ok i know i said the sanji week day 6 fic was gonna be short but i’m 4k words in and only about halfway through so uhhhhhh i lied
on one hand: this means more future!sanji feels! on the other hand: the probability i finish this before march 2nd ends in my timezone is…unlikely. which i hate bc i really wanted to post it on his birthday hrrrrrrgh why do i do this to myself
(edit: fic has now been posted on AO3)
random excerpt from the fic:
Sanji was thirty when Ichiji appeared on his balcony one day without warning.
“The hell are you doing here?” Sanji asked suspiciously, tensing his leg.
Ichiji held up his hands placatingly. It was not a gesture that Sanji had ever seen from him before, and that was the only thing stopping him from kicking Ichiji out without waiting for an answer.
“I’m not trying to cause any trouble,” Ichiji said. He seemed to be doing his best to appear as non-threatening as possible. “I’m just here to speak with you.”
“Now?” Sanji asked. “After all this time? Why?”
Ichiji hesitated. “Can I come inside first?”
It was a request and not a demand, and that left Sanji wrong-footed enough that he agreed after only a moment’s hesitation. So he let Ichiji inside and then promptly had no idea what to do next. Ichiji looked so out of place in Sanji’s apartment, his raid suit clashing terribly with soft blue colors that Sanji favored. It was not a sight he had ever expected to see.
“I guess you can sit down,” Sanji allowed. “I’ll get you something to drink. Tea? Water?”
Never let it be said that he was rude to guests, even asshole not-brothers.
“Water is fine.” Ichiji sat down on the couch, almost looking awkward.
So Sanji brought over a cup of water and sat across from him, crossing his arms. Ichiji took the cup in his hands and looked down at it, brows knitting together, but didn’t move to drink it. When he continued to say nothing, Sanji snapped, impatient, “So?”
Ichiji startled slightly, like he’d somehow forgotten Sanji was there. “Things are different,” he said, finally taking a sip of his water. “In Germa, I mean.”
“I’m aware.” Sanji frowned at him. “Reiju told me that she’s been in charge and making changes.”
Ichiji nodded. “Things are different,” he said again. There was an edge to his tone now. Sanji couldn’t tell what it meant. “We’re different.”
Sanji paused. Ichiji didn’t specify who we referred to, but Sanji could make a guess. Because he couldn’t deny that Ichiji has been acting oddly this whole time. More uncertain, more vulnerable. More human.
Compared with the last time he saw Ichiji, back during the mess at Whole Cake Island, the difference was obvious, and he didn’t know how to feel about it.
“Okay,” Sanji decided, flipping his cigarette between his fingers. He focused on keeping his voice even, his expression neutral. “You’re different. And now you’re here.”
He did not ask how. He did not ask why.
Ichiji looked a little startled at his easy acceptance of that statement. “I…” He hesitated before lifting his gaze to look Sanji directly in the eyes. “I wanted to apologize to you. I’m sorry for everything that we…that I did to hurt you. It wasn’t right. I didn’t know that then, but I know that now.”
That was something that Sanji had dreamed of hearing for the first eight years of his life. He’d so desperately wanted it, convincing himself that it could happen, that maybe someday his brothers would realize that they were hurting him, that they would care that they were hurting him. And then everything would be magically fixed, because that was how it worked in the fantasies of an eight-year-old, didn’t it?
He was not eight years old anymore. Nothing was magically fixed.
And maybe, despite everything, he and Ichiji were more alike than he thought, because the next thing that Ichiji said was, “I’m not expecting…forgiveness, or anything. I know that it’s thirty years too late. I know that it doesn’t change anything that happened.”
“It doesn’t,” Sanji agreed quietly.
“I really am sorry,” Ichiji said, just as quietly. “You don’t have to believe me. I just wanted to tell you I’m trying to be better.”
Sanji surveyed him, running his eyes up and down his form, and considered it. Ichiji sat hunched over, hands gripping his glass of water tightly. He wasn’t quite meeting Sanji’s eyes anymore, bracing himself for an answer.
Sanji realized what that edge in Ichiji’s voice was. It was guilt.
He sighed and put out his cigarette in the ashtray. Ichiji tensed, and then immediately wiped his expression blank.
“I know,” Sanji finally said. “I know you are.”
Ichiji jolted a bit, jaw dropping open with surprise. Sanji pretended he didn’t see it. Instead, he got up from his seat, gestured at the kitchen, and said, “Are you hungry? I’ll make dinner for us.”
“What?” Ichiji said, pushing his hair out of his eyes. “You’re not going to…?”
He did not seem to know how to finish that sentence.
“No,” Sanji said anyway. “You’re trying. That’s all I ask for.”
I didn’t deserve what you did to me, but none of you deserved what was done to you, either, he thought. So he asked, again, “Well? Are you hungry?”
Ichiji continued to look at him, stunned, before nodding, slow and a bit dazed.
“Good. I’ll make you the best meal you’ve ever had,” Sanji promised. Then, curious but not accusing, he asked, “How come you’re the only one here?”
“I’m just the first,” Ichiji corrected. Then a half-smile tentatively ghosted over his lips, like it wasn’t an expression he was used to. “Duty of the eldest, isn’t it?”
“If it wasn’t before,” Sanji said, “it is now.”
He smiled at his brother and went to start cooking.
28 notes
·
View notes
Are yyou team green or black? And why?
team green, though I'm not in support of every green character (namely Otto though my opinion of him is complicated. I also have opinions on Aegon and his characterization that makes it even more complicated)
[I have only read bits and pieces of the book, so my opinion is based almost solely on the show. keep this in mind]
I'm team green for 3 big reasons. they're more complex, thought not perfect by any means, more morally "right", and are simply more my vibe when it comes to characters. now this is very simplified and not at all nuanced, so stick with me for a minute.
Firstly, they're more complex. the greens have very deep, detailed, and nuanced lives and stories that lead to them being very complex characters that can't be put into a box. Alicent was a child bride who had lost her mother young became a mother young and suffered at the hands of power and men all her life. her children were affected by this and the world they were forced to grow up in throughout their lives. even individually her kids are drastically different; aegon the child who was forced into a life he did not want and suffered due to his father neglect and mother pain. Helaena who was never understood and grew up treated like an oddity. Aemond who was never seen to his full potential, always ignored or looked over, angry throughout his life. each of them has strengths and weaknesses, flaws and benefits, they're imperfect but never completely horrid. they're also never simplified (not entirely, even when the plot and writers seek to simplify them) to the point that they put on a moral pedestal or made straight evil (i'd even argue that the attempts of the writer to oversimplify them as evil and in the wrong makes them 10x more fascinating). I find TB characters tended to miss the mark on that, always put in the moral light, not even allowed a moment to reflect on their actions, lives, or positions in any nuanced or meaningful way, so they always just feel dull. they're also out on a moral highground that they can never be budged from, which makes them harder to like and honestly, really boring. they get away with everything instead of being emotionally and morally nuanced.
secondly, they're more morally "right". I will never say that any of the greens are perfect, they are far from it (with the exception of Helaena and her kids, who have done literally nothing to anyone, but I digress). what I will say, 9/10 times there is some level of reasoning that has some level of reasoning. Alicent always tries to do whats best for everyone, all throughout the series she tried to do best by the court, the king, her children, the realm, and Rhaenyra. did she always succeed? no, but she always tried and her mistakes were almost always honest. I will say she held resentment towards Rhaenya, but honestly, I can't blame her. Rhaenyra's lies and behavior hurt Alicent over and over again so for her to be angry is expected.when it came to succession, Alicent backed Rhaenyra until it was made clear she and Daemon would be a threat to her children's lives and even than she held mercy for Rhaenyra. Aegon's drinking can be blamed on the abuse and neglect he suffered at Viserys, Otto, and Alicent's (though the abuse and neglect from his mother is insanely different and nuanced. she perpetuated her pain onto him because she couldn't heal herself. so I hesitate to call it abuse, cause its so much more complicated than that) hands. though nothing will justify his rape of Dyana, I personally think it was a bad add in on the writers part, and leave it at that. Aemonds rage after years of being ignored doesn't entirely justify what he did to luke, but he had reason for his cruelty after years of Luke (and jace tbh) being cruel just because they could. TB characters tend to do terrible things in response to either A. nothing B. their own terrible things. Daemon kills who he wants when he feels like it, even for stating facts. Rhaneyra will lie and hurt those around her to protect her bastard children. both of them conspire to protect themselves and allow themselves to be wed, really just cause. while there are times they have their reasons, its a lot less of the time, and typically the backing to their actions, is they were trying to unbury themselves from within their own graves. (to preface, I don't care about rhaenyra sleeping around, it doesn't bother me, but its the fact that she will hurt everyone around her to protect her lies, allowing a child to be maimed and people to be murdered)
thirdly, they're my vibe. I like morally complex character, who are, to be frank, pathetic. I like characters with complex trauma's and issues, who aren't perfect people but its not entirely their fault. I would much rather watch a whole show about alicent, a child bride who tries so hard to be a good wife, queen, and mother while not prepared for any such role. Aegon who is a boy with severe mommy and daddy issues, a drinking problem, a flawed past, and constantly wet eyes. Helaena an ignored girl who has suffered for no better reason then her family. and Aemond, a boy who was tormented, bullied, maimed, and made stronger by it at the cost of his compassion and emotional stability - over a nepo baby who was coddled by her father, her murderous husband with a knack for unneeded violence, and her similarly coddled children (the show boiled them down to this, in my opinion). one is simply more up my alley than the other. I want character that need to be dissected, who have suffered, who hurt me to look at.
also, team black created almost all of their own problems. seeing as the main source of contention had to do with Rhaenyra's kids being bastards, which was Rhaenyra's problem, which she caused, and kept digging and digging that grave (faking Laenors death just so she could marry daemon, turning the blame on aemond when luke maimed him furthering the divide amongst the house, trying to wed Helaena to Jace putting her in danger, trying to take the driftmark throne and killing Vaemond for a claim her sons did not have, etc,) till viserys's death, earns her a lot less pity from me. at the end of the day, her being a woman was only a needle in a haystack worth of problems she caused herself that hurt her claim. if she had just strived to create to connection with ancient and her kids, and didn't make herself look like a threat to everyone who lessened her claim (which alicents kids would be the first people to be taken out) alicent would have backed like she had all season and there would have been no war, maybe conflict, but no war.
theres also the effect of the fans on my opinion. I have faced more cruelty, terrible media analysis, and outright ableism/misogny/(blood and sexual based) purist ideology/etc. from the TB fans then I have ever witness by TG fans. TB fans have ruined almost all of the TB characters for me in more ways than I can count, so I will say I am very biased.
thats why I'm team green. as a whole they are simply more appealing, their stories are more interesting, demand more attention to detail and emotional understanding, and from my point of view were the "right" side to be on in the war (the war was wrong on both sides, but my chips lie in the favour of the greens).
34 notes
·
View notes