#a house made of cards

[mickules]

An alternate epilogue for A House Made of Cards

A Breach of Trust might be @phantomrose96 's best known mp100 fanfic, but A House Made of Cards is such a solid punch to the gut, I often find myself returning to it. The slowly mounting dread when you realise exactly what is being going on, just enough to haunt you, and your imagination supplies the rest.

But, I'm a baby, and because where the fic leaves off is agonising, I had to indulge in a little alternate post-script, exploring a different possibility.

The actual fic is not so kind . . .

#mob psycho 100 #reigen arataka #shigeo kageyama #dimple #fanfic fanart #a house made of cards #phantomrose96 #I've never met an ambiguous ending that I couldn't biguate #I almost forgot to draw the cards smh #canon typical violence #blood tw #head injury tw #mick fnart #mp100 #mickules

[w98pops]

me being normal about my courier again

#i know that in the collectors pack courier is a joker #as being equal to benny who is also a joker #but theres no place in the world wendy is an equal to benny #so i think ace of diamonds suits her well :) #also love the fact that ace can be both the lowest and the highest cost card in poker #pretty fitting for wendy as a character #fallout #fallout new vegas #fnv #courier six #oc: wendy #this pixel house portrait might be the greatest piece of art i ever made

[stanvogel]

Cody Fern’s characters as Barbie posters

#Cody Fern #Xavier Plympton #Duncan Shepherd #Stan Vogel #Andy Dolan #codyfernedit #ahsedit #houseofcardsedit #edenedit #american horror stories #eden #ahs: 1984 #house of cards #making these made me laugh more than it should of

[chimerahyperfix]

You’re looking for something— no, someone, too, aren’t you?

(I can’t comprehend how you understand what’s going on, with your lifeless shell. Craft as you are.)

#isat #in stars and time #live a live #isat loop #cube live a live #RAHHHHHH [COMBINES MY FIXATIONS] #behold my crack fic au. tiny robot in dormont #I’m cooking let me cook. cube has the little guy little dude vibes #and is also canonically like. a baby? #their chapter in the game happens the day they were finished #so. a baby. #cube is so <3. their chapter is a space horror #I would 100% recommend at least watching a video of it #IT GOES CRAZYYYYYY #pov flicking a card that says die child die at the floor. so #anyways. this au makes no sense to anyone but me #this is MY funny house and I’m going to play in it #worlds smartest baby [a robot] figures out timeloop shit before the party more at 2 #if you ask I WILL ramble abt the concept of this au I will #<- trying desperately to get away from working on my other au post #[I need to draw smth for it and I’m struggling lollll] #sitting here like ughhh I don’t wanna draw this imageee [puts off entire au post] #ANYWAYSSSS #LOOP WOULD HATE THIS KID. the fuck is a robot. #the fuck is this damn thing and how has it read me literally immediately #how dare you be made of craft. be artificial. and be able to read my despair like a book #how dare you; a fake being made by someone else. be more human to me than the people that once were my party #how dare you want to help me when I dont know you because you didn’t EXIST in my loops #…but. uh. thanks for the coffee. even if I can’t drink it I recognize the sentiment. or whatever #falls to the floor dramatically. oughhhh loop and cube ougughhh

[compacflt]

i’ve got a question about your writing process: in order to write a 30 year narrative, you create it out of hundreds of individual moments & actions, and each one has to function by itself and also part of a whole—have truth to itself and emotional resonance in a timeline. imo the key to doing this successfully is to care about each moment and make each one memorable, which seems very difficult: you have to get at the meat of the human behavior, believably, in a way that matters and explains and progresses the story, every time. and to write 200k words of it you do it hundreds of times! could you talk a bit about idea generation for each moment and how you brainstorm and write them?

omg an excuse to make more diagrams ! Thank you so much for this lovely ask!

okay: in case you don’t want to scroll through like four/five months of my inane icemav Poasting, I’ve done a couple other posts that go into my process — here about specifically chapter 1 and here about the fatal flaw of my fics from a construction standpoint

but from an idea generation standpoint… it’s pretty boring and cynical. I literally just make checklists. “things that HAVE to happen.” here’s my notes app check list of stuff that HAD to happen for the story to make sense in my rewrite of what is now chapters 8 & 9. this is from last december lol

and here’s a checklist/diagram of the major story beats and the changes in relationship dynamics throughout the story. any one of these dynamics changing reflects on the others in a way that‘s worth talking about. the hard part is finding a framing device or scene to talk about them.

the A plot of the fic is ice’s relationship with the navy, primarily. his arc is defined by his rank. so that’s the number 1 dynamic I wanted to focus on in such-and-such scenes, and why I stuck as stringently as possible to the “one rank per chapter” formula until ice got to the top & had to reckon with what being at the top actually means. His change in ranks is inspiration enough for most scenes because it shifts the dynamics in a way that is worth remarking upon in and of itself.

as an example im thinking of this scene (mostly because it’s short but also) because i think it’s kind of representative of how my idea generation process works

It fills a lot of gaps that i needed filled at that specific juncture in the story. the idea started with a stupid little section of dialogue in my head (mav would be surprised that ice’s official Navy docusign signature isn’t his actual signature) that happened to be symbolically relevant too (of course ice would have two different signatures for his two different personas). Then it morphed into a discussion of Ice’s canonically unhappy-looking compacflt portrait, which is canonically unhappy-looking. Then add onto that ice admitting he’s only happy at home (home obviously meaning with maverick, given that he’s literally in his house right now and still doesn’t feel like he’s home) and maverick telling him, “well that’s a problem that has literally the easiest fix in the world. youre making this way more complicated than it needs to be. just come home to me.”

so it’s literally just checking off boxes of things I wanted to talk about. as I said, a very cynical creation process. ✅ ice and mav doing the long-distance-relationship phone call thing (framing device for the whole scene). ✅ mav knowing ice’s real vs fake signature ❤️. ✅ ice’s canon unhappy compacflt portrait that makes an appearance in TGM. ✅ ice not feeling at home in Hawaii. ✅ ice not being fulfilled by the job & only being fulfilled by mav. ✅ ice coming up with excuses to see mav at any possible chance he gets. ✅ ice still obviously thinking of mav and Bradley as his family & maverick as his home. Etc etc. You see what i mean? how many stupid little ideas, symbols, and dynamic shifts can i cram into a page or so? that’s pretty much my thinking.

#btw i was out with my friends when i got ur comment on ao3 and it literally made me burst into tears in public so thanks #apartment should be house or residence and drivers license should be DOD ID card #no way the compacflt lives in an apartment on ford island. not possible #also when i wrote ‘it’s not my job to be happy in pictures Pete’ i was kicking my feet and giggling like a little girl #it is actually a huge part of his job to look happy in pictures LMFAO #or at least content with proceedings #but that doesn’t fit the debbie downer narrative!! #top gun #top gun maverick #edts notes #pete maverick mitchell #tom iceman kazansky #icemav #asks #the extras I’m working on are similarly stupid wrt original ideas #Ice & mav celebrate Xmas!!! then turns into like a whole big angst fest #all my ideas start small! #theyre just framing devices for what I want to say

[obihoe]

anyways completely different topic but i always think its so moving when naruto goes nine tails in the first part of the series .. bc its completely involuntary and he doesnt have any control or understanding of it yet at this point but it always happens when he's very emotional and there seems to be no other choice ... like during the land of waves arc when haku injures sasuke and he collapses in front of him and naruto thinks that he's dead and he becomes so enraged bc he is so desperate and he goes complete apeshit at haku and suddenly he has so much power ... like i think u could make a similar argument here like w the sharingan, about how the power gets triggered by love. and desire to protect. bc sasuke before this throws himself into the line of fire from haku to save him. and then dies for him. as far as he knows. during the vote battle (the first one), its similar, naruto is desperate and his own power isnt enough to save sasuke so the power of the nine tails just takes over and naruto starts tearing up while it happens and says that he'll break sasuke's every limb if that means he will get him to safety .. something something love turns into smth destructive that looks like its hatred to the outside observer but its still at its core just .. still love.

#posts #naruto #sasuke #this combined also with the way haku immediately recognizes this ... and says to naruto later how theyre so similar. #they both want to protect something precious to them #haku wants to protect zabuza and do anything to enable him to reach his goals #and naruto wants to protect sasuke. or avenge him. just like sasuke risked his own life to protect him #also i dont mean to argue that kurama is like .. made up of loving energy but like the process of accessing his power #is similar to the process of sharingan evolution #bc both of it happens out of a desire to protect. it is triggered by great emotions of affection for somebody #also in shippuuden when naruto goes crazy at orochimaru. he can feel kurama's chakra come up and he just lets him take over #bc he's so angry at him and wants to destroy him and kill him for taking advantage of sasuke .. #i guess the same thing also happens when there's no loved one involved .. when naruto is in danger #but the sharingan ultimately also functions as a way to protect the user himself #independently of whether there are dramatic emotions involved #uhhhh. hmm guess i'll stop here before my whole theory collapses like a house of cards

[youaresuchastrangegirl]

Friendly reminder that the U.S. fandom of The Owl House branded the Latin American population as homophobic and retrograde for dubbing errors in the episodes "Eda's Requiem" and "Eclipse Lake".

They demanded "justice" and "representation" in Latin dubbing by complaining in publications in different social networks while ignoring REAL problems that the dubbing industry in Latin America is going through and that affect REAL people, see, harassment towards dubbing actresses, low salaries, preference of famous influencers over professional dubbing actors, nepotism, the limitations that clients put at the time of dubbing the product, the decline of Venezuelan dubbing caused by the crisis in the country, etc.

But instead they prefer to focus on two fictitious characters and immediately brand their creator as a victim just because of two mistakes that were not in the control of the actors and dubbing directors.

Fuck you

#anti the owl house #anti toh #the owl house critical #toh critical #the owl house fandom #anti Dana Terrace #raine whispers #amity blight #white feminism #real problems #representation matters #double standards #the owl house #If from the beginning they had wanted to censor the relationship Luz and Amity in their declaration they would say “Friends” #in the 90s left the relationship between Haruka and Michiru in Sailor moon intact. #While in the United States they made them cousins #In Sakura card captor they never censored the relationship between Toya and Yukito. #But we are still the ignorant and backward ones.

[phoenix-before-the-flame]

Iam looking at your phoenixverse laxus design with both eyes OPEN 👁👁 but now im so curiojz as to what else the phoenixverse has to offer. PLEASE tell me youve got any headcanons about how zeref refived natsu. Like any thoughts at all on that?

Ohohohohohohohohohoho anon my guy my dude, my man (genderless) I am about to speak. Pull up a fuckin chair bro. Also puttin this under read more because uh, long lol

This is actually one of my favourite things to think about regarding Natsu (apart from yknow, END lol) and Zeref because it is such an interesting little story point.

For Natsu, the interest comes from the fact that he's not who he thought he was. Natsu's always confident about his identity, he's quick to announce who and what he is in a situation and he's proud of who he is. The knowledge that yeah sure, you are Natsu Dragneel, but uh Natsu's not who you think he is buddy- that Natsu, in some way died so many centuries ago but was pulled back and reshaped, reborn- repackaged even- into you in a body that you thought was human but is some almagamation of that and more? All tied to a book? Can he still say with confidence that he is Natsu Dragneel when he hardly knew the truths about himself? And if sayin that is even true when he could easily just be something molded to look like what Zeref lost? (Ofc we the readers know otherwise but imagine the dilemna man) The reality of it would've- should've- been earth shattering. It would've been an identity crisis and then some.

For Zeref, oh man. Zeref's whole thing stems from the fact that he loves Natsu. He loves Natsu so much (and his parents too i guess) that when the tragedy struck and he lost everything, it fucked him up. He just couldn't deal with the incredibly unfair hand that life dealt him that he was willing to turn the world on its head and essentially change the course of fioran history to try and undo what happened to him. To save something from his old life that he loved.

But heres the thing about Zeref's love. It's twisted. It's fucked up. It's dark.

Working years, decades- possibly even centuries- on the single minded task of reviving his brother (and why just Natsu? Why not the parents well? Why only the younger sibling? Did he intend to bring them all back but became single minded on just his brother?) could lead to obsession. Obsession with making him perfect, no longer just as a human but more than that. Stronger so he won't be killed as easily. Obsession with keeping him close, tying him to his soul in such a way that if Zeref goes, Natsu goes as well. Making sure that he's pulling the strings that when it comes to, when he finally closes his eyes at the hands of his brother, he has a comfort in knowing that his brother is going with him and he won't be left alone, like what his very first tragedy did to him. (Plus also making Natsu, his creation that he brought to life, kill him would be a back stab at Ankhserham. Because the god cursed him for fucking around with life and death, so having his demon kill him would be Zeref controlling the life he chose to create and determining his own death. It'd be a last gotcha).

Zeref may have loved Natsu enough to bring him back, and he still loves him in a way, but it's messed up. Because the whole ordeal of everything messed him up.

But I digress, this is just side stuff, your question really. How did Zeref really bring Natsu back?

Now since you asked specifically for phoenixverse, i can get a lil bit loose with canon details and not feel as restricted.

So we have our hard facts- Natsu and Parents die in Zeref's youth, Zeref fucks around tryna undo their deaths and finds out by getting cursed for doing this, then proceeds to use the curse to his advantage and over an undisclosed amount of time to create his demons and what not.

'Undisclosed amount of time' being the key thing here.

Canon implies that the time between Natsu's death, Zeref getting cursed and Zeref reviving Natsu happened within a relatively close period of time. And if it's anything I love, it's spacing out events.

I'd like to think that between the loss of his family and when he gets cursed is a decent gap of time, like a decade or so to really push the fact that he's so fixated on the loss. Then after getting the curse he sets to work of reviving Natsu over the course of decades to almost a century and a half.

(Am i implying Zeref to be a bit older than the 400 years? Yes, yes i am. The way I saw it the events of 400yrs past were inciting incidents i.e Zeref giving Natsu to Igneel, slayers gettin sent to the future, and not the actually set date where everything happened. And again, I like the idea of Zeref fixating on this for a very long time. Him being older drives home the single-mindedness and determination to get it done)

As prodigious as Zeref is, creating life and being the first wizard to do so, i don't think he could do it so easily within a few short years which is why i personally love the idea of Zeref taking so long to be able to revive Natsu. A touch of realism to something magical kinda grounds it in a way, gives it some weight at the very least.

Specifically Natsu being Zeref's final project ever and all the other demons he created over the years prior being experiments and steps taken to perfect the process so Natsu would be the culmination of all that he learnt (demons like deliora and lullaby being demons of inorganic matter given humanoid form-> tartarus- esque demons being humanoid demons with animalistic features (organic matter) -> Natsu, human demon and hybrid traits all working together in cohesion).

And speaking of a touch of realism, or sorta realism anyways, riddle me this.

Zeref needs something to make Natsu well, Natsu. Sure he could probs make a demon that looks like him, but thats not what he wants. He wants his actual brother so, what could he get to add into the mixture to really do that? Why a few samples of course :].

But Phoenix! I hear you cry, how could he have gotten samples if you said in your version that it took him forever to finally revive Natsu?

And so leads into the actual true definitive answer to your question anon.

Zeref, in needing the most important ingredient in the Natsu stew took things from the OG body to help build the new one. But! The kicker here is the samples I imagine him using aren't blood but instead, bone.

Maybe he realizes a decade or 2 down the line in his demon experiments that he missed a step in what he needs to see this through. Maybe he thinks he's too late because what can he do now at that point. Maybe he realizes that he can use not flesh and blood, but what remains for his plan. Maybe he commits another sin in the hopes of it bringing for another and digs up his young brother's bones. Maybe he whittles them down piece by precious piece over the long period of time after failing so many times (am i also implying failed Natsus? Failed ENDs? Hell yeah i am) and coming dangerously close to it all ending for naught, with the last shard of bone. And maybe after so long and so many atrocities, he finally succeeded?

TL:DR Zeref snagged OG Natsu's bones and used those to help in the process of quite literally rebuilding him from scratch to give us our Natsu.

I dunno man, it just adds a layer of fucked up-ness to the whole situation of how far Zeref was willing to go- even defiling his brother's bones to get him back.

And on Natsu's side learning about all this would just twist the knife of his identity crisis even deeper (especially on that implication of failed END attempts before him).

Also like, by stretching out the time of events and making Natsu being the very last demon Zeref ever made bring so much for layers of meaning to the name END in itself.

END, being the literal meaning 'Etherious Natsu Dragneel'

END, signalling the last demon Zeref's made. An end to his experimentations.

END, as in the last and perfected version of his brother, with the last remains of OG Natsu's bones going towards his creation.

And END, as in Zeref's end, where he intends for Natsu to kill him thus ending his life.

#fairy tail #fairy tail headcanon #natsu dragneel #zeref dragneel #fairy tail natsu #fairy tail zeref #i fuckin LOVE characters who were basically lab made #characters who for all intents and purposes comes off as your average living creature but its the circumstances of how they came to be #being fucked up and made from scratch and the hands of another #is a special sweet spot of characters i adore #shadow the hedgehog mewtwo hunter owl house #especially when its implied that there were multiples of them made before hand to add another layer of sweet sweet intrigue #which is why when natsu was revealed as END i was like yippee!!!○_○ #but as we all know by now that didnt really pan out to anything substantial #i dunno #maybe im thinkin too hard on this but its still an idea that i love and hold onto #also anon sorry this got long u uh #u activated my trap card lol #*grips your shoulder tightly* but do you understajd my vision bro #do u get it #the implications #the layers #makin the situation all gray and muddled instead of set black n white

[navree]

you know if they didn't want us to root for the greens they shouldn't have 1) made all the members of team black both very boring and very stupid (or in daemon's case the most awful asshole to have ever lived in the kingdoms at this point in time) and 2) made all the members of team green desperately hot

#personal #house of the dragon #that entire side's collective face card has never declined #alicent? beautiful. aegon? ethereal. helaena? the prettiest girl. aemond? divine bone structure. criston? super hot. otto? rhys is a dilf. #(i mean hell even alys and larys are carrying on house strong hotness after harwin got barbecued) #(just cuz larys is a shit doesn't mean his actor is bad looking) #and honestly even the dragons especially when compared to the awful designs some of the tb dragons have #(caraxes is idk okay and syrax looks awful) #and meanwhile sunfyre? the it girl of westeros. dreamfyre? a queen. vhagar? gilf rights. #and again the only interesting member of team black is rhaenyra herself but i'm sorry she's also got two brain cells to rub together #this should be an easily winnable war for you but you made shit decisions for twenty years straight #and every character surrounding you is a plank of wood there is Nothing there #(why i'm writing my au where the dance is between rhaenyra and daemon and rhaenyra has more of the traditional greens on her side shhhhhhhh

[dangerousdan-dan]

Just when I'm trying to be more social again, something will happen that reminds me why I'm a hermit

#vent ahead: #i tried to get my friends together to celebrate passing my exam #I'm not the kind of person who celebrates stuff about myself but I said fuck it I deserve it and I miss my friends #and they turned it into a drama and gossip fest #i don't care i really don't i just want to play cards against humanity and have a good time #i haven't seen these ppl in months and they either brought their romantic partners and ignored me alltogether #hijacked the evening and made it about them or didn't even arrive #why do they have to turn a simple celebration into something so complicated? #i hate it i hate it i hate pls get out of my house #I'm sitting here staring at the forgotten cards and food #and wondering if this is the point in life where i realize that friendships mean more to me than to the allo people around me #the older i get the more isolated i feel #and being aro makes it worse not gonna lie #i thought i could live without a partner as long as i had my friends but well #funny how that works #dan is rambling again

[shitouttabuck]

what do you do when the girl you spent the better part of the last decade in love with calls you up to tell you they dumped their girlfriend and quit their job and would you like to go spend a couple weeks on a beach in greece with them because they miss you and love you (not like that) . and you miss them and love them (not like that. anymore) and you’re probably not getting into grad school anyway and even if you did you can’t keep moving countries to start over because that doesn’t fix things and you could use the money you have saved that you were gonna put towards tuition to buy a plane ticket and sublet a beach villa instead. because you miss them and you love them and you’re tired of missing them and loving them has always felt good and you never feel good anymore and whatever maybe you can just have a lovely few weeks in fuckin greece and just. that’s enough you don’t have to try more than that they go back home and you stay on a beach in greece for as long as anyone else will remember . hypothetically. you should do that, right

#this is rhetorical look away!!!! #it’s an either/or : this or trying to go to grad school #but the thing is #at some point i convinced myself that a change of place and building a new life would make me happier than rotting in my parents house #in my hometown where i feel like im in a timeloop sometimes #but it wouldn’t? i Love my friends but. i am sad here and i was sad in scotland and i was sad in cambridge and. i will be sad wherever i go #it’s not a fixable thing #being around beth is a bandaid on it #so maybe i should slap the bandaid on buy a plane ticket and then. whatever i will be sad After or #i know i sound insane but the thing about being obsessive is that when one person physically has your back when you are 20 years old #it makes sense that they feel like the only thing that will help fix it #sorry this sounds strung out i have like three different things in my system that i will sleep off and be fine im not having a meltdown #this just feels like a Decision To Be Made and i thought typing it out would help give me some clarity or whatever #made a list but i wrote ‘washed your hair when you couldnt do it’ and i’ll be so honest that’s all the convincing i need to do #anything they ask of me ever #idk where my bank card is so no financial decisions tonight anyway #if u have read all of that. apologies and goodnight x #n

[d0d0-b0i]

it’s weird how much lighter my life feels now. not that i don’t have any issues (because there are many in my life, as i am sure there are in yours), but they’re just so much more manageable than they were a year ago.

​what’s more; i love myself now. i may not be perfect. but i am trying my best, and i can tell that i am! i see myself in the mirror, and sometimes i just examine myself, and my features, and i smile. i feel so much more authentic when talking to people, not worrying about how they view me, because i don’t have to anymore. i wish i could’ve told 15-year old me just how good it’s gotten so far, i know that he would’ve loved hearing about the shitty sideburns we’re growing out right now :’)

#it gets better :) #i used to think that transitioning medically wouldn’t lessen the sadness and depression i felt #and to some degree it is still there since t isn’t a cure all #but by the gods it is so much fucking easier to deal with everything #when a major reason for my mental health being the way it was has been abated #it’s like the fog cleared enough for me to actually see the road i’m driving on #instead of assuming blindly that i won’t crash #once i get top surgery. #idk. i wonder if things will be even easier? #i’m almost a year in and already my life feels so much brighter. yeah there’s problems with keeping the house. and yeah #i don’t have an income yet and i don’t know if the internship will even be in the cards for me #but. i just feel that everything will work out. enough for me to enjoy the time i have here :) #sorry i am being sappy but god! i love and i love! so much now!! i feel so much and i enjoy nearly every day despite the Issues #the world is getting worse but still i find reasons to love and live #so maybe one day it will get better? maybe one day my love will have helped even #if you’re reading. i love you. even if you’re just a follower #even if we’re mutuals that haven’t talked before #i think about you often. i wonder where my oldest mutual went after they stopped posting years ago #i don’t think i can forget. and i love you. and i wish i. could give you a hug. we all need one from time to time #i love the friends i’ve made and the friends i’ve had. i love. and this past year has opened up my floodgates of emotion

[little-mouse-adventures]

The Artemis Fowl series isn’t actually about a boy learning how to make friends and save the world with the help of fairies, it’s actually about a boy learning to become a fully-fledged necromancer.

#Artemis fowl #Book 1 he learns fairy healings can pull someone back from the brink of death #When Holly saves Butler after the troll fight #Then book 3 tests the limits of revival using magic and even “long term” death can be fixed #As long as there is a body present #And bodies can be made easily according to book 4 #But by Book 5 Artemis learns he can steal magic and transfer it around even without a physical form #Book 6 shows more of the same as well as immortality apparently being in reach if Opal is close to achieving it #And then book 8 has Artemis learning about time spells and maintaining the spirit #So he combines all his knowledge and uses magic to suspend his own life force and use a new body to house his soul = necromancy #he probably adds like...“NEC” onto his business cards #and most people don't notice it in the deluge of other acronyms and initials and whatnot but those that DO think it's just a weird flex #to specifically point out that you have certificates and honors that are Not Elsewhere Classified #anyways vampire artemis is all well and good but let's see some absolutely unhinged grave robbing behaviour #eventually butler dies and his will and standing orders are very clear that the DNR clause stands for both #'do not resuscitate' AND 'do not resurrect - yes artemis this means you and no i don't care about your reasons'

[softquietsteadylove]

Would you continue the president au one? Something sweet maybe?

"The President's day is bifurcated between the office and time for herself in privacy," Gilgamesh told the reporters eagerly trying to worm their way inside. "There is no security surveillance, no wire tapping. The home of Madam President must remain unpolitical so as to separate the person from the job and her obligation to the people. This is all public record."

"But sir, the people have questions!" the reporter wailed at him as security started pushing the crowd back. "The last president had an unprecedented amount of 'private time' and it turned out he was-"

"A mistake," Gil cut in harshly, effectively stopping that train of thought. "And one we won't make again. Now, I am going to briefing, Chief of Communications Sersi is going to be here to address the day's business shortly--excuse me."

Gil pressed his back to the doors as soon as he was inside. They always 'tipped off' the press when he was going to be entering the household, so no one could become too suspicious of it. It was true that the actual residence in the house and office was completely off limits to foreign clearance, press, they didn't have security cameras in it, nothing.

But damn, he was just trying to see his own girlfriend.

Gil unbuttoned his coat and walked into the home part of the house. He was well familiar with it, even with how careful they were not to betray the nature of their relationship. "Thena?"

She was in the kitchen.

"Hey," she greeted him with a smile, putting together a sandwich for herself. She was rid of her pantsuit and even had her hair down.

"Hey," he whispered, kissing her with a hand in her silken blonde hair. He pressed his nose to her cheek, "gonna cut that in half for me, or what?"

"I could say no, but you cooked everything else in that fridge," she snorted. There was another fridge for the food prepared for her by the house chef, of course, but this one was her personal one, for her personal use, in her personal kitchen.

Effectively Gil's kitchen, since she couldn't be trusted to make a grilled cheese without security thinking there was a threat in the residence.

"How was it out there?" she asked as she held up half the sandwich for him, trading kisses between bites.

"Media's a little worked up because of your week off, which we knew they would be," he shrugged, undoing his tie as well. Thena took the liberty of undoing his first few shirt buttons. "Sersi and Kingo will handle it."

"Okay," Thena murmured, unable to do much else in the moment. She leaned against him.

"Hey," he chuckled, rubbing her back while she was wearing his Secret Service hoodie from his time in security. "You have a week off. It's for your mental health--to not be worried, okay?"

"Do I seem capable of relaxing?"

Gil kissed her forehead, then her cheek, then tilted her chin so he could get her lips, "I think I know how to relax you."

"Oh you do, do you?" she smiled into the kiss, happily letting him lead her into the small frenzy of affection. She sighed, "I miss you."

"I'm right here," he whispered.

"You know what I mean."

"I do," he nodded before taking another bite of sandwich, "and I'm still here anyway."

Thena accepted another bite too.

"We're here, we're okay," he assured her as best he could while they stole their time together.

It was only recently they were able to start bringing him into the residence without suspicion from the inside forces, let alone the media and public. Even as her assistant, there was only so much time he could spend in her home before it became questionable.

"Some anniversary," she whispered, tucking her head under his chin. "I'm sorry, Gil."

"None of that," he rubbed her arm, resting his cheek against her hair, "You know I'm happy so long as I'm with you. And we knew this would come--that it wouldn't be easy."

"Still," she sighed a little more impatiently. "I'm supposedly the most powerful person in the country and I can't even get you a damn present without half the world knowing?"

"What would you get me?" he raised an eyebrow, finishing off the last tiny bite of the sandwich and licking his fingers. "I have everything I need right here."

Thena rolled her eyes as he kissed her cheek, "I'm serious, Gil."

"So am I."

She patted his chest, "well, it seems negligent to not get you anything at all."

"Well," he shrugged, "what if I didn't get you anything either?"

Thena shook her head though, giving his side a pinch before seating herself at the table. "I know for a fact that you did. And even if you hadn't, you got me this week off. That's...more than I can fathom."

Gil smiled at her though, also sitting at the table across from her, like they could be a normal couple in a normal house. "Sweetheart, I don't need anything from you because the fact that I can still be with you even after everything that happened last year?--that's my gift. And I don't want to take that for granted."

She gave him that soft, glassy eyed look that meant that she was wallowing in her guilt.

He reached over for her hands, "do you remember what we were doing this time last year?"

She rolled her eyes ever so fondly at him as she let him give each and every one of her fingers an affectionate little squeeze. "I was still vice at the time, you were my dedicated SS. I could still go home at the end of the day and you could sneak in dressed as a delivery guy."

He grinned at her, "and I did deliver every time, didn't I?"

She rolled her eyes at him for real this time, "Gilgamesh."

"And?" he prompted her.

She sighed, looking down at their hands, "and you told me that the dates in my living room with pizza and wings and cheap wine were dates--real dates."

"Because?"

She pursed her lips at him, not thrilled at being led like a fawn. She huffed, "because it was a date and it was with me and that was all you wanted."

Gil beamed at her with a laugh. "God, I'm such a good boyfriend."

"Stop it," she groaned, trying to lean away and pull her hands back to her.

He held on though, determined to keep her with him in the moment. He tilted his head to look at her, "that's still true, Thena. I don't care if I'm sneaking a burger and fries into your room between press briefings or we're at a diplomatic dinner. I wanna be with you. That's all."

Thena sighed, blinking in such a way that he knew she was trying not to cry. She shook her head, "you are a good boyfriend, much to my dismay."

He grinned; that was her way of saying that she loved him. He chuckled, "I love you, too, sweetie."

She let him stand and kiss her hair on the way to the fridge.

"So," he said more loudly and upbeat, "what to have for a real anniversary meal?"

Thena turned in her seat to look at him. On the one hand, he wanted to make their meals for the two of them. And on the other hand, she also couldn't ask the resident chef to make two servings of a gorgeous meal for her alone.

Well, she could, and no official questions would be asked. Risky, though.

"What do you feel like?" he asked as he rolled up his sleeves. He could change into something more comfortable after he was done with their dinner.

Thena smiled at him, hair over her shoulder, curled up in her chair in a ball. She looked sweet. "Pasta?"

He had onions, carrots, celery, herbs, leeks, tomatoes... "I think I can pull that off."

She stood from the chair and came over to him, sliding her lithe little arms around him from behind and pressing her face to his shoulder, "thank you, Gil."

He looked down and craned his neck to try and kiss her hands on his chest.

She laughed into his shirt before rising on her toes to kiss the back of his neck. "I'll pour some wine, you focus on the food."

Gil let her slide away from him, although the ache that could resonate in his chest when they were at work didn't follow. In here, they could be themselves, and he could be as perfect a boyfriend as he wanted.

#Thenamesh President AU #did someone say domestic fluff? #no?--well yes you did #it's so funny to write them like a normal couple #fuzzy and affectionate and cute and gross #it's a nice juxtaposition to the the gravity of this AU #Gil just likes being a boyfriend #this man dreams of being a house husband #malewife extraordinaire #Thena gets a week off #and Gil's like I'm gonna boyfriend so hard #I'm gonna make you breakfast in bed #rub your shoulders #draw you a bath every night #he did get her a gift btw #he got flowers ordered 'for the dining room arrangements' #he asked the chef to have a cake made with a certain recipe 'for testing' #he even ordered a bracelet on his personal computer with his personal card to his personal address #and then just kept it in his pocket all day #Thena did get him a gift too #she asked Druig to order and receive it for her #a little tie clip with a pearl on it to match her favourite earrings #when you and your boyfriend wanna match #but it's a threat to national security and public transparency and political integrity #so you just wear accessories that match right

[accio-victuuri]

SPEAK NOW TV TAGS FOR XZ & WYB. 💜

for me and my fellow swifties ( hello @01823 👋🏼) on here in anticipation of the 7/7 release. lol. to be used in my posts for the boys.

#the way you move is like a full on rainstorm and i’m a house of cards 🃏 #i’m captivated by you baby like a fireworks show 🎆 #cause i see sparks fly whenever you smile ✨✨✨ #i was enchanted to meet youuuuu 💕 #and i’m dying to know is it killing you like it’s killing me 🙃🙃🙃 #so don’t you worry your pretty little mind — people throw rocks at things that shine ⭐️ #your name forever on my lips 💋 #long live all the magic we made 🪄 #the stakes are high.. the water’s rough.. but this love is OURS 🫶🏼 #and it’s not theirs to speculate if it’s wrong.. your hands are tough but they are where mine belongs

[gosminhas]

club penguin used to piss me off so bad as a kid because you had to pay for all the cool stuff and the mere thought of asking my parents to buy me a gift card made me feel stupid but hanging out with friends online wasn't wnough i yearned for all the puffles and the treehouse igloo

#my top 3 games were Ahem habbo hotel transformice and club penguin #and i only played like pirated versions of them that had everything unlocked #I don't know why there was a pirated version of transformice i actually don't remember anything about this game except the basic stuff #I THINK we could build houses . or something like that(??????) and there were cute outfits #i really liked those rooms where people could put songs #anyways back at the topic CLUB PENGUIN this game was evil #i remember vividly that one time i asked my friend to go to the iceberg with me and i sat on the edge #and made a dramatic speech about how it was boring if you didn't have a membership #the next week her mom bought me a gift card LMAOOOO #we stopped playing on the official server after that tho that was when my journey with pirating began... slay ! #nononono actually minecraft lead me on this path... can't believe i forgot #i'd be looking for links🏴‍☠️ every time a new mcpe version dropped