#please don't pirate books

[keyleths]

it's 2023 and the anti book piracy discourse people still don't realise that book piracy isn't a lost sale because there wouldn't have been a sale in the first place

[darkfromday]

PLEASE keep the HP Wiki to canon information *only* ffs, and here’s what I mean by that

looks like recently someone has edited Dumbledore’s page, specifically about Harry, with some of the most common fandom misinformation: namely about Harry and the Dursleys, Dumbledore’s intentions, guardianship and a godfather’s rights and responsibilities (parental or otherwise). Seen here:

since I can’t edit this section myself to correct it, and since it pisses me off, I’m debunking it in order instead:

First!

‘taking him away from his godfather and rightful guardian’: far, far too many people have mixed up the terms “godfather” and “guardian” in the HP fandom. We’ll come back to this in a sec, but first...

An aside: The line above is written as though Dumbledore swooped down from the roof like a bat and snatched baby Harry out of Sirius’ arms. Funny image, but it’s not what happened. Dumbledore didn’t “take” Harry away from Sirius. Sirius made one attempt to take Harry at Godric’s Hollow, but when Hagrid rebuffed him and said “Dumbledore says he’s going to his aunt and uncle’s” Sirius did not fight back until he won. From Hagrid’s words, he “argued, but in the end he gave in”. He then immediately pivoted to trying to get revenge for Pettigrew’s betrayal. 

He did not say “Petunia?! Great Scott, Lily and James wouldn’t want this! She hates Lily, she won’t raise Harry right” or any of the many other lines that have been included in innumerable fanfics (which is fandom’s right, no one’s arguing that! the lines just aren’t supported by canon like so many people seem to think). 

So there is no argument to be made that any of Lily or James’ friends “knew” anything about Lily and Petunia’s strained relationship, or that she even brought it up. Even Severus Snape (who would have probably seen/heard most of their relationship firsthand as it evolved and devolved) never brought this up in canon.

Back to “taking him away from his godfather and rightful guardian”. This was clearly written by a Dumbledore-basher and an uncritical Sirius fan. I say “uncritical Sirius fan” because I like Sirius myself, but I’m more interested in seeing him portrayed accurately in canon discussions/writings like the Wiki is meant to be, in order to preserve his agency and prevent other characters from being bashed in the name of ‘protecting’ him. I’m worried the author of these pro-Sirius edits is a fan that doesn’t see his flaws, because this is not only unsupported by canon, it’s not even supported in real life. This is the dictionary definition of “godfather” that comes up via Google:

Obviously the first definition is the meaningful one here: “a man who presents a child at baptism and promises to take responsibility for their religious education”. That’s right: religious education. Not guardianship. In modern times, there are probably people in real life who make their children’s godparents their legal guardians as well in the event of the unthinkable, but Wikipedia’s civil and religious-based definition of the term leans heavily on the religious implications with only brief references to the civil implications (which do state that the godparent can become mentor or guardian to the bereaved child).

Religion in general isn’t mentioned much in HP, so it’s likely that the religious definition wasn’t relevant to what James and Lily wanted. And (to be fair to uncritical Sirius fans) there was an understanding that if something happened to James and Lily that Sirius would step in to become Harry’s guardian, which is stated by Sirius himself in Chapter 20 of Prisoner of Azkaban. (More on this in my second rebuttal.) But Sirius states both things separately: specifically, he asks first if Harry knows that Sirius is his godfather, then states that Lily and  James named Sirius Harry’s guardian. That tells me that the two are not inextricably linked even in the wizarding world: one can be a godparent without accepting any legal responsibility for the child. But that’s a moot sub-point, since Sirius does accept that responsibility.

Right?

Well. Actually, no. Not instantly. That’s the issue: at the critical moment, Sirius does not step up to this responsibility. 

His chance to do is clear: Hagrid is merely a stand-in for Dumbledore, who had clearly already come up with the protective charm he hoped to activate with Petunia. Hagrid at this point doesn’t know that Sirius was the Secret-Keeper, so he has no reason to suspect Sirius of anything yet. Hagrid is big and strong—annnd also a half-giant monitored by the racist British Ministry, forbidden to legally use magic; a bit of subterfuge and perhaps some Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, and Sirius could have gotten away free and clear with his godson, if he wanted to. In the worst-case scenario where Harry had to go to his aunt and uncle anyway, Sirius also could have just gone with Hagrid, hung around the Dursleys’ house until his situation was cleared up, and then worked with Dumbledore on a way to be involved with Harry without sacrificing or compromising the blood protection. What most Dumbledore-bashers miss is that Sirius did not do any of those things for two reasons: 

1)  his priorities were skewed toward revenge (seriously. instead of telling literally anyone on his side about the Fidelius switch before it could be pinned on him, he chose to go after Pettigrew alone, because he further underestimated his former friend’s cunning and skill. and not even to bring him in for judgment, but to just kill him and destroy any evidence of his own innocence. bruh. I love you, but you idiot.)

and

2) he trusted Dumbledore to take care of Harry. IRL people nowadays like to treat trusting Dumbledore in general as a moral failing, but it’s not, whether in our world or in-universe. Dumbledore is the leader of Sirius’ rebellion against Voldemort, his blood family, and all blood purists. This is the man who didn’t expel Sirius for putting Severus’ life and Remus’ safety in danger. This is the man who offered to become Lily and James’ Secret Keeper himself to ensure their absolute safety. If Sirius hadn’t trusted Dumbledore, he might have fought harder to start his new life as a surrogate father. 

Or maybe he wouldn’t have fought—who knows? We know a little about Sirius, but the tragedy of the series is that he dies before we and Harry can get a full picture of him as a complete person (both before and after Azkaban). But I know for a fact that we certainly don’t ever hear him disparage Petunia Dursley—in fact, when he offers himself and his home to Harry in PoA, this is his exact line:

"I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle," said Black. "But... well... think about it. Once my name's cleared... if you wanted a... a different home..."

Now why would Sirius say this if he knew for a fact that Petunia and Vernon were emotionally and psychologically abusing Harry, or that they were horrid and untrustworthy people in general? He wouldn’t. No one in their right mind would. He didn’t know. In fact, when Harry hesitates in the next line, made speechless by the opportunity for freedom, Sirius misinterprets it as a sign that Harry’s quite happy living with his mother’s family and doesn’t want anything to do with living with him. Harry has to untie his tongue to correct this impression (in the most vague way ever, notably: he never directly mentions how the Dursleys treat him. typical Harry).

So. We know Sirius isn’t nursing any grudge against Petunia Dursley. And we know he didn’t stake his claim on Harry in 1981. Fandom (and bash-friendly fans of Sirius especially) would do well to grapple with this bit of canon and redeem Sirius of this flaw in their works, rather than erasing it, whitewashing it, or pointing their fingers at other characters and absolving Sirius of his agency in the story.

Next!

‘despite them not even being named guardians in the event of James and Lily’s death’: ah yes, the “the Dursleys weren’t legally named guardians!” argument. (first off: I hate the Dursleys. this post is not Dursley apologism. fuck the Dursleys. if I’d had my way they would have been brutally murdered the second Dumbledore and Harry left their doorstep in book 6. But anyway.)

Not to be one of those “your word against his” people, but as stated above in Counterargument A, Sirius states in Chapter 20 of PoA that James and Lily appointed him as Harry’s guardian if anything ever happened to them:

"Well... your parents appointed me your guardian," said Black stiffly. "If anything happened to them..."

... and he’s the only word we have on that point. 

Fans of “Sirius and/or Remus raise Harry” (or even “Amelia Bones/the Malfoys pre-defection/other random HP character raises Harry”) often tout this as a reason that Dumbledore was “stealing” Harry from his rightful place, and include a lot of bogus legalese during their obligatory Gringotts or Wizengamot chapter. But the fact is: we don’t ever see James and Lily’s will. A will is never mentioned in any of the books. Wartime or not, since they’re twenty-one years old, it’s very likely that they just didn’t make one—and certainly not one that explicitly named Sirius as Harry’s guardian or disqualified Petunia from being one. 

This may be hard for some fans to swallow, but it’s another piece of the puzzle of the tragedy of the Potters: like many young people, they thought themselves invincible even when in direct danger, and the one they left behind paid the price for their mistakes.

All of this detailed wordvomit ignores the most important counterargument to this line: namely, the one brought up before. Sirius’ choice and its consequences. With the agency he possessed in 1981, he chose to pursue Pettigrew and, when that failed, chose to let the entire wizarding world believe that he was the traitor. Perhaps his grief and guilt tied his tongue. Perhaps he felt the only punishment that was adequate for losing his surrogate brother was prison. He says “I as good as killed them,” in PoA, but the truth is that (regardless of his mistakes) he didn’t kill Lily and James. 

He also didn’t take the opportunity to set the record straight, meaning he was not in the running to raise Harry anyway. We know from canon that wizards skilled in Occlumency can fight Veritaserum and that’s why it’s not admissible in court as some kind of flawless truth-serum. But that detail doesn’t really have any bearing on Sirius’ situation because we don’t know if he knew Occlumency or not (though probably not, or else Dumbledore would have just had him teach Harry in year 5. remember, Occlumency is not a common skill that everyone and their mom knows how to do). 

I won’t get into the other canon gray area of “did-Sirius-have-a-trial-or-was-he-carted-straight-to-Azkaban” (though unlike other fans, I firmly believe that just because we didn’t see a trial doesn’t mean there wasn’t one; Dumbledore did say “[he himself] gave evidence to the Ministry that Sirius was the Potters’ Secret-Keeper”, and it seems rather far-fetched to assume he gave this evidence outside of a trial. Granted, I do not doubt it was a kangaroo court fueled by the rage of public opinion and that Sirius hardly had a lawyer or any chance to defend himself, even if he’d had the inclination). 

But the points stand:

Sirius’ decisions that November night sent him to Azkaban, meaning he was legally out of the running to raise Harry. So any co-parenting or godfather visits he might have set up in canon are dust in the wind. (Legal experts can correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure certain crimes disqualify you from having guardianship over kids.) 

Remus is a werewolf, and thus discriminated against by the Ministry similarly to Hagrid (also as mentioned above). But since his whereabouts and any other canon reasoning for noninvolvement in 1981 are unknown, James’ friends are now disqualified to raise Harry. 

We don’t know if Lily had any other close friends besides the one she’d already fallen out with (no, I regret to inform some of you that no adult female HP character was legally or otherwise declared Harry’s ‘godmother’. That’s also fanon. You’re welcome to keep using it of course, I’m not your mom, but it’s not canon or canon-supported, so please don’t treat it as such in meta arguments). 

This means that the Dursleys are the only ones left who have any sort of legal claim to Harry. Yes, we the readers know the Dursleys suck in-universe and shouldn’t have had legal guardianship of a shoe, let alone two children; but on the surface, to the oblivious observer (which is 99% of Harry’s contacts), with Sirius in absentia, the last Potter was going to be placed with his next-of-kin relatives just as anyone in the real world with no written directive would be.

The obvious sub-argument implied in the ‘why would anyone put Harry with the Dursleys’ main argument is usually “what right does DUMBLEDORE have to put Harry with the Dursleys” etc. etc. This is where narrative purpose comes in. No, no one (least of all That Woman when she was writing this) expects you to read Harry Potter and think that every single government official or headmaster has the right to just pluck orphan children out of the ruins of their dead parents’ houses and place them with whomever they see fit. But it fit the story for Albus Dumbledore, most powerful ‘good’ wizard and the only person knowledgeable and powerful enough to activate the bond of blood protection, to be the one to take responsibility for Harry’s present and future safety from Voldemort, especially once Sirius so spectacularly disqualified himself.

And again: in November 1981 canon, there is no one else left. Remus fucks off to parts unknown, Peter is considered dead, and both James and Lily’s parents predeceased them. The Weasleys don’t know the Potters that well and already have six children (maybe seven? had Ginny been born by then? hell if I know). Most other ‘good’ aligned families don’t know the Potters that well either, and they are also too busy celebrating Voldemort’s downfall to do anything more than toast to the orphan involved in it. Like it or not, Dumbledore (well, and Slughorn and Snape) are the only ones who have any inkling that Voldemort will be coming back, and Dumbledore is the only one who comes up with a plan to at least thwart Voldemort just directly knocking on the Dursleys’ door and taking Harry off to one of his murder locations.

Third, and Finally!

‘Despite being aware of the criminal abuse Harry had suffered while living with the Dursley family through a contact, Arabella Figg, he did not step in to prevent the abuse Harry suffered as a child,’ etc.: yeah, no. Just no.

The following are the only two very vaguely-written lines (why does That Woman love vague lines so much) from Albus Dumbledore about Harry’s life at the Dursleys, from Order of the Phoenix:

Harry glared at him for a moment, then flung himself back into the chair opposite Dumbledore and waited. Dumbledore stared for a moment at the sunlit grounds outside the window, then looked back at Harry and said, “Five years ago you arrived at Hogwarts, Harry, safe and whole, as I had planned and intended. Well — not quite whole. You had suffered. I knew you would when I left you on your aunt and uncle’s doorstep. I knew I was condemning you to ten dark and difficult years.”

Dumbledore bashers love this line. I daresay they salivate over it. It certainly makes Albus look like a dick, I’ll give them that—but let’s break it down a bit, shall we?

“Five years ago you arrived... safe and whole, as I had planned and intended.”

The ‘as I had planned and intended’ is important here, because the (il)logical conclusion many bashers and antis jump to is that Dumbledore deliberately left Harry somewhere to be abused. This line refutes that conclusion. Dumbledore may not have imagined Harry to be some perfectly bubbly boy in the Muggle world, but even in his coldest plans, the plans he made before actually meeting Harry and becoming emotionally attached, he intended for Harry to arrive at Hogwarts ‘safe and whole’. It’s safe to assume this means physically, mentally, psychologically, etc.

Next part: the big part.

“Well—not quite whole. You had suffered. I knew you would when I left you on your aunt and uncle’s doorstep. I knew I was condemning you to ten dark and difficult years.”

Doesn’t sound so great, yep. Except. What does he mean EXACTLY by 'ten dark and difficult years’? We are never told. He does not clarify, here or elsewhere. He does not say, “I knew the Dursleys would abuse you. I knew they would hit you/starve you/be unkind to you and did nothing”.

This is the conclusion many people choose to draw because as the readers they know what happens to Harry; in fact, they know even more than the characters Harry is living his life with since he doesn’t seriously fucking tell anyone how the Dursleys treat him. But we also know despite all the fanon uproar about this line that Dumbledore did not know all the minutiae of Harry’s life at the Dursleys, and we know this because of a line from OotP (up first) and another line from Half-Blood Prince (up later):

“Five years ago, then,” continued Dumbledore, as though he had not paused in his story, “you arrived at Hogwarts, neither as happy nor as well nourished as I would have liked, perhaps, yet alive and healthy. You were not a pampered little prince, but as normal a boy as I could have hoped under the circumstances. Thus far, my plan was working well...”

If we are going to analyze Dumbledore’s ‘dark and difficult years’ line, we must also analyze equally all the other lines he says around it. This is one of the most candid conversations Albus Dumbledore has with Harry in the entire series. In this conversation in Chapter 37 of OotP, he reveals (implicitly) that his ‘plan’ was to tell Harry the prophecy early on, for reasons he doesn’t elaborate on. And in this conversation, he states, twice, that at minimum he intended for Harry to return to the wizarding world ‘safe and whole’, or ‘alive and healthy’. I am sure his definition of those words matches the readers’.

We should also note here that Dumbledore says “neither as happy nor as well-nourished as I would have liked”, and “as normal a boy as I could have hoped under the circumstances”. Meaning, again, that Dumbledore’s intent in leaving Harry with the Dursleys was not only to protect him, but also to perhaps give him a happy, normal life away from the magical world, protected from Voldemort and his most unhinged followers, until he was old enough to rejoin the world he belonged in. 

Depending on how much he’d gotten over his old ideas about Muggles, it could even be theorized that to Dumbledore ‘dark and difficult years’ referred simply to the time Harry would be exiled from the wizarding world, unable to return or interact until he could start learning magic (supported by the fact that even ‘good’ people like Mr. Weasley and Minerva McGonagall don’t have an entirely unbiased view of Muggles, or living without magic). This might be torturous if Harry knew his true origins growing up—which we know Dumbledore intended because 1) Dumbledore mentions to McGonagall in Chapter 1 that he doesn’t think it’s sensible for Harry to grow up knowing he’s famous (“...for something he can’t even remember!”), not that he doesn’t think it’s sensible for Harry to know about magic at all; and 2) his messenger, Hagrid, is shocked and angry that Harry doesn’t even know he’s a wizard. 

Before my words/theories are misinterpreted: I’m not saying Albus was totally naïve to the Dursleys’ treatment of Harry here. The way this line from Chapter 37 is phrased implies that once Harry arrived at Hogwarts, Albus was able to see for himself that Petunia had not taken his request in his letter to heart. And given how skinny and underfed Harry probably looked at eleven, even if he probably wasn’t saying shit about the Dursleys to anyone at this point, it’s a logical conclusion.

But before that point we have no idea how much or what specifically Albus knew about Harry’s life with his relatives. Bashers use the same argument above that’s marring the Wiki: that Arabella Figg kept Dumbledore informed on every little thing that happened in the Dursleys’ home, thus he knew about the full extent of Harry’s mistreatment and actively did not intervene, making him complicit. Except: we don’t know that either. Cue second quote from just after Mrs. Figg reveals herself to Harry:

“Why didn’t you tell me you’re a Squib?” Harry asked Mrs. Figg, panting with the effort to keep walking. “All those times I came round your house — why didn’t you say anything?” 

“Dumbledore’s orders. I was to keep an eye on you but not say anything, you were too young. I’m sorry I gave you such a miserable time, but the Dursleys would never have let you come if they’d thought you enjoyed it. It wasn’t easy, you know. . . .”

“I was to keep an eye on you but not say anything.” This bit of text, similarly vague (say anything to Harry about what exactly? and not say anything when? before Harry learned about the magical world? after?), is contradictory to Hagrid’s own expectations that Harry would know about magic, if indeed that’s what Arabella means. But she also implicates herself here: she too made sure part of Harry’s existence was at minimum mind-numbingly boring. Harry never recounts any instances of abuse from her, but nor does he imply that he ever told her the whole truth about his personal life. 

It’s clear she’s a good enough judge of character to tell that the Dursleys did not want Harry to have things he enjoyed (and draw conclusions from there), and it’s likely she passed that information on to Dumbledore. But when? And to what extent did she emphasize the second-class citizen status she observed from Harry? And even if she had, who’s to say that Dumbledore, Fudge, or anyone would have done anything about it?

(This, by the way, is the kind of plot hole/vague, non-explained thing fandom should grapple with in fanworks in my not-so-humble opinion. I can understand why no one wants to wrestle with the idea that a child being unhappy at home but not visibly mistreated would not be whisked away to happier, safer environs, because for many people that is their real story. Or maybe just because it’s hard to accept that under all the magic and adventure, Harry’s story is a story about adults fucking up in so many ways that he eventually has to rescue himself by murdering an old serial killer.)

Frankly, there are not enough fanworks that explore the possibilities of a Dumbledore who was not aware of the exact details of Dursleys’ mistreatment, a Figg who told him, and the moral grappling/potential spell retooling that might follow. Or, on the darker side, the possibilities of a Dumbledore who was still a good man, but had to make an ugly, shitty decision and live with how ugly and shitty it likely made him feel. Instead the default is to pivot to it all being “AN EVUL PLAN” by the mastermind who knew everything but also somehow not enough to stop the various plots that happen during the books.

Long past time for the aforementioned HBP quote, the one that (while it still doesn’t specify precisely what Dumbledore knew and when he knew it) is the most specific the entire series gets about Harry’s abuse:

"Now, as you already know, the wizard called Lord Voldemort has returned to this country. The wizarding community is currently in a state of open warfare. Harry, whom Lord Voldemort has already attempted to kill on a number of occasions, is in even greater danger now than the day when I left him upon your doorstep fifteen years ago, with a letter explaining about his parents' murder and expressing the hope that you would care for him as though he were your own."

Dumbledore paused, and although his voice remained light and calm, and he gave no obvious sign of anger, Harry felt a kind of chill emanating from him and noticed that the Dursleys drew very slightly closer together.

"You did not do as I asked. You have never treated Harry as a son. He has known nothing but neglect and often cruelty at your hands. The best that can be said is that he has at least escaped the appalling damage you have inflicted upon the unfortunate boy sitting between you."

This, along with a few more following sentences in chapter 3, is Dumbledore’s canon criticism against the Dursleys. Here is another instance where Dumbledore explicitly states that his desire was for the Dursleys to treat Harry as a beloved member of their family; he has now said the same thing twice before witnesses. And this critique notably comes following the close of several months of Harry’s Occlumency lessons with Snape, who (as a teacher) may have actually done one positive thing and acted as a mandated reporter for whatever atrocities he saw in Harry’s mind. 

Note: this is just a theory. Nothing in canon specifically states that Snape shared any of what he saw in Harry’s mind. I have no proof that Dumbledore’s conversation with the Dursleys was spurred by any alleged reporting by Severus, but I think that this combined with the fact that Alastor Moody, Arthur Weasley and Remus Lupin (three people who Harry definitely did not confide in about the Dursleys) all team together to threaten the Dursleys at the end of OotP of Harry’s lessons with Snape means that some information that was previously unknown made its way around the ranks, and all the way up to the top.

But ‘just a theory’ or not, it’s far more likely based on timing that Severus said something than Arabella. Dumbledore himself is a candidate too, except... if he knew the extent from the start, why keep it to himself and only share it fifteen years later with the aforementioned trio of Moody, Arthur and Lupin?

As for the “criminal abuse” phrase: let’s not leave any doubt in any mind that what Petunia and Vernon did to Harry was criminal. It makes them criminals. The implication in how this is written on the Wiki though is that the two of them were beating him raw and Dumbledore strolled by, peeked in the window, and muttered “b-but Voldemort” and kept it moving. That’s not the case for all the reasons listed above. 

Additionally, and unfortunately, we don’t know the full details of all the abuse Harry suffered. Physically, we know that Petunia swung a frying pan at Harry in second year. We know that Vernon was quick to grab Harry, even hit his own eleven-year-old son when he tired of listening to him, and strangled Harry so effectively that either Harry’s blood protection or his own accidental magic kicked in to stop the asshole. We have those two concrete examples, and (though I hate to say it) these are what many in the fandom hyperfocus on. Whatever they might say to the contrary, there are an unbelievable amount of stories which inflate or overexaggerate the amount of physical damage Harry obtained, because they consider that more concrete or more ‘valid’ to write about than the more insidious, unseen types of abuse. 

There are far fewer stories exploring and deconstructing the lion’s share of the abuse Harry received: the neglect and cruelty that Dumbledore mentions. The deliberate erasure of his presence within the house, whether that was through the lack of pictures with him in them or through the Dursleys expecting Harry to shrink himself when they had company, such as in Chamber of Secrets. And worst of all, on top of all of this: the enduring fact that Petunia still had the nerve to offer Harry space in the house for his protection, even as she and her family worked to make that space as cramped and unwelcoming as possible.

This is a fandom flaw: as long as there are fans quick to invent depraved acts for the Dursleys to perform rather than sitting with exactly what they have done and acknowledging it as ‘more than shitty enough’, we will as a whole still be plagued with stories that unbalance the amount of blame the adults in Harry’s life can claim over his circumstances.

So. We need a TL;DR. What have we learned here?

Lily and James had no other remaining relatives who could have taken Harry and thus (on Lily’s side since James’ wouldn’t matter) also upheld the upcoming bond of blood protection.

Lily and James named Sirius Harry’s godfather, and there was an understanding between all three that Sirius would care for Harry if his parents predeceased him.

Specifically, there was no written or referenced will ever mentioned in canon that qualified Sirius or disqualified Petunia Dursley from Harry’s guardianship.

The specific nature of Lily’s sacrifice gave Dumbledore a method he could use to protect Harry in his most vulnerable years, a method that required Lily’s only living relative; and he acted on his knowledge as soon as possible.

Concurrently, Sirius went to stake his claim to Harry, but (for whatever reasons) did not persist with Hagrid until Harry was in his care. He trusted that Dumbledore would look after his godson. Instead, he went after Pettigrew and ended up framed, imprisoned, and out of the running to care for (or even interact with) Harry.

We don’t know if Sirius had a trial. We can assume that he may have since ‘evidence’ was given of his undeniable guilt, but we will never know for sure unless That Woman says one way or another. 

If he didn’t have a trial, though, that blame lies squarely at the feet of Barty Crouch Sr., who we learn in Goblet of Fire was locking people up left and right after their speedy trials—not Dumbledore.

Besides legal racism reasons, Remus was unavailable to be Harry’s guardian for reasons unknown. (Is this info on Pottermore? someone tell me.)

Peter was... yeah.

Minister Bagnold of “I assert our inalienable right to party” fame was not thinking about baby Harry Potter’s well-being while she and her Ministry were celebrating Voldemort’s “downfall”.

Dumbledore was one of the few people thinking about Harry in the revelry that followed Voldemort’s disappearance, and with the chaotic events between Sirius and Pettigrew, he was also the last person left who could place Harry anywhere. He placed Harry with the Dursleys, trusting that they would treat him like a second son and care for him until Hogwarts could welcome him home.

McGonagall’s resistance to leaving Harry with the Dursleys in book 1 was not due to some sixth sense she had about how they would treat him: her specific concerns were that Vernon was a prick and baby Dudley was clearly overly spoiled. If anything she was more concerned about Harry’s moral fiber being compromised, not his safety.

From 1981 - 1991, the Dursleys emotionally and psychologically abused Harry, keeping the truth of his origins and nature from him while subsequently punishing him for those truths. 

Outside of dark jokes to his friends about their mutual dislike in the early years and one explicit confession to Dumbledore that Petunia “doesn’t give a damn [about him]” in Order of the Phoenix, Harry is not candid about his experiences.

Specific details of the Dursleys’ abuse outside of explicit book descriptions are unknown; when and how much each of the major adults in Harry’s life (Albus, Sirius, Remus, Arabella, Arthur, and Severus) know about his shitty situation is also unknown, though there are enough confusing half-references and retaliation scenes to make any reader’s head spin.

Any fanon attempts to color in the lines between what’s said and unsaid, what’s known and not known, are just that: fanon. They are just as divorced from canon as the concept of ladies’ man!Sirius or Slytherin Lord!Harry. I’m emphasizing the following again because I know some people will dismiss me and my post as a sermon from the fun police: There is nothing wrong with creativity in fanon by any means. The problem comes when invented information and (both friendly and malicious) personal headcanons are treated as canon and affect the canon accordingly.

So I’d really appreciate it if someone with the power to edit the HP Wiki deleted everything from the erroneous sentences starting with “It was Dumbledore who planned...” and ending with “...bullying cousin Dudley.” Those lines weren’t on Albus’ wiki originally anyway, so it won’t hurt to consign them back to the void—especially since there are plenty of other flaws and conflicts in Harry and Albus’ relationship that can be (and are) addressed there instead. 

After all, Sirius’ wiki article is flattering and (mostly) canon-accurate without discounting his flaws and how they affect his cut-short relationship with Harry. If we can keep the bias out of Sirius’ account, surely we can do the same for Albus’.

[deplcythebattery]

re-reading a queer book called 'lost boi' and now that i'm more versed in kink i actually get it. but i'm also laughing at the way i can see myself in the lost bois while also looking at the mermaids like yeah i see you i feel a connection. my gender so weird

[bakingmoomins]

love when my professors incourage piracy <3

[regicidal-defenestration]

[ID: A youtube screenshot, showing a video from Facts Verse titled Bizarre Pirate Traditions You Didn't Know About. The thumbnail has two images, one is a sketch of a pirate, glaring at the viewer, and the other is of a pirate baring her breast at the man she attacks. End ID]

This popped up on my youtube recommended and it annoyed me so much I couldn't bring myself to watch it. What are your sources. If it's a commonly repeated story with no real foundation I'm judging you, if you've taken Johnson's General History of Pyrates as fully truthful and accurate I'm judging you even more and if it's that one woodcut of Anne Bonny from the one Dutch version of the General History you might as well delete your channel now

[tearlessrain]

please help me- i used to be pretty smart but i’m having so much trouble grasping the concept of diegetic vs non-diegetic bdsm!

gfkjldghfd okay first of all I'm sorry for the confusion, if you're not finding anything on the phrase it's because I made it up and absolutely nobody but me ever uses it, but I haven't found a better way to express what I'm trying to say so I keep using it. but now you've given me an excuse to ramble on about some shit that is only relevant to me and my deeply inefficient way of talking and by god I'm going to take it.

SO. the way diegetic and non-diegetic are normally used is to talk about music and sound design in movies/tv shows. in case you aren't familiar with that concept, here's a rundown:

diegetic sound is sound that happens within the world of the movie/show and can be acknowledged by the characters, like a song playing on the stereo during a driving scene, or sung on stage in Phantom of the Opera. it's also most other sounds that happen in a movie, like the sounds of traffic in a city scene, or a thunderclap, or a marching band passing by. or one of the three stock horse sounds they use in every movie with a horse in it even though horses don't really vocalize much in real life, but that's beside the point, the horse is supposed to be actually making that noise within the movie's world and the characters can hear it whinnying.

non-diegetic sound is any sound that doesn't exist in the world of the movie/show and can't be perceived by the characters. this includes things like laugh tracks and most soundtrack music. when Duel of Fates plays in Star Wars during the lightsaber fight for dramatic effect, that's non-diegetic. it exists to the audience, but the characters don't know their fight is being backed by sick ass music and, sadly, can't hear it.

the lines can get blurry between the two, you've probably seen the film trope where the clearly non-diegetic music in the title sequence fades out to the same music, now diegetic and playing from the character's car stereo. and then there are things like Phantom of the Opera as mentioned above, where the soundtrack is also part of the plot, but Phantom of the Opera does also have segments of non-diegetic music: the Phantom probably does not have an entire orchestra and some guy with an electric guitar hiding down in his sewer just waiting for someone to break into song, but both of those show up in the songs they sing down there.

now, on to how I apply this to bdsm in fiction.

if I'm referring to diegetic bdsm what I mean is that the bdsm is acknowledged for what it is in-world. the characters themselves are roleplaying whatever scenarios their scenes involve and are operating with knowledge of real life rules/safety practices. if there's cnc depicted, it will be apparent at some point, usually right away, that both characters actually are fully consenting and it's all just a planned scene, and you'll often see on-screen negotiation and aftercare, and elements of the story may involve the kink community wherever the characters are. Love and Leashes is a great example of this, 50 Shades and Bonding are terrible examples of this, but they all feature characters that know they're doing bdsm and are intentional about it.

if I'm talking about non-diegetic bdsm, I'm referring to a story that portrays certain kinks without the direct acknowledgement that the characters are doing bdsm. this would be something like Captive Prince, or Phantom of the Opera again, or the vast majority of bodice ripper type stories where an innocent woman is kidnapped by a pirate king or something and totally doesn't want to be ravished but then it turns out he's so cool and sexy and good at ravishing that she decides she's into it and becomes his pirate consort or whatever it is that happens at the end of those books. the characters don't know they're playing out a cnc or D/s fantasy, and in-universe it's often straight up noncon or dubcon rather than cnc at all. the thing about entirely non-diegetic bdsm is that it's almost always Problematic™ in some way if you're not willing to meet the story where it's at, but as long as you're not judging it by the standards of diegetic bdsm, it's just providing the reader the same thing that a partner in a scene would: the illusion of whatever risk or taboo floats your boat, sometimes to extremes that can't be replicated in real life due to safety, practicality, physics, the law, vampires not being real, etc. it's consensual by default because it's already pretend; the characters are vehicles for the story and not actually people who can be hurt, and the reader chose to pick up the book and is aware that nothing in it is real, so it's all good.

this difference is where people tend to get hung up in the discourse, from what I've observed. which is why I started using this phrasing, because I think it's very crucial to be able to differentiate which one you're talking about if you try to have a conversation with someone about the portrayal of bdsm in media. it would also, frankly, be useful for tagging, because sometimes when you're in the mood for non-diegetic bodice ripper shit you'd call the police over in real life, it can get really annoying to read paragraphs of negotiation and check-ins that break the illusion of the scene and so on, and the opposite can be jarring too.

it's very possible to blur these together the same way Phantom of the Opera blurs its diegetic and non-diegetic music as well. this leaves you even more open to being misunderstood by people reading in bad faith, but it can also be really fun to play with. @not-poignant writes fantastic fanfic, novels, and original serials on ao3 that pull this off really well, if you're okay with some dark shit in your fiction I would highly recommend their work. some of it does get really fucking dark in places though, just like. be advised. read the tags and all that.

but yeah, spontaneous writer plug aside, that's what I mean.

[avaantares]

Fanfiction Authors: HEADS UP

(Non-authors, please RB to signal boost to your author friends!)

An astute reader informed me this morning that one of my fics (Children of the Future Age) had been pirated and was being sold as a novel on Amazon:

(And they weren't even creative with their cover design. If you're going to pirate something that I spent a full year of my life writing, at least give me a pretty screenshot to brag about later. Seriously.)

I promptly filed a DMCA complaint to have it removed, but I checked out the company that put it up -- Plush Books -- and it looks like A LOT of their books are pirated fic. They are by no means the only ones doing this, either -- the fact that """publishers""" can download stories from AO3 in ebook format and then reupload them to Amazon in just a few clicks makes fic piracy a common problem. There are a whole host of reasons why letting this continue is bad -- including actual legal risk to fanfiction archives -- but basically:

IF YOU ARE A FANFIC AUTHOR WITH LONG AND/OR POPULAR WORKS, PLEASE CHECK AMAZON TO SEE IF YOUR STORIES HAVE BEEN PIRATED.

You can search for your fics by title, or by text from the description (which is often just copied wholesale from AO3 as well). If you find that someone has stolen your work and is selling it as their own, you can lodge a DMCA complaint (Amazon.com/USA site; other countries have different systems). If you haven't done this before, it's easy! Here's a tutorial:

HOW TO FILE A COPYRIGHT COMPLAINT FOR STOLEN WORK ON AMAZON.COM:

First, go to this form. You'll need to be signed into your Amazon account.

Select the radio buttons/dropdown options (shown below) to indicate that you are the legal Rights Owner, you have a copyright concern, and it is about a pirated product.

Enter the name of your story in the Name of Brand field.

In the Link to the Copyrighted Work box, enter a link to the story on AO3 or whatever site your work is posted on.

In the Additional Information box, explain that you are the author of the work and it is being sold without your permission. That's all you really need. If you want, you can include additional information that might be helpful in establishing the validity of your claim, but you don't have to go into great detail. You can simply write something like this:

I am the author of this work, which is being sold by [publisher] without my permission. I originally published this story in [date/year] on [name of site], and have provided a link to the original above. On request, I can provide documentation proving that I am the owner of the account that originally posted this story.

In the ASIN/ISBN-10 field, copy and paste the ID number from the pirated copy's URL. You'll find this ten-digit number in the Amazon URL after the word "product," as in the screenshot below. (If the URL extends beyond this number, you can ignore everything from the question mark on.) Once this number has been added, Amazon will pull the product information automatically and add it to the complaint form, so you can check the listing title and make sure it's correct.

Finally, add your contact information to the relevant fields, check the "I have read and accept the statements" box, and then click Submit. You should receive an email confirmation that Amazon has received the form.

Please share this information with your writer friends, keep an eye out for/report pirated works, and help us keep fanfiction free and legally protected!

NOTE: All of the above also applies to Amazon products featuring stolen artwork, etc., so fan artists should check too!

[dr3c0mix]

umm is it possible to get a yandere! male!siren x shy!gn reader?

Fish Bait

Yandere!Siren x GN Reader

CW: Kidnapping, assault, minor stalking, murder, thalassophobia maybe?

🌊 You are quite shy when it came to talking to people. You found the whole 'socializing thing' a bit overwhelming considering how rough and loud the rest of the people in your academy was.

🌊 You much preferred staying by the shore with a nice book or drawing book to enjoy the sound of the waves with. The ocean breeze and wailing of seagulls never failed to relax you.

🌊 One day, you heard the strange sound of splashing by the tide pools along the more rocks area of the shore. You thought it was a fish or some other animal that got stuck in one of the pools after the tide retreated and got up to help it out.

🌊 But what you saw was no animal, well, half animal. In one of the pools was a man with the lower half of a fish, his scales glistened wondrously as it splashed in the water.

🌊 The man looked at you with wide eyes and froze. You put your hands up to show you meant no harm.

🌊 "Please! Spare me! I just want to go home!"

🌊 "Calm down! I won't hurt you!"

🌊 He shook with fear as your hands drew closer to him.

🌊 You then pulled him up from the pool and carried him to the sea, he stares at you as you gently lowered him unto the water.

🌊 As soon as his tail was submerged in the sea, he swam out of your grasp and went a distance away from you, part of his head peeking out of the water as his red eyes looked at yours.

🌊 "Well...safe travels.." You mutter, wading back to shore, but the merman peeks his mouth out the water and shouts to you.

🌊 "You're not going to ask anything in return?"

🌊 You look back. "Uhm..no, I'm fine, thanks anyway.."

🌊 "Hmm, you know...you can come with me to my home. I'll grant you the power to breathe under water and you can enjoy the treasures I have there. What do you say? It's the least I can do for what you've done for me!"

🌊 "Nah, I'm good. Be safe though, I heard theres pirates that hunt merfolk nowadays..." You continue your way to shore but the merman swims quickly to your side.

🌊 "Don't you want to be rid of those insolent fools you call schoolmates? I can give you a life people only dream of!"

🌊 "I'm not really..interested..."

🌊 "...You're not?"

🌊 "Yeah..."

🌊 "...Oh..uh..ok...wow-um..well, bye I guess..." The man stutters before sinking his head back into the water.

🌊 You sigh, that was some encounter. You doubt you'd run into something like that again...

🌊 Boy howdy you were wrong.

🌊 You'd spot the strange boy again and again, always hiding back behind the rock or piece of driftwood he was watching you from.

🌊 Sometimes you'd also find trinkets and beautiful stones laid on the shore. You never took them though; you didn't want to take something someone probably lost. The merman would grumble to himself every time you ignored his baits.

🌊 You'd also see him again trapped in the pools, feigning sorrow that poor little him got stuck again during another low tide. What ever shall he do?

🌊 Your days would go on like this, the merman desperately trying to lure you into the sea but to no avail due to your shy and polite nature.

🌊 Him basically stalking you turned to him directly talking to you and trying to get you to go with him in the water.

🌊 "Oh dear, I've been stuck at this reef for ages! I just can't get out! Could you help me please? I promise not to drown you!"

🌊 "No thanks, I'm on the last chapter of my book..."

🌊 "My, my, it's so lonely in the ocean, not a playmate in sight, come down with me so we can really get to know each other yeah?"

🌊 "I don't really wanna get my clothes wet..."

🌊 What you thought was a potentially dangerous creature of the sea became a whiny, attention-seeking drama queen.

🌊 Eventually, you'd learn his name is Caspian. He gave up a bit on trying to lure you and settled on making small talk with you.

🌊 Most of your conversations would revolve around your cultures, how you two lived compared to eachother.

🌊 "So those silver things with teeth aren't combs? Interesting...tell me more!"

🌊 He more or less looked up to you because of the knowledge you'd tell him, even though it was all basic things ever human knows, but he wasn't a human so, I guess it's alright.

🌊 He'd try to crawl onto shore to see what you were reading or drawing. You'd have to scoot away from him because he was dripping wet, and you didn't want your paper to get soiled.

🌊 Please read to him! He loves it when you read out loud the books you bring!

🌊 Life seemed pretty content with you having a friend to talk to, one who's not judgmental of your quiet personality.

🌊 That was until one day, you heard laughing and shouting from your usual spot.

🌊 You saw your classmates, waist deep in the water trying to drag Caspian to the shore, the merman snarling and biting the air around him angrily as the bullies degrade and laugh at his attempts to wriggle out of their grasp.

🌊 "Look at this, boys! With this ugly thing we can buy the whole pub if we wanted to!"

🌊 "H-hey! Leave him alone!" You shouted, dropping your things as you ran to help your friend, but one of them punched you with in the face and grabbed you, about to hit you again.

🌊 "What? You're gonna let this siren kill everyone that comes to this beach? God you're dumb! No wonder why you have no friends!"

🌊 He was about to give another blow when you both heard a shrill cry from the ocean.

🌊 The water pooled with crimson as only the splashing of limbs can be seen form the shore, cries and gurgles are heard from the writhing gore. Your classmate rushes into the water to save his friends before the violent splashing stops and the red patch of bloody water extends towards him and around him until you see him get yanked below into the water, a splash of a fish tail verified in your mind that it was Caspian.

🌊 You could feel your heart pounding as you see the siren lift its head from the water, his blood red eyes staring at you again with razor sharp teeth bared.

🌊 "P-please...don't hurt me..I didn't lead them to you I swear!" You cried as he crawled to your shivering form.

🌊 You held your breath as he pulled you in a wet hug, your clothes getting stained by the salty, bloody water.

🌊 "Oh my darling~ I know you would never hurt me~ But we're not safe here anymore..I fear I'll have to take you somewhere safer...somewhere away from those disgusting creatures."

🌊 You couldn't even react before you were pulled into the water forcefully, you kicked and swam all you could to get him to let go of you, but soon enough, your whole body was under the water. The only thing that was left of you were your things by the sand, and bubbles that rose to the surface before stopping.

🌊 "You'll be safe here my love, my most wonderful treasure~"

this one was by far one of my favorite bois ive written, he's so mhmhmghghghmmmhmhmmhhh

[dduane]

Found in the ask box this AM

”I've been playing with [a major AI-driven chat bot] and I asked it to write a young wizards fanfic that contains dialogue. ...I wish i could paste it here, but the character limit won't let me.”

(hiding eyes)

(a) Once more, the reminder: please, please don't send me story ideas or fics set in my universes. Reading them would expose me legally in ways I can't permit. If such things turn up in my ask box, I delete them unread. If through a lapse of concentration or some similar error I find myself mistakenly reading a story idea or fic, I am required to make a note of it for legal purposes, and then can never use those ideas in my own writing, ever, anywhere.

So please understand that sending me a story idea or a fic set in my universes (or others where I write) will guarantee that the idea never happens in my work. It may seem paradoxical and/or counterintuitive, but if you have an idea that you wish I'd do something with, the odds of that happening are significantly increased by you making sure that I never see it.

(This, BTW, is one of the reasons I had to close my ask box to anon asks; some repeat offenders were making it impossible for me to protect myself... as when people refuse to stop sending me such things, I block them. My apologies to all the well-intentioned would-be nonnies out there—but the actions of some of you have destroyed an avenue of access for everybody else.)

(b) Please do not purposefully expose my IPs to the attention of any AI/LLM-based chat platform, anywhere. Unscrupulous whole-book AI-oriented scraping has stolen enough of my stuff already this year. (As my search of the Books3 pirated books database, widely used for AI training, shows here.) It's infuriating enough that bad actors have taken my writing and will be using the expertise inherent in it to put other living, breathing writers out of work. Please don't help them do more of that.

(sigh) Thanks.

[httpwintersoldier]

『 bon appétit, baby. || sanji x reader 』

[PART 4 OF 4 - ONE PIECE'S KINKTOBER] - SANJI VER.

[SHANKS VER.] [BUGGY VER.] [MIHAWK VER.]

pairing: sub!sanji x f!reader words: medium-rare summary: to his relief, Sanji comes out on top in a tussle for your attention against Zoro. angst; smut; fluff.

It didn't take long after joining the Straw Hats to notice the animosity between the cook and the green-haired swordsman. Actually, it took no time - they fought throughout the whole duration of the rescue of your people from Alvida's pirates.

What you didn't notice, however, was how the fighting substancially increased after you joined.

"Yeah? Well, mouths were made for eating and speaking, mosshead, not to hold a third sword because you can't do the job with two - or gods forbid, one!" Sanji yelled, waving his knife in the air dramatically.

Zoro looked up and raised a brow, scoffing at the chef.

"At least I'm not afraid to use my hands in a fight. Scared to ruin the manicure, cook?" The swordsman replied in a teasing tone.

At this point, you were covering your ears with your hands, trying desperately to block the sound and focus on the book you were reading, but to no avail.

"Guys! Please! Can you fight somewhere else that is not a common area?"

Per your request, both men shut up, but not before mumbling some insults under their breath. Sanji resumed the dinner preparations and Zoro just left the kitchen (to sleep, you assumed).

You sighed, picked up the book and hit the opened pages against your face in frustration.

"Why are they constantly fighting? Don't they get tired? Don't you?" You asked, sliding the book back on the table and turning your head to face Nami with a desperate look, speaking in a hushed tone so Sanji wouldn't hear.

She chuckled, barely cracking a smile, and peeled her eyes off of the map she was studying.

"You know half of it is because of you, right?"

You furrowed your eyebrows in confusion and scoffed.

"Me? What, they didn't want me here on the crew?..." You asked, slightly sad and completely misunderstanding what the crewmate meant.

Nami rolled her eyes, as if the answer was right in front of you and you refused to see it.

"Oh Y/N, they want you alright... The issue is that the both of them want you in their room with them. And not many clothes in between, if you catch me." She explained further, raising her eyebrows as she spoke in a suggestive tone.

Your face became hot and you let out a nervous chuckle.

"What?... You're seeing things, Nami. Sanji flirts with everyone and Zoro flirts with no one. How would you even notice?"

"Oh trust me, it's noticeable. Zoro actually talks to you like a normal person and he always keeps an eye on you when we're fighting. And Sanji... the way he looks at you is completely different than anything I've seen before, I don't even know how to describe it."

"If you say so..." You say in disbelief, turning back to your book as Nami sighed.

You couldn't focus on your reading, however. Your head was full of thoughts, scenarios and 'what ifs?'. Wondering how Sanji looked at you really, how would it be to date Zoro, and, if it actually came down to it, who would you choose and how would you even do it...

On one hand, Sanji was a big sweetheart, he was dedicated and you were sure the man would do anything in his power to make you happy, but he was quite clingy and desperate. On the other hand, Zoro would go above and beyond to keep you out of harms way and to keep you by his side, but he could be quite cold and monotone...

Dinner time came and went and you were particularly mindful of the two men and how they interacted with you. And, to your surprise, you actually caught on to some things you had missed before... The both of them would sometimes steal shy glances at you, they'd make sure to brush their hand against yours when passing something around the table, they'd always jump in and ask for your opinion on a matter being discussed... You wondered if Nami was actually right... And if so, how had you missed it for so long? How were you so oblivious?...

When lights went out in the ship and you could hear Luffy's snores, you were still awake - shifting, tossing and turning in bed. Suddenly the pillow was too hot, the sheets were too stuffy and the matress was too tough.

What now? What were you supposed to do with the information? Make a move? A decision?

The day had been spent with questions roaming around in your head and even when you tried to sleep, the interrogations allowed you no rest - in the back of your mind you wished Nami hadn't told you anything...

"Fuck!" You groaned, tugging at your own hair.

You stood up, the wooden floor creaking under your feet, and decided that a cup of whatever Zoro kept in the kitchen would do the trick and lay you to sleep. You had undressed completely, hoping to release yourself from the suffocating feeling of the sheets, but you decided against going naked to the kitchen and picked up the night gown you had thrown on the ground not long ago.

The pink nightgown was made of silk, with baby pink lace appliques on the bottom and on the neckline. Honestly, it left very little to the imagination - it sat just below your asscheeks, letting them peek out when you walked, and the silk perfectly outlined your hardened nipples - but it was better than being naked, and you were too tired to care.

To your surprise, the kitchen light was on. You opened the door slightly to find Sanji playing around with some ingredients. The cook was often flirty or goofy, but his serious and concentrated face was... mesmerizing. That was the only possible word to describe it. His already big, blue eyes seemed to get bigger and shine brighter. The man's jaw was clenched in pure focus and the way he'd flip his fringe out of his face from time to time was absolutely adorable. You had never seen this façade of his, and it was interesting, hot, even.

You leaned against the doorframe as you watched him intently, completely forgetting about your thirst and need for alcohol.

When you saw him carefully place one last element with the tweezers and stand back with a proud smile on his face staring at his creation, you giggled.

The sound made the cook jump, placing a hand over his heart. His visible eye was widened as he stared at you. When Sanji realized who it was, he sighed and calmed down.

"Are you trying to kill me, pretty?" The man asked with a smile, steadying himself by placing his hands on the counter in front of him.

You step inside, closer to him, and as you do he isn't able to peel his eyes off of your exposed thighs, the way your tits bounce under the thin fabric, or the way your nipples are hard and visible.

"Sorry chef, didn't want to disturb you..." You apologised with a smile.

Sanji observed as you walked over to the fridge, each step giving him a teasing peek of your ass.

"It's alright darling, you never do disturb me." The cook managed to blurt out between thoughts of bending you over every surface and fucking you.

You take out a nameless bottle that belonged to Zoro and pour yourself a cup.

Sanji furrowed his brows, looking at the cup.

"Something's wrong, beautiful? It's usually not a good sign when people drink alone at..." the man pauses, looking at the clock "4am."

You were more than used to Sanji's nicknames, but today they seemed to mean something else. The little pet names along with his deep voice and accent made something inside your stomach twist and turn.

"I'm okay just... can't sleep. Figured some of this would do the trick since Zoro is always sleeping." You said with a chuckle.

Sanji tried to hide it, but you noticed how his smile faltered a little and how his jaw tightened ever so slightly at the mention of his apparent foe.

"Mosshead does sleep a lot." The cook agreed in a mumble.

"Why do you bicker so much?" You asked as you brought the cup up to your lips.

You leaned your side against the counter and Sanji's eyes followed the curve of your hip.

"Let's just say we have common interests." The man cheekily replied, thinking he was being enigmatic and wasn't giving away too much.

And usually you wouldn't have understood what he meant, had Nami not given you that beautiful, important piece of information that afternoon.

You chuckled and set the cup down on the counter next to you. You licked your lips as you stepped closer to the man. His body tensed slightly, but he didn't move away.

"So it's true..." You mumbled, looking at him,

"What's true, gorgeous?" He asked, hoping his blush would go unnoticed (it did not).

Your caressed his cheek with your hand and the cook couldn't help but lean into your touch.

"Nami told me something today..." Sanji placed his hand on top of yours, caressing it with his thumb, as you stepped even closer, your chests almost touching "She said that you and Zoro fight so much because you both wanted me... is this true?"

Sanji's heart was beating out of his chest and his face was on fire. The man cleared his throat, in the best attempt of not giving away his nervousness (and the overwhelming sense of lust your simple touch gave him).

"There might be a little truth to that, princess..." He said lowly, his eyes shifting between your lips and your eyes.

"I guess I should make a choice now, shouldn't I..." You said, not really asking a question, but debating with yourself.

You spent some time in a tense silence - not a word was exchanged, and not a breath was heard.

He then watched as your tits and thighs jiggled when you jumped to sit on the counter. Your slightly separated legs gave him a beautiful view of your inner thighs and he swore he could see your panties. Sanji was salivating like a dog at the sight of your body and he wanted nothing more than for you to suffocate him and ride his face, yet he awaited your response.

"What's the choice gonna be, sweetheart?" Sanji asked, as he took your stance as an invitation for him to get closer and place his hands on your thighs.

The cook tilted his head to the side every so slightly, your breaths mixing in front of you.

You gripped his shirt and pulled him closer to you, catching his lips in a passionate, animalistic kiss. You could feel his need and desperation in the exchange, which was to be expected from someone who had apparently waited so long to do this to you. What you didn't expect was the equal need you felt within yourself - you too were desperate to feel him, desperate for his touch.

Sanji definitely wasn't the quiet type - the cook wanted you to know how good you made him feel, especially when you rolled your hips against his and he felt your pussy against his hardened cock.

The man shamelessly moaned and groaned into the kiss, gripping your thighs harshly, pulling your crotch as close as possible to his.

When you pulled away from him, breathless, your lips were red and swollen.

Sanji's eyes sparkled when looking at you, and that's when you understood that you had him wrapped around your finger.

Your hand reached behind his head and, at first, you caressed his hair. But after a second you gripped his hair in your fist and gave it an experimental tug. Sanji's brows furrowed slightly and a small moan escaped past his lips.

"You like that kind of stuff?" You asked with a lustful expression.

Sanji looked away, shy and embarrassed, but gave you a small nod.

Seeing the man that oozed with confidence in each step he took crumble in front of you and become shy awoke something inside of you - you wanted to ruin him and his pretty face.

"I wanna ride your face."

Your eyes widened as well as the cook's, as you thought of that, but didn't mean to say it out loud. Before you could apologise for being too forward with your words, Sanji kissed you, a deep yet short kiss.

"I-I want that." His eyes were half lidded from lust and embarrassment, as he confessed that.

You climbed down from the counter and grabbed his hand. As you opened the door, you bent over slightly to take a peek at the hallway making sure you were alone. As you did so, your nightgown rode up your body, revealing more of your ass. Sanji couldn't help but to run his fingertips from your thighs up to your asscheeks.

"I really wanna fuck this pretty ass of yours, Y/N..." The man admitted, slapping each of your cheeks.

You turned around and gripped his collar with one hand, bringing his face closer to yours.

"I call the shots here, pretty boy, okay?" You asked soflty and pecked his lips when he agreed to follow your lead.

You grabbed his hand once more and sneakily brought him to your room, locking the door behind you. Sanji's ears perked at the sound of the lock - it made him excited, as if what you were doing was a forbidden little secret not to be found.

Sanji sat on the bed, like an animal awaiting for his owner's instructions. The cook groaned and threw his head back as he saw you dispose of your panties, giving the quickest yet sweetest view of your pussy.

You walked over to him and straddled his lap, placing your wet pussy right on top of his painfully hard cock, as you captured his lips in yet another violent kiss.

As your tongues fought and teeth clashed, your hands sneaked onto his chest and pushed him down onto the matress, never breaking the kiss, so he'd be laying down and you'd be on top of him.

Sanjis hands roamed freely on your body, mostly sticking to grabbing your ass and thighs, sneakily feeling how wet you were with the tips of your fingers.

When you pulled his hands off of his body and began lifting yourself up, Sanji felt a shiver run down his spine out of excitement, and he watched as you straddled his head, each thigh on each side, giving him a perfect view of your pussy. His eyebrows furrowed and he moaned at the sight - the man was sure he was going to cum from looking at it alone.

You hovered over his face, making sure he could reach your pussy.

"Oh no princess, no hovering."

Before you complain, Sanji's hands gripped your ass and forced your pussy down onto his face. You instantly let out a mewl and gripped his hair as your hips moved to an almost rhytmic pace.

Sanji moaned from your sweet taste and from the not-so-subtle hair tugs. His mouth ate you out like he was a professional and a starving man.

"S-shit Sanji- keep this up and I won't last much longer..." You said, breathlessly, earning only a moan in return.

The vibrations and the small sucking and biting Sanji sneaked in while eating you out drove you insane, and he knew to keep doing it from the way you moaned louder and gripped his hair tighter.

Your hips' rhytm sped up and you could feel your orgasm coming- it was too good for you to be able to last longer. Just as it was about to hit you, however, you wondered how good his cock would fuck you compared to the efficiency of his tongue and pulled yourself off of him. Your thighs were weak after almost cumming, but you managed to pull yourself off.

Sanji's face was glistening, no doubt a mix of your juices and his spit, and he watched through lustful eyes as you sat on his clothed cock once more and wrapped your hand arounnd his neck, bringing his face closer to yours.

You kissed him, tasting yourself on his tongue, while your hands unbuttoned his shirt and peeled it off of him. You then kissed Sanji's neck and down his torso, feeling his muscles tense under the hand that trailed down his body.

You kneeled between his legs and slowly removed his pants and underwear. The cook's cock slapped against his abdomen, his tip red and swollen, leaking with precum. You could swear you were salivating at the sight of his cock.

Just as your hand gripped the base of his dick and your mouth opened, Sanji's hand grabbed your chin, makikng you look up at him.

"Please... Please don't." The man pleaded breathlessly "I'm- I'm gonna cum in your mouth the second you suck me off princess..."

You chuckled and bit your lip, rising up to your feet as you removed the skimpy nightgown.

"Fuck..." Sanji groaned at the sight of your body.

You allowed him to caress your hips while you sat back on his lap, straddling the man as his cock pressed against your folds.

You pressed your lips against his, slowly rising up and grabbing his cock. You placed it on your entrance and sank down on his dick gently. Sanji's mouth fell agape mid-kiss, and his eyes didn't open but his brows furrowed and a desperate moan left his lips.

The way his hands gripped your ass reminded you that he was still touching you, and that couldn't be - you liked to see him desperate and begging.

"From now on," You said, removing his hands from your body and gripping his shoulders for stability "no touching me. I want to fuck myself on you, I want to use you."

Sanji didn't care who heard, he only wanted you to know how good you made him feel. As he heard that sentence, the man groaned loudly and gripped the sheets - a mix of frustration from not being able to touch you, and pleasure, from the way his cock disappeared inside of you.

"You feel so fucking good." Sanji admitted, mouth agape and eyes fixated on the way your tits bounced in front of his face.

"S-shit- You fill me up so well Sanji."

The way you moaned his name was music to his ears. Sanji's moans and groans grew louder and more lewd, as his knuckles turned white from the force with which he gripped the sheets.

"Y/N I- I can't hold on much longer-"

Luckily for him, you had previously edged yourself on his mouth, so you were on the same page on that front.

"Yeah baby? Like it when I fuck myself on you? When I use you?" You whispered in his ear.

"I love it when you use me- shit! Please, please let me touch you, please!" He begged in the hottest whine you'd ever heard.

"T-touch me, baby-"

Sanji's hands immediately flew to your ass, grabbing and slapping it as his lips bit and sucked on your neck. Your nails dug into the flesh of his shoulders as you felt your climax approach once more.

When you felt his cock twitch inside of you, you grabbed his face and smashed your lips together, effectively shutting up your cries and moans as he filled you up and you came on his cock.

You rode out your orgasm, feeling his dick soften inside of you. You pulled away from his lips as the cook helped you lift yourself up and off his cock. You both watched in awe as his cum dripped from your cunt.

You sighed and buried your face on the crook of his neck.

"You don't get to act shy now, gorgeous." Sanji joked, one hand caressing the small of your back and the other caressing your hair.

"I'm not shy! Just... tired..." You lied, not knowing that you even had it in you to do what you had done to Sanji just then.

Sanji picked you up and laid you on the bed slowly, as if you'd break if he was too rough with you, and spooned you from behind.

"Let's rest then, beautiful..."

You turned around to face him.

"Hey... Sanji?"

The man peeled his eyes open, and a small 'hm?' left his lips.

"Do you think they heard us?" You asked in a whisper, as if telling him a secret, earning a tired smile from him.

"They definitely did, princess."

[alisonwritesimagines]

I Was Enchanted to Meet You ~LA!Shanks x Reader~

Summary: Shanks comes back to you before he leaves your village once again. Except this time, it may be your final goodbye.

Author’s Note: I just watched the live action One Piece show and I have to say... I am a slut for Buggy, Shanks, and Mihawk.

Fluff Ending | Angst Ending

Reader’s Pronouns: She/Her

Warnings: angst, some fluff, mentions of smut, reader and Shanks being Luffy's adoptive parents in a way

Side Note: This is a secondary blog. If you comment a question down below, I will not answer since this is not the main blog. Please send the question to my inbox if you want a response back!

Do not repost this anywhere!

You were Luffy's caretaker and teacher. While his grandfather was a high respected Marine, he entrusted you with his grandson whenever he wasn't available to take care of him.

"I'm bored of this," Luffy said as you two were going over some reading.

"A good pirate should know how to read."

"Yeah but I should be preparing to set sail when Shanks comes back," Luffy said.

"How about this? We can go see Shanks today since he is suppose to be back today after we finish our lesson?" You asked him.

"Alright!" Luffy smiled before looking down at his book.

True to your word, you both headed over to the dock where you saw Shanks's ship. You watched as Luffy rushed over to the deck before helping out.

"Luffy! I was wondering when you'd pop up," Shanks said as he finally noticed the small boy. You leaned against the edge while Shanks looked around before finally seeing you. His smile widen a little more before walking over towards you.

"And how are you, my dear Y/n?" Shanks asked as he raised your hand to his lips.

"Nice to see you again Shanks," you smiled at him.

"I'm not joking! I'm ready to join your crew," Luffy insisted to Shanks.

"The sea isn't a child's game. It's dangerous. The scars on my face are proof of that. Besides, I need someone to watch over Y/n and I trust you," Shanks told Luffy as he continued to help his crew unload their ship.

"I can do it, Shanks. I swear," Luffy said.

"You're not ready."

"I am. And I'll show you!" Luffy said before rushing off in the ship. You walked over to Shanks before placing your hand on his. He looked over at you as you gave him a look.

"You really need to be more easy on him. You know how he can be," you tell Shanks.

"Better a disappointed kid now than a dead one later."

"I blame you for being a good pirate and influencing him," you tell him.

"I missed you. Let's celebrate my return tonight together shall we?" Shanks asked you.

"Hey, Shanks!" You heard Luffy. You quickly turned around to see Luffy standing on the top of the view port making you gasp once you saw the knife.

"Luffy! You better come back down here and put that knife back where you found it!" You tell him.

"Listen to Y/n, Luffy. Before you hurt yourself," Shanks called out.

"I'm not afraid of getting hurt. And I'll prove it to you," Luffy yelled before stabbing right below his eye.

"Luffy!" You screamed in shock and horror.

"Get the first aid kit! I'll get him down," Shanks told you. You nodded before rushing out of the ship to grab your first aid kit.

"Why would you do that to yourself?!" You asked Luffy as you stitched him up.

"You could've stabbed your eye," Shanks told him as he sat next to you.

"I was aiming for it, but I missed," Luffy told you.

"Ow," Luffy said as you tightened the stitches a little.

"I thought you said you were tough," Shanks asked him.

"I am! Y/n is just being a little too rough. I want everyone to see my scar," Luffy said.

"Scars don't make the man, Luffy. It's the lesson behind the scar and you didn't earn this one," Shanks told him before tapping his cheek.

"Then let me earn it. I'll be the best pirate ever. Look, I've been practicing what my face is gonna look like on my wanted poster," Luffy said before making a face. You shook your head at him as you gathered your things.

"You are going to give me a heart attack, Luffy," you tell him as you ruffled his hair. You stood up and walked away to put your first aid kit back.

When you made it back to the bar, you saw Shanks walk up to your with your favorite drink. You sat on the chair next to the bar as you faced Shanks. He raised the glasses to you with a smile.

"Have a drink with me," Shanks told you.

"I need to look after Luffy."

"One drink. Then later tonight, you meet me at my ship and we can have our little reunion?" Shanks insisted.

It was no doubt that the two of you had feelings for one another. Shanks loved how soft and caring you were while you loved his gentle touch when it came to you.

"Fine. I hope I don't find anything that belongs to another woman in your ship again," you tell him, remembering the last time you went to his ship after Luffy was asleep.

"It was one time and you know I changed my ways for you," Shanks said as he wrapped his arm around your waist. You took a swing of your drink before giving him a light kiss on the cheek.

Once it became nightfall, you got Luffy ready for bed so you could meet with Shanks. After finding out that he ate a devil fruit, you were livid but you knew that Luffy didn't understand what power and weaknesses the devil fruit had affected him.

"I don't know why you won't let us go with Shanks," Luffy said as you tucked him in.

"You know that the sea isn't for me and you aren't ready to be a pirate. Even if you did eat a devil's fruit," you tell him.

"But you and Shanks love each other. Why can't we just sail with him? I can learn how to be a pirate and I'm stronger now," Luffy said.

"Your grandfather will kill me if I just took you away. And like I said, I am not too fond of the sea. Now it's time for bed for you," you tell him.

"Fine. Goodnight, Y/n."

"Goodnight, Luffy."

Once he was fully asleep, you walked over to Shanks's ship where you could see his quarter's lights on. You walked over to his room where he lied on his bed with his shirt off.

"Getting straight to the point now are we?" You teased as you closed the door behind you. You locked the door before walking over towards his bed. Shanks sat up so you could stand in between his legs.

"I missed you, my love," Shanks said as he pulled you down on the bed with him.

He cupped your cheeks as he kissed you passionately. You cupped his cheeks as well, smoothing your thumb against his scars below his eye.

"I missed you too," you tell him in between kisses.

"Let me have you for tonight," Shanks said as he undid your dress. You sat up before slipping it off of your body.

"You're as beautiful as the day I met you," Shanks praised as he sat up to kiss your body.

-

"How long are you staying this time?" You asked him as you both lied in his bed. Your naked bodies was covered by the thin blanket as you both held onto each other.

"Till tomorrow," Shanks told you.

"How long will you be gone?" You asked. Shanks stayed quiet making you look up at him.

"Shanks. How long will you be gone?" You repeated.

"We're not coming back this time, my love," Shanks told you.

"What?"

"Come with me. I'll take care of you and-"

"Shanks, my home is here. And I can't leave Luffy. He's still a growing boy and I could never forgive myself if I were to abandon him," you tell him as you sat up.

"My love-"

"Shanks, I'm not joining you in the sea and you know why. I'm sorry," you tell him as you got up and put your clothes back on.

"Stay the night. Please," Shanks said as he held your hand.

"I can't. I think it's best if we ended this," you tell him.

"I don't want this to end. Please, Y/n. Come with me to find the One Piece and we can live our lives out together," Shanks told you. You shook your head at him before giving him one last kiss.

"I love you, Shanks. But I can't leave here. Not yet at least," you tell him before walking out.

-

The next day, you watched as Shanks says his goodbye to Luffy. You stared as he gave his hat to Luffy before making eye contact with you. He walked over towards you before taking something out of his pocket.

"I saw this while I was away and wanted to give it to you," Shanks said as he held out a beautiful ring.

"Shanks-"

"I just want you to know that I want you, my love. Will you wait for me?" Shanks asked.

"You need to find that one piece soon so you can come back and get me," you tell him with a small smile.

"I'll come back for you. I promise," Shanks said before sliding the ring onto your finger. He quickly gave you a kiss before walking away.

You put an arm around Luffy as you watched Shanks's ship sail off. You both waved at him as he stared at the two of you.

"When I become King of the Pirates, I'll give you a nice home where you and Shanks can live the rest of your lives together," Luffy tells you. You smiled down at him before ruffling his hair.

"I'll hold you to that," you tell him.

[kataloviekuri]

Puppy | Shanks x Fem! Reader

• Shanks has a crush on you ;) [ fluff + angst ! ]

a/n : no makino here!! English is not my first language and this is my first time writing fanfics in English !! So forgive me if there's any mistakes !! :)

➱ part 2

You sigh softly as the wind takes away the heat around your body . Today is such a long day , you thought . Also it was strange that Luffy hasn't popped up yet . He came to have breakfast in the morning but he ate as fast as he could and ran out of the bar . You haven't seen him since then . You are worried , he's such a stubborn little man . Nothing can stop him from doing what he wants , well except for his grandpa .

You put the glass on the counter when you heard footsteps . You turn around , eyes wide when you saw Luffy walking towards the bar with tall , grown and scary well maybe not that scary looking men . Luffy shout your name , running towards you .

" Luffy ~ " You rub his fluffy hair as he hugs your legs tightly .

" And who are these people ? .. " You ask him quietly .

" They're my friends !! " Luffy laughs and says proudly .

The man with red hair walks towards you , he laughs softly when he sees the look on your face .

" My name's Shanks and these big guys are my friends " . You blush when He takes your hands gently . his hands are so big .You can't help but look down at his hands , your hands are almost disappeared in his own . You tell him your name , pulling your hands back .

" To tell the truth ..... We're actually pirates , Red hair pirates "

Oh god ... You really hope Garp is still on his duty .

Well , they look quite friendly . There's nothing to worry about .

" This is not the first time pirates come to this town " You smile at them . " What would you like to drink ? " You stand behind the counter and take out the glasses from the cabinet .

" Juice ! Juice ! Juice ! " Luffy says as he bangs his fists on the counter . He looks really happy .

" Shuu .. Luffy, no juice for you today . How about a glass of milk , huh ? "

" NOOOOO !! "

" You promised me yesterday , didn't you ? "

" but- "

" Luffy " His voice was cut off by Shanks . Shanks leans on the counter , his face is almost close to yours .

" You have to listen to what this beautiful lady said " You frown when a teasing smile appears on his face .

" Huh ! Fine " Luffy pouted .

" Kids huh? " Shanks chuckles as he gaze at you .His eyes are beautiful , looking at you like you are something special .

" Yeah but Luffy is different " You giggle .

Since then , Shanks always comes to the bar . He flirt with you . He told you about himself , his pirate life and adventures . Sometime when you're listening to what he says , he touchs your hand or traces his fingers on your palm . At first you were shy but it becomes something he always does to you . He always brings your favorite flowers . He walks you back home , tells you lame jokes when you're upset . As time goes by , you're starting to like him , the way he smile and laugh , the way he touches your hands , the way he flirts , not in a way to make you uncomfortable but to see you stammer and blush . God , you love everything about this man .

You haven't seen Shanks today . You look at the entrance everytime someone walks in and look through the windows hoping to see someone with red hair . You miss him . You sigh , hand on your chin while reading a book .

Then all of a sudden Luffy walks in , stomping his foot on the floor .

" What's the matter ? " You asked .

" Nothing " " Milk please " The fact that he looks angry but still asking you politely for milk makes you laugh .

" Tell me what's wrong ? " You set a glass of milk in front of him and ask .

" I've been waiting for Shanks in front of his room for hours to play ! Then Benn came out and told me that Shanks is busy , they all are busy ! . He didn't even come outside of his room ! I know they don't want to play with me ! That's why they are hiding in his room ! "

" Maybe they're really busy . They're pirates . They still have works to do , you know ? "

" I'm a pirate too ! I will become a pirate just like Shanks " Luffy murmur causing your eyes to wide .

" Luffy ! You're grandpa is a Vice Admiral of the Marines . He would never allow you to do that "

" I don't care " He giggle and continue to drink his milk . Oh boy ....

The door slam open as Shanks and his friends walk in . Your heart skips a beat as soon as you see Shanks . He sits in front of you and grabs your hands before you could do anything .

" Did you miss me , darling ? " he asks with a stupid smirk on his face . You feel your heartbeat getting faster and faster .

" What if I did " You answer and try to pull your hands back but he grip your hands .Shanks leans forward until his face is an inch away from yours .

" Then I'd be the happiest man alive in the whole world " He whispers .You can hear his crewmates laughing and cheering him like " Woo , Go Captain ! " " I wish I have a girl like that " which makes him grin . The fact that Shanks hasn't moved his face away from you and keep staring into your eyes is not helping the situation . Fuck , if he keeps staring at you like that , you are going to kiss him . But thankfully Luffy interrupts them .

" What were you guys doing !? I was waiting for you !" Finally , Shanks looks away from you , you exhale . That was close .

" We were busy , Luffy "

" Busy doing what ? "

" Pirate stuff " Shanks answers as he drinks his beer .

" We were deciding on which land we'll go next " Lucky Roux says loudly from where he was sitting . Yassop slap his shoulder . He was sitting with Benn and Yassop .

" YOU'RE LEAVING !??! " Luffy's voice echo through the bar . You look at Shanks in shock and see him sending daggers to Lucky Roux .

" Shit .. sorry , Captain " Lucky Roux says nervously , rubbing the back of his neck .

" We can't stay here forever ,Luffy " Shanks says to Luffy and looks at you . You notice the slight sadness in his eyes . You turn your back to them and put the glasses in place . You feel heavy and sad all of a sudden . He's leaving ?? What does he mean he can't stay forever ??? He- Oh right , like you said , he's a pirate . He still has the whole world to explore . Oh no , you have to stop thinking or you're going to cry .

~~~~~

It's around 11 pm when you lock the bar's door . After finding out Shanks is going to leave , the rest of the day didn't went well . Shanks was following you everywhere like a lost puppy trying to get your attention and you were acting like somebody just sat on your head . Almost every customers were asking if you're alright .You rubbed your hands on you face roughly . Suddenly a shadow appears in front of you and you scream .

" AHH- !!! "

" Hey sweetheart , it's just me " Shanks chuckles and gets closer to you as you start to walk away .

" Hey .. what's wrong ? " He follows and hold your hand from behind . His voice was surprisingly calm . You stop walking and look up at him . It's dark near the bar and no one is there , you can't see his face clearly but with the help of moonlight, you see a hint of sadness in his eyes .

" When are you leaving ? "He doesn't answer you immediately . He takes a moment and breath deeply .

" Next week " .You look down and grab his hands . Your eyes are watering before you even realize .

"Why are you crying , sweetheart ? "

He grabs your face gently and wipes your tears off . You feel the roughness of his hands on your cheeks .

" Please , don't cry " He whispers and kisses your forehead , his forehead touching yours .

" I like you , Shanks " You speak softly, staring into his eyes . His eyes wide with surprise . He holds his breath .

" Really ? "

" Yeah .. I've been for a while . I should have said sooner . Now it's too late I- I'm sorry " You hold him tightly and put your head on his chest . His hand brush the hair around your neck as he hugs you back . You two hug each other for minutes . Then He lifts your chin up , making you look up at him .

" Sweetheart , you have no idea how happy I am "

Shanks kisses you like you're a delicate little thing . You stand on tiptoe to kiss him back . It was supposed to be just a simple innocent kiss . But he doesn't stop kissing you and holds you firmly against him , the kiss turn passionate . He hesitantly pulls away from the kiss and rests his forehead against yours .

" Come with me " You hold his one arm as you start to walk back home .

~~~~~

The walk home was quite but the tension was thick that you could hear your own breathing . Your house is small and nothing special but interior decoration is cozy and pleasant . You have a large bookshelf which is full of books , small coffee table , a single bed that has a lot of pillows , small kitchen with a window causing the moonlight to enter the house . Shanks looks around you house , smiling and touching stuff like your books and coffee cups .

" It's nothing special " You says as you put your coat on the chair .

" No , darling . I feel like I'm going to cry now . This house is too comforting "

You snort at his dramatic comment . You feel nervous all of a sudden . Shanks , The man you like is literally in your house , so what now ? Do you have to make a move ? Tell him to come and kiss you ?

" Do you want to drink something ? " He turns around and walks slowly towards you . The smug smile on his face makes you nervous but also makes you want to punch him . This man . Why is he walking so slow !?? You don't even know if he's actually walking slow or you're just impatient .

" Actually , I'm going back to the ship " You stare dumbly at him . What ?

" I'm just joking , darling . I actually want to kiss you again if you don't mind " Before you notice , his face is close to yours . He stares into your eyes , waiting for your answer and seems to holding himself back . You wrap both of your hands around his neck and kiss him , he immediately grabs your waist and kisses you back . The kiss is messy but also sweet and loving . You clutch his shoulder when his tongue enters your mouth , you part your lips more to give him access . Shanks is kissing you like he's intoxicated with your lips . You try to pull away in need of oxygen but he grips the back of your head , your fingers go through his red hair , his strawhat drop onto the floor .

" Shanks " You're breathing heavily so your voice was tiny . Your lips are almost swollen . His hands goes behind your back and lay his fingers on the zip of your dress .

" May I ? " He asks for your permission , looking at you with adoration .

" Yes " You cup his cheeks and kiss him again , slowly and deeply . Your hands drop his coat and unbutton his shirt as he pull down your dress .

" Such a smooth skin " He mummers , kissing the corner of your lips . You sigh softly and close your eyes . " So beautiful " He kiss your nose . " The most beautiful girl I've ever seen " He pecks your lips one more time before tracing his lips on your jaw , his fingers running up and down on your neck .

" Can you strip as well ? " You asked him quietly .He sucks your neck and whispers into your ear . "Let me take you to bed " . He carries you in bridal style as you both stare into each other eyes . He set you on the bed and stands back , pulling his shirt off .

Fuck .. You want to trace your fingers on his abs , shoulder and arms but you hold yourself back . He kneels between your legs , hands griping your wrists on the side of your face . He looks like he's going feral .

You feel your body shaking , heart beat getting faster and faster as he buries his face between your neck and kiss your cheek softly .

" Let me make you feel good , sweetheart . I'll make sure you never forget this night "

You moan softly and close your eyes , enjoying the way he pressed kisses down your torso , caressing every roll and curve of your body .

This is going to be such a long night.....

~~~~~

You wake up to the feel of fingers on your skin . You slowly open your eyes , feeling the way fingers tracing gently on your skin . You roll over to see Shanks smiling at you , he's laying on his side as well , his lower body is cover by a thin white blanket .

You make a tried sleppy sound mixed with happiness , looking at him sheepishly .

" Good morning , princess " He comes closer to your face and whispers , lips almost touching yours . You grab the back of his neck and peck his lips as he grins , fingers touching your cheeks delicately .

" Did you sleep well ? " You ask as your hand runs up and down across his strong and broad back .

" I was busy admiring your delicious body , sweetheart " He teases . You slap his shoulder lightly as he laughs .

" I slept really well princess , I haven't sleep this good for a long time " He says as he nuzzles his face in your neck , licking on the marks he gave you last night .

" I don't want this to end but I really need to pee now , Shanks " You groan and let out a sigh but Shanks just keeps kissing and licking your neck .

" Shanks ! "

" Okay Okay " He giggles and let go of you .

" Want me to carry you , sweetheart ? " He teases again . " No , thanks " You roll your eyes as you get out of the bed .

~~~~~

You , Shanks and Luffy , the three of you sit on a wooden bench , Shanks is showing Luffy a map , the kid points all over the map and asking Shanks questions. You laugh while looking at them , you feel warm , comfortable and happy . People who pass by might think that the three of you are family . The thought of it makes you squeal with delight . But you know it could never happen . You like Shanks. No , you love him . You love him so much .

You look down , suddenly wanting to cry while playing with the flower Shanks gave you .

" Sweetheart ? " Shanks calls you softly as he brushes his thumb on your cheek . You smile at him and kiss his palm .

" Shanks ! What's the name of this island ?! " Luffy asks excitedly causing Shanks to roll his eyes .

" Just a second " He mummers and turns towards Luffy to answer his question .

After like two minutes , Shanks is getting tired of Luffy interrupting you and him . So he comes up with an idea .

" WHAT IS THAT ?!?!! " Shanks shouts and point at the sky . Luffy startle and looks at Shanks , then abruptly looks up the sky , squinting his eyes .

You giggle , Shanks scoop closer to you and kiss your cheek and then your lips .

" THERE'S NOTHING, SHANKS ! WHAT WAS THAT ?! " Luffy shakes Shanks arms , trying to get an answer from the red hair man . Shanks laughs loudly and hugs the little guy tightly .

" Shanks , I can't breath ! "

the next day ....

" Shanks .. I still have to work " You gasp when he locks his lips around your neck . You are against the wall , his hands either side of your head . You moan almost loudly when he grinds against you as you place your hand on your mouth . You try to push him but he makes you feel so weak . Your knees almost drooping onto the ground , Shanks presses his body against yours , holding you tightly like he can't get enough of you .

" Fuck .. baby " He moans into your ears , you grip his red hair .

" Shanks, please stop . I have works to do " You beg him sweetly and finally , he stops . You punch his shoulder .

" Ouch . What was that for , sweetheart ? " He cried out and dramatically pust his head on your chest . You giggle and pat his back .

" I love you , Shanks "

" I love you more "

~~~~~

" I'M GONNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES !!! "

You hear Luffy shouts at the Red hair pirates . You smile through your tears , he always tell you that . You are hiding behind the small cabin , avoiding Shanks at all cost . You sniff , wiping away the hot tears but they keep falling down . You cry your eyes out for almost half an hour , you don't want to see Shanks face or else you're going to beg him not to leave you . You cover your mouth , hoping no one would hear you cry as sit on the ground , hugging your knees to your chest .

" Sweetheart ? " Your heart drops when you hear Shanks soft voice . You stand up quickly and look down .

" Look at me baby " he breathe . His hand cup your cheeks . You look up , his nose touching yours .

" I love you so much , you know that ? " He gazes deeply into your eyes . His face become blurry as tears starting to flow down on your cheeks again . He hold you tightly , kissing your head again and again and again , mummering apologies .

" Don't leave me , Shanks "

" I'm sorry , sweetheart .. I'm so fucking sorry " He kisses your forehead .

" Please .. " You beg and grip his black coat tightly .

" I can't .. I'm sorry baby but I can't " He grabs your face gently and kisses your lips . You wanted to pull away and slap him for making you fall for him . But you didn't . You want to be his good girl . You want him to love you and always remember you . You want to make this last moment as loving as possible .

" I will come back for you , only for you , sweetheart " He attacks your face with kisses as you giggle through your tears .

" Promise ? " You asked quietly as he wipes your tears away .

" I'm promise " He kisses you again , wrapping your arms around his neck .

" I love you , Shanks "

" I love you too , sweetheart . More than anything "

~~~~~

You take out the letter from the drawer as you sit on your bed . You look around nervously , still can't believe that he sent you a letter after years .

I hope you're doing well , sweetheart . I know you hate me after what I did to you . You can hate me all you like and I will still love you from the bottom of my heart . How's Luffy doing ? I bet he's practicing to become a great pirate huh ? Haha .. I miss that kid .

But I miss you more . I miss you everyday . I want to see your cute face again , I missing kissing you and touching you , sweetheart . I will come back for you but I don't want to keep you waiting so it's best for you to live your life and forget about this mean bastard . I hope you still know how much I love you.

Akagami

You crumple the letter in your fist and throw it under the ground . A tear roll down your cheek as you wipe it away hastily .

" mamamama ~ "

You look down at your son , he was playing with toys and giggling minutes ago . But as soon as he saw you cry , his face becomes red , almost as red as his baby hair as he becomes to cry . His chubby hands flying in your direction and doing the grabbing motion for you to take him .

You sit down on the ground and pull him on your lap ." no , no , no .. don't cry baby " You coo and peck his forehead .

" It's going to be alright . Mama's here for you "

[deoidesign]

There's only one week left on my kickstarter for FOUR books!!!

I really pushed a lot of boundaries on the page layouts and presentation of these books, they're all GORGEOUS and I am SO proud of every single one!

Each book is self contained and 125-175 pages, so you can pick whichever sounds most exciting to you if you're not ready to jump into all four right off the bat!

Pirates, Summer Camp, Ghost Hunting, and Victorian Vampire Hunters!

But, the main charaters do also have a developing romance over the course of the series!

it has been a TON of work to edit these into books and fix up some of the art and writing, but I promise I could not be happier with the work I've done!

Gay time traveling vampires solving supernatural mysteries. what's not to love! ONE WEEK LEFT!!! BACK IT NOW!!!!!!!!!! or don't it's ok but IF YOU WANT THEM!!!! time is running out!

If you can't back the project, I totally understand! Please share if you can, I'm really struggling to reach my audience since I can't post about it on my comic!

Thank you all so much for the support so far, it means the world to me!

[cnovelartreblogs]

C-Novels Available in English Translation

A few weeks ago, a few of my danmei-loving friends and I got to talking about how much there is that we want to read, but that none of us have been very organized about keeping track of titles, fantranslation links, etc.

So, we decided to make a spreadsheet.

AND to combine every link we'd each separately stashed around on that spreadsheet.

The result is a list of 102 titles (currently 96 are danmei, 5 are baihe, and 1 is gen, reflecting our personal interests/preferences) with links to translations, some complete, some not. (as of 2/20/23)

Love C-Novels? Especially danmei? Looking for something to read? Check it out!

Some notes:

This is specifically for English translations from Chinese titles. Though some of the links do include other works (for example, some translators also do Japanese, and some Carrds list fantranslations in multiple languages), we're English speakers who are interested in Chinese novels, so we focused on that.

Currently, this is mostly basic information (titles, authors, links), with no summaries, genre tags, etc. We hope to ultimately expand it but that will be a lot of work and the information is already available at the provided NovelUpdates links, so we encourage you to use those.

We make no claims that this list is exhaustive; while the first sheet lists the resources we had collectively already gathered, there's a second sheet with things we know of and intend to add.

We'll try to keep links and such up-to-date but if you spot a problem please let me know!

Know of something that's not on the main list OR on the "to add" page? Please do send the info my way! Comments or ask box stuff will help.

Note that to actually access the fantranslations, you'll often need to take additional action to read them - you may need to request access, or get a password, etc. How to get this access is usually included on the pages.

Known official translations are listed. We will not link fantranslations for titles that are out officially in English. Don't send them. Don't ask for them. We won't help you pirate these titles.

(ADDED): I have also now added carrds for works that I could find carrds for, and added a third sheet, with carrds for authors. (I looked for every title and author and added the ones I could locate; Google asked if I was a bot at least 6 times lmao). Carrds are often good for summaries, information about the characters, and especially trigger warnings, so they're worth checking out! (ADDED MORE): I also added NovelUpdates links for all authors, so people can see a full list of their other works even if they don't have Carrds.

Don't forget to thank and respect translators, and honor their wishes! Without fantranslators, we wouldn't have all this amazing stuff to read in English, so THANK YOU FANTRANSLATORS!

GO FORTH, AND FIND YOUR NEW FAVORITE BOOK!

[radiokathryn-if]

DEMO ☯︎ FAQ ☮︎ DIRECTORY ♪

Nate Nicks has disappeared.

Why should you care? Do you?

You probably should, considering he's the face and host of your extremely popular radio show and you've just landed one of the biggest contracts of your careers.

You are a sound tech engineer and a damn good one at that, while Nate was the face you were the sound, usually your work is strictly behind the scenes, except for the odd occasion when you were needed on air. So when Nate goes missing and you're tasked with filling in his shoes you're practically thrown in at the deep end.

It only gets worse after a missing persons case becomes a murder case and the cast and crew of Radio Kathryn and FloNote Ent become the suspect pool...

RADIO KATHRYN is rated 18+ for explicit language, explicit sexual scenes and references, themes of death and blood, use of alcohol and drugs, physical abuse and violence. please check trigger warnings.

The setting of the 70s is purely for aesthetic and technology. Don't expect era—accurate racism or homophobia as it won't be included in this IF.

FEATURES ☯︎ [ Trigger Warnings ]

fully customise your MC! name, gender&pronouns (M/F/NB), appearance, personality

decide your on air persona──can you hack it in the limelight or will you crack under the pressure?

build your relations──do you get along with your fellow teammates? how about your fanbase? or your company?

+your radio teams backstory──how the four of you (Nate, José, Mica and yourself) got along, created the pirated radio show, how you got signed into legality, how everything went to shit... or not?

romance someone (or not)──featuring eight solo routes and two poly routes OR just enjoy the mystery and figure out a murder!

chose paths that affect the game──your choices matter, and the ending you may or may not get is dependent on them.

decide which kathryn is your mother──and your relationship with her. (Catherine, Kate, Cathy, Katherine or Rynnie)

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN ☮︎ [ RO Intros ]

The Man, The Myth, The Legend. [???]

“Nate Nicks” Nathan Nicholson──he/him. 28. Radio Kathryn's host and front man, adored by thousands. Complete arsehole but somehow it makes him endearing to others. Cocky son of a bitch that let fame get to his head... or is he? Nevertheless, he's missing now and you may have something to do with it.

think a mix between gauge burek and chris veres in druck (2019)

The Benefactor.

“Mr Robinson” Lionel Robinson──he/him. 42. The man who funded your radio show, the one who got you to where you are. Kind, calm and considerate, especially with Nate. But every one has a line to cross at some point and Mr Robinson is not someone to get angry.

think chad michael murray in sullivan's crossing (2023)

The Fiancé. [RO]

“Eva Vidal” Evangeline Vidal──she/her. 25. The woman who's been there from the beginning, your first listener, your first fan. You used to be closer but Nate sunk his teeth in her and pulled her away. You watched her steadily lose her glow and for someone engaged she seems quite jaded at the news of her missing fiancé.

think penélope cruz in vanilla sky (2001) or vicky christina barcelona (2008)

The Best Friend. [RO]

“Mica Hollens” Michael/a Hollens──he/him, she/her. your age (24─28). Your voice of reason in the chaos of life and Radio Kathryn's manager. Your support system and rock, even if they are a bit quick to jump the bullet in your honour. Mica has strong opinions and Nate has never been in their good books, but surely they wouldn't do anything to jeopardise your job.

think tanaya beatty in through black spruce (2018) or alex meraz in mine games (2012)

The Detective. [RO]

“Detective Han” Han Jimin──he/him or she/her. 30. The detective assigned to Nate's missing persons case. They are meticulous and goal oriented and their current goal is figuring you and your work family out. The more you resist the more they're intrigued and the more you help the more you unravel them.

think lee soohyuk in tomorrow (2022) or lee siyoung in sweet home (2020)

The Rival DJ. [RO]

“José Danger” Jose/phine Jeager──she/her or they/them. 26. Nate calls them the traitor─the defector. They used to be part of your team, a co-host with Nate in your beginning days. The two of them worked like magic until Nate was in demand more and José was kicked to the curb. You wonder if the festering grudge they left with is still there... and if it still extends to you.

think zazie beetz in deadpool 2 (2018) or wounds (2019)

The "Hater". [RO]

“Ji Han” Han Ji Young──he/him. 24. The younger brother of Detective Han. Ji Han is not a fan of Nathaniel Nicholson but he is a fan of the songs he plays─or rather the ones you play when he's absent. He's taken the utmost interest in his siblings case, suspiciously enough to become entangled in it more than anticipated.

think a mix of choi san (2022-23) and lee dohyun in 18 again (2020) or the glory (2022)

The "Fan". [RO]

“Fauve” Faye─Mauve Langham──she/her. 25. Fauve is a bit of a groupie, she can admit. She's not totally obsessed with Radio Kathryn, she reasons, she's just invested in the show and even more so in the people behind it. Fauve become more involved in the case of Nate Nicks than she's wanted, leaving you to wonder just what it is that keeps her going─even to the edge of insanity.

think a mix of imogen poots in need for speed (2014) and hayden panettiere in nashville (2012-18)

The Family Man. [RO]

“Mr Lewis” Jackson Lewis──he/him. 33. The night shift receptionist-slash-building coordinator. He usually brings his daughter to sit in on show recordings, seeing as she's got a bit of a crush on Nate─he's a no-bullshit kind of man but his soft spot is his daughter's puppy dog eyes. He just so happens to be the last person to see Nate before he disappeared and you can't help but get the feeling he's not being truthful in his statement about it.

think brian tyree henry in eternals (2021) or atlanta (2016-22)

The Question Mark. [???]

"Who?" ??? ???──unknown.

it'll be revealed later!

©️ bonnie berry 2023────@moretinyideas

──the polymances are between eva and ??? (eva???) as well as fauve and ji han (fauhan)!

──this is totally inspired by episode 2.8 of sister boniface "dead air" but other than the idea of a radio show called Radio Catherine there are no other similarities!