painful for the other guys to watch, especially if they start to suspect that this baby’s soulmate might be sitting in the stall right next to him…

also yes i want juuse to be the one who finally just makes a move and goes for it because he wants to be with this man and he can’t fight whatever is drawing him towards him for much longer like, absolutely he cannot

these fucking idiots need so much help and i love it 

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For the soulmate au, how does it go down in the locker room when some of the guys start to suspect that maybe Juuse’s soulmate is a lot closer than he might think? Do they try to ask Pekka or Juuse about it or do they try to plan things on their own? Is there a heart to heart where Juuse confesses to someone that he thinks it’s Pekka but he doesn’t know how to approach him about it?

i think that some of the ones that hang out with pekka or juuse the most are the first to notice, and they don’t want to be intruding on other people’s lives - especially since pekka doesn’t really lose his shit that often but one of the fastest ways to put him in a mood is to bring up soulmates and soulmarks - so they know that talking to him about it is out. some of the older guys might brave a conversation or two, but they’re not trying to fuck with him anymore than he’s already messed himself up. 

there’s definitely a heart to heart - probably between juuse and miikka if we’re being honest - maybe on a day when pekka’s out doing something and it’s just juuse and miikka, or maybe in a hotel room on the road, or something like that. because miikka is close to both of them, and juuse feels so overwhelmed all of the time and he doesn’t want it to affect his gameplay or his relationship with pekka, and it’s tiring walking that line over and over again. miikka is a supportive bro, and he’s just kind of a listening ear for a while, before juuse asks him, “What should I do?” 

which leads to them spitballing a bunch of different ideas, none of which actually come to fruition because juuse’s just so terrified of ruining whatever amicable mentorship/friendship that he has with pekka, that he refuses to put himself out there. so then miikka takes it upon himself to find someone who can talk to pekka and not get their ass handed to them, so he winds up going to roman because it’s the hockey equivalent of going to mom and asking for help. 

roman does what he can in a captainly sense, and pekka reaches out to juuse afterwards to check in with him - of course juuse lies and says that everything’s fine because he doesn’t want to risk ruining anything ( story of his life at this point. ) 

miikka and roman are just looking at each other like what the fuck do we do now 

there’s some other things that happen, some people outside the preds are reached out to and they help as best they can, but at the end of the day it takes one (1) man to make a decision that he’s going to reach out and see what comes of it, and that’s juuse saros

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when you said whorls and knots all i thought of was celtic knots and it's just a really pretty picture in my head i'm crying they're so cute and this makes it cuter but damn when they say fuck it and go for it well

yes!! celtic knots!!

(i’m sure that there’s a finnish equivalent though, like the patterns found in the hammer necklaces and such, but i know very little about that so we’ll just go with celtic)

I’m also just thinking about how the mark on juuse is this sabretooth skull and he’s like “well why would it be that” but then you remember what the preds logo was when pekka first started and then all of a sudden it becomes clear, because what was the predators alternate logo when pekka was first getting his start in the nhl? you already guessed it.

(also how was the soulmate magic supposed to know that they would change it? it wouldn’t, hence the big cat skull logo imprinting itself upon juuse’s body real early in his life)

as for when they decide to go for it, i think it could go one of three ways. the first could be that juuse and pekka decide to ignore the possibility that they’re soulmates, and instead just live their lives outside of the societal norm of abiding by soulmate rules, which adds to the drama and angst because it’s not unheard of for people to get with someone who isn’t their soulmate, only to then later bump into their soulmate after their life has been established, and it causes all kinds of drama, because what if one of them decides to leave for their real soulmate? what if they have a life set up but juuse’s soulmate comes around finally? 

the second could be that they finally have a conversation with each other and they admit that they are each other’s soulmates and are forthcoming with their anxieties and worries and in the end decide that they want to do this not solely because they’re soulmates but because they truly do love and respect each other as individuals

the third could be that they’re sort of found out in the beginning of the next season because all hockey players as a part of their check ups and screenings have to go to a bond specialist, even if it’s just to double check that a) they’re not bonded or b) that they did in fact get bonded over the summer and all of that is on record for the team. and pekka’s so used to going in, being told that it’s just not the case this year, but that’s fine, he expects it - but then he goes in and oh wow turns out he’s already bonded, to who you ask?? juuse comes in and is just like “….oh.” 

either way, there’s always the thrill of their first time together and i’m not sure how much magic of the soulmateness goes into it but i just….so many emotions and the literal feeling of it?? these words aren’t making sense but it’s what i need

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i think pekka probably goes through a ‘i don’t give a fuck’ phase or a self destructive one before he comes to his senses and realizes that yeah juuse is the one and he has to deal w that but juuses just full of love and the team just accepts it and lets his love go around the locker room and to whomever has issues on or off the ice like i just feel like he’s the one to get any advice from and it’s weird but he’s an old soul that just Knows

it’s funny because just as much as he’s one of those people that has an old soul and can offer some solid, good advice, but also is very dumb at real life things, which is what pekka is there for. juuse can give advice to communicate the clearest and most effective way possible, but he’s just as likely to get in a random car thinking it’s his uber ( looking at you, andre ). in this way, he’s kind of a nice middle ground for when you want good advice that’s also practical, although i almost hesitate to say that the older guys would go to him until he’s proven himself time and time again

then again, juuse probably puts up with pekka’s bullshit way too often for people to feel like they need to “test” him and his advice giving capabilities. and speaking of pekka’s bullshit, he is the embodiment of we could have been doing this the entire time! once they finally get their shit together and actually start having a relationship

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that gif is when juuse is being a brat and pekka isn’t gonna give him what he wants (right now)

in reference to ( x )

my thoughts exactly, juuse’s out here trying to get what he wants ( the d ) and instead he’s getting told that he needs to be responsible with his body before roadtrips because what if something happens to one of them and they can’t play ?? 

but even as he says this, he’s coming over and getting all up in juuse’s space, talking low and slow, the way he does when he’s sizing juuse up right before he takes him apart…only to grab his keys from the bowl next to juuse on the table and duck away because he has things he needs to pick up from around the city and juuse should be a good boy and empty the trash while he’s at it 

juuse’s so frustrated it’s not even funny ( but pekka finds it hilarious ) - it’s not so hilarious when juuse gets him back for it in the hotel room, but that’s a story for another post 

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do you have any worldbuilding hcs for boss & baby? or regular ones, i don't mind

this has been in here for absolutely for-fucking-ever, and i am so sorry that i never got to it. but it’s rainy and cold here while i’m waiting for my next class to start, which is as good a time as any to talk about this au !! 

well the general structure of the house is as follows: 

pekka is the head of the house

kari is the purse strings

miikka salomaki and mikko rantanen are the in-house chefs

miro is an apprentice of sorts, who is for now is sort of shadowing various people

juuse is basically a live-in angel who keeps tensions low and is surprisingly smart and articulate at every turn

aside from that, there are members of the family who live in different places and have little, almost like “embassys” for the family in various cities, like boston, dallas, new york, etc. it’s what kari is referring to in dusk ‘til dawn when he’s wondering if sebastian aho would be a good choice to expand to raleigh

there are, of course, other members of the family that are kind of spread out, but pekka kind of calls on them as he needs them; rarely are there full on “get togethers” because they don’t really need them all that much 

in this verse, there’s obviously other families and what not, but the only one that pekka is like, constantly aware of would be the swedes, for obvious reasons. they don’t really like each other that much but it’s not as bad as it could be, yanno? there’s no turf wars or anything, they’re just constantly aware of each other’s locations and business moves, to see what’s a threat or not

but yeah, that’s all i got for right now - i’m sure i’ll come up with a few more later on, but if you’re still curious about something in particular, feel free to ask !! 

[matskreider-blog]

pekka can have the minimalist mark in this relationship (maybe it can 'grow' as he gets closer to juuse or whatever idk he's big gay and his mark knows it) but oh deer lord juuse loves showing his mark off constantly like he doesn't mean to be rude about it but it might come off that way sometimes so he might need to chill but once those two get together he can put that love and pride somewhere else aka his boy (i feel like if anyone on the team is sad they just go to juuse bc he radiates love)

he is a big gay and everyone knows it, but he’s too shy to really invest himself in whatever could be growing here because he’s been scorned before and he doesn’t want to be caught up in the fears and bigotry from before he got his mark, especially since his sister was born with one and her life turned out just fine, so why does he have to suffer? 

it only gets worse because juuse is sort of showing off because he is proud of his mark but he also is sort of trying to get pekka to see it, especially because when looking at the roster and factoring out people who are already bonded, people who know their soulmate and aren’t bonded yet but are in a committed relationship, and people who aren’t juuse’s type, there’s not a whole lot left to choose from. then when juuse adds in the connection that he feels with pekka, it’s just….so much 

eventually he does taper it down, and it’s one of the things that he’s taught when dealing with the media and what’s okay to say and what’s not okay to bring up/show, but it doesn’t taper down the pride that he feels in it. he wants to talk to pekka about it, especially since pekka is his mentor and he’s living with the guy, but he knows pekka doesn’t like to bring it up so he just kinda….lets it drop.

juuse kind of accidentally becomes a beacon of hope and understanding though for guys who are in a similar situation, where maybe their soulmate plays for another team, or their mark got more detailed/darker at a fan meet and greet and they have no idea what that means for them and other things like that. and juuse’s not judgmental, he offers as much advice as he can - even when it’s weird offering advice to guys ¾/5 years older than he is - but he wants to help, and if this is what he can do to help then he’ll do it 

and once he and pekka finally figure their shit out, juuse continues to be aggressively proud of his soulmate - except it’s not about the mark this time, but the person. and pekka’s not expecting that switch and eventually he asks juuse about it and juuse just answers, “I was always proud of my soulmate; I just didn’t know who they were. Now I do. So I don’t have to substitute with my mark; I can be proud of the person instead.” 

he looks up at pekka with these pretty blue eyes and pekka just about dies on the spot

[matskreider-blog]

in my professional opinion I think punk!tuukka is prince boy, big rig is sunshine boy, dumo is angel boy, sugar baby!juuse is mirage boy, eddie but especially outcast!eddie is fairy boy, bish is lightning boy (lol)

(in reference to this post here)

okay literally i was looking at the lightning boy description and was like ‘is it too much to put bish there as well’ but like holy shit i’m so glad we’re on the same page, and honestly ?? all of your professional opinions are absolutely correct 

also to match with all of your analysis i think: 

lofi!patrice is fairy boy

shearsy is mirage boy

sugar daddy!pekka is sunshine boy (most of the time)

lu (eeespecially outcast!lu) is lightning boy

and kari (whomst i miss so much my heart is breaking) is angel boy

i really wanna write something with them i just, ugh i miss hockey fic so much yanno? especially with all of the aus that i have floating around on here, there’s gotta be something that warrants some exploration

[matskreider-blog]

Went into VS earlier today and all I could think of was Juuse in Boss & Baby making his daddy buy him new treats

you are absolutely correct, juuse is incorrigible and kari hates whenever they have a sale because it’s just like the “juuse salary” just doesn’t mean anything and he’s left scrambling to try to tell his boss why he can’t give in to juuse’s every whim nor his own whim, because it doesn’t bode well for the rest of the family if all of their money is going into lingerie for one person

on an unrelated note, my old dumbass read “VS” and was like “vhs?? those haven’t been made in forever, what are they talking about” 

[matskreider-blog]

there's def a norse equivalent but idk what they would be called so whatever but i feel like a mix of all 3 would be a Mood like they totes ignore it forever until a very drunk evening where shit is said but its later hinted at by trainers/doctors/whomever//i kind of understand your layout for the hags/phil snowballing fic and if you need help organizing it sounds similar to how you could make a life is set up? thats how i read your post as? (in other news i shaved my head)

i almost want them to ignore it but i just think that juuse would be actually getting kind of depressed because every day his mark gets clearer and more defined and it’s actually kind of starting to hurt like he feels actual heartache almost every day because he’s so close but he just doesn’t know who it could be, and looking at pekka feels like coming home but he doesn’t know if that’s just because right now pekka literally is his home or if its something more than that, but pekka refuses to talk about anything to do with soulmates or anything, and juuse kind of pinned himself in there because he’s talked so much about his soul mark and how much he loves his soulmate that he can’t just be like “well actually nevermind you could not be my soulmate and we should just go for it anyway” 

i just want the first time that they kiss to be like, pekka’s taken aback by how right it feels until he remembers that yeah, it’s juuse and it’s always been juuse, but juuse finally feels relief from the pain that’s been building up in his chest for over a year at this point, and it feels so good and so right but also so f r u s t r a t i n g because it was pekka and he made him wait and he felt unwanted and he doesn’t know what to do with that but he wants to be with this man more than anything…so basically i want them both crying when they kiss because the kiss feels so good lol

i haven’t read anything with how you could make a life but my gf read the book and she said that it was well written so maybe i can take a look at that. one of my friends is actually doing a collection of interconnected short stories for her thesis and i’ve been helping to edit and give feedback on those so that might help as well; honestly i just need to get this thing posted so i can move on with the verse because it’s been started and sitting in google docs for literally two years;;;