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#(okay first a disclaimer: i do think we need to sit down as a fandom at some point)
egophiliac · 12 days
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Hi it's just to let you know that the official romanization of Revaan's name is Raverne ! Also they have romanized Baul's name to Baur !
Twst coming back at us again with the least expected romanization! thank you everybody (oh god my inbox) (no it's great, I literally asked for this and the reactions have been INCREDIBLE, thank you all!)
I do like Raverne though, I think it's got a nice fancy sound to it! (I had kinda suspected it was going to be an R instead of an L, so the fact that it's SO close to Laverne except for that is hilarious to me personally.) and Dragoneye Duke is honestly probably the best translation for his title, I wasn't envying the localizers that one. :') Baur instead of Baul I was NOT expecting, but in retrospect I think his name's supposed to be a reference to the Bauru crocodile, so that actually makes way more sense!
someone else also said Meleanor has become Maleanor, which is the REALLY weird one to me, because I was so surprised it was written as Mel instead of Mal in the first place?! oh god no I can't decide which one I like better. 😭 (I wonder if they might change it to Mal...they have made romanization changes before) (like I remember House of Distraction being corrected to House of Destruction in Playful Land) (I did check and she's still Mel for now, but I dunno, they might Mal her up and some point and save me from having to make a decision about which one to use) (HECK I CAN'T DECIDE)
uhhhh thank you for letting me ramble about anime names, let's just say MONOGRAMMED SWEATERS FOR EVERYONE
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#twisted wonderland#twisted wonderland spoilers#twisted wonderland episode 7 spoilers#twisted wonderland book 7 spoilers#twisted wonderland episode 7 part 4 spoilers#twisted wonderland book 7 part 4 spoilers#mel is so cute but mal fits with the rest of the draconias better#eng version no you were supposed to save me not make things MORE confusing#anyway raverne huh#that uh. that sure feels like it's supposed to evoke raven doesn't it.#what does it mean WHAT DOES IT MEAN#hold on i'm going to flail around embarrassingly about anime character theories now#(okay first a disclaimer: i do think we need to sit down as a fandom at some point)#(and have a discussion about exactly what is actual canon versus meta speculation versus jokes)#(because i think there has been. some confusion. over that re:crowley and raverne specifically)#(but i do feel justified in being like THEY ARE PROBABLY CONNECTED SOMEHOW RIGHT?! right now)#like i really don't think it's as simple as crowley being raverne but with memory loss or something#(and if they pull that on us i'm going to need an EXTREMELY good explanation to go with it to justify that)#they've gone out of their way several times now to make a point about them acting and sounding different and it feels very intentional to m#(and once again: i super 100% absolutely do not believe that lilia wouldn't recognize him with the top half of his face covered)#i just think the contradictions are a lot stronger than the connections right now but there ARE some connections and i'm 👀ing at them#to be fair the connections are mostly meta like crowley being diablo/raverne being evocative of raven#also the general 'raverne mysteriously disappeared and apparently had distinctive eyes' thing#versus 'crowley's past is unknown and he never shows his eyes'#(i will argue that crowley DOES seem to have some kind of canon connection to briar valley)#(since he is clearly some sort of fae and the masks are a briar valley thing)#and that is kinda it right now isn't it#okay hold on i had to delete some tags because i used too many (thanks tumblr for letting me know and not just vanishing them OH WAIT)#so tl;dr: i'm in the 'crowley is connected to raverne somehow but it's more complicated than just him being in disguise' camp personally#but that will probably change as we get more info and also don't take this as an anti-speculation thing because i love theories HOORAY
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greyeyedmonster-18 · 2 years
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Hey Dr. Grey. Do you have any tips for coping with anxiety in fandom spaces please? I would really value your advice.
oh, hello, anon.
i am...going to respond to this but i am first going to say its felt like the past few days my asks have gotten a bit nosy in regards to my...personal boundaries with fandom/who i talk to in fandom/why i do, why i don't etc etc etc etc. and that is fine, but will respond in a way that maybe is perceived to be more on the rude side. i am likely to be way more personable in DM's and asks i can respond privately to. this admittedly feels like its fishing for information and i'm not sure why? but, we shall respond.
--i don't know what...part of the fandom is bringing you anxiety, sweet anon, and i am sorry it is. fandom should be fun. i repeat, fandom should be fun. but sometimes it just straight up isn't, and im sorry. i'm...going to address this generically? because i honestly need more information about...the anxiety source to provide any sort of tips.
i am also going to be disclaimer this as: i'm generally not a person who gives to fucks what other people think of me. like if someone wants to talk? okay, have a nice day, so glad i gave you something to talk about. and i care....very little what a group of internet strangers, who are just here to read about gay wizards, think about me based on what i post. but here are...some tips that i use for having a better...online experience?
uhm...first tip is curate your experience. if there are people here causing you stress and anxiety (it might be people you follow, people who don't follow but see on your dash, certain ships, certain groups? idk) filtering and blocking. im very liberal with the block button, and i have no qualms about it. if someone is stressing you out/making you anxious and you're not sure why-- block them. if someone cares that i have blocked them, i have never gotten feedback about it so uh...i think people can move on, ya know?
*the rest is below the cut to avoid dash spam
second, "people aren't thinking about you the way that you're thinking about you"-- so here's the deal. im not going to sit here and be like "yah fandoms don't talk shit about other people in the fandom!" because that would be a lie.
we absolutely do. in our own separate little discord servers, but the thing is its usually about fandoms that don't...interact. example: i talk shit about the Pro-Snape fandom all the time! I don't get them! Ship and Let Ship but also what the fuck was hot snape summer. (and im not going into their asks and their pages, and being like WHAT THE FUCK), i am just ???? in my own little crew. and they're probably over in their crew being like "have you seen Grey's page, they don't even write snape ever." and its HORRIFYNG to them, but like....whatever? I don't care what they think.
but, people aren't thinking about you and your works and your blog the way that you're thinking about it. another wolfstar writer or page is someone we cheer on. we're all too wrapped up in our own unfinished WIP'S and silly little headcanons and lives to be concerned with what someone else is doing. if someone is shitting on my wolfstar or moonchaser or whatever in their own private little servers, good for them. again, so glad i gave them something to bond over! i'm building community through hate and i love that! but i love my wolfstar. and my 11 friends do too (or if they hate it, they're not telling me to my face, which is alright by me). that's all i can care about.
third, i love a good boundary. i really and truly do. and i know there is a pressure on tumblr and in the fandom communities to be like WARM AND INVITING AND CHATTING WITH EVERYBODY AND GETTING TO KNOW EVERYBODY all the time, but like...that's fake. you don't have to do it, if you don't want to! have two friends, have 8000 friends, whatever you want. if the people and the pressure and the NOISE is whats bringing you anxiety....tone it down.
you don't have to talk to everyone. you don't have to update every week. you don't have to respond to all your comments. you don't have to write a novel in the authors notes. you literally don't have to do anything you don't want to do. it is your space. you make your home however you want to make it. fandom is supposed to be fun.
make it fun again anon.
(also, i will reiterate that if you DM me, I will not bite. and can respond to this more appropriately.)
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Love, Peace, and Goodbyes
Title: Love, Peace, And Goodbyes Fandom: Dancing With The Stars Ship: Daniel Durant x Britt Stewart For: Moody Blues Challenge (#111 Observe the truth we cannot hide - Eternity Road) Disclaimer: This a real life fic inspired by real people if that makes you uncomfortable you have every right not to read. I will not be upset.  Note: Do not post or link this anywhere without my permission. Also my first piece in well over a year for any fandom, so be gentle with me.
“Are you sleeping with him?” Britt’s eyes went wide as she repeated Reid’s question in her head at least half a dozen times.
“No, of course not!” Finally she blurts out the answer, reaching over to rub his upper arm, he pats her hand tenderly.
“Don’t worry I know you’re not, but you want to.” With that her world shatters. She had tried so hard to bury and conceal these feelings, convince herself it was merely an innocent crush and even those in relationships can find others attractive; just as long as they don’t act on it. Acting on something is one thing Britt vowed to never do, but it is at that moment she realizes she would do anything to be able to.
“Yes.” Whispers Britt, dropping her head. Her heart breaking for Reid. Their relationship wasn’t perfect and she was aware of the comments and questionable looks it received from both those in their real lives and people on social media platforms, the truth is she did care deeply for him and would never wish to hurt him. 
“It’s okay Britt. You seem happy even when failing to hide your feelings for him, I can’t imagine how joyful you’ll be when you’re no longer pretending. More than anything I want you to be happy. And I am not providing that for you.” She begins to tear up.
“This isn’t what I wanted to happen, Reid.”
“I know, but it’s our reality. I think we both know, even before you meet Daniel, that this was no longer working; much as we both have tried to pretend it was.’  Reid stands up and walks in front of Britt, reaches down to take her hands, and squeezes them. ‘It’s time we say goodbye.” She finds herself now crying fully.
“I do love you.”
“And I you, it’s time for us to move and fulfill our separate destinies. Now if you don’t invite me to your wedding I’m going to be pissed.” Britt gasps as Reid laughs, squeezes her hands one last time before retreating to the bedroom. He emerges a few minutes later with two seemingly filled rolling suitcases. Britt ponders how long they have been packed and ready to be revealed.
“I love you.” Britt calls out to him; for what she knows will be the last time those three words are spoken by her to him; as opens the front door and walks out.
Britt sits on the couch, staring at the TV unaware of what is even being shown, her emotions racing through her like an out of control roller coaster. Then suddenly everything halts and finds herself at peace. Hard as it was, this was what had to be.
~~~
“I need to tell you something, Daniel.” Britt speaks and signs carefully. He endigates okay with a nod whilst pushing his platter of sushi a bit to allow her to know she has his full attention. 
“Everything ok?” Britt nods.
“A couple nights ago Reid and I broke up.” She signs and only whispers the words. Daniel stares at her for such an amount of time she begins to fear perhaps she messed up the sign and actually said something completely gibberish.
“I’m sorry.” He at last signs back.
“Thank you.’ Britt pauses, takes a deep breath to gather the courage for the next part. Much as she imagined in the last few days how this conversation could possibly go, the reality of it actually happening is quite different. ‘He realized I was in love with someone else…you.” Daniel’s eyes go wide and immediately his smile is so large she knows it has to be hurting him just a little.
“I assume he was right?” Daniel signs with a wink. Britt nods and begins to smile 
“Yes. I love you Daniel. I know it has not been long but…”
“I know. I know. And I love you Britt.” She notices he is starting to tear up.
“I think we should finish the show first before we explore this. Ok?” Britt signs to him.
“Ok. I now have something to look forward to besides the mirror ball. You’re going to be a better prize by the way.”
“Crazy how everything has happened huh, Daniel?”
“It’s fate Britt. It’s fate. Just two weeks to go.”
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little-fics · 3 years
Text
Bee
Fandom: Marvel
Pairing: Stucky x Reader; platonic!uncle!Tony
Summary: Reader is teetering the edge of a slip when her buddies Sam and Clint are mean to her, daddy stucky to the rescue
Warnings: age regression, scary bees, bottle, pacifier, anxiety, a little violence, angry!Steve (not at you), mean!sam and mean!clint, I may have missed some, read at your own risk
Word count: 2.2K
A/N: I had fun with this one! I hope you like it!
Disclaimer for my blog!
Life with Bucky and Steve was great, you'd officially been together for about a year, and they'd been your daddies about half that time. You didn't always regress, just when the world got a little too big and you needed to leave it all behind. The avengers didn't know about your coping mechanism, at your own request, save for Tony who has programmed Friday to detect when you're little and were about to do something that babies shouldn't do, such as cooking or showering because babies makes messes and get hurt. It was something you'd kept private and to yourself for a long time, and it took months to feel comfortable enough to talk with Steve and Bucky about it. You weren't always feeling little, and had the capability of being a very vital part to the team, but on your days off, it was easy to find yourself slipping into that headspace.
That's how you got to sitting on the balcony, slowly slipping into that headspace after a difficult mission. You'd woken up between Steve and Bucky, crawling out of the bed quietly, not quite feeling small but you know it's coming. Clint and Sam find you outside, sunbathing and staring at the clouds. Sam is the first one to come outside, Clint following close behind.
"Mornin' sunshine," Sam sits next to you, Clint moving to the other side of you, relaxing in his seat, Sam holding out a glass to you, "want some lemonade? I know that coffee makes you jittery on your days off." You take the glass, smiling at the yellow straw poking up from the top, "Thank you! And a straw!" You twiddle with it gently, pulling it out to take a sip. "Gosh," your shoulders sag and your head leans back in ecstasy, "Clint's lemonade is the best, thank you." Clint pointedly looks at Sam, smug, "Why thank you Y/n, I'm blushing." Sam scoffs, "You wouldn't have even made it if I didn't beg!" Clint shrugs, "I made food," he looks to you, "speaking of," he has you a plate with a sausage and egg biscuit. You tentatively take it from him, "Oh thank you, are you sure?" Clint laughs, leaning back in his seat, "Yeah, honey, me and Sam already had some."
Once you finish your biscuit, you're back to staring at the pretty sky, sipping on your lemonade listening to Sam and Clint bicker back and forth. A bee comes out of nowhere, eliciting a small yelp from you and you're quickly standing from your seat. They're laughing, which hurt your feelings, the fear of the bee causing you to slip fully. You try to go inside but hear Sam speak to the AI, "Friday, lock patio doors under code Falcon," before you make it to the door. When you pull on it the door won't budge. "Sam," your voice is meek, "that's not funny," you whine and shake the door again, getting nervous over the buzzing around your lemonade on the table. "Friday, open the door." Clint laughs again, "It's just a bee, you've been shot before and you can't handle a bee?" A tear slips down your face, and you feel your heartbeat pick up.
You shake on the door, trying to get away from your mean friends, wiping a tear away, "Open the door Sam." He's laughing, he thinks this is funny, "It's just a bee, it'll be gone in a minute Y/n, it's fine." You shake the door more violently, and it's clear Sam wasn't going to open the door. You bring your hand to the bracelet that lays around your wrist, a fail safe if something is wrong, to immediately notify Steve and Bucky that you need them. You find the tiny sun charm, pressing the tiny button that notifies your daddies of your state of mind and that you're in trouble, different from the other charm, a moon, who notifies your boyfriends of an emergency.
Bucky is the first one to hear Friday, "Mr. Barnes, Mr. Rogers," he groans groggily, "Friday, it's too early for this, what is it?" Bucky reaches over to find just Steve, no tiny baby to love on as he hears Friday once more, "I am sorry Mr. Barnes, but it seems munchkin has requested your presence with signs of distress." Bucky's eyes snap open at the use of the programmed name for when you're in your little space, throwing the covers off and slapping Steve's shoulder. "Bucky, what the-" Steve stops when he realizes that Bucky is already out the door, he's quickly behind him, not bothering to put a shirt on, as Bucky hadn't.
"Friday, where is munchkin?" Bucky spits, FRIDAY speaking up once more, "Munchkin is on the patio with Mr. Wilson and Mr. Barton." Their brows crunch together in confusion, Steve finally speaking up on their way to the patio, sleep still heavy in his voice, "Is something wrong?" Bucky shrugs nervously, "Friday said she was showing signs of distress." The system speaks up once more, "That is correct. Munchkin's heart rate seems to be elevated and she is showing signs of high stress. She notified me by her emergency contact Sun Ray." At this, Bucky and Steve speed up, trying to get to you as quickly as possible.
The bee is still there, attracted not only to the lemonade, but the brightly colored pajamas keeping its attention as it flies back and forth between you and the lemonade. When it flies towards you, you hide in the corner of the patio, screaming, running to the other corner to hide from it when it follows you, a tear streaking down your face. Sam sees the stray tear, immediately his stomach sinking while you're piddling with your bracelet, ignoring the tears on your face, not hearing Sam when he stands and calls out gently, "Friday unlock the doors." Sam's in front of you, "Let's go inside, come on." When he reaches for you, you flinch back from him, causing his heart to break a little. You're now frantically pushing the button on your charm.
"Mr. Rogers, Mr. Barnes, munchkin has sent a distress call 13 times, up to 17, 23," and then they're at the doors to the patio, slinging them open.
Bucky takes in your appearance, you look afraid, tears freely streaming down your face, now surrounded by Clint and Sam, who are violently moved by Bucky. He's lifting you by your thighs, bringing them around his waist, glaring at Sam and Clint before carrying you inside. When you're back inside, feeling the rush of AC, you let loose, heavy thick tears falling with sobs. "Shhh my little bunny, I've got you."
Steve remains on the porch, staring at a shell shocked Sam and Clint, "What happened?" They shrug, "It was just a bee, we didn't know it would scare her so bad." Steve rolls his eyes at the men, following Bucky back to your room. When he gets there, you're straddling Bucky on the bed, hands tucked under you, fists balled up tightly, hiccuping sobs. "'S mean," Bucky is rubbing your back, shushing softly while you try to explain what happened, "wouldn't let me 'nside daddy, I try." More sobs erupt from you, Steve's brow furrowing, wondering what you meant.
"Friday, show me what happened with munchkin on the patio before Sun Ray was activated." He watches as the TV screen starts playing the scene, fury creeping up in his bones, while Bucky continued to console you, but matching the fire Steve has in his eyes. Steve saunters out of the room when the TV shuts off, heading straight for Sam and Clint. Bucky holds you closer when you whimper, "Oh doll, dada will be right back, he's just gonna go get you something to drink." You continue to sob, you refused to take your pacifier, dropping it out of your mouth every time he tried to put it in, sobs not allowing it to stay. "Baby baby baby, you're okay, that little bee isn't gonna getcha in here, only daddy." He tries to tickle you, but you just sob louder. He's thankful for the soundproof walls, knowing you don't like to draw attention.
Steve finds Sam and Clint in the common room with Nat and Tony. Tony stands when he sees Steve, anger on his face still shirtless. Steve comes up from behind Sam and Clint, grabbing their shirts roughly, pulling them up and off the couch, feet dangling a foot above the floor, turning them to face him. They're shouting, trying to get Steve to let go. Tony is trying to pull Sam away from him, Nat trying to hit his weak spots so he will drop Clint but he doesn't budge.
"Did you think it was funny?" Steve spits, bringing his face closer to theirs, "Did you? You think it was funny when she cried? Think it was funny when she screamed and pulled on the door? How would you feel huh? If someone laughed at you because you were scared? If your friends laughed at you?" Tony and Nat are confused, "Steve calm down, what happened?" Steve scowls, overpowering the men easily as he turns them around, still holding them in the air. "Friday, pull up the patio clip and my bedroom feed on the common room television."
"Voice identification confirmed. One moment." The video starts playing, but all they can hear are your sobs, not able to hear the small consoling your daddy is trying or the talk from the patio clip as it plays. "Is it still funny bird boy? Is it still funny when you know you're the reason she's like this? No? Good." Steve throws them down on the couch, Tony is furious, Nat is scolding them, and Steve's on his way into the kitchen.
Tony follows Steve after shutting off the video feed, Nat still scolding the two perpetrators. Steve is piddling around, heating up some milk in the microwave. "You okay man?" Tony asks, placing a hand on his back, when Steve glares at him Tony sighs. "Man you can't go back to her seething like this." Steve lets out a huff, "I've never wanted to throttle someone like I do right now." He grabs the milk from the microwave, mixing some hot chocolate power in it, something that frequently happens when you're having a very bad day. Tony hands Steve a bottle, hidden in a thin cabinet, only unlocked by four people in the tower; Uncle Tony, your daddies, and you. "She's your baby, and she hasn't stopped crying because her buddies were mean to her and she doesn't understand, if you go in there angry, she will think you're mad at her." Tony chides, Steve, resonating with Tony's words, takes a deep breath, filling up your bottle and continuing to shake it. "Want me to come cheer her up with you?" Steve sighs, "Let us calm her down a bit, get her feeling right and we'll play some games later yeah?" Tony starts to rummage through the fridge, "Have Friday notify me." Steve nods, leaving Tony and going back to his baby.
When he opens the door, you're still crying, but when Steve sits he pulls you into his lap, holding you like a baby and rocking you. "Shhh, it's okay baby, I know they were mean, but papa's here now. It's okay," he's rubbing your face gently, your sobs turned to weak whimpers. "That's it baby, you want some milk?" You nuzzle into his chest, Bucky taking a sip of the bottle making sure it's not too hot and gives it back to Steve. He holds the tip to your lips, you instantly wrap your lips around it and hum happily.
"There she is, sweet girl," his fingers tangle in your hair, massaging your scalp gently while Bucky rubs your legs with a feather light touch. You hiccup on the milk, Steve moving it away from you and wiping away a stray tear. Your fingers clutch around his shoulder, whining, "Papa." He coos at you, "Drinking too fast aren't we love?" You let out another whine, your bottom lip wobbling, "Pease papa." He traces your jawline before bringing the bottle back to your lips, "Slower, you hear me dove?" You nod gently, closing your eyes and continuing to drink the bottle.
You're teetering on the edge of sleep, Steve wiping away a drop of milk that finds its way to the corner of your mouth. He takes the bottle very carefully, stopping when you suck on it a little harder, trying to hold it in your mouth. "Bunny," Bucky's voice sings to you, "let daddy have that, okay?" Steve tries to pull it away again, this time with no fight, Bucky pressing your pacifier to your lips, which you take happily. He clips it to the top of your pajama shirt so if you drop it, it'll stay relatively within reach. "Friday, put on munchkins lullaby playlist."
Soft music starts playing through the room, bringing you all the way under, soft snores against Steves chest alerting them to your slumber. "Mr. Rogers, Mr. Barnes, Mr. Wilson and Mr. Barton are outside, requesting entrance." Bucky rolls his eyes as he slides back down into the bed, "Friday, decline entrance and leave us be to nap for an hour." Steve moves you to Bucky, your sleeping form habitually wrapping around him and his warmth. Steve huddles behind you, wrapping his arm over you and resting it on Bucky, rubbing small circles. "She's gonna be a handful today," Steve comments, letting Bucky know that he thinks today is going to be one of those days where you regress further than usual. "She's gonna have such a good time with Tony." Bucky laughs, his eyes flutter shut, "Don't count her daddies short."
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ikleesfiction · 3 years
Text
Miss Americana
Fandom : Crossover Hawaii Five-0 x Chicago PD TV Word count : 5,610 words Pairing : Steve McGarrett x Danny Williams; Jay Halstead x reader
Summary :  You met Williams-McGarrett family in Los Angeles and they introduced you to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Your boyfriend, Jay Halstead, doesn't know anything about this. Yet.
Author's note :
This is the fourth one shot of "Will you follow through if I fall for you" fic continuation. It would be better if you read it first. But if you don't, here's the quick summary.
This happened after I listened to a few podcasts (1  🞂  2  🞂 3) of Scott Caan and Alex O'Loughlin, passionately talking about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. 
This fic does not comply to the canon of Hawaii Five-0 or Chicago PD. So if you don't follow one of the other, it should not be a hindrance, I think. Here's hoping that I'm right.
Disclaimer
◢◤
"Would you like another cup of coffee?
You look up from the book in your hand to the waiter addressing you.
"Oh, I would love to. But it's already my fourth cup of the day," You grimace at him. "Maybe I'll take a bottle of water, please? Cold, if you have one."
The waiter grins at you, "Sure thing," then leave with your empty cup of coffee.
You are supposed to meet your friend, Tim, at his house on The Bird Streets to work on a song. However, he got a sudden appointment and asked you to wait for his call to reschedule. So here you are, sitting at a Cafe/Bistro somewhere in Los Angeles, drinking too much coffee.
You check your watch and your phone. It's almost lunchtime, but your phone is still showing nothing. Alright then, you thought to yourself, back to the book. Your eyes immediately find the last paragraph you read on Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.
Five pages later, the waiter puts a bottle of water on your table, "Here it is. You sure you don't want another cup of coffee?" He jokes with you.
You laugh in response, "No, really, thank you."
The waiter leaves with a smile and turns to the table across from yours. That's when you notice somebody's sitting there.
"Good afternoon. Only for two?" The waiter lays two menu cards on the table.
"Four. My husband and daughter are parking the car." The man answers him with a smile. He has a little boy sitting next to him. His son, you guess, since both of them have blond hair. Their noses look similar too.
"Danno, can I have ice cream for lunch?" The boy begs his father, pointing at one of the delightful pictures on the card.
"Hmm, maybe." The father hums his reply. He exchanges a knowing glance with the waiter.
"Do you want anything to drink while you're waiting?"
"Soda!" The boy yells from his chair, who laughs at his father's glare.
"How about two glasses of orange juice?" The father checks to his son before confirming it with the waitress.
"Okay, be right back with your drinks."
After the waiter leaves, the boy begins to prattle about everything to his father. About giraffes at the zoo ("They are so tall like Dad!"), about his favorite ice cream flavors ("Cookie Dough. But I like Kame's shave ice better, Danno"), about swimming at Venice Beach ("There's a lot of people there, Danno. I like our beach more")
The boy doesn't even look like he needs to breathe. You can't help but let out a chuckle. His father looks up at you and shares a grin. "That's great, Charlie," He comments to his son.
You let their conversation become a white noise while you read your book.
At your periphery, you see someone passes by. However, you don't expect a hand to suddenly sneak your phone from the table. Your hand instantly grabs that wrist, trying to stop it from stealing your phone. But the thief forcefully pulls his hand out of your reach and moves away.
Unfortunately for the thief, he runs straight to the father at your neighboring table. The man has no problem flipping the thief over and pushes him to their table. When the thief squirms away from his clutch, the man lifts the thief's elbow high up and turns it behind his back in a very painful lock. The unpleasant sound coming out of the thief's mouth proves how excruciating it is.
The man's eyes wander. Many shocked faces are staring at him, including yours. "It's okay, I'm a cop," He explains.
In contrast to the crowd, the boy looks at his father in awe, gleefully clapping his hands.
"Charlie, why are you clapping? You're not supposed to clap at this. Oh my god, you are just like your father! Happy to see any aggression," The man rants as he takes out a cable tie from his trousers' pocket. You don't even know why he got cable ties in his pocket. He efficiently ties the perp's hands behind his back and forces him to sit.
Only then, the man addresses the crowd again, "Has anyone called 9-1-1?"
"I did. The police are on the way," One of the cafe's staff squeaks from the door, with a phone still in her hand.
"Excellent! Did you hear that? Your ride would be here soon," The man tightly squeezes the thief's shoulders. The thief could only reply with an agonized grunt.
Everybody else resumes their activities with a sporadic look to their table.
The boy picks up the stolen phone from the floor. It fell near his foot during the short scuffle. "Danno," He hands your phone over to his father.
"Ah, thanks, Charlie," The man ruffles the kid's hair and kisses the top of his head.
"I believe this is yours?" The man returns the phone to you. "Hope it's still working?" He cringes at the spiderweb marks on the phone screen.
"Thanks. Probably not. But it's alright." You smile at the man and offer to shake his hand, "Y/N Y/LN, thanks again for helping me,"
The man takes your hand, "Hey, no big deal. Danny Williams. And this is my son, Charlie," Danny brings Charlie in front of him. You extend your hand to Charlie as well.
All of a sudden, you hear voices yelling from behind you. "Danno! Charlie!"
You look back to see a tall, dark, imposing man and a beautiful teenage girl rushing in your direction. Charlie shouts back at them, "Daddy! Gracie!"
So you guess they must be Danny's husband and daughter.
This new man drops down to Charlie's level and checks on him, trying to see if he's injured. "Are you okay? Charlie?"
"Dad! Dad! Danno was soooo cool! He pushing and then flipping and then that man went aaargh!" Charlie re-tells the scene to his father, holding his elbow behind his back to show him.
Couldn't really understand his son's story, the man asks his husband to elaborate, "Danny, what's happening here? Why are you arresting this man?"
"I'm not arresting anybody, Steve. We don't have jurisdiction to make an arrest, you know? Since we are in LA, not Hawaii? I'm just holding this man until LAPD shows up," Danny clarifies to his husband, Steve.
"But why?" Steve is still confused.
"This guy here, what's your name?" Danny barks at the thief. But his mouth stays glued. "Really? Would you prefer my ex-SEAL here asking you the question?" Danny gestures in Steve's direction.
Steve stands tall. His hands are folded in front of his chest. His biceps bulge in his tight t-shirt. The thief's face turns green, looking fearful. Steve's scowl was probably not helping either.
"Danny?? What's going on here?" Steve begins to lose his patience.
"What?? It's no big deal, babe!" Danny yells back at Steve. "This guy here tried to nick this woman's phone. I'm just helping her," Danny motions in your direction.
"Y/N, here's my husband, Steve McGarrett, and our daughter, Grace," Danny continues to introduce you to his family. You shake their hands and exchanging simple pleasantries.
"As I said, I just helped Y/N to get her phone back. Now we are waiting for LAPD," Danny ends his explanation.
Shortly a police car comes, and two officers quickly take their statements. Initially, the police officers are bemused to find the thief already sat with his hands tied behind his back. After Danny explains that he is a Detective from Honolulu PD and how he prevented the attempted theft, the police officers understand the situation. They ask if you'd like to press charges on Tom Norris, that's the thief's name according to his ID. Considering you're not hurt, you decline on pressing charges. The police are gone with the thief sooner than you expected.
"Can I treat you lunch for your trouble? Shoot! A super late lunch?" You corrected after checking your watch.
"Hey, don't worry, it's no trouble at all," Danny says to you with a big smile.
"No, no, seriously. You guys were on holiday, I guess. But still bothered to help me. Lunch is the least I can do."
Before long, they arrange to get a table for five and talk a lot during the meal.
◢◤
"So you guys are from Hawaii? That's nice!" You tell the family.
"See, Danno? That's what you're supposed to say about Hawaii. You're the only one who describes Hawaii as a pineapple-infested hell hole," laments Steve to his husband.
"I'm just telling the truth, babe. How about you, Y/N? Where are you from?" Danny tries to find out.
"Originally from The Netherlands, Amsterdam. But I moved to Chicago last year," You reply.
"Now that, Steve, is a city that would appreciate seasonal changes," Danny nods his approval of Chicago.
"Only you, Danno, who whines about constant sunshine." Steve grumbles.
Grace and Charlie don't react much to their parents' bickering. Too used to their silliness. But you still find it quite funny.
"So you guys are here for vacation?" You ask the family.
"Kind of. We are on holiday. Also, we are visiting the colleges here for Grace, who will graduate high school next year," Steve throws his right arm around Grace's shoulder.
"Yes, we are on an excursion to prove to Grace that LA universities are not better than the University of Hawaii," Danny quips from Steve's left.
Grace whines at his father, "Danno..."
"Danny here doesn't want his children to be far away from him," Steve enlightens you. "But I think going to school in LA would be better than The Netherlands. Wouldn't it, babe?" Steve winks at Grace.
"Do not joke about that, Steven!" Danny elbows his husband hard.
Grace looks thoughtful for a moment, "Y/N, did you go to college in the Netherlands? What do you think my chance to study there?"
"Gracie, can I come with you to This Otherlands?" Charlie innocently chirps to his sister.
Steve is laughing so loud, even after Danny punches his arm.
"What about you, Y/N? What are you doing in LA? Are you on vacation too?" Danny questions you after the laughter receded.
"I'm here for work. Most of the time, I'd do it remotely from Chicago. But sometimes I have to make the trip here or to Amsterdam," You tell them.
"What do you do?"
"I'm a music producer," You give a simple answer.
"What instruments do you play?" Steve is curious. "Guitar?"
"Mostly piano and synthesizer. I do play guitar, but I'm just an okay guitar player. I wish I could play better,"
"Dad plays guitar too!" Charlie happily declares as he points at Steve.
You cheer at Charlie's enthusiasm, "Does he? That's great!"
"Yeah, he plays very well. Maybe Dad can teach you to play better," Charlie directs you.
"Oh, yes, that would be awesome," You wholeheartedly agree with Charlie, as the rest of the table laughing at the idea of Steve teaches music.
◢◤
"Danny, I was wondering if you could explain something to me," You turn to the man.
"Shoot," Danny nods as he puts down his juice glass.
"The arm lock that you did to the thief. Where did you learn that? Did Steve teach you that?" You ask him, genuinely want to know.
"Well, even though Steve here was the Navy SEAL," Danny glares at his husband, who replies with a smirk, "I have been working as a cop for more than 20 years now. I know some moves too,"
"But that's not a cop's move," You contradict him.
"How do you know any cop's moves?" Danny confronts you back.
"My boyfriend is a cop in Chicago," You give Danny a sheepish smile.
"Ah, I see. Did your boyfriend teach you self-defense?"
"He did. I'm nowhere near good as Jay. But it's a start," You answer Danny.
"Of course. If he's not good at it, then he's not a good cop," Danny comments without sounding too arrogant.
"Jay also taught me about guns. Personally, I don't like it, but he needs me to know about it, especially gun safety. So..." You shrug.
Danny nods his understanding, "Yeah. Be glad that he doesn't bring home grenades or other explosives," Danny gives Steve a stink eye. "Unlike some Super!SEAL here,"
Steve is immune to that look. It doesn't seem to affect him anymore.
You smile at their interaction, "Jay was an Army Ranger. After he came back, he went to Police Academy,"
"Really?" Steve looks interested.
"Oh, here we go," Danny sighs at his husband.
Steve grins but decides not to comment on it any further. He goes praising Danny instead.
"But Danny is being too modest here. He is a great fighter. Sometimes he's even better than me. Which lots of people find it surprising, considering I was a SEAL,"
"and don't you forget it, babe," Danny smirks at Steve, who returns it with a chaste kiss.
You sigh internally. Looking at the lovely couple made you miss your boyfriend, Jay.
"In all seriousness," Danny begins, "I practiced Jiu-Jitsu since high school. That's where the moves come from," He pauses to sip on his drink.
"I got my Blue Belt when I entered The Police Academy. For me, I think, I learned how to fight better in Jiu-Jitsu than what they taught us there," Danny continues.
"Do you also teach it to Grace and Charlie?" You ask the parents.
"Yeah. Danny taught them both as early as possible. Grace already got her Yellow Belt when we first met. Now she is working for her Purple Belt," Steve brags. Danny also looks so proud. Grace, though, tries so hard not to roll her eyes at her parents.
"Me too! I will get my Yellow Belt soon! Right, Danno?" Charlie exclaims.
"Of course you are kiddo. After that, you surely can beat your Dad here," Danny ruffles Charlie's hair. Steve offers his palm for a high five, but Charlie punches it instead. He giggles when Steve is faking to be hurt by Charlie's tiny fist.
"Do you think I could learn it too?" You inquire to Danny.
Danny and Steve look at each other. You're waiting for their answer, hoping that they will agree.
Before they decide anything, Grace interrupts, "We can go check out the place that Sensei Egan told us, Danno."
"Yeah, that's a great idea," Steve agrees to his daughter's suggestion. "We can check that dojo for Grace, meeting the instructor. Maybe could show some moves too for y/n,"
"Okay then. Grace, share the dojo address with y/n. We can meet you there tomorrow morning, what do you say, y/n?" Danny asks you.
You're supposed to fly back to Chicago next afternoon, but what the hell, you are very interested in this offer. "Yes, sure. If you don't mind me crashing your holiday plan again?"
"No, not at all. We need to check out that place anyway." Steve waves off your worry.
Grace passes her phone to you. "You can puy your number there. I will forward you the address,"
You tap your number to Grace's phone before groaning when you remember that your phone is dead. "Could you e-mail me instead? I don't think I could replace my phone soon,"
Danny doesn't even try to hold his laugh at your poor luck.
◢◤
The next day, you take an Uber to the gym. No, it's The Dojo. You correct yourself. When you step in, Charlie is shouting at you from across the room. "Y/N!" Standing next to his sister, Charlie crazily waves at you, worried that you could not see him.
You remove your shoes, placed them accordingly at the remarked spot. Walking towards Charlie and Grace, you see the Williams-McGarrett clan wear similar outfits with other people in The Dojo. The only differences between them are their belts. Danny wears a Black Belt with a red stripe, while Steve wears a Brown Belt. Grace has Blue Belt, and Charlie has a White one. Knowing that you will do some workout, you wear a black t-shirt and training pants. Definitely a contrast in a room full of jiu-jitsu outfits.
Danny and Steve are talking to a guy on the other side of the room. This guy has a Black Belt with more stripes than Danny's, indicating that he is the instructor here.
"Hey, guys. Good morning," You greet Grace and Charlie. They reply with a big smile.
"Just out of interest, do you guys always bring your uniform on your holiday?" You gesture to Grace's clothes.
Grace laughs at your question, "It is called Gi. Yes, we are always bringing them along on holiday," She laughs again at your shocked face. "No, I'm joking. It's because we know we will visit this dojo, so we have our Gi with us,"
Soon Danny and Steve come over to your side. "Hi, y/n. So I talked to Sensei Marcus there," Danny gestures to the guy he spoke to. "We are going to follow their training for today. You can watch from the side if you're not sure you want to do it. The first hour would be the class for Kids and Teens,"
You see Grace and Charlie lining up in the center of the room with other children. They seem to be divided by belts instead of age.
"The next hour would be the adult class," Danny pauses for a moment. "If you want my suggestion, I encourage you to join the Teens class. I hope you don't feel insulted by that."
You chuckle at his words, "Not at all. I understand,"
"If it's too much, don't hesitate to stop and move aside. Everyone will understand," Steve adds.
You exhale softly, readying yourself, "Okay," before joining the line.
The first fifteen minutes, they start with stretching. So far, you have no problems with it. You practice Yoga for the last few years. You know how to stretch.
The next one, they teach you how to fall correctly. Which turns out to be a hard thing to do. At first, an instructor's assistant helps you. After a few moments, she moves away to help others. But you're still not doing it right. So Danny pulls you aside and teaches you privately for the rest of the hour.
You fall so many times until it tired you out. You cannot even get up from the mat. Your shoulders would have been bruised with so many times you landed incorrectly.
"Still interested to learn this?" Danny grabs your hand to help you get up.
Even though the lesson exhausts you, you feel great. You learn a lot, even from doing the same thing over and over again. "Hell yeah!" You grin at Danny.
"Crazy woman!" Danny pats your shoulders. Right where it hurts the most. You can't help but flinch away.
"Hurt, wasn't it? Why don't you go sit down on the outside of the mat with Charlie?"
Charlie sits on one side of the mat, a bottle of water in his hand. He is watching Grace, who has her hands on Steve's Gi, trying to throw Steve down.
Danny silently pays attention to his husband and daughter on the mat. But you can see his hands slightly move as if he's the one sparring.
Shortly, Grace has a chance to push Steve. Steve lost his balance for a moment before countering her attack. Grace would've fallen down hard if Steve didn't hanging to Grace's Gi so tight to slow her fall.
"That's great, Grace," Steve says to his daughter as he helps her up. They bow to each other to end the spar. Danny is clapping from outside the mat, "Good job, Monkey,"
Of course, you and Charlie follow Danny's example to cheer for Grace.
You still sit on the side of the mat, now also accompanied by Grace. You watch the next class practice, where Danny and Steve spar with other students for about an hour.
After the class is done, Steve taps on Danny's shoulder, "Danny, could you help me with this move?" He nods in the direction of the mat.
Danny responds with rolling eyes at his husband's antics.
Grace runs commentary in the background, "Dad didn't actually need help from Danno. However, you're not allowed to ask a higher belt to spar with. It's a sign of disrespect. But Dad and Danno often work differently between each other,"
You see Danny and Steve taking place at a ready position. It takes time before anybody falls, or one locks each other. They move fluidly. When one throws the other, they quickly bring them down along then keep them in a lock. The locks are soon countered, and they back up again. The great thing is they look like they enjoy sparring with each other. They share a laugh whenever someone throws the other or someone holds the other in a lock. You find that very interesting.
The sparring ends when Danny makes a grappling move that Steve cannot counter, so he has to tap out.
After the sparring, Steve sits back with you and his kids while Danny goes over to Sensei Marcus. Steve asks your opinion about Jiu-Jitsu, whether you're still interested to learn it.
"Very much, yeah. The first thing I will do once I'm back in Chicago is to find a Dojo," You excitedly tell Steve.
"Well, lucky for you, Sensei Marcus here knows a lot of Jiu-Jitsu instructors," All of a sudden, Danny joins your conversation. Sensei Marcus stands beside him.
"Sure, if you want to keep learning Jiu-Jitsu, I will give you some references of my fellows in Chicago," Marcus informs you.
"That would be awesome!"
Marcus shakes your hand, "Good luck!" and moves to shake hands with the rest of the Williams-McGarrett family. "Thanks for visiting our dojo. Please come again whenever you're in LA,"
They all look tired, but their smiles beam as bright as Hawaiian sunshine.
◢◤
Two weeks later, in Chicago,
You see your boyfriend's truck parked in front of your house as you walk home from the bus stop. You walk much slower than you used to. Your body is hurting all over the place, but you feel elated.
The day after you came home from Los Angeles, Jay was caught in a hard case. He had to fly out to New York and liaised with NYPD SVU to solve it.
You missed him a lot, for sure. Jay called you whenever he could for these past two weeks. Texted you every day too. But you have not got the chance to tell Jay about your new interest in Jiu-Jitsu.
After your last trip to LA, you promptly checked out the Dojo that Sensei Marcus referred to you. You were thrilled to find out that it's only fifteen minutes bus ride from your house.
You met with one of the instructors there and asked for a private class. Because that's what Danny advised you to do. "After you have a better understanding of the lessons, then I want you to go train with other people at the dojo. But for the first five or six months, you might've been better with one-on-one lessons,"
The instructor, Professor Louisa, is delighted to provide. You work on a schedule three to four times a week. The professor initially suggested only two meets in a week. But considering your occasional trip abroad for work, you prefer to do more lessons when you're in town.
This is the third week you've been learning jiu-jitsu in Chicago. Scraps and bruises are inevitable. Jay would freak out if he saw them before you could explain to him.
Jay's flight back from New York landed about two hours ago. He must've been coming directly to your place from the O'Hare. The house smells amazing when you enter the room. Following your nose leads you to the kitchen. You find your boyfriend pulling out what seems to be garlic bread from the oven, "Hey, babe. You're back!"
"Hey, you! Perfect timing!" Jay secures the tray aside before stepping closer to you. He puts one hand on your waist, the other one on your back. Moving even closer to kiss you.
His passion makes you forget your bruises for a moment. When Jay pushes you playfully, your shoulder hits the nearest wall. You instantly cry out in pain. "Argh!"
"What's wrong?" Jay stops everything he's doing to you right away.
"Nothing, I just got some bruises," You rub the pain from your shoulder.
"How come?" Jay begins to take off your t-shirt to check on the bruises, but you move away from his grasp.
"Hold on. Let me take a shower. I must've been rank from sweat. Then I'll tell you everything," You kiss Jay one more time before going to the bedroom.
As you eat the pasta primavera that Jay made, you ask him about his case in New York, "How was it?"
"It's done. We did what we have to do,"
Not interested in talking about his case, Jay interrogates you instead, "So, where did you get the bruise? I swear, I only left the city for two weeks, and you're already in trouble," Jay shakes his head.
"I'm not! I just joined this gym. Dojo, I meant. I'm taking Jiu-Jitsu lessons!" You cheerfully tell Jay.
"You what?" Jay pauses from drinking his wine.
So you told Jay the whole story. About how someone tried to snatch your phone when you're in LA. How you met the Williams-McGarrett family from Hawaii. How they got you into jiu-jitsu.
"It's so fun, Jay. Yeah, sure, I got bruises and scraps. But whenever I got stuck with my work, I go have a practice at the dojo, and then I come home feeling energized," You confess to your boyfriend.
"Really?" Jay looks at you, disbelieving.
"Uhuh," You nod as you swallow your spaghetti. "You know what, you should come and see the dojo. It might interest you too,"
"I know about martial arts, babe. I taught you how to punch, remember?" Jay reminds you.
"Yes, you did," You say in giggles, "Professor Louisa said she won't teach me how to punch,"
"Of course, Jiu-jitsu has a different approach than other martial art, say karate. Or boxing," Jay puts down his fork on the empty plate. "You sure you enjoy it?"
You hold Jay's hand and look into his eyes, "I am. This is something I want to do seriously, Jay. I admit part of it comes from you and your job. Like you always said, I need to be able to defend myself. Because you think I could get drag into your case one day,"
Jay puts his other hand on top of yours, looking somehow regretful, "Babe..."
"No, no. But I also do this for myself. Even though my body hurts, I feel great about myself. I feel more confident. It's really inspiring,"
Jay brings your hand to his lips, "Okay then, as long as you're happy with it. But I'm still going to take you to the gun range,"
You roll your eyes in response, "Of course, you will,"
◢◤
A week later, Jay walks up to The Dojo on the second floor. Someone greets him at the entrance, "Hey, man. Can I help you?"
"I suppose to pick up my girlfriend. She is training with..." Jay tries to remember the instructor's name. "Louisa?"
"Ah, yes, Professor Louisa. You must be y/n's boyfriend. I'm Professor Andy, the head of this dojo," The man offers his hand.
"Jay Halstead," Jay shakes Andy's hand.
"I think she will finish in ten minutes. You wanna see her practice?"
"Sure. If it would not be disturbing?" Jay hesitates.
"Not at all. Y/n is the only one in there right now," Andy directs Jay inside the dojo. He asks Jay to remove his shoes before stepping into the room.
Jay watches his girlfriend silently. He winces a couple times when you fall down. But he is amazed to see you immediately stand up again.
"She's resilient, your woman is,"
Jay chuckles at Andy's remark, "Yes, she is,"
Shortly after you bow to your instructor, you see Jay standing on the side with Professor Andy.
You walk towards them with a smile, "I see you met my boyfriend, Prof,"
"I did, yeah," Andy nods. "I don't think Jay would be interested in jiu-jitsu, though," He comments.
"Correction, I'm not interested to see you got thrown down repeatedly," Jay points out.
"Hey!" You hit Jay's arms as both Professors laugh at you.
"But that's how we are supposed to learn. If you don't know how to fall, you won't get back up again," Louisa says serenely.
Andy hums his agreement before ushering you out. "Alright, get out of here, you lovebird,"
When you're in the locker room, changing your Gi, Jay approaches Andy again. But before Jay could say anything, Andy hands a leaflet to him.
"Y/N told me you're a police officer. You might be interested in these classes,"
Jay takes it with a laugh, "Thanks, man. I'll check it out," He puts the leaflet on his jacket pocket and pulls out his card.
"If anything happens when Y/N is here. Or if you need anything I can help with, please give me a call," Jay sounds solemn.
Andy takes the card, "Don't worry, man. We take good care of our students here,"
"I know," Jay nods.
Soon you come out with a gym bag on your shoulder. "See you next week, Prof!"
Andy waves to the couple, "Bye, y/n. See you again, Jay!"
◢◤
Two years later,
You step out of the record store in Pilsen empty-handed, failing to find the vinyl you're looking for. You start walking west to the bus stop when you hear a commotion ahead.
You see a guy pushing people out of his way. He keeps looking behind his back like he's running from something.
"Police! Get out of the way!" You hear other voices shouting.
So this guy seems to be running from the police, you thought to yourself.
The man tries to shove you aside, but your reflex is much better. Your hands instantly grab the front of his shirt. When he tries to push you away, your right foot finds his inner left calf and sweeps him down.
When he tries to move away from your grasp, you lean down and grip his right wrist tightly with your right hand. You put your right elbow beside his right ear while your left elbow is placed underneath his elbow. Your left-hand moves to hold your right wrist from below his right hand. His arm is essentially locked when your left bicep snugs against his right tricep. You raise your elbow slightly from the surface. The more he wiggles his way out, the higher you raise his elbow from the surface, the more painful the lock is.
You hear an impressed whistle from above. When you look up, you find Jay and Hailey standing in front of you. Jay gets a huge grin on his face while Hailey is sporting a shocked look.
"Nice takedown, babe," Jay compliments you.
"Thanks. You might wanna take over from here, though," You say to your boyfriend as you hear few more steps rushing towards you.
You loosen the lock after you are sure Jay gets his hand on the perp. He grabs the suspect up from the floor and pushes him towards the wall.
You find a hand extends in front of your face, offering to help you stand up. You look up to see it was Hailey. You take her hand with a soft thanks.
Once you're back on your feet, you look around to see the other members of the Intelligence Unit staring at you. Adam, Kim, and Kevin are mirroring Hailey's initial look of surprise. Jay's boss, Hank Voight, looks impassive as always. But you catch an amused twitch at one corner of his lips.
"Man, at least give me time to feel my hand again! That bitch could break my arm, you know!" you hear the perp complaining when Jay prepares to cuff him.
Without saying anything in response, Jay folds the perp's wrist inside. The perp yells even louder because of the wristlock.
Kevin moves to take the man away from Jay before any further damage could happen. He ushers the perp right away to a nearby cop car.
Jay turns to check on his girlfriend, "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm good." You nod back at him.
"I didn't know you could do that, Y/N," Hailey tells you. "You never tell me that your girlfriend practiced any martial arts," She continues to slap Jay's shoulder.
You answer with a sheepish smile, "It's kinda new,"
"Blue Belt in Jiu-Jitsu is not "kinda new" babe," Jay elbows you playfully.
The team boss pats your shoulder once before walking back to his car, "Good job, Y/LN,"
Kim, who's partnered up with Voight today, quickly follows. But not before inviting you for drinks, "You have to tell me all about this over drinks!"
"See? Even Voight agrees. We'll make a cop-out of you soon, Y/N," Adam offers his fistbump to you.
You meet his with your fistbump but shake your head, laughing, "Not in a million years, Ruzek,"
He only replies with his laugh and walks towards Kevin and the perp.
Jay puts his arm around your shoulders with a huge smile, "C'mon, Kev and Ruz can take care of the perp for a while. Hailey and I will drop you home."
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sineala · 3 years
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Tony Stark and Arthuriana
Coming to you by special request, a very long post about 616 Tony's interest in Arthuriana, with a focus on all of Tony's run-ins with Morgan le Fay!
I feel like I should disclaim the extent of my knowledge here, which is that I still haven't managed to read anywhere near every issue of Iron Man -- at least, not yet, anyway -- so I'm just going by the things I know I've read, and Morgan le Fay's Marvel wiki entry is frustratingly under-cited, so it's very possible I've missed something relevant, but I'm pretty sure I've got the big stuff down. My other disclaimer here is that I'm not as big an Arthurian nerd as Tony is, which is to say that most of my familiarity comes from modern retellings -- T. H. White's The Once and Future King, Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave, Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset -- and not so much the usual classic sources on the Matter of Britain, though I've read bits and pieces of them.
(This is because I wanted to read versions of them that were as close to the original as possible but so far have not ended up finishing any of them because, well, that's hard. So I've never read the Mabinogion because I do not know Welsh. I've got the Norton Critical Edition of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, which is probably the best student edition if you're looking for something without modernized spellings, as I was. I've also got -- well, okay, it's my wife's but I'm borrowing it -- a relatively recent Boydell & Brewer edition (ed. Reeve, tr. Wright) of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), which is, you guessed it, in Latin with a facing English translation. I haven't gotten very far in it because, in case you didn't know this about Latin texts, the beginning is pretty much always the hardest, so I gave up and read some Plautus adaptations instead. Anyway, if for some reason you too want to read Geoffrey of Monmouth in the original Latin I'd recommend that one, but I can't recommend any particular English translations because I've never read one by itself. I bet you didn't think you'd be getting Latin prose recommendations in this post. I mean, maybe you did; it is me, after all.)
Okay. Right. King Arthur. Here we go.
We've got:
Flashbacks to Tony's childhood in late Iron Man volume 1
A brief discussion of Morgan's origin story and Avengers #187
Iron Man vol 1 #149-150: Doomquest
What If vol 1 #33: What if Iron Man was trapped in the time of King Arthur?
Iron Man vol 1 #249-250: Recurring Knightmare
Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #1-4
Avengers vol 3 #1-4: The Morgan Conquest
Civil War: The Confession
Mighty Avengers vol 1 #9-11: Time Is On No One's Side
In terms of universe-internal chronology, we know from Iron Man #287, from 1992, that Tony has been a fan of King Arthur since childhood. This is an issue of a fandom-favorite arc which features Tony having a lot of childhood flashbacks, including the famous "Stark men are made of iron" line (in #286) that for some reason MCU fandom decided it loved; I mean, seriously, I've seen that quoted in way more MCU fic than 616 fic. But slightly later, in #287, we get an entire page devoted to Tony's love of King Arthur.
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The narration reads: "Over the next few years, I learned as my father intended. Discipline of body. Strength of character. But in what free time I was allowed, I worked my way through the school's library. At thirteen, I discovered Mallory [sic], who showed me a whole new world. A world of dedication to a cause greater than oneself. Of chivalry and honor. And the fantastic deeds -- of armored heroes."
The art shows Tony as a child sitting under a tree, reading a book labeled Mort D'Arthur by Mallory [sic] -- no, don't ask me why nobody at Marvel checked how to spell either the name of the book or its author -- and daydreaming of King Arthur, the Sword in the Stone, knights, et cetera. Just in case you somehow missed the extremely blatant hint that we are meant to understand that Tony's knight obsession heavily influenced him becoming Iron Man as an adult, we see one of his armors mixed in with all the drawings of knights. So, yes, canonically Tony is Iron Man at least partly because he's a giant King Arthur nerd, which I think is so very sweet. I love him. He's such a dork!
(This issue is currently in print in the Iron Man Epic Collection War Machine, should you need your own copy.)
This isn't actually the only reference to Tony as a King Arthur fanboy in this era of canon, either; a little later, in IM #298, we see that one of Tony's passwords is actually "Mallory." (Yeah, no, they still couldn't spell. But it's cute.)
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But in terms of actual publication order, this is definitely not the first time we have seen in canon that Tony is into Arthuriana, as I'm sure you all know. I would assume, in fact, that giving Tony a childhood interest in Arthuriana is because Doomquest is one of the most beloved Iron Man story arcs of all time, and that all started at least a decade before IM #287 here was published.
The villain of Doomquest -- the one who isn't Doctor Doom, at least -- is Morgan le Fay. Yes, that Morgan le Fay. Yes, Arthur's evil half-sister Morgan le Fay. Yes, all of this King Arthur stuff is canonically real history on Earth-616. Morgan's first appearance in Marvel, per the wiki, was in Black Knight #1 (1955), which I have not read, and judging by the summary I feel like this is probably just supposed to be a straight-up comic retelling of Arthurian legends for kids; I don't think Marvel really had the whole Marvel Universe in mind as a concept in 1955, so I'm not sure this was meant to connect to anything else. I feel like this is another one of those instances of Marvel discovering that they can write comics about characters in the public domain for free -- like, I'm pretty sure that's how we also ended up with, like, Norse, Greek, and Roman mythology wedged into 616.
As far as I can tell from the wiki, the first time Morgan tangled with the Avengers (or indeed the larger 616 universe) in any way actually predated Doomquest -- it was in an early arc in Spider-Woman (#2-6) and then Avengers #187, which came out in 1979, actually right when Demon in a Bottle was happening over in Iron Man comics. If you read #187, Iron Man is not in it because he's off the team due to his drinking problem and also his accidentally murdering the Carnelian ambassador problem. So Wonder Man's filling in instead. This issue is part of Michelinie's rather sporadic Avengers run, which makes sense, I guess, considering where we see Morgan next.
Anyway, Avengers #187 is the classic issue where Wanda is possessed by Chthon, but what you may not remember from Chthon's backstory (I sure didn't!) is that he was summoned by Morgan le Fay because she was the first person who tried to wield the Darkhold to summon him. As you can imagine, this did not work out especially well for her and her followers and they had to seal Chthon away in Wundagore Mountain, which was where Wanda found him. (The Spider-Woman stuff is only slightly earlier and also appears to be about Morgan and the Darkhold; the Darkhold is not one of the areas of 616 canon I am especially conversant with, alas. It's on my to-read list.)
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Doomquest, as you probably know, was a classic Iron Man two-parter in Layton & Michelinie's first Iron Man run that set up Tony and Doom as rivals; Doomquest itself was IM #149-150, in 1981, and then in their second IM run they came back and did a sequel in 1989, Recurring Knightmare (IM #249-250), and then the much later four-part sequel to that was the 2008 miniseries Iron Man: Legacy of Doom, which was also by Layton & Michelinie but generally does not seem to be as popular as the first two parts. They've all been reprinted, if you're looking for copies; I have a Doomquest hardcover that collects the first four issues and then a separate Legacy of Doom hardcover. Currently in the Iron Man Epic Collection line there's a volume called Doom, which confusingly only collects the 249-250 part of the storyline (as well as surrounding issues), because for some reason the first Layton & Michelinie run isn't in Epics yet but the second one is. So the beginning of Doomquest isn't currently in print, as far as I can tell. I'm sure you can find it anyway.
So what's Doomquest about? Okay, so you remember how Doctor Doom's mother's soul is stuck in hell for all eternity? Well, Doom's obviously interested in getting her back, and the strategy he has embarked on is to try to team up with other powerful magicians who can help him out, and he thinks Morgan le Fay would be a good choice, for, uh, his quest. Doom's quest. A Doomquest, if you will. (If you've ever read Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph & Torment, you're familiar with the part where he later ends up waylaying Strange for this and they go to hell together. And if you haven't read Triumph & Torment, you really should, because it's amazing.)
So Doom is off to his time machine to go team up with Morgan le Fay and Tony thinks Doom is up to something -- Doom has been stealing components for his time machine from a lot of people, including Tony -- and he follows him and it turns out one of Doom's lackeys has a grudge and wants to trap Doom in the past forever, and Tony gets caught up in it. Now they're both in Camelot. Surprise! #149 is actually all setup; they don't get to Camelot until #150.
IM #150 begins with Doom and Tony thrown back into the past; there's a fandom-famous splash page of them locked in combat, only to realize that they have found themselves in Camelot.
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They are then discovered by knights; Doom would very much like to attack them, but Tony, who naturally would be happy to LARP Camelot forever, persuades him to play nice. Also Doom thinks Iron Man is only Tony's bodyguard so he keeps referring to him as "lackey," much to Tony's annoyance. Somehow everyone thinks they're sorcerers. Can't imagine why. The knights take them to meet King Arthur himself, and Tony has clearly had his introduction all ready to go, as he introduces himself in a timeline-appropriate manner, says he's here to apprehend Doom, and demonstrates his "magic" by levitating Arthur's throne. Doom's response is essentially "I'm the king of Latveria," which is, y'know, also valid. So they're guests at Camelot for the night while Arthur figures out what to do with them.
We then have a page devoted to Tony alone in his room, musing sadly about how alien he feels, how he doesn't know if he'll ever get home, how he could never fit in here without his beloved technology. Then a Sexy Lady shows up to keep him company for the night, and he decides maybe it's not all bad. Thanks, Marvel. I guess they can't all be winners.
Doom is using his evening much more productively; he compels one of the servants to tell him where Morgan's castle is, because he's still interested in having that team-up. Then he jets off. Literally. He has a jetpack.
The next morning Arthur's like "one of you is still here and one of you has punched a hole through the castle wall and flown off to join Morgan so I guess I know which of you is more trustworthy." He then explains to Tony who Morgan is, because Tony professes ignorance, because clearly we had not yet retconned in Tony's love of Arthuriana. Tony offers to go fight Doom and Morgan with Arthur; meanwhile, Morgan and Doom have teamed up and Morgan has offered to help get Doom's mother out of hell if he commands her undead armies against Arthur because for Reasons she can't command them herself anymore. So that's a thing that happens.
So, yes, it's Tony and Arthur versus Doom and Morgan. Fight fight fight!
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Tony tries Doom first but then decides to hunt Morgan down, and in the ensuing fight we get what I think is Tony's first ever "I hate magic," a complaint that we all know he still makes even to this day.
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Anyway, Tony freezes a dragon with Freon (mmm, technology) and Morgan gets upset and disappears, so the battle comes to an end, and of course Doom is extremely mad at Tony because he blames Tony for Morgan not sticking around to save Doom's mom, because I guess Doom trusted her to keep her word? Weird. (Like I said, for the next chapter of Doom saving his mother, go read Triumph & Torment.)
Doom says if he and Tony work together, the components in both of their armors can send them both home. So Tony has to trust Doom. Which he does, because he really has no other choice. They build a time machine and Tony makes Doom agree to a 24-hour truce when they get back, so they can both get home. So it all works out okay, and they end up in the present, and Doom tells him, ominously, that they will meet again. Okay, then. That concludes the original Doomquest. It's fun! You can see why fandom likes it.
So that's all well and good, but you might have noticed that Tony's ability to get home hinged on Doom actually being trustworthy. And Doom was. But what if Doom hadn't been? What if he'd just stranded Tony in Camelot forever As you may have surmised from the form of that question, that is in fact a question Marvel asked themselves, because, yes, there's a What If about this! What If v1 #33 is "What if Iron Man was trapped in the time of King Arthur?"
The divergence point from canon, as you can probably guess, is the very end of Doomquest. Instead of Doom bringing Tony home, he deceives him and leaves him in Camelot. And since Tony cannibalized a lot of the tech from his armor to make the time machine, he doesn't have a way to go home.
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This is not a story where Tony comes up with a way to go home after all. He really doesn't get to go home. But instead of drowning his sorrows in mead -- because, remember, Demon in a Bottle has already happened and Tony is sober now -- he decides he might as well just play the hand he's dealt. So with what's left of his armor, he defeats some enemies that Morgan rounds up to send against Camelot. And for his services, he's knighted. He is now Sir Anthony.
Tony acknowledges that he is both living the dream and would also like very, very much to go home.
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He does end up having some fun in Camelot; it's not all miserable. But he obviously doesn't want to be there.
So if you're at all familiar with King Arthur, you know how this goes, right? Arthur fights Mordred and Mordred kills him. And that does happen in this version. Except Tony is right there, and with his dying words, Arthur asks Tony to rule Camelot... and Tony agrees.
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So, yes, Tony Stark becomes king of the Britons after Arthur's death and he never goes home again. The end. Man, I love What Ifs.
Heading back to main 616 continuity, there is still more of this arc to go. The original Doomquest was only two issues, yes, but it was popular enough that Layton & Michelinie did a sequel a hundred issues later, in their second run of Iron Man, and that's Iron Man #249-250, Recurring Knightmare. (In the intervening issues were Denny O'Neil's IM run, specifically the second drinking arc (#160-200), and then Layton & Michelinie came back and most famously gave us Armor Wars (#225-232). I would have to say that Armor Wars is definitely the standout fandom-favorite arc of their second IM run; for their first one, I think a lot of people would have a hard time choosing between Doomquest and Demon.) But anyway, yes. Recurring Knightmare.
Recurring Knightmare is... well, the best way I can describe it is "a trip." It is definitely a sequel to Doomquest, and it is also definitely not a sequel you  would ever have expected to see for Doomquest.
Much like #149, #249 is pretty much just setup. Fun setup, but the big action is in the next issue. We open with Doom in Latveria, on his throne, pondering which of his servants he should have disintegrated. Anyway, he's just hanging out there when a mysterious object appears. In California, Tony is suited up and entertaining the crowd at a mall opening when the same object also appears! He takes it to his lab. Please note that this is after the Kathy Dare incident, so Tony is still recovering and is walking with a cane. Doom sees on the news that Iron Man has found the same object, which cannot be carbon-dated, and he shows up at Tony's house. He criticizes Tony's taste in art.
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Anyway, Doom basically orders Tony to work with him. Tony refuses, and then Doom sends some robots to attempt to steal Tony's version of the object because he thinks if he has them both he will be powerful. Doom manages to steal it, and when he puts the pieces together, both he and Tony disappear.
So where do they go, you might ask? Camelot?
Not exactly. The future! There is a great callback to the Doomquest splash page.
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It turns out they are in London in 2093. Merlin brought them there. Tony still hates magic. And in the future, King Arthur is still there, except he is now a child, because he has been reborn. But he does remember Tony from Doomquest, at which point Tony kneels. Doom, of course, is not impressed. He asks why they have been brought to the future.
The answer is that things are going wrong in the future. If you do not personally remember United States politics in the 1980s, I need you to google the words "Strategic Defense Initiative" right now. I'll wait.
Back with me? Okay, so this is a future where Reagan's Star Wars program actually happened the way he wanted it to, and the satellites are still hanging around the Earth in the future and messing everything up, and Arthur and Merlin need Tony and Doom's help to stop them. Doom once again flies away with his jetpack, of course.
Tony is game to help, but he's not in an armor that can stay in space for long. This is when Merlin takes him and Arthur to the mall and Tony manages to get everything to upgrade his armor at Radio Shack. You see what I meant about this issue being weird.
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Tony is out in space trying to disarm the SDI platform, which is where he runs into his future descendant, Andros Stark, who is in armor you will probably recognize from Iron Man 2020. He is referred to as "the resurrected spawn of Iron Man 2020" so I assume he's actually directly related to Arno rather than a direct descendant of Tony; Wiki confirms that Arno is his grandfather. This is all from way before Arno was contemporaneous with Tony in canon. Anyway, he's fighting Tony.
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Oh, by the way, Future Doom exists. Future Doom would like to rule this future Earth and for some reason Andros would like to help him. Meanwhile, Present Doom finds out from Merlin that he can't leave except by magic and he can't leave without Tony, so he is reluctantly on Tony's side.
They need help from the Lady of the Lake, except the lake has been paved over and is now a parking lot. Merlin makes the lake come back and then of course they get Excalibur. Arthur is a kid, so he can't wield a longsword; Doom assumes he's going to take it because he is basically a king, and he's pretty grumpy when the sword picks Tony. Tony then uses Excalibur to destroy the space lasers, and I bet that is a sentence you never thought you would read. It's pretty cool. Tony concludes that magic has its good points. Tony stops Andros and Doom stops, uh, himself, and the world is saved and they get to go home. Also, Doom finds out Tony is Iron Man, but when Merlin sends them back he conveniently erases their memories, so neither of them remember anything about this and Tony's secret is still safe. And that's the sequel to Doomquest.
And if you think that's weird, wait until you see Legacy of Doom.
Iron Man: Legacy of Doom is a four-issue miniseries from 2008, also by Layton and Michelinie. Even though it's from 2008, it's set during a much more classic time in Iron Man, continuing on from where we left off in this Doomquest saga. We start with a framing story in 2008. Tony, who has Extremis now, is busy scrapping some of his older armors and reviewing his logs when he suddenly remembers that there was a whole thing with Doom that happened that he seems to have forgotten about until right now. So the whole thing is narrated by Tony in flashback.
Tony's in space fixing a satellite when a hologram of Doom shows up and summons him to Latveria. It's not really clear why Doom needs Tony's help in particular here, but Doom tells Tony that he's discovered that Mephisto would like to bring about the end of the world, which Doom finds, and I quote, "presumptive." So Doom has his Time Cube, and with it he takes Tony to hell.
(Yes, I promise this is relevant to Doomquest. There will be some Arthuriana shortly.)
Doom brings Tony to Mephisto, and it turns out it's a setup! Doom trades Tony for an item he wants from Mephisto, leaves, and Tony's going to be trapped in hell forever! Oh no! (I mean, he's not. But it's quite a cliffhanger.)
At the beginning of issue #2, we find out what the Arthurian connection is, which is that we learned that after the events of Doomquest, Morgan had been granted sanctuary by Mephisto in exchange for a shard of Excalibur that she had somehow stolen. Doom still wants Morgan's help with some magic -- he doesn't mention what it is here, but he says he needs someone of Pendragon blood, and that'd be her -- so he traded Tony to Mephisto in exchange for, I'm guessing, Morgan and the Excalibur shard.
I have probably mentioned this elsewhere, but Legacy of Doom #2 is one of my favorite issues of Iron Man ever, solely because of the next scene. We return to Tony in hell. Howard Stark is also in hell, and he is now a demon, and Tony has to fight him. Mephisto brings popcorn and watches. This is the one time in canon when Tony actually confronts his father, and okay, yes, it's a fistfight in hell and Howard is a demon, but that's comics for you. Howard spends several pages insulting Tony -- specifically insulting his masculinity, but that's a whole other essay -- until he finally insults Maria too, and that's when Tony fights back, because his mother taught him to be good. Honestly if you're a Tony fan I'd recommend this issue just for that scene.
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Anyway, we go back to the Doom and Morgan plot, and Morgan casts the spell Doom wanted, which was fusing the Excalibur shard with Doom's armor. Then Doom sends her back to Camelot rather than hell, because he's still mad that she never helped him get his mom out of hell like she said she would.
Tony freezes Howard with Freon -- yes, the same trick he pulled on the dragon back in Doomquest -- and tells him, "You're no father of mine." It is immensely satisfying.
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(I had been going to mention that I thought it was a shame that neither canon nor fandom seems to have really engaged with this confrontation, and I know canon never believes in narrative closure but fandom sure does -- and then, anyway, it occurred to me that since the framing story of Tony remembering this is set when Tony has Extremis, there's a very good chance that he no longer remembers remembering it. Goddammit, Marvel.)
(If I got to retcon one canon thing about Tony, I think "the entirety of World's Most Wanted" is up there. I mean, okay, a lot of things are up there, but WMW is definitely on the shortlist.)
Okay. Tony has now engineered his way out of hell, and he's back with Doom in Latveria. Doom has Excalibur. Doom would very much like to fight him. While wielding Excalibur. You get the sense that this is going to be bad. Another cliffhanger!
Legacy of Doom #3 opens with Tony destroying Doom's lab to buy time and running away from Doom and Excalibur. I should probably mention that Doom still doesn't know Tony is Iron Man (anymore), so he thinks he is dealing only with Iron Man, Tony Stark's lackey. Meanwhile, some scientists at SI think there's something weird going on with space. Meanwhile meanwhile, Tony is in a forest taking a breather when a mysterious old man walks up to him.
It's Merlin! Surprise! Merlin wants Tony's help to stop Doom from doing whatever he's doing with Excalibur. The sword makes you invincible and the scabbard makes you invulnerable, so Merlin sends Tony to Scotland on a fetch quest for the scabbard. Doom has now magically sent the sword in search of the scabbard, so the sword flies away to meet it and Doom follows. Turns out the thing that's wrong with space is a thing that's going to hit Earth at the exact place Tony and Doom are. What a coincidence! So Tony and Doom get trapped in a stone circle and fight some stone warriors and then Tony ends up with the scabbard. And by "ends up with," I mean it fuses to his armor. Next issue!
Legacy of Doom #4 is when things really, really get weird. A giant demon made of eyes (???) appears, and this demon is apparently what Doom had been preparing to fight (because it's mad that Doom stole one of its spellbooks), and now he can't, because the sword and the scabbard aren't together. Thanks, Shellhead.
That's when Merlin shows up and says all is not lost. They can defeat the demon... if they put the sword into the scabbard.
"But I'm the scabbard now!" Tony says, uncomprehending.
"Yes," Merlin says. "You are."
Then Tony gets it.
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So, yes, Doom has to, um, penetrate Tony. With Excalibur. I love comics. I love comics so much.
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So that's a thing that happens.
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And then Tony flies off and, I guess, resolves to never, ever think about any of this again.
We head back to the framing story, in which Tony, now having remembered all of this, flies to Britain, buys the land the lake is on, and paves it over, presumably so it will be there for Merlin to bring back in Iron Man #250. The end.
Whew.
Okay, yeah, I know I didn't have to summarize the whole thing, but Legacy of Doom here really is one of my favorite Iron Man miniseries. And I just want to share the love. Please read it. It's great.
But the Arthuriana fun doesn't end there! In fact, now we get an Arthurian-themed arc that actually isn't in Iron Man comics. It's in Avengers! Iron Man is involved, though.
(There is also apparently a Morgan arc in Avengers #240. I actually haven't read it. It seems to be yet another Spider-Woman arc. I get the impression that this isn't really Arthuriana other than having Morgan in it fighting Jess, though, so it doesn't seem quite as relevant. Morgan also apparently has some appearances in FF, Journey into Mystery, and Marvel Team-Up, but those seem like more of just basic villainy. Also, probably not involving Tony.)
Kurt Busiek's 1998 Avengers run, volume 3, is in large part the kind of Avengers run that is a nostalgic love letter to older comics. Heroes are heroes and villains are villains and good triumphs over evil. The Avengers all live in the mansion and are BFFs. I love it. It does assume that you are already a fan of the Avengers, because it starts out by summoning pretty much everyone who has ever been an Avenger and is available to the mansion, and that is... a lot of people. Thirty-nine, by my count. Also, when the entire team is magically whisked away, we are treated to the following narration, as Steve disappears: "And Captain America's last thought, as the world goes white around him, and he with it -- is that Iron Man would hate this."
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The narration doesn't tell you why Iron Man would hate this, or how Captain America would know that Iron Man hates this. This is not explained later on. But if you have read comics -- or if you have read the above summary of Doomquest -- you know that Tony is absolutely, one hundred percent, thinking, "I hate magic." And Steve knows it.
The reference is not relevant to the plot; if you don't get it, you'll be fine. But that's what I mean when I say this is a nostalgia run. There are definitely Easter eggs for people who have read a bunch of comics. Busiek does this a whole lot in his work -- there's a reason you can buy an annotated edition of Marvels -- and, yeah, it happens here too. Just know that there will be references you're not getting, if you're new to comics.
Anyway. So Busiek's run actually starts out with an Arthurian arc, #1-4, "The Morgan Conquest." The name is a dead giveaway. Yes, Morgan le Fay is back. Again. For once, Doom is not involved.
The Avengers are all back from their sojourn on Counter-Earth after fighting Onslaught -- don't worry about it -- and mysterious things are happening. There are a lot of monster attacks. So pretty much everyone who has ever been an Avenger is summoned to the mansion, at which point we learn from Thor about some mystical artifacts that are being stolen. (They are the Norn Stones and also the Twilight Sword. That sounds like something from a Zelda game, doesn't it?) The Avengers go to try to stop this, end up in Tintagel, and then they run into Mordred. He wants to capture Wanda, presumably for Magic Reasons. Morgan le Fay casts a spell on all of them, reshaping reality. Yes, all of them. Surprise!
So now all the Avengers are living in a medieval castle and/or town; Morgan is their queen, and thanks to the power of mind-control they are all basically living in Ye Olden Times. The Avengers are all some variety of knight, except for Wanda, who is chained up in the dungeon so Morgan can steal her magic and use it to fuel all this reality-warping.
Wanda calls for help, and that snaps Steve (Yeoman America!) out of the mind control (or altered reality or whatever you want to call it) pretty fast, because Steve's always been very good at resisting mind control, and then Steve promptly goes and snaps Clint out of it, because I guess Steve is also good at inspiring people to snap out of mind control. "Oh, man!" Clint says. "Not another alternate reality! Not again!" (I assume he's referring to Counter-Earth? Maybe?)
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So Steve and Clint go around reassembling the Avengers and orienting them as to reality. They get Jan and Monica easily, but then Steve insists on trying to get Tony because, I guess, he likes Tony and would really like to hang around Tony, who is half-naked and asleep in his bedroom, and certainly I am reading nothing whatsoever into this. Clint tells Steve it's not going to work. Tony has historically been fairly susceptible to mind control; it was only pretty recently at this point that he'd been doing Kang's bidding in The Crossing. But the more serious impediment is that this is Tony Stark and he would obviously like to LARP being a knight forever and ever. Tony, therefore, does not believe Steve, and throws him and Clint out of his bedroom and into the barracks.
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"Iron Man's a good guy, normally," Clint says. "But he's waaay too into his whole nobleman/lord of the manor trip. That spell musta hit him right where he lives!"
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Clint speaks the truth, clearly.
Anyway, they go around and manage to make pretty much every Avenger in the room other than Tony snap out, and attempt to rebel against Morgan while Tony is stil fighting them because he is Still A Knight. There's a lot of punching, because some of the Avengers still aren't free; they weren't ones Steve found.
The day is saved when Wanda manages to channel Wonder Man and break free. This gives the Avengers a fighting chance against Morgan and the Avengers are all lending Wanda their power when Tony finally snaps out of it and is on the side of good. 
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Then they take Morgan down, go home, and attempt to figure out which of these thirty-nine people should be on the active Avengers team. Hooray.
But that's not the end of Morgan le Fay showing up to screw around with Tony's life! There's more to come! Not much, but there is one that I know of, and at least one more memorable reference. 
(I haven't read all her appearances or anything, but one of them definitely involves Tony; I can't swear that he doesn't appear in any of the other books Morgan shows up in, but it'd be a cameo for him, because I only know of one more arc that she's in in a book that Tony stars in.)
In a few more years, we have now entered the part of Marvel Comics history where Brian Michael Bendis writes all the Avengers books at the same time for, like, seven years running. It was sure A Time. There were a lot of word bubbles.
And the thing about Bendis is, Bendis looooooves Doomquest. If you're familiar with the very end of his tenure at Marvel where he made Doom be Iron Man after Tony got knocked into a coma in Civil War II, you have probably figured out already that he likes Doom. But he also likes Doomquest, specifically.
I mean, if nothing else, the giant splash page in The Confession where Maleev redrew the climactic Doomquest fight while Bendis had Tony talk about how deeply meaningful to his understanding of the world this all was -- and how it allowed him to predict Civil War -- was probably a big clue, right?
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As far as I am aware, Morgan le Fay makes exactly one more appearance in Tony's life. And that's in Mighty Avengers vol 1 #9-11. Only one of those issues is named, so I'm going to assume the arc is named after it: Time Is On No One's Side.
You remember Mighty Avengers, right? The deal with the Avengers books at the time was that after Bendis exploded the mansion and made the team disband in Avengers Disassembled, the main Avengers book was no longer called just Avengers. Instead, the main Avengers book was New Avengers, and that was the only Avengers book. Then Civil War happened, Steve got killed, and New Avengers became the book about what was left of the SHRA resistance (i.e., Steve's side) after the war. So about halfway through New Avengers, Mighty Avengers starts up, and Mighty Avengers is about an extremely fucked-up and grief-stricken Tony Stark trying to run the official government-sanctioned Avengers team, with Carol's help. This is the comic with the arc where Tony turned into naked girl Ultron. You remember.
So, anyway, there's this Mighty Avengers arc where Doom is Up To Something (there are symbiotes and a satellite involved) and somehow Tony and the Avengers end up in Latveria, punching Doom. Also, by the way, Doom is visiting Morgan in the past because he likes her. The Avengers attacking his castle made him have to come back to the present, so he's kind of cranky. And he fights Tony, and in the course of the fight, his time platform explodes and sends Doom and Tony and also the Sentry to... the past.
This is one of those times where you should definitely look up the comics if possible because the way the past is visually indicated here is that it's colored with halftone dots the way you would expect old comics to be colored, although they have modern shading and color palettes. It's very charmingly retro.
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So the three of them are stuck in New York in the past, and naturally they would like to leave. There's one person in this time who has a time machine and it is, of course, Reed Richards. Doom and Tony have a lot of banter in this arc; I think it's entertaining.
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Sentry has to be the one to break them all into the Baxter Building because of that power he has where no one will remember him. So they do that, travel forward in time, and end up in Latveria in the present again except Doom is gone and also things are currently exploding where they are.
Doom, of course, has made a side trip to visit Morgan again and he asks her to help him build an army, because I guess this is what their relationship is like. So the rest of the Avengers are captured by what look to me like Mindless Ones and are in a cave in magic bondage, because comics. Jess comments that at least they aren't naked, because she too is remembering that memorable New Avengers trip to the Savage Land. Doom threatens Carol in some creepy sexist ways and eventually it turns out that Tony and the Sentry are fine and everyone kicks Doom's ass. Business as usual.
And the last page of the arc is Morgan alone, wondering where Doom is. So technically Morgan and Tony don't come face to face here, but I think she counts as being at least partially responsible for ruining Tony's day here. And then Secret Invasion happens and Tony has a very, very bad day.
There are a few more Morgan appearances after this, but, as I said, I don't think any of them involve Tony. She shows up in Dark Avengers, apparently, which was one of the post-Civil War Avengers titles I didn't read, and I know that recently, on the X-Men side of things, she's been in Tini Howard's Excalibur one, which I have only read a little of. No Tony there. Just a lot of Morgan and Betsy Braddock and Brian Braddock and the Otherworld.
If you are interested in Morgan's other appearances, you might like this Marvel listicle that is Morgan le Fay's six most malicious acts. I pulled some of the Darkhold backstory from their discussion, but it's not really focused on Morgan and Tony.
So there you have it! That's everything I know about Tony's love for King Arthur and every run-in I know about that he's had with Morgan le Fay! One of two terrible people in Tony's life named Morgan! Actually, I don't think we've seen Morgan Stark in a while. I wonder if he's alive. There should be a Morgan & Morgan team-up. I should probably stop typing and post this.
The tl;dr point is that you should all read Doomquest and its sequels, especially Legacy of Doom. They're great!
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binniesthighs · 3 years
Text
multifandom soulmate aus ✨
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soulmate (n): a person ideally suited to another as a close friend or romantic partner.
✨ a/n: hello hello!! today on, “Ro’s self indulgent fics” ehehe i’ve been thinking a lot about some of my favorite kpop besties and how i feel like sometimes in a group, there’s the members who just stick like glue and it’s kinda like they were destined to meet that way! anyway hehe this concept is so fkn cute to me so i wanted to make some poly r-ship headcannons with some of my favorites! 
➛ disclaimer: the pairings that i use are def not all inclusive of all “soulmate” pairings out there, just the ones i know of atm! also, i know some of these groups better than others, so some will be more specific, and others a little more general! 
✨ groups included: stray kids, ateez, the boyz, monsta x, seventeen, txt, bts 
✨ feedback is always appreciated! who’s your favorite?✨
➛maybe if we’re feelin’ spicy i can do a part 2 with the ones i haven’t done yet ;) 
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Pairing: idol x female reader x idol (see fandoms above!) 
Genre: fluff n’ smut
Tags: established r/ship au, poly r-ship, sexual content (the usual stuff also including unprotected sex-please stay safe!) comfort ahhh, mentions of food alcohol  
*all photocreds go to ops :) 
both sfw and nsfw under the snip snip! 
♡ chanlix ♡
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sfw
omg where the hell do i start with chanlix we love our cannon soulmates 
arguably the softest fkn pairing on this list; being soulmates with chanlix is like meeting your other halves (thirds?). there’s some serious destiny at work here!! 
the three of you understand each other on a spiritual level--almost to the point where you could likely read their minds if you wanted to try haha. there’s also a really, really strong type of emotional intimacy that you share with them that’s out of this world. 
this soulmate bond is so fkn strong, the three of you could go through any hardships and come out of it stronger than ever! 
the three of you have cute lil nicknames for eachother that you thought up yourselves! 
 your families are close as heck! it’s really pure how by the three of you so many people can get close ahhh 
i think that chanlix would be really into more outdoorsy dates? camping, swimming, hiking, sightseeing, stargazing, picnics etc! felix also loves taking you on food tours! 
bc chan is chan, he really takes on such a protective role over you and felix, he would quite literally do anything for you two: forgot your notebook or documents on the way to work/school? he’ll drop everything to bring them to you. sad? he’ll get you your favorite food, tons of blankets, his hoodie to wear and your favorite movie/tv show to watch with you! if anyone hurts your feelings too he will square tf up. 
felix is the world’s most adoring boyfriend in so, so many ways. not only is he such a cuddle bug, he shows you that he cares with tons of acts of service similar to chan! this comes in the form of his baking of course and other silly little gifts he sees that reminds you of him. he isn’t the best at words sometimes, but will soothe you by giving you a little massage or by playing with your hair! 
nsfw 
okay...😏 damn i’ve been wanting to write some poly chanlix so fkn bad ahhhh 
once again i really see chan taking the lead in more intimate situations. he really likes giving directions and seeing both you and felix carry them out! honestly he gets a bit of an ego boost seeing the both of you all whiny and fucked out ahhh 
here i come with my softsub!felix agenda oops hehe but this boy is frickin’ angelic for you and chan oml, he always asks for permission before he does things and eats praise up with a fkn spoon. praises alone really get him off: “does lixie like it when i play with his cute cock like this?” 
there’s something that gets the three of you ridiculously amped when you do all kinds of roleplay scenarios FRICK some favorites are pet play (you and lix being the kitties) teacher/student, roleplaying strangers, sex slaves, artist/muse, oh my god there was a halloween where you once did vampire roleplay you still think about it 🤤 
since the three of you are so comfortable with eachother, experimentation feels really safe! for example, the suggestion of shibari came up and now....let’s just say lix looks really pretty tied up ;) 
chan’s got a huuuuge (cock) and size kink!! he really likes topping both you and lix and seeing a bulge omg.... also when he can bulge your throats mmmhm! 
felix loves it especially when you ride his face, and he cold do it for hours! he looks so cute between your legs when he licks over and over your clit. he’ll ask you too if he’s doing good and you better say yes ;) 
favorite position would be all cuddled up and cozy with the two of them double penetrating you real nice and slow with tons of kisses and just touchin’ all over 
cockwarming cockwarming all day, every single time, without fail, it feels wrong if you finish without it! 
♡ woosan  ♡
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idk why but the first thing that comes to my mind is that in certain settings, ya’ll are loud as fuck AHA i guess what i mean to say as that as a trio, you are all super, super unapologetic and confident when around each other! this might have lead to you getting kicked out of a couple bowling alleys and karaoke places before... 
there’s a type of unspoken understanding that the three of you have that makes your bond so special. while you love eachother so dearly, it isn’t something that you really feel needs to be said out loud, it kind of just is! 
woosan are already really clingy on their own and when you come along?? you all can’t keep your hands off each other!! ya know how in movies there’s the whole “hand in the back pocket of your jeans???” woosan!! 
their energy together is so fkn chaotic but that's why you love them! they never fail to make you laugh and this is also the best way that they know how to cheer you up! 
Bc the three of you are a bit unbridled, it’s a bit hard to be serious at times when you go on dates/hang out with friends together so often you get some affectionate eye rolls haha 
wooyoung is someone that will try anything with you! hehe even if he knows that he mind not be that into it, he’ll still go with you! of course, he might say something snarky but he really does love just spending time with you! wooyoung also shares you with all his friends (changbin, yeonjun) so lowkey it feels like you’re one of the bros at times LOL 
san is a big fan of giving you gifts! oh also! words of affirmation too, san is someone who knows your insecurities well, so hypes you tf up all the time!! he especially loves buying things for you that he knows you’ll look pretty in just so he can compliment you ahhh 
at the end of the day however, there’s nothing more more that the three of you love than the tightest cuddles ever as you fall asleep! honestly, sometimes its a little too tight haha 
nsfw 
THESE BOYS FKN RAVISH YOU LIKE YOU’RE A FIVE COURSE MEAL 
and of course they expect the same from you as well! i mean....can you blame them??? these boys are sexy as hell and they frickin’ know it!! 
i have this super clear image of both of them stripping you down and rubbing massage oil all over your body and then giving you the turn to do it to them my lord...
sort of along this line, temperature play makes these boys feral. wax, ice, blowies with popsicles you name it 
both of them really just like being touched all over because they have the prettiest dancer’s bodies and just feeling hands on their muscles makes them loose it. 
wooyoung loves to mark the hell out the both of you in a really territorial way: all over your chests and necks even on your thighssss 
san, while he often does find himself in sub space, really easily can switch to dom you in the most beautiful way. everything with him is really intimate and raw: if this wasn’t already obvious haha he would like have a hand kink and loves seeing the way that his fingers look pumping in and out of your entrance and how your juices look as well. 
back too wooyoung, he’s the king of oral. whether it’s going down on you and sucking at your clit or deep throating with master level skill...foreplay is never boring with him! 
in my brain, i can see the both of them filling nearly position so this makes for an interesting dynamic to say the least AHA 
every once and a while, they’ll let you take complete control of the both of them while they just sit back and watch you with the most smug-ass grins that you’ll see in your life! 
AH another thought: woosan fkn love when you squirt on them, in any way this might look: when you’re nearly screaming in your overstimulation they want it all over them. 
favorite position would be 69 threesome style with all of your sloppy moans in-between <3 
♡  moonbae  ♡
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HEAR ME OUT the king of soulmates that know that they are soulmates but don’t take it seriously in the slightest istg this is my most favorite dynamic ahhhh 
there is not one dull day with these two boys, they’ll have you laughing in stiches until you can barely breathe like, the best kind of wheezy, silent laughter ya know what i’m talking about 
INSIDE JOKES literally so many inside jokes with the three of you 
Kevin is never scared to call your ass out, but that’s bc he knows you so well!! it’s all just jokes don’t ya worry ;) 
Along this line, your groupchat like has some random-ass name that’s also an inside joke
Jacob on the other hand is the biggest sweetheart when it comes to you, boy frickin’ melts. There is not a day that goes by when he hasn’t told you he loves ya morning and night. 
Also the best listener in the whole world, you can tell him anything and everything and he’s just sit and listen and give advice. 
Kevin loves you a ton a ton but just shows it differently! He remembers all the little things about you that you tell him to the point it’s scary how he does it so well 
Meme king Kevin would send you memes that remind him of you and Jacob
Lowkey i can see the both of them getting into the cutest petty arguments like which one of them you love more or think is more talented AHA again it’s all in good fun hehe 
it goes without saying but...it’s cuddle central up in here. 
THEY WOULD SERENADE TF OUT OF YOU oh my god it’s literally heavenly, Kevin would play piano and Jacob would play guitar FRICK 
You have oddly specific dates?? Like they would pick a movie to go see that the three of you would all hate just to meme the whole time. Jacob would still get invested accidentally tho. 
The way to both of these boy’s hearts is their stomachs so when you cook for them they would quite literally do anything for you 
nsfw 
ok ok so i’m a baby deobi so this is the gist of what i’m getting (i also did a little research LOL thank you @ deobi smutblr hehe) 
firstly i would like to say that i’m manifesting thigh riding with Jacob and i literally can’t think of anything else for some reason just p h e w and BOY does he love it too he thinks its so fkn cute to watch you! 
i get heavy, heavy switch vibes from Kevin with maybe some sub leanings??? either way, jacob def has soft dom vibes (oh god and occasional soft sub) to me but also has no problem with you taking control and doing what you like to him if that’s what you desire! 
kevin is impatient impatient and does not do well with your teasing. also...loud as hell, like, sometimes you have to tell him that he needs to calm tf down hehe (but of course you love it when he gets like that) 
separately, both of them are very different experiences i think: kevin is a fan of hard and fast, kitchen counter over the sofa type stuff sloppy toppy in risky places, and he loves to experiment too! 
jacob is also really different where he likes much, much more slow and intimate stuff like missionary, shower sex, real atmospheric stuff like candles and nice scents ahhh BIG fan of really fluffy pet names too like baby, princess, angel etc. super visual too omggg gets hard when you strip for him i think ;) 
together it’s a fkn whirlwind i’ll tell ya that. its like, honestly the most unique experience i can think of on this list because the two of them are so different. i will say that it can end up being really giggly and sweet tho! 
when it’s the three of you, kevin’s dom side comes out a little more so you’re left with these two lovely boys who want to give you all the attention! it’s lowkey a competition lol 
favorite position is when you’re sucking jacob off and kevin gets to do literally whatever the hell he wants with your pussy...i imagine that it might have to do a lot with edging if you ask me ;) 
♡ jookyun  ♡ 
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oddly, i find myself soft af for jookyun and idk how to describe it haha (considering that they can often be hard as hellll) 
the three of you are also really nonchalant, but this is really in the way that you just feel as if you’ve known eachother for a really long time! 
as we know, jookyun were a bit of an enimies to lovers arc (AHA) so with the time that they’ve spent building their bond, it’s strong asf! 
i like to think that jooheon and changkyun would really get a ton of artistic inspiration from you for their music. since both of them write and often reflect bc of this, you’re totally their muse! (they’ll write some nasty as hell lyrics thanks to you too LOL) 
while our lovely thicc mx boys have unbridled confidence at times, really, they are babie. and they are frickin weak for your pampering. 
because of this, the two of them would become flustered as all hell when you do lil things for them!! this could be making them some lunch or just giving them the off compliment that they look a lil extra handsome that day. 
your safe place is with them!! ahhh i would also like to add the number of slick ass grabs when you’re in public is a bit off the chain at times ahah 
the duality of this r/ship is really something to note LOL when you go out and about when the two of them you certainly get some stares bc they look a lil intimidating at times but when you and your boyfriends cuddle up on the subway you give all passerby's whiplash haahah
Kyun is someone who is insanely romantic. almost to the point that it is cheesy haha he’d treat the both of you to expensive ass dinners, beach vacations and maybe even matching couple’s jewelry like rings or bracelets! 
jooheon on the other hand is a little more toned down haha but has another side to him that fkn swells with pride knowing how breathtaking you both are...frankly, his ego skyrockets knowing that he’s got you both for arm candy if this make sense teehee 
the three of you call eachother “babe” interchangeably, so it can get a bit confusing when you’re all in the same place and someone says “hey babe?” you need a new nickname ooP 
nsfw 
hello and here i am to push the sub!changkyun agenda. first and foremost i would like to explain how this man is such a pillow princess with the most lovely bratty edge *sighs* all that kyun wants is for you to fkn use him and do literally whatever the hell you want!! this man daydreams about you riding him right then and there wherever the hell he is. 
also, kyun is the king of toys, both using them on you and on himself! need i also say breath play as well in the same giving and receiving form? more than anything he loves it when jooheon wraps his hand around his neck hooooly ahhh he prefers it when you tease his tip with a vibrator until he’s angrily red and begging for you to give him a break just for you to bend down and give a kiss to his pearly head which makes him jolt 
jooheon is often more of a soft to hard dom if you ask me and takes care of both you and kyun really well. also... he will manhandle the hell out of you if you feel up for it (cough cough your arm kink for him ) oh shit and his thighs....don't’ even get me started 
while the three of you often opt for the hard and fast (even in some more risque places--such as in the recoding studio) there are really some more intimate times that you share too! 
on one of changkyun’s vacations, in the middle of the night, when no one was in sight and the hot tub was free for use...it started out as a bit of making out but then turned into something else when you decided to straddle jooheon and he let his hands creep under the straps of your swimsuit...needless to say you were bouncing on both of their dicks while you were warmed by the crackling bubbles 
at times, jookyun can get a little needy and impatient without you, so this has lead to a couple situations where you walk in on them letting out their frustrations ;) of course, immediately then they’d love for you to join! 
kyun has an oral fixation too, sooo he may or may not love cockwarming with his mouth or sucking your fingers lightly when you go to suck his dick~ 
♡  junhao  ♡
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here me out with this one...but...there’s something really intimate about this relationship?? oh how to put this into words LOL junhao also have an insanely deep bond that really transcends if ya ask me haha 
while they both can be really goofy around eachother when comfortable the soulmate vibes are just...immaculate! this is all i can say? all three of you are just so connected in the way that you accept each other for all that you are and just kind of naturally gravitate towards each other even before you really knew that there were romantic feelings involved! 
first, i would like to say that out of all the pairings on this list, you three are classy as FUCK. seeing the three of you next to eachother is like seeing literally three models in the flesh. the way that you dress (sometimes even to match a little) is unbelievable bc you all just look so good? 
hand holdingggg wherever you go! holding hands across cafe tables, playing with each other’s hands absentmindedly hehe 
TRAVEL BUDDIES you would go anywhere with them and take tons of pics!! i mean the prettiest pics 
hao shows his love for you in the form of so many things, all of which he makes himself!! you inspire his physical art and drawings which he shares with you and he also loves to take clothes too and personalize them for you! 
jun on the other hand would take you to the studioooo and you could watch him danceee oh my gosh he’s literally so breathtaking and he would be dancing just for you with every curve of his body he’s so magical :’) then he’d ask you for feedback and you’d just be speachless...also loves to make you smile!! just being his goofy self he’s the best at it and thinks you’re so cute! 
there’s a ton of adoration in this relationship! tons of cute little displays of skinship that might look like a poke in the cheek or the fluffing of their hair ahh 
still, i feel like you would have kind of silly little nicknames for them that match their personalities and perhaps...you could have matching phone cases with these nicknames.... 
in this relationship there’s a ton of quiet moments that are really peaceful and indulgent such as watching sunsets, drinking wine together, just talking about life n stuff like that! 
nsfw 
hellz yeah we’re in for some more intimate-ass fuckin! but also....😏
this boys are kinky as shit but in like a really classy ass way lolll this is so hard to put into words. 
well, i’ll start with junhui catboy agenda so there’s that hehehe he would most def be into pet play: that could be like ears or pretty collars and of course calling you (or him) kitten. 
minghao is really versatile and doesn’t really like labels of dom and sub, he just does what he wants and what feels good to him! bc we’re talking about how intimate everything is, the kind of sex that you share with them is often never rushed but really purposeful and even planned sometimes! 
i also see there being TONS of sensory items that would come into play with junhao such as flowers, fragrances, aphrodisiacs, all kinds of fabrics for sensory deprovision such as velvet, silk, hemp rope, and so much more! 
BOTH OF THEM WOULD SOUND ANGELLIC i see hao as letting out really pretty soft moans that kind of trail on his tongue and jun sort of choking out gasps with a bit of a rasp to them when they cum or they feel turned on
oh god MIRROR SEX that's what i have to say about this 
it doesn’t happen often, but sometimes when any one of you would be feeling needy or pent up they can certainly do hard and fast with you between the two of them. especially when this happens, oh my god hao loves it when you moan really breathily into his mouth when you’re pressed against him ooooh shit 
and jun loves it when you bite into his shoulder too when he fucks you it just makes him feral 
actually, i could really see the three of you recording yourselves, or even taking pictures when you have more intimate moments to look at later, just for your own enjoyment or to get off when you’re without the others 
favorite position: hmmm mirror sex with you on top of minghao literally just kissing him and marking his body as jun eats you out until you’re dripping down to minghao’s cock which he jerks off too~ 
♡  yeonbin  ♡
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DON’T TOUCH ME IM SOFT  
admittedly i don’t know too much about this pairing but i do know a lil so i wanted to add them!! i also did a lil research hehe 
FIRST i would like to say that the three of you would without a doubt have the cutest puppy together, if not one, then two!! they would be little dogs with perfect haircuts and likely have their own instagram account which the three of you would run! they’d be instragram famous of course 
LITERALLY EVERY DAY ITS A FIGHT OVER WHOS CUTEST i kid you not this is an ongoing battle you’re all just...so weak for the other ahaha 
being in a relationship with them is like being in a relationship with your bestfriends! 
dates with the two of them can really range all over the place bc you just like having fun together! movie dates, breakfast dates, ZOO OR AQUARIUM DATES, taking little trips to places you haven’t been before or stay at home dates like having a little indoor picnic! 
soobin is really low energy, and would often opt to hang out with you at home or at a cafe while the two of you do your thing together! he lovessss when you bake or cook for him, literally whatever it is he’ll eat it! 
his smile is instant serotonin and the reason why you fell in love with him! the two of them together all smiley is your lockscreen! 
yeonjunie prefers going out with you clothes shopping and would DEF enable you to dye your hair a color that you’ve always been dying to do! he also loves showing you new music and blushes like heck when you tell him that you like the songs that he picks! 
in their own playful ways too, they’d always call you out on your bs LOLL but they just wanna motivate you! they’re your biggest cheerleaders! 
Deep down though, both of them are quite cheesy and would love to shower you with alll the stereotypical romance that you can take even if it makes all three of you cringe ahahah 
nsfw
NEEEEDY and literally so mf horny on the dl like it’s comical to how soft and shy they can be in real life situations 
oh my god this is a godly thought but i see both of them being both switchy as heck but not really bc they like how it feels to be in those different postions but literally....bc no matter what it is they are getting off lolll 
i see both of them having sub leanings but can get real bratty if they’re feeling it. 
yeonjun does have a dom side to him that just comes with his general confidence that he gets around you! when either of you beg from him he’s ready to let himself loose. 
im so sorry but they literally handed pet play to me on a silver platter with cat & dog and there is no going back for me. SO you’re in for puppy, kitty and bunny play (shhhh yeonjun’s got his fox ears too) 
WHY AM I THINKING ABOUT HOW ALL OF YOU WOULD LIKE THIGH HIGHS
both of them love being edged to high hell by you...no matter if it hurts...they kinda like it? 
at the same time, both of your boyfriends also love giving you all the attention at times too! i’m talking about one of them playing with your breasts while the other trails kisses down your body all the way down to your pussy aching for attention too
FUCK this might be just me but soobin eating you out>>>> a GODLY sight. 
i have this other fantasy of yeonjun with either lip piercings or nipple piercings or even a dick piercing someone plz tell me to calm down 
oh please...bubble bath with the two of them holy shit baby pink bubbles all around you while you take turns givin’ each other cute kisses ahhhh 
one more thing to the pile here would be hella mutual masturbation soo much of it. the three of you get off just simply watching eachother too and dirty talking how much you love the way the others look with hands rubbing themselves away with cute whiny moans~ 
♡ taekook ♡
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omg! this is my first time remotely talking about bts on my blog hehe this is so exciting!! i don’t really read too much bts ff so this is going off of my own perception! 
i just wanna say....there’s so much to unpack here LOL but like many of the soulmates on this list, these boys are ~whipped~ for you and eachother!! its so stinkin’ cute 
another thing about these expensive boyfriends is that they loooove to sing for you too! they’d sing you to sleep, when you’re sick, sad, or just had a hard day allllways hehe 
the three of you have sickeningly adorable nicknames for eachother, the kind that honestly make heads turn LOL 
jk would without a doubt get tattoos with you!! and wine drunk lollll he’s also a huge enabler so if there’s anything that you’re considering buying or doing he’d hype you up so bad you barely have to think twice heheh 
kinda like junhao they’d also make amazing travel buddies but less for the aesthetic, but for the luxury. you’d stay at amazing hotels and eat at Michelin star restaurants wearing luxury brands that they bought for you
i feel like this goes without saying, buuuut in this r/ship, its alll about the adoring glances from afar or even just right next to you bc they love you so much!! 
i also get a very protective vibe from them as well, you’re very special to them, and they never wanna see you in harms way or disrespected by anyone! this could even look like having their arm around you on the bus or on the small of your back in a crowd 
together, they’re the biggest jokesters and flirty as HELL they think that it’s so funny when they flirt out in public AGRESSIVELY just to make you a lil embarrassed hehe  
forehead kissessss and kisses on the back of your hand! 
nsfw 
luxurious in this area tooooo 
they would rent out the penthouse or presidential suite to make an evening for you and pull out all the stops: expensive champagne, lingerie selected just for you, a breathtaking view of the city ahhhh 
ya all know how much i love my soft and intimateeee body touching and there would be plenty of this! they take their time undressing you and eachother and would plant kisses into the nape of your neck and shoulders as you do so! 
i would like to contribute to this conversation sub!jk bc this is something that ahhhhh i really like to think about as well as soft dom tae bcccc why not heheh 
these boys are utterly gorgeous under soft lighting and prowling all over your body too tho ahhh 
BUT! imagine teasing the hell out of jk, barely letting him feel your mouth besides fleeting kisses while tae drives his hips into you from behindddd 
in fact, these boys actually don’t mind a little voyeurism with the wide windows in your suite, opting to leave them open so there's a bit of thrill in the way that they fuck you too~ 
tae has a bit of...dare i sayyyy a power kink, so when you call him names such as sir, daddy, master etc oh boy 
jk himself is bit into sensory dep specifically with blindfolds especially when its your hands travelling all around his body making him shiver. 
both of them just looove cuming all over you as well: face, ass, thighs, belly, literally anywhere, they just think that you look amazing like that! 
there are a couple times here and there when the three of you also do a bit of cam work together for other people to watch--although it isn’t often, you rake it in when you do so. the three of you are a perfect fantasy! 
sex also can happen in odd places with you three too since you can just start feeling it and don’t really care ;) strangest place....hmm i’d say when you joined the mile high club with them~ 
~🌹~
Bunch of (Ro)ses! 
@minaamhh @dazzlehoseok @synnocence @jjewibeans @hyunsluvv @unexceptional-h @bobawithchaitea @lechanters @sailorhyunjinz @silencefavarchive @lunarskzzz  @yourdaddychan @bubblelixie @spnobsessedmemes @lmhmins @eunaeiekim
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writteninsunshine · 3 years
Text
He’s Going The Distance - Chris Redfield/Ethan Winters - SFWish
Title: He’s Going The Distance
Author: Reno
Fandom: Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Setting: Medbay, Post-Dulvey Incident
Pairing: Chris Redfield/Ethan Winters
Characters: Chris Redfield, Ethan Winters, Random Nurse
Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Romance
Rating: M
Chapters: 1/1
Word Count: 1386
Type Of Work: One-Shot, Part of the For All These Times series, Whump Bingo Fill #2
Status: Complete
Warnings: Gay, Slash, Yaoi, MLM, Pre-Slash, Canon-Typical Violence, Dissociating, Blood, Deep Wounds, Trans Male Character, Trans!Ethan Winters, Possible OOC for Chris, Medical Equipment, Medical Treatment, Stitches, Sutures, I.V.s, Pain Meds
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything.
Summary: Was Ethan truly so used to pain that he didn't notice that?
AN: Hey guys, it’s me again! Just thought I ought to say, if you want vague updates and to talk to me more, I have a writing Tumblr, too! Twitter is Sunshinecackle, and Tumblr is Writteninsunshine! I also have a writing Discord that is currently pretty dead. xD If you want it, please contact me on Twitter!
More whump fic bingo! I’m really enjoying these, they’re too much fun to write. Oops, I like to punish Ethan even if he doesn’t deserve it. He’s so whumpable. I hope you guys are enjoying this, I know I sure am. This one is for my editor, Gryph, who is the best editor I could ever ask for. MAJOR shout out to her!
Resident Evil Fic Masterlist
Ethan Whump Bingo Fic Masterlist
He’s Going The Distance
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There was an old thought resurfacing as Chris looked at Ethan. A man who could live through anything was what S.T.A.R.S. had wanted, Ethan would have been welcomed into the fold. The man was a machine when it came to surviving anything. Despite this, he seemed too oblivious to notice when something was wrong with him. All the healing fluid in the world couldn’t help the man with how much constant pain wracked his body. It was almost impossible to discern one pang of pain from the rest. That hand was a nasty wound, the staples not quite sanitary when they’d been secured into his skin.
But that wasn’t what he’d noticed just now.
“Ethan,” He began, his voice soft and wary as if speaking too loudly might shatter the other man. “You’re bleeding.”
“I am?” His voice sounded exhausted, hoarse, and so soft Chris barely heard him.
Tugging him closer for inspection, he unbuttoned Ethan’s shirt and pulled it away like a pair of curtains. Yanking up the undershirt he wore, Chris paused a moment to stare. Unable to help how his fingers splayed over the other’s stomach, eyes taking in the thick scars beneath his pecs. His thoughts turned away from the injury for a second, he only stopped when he reached the center of Ethan’s chest. He took in the soft peach fuzz there with a quirk of his lips he wasn’t in control of. Finally, his fingers fell over the thick gash leaking over Ethan’s pale skin, and the touch made Ethan recoil some. 
“Don’t,” Chris warned, eyes narrowing a little as he reached around, pulling Ethan close again by his waist, a hand on his middle back, “You’re hurt. I’ll fix you right up.” 
Leaving Ethan for a moment, he returned with a basin of warm water and a few washcloths. Where he’d gotten them from, Ethan didn’t know, and he couldn’t find it in himself to care. 
Dragging one wet cloth over the blood, he cleaned Ethan up despite his hisses and gasps of pain. What was the best option was going to hurt, so Chris started by applying a local anesthetic gel to the area around the wound. He must have found it when he brought the rest of his supplies, Ethan figured. He winced, flinching when Chris’s hands got too close to the weeping injury, but he sucked in a deep breath and bit the thin skin on the inside of his lip. It was all he could do to keep himself from making any more noise.
“I’m going to have to give you stitches.” Honestly, Chris was worried that Ethan was going to start leaking organs. It was deep, and he could almost touch the other’s rib bones. Ethan had really taken a beating, and it was hard to fathom how he hadn’t noticed this. Then again, he was in shock after everything that had happened, after all of the mental and physical trauma he had taken. Maybe it wasn’t such a strange occurrence. 
After all, he was a civilian. He hadn’t been meant to find these kinds of things. If he had stayed away, he would have been blissfully unaware, but there might have been a worse problem on Chris’ hands by the time they arrived at the scene.
“Okay.” Letting out the breath he’d been holding, Ethan nodded just slightly to save him from aggravating his pounding headache, “Just… Do it quickly. I don’t feel good.” Swaying, he felt his knees begin to buckle, and Chris caught him in a tight embrace. This wasn’t going to work with Ethan standing, anyway.
Hefting him up bridal style, Chris carried Ethan like he weighed nothing. Sitting him down on a nearby gurney, he removed his shirts and set them aside. They were stained, torn to hell, and bloody. He’d have to get him a change of clothes. Helping ease him to lay down so that his right side was facing out, he ran a hand over the other’s chest in a hope to help calm him. Maybe it wasn’t entirely innocent, but he was trying to stay focused here.
“This might hurt, but I promise I’ll be quick.” All Chris got in return was a soft murmur he couldn’t hear, let alone understand. If nothing else, Chris was efficient, and Ethan looked like he was going to faint. That might help him do this without Ethan bellyaching the whole time. Stepping away, Chris grabbed a first aid kit, opening it up and setting it beside Ethan on the cot. Digging out a needle, some antiseptic, and surgical thread, he worked the thread through the eye of the needle and set to work.
The laceration was likely already infected, if not by something typical, then by the mold Ethan had been exposed to. With a little sigh, Chris poured some of the liquid over it, making sure to use gauze to get it inside. The forceps he had grabbed entering it made Ethan grunt, but he was too tired to try and fight it. Chris diligently worked on cleaning him up, wiping at more blood before grabbing the sterilized needle. He wiped it down again with a clean antiseptic wipe before starting with the initial stick. Ethan didn’t seem to notice this, due to the numbing gel, and Chris was glad for it.
With the easy glide of the needle and his skillful hands, he made quick work of the stitches, hoping not to bother Ethan too much. Once they were tight, he cut the cord and cleaned up the wound once more, wiping away the gel with a few medical towelettes, before drying the area. To make sure it would stay clean, he rubbed another cloth damp with warm water on the site before running more of the wipes over it. A dry rag then worked over the glistening flesh, and he didn’t stop until he had patted him dry.
“Ethan, I need you to sit up. I have to wrap this.” Chris spoke, breaking the silence in the room they were in. Unfortunately, it seemed that Ethan had fallen asleep, or maybe passed out, so he had no choice but to gently shake him awake. “Ethan, you have to sit up.”
Ethan nodded absently, slowly pushing himself up with the other’s aid. Bracing himself on his shaking arms, he let Chris wrap him up with gauze from his stomach to his shoulders, surprised by his gentle hands. Once Ethan was bandaged up, he was allowed to lay back once more, and Chris didn’t think about his next action. Kissing Ethan’s forehead gently, he petted a hand over the skin and the other’s sweat-damp hair.
“You should be alright, now. I’ll keep an eye on this.” Voice quiet, he smiled slightly, hoping to keep him at ease. It didn’t seem like Ethan was going to panic, though, too worn down to do much but flutter his eyelashes. “Sleep, now. I’ll get you some pain killers when you wake up.” God knew he’d need them. Moving the gurney around so that he could be more comfortable and closer to the setup for the I.V., Chris sighed in relief. Already asleep, or so he hoped.
Settling in a nearby chair, Chris pulled out his phone. He’d be stuck here for a while, for sure. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do, he’d been set to guard Ethan while his tests were being done.
Ethan didn’t wake for what felt like hours, and when he did it was with a groan of pain. Chris was quick to give him water and a shot of morphine that he was instructed to administer through the I.V. that a nurse had given Ethan. At the very least, he was going to be taken care of.
“Thanks.” Ethan managed, his voice cracking halfway through. 
“You need care.” That much was obvious. Chris combed a hand through the other’s blond locks once more. “If that means I have to do it, then so be it.” There was an odd fondness he felt for Ethan in this moment, watching him nod, his eyes glassy and distant. “You’ll be okay.”
With any luck, he’d bounce back from this. He’d been through hell already, what was another ordeal to save him?
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AN: There we go! It’s not super shippy but I’ll still tag it, just in case. Also, this probably makes more pain for the start of The Village, but that’s okay. I might write something about it when I’ve seen more of the game. I got it preordered for my birthday but it’s at my friend’s house until I can see her again. I’ve been watching it, however, so I’ll get there eventually. I hope you guys enjoyed it!
Prompt: Ethan Doesn’t Realize He’s Injured
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dukeofonions · 3 years
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The Problem With Asides
Before I get into anything I want to clarify that this is not going to be a criticism of the two Asides episodes we’ve gotten so far. This is a critique of the concept of Sanders Asides as a separate series from the original Sanders Sides. A second note I want to make is that this is, just as all my other posts are, a personal opinion. This is not meant to be an attack on anyone, just a general criticism from a confused writer and viewer of the show. 
And final disclaimer: A lot of what I’m going to say is based on information that I no longer have available. It’ll mostly be me recalling things I heard and if I at any point get something wrong please feel free to let me know. 
That being said, let’s get into this, shall we? 
(Fair warning this post is very long hence why I’ve divided it into parts so feel free to read then come back as you wish)
Part One: The Concept of Asides
Some time ago last year, I believe shortly after Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts came out, was when the idea for Sanders Asides was first announced. The basic concept of it being shorter, more lighthearted videos focusing on the Sides outside of the main storyline. This format would allow them to give us more Sides content in between the long waits for the main series since those episodes were beginning to take more time to produce. 
Of course, everyone was eager for more Sides, so the majority of people were excited. Not only that but due to the main series tackling heavier themes, the episodes were becoming more angsty with less time for the characters to just relax and goof off with each other. The idea of having episodes reminiscent of the low stakes, sillier, happier content of season one was a welcome break from the more complex episodes and would be a nice return to form for the series. 
We were also informed that these episodes would be much simpler than their main series counterparts and wouldn’t disrupt the work being done on Sanders Sides, which meant we didn’t have to worry about long gaps between the main story episodes, right? 
(Another disclaimer: I am perfectly aware of the main reason why we were not given as much content last year and am not blaming Thomas or the team for doing what was necessary to keep themselves safe and hope they continue to do so as this continues into the new year)
Jump to November 22, 2019, where we got our first official episode of Sanders Asides, roughly five months after DWIT came out. Which, for this fandom, was record time to get more content and I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly they were able to get this out. Though at the same time, I wondered why it took five months to make what was meant to be a short, simple episode. 
So imagine my surprise when I went to watch the episode and saw it was nearly 20 minutes long. Which, okay, isn’t that bad when you compare it to the lengths of the more recent Sanders Sides episodes. But at the time, I was under the impression that the Asides would be, well, much shorter. The longest I expected would be maybe 15 minutes, but you know what? It’s the first episode and it has been a while since we’ve had Sides content, so maybe they wanted to give us a little extra due to the long wait. 
I started the episode and at first, I was overjoyed when I saw the first shot of all the Sides sitting in the living room in their onesies about to have a movie night. This was exactly what I’d been hoping to see from this series! It’s pretty much a staple thing in the fandom for the Sides to have movie nights together, and now it was happening in canon! 
At the moment, I had high hopes for this series and was filled with joy. 
Then that hope and joy were immediately crushed when I realized this was yet just another Virgil-centric angst episode. In fact, this entire episode was, well, exactly like a regular Sanders Sides episode. Sure, there were some jokes here and there, but the tone of the episode was no lighter than the last Sanders Sides episode. If anything DWIT felt lighter in comparison to this one. 
Which leads me to ask, what the heck happened? 
Part Two: Literally the Same Show
At this point in time, we’ve only had two episodes of Asides. Usually, I try to hold off my judgment of a series until I’ve had at least one other episode to see if my original criticisms still stand. 
To be fair, I did think Flirting With Social Anxiety was a step in the right direction. More comedy, a lighter tone, yes. Perfect. But again, just like with Are There Healthy Distractions? This episode quickly dove right back into the angst pool, and just like ATHD it was a pretty long episode, clocking in at almost 25 minutes. 
Not only that but again, both FWSA and ATHD don’t feel any different from the episodes we’ve been getting in Sanders Sides. 
1. They’re just as angsty.
2. Roughly the same length as Sanders Sides episodes.
3. Take about just as long to produce.
4. Contain a lesson to be learned. 
Which, okay, you can have lessons in lighter shows too, but we’re already getting that in Sanders Sides and Sanders Asides was described as, well, being less plot heavy. Yet so far both episodes are still tied in with the main plot. 
ATHD deals with the aftermath of DWIT, not directly but it’s pretty obvious that the whole thing with Virgil’s reveal at the end of that episode is being addressed in the background. Which, kind of takes away the impact of that ending, but I’ll get to that later. 
Then FWSA takes place after Putting Others First and again, is dealing with things from that episode in the background. Again though, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It makes sense to see the characters dealing with things from past events.
So why is it a problem here? Because, again, Sanders Asides is meant to be a separate series, and all the subtext brought on from the episodes in Sanders Sides makes the plots in these two episodes confusing. 
For example, I was perplexed during my first watch of FWSA because I couldn’t understand why the focus of the conflict was lying. I didn’t understand why Virgil and Roman came to the conclusion that Thomas’ reason for being unable to approach Nico was because he was lying to himself, when both the title of the episode and what we were shown points more to, well, social anxiety being the problem. 
(Quick note: One could argue that this was done purposefully to have Virgil putting the blame on Janus since he doesn’t like him and wouldn’t want to admit that he was the one responsible, but this series has had a bad habit of favoring Virgil in the past so until we get more answers I’m gonna leave this on the backburner) 
It didn’t help that I had no idea when this episode was meant to take place in the timeline, and I originally thought it could take place a bit after season two since Roman and Virgil seemed to be doing better, but more on them later.
All of this bugged me until I found out that FWSA takes place after POF, and after watching the live stream that followed and getting some more context, the lying thing made a bit more sense, but the fact that I was as confused as I was just caused more frustration to build up. And I wasn’t the only one who got thrown off by the “Lying is wrong” message of FWSA so I had to ask again, why was this episode a Sanders Asides when apparently, you need information from the last Sanders Sides episode in order to understand it?
So you’re telling me, that the second episode in what is supposed to be a separate series that isn’t meant to be a part of the main plot, is now integral to the plot of the main story you’re telling in what is, as you have said, a separate show? How does that make any sense? 
Okay, one could argue that Thomas getting a love interest doesn’t really fit with the current storyline that’s going on in Sanders Sides, and that is a fair point. The problem with that is, FWSA takes place right after Putting Others First. 
You all remember what happened at the end of that episode, right?
Part Three: Intrusive Plots
At this point we’ve all become rather accustomed to the long waits in between videos, it’s nothing new to us, and for the most part they haven’t done anything to harm the current plot of Sanders Sides. Sure, the length of time between videos can cause people to lose interest, but for the most part the tone of the last three episodes of Sanders Sides hasn’t differed much and the story flow is still going along smoothly. 
Let’s start with Selfishness vs Selflessness, which is the episode that sets up the big climax for season two. It’s still got its jokes and funny moments, but the overall tone is far more serious than previous episodes have been. This carries on into DWIT where Thomas has been so stressed out lately that he’s begun to have trouble with his intrusive thoughts. 
Virgil even gives a pretty good summary of Thomas’ current mental state: “He recently realized he’s a bigger liar than he thought he was, he doesn’t understand himself, he’s committed to skipping a big callback, and he’s sleep-deprived. So yeah, he feels like a piece of dirt who has no control over his life.”
And all that was a direct result of the ending of SVS, despite DWIT not being the direct follow up to that episode the two are still intertwined. Remember that for later.
DWIT ends with the long awaited reveal of Virgil having been a “Dark Side.” Even though the majority of the fandom had figured it out by as early as Can Lying Be Good? That didn’t take away from the emotional gut punch that this scene was and it’s one of my favorite moments from the series. I may have to make a whole post breaking that scene down but what matters is that this scene was a turning point for Virgil’s character.
We’ve seen him trying to hide the truth from Thomas ever since Janus and Remus started popping up, and there were close calls with both of them nearly revealing it themselves and continuously dropping hints to Thomas. Only for Virgil to admit it to Thomas himself, and leave before Thomas can even say a word. 
We don’t know for sure how Thomas is feeling in this moment, but it’s clear he’s been shaken by this. He doesn’t really have a lot of time to process it before he remembers to acknowledge the audience and close out the video. 
This comes up again once we finally get to the monster of an episode that is POF, the follow up to SVS that everyone had been waiting over a year for. Right away we see that Patton and Roman will be at the forefront of this discussion with Logan popping up every now and then, but who doesn’t show up in this episode despite having played a role in SVS? 
Virgil. 
He’s nowhere to be seen and his absence is definitely felt. Why wouldn’t he be part of this discussion? He was there in SVS and had a lot to say on the matter, he was even part of the decision to choose the wedding over the callback! So why wasn’t he there? 
Well, just look at the ending of DWIT and there’s your answer. Of course he isn’t about to show his face after that. Not when Thomas is already under so much stress already and he isn’t sure how Thomas will react to seeing him-
*insert random voice whispering off to the side*
 Wait, Virgil has seen Thomas since DWIT? When? 
*whispers continue*
Oh, right, they interacted in Sanders Asides. How did that go again? 
*whispers explain*
Huh? Thomas said he’s cool with Virgil despite revealing that he’s been hiding something from him this whole time? That “something” being the fact that Virgil was once considered part of the others that were currently making Thomas’ life miserable?
*whispers confirm*
Really? They’re both okay with each other now? Well, good for them. 
So wait, then why didn’t Virgil show up in POF? He was there during the first discussion and honestly he’d have more of a reason to show up than Logan who wasn’t really present at all in SVS. 
*whispers explain* 
He just wasn’t need there? Hm, alright. Guess that makes sense… 
Well okay, Virgil and Thomas are on good terms once POF rolls around, Virgil isn’t present during the conversation because he isn’t needed and I suppose his presence would make things worse. Especially once Janus revealed himself, he wouldn’t allow him to get a word in. Even though Janus could probably silence him but I digress. 
Fast forward towards the ending of POF, remember when I said to remember how SVS and DWIT were connected? Well DWIT is just as important to POF, acting as a bit of bridge between to the two episodes. 
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Janus brings up Remus (both directly and indirectly) twice in this episode.
First here:
 Notice how Roman’s breakdown is already being foreshadowed here, the camera focusing on him while “Logan” says this isn’t an accident. 
The second time Remus is brought up is at the very end after Janus has revealed his name:
“Oh, Roman thank God you don’t have a mustache. Otherwise between you and Remus, I wouldn’t know who the evil twin is.” 
(No I am not posting screenshots of this scene I already got emotional over the last one)
As we saw at the end of DWIT, Roman does not have a good relationship with is brother. So much so that when Thomas refers to Remus as such, Roman creates a different analogy that compares Remus to a mirror, reflecting everything Roman doesn’t want to be. 
Roman desperately wants to distance himself from Remus, not wanting anything to do with him. We’ve only gotten a glimpse of just how far this loathing goes, and part of that comes from Roman finally breaking down after being told by Janus that if it wasn’t for a mustache there’d be no difference between him and Remus.
This shook Roman more than anything else in the show has so far, moreso than him being the one to decide that Thomas should give up the callback. He was the one that pushed Thomas to make that decision, believing it was the noble thing to do, only for it to only make Thomas feel worse and then be told by Janus that his “noble sacrifice” was all for nothing. 
Janus, the one who had been supporting Roman throughout SVS, buttering him up and encouraging him to go after his dream, told him that his sacrifice was worthless. Then to top it all off Janus admits what he did and brushes it off as a joke. He doesn’t apologize to Roman, leaving him in the dust, then when Roman responds by laughing at his name he’s shot down even lower. 
And when he looks to Thomas and Patton for help, for answers, anything.
They stay silent.
Patton tries to reassure him, telling Roman that they love him, but he doesn’t believe it. He sinks out, and that’s the last we see of him.
Selfishness vs Selflessness, Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts, and Putting Others First are three of the biggest (and dare I say most important) episodes in the series. The three almost act like a trilogy, with POF leading to something bigger, the season finale. Which will be culmination of all three of these episodes. 
We’ll be seeing Virgil’s reaction to Janus having been accepted by Patton and facing his own past as a “Dark Side.” Then we’ll find out what has become of Roman after he disappeared at the end of POF, and how it now affects his relationship with Thomas.
*whispers return and begin to whisper*
I’m sorry what?
*whispers repeat*
Virgil already knows about Janus getting somewhat accepted? Well okay I guess he would, wish we could have seen his reaction to that but oh well, no big deal. At least we got the Roman and Thomas confrontation to look forward to. 
*whispers whisper*
Roman has already interacted with Thomas since POF? When?!
*whisper* 
In FWSA? Oh yeah, how did that go again? It was super awkward right? Since Roman doesn’t really trust that Thomas loves or values him?
*whisperly whisper*
They get along just fine as if nothing happened? 
*whispersty*
It looks like he might still be upset with him since he’s being a bit passive aggressive? 
*whisper* 
Can’t really tell because the three are too busy trying to talk to a cute guy at the mall? 
Okay, I guess that all makes sense… 
Looks like Roman and Virgil still aren’t on the best terms with Thomas but are able to push that aside to help him talk to this handsome stranger, and hey, it worked! Thomas now has a boyfriend! Just look at Roman and Virgil at the end, they’re both so happy with Thomas! 
Looks like now they can focus on this new chapter in their life and leave the events of POF behind them. I mean, now that Roman and Virgil seem pretty cool with Thomas it would just feel weird to suddenly have them angry with him again, wouldn’t it?
Part Four: The Problem
Sanders Asides was originally described as being a series separate from the main storyline of Sanders Sides. Promising us shorter, less complicated episodes to give us a little something in between the longer, heavier episodes in Sanders Sides. This was a great idea that ended up falling apart the moment it began. 
When I was going through SVS, DWIT, and POF I mentioned that the three of them felt like a trilogy. All three of them link together to tell one bigger story, and on their own they get the job done. They set up the season finale perfectly to the point where you have an idea of what to expect and what to look forward to. 
The main things being the aftermath of Virgil’s reveal and Roman’s breakdown, which would most likely cultivate in them teaming up against Janus. This would also involve Virgil coming to terms with his past and Roman having to face Remus. 
Of course, none of this has been officially confirmed, but given everything we’ve seen up to this point it just makes sense. 
The story for season two is nearly complete, all we’re missing is the conclusion. 
Then Sanders Asides showed up and threw everything off course. What was supposed to be its own thing crept into a story that was already (for all we knew) set up and being put into place. 
We were told that the Asides wouldn’t do anything to disrupt the flow of Sanders Sides, yet it’s been confirmed that there will be one or two more episodes of Asides before we get the season finale. 
Why? Why are these episodes necessary when everything was set to move forward after POF? If these episodes are that important that they absolutely have to be made before the finale then why are they simply not part of the main series? 
You could say “Well they’re not directly tied to the main plot, that’s why.” But need I remind you that Asides as a concept was just intriduced after DWIT came out? These episodes were written specifcally for Asides, which unless I’m wrong means that they were just added into the main story with no planning whatsoever. 
FWSA honestly feels like it should have been the start of season three, something that should have waited to be introduced after season two wrapped up because it’s just too much. 
We already have so much to unpack from SVS, DWIT, and POF now we also have a new love interest on top of that? 
Virgil and Thomas’ resolution doesn’t even feel all that special because it wasn’t talked about directly between them. Thomas was indirectly letting Virgil know they were still okay, so what does that leave for us? All that build up about Virgil being a “Dark Side” only for it to be brushed over like it was nothing, and this happened in an Asides episode, not even in the main series. 
It also makes Virgil’s absence in POF confusing when they had already set up the perfect reason for him to be absent in DWIT, but according to the first episode of ATHD Virgil and Thomas are okay with each other. Sure, Virgil being there might have made things worse but at that point everyone was making things worse. 
We no longer have a confrontation between Thomas and Roman to look forward to because in FWSA we see them interacting as normal. Even the passive agressiveness isn’t anything new to Roman and really, it all just sounds super petty which he had been known to behave like that even when nothing is seriously wrong. Not only that Roman is overjoyed at the end, having finally gotten something he desperately wanted, the happy ending he deserved.
All that’s left for him is to fave his feelings towards Remus, but what would even happen there?
The problem with Asides isn’t the quality of the episodes, FWSA is actually one of my favorite episodes. The problem with Asides is that the team is taking what should have been something small and turning it into a far too elaborate for what its original purpose was: To give us more lighthearted content to enjoy in between the waits for the heavier episodes.
Instead it just feels like they’re adding onto something that really didn’t need adding on to, creating more work for themselves when it just isn’t necessary, and that worries me.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, it’s hard for me to make all these judgments when no one has any idea what the finale is going to be like. And usually, the team is able to excede my expectations and create something amazing. 
But with all these new Asides episodes that feel like they’re just being crammed in at the last second, it makes me wonder how the rest of the series will go if they continue down this road. 
Season two started September 1st, 2017, it is now January 3rd, 2021. Throughout season two the production of episodes became more elaborate, and there have been complications that arose from trying to make these videos as a result that sent production screeching to a halt. And on top of that, these Sanders Asides have been added to create even more work for Thomas and the team.
I don’t understand why they’d do this to themselves when it’s already become more difficult than ever to make videos in general, not just Sanders Sides. 
We were offered something simple that would have satisfied everyone during the difficult times, only to be given something that honestly, wasn’t even needed. I do appreciate Thomas trying to get us more content, but I don’t think he or the team realizes just how content we’d all be with just a five minute video of the characters we love just doing something as simple as hanging out and having fun, especially with how dark things have become all around us. 
We don’t always have to be watching these characters struggle, sometimes we just need to see them be genuinely happy.
(Thanks to everyone who took time to read this monster of a post, I did not mean for it to get this long but it’s been dwelling on my mind for a while and I wanted to make sure I got out everything I wanted to say. Again, this is all just a personal opinions and you are not obligated to agree with me. If you have an objecting opinion I would not mind hearing it but please keep any discussions civil.)
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Only One - Cedric Diggory/Oliver Wood
A/N: hello my dearies, :D so this just happened and I could not figure out why I couldn’t think of the perfect ending, and then I decided it was because I need a second part for the ending xD so, here’s the first part of this wonderful story I am SO SORRY for the delay but I hope you like it :D 
Request - hvrmionegrvngvr-blog said: IM HERE!!!!!! Request on the Harry Potter fandom!! With hmm let's do Oliver and Cedric, and that the reader is the most bad ass Hufflepuff, bit she's dating diggory... And then diggory and wood have like little fight till it gets real on the quidditch pitch, and the reader chooses ???? That's up to you babe❤️👹 
Warnings: fight between Cedric and Oliver 
Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter :) gifs aren't mine :)
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Only One
I let go, there's just no one who gets me like you do You are my only, my only one
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Oliver Wood had no idea how this had happened to him. Everything was fine. He was captain of the Quidditch team, he was getting good grades, he had the best friend in the world and then all of the sudden, you had to ruin it, saying you had feelings for him. He loved you, like his sister. You had been best friends ever since you met on day one on the Hogwarts Express, even if you were in different houses, him being in Gryffindor and you being in Hufflepuff. And then, out of nowhere several months ago, you decided to tell him that you loved him as more than a friend. He hated doing it, but he felt that it was unfair to you if he wasn't honest with you. So he told you that he only saw you as a friend and he ended up breaking your heart.
"I am so sorry, but, I... I don't want things to change between us-"
"N-no, it w-won't" you promised, smiling nervously. "Oh, Merlin, Ollie, I'm so sorry, please can you just... forget I said anything?" you begged.
"No, come on, I swear. It's fine... we're okay... right?"
"Of course" you said, sighing, relieved. Oliver opened his arms, offering you a hug and you gladly took it. But this hug felt different. He knew things would never be the same.
And they weren't. After you confession, he had given you the space you needed, not wanting to make anything uncomfortable for you. You two didn't hang around as much, you would rarely eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner together. And the worst part, you had stopped coming to his Quidditch practices. You always used to come to his practices and even bring him food when you knew he hadn't eaten before. But that wasn't the part he didn't understand. No. He didn't mind giving you the space you needed, and he could live without you caring for his every need. But what really confused him, was this stupid feeling he felt in his gut whenever he saw you with him.
Cedric Diggory. He had seen it. How the two of you slowly started hanging around together all of the time. He didn't think much of it at first, even if he wasn't particularly fond of the idea, him being his worst enemy, at least on the Quidditch pitch, and now, he was taking his best friend away.
"Are you still obsessing over Diggory and his new girlfriend?" he heard one of the Weasley twins sitting down next to him.
"I am not obsessing over them" Oliver argued, continuing to glare at the pair at the Hufflepuff table.
"Of course, you're not" the other twin said, sitting on his other side. "Stop being so hard on him, Freddie" George (apparently) said as he started filling his plate. "He's just upset because she has a new man in her life-"
"What? He's not... her man" he said a bit upset. "...Is he?"
"Hmm, interesting" Fred said, looking at his friend. "What if he was? Would that make you... jealous?"
"Jealous?" Oliver said, trying to laugh it off. "I'm not jealous! Why would I be jealous! She’s my friend-"
"Yeah, that does not sound like a jealous person at all" George said, with his mouth full. "We were only joking, Wood. But it does sound like you're jealous-"
"I am not!" he argued. "I'm just... upset that she has not told me... I mean, we're best friends!"
"Until you blew her off-"
"I didn't blow her off" he complained.
"Yes, you did" George insisted.
"Whatever, I don't have time for this!" Oliver said getting up as soon as he saw you leaving the Great Hall with Cedric.
"Yeah, that doesn't sound like a jealous man at all" Fred told his brother.
"Not at all" George laughed.
Oliver tried to follow his best friend. He wanted, no he needed answers. Were you really with Diggory? Why hadn't you told him? You were best friends, you told each other everything! Was he the reason that you had blown him off lately? All of his questions were answered as soon as he stepped outside of the castle and saw his best friend kissing Cedric Diggory. But that wasn't what made his heart feel like it had been ripped off his chest. It was the way you smiled at him and looked at him when you broke apart. He knew that look. That look had been reserved for him. And now, that look was for somebody else. He saw Cedric giving you one last kiss before he made his way to the Quidditch pitch, leaving you smiling by yourself.
"Ollie?" you said, smiling brightly at him. "Hi" you said, as you approached him. "How have you been?"
"Well, not as good as you, apparently" he snapped a little, erasing the smile from your face.
"I'm sorry?" you asked, confused.
"How long has this been going on?" he asked, a bit more upset than he meant to.
"How long has what been going on-?"
"You and Diggory!"
"Oh" you said, feeling a hint of blush on your cheeks. "W-well, he asked me out to Hogsmeade a couple of weeks ago a-and-"
"And why didn't you tell me?"
You sighed sadly. "I don't know, Ollie. Maybe because for the past months you have been avoiding me like the plague!" you said, getting upset.
"That's not true!"
"Oh, really? You started changing your Quidditch practices so I wouldn't be able to go-"
"I didn't-"
"And you stopped going to my Common Room for us to walk together to classes-"
"I thought-"
"And you told the Weasley twins how I had screwed everything up when I told you about my-" you stopped, looking down. "My feelings for you" you said, quietly. Oliver froze a little bit. He remembered that discussion with the twins. It had been a couple of weeks after you had confessed your feelings for him. He had no idea you had heard him.
“I'm sorry" he said sighing. "I didn't think-"
"What? That I heard you?" you said, starting to feel your eyes well up a little. "I did. I was on my way to the Quidditch pitch because I knew you had practice and I heard you telling them that it was all my fault and that I had screwed everything up" you said, quietly. "So... I knew you didn't want to be my friend anymore-"
"I never said that-"
"No, but I know you and I knew that's how you felt so... I just turned around and ran back to my Common Room, crying... and Cedric found me" you told him. "That's... actually how we started talking" you confessed. "Look, I am sorry if you don't like him, Ollie. But I really do-"
"Are you in love with him?"
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me" he snapped. "Are you in love with him?"
"I..." you sighed. "Don't see how that is any of your business" she muttered.
"Because" he yelled but stopped before he said something he'd regret. "You're my best friend. And I'm only... I'm only looking out for you" he said softly, trying his hardest to ignore the pain in his heart. "I know how Diggory is and-"
"You don't know him, Ollie" she argued.
"How are you defending him? You don't know him either! We used to make fun of him all the time!" he laughed.
"Well, he happens to be a really nice guy-"
"And now you're what? You're in love with him? For Merlin's sake, months ago you were in love with me-" he stopped when he blurted out the last part, stopping his laughter when he saw the pained expression on your face.
"Is that what this is about?" you asked, feeling your eyes watering again.
"No-"
"That is so unfair, Wood!" you spat out his last name as you started to walk away from him.
"No, that's not what I mean-"
"You know" you said, spinning around and facing him again. "I get the fact that you would never even consider having any romantic feelings for me, but that doesn't mean that nobody else could!"
"I swear that's not what-"
"You know, I think is best if we just... have some time apart" you said, looking down, sadly.
"What?" Oliver said, feeling his heart breaking. "Y-you don't mean that" he begged, trying to grab your hand but you pulled it away.
"I do" you said, looking up at him and he could tell it was as hard on you as it felt for him. "I just... don't think this is good for either one of us right now" you said, with a tear falling down your cheek.
"You said things wouldn't change between us-"
"They already did, Ollie" you insisted.
"B-but... I don't want to lose you" he pleaded. "I'm really sorry" he said, trying to grab your hand again, but you stepped away.
"Me too, Ollie" you said, with a sad smile before you walked over to the pitch.
Oliver saw Cedric spotting you and running towards you, throwing his arm around you and kissing your forehead. He knew what he was feeling. And he couldn't believe the Weasley twins were right.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Oliver was about to go into the Gryffindor tent before their match against Hufflepuff when he spotted them. He saw you kissing Cedric before the game. You were wearing his sweater and Cedric wrapped his scarf around you, and then kissed your head. You left and before Cedric could enter his tent, Oliver had stomped his way towards him.
"Diggory!"
Cedric turned around and faced his rival captain.
"Yes, Wood? Came to forfeit before we crush you-?"
"Stay away from her!"
The words came out of his mouth before he could stop them. He was now standing right in front of the Hufflepuff captain.
"Excuse me?" Cedric asked with an amused smirk.
"You heard me!" Oliver snapped. "Stay away from her!"
"I'm not going to do that" he said back to him. "She's my girlfriend!"
"I mean it, Diggory!" Oliver said fuming. "I don't want you near her-"
"Well, I believe that is something that she can very much decide for herself, isn't it?"
"I'm not going to let you hurt her!"
"Who says I'm going to hurt her?" he said, getting more upset.
"I know how you are, Diggory! I know you dump each girl after you're bored with them and I am not going to let you do that to my best friend!"
"I don't know what you think you know, Wood" Cedric said, stepping closer to him, making Oliver walk back. "But I would never do that to her!"
"I mean it, Diggory!"
"So do I, Wood! Just because you are now realizing what a stupid mistake you've made, doesn't mean that now you get to come here and claim her back-"
"Claim her!?" Oliver yelled, pushing Cedric back a little. "I fucking knew it! I won't let you hurt her, Diggory!"
"Oh, like you hurt her?" Cedric asked pushing him back.
Oliver was about to throw himself at the Hufflepuff captain when he felt two pairs of arms pulling him back.
"Hey, easy there, Oliver" Fred said, pulling him away from Cedric.
"Yeah, come on mate" George said. "We have a match to play" he reminded him. Oliver and Cedric were still glaring at each other. And two other boys from Cedric's team had appeared next to him.
"Everything alright here?" they asked, confused.
"Yeah, Wood was just wishing us good luck" Cedric mocked him. Oliver tried to free himself from the twins but they didn't budge.
"I am going to kill you, Diggory!"
"Oliver, stop it!"
"See you on the pitch" Cedric smirked before he went inside his tent.
"What the bloody hell was that about?" George said, pushing Oliver towards their tent.
"Are you trying to get us disqualified before the match even starts?" Fred told him.
"Whatever let's just get ready" he said, glaring at them and walking over to the rest of the team.
Once the match started, both captains did not even try to pretend that they weren't after the other. Even if Oliver was the Keeper and Cedric was the Seeker, they basically kept on crossing each other's way. You were sitting at the edge of your seat, anxiously watching your best friend and your boyfriend basically trying to push the other one of their broom. You kept on telling yourself that you were imagining it, until you saw Oliver, bluntly pulling Cedric's broom back, making him fall to the ground with a loud thud, and Madam Hooch blowing her whistle at the obvious foul. You quickly stood from your seat and made your way towards the pitch knowing what was about to happen. You got to the bottom of the stands, fast enough to see Oliver landing on his broom and before Madam Hooch could say anything to him, he was already making his way towards Cedric, who was stomping through the pitch to get to Oliver.
"What the hell, Wood?" Cedric snapped, getting closer to him.
"Sorry, mate, that was my bad" Oliver said with a smirk as the two boys reached the center of the pitch.
Before Oliver could say anything else, Cedric threw back his elbow, coming back to punch Oliver in the face.
"Cedric!"
"What the fuck, Diggory?!" Oliver said, getting up and returning the punch but Cedric ducked down, pushing Oliver to the ground by his waist in the process.
"Oliver!"
"I told you to stay away from her!" Oliver said, punching Cedric.
"You are the one who should be staying the fuck away from my girlfriend!" Cedric snapped, returning each punch he was receiving from Oliver.
The rest of both teams had landed by now, making their way to their captains, but you were the first one to get there.
"Stop it! Both of you!" you yelled but you were only ignored by the two boys as they kept on fighting.
"You don't deserve her!"
"Oh and you do? You fucking broke her heart! And the only reason you now want her now, it's because you can't have her!"
"THAT IS ENOUGH!" your voice was heard throughout the pitch. Your wand was out, pushing both boys aside and making the rest of the teams stop where they were. George and Fred helped Oliver up while Zacharias and Malcolm did the same with Cedric. Both captains still glaring at each other. "What the bloody hell is wrong with you two?" you snapped at both of them.
"What in Merlin's name is the meaning of this?" Professor McGonagall appeared with Professor Sprout by her side. "Wood! Would you care to explain?"
Oliver only looked away, ashamed.
"Cedric?" Professor Sprout asked her house's captain, who mimicked Oliver's actions.
"Well, if the two of you cannot get along, I have no choice but to suspend this match-" Madam Hooch started.
"What?"
"No!"
"You can't do that!"
"She must certainly can!" Professor McGonagall said, casting a warning glare to her team as Professor Sprout did the same.
"We will resume this match, once your two captains learn how to behave in a decent match" Professor Sprout said looking at the two boys. "Now you two, Hospital Wing" she said shooing them out of the pitch.
"Now, Mr. Wood" Professor McGonagall added when she saw he was about to complain.
The two captains groaned in annoyance as they started walking back to the castle with you not far behind. All three of you remained dead silent.
"But-"
"I'm not talking to you!"
"Love-"
"I'm not talking to you either!"
The three of you entered the Hospital Wing, where Madam Pomfrey gasped at the sight of the two captains.
"What in Merlin's name happened to you two?" she asked horrified.
Neither of them answered as she lead them to two beds, next to each other and she cleaned their wounds. Once she said they were clear to go, you stood in the middle of them, arms crossed in front of her chest.
"Does it hurt?" you asked. The two boys turned to look at each other, confused and then back at you.
"A little" Oliver mumbled.
"Not too much" Cedric said at the same time.
"Good" you said, smiling at them before walking over and smacking them on their heads.
"Ouch!"
"What the hell!?"
"What the fuck was that?!" you snapped at both of them. "You two are the most passionate people about Quidditch that I have ever met and you stopped in the middle of a match to beat each other up?!"
"Well-"
"No! I am not finished!" you said, raising your finger at them. "Not only did you embarrass your houses and the head of your houses! You embarrassed me! What the bloody hell was that about?"
"Why don't you ask Wood about it?" Cedric said, glaring at the Gryffindor.
"Why don't you ask Wood about it?" Oliver mocked him childishly.
"Shut up!" you yelled at both of them.
"What are you mad at me for? He's the one that wants me to stay away from you!" Cedric said, pointing at Oliver.
"Is that true?"
"Of course it's true!" Cedric said before Oliver could say anything else. "When really, he's the one that should be staying away from you!"
"Do you two idiots realize that neither one of you can decide that?!" you said, getting upset. "I am perfectly capable of deciding who should be in my life and who shouldn't!"
"But I am your boyfriend!"
"And I am your best friend!"
"Well, neither of you are acting like it!" you yelled. "So, until you do, I think is best that you both stay away from me!" you said before you turned around and you were about to walk away from them. Both boys were on their feet, stepping in front of you.
"Love, you don't mean that" Cedric begged.
"You can't do this!" Oliver complained.
"Yes, I can" you said, looking up at them. "You are turning this into some... some sort of contest" you snapped before looking at Cedric. "You are treating this as if you somehow beat Oliver because I am your girlfriend and you are not even considering how it makes me feel" you scowled at him.
"That's not true-"
"And you" you said, glaring at Oliver. "Is this some sort of game to you?"
"No! I love you-"
"You what?" Cedric froze.
"No, you don't Oliver!" you said, rolling your eyes. "You are only saying that because you are jealous!"
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"No, you idiot!" you said, rolling your eyes. "You just feel left out because I didn't tell you about Cedric and the fact that you have never liked each other doesn't help! I am sorry I didn't tell you, Oliver, but you were avoiding me. And I didn't know how you were going to react. But you don't love me. Not like that! I know you. And to you, this is about winning" you told him. "And is not fair that you are doing this after I finally found someone that loves me and that I love back-"
"You love me?" Cedric asked, smiling at you.
"I don't know! I am still angry at you!" you snapped and you took a deep breath. "You two need to figure this out. Because I love being your best friend" you said, looking at Oliver. "And I love being your girlfriend" you said, looking at Cedric. "But if you can't get along and realize that you are acting like idiots and driving me crazy, I can't do this" you said sadly, before walking between the two of them and out of the Hospital Wing, leaving the two captains behind.
To Be Continued
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
A/N: so, this is only going to have one more part where the decision is made :) I think I already know what the ending will be but I would LOVE any suggestions of how you think the story should end xD
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vvitchering · 3 years
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Did anyone ask me to write a whole essay about how Din’s creed and armor read as a metaphor for asexuality to me? No. Am I going to write an essay about that exact thing right now because I do this literally every time I find a new character I really like? Absolutely. 
(Disclaimer: I’m writing this based on my own feelings and experiences with being ace. Asexuality exists on a spectrum and not everyone experiences it the same way. I’ve chosen to interpret the character through the lens of my own asexuality. I in no way speak for all ace people, I’m just one nerd with a dusty English degree, a keyboard, and a hyperfixation)
So I started out just wanting to word vomit some character study stuff about Din because I want to eventually write fanfiction and I never feel comfortable just jumping in until I’ve thought long and hard about how I feel about and understand the characters involved. And then I got to thinking about how relationships are explored in The Mandalorian and something stuck out to me. The show never forces or even bothers to introduce romantic bonds as necessary to their main character’s development. Rather it chooses to focus on Din’s familial relationship with Grogu as the bond that saves Din from his loneliness and aimlessness. 
But I want to dig into that lack of romance a little bit and I want to do it through looking closer at Din as a character. What strikes me as interesting is he isn’t presented to us as the typical “lonely hero” archetype you’d see in Star Wars (or anything else, actually) He doesn’t seem to have much personal investment in his profession. He’s a bounty hunter because its a way to hunt beskar and a means of income for himself and his covert. That’s it. He doesn’t have any particular passion or interest in hunting and fighting, it just happens to be that, as a Mandalorian, he’s a trained warrior. Not a TON else you can do with that as your only skillset. 
We also establish early on that he’s a lot more sensitive and emotionally vulnerable than he lets on. He bonds with Grogu almost immediately. He doesn’t even hesitate to shoot IG-11 through the head when it threatens to kill the baby. This man saw an unattended infant in danger and said “it’s free real estate” and became a dad. 
So we KNOW he has an incredible capacity for compassion and affection almost from the get-go. And that’s reinforced time and time again throughout the show by his willingness to help literally anyone who needs it, regardless of the benefit to himself. So why don’t we ever see a romance?
It’s because he’s Mandalorian. More specifically, it’s because he’s the type of Mandalorian who vowed to live by a creed that prevents him from showing his face to any living being. On the surface, this could potentially cause issues with finding love and intimacy because it physically prevents him from being open with someone else. A relationship with him would mean accepting that you will never See the person behind the armor, and I can see that being uncomfortable for a lot of beings. 
If you dig some more into that, it comes down to there probably not being a ton of people out there willing to make the compromises Din would need to comfortable and happy. I believe he’s been burned by this exact situation in the past, judging from his interactions with Xi’an in The Prisoner. Presumably they had some sort of entanglement when they worked together in the past that ended in some bad blood. She belittles him for his dedication to his beliefs, embarrasses him, and plays into Mayfeld’s childish and invasive questions. 
We’re only ever given this as an example of a past attempt at some kind of relationship, and it ended, and ended badly, because he was unwilling to ignore his beliefs and boundaries for a partner who mocked him for both. 
So it’s really no wonder we get that amazing scene with Omera in Sanctuary. He’s clearly thought about staying with her, someone who has been kind to him and Grogu, and who could maybe come to truly love him. But even she still expects him to simply “pack away” his beliefs in favor of her companionship. The way his voice cracks and shakes, the way he so resignedly (but still so gently) grips her wrists to pull her away from taking his helmet off, that’s a man who had maybe dared to hope for a second that he’d found someone who would respect his choice to keep his face covered. It’s other things, too. It’s his dedication to his quest to both protect and reunite Grogu with his people, first and foremost, but there’s definitely some personal turmoil in that scene as well.
Conclusion: Din is someone who canonically struggles to form romantic/intimate relationships with others because of the creed he’s sworn and the armor he wears. He’s made attempts that have blown up in his face (Xi’an) and while he still allows himself to fall just a little bit for others when they’re kind to him, it’s always with the knowledge that it won’t work out because they see his boundaries as surmountable or conditional (Omera).
If that doesn’t read as an asexual experience, I don’t know what does. 
(I also want to talk about ship stuff now so if you’re not interested in me talking about Dincobb you can peace out! Otherwise, you made it this far, might as well keep listening to me ramble lmao)
This entire examination is also to work out why Din/Cobb works so well for me as a ship and it 100% has to do with how the fandom has interpreted and written Cobb in their fanfic. Overwhelmingly I have seen people write Cobb as incredibly understanding and accepting of Din’s choice to cover his face. He totally lacks the expectation that someday his affection will be enough for Din to forsake his creed, which is novel for Din. 
Here’s this person who not only takes the time to get to know him as a person, fight by his side, and trusts him implicitly, but he also doesn’t come with the usual stipulation that his love is conditional based on Din’s willingness to compromise his boundaries for him. I LOVE that one of the most popular tropes for this ship is Cobb willingly blindfolding himself so that Din is able to remove his helmet and relax around him without violating his beliefs. I LOVE that there are so many fics where Cobb cooks him dinner, understands that Din can’t eat next to him, and sits down on the other side of a closed door so they can still eat together. Cobb respects Din, respects his boundaries, and Din is able to pursue a more intimate connection with him because of that allowance and acceptance, and on his own terms.
As someone who has always struggled to find a relationship free from the expectation that I must somehow trade my identity and comfort for love, this ship just hits different, okay. 
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let-them-read-fics · 3 years
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Winner Takes All
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Drum roll please....🥁.... I'm very happy to present to you: the return of Gamer Jisoo and her infamous Pikachu hat. I know I know, very exciting.
Pairing: Jisoo x Fem!Reader
Word Count: ~ 4,479
Warnings / Misc. -- Fluff Galore, A Few Curse Words
Disclaimer: This writing is a work of fiction, and no disrespect is meant for those mentioned herein.
A/N: First off I'd like to thank you guys for the love on my other gaming fic; seeing you enjoy my work really encourages me. With that being said, I should note that I don't know much about gaming conventions -- I apologize if I get some details wrong in this writing. I hope you enjoy it regardless. Happy reading!
🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
“Lisa, I’m scared! What if she tackles me? You know how she can get when she’s excited…”
The throaty chuckle that leaves the maknae works to calm you down, and you find yourself smiling despite the nerves. “The girls and I will be there to keep you safe, don’t worry. Jisoo-monster can’t hurt you.” 
You shake your head as you grab the tickets, stuffing them in your pocket and mentally preparing yourself for the surprise. Lisa takes your hand and drags you out the door in a rush, her happiness plain to see.
~~~
The sounds of your foot falls against the linoleum work in tandem with the beating of your heart, and you do your best to conceal your grin. The last thing you want to do is give the plan away at the last second. 
Upon opening the door, you find the other 3 girls sprawled out on the floor in various positions, bodies exhausted from dance practice. So much for protecting you. 
“Where were you guys? We were starting to get worried.”
When you take too long to reply, Jennie raises up onto her elbows, narrowing her eyes. “Y/N…”
Shit. You’re toast. The girls’ eyes search the two of you quizzically while your brain goes into overdrive in an attempt to find a believable excuse. Everyone knows you’re a bad liar, and you’ve just been caught in the act.
“LisawashelpingmewithasurpriseforJisoo.”
The words leave your lips in a rush, but your girlfriend doesn’t miss her name being thrown in there at the end. Her eyes dart up to yours, and she perks up.
“OYE! What was that?” 
Releasing a sigh, you repeat yourself. “Lisa was helping me with a surprise for you.”
Jisoo’s stupid smirk from across the room makes you giggle, and you roll your eyes. She stands up and walks over, wrapping her arms around you. 
"A surprise, huh?" She asks cutely, her eyes shining even brighter than usual as she raises her eyebrows repeatedly like a dork. Both of your smiles widen as you nod at her, allowing your hands to run through her mussed hair. Seeing her so excited makes everything worth it, and you know you'd spend every dollar to your name in order to keep her as happy as this; she deserves nothing less. 
As she leans in to press a kiss against your lips, her hands work their way down to your hips, resting there. Too caught up in the moment, you fail to realize that her fingers have hooked their way into your pockets. 
Her lips vibrate against yours as she lets out a confused mumble, her fingertips brushing over the foreign material. She gets the jump on you, quickly snatching the tickets from your jeans, and you watch her face as she reads them.
Every moment that passes feels like an eternity, the air void of any sound as you and the girls wait to see her reaction. She's still just staring at them, running a finger across the material as she rereads the info printed there. A pang of insecurity runs through you at her continuous silence, and you can't help but speak up.
"I know they're not the premium access ones, but we still get to--"
"They're absolutely perfect, Y/N. I don't know what to say." Her voice is gentle and quiet, and your heart softens at how precious she looks right now. 
"You didn't have to do all of this for me." She says, unbelieving that she deserves such a gift. Determined to remind her of how much she means to you, you cup her cheek and coax her into looking into your eyes. 
"After everything you do for me, this is the least I could do, baby. You're worth every bit of it and then some. I can't wait to take you." 
She pulls you up against her again, wrapping her arms around your shoulders as she whispers words of gratitude and praise into your ear. 
A minute later she pulls away to give everyone in the room a warning. 
"Prepare yourselves -- incoming scream in 3...2...1…"
Jennie, Lisa, and Rosé all scramble to the farthest corner of the room, tripping and sliding the entire way while you just cover your ears and laugh. They look like characters out of an episode of Scooby Doo. 
"AHHHH I love them!" She suddenly shouts, throwing her hands up into the air triumphantly as she does a little happy dance with the tickets. Her joy is contagious, and soon the rest of you are all bouncing around with her in celebration. 
-----
"Ready, my love?" 
Upon poking your head into Jisoo's room, you find her sitting at her vanity, smoothing out her hair before she puts on her signature Pikachu hat. 
"Just a minute." She responds, sending you a soft smile through the mirror. You lean against the door frame to admire her until she's done, studying how elegant she looks while doing even the simplest thing. How you managed to get so lucky is beyond you, but you thank your lucky stars for her every day. 
Once she's finished, she turns around in her chair to get a good look at you. A light pattern of blush rises to her cheeks at the way you're looking at her, head over heels and hopelessly devoted. A grin tugs at her lips as she approaches you, dusting off your shoulders and fixing your shirt just like a married couple would. 
"I'm so in love with you." 
Jisoo's heart speeds up at your words, still getting just as giddy as it did the first time you confessed to her. She bats her eyelashes and looks at you as if you hold the key to the universe. 
"No way! Me too; I'm pretty great, aren't I?" She plays, making you roll your eyes and laugh. Of course she has to mess with you in the middle of a serious moment. 
"I'm kidding. I love you more and more every day, Y/N." She says, taking your hands within her own as she loops them around her waist. Her eyes meet yours again, and she leans in to kiss your cheek. 
"Now come on or we'll be late. I can't wait to school you!" She says, sticking her tongue out at you. 
"Oh you are so going down. Just don't cry when I beat you." You retort, mocking her as you pout and make your lip tremble. 
She playfully pushes you out the door, cackling as you almost fall. You say goodbye to the girls, making sure to give them all big hugs before leaving the dorm. 
----
The convention center is bigger than you had ever imagined it'd be. Past the security line at the entrance, the space opens up immensely with two large hallways sprawling off on either side of the main performance room. High ceilings tower overhead, their support beams decorated with various posters and guides. Some staff members sit at a long line of tables to greet guests and offer information about the scheduled events. 
"Good afternoon, ladies. How're you doing today?" One of them asks as you approach.
"Good, thank you. And you?" Jisoo says, smiling excitedly. 
"I'm doing just fine. Is there anything I can help you with?" The woman is kind; you like her. 
"Do you by chance have a map?" You inquire.
She nods, reaching underneath the table to fish the complimentary guide out of one of the boxes. 
"Here you go." 
"Thank you very much. I think this is all we need; have a great day!" You cheerily reply, bowing your head to show gratitude. 
"You're welcome. Come back if you have any more questions; we hope you two enjoy your experience with us!" She sends you one last smile as you step out of line and allow the next guest to take your place. 
After scanning your eyes across the busy area, feeling a bit overwhelmed by all that's going on, you spot some tables near the large front windows of one of the expo halls. 
You direct Jisoo's attention to them, and you swiftly make your way over there. 
"Be cool -- I snuck us in some snacks because everything here is overpriced as hell." 
You whisper to her, stealing a glance around the two of you before opening your coat like some sort of drug dealer. She lets out a little giggle as she eyes the assortment of candies and food you brought, saying: "You smart." 
"Alright, let's plan out our route."
She nods in agreement, pulling a chair up next to yours so you both can look at the map. 
Various fandoms have booths and rooms set up throughout the building -- everything from movies and tv shows, to any video game you can think of. Because of the scope of experiences offered, the tickets weren't easy to come by: you had to pay a pretty penny to even get the "cheap" option. Nevertheless, that's the last thing on your mind as you notice how happy Jisoo is right now. Her eyes dart across the paper, taking in all of the different sections and committing them to memory. 
"I heard that the Harry Potter wing has butterbeer…" you start, nudging her shoulder with a smile. 
She lights up at this, quickly deciding that you should start your trip there. "Okay, let's begin with it. Then we can check out some of the other movie franchises in that hall, and come over to the video games after." 
You glance down at your phone to check the time before adding, "That'll work out perfectly. Overwatch and PUBG are having major tournaments later, so we'll be there in time." 
She stands up to snatch a pen from one of the nearby help stands, and returns to her seat soon after. A scribbling noise can be heard as she circles the different places you want to go, adding stars beside the ones you guys are most excited for. 
"Done!" She declares, placing the cap back on the pen and setting it to the side. 
"Lead the way, pretty girl." You purr, grinning at the way her eyes turn into those famous little crescents as she smiles. She slips her hand into yours, interlocking your fingers as the two of you begin your journey.
----
"Y/N IT'S SO ADORABLE!" She yells, pointing to one of the Animal Crossing plushies that adorns the table in front of you. You push the brim of your newly-purchased Star Wars hat out of the way so you can get a better look at what she's talking about.
"Awww." You coo, reaching into your pocket to grab your wallet without hesitation. After buying it for her, you have her stand by one of the latest posters so you can have a mini photoshoot. 
"You're so beautiful." 
She loses focus on posing for the camera now, her eyes shifting from the lens to your own. You nearly melt from the look of pure adoration she's sending you, and she takes that as her opportunity to compliment you back. 
"And you're the cutest thing ever." You hide behind your hands, shielding your blushing cheeks from further scrutiny. 
"Stop it." You command, feeling her arms snake around your waist as she approaches you. 
"Never," she starts, pulling your hands away so she can pepper kisses across your face. "I'll spend every day reminding you how precious you are." 
"Ya know, my heart really can't take all of this love. I'm surprised it hasn't burst yet." 
"Well it'll just have to get used to it." She declares, nodding curtly with a final look of determination taking over her features. 
"I'm in love with a dork, everyone." You say to an imaginary audience, taking a step back as you motion to Jisoo. She slaps your shoulder playfully before dragging you to the next booth.
---
For the past 2 and half hours, the two of you have hit up just about every spot you intended to. You've accumulated bagfuls of bracelets, necklaces, shirts, and other memorabilia from nearly every shop you visited, and the thought makes you happy. Jisoo can decorate the dorm with her figurines and merch, and she'll be reminded of today every time she sees them. 
"The big Overwatch match is about to start, so we can check it out until the PUBG one begins, if you want." 
"Okay, but can you help me put this necklace on before we go?" 
You nod in affirmation, taking her over to a nearby bench to set your things down and help her. She scoots up next to you and pulls her hair to the side as you fasten the small clip behind her neck. The piece matches yours, and you grin as her fingers come up to toy with the material. 
She spins around to face you as she expresses her thanks, quickly moving on to rant about the tournaments. She giggles eagerly, mind completely wrapped up with thoughts of the games as she gushes about the things she's looking forward to.
You're doing your best -- honestly, you really are -- but Jisoo's lips look so kissable right now that you can't help but lose focus. They purse and pout as she rambles on, and you do your best not to stare. 
You fail miserably, though -- after finding that your eyes have been nearly glued to her lips for the past 5 minutes, your gaze always dropping back down to those heart shaped pillows, Jisoo smirks. The sight makes you weak in the knees but you try not to show it.
"Awww, does somebody want a kiss?" She teases, making kissy noises at you while you blush and look away. 
"Yeah, and what about it?" You challenge, turning back to her. 
Content with how much she's teased you (for now), she rests a hand on the back of your neck as she draws you in closer to her body. Her other hand rests on your thigh, rubbing small circles onto the material of your pants. The moment is innocent enough at first, but the combination of her soft lips against yours and her ministrations on your leg soon makes your blood pressure rise. 
Feeling the stares of other guests passing by, you decide to pull away. She chases your lips, though, pressing one more peck to them before looking into your eyes. 
Your pupils are blown wide; your lips a little darker now, and Jisoo pats herself on the back. You're artwork to her, and she loves to see what she's capable of doing to you. 
"If you keep looking at me like that then we’re gonna miss a big portion of this match.” You say lowly, just loud enough for her to hear. Her eyebrows raise in surprise at what your words imply, and her lips settle in their famous heart pose. 
"Come on then, let's go inside." She says, tugging you up along with her. You guys will have plenty of time for that, later; for now, the most important thing is the event.
-------
Upon entering the spacious room, your ears are filled with theme music being played over the speakers. Chatter from fellow fans can be heard as well, and you take a moment to look around. 
Countless rows of chairs stretch out in front of you, all neatly lined up towards the large stage across the room. A vast majority of them are already taken, but you happen to spot 2 empty ones in what appears to be the 4th row.
"Come on, let's grab those seats." You say, pulling her from her geeked-out stupor. She continues to gape at the layout of the room as you lead her to the chairs, her eyes wide in wonder. Large projectors on either side of the stage take turns displaying pictures of the starting players from both teams. Multicolored lights also shine at various points throughout the room, moving about in predetermined patterns and motions as they cycle. 
Within 10 minutes, the elite players make their entrance, sending the room wild. Introductions are made, and they all take their seats at the different computers lined up on stage. 
"How's everyone doing?" The MC's strong voice booms into the microphone, echoing loudly across the performance hall. The crowd shouts its response and you laugh at how loud Jisoo bellows out her own. 
"We have an amazing set for you here tonight. Teams from across the world have flown in to compete for the 150,000 dollar cash prize, as well as the title of Overwatch league champions!"
The teams clap along at this, some pumping themselves up for the match while others try to appear cocky and unaffected. 
"Our first teams, hailing from the US and Australia, are beyond excited to be here. Let's give them a hand!" He steps back to allow the cameras to get the best possible view of the gamers, and the footage is cast onto big banners hanging from the ceiling. Now everyone, regardless of how far back they're sitting, are able to see them well. 
After the MC interacts with the crowd a little more and some of the players speak to their supporters, the match begins.
Jisoo is never very far from you, always close enough to point out certain things that she notices and comment on their techniques. She's like a sponge, soaking in the different ways to improve her own skills. As much as you love video games yourself, it's hard to pay attention to the game when she looks so unbelievably happy. 
Many rounds later, after the winners are announced, you cross your fingers and take a deep breath. There's one final thing that you didn't tell Jisoo about earlier...
"Now, it's time for what you've all been waiting for! We'll be selecting 3 audience members to join us on stage and play against one another. Let's see who wants a spot!"
The MC shouts cheerily with that million dollar smile plastered onto his face. It's easy to see that he loves his job, and you've enjoyed watching him interact with everyone tonight. 
The large crowd erupts at this and you have to fight to contain your knowing smile. You really have a knack for surprises.
"Jisoo, baby, stand over here. I think you'll be able to get their attention better." 
A subtle nod passes between you and the event organizer you met with earlier, and he says something into his headset. Thankfully Jisoo hadn't questioned why your previous "bathroom break" took 10 minutes, and you were able to make an arrangement with the staff. 
"Pick me!"
"OVER HERE!" 
"I can beat 'em!"
Various shouts and whistles sound out around the venue, all the hopeful candidates vying for the MC's attention. He leans down to listen to his assistant when she taps on his shoulder, informing him of your plan. With a smile slowly spreading across his lips, he looks in your direction and his eyes lock with yours. "Alright, everyone. Who thinks they've got what it takes?" He asks, walking down the stage stairs until he's face to face with the sizable audience. The cameras track his every move as he slowly walks up the large center aisle, some people clapping and reaching to high five him. "The three people I select will compete in a free-for-all for first place. The winner gets 200 dollars and a t-shirt signed by our league champions." His announcement spurs the crowd on even more, somehow, and they cheer at such a great prize. "You, with the Call of Duty shirt!" He calls into the mic, pointing to a teenage boy who looks like he's about to pass out from being noticed. He joins the MC, and together they make their slow voyage towards the back of the room. 
"You, miss, with the Smite hat!" The young woman celebrates with her friend, and you smile as you watch them do a special handshake on the jumbo screen. 
Now, with two enthusiastic players in tow, the MC ambles his way back up to the front. He tries not to make it obvious that he already knows who the final pick is, and thankfully he's a skilled actor. He knows just how to keep the crowd excited and make them think they still stand a chance. 
"Yes, yes, I see that you're all eager to show your talents. But earning this final spot will take some convincing. Quick, everyone strike an epic player pose!" 
Collective shuffling from the audience sounds out in waves as people scoot their chairs out of the way to make room for their stances. Jisoo, however, takes a different approach: with a steadying hand on your shoulder, she places one foot on each of your seats and stands proudly. One of her hands sits on her hip while the other rests an invisible gun on her shoulder. She glances at the MC with a raised brow and steely look in her eye.
Damn, she's good. After seeing how well she's doing right now, you doubt that she even needed your help in the first place. That makes you feel a little better about rigging the results, so it's a true win-win. 
"Pikachu hat, it's your time to shine!" He laughs, motioning for her to come over. In an instant, her previously cool demeanor crumbles and she's left looking like a giddy little girl. She gives you a sweet hug before walking over to the trio. 
-----
After introducing themselves to the room, the 3 hopefuls all sit down next to each other. You can see them eyeing the winners that have gathered around to cheer them on, more star struck than competitive in that moment. Well, at least the other two are: after allowing herself a minute to geek out, Gamer Jisoo™️ takes over and a serious aura befalls your girlfriend. She cracks her knuckles before getting comfortable in her seat, and she steals a glance at you. Her cheek tugs up ever so slightly, the hint of a smirk playing on her lips. 
You make a heart with your hands and blow her a kiss, and she winks at you in return. 
"Let's give them some encouragement!" 
The crowd sounds off once more, and the three of them wish each other luck.
--
It's not a new discovery that your girlfriend is gorgeous, but something about how focused she is is so attractive. She's already taken down at least 5 other players, completely wiping the floor with them while barely batting an eye. Within a few more minutes, only Jisoo and Amelia, the other female audience member, remain. 
"It's neck and neck as our last two competitors face off in the final stretch of the game."
The MC looks genuinely invested following his announcement, and you can almost see the inner 5 year old in him popping out. That's something that you love so much about video games: they can really bring the inner child out of anyone and distract them from life's stressors.
Jisoo's tongue darts out of her mouth, tracing over her lips in concentration as she considers her next move. You can practically see the wheels turning as her eyes dance across the screen, watching the movements of her enemy with the utmost focus.
Poor Amelia seems to be sweating buckets beside Jisoo; the pressure must really be getting to her. She looks intimidated, but she doesn't back down from the challenge. 
And then, it stops. Jisoo fires one final, calculated shot, taking her opponent down within a second. 
In what feels like slow motion, your eyebrows shoot up to your forehead in surprise and you stand up with a shout. You raise your arms above your head, screaming her name as you celebrate and cheer. You're the first thing she looks to once she realizes she's won, and that simple fact makes your heart grow 10 sizes. She smiles adorably as she observes you, grinning even deeper as confetti shoots out of the canons and onto the stage. She raises her head to watch it flutter down, shimmering in the lights as it rides the swirling air currents.
She's proud of herself, and so are you. 
The same event organizer from before approaches you, informing you that you have the all-clear to go greet Jisoo on stage. And that you do: you race towards the stairs, practically flying up them and into her waiting arms. You pick her up and spin her around, getting lost in the feeling of her giggles vibrating against you. 
"You did amazing, baby." You say, taking note of how the curve of her jaw is highlighted by the stage lights. 
"Thank you, Y/N. For everything. Today has been amazing." 
The MC grins at you approvingly, happy to see you guys so ecstatic. Ever the altruist, Jisoo makes sure to go shake hands with her opponents and raise their spirits before coming back to talk to the crowd. 
Once the man has her attention again, he says, "Congratulations, Jisoo. How does it feel to win?"
"It feels great! I have to thank my beautiful girlfriend, though; she's the reason we're even here today." She says humbly, reaching over to squish your cheek. 
A chorus of "ooh's" and "ahhh's" leaves the crowd, all of them gushing at how cute the two of you are. You spot yourself on the jumbo screen and blush with embarrassment. 
His assistant returns with the cash and shirt promised to the winner, and she holds it up for the cameras. The fresh signatures gleam in the light, some of them written with glitter markers while others are in traditional sharpie. 
"Here you go! Enjoy!" He cheers again, motioning for the audience to join him. Everyone does, and Jisoo clutches the material close to her chest triumphantly. The two of you watch everyone send their praise, and she rests her head on your shoulder to fully soak in the moment. 
You eventually exit the stage, waving to all of them as you take your leave. 
With the event now over, you head back to your seat to gather up your belongings and head to the PUBG panel.
"I love you." She says, causing you to pause your movements and look up at her. 
"I love you more." You tease, pulling her in close as you plant a kiss to her temple. She hooks an arm around your neck once you finish grabbing the bags, walking out into the expo hall again. 
"So, since you're rich now, can we go to the arcade on the second floor?" 
"Um, duh. Next mission: Beat Y/N. PUBG can wait." 
You grin cheekily at her confidence before pulling out of her embrace. 
"Race you there!" You shout, laughing as you take off towards the elevator, giving yourself a major head start. 
"Cheater!" She yells, giggling as she chases after you. 
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cinnamon-spicex · 3 years
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Hey guys, so I got this ⬆ card on that 50 pull event, and this particular part of the history gave me ideas! I don't write that much (this is actually my second fic here on Tumblr)  because honestly I’m lazy and I don’t think I’m really good at it, but well I needed to write my thoughts on potential things for that “spa day” with Diadaddy. I won’t give much context not to spoil the history of the card for you guys, so sorry about that. Please keep in mind that I’m NOT a writer and english is NOT my first language so forgive me for grammar/time/words mistakes, also feel free to comment if you liked it or if it is a constructive criticism. To anyone who reads it I hope you enjoy it and thank you for your time!  😊 (Also if you haven’t read my other/first fic pairing Lucifer and want to feel free to check it out too but I warn you I’m a horny b*tch so it’s also a NSFW hehe  😈 🤣).
DISCLAIMERS: 18+ NSFW; SEXUAL SCENARIO; MASTURBATION; FINGER PLAY; EXPLICIT LANGUAGE; A FEW CURSING; PENETRATION; MORE VANILLA THEN KINKY I GUESS.
Fandom: Obey Me!
Main characters: Diavolo and F!Reader. 
Word count: 2,868K
      Royal Treatment Spa Day
You were asking yourself how you ended up in this situation to begin with, in the moment you were sitting naked in a huge bathtub with roses petals, lavender and some other devildom flowers that you didn't know of floating in the milky waters at the big luxurious private bathroom of a famous Spa in Devildom, scented candles, incense burning and the distant sound of the decorative fountain adding to the relaxing environment . Except that you weren’t entirely alone, you were alone with the Royal Prince of Hell himself (who was also butt naked in said tub). You cursed Asmo for being the horny bastard that he was and Diavolo for asking you to go with him instead, but above all you cursed yourself for not knowing better what “a relaxing spa day for two” meant for the avatar of lust. (You also knew that Diavolo wasn't naive, taking advantage of the situation when it appeared before him smiling with “the purest intentions” at your oblivion).
“Ughh demons…” you thought to yourself.
But there was nothing to be done about it anymore and here you were completely nude  with Diavolo right across you, in a place where you’re supposed to relax but being very NOT relaxed at all. You were trying to keep yourself not to look at him, focusing your attention on the fancy chandelier, the fire dancing in the candles or anything but those muscular tanned pectorals just above the water or the cocky side smirk together with an intense amber gaze the prince was giving you. You fidget a little and he chucke.
“What is it? Are you not feeling relaxed? Do you want me to get you something?” he asks seemingly worried.
“NO!” you scream and then immediately cover your mouth with a hand, he looks at you with amusement.
It was already hard enough not to look at him undressing to join you in the tub, and you were very thankful that the milky water covered things beneath it.
“I mean... no, thank you my lord… I’m… I’m good” you swallow, trying to look at his eyes without blushing and failing miserably at it.
“Are you certain my dear? For someone in a spa you look rather tense, does my company make you unconfortable by any way? I can leave if you…”
“Oh no my lord! This whole thing was planned to help you relax, and you don’t make me uncomfortable at all, so don’t worry. Is just that… well you see…” you trale off biting your lips.
“Yes? Carry on dear it’s okay.” he gives you a reassuring smile.
“Is just that, frankly, being naked with your highness… with you… makes me a little nervous that’s all.” you finally say it with a sigh.
Diavolo just looks at you for a moment and then he begins to laugh, his characteristic enthusiastic laughter, while you on the other hand stare right back at him with an incredulous look.
“Hey! Stop! Are you laughing at me?” you say pouting and splash a bit of the water at him.
“Of course not my dear I just think it’s cute, but don’t worry I would never do anything to make you uncomfortable on purpose or touch you without you wanting it” he says still laughing a little and with a surprisingly caring look that you didn’t remember ever seeing in his eyes.
“Even you being the most beautiful sight I had the pleasure to behold in ages ” he adds with a sincere yet intense look.
Immediately your face goes red and a fire starts at the lower of your stomach, you stay there looking at him without knowing what to say in return as he keeps his gaze at you,  his smile fading from his handsome face, only his eyes now adding more and more to the burning inside you. 
“I…what? I thought we had agreed not to look at the other as we undressed” you say in a moment of clarity.
“Yes we did. But can you blame a demon for giving in into temptation?” He answered with a deep voice, his tone serious for a moment.
“But don’t worry I just took a quick peak” his smile back again and you just reply sarcastically.
“A quick peak hun? Yeah right”
You both smile at each other for a moment and he says:
“See there’s nothing to be nervous about, it's just me. I’m glad you are more relaxed now but I do own you for breaking our promise, tell me how can I compensate you?” he asks.
For a moment several devilish possibilities cross your mind, pranks and challenges, but then you remember that he is the prince (and not one of the brothers, minus Lucifer clearly) also the sensation in your belly is still there and you look at him thinking about sliding your hands on those big arms or the muscles of his torso and back and… “wait wait wait WAIT” you think stopping before things get out of track.
“Well?” he asks, still waiting.
“A massage” you ended up saying.
He smiles. 
“That’s hardly a punishment dear, but if it’s what you want me to do then come.”
“Wait right now?” you ask, surprised.
“Yes?” he gives you a funny look while you curse yourself yet again.
“shit I didn’t think that through” you think and hesitantly sits next to him with. 
“Excuse me darling” he says before putting his hands on your shoulders.
You tense again for a moment and he leans in your ear and says in a smooth voice.
“Relax, you’re in good hands.”
A shiver runs through your body and you tighten the hold of your enlaced hands at your lap. He presses against the muscles of your shoulders for a while and his hands goes to your scapulas, drawing circles in there with his thumbs, until they found their way to the top of your spine where he slides then down pressing all it’s way and you close your eyes and squeeze your legs together letting a small breath out.
“Is that good?” He asks seeing your reaction, his deep voice oh so close to your ears.
His hands again drawing circles but this time at the base of back, you don’t reply afraid to open your mouth at all and letting any embarrassing sound out, instead you just shake your head in a “yes” as his hands slide to your waist and you let a tiny little moan out unconsciously.
“Oh. I guess it is” He says teasing and you are mortified.
“I’m so so sorry my lord, it’s okay you don’t have to continue it was a stupid idea I will…” you say as you start to move to get back at your side of the tub but he holds you firmly by the waist, right where you are.
“Why do you say that? I think it was a marvelous idea! I’m having a very pleasurable time, and clearly so are you…” he says from the crook of your neck, holding your back pressed firmly against his chest. You shake feeling his strong hold and his warm breath at your sensitive skin, the fire in your stomach now impossible to ignore, your pussy getting wetter with every second.
“My lord, I don't think we should…” you start.
“Diavolo.” he interromps  “There’s no need to be so formal it’s only us in here” One hand goes to the back of your neck massaging there, as the other still holds you in place and starts slow movements at the base of your back  . 
“Hunm… Diavolo… I don’t think we should continue, we might do something we’ll regret later” you say a little breathless, unable to stop the clench between your thighs.
“Dear I’m positive I won’t regret anything with you, and I can assure you neither will you” he says in a sexy way giving a small kiss at your shoulder, stopping his hands and letting them rest at your waist again. You turn your head and look at him. That your core wants him is no secret for you, and you look at his eyes overflowing with confidence and lust, and at your own desire mixed with uncertainty. 
“I’ve said before I won’t touch you without you wanting it as much as I do, if a massage is all you want then is all that you’ll receive. But... if you’re feeling like something more, then I’ll be honored and very happy to indulge you” he says in a strong voice.
For a moment you just keep looking at him, the two of you trapped in each other's gaze, and you think to yourself “Fuck it! We only live once.” and kiss him a little hesitant at the beginning, and when he presses you harder against him you can feel his dick twitch at you ass as he kisses you back with a ferocious need, devouring your mouth, you reach one arm to his head lacing you fingers in his red hair as his tongue invades you, conquering every spot, dueling, dancing with you own until you are gasping for air as he slides his hands down on your thighs, kissing and sucking at you neck, he squeeze your left thigh and bites you and you moan.
“Hunm, you have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to hear this” he kisses your earlobe, sucking at it as his hands go up your stomach.
“Diavolo” you call his name drunkenly, your core moist and throbbing for him.
“Yes darling?” he says lavishing your neck and running his hands around your breasts not really touching it.
“Stop teasing, please” you whine.
“If you want me to touch you more intimately you’ll have to ask dear. Give me your permission and I’ll kiss, and lick, and caress, and fuck you all over. You’ll be glowing and it won’t be because of the spa treatment sweetheart.” He chuckle.
You start grinding your ass against his bulge eliciting a grow from him “please touch me.” He smiles holding your jaw and turning your head to kiss you hard on the lips, the hand there going to your throat as the other slides it’s way down your body to your clenching pussy. He kisses you as he slides the tip of his fingers up and down your vulva, spreading your legs a bit more he circles and presses against your clit, getting you moaning between his lips, humming in return, until he enter you with three fingers at once and you scream, your head going back resting at his shoulders as he fingers fuck you. 
“Hunm you like it when I touch you here dear? You’re such a little slut for me are you not?” he kisses your cheek but you don’t reply, just looking at him, his hand around your neck as his fingers curl and reach your g-spot, and you give a little cry closing your eyes at the sensation.
“It looks like I found you weak spot” chuckles “Lets see how long it takes to get you there darling” he speeds his ministrations adding a fourth finger as his thumb stimulates your clitoris. The hand on your throat goes down to your breasts playing with your nipples, pinching at it as he kisses and bites at your neck and shoulder, the constant thrusts of his firgers at your spot with the stimulation of your clit and nipples being too much.
“Dia… I… Ahh hun… I’m going to...” you try to warn him.
“Cum for me.” he demands.
And as if obeying a direct order you came with a loud moan as your body shakes and your back arch.
“Hunm that must be one of the sweetest sounds of all three realms” he says removing his fingers from you, your cunt immediately clenching again at nothing. “Here, taste yourself” he says bringing his fingers to your mouth and you suck at then cleaning your juices from it, you can feel his dick pulsating at your back and he kisses you again tasting your flavor on your own mouth. He then turn you around and gets up, you now  can see him in all his mighty naked glory, and all you can do is look astonished at his thick girth, to say he’s big would be a euphemism “He’s huge” you think, and for a second and  you worry he might just rip you open. You bring your gaze back at his face,  passing it through his toned abs and chest right back at his eyes, and he looks down at you with a knowing smile. He offers a hand and helps you to stand taking a languid look at your bare body himself and you  can’t control another clench, your pussy needy to be railed. He sits on the marble edge of the luxurious bathtub and taps at his lap with one hand the other holding his hard member.
“Look what you did to me dear” he says starting to stroke himself  “Won’t you be a good girl and help? ”.
Smiling, you walk to him, your pussy as wet as it can be dying to be buried and stretched till the limits by his fat cock. You straddle him getting his member in your hand, he holds you and closes his eyes with a satisfied exhale as you sink at him, slowly, adjusting to his enormous size, biting your lips when finally he enters you completely. You never felt so full in your life, his dick reaching till your cervix just right. 
“Shit you’re so tight.” he exclaims, his browns pressed together and he kisses you in a sensual and adoring way.
You start to move as he holds you tight, his kisses now making their way down passing your throat until his lips, teeths and tongue are at your nipples, sucking and licking as you bounce up and down at his girt, riding him, and he thrust at you, you both meeting halfway. He hits just the right spots while you on the other hand clench at him oh so deliciously with every movement. You are moaning and gasping and so is he.
“Fuck… hahh… yes baby don’t stop, just like that.. yes...” he praises you.
“Dia I’m getting close.” you say as the movements get harder and faster, both your climaxes fast approaching.
“Don’t hold back, scream for me” he says.
You meet him harder and harder and in no time you reach your limit point screaming his name in a high pitched voice, and with your walls clutching at him from your orgasm he soon follows reaching his own with a deep grunt, spaying his royal seed in your warm womb. With ragged breaths you collapse at his chest and he hugs you laying on the marble with you above him, still connected.
“Are you alright my dear?” he asks, caressing your back with one hand.
“Yes” you answer still in daze.
“Hahah now that’s what I call relaxing” he says in good spirits and you look at him. “Follow me to the palace later, Barbatos will give you a potion to avoid a possible pregnancy, and we can also have some tea” he says kissing your forehead and smiling content.
“What? You don’t want a little mixed heir my lord? You joke.
“Oh no darling, I would love to father your children, but I must make you my queen first don’t you think? He says, exiting you as he moves you both back to the warm waters of the bath.
“You’re joking right?” you say incertain.
He laughs again and replies in a conspiratorial tone. 
“Yes… but you never know the future...” 
“Barbatos does though” you say as he starts to wash your skin and press against your sore muscles. 
“Indeed he does”  
And that’s all he says, you decide to just let it go as you lean on him relaxing and  enjoying his pampering. But you could never imagine that he wasn't really joking and where that afternoon would lead you in the not so far future.
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panharmonium · 4 years
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you know what?
no.  absolutely not.
i already did part 1 of this post here.  i’m back again with part 2, because unfortunately the awfulness factor doesn’t stop with arthur, and as much as i adore hunith generally, this entire sequence is a MESS.
and yes, i am aware that pretty much nobody else thinks so.  every time i see this scene referenced in fandom, it is always framed as a fun, cutesy, sing-songy moment of “oooo, hunith ships merthur!”  literally every time.  
which, you know, like i always say about everything fandom-related - that’s fine.  everybody is going to enjoy things differently; you do you, and keep on having fun!  but here on my own blog, in my own space, i am gonna do me, and in this case ‘me’ involves yelling about how much i can’t stand that particular read, and how angry the end of 1.10 makes me.
disclaimer, to help folks curate their own fandom experiences: i am going to be Very Cranky for the rest of this post.  if you love this particular scene in the way i just mentioned, you will probably want to scroll on by, because this piece of meta most likely won’t be your jam.  as always, these are my personal thoughts and nobody is obligated to share them, so please do not hesitate to simply skip this post if we are on different wavelengths - instead, keep enjoying fandom in whatever way is most fun for you!
fair warning now given, off i go on a long, frustrated tirade.
i already wrote about the first half of this scene, where arthur decides that the appropriate thing to do at this particular moment is to give merlin a scolding about the evils of sorcery, despite the fact that the only reason arthur is even alive to deliver this lecture in the first place is because merlin’s ‘sorcerer’ best friend just DIED saving arthur’s life.  but sure, you know what, let’s use said best friend’s funeral to chastise merlin about how “dangerous” sorcerers are.  let’s just make that completely dickheaded decision.  
and, moving on to the second half of this scene - here’s the thing.  hunith overhears this entire conversation.  she overhears arthur telling merlin off about sorcery, in front of the burning corpse of merlin’s best friend, who is, as far as arthur knows, the ‘sorcerer’ who died saving arthur’s life.  
and yet, for some inexplicable reason, hunith still cannot get off the arthur pendragon train for two damn seconds.  
she has known arthur for less than a week.  by contrast, she has known will for his entire life.  but the instant arthur walks away, hunith sidles up next to merlin and says, “you’d better be going” - like.  okay, my god, can you try to hustle him away from his best friend’s in-progress funeral any faster?????  how about we maybe give him a second?  the pyre hasn’t even burnt down yet, and merlin hasn’t had a single second to himself since this sequence started.  he’s had to stand there and listen to arthur insult the dude who everyone is supposed to be memorializing, and then hunith - who overheard the entire thing - zips right over and tries to chivvy merlin on his way.  you’d better be going.
HELLO?!  the pyre is still roaring.  how about, instead of hassling merlin and hustling him offstage, everybody just sits down and waits for a minute.  how about they all just leave merlin alone for three everloving seconds.  
honestly, just - every time i think about this scene i get angrier.
i love hunith, and i know she’s well-intentioned.  but everything she gives merlin in this scene is the exact opposite of what he needs.  he doesn’t need to be hurried off the village green like there’s some reason he can’t stay there for the entirety of his friend’s funeral.  he doesn’t need to be pushed into going back to camelot when he is clearly struggling with the idea of leaving ealdor again.  and he absolutely does not need to be told how much someone else “needs” him right now, when he himself is the one who is having a fucking crisis and who needs someone to take care of him.
i cannot emphasize that last point enough.  it is just - beyond upsetting to me that hunith literally watches arthur shitting on merlin’s dead best friend (and, by proxy, merlin himself, since merlin is the actual sorcerer) and she still somehow thinks the right thing to do is walk over and start telling merlin how great arthur is and how arthur “needs” him and how merlin “belongs at arthur’s side.”  
i can’t stand that.  it makes me so angry.  it’s not right.  it’s not fair.  it’s damaging.  it’s the same shitty messaging that destroys merlin’s life in later seasons, this idea that he exists for someone else’s sake, the complete disregard for what he himself might want at any given moment, for what he himself might need, for the reservations he might have about this plan that other people have formulated for his life.
he is UNCOMFORTABLE when she says these things to him!  he doesn’t look at her; he shifts his gaze to arthur and the camelot squad with this grim, unconvinced expression on his face, and then he averts his eyes from her.
everything hunith tells merlin in this scene is the exact opposite of what he needs to hear.  he does not need someone to tell him how badly his services are “needed” by a man who hates the person merlin truly is, not when the only friend who ever accepted merlin’s true self has just been killed.  he does not need to be told that arthur, who is alive solely because will is dead and who only seconds ago expressed exactly zero gratitude for that sacrifice, is the person to whom merlin owes his undying loyalty.  he does not need to be shuffled off to camelot as quickly as possible, as if it would be better for him to just rush forward and forget what happened here, as if what happened here didn’t matter.  
because what happened here did matter, whether hunith and arthur find it convenient to acknowledge or not.  i have to lay this out again, because what happened to merlin in ealdor is so much more important than anybody ever seems to realize - and i do understand that, i really do (because yes, it was just one episode for us) - but we have to look at it from merlin’s perspective, not the audience’s.
will wasn’t ‘one episode’ for merlin.  
i can’t say this enough times.  i cannot say this loudly enough.
merlin, at the beginning of this show, has only ever had ONE FRIEND.
most of us can’t even imagine something like that.  
but try.  TRY.  
merlin has only ever had one friend.  he’s only ever had one friend to love him.  he only had one friend for the first two decades of his life.  he’s only been in camelot for a couple of months; he’s only known these camelot people for a couple of months, and they don’t know his real self anyhow.  and now his ONLY FRIEND, the person he’s known all his life, the only friend he ever had who knew him for who he truly was, was just violently cut down before his very eyes, whilst saving a guy who can legally have merlin murdered for just existing.  and even though merlin and will spend the entirety of 1.10 having a painful, complicated argument, will still uses his last moments on earth to tell the biggest fucking whopper of his life, in order to shield merlin from harm, taking all of the danger and infamy and condemnation upon himself.  he dies with a lie on his lips.  he dies with merlin’s hand in his hair.  
and all the while, merlin knows that this would not have happened if he had just been willing to use his magic in the first place, instead of letting his fear of discovery prompt him into allowing his neighbors to offer themselves up for the slaughter in his place.
the avalanching double-whammy of grief and guilt that merlin is suddenly slammed with at the end of this episode is almost incomprehensible in scale.
i’ve talked about this before, but again, i think it’s something we don’t generally remember: losing will is the first time merlin has ever experienced personal bereavement.  and he doesn’t get to start out with a warm-up; he goes straight to the big leagues.  this is not some trifling thing.  this is a total implosion of merlin’s world as he knows it.  
when we think about the mark this episode leaves on merlin’s life, i don’t think most of us consider the magnitude of this event deeply enough.  losing will in this way is not some one-off thing that merlin just...gets over.  this is the most earth-shattering thing that has ever happened to him, at this point in time.  it is still one of the worst things that has ever happened to him, period, even years later.  the guilt never goes away.  
and the thing that’s unique about this particular trauma is that merlin has to manage it alone.  there are other tragedies in his life where we witness him receiving support/comfort from others - freya, lancelot, balinor (though of course there are aspects to these miseries that merlin has to keep secret from other people, as well) - but with will, merlin has to do everything on his own.  he can’t get one single moment of peace at will’s funeral.  his own mother, the only person who knows what really happened, can’t help him without making everything about arthur.  and merlin can’t tell anyone else what happened, not the truth of it, because doing so would squander the gift he’s been given - will’s lie is still protecting him, years later, from arthur and morgana both.  
merlin, at the end of 1.10, is forced to navigate this grief completely alone, in the silent secrecy of his own heart.  arthur is actively making it worse.  hunith is out here singing arthur’s praises.  and will is just like - he’s suddenly not part of the conversation anymore.  he doesn’t even register on anyone’s radar.
it truly is...incredible, for me, to watch hunith overhear arthur being legitimately terrible to both merlin and the guy who just died saving merlin AND arthur’s lives, and then to see her come over and start talking about how merlin belongs at arthur’s side, how much merlin needs to be there for him, how they’re two sides of the same coin.  meanwhile, the guy who literally just lied his life away to protect merlin’s secret and who NEVER made merlin feel like he had to hide who he was and who never had any problem with magic in the first place and never made merlin feel unsafe and never treated merlin like he was less of a human being just for existing -
- he’s just burning to ash there, and hunith doesn’t even acknowledge that, despite the fact that merlin is so visibly, intently, single-mindedly focused on that funeral pyre, and so clearly in distress and in pain and NEEDING somebody.  all she can talk about is merlin’s responsibility to arthur.  
the dissonance here is baffling.  hunith has known will forever.  she met arthur less than a week ago.  she barely knows him, and what she does know is that he thinks magic-users are dangerous/evil.  she saw him being a dick to her kid.  she knows her son is having the worst day of his life.  and she still doesn’t offer a single comforting word in reference to the person who just died protecting merlin’s secret, instead choosing to wax poetic about a man whose bigotry is what merlin needed protecting from in the first place.
that...is a hot mess.  the merlin-hunith-will dynamic is one of the few things in this show that reflects less-than-stellarly on hunith’s character, however much i love her.  and even though it all stems from an overwhelming desire to keep her son safe, it doesn’t make her choices any less damaging.  she sends merlin away specifically because she finds out that will knows about his secret.  she spends 1.10 analyzing and encouraging and dissecting merlin’s relationship with arthur, when merlin’s relationship with will is the one that desperately needs attention.  she’s proven wrong about will’s trustworthiness in the most stunning, powerful way possible, and then she never even acknowledges him, instead choosing to laud the dude who literally forces merlin to live in fear of execution.
she’s merlin’s mother.  she’s the only person in his life who knows anything about what will actually meant to him.  she is his only possible resource as he tries to weather a kind of devastation that defies description.  
and she, like arthur, just barrels right on ahead and makes everything about someone else.
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the cinematography choices in this scene matter.  whenever arthur or hunith tries to talk to merlin, the camera is placed on the opposite side of the fire from them, meaning the flames are always in the foreground of the frame.  they are something we are required to see and look past before we can get to anything else in the scene.  and in terms of directorial/acting decisions - merlin doesn’t take his eyes off the pyre until the end of his conversation with hunith.  not once while talking to arthur does he look away from it.
the funeral pyre is always in the foreground of the shot, because it’s in the forefront of merlin’s mind.  that is where his focus is right now.  that is what is taking up all of his attention.  that is what is edging into the frame, eating up our entire field of view.  that is what he needs help with.
but he doesn’t get any such support.  the entire sequence ends up revolving around arthur.  will’s entire funeral is about arthur fucking pendragon.  arthur inserts himself so he can talk to merlin about how evil magic is, and then hunith inserts herself so she can talk to merlin about how great arthur is.  nobody ever stops to think that maybe merlin doesn’t want to talk to anybody right this second.  merlin’s entire ‘farewell’ to the only true friend he ever had in his life is completely swallowed up by the prince of camelot, and if that isn’t a metaphor for the rest of merlin’s life, then i don’t know what is.  
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i know nobody needs to hear this, because very few people are invested in this kid at the same level of embarrassing detail as me, but here it is, anyway.  
yes, will is prickly.  he’s hard to get on with.  he’s angry.  he’s bitter and snappy and uncharitable, sometimes.
but you know what?  he has every reason to be like that.  
this kid has nobody.  his own best friend’s mother - who has known him all his life - doesn’t trust him and doesn’t respect him.  she is too afraid for her own son’s safety to give will any credit.  she sends merlin away to camelot, the most violently anti-magic place in the world, because apparently, will knowing about merlin’s secret would be even more dangerous than uther pendragon’s genocidal reign.
think about how that would feel.  to hear something like that about yourself.  to be somebody who is already so goddamn alone in the world, and to have your only friend vanish without so much as a ‘see you later,’ and then to be made to feel, however indirectly, like this is somehow your fault, like you’re the liability, like you’re the untrustworthy element here.  as if you, somehow, are more dangerous than a king who literally pays to have sorcerers trafficked to him in cages.
will has every right to be upset, all the time.  he has every reason to be angry, and bitter, and hurt, all the time.  to be thought so poorly of - to be held in such low esteem - when he hasn’t done anything wrong, when he hasn’t ever done anything to earn that kind of mistrust - and to have that same misplaced suspicion used to justify separating him from the only person in the world who gives a damn about him - if it were me, i would be constantly on the verge of screaming, all the time.
will has always been on merlin’s side, and he has never done anything to endanger him, and in the end he gives up everything to make sure merlin can stay safe and hidden and unhunted.  he shouldn’t have needed to prove his goodness, his constancy, his worth; not when he’s already kept merlin’s secret for who knows how many years, but even after he does do so, it doesn’t even matter.  arthur acknowledges him only to disparage sorcery.  hunith passes him over completely in favor of praising arthur, with no acknowledgment of the misjudgment she made.
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i have said before that merlin tends to befriend people who have nobody, people who’ve been left behind by the rest of the world, people who’ve been made to feel that they aren’t worthy of love.  and will, merlin’s oldest friend, was the first of those many characters, and it is so heartbreaking to me that in this instance, the same kind of disinterested and careless attitude towards his worth that dogged him all his life is perpetuated and affirmed after his death.  ‘people are used to ignoring him,’ merlin tells arthur, and merlin is right - even when will is dead and burning, arthur only sees sorcery.  hunith, who we would expect to be more sympathetic, only sees arthur.
merlin is the only one who knows better.  merlin has always known better, and he loves will so much, but he is the only one, apparently, and honestly, after will dies?  nobody else even tries to understand.
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to sum up:
hunith and arthur, for all that i love them, are both way out of line at the end of this episode.  
the legacy of this experience, for merlin, is that he spends the rest of his life processing this particular trauma alone.  and that is why i always, always have to keep will and ealdor in the back of my mind when i write for merlin in any capacity - because this event isn’t some simple stumbling block for him; it changes him forever.  it teaches him what he can and can’t expect from the people around him, and it solidifies how irrelevant his own needs are when viewed in comparison with arthur’s, even to people who barely even KNOW arthur; people who are supposed to put merlin first over everything.  it teaches merlin to bury his sorrow, and to wrestle with personal suffering in secret, because if things aren’t ultimately about arthur, then they aren’t important enough to be granted any significant amount of time for merlin to deal with.  merlin’s own grief, even at his best friend’s funeral, takes too long to resolve.  arthur walks away from the pyre, and it’s time for merlin to leave, too.  you’d better be going.
bottom line: i don’t care if other people think this whole ‘ooo, everybody wants merlin to be with arthur’ thing is wonderful or beautiful or dreamily romantic.  it isn’t.  it’s ugly, and it’s cruel, and it stripped merlin of his present identity and his future potential, one stolen moment at a time.
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sindrafalcone · 3 years
Text
Adventures in Babysitting pt. 4
Fandom: BIGBANG/ Choi Seung Hyun x reader
Synopsis: A babysitting job turns into something unexpected…
Warnings: Still fluff, with a bit of steam  at the end.
Author’s Note: Surprise! I wrote this part right after finishing the last one. I was on a roll. lol But, fair warning, part 5 will probably take me a little while. Still I hope you all enjoy this one. Thanks for reading!
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. This story contains fictional representations of real people. None of the events are true. This is from an American standpoint, so some of the situations may not happen the same way they might in Korea. I make no money from the writing of this fictional work.
Masterlist
Part 1   Part 2  Part 3
“There is no way I'm prepared to have this conversation without alcohol.” Seunghyun said as the two of you hung up your coats and slid out of your shoes.
You simply murmured your agreement as he headed off to the kitchen, presumably for more wine.
The taxi ride back to the hotel had been awkward, to say the least. You'd kind of run out of things to talk about & neither of you wanted to discuss the proverbial 'elephant in the room' until you got back to the hotel.  So most of the ride was spent in awkward silence in between bits of random small talk.
In just a few moments you were both seated on the sofa facing each other, just as you had earlier that same evening, glasses of liquid courage in hand.
“I guess the best way is to just tell you...” he said, taking a deep gulp of his wine.
You nodded in encouragement. “Like a band-aid, all at once.”
“I'm a rapper.” Seunghyun blurted. The look of disbelief on your face only made him talk even faster.
“Well, I'm a rapper, an actor and a sometimes model. I'm part of an incredibly popular group, Bigbang. They call us the “Kings” of Kpop. So, that's why Mrs. Tran recognized me.”
“And that explains why you wanted to eat in the private room.” you smiled at him. “I thought maybe you had a phobia of crowds.”
He laughed a little at that. “Well, I don't really like crowds. But only because if I get recognized, it can cause a mob scene.” “You're really that popular?”
“It's worse in Asia.” he admitted. “But it can happen anywhere. We have to be really careful.”
You took a sip of your own wine, gears turning in your head; and it was then that sudden comprehension dawned on you. It took all that you had to not spit it out in surprise & Seunghyun watched in concern as you choked a little.
“Wait a minute...” you managed to gasp. “Is your name Choi Seunghyun?” you tried to keep your voice level.
He nodded sheepishly.
“I'm such an idiot...” you lightly smacked your hand up against your forehead before taking another drink. “I've been spending the entire evening with THE Choi Seunghyun and I didn't even realize it.”
“So, you've heard of the group then?” Seunghuyn asked, his voice a little bitter, thinking that perhaps you'd been leading him on all night.
You shook your head.  “No, that's not it... Um, maybe it will help if I spill my secret now. Do you happen to still have that pamphlet from the museum?”
“Yeah. It's in my coat pocket.”
“Would you mind going to get it, please? It'll make this a lot easier.” you murmured.
Seunghyun gave you a curious glance before setting his glass down on the table. Unfolding himself from the couch, he strode over to the entryway of the room & dug around in the inside pockets of his coat for a bit before he found the piece of folded paper. He handed it to you before sitting back down & to your surprise, he plunked the fortune cookies from the restaurant on the table as well. You felt yourself swallow thickly as you set your own glass down.
“Okay, so the Surrealist exhibit... you liked it, right?” you asked, bending the paper and folding it so that the back was prominently displayed.
He bobbed his head eagerly. “I loved it. It was both innovative and immersive. Not to mention that it featured work by some of my favorite artists.”  
“I'll take that as a compliment.” you told him, feeling the heat rise to your face at his genuine words.
Seunghyun looked confused, so you handed him the pamphlet, shyly pointing at the bottom of the paper.
His eyes scanned over a list of names that he didn't know; donors, directors, and managers of the museum... until he came to a line that stopped him cold. Surrealist Exhibit Curator: __________ ______________.
He pointed where your finger had just left. “That's.... that's your name. You're the curator of the exhibit I've been dying to see for  months?”
You tried your best not to be offended by the disbelief you thought you heard in his voice. “Yeah, that's me. Surprise... I guess? Small world.”
Seunghyun sat there in stunned silence for a moment as he thought things out, giving you the perfect opportunity to finish off the wine in your glass. He drank the rest of his as well, then poured fresh for you both.
“I thought...” he began, his voice soft. “I thought you worked there as a tour guide.” “Technically, I do.” you sighed. “I have a masters degree in art history, as well as a minor in public relations. It helps with the marketing and fundraising aspects.” you explained before sighing heavily. “But the job market to be a curator is stupidly competitive, not to mention, heavily dominated by men. So... I took what I could.” you had another sip of wine, slower this time because you could feel it starting to go to your head. “I figured I could start at the bottom and work my way up.”
“And you finally convinced them to let you curate an exhibit.” he said, taking his own drink. “How?”
You shrugged. “The Museum chief envisioned Surrealism and no one else wanted to do it. So, I more-or-less pulled double time for a few months while I put it together.”
“Did they pay you more?” Seunghyun asked, anger evident in his voice.
You just shook your head. “Not in the budget.”
He snorted. “Bullshit. I'll bet the chief gave himself a nice, fat bonus with the money that should have gone to you for all that extra work. And all you got was your name on the back of the tour pamphlet... in tiny print... at the very bottom.” Seunghyun grimaced and took a drink.
“No need to rub it in.” you grumbled, looking down at your feet, face flaming in embarrassment.
“No! That's not what I meant...Ugh, I'm making a mess of this.” he gently took the wine glass from your hand & set both his and yours down, then he turned back to you. Seunghyun slowly reached out his hand and settled the tips of his long fingers under your chin, gently moving your head up until you were looking into his eyes. “I'm not trying to make fun of you. If anything, I am enraged on your behalf. What they did to you was wrong and you shouldn't have to tolerate it.”
“I can't afford to quit.”you sniffed. “Besides, I get to lead people through the exhibit every day and see their reactions to it... good or bad. Most don't really appreciate it, at least... not the way you did. But it gets people thinking.”
“Wait...” Seunghyun said, reaching out and taking your hands in his. “Just a minute ago, you were shocked that you had spent the evening with “THE” Choi Seunghyun & hadn't realized it. What did you mean by that? If you don't know me by my music or acting, then...” he let the sentence hang there, unsaid.
You took a deep breath and blew it out awkwardly. “Mark has been trying to get me to agree to meet with you for months. I've kept putting him off, mostly because I can't afford to fly out there right now. But... I've heard your name come up in the art circles occasionally & I'll admit, I felt intimidated....”
“Mark?” he interrupted. “Mark Grotjhan?”
“The one and only.” you laughed. “We met a while back when our museum was doing a showcase of his work. And he helped me get in touch with some artists and donors when I was curating for the Surrealist exhibit.”
“Wow...” Seunghyun breathed. “It really is a small world.”
“I know, right? What are the odds that I ended up being your babysitter for tonight? I mean, you got to see the exhibit, which otherwise would have been closed. And I got to meet you... even if I didn't realize it was you at the time.”
“Why did he want you to meet with me?”
“Connections, I think. You know how the art world works as much as I do. It's all about who you know and what influence you have.”
Seunghyun nodded. “That makes sense.” Then he surprised you by pulling out his phone and patting his thigh.
You just shot him a questioning look. “What?”
“We may as well let him know we found each other.” he laughed. “Come here, _________.”
The way that smile lit up his face, especially his eyes, had you crawling across the couch and  into his lap before he could change his mind. The two of you put your heads close to each other and smiled for one picture. Then Seunghyun made a funny face, so you did too & he snapped another. He took a few more with various poses before he seemed satisfied.
You sat there while he typed out a quick message and sent it, not knowing what else to do. But you did notice that he still had the smile plastered on his handsome face. Once he was finished he looked over to you, seeming to realize for the first time that you were still in his lap.
It could have been your imagination or the wine, but it seemed like his expression completely changed. One second, he had a boyish grin and a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. The next, it had shifted to a look of pure hunger, with maybe just a touch of lust.
You cleared your throat. “Um... we, uh... still haven't eaten our fortune cookies.” you tried lamely, pointing to where he had left them on the table.
“Is that so?” his voice practically purred.
You felt one of his arms snake its way around your waist as he leaned forward to grab one off the table. Seunghyun settled back into the sofa, arms still around you as he unwrapped the cookie and broke it. He offered up half to you, which you took, surprising him by just grabbing it from his fingers with your mouth. He popped the other half  into his before unfolding and reading the piece of paper it had contained:
You are very talented in many ways.
As you read the fortune, you started laughing. It began as a small chuckle and just progressed further and further, until it was an outright, full on belly laugh. You could feel the tears just beginning to prick the sides of your eyes when he finally spoke.
“I don't see what's so funny.” Seunghyun deadpanned around a mouthful of cookie. “I am very talented in many ways.”
His statement only made you laugh harder. It took you a few minutes, but when you realized that he wasn't laughing, you began to recover enough so that you could finally explain. “Don't tell me you don't know how to play the game!” you finally managed to wheeze.
“Game?” he asked, genuinely intrigued. “What game?”
“The fortune cookie game!” you sat up straighter. “One of my friends in college taught it to me because we would get Chinese takeout at least once a week.”
“So what exactly is this game and why is it so funny to you?”
You suddenly felt a little embarrassed. “Well you, um... you take your fortune and add 'in bed' to the end of  it.” you felt your voice trail off at the end.
“You are very talented in many ways...” he paused. “... in bed?”
You nodded and giggled again slightly. “Sometimes it works out and it's really funny like that one. Other times it doesn't really make sense, but it's still fun to try.”
“I don't see how this one is funny...” his voice rumbled darkly.
You were about to get up, afraid that you had  possibly offended him, when Seunghyun took gentle hold of your shoulders firmly keeping you in place. And that's when you felt it.... his lips pressing softly onto the side of your neck.
“I am very talented in many ways...”  he asserted again, his breath ghosting across your heated skin.
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Note
So, this may sound weird, since I don't ship ZK, but I think the reason some dislike EIP is because they realize it was the first part of a busted enemies-to-lovers arc. EIP was part one, where Zuko and Katara see how others see them, and it weirds them out. Yet, Zuko insisted on sitting next to Katara and Katara pushes Aang away, suggesting there might be something there that they don't want to acknowledge. (1/3)
The first part of the finale was Part 2, where June reiterates the "Hey you're with your gf again!" Zuko and Katara deny it, but there likely should have been an undercurrent of 'Why do people think we're together? Do we act like it? Should we be? S/he is kind of cute.' During this time, Zuko defers to Katara and despite Toph likely being more helpful, asks Katara to be the one to take down Azula with him. (2/3)
Last part of the finale should have been the money shot, Zuko taking lightning for Katara, and in a parallel to CoD, Katara healing him. Dante Basco is right in that there probably should have been a kiss at that moment and the end scene of the gang at the Jasmine Dragon with Zuko and Katara shyly proclaiming their interest in each other. (3/4, sorry I have one more)
Again, ZK is not my ship, but EIP seemed to set up a ZK endgame that jumped the tracks at the end. By all the "rules" of a good narrative, Zuko and Katara should have ended up together, otherwise EIP should never have been countenanced or storyboarded. Full disclosure that I'm not a huge Kataang fan either, but Kataang was done a disservice by having EIP exist. It either should not have ever gotten written, or the ZK enemies-to-lovers arc should have been concluded. (end)
Disclaimer: I don’t care if someone ships Zvtara. Never have, never will. If the takeaway you (the general you, not anon specifically lol) get from this post is that Zvtara is “bad,” then I’m going to assume you didn’t actually read anything I wrote, because that is the farthest thing from my point here. Also, this post is strictly my personal response to these asks. I don’t expect everyone to read this and be like “YEAH” lmao. I am sure some people have different opinions, and that is a-okay!
In short, I think we will have to agree to disagree, anon.
Do some people consider EIP the beginning of a busted enemies-to-lovers arc? Of course they do, they’re “rabid zkers” who wear Zvtara shipping goggles 24/7 lmao. EIP couldn’t have been the beginning of an E-L arc because such an arc was never in the cards for them in the first place! Katara forgave Zuko in the previous episode. Trying to cram a romantic relationship into five episodes after months of hatred between Zuko and Katara would have been awful writing (and thus probably would have been a decision mercilessly criticized until the end of time, lmao). So it’s honestly better that Zvtara gets to spread its wings in fanon instead (much less pressure)! Also, realistically speaking, Katara and Zuko probably still had so many issues to work through in their friendship. Like yes, she forgave him and recognized he was trying to do better, but that doesn’t erase what Zuko has done to her and her friends. There is still plenty of forward progress they need to make before romance can even be considered between them. If that makes sense?
Also, let’s be real: EIP and bit with June afterwards were 100% ship bait. Just an attempt to add to the “drama” of who Katara would end up. A technique only effective while it was airing, for the record, because if you watch the show straight through, it becomes glaringly obvious that Zuko and Katara’s relationship - while gorgeous - was always meant to stay strictly platonic within the canon timeline.
Anyways. I’ll try to break down your ask one piece at a time!
“Zuko and Katara see how others see them, and it weirds them out”
Yes, they are definitely weirded out! The transcript says, “Zuko and Katara inch away from each other, slightly uncomfortable.” Which is just a longer way of describing that they were weirded out by the depiction of their relationship in EIP, lol. However, the play is not how others see them. The play is the Fire Nation’s imperialist propaganda, meant to demean the entire Gaang. I talk about in specifics how the entire Gaang is belittled here, but this is the key stuff I noted about Zuko and Katara:
it’s important to situate that and more importantly situate eip zuko and katara’s relationship within the context of the show. the fire nation is an imperialist country. the southern water tribe has suffered heavily beneath them. we know from “the headband” that fire nation individuals are fed pro-imperialistic propaganda from birth; that combined with zuko and azula’s degrading comment of “peasant” towards katara demonstrate very clearly how the fire nation views every other nation - put simply, they are superior and everyone else is inferior. that attitude is therefore reflected in the eip play:
- katara, an indigenous woman, is highly sexualized and portrayed as overly dramatic and tearful, because the fire nation objectifies women not of their own people and views them as less intelligent and less emotionally stable
- she is thus paired as having a “romance” with zuko in eip because naturally, via fire nation logic, zuko would be able to “score” an “easy” woman of one of the water tribes
- furthermore, the eip “romance” between zuko and katara emphasizes zuko’s position as a traitor to the fire nation; the implication is that as a traitor, he’d only be able to achieve a relationship with a “lesser” woman, e.g. a woman not of the fire nation
That is not how other people truly view Zuko and Katara’s relationship. That is how the Fire Nation depicts their relationship in order to degrade and dehumanize Zuko and Katara. To misinterpret that as “evidence” that Zuko and Katara should have been together romantically is… disturbing, in my opinion. (I really try to stay far away from zkers who use EIP as “proof” of supposed Zvtara interest in each other like honey that is imperialist propaganda please don’t 😭).
If you want to talk about how other people actually view Zuko and Katara’s relationship, look at the Gaang, who were around them most of all! They never tease the possibility of romance between their friends. Why? Because within canon, there wasn’t one. Simple!
“Zuko insisted on sitting next to Katara”
Nope! This is all the transcript says: “Zuko [Removing his hood.] Just sit next to me. What’s the big deal?” He doesn’t even mention Katara! Zuko is literally just like I’m already sitting. Why do I need to move? lmfao. It’s no thoughts head empty for our favorite firebender 😂
“Katara pushes Aang away”
I’m assuming this about the kiss, which I’m going to make a post about in the future because I am TIRED of the tomfoolery. Anyways, I’ll keep this brief - yes, she does push him away. She does not deny that she likes him. For Katara, the issue is the timing: “This isn’t the right time.” Both Katara and Aang know they like each other, plain and simple (which is why Aang doesn’t ask if he returns her feelings - he asks if they’d be together, because he knows their feelings are mutual). Katara pushes Aang away because, as she says, they’re in the middle of a war. She’s already seen Aang die once. He might die again. She doesn’t want that, of course, but it’s a reality Katara is forced to consider.
Anyways, her decision has nothing to do with Zuko. Lol.
“June reiterates the ‘Hey you’re with your gf again!’ Zuko and Katara deny it, but there likely should have been an undercurrent of ‘Why do people think we're together? Do we act like it? Should we be? S/he is kind of cute.’”
June’s assumption - especially because it is a repeat of a gag from earlier in the series, when it is incredibly concerning to assume a Fire Nation citizen would be with someone of the Water Tribes because of the war and its consequences - is comic relief. Not even good comic relief, lmao, because of the horrific implications I just mentioned that come with it, but it’s supposed to be comedy. There was no need of any “Zvtara” undercurrents there because a) Katara and Zuko had never expressed romantic interest in each other in the past, b) it wouldn’t track with the show’s narrative of Katara as Zuko’s surrogate sibling because of her position as Azula’s primary foil, and c) it just doesn’t make sense in general. Katara likes Aang. Zuko likes Mai. There was never a love triangle there, plain and simple. Fandom invented it.
And again, if you want to talk about how people actually see Zuko and Katara, don’t look at June, who has never had a proper conversation with either of them. As I said, the Gaang is a much better example, since they’re with the two 24/7. If they never tease Zuko and Katara about romance, why should we trust this random lady who doesn’t even know them?
“During this time, Zuko defers to Katara and despite Toph likely being more helpful, asks Katara to be the one to take down Azula with him.”
As I mentioned, Katara is Azula’s primary foil, so from a literary perspective she absolutely needed to be the one to take her down. Zuko needed to face Azula, but taking her down - again, from a literary pov - was always meant to be the end of Katara’s journey (she was the only person besides Aang who was ever a match for Azula, after all, as we see in CoD). Also, how would Toph be more helpful?? Not saying you’re wrong, btw, I just don’t understand what you mean. If I was Zuko, I also would have brought the waterbender that I’d already witnessed almost take down my sister already 😂. But even if Toph would have been more helpful, sometimes practicality must be sacrificed for a fulfilling narrative arc, lol!
“Last part of the finale should have been the money shot, Zuko taking lightning for Katara, and in a parallel to CoD, Katara healing him.”
Honestly, anon, this part of your ask baffles me 😂 I totally understand why rabid zkers might make this argument, but taking into account the rest of the show… It just doesn’t make sense? It’s been talked about a hundred times, but Zuko taking lightning out of romantic interest would ruin his redemption arc, regardless of if it was Katara or Aang or Sokka or anyone in the Gaang that he was taking it for, so that should be the end of discussion, full stop. I’ve talked about this issue here and here before, and someone else does a great job breaking it down in this post, too. But seriously. Zuko having romantic interest for anyone in the Gaang would ruin!! His!! Entire!! Arc!! I hate when people don’t understand that 😭 Zuko had to learn selflessness, to learn how to put others before himself, and to unlearn the imperialist rhetoric he’d been indoctrinated with from birth. Romantic interest during canon for Katara, Sokka, Aang, whomever, I don’t care, completely disregards all of his growth of breaking away from the Fire Nation. Plain and simple.
“Dante Basco is right in that there probably should have been a kiss at that moment and the end scene of the gang at the Jasmine Dragon with Zuko and Katara shyly proclaiming their interest in each other.”
I learned in a discord I’m in that Dante Basco apparently hadn’t seen the whole show until this year lmao. He didn’t know what energybending was nor did he know A:TLA ended with a Kataang kiss. Take that with a grain of salt, of course (you can watch the livestream this is revealed in here, and it was also mentioned in the recent StageIt A:TLA reunion), but I think it’s safe to conclude Dante Basco can be treated like any other Zvtara shipper. He likes the ship, which is totally cool, but he is not one of the writers, so his opinion meant naught in constructing the canon narrative.
ANYWAYS. My point is why would Zuko and Katara proclaim interest in each other if such interest would have to be crammed into five measly episodes?? Especially when four of those episodes were the finale?? That is awful writing, of course the A:TLA writers wouldn’t do that, lmao! They’d built up Kataang and Maiko already. Why scrap it and needlessly rush a romance from an excellent - and, important to note, a newly established - platonic bond? Nah.
“EIP seemed to set up a ZK endgame that jumped the tracks at the end. By all the ‘rules’ of a good narrative, Zuko and Katara should have ended up together”
Nope. Idk what rules people have been teaching you, anon, but they were lying!! You deserve better than people who would lie to you like that 😤. But yeah, narratively speaking, Katara and Zuko getting together would have made no sense. It would have undermined Zuko’s and Katara’s arcs, it would have completely disregarded Katara’s established feelings for Aang and Zuko’s for Mai, and again, it would have been totally rushed. Who wants that?? Normal people don’t, lmao. This might be hard to believe considering I occasionally rag about BNF zkers, but I actually have several friends who are Zvtara shippers! They agree that canon Zvtara would have made no sense, and that it’s better to play out a potential Zvtara dynamic in post-A:TLA fanon. I swear, it is only the rabid shippers who think Zvtara should have been canon, and trust me when I say no one should want to associate with them, lmao.
(And again, as I touched upon earlier, Zuko and Katara’s canon narrative relationship was surrogate siblings because of Katara’s position as Azula’s primary foil. The show wrapped their arc up perfectly! With a lovely bow and all. So no complaints from me!)
“otherwise EIP should never have been countenanced or storyboarded. Full disclosure that I’m not a huge Kataang fan either, but Kataang was done a disservice by having EIP exist”
What EIP did right:
- accurate (and horrifying) depiction of pro-imperialist propaganda
- recap of previous seasons
- a lesson on consent (Aang kisses Katara, it is depicted as wrong, and Aang reacts appropriately by admonishing himself and by giving Katara space afterwards. like, people call Aang an incel/entitled/whatever, BUT HE HAD THE PERFECT REACTION?? he literally backed off and never pressured her again. i would have killed for the guy who kept getting in my personal space during my junior year to have backed off when i told him to. spoiler alert: he didn’t)
- hit some good humor beats
What EIP did poorly:
- honestly it’s not very interesting just based on watching it (deconstructing it as propaganda gives it better depth), but that’s to be expected from filler
- stupid shipping drama
- not having an additional conversation/explicit apology between Aang and Katara
HOWEVER. This final point is actually very subjective. For one, A:TLA has a clear trend of not showing apologies on screen. Ex.: Katara doesn’t apologize to Sokka for what she said about their mother, Zuko doesn’t apologize for anything he did to the Gaang, Song, or really anyone (closest we get is “Hello, Zuko here” lmao), Ty Lee and Mai don’t apologize for putting the Kyoshi warriors in jail, etc. etc. So while an explicit apology would have been great, the lack of one admittedly tracks with the show’s pre-established standards. And two, while I of course would love a conversation between Aang and Katara (that’s literally MORE KATAANG. why would I refuse 😂), it isn’t… necessary, to be frank. Aang’s mistake is treated as such - kissing Katara was wrong and he should never have done that. Like I said, Aang acknowledges this error and gives Katara space afterwards. Thus, it is Katara who chooses to be with him when the war is over. She respects the time he gave her to come to a conclusion, and the choice she makes is that she loves him despite his poorly-timed kiss (I mean, she forgave Zuko for being complicit in Aang’s death. Katara is clearly a very forgiving person!). So like,, it gets to a point where if someone doesn’t recognize that, they’re probably the kind of weirdo who labels anything they don’t understand in a story as a plothole, lmao.
All of this is to say that EIP wasn’t a disservice to Kataang. It certainly could have been better, of course, and the kiss was obviously only put in to hype up drama (“will they, won’t they” blah blah blah), but overall it handled consent well for a kid’s show.
“It either should not have ever gotten written, or the ZK enemies-to-lovers arc should have been concluded.”
On the whole, EIP is absolutely an unnecessary episode, yeah. It was just a recap before the finale. The only important thing is its accurate depiction of pro-imperialist propaganda, but most people’s minds don’t immediately go to that, I’ll admit lmao 😂. And as I’ve already said, there was no Zvtara E-L arc - fandom completely made that up. Which is totally fine! That’s the point of transformative works. But they are still fanon. Plain and simple.
TL;DR - Zvtara was never in the cards for A:TLA. I wish rabid zkers would stop pretending it was and have fun in the sandbox like the rest of us 😭
And for the record, anon, you absolutely, 100% do not have to be convinced by any of this! It’s just my own, personal thoughts on the whole dealio. No worries either way!! 💛
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