#I might be mixing multiple stories together I'm not sure

[lvis44]

Sweet Escape - Epilogue // LH44

Lewis Hamilton x Y/N

Warnings: Smut 18+ MINORS DNI, Alcohol Consumption, Swearing, Light Angst, Not Edited

Word Count: 9.4k+

Summary: Paradise is supposed to be fun and relaxing... a Sweet Escape, but when unspoken feelings and jealousy rise to the surface, everything can be turned upside down in the blink of an eye.

Notes: Alas, here is the long awaited Epilogue. Thank you everyone for being patient with me, this became a bit of its own story and I had to stop myself from continuing (read my note at the end and let me know your opinions, I won't ask here as to not spoil anything.) I have loved writing this and I can't wait to continue this little journey with all of you wonderful babes. Thank you so much for all the love on this story, I'm glad you all seem to love it as much as I do!

I am not a professional writer and all of this is a work of fiction and is strictly for fun. Enjoy! xxx

Previous Sections: Prologue - Part One - Part Two - Part Three - Part Four - Part Five - Part Six - Part Seven - Part Eight

Colorado was one of your favorite places to be with Lewis, especially when it was just the two of you. You spent so much of your relationship flying around the world and stealing moments to be alone together. It could be difficult at times, especially race weekends. Lewis had a tendency to become a different version of himself from the first step into the paddock on Thursday to the second he left on Sunday evening, there was a hard shell around him most of the time, determined and focused. It was never a bad thing, simply something to navigate. He always found ways to make sure you knew how grateful for you he was, even in the simplest ways. When you would both arrive in Colorado, tucked away in the mountains, every guard he had built would come down, it’s when you got the utmost access to the love of your life. That's why you were shocked when he had sent you your travel plans for the week. You had talked with him multiple times about meeting him in Colorado for his time off, spending time just the two of you after too long being apart. Without consulting you he had changed your plans, scheduling another family trip, another trip to the Caribbean. You hadn’t been back to the island since the beginning of your relationship, almost exactly a year ago. Your anniversary would be coming up in the next week and you wanted to spend it with him, however life and work got in the way, forcing you to be apart from him for an already two week stretch. That is why Colorado had been the perfect plan, just the two of you only a few days after your anniversary, now you would be with all your friends in a place you had many mixed emotions about. You understood that he didn’t have the same opportunities to see everyone, rarely being in town for parties and dinners, but selfishly you truly didn’t want to share him. 

The second you received the surprise email with your travel itinerary you were on the phone. It only rang once before he picked up.

“Hey baby, I’ve only got a second. What's up?” He sounded out of breath through the line and you wondered if you had interrupted his training, not that you cared at the moment.

“We’re going to the island?” You got straight to the point.

“Yeah, I mean I bought the house, we might as well use it.” He chuckled, ignoring the fact that your plans had been drastically changed. 

“I know that, but I thought we had plans.” Your voice came out whinier than you had meant it to, unable to hide your disappointment.

“Yeah, shit, I’m sorry babe. I meant to talk to you about it but Charlotte and Miles were on my ass about another family trip and I just scheduled everything for the next second I had off.” He tried to reason, not helping your disappointment. It was strange for him to not consult you about plans he was making, more often than not he would check in with you more than necessary. 

“I know you want to see everybody but I wanted to spend time with you, celebrate our anniversary together.” You knew you were fighting a losing battle, everything was set in stone and he wouldn't disappoint your friends.

“We’ll still be together sweetie, we’ll have more than enough time to celebrate our anniversary, I promise.” His words were soft and you could tell he was trying to end the conversation. There was no point in continuing the argument.

“I know, I know, I just miss you.” You conceded.

“I miss you too, more than you know, but in just over a week I’m all yours. Gonna give you the biggest fucking hug.” He sighed, also feeling the effects of not being together.

‘You’re not going to be all mine, that's the problem’ you thought to yourself, deciding not to say anything, it wouldn’t help the situation in any way.

Before you could respond he was already saying his goodbyes, “I gotta go, m’sorry, but I’ll call you later and I’ll see you soon. I love you sweetheart.”

“I love you Lew.” You said solemnly, wishing for just a few more moments with him, even if over the phone.

…

The next week and a half dragged on for what felt like a year, communication from him was slim, even on your anniversary. He had messaged you a picture of the two of you from a few months ago, it was a selfie taken in some random hotel overseas, you were pressed up against him with your face in his neck, a massive smile across both of your faces. His message had been simple and cheeky “Thank you for giving me a chance and putting up with me for a whole ass year, I love you more than I could ever let you know xx.” When you messaged him back it had gone unanswered. You couldn’t understand what was going on with him, his lack of communication was incredibly out of character and it was starting to irritate you.

By the time that you arrived at the large vacation house, your mood was sour. Your flight was long and lonely, your friends flying out at different times and from different places. When you arrived everyone was already there. You were irritated with Lewis and his lack of communication and care for the wrench in your plans. Seeing the house again as you pulled into the driveway brought very mixed emotions, on one hand it was the place you finally found the love of your life, on the other it was the place where you spent a week fighting with your best friend and thinking that you had lost him. When you stepped out of the car, Lewis was already there waiting for you, a big smile on his face and open arms ready for you.

“Well hello there pretty lady.” He said, engulfing you in a hug before you even had the chance to close the car door.

It was hard to stay mad at him as he wrapped himself around you, his embrace feeling like coming home. He buried his face into your neck as he squeezed you so hard you thought you were going to burst.

“Hi.” You answered softly, taking in his familiar scent.

When he finally pulled away he didn’t go far, his large palms coming up to cradle your cheeks. His smile was so big it looked like his face would split in two.

“God I fucking missed you.” He sighed before pulling you in for a heavy kiss. It was like he was trying to pour every kiss you would have received in the last few weeks into one.

You're not sure how long you stood there kissing him, enjoying being with your partner after way too long. It wasn’t until you heard a gagging sound from behind you that you pulled away from him.

“Jesus, I’m all for you two being in love and shit but damn, I don’t need to see all that.” Miles complained from behind you while grabbing your bags.

“Oh fuck off, I haven’t seen my girl in two weeks, I’ve got shit to make up for.” Lewis laughed, his hand coming down to firmly grab your ass.

“Two weeks? I ain’t seen you in two months, where the hell is my kiss?” Miles continued in a jokingly distraught voice.

“Come and get it.” Lewis teased him, puckering his lips like a child, still not letting go of you.

“I’d rather kiss a frog,” Miles deadpanned, “now let go of Y/N so I can give her a hug.”

Lewis very reluctantly parted from you, not going far as Miles wrapped his broad frame around you, squeezing you tight with a kiss to your head that made you giggle. The second Miles let you go, Lewis was already grabbing your hand, lacing his fingers with yours and giving it a squeeze. When you turned to look at him he was already staring at you, a soft smile on his face and a look in his eyes you couldn’t quite place. You gave him a questioning look but all he did was shake his head and lean down to peck your lips quickly before ushering you into the house after Miles.

‘Well look who’s finally here!” Charlotte's voice came through the kitchen loudly the moment she saw you.

It only took a few seconds before you were wrapped in yet another tight hug, as if you hadn’t seen her only a week ago. You two had gotten lunch shortly after Lewis had changed your plans, and while you didn’t want to complain to her, you did try to get any information possible as to why Lewis had been acting so strange. She hadn’t said much, simply brushing it off by saying he must be busier than usual, but you could tell she knew something else and it had been eating away at you.

After saying your hellos to everyone you found a moment to quietly excuse yourself from the kitchen, heading down the hall to the room Lewis had stayed in last time, the room you had ended up moving into the night you finally got together. When you got to the doorway you paused, seeing unfamiliar luggage in the room. You had traveled with Lewis enough at this point to pick his luggage out from the most packed carousel in the world, and his was nowhere to be seen, neither was yours. As you stood there confused, a pair of strong arms came around your waist, pulling you back against a firm, warm body. You turned in his arms, his chocolate brown eyes coming into view.

“Sorry, I forgot to mention we’re not staying in here, Miles and his girlfriend are.” Lewis said softly.

You had met Miles’ girlfriend a few times now and you had to say she was one of the sweetest people he could have ever found. You were very happy for him but at this moment you were slightly irked at that concept.

“Not to sound like a bitch, but really?” You said with a huff, making Lewis chuckle.

“Babe, it’ll-” He started but you cut him off.

“No, Lew, I mean, it’s your house and we’re supposed to be celebrating our anniversary. I don’t even want to be here, I wanted to be in Colorado with you and just you but I didn’t want to sound ungrateful or anything. I know you don’t get to see everybody all that often but I feel like you don’t even care that it’s our first anniversary together, it seems like it’s an after thought for you, if it’s even a thought at all.” You rambled your emotions to him quietly, not wanting to offend anyone.

Lewis frowned, his brows furrowed in concern, “Hun, I absolutely care, and I’m sorry for changing our plans like that,” He paused, pressing a soft kiss to your forehead, “but if you’d let me show you something I think you might change your mind about being here, just a little bit.”

You let out a sigh, shrugging, still not fully feeling like your anniversary was a priority to him.

“Hey, look at me, we’re going to have an incredible anniversary week together, in the place we first admitted we were in love with each other. There’s a part of the property I didn’t get to show you last time we were here, come with me and then you can decide if you still hate the idea of celebrating here.” He didn’t wait for an answer, grabbing your hands and urging you to follow him.

“Are we gonna see you two again tonight?” Charlotte called out teasingly as Lewis pulled you through the back doors.

“Maybe, maybe not, don’t count on it.” Lewis yelled back over his shoulder with a laugh.

You gave him another questioning look but he just told you to hurry up and pulled you quicker behind him. He took you to the forest, near the path you’d always taken down to the beach but this time veered off on a different small path that you had never really noticed the last time you were here. You were now walking next to him, his hand firmly grasping yours as you started to see a trail of sparkling lights illuminating the small path as the sun was going down.

“Watch your step love, there’s a few steps down right here.” Lewis’ voice pulled you out of the trance you had fallen into while admiring the pretty lights.

He held your hand while you took the few steps down before he wrapped his arm around your shoulders, pulling you under his arm, making your walk slightly clumsy.

“I know you would rather we were in Colorado, just the two of us, and I’m sorry, I really am. I wasn’t thinking when I booked this trip in all honesty, and I know that sounds bad, Charlotte yelled at me as soon as she saw the dates. Just, I wasn’t really thinking about the fact that it was our anniversary, it doesn’t feel like it could possibly be our one year because I feel like we’ve been together forever. So I know I fucked up, but I’ve also had this plan for bringing you back here for quite a while and I’ll be honest when Miles mentioned coming here for vacation I jumped on the opportunity, I needed to. And I know this isn’t exactly what you envisioned or what I promised and I’m sorry for that but I was hoping that maybe this could be our little sanctuary, make us forget that anyone else even exists.” Lewis’ apology is sweet but leaves you with more questions, wanting to know what his need to be back here so badly was.

You round the corner with him, walking out onto a part of the beach you hadn’t seen before, nestled into an alcove you hadn’t previously explored. That's when you see a small bridge, leading to the most beautiful bungalow sitting atop the water. You gasp, seeing it lit up with beautiful lights, making it sparkle.

“It’s technically supposed to be the guest house,” Lewis begins quietly, “but I figured it could be our little vacation from the group vacation. Somewhere it can be just us.”

You turn toward him, your eyes glassy, “It’s beautiful Lew, thank you.” You lean up to press your lips against his softly.

“Another bonus is you can be as loud as you want down here.” He whispers cheekily against your lips, pecking them once more.

“Lewis!” You laugh, swatting at his chest as you blush.

He catches your wrist with a big smile, pressing a kiss to your pulse point before grabbing your hand and pulling you along down to the bungalow.

“God, do we have to hike it all the way back up there to get our luggage?” You groan, realizing you have nothing with you.

“Nope,” Lewis laughs, “Miles decided to be helpful and already lugged it all down here, I unfortunately owe him.”

When he opened the door, you found yourself speechless. There was a small kitchen directly through the front door, nothing fancy but enough that you would never have to leave if you didn’t want to. As you walked past the kitchen and down the short hallway the room opened up. There was a bathroom with a large shower and a large soaker tub to your right and a lush king size bed to your left. Large windows lined the whole left side of the bungalow, a small seating area just below them. Straight ahead of you were large sliding doors that Lewis was already moving to open, once he did, the whole front wall was open.

“There’s a screen we can shut if it gets too buggy but I want you to see it like this first.” Lewis explained, already knowing you would be worried about strange bugs in your bed.

He outstretched his hand to you once again, pulling you out onto the patio. What you were met with amazed you even more than the inside. There was a hot tub off to the side, already bubbling away, more sparkling fairy lights lining the pergola that covered part of the patio. There were two large chaise lounges overlooking the endless view of the sea. He was already guiding you down another small set of stairs where you were met with a small infinity pool, just beside the pool was an outdoor shower. You spotted another set of steps that appeared to go off directly into the sea.

“Babe, it’s-” You were at a loss for words as you turned to him, not quite knowing how to sum up how incredible everything was.

He smiled, stepping in front of you and placing his large hands on your waist, “I know it’s not exactly what you envisioned, but I do want this to be special. I’m so sorry I fucked up our first anniversary, I promise I’ll do better with every single one to come.”

“It’s not what I envisioned, and I am still annoyed you forgot our anniversary,” You tease before becoming more serious, “but Lew, this is perfect, it’s beautiful. Thank you.”

“Hey, I didn’t actually forget, it was a momentary lapse in judgment.” He playfully defends himself, pulling you closer to him.

“Whatever you say mister,” You laugh, “but I love it. I love you.”

He wastes no time in pressing his lips to yours, mumbling “I love you too, so much more than words could ever explain.”

“As much as I want to stay right here and kiss you forever, I really want to take a shower, I feel disgusting from all the flying.” You say when you finally separate from him.

“How about I run us a bath and we cuddle up and start to enjoy our belated anniversary celebrations.” He suggests, having you immediately nodding.

“Okay, you stay here and enjoy the view, I’ll come get you in a minute.” He says, squeezing your hip as he presses a kiss to your temple.

As he makes his way back up to the bungalow you settle into one of the comfy chairs overlooking the beautiful view. There’s still a slight annoyance in the back of your head at his admission of not even thinking of your anniversary when he planned this trip but you can’t help but be grateful that you will at least have him to yourself in some way this week. It may not be exactly what you had envisioned but you’re just happy that you will get to spend time with him. You understand what he was saying earlier, it doesn’t seem like it should be your one year anniversary, you truly feel like you’ve been with him forever. You practically live together, the most you possibly can with his ridiculous schedule. You’ve loved him far longer than you’ve been with him, and you’ve had the support and care of a partner from him since the day you met him. You know you’re going to be with him forever, nothing else would make sense, you could never fathom the idea of not being his now that you have him. You get lost in your thoughts as you wait for him, staring out over the beautiful ocean as you play through memories of your relationship like a highlight reel in your head. The first time he took you on a romantic getaway, the first time he introduced you as his girlfriend to his family, your first christmas together, your birthdays. Everything about him has felt like a fairytale.

“Hey baby, the bath is ready.” His soft voice startles you with its close proximity, you hadn’t even noticed him sit down on the arm of the chair next to you.

He chuckles when you jump, soothing his palm over your back, “Off in your own little world, were ya?”

“Oh shush, I was just enjoying the view.” You laugh along with him, moving to get up and follow him to the bathroom.

When you step into the bathroom you find yourself speechless yet again. The tub is up against a large window you hadn’t noticed earlier, giving you a spectacular view. He’s opened the window to let the warm breeze in, making the flames of the candles he’s placed around the room flicker in the wind. He has soft music playing and the tub is full to the brim with bubbles that smell like heaven. The lights are off except for a small light giving off hues of sunset, dimly illuminating the room. His hands are on your hips from behind, hiking up your shirt as he places soft kisses along your shoulder. He crouches down ever so slightly, kissing your spine as he pulls down your shorts and panties all at once. He places the softest of kisses to the back of your thighs before standing once more. When you turn to undress him, he’s already taken his shirt off, leaving you to push his shorts down his toned thighs, chuckling when you see he’s gone commando. He just shrugs, giving you a cheeky smirk before pulling you in to kiss him tenderly. For a moment you wonder if you will even make it to the bath as his hands roam your body, taking handfuls of the flesh that he loves to knead in his large palms. He eventually parts from you, leaving soft pecks all over your face before stepping around you and sinking down into the tub with a soft sigh. He simply stares at you for a moment, his face showing nothing but love and adoration, finally he outstretches his hand to help you in.

You lean back against his chest, reveling in the feeling of the firm muscles under his soft skin. His chin hooks over your shoulder, placing a kiss to your cheek as his arms snake around your waist to pull you in closer to him.

“Happy anniversary my love.” He whispers against your skin before he’s reaching over the edge of the tub to grab two glasses of champagne you hadn’t noticed before. He hands you one, clinking his glass against yours before rubbing his nose along your jaw up to your ear, “This has been one of the worst seasons of my career, yet one of the best years of my life, only thanks to you. You have made me happier than I ever knew possible and I hope that I have been able to reciprocate that for you. I plan on spending every day trying to make you the happiest, most loved woman on the face of this earth, because that is all that you deserve in life. You are the most remarkable human I have ever had the honor of meeting, Y/N. Thank you for letting me love you, and thank you for loving me the way that you do.”

By the end of his speech there are tears in your eyes. Looking at him you see the same glassiness mirrored in his own, knowing just how much he meant each and every word he whispered into your ear.

“I love you more than life itself Lewis, and I will never stop loving you. I’m sorry I was moody earlier, I was being petty. All I need to be happy is you, as long as you’re around, I am the happiest I can ever be. I’m already the happiest woman on earth simply because I get to say that I am loved by you, it’s truly something I don’t think I could ever explain to anyone. Thank you for all of this, it’s perfect, truly.” You tell him sincerely, your voice thick with emotion.

“Don’t apologize sweetheart, you had every reason to be annoyed with me. I hope you know it wasn’t remotely intentional, and I should have talked to you about it, even if it was after I’d made the plans. I’m sorry I’ve been a bit MIA this past week.” He further apologizes, holding your eyes with his to show just how serious he is.

You can see the remorse written across his face, never one that was good at hiding his emotions once he’s let them be seen for the first time. It’s as if once the floodgates that are Lewis’ emotions are opened to you, there is no closing it, and you wouldn’t have it any other way. He wears his heart on his sleeve.

“Have you been okay?” You ask him, adjusting in his lap so you can look at him better, bringing your hand up to stroke the short stubble at the side of his jaw.

He furrows his brows in question, “Yeah, I’ve been fine. I’ve just been really busy these last few weeks, been planning something that I need to get perfect.”

“Oh? And what exactly have you been planning Sir Hamilton?” You ask him jokingly, yet always wanting to know what he’s working on, always interested in the amazing things he does.

He looks down, averting his eyes from you, looking suddenly shy, “You’ll see when the time’s right, soon, I promise.”

“Mm’kay.” You hum out, taking a sip of your champagne before nuzzling into his chest, resting your head on his shoulder.

He just chuckles, the sound vibrating through your body, tightens his arm around you to rest his cheek on the top of your head.

“I love you, happy one year.” He whispers to you.

“I love you, happy one year.” You repeat as you grin into the skin on his neck, placing a chaste kiss there.

If anyone had asked you how you thought you would be spending your one year anniversary with the love of your life, this would have never been your answer. The two of you cuddled in the warm bath, listening to the sound of the waves crashing, hidden away from your friends in your own private Caribbean bungalow. You had expected him to make a move while you were in the tub, but he didn’t, leaving you slightly shocked but not entirely disappointed. You hadn’t seen him in nearly three weeks and you could feel him pressed against your leg, hard and begging to be touched, it was unlike the two of you to not immediately pounce on one and other the second you were alone. Yet something about the moment with him in the tub felt more intimate than sex ever could, the two of you just enjoying being in each other's arms, each other’s presence, knowing you had more than enough time to reunite later on.

“Where do you want to be in five years?” Lewis asked quietly, breaking the comfortable silence as his hand traced slow circles on your hip.

“Five years?” You asked, lifting your head to look at him.

“Yeah.” He shrugged like he was trying to play it off as a casual question, his face giving him away.

“Well,” You start, pausing to think a bit, “I want to be with you-”

“Well obviously.” He cut you off with a playful smirk.

“Hey, you didn’t let me finish.” You laugh.

“Sorry, I’m usually good about that,” He winks, “continue.”

“Idiot,” You mumble through a laugh before continuing, “I want to be happy, surrounded by people I love. I’d like to be in a different job, I think, something where I have more flexibility. I just want to be someone that me now would be proud of.”

He smiles fondly at you, evidently content with your answer.

“What about you?” You prompt him, genuinely curious.

“I think I want to be done with racing, moving on to a new chapter of my life, with you by my side obviously.” He says quietly.

“You really think you’ll be done in five years? I know you’ve mentioned it before but, do you really think so?” You ask.

“Yeah, we’ve been going over my contract a lot these last few weeks and I think my mind is finally set. I obviously want to get the eighth title, but if that doesn’t happen in the next five years, maybe it was never meant to.” He explains.

“It’s always been meant to, if anyone can it’s you Lew.” You argue.

“I don’t mean that in a way of me giving up, I’m gonna fight like hell until the last possible second. I just mean that maybe now there are more important things for me to start focusing on, other purposes out there for me where my attention and time will be more valuable.” The way he says his words sounds like he’s talking about much more than a career change and it makes your stomach flip in anticipation, imagining your future with him.

“Whatever you end up doing, I’m positive it will be incredible, everything you do is tremendous. And I will be right there supporting you the entire way.” You tell him sincerely, leaning in to press your lips to his.

The kiss is slow and savoring, it mutes everything in your head, making the world revolve around him and only him.

“The water’s starting to get a bit cold, why don’t we get out. I’ve got some ways I can warm you up.” He murmurs against your lips.

“There he is.” You laugh, pulling away.

“What do you mean?” He giggles.

“You’ve been rock hard against my leg for the last thirty minutes and haven’t made a single move on me, I was starting to get worried about you.” You tease him.

“Oh, believe me, I’m well aware of how hard I’ve been.” He playfully rolls his eyes, “I was trying to be romantic.”

“Mmmm, I see.” You hum.

“Genuinely though, I was just enjoying cuddling with you, didn’t want to ruin the moment. But I need you. Now.” His voice gets lower as he finishes his statement, picking you up and standing abruptly.

His quick movement makes water slosh over the edge of the tub, causing you to squeal. He grabs a towel, not using it to dry either of you off but throws it down on the bed before dropping you on top of it.

“You know we could have done this exactly where we were?” You laugh at him as he crowds up against you, already placing hungry kisses down your jaw.

“Maybe, yeah, but it would be a bit hard to pin you down in the tub, I don't really want to drown the woman that I love.” He chuckles against you, grabbing your wrists to bring them above your head.

This is one of the things you’ve always loved with Lewis. You can be in the middle of something so erotic and intimate, yet still be laughing and making jokes with him. He truly is your best friend in the form of a lover.

His lips are trailing down your bare skin, causing your laughter to halt and goosebumps to erupt over your whole body. He doesn’t take even a moment to tease you, immediately diving into your core, licking a hot stripe from your opening all the way to your nerves. You gasp as you arch into him, a throaty groan coming from deep inside him. He always wears you out when you’ve been apart for some time, as if he’s making up for lost time.

“Always taste so fucking good. God I missed you.” He mumbles against your heat, the sound vibrating through your body.

He works his tongue in the way only he knows how, circling your clit perfectly before sucking it into his mouth, nibbling just enough to have your toes curling. You feel one of his fingers slip into you, already soaking wet from just being so close to him. His finger curls, expertly finding the spongy spot inside of you that he knows so well.

“Fuck, Lewis, yes, right there.” You breathe out, your head tilting back into the towel underneath you.

He slips a second finger in, scissoring them to get you ready for him, before returning to a steady ‘come hither’ motion inside of you. He knows he needs you to come at least once before he finally takes you, it’s been too long and he never wants you to be uncomfortable, and he’s doing everything in his power to get you there. Fast.

“That feel good babygirl? You missed me making you feel good?” He asks, already knowing the answer from your flushed cheeks and mouth hung open.

All you can do to respond is moan and buck your hips up toward him, your ability to speak already gone from the moment he put his lips on you.

“Yeah pretty girl? You been trying to make yourself feel good while I’ve been gone?” He continues with his questions, evidently enjoying how difficult it is for you to respond as his thumb finds your clit, flicking quickly.

You nod, turning your head to the side as you let out a loud moan when a third finger slips inside of you.

“Poor baby, it doesn’t feel this good does it? Doesn’t feel as good as me inside of you, can’t make yourself cum the way I can?” He’s moved up so he’s hovering above you, his fingers still working overtime to get you to your peak.

You feel your stomach tighten at his words, knowing he’s right, and then your orgasm rips through your body, soaking his hand. He barely lets up with his movements as he works you through it, kissing your throat, your cheek, your forehead, anywhere his lips can land to work you down from your high.

“You know how I know it’s not the same?” He asks, his voice deep and filled with lust.

You hum, barely able to keep your eyes open.

“Because it’s never the same for me either. No matter how many times I wrap my hand around my cock, it will never come close to the feeling of being inside you. Nothing makes me feel the way you do, nothing will ever come close. I always need you, nothing but you.” His words are mumbled against your skin as he draws his lips up your neck before finally attaching them to your own.

You don’t know where you find the strength but you manage to wrap your arms around his neck, pulling him impossibly close as you open your mouth for him. He licks into your mouth, his tongue toying with your own as he rests most of his weight on you, something that you have grown to love. You find yourself bringing one of your hands down in between the two of you, grasping his hard cock. He groans into your mouth at the simple touch, evidently pent up from the time in the tub. You work him in slow strokes, savoring the feeling of his silky, hot skin. Your thumb swiping over his swollen tip to collect the leaking precum. He whimpers at the feeling, his head falling into the crook of your neck before he's grabbing your wrist.

“Y/N, baby, I’m gonna need you to stop or I’m gonna cum before I even get the chance to be inside of you.” His voice sounds pained as he pins your wrist up next to your head.

Within seconds he’s readjusting and you feel the fat head of his cock pressed against your opening. He stares deep into your eyes as he pushes in slowly, both of your mouths falling open in pure ecstasy at the feeling of finally being connected. It’s truly a feeling like no other, it feels like coming home after a long stressful week, it feels like falling into the comfiest bed, like being wrapped in a hug by someone you love. It completes you. His forehead falls to rest against your own as he stills inside of you, finally bottomed out.

“Please.” You whimper, bringing your legs up around his hips.

He lowers himself down onto you, bracing himself on his forearms on either side of your head, “I’ve got you baby, I know.”

Slowly he starts to pull out before thrusting back in with a certain force that quenches every need in your body. You grasp his bicep next to your head, your hand not able to reach all the way around it. He’s crowded over you, making you feel small and fragile, his strong broad frame engulfing you entirely. With every thrust he has your head spinning more and more. His eyes are trained on your face, always obsessed with seeing how you fall apart underneath him. His calculated, practiced moves make sure you will do just that. You can see the veins starting to pop out in his strong neck, using all his restraint to not cum before you, his whimpers becoming more frequent. You aren’t prepared, unaware you were so close to your orgasm, when it shoots through your body, even more violent than the first.

“Fuck, squeezing me so tight Y/N, I’m gonna-” His words are cut off with a guttural moan, his thrusts becoming sloppy before he’s spilling into you. Hot spurts of cum lacing your walls as you feel him twitch inside of you, a feeling you’ve become obsessed with.

He’s still pulsing inside of you as he relaxes down onto your body, momentarily crushing you but you welcome it, finding some semblance of strength to rub your fingers up and down his back. He peppers kisses along your neck, mumbling sweet nothings that you can’t hear through the ringing in your ears. The first thing you hear as you come back into yourself is a mumbled “I love you”. You lay there together, his weight bearing down on you as he stays deep inside of you, a frequent occurrence after time away, never ready to part from each other. Finally after some time he raises up to slip out of you, making you wince.

“I know baby, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He’s whispering, pressing light kisses to your cheek.

“I’ve really missed you these last few weeks.” You confess to him, your post orgasm brain feeling more open than usual.

“I know sweetie, I’ve missed you like crazy too. I’m sorry it was so long this time.” He says, kneeling in front of you, massaging your thighs.

You take a moment to admire him. A few of his braids have fallen from their usual bun, framing his beautiful face. The moon is shining in through the open window behind him, making him glow as though he truly is an angel placed on earth. His tattoos are dark against his tan skin, swirling black that you’ve spent hours tracing as you fall asleep or wait for him to wake up. He is your person and you wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Look, I know we just took a bath, but what if we hop in the shower really quick and get properly cleaned up and then I can make us a snack.” He offers, pulling at your ankle.

You just nod, letting him maneuver you up and out of the bed and into the shower. While this may not be the anniversary you had expected with him, you are more than content in this moment, just happy to be with the man that you love, and that loves you so much.

. . .

The moment you arrived back up at the main house you had been teased endlessly for not coming back up the night before. You had blushed like a highschooler but Lewis seemed proud, not having a care in the world that all of your friends were well aware how you two had spent the night.

“Ya know what? It’s our anniversary week, let us fuck in peace.” He had said pointedly at Charlotte when she had finally gotten on his nerves.

You felt bad for Miles' girlfriend, Cleo. She hadn’t spent much time with the group before, much less Lewis, and was evidently unprepared for just how little filter there was with everyone. She sat at the island with wide eyes as Lewis and Charlotte bantered about your sex life. You had shot her an apologetic smile as you tried to redirect your boyfriend onto a new topic. After that the day went smoothly. You ended up laying around the pool, everyone occasionally going for a swim or throwing around a football, just enjoying finally being away from their hectic lives.

You ended up sitting with Cleo for a little while, hoping to get to know her a little bit better. You already quite liked her, finding her to be a great fit for Miles. If she was dating your boyfriend's bestfriend you only found it fitting that you learn a little bit about her. You ended up chatting for quite some time, noticing that both Lewis and Miles would glance at you both from time to time, content smiles on their faces that their girls were getting along so well.

“Miles really likes you, ya know?’ Cleo had said, surprising you.

“I hope so, he’s one of my best friends.” You laughed.

“Well yeah,” She laughed with you, “but I mean for Lewis, if that makes sense.”

You gave her a questioning look, urging her to continue.

“He talks a lot about how glad he is that you two are together, that he’s never seen Lewis this happy.” She continued, “I don’t really know Lewis that well, I’ve only met him like twice, but from what I can see he really loves you. Nobody looks at somebody like that unless they’re head over heels.”

Her words made you blush, not expecting her to say something like that, “I really love him too.”

“I can tell.” Cleo responded with a smile.

“Alright, who’s ready to go out and get drunk?” Steph yelled from behind you, ending your conversation with Cleo.

Your mind immediately flashed back to the last time you had all been at the islands club together. You couldn’t help but wonder if Miles and Lewis would even be allowed back in. Your eyes flicked over to Lewis who was rolling his eyes and already making his way over to you.

“I’m gonna steal her if you don’t mind.” He said politely to Cleo as he was already pulling you up out of your seat.

“As much as I would love to go just to see Mariana-” You start.

“We’ll go see Mariana while we’re here, but some other time. They can all go out and get drunk, I have other plans for us tonight, if that’s okay of course.” He easily cuts you off.

You let out a sigh of relief, immediately nodding.

“Good, now I’m gonna go figure out how to let Steph down easily.” He laughs, pressing a kiss to your forehead before stepping around you and making his way over to your friend.

“Come on Lewis, it’s been forever since we all went out.” You hear Steph argue with whatever he says to her.

“First off, do you remember the last time we all went out here? Didn’t go too well. Second-” Before he can continue his rebuttal he’s being cut off by Charlotte who is shockingly on his side.

“It’s their anniversary week, tonight is very important Steph. Remember?” You can tell Charlotte is alluding to something that you are clearly out of the loop on.

You watch as Stephs eyes go wide before nodding quickly while Lewis mutters to Charlotte “Real subtle Char’.”

You look at Cleo who just shrugs her shoulders, obviously not aware of what's going on either.

Everyone eventually calms down and starts getting ready, heading inside to pregame as you and Lewis say goodnight. He is promptly pulling you back down to your private bungalow for whatever he has in store for you tonight. When you get inside, he is pulling the shades closed on the windows that overlook the beach. You give him a look, knowing it’s not for your own privacy.

“Okay, I want you to take a nice long shower or bath or get in the pool or something for a little while. I’m gonna go take care of some things and then I’ll come join you and we can get ready.” He explains vaguely.

“What exactly are you taking care of?” You question him, still rather confused.

“Don’t worry about it, you’ll see soon enough. Just trust me, alright?” He shakes his head.

“Okay weirdo. Why’d you close the blinds?” You continue to question.

He lets out a small huff as he shakes his head with a smile, “You never stop with the questions, do you? Just trust me. Off you go.” He says as he turns you around, patting your butt, making you giggle.

You decide to spend some time in the pool, hearing him leave the small bungalow as you change into a different suit. When you slip into the pool you can feel the water cooling your toasted skin. You let yourself look out at the beautiful view, taking in the sounds and the scents that envelope you as you bask in your real life fairytale. You never thought that you would have this kind of life, being in beautiful places with an even more beautiful man who loves you so unashamedly, so wholeheartedly. You let yourself day dream about your future with him, how many kids you might have one day, where the two of you will inevitably settle down, what your wedding day will be like. You stay in the pool for what feels like a solid hour, still no sign of Lewis. You end up getting out, heading to take a shower when you hear other people's voices outside. Everything inside of you wants to run over to the window and peek at what might be going on outside but you restrain yourself, not wanting to ruin whatever it is that Lewis has planned for you. You end up staying in the shower much longer than usual, just enjoying the feeling of the water cascading through your hair and down your spine. A pair of broad arms wrapping around your waist surprises you, you hadn’t even heard him come in. He giggles at your shock, pressing a sloppy kiss to your cheek. Wordlessly you step out from under the water, letting him shower, letting yourself admire him as you so frequently do before stepping out and wrapping yourself in a towel.

“Hey, I wanted some company.” He complains from under the shower head.

“If I stay in any longer I may turn into an actual prune.” You say, making him laugh

He’s much quicker with his shower than you had been. Coming into the bedroom as you stare at your suitcase.

“You know, it tends to be easier if you actually put the clothes on rather than just try to will them onto your body.” He teases you, pinching your hip.

“Well if I knew what I was getting dressed for it would be a hell of a lot easier.” You say to him, suddenly feeling stressed.

“Hey,” He says, sensing your unease, “wear whatever you're comfortable in, it’s just you and me.”

“But this seems special, I don’t want to mess it up.” You say, rummaging through your suitcase.

“It’s special because it’s us, doesn’t matter what you wear. There’s very little you could do to screw this up, I promise.” He says. 

You feel a small weight lift from your shoulders when you look up to see him slipping a t-shirt over his head. Part of you wonders if he did it just to make you feel better. You give him a soft smile, finally deciding on a sundress that is the perfect combination of cute and casual.

“Ready?” He asks, his hand outstretched, waiting for yours.

“Always.” You smile, taking his hand.

As he leads you out of the bungalow you feel your breath catch in your throat. If you thought the beach was beautiful before, you’re not sure quite what word you would describe it as now. He has had the beach lined with lights and candles, torches lining their way up to a beautifully set yet simple table. You can see that there’s a meal already waiting for the two of you on the table.

“Still trust me?” He asks quietly.

You just nod, looking around at the beautiful scenery, amazed that he made all of this happen. When you finally reach the table in the sand he is pulling your chair out for you.

“Madame.” He says playfully, gesturing for you to take a seat.

You giggle as he places a kiss to your cheek, moving around to his side of the table. He grabs the corkscrew off the table, taking the bottle of wine that was already waiting for the two of you.

“I wanted tonight to be special, and I wanted to be able to surprise you somehow. Sorry I locked you away for a bit.” He chuckles toward the end.

“Ah, how dare you lock me away in literal paradise.” You tease him, making him smile.

“You like it?” He asks and you can tell he’s nervous, not meeting your eyes as he pours you both a glass of wine.

“I love it Lew, it’s beautiful, thank you.” You tell him, reaching across the table to take his hand in yours, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“I wasn’t sure how to exactly pull off making you dinner without you noticing so I kind of cheated and hired someone, well I actually hired Mariana, she’s quite the cook. She was upset she couldn’t come in and see you, I promised we’d come see her later this week. I did the lights though.” You can tell he’s still nervous, rambling things quickly.

“Well I have to say the lights are incredible, and I’d love to go see them.” You say with a light tone but absolutely meaning it, you feel like you're in some sort of wonderland.

He finally pulls the cover off of your meals, making your mouth immediately water, it looks incredible. Lewis has taken you on endless incredible dates, but this one has to take the cake, the effort alone making you swoon. 

Once he is convinced that you are just as happy as you say you are, you can see him visibly relax. His whole demeanor shifting back to the light hearted, loving man that you know so well. Dinner carries on as usual, your conversations seamlessly going from joking banter to important life topics, the flow that you’ve always found yourself so comfortable in with him, even before you started dating. Once you’ve finished eating he’s bringing his seat closer to yours so he can wrap his arm around the back of your chair, pulling you into his warm side.

“You know last night when I asked where you wanted to be in five years?” He asks you quietly.

You hum, leaning your head against his shoulder.

“Well, I left something out of my answer.” He says, confusing you. “I know I said I wanted you by my side, obviously, but I didn’t really elaborate enough.” He’s only confused you further.

Before you can question him, he’s standing from his seat and moving his chair back. You swear your heart stops when you look at him. He’s down on one knee in front of you, reaching into his pocket.

“Lew.” You croak out, not sure what else to say.

“I know, I know that to every other person on the earth, this probably seems insane. It probably seems so fucking quick, and hell it is, but Y/N, I know what I want, and what I want is you, forever. I have loved you far longer than I’ve ever let you know and I think the same goes for you. Since the day I met you I knew that you were going to be monumental in my life somehow, I just didn’t realize exactly how or quite how much. I love you more than I have ever loved anything before, I love you in a way I didn’t know was possible, in a way I didn’t even know I was capable of.” He pauses for a moment, finally opening the small box in his hand to reveal the most beautiful ring you have ever seen in your life, “I’m not asking you to marry me tomorrow, we can still take our time, we have so much ahead of us. All I’m asking is that tonight you make me a promise, that one day you will be my wife. You’re my forever Y/N Y/L/N, let me be yours.”

There are tears streaming steadily down your face, not sure how to process everything he’s saying. You want to nod your head, you want to say yes, but you’re frozen, until those words finally slip through his lips.

“Y/N, baby, will you marry me?” His own voice catches in his throat as he asks the question, obviously nervous and overwhelmed.

“Yes,” you finally choke out, “oh my god of course, yes, fuck of course.”

Your cries are now turning into almost laughter, overjoyed and overrun with emotion.

“Yeah?” He asks, sounding as if he doesn’t truly believe what he’s hearing.

“Oh my god, yes.” You cry through your smile as he stays frozen on his knee, his face breaking into a smile. “Kiss me you idiot.” You laugh.

Within seconds his lips are on yours, pulling you up out of your chair to hold you as close as humanly possible. You can taste the salt of your combined tears as you both laugh into the kiss, giddy with excitement.

“I know it’s so quick but I feel like we’ve been together so much longer than we really have. We can wait as long as you want, there’s absolutely no rush. I just need to know that one day you’ll be my wife, and I want the world to know that too.” He rambles when he finally pulls away.

“I know, I know, of course,” you laugh, kissing him again, “now give me my ring!”

He laughs at you, fumbling with the box slightly through shaky hands before finally sliding the ring onto your finger. It fits perfectly and you can’t help but wonder if Charlotte helped him. The diamonds twinkle in the fairy lights surrounding your table as you admire the look of your engagement ring sitting on your finger.

“So do I have to wait to become Mrs. Hamilton?” You ask.

“Y/N, I would marry you tomorrow if you let me.” He says, kissing you again, your teeth clashing through your smiles.

“What were you going to do if I said no?” You ask him with a teasing tone.

“Honestly? I have no idea, but I was pretty confident you’d say yes.” He says, smirking.

“Is this why you needed to bring me back here?” You ask him, staring at your new ring.

“Yeah, it only felt right. Full circle.” He whispers, “This is also why I’ve been so awol recently. I was making last minute changes to the ring because it needed to be perfect and I was trying to plan this. I’ve been so excited and I know myself well enough to know that I would have let it slip if I was talking to you too much. I’ve never been able to lie to you.”

You can’t help but laugh at the fact that not only is that true, but the reason you had been so annoyed with him the last few weeks was actually a side effect of him planning the most beautiful, loving thing you could think of.

“Everybody knows, don’t they?” You giggle, knowing he wouldn’t have been able to keep it from at least Charlotte and Miles.

“Yeah, they’ve known for a while, longer than I’ve even had the ring.” He blushes.

“Lewis, I love you so much. Thank you, I can’t wait to marry you, I’m so glad you’re the man that will be by my side for the rest of my life.” You tell him sincerely, feeling yourself get emotional again at the thought.

“I love you too my darling, I wouldn’t dream of going through life with anyone else.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Final Note: I had to stop myself from continuing on with this and adding a time jump and their wedding day, it was so tempting. Let me know, does anyone want a one shot of their wedding day at some point? Some cute pre-wedding jitters, vows, wedding night, etc?

I hope you all enjoyed!

#lewis hamilton #lvis44 #lh44 #lewis hamilton fanfic #lewis hamilton imagine #lewis hamilton x reader #f1 x reader #driver x reader #f1 drivers #sweet escape #sir lewis hamilton #lewis hamilton smut #lewis hamilton one shot #formula 1 #f1 x you #f1 #mercedes amg f1 #f1 imagine #f1 fanfic #lh #team lh44 #formula one #fanfic #f1 fic #lewis hamilton fluff

[roo-bastmoon]

The Long Game

First, let's acknowledge some major mismanagement by BigHit. Then, let's talk about what I think *might possibly* be their long game.

These are just guesses I have right now--I'm not stating facts and my opinions are subject to change as new info becomes available. But come with me for a few minutes...

In early 2022, Jimin's mail was "omitted" four times by BigHit employees, which lead to late insurance premium payments, which led to an on-paper "seizure" of his apartment. The press sat on that news for three months until the day his With You OST dropped and the scandal overshadowed his release. Jimin went to ground, avoided all social media for months. At this time, Jimin's personal information was leaked on the internet, and that was the last time we saw Jikook hang out alone that we know of.

Now in 2023, since Jimin's album FACE dropped, we already know about the sabotaged sales and streams by Hanteo, Billboard, YouTube, and Spotify. There was the issue with his in-ears not working properly during an encore. On top of all that drama, BigHit didn't get all the physicals shipped in time, they didn't playlist his songs for several days, they never sent his songs to radio (that we can see), they made one tweet to acknowledge Jimin's #1 on Hot100 but nothing else--not even a cake like the other solo albums got, they didn't let him film more than two music videos when they did that for their new groups, the press releases about their stocks going up after Hot100 also credited their new groups, and Jimin only had 9 days of uninterrupted promo between other members' works.

Now I am not a conspiracy theorist. I well understand that the military enlistment compressed schedules, and that each member had say in their creative works and promotions. I'm not a manti. But none of the above is a good look. Add up all those fumbles together, and you could make a solid case for mismanagement.

And now today, we see PD Bang on the cover of Billboard (which, OF COURSE, mentioned Blackpink in the same breath).

JUST LOOK AT THE WAY THE STORY IS BEING SHAPED FOR AMERICAN READERS. You see what's happening here? You think SM is gonna get a cover story for their side of the corporate shakedown?

And then there's this little gem:

"If your question is about the possibility of creating an artist like BTS again, the answer is no. However, if you were to ask whether there would be a K-pop artist from HYBE that tops the Billboard Hot 100 chart, my answer would be yes. [Jimin became the first BTS member to achieve this as a solo act on April 3 when his single “Like Crazy” debuted at No. 1.] The experience of managing BTS and operating different labels gave us access to powerful networks, infrastructures and experiences. With these, HYBE can repeat its remarkable results with the help of talented artists.

Okay so before everyone starts rioting online, take a moment, pause, reflect, think about what all might be going on here, behind the scenes, in this very political world of the music business.

Do I think Bang PD screwed Jimin over to score points with Billboard? No, I do not. But neither do I think Jimin's solo effort is anyone's priority but Jimin's.

"HYBE is primarily focusing on leveraging its accumulated expertise in managing and producing acts that consist of multiple members, rather than solo artists or mixed-gender groups in K-pop."

I think no one ever expected Jimin to make it to #1 on Hot100 and industry insiders felt pretty sure the West wouldn't let him stay in the top 10 the next week. Why? Well, partially racism. But mostly it's bad for their bottom line.

If your entire business model is that people pay for radio play and that gets them on your private chart and the private chart leads to more advertisers and awards... and then someone comes along and DOESN'T pay to play and gets to the top of your chart? Nobody needs you. So you HAVE to sabotage them. You absolutely have to change your rules. (I'm just sitting here waiting for Jimin to release his other songs so that Billboard can change their rules to say you can't be on Hot100 if your name starts with J- and ends with -imin.)

Now, it might have been satisfying for us as fans to see BigHit come out swinging and put Billboard on blast for his sake and ours. But they have ZERO. LEGAL. RECOURSE.

Billboard is privately owned and they can make whatever rules they want. They are part of a larger media company that has connections to every media outlet; no one is gonna publish an exposé any time soon, I promise you. We got exactly ONE English-speaking website to write about it and that was it. Everyone in the industry knows what is going on, and no one has the power to do anything much about it.

So what does that mean for the future?

Well... Bang PD just recently paid a HUGE mark up of $26 million to buy Trevor Noah's home out in LA.

And now he's on the cover of Billboard. WHY? Neither of these things will result in any immediate payout for him.

It's a long game.

And frankly, a very old and honored way of doing business. It's how they went up against the big three and it's how they are gonna go up against the West, I feel it in my gut.

Bang PD is getting a home on US soil. He will be paying US taxes. He's making in-roads by being nice with Billboard folks. He's making contacts; he's already had phone calls with Pharrell and Bieber and Grande and Laroi. Some of those are already shaping into collabs. We already know Hybe has set up shop in the US with Scooter at the helm.

Meanwhile, BigHit is adjusting in real time to the new rules around the charts (culling is happening to Yoongi too, so they changed up the check-out process of the BTS US Store). Suddenly there's plenty of focus on promoting via TikTok and other viral social media. They are dipping their toe into AI. They are discussing their own in-house ticketing option. This company is looking toward the future and hedging its bets.

Do I know with any certainty what's up their sleeve?

Absolutely not.

Do I trust any corporation very much?

Nope.

Do I have faith in BTS?

Probably more than anything else in my life, at this point.

So while I have no insider info, I just feel like the company is making very intentional and methodic footholds into the West. They are not complaining or screaming or suing or threatening anyone. They are not badmouthing competitors or whining about unfair deals. They are laying ground on complicated, political in-roads, one step at a time.

The Expo is in 2030. I'd wager by that time, BTS will have conquered the West and have some radio play.

And I think the company believes that in order to do that, they have to make their new groups profitable while BTS serves. They have to survive for the next two years.

When BTS is back, and their dues have been paid, I think they will be unstoppable. I hope they get to work on solo projects AND group projects. I think they will take over every corner of the world, if managed properly.

They just need to do it in a way that also assuages the Western music industry. The American Powers That Be have a chokehold on music and they will demand their pound of flesh somehow.

I strongly suspect BTS will never pay to play. But they will build relationships and find a way to become so interwoven in the cultural fabric that to deny them a place in Western spaces is to be left behind. And they will do it politely, and gently, and come out smelling like a rose.

So before you go off on social media and scream the walls down about neglect (and there WAS some, in my opinion) and abuse (we don't really know that), just take a moment to consider--if they had no legal recourse against Billboard, how can they beat them at their own game?

The best way to defeat an enemy is to make them a friend.

I'm just guessing here, but I think if fans stay loyal, BTS just might have the last laugh, here. I think they got radio scared as hell.

It sucks that Jimin didn't get fair treatment at this time. He is my bias and I feel it like a knife to my own heart. But he DID make history with his #1 and they can never take it away.

So I say give it time. All the people sniggering at him and BTS right now are going to sing a different tune in the future.

My best guess is that this is a long game, and it will require sacrifices that are totally unfair, but in the end... well, as long as BTS has ARMY, they cannot be denied.

Apobangpo.

#jimin #bts

[thewolvesof1998]

WIP Wednesday

Thank you for everyone who tagged me- I would list you all but it would take me half an hour to to that so I'm just going to tag everyone at the end!

Here's the beginning of my MMA Rivals AU because @ladydorian05 had been hyping it up!

The crowd thunders around him, he can feel their vibrations through the mat. Buck usually lives for this feeling but right now it's overwhelming. Bright lights and sweat mixed with blood dripping into his eyes making it hard to see much beyond the black chain-link fence but he notices the horror on his team’s, his family’s faces before the pain hits.  Excruciating pain, his leg, oh god his leg.  And then Buck is falling and falling, through the mat, through the ground, through time itself.   Buck wakes with the terror of falling and pain radiating down his leg. He rips back the covers, revealing his left leg, not broken, not in a cast, but not like it was before. The scars mark the pale flesh, they’re from the multiple surgeries he needed to get back into fighting condition as quickly as possible. It’s not just the visible scars that remain, the bone-deep ache that comes when the weather turns cold that won’t let him forget that night. The night his career almost ended, before it had even really begun and just when he’d found what he loved doing.  Buck looked at his phone, the time read 5.37 a.m., he had a few hours before he had to get up.  He flops back down on his bed, the clammy sweat that usually accompanies his nightmares cooling in the early morning temperatures. LA’s weather is mild compared to most places, hell he’d grown up in Hershey where it had snowed every winter, but it was still enough to set off his injury. He normally kept his heating on but he must have forgotten to turn it on when he got home late last night.  Last night, when at the monthly team get-together Bobby and Athena had announced a new fighter joining the club. Buck groaned at the memory, running his hands over his face. Eddie Diaz was joining the 118 Fighters. Eddie Diaz defending Welterweight Champion for the past three years, Buck’s rival since they fought in Buck’s first year of being a UFC fighter almost two years ago.  Diaz had destroyed Buck’s winning streak with a cheap-shot technical knockout in the second round. Buck might have had some heated words with him after the fight which had given the media the fuel to create the Buckley x Diaz Rivalry. Diaz was the reigning champ and Buck was the upstart, the story practically wrote itself.  The media frenzy had been rough for a while after that, Maddie had to delete Twitter off his phone because he had been doom scrolling. It hadn’t helped that Buck's broken leg had prevented a rematch last year, the anticipation this time was reaching new levels. They now called Buck an “underdog” because of his injury which grated on his nerves even more than upstart.  Now they were both training under Bobby, which is not unusual but it was sure going to make Buck’s life harder. A tiny voice, the same from last night when he’d heard the news, resurfaces maybe Bobby was hedging his bets, maybe he didn’t believe Buck could have a successful comeback and that’s why he’d brought Diaz on. Buck tries to ignore the voice, but it’s the same one that’s been sowing doubt from the last six months of recovery and training. 

If you want to read more

@wikiangela​​ @wildlife4life​ ​ @alyxmastershipper @disasterbuckdiaz @spotsandsocks @try-set-me-on-fire @jesuisici33​ @bekkachaos @buddierights @forthewolves @911-on-abc @hippolotamus @shitouttabuck @911onabc @exhuastedpigeon @eddiediaztho @your-catfish-friend @loserdiaz @watchyourbuck @king-buckley @chaoticgremlinwholikescheese @steadfastsaturnsrings @i-ghostgirl @daffi-990

#buddie #9-1-1 #eddie diaz #evan buckley #buddie fic #thewolvesof1998 writes #my wip #wip wednesday #Buddie MMA Rival AU #fic: I don’t mind if we fight If you make me bleed

[wakandamama]

I got a bit of a loaded question, sis. And if it's inappropriate you can tell me, but you said you're Black and Cherokee, so I thought you might have a good perspective.

Do you have any suggested authors, books, or articles behind what seems to be this lack of Black and Indigenous solidarity? I was scrolling this morning and I saw this post that literally was two seconds from dropping a slur (the dogwhistles were horns) and I'm like ... well damn. White Supremacy works terrible wonders, bc I would think the circumstances that brought our groups together would cause some sort of solidarity, so I'm always blown away when I see stuff like that. With other groups I'm familiar with the reasons behind it, but I don't want to assume things for this one.

Sure thing! I'm also gonna annotate this with my own story and learned knowledge of the struggles I've encountered while trying to expand the understand of my identity at the end.

This awesome article by Amber Starks

All these articles by Alaina E. Roberts she amazing at inner community discussion on this topic along with just being an amazing scholar and writer

This Guardian article by Caleb Gayle (another amazing scholar and author, just anything he's written on the topic will do but this article really helped me understand why I had issues connecting) that explores a case study of a Black family aving to fight for a claim to their indigenous identity with certain tribes that want to erase their history of participating in the chattel slavery of Black people

Also Gayle's book We Refuse to Forget

The book Untangling a Red, White, and Black Heritage by Darnella Davis

The Book Blood Politics by Circe Sturm

All of Zora Neal Hurston's black anthropology films they are free on YouTube or through her foundation site and the Black Film Archive

This article by Rebecca Nagle that explores the history of Cherokee confederates and the community slow acknowledgement and atonement for them

This blog post leads to many other articles and interviews with other Black Natives and their experiences in different tribes

This Kyle Mays interview about the re-establishment of Cherokee Freedmans status (hey that's me) and it impact

These npr articles 1 2 about The fight for tribal rights of Cherokee Freedmans

kararoselles, choctawchickasawfreedmen, and faithcampos on tik tok are incredible too

---

Okay so boom, me personally I am both Cherokee Freedman and by Blood quantum (ick) am Cherokee. However I claim my rights though the Dawes Rolls my great- grandfather enrolled too after emancipation because his father (and 2 aunts) were Cherokee slaves. I only really started connect with the native part of my identity recently (like 3 years)

Growing up I was told a lot of the family stories and raised to do a lot of old school practices that are crossed with being Black and being Cherokee. You drop me off in prairie land or a river side I'm surviving, (I hate it but I can process a deer) I grew up weaving baskets/wicker and doing beading, I know a lot of family recipes that now that I've expanded my knowledge are meals that are mixed between traditional Native American foods and AA cooking. My great-grandfather helped build Grand Lake in OK. My family is even prominently buried in and care takers for 2 Freedman Cemeteries.

But I was always taught that was just part of my and my family's Blackness. I have no living family that aren't Black in some way. Being Native American was an afterthought because of the generational racial trauma. Multiple of my full blood grandmas weren't allowed to have their grandchildren at their homes or on their land because they were Black. My mother often told me stories that her grandmother would sneak them to her home and land to learn how to forage, everytime they left she would cut her hair off to give to them because there was always the threat that they were going to get reported and her rights would be stripped. One of my ancestors is lost because he was a runaway slave from the Cherokee slave trade, many were denied status at some point

It's a lot and it didn't help that when I learned about this side of me and tired to reach out to the Native American club in my school. The Cherokee people there started being very racist to me and dismissed me. It jaded me, it pissed me off, I am still bitter and will probably be until I die.

Because a lot of the problems I advocated for (such as local climate change, environmental degradation, contaminated water, land stealing, food deserts, ect.) We're movements spearheaded by Native Americans in my area. I was denied say or acknowledgement because my issues were "Black issues". If someone told you "Hey this white rancher who had only been here 12 years is illegal trying to destroy a Native American cemetery so he had more graze land for his cows" the trial authority would be on that. But no, since the cemetery is Black Cherokees and Freedman they don't want to claim jurisdiction to help my family save it.

But, I do recognize that there has been a long and important history of Native and Black solidarity from social justice to environmental things. To just the clear fact that Native American people had everything stolen from them by white supremacy while Black Americans were stolen people brought here. Just as there was chattel slavery of Black people in certain major tribes, there were many that protected and supported escaping slaves. That history and cross culture is mine, I've made it one of my side missions to learn more about my Native side's culture, reconnects as some of my older family members are (mostly through folklore learning and connecting the things I was raised to do to Cherokee practices, participating in tribal news/votes ect.) But I haven't got the energy to connect with the people yet, I haven't gone to any in person Circles or powwows. I've only met other Black Cherokees with the intention to have community and friendship with.

Unfortunately but not surprising, the cause of a lack of solidarity comes down to white supremacy and global antiblackness. But I think that is the cause for a lack of ALL POC solidarity with Black people, especially in America.

------

And for the hoteps that are gonna find this post and try to be fucking weird on it.

NO! BLACK PEOPLE (THOSE DESCENDANTS OF THE SURVIVORS OF THE MIDDLE PASSAGE SLAVE TRADE, DEMOGRAPHICALLY CATEGORIZED AS AFRICAN AMERICANS TODAY, MAJORITY OF US) ARE NOT THE ORIGINAL NATIVE AMERICANS OR OTHER INDIGENOUS PEOPLES TO THE AMERICAS

Do NOT be a fucking weirdo and deny the legacy of survival, tragedy, perseverance, and love that our ancestors went through in the past to lead to your lineage of today. I am a special and blessed case to have the family records, story keeping, and DNA testing available to claim my indigenous identity that is directly linked in through my Black identity.

DO NOT BE WEIRD ON THIS POST, THOSE STONE HEADS WITH THICK LIPS ARE NOT WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN MISLED TO THINK THEY ARE. CHEROKEE NATION WAS A DICK BEFORE HOPKINS WAS ELECTED. PLEASE RESEARCH YOUR LINEAGE BEFORE YOU HOP ON MY POST BECAUSE I WILL EMBARRASS YOU WITH THE RECEIPTS OF MINE

#black people #black culture #Black History #indigenous culture #indigenous people #black rights #indigenous rights #indigenous history #sources #afro indigenous #i believe im solidarity but now that 7/10 times POC Solidarity is a myth #unfortunately antiblackness makes the world go round

[writingquestionsanswered]

Blending Genre Elements

Anonymous asked: I'm writing a fanfiction with a lot going on. The genres are slow burn (?) friendship drama, murder mystery, and supernatural. The friendship is the whole point of the story, the MC will learn most of the moral story from it, it contains the theme and meaning of the story. The murder mystery is what pushes MC towards the friendship and drives the plot in the first place. The supernatural aspect is something small that only appears right before the climax. My question is how to balance the mystery and slow burn friendship drama? Both are such huge chunks of the story that I have difficulty determining the main plot and figuring out how to slip the subplot in the main plot. You may suggest cut the plot but I don't have in my heart doing that since everyone is important for the MC. It's so overwhelming it's what hinders me from finishing my outline 😵 So I seek for any tips. I hope that is understandable. Thank you in advance!

(Original ask edited down for length/content...)

You seem to think you have too much going on in your story, but that doesn't appear to be the case at all. First, slow burn friendship drama isn't a genre but a theme. Most stories explore multiple themes, and cross-genre stories aren't uncommon. In other words, mixing the tropes, themes, and elements of more than one genre is common, especially if they're genres that work well together like mystery and supernatural.

So, no, I don't think you need to cut anything. It sounds like you just need to do more work to figure out how this friendship drama melds with the murder mystery. Typically in stories with both an internal and external conflict (in your story's case, the internal conflict is whatever is causing the friendship drama, and the external conflict is the murder mystery), the internal conflict develops in parallel to the events of the external conflict. In other words, whatever causes this friendship drama should be simmering at the start of the story, should start ramping up to a boil as the mystery unfolds, and then should be at a rolling boil during the climax of the murder mystery. Then, the friendship drama should resolve along with the resolution of the external conflict. That means you're going to have to look for ways to link the friendship drama to the events of the murder mystery. In other words, the tensions and fights stemming from the internal conflicts should be exacerbated by the things they're doing to investigate and solve the mystery. Depending on what the mystery is, you should have a lot of opportunities to play with things like secrets, trust, subterfuge, suspicion, betrayal, and misunderstanding through the events of the mystery. These are all things that can exacerbate the friendship drama. Making sure these things are happening in parallel is how you balance them out.

One thing you might try is making a timeline of events related to the mystery. Then, make a parallel timeline of events related to the friendship drama. Now, look for places to connect the two timelines. For example, say "the discovery of the crime" is one part in the mystery timeline, and "Paul and Jenna have their first fight" is in a similar place on the friendship drama timeline. Is there a way you can connect these two events? Could Paul and Jenna's fight be caused by the discovery of the crime or something related that happens right before or afterward? Or could their fight lead to the discovery of the crime? By linking these two events, you're balancing them out in a way that makes them truly connected.

Happy writing!

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

Learn more about WQA

Visit my Master List of Top Posts

Go to ko-fi.com/wqa to buy me coffee or see my commissions

#writing tips #writing help #writing advice #wqaadvice

[rapid-as-sass-in-nation-team]

Hey There! General Info Time!

I'm pretty new to rping, only been doing it for about two years now with some close friends, but after seeing all the talented people in the Helluva RP community I wanted to jump in and see what friends I can make, and what stories we can write together. Oh and I go by She/Her pronouns, despite all my muses being dudes at the moment.

Muses (May add more if I feel like it): Robofizz, Striker, and Chaz from Helluva boss, though I'll be doing some pretty canon divergent things with this, so these are my interpretations of these guys.

Few rules. Some are likely to change though, others aren't.

Don't god mod for one. I wanna see how our writing styles mix into something interesting, not how you soley want things to go, if you want that, write it yourself, it's no fun for the other person.

Be nice! Your allowed to be mean to my characters, that's all fine but don't be mean to me for no good reason, if you aren't gonna be respectful then I don't wanna write with you.

I'm pretty open to most ships! Others I'm not sold on. Strella for instance I'm not usually a fan of, but if you manage to give a pleasant dynamic with a ship, even I'm not a huge fan of it in general I'm most likely gonna be open to having my muses reciprocate. So if I like the chemistry we end up having and you do too, then all's good ship wise.

This is gonna be a full Multiverse thing, so we can have multiple things going, even with the same characters, just make that clear for me.

Please be patient! it will likely take a while for me to get back on replying to somethings and I often have a lot going on, so please don't spam stuff, it will stress me out or annoy me which won't make me want to rush it out.

This is an 18+ blog, so I'm fine getting rough and dirty if you want, though you might have to be a bit heavy handed making that clear in some cases, I'm bad at reading context clues XP Though that leads to the next rule.

I am open to you DMing me anytime! Either to just chat or organize RP stuff so we're both on the same page. If your nervous about not getting something across just tell me upfront to make sure I know ^^ And lastly

Ask me or The Muses anything, any time! Could be a starter or could just be an ask for the fun of it. I welcome anything for the most part ^^

That's more or less it for the moment, hope that helps explain what's gonna be going on here for the most part. Just wanna have some fun for the most part, and I hope that's the same for you. Love you all!

#rp rules #about the blog #pinned post #18+ blog #minors dni #helluva boss #helluva boss rp #helluva striker #robofizz #helluva chaz #chazwick thurman #blog rules #ask me anything

[lostvi21]

Tips for writing

I already had another story which I never got to post, since I kept rewriting it into eternity. After forcing myself to take a break from it, I think I finally figured out a way to keep consistently writing a story. So, I thought maybe this post might stumble across a reader who struggles with similar things as I did and I could provide a possible solution without them needing to go through a year and over 10 different versions of a first chapter ending in a failed project. (and admitting that I needed to stop was what hurt the most since I really love the idea I had and maybe I might even try to restart that story, but that's a topic for another post in maybe 2 to 3 years.)

Also Disclaimer: This is only my opinion on the matter and what I figured to be helpful. In the end, it's up to you how you want to write your story and to decide what works for you. I'm just sharing my experiences.

I had a couple of problems which mixed up together until I needed to give up.

First off, I lacked structure. With my first bigger story, I had an idea, a beginning and I knew some major plot points that needed to happen. But what I never knew was when or how the story ended. I just wanted to tell an endless story or figure out an ending on the way. That didn't work for me.

With my current story (which you can check out here, if you're interested) I researched a couple of ways how to structure a story properly. (It was just for fun honestly, but so helpful in the end) I already had, like before a vague idea, and some plot points I wanted to happen. What I did: See if my story would fit into any of these structures and what would happen at which point until the end. And then I found a structure that fit my story (almost) perfectly. After that, I wrote down the plot in bullet points creating my outline for the story.

(Note: Of course, you can take any story structure you find and bend it a little. For example, I decided to go for a three act-structure and decided to skip the introduction part, since I wanted to plunge the reader into the story without heavily explaining what was going on. They would figure it out on the way … )

This means I knew what happened at which moment. And most importantly, I had an ending. Now I had to face my next challenge, fighting my constant urge to rewrite everything. After proceeding with my used-to-way of just writing what comes to my head, I quickly figured out that this wouldn't work. It didn't work earlier and it didn't work now. So, I needed to figure out what was wrong with my approach.

For that, there are multiple options to do so. Either you can ask others for their opinion of what is wrong with your text or try proofreading yourself. I recorded how I read my texts and heard afterwards to the footage while I was reading along (and yes, it sucks hearing your own voice on record, but if you imagine it's another person, it's not that painful anymore, after a while)

Then I had another important realization. I still had no structure in my chapters. The story was now well structured and I knew what I wanted to write the chapter about, but my thoughts were jumping from one thought to another and then back again. To solve this problem, I came up with an approach that still works for me.

Before writing the chapter, I think about what I want to happen in this chapter. For example, in my current story, I needed to introduce the two main characters and they needed to meet. I also wanted to hide some hints on backstory and needed to write about the event that starts the entire story. With that in mind, I just start loosely writing down what comes to my mind. It doesn't matter if it's good or not, since I'm going to rewrite it later on. Once I come to a point, where I completed all of my goals for that chapter, I take what I wrote down and structure the plot into bullet points. Then I take these and write a second version along with the bullet points. This makes sure that my thoughts are structured in the end and that I have a clear storyline to follow.

After that, the last step is proofreading. As already said before, you can ask others to give you feedback or record yourself. Maybe use a grammar program to fix obvious mistakes you've overseen (helps a lot. especially if you're writing in a language that you don't use everyday) In this stage I mostly find some sentences that are hard to read / speak or just some wordings that repeat or don't quite sound right. So I go ahead, mark them and fix them.

And after that, I was by now always satisfied with what I wrote. This method might be a little overkill but it works for me and the most important thing you need to keep in mind: If you'd like to write something, it's supposed to be fun. No matter the way you do it. The process of creating an own story and slowly watching it come alive, that's the feeling that makes me happy and why I keep writing.

Hope you had fun reading and maybe I was able to give you one or another idea on how to write a story. If you want more tips, you can send me an ask or just comment on this post.

#writers on tumblr #writing #writing advice

[fortpeat]

Hello! I'm so happy to see sky and prapai finally get married!! But I'm also sad that their story has kind of come to an end. I'm also worried we won't see fort and peat together anymore. I hope we still see them together and that they are still happy together. I might be selfish and want them to post something every now and again just to show us they are still together 😭 What do you think?

Hey Nonnie 💖😊

I know 😭 a lot of mixed emotions 😭😭 I am jumping around with joy one second when I suddenly that that realisation that they are now married and husbands and the next minute I am all depressed coz now they are back to novel and there's nothing new for us 😭😭😭. I am sure that we will see Peat and Fort together. They have done several collaborations with multiple ads and they are adored by so many fans and I am sure their managers would use that reach for any upcoming series. And hopefully 🤞 we might get a new series once their contract with MMY ends by November. Our babies have planned to be a part of each others lives for a very very long time and I hope we get to see that 😊😊💖

#fortpeat #fort thitipong #peat wasuthorn #asks are always appreciated

[highaver]

anyway here's a quick run down of some things you might have seen actor bal in! aside from some bit parts in a number of long-running tv shows and movies & etc, these are some of his bigger projects.

The River Dragon (2006, film) - He's thirteen/fourteen in this movie and I do in fact need you to bully him about him being a baby. Balfour plays Halfdan, a young boy from the Danelaw who befriends a dragon in the River Ouse. There was a period of time where they played this yearly in that weird between-Christmas-and-end-of-year period, and it's based on a beloved children's book.

Other Lives (2007-9, tv) - A recurring role in this drama, Balfour played Jamie Wilson, the troubled son of one of the main characters. His character got killed off after three years of variously stupid plots because he was the designated Cautionary Tale Character and, honestly, he was glad to see the back of this one. It was not good. But he did get to go to Newcastle to film it, and he enjoyed that.

The Veil of Time (2012, film) - Balfour played the supporting role of Gregory, a young man from 18th century Derbyshire who was killed in mysterious circumstances. His story becomes the obsession of the main character of the film, Eva, while she's visiting the stately home in which he was killed. He got some recognition for this one on the back of a very solid performance.

The Prizefighter (2013, tv) - This is about the time when he was like "oh, I'm a period drama guy, I do period dramas". Set in the 1920s, he plays Adam Flynn, the brother of main character Amelia, who is in love with the titular prizefighter. He's a horrible, awful dude in this one and the feedback he receives the most is "wow, I was so glad when you died!" It wasn't great but it did get multiple seasons after he was written out, so whatever.

The Dead Water (2015, tv) - Balfour plays Ned Braithwaite in this tense murder mystery about a late-nineteenth century merchant ship crew. Notable for: how cosy he looks in the costumes, his curls, one particularly intense interrogation scene and the fact that the final scene of the first season leaves his character's fate entirely ambiguous. Is he dead? Does he get back home? Who knows, this show got cancelled after one season because nobody watched it and now you're going to stumble across it years later and be desperate to know what was meant to happen in season two.

Run Wild (2019, film) - His comeback project! Balfour plays Scott Miller, a Mancunian country musician in a band trying to hold itself together while the relationship at its centre falls apart. He was required to sing and play music for this film, which led to him learning how to play both the harmonica and banjo. It's his finest film yet, and he was praised for a strong start to his return to what had previously been a very, very mixed career. There was also a lot of speculation around the bts of this film as to whether he had a fling with Alfie Hoult, who was one of the duo of musicians who worked on the music, on social media. I personally would not blame you for falling in love with him a little bit in this movie.

The Highwayman (2020, film) - Uh oh, they've realised he can sing! In this R.obin H.ood retelling, set in the 18th century, Balfour plays A.lan-a-Dale and, boy, they sure do make him sing. He's playing someone from Lancashire and his accent has been perfected, thank you. This film isn't his best but was pretty decent. It's not the worst adaptation out there. The bar is low, but a solid character-first plot can get you a long way.

The G.reat B.ritish B.ake Off (2020, tv) - A charity episode that will go down in history. Balfour burned everything he tried to make except for some brownies, broke his oven, burned his hand and spent half of his time getting bleeped for swearing. There is more than one supercut of his disaster episode online. He spent most of it with his head in his hands going "why did I do this, why did any of you let me do this" but, don't worry, it was for the bit.

Wild Hunt (2021, film) - Balfour plays William, a 15th century farmer from Yorkshire who is haunted by spectral hounds. Full-on folk horror, came out in October and got a whole lot of attention, least of all for the fact that he's in every single shot and is pretty much carrying the whole thing himself. He's spoken a lot about how emotionally exhausting it was to film, but he's very proud of it. It's definitely not a film for the squeamish.

Peaked (2022, tv) - A limited series romcom. Balfour plays Joe, a handsome baker who falls for a thief, Marcus, who just pulled off the heist of the century and has decided to lay low in the Peak District until it all blows over. It's modern, for once, and a role where he actually just gets to be goofy and cute. You probably heard about it on social media because it's gay and he takes his shirt off a lot.

Herald (2023-, tv) - A drama/thriller about an investigative journalist, Alyssa Roydon, who uncovers a political scandal. Balfour plays Lucas Niven, a rival journalist with whom Roydon develops a toxic romantic relationship. Season one was highly regarded and one of the most watched programmes on television that year. Season two is set to begin in mid-2024 and is more organised crime-oriented.

Hare Spell (2024, film) - A folk horror/thriller about an accusation of witchcraft that tears an isolated village apart in 17th century Scotland. Balfour plays Thomas Kerr, the husband of Janet, the accused woman. It releases in early 2024 and reviews very well. He is very much back to breaking hearts and performing at his best in this one.

#hc. #hc. modern.

[aroaessidhe]

Hi so!!! Sorry if this is a really impossibly ambiguous and vague request, but I just had to ask for recommendations. I've really struggled to find aro/ace fiction I relate to, because almost all that I've read fit into one of 2 characters: fantasy story where the character is only incidentally a-spec and it doesn't seem to affect them at all, or extremely 'realistic' modern contemporary fiction where everyone's super neurotypical and comfortable with themselves. Do you know of any aro/ace (1/2)

books that go for a more... artistic tone, if that makes sense? Really sorta trying to think about what it means to be aspec, and how it affects your life, and create something really emotional with that? Because that's what I'm really missing, and what makes me feel so lonely as an aro/ace. For example, I really enjoyed Loveless, vol 2 of the Jughead revival, and Todd Chavez from Bojack Horseman. And... that's sorta it. I want an aroaceness that is weird but Meaningful, I guess??? Maybe...?;;;

Hi! I will try my best!

I guess I sort of know what you mean about being 'artistic' but am not sure if there's much that truly fits that - some that are introspective about being aroace, maybe not so much on the weird side though. (I agree that we're severely lacking in deep complex books About being aroace)

To be quite honest the very first thing that comes to mind is Koisenu Futari, which is not a book* - it's a jdrama about two aroaces deciding to live together and how being aroace affects their lives, and finding their passions in life. absolute comfort show, have watched multiple times, obsessed w it. (*well, it it originally a book but isn't translated to eng)

Am thinking more in the aro/aroace direction here, as there are definitely a bunch of ace books that go into detail a lot about how being ace affects their life - but it's often in relation to dating, which I assume you're not looking for. Most of these are still like, aspec-ness is just one of the aspects of the narrative, not the sole focus unfortunately

Mostly-contemporary stories, that deal with amatonormativity/aroace experiences:

Other People's Butterflies - this is similar to Loveless imo, in terms of being about a teen figuring out she's aroace

We Go Forward - novella about two young women who meet travelling in europe and become friends, one is aroace [this is free to read]

The Rhythm of My Soul - YA about two aroace dancers wanting to get into a prestigious romantic-ballet company; goes into their experiences of both figuring out their sexuality and experiences quite a bit. a bit of a thriller with a lot of ballet-school-drama , and the writing is a little messy imo but I did enjoy some aspects of it

Breasts and Eggs - adult literary fiction, the MC is ace, maybe arospec? (there is a bit of an almost-romance in one section) while it doesn't go deep into directly addressing aspec experiences, a lot of it is about the MC considering donor conception, and people not liking that she wants to have a child without having a partner, and similar experiences of womanhood/motherhood while not being interested in sex/relationships. I have mixed feelings about some aspects but it may be the closest to what you're looking for!

Summer Bird Blue - the main focus of the plot is family and grief, but part of the MCs journey is questioning if she's aroace

Funeral Girl - the MC is ace (and implied aro), her main journey is dealing with her extreme anxiety about death and the future, and while her being aspec is not really a focus, it feeds into that a little and is brought up from time to time. (this book emotionally destroyed me a bit lol)

Every Bird A Prince - this is middle grade, so it's focused more on the tween self-discovery side of being aro and amatonormativity, but I really loved it. (about half the plot is this, half is fantasy-ish)

Goddess Of The Hunt - this is a poetry collection about an aroace Artemis. obviously not super comprehensive since it's short and poetry but might be of interest! (it's been a while since I read it)

a few fantasy/genre books with aro characters that talk about aro experiences more than average, though of course it's still not the focus of the plot:

Fire Becomes Her - has a demiromantic MC who's getting out of a relationship and finds a QPR, so there's some discussion of aro experiences in the narrative

Royal Rescue - fantasy story with a tower-rescue matchmaking system that the aroace MC is forced into, but escapes and dismantles the system, so his experiences with amatonormativity are at the forefront (if a little dramatised)

The Grimrose Girls - contemporary fantasy, one of the 4 MCs is aroace and her storyline deals with her experiences and how it effects her, moreso in the negative so far (which I actually like, because as you've said so many books just have it incidentally mentioned)

Baker Thief - one of the two MCs is aro bi, and they get in a qpr with the other MC, so there's some exploration of identity there. there's other aro characters too. (see also the author's City of Spires series, which is high fantasy & has various aspec characters discussing their identities and life)

Not Even Bones (trilogy) - they never self-identify as aroacespec, but both MCs clearly are by book 3. it seems like they get together in book 2 but in the 3rd they're both like, actually lol I'm not attracted to you like that, I've just never been able to have a friend I care about this much before, lets stay together as friends, and talk a bunch about amatonormativity

there's definitely a bunch more of this kind of thing but my memory is hazy as to how much things are explored, and it's probably not quite what you're looking for, but hey!

hopefully there's something here that seems like it might be of interest! and if anyone else has suggestions please add, I'm not great at remembering fine details of how identity is explored and discussed if it's been years since I've read it

#laya talks #ask

[moodmusicmonday]

To our sweet MMM followers: OH MY WORD! These random, rapid fire tags are getting out of hand! I just sent a message to Tumblr, so hopefully we will have some answers soon as to why this is happening (y'all are receiving the tags immediately after I paste the URL for the Spotify playlist... I'm not hitting "post", not editing old posts. It's so strange!). But please know: we are so sorry! The multiple tag business is ANNOYING, but please know we're working on it!

But you know what's NOT annoying?

✨THIS BRAND NEW PLAYLIST✨

Check it out NOW! This particular playlist is fueled by all sorts of emotions, giving us a delicious mix of music and fics! We also have some fics that have been posted for our reading pleasure (look for the 📖, then click on the title/link), so make sure you go like, comment and reblog! Show your support!

And as always, thank you all for being so encouraging and supportive of this blog! We love each and every one of y'all dearly! 💜

~🎵~

@ao719

📖 “Feel Something” - Landon Austin; Best Kept Secrets, Chapter 7: Don’t Tell Me We’re Nothing (TRR; Liam x f!OC); posted 11/4

“Hunger” - Ross Copperman; Best Kept Secrets, Chapter 8:  It’s Never Ending (TRR; Liam x f!OC)

“Start of Something Good” - Daughtry; Vancross, Chapter 9:  This Might End Up Like It Should (Multiple Crossover; Liam x f!OC)

📖 “Bad Guy” - We Three; The Pact, Part 2 (TRR; Liam x f!OC); posted 10/26

“Tempt My Trouble” - Bishop Briggs; The Pact, Part 3 (TRR; Liam x f!OC)

@bebepac

📖 “Golgotha Tenement Blues” - Machines of Loving Grace; The Vampires Live On, Part 2 [TRR; Liam x Riley (Richard x Alice)]; posted 11/1

@phoenixrising0308

“Castle of Glass” - Linkin Park; The Promise Mini Series, Chapter 9: Castle of Glass [TRR; Liam Rys x MC (Jessica Garcia)]

“Leave Out All the Rest” - Linkin Park; The Promise Mini Series, Chapter 10a: Leave out all the rest [TRR; Liam Rys x MC (Jessica Garcia)]

“My Immortal” - Evanescence; The Promise Mini Series, Chapter 10b: TBD [TRR; Liam Rys x MC (Jessica Garcia)]

“The Winner Takes All” - Mack Loren; Waltz to remember [TRR/OPH]

 @queenrileyrose

“notice me” - ROLE MODEL ft. BENEE; Irreplaceable, Chapter 23:  Can’t Stand When You’re Not Close to Me (TRR AU;  Leo x Riley)

“Mastermind” - Taylor Swift, We Belong Together, AU One-Shot: All You Did Was Smile (TRR AU; King Aiden x Riley)

“this is how you fall in love” - Jeremy Zucker, Chelsea Cutler; If the Fates Allow, AU One-Shot:  Fall in Love (TRR AU; Leo x Riley; Liam x Marena)

📖 “Wings” - Birdy; Would’ve Gave It All, Part 5: In the Moment We’re Lost and Found (TRR/RoE; Leo x Riley); posted 10/26

~🎵~

Wanna share your own fanfic music inspo? Maybe there's a scene in your favorite story by Choices that you want to share with others... contact us! We love music, and we want to hear it!

Tags (please let us know if you'd like to be added/removed):

@21-wishes @alj4890 @ao719 @aussiegurl1234 @axwalker @bebepac @burnsoslow @charlotteg234 @chemist-ana @choicesmonthlychallenge @foreverethereal123 @issabees @jerzwriter @karahalloway @kat-tia801 @lovingchoices14 @marshmallowsaremyfavorite @neotericthemis @nestledonthaveone @peonierose @phoenixrising0308 @queenrileyrose @quixoticdreamer16 @sfb123 @socalwriterbee @tessa-liam @twinkleallnight @txemrn @walkerdrakewalker @zaffrenotes

#mood music monday #moodmusicmonday #choices mmm #choices fanfic #choices fanfiction #music inspo #fanfic music inspo #choices music insp #choices trr #choices oph #choices RoE #trr fanfic #oph fanfic #RoE fanfic #Spotify

[wrestlingisfake]

AEW Fake Rankings, 9/4/2023

Men's singles division - babyfaces

Bryan Danielson

Kenny Omega

Orange Cassidy

Eddie Kingston (NJPW STRONG champion)

Chris Jericho

Adam Page

Katsuyori Shibata* (ROH pure champion)

Miro

HOOK (FTW champion)

Keith Lee

Men's singles division - heels

Jon Moxley (AEW international champion)

Konosuke Takeshita

Samoa Joe (ROH television champion)

Ricky Starks

Claudio Castagnoli (ROH men's world champion)

Jay White

Luchasaurus (AEW TNT champion)

Christian Cage

Powerhouse Hobbs

Juice Robinson

Unranked: AR Fox, Big Bill, Brock Anderson, Dalton Castle, Daniel Garcia, El Hijo del Vikingo (AAA mega champion), Ethan Page, Gravity, Isiah Kassidy, Jake Hager, Komander, Lee Johnson, Metalik*, Nick Wayne, Scorpio Sky, Serpentico, Shawn Spears, Shane Taylor, Swerve Strickland, Tony Nese, Wheeler Yuta

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

Feels like a lot of shakeup here, for a variety of reasons: The departure of CM Punk and the suspension of Jack Perry, MJF and Adam Cole becoming a hot babyface team, the dissolution of Chris Jericho's stable, and multiple guys returning to prominence on Collision.

It might seem weird to rank Danielson as the top babyface when he's clearly part of a heel faction. All I know is everybody loved him at Forbidden Door, and he was clearly playing babyface against Starks this weekend. Does that mean a turn or a breakup in the Blackpool Combat Club's future? I doubt it. Either way, I'm sure Danielson will be back to kicking puppies or whatever soon enough.

It's striking to me how Cassidy and Kingston have risen up through the ranks, but I also think it's worth callint out how pivotal Samoa Joe has become. He's become a fixture on Collision and ROH, and now he's mixing it up with MJF. It's strange to me that he's running around with ROH's midcard title when he's being pushed ahead of Castagnoli. Maybe those two need to face off one of these days.

Men's tag team division - babyfaces

Better Than You Bay Bay - MJF (AEW men's world champion) & Adam Cole (ROH tag team champions)

FTR - Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler (AEW tag team champions)

The Young Bucks - Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson

The Hardys - Matt Hardy & Jeff Hardy

Darby Allin & Sting

Best Friends - Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta

Lucha Bros. - Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix

Action Andretti & Darius Martin

The Outrunners - Truth Magnum* & Turbo Floyd*

Men's tag team division - heels

The Gunns - Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn

Aussie Open - Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher

John Silver & Alex Reynolds

Mike Santana & Angel Ortiz

Matt Menard & Angelo Parker

Vincent* & Dutch*

The Wingmen - Peter Avalon & Ryan Nemeth*

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

I'm actually not sure if the Outrunners are supposed to be faces or heels, but I like 'em, so there. I'm also not sure how long Rey Fenix is supposed to be out selling the injury angle from two weeks ago.

Conspicuous by their absence on this list is the Kigndom, Matt Taven and Mike Bennett, who are obviously being set up for a big match with Cole and MJF. At this point I don't see anyone else taking the ROH tag title from the champs, but very little about the Cole/MJF story has gone the way I expected. Maybe they could headline Final Battle in December?

As for the AEW tag title, I assume FTR vs. Gunns is the next step, but there's probably another FTR-Bucks showdown coming sooner or later. If Santana and Ortiz are really sticking together, they need to get back in the title hunt. I suspect Silver and Reynolds are out of the running after losing last night--they'll probably get back to trios matches with Evil Uno.

Men's trios division - babyfaces

Max Caster & Anthony Bowens & Billy Gunn (AEW trios champions)

Bronson* & Boulder* & Jacked Jameson*

Men's trios division - heels

Malakai Black & Brody King & Buddy Matthews

Brian Cage & Bishop Kaun* & Toa Liona* (ROH trios champions)

Jeff Jarrett & Jay Lethal & Satnam Singh

QT Marshall (AAA Latin American champion) & Johnny TV & Aaron Solo

Kip Sabian & The Butcher & The Blade

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

It's still hard to tell which trios are sticking together long term, and which ones are just thrown together for a couple of matches before going their separate ways again. As it stands, though, we've got a few heel teams for Billy and the Acclaimed to fight for a while. Cage's team has mostly defended their ROH title in glorified squash matches; if they're building them up to be unseated by a serious team, I have no idea when that will happen.

Women's singles division - babyfaces

Britt Baker

Kris Statlander (AEW TBS champion)

Hikaru Shida

Willow Nightingale

Skye Blue

Women's singles division - heels

Saraya (AEW women's world champion)

Athena (ROH women's world champion)

Toni Storm

Ruby Soho

Nyla Rose

Anna Jay

Taya Valkyrie

Mercedes Martinez

Diamante

Marina Shafir

Unranked: Emi Sakura, The Bunny

The heel side looks very strong until you recall that many of them have only had one televised AEW match all month. Nevertheless, it feels like it's time for some women to turn face, and I suppose the breakup of Storm, Saraya, and Soho will help in that regard. Thing is, the women's roster has more than enough talent to get 10 faces and 10 heels on TV regularly; they just don't for some reason. Maybe if Mercedes Mone comes in that will change, but experience has taught me that it'll take more than that.

Only wrestled in ROH matches in past 30 days: Angelico, Brandon Cutler, Christopher Daniels, Evil Uno, Griff Garrison, Josh Woods, Kiera Hogan, Lee Moriarty, Leila Grey, Leyla Hirsch, Luther, Madison Rayne, Matt Sydal, Shawn Dean

Most of the names here are not what you'd call key players on the weekly ROH shows. In other words, the real backbone of the ROH roster is mostly people wrestlers who aren't exclusive to either brand, like Athena, Willow, Joe, Dalton, etc. That's working out as far as the quality of both brands, but I'm not sure it's a good strategy for establishing a unique brand identity for ROH.

No televised AEW or ROH matches in over 30 days: Abadon, Andrade El Idolo, Anthony Ogogo, Ari Daivari, Colt Cabana, Dustin Rhodes, Harley Cameron, Julia Hart, Lance Archer, Matt Taven, Michael Nakazawa, Mike Bennett, Nick Comoroto, Parker Bordreaux, Penelope Ford, Preston Vance, Red Velvet, Riho, Rush, Sammy Guevara, Serena Deeb, Stu Grayson, Wardlow, Yuka Sakazaki, Zack Clayton

Part-time/semi-retired: Kota Ibushi, Will Ospreay*, Paige Vanzant, Paul Wight, Rebel, Rob Van Dam*, Sonjay Dutt, Stokely Hathaway

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

Inactive

Bandido (left arm - broken wrist)

Danhausen (right shoulder - pectoralis tear)

Dante Martin (left leg - unspecified injury)

Jack Perry (indefinite suspension)

Jade Cargill (personal leave)

Jamie Hayter (right shoulder - unspecified injury)

Kyle O'Reilly (neck - herniated spinal disc)

Mark Briscoe (knee - unspecified injury)

Marq Quen (undisclosed injury)

PAC (undisclosed injury)

Roderick Strong (storyline - neck inury)

Tay Melo (pregnancy)

Thunder Rosa (back - unspecified injury)

#aew #fake rankings

[mxmasters]

who do u consider closer friends out of the GAW?

ahh, well, "close" is relative. GAW is a lot like family, in that there's lots of people in the mix and you don't really know all of them as much (or as little) as you might want to.

mind you, they're also comrades, so I'd step up and fight for any of 'em. Especially the kids. it's a fucked-up world and they need someone in their corner.

last thing: I have, uh. problems. sharing past events. so I'm scared of getting too close to certain people. you know how it is.

aside from that... wait, am I allowed to be specific?

I don't see a problem with it, so long as we make one thing clear: only a few of these characters are original to the MxTape. Everything else is based on my interpretations of existing works, and the original authors always have the final say.

MxTape Originals, aka Steal These OCs

Doreen Gray (alwaysbpositive): Met her because of my delivery work. She needed some ethically-sourced B+, and I knew some queer people with units to spare. Not like Canadian Blood Services wants it! Homophobes. Anyway we've been friendly ever since. She's got two moods: energetic and depressed. I can relate.

meatgerm: I've crashed on this man's couch twice and still don't know his name. Do NOT eat his cooking! He WILL prank you. Really good fiddle player, though.

Tanya Miller (twilight_tone): Extremely close! We are partners! Sometimes we even dream together.

Louis (WHEREISMYHOG): never met IRL but he's got some wild stories and a solid understanding of magical theory.

Penelope Gore (whistl_stahp): yo we've talked about this.

MxTape Guests, aka Upcoming Attractions

Desmond Callaghan (gothicalfallacy): really, really cool! Hand member. Fellow Jojo appreciator. Probably the only person I know who understands theory better than WHEREISMYHOG. Go-to-guy for questions. Too bad he's only available, like, half the time.

Judith Feingold (thisisstupid12345): Desmond's sister; also a Hand member. Barely involved with GAW, but she kept logging into her brother's account and bones said that was against the rules, so here we are. Not magical, but very, very keen on guns, so she mostly talks with _FuddruckeR_.

GAW Members, aka "Janitors call us PoIs"

bones: we got to talking after the whole "terrestrial years" thing, and as it turns out... it's not doing a bit! an actual alien satellite. That sorta blew my mind. bones is a bit short and perfunctory sometimes but I think it's just doing the absolute best it can with people it doesn't entirely understand, which... same, tbh?

acuterobot: adorable. following her tumblr blog got me in some trouble, but I don't hold that against her.

polaricecraps: ehhh complicated. I see a lot of myself in PIC, but he's smarter than I was at his age and that cuts both ways. He's in it for the right reasons but speaking from experience, that's a great way to shoot yourself in the foot. He also lost my fucking TAPE but I puked in his van a while back so we're calling it even.

Andressa (gaycopmp4) and Dahlia (hetcopogg): literally the cutest couple I've ever seen. Fierce, passionate, committed to justice... and, uh, their kid? pretty sure Heather (Ms. Mad About Video Games) counts as their daughter. I send them tons of care packages with how-to books and chill retro games.

Armand (harmpit): extremely funny, lots of cool tricks, really difficult to understand in conversation. Marginally easier in text.

kkrule and kektagon: drive me ABSOLUTELY FUCKING INSANE. They're basking in the low-grade background radiation of the Internet and they're going to get emotional cancer. I've been there and I desperately want to help steer them out of it but GOD DAMN they are insufferable.

opossum: even worse. Probably the single most abrasive person I've ever met. Always arguing. Banned multiple times but never perma'd.

FreakyGhostBed: doesn't get out much, so I installed a media server in his family's basement so he can keep busy while they're asleep. we've hung out a few times since then. we mostly talk about movies.

_FuddruckeR_ and orbhorse: live and work on a ranch in the Southern States. Fantastic hosts, so long as you can tolerate Fudd plinking at targets all day.

CommunismAnarchismNihilism: incredible source for zines and materiel, a decent percentage of which have some kind of juice to them. We trade stuff. we also argue a lot (politics) but that's all in good fun (I think?)

fallout_meta.txt: escaped some real nasty characters to become a better person. I respect that, and I respect their top-tier opsec, because I don't know a single thing about them besides what's necessary.

FunkoPopFan1: not very active in the chat (super shy), but extremely resourceful, good at manipulating plastics, and passionate about her hobbies. Sadly one of those hobbies is collecting funko pops.

tabris, hybridRainbow, starspark, chokerless and bluefootedboobies: I would ride or die for all these kids.

And finally, The Big Three.

Esther Kogan (lesbian_gengar): friendly in the chat but we haven't met in person, bc she has deep ties in Three Ports and maybe she heard something about my fuckup back in 2008. On the other hand... remember what I said about having a type? The type who could kick my ass? Well, LG could definitely do that. In fact she could probably fry my brain. Yow!

JJ (jockjamsvol6): this dude defies description. I mean yes, he's hot, and he's chill, but the second he walks into a room... you know you're in for some shit. JJ is always EXACTLY where he's supposed to be, and as a genre-savvy person, that is TERRIFYING, because the narrative flows AROUND HIM. It's like watching someone waltz through a hurricane; it's cool, but not super safe for whoever stands around gawking.

And lastly... Jude Kriyot (bluntfiend). The man, the myth, the legend. The guy who walked away from AWCY and lived to tell the tale. (Or lie about it, at least.)

This is where things get really difficult for me, cuz... well, I'm an anarchist. The idea of following any one guy doesn't appeal to me. BUT! there is no GAW without Jude, and once you meet him, you can understand why. He's got something special. Not confidence or charisma or whatever (he's actually a clumsy dork), but heart and integrity, for sure. He believes in humanity. He believes in something good, and when you're hanging out, you want to believe in it too.

That said, he's also a fucking mess. I'm not judging (I'm a mess too), but on some level, I like to think I'm getting my shit together. Jude is more like... uh, a shonen protagonist between story arcs. You know? He just sorta stews in his own funk. Depressed. Off in his own little world. Like Johnny Joestar, before meeting Gyro. There's only one person who can reliably shake him out of it, and... well, it's not me.

I admire Jude. I really do. I want to trust him with my secrets, but I can't, because he doesn't trust me with his. That's... fair. Trust is hard to earn. It's easier to lie. But when the chips are down, I've got Jude's back. I hope he'd do the same for me.

#ask #anonymous #steakshift #gamers against weed

[jediknightjameslunagazer23]

@theblueskyphoenix @dreamstormdragon

I hope it's okay to show this as fanart given Chapter 9 has been completed and out for an while now, but decided to draw Dr. Tyler Chase for this fanart, using his flashback design, as I felt it would fit, I could honestly see Tyler just having an moment like this where he just breaks down in guilt and prays for forgiveness of taking so many lives just to give them peace.

Tyler was kinda difficult to draw, but I managed somehow the tears were the hard part along with what colour glow I wanted to give to his sigil, decided to mix things up with red and grey, honestly this could work for an What lies within drawing for Tyler.

Also did an James Lunagazer in redesigned Ancient Greek outfit for once he learns that he's got Apollo's powers, trust me, this drawing went through the most changes as I struggled to figure what colours would work, as I didn't want to completely lose the blue for James, so decided to mix both blue and gold together with some silver here and there.

James was going to have an headdress like Tyler, but I figured it would be overused so I chose to go with an sun inspired headdress, and I know that this Apollo design might not be what the manga depicts depending if someone has Apollo later down the line, but I have the idea that maybe the God's appearance changes depending on the user as an way of explaining it.

As for the sigil, I wasn’t completely sure what to give James, as even though Apollo is Asclepius' father, I didn’t want James to have the same sigil Derek and probably Naomi have, so I went with the devotion to Apollo symbol and gave James green as his eye colour for his powers, sort of like mixing his clothing colours, and it symbolically adds to him slowly making steps to reconciling his painful aspects of the past and moving forward into the future.

For James' actual powers, I'd figure it would be something to do with an lyre motif in terms of sound, an possible name being the "Soothing Choir" like for example, say James was dealing with an extremely anxiety filled patient, his voice would change tone to an soothing aura and it can calm said patient and relieve their pain for an time.

Another possibility considering I'm going with the idea that Apollo has multiple powers being the father of Asclepius and healing, is that James can possibly hear certain "melodies" in an patient's body, allowing him to find problems faster by detecting "discords" in the melody, sort of like Mood Matrix from Ace Attorney pretty much it would be heightened hearing, one such draw back could be that if overused James could risk going deaf for an time along with sensory overload.

And another could do more with the bow and arrow, like James could find certain weak points in G.U.I.L.T strains and then accurately strike them like an arrow similar to Derek's healing touch and references plague arrows from Apollo, except it would be used to save lives.

Pretty much James could be more leaning to an support type kind of role, but he can attack if required, the reason I paired him and Tyler together is that I feel that if I did an fanfic exploring James' side story in the manga verse, these two would mesh as they are similar in someways, like both have an little sister that falls ill but their methods in those scenarios are different and that could lead to parallels along with clashes, but ultimately they come to an understanding and form an brotherhood.

Also just an funny idea I've thought of is if the Greek gods were able to interact in the astral plane, Asclepius and Apollo could possibly have an bit of an father and son moment, as James and Derek are both bewildered and weirded out by.

And that's mostly my ideas and fanart at this time, hope that some of it sounds good with what I've thought of!

#trauma center #trauma center manga #james lunagazer #apollo #greek mythology #fanart #oc artwork #tyler chase

[homebody-nobody]

this is an unpopular opinion but since i love ur takes i would like your opinion on this. don’t u think the fandom sometimes forces so many dynamics between the pogues because they want all the pogues friendships to be equal? even when that’s realistically impossible. as a group, they all would fight for each other but the differences in loyalty will always be present.

you cannot ask jj to be loyal or open to sarah or cleo the same way he would with john b, pope or kie. it’s not realistic. i think that while he cares about sarah as a friend and has bonded with her. the reason him and pope even cared for her was because of john b, he loved her and therefore they extended their loyalty towards her. and i know people might disagree on this but if it came down to sarah or john b, i believe kie would put john b first. when ward “died”, her loyalty was towards john b. this is why it was a bit unrealistic for kiara to not be a little bit more upset over her cheating on john b. i wish the writers would’ve done a better job on making us believe in the friendship between kie and sarah but so far the dynamic between the og pogues seems to be the most believable and organic.

now with the added romantic pairings, you can expect them to put their significant other first. john b has put sarah over his friends multiple occasions even if indirectly. he did so very directly in this finale against his dad. i would imagine pope will start to experience a similar switch with cleo if presented with the challenge and of course, i think we all know that if it comes down to the pogues plans or kiara – he will pick kiara. he was ready to ditch the gold and to delay john b’s plan to safe his dad for kiara. and this is actually an interesting plot for the pogues. how willing are they to put their lives in danger now that they are not longer just a friend group with a common goal? but there’s romantic partners in the mix… it used to be only sarah, now there’s more players in the game.

As far as I know, I haven't encountered people trying to force pogue friendships? But I don't read a lot of fic so it may be happening in spaces I'm not in.

I think that loyalty is a central idea to the show, for sure, and we see varying levels of that across dynamics and in different circumstances -- family, found family, friendships, and romantic relationships. I think that the 'deserted island for a month' thing was meant to enhance and reinforce the pogues love and loyalty for each other, including Sarah and Cleo.

re: the Kie & Sarah dynamic, I understand what you mean about Kie's reaction to Sarah cheating on John B, but we have to remember that Sarah and Kie had a relationship -- a very deep, intimate one -- before the show began. Kie was hurt by her betrayal, but after Sarah's apology in season one and everything else they've been through together since, I think Kie's loyalty to Sarah makes sense. Also, Kie had the context of what happened -- she got to see Sarah's deep guilt and shame over what she did, and while it's clear she doesn't approve of it, she understands where Sarah is coming from and wants to stand by her and help her repair her relationship with John B. I think at that point in the story, Sarah has proven her loyalty to the pogues several times over, and while Kie was nervous when she saw Sarah with Topper, the way that Sarah immediately ditched Topper and went with Kie ( I was CHEERING in that moment -- I was so hoping they weren't gonna force more Kie & Sarah conflict For The Drama), reassured her that Sarah's loyalty was in the right place. Also, Kie has a huge heart, and we know that she's very compassionate -- she loves animals, struggles to kill, even for survival, hurled herself off a tanker to save JJ, and risked her life to save the pilot. Kie giving Sarah the benefit of the doubt, hearing her explanation, and deciding to help her and still be her friend, I think, is still very much in character. I also wish we got more Kie & Sarah bonding scenes, but, the pates are men, and treasure rules the day.

I completely agree with what you said about John B and JJ, and their unfailing loyalty -- that trait is central to their characters and has already been a source of conflict for John B with his dad, and then also with JJ and Luke a little bit in season two. IN terms of Pope and Cleo, I don't think I could see Cleo putting Pope in a position to choose between backing her up or staying loyal to his friends, mostly because of Cleo's demonstrated loyalty to him and the rest of the group. Cleo grew up with no family, and I think that's the most important thing to consider when we look at her entrance into the pogues found family. Her instant loyalty makes a lot of sense -- these are the first people who have really showed that they care about her beyond what she can do for them. From the Pogues' side of things, Cleo has saved their lives (multiple times, I'm pretty sure), and is a valuable and valued member of the crew.

All in all, I think exploring the dynamics between all the members of the group is a really interesting thing to do in fan spaces, because we only get bits and pieces from the show. John B and Sarah, obviously, are already well-established with Cleo, as well as Pope, but we only see one moment of interaction specifically between her and JJ (when Cleo and Pope show up to the air strip), and so far, nothing between her and Kie. (Although it would be really interesting to see those two band together and bond over their experiences as black women, because Kiara hasn't had a friend who shares that life yet.) We see a lot of Sarah and Kie, but only one moment with Sarah and JJ (re: the overpass incident), and we know Sarah went to tell Pope about Rafe being back, but that happened offscreen.

For fic purposes, I think making them cohesive as a general crew makes sense, and while their are obvious differing levels of familiarity and friendship, I think loyalty, in this case, becomes transferrable. Sarah is loyal to JJ and Pope because John B is, and she trusts him. Same with Cleo to Kie and JJ with Pope. Also, even though some of the pogues have underdeveloped relationships with each other, I think they would still lay their life on the line for any of the other members, simply because they know that's what everyone else would do for them. This is illustrated especially by Cleo's loyalty and desperation to find Kie in the first two episodes, even though all of the development in their relationship happened off-screen, while surviving on the island for a month.

TL;DR - Basically, I don't think fans are forcibly or unrealistically depicting relationships between the pogues that don't know each other as well for two main reasons. 1) I haven't encountered it myself, and 2) by exploring and understanding evidence from canon, unfailing loyalty across all dynamics still makes an enormous amount of sense.

#so sorry this is a #long post #but I love getting questions because I love this show and I love talking about it!! #anon #answered #the pogues #this was a great question and I enjoyed answering it!!

[renecdote]

Hi, I have a writing question. How do you decide on and stick to one tense when writing? I like both fics written in past and present tenses but when I write it ends up being some paragraphs in past tense, some in present, as both come naturally to me but it depends on the scene. So more emotional, intense scenes get written in present tense, idle activities in past tense.

English is my second language, I thought I was okay enough at it but creative writing is a different beast. And I can't really tell how the use of tenses feel different to native speakers.. In my first language pretty much everything is written in present tense unless it's flashback, but in school we're taught to use past tense only for English prose.

I'll be honest anon, I'm not sure really sure what advice to give you 😅 English is my first language, so a lot of things that might be tricky to people it is a second language for come naturally to me. Plus, I've been writing for a really long time and have ironed out a lot of things like tense that I used to struggle with (although there is of course always more to improve on).

I will say, tenses are extra complicated because you often end up using multiple in the one story. For example:

Buck was seven the first time he got stitches. He remembers being scared, holding Maddie’s hand tightly, his father a stoic presence in the corner of the room. He remembers ice cream afterwards, and takeaway Chinese, and not seeing his mother all night.

A few days into healing, the stitches started itching like crazy and he woke up one morning covered in blood because he accidentally tore one open scratching during the night. It’s something he’ll never forget: waking up to his mother’s shriek when she came in to get him up for school. Her hysteria turning quickly to snappish anger, his father brusque as he told Buck to get in the shower, Maddie gentle as she toweled his wet hair dry.

There is a lot of past and present tense mixing in this WIP because it is retelling something Buck is remembering and reflecting on in the present. Which is basically to say - don't beat yourself up too much, English is a mess of a language and we have so many different tenses that all mix together to create stories, even those of us who are native speakers struggle with it sometimes (or a lot of the time). I know that when I tell stories verbally, I mix tenses, I'm just more conscious of keeping it consistent in writing. I'm sure you'll gt better at being consistent with tense with practice, that's the only real way to improve at any skill tbh.

Also: a first draft is always going to have mistakes. That's what editing is for 😊 And for anything you're not picking up yourself, or aren't sure how to fix, having friends who you're happy to read over your work is extremely helpful!

As for how I decide on a tense.... I prefer to write in present tense. I don’t really have any deeper answer than that, it’s just the way that comes most easily to me and how I prefer to craft the scenes I’m imagining. I do occasionally write stories in past tense, but present is my go to.

#sorry if this is not at all helpful anon.... #I know i have an advantage writing in English since it's my native language #but honestly I'm good at it because I've been doing it for many years #and I used to struggle with a lot of things I don't anymore #just because I've had so much practice #and if you stick with it you'll definitely improve too! #asked and answered #anonymous