#seven scenes and about five lines in the whole story

[quietparanoiac]

Elena Morozova as Nina Shepchikhina in Библиотекарь | The Librarian (2023)

[into-september]

"Destruction" is the worst episode of Miraculous Ladybug

Oh hey guys, remember way back in April or something when I said I was doing this? Well, the one year anniversary of its premiere is a suitable time to post this, particularly since yesterday saw the airing of the last piece of canon to come out in a while, which happened to be set immediately after these events.

With the always obligatory reminder in place that I generally think that “Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir” is in fact a good TV show whose appeal potentially reaches beyond its merchandise-mandated target group, it has an unflattering pattern of introducing the juiciest story threads and then just… do nothing about them.

The topic of today’s sermon isn't in isolation the worst offender. But it is thanks to this that the worst offender happens at all, so I'm not gonna be nice about it.

Scroll past to skip the negativity.

So, “Destruction”, possibly the most eagerly awaited episodes of out S5 if you don’t count all the false advertisement that was “Revelation”. I remember finding this episode uncharacteristically charmless for this show when I first watched it. They've been onto heavy topics before, but those episodes still had that je ne sais quoi that gives this show such heart. But re-watching "Destruction" I found it lacking already from the first scene, and felt it only in glimpses. It's just not fun.

The episode is also poorly paced, no way around it. It is inexplicably a flashback to two episodes ago which is not evident from the start. More than half the runtime technically consists of Marinette and Alya having a sleepover. The battle and its game-changing outcome is over at 12 minutes into the episode, which is barely past the halfway point. After that, we spend five minutes - a quarter of the episode's full runtime - on a flashback re-playing the same battle but now with verbal exposition explaining Marinette's clever plan. Mind that the confrontation between Marinette and Gabriel lasts for all of seven minutes, meaning that the flashback is nearing the length of the battle itself.

To top it of, it's bogged down with lengthy exchange between Gabriel and the kwamis just to make clear that the haters on the twitter were totally wrong when they bitched about Orikko being OP because actually its powers were something else than we established last season. Here's a bonus plot hole which has nothing to do with everything else I'm going to nag about: Orikko allegedly can't give out the powers of time-travel because no kwami can replicate another kwami's powers. Except for Nooroo and Duusu, I guess, who have done so on several occasions. One of the more remarkable being the episode which first heralded the event that "Destruction" set in motion: "Timetagger".

And who can forget that this was the second time in three episodes where Ladybug and Cat Noir had Monarch at their mercy but spent so much time giving triumphant speeches that he gets away.

Or that that in fact was the second time on the same night.

But while those things certainly make the episode poor, they are not what makes it the worst.

What makes this episode the worst isn't its technical failures, but about the way it leaves its feces all over the themes and the character arcs it seemed like the show had been building up until this point. Moreover: in the role it plays in S5 and the Agreste storyline, and how the show's refusal to touch it again creates a black hole in the season at large, and arguably in the show as a whole.

I. THE INESCAPABLE CONTEXT OF WHAT CAME BEFORE IT

The art of telling a story is the art of highlighting what matters and leaving out what doesn’t. In a well-crafted story, no matter the medium, no detail is insignificant. Every word is carefully chosen, every line or hue made with intention. The curtains aren’t blue just because, and Miraculous Ladybug has made too many meta jokes to hide behind the claim that it’s just a silly rom-com for kids. It has trained its older audience into looking for context and connections; after “Mr. Pigeon 72”, you can’t insist that nothing that happened earlier in this show matters for what happens later. Titles matter a lot in a show where episodes are titled after the villain-of-the-week who usually is the thematic mirror to what our heroes are going through.

“Destruction” is the fourth episode somehow named after Adrien, and the third somehow named after Plagg. You bet this matters.

As some might know, "Kuro Neko" is not my favourite episode. That's not to say I don't like it! It's cute! It's playing a really interesting scenario! We get Plagg hanging out at chez Marinette! But to enjoy it, I have to willfully ignore the storytelling incompetence it flagrantly displays. Because the moment you peek beneath the surface of the events happening to consider theme, motifs, and narrative parallels, it's just

"Kuro Neko" is the second episode that is named after Cat Noir. The first one was "Cat Blanc". There is a thematic connection between the two; not a very clear one and probably not an intentional one, but all the same: both episodes are about an alternative to Cat Noir. One is the result of his father's violence; the other is Adrien's own attempt to become more like the person he presents around his father. They also both show us Plagg and Adrien negotiation Adrien's relationship to Ladybug, and how Ladybug and Cat Noir negotiate that same thing.

"Cat Blanc", for all its apocalyptic visions, starts and ends with hope. It starts with Marinette’s hope at confessing to Adrien, to Adrien’s hope in finally knowing Ladybug’s identity and knowing her like he’s yearned for for three seasons. Those hopes lead to disaster, but the episode ends with Ladybug finding Cat Noir on the Montparnasse Tower, where he is singing his lullaby about the kitty being "all alone without his Lady". As is fitting, Marinette breaks the pattern: after having just witnessed a world turned to destruction because the two of them loved each other, she leans her head on his shoulder in perhaps the most romantic gesture she's ever given him.

"Kuro Neko", in contrast, starts with Adrien resigning the job when he realises that Ladybug no longer needs him and that makes him feel bad. It ends with him coming back and verbally accepting that Ladybug doesn't owe him any exclusive treatment; he isn't her unique partner, just one of many. Where the final scene of "Cat Blanc" seemed to confirm that Ladybug is indeed the answer to Adrien's solitude, the final scene of "Kuro Neko" and its continuation in the first scene in "Risk" both make clear that the opposite is now status: Adrien has to accept the painful fact that as much as Ladybug might be the most important person in his life, Cat Noir does not hold a similar space in Ladybug's.

(The end of “Strike Back” of course claims to remedy this, but those words don’t ring very true when to Marinette’s knowledge, nothing of what went wrong today had anything to do with her keeping secrets from Cat Noir. More damning: Marinette never follows up on her purported regret. In all of S5, she never once sits down to share all those secrets with Cat Noir. Status from "Kuro Neko" still stands, and Adrien is fine with that now. This has nothing to do with the many problems “Destruction” creates, but talking about “Kuro Neko” by necessity means talking about how it wasn’t fixed even if they put the words in Marinette’s mouth. And now back to our scheduled programming)

"Cat Blanc" and "Kuro Neko" by their very existence bring up a thorny topic: That Adrien being Cat Noir isn't wholly unproblematic, and that both Adrien as an individual and Ladybug as the Guardian might have legitimate reasons to question that choice. This has always been obvious to the viewer who knows Hawkmoth’s identity, but the show itself eventually starts calling attention to that from an entirely different angle - namely that of his powers.

Lest we forget: The first episode of S4 that aired wasn't the first episode chronologically: It was "Furious Fu", wherein we learn that The Order of the Guardians has it out for Plagg specifically, and where Ladybug's status as The Guardian is almost revoked on the grounds that she's letting him run around unsupervised. This question of Plagg's whereabouts comes up again in the only episode that is named after Adrien sans Plagg: "Ephemeral", a re-play of “Cat Blanc” except not good. This whole subplot is quickly forgotten, though it being the only one of Su-Han's complaints that weren't about him being a boomer, it's also worth remember that "Destruction" technically happens a couple of hours after he made his last appearance. One might expect that his one consistent lesson would be important enough to echo a bit in the episode where it’s proven to be justified.

"Destruction", as not only one very early episode of the season promising to finally bring about some significant and not the least permanent changes to their lives, but indeed an episode happening on the same night as Ladybug's declaration of regret and Cat Noir's renewed declaration to be her partner, would by its title and its topic seem like the obvious place to finally resolve what "Cat Blanc" and "Kuro Neko" both asked us to question: The existential terror of Plagg's powers, why it is that Adrien is uniquely chosen to temper them at Ladybug’s side, and how Adrien feels about being the one to carry that responsibility.

Yeah. Well.

II. ADRIEN'S PRESENCE IN "DESTRUCTION"

Where "Kuro Neko" and "Cat Blanc" place significant focus on Adrien Agreste in his civillian life, in "Destruction" he appears on screen for a total of 25 seconds - most of which are another flashback to a previous episode, and whose purpose is to highlight Gabriel's hurt from the cataclysm, not Adrien's thoughts about what is happening.

Cat Noir's presence is also marginal. Three minutes of screentime pass from his first appearance until the battle is over. Said battle is the turning point in the war between the heroes and Monarch, thanks to neither Ladybug's powers nor Monarch and all the kwamis, but Monarch using Cat Noir's powers for an impulsive act of self-mutilation. Cat Noir is distraught over this, turning desperate when Monarch first start toying with the idea and being near tears after he carries it out.

I'll get back to the impact of this event, but for now I'll point out that the aftermath is brief: After Monarch escapes, our heroes have this exchange:

LB: We had him, we almost had him! The kwamis were safe, they were right here! CN: I cataclysmed him! I can't believe this, I just cataclysmed someone! Granted it was Monarch, but - there was a real person behind that mask, and it must have hurt him terribly! Milady, you gotta fix this! LB: Cat Noir, Monarch just ran away with my lucky charm! Without it, I can't fix anything. I can't call on my powers and undo the effect of the cataclysm. There's nothing I can do...

We then cut to the slumber party, where Marinette tells Alya that she and Cat Noir "split up" immediately after, and Alya comforts her. From this point in the episode, Cat Noir and Adrien only appear in flashbacks. First a fifty-second flashback wherein Marinette sets up her convoluted plans, then a few seconds of him moving his statue in the wax museum before Monarch appears.

In the episode that more than anything should thematise Adrien, Plagg's powers, and his relationship to his father, Adrien is on screen for a whooping four minutes and twenty seconds.

And because I am that devoted to proving my point, I went and timed all of Alya's on-and-off appearances, which clocked in at a total of five minutes and six seconds.

Alya is of course core to the slumber party which frames the setting of the entire episodes. Moreover, it is with Alya that the emotional arc of the episode ends: it starts with Marinette tormenting hersef watching a Ladyblog report about Monarch's recent win, for which Alya chastises her. The last scene (before Gabriel pulverises the miraculous) has Alya reassure Marinette that she will get the kwamis back. When she regrets her lack of superpowers, Marinette in turn reassures her that Alyas true superpower is being her friend. The journey of the episode was for Marinette to stop blaming herself for messing up, and learning to rely on Alya's support in the new turn the war has taken.

...

IN THE EPISODE WHERE ADRIEN KILLS HIS FATHER.

III. SIR NOT-APPEARING-IN-THIS-FILM

In the episode where Gabriel commits suicide on his son's miraculous, here are some things that got more screentime than the son forced into using his only source of liberation to kill his father:

Flashbacks to past events (four minutes and fourty-five seconds)

Alya (five minutes six seconds)

The kwamis (six minutes and nine seconds)

Bet you can't guess which one is the only kwami who doesn't appear in this episode!

...okay, and Duusu, but you get the point. In the episode detonating the nuke that is the gruesome potential of Plagg's powers, and the potential damage Adrien might deal with them, Plagg never appears on screen.

In the episode highlighting the presence of the kwamis and their importance to their holders, the kwami whose presence is the most thematically tied to his holder's character arc is completely absent.

In the episode irreparably going into the only kwami whose powers is straight up murder, the kwami who The Guardians have singled out specifically as particularly dangerous, the kwami whose irresponsible nature has previously caused problems both to Adrien privately and Cat Noir professionally, said kwami is never even mentioned.

It's almost as if we're not supposed to remember that it is because of his presence that this whole tragedy was possible.

IV. THE EXISTENCE-DEFINING HORROR OF A CATACLYSM GONE WRONG

And ain’t that a funny one, when the gruesome potential in Plagg’s powers was the driving factor in Adrien’s first true crisis as a hero?

Marinette faced her moment in "Origins", where she gave up on her miraculous after the first disastrous attempt. She knows that she is the only one who can do something about the situation, but refuses out of her own lacking courage. She only becomes Ladybug of her own choice when she realises that she can save Alya's life. After this, Marinette never again questioned her place. She would grieve the burden on occasion, but she never once thought anyone else could do better.

Adrien, as we all know, was the polar opposite: he jumped right into it without reading the manual, had to have Ladybug pick up the pieces after a rash cataclysm, and never doubted his calling again until he realised what Plagg’s powers could do when used on a living being.

The NYC special has Adrien quit for reasons that had nothing to do with being unsatisfied with Ladybug's HR policies. It is in part because he effed up his duty as Paris' substitute guardian, but it's certainly also because of the recent horror he just witnessed: his hand forced by someone else nearly killed Ladybug, and killed Uncanny Valley instead as she stepped between them. Adrien just saw a mother weeping over her daughter's corpse, and how only the lucky presence of Ladybug's powers could undo the damage caused by his, unintentional thought it might have been. Adrien would of course never kill anyone on purpose, but Uncanny Valley’s temporary malfunction was a brutal display of what would happen if he stumbled the wrong direction with the gun loaded. Ladybug might have the duty to protect Paris, but Cat Noir has the duty to not to disintegrate people on touch.

The show never before discussed the weight of this burden in Adrien’s presence. “Cat Blanc” did it from Marinette’s side, but this never was a consistent story thread, only briefly brought up as her remembering why his knowing her identity is a bad idea. The sabbatical in “Kuro Neko” has nothing to do with Plagg or with Adrien’s sense of duty, and where you’d think this would be where Marinette finally brings up the issue bridging the NYC special and “Cat Blanc”, neither of the two are as much as alluded to. That Adrien has the power of murder has yet to be explicitly discussed in the show proper, but in combination with his personal relationship to Hawkmoth being a ticking irony bomb, the question of can he even bear it is inevitable.

That Adrien’s post as Cat Noir wasn’t as given as Marinette’s as Ladybug is echoed in the amount of times that Adrien has either quit or at least contemplated doing so (“Syren”, NYC special, “Wishmaker”, “Kuro Neko”). He likes being Cat Noir more than Marinette likes being Ladybug, but he lacks her iron certainty in the role. It is notable, then, that THE ONE TIME where Marinette questions her part, it is after Cat Noir has quit. She says this, out loud, in words. When Cat Noir’s powers become too heavy for Adrien to carry, then Ladybug, too, disappears.

So surely "Destruction" must be the point where this is finally comes together - where Adrien's history of quitting meets his ultimate crisis, where his powers abused on a human being of flesh and blood forces him into confronting the potential cost of being this particular hero, which will foreshadow the ultimate choice he’ll have to take: between being Cat Noir and being his father’s son. And where his choice, in turn, will define whether Ladybug can exist.

Or not.

Maybe we'll never again have Adrien think about how he probably murdered a man. Maybe we'll just - oh I don't know.

Have him start trying to cataclysm people?

Repeatedly?

While showing none of the horror at himself which he clearly had in the aftermath of accidentally cataclysming the villain responsible for his later victims’ possession?

And in the end, after never calling attention to Adrien’s new and trigger happy ways, we’ll have him give in to his fear, claim that he isn’t strong enough to responsibly use Plagg’s powers, and send his miraculous away for Ladybug to use alone, because it turns out that “Kuro Neko” was right and the NYC special was wrong: she can be Ladybug without him.

Growth, amirite.

V. IN THIS HOUSE WE DON’T TALK ABOUT PATRICIDE

Dramatic irony was the main engine driving "Miraculous Ladybug" from the start, and it was Adrien who bore the brunt of it. Not only did he spend four and a half seasons in unrequited love with a girl who rejected him for himself; he spent five seasons doing weekly battle against his own father.

The superpower war between father and son isn't just a source of story tension, however: it is inextricably mirrored in their relationship as family, where the father is openly abusive and the son is magically incapable of protesting. The show repeatedly makes A Point about how the freedom Adrien so wants, is one that he only gets through being Cat Noir, and the only way Adrien is capable of fighting his father - albeit ignorant of it - is with Plagg's powers.

Cat Noir defeating Hawkmoth was necessary not just for his story as a superhero, but as his character arc as a normal boy.

And in "Destruction", this is exactly what happens. Thanks to Plagg's powers, the path to Adrien's freedom is finally paved, in the most gruesome and unwanted manner possible. Adrien might not get the big cathartic show-down with his evil father, but technically he was the one to bring him down.

But we don't talk about that. Except for his one (1) line after Monarch escapes with Ladybug's lucky charm, Adrien never again brings up the fact that his being careless with a cataclysm certainly maimed a man, by precedent (Aeon) possibly killed him. Rather than a story arc about Adrien being afraid of his own powers, it’s only now that he starts aiming it at people when he’s under emotional duress. This could of course have been one hell of a story point if it was intentional, but by all accounts, it wasn’t. When Adrien never again reflects on his having probably murdered a man, or reasons that Monarch is probably fine since he’s clearly still around so maybe a cataclysm isn’t so bad, and he never dwells on his nearly murdering two of his friends, there can’t have been any connection intended here. Moreover: when Adrien is scared of his miraculous towards the end, it’s not about its capacity for normal murder when he’s having a bad day, but its capacity of ending the world if he happens to be akumatised.

Gabriel is likewise disinterested in the cause of his impending disintegration. You’d think the man would feel some kind of special resentment towards Cat Noir and his powers, you could think this was where he’d get to re-thinking his relationship to the two people who are sitting on the keys to solving all his problems. Maybe he’d start doubting himself now, bearing the ultimate testament to his magical hubris. But no. The cataclysm wound is there and it’s a problem, but the reason it happened is completely irrelevant to the man who did this to himself and unknowingly, to his son.

That is almost as mind-blowing as the fact that they really had a straight up patricide happen on screen. Sure, death was never the intention of either of the two parties, and Adrien certainly holds no blame for what happened. But Gabriel must have at least known what he was risking, and even if the soft-hearted Adrien would somehow reason away the gravity, Plagg would certainly now. By its very nature, this one cataclysm drags out and distils a plethora of questions about both Adrien’s role as Cat Noir, about Gabriel’s vision of himself and his goals, and about their relationship not as father and son, but as villain and hero. The gruesome narrative irony looming over all this is in that regard just the icing on the cake.

There is certainly an Oedipal layer to the drama of Gabriel and Adrien, though the often more scandalous incestuous angle is considerably downplayed here. Even so: By the denouement of S5, Adrien has successfully killed his father and set up a home with his mother. That really happened, but we’re sure not going to investigate how this influenced the relationship between two nemesis, between father and son, between Adrien and his kwami.

The cataclysm in “Destruction” turned Adrien from anguished shoujo love interest to the hero of a greek tragedy, but the show is dead set on pretending that it didn’t.

VI. SO THEN WHAT WAS THE POINT

In isolation, "Destruction" comes across as weird more than anything. It's named after Adrien's kwami, it spends an inordinate amount of screentime on Adrien's father, it reaches back to Adrien's perhaps most defining moment as Cat Noir as it fundamentally changes the game between our heroes and our villains as one of them is finally dealt a damaging blow - which in turn sets Adrien's life down a path towards tragedy that must be interfered with for him to have a happy ending by the end of the season.

And yet, Adrien is a peripheral presence in it. Marinette and Gabriel dominate the screentime, Alya and the kwamis are consistently present as the thematic chorus at their respective sides throughout, the episode plays its events twice in order to make it clear that Ladybug is too clever for Monarch's miraculous, the emotional arcs that are followed are the follow-up on where Marinette and Alya stand after the disaster in "Strike Back" as well as Gabriel's renewed vigour. Adrien's only contribution to the episode is to follow Ladybug's instructions and to make clear that his relationship with his father is still awkward. The episode depicts probably THE most important event of the show, but this event is treated almost as an afterthought, and the horrors of it are confined to one (1) line of dialogue from Cat Noir.

The only thing in “Destruction” that is brought up in later episodes is that Gabriel is now actively dying. If they wanted for Gabriel to live on a countdown for his date with the grim reaper, there were countless other ways about it: Have it be his use of too many miraculous which backfires, have him having used the peacock before it was fixed, have it be too much evil on the hands of Nooroo, have him get a serious call from his doctor, have him screw up Tomoe's machinery, have him develop a drug problem. This is a fictional narrative; its twists and turns are absolutely in the hands of the writers, teenage girls being irredeemable or not. It was never vital that this happened by cataclysm specifically.

So what was the point, then? Did we truly turn our magical girl show into a Greek tragedy for the shocked pikachu faces only?

The one thing I somehow haven't seen people bring up, is that "Destruction" makes it impossible for Adrien to learn Monarch's identity. According to the writers themselves, the reason lies in two of the other episodes named after him: "Cat Blanc" and "Ephemeral", wherein he learns his father's identity and is promptly akumatised. This is of course bullshit: both these cases relied not on Adrien learning his father's identity, but on Gabriel specifically scheming to traumatise Adrien with both the Hawkmoth reveal AND the fact that he's been living in the same house as his mother's dead body for the last year or two (timeline here is spectacularly contradictory). There was anothing inevitable about this. You're the writers. You could've set up a scenario where Adrien didn't learn about his father's crimes as an act of psychological warfare, and where he'd have the time to absorb it, to grieve and to find support by the time he'd confront him with it. Having every person close to Adrien keep life-defining secrets from him “for his own good” is, by god, not a good look on anyone involved here. Still it’s understanable, at least for those who aren't either adults or gods of destruction.

"Destruction", however, serves as an explanation for the gaping plot hole in the epilogue: Marinette tells Alya, she tells Su-Han. The one she doesn't tell, though?

The partner who was at her side before Alya or Su-Han ever appeared, and stood by her in far worse storms. Because telling Cat Noir the truth would mean telling Cat Noir that he dealt Gabriel Agreste the killing blow, and ain't that a nifty way to ensure that Marinette won't. Because if Adrien does learn Monarch's identity and the truth about his fall in future seasons, Emilie better hide those garment pins.

The truly damning part of "Destruction" isn't so much what the episode itself does. It's what it doesn't do. It's the storylines it cuts short and leaves behind, and it is the storyline it by its very existence introduces, but which the show refuses to touch.

Per title and content both, "Destruction" should be the culmination of thematic storylines from "Cat Blanc", the NYC special and "Kuro Neko". It’s not; it’s not even about Adrien, and Plagg isn’t even present in it. Moreover: its lacking presence on future episodes make it painfully evident that ambitions, there were none. Those storylines were either aborted like Adrien picking up Felix's spyglass in the S4 finale, or the show never did mean for there to be such a thing as "layers" to this story about a boy who becomes a hero to unknowingly break free from his superhero father.

The real reason why "Destruction" is the worst episode of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir is that it obliterates the most cohesive character arc this show had going for it, and that this was done on purpose.

[ltwharfy]

Long Post of Random Thoughts on Finishing "Gravity Falls"

Are you interested in reading a really long post where a middle-aged guy talks about a children’s cartoon that ended seven years ago? If so, you are in luck! I just finished watching “Gravity Falls” y’all! And here are a bunch of totally random thoughts about it:

-“I’ll have you know Duck-tective has a big mystery element! And a lot of humor that goes over kids’ heads!”- it was nice that the kids show that I became obsessed with over the past two months or so acknowledged the reasons adults might get obsessed with it. Also, Duck-tective has to be one of my favorite show-within-a-show premises. I’d definitely check it out!

-While I do love the humor of the show so much, it is really the mystery element- the ongoing story arc- that took me by surprise and eventually led to me bingeing the last eight episodes or so in one day. I just don’t remember animated kids comedies- or really, many kids shows of any type-when I was growing up that had ongoing story arcs like that. Kids shows where the episodes could be watched in any order and everything was always “back to normal” at the beginning of the next episode was the norm.

-I’ve been a fan of Kristen Schaal since she was on The Daily Show and eventually end up watching everything she’s in. So, the main thing I knew about Gravity Falls going into it was “Kristen Schaal does the voice of that girl”. As Louise Belcher is one of my favorite TV characters, I was worried- would I be able to forget about Louise while hearing Mabel? Yes, quite easily. Their personalities are so different! It was basically never an issue. I actually tried to listen for Mabel lines that sounded like Louise might say them and really only ended up with two that stuck out to me (“I high-five hard.” and “I AM THE GOD OF DESTRUCTION!”)

-Oh, but Louise would also want a grappling hook. And, honestly, she’d get as much or more use of it than Mabel did. Like I can think of a few episodes (and the movie…) where it could’ve been helpful. But I digress.

-One final Bob’s Burgers related point, there were a few things in season two that I just couldn’t help but wonder if they were references to Bob’s Burgers. First, the Jersey Shore hometown of Stan and Ford definitely made me think of Seymour’s Bay. And the Pines briefly have a burger phone in “The Stan-Churian Candidate”! On the other hand, both Jersey Shore towns and burger phones are real things that existed well before Bob’s Burgers and not every appearance of them is a reference to it. (But when you’ve also got Kristen Schaal involved…)

-And speaking of cast members who I remembered from other things, both Dipper and Wendy were voiced by actors from short-lived early 00s shows that I loved: Joan of Arcadia’s Jason Ritter and Freaks and Geeks’s Linda Cardellini. The fact that I will associate them with those shows is another indication that I am not in the target demographic of Gravity Falls! But, honestly, if I had known Linda Cardellini was also in this show, I might have checked it out sooner.

-And speaking of Dipper and Wendy, I really loved how they handled Dipper’s crush on her in season two. Their scene together at the end of “Into the Bunker” is so sweet, it just made me feel so much affection for both the characters and the folks who make the show. It would’ve been so easy to never really make any effort to resolve that plotline and instead just always have Dipper pathetically crushing on her for the whole show. Or make it a nerdy boy wish-fulfillment thing and have her actually return his feelings (which just wouldn’t’ve been realistic given their ages). Instead, I feel like they addressed it in a realistic and sensitive way, which was nice.

-Another thing I really appreciated was how they developed some of the supporting characters in season 2, particularly Old Man McGucket and Pacifica Northwest. I enjoyed those characters in season one, but pretty much assumed they would always stay in their stock character roles- crazy old man and mean rich girl, respectively. Instead, McGucket gets what I found to be some of the most moving scenes in the show- when he gets his memories back and when he reunites with Ford.

-And Pacifica! She’s honestly the character I find myself wondering the most about what happens to them after the show. She’s realized her family has been pretty horrible for generations. She stood up to her parents. Her family lost some of their money and had to sell their mansion (her dad pledging allegiance to Bill and investing in weirdness bonds is probably one of my favorite details from the finale). She’s becoming a teenager. And she lives in Gravity Falls full time. I just think her post-series finale life is gonna be pretty fascinating!

-And maybe that life will involve her getting romantically involved with Dipper? Yeah, I started shipping that after “Northwest Mansion Mystery”, and even though the show really didn’t give them any scenes together (which is understandable, there was a lot of other stuff going on) I still like it. I checked to see if there was fic about it on AO3 and immediately got freaked out because there is so dang much of it! Seriously, the number of Dipper/Pacifica fics on there is literally ten times the number of fics for my favorite Bob’s Burgers ship! What am I supposed to do with that?!

-So if the statement, “I’m looking for the ‘Be My Thrill’/’heaven help the fool who falls in love’ of Dipper/Pacifica fics” means something to you, and you have a recommendation, let me know.

-One supporting character I wish had been introduced earlier: Tad Strange, the most normal person in town. The name, the character design, the voice, all just amused me. It would’ve been fun if there was more of him.

-Speaking of supporting character designs that I loved: Toby Determined and his hat, with the press card that says “hat” instead of “press”. That literally always made me smile. I love it so much. It is one of my favorite cartoon character design details ever.

-Possibly the most random of observations: I can now think of four fictional characters named Mabel off the top of my head, but don’t think I’ve ever met anyone with that name in real life.

-I don’t have any kids of my own, but I do have a nephew, and now I am pretty excited about the possibility that I could be a Grunkle a few decades down the road. Hopefully, I’ll have my own Mystery Shack by then.

-Even though I know how the storyline ends now, I feel like this show has a high level of rewatchability for some point in the future. I’m sure there will be tons of details that I didn’t notice the first time around, and there are definitely more layers of it to peel back (I never paid attention to the codes/puzzles in the credits. Although, had I been watching this show when I was 10 I probably would’ve obsessed about them.)

-I can probably think of more things to say about this show and probably will, but this seems like enough for now. Thanks to Alex Hirsch and everyone involved in making the show for creating such wonderfully weird, hilarious, entertaining world! And thanks to you, person who actually read to the end of this post!

[unknought]

about the most recent Almost Nowhere chapter (chapter 40) and unreliable narrators

I think an important context for everything we see from Hector's perspective is this bit from chapter 34:

Hector knows.  Hector remembers all the shit we did.  He remembers the details.  He’d fucking better remember the details.

But Hector and our authors are not exactly on speaking terms right now, so that approach is a no-go.

So basically I’m just gonna give you the five-minute Cliff’s Notes version.  That’s all I know, because I’m not really me.  I’m just our authors doing some fucked-up role-play thing.  The real Annabel Lee is fucking dead, okay?

When we get scenes from the perspective of e.g. Cordelia, those are based on Cordelia's memories of her own experiences. When we get scenes from the perspective of Hector Stein, those are at best educated guesses, and at worst propaganda from his enemies. I'm thinking here of Umberto Eco's line from Ur-Fascism,

Thus, by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak. Fascist governments are condemned to lose wars because they are constitutionally incapable of objectively evaluating the force of the enemy.

and the way Hector always comes across as simultaneously pathetic and implausibly badass. (Not that Sylvie & co. are particularly fascist in most other respects.)

There's a sort of narrative fakeout in chapter 40: We're given a lot of reason to expect that we're about to learn what Hector is up to, both because much of the chapter is written from his perspective and because Sylvie undertakes a concerted effort to find out what he's doing. We don't, ultimately, learn very much about Hector's capabilities, what he's been doing, or what his plans are. And the reason we don't learn much is that Hector doesn't want us to. More literally, of course, he doesn't want Sylvie to find out, but it's made very salient in this chapter that our perspective is limited to that of the authors', and whatever they don't end up finding out, we don't get to know.

Almost Nowhere has a lot of focus on the idea of being-put-into-words as an act of violence. Most notably of course is the damage that Azad's translation does to the anomalings, and their attempts to mitigate and contain that damage incite almost everything else in the story. But of all the characters, it's Hector, not the anomalings, who is most successful at keeping himself from being a contained and comprehensible element of the story we are reading. For all the discussion of alien experiences as being incomprehensible and "not for us", it seems like a lot of the biggest questions that we as readers don't get to know the answers to are, ultimately, going to be variations on "what is Hector Stein's whole deal?"

But what about Twenty-Seven? She is also not one of the authors; does that mean that the many sections from her perspective are also fabricated? I don't think so. Cordelia is one of the authors, and Cordelia arbitrates with Twenty-Seven. Through her we can get a clear picture of parts of the story that otherwise might have been as murky and speculative as the parts from Hector or Annabel.

It’s a good thing Marika doesn’t know that I arbitrate with my girlfriend, she thinks.

Talk about a security hole, she thinks.

One last point, considerably more out on a limb than the rest of this (which was already pretty speculative): Grant is not an unintelligent guy, but almost every time we see him he's bumbling around and disoriented and the butt of the narrative joke. The recent instances of that are partly explained by Moon fucking with his head, but it goes a lot further than that. What if he's written that way because Azad wrote those sections of the narrative, and Grant just saw them and went "yeah, sure"?

[aestheticsfandomsandmore]

bad buddy fandom getting-to-know-you meme!

Thanks to @fiercynn for creating this tag and for tagging me! Lots of love for you, honey ♥

Name and whatever you want to share about yourself

Hey! My name is Alessandra (I'm Italian); you can call me Ale, Alex, Alexa, or just Giandra (my nickname); my pronouns are she/her. I'm 22 years old, I'm bisexual (no matter what your gender is, I'm gay for you) and aromantic.

Creative writing is my biggest passion. I also love reading and watching all sorts of stuff. Storytelling and character writing will always be my favorite thing to study.

I really care about social topics such as feminism, the LGBTQIA+ community, racism and poc communities cultures and issues, ableism and disabilities (right now, I'm specifically discovering the world of neurodivergences, as I suspect I may be ADHD), classism and all things related to these matters.

No judgment over fictional tastes will ever come from this account; however, you will be judged, and blocked, the moment I see you discriminate someone else, may it be over fandoms issues or real life issues.

When did you watch bad buddy/join the fandom?

July 28-30th, 2022. I watched the first five episodes in one go (in one night!) and then watched the next seven in the next few days (I had to study in between, or I would have binged it in less than 48 hours).

I joined the fandom pretty much immediately? The moment I watch or read something, the first thing I do is going on Tumblr to search for content and other people's reactions. So I entered the Bad Buddy fandom as soon as (actually, even before) I finished watching the show.

Favorite ship(s)

PatPran. Pat and Pran are my 2nd favorite otp between ALL the otps I've ever had (and I've been a professional shipper since I was, like, ten years old).

I love InkPa too, though. They're so soft and amazing and I love them as individual characters. If PatPran weren't in the show, or if they had been written and/or played differently, InkPa would have stolen all my attention, to be honest.

Favorite character(s)

Pran. I don't have enough energy to elaborate right now; it couldn't be anyone else but him.

Favorite episode(s)

Episode 5 and episode 11, but to be honest I love pretty much all the episodes immensely. I guess my other faves are episode 8 and episode 4.

Favorite scene(s)

My favorite scene in the entire show is the rooftop kiss in episode 5, but my favorite PatPran moment is the balcony scene in episode 8.

One thing you would change about the show if you could

Oh, well. I would definetely have the whole Wai-curtain drop thing be handled differently. I love Wai! And I think that what he did was totally IC (and Bad Buddy being set in a universe without homophobia doesn't make it as bad as it could have been otherwise), but I think the narrative needed to be more clear about who was at fault there (definitely not Pran).

I wanted Ink and Pa to kiss. They deserved it.

I wanted tongue (or at least... Idk... open mouths?) in PatPran's beach kiss. (I wanted the scene where Pran bit Pat's lip that was filmed but that they chose not to have in the actual show; what a shame.)

I wish they didn't add the cringey, unrealistic crime subplot in ep9; like, I'm even okay with Pat getting shot, but everything that followed should have been handled differently.

What are some of your favorite fanworks made by other people?

Oh, God. This is hard.

FAN FICTIONS

Just to be fair, I'm going to link my AO3 bookmarks page, because all the stories I bookmarked are amazing and they deserve to be here. I'll try listing a proper top 5, but I'll be definitely forgetting a lot of amazing fan fictions, not to mention I'm currently trying to read all Bad Buddy's fics starting from the very bottom of the AO3 section, so my bookmark page will be updated constantly.

The Fine Line Between Hormones and Home

traffic was slow for the crash years

Dynamic

Hands on My Body

I'll fight their doubt and give you faith

(+bonus) Don't worry

VIDEO EDITS on YT

My all time favorite one was tragically deleted a couple of months ago; my top3 is currently this one:

Message in a bottle

Heat Waves

Gives you Hell

(+bonus) A Thousand Years (currently not up on YT, but will be again soon, and then I will link it)

Needless to say that there are so many more I'm in awe with, but then the list wouldn't end, so I just had to choose some favorites.

VIDEO EDITS on IG

Don't blame me

The 7 things I hate about you (version 1 and version 2)

Loverboy

Just keep breathing

Atlantis

(+bonus: this is really just a love letter to the show and it hit close to my heart)

There are a couple others about them as individual characters and of InkPa that I really loved too, but to avoid listing too many I'll just link my saved posts on IG.

FANARTS

There are countless amazing fanarts of Pat and Pran, but my favorite BB artist is probably @hereforlou, because her style is just too cute to be true and her portrayal of the characters is always so IC.

(If you create fanworks) What are your favorite fanworks that you’ve made?

I made five video edits focused on Bad Buddy, but I don't really like any of them, except maybe this one, which is some sort of tribute I made to the show as a whole.

I made tons of mep parts focused on Bad Buddy/which included Bad Buddy; I made more than 100 parts since I've started video editing about two years ago, and at least 60 of these have something related to BB in them; the point is that I only really like few of them. One day I will upload a collection with just my favorite parts and I'll get back here to link it.

I wrote five PatPran fan fictions in English (although I only actually like three of them) and five PatPran fan fictions in Italian. My favorite in English is I wish I were her; I'm kinda proud of this one, to be honest!

A song that makes you think of bbs (the ones in the show don’t count lol)

I PatPrannize every song I listen to... literally so many songs have me screaming 'Oh my God, this song was written for them!'.

Some classic forbidden love songs like Rewrite the stars or Secret love song, one that's super sweet and I think captures PatPran's spirit a lot is also Enchanted, then you have Angel, baby which also fits them a lot, Exile is also very PatPran coded, a lot of angsty songs are made for them, in all honesty.

Idk anything else you want us to know?

Yes: I've been obsessed about Bad Buddy since the day I watched it for the first time and have never been able to recover since then. Also: I loved the OS2 special episodes.

[outrunningthedark]

Curious when you think Christopher will be back in relation to Eddie’s story. I’m harkening back to episode 1 and the whole Shannon of it all combined with Marisol having been a nun, envisioned as the Virgin Mary. And then Ryan mentioning in interviews that we don’t know how Christopher feels about Marisol. Somehow this all feels intertwined.

I'm going with episode seven, tbh. It lines up with where the media keeps saying the cast and crew is at (working on scripts/scenes 8 through 10) and Edy photographed herself on set...less than a week ago (I wanna say four or five days). Ngl, I'm curious to see how that relationship moves forward from this point, because even though Ryan has brought up possible issues with Christopher in the future, and just said the whole point of TV is for something that seems good to be ruined (for the drama), he also said that he thinks deciding not to move in together is actually a good thing for the relationship??? Because Marisol is seeing how much of a "mess" Eddie is and relating to it??? And that Chris should be happy because Eddie isn't TRYING to turn Marisol into an insta-mom the way he did with Ana??? (Another example of an answer that the fandom pretends doesn't exist, lol) I wasn't sure about her being gone in episode seven regardless, but I hope we're not setting ourselves up for complications that get "resolved" because that's where Eddie's story is supposed to be for the time being. (Maybe Eddie thinks Chris is going to happy with the current circumstances and it turns out he's not? I previously said Ryan was a master at the PR game and I stand by that still because he's basically telling the fandom it could go either way.)

[aziraphales-library]

Hi there! Do you have any fics were it's the continuum of Crowley and Azirphale's bench scene at night in tadfield after they stop Armageddon. But instead Aziraphale decides to "stay at Crowley' s place" instead

Hello! We have some fics on our #the night at crowley’s flat and #bodyswap tags. Here are some more for you...

Close Calls by EdosianOrchids901 (T)

On their way to Crowley’s flat, Aziraphale is haunted by fear of losing his demon. When he finds out that Crowley used the holy water, the terror overwhelms him. Can he and Crowley talk about their feelings?

Meet me in the middle by nightbloomingcereus (T)

In which Crowley invites Aziraphale to stay at his place, if he likes. It's no trouble at all. He's got two beds in his bedroom and everything.

Recounting the Deeds of the Day by charlottemadison (T)

The bus ride back to London was utterly silent. But only for the first seven minutes. Crowley and Aziraphale have a lot to catch up on by the time they get to Mayfair.

"Do you think I'm unaccustomed to you being **wrong,** angel?" grinned Crowley broadly. "I mean you have this whole dance you do, I know the steps by heart."

Aziraphale frowned, jerked abruptly out of his wallow. "Pardon."

"First you act horrified," Crowley explained as if it were the water cycle, "then there's the bit where you justify and explain things sanctimoniously. After that you disavow me and pretend we don't know each other. Then evidence mounts 'til you snap, and finally you turn up again and act like you agreed with me all along. Wossat, five parts? The five stages of Aziraphale Coming Round."

Aziraphale blanched, feeling a little too Seen. It had been shaping up to be such a nice apology too.

Part 1 of The Longest Night series

You Can Stay at My Place if You Like… by Fire_Traveller (G)

After the Apoca-Nope, Crowley invites Aziraphale to stay with him, since (as they both believe) Aziraphale's bookshop is gone. In the following night, they will need to figure out how to deal with the repercussions of their actions - and how to avoid being obliterated by their former employers...

rivers and deserts (i cry then i'm better) by sevdrag (T)

Aziraphale says, “Look, darling, we’re an angel and a demon. We have a delightful spread of occult and ethereal powers at our disposal. Surely we’ll be able to think of something?”

This is meant to be uplifting. This is meant to get Crowley thinking, to set his lovely imagination in line with the centuries of knowledge Aziraphale can recall, to focus Crowley at the time Aziraphale needs him the most.They can both be mortar and pestle; both be fulcrum and lever, as it suits them. There really isn’t that much difference between the two of them, anymore.

Instead Crowley recoils, and hisses, “Why must you alwaysss say that?”

[you can stay at my place, if you like] [part 1 of 3] [a triptych of that night]

Part 1 of if i were with you (i could say amen) series

all our seams and scars by ilarual (M)

The apocalypse has been averted. The Earth has been granted a reprieve, but Heaven and Hell are looking for someone to blame, and Aziraphale and Crowley aren't out of the woods yet. A story about love, devotion, and quitting your shitty job.

- Mod D

[shoezuki]

re: your post abt the paragraphs.

also like...the "ideal paragraph length" rule is more specifically for academic writing like thesis and articles etc etc, so it's a bit crazy to me that people are taking this sort of rule for...(fan)fiction?

because in writing fiction has no rules. Its a type of art. and art has no rules. Also paragraph length in VERY important when it comes to pacing too?? varying length with in the right moments can help with the delivery...

tbh im p damn sure the whole 'paragraphs are five/seven sentences' thing in highschool was jus to make sure people actually Wrote Enough. cuz like no one is gonna count how many sentences u got in an essay. like it matters More that your paragraphs at least have their own rough beginning/middle/end format and thats definitely not possible in like 2 sentences.

but even so like... the point of 'rules' with writing when it comes to fiction is moreso to learn what's 'conventional' than to learn what is an Absolute Requirement. like ya in fiction courses in uni that i been taking we also learn about the typical structure of a story, the whole 'hero's journey' and how to do dialogue and shit. but all of that is relative in itself, from genre to type of literature. and even THEN. some the most famous pieces of fiction in history were nonconventional and constantly broke the 'rules' like. Jack Kerouac wrote all of On the Road on one longass piece of paper. I have a book in my room called Blood Red Road that all of the words are spelt wrong in it. I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream has a lot of 'incomplete' sentences. Gregory Corso's poem Bomb is written to look like a mushroom cloud. House of Leaves is fucking WILD. and even shakespeare like???? that dude was straight up making up words and now they exist in our vocabulary like its no big deal.

its jus wild to me and so funny tbh. like sure certain rules or methods of writing can be more poignant in certain situations but it entirely has to do w what youre tryna do. big paragraphs can be good for vivid descriptions of a scene. short, punchy lines can be good for action or arguments or shocking scenes. but nothing is absolute and its much more fun to jus. fuck around

[teenageread]

Review: All Quiet on the Western Front

Synopsis:

This is the testament of Paul Bäumer, who enlists with his classmates in the German army of World War I. These young men become enthusiastic soldiers, but their world of duty, culture, and progress breaks into pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches.

Through years of vivid horror, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the hatred that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against one another – if only he can come out of the war alive.

Plot:

The war was everything. After an inspiring patriotic speech by Kantorek, their teacher, Paul and his classmates joined the German army to help fight in the war that would later be named World War One. Like most eighteen-year-old, they thought it was their duty to join the war, yet now at nineteen years old, Paul and his classmates are not so sure. Fighting at the French front, they experience small rations of food, daily bombing, and watching their fellow comrades die. Twenty were in their class that enlisted, and from that twenty, seven are dead, four wounded, one in the madhouse, but three became lieutenant. All because of Kantorek’s love for their nation. With mottos like this running through their ranks: “We Germans fear God and none else in the whole world” (85), Paul and his friend are faced with their decisions that war is not the answer. Paul spends his time on the front, to his week off where he goes home to his family, a training camp watching over the Russian prisoners of war, to the hospital, and back to the front. His journey deals with realizing what this war is and means to him, his friends that die along the way, and wonders if it was even worth it.

 Thoughts:

This story is marked the greatest war novel of all time, and there is no wonder to why that is. Going from the point of view of a soldier on the front lines during world war one, Erich Maria Remarque, puts his own war experiences in writing. As a soldier himself, Remarque fought for the German side and was wounded five times during his time on the front. What makes this story unique and powerful, for people on the west, is that this book took place from a German point of view, thus, the enemy of the Allies. This book, when it was first published in 1929, both in English and German, made the western world population realize that the Germans were not the enemies, and that the felt similar loses to that of their soldiers. Remarque really put a lot of emotion into this story of Paul, a child in some way, who had to learn about the horror of war first hand. For a read, this book is not always the best. Dry at some parts, Remarque does a great job in explaining the scene, but there are a lot of characters given by name, who never come up after that particular scene. Ramarque does an amazing job at one liner quotes to really drive home his opinions on the war, like this one: “The war has ruined us for everything” (87). Overall, a must for those into war novels and history, but highly recommend for everyone to really understand the horrors of a war, and why we should avoid them at all costs.

Read more reviews: Goodreads

Buy the book: Amazon

[nihilnovisubsole]

so, about that lovestruck thing.

if you follow the dating sim world at all, you already know that voltage usa, maker of lovestruck, is closing up shop. in december, they announced that they would stop production on the app. tomorrow is the last day before the servers go offline. to be honest, before this week, i hadn’t paid much attention to it. i had so many plates to spin, it’d gone to the back of my mind. then @arthoure​ mentioned feeling melancholy about it on twitter, and i realized that it was kind of bittersweet for me, too. i wrote 25 seasons of voltage content. if i can trust my math, that’s somewhere between 750 and 800,000 words. linkedin says it was three years and ten months of my life. still, i had mixed feelings about the work i’d done for them. i shrugged it off.

lovestruck fans didn’t do that. within hours of learning that the app’s days were numbered, they set out to archive everything. i haven’t checked the numbers, but i’ve heard that with their combined effort, they managed to record almost every route. that’s astonishing. see, preservation casts a long shadow over the video game world. few studios care about it, and even fewer know what to do. a lot of old games are just gone. others don’t run on modern hardware. that’s especially true of mobile games, which often have to fight for respect. amid all that, lovestruck’s readers went, “we love these stories so much, we’re going to stare obsolescence down and find a way to save them.” when you’ve written for a project that people say that about, you have to be pretty jaded to not feel touched by it.

as a first industry gig, voltage had two things going for it. it taught me discipline, and it gave me a community. i learned how to power through writing when i didn’t feel like it. i got to work in genres that i might not have otherwise. i got to know the people who would become the VOW writers, who are some of the most talented friends and colleagues i’ve ever had. i never would’ve written “anniversary” without them. i never would’ve tried to stick up for myself as a worker, either. and for all the nights i worried about where my life was going, voltage ended up being exactly what i hoped it’d be: a foot in the door. you can draw a direct line between @sailorscooby​ giving me a chance to take reiner’s route and obsidian giving me a chance five years later. seriously, i met my current boss when they read a statement i’d given to the gaming press about the strike. networking, huh?

i would be lying if i said all of it was positive. you know me, i try to frame things in a flattering light, but it was hard work, and the writers organized for a reason. during the strike, it became public that voltage usa’s writers were paid less than half of a professional per-word rate. the deadline turnarounds meant i had to work seven days a week, even on vacation and from my mother’s hospital room. on top of that, the amount of agency that writers had over their routes could vary wildly depending on the project’s vision. i wrote some scenes that i got to pour my whole heart into. i also had to write some scenes that i try not to think about. i needed the job. it happens all the time in the working world, and at the risk of sounding mealy-mouthed, it wasn’t one person’s fault. all of the producers i worked with were sweet, generous people. from things i observed, i could tell their jobs weren’t that hot, either. that’s just how it goes when a company doesn’t leave room for departments to collaborate and play to each other’s strengths.

despite it all, we managed - slouching and largely burned out - to put together stories that the fanbase looked forward to. many of lovestruck’s most enduring, resonant moments happened because one of the writers wedged in a shard of themselves. some routes carried the weight of moral complexity, trauma, grief. others brought fresh, challenging new attitudes to genre tropes. in general, the producers tried to offer writers routes based on their personal interests, and that enthusiasm was contagious. i’ve seen the fanart. i’ve read the emotional posts and in-app reviews. i haven’t read the fanfic - our NDAs didn’t let us - but i bet it’s great. i’ve also heard that some fans made meaningful discoveries about their gender or sexuality from reading certain routes. as the village het, i couldn’t tell you anything about that, but i know it mattered a lot to the people who wrote those characters.

i think i was always a funny choice to write for lovestruck. if you’ve read my other work, you’ll know i prefer love stories that don’t feel like romance. between the breakneck schedule and not being their target audience, i don’t know that i sold the routes’ intended breathlessness. i have to admit, i’m not too broken-up about that. i had my fun tweaking expectations and digging into the action plots. in reiner’s route, that bore out in the politics and strategy, and the heroine growing into her enormous responsibility. even in leon’s route, i appreciated the detail work of planning the heists and delving into different types of organized crime. and diego’s route - well, it’s not a competition, but mystery? old guilt? an MC coming into her bossy side? it was an almost-perfect match.

and the wedding outfits, of course. at voltage, writers weren’t allowed to communicate with the art team, so we were the last to find out what characters’ designs would look like. when diego proposed, i threw a pile of photos in my producer’s lap, and thankfully, i think they were too busy to put up a fight. you can imagine my joy when they showed me the roughs of the sprite art. it had all the elements of transformation i wanted from his route. it was also a preview for some of the interdisciplinary teamwork that i’d be encouraged to do at bigger studios. i would’ve loved to get more art design ownership of certain characters. i had some ideas, let’s put it that way! at least i got that one.

but now i’m just telling war stories. thank you for reading my routes, and the routes that my dear friends wrote. i hope you got something from them. in fact, if lovestruck’s narrative decisions ever frustrated you, and that pushed you in a creative direction, that’s the biggest win of all. if you’re sad about the app going down, don’t worry. people have archived it, and you’ll find something else to love. besides, the VOW writers are working on new writing all the time. we’re not going anywhere. we’re just doing it our own way now.

[scott-mccall-the-hot-girl]

my ultimate guide to thiam fic !!

( as a new teen wolf stan )

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the classic post war, long ass (multi chapter) fic !!with great development that genuinely made me laugh out loud, they have the best friendship in this & i love it very much. ( like theo teaches liam to drive and i just *happy sobs* ) a fundamental in thiam fanfiction !! all stans have probably already read it but if you haven’t this is in fact a threat ,, go show this vv iconic story some love !!

Airplanes - Captainmintyfresh

Summary: After the Anuk-ite and the hunters are dealt with Liam needs a break. Cue Theo and a road trip that Liam should know better than to think will be peaceful.

Not Rated, No Archive Warnings Apply, Completed, 43/43 Chapters, Words: 236,875 (236k)

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okay okay so this one is also post 6B !! but ,, now we introduce fighting monroe & the hunters again ,, so we get the boys & a new mission !! so if you like an intresting plot 11/10 would recommend !! just to be clear this ISN’T complete ,, if that turns you off i understand but definitely give this one a read !! it litterally have theo doing crossword puzzles & fighting zombies

Vacancy Signs - LovelyLittleGrim

Summary: Theo and Liam are in Manhattan negotiating a pack allyship when the zombie apocalypse breaks out. Now, the two of them have to find their way back to Beacon Hills without getting eaten by zombies or killing one another.

Rated: Explicit, Graphic Description of Violence, Not Completed, 15/17 Chapters, Words: 89,605 (89k)

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Royalty AU !! I REPEAT ROYALTY AU !! a fantastic au where i stan their moms more than i stan them !! genuinely so good at the childhood rivals to lovers trope !! i’m genuinely obsessed with this one. has made me cry more than once ,, hurts in a good way <3 the ending is just *chefs kiss* also one of the tags is genuinely: # theo and liam make bad choices for over 130k straight !! if that doesn’t sound appealing i don’t know what does !!

Artificial Love - songbvrd

Summary: Prince Theo and Prince Liam are forced to spend every Summer together from age five onwards. They hate each other, and usually find ways to make each other miserable as much as possible in their six weeks together. But when they're reunited because of intended unions as adults, things change. They're both supposed to be married to noble women, but neither of them is as interested in anyone else as they are with their childhood rival.

Rated: Mature, No Archive Warnings Apply, Completed, Chapters: 32/32, Words: 172,935 (172k)

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so if you are in the mood for a crack fic that’s not explicitally a crack fic this is for you !! okay so i’m really hit or miss with AU’s ,, sometimes i feel like they don’t quite capture the characters right but this story have the BEST dramatic liam i have ever seen in my life !! basically they all live in the same apartment building & it’s fantastic !! i saw this one floating around a lot but the summary didn’t really unrest me until i have it a shot !! so go read it rn !! also nolan & brett are genuinely fantastic and make me wheeze ,, LIKE ACTUALLY VERBALLY LAUGHING !! all i’m gonna say is that my fav characters are scott & the beetles but that won’t make actual sense until you read it !!

The Neighbors Song - TheodoreR

Summary: “I always hear you singing on your balcony every morning, but suddenly you’ve stopped?”

Or the one where Theo annoys Liam every morning with his awful singing until he doesn’t anymore and Liam is even more annoyed. Liam hates every single thing about his mornings -the fact that they happen in the morning alone is enough. The thing Liam hates the most about his mornings though is the terrible voice of the guy who lives below him. He can’t sing for shit and Liam tried to politely let him understand that by throwing flour and water on his balcony, and also by shouting it to him, you can’t sing for shit!, and then by writing it into a note he proceeded to attach to his door, but this Raeken guy just keeps doing it, every single morning, like a fucking rooster. Liam did nothing to deserve this. He probably didn’t do anything to deserve better either to be fair, he doesn’t expect to open his window and be welcomed by some angelic voice singing him good morning, he’d just be happy with nothing. Silence. That’s something Liam can appreciate in mornings. Just some bark from his dog and the sound of his misery and that’s it. But no, god forbid the new guy lets him have that.

Rated: Explicit, Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Wanrings, Completed, 8/8 Chapters, Words: 42,814 (42k)

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me: i’m not a big fan of AU’s ,, proceeds to talk about ANOTHER au… OKAY BUT THIS ONE !! it’s not complete but the author has been updating regularly ,, vv slow burn !! but in a REALLY intresting way !! i lOVE LIAM IN THIS SO MUCH ,, he is such a diaster of a person and it’s wonderful !! they have a great dynamic & i’m sucker for general puppy pack content ( and erica reyes being a badass ) !! also theo plays lacrosse in this & i really like it ahhhhh ,, also liam is just being an artic monkeys stan the whole time & theo is like *que confused repressed gay noises*

Inglorious Roommates - honeyscape

Summary: A roommate is defined as “a person with whom one shares a room.”

Theo would say a roommate was more along the lines of, “The person who's the bane of his existence. The weirdo that sleeps for days. The spaz that exercises at 3am. The guy with a revolving door of annoying friends. An insufferable human being that Theo has no control over living in his room.”

Example: Theo hates his roommate Liam.

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okay okay i hate myself but i have another WIP for y’all !! this one is jUST FANTASTIC. i’m genuinely so upset it’s most likely not going to updated again *incoherent screaming ensues*. for this story ,, it’s very theo-centric bUT thats bc it ends right before liam becomes a concrete member of the story !! ANYWAY: basic plot = theo & acquiring not one but two children ,, so #dad theo but he is still crusty & homeless and i love him very much. it’s just so GOOD !! just read if you want to experience my fav theo coming out story & him etching high school musical

Look who's talking - Captainmintyfresh

Summary: Theo had been labeled many things in his life. Evil, failure, monster. He'd never thought Father would be one of those things but as he looked across the table to a six year old with blue smears of bubble gum icecream across her face trying to coax the first words out of her sister. Finger jabbing towards Theo's face as she repeated 'Daddy' again and again he couldn't bring himself to dispute the label.

(Theo accidentally adopts two young werewolves)

Not Rated, Creator Chose Not to Use Archive Warnings, Not Completed, Chapters: 16/?, Words: 48740 ( 48k )

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so here me out: post-canon ( poetry like angst ) summer get away !! just the boys doing cute little domestic things together whilst pining !! theo’s guilt in this is just so powerful & aGjffkgkkfkvkdlv !! i think it’s so interesting to see how they interact in this one, it’s just very heart warming !! and it features one of my favorite niche teen wolf tropes of theo being great with like seven year old girls- it’s just so good ,, very much a wonderful little one shot that just makes your heart happy.

(next time i see you you'll show me) a hundred different ways to say the same things - cherrysprite

Summary: “...You deserve good things,” Liam says eventually. He makes sure not to look at Theo even though he can feel his eyes turn on him. Somehow he can already tell that Theo doesn’t believe him.

Liam instantly makes that the goal of this summer - making Theo believe him.

Rating: Teen and Up, No Archive Warnings Apply, Chapters: 1/1, Words: 28875 ( 28k )

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okay so this next section of fic recs is a bit different !!

two of my favorite authors !! and a compilation of fics i’ve read by them both !!

for context: these two have written some genuinely gorgeous fics, like pure poetry, they explore the real gritty & scary side of our boys relationship in such a wonderful way. they’ve both used some of my favorite tropes & i love them very much !!

whenever i need something soothing but so genuinely intresting & enticing these are my go to !! ( also they both write a lot of good nolan angst & some vv good fics with hayden )

go check out:

eneiryu

as well as fallingforboys

here are some of my favorite fics by them ~

darling i want you here in my arms (kiss the pain away, i know you can) - fallingforboys

even before you touched me, i belonged to you (all you had to do was look at me) - fallingforboys

memories linger like tattoo scars (but your touch on my skin is just as permanent) - fallingforboys

skin, bones, a stolen heart, and an ugly creature lurking underneath -fallingforboys

i don't know how to breathe in the place i called home - fallingforboys

whisper your gossamer truths into the shadow, maybe you'll find the answers you're searching for - fallingforboys

between the mountains and the valley we built a monument to our regret - eneiryu

cracked the hinges of the cage and waited for you - eneiryu

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okay and finally: since i am a self centered whore

my own fic: an rendition of the # elevator scene

it’s basically my version of post canon if we did get the kiss in the elevator. we got a classic liam pov in which he is has 12/10 for extreme bi diaster energy even whilst being shot at !! so go him ig…

Fuck Off, Fuck This & Fuck It! - nefelibata_peach

Summary: Liam thought to himself heart rate climbing, they were bound to be dead by morning. So he thought with everything but his brain and he kissed him.

Where Liam Dunbar is very confused, slightly traumatized, and just a bit scared but hey, aren't they all! Bad decisions ensue as two boys fight in a war they never did sign up for.

Rating: Teen and Up, Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Chapters: 1/1, Words: 3558 ( 3k )

[anonymousfiction211]

Handcuffed together chapter 7: The quiz

A/N: Thanks so much for your patience. Next chapter will be up next wednesday, I promise! When I started to write I wanted to advance the story a bit more, but the sex-scene kind of got away from me in this one.... Hope you like it!

The quiz After the week you spend together you actually started to grow fond of Loki. He was a patient teacher and you actually had learned a lot by now. The training was intense and you were tired from studying, But Loki had decided to quiz you. At first you wanted to postpone, but he wouldn’t let you.

‘How many bones in the human body?’ Loki asked

‘206 bones’ you answered.

He reluctantly agreed with you. The two of you had made a game out of it. For every correct answer he would take of one piece of clothing, and for every incorrect answer you would take off one piece of clothing. He was at an unfair advantage with all his difficult clothing with many layers. Still, he was sitting in his socks, pants, and t-shirt, same as you. You couldn’t help but feel smug at that. To not be disturbed Loki quizzed you in his bedroom, on the bed.

‘How many bones in the human body of an infant?’ Loki asked with a smirk on his face.

‘Ehm.. still 206?’ you asked, a bit unsure why he would basically ask the same question twice.

The widened grin told you all you needed to know ‘I’ll take you shirt now’ he said.

‘There is a difference?’ you asked before removing your shirt, not trusting the God of Lies to be honest.

‘There is, I’m going to ask you to same question next time. So, you better know the answer by then’ he said.

‘Fine’ you grumbled and removed your shirt.

‘Which artery is the main source of blood for the arm?’

‘Easy, the Brachial artery. And I’ll take your pants’ you smiled sweetly at him. Loki rolled his eyes but removed his pants.

‘Going straight to your target, I presume?’ he teased.

‘I really don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just trying to learn’ you said innocently.

‘How many erogenous zones are there?’ he asked.

‘That wasn’t in the books, you can’t ask me that. Besides, why would I need to know that to heal people?’ you answered.

‘I’m quizzing you on human anatomy, it’s not my fault you didn’t study more besides the book I gave you.’ he replied.

‘You’re not playing fair!’ you accused.

‘What did you expect from the God of Mischief and Lies?’ he teased. With one handwave the both of you were naked. You tried to cover yourself up, but Loki grabbed your arms and pulled you closer against him. He was sitting so close, you could feel his breath against your ear.

‘Let me show you then’ he said huskily.

He slowly stroked your lower back. ‘The lower back is one’. You moved closer towards him.

‘The hands and wrists are two and three’ he said. He started to slowly trace the lines in your palm and moved to your wrist. Your whole body felt like it was on fire, already.

He laid you down and put your wrists above your head. He started to kiss your neck and trailed upwards towards your ear. ‘The neck is four and the ear is five he whispered while nibbling on your earlobe, making you moan aloud. He slowly trailed his hands from your wrists, down your arms to your armpits. He stroked your inner arms lightly, making you giggle and squirm. ‘That’s six he smirked.

He kissed you and slipped his tongue inside your mouth. Slowly circling your own tong. When he stopped he bit your lips. ‘The mouth is seven’ he whispered. He slowly kissed down your neck to your breasts. He took one in his mouth and sucked on it. He licked the skin around it and bit down in the flesh. All the sensations making you whiter underneath. ‘That’s eight’ he said.

‘Loki, please’ you begged him to take you.

The wide grin told you that it was no use. You were putty in his hands and in this moment he owned you. He was in a playful mood and not nearly done playing with you.

‘Kitten, we are just over the half of them. And I really want you to learn the others as well’ he purred. When your eyes widened he laughed and then continued giving your other breast the same treatment.

He kissed downwards to your lower stomach and caressed it with his hands. You tried to move away from the tickling feeling, but there was nowhere to go. At this point you were going crazy from his touch and were panting heavily. Loki looked very pleased with your state. ‘That’s nine’ he told you. You were anticipating him going for your clit next and whined when he got up and you didn’t feel him anymore.

‘Patience’ he said. He grabbed your foot with his hands and stroked up and down. He held your foot in place when you tried to escape it. He started to massage it gently, the pressure felt so good that you arched your back. He did the same thing with your other foot. He moved his hands upwards and stroked behind your knees ‘That was ten and this is eleven’. You instinctively opened your legs for him. Normally, you would be nervous when he was staring this intently at your pussy. But now you found it extremely erotic.

‘This is twelve’ he said while trailing his hands towards your inner thighs. He kissed your right thigh and worked his way upwards to your pussy.

‘Not the last one, but definitely the most fun one to play with’ he winked. He hooked his arms under your thighs and pushed your legs up. His tongue was circling your clit. You were trashing, moaning, panting, and begging. And he ignored you completely. The only things he focused on was your clit. He held you firmly in place. The way his tongue felt licking up and down your clit soon made you see stars and you came hard, moaning his name over and over again. You looked at him when you finally came down from your high and his predatory grin told you, he wasn’t done.

‘I think we should explore this one more thoroughly, don’t you?’ he mused

‘What- what do you mean?’ you panted.

‘Well..’ he started and slowly pushed two fingers inside of you. He started to suck on your clit for a moment, making you arch your back again. You though he finally gave you a break, but you couldn’t be more wrong. He took his mouth from your clit, the moment his fingers found your g-spot. You cried out in pleasure. ‘You have the clitoris, obviously’ he said while stroking your g-spot over and over again. You were close. ‘Then there is your g-spot’ he said and put more pressure on it. You came immediately, almost screaming at this point. ‘Good girl’ he praised you.

Instead of removing his fingers he pushed them deeper inside of you. Then he stroked a spot within you, that you didn’t even know of. ‘The A-spot is often overlooked’ he grinned at you. ‘The more I stroke it, the more sensation you feel and the wetter you will be’ he said.

‘Oh my god, Loki’ you yelled when he kept going. He was right, at this point your arousal was flowing freely. ‘That’s right. What am I?’ he asked.

‘My god’ you panted.

‘Who do you belong to?’ he asked.

‘You only you’ you tried to say. But it came out ragged and needy.

‘That’s it, now come before your god’ he commanded you. And without hesitation your body did.

Loki retracted his fingers from you. ‘If only you could see yourself now, a perfectly tame kitten. All ready for me to play with’ he said.

‘Loki, I- I really can’t anymore’ you panted.

He slowly turned your around so you were on your stomach. He put your ass up ‘the only thing you will have to do is keep this perky ass up. And I will show you the last one. Don’t worry, it’s not as intense’ he said.

Before you could protest you felt his cock slide in you easily. He slowly started to thrust in and almost out of you. After a moment, his pace became a lot faster. Apparently playing with you had work him up as well. You walls already clenched down and your orgasm hit you out of nowhere. At that point Loki grabbed your hair and pulled at it. Your walls clenched down harder and the noises you made weren’t even human anymore. ‘And that.. is.. fourteen’ he grunted. He pulled your hair harder and started to slam harder into you.

‘Fuck, (Y/N)’ he yelled when he came. He slowly thrusted until his own orgasm had faded. He laid down on his back on the bed and you collapsed, still on your stomach. You were utterly exhausted and extremely satisfied. Loki slowly caressed your back with the back of his hands. He smiled when he felt the goosebumps form on your skin and your soft moaning.

‘Sensitive there, kitten?’ he teased.

‘Hmm’ you hummed sleepily.

Despite your protests he stood up and pulled you in his arms. He carried you towards the bathroom and put you down. He turned on the tap of the tub.

‘I don’t want to bathe, I want to sleep’ you pouted.

Loki just laughed. ‘I can imagine that, but a bath will do you good. After you can sleep with me in my bed, while wearing the fluffiest pyjama you can imagine. Deal?’

‘I don’t trust you in the bath’ you replied.

‘Hmm, normally I would agree with you. But trust me, I will behave myself’ he answered with a smile on his face.

‘Fine’ you reluctantly agreed.

Loki put some oils in the bath and it smelled amazing. He turned of the tab and helped you in the tub. He sat down behind you with his legs on either side, pulling you close against his chest. He washed your hair and massaged your shoulders. He did behave himself for the most time but couldn’t help kissing and biting your neck and shoulders. When the bath was done and Loki had shimmered the two of you in pyjamas, indeed the fluffiest ones you ever had, he cuddled with you in the bath.  

Right before you fell asleep he asked ‘Do you remember how many zones there were?’

‘Ehm.. no, I kind of was lost and couldn’t keep up’ you answered honestly.

Loki just pulled you closer against him. ‘Well, if you can’t name them next week we are doing this again’

‘You are insatiable’ you grumbled.  

‘No, you are irresistible. Now sleep, my love.’ At this point you were too out of it to even think or react to his words.  

Tags: @delightfulheartdream @the-best-phineas @l0nelyasian​ @ragweed98​

[lightsovermonaco]

His Good Sweater: Chapter 18

Masterlist

Thanks to @acollectionofficsandshit for being my bestie and beta reading! This would have never happened without her ❤ Make sure you read Roman Profile, set in the same universe!

Word Count: 7.6k

Abu Dhabi holds a special place in Pierre's heart. The food is great, the views are spectacular, and there is always plenty to do to keep him busy. Night races are some of the more exciting races too and Pierre appreciated the variety.

Coming into the final race of the season, Pierre holds on to seventh in the championship by a few points. Perez sensed the usurper creeping up on his seat and had cranked it up to eleven. 

Exams had kept you in London for the race in Brazil, where Pierre had finished sixth and Checo DNF'd. You had managed to fly out for the weekend in Saudi Arabia, where Perez had finished fifth and closed the gap to Pierre to only four points behind. 

If Pierre didn't finish ahead of Perez this weekend, he was fucked. And he was at the distinct disadvantage of his good luck charm being absent, stuck in London finishing up your final few exams of the semester. Two weeks without seeing you coupled with barely hearing from you had worn on him. It wasn't purposeful on your part but Pierre's stress was already compressed like the suspension on his car. Stray an inch too far over the racing line, hit a curb too hard and it was liable to snap, sending bits and pieces flying.

Pierre checks his phone for the millionth time as he waits to check in to the hotel. Wednesday was late for this many crew members to be arriving. His main concern though was that you hadn't responded to the text he'd sent you upon landing.

"Look lively, will you?" Max claps Pierre on the shoulder and he slides his phone into his pocket. "It's the last race of the season. We get to go balls to the wall and leave it all out in the track. And here you are looking like a kicked puppy."

"Easy for you to say," Pierre starts, grinning at his friend. "You clinched the title weeks ago. You don't even have to race this weekend if you don't want to and you'd still win."

"Doesn't mean I won't be shooting for a podium."

Pierre rolls his eyes. "Yeah well we can't all be so lucky, can we?"

"Next year you'll be playing with the big dogs." Max hands the receptionist his ID, says a few words and turns back to Pierre. "Looking forward to having you as a teammate again. It was fun for those couple races and I'm sure you'll be a challenge now that you've found your groove."

"You're gonna jinx it if you keep talking." Pierre laughs, praying that it covers up the old wound Max's statement picked open. Pierre hated the idea of moving back to Red Bull but he didn't have much choice. He was still contracted to one of four Red Bull branded seats for next season. A promotion, at the very least, would help him showcase his talent and further cement his value. If he had to spend any longer than that with the team, ripping out his hair was a real possibility.

"Wasn't someone supposed to be with you this weekend?" Max quirks a brow. "Where is she?"

"In London." Max bringing you up doesn't help the pit forming in Pierre's stomach. Win or lose, seventh or eighth, Red Bull or Alpha Tauri, come Sunday Pierre wanted you at his side. Interview requests were bound to roll in either way and Pierre would need someone to ground him, a task much easier to accomplish if you were physically at his side.

"Too bad." Max clicks his tongue and takes his room keys from the receptionist. "It's gonna be a fun weekend."

"I don't think-"

Pierre's vision goes dark at the same time someone whispers, "Guess who?"

Pierre sucks in a breath, spins on his heel and wraps you in a hug in one smooth motion. You laugh as he lifts you off your feet and presses kisses to your cheeks. 

"What are you doing here?" He grabs both suitcases and tugs you aside. His room can wait.

"Tost asked me to come." Your grin is contagious, its twin appearing on Pierre's own cheeks. "He said that since you were flying out from Milan on your own there was an extra seat on the jet, so if I got myself to Nice I could fly out with the Red Bull boys."

"Seven hours trapped in a tin can with Max, Yuki and Checo?" Pierre rubs his chest. "I've got heartburn just thinking about that."

"It wasn't so bad," you say, finally giving him a proper kiss. "Yuki and I just played games on our phones the whole time. And I beat Max at Scrabble."

"How many Dutch words did he try to use?"

"Mmm, about half the words he tried were definitely not English."

"Yep, sounds about right." Pierre throws an arm around your shoulders and leads you back to the reception desk. He pays for an upgraded room when you aren't looking- though when you're assigned a suite there's not much higher you can go- and slips the woman behind the counter an extra bill for good measure.

"I could use a nap," you note, leaning against Pierre like you'd otherwise fall over. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

Pierre checks his watch. "We've got time for a nap."

"We?" Your raised eyebrow is question enough. Pierre smiles and swipes his key card once you're in the elevator with him. He hadn't looked at the price of the room but he was positive it was more than he'd spent on a single night in his entire career, considering it occupies an entire floor of the swanky hotel.

"It's date night," Pierre says simply. Initially his plan had been to invite Charles over for a game of Fifa but the Monegasque wouldn’t fault him for cancelling at the last minute. "We're in one of the most luxurious cities in the world and I'm going to show you off every chance I get. The restaurant down stairs is to die for."

Your attempt at nodding along with what he says is thwarted by a yawn. "Sleep first, eat later." Seeing as it was impossible to deny you, Pierre simply drops a kiss to the crown of your head.

"Wait until you see our room." The way your eyes light up when he says our room makes him want to say it again and again just to see you sparkle.

"I know you upgraded it, Mr. I-think-I'm-sneaky." You uncurl yourself from against his arm when the elevator chimes. "How much did it cost?"

"A few extra pennies."

The stainless steel doors open directly into the suite. The living space is dominated by a curving crescent of full length windows overlooking the cerulean harbor and the jagged steel of the city skyline beyond. Suitcase forgotten, your jaw drags along the floor as you toe off your shoes in favor of sinking onto one of the half moon couches situated around a low coffee table.

"Did you get some sort of bonus you didn't tell me about?" Pierre sees your inner engineer cataloging the chandelier dripping crystals over the carved dining table and the pattern of the black veined marble flooring. "This cost more than a few pennies."

"I didn't really look at the price so it's possible," he admits. In the end it was worth it to see you like this, happy as a pig in mud. Pierre was in his element at the track you were in yours in beautiful buildings. For all Pierre cared you could be sharing a dingy room at a motel; it would still be five star worthy with you there. 

Every once in a while though, you deserve a bit of pampering for all you put up with. Late nights and months apart wasn’t easy on either of you, but you stuck by him. And when the day comes that Pierre retires or loses his seat, you would be the one there to comfort him. Spending frivolous amounts of money to see you smile was nothing in the grand scheme of things. 

In Pierre’s world, money is temporary, you are forever.

"Well I have half a mind to tear into you for spending so much on a room we won't spend all that much time in," you start, your star-speckled gaze landing on Pierre, "the view is too pretty to be upset about."

"Mine isn't half bad either." You laugh, tucking an errant hair behind your ear. You both know he isn’t referring to the glittering bay or the expensive furnishings.

"Up," Pierre demands softly, holding out his hand. Your hand is warm and dwarfed by his long fingers but you barely seem to notice. The heart in his chest pounds for no discernable reason as he leads you down the narrow hall past doors leading to what he can only assume are bedrooms and bathrooms, to the one at the end of the hall. Based on his mental floor plan this one has the best view, if he's guessed correctly.

Your breezy oh confirms his hunch. You stutter at the threshold, coming up short behind him to bathe in the beauty of the sea, dotted through with white sails. Sunlight twinkles off the waves and if he breathes deep enough, he can almost smell the salt.

"Come on," Pierre says with a chuckle, urging you to fall into the fluffy down of the bed with him. You follow reluctantly, too enamored by the sights to pay any real attention to how Pierre arranges your limbs to his liking, your head resting on his chest and your joined hands laying atop his stomach.

"How about that nap?" He murmurs, running the fingers of his free hand through your unbound hair. 

You sigh and snuggle in closer. It was rare that Pierre had the opportunity to steal moments like this during a race week, when he had nothing better to do than tangle himself in you.

"I'll tell you a story." 

Just as he expected, you leap at the offer. "Can you tell me the one about the time you and Charles got in trouble when you were karting?"

Normally he opts for something fictional that allows him to embellish the details to fit his narrative. Pierre loved spinning tales rife with laughter and intrigue but he also didn't mind indulging your curiosity.

"Yeah, I can tell that one. Let me set the scene. It's midnight on a Friday at a little track outside Rouen. Two gangly teenage boys, one French and one definitely, positively not French, have nothing better to do than get themselves in trouble…"

**********

Fans began whispering when Pierre set foot in the lobby. The price of stardom was high and had taken years to get used to. Some days the bombardment of people asking for photos and autographs overwhelmed him to the point he was desperate for an out. Most people respected his boundaries and when they sensed it was too much, they backed off. Other days it was simply too much and he would mumble excuses and book it out the door.

The pressure increases tenfold when he steps into the lobby with you on his arm, the pair of you dressed to the nines. He clocks a group of women- clearly tourists based on their body language- perched on a sofa the minute their low murmurs turn into excited squeals.

Pierre mentally braces for you to stiffen or stop altogether but you do neither. You carry on unaffected, either ignoring them or completely oblivious to the women who do nothing to hide their pointed stares.

"Table for two please." You smile at the restaurant host and then at Pierre. You must not have noticed the fans then. You were getting better at coping with the photos and whispers, although your smile usually became forced the longer it dragged on, the polar opposite of you currently beaming at him.

Pierre's shoulders sag a bit when you're led to a secluded table towards the rear of the dining space. Privacy wasn't a luxury he was often afforded. With his back to a wall of windows, there were fewer angles for people to approach from which was a small comfort.

Apparently you find sitting across from Pierre unacceptable because you shuffle your chair to his side of the table before plopping down in it. Pierre shoots you a questioning look but keeps his mouth shut. Inquiring after your motives didn't tend to end well for him.

Instead he leans over to kiss your cheek, relishing the blush his lips coax to the surface.

“It all sounds good,” you say, scanning the menu. “You’ve been here before, I take it?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah I have. It’s all wonderful.” 

The fans from the lobby remain in the blurred fringes of his vision. Pierre does his best to focus on the waitress explaining the specials. He tunes in automatically to the fan’s heavily accented English as they argue with the host, vying for a table as close to Pierre as possible.

Their phones remain out as an annoyed waiter tries and fails to coax the gaggle of girls into ordering something. Pierre drags a hand through his hair.

Being the center of attention usually doesn't bother him. Coping with the spotlight and the scrutiny that accompanies it is second nature; if the press conferences at Spa in 2019 had taught him anything, it was the importance of a solid poker face. Fame is new to you though and interactions with polite fans make you nervous. Having your picture taken without permission and splashed on social media? Forget about it. Pierre didn't care to find out how you'd react.

"Don't be nervous." You lay a hand on Pierre's thigh. The touch is enough to temporarily pause his bouncing leg. "You're going to do amazing this weekend. All you have to do is finish in front of Checo and you're golden."

How you haven't noticed the girls giggling mere yards away is beyond him. The last thing he wants to do is ruin this perfect, beautiful moment of bliss. You look gorgeous with your painted lips and that sinful black dress that he doubts can be comfortable based on how it hugs your curves like water. To top it off, the pride in your gaze is something to behold, making it impossible to doubt himself when you so clearly and openly believe he can conquer the world.

But it's better to tell you now versus you finding out on social media later. "That's not what's bothering me."

"Oh?" You sit straighter and set the menu down. "What is it then? Because if it's Horner, I have no problem marching in there and chewing him out. Birdy will back me up."

Despite himself, Pierre can't hold back his smile. "Where did all this confidence come from, hmm?"

"I'm learning," you insist, nodding your head firmly. "I'm growing as a person and you should be proud."

"I never said I wasn't." Maybe you'd spent the last month at university interacting with racing fans on campus. Perhaps being exposed to endless questions in a setting you controlled was the key. "Did you take a course in confidence at university?"

You scrunch up your nose and laugh in the most adorable way. Pierre's heart lurches at the sight, regardless if it was him you were laughing at.

"No, but I did make a few new friends that have a habit of pestering me about you." You jab a finger in his side for good measure. "It helped, I think. I don't look for cameras as much anymore. You're my focus now, not paps that may or may not be lurking in bushes."

"I knew it." Pierre is slightly impressed that he'd hit the nail squarely on the head. "I figured there had to be someone at uni responsible for helping you out."

You shrug and purse your lips. "I guess we'll have to see how I handle this weekend. I mean, there's bound to be press trying to corner me, what with the stakes and all. But I think I can take them." You raise your fists in front of your face and Pierre has to laugh. 

“Throw a punch like that and you’ll break a finger.” He takes one of your clenched fists in his and untucks your thumb from under your fingers. “That’s how you make a proper fist. And you hit with these knuckles here- make sure you distribute the blow across all four, or you’ll be hurting.”

“Regardless,” you say, jabbing the air a few times, “The shock factor of having little old me in their face ought to be enough to earn me an advantage.”

Pierre finishes the lap to circle back to the topic at hand. "How about we test your confidence?” 

"Okay," you say, dragging out the 'a' until it hangs in the air between you like a spider's web. 

Pierre rakes a hand through his hair and nods to the girls a few tables away. "They've been taking pictures since we sat down. I'm sure they'll be all over Instagram in an hour, if they aren't already."

You steal a glance at the table in question under the guise of grabbing something from your purse. You hum, contemplating how to go about responding. Pierre is almost certain you'll ask to head back upstairs where it's just the two of you, no cameras or outside influence to ruin your night. His wallet is already out under the table, ready to leave a hefty tip for putting up with your drink-and-dash.

“We aren’t doing anything interesting,” you point out, swirling the knuckle’s worth of whiskey in your glass. “Why do they feel the need to document every passing second?”

Pierre lifts a shoulder in a shrug. “It’s just what some people do. If you’re uncomfortable we can go.”

“Who said anything about leaving?” You scoff, the corners of your lips turned up in a teasing smile. “I figure the best course of action is to give them something worth photographing.”

“What do you-”

Pierre’s yelp is decidedly unsexy when you yank him forward by his tie and attach your lips to his. Caught entirely off guard, he flounders for a moment before he catches himself and sinks into you. One hand on your cheek and the other creeping up your thigh, Pierre slides his tongue over the seam of your lips. You don't hesitate to obey the silent command.

He should be embarrassed. He should be contemplating the consequences of this kiss being splashed across tabloids the world over. He can’t bring himself to care, not when you’re the only release he needs and something as simple as a kiss sets his skin alight and causes any sane thoughts to trickle from his head.

Nothing matters. You're kissing him and your hand is a few inches below his hip on his right thigh, burning a brand that he prays leaves a puckered pink scar. Your scent and your mouth and your unmistakable hiss of pleasure saps the worry from his limbs. He's floating up off his chair, lungs filling with helium as you steal every last molecule of oxygen from the room.

Just like that, Pierre is the one that's roaring to leave for an entirely different reason.

Your hand on his jaw keeps your lips a hair's breadth apart as you whisper, "Are they staring?"

A blissed out nod is all he manages. Thoughts evade him and speaking is utterly out of the question when your lips are within striking distance. He surges forward for another kiss, heavier on teeth than on tongue. He makes sure to hold your lower lip between his teeth longer than necessary, putting on a show now that you've given him permission.

"Pierre," you murmur, using the hand splayed on his chest to push him away. The whine that escapes him is wholly unintentional. Thankfully it's low enough that only you hear, pressing a finger to your sinful lips.

"Down, boy." You extricate his hand from the dimpled flesh of your hip and place it chastely in his own lap. "We've accomplished what I wanted to."

Saying you tossing a wink over your shoulder at the intrusive fans isn't the hottest thing he's ever seen would be a lie. Pierre needed to be sure to thank Daniel's girlfriend the next time he saw her for whatever the hell she said to finally bestow you with a healthy serving of self-assurance because this new you is an entirely different entity, one Pierre intends to explore at the next opportunity.

"Problem solved." You brush your hands together and Pierre half expects to see dust clouds in the air like you'd just finished a woodshop project. 

Pierre's brain is operating on a ten second delay. So really, normal operating procedure when he was in your vicinity. "I don't think we've accomplished everything I'd like to get done."

"We have a dinner to finish first." You pick up your menu and resume browsing like you hadn't just forcibly ripped his appetite for anything other than you right out of him. "The salmon sounds good, don't you think?"

"You sound good," Pierre mumbles under his breath and picks up his own menu. God, he'd love to let his fingers drift to the apex of your thighs. You’re always cute when you squirm. It was so simple to do too, all you needed was a brush of his knuckle to your center and you'd be gasping.

"Are you ready to order?"

The soft-spoken waitress bursts Pierre's bubble. She brings fresh drinks and jots down an order of two salmon fillets and leaves with a smile. 

How Pierre has managed to make it this long without fucking you is beyond him. From the moment you surprised him in the lobby, his limbs have been thrumming with energy. And now your surprise kiss had been the pebble that preceded an avalanche of feverish longing. Those red painted lips would look better wrapped around his-

The pointed toe of your shoe digs into his calf. "Quit staring."

"Either you let me daydream or you let me take you upstairs,” Pierre quips back, licking his lips before he can catch himself.

"Can we get through one date without you mentally undressing me?"

Pierre dips his grin in a vat of lust, his words dripping with waxy promise. "No. Not when I know that as soon as we're alone, you'll let me do what I want."

"And what about what I want?" Your pouted lip does absolutely nothing but push his mind further in the gutter. 

"Your wish is my command." His hand floats under the hem of your dress to graze along your core. And there it is, that sound he would swim across oceans to hear, your chastizing gasp of surprise. 

The cross way you whisper his name is a thing of dreams. No one else's name sounded like that on your tongue, that honor is reserved solely for Pierre. The two breathless syllables are more exhilarating than standing on the top step. The rush of adrenaline that accompanies them is ten times what he is rewarded with when passing a world champion on track. He'll give it all up to hear you repeat it when you're pissed or lonely or tired- he just wants your voice echoing in his ears like a broken record.

You move his hand a safe distance down your thigh, nearly at your knee. Pierre gives your leg a sharp squeeze. "Can we please get our dinner to go?"

"Not tonight. You can wait, mon amour."

The French rolls off your tongue awkwardly but Pierre will be the last to complain. Your encyclopedic knowledge of which buttons to press when had come back to bite him in the ass.

"That's not fair." His pout is a mirror image of the one you turned on him earlier. "You can't use my own language against me."

You pat your pockets as if searching for something and shrug when you come up empty. "I don't see a rulebook anywhere."

Reminding you what happens when you tease him shoots to the top of his to do list. "I'll play if you wanna play, ma chérie. Don't bite off more than you can chew."

"I think you're forgetting who usually wins off track."

Pierre can't help it. He takes advantage of his superior reflexes and surges forward to claim another searing kiss. You did normally win and it wasn't for lack of trying on his end. No matter the tactic he employed, you generally got the better of him. Not that he minded.

"Why don't you come here?" He purposely grazes his lips to your ear as he speaks and grins when a shiver runs down your spine. 

"Because we are in public," you hiss back, though the way your head tips to the side betrays you. Pierre's nose touches the underside of your jaw and you struggle to find your breath.

"We should eat." A self satisfied smile splits his face when he notices your heaving chest and wild eyes. 

"When did our food get here?" Pierre did that. He got you so worked up that you blocked out your surroundings so thoroughly that you hadn't heard the clink of plates. Pierre wears that fact like a badge of honor.

"A minute or so ago. Remind me again who's winning?"

"We may be even," you relent, adjusting the skirt of your dress. Yeah, even isn't the word he would pick, considering how flustered you are. It's a good thing Pierre has learned to eat with one hand because he doesn't plan on moving the arm currently slung over the back of your chair anytime soon. His finger traces the letters of his name on the bare skin of your shoulder. Whether you realize what he's writing or not you lean into him as you eat, falling in closer with each lemon-scented bite.

"Excuse me?"

You don't bother to look up but Pierre does. Disappointment washes over him when he is met by one of the fans, apparently deeming now to be the appropriate time to approach him, while clearly on a date, in the middle of a meal.

"I'll be happy to take a photo once I'm done." Sometimes passive aggressiveness works best with people like this, who have no regard for personal space. "Right now I would prefer to be alone, thanks."

"Oh, right." The blonde giggles, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. "You two make a… cute couple?" The end of her sentence turns up and your fork falls to your plate.

Pierre tucks you a little closer to his side, both possessive and reassuring. "We know."

Your discomfort is plain, the way you curl in on yourself making his heart hurt. But you surprise him by taking a deep breath and turning to the woman with a smile. 

"If you'd let us finish our meal, I would appreciate it. We can stop by on our way out and chat with you." Sylvie would be proud of that answer. Diplomatically phrased and said with a smile that negates any negative connotations.

"Of course." The blonde's smile is sickly sweet. To Pierre she adds, "Good luck on Sunday."

Pierre nods. The woman's rude behavior didn't warrant a verbal response. She mumbles a feeble goodbye before slinking back to her friends. If nothing else at least their whispers died down, put out by his behavior. 

Pierre loves his fans. Without them he wouldn't have a sport to compete in, and of course he appreciated their endless support. Stopping for photos or autographs had gotten him in trouble with Marko multiple times for being late to meetings that usually turned out to be pointless anyway. As a whole, their enthusiasm gives him an extra boost on Sundays and lifts his spirits after a bad weekend.

And then sometimes there were people like the blonde woman that had interrupted his dinner. Those people he has far less tolerance for. Basic manners were imperative to Pierre giving someone the light of day, otherwise he saw no need to waste time and energy on them.

"All good, ma chérie?" Pierre rubs your shoulder, hoping it'll stave off any anxiety.

"I'm good," you confirm with a nod of your head. "Let's finish up and go to our room."

Pierre presses a kiss to your temple and scarfs down the remainder of his meal in record time. He flags down the waitress and hands her his card, leaving a substantial tip when she returns with the check.

“Can you distract that table?” Pierre asks, aware of how unusual the request likely is. “I’d like to get out of here without making a scene.”

“Of course,” the waitress says with a warm, sincere smile. Pierre waits until she loudly announces, “Excuse me? Your card has been declined, do you have another method of payment?”

Neither of you can contain your laughter as you stumble through the lobby. In the sanctity of the elevator, Pierre wraps his arms around your middle and molds himself against you. "You look especially gorgeous tonight."

"You're not too bad yourself." One of your hands finds the nape of his neck, guiding his face to the crook of your shoulder. Pierre takes the invitation at face value and nips at the sensitive skin. Your hum goes straight to his cock, twitching against the swell of your ass.

"I win," you purr, tangling your fingers in his hair and tugging. 

For once Pierre is glad to be in the world's slowest elevator. Since he's already lost, he might as well lose in style. He spins you to face the mirrored wall. And because he knows it'll make you tremble, he trails his hand lazily over your throat to grip your jaw.

A low moan leaves your parted lips. Pierre studies your reflection, from your hands gripping the railing to the skin dimpling beneath his fingers. 

"Fine, you win this time. But I think you and I both know, I'll come out ahead in the end."

**********

Waking up to soft kisses will never get old. Thirty years from now when Pierre was retired and you fell asleep each night with his arms around you, you'd still yearn for the brush of his lips to your cheeks, neck, and shoulders to rouse you from the violet shores of sleep.

"Good morning," you mumble, a sentiment which Pierre echoes with his gruff, sleep tinged voice. "Sleep well?"

"Best sleep I've ever gotten. You tired me out last night." You both grin at the reminder. Fueled by a slight tinge of jealousy after the women at the restaurant made eyes at him, you had refused to let him tumble into bed until well past midnight, when you both were well and truly exhausted. Thursday is press day, nothing strenuous that he couldn't afford to be a little sore for.

Pierre rolls to straddle your hips, lips capturing yours for a proper kiss. The taste of freshly brushed mint makes your skin tingle when he tugs your lip between his teeth.

"It's too early for that." You throw your arms around his neck and urge him to bend his elbows until he falls atop you. It takes him a moment to snuggle in, his head on your chest and his arms sliding under your middle. 

You're convinced that ten minutes in this position can cure any ailments, physical or mental. The weight of your soulmate pressing into you, forcing you to focus on breathing instead of whatever might be bothering you. It's easy to forget about the outside world when everything you require to be happy is wrapped around you like a blanket.

You stroke a hand over Pierre's hair until his breathing evens out, only rousing him when the sun peeks over the harbor. Amiable silence fills the space as hues of orange and pink paint Pierre in swaths of color. Suddenly you're seeing him for the first time, completely enamored by the angles of his cheekbones and the sharp cut of his stubbled jaw. The golden hour of dawn shines on it's golden boy, his lashes brushing his cheeks as he turns towards the warmth calling him home.

"Pyry and I are going for a run soon if you'd like to come with us."

You cringe. Running used to be fun when you were in school, but seeing as you hadn't properly trained in years you doubted you could keep up with a pair of professionals. "How about you text me when you're back and I'll come to the gym with you? It looks fancy, if George's snaps are anything to go by."

Pierre trails kisses up your sternum, over your neck and only speaks once he's reached your lips. "Looking at other men, are you?"

"Shut up," you laugh, shoving him off you. "I'll have you know it was a rare shirt on picture, thank you very much. I don't need to see George shirtless ever again."

A satisfied, "Good," rumbles from Pierre's chest and he stands to stretch the lingering sleep from his limbs. Clad in nothing but a pair of white four inch inseam shorts and with his back to you, you grin as an idea forms. You scramble forward before he can process you moving and smack his ass so hard he yelps.

"Gotcha!" You devolve into a fit of giggles as he rubs the spot you hit, whining about you taking advantage of his distraction.

"You like it," you tease, and Pierre remains strictly pouty for two whole seconds before he breaks into a grin and nods. "Now put on a shirt and get downstairs before Pyry calls you and you get reamed for being late again."

Pierre leans down for one last kiss before rushing off to the lobby. Waking up before the sun leaves you plenty of time to laze about if you choose to. Kicking your butt into gear seems like the better option so you drag yourself out of the relative warmth of the sheets and shuffle to the kitchen in search of coffee. 

Apparently the suite came fully stocked with a handful of different freshly ground blends, and much to your delight you recognize one of your favorites. You scroll through the room service menu on your phone while it brews. Without a doubt Pyry would rope you in to whatever workout he had planned for Pierre, albeit giving you a watered down version of what he gave the driver. Regardless, it would still be grueling and you needed to fuel up.

A hearty breakfast of fresh fruit and cinnamon sugar oatmeal shows up at your door ten minutes later. You're just finishing up when Pierre's snapchat comes through and you nearly choke.

Come on down baby

The sweaty, shirtless selfie that accompanies the caption is wholly unnecessary. Pierre's stupid tongue sticks out and the fingers of one hand are tangled in his hair. The muscle of his bicep is perfectly flexed, an obvious but appreciated attempt to rile you up. You shamelessly screenshot the photo before it disappears to save it for later.

You change into a simple set of leggings and a loose t-shirt and head to the elevator, curating your music queue on the way down.

The outdoor gym overlooks a pool of the same crystalline blue as the sea not far beyond. A few Alpha Tauri and Red Bull team members you recognize occupy a handful of machines. You wave at the ones you recognize, including Alana- she was a sight for sore eyes. You make a mental note to catch up with her at some point today, as you're sure to cross paths again.

Pyry spots you before Pierre does and waves you over. "Start stretching," the fin orders, "I'm glad you dressed for the occasion this time."

"I've learned my lesson." You plop down next to Pierre and lean into a stretch to stage whisper, "He drives you this hard?"

"Get used to it." Pierre shoots you a grin that sets you on fire. He's got a shirt on now, which means he only took it off earlier to send you that snap. Tease.

Any other time you'd chide him for his behavior but this weekend you let it slide. Tension has been brewing since the moment you spotted him across the lobby; simple things tip you off to the stress winding up in him. If flirting could offer him a small amount of release, then so be it, even if it was torturous for you to see him like this and be unable to do anything about it.

"If you two can't get through this without making heart eyes at each other I'll separate you," Pyry warns, pushing at your shoulders and helping you stretch a few more inches. You hide your wince and laugh, leaning into the slight burn.

"Sorry coach," Pierre chimes in, "I'll keep my hands to myself, don't worry." He accepts Pyry's hand to be pulled to his feet. Bouncing on his toes he throws a few punches at the air and catches your gaze over his trainer's shoulder.

"Definitely not you I'm worried about."

As Pyry says it, you blow Pierre a kiss. You quickly tuck your hands behind your back when Pyry's head whips around. Your cheshire grin gets you off the hook and Pyry just points to the stationary bike in silent command. At least he was going easy on you.

Headphones pumping a Pierre curated playlist, you lose track of time as you cycle mile after mile. Pierre sparring on the fringes of your vision helps distract you from burning muscles. Sweat soaks his black tee and is absorbed by the waistband of his oddly patterned orange and white shorts. No matter how incessantly you tease him for his fashion choices, he never fails to amaze you for how well he pulls it all off.

Lost in the music and the incredible view, it takes you a moment to realize Pierre's lips aren't just moving silently. You yank out an ear bud and blubber, "What did you say?"

Pierre's breathless laugh is accompanied by a shake of his head. He half curls in on himself, hands on his hips and mouth agape as he tries to catch his breath. The image stirs memories of the last night, when he was panting just like that but with nothing obscuring you from drinking in his godlike muscled body.

"I said," Pierre starts, walking over to kiss your cheek, "I need a shower before press. I'm going upstairs. You can stay here and Pyry can take you through some more-"

"No thanks!" Pyry shrugs off your immediate refusal. Training top tier athletes and training you sat at polar opposite ends of the spectrum and often times the Fin pushed you farther than you thought capable. You'd like to be able to function tomorrow, thank you very much.

The elevator ride to the suite is filled with salted kisses and wet touches. A breadcrumb trail of clothing leads from the stainless steel doors to the glass encased shower. There's not enough time to worship Pierre like you'd wanted to but he sighs when you run a soapy cloth over his body. Your lips follow the suds, leaving light kisses to the tender muscles. By the time you pour shampoo in your palm and lightly scratch at his scalp to work it into a lather, he's practically purring.

Media appearances are a necessary part of being a driver. Pierre usually handled them well enough on his own and occasionally with Sylvie's help when she could be bothered to get off her phone for a few minutes, but having you with him is different. You pride yourself on reading him well enough to know exactly what he needs. Some days, when the press isn't a pack of rabid animals, he returns to his driver's room and needs nothing more than a quick kiss to have him righted. On days when the pack of piranhas descend to feast on the bones of a bad session or the whispering of drama, a delicate touch is required.

If your suspicion proves right, today would be the latter. Being ahead of the frenzy might take the edge off when Pierre got in the thick of it.

When the tap cuts off, you step out and wrap Pierre in a fluffy towel. His smile communicates how grateful he is- and that he knows what you're doing.

You hand him a stack of Alpha Tauri branded clothes and sit on the foot of the bed. "Do you want me to come to the paddock with you?"

Pierre pauses with his shirt half on. "If you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind." You pluck a few of his rings from the nightstand and hold out your hand. "You have to complete the look."

"What would I do without you," he murmurs, slipping one on his pinky and one on the thumb of his opposite hand.

"Probably be ridiculed for your lack of fashion sense."

**********

As a driver's girlfriend, you had come to grips with being relegated to a background role when it came to team events. You have to ask Sylvie to repeat herself twice before her words sink in.

"Come with me to the media pen," the woman grits out. Apparently Tost intended to have some fun torturing the woman before he fired her at the end of the season. Hopefully whoever Pierre got stuck with next was a bit more personable than Sylvie.

"Pierre told me to wait here," you say, gesturing to the garage buzzing around you. You were a rock and the mechanics were the stream, parting around you without a care in the world. You were barely a blip on their radar, everyone too honed in on their tasks to pay you any mind.

"And now I'm telling you to come with me. The other wives and girlfriends are in attendance and it'll look odd if you're not there too." Clearly, Sylvie didn't like the idea. And any idea that pissed Sylvie off sounded like a good one.

"I know the way," you say and breeze past her. Your feet follow the familiar path to the cluster of reporters crowded around metal gates, keeping the drivers in like caged animals. It was fitting, considering how often people referred to the sport as a traveling circus.

Pierre is already knee deep in an interview with one of the more popular journalists in the bunch, Will Buxton. Careful to stay out of the lens, you lean against the guardrail to listen in. So far it seems to be going well, Pierre's laugh brings a smile to your face.

"So, Pierre." Will shifts on his feet, pausing to create a sense of drama. "Your seat for next year. We know you'll be in Alpha Tauri or at Red Bull. Only a few points separate you from being demoted right back to eighth in the championship, which would officially relegate you to keep your seat at Alpha for the upcoming season. Are you worried about a mechanical problem or an accident stripping you of your chance to prove yourself and leaving you stuck where you are?"

Your stomach sinks. Buxton knew how to phrase a question, you had to give him that. Each word had been carefully chosen to elicit an emotional response from Pierre. You hate seeing him backed into a corner, forced to answer the same questions again and again, helpless to prevent it.

"Well first of all I'd like to stay that I'm not stuck at Alpha." Pierre shifts his weight and you exhale. Buxton's poisoned dart had missed its mark.

"Given a few years of development I know we could have a really competitive car. But it's more so that I'm ready to move up, fight with the leaders now instead of waiting. I'm in my prime and I don't want to let that pass me by.

"So no, I'm not worried about things that are out of my control. My team has given me an amazing car this year and I'm not concerned about mechanical problems. Things out of my control aren't worth my energy. There's nothing I can do about it so I don't even give it thought. I'll focus on my driving and pushing my limit- if an accident happens, I'm just a passenger."

"Well said." Buxton nods and turns away, effectively dismissing Pierre. As soon as he's out of the camera's view he's reaching for you and you meet him halfway. Sylvie trails after you as Pierre leads you through to the Alpha garage.

"Five minutes until your briefing," Alana says the second you enter. "And hey girl. Don't think I've forgotten about that sweater I loaned you. I still want it back!"

Your friend doesn't leave any room for rebuttal before heading for the conference room, presumably to set up whatever presentation she had created. Sylvie had disappeared too, leaving you as the only one for Pierre to focus on.

"You think I can do it?" He asks quietly, playing with your interlaced fingers.

"I don't think." You tilt his chin up so he's looking at you. "I know. And I'll be right here when you cross that line on Sunday and bring home points. You've got this, baby. Don't doubt yourself now."

"Pierre!"

Your grip on his chin prevents him from following the voice, not that he would if he could. You shoot him a raucous grin, "Red Bull colors would look pretty good on me, huh?"

Pierre's smile is brighter than all the stars in the sky. "Anything with my name on it will do.”

@seasidetom @flashcal @limp-wrist-max @sunshinesewis @lifeofzoemichael @ninuffi @perfectfantasies22 @lamboleglerg @ladyperceval @0forgottenparadise0 @evie-pr @avsensio @ninuffi @lu-morningstar @ggaslyp1 @swiftyhowlz @xeniarocks @teenwaywardasgardian @saintandrea-droidsmuggler​

Let me know if you’d like to be tagged in future updates!

[shuadotcom]

Memories of You | KSJ

❧ Summary: Your memories with Seokjin are some of your favorite.

❧ Pairing: Seokjin x Female!Reader

❧ Genre/AU: Fluff, established relationship

❧ Rating: NC-17

❧ Warnings: Some profanity, a very brief sex scene that’s not super descriptive, brief mention of a stalker

❧ Words: 2.4k

❧ Note: Happy belated birthday Mars baby! @joheunsaram​. I’ve been working on this slowly and it’s finally here for you! I was so torn on who in hyung line to have this be about, but I’ve seen you in Discord talking an awful lot about Seokjin lately so I went with him! Enjoy some painfully fluffy fluff! 💝 And thank you to the always wonderful @bangtanhome​ for being my beta so last minute! 💜

“Hey, so, I don't want to be rude or anything, but your skirt is tucked into your underwear.”

Seven years ago this was the first thing Seokjin ever said to you on your first day at your new office. You were nervous going into the day, having just transferred to this branch, moving across the world to manage a new group of people in a new country.

You were just leaving the bathroom and can remember the way your face heated up and how quickly you ran back into the bathroom, a few tears sliding down your cheeks as you wished you could disappear. Not only had your day only started, but your new coworker that pointed out your embarrassment just so happened to be exceptionally handsome.

After splashing some water on your face and taking a few deep breaths, you exited the ladies’ room to see the man standing outside, hands in the pockets of his slacks. He lifted his gaze from the floor and met yours. There was something about the way your eyes locked that made your face flush all over again as your heartbeat sped up. You couldn't properly describe what you felt at that moment, but it was something.

“Um, hi,” he cleared his throat and offered his hand out to you. “I'm Seokjin.”

“Y/n,” you managed. His hand was warm and soft and you didn't want to let go.

“I'm sorry about what happened. I just… I didn't want you to walk around like that. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who saw it anyway, but I wanted to keep it that way.”

“T-thank you.” Your hands were still connected and neither of you made a move to let go. It wasn't until an older woman you knew to be the manager of another team cleared her throat, making you both separate. She pushed past you into the bathroom with a look of annoyance. You and Seokjin share a look before laughing.

“So we don't offend any more people, would it be okay if I walked you to your office? I’d be more than happy to give you a grand tour of the building this afternoon if you want.”

“That'd be great.” Seokjin smiled wide at your words and led the way. During the short walk, you learned he’s been with the company for three years and he promised to brief you on everyone and everything there is to know about being here. Once you arrive at your office door, you locked eyes again before he said goodbye and turned to go back to his desk.  Your earlier nervousness and hesitancy melted away at the prospect of this new person in your life.

“As soon as you texted me your address, I knew exactly where you lived.”

Seven years ago that was the first thing Seokjin said to you on your first date. You remember the panicked look on his face after the words left his mouth.

“Wait, I didn't mean it like that! I promise that I haven't been stalking you! One of my best friends named Namjoon lives in the same apartment building as you. He's up on the third floor so I've been there a lot. Please don't hate me or hit me or leave me or do any combination of the three! I swear, we can go back right now and go to his apartment and ask him!” Seokjin looked genuinely terrified as he glanced between you and the road with wide eyes. 

Honestly, you found the whole thing amusing.

“Seokjin, I believe you.”

“Y-you do?”

“Yes, it's not that serious. I was stalked back home for a little bit and as soon as I met the guy, I knew he was kind of off. I get no vibes like that from you.”

Seokjin let out a sigh of relief, but then his face frowned again as he gently asked about the stalker you mentioned. You were at a point where you could talk about it and went on to tell him about the man that had been in your college creative writing class. He was always interested in your writing and was always asking you questions about it. You were only classmates and never anything more, but you had gotten a bad feeling about him the first time you spoke to him.

Your early hunch was right of course when two months into the class you found out that he had been following you home for weeks. He would also follow you to work and even monitor your social media usage. You weren’t sure how long it would've gone on if he hadn't broken into your home one night and climbed into your window at the exact moment that your roommate walked into the room.

You felt yourself shiver as you retold the story. Seokjin's arm immediately came up and draped over your seat, hand grazing your shoulder. He pulled you closer to him and you instantly felt protected; like an invisible shield had formed around you because of him. It was surprising, but you didn't question it. You hugged your sweater closer to your body and stayed in his embrace as he drove.

“Happy birthday, Y/n. I'm going to kiss you now.”

Six years ago that was what Seokjin said to you right before you shared your first kiss. You’d been on two dates up until that one. You’d held hands and hugged of course, and the last time he dropped you off in front of your apartment door, he kissed your forehead. That night was not only date number three, but also your birthday.

Seokjin caressed your cheek before tilting your chin up. His gaze flickered from your eyes to your lips before he brought his mouth to yours. The kiss was sweet and you could smell his sweet cologne and feel how soft and plump his lips were. You quickly let your tongue dart out and rub against his lips. Seokjin was surprised but wasted no time in opening his mouth as your hands lightly grabbed his hair and he firmly held your hips. His mouth was warm and he tasted like sweet cream and strawberries from your birthday cake which sat forgotten on the floor next to you.

The sounds of the city that had been busy around you a few minutes ago quieted down and everything felt fuzzy. It was such a cliche, classic romance movie moment, but you were okay with that. You could criticize everything later; for at that moment, you were busy feeling something wonderful you had never felt before.

True love.

“I love you so much and I want you to feel good.”

Six years ago that was what Seokjin said to you during your first time making love. He said he loved you a year into the relationship so that wasn't new. This was the first time it made you feel this warm throughout every part of you. He was between your legs, peppering kisses down the inside of your thighs. He had already prepped you with his mouth and fingers, now you were just waiting for him.

“I love you so much. Tell me if you want me to stop, okay?" You nodded and opened your legs a little more. 

Seokjin positioned himself at your entrance before he began slowly entering you. It stung just the slightest as you felt yourself being stretched more than ever, but it wasn't enough for you to want to stop. When he was sheathed inside of you as far as he could fit, he held onto your hips as you reached up to grip his biceps. He leaned down and kissed you as he began thrusting, starting slowly before moving quicker, causing you to make sounds that seemed much more obscene compared to the tender moment.

The whole thing was over rather quickly, much to your shared dismay. You were both simply too excited to finally feel each other, that neither of you lasted very long. After ever so gently pulling out of you, he laid next to you and brought you close to his chest. A few tears slipped from your eyes, but they stemmed from happiness and nothing else. You felt incredible and so loved and it was all because of Seokjin.

“I fucking hate the fact that you keep talking to him and that you don't even care about my feelings!”

Five years ago that was what Seokjin said to you during your first real fight. You’d been through a few small disagreements here and there since you moved into Seokjin's much more spacious apartment. It was always over what to make for dinner or what color to paint the extra room he had or about one of you working late at the office. You were still technically in your honeymoon phase until about a week prior. A handsome new employee just started and had befriended you which Seokjin hated.

“How can you say I don't care about your feelings?! Your feelings are one of the most important things to me!”

“Well, then why are you still talking to Jungkook?! He likes you and you don't believe me! The way you're being nice to him, it's leading him on and you're acting like you're too stupid to know! You're a smart girl Y/n, open your damn eyes!”

“It's not my fault you're so goddamn insecure! Not all of my friends want to get in my pants!” Neither of you spoke then, instead opting to just stare at each other.

Seokjin moved first, grabbing his jacket from the coat rack by the door. “I'm going to Namjoon’s tonight. I'll call you when I can think clearly and continue this discussion.” He left without another word, slamming the door behind him.

“Fine, asshole!” You yelled at the closed door. You lowered yourself onto the couch and before you could help it, you were letting out quiet sobs. You were frustrated, confused and so many other things. Every couple was bound to have a first big fight about something, but it still hurt. You couldn't do anything but wait until Seokjin came home.

“I love you, Mrs. Kim.”

Two years ago that was what Seokjin said to you on your wedding day. You ended up having two weddings, one in Korea and the other in your hometown. Your friends and family looked on with smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes at the sight of you. The wedding was simple yet beautiful as you glowed in your dress.

“I love you too, Mr. Kim.” You say, leaning up to kiss him. At that moment, you felt like everything was right in the world.

“Just keep pushing, you can do it, baby."

A year ago that was what Seokjin said to you as you gave birth to your first child. He was right next to you, holding onto your hand and wiping your forehead with a cloth. You had an iron grip on his hand as you pushed as hard as you could. All it took was one more push and another blood-curdling scream from you before the baby was out and in the arms of a nurse.

"It's a baby girl." Both you and Seokjin watched the crying baby as she was cleaned off and brought over to you. The little girl had her father’s wide, brown eyes and your nose. She stopped crying and was simply staring up at her parents.

"Hello little one, I'm your mommy."

"And I'm your daddy."

The baby continued to stare before opening her mouth and letting out a scream that surprised you both.

"She has quite the set of lungs on her!" Seokjin struggled to say over the screaming child.

"She does! And she's all ours!" You smiled up at him, your heart filling with happiness and love for the small child in your arms. The joy you felt now with your little family was indescribable.

"The past seven years have been the best of my life and I'm so beyond lucky to have been able to spend them with you."

An hour ago that was what Seokjin said to you at your anniversary dinner. While you’ve only been married for two years, you always celebrate the first day you met; when Seokjin’s first caught sight of your purple striped panties.

Once your daughter is settled into her crib, the two of you go into your bedroom and lay in bed together, still clad in your formal clothes. Your head is against his chest and his arms are around you.

"Babe, I have a confession," Seokjin starts.

"Hmm?"

"I wanted to ask you out on that day, you know - the day we met. You were so flustered and cute, but I thought I’d scare you even more if I did, so I held back."

"I was flustered and cute huh? Sure it wasn’t just the free panty shot I gave you?”

Seokjin gives you a flat expression. "No, smart ass. You caught my attention as soon as you stepped into the room. Then I overheard you later in the day talking to someone at lunch about the plans you had for the year and how excited you were to meet everyone on the team. You sounded so confident in yourself and your leadership. After that, I had it all planned out in my head. I was going to eat lunch with you and drop a very suave pick-up line about how we should go out sometime."

You snort and glance up at him. "Lucky for you I embarrassed myself when I did. I've heard your pick-up lines and no matter how attractive I thought you were I don't think younger me would've been that entranced to fall for it." Your comment earns you a few tickles to the ribs, a laugh bubbling out as you flinch away from him.

"Yeah well, now you're stuck with me and my bad pick-up lines forever." He places a kiss on your forehead and drapes one of his long legs over yours.

The word 'forever' fills you with glee. You consider yourself lucky every day that you’re able to say you’ll get to spend the rest of your life with this man. Seokjin isn’t perfect and you’ve been through many things over the years as a couple, but at the end of the day, the joy and love that you feel when you’re with him means more to you than anything. Knowing you've found the person you want to and are going to spend the rest of your life with is the best feeling in the world.

[bubblesthemonsterartist]

2021 Creator Self-Love Extravaganza!

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works (fics, art, edits, etc.) you’ve created this year and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world in 2021. If you don’t have five published works, that’s fine! Include ideas/drafts/whatever you like that you’ve worked on/thought about, and talk a little about them instead! Remember, this is all about self-love and positive enthusiasm, so fuck the rules if you need to. Have fun, and tag as many fellow creators as you like so they can share the love! <3

This year I experimented with gifmaking for the first time, so on top of a word count, I have a media!

Years total: 91014 words, 10 fics, and literally hundreds of gifs

1. "At some point in your childhood, you and your friends went outside to play together for the last time, and nobody knew it" - Hakuouki, ensemble, rating: G - It's not every day that I get to bring my own brand of emotional terrorism to a new fandom, but when I do, I make sure to attack the entire fandom as a whole. Bonus points for using a brand-new-to-me medium to do it! :D [gifset]

2. Initiate - Gokushufudou, Tatsu/Friendship, rating: G - My first foray into writing for a fandom outside of AnS! And of course what would inspire me was a brief excursion into the AO3 tag only to discover the tragedy of a mere 9 fics for that wonderful series 😢 There's more now, but this was me pushing the tag into the double digits and I had a lot of fun writing early Tatsu adjusting to his new role as a homemaker (and the friends he made along the way)! [4818 words]

3. A Place at the Table - Akagami no Shirayukihime, Happy Family, rating: G - This is a fic that I drafted back in 2016 when I first joined the fandom and quickly became overwhelmed since I hadn't the practice nor the skill at the time to execute what I wanted. Five years later, I tried again and not only got to write food feels, but also a snap shot of the early Happy Family formation between Ryuu, Shirayuki and Obi! [12231 words]

4. the abyss gazes unto thee - Hakuouki, No Pairing, rating: M for body horror and raising the dead - I raged - RAGED - at Yamazaki's death scene during Sannan's route and clearly there was nothing to be done but right a terrible, terrible wrong. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to write Sannan's voice, too. He is precisely the degree of morally gray that I'm down for apparently. [2198 words]

5. Seraglio, Chapter 3 - Akagami no Shirayukihime, Obiyuki, rating: M - Everything about this AU is like pulling teeth to write because Shirayuki has undergone such a fundamental change to her canon story. Whenever I sit down to type out a new chapter for it, it undergoes multiple fully rewritten drafts and also has to be discussed in depth with @sabraeal on each draft because this is a joint venture and we need to be on the same page when the other half is writing a new chapter. For as much as I complain about, though, I really love the final product. There's something about these two upping their messiness to previously unknown levels that just appeals, ya know? [7702 words]

I'm going to add a new component to this, too, people can choose to skip this part if they want. Future plans! In 2022, I plan on wrapping up Seven Nights (Yamachi) and I Should've Met You Yesterday (Obiyuki); if I am successful there, then I want to get to work posting the tumblr-only follow up. I also want to write a "short" PWP for Spy x Family (Loid/Yor). But my BIG project, I think, is going to be centered on My Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead To Doom! (Maria/Catarina). Of course this is an ambitious line up, but I am excited about each of these pieces and I'm really hoping to share what's in my head with you all! :D

Alright! I'm tagging... @sabraeal, @claudeng80, @onedivinemisfit, @ruleofexception, @infinitelystrangemachinex and anybody else who wants to join in on the fun!