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incorrect-ikevamp-quotes · 3 years

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What’s your opinion for Leo’s reaction to finding out the mc was immortal as well- not necessarily a vampire, maybe they’re some other type of supernatural. I’m really curious because Leo seems like he’s mainly in love with the mc bec they are human.

Hi lovely!!! Always wonderful to see you, hope you’re well! 💛💛💛💛💛

Tbh I think my opinion remains the same about something like this? I'm going to link to an ask I wrote up a while ago, only because it's v pertinent to the subject matter and good background for what I’m going to expand on here.

That being said, I'm happy to kind of tl;dr/expand on what I talked about there. Basically I had the feeling that Leonardo choosing MC as a lover was more circumstantial--regarding the state of his life in the moment, regarding his general feelings about vampires and vampire society, and regarding his unresolved trauma as a young kid.

I guess my answer to that question--and forgive me if it seems like a cop out--is that it really depends, I feel? I think his attraction has a lot more to do with the kind of person somebody is, their sensibility, more than it has to do with mortal vs immortal. If it was an immortal MC that showed ridiculous fortitude and self-control, measured patience and maturity, I really don’t see him not noticing that? I think he would be wary at first (assuming it’s all a front) but with time would likely feel a great deal of love if they were interested in a life together. If they were able to see and understand what he needs and answered those needs, I guess I just really doubt his ability to say no. It’s all he’s really looking for, and the fact that he hasn’t found it after so long really speaks to his frightened evasiveness and the rare nature of that kind of unshakeable strength.

I also think a lot of his hinging away from purebloods (true immortals, in other words) is that he 100% does not want his familia having any involvement in his meaningful relationships. Which might be why he shows more acceptance towards turned vampires, or potentially different supernatural beings.

But I also don’t like giving a vague answer without some kind of explanation as to how I got, to that conclusion, so a boatload of analysis follows below the content warning.

Spoilers for Leonardo’s route and a few mentions of JPN ver content:

I think he has less of an obsession with the idea of mortality, and more like a constant association of goodness and freedom and maturity with humanity. And while it's understandable, there are signs that--when he has the proper time and space to heal--his views seem to soften from those extremes. I mean his decision to live with Comte is pretty much his first step in that direction; it was him acknowledging for the first time that vampires aren't inherently loathsome or incapable of normal living. (On a revealing note, I think it says a lot that he agrees with MC that she is living in a “wolves’ den” but also feels the need to clarify the men are basically the domesticated equivalent. They don’t pose the same threat other vampires typically do to humans because of their lifestyle and sire.) Additionally, his tsun-like behavior towards Comte also seems to solidify this concept for me: Leonardo’s trying to come to terms with something he's sworn to reject since he was young, but also can't entirely deny that Comte is as chill and mature as purebloods come lmao

[There was also an event in the JPN ver–which seems to be approaching the ENG version rapidly, though only the first part is here right now–in which Leonardo fully offers to turn her. MC is essentially on her death bed, and Leonardo doesn’t want to lose her after so little time together; it’s MC that rejects the future as a vampire out of sheer principle. Even more noteworthy is that, when a reincarnation of MC is reunited with Leonardo in modern times, he is revealed to be exceptionally shaken by that loss. There are suggestions he can’t take losing her again, which could mean succumbing to the desire to bite her.]

Two things I feel are necessary to hit home:

The first being that, at least within the storyline so far, the most mature and human-like vampires we’ve seen are Leonardo and Comte. They seek to emulate the maturity they see reflected in the human beings they’ve known all their lives. Given how vampire society and their hierarchies work, I get the feeling humans are nothing more than amusing tools to them--a way to survive and creatures to exercise control over. There’s an objectification and delusion that comes with what I’ve seen, and I think it’s important in this discussion? If the vast majority of vampires behave this way (because I’m ngl, Leonardo and Comte don’t seem very keen on remaining in touch with other vampires all that much) then it only makes sense they prefer the company of humans who can at least share this sensibility of “been there, done that--stop hurting people bc you’re bored/repressed, grow up.”

One event story where this was exceedingly evident was actually Leonardo’s proposal story. If y’all remember, an old pal/acquaintance of Leonardo’s finds out he’s gunning for a human woman and basically goes “lmao not on my watch.” His name was Adam iirc, and he felt he had every liberty to try and pressure Leonardo into turning MC. Failing that, he insisted they should break up and not be together anymore. Now, on the one hand, it’s fair to say that he was looking out for Leonardo in a way–he didn’t want him to end up miserable and alone when she was gone. But at the same time I feel that Adam’s behavior is deeply revealing of vampire society as well lmao. He doesn’t really try to understand the situation, just immediately assumes it’s the only appropriate outcome. It does insinuate a lowkey cultural disdain for humanity: they are imperfect, they do not last or cannot have real value without preservation. If Adam was really Leonardo’s friend, wouldn’t he realize that Leonardo considers vampirism nothing more than a burden that he would wish on no one, much less his future wife? Additionally, wouldn’t he also keep in mind that Leonardo considers human beings beautiful just as they are? Since he fails these basic requirements to understand Leonardo, my impression is that he is influenced by the larger vampire culture to some extent. Furthermore, it underscores just how thoroughly Leonardo has been trained to keep his cards close to his chest for fear of ridicule/violent reprisal: no vampires know his true feelings on the matter because he would be vehemently rejected outright.

[One can also offer that maybe Adam wasn’t being malicious, maybe vampires find human women they fall in love with all the time and turn them (or any other permutation of companionship that occurs), so he doesn’t understand why Leonardo wouldn’t. But even then, to try to force them to break up if she doesn’t turn? A bit overkill imo but also revealing--Leonardo’s will is being ignored for the sake of upholding a kind of ill-founded superiority complex lmao]

While Leonardo does have a somewhat overbearing need to control the pacing of his relationship and who sacrifices what, I don’t think it’s wrong to be cautious--to want to think things through. I think it’s fair to be afraid that the person you’re with can’t handle what you’ve seen/known. But that also leads me to a core issue I have with MC: she doesn’t inspire much confidence that she can handle the life he’s lived, and that’s a problem of both incapacity and incompatibility. I have to wonder how he reacts when he’s with somebody at the same maturity level, or at the very least somebody with whom he can see her strength with time. When MC’s life was dying out he was desperate enough to accept biting her because he didn’t want to lose her–human or not. It’s MC that rejects this solution, which leads me to further believe that he just doesn’t care about the divide when it comes down to it; it has more to do with his difficulty with being vulnerable and fully trusting someone to care about him. (Assuming they also have the fortitude to stay hopeful and relatively strong over the course of a very long life.)

In line with that, the second thing I think it’s important to acknowledge is how deeply hurt Leonardo is as a result of his family treating him like a fool/black sheep. He outright says and heavily insinuates that his family would write her off as worthless, that they’d never accept her--that's his first thought:

Leonardo: “My familia would call you frail. I think you’re strong and beautiful. You do more with your time than we try to do with ours.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MC: “And those letters were from your familia?”

Leonardo: “Yeah. I don’t talk to them or see them anymore. We don’t agree...on a lot of things.”

[Brief intermission here. But lmao. Who does that sound like? If any of you guessed Isaac, that’s exactly what I’m alluding to. Isaac says in his own route smth along the lines of “Why bother trying to get through to people when no amount of talking does any good or gets you any closer to being understood?” Which also explains the way they get along to uncanny degrees: they find comfort in making things/researching because it means being able to avoid the distress that comes with being blatantly misunderstood by others. Their pain simply comes in different dimensions; for Leo it’s about loss and hiding who he is out of fear of rejection, for Isaac it’s about betrayal and people turning on him--ultimately abandonment for both. But I digress, back to the main argument.]

Leonardo: “Once they discovered my location, they began hounding me with letters again. They don’t want me to be with just anyone...They want more purebloods. I’m no more than one half of an equation for them.”

There is a clear implication that his desire to choose somebody that truly makes him happy means jack shit to them. They keep talking over him and trying to wear him down to force him into what they want. It’s no wonder--imo--that he has such a hard time just saying what he wants in his life, to feel like he has the freedom to wish and pursue anything freely. It’s no wonder he just expects MC to spit on everything that’s important to him. It appears as though only other human beings in general and Comte have ever come close to understanding him.

At some point MC realizes that his insistence on being compagni provvisori was originally just another act of sacrifice, and that he was fine with giving up his time and a little privacy if it meant she would be safe. The thing she doesn’t seem to realize in the course of this--and he struggles to say it until later on--is that it stopped being blind generosity. He really did start to fall in love with her, and that’s the whole reason things became even more messy; because he didn’t anticipate not being able to let go on top of the vulnerability. And it’s a big part of why he’s hesitating to speak. He feels he has no right to those feelings, and that he’s imposing on her--not that he’ll be welcome.

And when she did finally admit those feelings were welcome, it was compounded by the parroted views of his family and larger vampire society as a whole. Saying that she herself wasn’t enough, that she had to become a vampire to make him happy. Imo that sounds very potentially retraumatizing given his experiences (people trying to force him into marriages with other vampires who didn’t remotely understand or care about him because it was “the right way of things”). It’s no wonder he freaks out and does something incredibly stupid and insensitive–which is pretty insanely ooc for him.

Leonardo: “...It shocked them. Quieted them down a bit. Hard to get peace when your familia is immortal. Grazie, cara mia.”

Leonardo: “You’re strong, and you’re kind. So probably you won’t cry while I’m here to see it. But when I’m not looking, you’ll cry. If I had done that to you (bitten her, in other words), you’d still be crying when I wasn’t watching... Maybe it’s selfish of me, after what I did, but I just wanted to make you happy. You always look pretty, cara mia, but your smile takes my breath away...It’s not your destiny to love someone who will only make you cry.”

This man literally cannot handle anyone deeply sad or in despair. He’s always going to try to cheer people up and care about them, but general tragedy/emotional discord affects him very powerfully--and it’s likely a reflection of what I’ve mentioned before. He can’t bear to see people feeling helpless or miserable because he’s just been there too many times to be able to cope. He wants to help and heal (even if he’s suffering from prolonged compassion fatigue), but he knows that his powers are limited--even if he is a pureblood.

And the thing is? While it’s misguided to believe she would cry alone when it comes to the context of healthy romantic love (bc the idea would be that you lean on each other when something upsetting happens) he has zero reference point. He was not born as a result of authentic love (his parents never married, he was the result of a procreative arrangement), his family talks over every wish and belief he has and they still claim it’s done out of love/honest concern for him. One can only imagine the serpentine and obnoxious lengths to which his family has deceived or tried to force him into reconnecting with them. Every person that ever did know him/care about him in a real way is gone. Love, for him, has only been a series of losses that left his heart hollowed out; I don’t really blame him for expecting further disappointment and isolation and exhaustion.

He’s also not wrong in the sense that he partially saw MC do what he outlined, and it’s a big part about what he loves about her. When she was feeling alone and lost–powerless–all she did was shrug and move forward. That doesn’t make it hurt any less, but focusing on what you can do instead of what you can’t do is healthier. And they both have the tendency to hide when they’re in pain or feeling lost, all because they don’t want to trouble anyone. Remember that when he says this, it’s a reflection of himself too: because even if he was heartbroken beyond measure, all he would do is hide it every second; he would never expect anyone to see right through him or care.

I mean I tend think of that one post I saw that talked about how people often see themselves as a social burden when most of their life has just been a series of neglect and loss. They don’t really have a concept of “you’re not heavy because I want to stay with you. It’s my choice to care about you.” How do you feel worthwhile an existence when four hundred years later your family still won’t treat you with basic dignity. The men in the mansion also all look to him for guidance and soothing because of the kind of person he is–he’s either silent in the periphery or helping. He never betrays so much as an inkling of insecurity or distress.

I mean the whole reason Leonardo comes to the mansion is because he has absolutely no issue helping Comte in a pivotal time of need without seeking much of anything in return. Remember that Comte explains how Leonardo came to the mansion in response to Comte’s distress about the future. This makes sense considering Comte was rapidly trying to stop Vlad by beating him to the punch, and had only enough time to plan the basics. He had no certainty things would work out, much less that his boys would thrive. But Comte, unlike the boys, has become acutely aware of how much Leonardo is hiding his fatigue and despair in the course of being helped. As such, he wants to return the favor--and tries to be a good friend to him as much as he can (handles his insane familia, keeps things light and silly time between them, takes him seriously as a person, doesn’t pry beyond what’s fair.)

[I also think of that psychology concept of “the good enough mother.” It’s not always about being perfect every second of your life. It’s about paying attention and acting where it really counts. I feel like people who grow up under an enormous burden of neglect or parental/mentor abuse have a hard time coming to terms with the idea. This notion that just trying is enough for a lot of people, that showing them they’re not alone is enough to make difficult memories bearable. Because it’s the oppressive silence and apathy that tends to kills people, imo--not people who mean well. But Leonardo doesn’t really understand any kind of reciprocal or non-self-emptying model because the concept is beyond him. He has no experience with it beyond Comte and a select few humans he’s befriended.]

Let’s continue on this point of MC crying where he can’t see her, shall we? The reason this scares him so much is not because he doesn’t care, or doesn’t want to make the effort. It’s precisely that he cares to the point of madness. It’s that he is legitimately convinced nothing he has to say, nothing that he can do, no part of him is enough to ease what she will have to trade away to stay with him. The core issue is not one of disregard or objectification, I find it to be more about his belief that he just isn’t enough. He doesn’t trust that anyone can love him to the point where just the sight of him or time with him can heal. And while there is a foolishness to this belief, it’s understandable when you consider where he’s coming from. You can call it selfishness, but it just feels involuntary--he has a lot of fear when it comes to love.

I mean Comte even says it himself? His words here always strike me: “I want you to understand, it’s because he cherishes you just as you are--more than he cares about his future or his well-being.”

Comte is openly identifying the way that Leonardo has a tendency to give more than is healthy. That Leonardo isn’t hesitating because his feelings are lacking, he’s doing it because he knows it’s going to hurt like a bitch trying to love her and never ask beyond what feels reasonable. (Spoilers: no request is reasonable. That’s the problem here. He’s convinced he deserves nothing.) Therefore turning her into a vampire to stay with him is--consequently, to Leonardo--out of the question. This is the literal hingepoint at which Comte and Leonardo divide; Comte simply tells MC he’ll take full responsibility for asking so much of her. He intends to make her happy with every single resource and skill he has at his disposal. Even if he doubts his ability or fears losing her to vampire rhetoric madness, he’d rather try than live with the regret and immediate loss. Leonardo is more resistant because of his dour outlook, that her fear of immortality is never going to be something that either of them can overcome. And/or he’s likely afraid she’s only going to regret being together after so long, and might succumb to the ridiculous sort of power/greed complexes vampires seem so attracted to by nature.

I think Leonardo is still coming to terms with the idea that he isn't alone in the world in a lot of ways, and I think he's also coming to terms with the idea that immortality does not equate to evil. Sure, human beings on average are probably more open to flexible modes of thinking and living compared to vampires--their maturity is in some ways guaranteed due to the instances they're forced to adapt to survive. However, just one look at the ruling class and oligarchies of all kinds (even just stubborn human beings) reveals how they are not immune to the same sort of megalomania, arrogance, and thoughtless violence purebloods/vampires are capable of.

So I guess I hesitate when it comes to the thought that he only loves her because she's human. If anything, I think he loves her for the fact that she's very rooted in reality--not quite so bound by the extremes that trouble him. It's one of the many reasons I believe Leonardo needs a lot of maturity and patience; the ability to differentiate between his panicked/overwhelmed/hurt reactions versus his calm is a skill in and of itself considering his capacity for concealment. To say nothing of getting him to slow down when this happens, too.

I suppose I think about it in a way that’s similar to how Napoleon’s main story narrative is framed. While Leonardo’s route doesn’t focus on the grandeur of being a former emperor, there is a clear insinuation here that he also craves normalcy? Just a little life, with a person he loves dearly, where he can rest and be himself for once. I think because he gives off such an appearance of steadiness, people fail to see that he is barely holding on--not to mention the kind of experiences he’s been deprived of (the exact security and understanding he so expertly emulates).

Closer to your question, it’s worth mentioning that Leonardo’s life goal for a while was the creation of an immortal human being--in that he fully recognized human beings could not offer what he needed as they were.

He loves humans because of their adaptability, their frequent desire to keep seeking out hope and making the best of the broken pieces they have. But then again, it has more to do with the nature of how frequently that sensibility occurs in humans vs vampires (and immortality in general): mortality does demand some level of necessity to change and grow. Which is one of the largest trauma points for him; the vampires around him just refused to grow up, always demanding at him like children and obsessed with their power complexes.

Thing is I also don't know enough about vampire society to know how correct this perceived ratio is. However, given Comte's similar avoidance of other vampires and general inability to live with them (he and Vlad were literal childhood best friends and Comte can't stand him anymore lmao) I think Leonardo may have more validity here than people give him credit for. Which begs the question--why did he quit trying to make a human immortal? What was it that stopped him? Was it the horror of what needed to be done to achieve it? Or would a potential companion start to fall more in love with the idea of immortality than they do with life itself/him? I think it’s a worthwhile question to ask, given the disdain he seems to aim at Shakespeare in particular--once human, but now emulates all of the violence and insatiability marked by vampirism.

This is where the transition from human to vampire/immortal contains another hingepoint: is Leonardo so incapable of finding a middle ground because he feels like any choice he makes will be a wrong one? Marry a human, deprive them of a normal love where they can grow old together. Marry a human and turn them, what if they are reborn with immortal wounds/psychological harm? What if time proves they get bored of him or hateful, what if they begin to act like the predatory purebloods he hates so much? Marry a pureblood/immortal, and be hounded by his family for heirs--risk being with somebody who will never love him or their children, and only inspire more misery in the world.

Does it make sense how this can really start to become an anxious downspiral for someone like him? How the personal insecurity and life history comes together to just compound stress endlessly?

That's the thing that's important here, I think. Leonardo just needs somebody who is open-minded, firm, and not easily deceived. If one takes a look at Leonardo's main story route, the whole reason everything goes to shit so disastrously is because MC stops listening at a critical point. Granted Leonardo could have been more forthcoming for sure, but when she started assuming Shakespeare was right instead of seeing how Leonardo was feeling/reacting, she responded in ways Leonardo wasn't prepared for. He never wanted to shake her faith or insinuate whatever she is is not good enough for him, and tbh I think Leonardo downspiraled because it was just the same thing all over again. What he is--a vampire and immortal--keeps ruining everything he wants with his life.

#asks #ikevamp #ikemen vampire #ikevamp meta #ikevamp leonardo #ikevamp leo #ikevamp saint germain #ikevamp comte #can you tell i think too hard about these things kjhdglshf #sorry this reply took me a little longer than i meant to--but i really did want to do the topic proper justice!!#leonardo is such a dear person to me and I can't help but sympathize #people are free to disagree with this but it's just how i feel about the topic #the more i see about him in event stories--the sense this his trembling heart is slowly easing--the less i can believe such things matter #to him all that much tbh #i also think the event where he loses her is just all the more telling too?#i feel like if it really was a matter of principle and not love he would have just accepted it #humans have a v short lifespan--what can be done #sort of reaction #but that's not how he reacted at all: he was a man beside himself with dread and sadness #and even when he meets her reincarnation he can't help but want to be with her again #iirc he starts shaking at the slightest mention of when she died--and shows a lot less ability to resist the urge to turn her #so anywho brief summation is that i think this is more about so many sad boy hours and fear of widespread immortal megalomania #than it is abt hatred for immortality #he has no confidence good things can last without being warped--and that's the key issue here #'nothing gold can stay'#long post #rambles #not incorrect quotes #if you manage to read this without falling asleep i applaud you ajkhldghkfjsdg #thanks for the ask tho--i love any excuse to yell abt leo <333

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readyplayerhobi · 4 years

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Flower | 30

; Hoseok x Reader

; Genre: Angst, fluff

; Warnings: Discussions of sex, questions of consent (no rape, don’t worry), body issues, body weight issues, self-esteem problems, self-confidence issues, brief mention of self-harm thoughts, mentions of bullying

; Word Count: 4.2k

; Synopsis: You finally decide to take a dip into the world of online dating and find the Flower dating app. One of the top matches for you proves to be a guy who looks to be your complete opposite; tattooed, pierced, a metalhead and oh…incredibly handsome. What happens when you throw caution to the wind and reach out to him?

; A/N: This chapter is one pretty close to me and might be tough for anyone else who’s also overweight or has been overweight during those tough times in school! Don’t worry about the MC, she’s okay. There’s no rape, the consent thing is briefly mentioned as a question. Please reblog this if you enjoyed so others can read, leave me comments or asks so I can know what you think :) only 10 more chapters left...

; Flower Masterpost

Giggling quietly to yourself, you scroll through the pictures on your phone carefully. It takes you forever to finally move onto the next one as you feel the need to carefully scan over each one in depth to catch all the little things. There’s so much to find in each picture and you spend as long as you can looking them over in amusement, grinning at the odd fashion choices.

“What are you laughing at?” Hoseok asks, coming over from the kitchen with a fresh glass of water for you and a cup of peppermint tea for himself. He’d only been home from work for about ten minutes while you’d been home for over half an hour now. Taking a sip from your glass, you smirk at him slightly as he sits next to you with a deep sigh.

Tiredness is etched into his face today, the dark circles under his eyes a little deeper than usual. He’d been struggling to sleep lately for some reason, waking up repeatedly apparently. Reaching over, you gently cup his cheek and stroke his skin softly, enjoying the welcome smile he gives before you turn your phone around to let him see.

“Interesting hair. How many jars of hair gel did you go through when you were a teenager?” You tease him, watching as his eyes widen when he realises what the photo is. It’s of Hoseok when he was a teenager; maybe fourteen or fifteen and with what looks like a bucket of grease on his head. The spikes of his hair turn quickly into an overly long hairstyle in the next picture, straightened but with a distinctive fringe covering one eye.

“You had an emo phase! Look at you! All that eyeliner and those neon streaks. I never had an emo phase, you know. I don’t think I had any phase to be honest. Except for a horse phase when I was really young.” Hoseok goes to grab for your phone, his mouth pulled into a cringe as you scroll to the next picture and reveal yet another emo looking Hoseok with an abundance of sweatbands, colourful wristbands and more. He looked distinctly drunk, even though he can’t have been more than sixteen.

It’s so strange seeing Hoseok with slightly chubbier cheeks, his body gangly and lean in that teenage boy way as it went through the process of puberty while his face still maintained such a youthful look. Despite that, you can see the template for the statuesque face he’d end up with already in the pictures. The elegant slope of his nose was still pretty, even if he’d not quite grown into it at that point and a jawline that’s not quite as strong as it is now.

“Mom sent you this, didn’t she?” He groans, rubbing at his eyes before peering back at the phone through gaps between his fingers. Chortling softly, you shake your head before looking back at the screen.

“No, actually. She put them on her Facebook. Apparently she found the pictures while cleaning and scanned them in. Reminiscing about your wild years.” That makes Hoseok make the strangest noise, a combination of a groan and a shout. He’s looking at his own phone instantly, face palming when he sees the pictures.

“Moooom,” He whines pathetically, looking through them. You place your phone down on the coffee table and shuffle closer to him, letting yourself see the photos through his screen. Glancing at his face, you take in his slight frown and the pout of his lips, hoping he’s not too annoyed that his mom has put them up.

“Are you angry at her?” Shaking his head, he sighs deeply before letting his phone drop onto the table too.

“Not really. Just...it’s more embarrassing. Though, isn’t that her job at this age? As you can see through; I’ve always been good looking. Maybe not always with the best style admittedly but...at least the music is still great. My Chemical Romance remains one of the best bands in my opinion, even if they’re not as heavy as what I listen to now.” Rolling your eyes, you pull your legs up and rest a hand on your knee.

“I mean...it was certainly a style.”

“So come on then, I’ve shown you mine. Where’s your embarrassing teenage pics?” Hoseok teases, sticking his tongue out at you playfully. The silver ball of his tongue piercing catching the light momentarily before it disappears into his mouth once more.

Awkwardly, you smile back at him before shrugging slightly. The sudden change in your behaviour is obviously noticeable as Hoseok frowns, tilting his head in a silent question at you. Licking your lips, you realise that you’re playing with your fingers. A nervous habit.

“I don’t have any,” At the confusion Hoseok shows, you clear your throat. “I mean, outside of graduation photos. I...I wouldn’t let myself be photographed back then.”

“Wha-, seriously? Like...none? I don’t think my parents would have let me, even as grumpy as I was to them all the time.” You can understand why he doesn’t understand. There’s not many people you can think of who have near enough zero pictures of those years. For many teenagers today, the very idea of not having a million pictures might be unthinkable.

“Have you ever been overweight?” You ask quietly, the question seemingly random as you lean into him until he has to wrap his arm around you to make it comfortable. For a moment, he doesn’t respond. Being with him for well over a year now means that you’ve come to understand him, the knowledge that he’s not ignoring you but considering your question carefully.

“No. Can’t say I have.” He finally answers, running his fingers along your arm slowly.

Twisting your lips, you sigh heavily and let your head fall back against his shoulders as you let your mind wander back to when you were younger. Back to where your insecurities began, all those years ago. Swallowing hard, you decide to go ahead with it. You’d alluded to it enough and now felt like the right time to finally talk about your formative years.

But your breath stutters, throat closing tighter as you realise it’s hard to go back to then. To when you were so easily hurt and affected by everything. Even in the safety of Hoseok’s embrace, you felt the tremor of fear and anxiety as your memories came back tainted.

“I have. I mean, when I was a little kid, I was like a stick. I could eat whatever I wanted and I used to spend so much time running around having fun. We don’t have too many pictures from back then; my parents couldn’t really afford a camera. Occasionally they’d get a disposable one but that’s about it. But...when I hit puberty around twelve or thirteen...I just kind of, ballooned? I don’t think I even realised it at the time, but it’s like my metabolism just plummeted or something. And before I knew it...I was the fat kid in class.” The heat in your eyes tells you that you’re on the verge of crying and you take a moment to breathe, blinking hard before looking up at the ceiling.

Hoseok remains quiet, letting you tell him without interrupting or anything.

“I mean...no one outright bullied me or anything, you know? It wasn’t like in the movies where you’re getting beaten up or shoved into lockers. It was more...the comments, the looks and just the general knowledge that you’re not attractive. Teenagers are really good at making those sly comments that are so hurtful, especially when you’re so young and still finding yourself. It’d be like...we’d be watching something and a pig would turn up on the screen and somebody would snicker and say it was me. Or someone else would joke about dating me and...I could just tell that it was an insult. And that their reasoning was my weight.” The arm around you tightens suddenly, as if hearing the casual cruelty you’d endured had ignited Hoseok’s protective instincts.

Memories flit by in your mind as you recall incidents; someone in your class finding out your crush and spreading that you liked them. Their disbelieving snort as they looked you up and down, their eyes falling heavily on your stomach before saying it would never happen. Without even realising it, you’re cradling your stomach now. Still not flat like you’d always fantasised, but not like it used to be.

You didn’t hate it now at least. Never loved, but not hated anymore.

“That...that sticks with you. Something I’m not too sure people realise is that, like, when you’re overweight...you’re constantly aware of it. It’s not just your body, it’s your life. It is you. There’s this weird mentality that people think overweight folk don’t know it, that you’re oblivious. You’re never oblivious. You’re not allowed to be oblivious. People make sure you’re aware, you know? The people telling you it’s unhealthy or it’s ugly and stuff. If you’re overweight, you’re well aware of these issues. But trying to resolve them is just as hard. You go to the gym and you’re aware of all the fat rolls, the way you jiggle and roll. How you’re out of breath doing the simplest thing while super fit people are probably watching you in disgust, even though you’re there to get fit,”

“If you eat, then you feel uncomfortably aware that you’re not just eating. That you’re fat and eating. So you become self-conscious over food. If it’s something healthy like a salad then you just think everyone is laughing at you. ‘What’s she bothering with that for?’. If it’s unhealthy then it’s more like, ‘of course she’s eating that, the lard ass’. You’re hyper aware of every aspect of your life and that’s the worst thing. Just...being so aware. You’re convinced that everyone is judging you, staring at you or talking about you. I felt so many times when I was like, fifteen or sixteen that I just...took up more space than I should.” Wiping at your eyes, you sniff before looking at Hoseok and giving him a watery smile.

The concern on his face for you makes your heart swell, the knowledge that he’s listening to you openly. That he cares. Even if you’re exposing a part of you that you’ve never let anyone see. Not even Chungha or Soyeon. It had felt far too personal, something that they couldn’t understand.

“It’s like...everyone has a certain amount of space they’re allowed to have, but when you’re fat, you realise that you take up more. And you become so aware that other people don’t like that. That they’re disgusted by the idea, and you become afraid of things like...sitting on a seat in a bus because you’re terrified of spreading past your ‘space’. Or sliding through a small gap and the panic that you’re just being...too much. I’d always try and run to the school bus when class finished so that I could find a seat first. And I’d always let the other person sit next to the window so that I could hang as close to the edge as possible and get off quickly. Then I’d panic that I’d look disgusting to others, half-hanging off the seat. I just...it affects you. Mentally. You just do things differently because you’re always aware of your body. In negative ways,”

“I’d never go swimming with anyone else. Mandatory swim classes left me panicked because it meant people would see me. See all the lumps and the bumps, everything I hated. I’d never look at myself naked in the mirror, or even in my underwear because I hated it. I was disgusted. I used to fantasise about just...slicing off bits of me to make myself nice and thin. I don’t even know if that’s normal.” Your voice breaks slightly, going slightly hoarse as you recall the pure hatred and revulsion you’d felt for yourself back then. The way your body felt like a cage you were trapped in.

Sitting up straight again, you take a deep breath to fortify yourself before smiling at him gently. Taking his hand, you squeeze it for reassurance and feel comforted when he squeezes back.

“I hated myself. Didn’t ever think I was going to be anything amazing. Or that I’d ever fall in love. How could anyone fall in love with me when I hated myself, right? When I was seventeen, I finally took the plunge and joined this free gym. Started eating healthier. It was really hard. I hated it so much. Vomited everywhere from the exercise, cried a lot. I wanted to lose weight healthily though, not too fast otherwise I’d end up thin but with skin flaps. So it was gradual. I wasn’t hugely overweight thankfully, but I only felt finally happy when I was nineteen.” Now you laugh at yourself, rolling your eyes and poking at your stomach in amusement before kissing Hoseok’s cheek playfully.

He doesn’t laugh back, causing you to kiss him gently. A silent way of letting him know that you’re okay, that it’s okay for him to laugh and smile too. When you pull away, he hesitates for a moment before giving you a slightly awkward smile. It’s enough for you.

“That’s why I didn’t have any experience until college. I was nineteen when I met Chungha and Soyeon in class. They were like...these ridiculously beautiful girls who were so confident and full of life, you know? Partygoers and everything. And I wasn’t. But somehow, we found things in common and it’s like...they knew I needed encouragement. So, it was slow but...I did stuff. I went to the parties...hated them just as much as I thought I would. Finally kissed a guy; wasn't as good as I thought it’d be. Lost my virginity to a random guy at a party in some house when I was twenty. Also wasn’t that good. The extent of my dating life was a few guys who didn’t last long. Both in terms of relationship and sex.” You grin at Hoseok, wiggling your brows and causing him to chuckle in amusement.

His chest gets a little bigger as he pushes it up, a smug look on his face. “All those memories obviously pale in comparison to my amazing kissing and sex skills.”

Snorting, you push at him playfully before reaching up and pulling him down, hand resting on the short undercut hair on his neck as you bring him into a kiss. Hoseok obviously wants to prove his skills, kissing you a little more intense than you’d expected but you just laugh into it before pulling away and smiling at him happily.

“Well...I’m not going to say you’re wrong. It did kind of depress me a little that it seemed guys were only interested when I was a bit thinner but, I also felt a weird sense of pride. That I’d finally done it. Gotten what I thought I’d wanted. Until I realised I hated that whole scene and wanted nothing to do with it. So...I just kept myself as in shape as I could over the years and tried to come to terms with myself. As you know...I’m not quite there. But I’m better than I was, I promise. I just feel a little bad that I was convinced being thin would change things. It changes some stuff but...not everything.”

You can tell that Hoseok isn’t entirely sure what to say. It isn’t surprising really, you wouldn’t have any idea how to respond to someone telling you all these sad things they’d experienced either. But then again, you were just generally useless when it came to anyone else’s emotions and feelings.

When he does finally speak again, his question surprises you completely as it seems to have nothing to do with what you’d just been telling him.

“Did you drink alcohol back then? I know you don’t drink it now because you don’t like the taste but if you went to parties…” He trails off, his face twisted in question as he considers what you’ve said. It was true that you didn’t like the taste, hence why you never drank it. You also just preferred to drink something like water as it was much healthier for you.

“I did. Too much. When I started going to them, I threw myself into the alcohol as it helped me to overcome my shyness. A drunk me is apparently very outgoing. I also have very little inhibitions when I’m drunk. Pretty sure the only reason I first kissed a guy was because I was completely fucked. And I’d drank a lot when I lost my virginity; there was no other way I was going to get naked in front of a guy.” You don’t notice the instant concern on Hoseok’s face when you say that, your gaze far away as you stare unseeingly at the TV screen.

You’re too busy remembering those wild years in college. Or what you can remember anyway. Another reason you hated alcohol was the way you didn’t feel in control of yourself and your emotions while inebriated along with the way you often end up forgetting parts of a night. Why anyone could possibly enjoy that all the time was beyond you.

“You...I hate to have to ask this but...you did...consent to it. Right? It wasn’t like...forced on you?” Hoseok sounds intensely uncomfortable as he asks the questions, causing you to frown as you look back at him. “I just...if you were really as drunk as you say you were, then I mean, well, I just...I wouldn’t have been comfortable sleeping with a girl who would only sleep with me if she was completely inebriated.”

He shifts in position on the couch, bringing a knee up so only one foot remains on the floor while taking your hands. The look on his face is completely earnest and filled with worry. For you. And you finally click as to what he’s talking about. Hoseok is concerned that you may have been raped for your first time.

Smiling at him gently, you squeeze his hands and shake your head. “No, no baby. Please don’t think that, I swear. It was consensual. I wasn’t that drunk. Just...enough to let me get over my worries. I needed the alcohol for the confidence and the lights off. I remember it all though. He wasn’t good but he wasn’t mean or anything either.”

His worry seems to decrease a little, shoulders lowering as he lets out a deep breath and you marvel for a moment that you’ve found someone who gets worried about things like that. Things that you hadn’t even bothered to properly consider. If you hadn’t been completely sure in the knowledge of your first time then you’d be concerned as well.

Leaning forward, you kiss his cheek affectionately before grinning at him and cupping his chin. “Thank you for being concerned about me though. I promise, I’ve never been forced into anything like that. I may not have enjoyed a lot of sex but I did it openly in the hopes of it getting better.”

Hoseok’s cheeks flush ever so slightly and you laugh sweetly, kissing his lips quickly before shifting back. Leaning against the couch sideways, you let your head flop onto the back and smile at him.

“So, yeah. That’s why I have no pictures of me from being a teenager. If you thought I don’t like being photographed now, then you’d be shocked to see me back then.” There’s a moment where Hoseok is stiff, unsure of what to do before he smiles back and shifts into a similar position, his head closer than you might have anticipated.

But you get the sense that he’s a little uncertain of how to proceed now.

So you make the move for him, gently pushing at him until he’s laying on the couch. The L-shape means he’s at the point the two halves connect, one half completely free except for Kasumi stretched out. But you want the safety and security of his body. Not only for yourself, but also to comfort him. Even if he hasn’t said it, you can tell he’s a little unsettled by your negative feelings towards yourself.

Hoseok let’s you move him with ease, smiling happily when you get yourself settled and comfortable. His natural scent is strongest at the base of his neck, and you inhale it happily while your arm rests over his waist. Even if you’d talked about your deep and painful teenage years as willingly as you could to him, it was still traumatic to remember. And you needed your own comfort to assure yourself that those years were over.

“Well, I don’t think you’d have wanted to meet teenage Hoseok. So it's probably a good idea we never knew each other.” Humming, you recall all the times Hoseok has told you about his own teenage years. Unlike you, he was much more open about them. Mainly because he acknowledged how bad he’d been.

“I doubt it would have mattered anyway. From what I’ve learnt from you, teenage Hoseok wouldn’t have given me one look. Nevermind two looks.” There’s a brief pause and you feel Hoseok’s chest rise as he goes to respond. He stops though and you chuckle, running your fingers along the soft material of his shirt over his stomach.

“...you might have got one look. I mean, I’ll be honest. I wasn’t exactly picky but that’s not a good thing. Just means I was an out of control teenager. Besides, it sounds like you were very shy and quiet. I was...not. Loud, brash, abrasive. Often drunk and high. God, I was terrible. I don’t know how my parents put up with me, honestly. I wouldn’t have wanted you to meet me. I’d have just hurt you even more.” Humming, you wiggle against him slightly and kiss his neck gently.

“I’m glad we met when we did. I think we’d both had enough time to grow and accept ourselves. There’s no way I would have reached out to you if I was still like my teenage self. And I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t have said yes if you’d been like you were.”

“True. Three cheers for maturity! But on a more serious note; I’m glad you’ve told me. I figured there was something along those lines after all these months but...I understand more now. I hope I haven’t made you feel uncomfortable or embarrassed.” Closing your eyes, you nuzzled closer to him while shaking your head.

“You haven’t. At least, not through anything you’ve done. It’s mostly been in my head. If anything...you’ve helped me to grow and become more...loving of myself. Just you accepting me has helped so much for my mind to understand that...well, I’m not ugly or anything. That you’re not judging me. And that you actually find me attractive. It’s a slow process.” You feel the press of Hoseok’s soft lips against your forehead, their warmth resting there for a few moments while the arm wrapped around you gently runs along your arm.

The very fact that you can talk with him like this is pure proof of the growth you’ve experienced over almost a year and a half with Hoseok. Just his welcome acceptance and love of you has created a safe space for you to explore yourself and grow comfortable in your own skin and mind. It was nice.

“I’m glad. And if I ever do anything that’s wrong, then please tell me. The last thing I want is to be an asshole by accident. Or remind you of a bad time.” Laughing gently, you smile and nod before tightening your arms around his waist fondly.

“I mean...I’m still considering the whole lingerie thing. Especially those super revealing ones. I’d love to wear one but I just...don’t think I look sexy in them.” Pouting, you shift as Hoseok moves until he’s looking at you with wide eyes that quickly become stern. Poking your cheek gently, he tuts.

“I’m not gonna push you into that, but there’s literally no way you wouldn’t look sexy wearing black lace lingerie. Oh god. Just the thought of you in it makes me hard. But for now, I’m content with my mind for that.” The way he presses his hips against you lets you know that he’s being truthful, the mental image of you in the lingerie you’d bought on a whim the other month causing the erection that presses against you.

Grinning, you push at him until he’s laying back again and crawl on top of him, raising your brows. “I think you just get horny at the thought of sex full stop.”

“Well...duh. I’m a man. With a beautiful girlfriend. Whom I enjoy sex with.” Laughing loudly, you lean down and kiss his nose playfully. The whine he lets out when he tries to follow you for a proper kiss causes you to grin as you press at his shoulders, holding him in place.

“Glad to hear it.”

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twstdreams · 4 years

Note

I've loved your non-romantic/platonic content that you've done so far! Adding on to that list, could I please request a short story surrounding MC, Ace, and Deuce? An accident occurs which ends in MC turning into a little kid and now it's up to the two boys to put their differences aside and babysit their friend until she's back to normal. Girl pronouns plz! Lol I can only imagine the chaos that would ensue. If you don't feel comfortable with this ask you can skip it! Thx for reading :)

I am always up for platonic content and shenanigans! Long story, so the rest is under the cut!

Warning: Minor spoilers for side stories (briefly alluded to)

Length: ~2.3K

“It’s this one!” Deuce declares with unfounded confidence.

“No, it’s not!” Ace rebuttals despite not making it past page 10 in his textbook.

“It’s mine!” Grimm shouts even though he most definitely does not understand the experiment at hand.

The magicless student can only sigh. Deuce and Ace suck at potions. So when the two bicker about what to add to their cauldron, the prefect doesn’t even blink an eye. Deuce mispronounces an ingredient, Ace corrects him, but neither are even talking about the right thing. She can practically sense Crewel’s glare despite her eyes remaining on the cauldron, cautiously waiting for bubbles to appear so she could add the indigo milk cap mushroom.

What is added next to her cauldron is not the mushroom in her hand but a random root Grimm throws in. In Deuce’s haste to catch the gremlin, he spills over his own cauldron and some of their potion spills into hers.

“What are you doing?” she asks, but it’s too late. The mixture in her cauldron is boiling profusely and suddenly envelopes her in a cloud of smoke.

“Funya! MC, are you okay?” Grim inquires. Deuce and Ace also call out her name but there is no response. When the smoke clears, everyone in the room is left speechless.

The potential beast tamer hasn’t moved but an inch but she’s at least two feet shorter and with rounder cheeks and wide eyes.

“WHAT?” she screeches in disbelief, suddenly too short to even reach the cauldron, “Fix this!”

And this is how the group’s long catastrophic day begins.

Adventure 1: The beginning

“What?!” Grim shouts. If looks could kill, Crewel’s glare would have toasted the monster.

“Yes, it is hard to predict when MC will return to normal because you carelessly threw together that potion. It should wear off in a day, but there’s no guarantee,” the teacher explains through gritted teeth. The bell rings but the quartet barely registers it.

“Go to the headmaster! It’s not my problem anymore,” Crewel declares.

Unfortunately, as most meetings with the headmaster are, the conversation is fruitless.

“Hah? We’re supposed to babysit her?” Ace asks.

“Yes! It’s your fault, is it not? Take care of her until the spell wears off,” Crowley declares.

“Isn’t there any way to break the spell?” Deuce inquires while nervously glancing towards MC.

“It’s hard to tell because you added in unknown amounts of various ingredients,” Crowley answers before muttering, “It takes too much time! I need to know what happens next in my novel.”

“Tch, what a lazy adult,” MC comments with a bored expression. She figured this would happen. She can’t even recall a moment when the headmaster had actually been helpful.

“What did you say?” Crowley demands. Deuce immediately picks up MC and heads for the door.

“Nothing! We’ll take care of her! See you later headmaster!” Ace explains while the two boys dash out of the office. They book it out of the hallway and then set her down on the ground.

“Hey! What was that about? It’s usually Grim saying stuff that gets us in trouble, not you,” Ace comments.

“Don’t tell me…Now she acts like a little kid too?” Deuce wonders.

Adventure 2: Stranger Danger

“Oh? Ramshackle prefect, you seem to be caught in quite the predicament.” MC glares at the Octavinelle dorm leader in return. Ace and Deuce are in the midst of calling Cater and Trey to ask for advice, giving Azul the perfect opportunity to approach her.

“I have an offer for you,” the second year begins.

“No.” MC is firm in her answer and has no intention of making any deals.

“Are you sure? I treat children well,” Azul adds but it only results in her frowning. There’s suddenly a glimmer in her eyes but before Azul can deduce what it means, MC begins shouting.

“STRANGER DANGER! STRANGER DANGER!”

“Stop that!” Azul insists but his wide eyes give away his flustered state. With a smile that looks a little too much like Chenya’s, MC continues her call for help. Soon enough, Deuce and Ace rush to her side.

“Stranger? That’s Prefect Azul! Have you forgotten him?” Deuce inquires with a look of concern. MC decides this is the perfect time to practice her puppy eyes and simply looks up at Deuce, wide eyes and with a pout.

Azul silently admits defeat as he forms a tight-lipped smile accompanied by some false pleasantries before exiting the area.

“I’m hungry!” she announces before anyone can question her further.

“Yes! Let’s go eat!” Grim agrees.

Adventure 3: Sweet Dreams

Getting lunch is a surprisingly painless affair. Though Night Raven College students could be quite self-centred, even they balked at harming a little girl. MC easily orders her favourites before sitting with her friends, though she has to sit on her knees to be at a comfortable height compared to the table.

“Wow! It’s true!~” Cater chimes while taking a seat at the table.

“How are you feeling?” Trey asks.

“Okay! It’s kinda weird but at least it was easy to get lunch,” she replies while taking a bite of her food.

“Now you really look like my minion!” Grim declares. MC shoots the monster a glare but doesn’t give him a response.

“You’re actually a little kid, huh? So, what do you wanna do when you grow up?” Ace teases.

“I want to control all the ghosts and have an army,” MC answers nonchalantly as if she had been discussing the weather.

“What?” Trey asks, slightly taken aback. Wasn’t this the person who was gullible enough to think that oyster sauce went in tarts?

“A ghost army,” she repeats confidently.

“Anyway! Aren’t you lucky? You get all these handsome guys to help you today!” Cater interjects, not wanting to unpack why the prefect wanted an army of the dead.

Her gaze scans the table before looking up at Cater, eyes wide and expression void of malice, and asks, “Where?”

Grim howls with laughter while the four Heartslabyul students try to recover from the blow to their ego. It’s definitely going to be a long day for them.

Adventure 4: Smiles and stares

“Hey wait!” MC whines. One disadvantage of becoming short is that her stride decreased accordingly, thus her struggles to keep up with her classmate’s pace.

“Just walk faster or we’ll be late for class!” Ace retorts, glancing up ahead to see how far away the next building is.

“AHH!” Ace turns around to see MC a couple of meters behind him face-first in a patch of grass.

“Uwah! Are you okay?” Grim asks while flying above the fallen girl. Ace groans at the predicament. Deuce ran ahead to warn the other teachers of MC’s unfortunate condition so the redhead was the only babysitter at the moment.

The situation only worsens when MC begins to sit up, knees scraped, eyes glistening with tears, brows furrowed, and lips pressed tightly together. Ace’s eyes widen at the sight.

“Please don’t cry,” he mutters under his breath before trying to think about how to soothe kids.

“Oh my, that was quite a fall. You’re okay now though, right?” Jade asks while extending a gloved hand. His face is calm, showing no signs of concerns or worry with only a placid smile to demonstrate any emotion. MC stares at his face, analyzing his expression for a few moments. After finding the answer to her unsaid question, she accepts his hand and quickly sniffles before nodding.

Ace watches in amazement as all signs of pain and panic vanish from her expression. He decides not to question her mood change before ushering the prefect to their next class.

Adventure 5: What came first? The egg or the chicken?

“You have to!” Deuce insists.

“NO!” MC shouts back, sitting firmly on the ground. Deuce is startled by the force of her words but stands his ground.

“It’s for your own good! Kids need exercise!” Or at least that’s what Cater told him before going to light music club.

“You can’t move me an inch!” MC retorts.

“I’m older, you should respect your seniors,” Deuce adds, doing his best to retain some level of patience.

“At least I know where chickens come from!” she rebuttals and Deuce feels at a loss for words. It is certainly not honour student behaviour to yell at a young girl but the first year is at his limits. He came to NRC to learn about magic, not dealing with children!

“Let’s play tag,” Jack suggests. Being the only one with little siblings, he is quickly enlisted to help. While disappointed in Deuce and Ace’s carelessness, he didn’t want to risk MC’s safety by leaving her in their care. Thus making him a reluctant member of the babysitting team.

“Tag?” MC echoes before a bright smile forms on her face. “Can it be teams?”

“Sure,” Jack agrees nonchalantly.

“Jack and I are on the same team! We get to chase Deuce and Ace!” she declares gleefully.

“Huh? I didn’t agree to this,” Ace interjects.

“We need even teams!” MC responds with puffed cheeks.

“Too bad, so sad!” Ace replies without remorse.

“This is our fault Ace. Plus we promised the headmaster to take care of her. As Heartslabyul students and men, we can’t go back on our words!” Deuce declares. Jack’s firm gaze and Deuce’s blazing spirit give little room for negotiation and Ace sighs in defeat. Ace really does hate alchemy class from the bottom of his heart.

Adventure 6: Idiots, all of them

MC closes her eyes and enjoys the breeze while resting. Deuce and Jack had gone to the cafeteria to get drinks for everyone after several rounds of tag while Ace lay on the ground to catch his breath. It was quite entertaining to see the fastest first years engage in a game of tag and even more fun to watch Ace try to avoid his inevitable fate. Agile as he was, Ace couldn’t run fast enough to outdo Jack with his insane stamina and speed. She giggles at the memory.

“Bonjour petite princesse!” Rook looks down at the little girl with a shining smile. Her eyes snap open and follow the source of the cheerful voice.

“Isn’t it delightful to see a new side to your friends? Like escorting someone on their first dance, like watching a lazy lion transform into a beast for the sake of the hunt, like observing night flox bloom under a full moon!” Rook beams but MC merely shrugs in response.

“Yeah but I’ve also seen Ace fall off his broom, Deuce compliment plants, and Jack mistake onions for a chemical leak.”

“Oh? Is it not like having several princes tend to you?” he inquires.

She scrunches her nose in thought before replying, “If my prince got stuck in a tree and I had to go save him.”

“Dear me, and I thought you were une petite princesse mignonne [1]! Perhaps that was a misunderstanding,” Rook remarks though he doesn’t seem displeased with the discovery.

Adventure 7: Mandatory nap

“Let’s go to the infirmary,” Ace suggests, “MC needs a nap and it’s the closest building with beds.”

“I’m the one that needs a nap?” she asks while side-eyeing her tired friend.

“She hasn’t even run for 3 hours,” Jack comments.

“Kids need naps! Plus, who knows what the side-effects of the potion are?” Ace adds, “We shouldn’t take any chances with her health.”

“You do need proper sleep to grow strong!” Deuce concurs.

“Sure, sure,” she concedes. When they arrive at the infirmary, there is no staff in sight. Ace guides her to a bed with an expectant smile.

“Well, go to sleep now!” Ace announces.

“It doesn’t work like that. I’m not sleepy,” she responds.

“Just lie in bed and close your eyes!” Ace insists with a huff.

“Shut up. You’re so noisy,” a voice growls. Leona appears on the other side of a room divider. Jack lets out a sigh, disappointed but not surprised by his dorm leader.

“I was having such a nice nap and now I’m… hah?” His sentence trails off as he eyes the little girl before him.

“Well,” you launch into an explanation of what happened, Leona shooting a judgemental look towards Deuce and Ace midway, before concluding, “It should wear off by the end of the day.”

“Tch, what an annoyance. I’m going back to sleep, don’t be loud,” Leona warns before flopping back onto the bed.

“How do you fall asleep so fast?” MC inquires. Leona glares at her, lips pressed together to form a thin line, but he lets any threats die in his throat.

“It’s nap time. Count sheep like a good herbivore until you fall asleep,” he instructs before turning his back towards the group. More than she’d like to admit, her small body requires rest and what better excuse than this? Besides, it’s not like magical history homework was particularly appealing, so she plops onto the bed to rest.

“I’m exhausted. Taking care of kids is tiring,” Ace says before falling onto another bed.

“It’s been a long day. I’m glad MC is okay, though. Haaah…I’m sleepy,” Deuce murmurs before resting on a different bed. Jack doesn’t comment but quietly begins his homework while keeping watchful eye on the little girl, not that he’d admit it if asked.

Adventure 8: The End. For now, anyway

She stretches after waking up, pleased to find her body back to its normal size. Ace snores lightly, Deuce’s mouth is agape, and Leona is nowhere to be found.

“Are you feeling okay?” Jack asks.

“Yeah, I actually feel pretty good!” Their conversation awakens their friends.

“You’re finally back to normal! I’m relieved,” Deuce interjects.

“You’re a lot of work for a minion, ya know? You’re lucky I’m so great,” Grim comments.

“That was a pain! You owe me big time!” Ace adds. MC shakes her head and wonders if she has the greatest or most chaotic friends.

[1] une petite princesse mignonne = a cute little princess

#writing Rook and Deuce are hard #Rook is so extra #and Deuce's speech pattern is something I'm not used to #hope you enjoy #twisted wonderland #twst #disney twisted wonderland #twst x reader #deuce spade #ace trappola #leona kingscholar #jack howl #rook hunt #cater diamond #trey clover #wow I cannot believe this is 2K

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perriewinklenerdie · 4 years

Text

Taking my heart by storm (Ethan x MC)

Open Heart, Ethan Ramsey x MC

A/N: Hi guys! How are you guys doing today? It’s da weekend, bby. I’m back with another Friday fic. The idea for this one came to me when I was driving my cats to the vet and the storm was going on. We can all thank Mother Nature and her breakdown for that one entirely :D Also, the real MVP Naveen makes an appearance in this, because PB is hiding him and that’s some serious bs right there.

Summary: Ethan and Claire share a kiss in the rain in the greenhouse after storm cuts the lights out.

Enjoy! <3

------------

Since noon, the clouds have been crowding the sky, prompting the storm that was coming. Ethan’s shift has just ended when the first sound of a thunder rolled through the walls of the hospital. It was a hectic day, a wave of flu bringing more people to the free clinic and slippery ice sending many people tumbling to the ground, sprains and broken limbs overpowering the cases doctors had to face.

Unsurprisingly, Ethan couldn’t wait to get home. Especially since he knew for a fact that tonight, he wouldn’t be alone. Claire has accepted his invitation earlier that day, smiling every time she saw him, vision of them going home together never too far away from her mind. That smile of hers was what he thought about fairly often, and for the past few weeks, he was admitting it both to himself and to Claire. And with each day that he opened up to her more, it became easier to let her in.

The last time he saw her was two hours ago, when they finished consulting for a patient of the team. Since then, they communicated through texts, much to her amusement, and he had no doubts that she would be teasing him about it, like she always did. And he always would tell her that she’s lucky he cared about her, or he wouldn’t let it slide this easily.

He grabbed his bag and closed the office behind him, taking his phone out to text her once again, asking where she was. Not a minute later, he knew where he was supposed to go, aiming his steps towards her. No nurse or doctor dared to stop him, one look at his tired form letting them know it’s best to steer clear.

The entrance to the garden was tucked away from the view, and not many people knew about its existence, not even people working there. For that reason, the hall leading up to it was empty, as was the garden itself. The bench in the middle of the room was occupied.

Claire was lying down, the tips of her hair brushing the ground. Both hands resting on her stomach, moving up and down with every breath she took. Her eyes were closed, face a picture of complete calmness, a stark contrast to the angry wind that shook the trees outside and smacked raindrops against the glass of the orangery.

Ethan placed his bag on the ground by the entrance, then leaned against the doorframe, watching her silently. It’s a very rare sight for him lately, to see her so blissfully relaxed and detached from the issues of the hospital. Of course, when they were alone, it was fairly easy for both of them to forget about their problems. At work, though, the fatigue and dread followed them like their own shadows, never too far behind.

With the next breath of his, she stirred slightly, her eyes fluttering open, feeling that she was being watched. She took a moment to let her eyes readjust to the brightness of the room, a small moan escaping her lips. Ethan reached for the switch, dimming the lights a bit to make it easier for her, giving her a clear sign that she wasn’t alone anymore. Her head turned towards him, the corners of her lips going up at the sight of him.

“Hi.” She muttered, her voice raspy and deep. Her body didn’t move, not even an inch, as he walked towards her slowly, keeping his eyes on her firmly.

“I thought you left, with how long ago I last saw you.” he mused, keeping a bit of distance between them, just in case someone was to walk in on them, however unlikely it was. Claire grinned, raising her hands above her head to stretch. Her words were strained when she spoke again.

“I have plans for the evening. Maybe even for the night if things work out.”

Despite them both being still in the hospital and having it hanging over their heads, Ethan couldn’t fight the smile nor the acceleration of his pulse at what she was alluding to. “I assure you that whoever invited you has similar things on his mind.”

Slowly, she sat up, her hair falling over her shoulders and framing her face and neck. With a slow and controlled move, she beckoned him closer, crooking her finger and looking at him with a sultry smile. It was dangerous, how fast he reacted accordingly to her wishes, without stopping for even a second to think about what they were doing. When he was close enough to hear her low whisper, she found his gaze with hers, her eyes darkening slightly.

“Similar things, huh? Are you sure?” she hooked her little finger with his thumb, then released it so she could slide her hand up his arm. Each time she touched him, a wave of heat ran to the very core of him. She traced the shapes on the skin on the inside of his elbow, all the while looking at him with the intensity that he’s seen countless of times before. “Why don’t you show me what you’re thinking about right now?”

He cupped the side of her face with his other hand, stroking her cheekbone softly, his mind giving up the fight with each move their fingers made. Getting down on his knees, he slid his palm down the side of her neck, squeezing her shoulder on his way, until, finally, he let it linger on her thigh. He opened his mouth to say something, but before any words could form, a harsh roar of a thunder interrupted him. Moments later, the lights flickered and then went out, drowning them in darkness.

“How long until the backup power modules begin working?” Claire muttered, as though the atmosphere dictated how loud they could be. Ethan listened to the hum of the rain before he answered.

“The power kicked back in immediately, so all the machinery is still working. As for the lights, though, it can be a few minutes.”

“How long?” she asked again, leaning towards him blindly, knowing only the general direction in which she should be heading. Lightning struck, bringing their sight back for a short moment, raindrops casting shadows on their faces, enhancing the lines of their features.

“Give or take, ten minutes. Why?”

“No reason.” She shrugged, pulling on his hand and bringing him flush against her, their lips brushing together. This close, she could almost see the hint of light, reflecting in his eyes, though she could have been imagining things. His hands found their place on her back, keeping them close together. He could argue that it was to keep them both safe, prevent possible injuries if one of them were to move and trip over something, but he knew damn well that his one and only purpose was to feel her warmth. To smell her perfume. To feel her arms wrap around him and keep him close.

With the next lightning, he focused on her lips. How the corners remained turned up, just as they were before the power went out. How the shape of them fit his too perfectly for their meeting to have been an accident. The pull towards her he felt was too strong for him to fight, and yet, for so long, he tried to resist it. Only to, in the end, dive into the storm that she was, slowly letting her consume him whole.

When the darkness came back, he pulled her into the kiss. It’s slow and light, unlike the quick kiss she gave him before she left his apartment that morning. Unlike the ravenous kisses they attacked each other with the night before, right after the door to his home closed behind them. There’s no heat, no desire other than that to keep the other close and not let go. There’s no doubt, either, just pure certainty, warmth and care, evident in the way his arms held her tightly and in the way her grip on his shoulders was secure.

Water continuously fell from the sky, drumming against the glass ceiling of the greenhouse, almost entirely masking the quiet sounds they were making. Claire wouldn’t have been able to notice how he hummed against her lips if it wasn’t for the gentle vibrations it was causing, teasing her nerve endings.

Ethan leaned away eventually, using a glimpse of light to look at her again. His heart hammered in his chest, his cheeks must have been flushed and he was sure that he looked positively infatuated. Staring at her in the dark, he could see with his memories how she glanced at him in moments like these; flickers of happiness in her eyes and a soft smile lighting up her face, brighter than any source of light ever could.

“That’s as close to the kiss in the rain as we’ll ever get.” Claire giggled quietly, moving her hand to stroke his cheek with the back of her fingers. He welcomed the sensation, leaning into her touch. She couldn’t possibly see his teasing smirk, but he had a feeling she knew it was there.

“Who knew such an idiotic idea could be so pleasant.” He wondered out loud, waiting for a reaction of hers. And he got just that. She scoffed, punching his arm playfully before falling into his embrace again with a sigh as the storm raged outside.

----------

Naveen slowly navigated the long halls of his hospital, flashlight in hand, searching for people caught by the darkness. So far, he managed to guide three lost patients that went on a walk and couldn’t find their way back when the power went out, and that prompted him to go on.

Knowing that not many of his colleagues were even aware of the existence of the garden, he decided to go there himself. How was it possible that people worked there for years but not know about all the locations in their workplace was beyond him, but he didn’t have time to wonder about it in that moment.

He called out loudly as he walked, listening in for any signs of voices, but there was no answer. No sound other than the angry howls of the storm outside. His flashlight shone rays of brightness onto the walls and the floor, and once he reached the greenhouse, it pierced through the glass and reflected in the leaves of many plants that grew there.

Upon entering the room, he called out again, moving the flashlight around slowly. “Hello? Is anyone here- oh.”

Naveen stopped abruptly, taking in the sight in front of him. He expected a lot of things, and a lot of people, but no matter how many times he blinked, the picture didn’t disappear. It was very much real.

Ethan sat up faster than he thought he could at the sound of his mentor’s voice. Some time has passed since the lights have gone out, and when kisses transitioned into a tight embrace, he pulled her onto the ground, both of them lying down so they could watch the sky as the clouds went by, lit up by lightning strikes from time to time. It almost felt like it could have been their first date, but neither of mentioned it.

When Naveen found them, Ethan’s hand was running up and down Claire’s arm, their bodies pressed close as the low hum of the rain almost lulled them both to sleep. Upon interruption, Ethan, and shortly after Claire, sat up, both immediately awake and aware of how busted they were.

They stared at each other for a long while, unsure what were the words that were supposed to be said. Eventually, Naveen broke out of the trance, nodding his head slowly in acknowledgement. In the darkness of the garden he couldn’t be sure, but he was pretty much certain that Ethan’s cheeks were taking on a bit of a darker color. It was Claire that confirmed it for him when she eventually cut the silence.

“Go easy on him with the teasing.”

Ethan’s head turned towards her in record time, his face spelling out mock betrayal, which made her laugh even more than she already was. She patted his shoulder with her extended hand, muttering ‘there, there’, a joke that he was clearly not amused by. Naveen watched them with a growing grin.

“You two are adorable.” His words caused the pair to look at him with surprise in their eyes. He walked towards them, extending his hand in Claire’s direction to help her up. She accepted it, standing up and pulling Ethan right along with her. “The lights are going to be gone for at least another hour, so you two should go home.”

Ethan’s annoyance was crystal clear in the way he spoke. “I can literally hear you smiling, Naveen, what’s got you so amused?”

“I’m just wondering, how did you wear him down, Claire? I’ve spent years trying to get him to go fishing with me and he wouldn’t budge.”

She laughed, squeezing Ethan’s arm before she walked towards the exit with Naveen by her side, telling him her strategy as though it was a well-kept secret. Ethan stayed in the garden for a moment longer, watching their silhouettes go with an easy smile before he followed them back towards the hospital.

------------

#open heart #ethan ramsey #choices #my writing

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bravomckenzie · 4 years

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I’ve been trying to think of a question for you and I finally got one! I know you like the player theory for Bobby, but how do you think it could have been revealed if he was playing the game? And how would MC get to respond?

yet again i’ve put a lot of unnecessary thought in to this!! also this is soooo long i’m sorry

i see it going down in the same kind of way lottie and gary’s kiss was. i feel like bobby may have not been fully open about it in his confessionals/convos with other islanders bc he’s smart enough to know that it could get him eliminated especially where mc was pretty clearly fan favorite since she always does well in the public votes... but he definitely kind of let it slip. like the time he said he couldn’t donate his money to charity because there were “too many things he wanted.” or maybe when he got the call from his boys after mr love island they made a joke about how he’s one step closer to the down payment on his bakery and without really thinking about it he said something like “i know! that $50,000 is so close i can taste it” aka basically saying he had no intentions to split the money if he won, but it was a passing comment that i bet a lot of viewers didn’t think much of. but someone like shannon for example would’ve noticed. (so i’m gonna use her theoretically for the rest of this) i bet player bobby would’ve also made a point to ask his friends what everyone thinks of MC and them being together to know if she’s going to work for his plan and his boys tell him something like “yeah she’s fan favorite and everyone likes you together. she’s definitely the one to get you to the finish line.”

so shannon came in and like pulled MC to the side and was like “hey i need to tell you something that i’m not supposed to tell you, but it feels like the right thing to do.” and MC just sitting there like ...okay? and shannon is like “bobby’s in it for the money. he’s all but said it directly. he’s using you to get to the end because the public loves you and they love you two together. i know how much you like him so i feel like it’s right of me to let you know he’s not who you think he is.” and tells her everything she saw.

MC probably wouldn’t believe it at first. i mean... it’s bobby. her bobby. he would never do that to her. but then she thought about it... and she remembers other passing comments he made that kind of alluded to it. never anything major, but definitely concerning after being told he had alternative motives. she makes more and more connections as she goes through their time together.

after thinking on it a while, she finally pulls bobby and tells him they need to talk and they go up to the terrace. they sit in an awkward silcence for a minute before bobby’s like “is everything alright? you’re scaring me a bit.” but mc doesn’t answer and the silence continues for a little longer. finally, while looking down at her hands as she fiddles with the cushions, she asks him if he remembers the mean tweets challenge. he tells her of course he remembers it. she then asks if he remembers the tweet about him being a player and he says yes again. then there’s another moment of silence. eventually she looks up to him and she says “they didn’t mean a player that goes from girl to girl did they?” bobby looks at her confused and asks her what she means. she says “they meant like a player who’s here to play the game, a player who’s here to win, not to find love... a player here for the money?” and his face falls. he knows he’s been caught.

but i feel like that point would’ve been when player bobby’s mind would’ve been changed since it’s literally right after cursed casa aka when he says he realized he loved her. so he goes in to a full panic, asking her why she would say that. she tells him what shannon told her and he’s just like “mc, it’s not what it looks like. hear me out, please. i’m begging. i’m not here for the money anymore. i found you.” and mc is like “so it’s true then? you were here for the money? when our relationship started, you were in it for the money?” he didn’t know how to answer that so he didn’t. she laughs at him and says “so this was a all a lie then? you’ve spent the last two weeks making me look like a fool on national television when i’ve been giving you my all? do you understand that there isn’t s guy here who doesn’t want to be with me but it’s been you i’ve chosen every time? fuck, bobby! i turned down a fucking rich, handsome, motorcycle driving doctor for you! and you never even cared about me. i’m just the one who’s going to get you to the finish line, huh?” bobby winces at the sound of those familiar worlds, realizing she knows even more than he thought. “that’s not true. you know i care about you.” mc rolls her eyes, “do i know that tho? do i? because even if you do, how am i supposed to believe you when you tell me that? this whole fucking relationship is built on a lie. i’ve never been anything but open and honest with you. i let you see who i really am, the me no one else gets to see... and i suddenly find out that i don’t even know you, bobby. i know someone who was apparently playing pretend the whole time. we talked about our fucking grandchildren, bobby! you told me you saw yourself spending the rest of your life with me! and it was a LIE? you’re a real piece of work, you know that?” and bobby still doesn’t know what to say. he doesn’t have an excuse. there isn’t one. so he just says he’s sorry and mc laughs and says “oh fuck you, bobby.” and there’s another long moment of silence before mc breaks it again as she stands up, “if you’re smart, you’ll stay the fuck away from me for the rest of the summer. thanks for ruining this entire thing for me. i hope you get what you want, but i won’t be the one carrying you to the finish line. good luck.” and she disappears back in to the villa.

then i see lucas coming back as the returning islander and mc ending up with him. and it eats bobby alive. but this theoretical asshole bobby kinda deserves it tbh

thank you coming for yet another ted talk

#litg #love island the game #litg bobby #bobby #lucas #shut up presley #fave

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choices-love-affair · 4 years

Text

Pedestal ch.2

This is the second instalment, not sure how many chapters it will last for!

This is Ethan x MC (Lorelei Stannaway)

“Oh my god! When are you going to stop letting him walk all over you, girl?” Jackie’s voice could be heard over the increasingly loud rumble that was starting to creep into Donahues as more and more people filtered in, many calling past the booth where Lorelei and her friends were sitting to wish her a happy birthday and adding to the copious amounts of untouched ‘birthday drinks’ surrounding her at the table.

“Jackie…” Sienna chimed in, a sense of warning to her voice “it’s her birthday, give it a rest. At least for tonight”

“I just don’t get it, he makes you cry, on your birthday of all days, and you still defend him?!” Jackie continued, clearly ignoring Sienna.

“I’m not defending him, there’s just more to it than that. It’s complicated. I’m done talking about it” she waved her hand dismissively at her friend, she spared a quick glance at Sienna who returned it with a knowing, sympathetic look “I know you’re just trying to look out for me but honestly, I’ll be fine.”

“Oh yeah, fine is definitely the term I would use to describe the state I found you in earlier today, but okay, if you say so” Jackie responded flippantly.

“I’m gonna go dance with the guys, watch my…drinks? Hell, drink my drinks, I’ll be down at Edenbrook getting my stomach pumped if I attempt all of… that” Lorelei said as she waved her hands around at the glasses.

***

It was getting late as Ethan’s eyes began to sting and grow heavy watching the blue light of his computer staring back at him, but nothing of substance forming on the screen or even in his brain. He packed his desk up, grabbed his keys and coat, locked his office door and headed for the Edenbrook exit. He walked slowly to his car, absently rolling his keys around in his hand and thinking of the day’s events, mulling over Lorelei’s words and trying to process what exactly he was going to do with it all. It was then, as if they had a mind of their own, that his feet stopped in their tracks, turned on their heels and headed back in the opposite direction… to Donahues.

As Ethan approached the rowdy establishment, his feet pounding the concrete matched in time with his pounding heart upon each step that brought him closer and closer. He had no idea on the reception he would receive, but he had to at least apologise. He owed her that much. As he approached the bar, he could hear the muffled sounds of music blaring from the jukebox and laughter, it was 10pm, and no doubt all patrons were jovial with alcohol. As he opened the door, the full force of alcohol, sweat and warmth hit him in the face. He struggled to wind himself through the many people that filled the bar and make his way to his usual spot, thanking every god known to mankind that it was still available.

“with you in a sec, E.” called Reggie as he balanced a multitude of pints in his arm, trying to keep up with the demand.

“I can wait. Busier than usual tonight I see” called back Ethan

Reggie just nodded, too busy to fully converse with the doctor as he continued serving the endless supply of patrons lining up to buy their next drink. Ethan glanced briefly over his shoulder to survey the room and see who was there without looking too suspicious on who he was really looking for…that’s when he heard it. Her laugh. He could identify it anywhere, even in a largely crowded room, and his eyes zeroed in.

“Bryce! Stop it!” Lorelei giggled, trying to wriggle out of the vice grip he had on her as they moved around the dance floor, “Elijah, help!” she squealed as Bryce dug his fingers into her side and tickling her, making her elicit a yelp in response.

The song began to fade out before coming to an end entirely, a few moments of silence before the next song roared to life through the jukebox; Robert Palmers’ Addicted to love.

“Great song, my friend!” Bryce clapped Elijah on the back, clearly pleased with the new song choice.

“You, are a musical mastermind!” Lorelei hummed in agreeance, as Ethan watched her hips easily sway in time to the old school beat, her little black dress that already reached mid-thigh edging high and higher as she found a seductive rhythm. Ethan found himself simply entranced with her, with the way she moved, the way she giggled, the way she bit and chewed on the inside of her cheek when she was just a little anxious. He must have been dreaming to think that anything about this situation he had put them in would ever be easy. Who was he trying to kid, he knew he had definite feelings for her, maybe not love, not yet anyway, but there was something there and he was a fool for letting his moral compass get in the way of it. He continued watching on in envy as Bryce and Lorelei danced around each other

“you’re going to have to face it, you’re addicted to love!!!” they crooned at each other before bursting into laughter once more, Bryce wrapped his arms, one around her waist, the other around her shoulders and squeezed her tightly to his chest, laughing and smiling, swaying to the music in unison before turning his face into her hair and whispering something in her ear. Lorelei pulled back and looked at him with mock disgust and playfully shoved him away before resuming her sensual hip swing. Ethan tore his eyes away, unable to watch anymore and turned he head back around to stare into his freshly poured drink that Reggie delivered moments before, hoping to find solace in the amber liquid, ‘maybe by the time I get to the bottom’ he thought, internally hating on the pity party he was throwing for himself.

As the song began to wind down, Lorelei realised it was time for some water or tomorrow she would be in a world of hurt, she attempted to allude Bryce’s attempts to pull her back to him on the dancefloor, skipping around his outreached arms and sent him a dazzling grin as she waved her hand over her shoulder and swayed her way to the bar.

As she approached the bar, she lent both elbows on the bench and absent-mindedly hummed away to the tune, when she glanced to her left and noticed Ethan, two stools over staring into his glass, a depleted look on his face. She continued admiring his facial features, taking full advantage of the fact he was preoccupied to truly observe the high cheekbones, sharp jawline and full hair that shaped his handsome face. Despite anything that happened between them and the horrible words that they spat at each other, she could never truly resent him, she worshipped the ground her walked on and could quite easily fall in love with him, given the chance. She knew he was only trying to protect her, and this wasn’t easy for either of them. Her thoughts were suddenly halted when his gaze shot up and they found themselves caught in a mutual gaze that neither could break from. A timid smile spread across Ethan’s face as he tried to gauge the situation, waiting for her to speak first.

“…hi…” Lorelei finally spoke.

“Hi…” he replied, both still intent on not being the first to break the eye contact. The song finally faded out and an awkward silence fell over them, before the next song kicked over; Roxettes’ Joyride. Lorelei was the first to finally pull her gaze away, only in order to turn her head slightly more over her shoulder and stare with accusatory eyes, Sienna and Elijah either side of the jukebox, feigning innocence. Lorelei rolled her eyes and turned back to Ethan.

“Look, about today, I want to apo-”

“No, please. Don’t. I should be the one apologising. I don’t know what came over me. That’s not me at all. You’re a brilliant doctor and I shouldn’t be letting my personal dilemmas become your concerns. I’m sorry, and it won’t happen again.” He declared, looking back at her with newfound confidence, professionalism saturating his features.

“Oh… well that’s disappointing…” she replied, returning his gaze from under her eyelashes, a small smirk spreading across her face.

“I’m not sure I understand?” Ethan asked quizzically.

“she said hello, you fool, I love you” the lyrics cut through the middle of them with newfound meaning.

“I just mean, the moment you stop acting like a jealous, self-entitled jackass, is the moment I’ll know that this is really over” she shrugged, picking at the mat strewn along the bar, failing to look back at him, Ethan watching her intently “and if we’re being completely honest…” she continued, stepping over to stand next to him, meeting his gaze, at even eye sight level although Ethan was seated and Lorelei standing “I don’t want this to ever be over” she purred.

Ethan gulped, unable to form any coherent words in his jumbled mind, let alone get them through his lips. Lorelei slowly and seductively leant closer to his ear, her nose subtly rubbing along his jawline before whispering “so don’t ever let this be over” before standing back up straight, removing the glass from his hand and taking a sip.

“I thought it was obvious that this has never been, nor ever will be, over.” He replied, finding logically word formation and returned the gesture, leaning over to speak into her ear, his lips leaving a subtle kiss on the underside of her jaw “I’ll get better.” he replied earnestly, he felt so vulnerable, exposing himself so when he was always so guarded “…Happy birthday” he continued, taking the glass back from her hands and taking a sip himself “better get back to your dancing” he smirked, lazily throwing his head in the direction of the dancefloor.

“I’d much prefer if you were out there” she winked as she turned on her heel and walked away, with her back now to Ethan, her sudden alcohol fuelled courage dying as the realisation of her brazenness washed over her, she looked across to Sienna who shared her wide eyed and giddy smiled expression.

“Christ…” he breathlessly sighed, watching her retreating form for the second time that day, rubbing one hand over his face, he watched as she began dancing again. Only this time it wasn’t with Bryce, but by herself. Ethan turned back to the bar, Reggie filling up his glass once more “Reg…” he enquired “do you think I’m too old to dance?”.

#open heart #ethan ramsey #ethan ramsey x mc

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rosaliekali · 4 years

Note

Hi, I want to get into writing for Ikevamp but I only know so much about characters that are not released in English. So I was wondering if you could give me a brief explanation of all 15 Ikevamp guys personalities.

I don’t play JP but I can try my best. Starting with the ones we know and working down. Here is a word-vomit of what I have inferred their characters are and what I’ve seen people translate.

Obviously HUGE, HUGE spoilers for unreleased routes and Act 2.

REALLY, REALLY LONG post under cut.

Napoleon: Napoleon’s personality is a little more subdued and hidden by teasing. He’s confident with his MC and calls her affectionately ‘nunuche’. He has an uproarious laughter that begins with a ‘snnnnrk’ and will tease MC incessantly if the ‘bear in her stomach’ growls. He also has a habit of sleeping in until the afternoon and will instinctually kiss anyone who wakes him up without a care as to who they are (and has kissed everyone in the mansion at least once). When he’s with MC, he tends to be teasing of her and likes to spend time together. He’s the kind of ‘cool guy’ personality you expect coming from an Otome Game. I’d kind of compare him to a mixture of Alyn from MidCin except not as abrasive and Ray from IkeRev in terms of affectionate but still ‘cool’. He is best friends with Jean and Isaac.

Mozart: Mozart starts off very cool and aloof with his MC. He openly tells his MC that he hates her and finds her a nuisance. It takes him a while to open up to MC and realize he actually has a crush on her. Once they begin dating, he becomes very affectionate with her calling her ‘min schatz’, ‘his treasure’, or ‘his muse’. He tends to be closed off with the others but he is open with his MC and tends to have a pretty high sex drive with her. His personality is comparable to that of Louis from MidCin and Jonah from IkeRev. They both start off cold with their MC but end up becoming very affectionate in the end and are all perfectionists who detest messes and germs. He is best friends with Jean.

Leonardo: Leonardo is poised as the ‘older’ LI type. He calls his MC ‘cara mia’ and loves to tease her. He is more experienced than she is due to his age and is definitely very experienced / has a high sex drive as well. He tends to tease his MC more often and MC often feels like he has the advantage in the relationship because he can tease her relentlessly but he tends to be oblivious to her seduction efforts. He ends up falling in love with MC very early on and states that she is the only woman that he has ever loved and will ever love from then on. He does not ever want MC to become a vampire and tells her he would rather spend the rest of her life with her and keep her as is. His personality is that of Sirius in terms of the ‘older lover’ trope and perhaps Nobunaga from IkeSen although I don’t play it. He is best friends with Comte although he does tend to hang out with Isaac from time to time.

Arthur: Arthur is a little more of a complex character. At first glance, he’s a flirt who pretty much sleeps with a new girl (or multiple at the same time) every night and loves to be bold and unapologetically seductive, although more lurks under the surface. Deep down, he’s actually very insecure and traumatized from his time as a doctor not being able to save his patients. He sleeps with women to stave off the nightmares and ends up falling for MC early on in his route although he thinks she will never like him back because he essentially ‘assaulted’ her earlier. With his MC, he is very flirty and very seductive as well as starved for attention. He repeatedly tells her he will not do so much as look at another woman while with her, says they don’t interest him anymore, and likes to be confident in the fact that she is his although a part of him still worries she will leave him. His personality is like that of Leo from MidCin in terms of flirty but affectionate, and he has a VERY HIGH sex drive. He also doesn’t like Sherlock Holmes, his own character, because he is better than what Arthur seems himself as even though they have the same observational and intelligent deductive nature. He is best friends with Theo.

Vincent: Vincent is described as the ‘angelic’ LI in the game. He is very kind and sweet most willing to lend MC an ear when she needs it. He treats everyone he meets with kindness and is known to even draw the darker characters to his side because of his sweet personality. He’s a little oblivious when it comes to love and relationships, I think Theo alludes to the fact that he’s never been in love before, and he falls for MC pretty quickly but takes a bit to realize. When he and MC begin a relationship, he is very affectionate and wants to spend a lot of time together. He’s also very forgiving of other characters that have wronged him and likes to see the best in people. He is best friends with Shakespeare and Theo.

Isaac: Isaac is an unreleased English route (next on the schedule). He is very abrasive upon first meeting MC because he’s so painfully introverted. He gets tormented by Dazai and Arthur who have made him their favorite target of jokes. He tends to be more quiet and reclusive and has trouble expressing himself with others. The people around him like Leonardo have to clarify what he means to MC sometimes because he comes off sounding harsh although he’s actually a very kind person. He was known as ‘old, friendless Newt’ when he was alive because he never really had any friends and is a genius who is most often found with Napoleon teaching the kids down at the town or with Leonardo messing with things trying to fix them. A lot of his event stories show him trying to be more open with MC because he wants to be a better lover and is self conscious about how he comes off to her. He’s also hinted at being a beast because he drinks more blood than the other LIs and is a little more sex driven than the others. I’d compare his personality to Luka in terms of shyness, but he’s a lot more closed off and quiet than Luka and definitely more abrasive. He also hates apples and his apple-falling story and will become very upset if brought up. He is friends with Napoleon and Leonardo (and Dazai and Arthur despite how he complains about them).

Jean: Jean is a more complex character who is hardly ever seen on screen. He’s very quiet and unexpressive preferring to spend time on his own. He hates himself as a vampire and sees himself as something vile. While he took Comte’s offer on becoming a vampire, he didn’t realize what it would mean to accept the offer of immortality. For this reason, he hates Comte and refuses to even acknowledge him often times or do favors for him. He is friends with Mozart and Napoleon. He appreciates Mozart because they’re both quiet and can simply spend time together without needing chatter and Napoleon because they’re both soldiers and train together. He is hinted at suffering from depression and self-hatred and goes as far as to starve himself of blood because he wants to die. In Mozart’s route, he is shown to have a gun capable of killing vampires and refuses to answer why when asked although we can all guess why. In his route, I’ve heard he tries to push MC away for the grand majority of it until they eventually date and he asks her to kill him / stop him(?) if he ever becomes the monster he fears he is. He’s just very quiet and very self-doubting tending to keep everyone at an arm’s distance. I’d compare him to Louis in terms of aloofness but he’s definitely a lot more quiet and less rude / cold.

Theo: Theo is Vincent’s younger brother and described as the ‘devil’ to Vincent’s ‘angel’. He is rude, abrasive, and does not bite his tongue. He calls MC ‘knabbeltje’ (morsel) to remind her that she is food in a mansion full of vampires and ‘hondje’ (dog) to needle her. While friends with Arthur, he detests his ‘skirt chasing’ ways and is very cold / harsh when rejecting any women that want to get near him. It takes him a long while to open up to his MC, but, when he does, he is shown to be a very kind person. In his route, he lies to MC telling her that they are NOT vampires so that she will not be afraid while she has to stay with them and actually is shown to look out for her even outside of his route. He only pretends to be rude and condescending because he wants people to compare him to Vincent and like Vincent more. He was their parent’s favorite while Vincent went ignored and this has made him feel very guilty so he purposefully makes himself seem as worse as possible to make sure Vincent looks better. Really, he’s very emotionally mature when it comes to relationships and is very respectful of MC as a lover although he still teases her and likes to rile her up by mocking her. He acts as Arthur and Vincent’s wingman / relationship counselor and isn’t afraid to call them (mainly Arthur) out when they do something to offend MC in their own routes. I’d compare him to Kyle from IkeRev in terms of abrasive but very emotionally mature although he is much more cold than Kyle.

Shakespeare: Will is the ‘yandere’ of the LIs and the main villain in the Act 1 arc. He is one of the first people, if not the first, Comte brought back and used to live in the mansion before he had a falling out with Comte and left. He is the only person that can get under Comte’s skin and he hates Leonardo. He has paired up with Vlad and seeks to write a tragedy starring whatever LI MC is with and herself. Deep down, he is very self conscious of how he ranks with the other Mansion Residents because he sees them all as geniuses in their own rights, but sees himself as something inferior to them. He has a particular way of speaking, speaks in poetry which I’d recommend using a Shakespeare translator when writing for him, and cannot see out of one eye. With MC, he is cold at first but has a way of masking it by making himself sound polite. He does not think much of her at first, thinks she is like any other girl out there, but ends up realizing she’s much more and falling in love with her. He states numerous times that he would love to lock her up somewhere where only he can see her and keep her for himself. The other characters (minus Vincent and Comte depending on the day) dislike / openly hate (like Theo and Leonardo) him and try to keep MC away from him. I think people have compared him to Kenshin from IkeSen although I don’t play the game.

Comte: Comte is the father figure of the mansion and a very complex character. He is the one who brought back all the residents using a magical door. Upon first glance, he is very sophisticated and a true gentleman, but Leonardo tells MC he used to be a wild child who would ‘smoke like a chimney’ and get into random fights back in the day. He is childhood friends with Vlad and they both decided to bring back historical men as vampires in order to ensure their talents are still used to further humanity. However, now he and Vlad do not speak because they had a falling out a long time ago and Comte took the door from him. Comte is hinted at having fallen in love with MC in every route although he tries hard to push her away in his own route. Deep down, he is a very lonely character and has seen centuries worth of humans he has cared about die. He tries to keep MC away from him at first because he is tired of falling in love only to lose someone to time. He rejects MC at first in his route but slowly falls in love and lets himself be open to her. In the end, he becomes a very affectionate LI and realizes that he should value the time he has with her rather than keep her away. Comte also wants to turn MC into a vampire and has offered to turn her in other routes if that is what she wishes. He sees no problem with turning MC or any other human. He tends to show his affection economically showering her with gifts and loves to go shopping with her so that he can purchase whatever she likes for her. The other characters have called him ‘daddy’ as a joke and he takes care of them economically as well (giving Arthur an allowance when he asks) and anything else they want that he can buy without complaint (unless its Leonardo because then he’ll call him a ‘drain on his resources’ and complain about spending money on him).

Dazai: Dazai is the next character up on the JP game. He and Comte are the first two members of the Act 2 story line and are very cryptic. Dazai presents himself as the ‘class clown’ upon first meeting and seems to always be smiling and upbeat. He loves to tease Isaac with apples and often teams up with Arthur to rile him up although Arthur does not like him as a friend outside of that. Upon meeting MC, he pretends not to remember her name and instead calls her by several random Japanese names. In truth, he does remember her name and grows close to her, but he does not want her anywhere near him. Dazai is a very lonely character who suffered from horrific depression in life that culminated in him taking his own life, and, for that reason, cannot see himself as anyone desirable to anyone. He thinks MC is a very kind and upbeat person that would have to give up too much if she were with him, so he’d rather she stay far away. He does, however, spend time telling the children in town stories and does tend to step in and counsel MC or her LI in some routes if they’re willing to hear him out. Like Arthur, he is a writer and spends his time writing in the mansion, but he gets very upset if MC reads his stories because they are too dark for someone like her. He also tends to look after MC and the others worrying over their well-being when they are in danger and watches after MC specifically whenever Shakespeare gets too close. Really, he’s a complex character with a lot of layers and sadness. He might look upbeat and carefree upon first meeting, but the reality is anything but.

Sebastian: Sebastian is the only human at the mansion asides from MC. His real name is Akihiko (Akihiki?) Saitou. He is from Japan like MC and is a historian who is obsessed with history and keeps a record of the residents and what goes on in their daily lives. He greatly admires Napoleon and Leonardo and gets very excited when they compliment him or show they admire him as well. With MC, he tends to be very teasing and slightly distant. He is in charge of the chores with MC and is shown to order MC around and teases her when she gets something wrong. He is prone to flicking her on the forehead whenever she makes a mistake (MC calls him a tyrant as a result of his disciplining her), yet he does like MC and is willing to lend her an ear when she needs someone to listen or some advice. The others seem to have a lot of faith in him and he is the one running the mansion by keeping up to date with everyone’s meals, routines, habits, and needs. Really, he’s a kind character deep down once you get past the abrasive, cold, and teasing remarks. He also loves to tease MC and her LI in other routes and will root for her to get with the person she ends up with especially if its Napoleon. He is Comte’s confidante and is often found with Comte or doing chores.

Vlad: Vlad is the main villain in the IkeVam series. While Shakespeare is the villain in Act 1, Vlad is the true villain behind the curtain. He and Comte used to be old friends before Vlad traveled to the future and saw that humanity had destroyed itself. From then on, he decided he wanted to bring back famous historical figures and use them to fix / save humanity. However, unlike Comte who brought them back with freedom and with a desire to form a family unit with them, Vlad wants to enslave them to make sure they obey him and will work to save humanity. Vlad is shown to be very polite and kind although distant at first meet, but darkness lurks beneath the surface. In actuality, he sees everyone around him as tools to be used and hates weaknesses in any form. If someone or something is weak, he will discard them because his plans to save humanity have no room for disobedience and error. He runs a flower shop which MC has stumbled into independently (and I think Vincent too?). He appears to be a very sweet character and polite in the beginning but he is very aloof in actuality and, although he likes MC, he will not hesitate to use her to hurt Comte. He has brought back other historical figures in the past like Comte using a door that he has, but they come back incompletely or insane because he does not care to bring them back properly. He also is the one that brought back Napoleon and presumably brought Charles and Faust back since they both call him ‘His Excellency’ or ‘My Lord’. On a lighter note, he loves strawberries and loves gardening with a field of sunflowers that he and Comte used to hang out in being his favorite spot, and, like Comte, loves humanity deeply.

Charles: Charles is the second ‘yandere’ in the series and the former executioner of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI. However, he hates the fact that he used to be an executioner and goes simply by ‘Charles’ now. He is a doctor as a vampire and is shown to be very sweet and flirtatious. Like Arthur, he too goes home with a new girl every other night and flirts with MC upon first meeting her, but he tends to use a ‘sweeter’ and more ‘innocent’ flirting approach like Loki from IkeRev than Arthur’s more seductive flirting techniques. Upon first meeting MC, he falls in love with her right away and asks her multiple times in different events to ‘take him home’. However, his sweeter nature hides some darkness beneath. Like Shakespeare, he is a yandere and obsesses over MC. I’ve said before I consider him to be more dangerous than Shakespeare because, when Shakespeare is caught as a villain and Vincent / MC realize he has been using them, he drops the act-Charles keeps it going for much longer. Plus, Charles is not above kidnapping MC and tricking her into thinking that he is her lover (as was seen by an event story-although the premise of it was ‘horror’ so it may have been exaggerated) and is better at hiding his obsessive nature than Shakespeare. He’s more often seen with Faust and calls him ‘doctor’ although Faust doesn’t seem to be very close to him. He greatly admires Vlad and calls him ‘My Lord’ and will do his bidding although he does think it would be great if Vlad and Comte could get along and both sets of vampires could be friendly.

Faust: Faust is the final character in the Act 2 storyline. Faust is a doctor / pastor who works in the local church. He comes off as extremely cold-hearted and harsh when first meeting him. He sees people as guinea pigs and would love to dissect MC or any of the other vampires if he could to experiment on them. He is based off of Johann Georg Faust, the alchemist, and is a ‘doctor’ with a great intrigue in human experimentation. There is an old legend about him trading his soul with the devil for immortal life which is ironic considering the fact he serves in a church. He has a very harsh outlook of religion and does not like the christian god or the christian church thinking that both are useless and religion isn’t worth the faith people have in it. However, while all these things make him seem harsh, he is hinted at being a kind character deep down. He looks after the orphanage as a member of the church and does seem to have some sort of soft spot for children. He also may abhor religion, but he does allow people to take comfort in him as a priest / pastor? when they need it. In one event story, he listened to a teenager’s confession of robbery and ‘forgave him’ for his sin because the teenager had just lost his father and needed comfort. Really, when it comes to young children, he is shown to be kind-ish although he still acts very harsh and aloof. He falls for MC slowly and without even realizing it with his first birthday story event showing him smiling at the thought of her without knowing. Meanwhile, when it comes to the other characters particularly Vlad and Comte, Faust seems to have some respect for Vlad, calling him ‘His Excellency’ but he isn’t the loyal follower Charles is. He tends to be more cold with Vlad and has remarked that he doesn’t care what happens to the ‘old men’ (Comte and Vlad) or which side wins as long as he has guinea pigs to examine.

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the-everlasting-dream · 5 years

Text

No - Drake x MC

Summary: Elizabeth’s reaction to King Liam’s request from Chapter 2 of TRH

A/N: Oh look who’s alive and decided she remembers how to write. Thats right, I’m back with some subpar fiction and I hope you like Elizabeth’s honest reaction to the fiasco that was the beginning of this book. Some lines are obviously from the dialogue.

Word Count: 3408

Warnings: Swearing.

Tags: idk who even reads anymore so @chantelle-x0x , @choicessa, @mariamulroney , @drakewalkerwhipped , @quartzandarrow , @mfackenthal , @srawesleyghuewrites , @topsyturvy-dream , @enmchoices , @gardeningourmet @debramcg1106 , @alesana45 , @meladoridarcy, @blackcatkita , @tmarie82 , @annekebbphotography , @lizk77 , @jayjay879 , @tornbetween2loves , @akrenich , @theroyalweisme , @likethetailofacomet , @sleepwalkingelite , @littleblossom-18 , @ooo-barff-ooo , @drakewalker04 , @mkatschoicesblog , TRR only: @speedyoperarascalparty , @carabeth , Drake: @fairydustandsarcasm , @drakewalkerisreal

‘To ask us if our future baby would be the ruler of Cordonia?’

The words rang in Elizabeth’s ears, the sound of her own voice alien to her as what Liam was alluding sunk in.

‘Liam.’ Her mouth moved but it was Drake who spoke, tone laced with disbelief.

‘I... I don’t know what to say. My kid sitting on the throne...’

My kid. Our kid.

They’d talked extensively about kids in the past month, agreeing that while they still both wanted children, it would be nice to spend some time together first as a couple. Surely Drake would say no. The next words that came out of his mouth shook Elizabeth to her core.

‘I mean it would be an incredible honor.. I don’t know what to say..’

She turned to gape at the man she now called her husband, remembering vividly how he’d described how excited he was to take their little one on the same camping trips like his own father had done, teaching them the art of making the perfect smore, giving them the life he wished he could have had. That picture of a little boy or girl with Drake’s hair and her eyes, a perfect mix of the two of them firmly planted on his shoulders seemed to evaporate when she heard those words.

‘Elizabeth. What do you say?’ Liam’s blue eyes turned on her in expectancy.

‘No.’

The word was out of her mouth before she could control herself but she didn’t want to take it back. She watched both their faces fall and straightened her spine, swallowing hard. ‘No. No Liam. I wish I was sorry but I am not. I’m not giving my child up for anything.’

‘Walker,’ Drake started, reaching for her hand but she wrenched it out of his grasp.

‘No. I said no.’

Seeing his mouth open again presumably to reason with her, she turned on her heel and stormed off down the beach. Anger boiled in her veins like never before, searing hot; she could barely think straight. Liam to coming here — on their honeymoon, no less — and asking them for their literal unborn child was insurmountably selfish.

Hadn’t she giving up enough already? Was getting kidnapped, shot at multiple times, having the man she loved almost bleed out in front of her not enough? Was she to sacrifice her future family just because the king of Cordonia couldn’t get a date?

These and a thousand other venomous thoughts were swirling on her mind as she stalked off, heading in no particular direction except away from the conversation.

‘Walker wait up.’

Elizabeth did nothing to slow her pace as she heard Drake jog up to her. ‘Walker would you just stop for a minute? Elizabeth!’

Jerking to a halt, she waited until he was in her line of vision before fixing him with a poisonous look.

‘Jesus what was that?’

‘I could ask you the same damn thing. What the actual fuck Drake?’ She spat, not caring if anyone heard her.

‘Liz c’mon. It’s not like the kid wouldn’t be ours still.’

‘Drake do you even hear yourself? I thought you of all people would be with me on this. You’ve spent your entire life hating the nobles for their stuffy ways, you’ve ranted to me on enough occasions about how pretentious and prim and stuck up and snobby they are. Now you’re turning around and saying you’d sign our child up for that without a second thought?’

He pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. ‘Walker, c’mon you know it’s not like that..’

‘Then tell me what it’s like!’ She screeched, her voice shrill as it no doubt carried down the beach to where the rest of their friends were waiting. ‘Because to me it seems like you’re willing to drop and show your belly every time Liam asks you for something. Have you forgotten you have a wife now or does my opinion weigh nothing?’

‘You know that’s not true Elizabeth,’ he snapped back angrily and some part of her was glad to see the reaction, any reaction. ‘He’s got a good reason. We married for love. Don’t you think Liam of all people deserves the same?’

‘I do. You know I do. But his happiness shouldn’t come at the price of ours.’

Drake ran a weary hand over his face. ‘Don’t you care about the future of Cordonia?’

She paused momentarily thrown by his question. ‘What I care about is the future of my family. Something that you obviously don’t share. I don’t get it Drake. I really don’t. You of all people know how dangerous the life of a monarch is. Assassinations, poisonings, coups. Did the situation with Anton teach you nothing? And the worst part is that you didn’t even think to talk to me about it? You’re happy to just agree with whatever ridiculous demands he dreams up!’

Drake glared at her. ‘That’s bullshit and you know it.’

Hot tears pricked the back of her eyes as Elizabeth met his gaze. ‘We promised each other that we would have each other’s back. All the time, one hundred percent. All we talked about after this whole wedding shebang was to have a normal life, the two of us and the family we would have together. At least that’s what I thought we both wanted.’

The look on his face told her that her words had been driven home. They stared at each other in silence for a long moment.

Say something. This is our first real fight. Say something. She begged him silently, watching as Drake opened and closed his mouth several times but no words came out.

‘I’ve got a beach ball here with both your names on it!’

Maxwells voice cut through the tension. ‘What better way to work through some newly wedded strife than to slap a ball at each other huh?’ He shot a grin at them before wrapping a hand around each of their arms, leading them toward where the others had all gathered.

‘Beaumont this is hardly the-‘

‘Splendid idea Maxwell,’ Elizabeth interrupted, snatching the ball angrily out of his hands. ‘You’re on my team.’

Tensions boiled hotter than the afternoon sun as the game took place on the sand opposite the villa.

Elizabeth barely made a sound the whole game, concentrating her entire effort on hitting either Drake or Liam in the face. It would have solved anything but it would have made her feel a whole lot better, she decided, spiking the ball towards her husband. She rolled her eyes as he flawlessly intercepted it, sending it sailing over the net to Hana. She didn’t forget how Liam was readily avoiding her eyes, tapping the ball sympathetically over the net towards her as some kind of convoluted apology. She hit the ball again, harder this time, treacherous thoughts of Rumplestiltskin and baby snatcher rolling through her head.

What kind of person asks another person for their baby? Go make your own goddamned baby. What do I look like? The baby making machine? He may be a king but I am a duchess and my body is mine and so is my child.

‘Elizabeth heads up!’

The warning was too late and she was midway through turning her head toward the sound when something slammed against the side of her face, the impact hard enough to knock her off balance onto her hands and knees on the sand.

‘Walker!’

‘Elizabeth! Oh my god! Are you okay?’

‘I’m fine,’ she answered, brushing aside Hana’s hands, her ego wounded more than anything. Regaining her footing, she avoided all eye contact under the pretense of brushing the sand from her skin, keenly aware of Drake’s gaze on her.

‘I think I’ve had enough volleyball for one day.’

‘Elizabeth -‘ Maxwell began but she silenced him with a hand.

‘Max just... don’t. I want to be alone. Please.’

Steam rose off the bubbling waters of the outdoor jacuzzi as Elizabeth sunk deeper into the tub, trailing a hand through the churning foam, the other against her reddened cheek, her thoughts reflecting the same image.

This is my baby. Our baby — she corrected herself. Mine and Drake’s.

‘I want a little girl with your eyes and my hair.’

‘Not my hair?’

‘Hell Walker, you’re so perfect I’d take an exact copy of you.’

She laughed and they shared a cheesy smile as they both stared out at the waves crashing on the sand. She took another sip from her wine, feeling Drake’s eyes on her.

‘Something’s on your mind.’

‘What? N-no.’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘I may have only been married to you for a month but I know when something’s bothering you Walker. So what is it?’

Elizabeth heaved a big sigh. ‘Its just… We didn’t get a ton of time as a couple before the whole wedding debacle happened. We’re still learning about each other.. And I know we’ve got the rest of our lives to do that…'

‘But?’ Concern leaked into his big brown eyes and she could tell he was trying to hide it so she cleared her throat resolving to just say it once and for all.

‘A baby means a big change. For us. As a couple and as ourselves. And I…’ She faltered.

His hand slipped into hers, squeezing comfortingly.

‘This last year has been amazing, me coming to Cordonia, becoming a duchess, marrying the love of my life, so many things have changed. I could do with some normal before another big change happens and shakes it up again.’

Drake tugged on her hand and she took the opportunity to climb into his lap.

'I only just got you. Is it selfish to want you all to myself for just a little bit longer?’

Elizabeth felt his lips on her head, pressing a gentle kiss there.

’Not at all.’‘I know you’re excited for a baby — I am too but I… I’m just not there yet.’

She buried her face in his chest, worried about what he was going to say next. ‘Its okay Liz. Its okay. We don’t have to jump into this thing head first.’

He hooked a finger under her chin so she’d look at him. ‘When it happens, if it happens, it doesn’t matter. All I care about is us. As long as we’re in this together, I’m down for anything with you Elizabeth.’

As the memory replayed in her head, Elizabeth couldn’t help but feel a sense of betrayal. Did all that mean nothing? Or perhaps Drake simply put more stock in Liam’s opinion than her own?

Now THAT hurt to think of. She was very familiar with the bro code but surely that didn't still apply after freaking marriage?

Why us? That was another puzzle, she couldn’t solve. Why Drake and I specifically? Wouldn’t it make more sense if Liam absolutely HAD to appoint a heir to appoint one from one of the longer standing noble houses? What made her so special?

For the briefest moment, another thought crossed her mind. Surely he can’t still be in love with me...?

Elizabeth shook her head, perishing the thing from her mind. That door was long closed. If a public wedding wasn’t a big enough sign of rejection, she didn’t know what was. Was there something she was missing here? Something everyone knew about except her? Why did it seem logical to everyone to take someone else’s child and make them heir when you are perfectly capable of making your own?

‘Got room for one more?’

Elizabeth picked her head up to see Hana standing in the doorway, a pair of brightly coloured cocktails in her hands. She shrugged in reply, gesturing to the space beside her, gladly accepting the beverage. The cool liquid soothed her dry throat and she sipped it appreciatively, feeling marginally better.

‘Thanks Hana. You always know what to do to make me feel better.’

The other woman smiled softly. ‘What are best friends for? We missed you’

‘I missed you guys too.’ Elizabeth could not help the corner of her mouth lifting for a moment before it dropped back down, her somber mood settling back in. ‘Are things back home as... turbulent as he says?’

Needing no clarification, Hana’s pretty face crumpled in regret. ‘Truth be told Elizabeth, things are more tense than Liam let’s on. As soon as Anton’s trial was over and you guys left for your honeymoon, we received delegates from our neighbours Monterisso and Auvernal. I’m not sure if Bertrand taught you the history behind those countries.’

When Elizabeth shook her head, her friend continued.

‘Back then both countries were at odds with each other, always fighting, always trying to undermine each other. Cordonia was in the middle. The neutral ground so to speak. So it was only logical that each of them would try to win us over to their side so they’d finally gain the upper hand over each other. Constantine’s reign was the only thing stopping either of them from overwhelming us. And when Liam ascended the throne…'

‘Power newly transferred is the easiest to be taken,’ Elizabeth finished.

Hana nodded. ‘Since Liam doesn’t have an heir or any marriageable prospects really, he looks weak. And as a new king, in the middle of a political battlefield, he looks easy.’

‘But why me Hana?’ she burst out. ‘Why does it have to be us?’ She watched her friend’s pretty face crumple in through for a moment.

‘Because he trusts you and Drake the most. All the other houses, other nobles. Sure they might be happy to give up one of their own for the throne if Liam asked, who knows what agenda they have… I’m not telling you to do anything. Just keep all that in mind okay?’

Hana placed a comforting hand on her leg. ‘I’m going to get out before I turn into a prune,’ she joked, getting to her feet. ‘Bertrand would be horrified if we showed up to dinner in this state. You coming?’

Elizabeth nodded vaguely, turning over the new information in her mind. ‘I’ll be right there.’

Dinner was a tense affair. To make things worse, the conversation immediately ceased when Elizabeth took her place at the shared table, next to Bertrand. After a few moments of sporadic mumblings and pushing her food around her plate, she stood up abruptly, making her excuses and leaving, ignoring the gazes of her friends behind her.

The sea wind whipped at her hair, tousling it beyond taming as Elizabeth stared out into the dark horizon, kicking at the sand as she ambled down the beach. Her mind still turned over Hana’s words from that afternoon, now that she’d had time to process it, she was beginning to see the reasoning.

‘Can I join you?’

She shrugged, not needing to look up to know that it was Drake. ‘There’s nuff beach for the both of us.’

‘How’s your cheek?’

‘Its fine.'

They continued like that for a little while longer, walking two feet apart, both of them silent as she ignored the way his eyes begged her to look at him. Rubbing her arms, Elizabeth shivered slightly as the cold sea air nipped her skin. She turned her head to see Drake already shrugging off his denim shirt, having noticed.

‘I’m fine.’

‘Just take it. You may be mad at me but I’m still not going to let your stubborn ass freeze.’

He stepped closer, his hands were warm when they touched her, settling the fabric over her shoulders protectively. Their faces were inches away and for the first time since that afternoon on the beach, she dared to look up into his dark eyes.

‘Thanks.’

He shook his head in a gesture of dismissal, pausing briefly to gather himself. ‘I’m sorry about earlier.’

‘Me too.’

The crashing of the waves on the beach was all that could be heard for a few moments. ‘Is that really something you wanna subject our kid to?’ She said finally, breaking the silence. ‘Liz…'

‘I’m not mad anymore. I just… I wanna understand where you’re coming from.’

Drake let out a huge sigh, tipping his head back to the night sky above them. ‘I know its out of character for me.. that I’m the last person who would want this.’

‘No kidding. You’ve spent your entire life hating that place. Two days after we met you were warning me about the nobility and how toxic they were and now...'

‘You’re right,’ Drake admitted, lacing his hands behind his head and staring up into the sky, sighing in defeat. ‘You’re right.’

‘So what changed your mind?’ Elizabeth watched her husband think for a long moment.

‘To be honest,’ he said finally. ‘It was you. You were the one who showed me that a person could go through that place and still be the same honest, down to earth girl I fell in love with. What you’ve done to this country, in the last year, generations of nobles couldn’t achieve in decades. You showed me that there’s more to the nobility than gilded walls and politics.’

Drake’s eyes took on a faraway look now. ‘Yeah when you got that duchess title, I was a little scared that you’d finally be one of them but you’re not. You didn’t let it define you, you used it to make a difference like you did for me, the court… hell, the whole kingdom. So when I thought about how our home needs our help… how my best friend needs our help, I knew that with you by my side, if anyone could raise an heir with a good head on his or her shoulders, it’d be us.’

Elizabeth dropped her head to hide the small smile that broke through. ‘You’re doing it again.’

‘What?’

‘Making me fall in love with you.’ She looked up at him. ‘A little prince or princess raised by two former commoners could do a lot of good around there.'

Drake didn’t say anything as he wrapped his arms around her and she gratefully sunk into his embrace, finally feeling at peace for the first time all day.

'Promise me something.’ Elizabeth spoke up, her voice slightly muffled by his shirt.

‘Anything.'

'From now on,’ she pulled back to look him in the face. ‘We make big decisions like this together. We’re gonna be facing a lot of tough things as duke and duchess and we gotta have each other’s backs. Because if we don’t, who will?’

‘Promise.'

‘I guess we should go talk to Liam now huh?’

‘I guess we should,’ Drake replied, lacing his fingers through hers, preparing to lead them back to the villa before Elizabeth tugged him back to her.

‘Actually wait, I just thought of something.’

'Liam I am going to be frank with you,’ Elizabeth towered over where he was sitting on the couch, a menacing look on her face. 'What you asked of us today was a huge overstep of personal boundaries. You may be king but you have no right whatsoever to be so presumptuous especially with such a life changing decision.'

'I am sorry Elizabeth truly I-'

‘Do not interrupt me Your Highness.’ Elizabeth’s tone seared through the room as she fixed him with a fierce stare. ‘You had crossed the line and frankly it is only your best friend’s negotiation skills that saved your ass here.’

She paused, watching his blue eyes widen slightly at her use of the word before she made her demand.

‘Five years.’

Liam’s brow furrowed in confusion. ‘I-'

'I’m giving you five years to find a wife and put a baby in her. Drake and I, we care for this country and we care for you but we have to prioritise our own family first. So in the interest of compromise, we’re giving you until our child is five years old to marry and produce an heir of your own. In that time, Drake and I are fine with our kid being the centre of all the media attention and political nonsense as long as you understand that this arrangement...’

Elizabeth paused to gesture between them. ‘Is temporary. When your wife is pregnant, we will withdraw our child as heir and yours may take its rightful place. Those are my terms.’

Liam rubbed his jaw, eyes flitting from Elizabeth’s determined eyes to the floor as he thought it over for a moment before turning back to her.

‘I accept your terms.’

#this is the only way i can see liz going along with that horrorshow of a plot #and not be like canon mc my uterus is at your command liam #nah this is much more liz #Elizabeth Walker #Elizabeth Richmond #drake walker #drake x mc #drake x elizabeth #king liam #hana lee #maxwell beaumont #the royal heir #the royal romance #choices #choices fanfiction #choices fandom #playchoices #long post

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snowtimeisbesttime · 5 years

Text

Thoughts and questions on Volume 8, routes 1 and 2! ...Better late than never, huh?

~ROUTE 2~

-hell yeah, Pesterquest Megalovania!!!!

-and of course, there's no better time to get punny than this one.

-ah-RAH-dee-uh (/a'radia/, 4 syllables???) as opposed to /a'radja/ (ah-RAH-dyah?, 3 syllables)?? *disclaimer: i have no idea how to do fancy or non-fancy phonetic transcriptions in other languages than spanish orz*

-it's actually and clearly pronounced “best troll” jsyk

-Is ghost communion really that rare on Alternia??

-so. twitch plays pesterquest huh? Entire bunches of alternate MCs going wild whenever we click the good end options?

-Thanks for streamlining the whole savestate stuff aradia!

-I'm guessing the Big Spoiler was 1: meeting “our” Aradia, and 2: all the pieces we set in place for the future... like, we went apeshit enough to doom an entire reality, and reality did indeed crack, but then those cracks fixed themselves...... have we secured the Pesterquest timeline from assorted meta intrusions?

-Can we assume the powers that be are boned because of our temporal shenanigans?

(-what's up with regular PQ!Aradia, then? The girl that according to Tavros' route died not even a sweep ago?)

-Re: MC getting Funky Powers due to entering the Medium all those times: are they timebound??? heartbound??? They seem to be able to pop into the trolls' Prospit whenever they want... (are they specifically scorist???) and last but not least... they have a Class!!

-that sure was a Glimpse of Rosemary........ sure would be nice to have them meet in person...

-We finally remember our Friendsim friends, but are unable to reach them no matter how hard we try... because they're in a whole different reality than Pesterquest, perhaps? At least we make frens with a sweet eldritch squiddle... even if we soon forget them too...

-Feferi for Volume 9??? she has been alluded to in both routes... bringing bubbles and sims irl aplenty... then again we were literally outside sollux's house in vol6 and here we are...

-*aradia yeets dave's ac thing into space* wow if he absolutely HAS to meet his end then make it quick at least...

-The quest for more friends doesn't end here, though!

~ROUTE 1~

-Pesterquest 8 more like Sweet Jams: the Visual Novel.

-I was expecting Fiduspawn GO to NOT be a phone game and have actual real monsters... then again regular Fiduspawn does have them. Glad Tavros could easily catch that Wolvulpine instead of having it escape all the fiduballs ever (then again he's probably got the mythical gamer skill of actually landing curve balls or whatever figo has)

-Friendship is the greatest source of power, at least in some Alternian cartoons... that sure is an interesting thing to juxtapose with the entirety of alternia, as spelled out in this very volume

-Not talking about things isn't going to work for everyone- and it sure didnn't for Kanaya either (rose's alcoholism in the game over timeline, the entire thing with vriskan...)

-Of course, Vriska couldn't NOT appear in Volume 8.

-aaand we're back to the Thing with these two. Which more or less is: Vriska's got good intentions (she canonically and explicitly thinks of tavros as a friend, because she didn't feed him to her lusus) BUT she can't force Tavros to speedrun self-confidence because 1- as a page (the magikarp class) he's got to do stuff at his own pace and 2- doing that only brought suffering to both of them.

-And sure, Alternia sucks and it isn't going to stop sucking in a day, but Tavros isn't going to grow three self-esteems in a day either- nor is he going to forgive Vriska just like that. And it seems she isn't going to realize all of this stuff in a day, either. Basically, if they're going to ever make up, it's going to take a good while.

-Really hope we didn't lose Vriska's friendship though...

-Looks like Tavros using Prospit to escape his life's a thing he does whenever given the opportunity, but... wouldn't he wake up on his own eventually??? like, he's got to eat and stuff in the waking world doesn't he??? do dreamselves just never get tired*??? did he literally sleep away the trolls' entire SGRUB game????

*Dream Jade did grow more arms in order to play her eclectic bass to the fullest, so maybe dreamselves CAN ignore physics and stuff if they feel funky enough to do it??

-Also, MC was able to wake up Dream Tavros even though the trolls are also in a No SGRUB AU (or are they?)... and Dream Karkat also woke up because reasons apparently... where does this leave Jade and the kids?? are the trolls still going to play the game? Kanaya seems pretty sure that it's not happening, but... (is she still awake on prospit??)

-Kanaya takes the whole “fixing space” spacesylph thing to a new level: Home Renovation

-Heiresses just get the fanciest tech, don't they?

-We know the beta trolls were meant to be the most epic SGRUB players to ever exist, and that the entirety of Alternia has been explicitly fine-tuned to make them what they are... and now we know that extends to them literally having access to the SBURB building menu.

-If we succesfully separated Pesterquest from weird meta bullshit in Aradia's route, and they DON'T have to play the game anymore... then Alternia DOESN'T have to be Like That anymore... and therefore Vriska and Terezi might have the best chances at actually changing things for the better that anybody ever had.

#pesterquest #homestuck #aradia megido #tavros nitram #pesterquest spoilers #thoughts and questions

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honeyandfiregame · 6 years

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UHH. Be still my heart. Angry Day has inspired an angst request. So some incident, or a combination of just god-awful trainwrecks has put RO!Day (and maybe RO!Zenos. Would either do this? Idk. Angst needs no logic.) in the WORST mood, and the MC goes to calm them. But in their anger, something that the MC says upsets them, and they respond with something mean that just breaks the MC, who runs away in tears, completely inconsolable. How does Day (and Zenos?) react?

Day doesn’t get legit angry much at all, so it was hard to think of a scenario where this could happen. The only one I could come up with, well… Not only is this under a readmore because it’s long, but it also dances around and kind of over the edge of spoiler territory. It’s vague and alludes to something I’ve already kind of said about Day, so I still feel like I can post it. But if you want to keep some of the mystery about Day until the game is complete, I’d suggest not reading this. This is a wildly different side of Day than what you’ve seen. (Also this isn’t written in relation to the canon timeline and character development, so if his behavior when he’s romanced in canon ends up seeming different from how he is in this, that’s why :p)

I didn’t do one for Zenos this time, but I might do that later.

There’s a tremor in his hands and a ringing in his head. Day looks up from his trembling fingers, the world tilts on its axis but his eyes focus on that glint of gold, that crest of bastards. His stomach turns. He’s disgusted, alarms going off in his brain that makes him want to react, but he knows anything he does in this moment will draw to much attention and his boots are planted firmly on the ground. His vision shifts, but his body stays still.

Disgusted.

He doesn’t recognize the faces, he doesn’t know them, but if they wear that crest they’re sons of witches all the same. That much is true. No, he’s not the creature of Hell, neither Ira nor Gula, it’s them.

He doesn’t realize he’s clenched his jaw tight and his hands have furled into fists, an internal battle fighting against and for grabbing the sword off his back, while his eyes burn holes in the backs of aristocratic sinners. He doesn’t realize until you touch his shoulder and release him from the spell, making him jolt and suck in a breath.

He turns to you a bit too quickly, causing you to take a step back. “Ah…” It’s hard to meet your eyes, what he sees in them he knows is not really there. He shakes his head. “Let’s go back to my place.”

You’re clearly concerned. “What? But we just…”

A pang in his chest leads him to walk past you, not even waiting to hear the rest of your protest. “Wanna go home…” he mumbles. Something in his voice convinces you, as you obediently follow behind him, but he can feel your concerned eyes on his back. His skin shivers under his layers. No… It’s nothing, don’t be concerned.

The walk back to his house allows him to clear his head a bit, but he’s still dissociated, his mind picturing that crest every time he tries to think about something else, his footsteps uncertain as his eyes see a road twisted too much to be the same way he takes home, even if it really is. All this, of course, you remain oblivious to. Because there’s no way he’d let you see him being affected like this.

It’s uncomfortable, the silence that follows when he locks the door behind you two and tosses his keyring onto a hook by the door. It’s uncomfortable, the way you’re looking at him. When you open your mouth, it’s almost a relief compared to the silence, even if your words are not what he wants to deal with right now.

“What happened?” you ask, brow furrowed. “Are you okay?”

He sighs. Taking his time to remove his coat and hat, tossing them both onto the back of a chair, he tries to drag it out so he doesn’t have to answer that just yet. Honesty. He should be honest, because you’re his lover and you’re worried. Because now you can actually pry a little deeper into his issues and he can’t really bring himself to be annoyed by it anymore.

Another sigh. He falls into a chair and you follow suit, taking a seat in front of him. “It’s nothing, I was…” His teeth grind into each other, his mind flashing back to that crest again. “Earlier at the market, I saw… I saw these people. People I hate, I just… I wanted to get out of there. It’s fine now.”

He refuses to meet your eyes while he explains. Idly his rough, gloved hand touches his bare forearm. This is all a level of exposure he really doesn’t want to feel right now, he’s coming to realize. Especially when you reach over, placing a warm, comforting hand on his other arm and he lets you.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Shit. You can see the unease in his body now, too. You can see through him.

Day shakes off your touch, standing up so he’s not sitting stuck with restless energy, so he can turn his back to you and properly reign in his feelings, stop them from shining through in his eyes. He shouldn’t have taken his hat off. Swallowing, his voice returns to the neutral, stoic tone it usually is. “You don’t need to worry about it.”

“Really? Cause you seem kinda shaken up.” The skepticism is clear in your voice. He hears you stand up and his head imperceptibly twitches to the side. His jaw clenches again, pointed canines threatening to grind to a blunt edge. “I don’t understand what’s happening. This isn’t like you. Aren’t they just some people? What’s got you so worked up?”

You didn’t mean it like that, he should know that. You’re just confused and worried, he should know that. Your words aren’t mean to cut, but he…

He turns around so quickly you find yourself stepping back in moment of deja vu. His glare is fierce, his usual stoic features twisting to anger, brow furrowed, lips starting to curl back in a wolfish snarl, flashing dangerous white teeth. “Just some people? Have you no memory of anything? That bitch? The one who ruined me?” His voice is raising above the level it can usually handle. Not made for yelling, the hoarseness of his voice becomes more and more apparent with each question.

Sorry.

Sorry, it’s not your fault. He knows this.

It’s not your fault.

His eyes have never been colder, because rather than filled with nothingness, they’re alight with hatred as his voice drops to a hiss. “Are you always trying to be an asshole or are you just fucking stupid?”

His heart stops cold. His eyes widen, immediately the fire inside extinguished as he hears his own words.

It’s not you. He’s not angry at you. He’s not even angry at those men at the market. He’s angry at the past. But if he fights with the past, he’ll lose. Again.

Oh god, and now you’re staring at him, shocked. Unshed tears glisten in your eyes and his heart twists. He shouldn’t have taken it out on you. Why the fuck did he do that?

He takes a step towards you and you take a step back. He tries to reach towards you and you take another step back. His jaw trembles and his hand falls back to his side as you turn away from him.

No words are exchanged, but the sound that comes from you slamming the door behind you is deafening and says plenty, and he doesn’t follow. He just lets you leave, falling into his chair with his head in his hands.

So many things he shouldn’t have done. More importantly, he shouldn’t have let himself feel anything just by seeing that crest. He’s not as strong as he thought, no, he’s weak. He’s weak, powerless, just like always.

Bodiless voices whisper poison in his ears, reminding him of times past and feelings, both physical and emotional, he’d wished to forget. Skoll and Hati, having watched the spectacle, finally come over to him, claws clicking on the floor in near unison as they move to comfort their master.

Without removing his head from his hands, Day slides from the chair to the floor. A trembling sets in and Skoll and Hati each take a side, pressing up against his body to try and calm him from triggering memories.

But he’s hurt you and everything that’s bubbled up from it, he deserves. He’ll need to apologize later, but he’s in no state for that. He deserves this pain. He deserves every last damned drop filling up his self-destructive body.

Why the fuck is he like this?

#Spoilers #shorts #there's no good ending #you asked for angst and that's what this is #Day #HoF #Honey and Fire #I wrote this in an hour and didn't proofread

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incorrect-ikevamp-quotes · 4 years

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Can you please tell us about the whole scenario where MC gets kidnapped and Comte rescues her? The one with the CG I mean.

Sure thing! I’ll do my best to relay the events accurately, as this is one of my favorite moments in his rt~

Sizable Comte rt spoilers below, pls don’t click if you’d like to wait for the ENG release!

Okay so some much needed context before I delve too deep. In the first few chapters of the route, MC debuts in French high society (introduced by Comte as a friend’s heiress from overseas). As such, the better part of the Parisian population knows MC as somebody of noble birth. This is important moving forward.

One day while she’s in town she goes out with a friend upon request (also of high rank, somebody she met and made friends with at her debut) and Sebas encourages her to have fun before meeting up again to return home. Problem is, there has apparently been a great deal of unrest among the people in the lower rungs of the social ladder. Joblessness has been a prominent issue, and so a group of men decide to target members of the elite in order to force them to give a damn about the problem. In their desperation, they choose to abduct MC and her friend and tie them up in separate locations.

The other young lady’s butler/servant is present when they’re taken, but is unable to do anything to stop them. Surprising no one, he races over to find Sebas and tell him what’s happened. Naturally, Sebas is beside himself and takes the man with him in order to alert Comte. And Comte.........well........let’s just say he does not take the news well to say the LEAST. He hears them out, goes silent and it shows his furious sprite, and he’s about to storm out when Leonardo appears out of nowhere after he says MC’s name raggedly. (Note: not that odd bc purebloods seem to be able to sense each other’s feelings easily, and it’s likely he was responding to Comte’s acute and sudden distress). Leonardo has to grab Comte’s shoulder and tell him to calm down before he collects himself again, and then he leaves with Napoleon and Jeanne to go find them asap.

Iirc, Sebas/the other residents take up the task of alerting the police and trying to find more information while the search party is underway. There is a hilarious tidbit I’d like to share, only because it’s uproarious and makes me laugh every fucking time I translate it fdkhdgdjfsf. So basically they’re all trying to figure out what’s going on, until Sebastian mentions the whole coalition of impoverished people looking to get back at high society for the financial inequities of the historic moment. Now Mozart, in a moment of brilliant word association, says “Oh, well yeah under those circumstances that would make MC the ideal target.” And I fucking. Isaac just turns around and is like. “Could you not. Say it like that. When our dad is hAVING A FUCKING MELTDOWN AND A DISPLACED HUMAN WOMAN IS IN MORTAL DANGER. COULD YOU MAYBE NOT???? JUST THIS ONCE.” And I just fucking lose it every time????? Like are those not the most Mozart-core and Isaac-core responses imaginable????? Mozart being so focused on the logic of the situation he just doesn’t seem to be able to read the room/keep in mind how upset Comte might be. Isaac being HYPERSENSITIVE to the emotions in the room and being MORTIFIED that Mozart wouldn’t word things more carefully.

Also a short note since I’ve been thinking about it for a while now. One parallel between Comte and Isaac I find utterly fascinating is that the two seem to share a formidable understanding when it comes to anxiety especially. Despite how composed Comte appears in the game, we later see more and more evidence of how deeply anxious he is when it comes to his future and the prospect of sudden loss. As a result, I feel like their biggest difference lies in the fact that Comte is a great deal older--so he has an easier time concealing/stifling/de-escalating his anxious responses. Even so, they seem to share difficulty in maintaining emotional distance. If Comte doesn’t exercise control, he gets too close to people, and the inevitable fallout (since they usually die first) is devastating. I think Isaac operates similarly, but his anxiety was so overwhelming he didn’t manage to get that close to most of the people in his time (Essentially, he doesn’t have the same charisma Comte possesses and he hasn’t lost as many people consecutively as Comte has).

Moving right along. So! Comte and our swashbuckling friends (the Baguettes, as I like to call them) pinpoint the location/bunkers where MC and her friend are being kept against their will. (They find them after they receive a tip as to where the two ladies were last seen in town.) I’d like to note that in Comte’s POV of this chapter, he continuously blames himself for everything that’s happened. Saying that if he had been more careful, if he had done the right/smart thing and kept his distance, then she would have been out of harm’s way. (I disagree in that, when trouble seeks to find you it’s usually more a matter of entropy). In the midst of his agonizing, his mind goes to the worst case scenario and he forces the terror down--desperately wishing that he isn’t too late.

So our bois split up into two groups, one being Comte and the other being Napoleon and Jeanne (yes this is Area 51 and Comte literally does Naruto run--but he doesn’t dodge the bullets bc they can’t kill him). Naturally our pureblood wonder manages to take out all the guards present and kicks down the door to where she’s tied up. The moment he sees her relief floods him and he rushes forward, untying her immediately. MC sees him covered in wounds--blood and torn clothing as far as the eye can see--and has a moment of genuine shock. She’s so used to the immaculate and ethereal appearance (not a hair out of place) that seeing him so disheveled and wild-eyed startles her. He asks her if she’s injured anywhere and she’s able to confirm she’s fine. He seems to be unable to register that she’s alright until she says those words, and he draws her close in his arms and starts shaking. She’s surprised again by his sudden proximity, but when she feels him trembling she hugs him back and strokes gently along his back, murmuring over and over again that’s she okay. She feels fine, she’s safe now.

In his POV, he speaks to the terror of her life lost that was weighing on him. He’s only able to verify that she’s alive when he feels her body heat, can feel her heart beat, can feel her arms moving--that’s why he hugs her; to have undeniable evidence that she’s still breathing. He hates himself for being so fragile, for being so needy, but melts under the gentleness of her touch.

Before the scene ends, MC hears his broken mumble at her shoulder: “Thank goodness...I don’t want to lose anyone anymore.”

And just to make it hurt even more! From Comte’s POV it reads (the brackets are his unspoken thoughts):

"I......I don't want to lose anyone.......anymore" [I don't want to lose you... She hugs me back and her hands stroke gently along my back, as if cradling my heart. Her hands are so warm, proof that she's alive. You're so strong.....and so, so gentle. I know I should be prepared to say goodbye. I know I shouldn't be doing this. But I don't want to let you go...]

;-; I just. Every single time I read those lines I just start sobbing. He’s so tired of being alone, so exhausted. He loves her so much!!!!!!! He just wants one moment of PEACE GOD DAMN IT, LEAVE HIM ALONE CYBIRD!!!!!!!!!!!!

ANYWAY the story then skips to the aftermath, where Comte is back to his usual collected self. He’s at his desk doing his work (as usual) when MC comes in asking about how everything's going. He explains that he was able to find work for the people who attacked her, citing once again the concept of “Noblesse Oblige.” (For those unaware, it means “noble obligation” in French and alludes to this notion that the wealthy/privileged parties of society have nothing short of an obligation to use their resources in service to the less fortunate.) MC starts gushing about how both her and the police are really impressed by his ability to forgive them and help them anyway. This is where Comte drops that L E G E N D A R Y line where he says “Forgiven them? I never said I had forgiven them. On the contrary, the only reason I’m doing this is because they left you unharmed.” with that chilling smile.

So like. Get you a fucking mans that has the ability to pretend everything’s fine when you get abducted, beat the shit out of your assailants to free you, have a panic attack after you’ve been secured, and then still manages to have the grace to help the people that put him through his literal worst fear imaginable/re-traumatizing him even if they didn’t know it. This was essentially the scene that made me fall 100% in love with him. It was one of the first moments of profound, undeniable proof that not only does he care about people--he cares so deeply it shakes him to the very core. There’s just something....so moving about the fact that no matter how hard he tries to pretend that he’s distanced from something/someone, beneath that persona you just find a veritable avalanche of compassionate feeling/love.

#asks #ikevamp #ikemen vampire #ikevamp spoilers #ikevamp comte #comte rt spoilers #man i wish i could convey how hard this chapter shook me to the core #i think that's why i don't mind the whole hot and cold in the writing of his rt--it really WORKS rather than being annoying af #i mean its so easy to believe he's removed from it all bc he stays quiet #tries not to be irresponsible--tries to be mindful of her situation and respect her feelings #bc the reality is that they have an enormous power and life imbalance #even if he does sincerely love her--and I honestly have absolutely zero doubts he does--being too hasty would be dangerous #esp given what he wants: he's not looking for a fling--he wants somebody to be with for a long long time #but he also knows that his considerable lifespan has given him quicker insight into that #this doesn't make MC stupid by any means--but at twenty-ish there are plenty of things a person has not yet seen or can't yet recognize #honestly? i think his decision to hold off and only decide when MC was sure--when she had seen every aspect of what it means #to be a pureblood--was the most responsible move. even if he was sure of his feelings early on i like that he gives her time #yet i like that his self-control is also less than perfect; i think it proves the dual sincerity of his attraction and desire to protect he #idk if i can explain it adequately but he just feels so balanced; the perfect combination of mindful but also flawed #it's even more interesting to me bc his charisma seem to function on two levels; the first kind he exudes on a basic level #being attentive to what's important to people/replying to letters and keeping in touch/conversing at parties eloquently #its the kind that draws people in initially and can often be what keeps them in his orbit (kind of like with the workers)#the second is so gradual and masterfully honed that it gets to the point where he believes himself to be insidious #though idk if he actually means any harm i'd wager it's more that he knows what he wants deep down and inevitably acts in line with it #its fascinating bc he seems to deem it premeditated and wrong but even he doesn't seem to be openly aware of his feelings until later on #he's insatiable but also capable of recognizing that--tries to tone it down if it goes too far #or at the very least offer MC something in return: all of his love and anything her heart may desire #just as he says he really IS a mass of contradictions sometimes--which explains why he seeks out someone that's firmly grounded #somebody that knows what they want/what's important to them/and can help stabilize him when he gets a little lost #I LOVE HIM IF YOU COULDN'T TELL OKAY THAT'S ENOUGH FROM ME

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angstymarshmallow · 5 years

Text

The Things That go BUMP in the Night

Hi folks! I haven't done this sort of blogging in awhile but I really wanted to jot down some of what I thought about the new book released this week. For starters, although I know I'm a fan of the genre I was still pretty happy with the first two chapters - but like with everything, I still have my gripes about it. And without further ado, let’s get started!

1. Lore. One of the never-ending questions I’ve always found interesting to answer is - how do people that aren’t human fit into the same universe? How do they co-exist. Originally I’ve asked these kind of questions in another post but this specifically was one of the most important questions, going into this book.

I imagined from the beginning, there was some sort of glamour involved - and I was right! It's not to say it's a hard conclusion to come by lol, in some ways it is kind of textbook. But I think while it is a good way of explaining their world; it would have been more interesting if it was all out in the open (including bloodbound), rather than being quite so hush hush. How would that work? Wouldn’t there be mass panic? Well maybe at first, we are talking about things that go bump in the night, but I imagine there would have to be some kind of legislation in place to support their existence and to keep them in some kind of line. (I’ve read a series once that did something akin to this and there’s been other things where I don’t think this would be something impossible to accomplish).

That isn't to say nighthunters like Nik wouldn't still have a role within society. They could be a special task force assisted by the government to protect the...well ordinary from the unordinary and vice versa.It just would have been nice to see another explanation other than the more popular substance of - "oh my god, we had no idea these things exist!" But then I guess there would be no reason for glamour anymore, if everyone's accountable for their actions. However, this doesn’t take away from how awesome it is to explore this new detail regardless of whether everyone knows it. And I think it’s worth mentioning that I do like a lot of other things they’ve showed us. They paint this picture of New Orleans, uniqueness. Vera one of the first characters we meet, implores us that the city isn’t black and white but rather there are lots of gray areas when it comes down to the city.

From the little pieces of context from Vera, to meeting people such as the seemingly charming Garrus and Ivy as well as the shy Krom; as the reader it’s already been established to us that there is more to the supernatural world than just black and white - everyone is a monster. What I really enjoyed is seeing the different representation of supernatural beings in just the little details they’ve allowed to naturally come up within dialogue. And it makes sense! Just like people, supernaturals differ from one another. Plus that kind of detail - I eat that good shit like it's breakfast, and now I'm just waiting for a full course meal.

2. Introduction to Other Characters.

Another refreshing take from this story was the way in which they introduced some of the characters. Particularly, how Vera Reimonenq and Nik Ryder were introduced to us. I can’t even think of another time where we spent almost immediate one-one with a female LI first instead of a male LI. It was surprising and I jumped on the chance right away.

Vera herself is very interesting. I was particularly drawn to the fact that she swears satin gloves. I think touching is a sensitive thing for her; specifically touching with her bare hands which may allude to the kind of supernatural she is; or more specifically the kinds of abilities she has which sets her apart from “other humans” . I like that we had the chance to know a bit more about her; the fact that this is her first time home in a few years and although she didn’t confide in us why she left- it is clear that something has drawn her back here. It sets up for a very unique love interest :D.

Nik feels a little more cookie-cutter. A hunter with a dark sense of humour and a tragic backstory (i feel that to my soul when he brought up quite briefly; his father in his first diamond scene and the cuts that MC notices when they see a flash of their body). This is my personal biases coming out to get me because I love that kind of detail, and I live for that kind of angst. I also appreciate witty banter and it’s clear to me that whatever MC’s relationship with Nik becomes - they will have some kind of rapport between them.

Garrus, Krom and Ivy.

There’s very little we know about them, considering we spent a small time with each - but Ivy more so when MC and Nik agree to ‘help’ her in a way to find answers as to that creepy monster which appeared in the first chapter. Garrus is what I expect from the fae; charming and probably very easy to be seduced by, Krom was adorable in his own way and Ivy - she interested me the most. She felt a lot more personable and transparent. I think this is partly because of the time we spent in knowing her a little more than the others, and also because she may be more of a reoccurring character because of her little shop that Nik obviously knows his way around.

3. The Set Up?

There isn’t much to say plot wise about the first two chapters. Naturally it asks of us as the reader several questions. Why can our MC see past glamours? Who wants to protect MC so badly that they’ve paid an extensive amount of money to hire a hunter? And what does this have to do with the necromancy? These questions (and many more), are undoubtedly going to be answered over the course of this book. Although, I’ve already began wondering about this in length - as I have no doubt many others have as well. I like that it sets some objectives in a clear way from the beginning and honestly, so far it has the kind of action packed I never realized I needed for this kind of genre. It’s refreshing to be pleasantly surprised for a change and so far, I expect to keep up with series (diamonds and all).

The pacing so far is great and I’m looking forward to learning more about the Nightbound universe!

TLDR: I really enjoy the set-up of how they’ve painted supernaturals. Although, I was disappointed like Bloodbound, humans don’t coexist with supernatural beings - rather they live among them completely unaware because of glamour. The lore is really interesting so far and I’m enjoying the characters we’ve met along the way - particuarly Vera and Nik (I think they’ll be big movers in terms of plot) and overall, I think it’s setting up for a great adventure!

What are your thoughts?

#playchoices #nightbound #choices stories you play #k's thoughts #candid essay #Nik Ryder #Vera Reimonenq #Garrus #Krom #Ivy #thoughts #long post #shenanigans #just some rambles #and thoughts #i can't wait for more man!

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nightingaledarling · 6 years

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FIC: My Kind’s Your Kind

Fandom: Samurai Love Ballad Party Timeline/Continuity: Modern AU Pairing: Maeda Toshiie/MC (unnamed) Genre: Angst, but does it really count as angst since you know they get together later?? Probably. Oops. So much for ‘I will never write Puppy angst!’ Word Count: ~1800 Rating: PG-13 Notes: Let’s play “guess the character this description alludes to,” lol. This goes before “Like I Need You Then” in the Nostalgia ‘verse.

@hajeema @han-pan @stars-over-omori @kawa-akarin @all-my-cuffs-have-buttons @saizoswifey @pseudofaux @sengokugenkigirl

And anyone else who expressed interest in the rest of this series. Thanks for your beautiful comments on the previous work, loves! Y’all have been so great with putting out quality content that I was inspired to finish this one off. I have about three more planned. If you would like to go sans tag in the future, please let me know!

“What if I was your boyfriend?”

His phone buzzes with a text reading ‘SOS’ and he’s off like a shot, striding toward the bar with purpose.

The dim lights and throngs of people at various levels of inebriation make movement more difficult than it should be, but he sees her instantly. She’s got her arms crossed tightly in front of her, phone clutched in a white-knuckle grip. Her smile is so fake it’s painful to look at, and her upper body is leaning away as far as she can get from the creeper who’s leaning into her space. The man’s got a bit of a heavier build, his balding head slick with sweat from the body heat inside the building. Neither of these do much to detract from the man’s slimy, leery gaze.

What was the phrase again? ‘It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye’?

Toshiie pushes forward and steps right in between the two, thumping his hand down on the bar top for good measure as he turns his back to the creeper and looks down at his friend.

“Hey Gorgeous,” he says, the pet name rolling off his tongue as naturally as if he were saying her name instead. “Was wondering where you went.”

The relief ebbing from her is almost palpable, her eyes warm with a silent thank-you. She uncrosses her arms and lifts a hand to rest on his bicep. “Just wanted another drink. Thanks, Babe.”

An internal shiver goes through him when he hears that. But before he can enjoy it much, the man behind him clears his throat rather loudly.

Toshiie turns. He makes a show of cracking his knuckles with an impressive pop. “Sorry bro, did you have something you want to say to my girlfriend?”

The color drains from the man’s face at the gesture, and he shakes his head, spluttering his words out, “N-no! Nevermind!” He makes a hasty retreat, tripping over himself on the way.

Her hand drops from Toshiie’s arm, and he immediately misses the touch.

“Thank you,” she says earnestly. “He wouldn’t go away.”

He shrugs. “Don’t worry about it. Perks of having a guy friend. But I still think you should’ve been born ugly, because you probably wouldn’t have this ongoing problem of creeps hitting on you in bars.”

“I’m gonna ignore your implication that the creep problem is my fault. You realize you basically just called me pretty, right?”

...He walked right into that one. “Well, it’s not like it’s a secret,” he huffs, looking away. “You are. Pretty, I mean.”

When he glances back at her, she’s trying hard to fight back a laugh. “Careful. Don’t strain something trying to compliment me.”

He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Quit while you’re ahead.” He inclines his head toward the bar’s entrance. “Feel like getting out of here?”

“Sure. Let’s just go find Umeko and…” Her eyes roam the interior before stopping by the pool tables, and she giggles.

Toshiie follows her line of sight to see Umeko and her boyfriend pressed up against the wall in a rather compromising position.

He shakes his head, chuckling. “Maybe just text her that we went ahead.”

“Yeah.” She taps out a message on her phone. He takes the opportunity to send off a quick good night text to Sayuri too, and together they head to the door.

The cold air outside is a shock straight to their bones. It’s more instinct than conscious thought when he pulls her to his side so she can share the warmth of his jacket. It’s probably just as automatic for her to huddle into him and loop an arm around his back to get even closer.

“If I wasn’t sober before, I am now,” she laughs, her breath coming out in tiny pale puffs.

Another gust slams into their skin, and Toshiie shudders.

The bar is about a fifteen minute walk from their apartment. At such close distance, it’s kind of stupid to get a taxi or rideshare. On the other hand, he really isn’t interested in dying from the biting cold, despite knowing that his body does tend to run on the warmer side.

“Just pretend you’re in Hawaii,” she says suddenly.

Briefly he wonders if she can read minds. But he probably shouldn’t be surprised; they’ve always been so in sync with each other. “By myself? That’s sad.”

“Not by yourself,” she huffs. “Pretend that you’re on your honeymoon or something. I don’t know.”

“If I was on my honeymoon, I’d rather it not be with you,” Toshiie deadpans, only to wince when she thumps him in the flank with the side of her fist.

“That goes double for me, jackass.” There’s no malice in her words, just a fond teasing that only she can get away with.

He smiles, first taking it at face value, but then he starts to think.

From acting as her boyfriend at the bar to cuddling her to ward off the chill to joking about honeymoons - it’s not Toshiie’s first time for any of these. For almost anyone else, those actions would be a surefire indicator of romance, but for the two of them, it’s just out of familiarity and having been so comfortable with each other for so long that they can get away with it.

It’s no wonder that people always assume they’re dating.

He won’t lie. That what-if question had hovered in the back of his mind since their early teens when she started developing noticeably different body parts than him, but he never really gave it much thought until they entered high school.

Even then, the what-if was only a transient thought between relationships.

She’d been with her first love for a good year. When they ultimately called it quits, she’d said something about how he was kind-hearted and ideal but just a little too proper, and Toshiie had wondered, ‘what if it were me?’ for a minute before leaving the thought alone and treating her to a junk food day.

He had a similar thought when he became the unwilling owner of a broken nose in their senior year for sleeping with an underclassman who turned out to be the class president’s younger sister. When the president wrung out his fist and went on with his day, Toshiie had thought, ‘this wouldn’t have been a problem if it were her’ before stumbling away to the nurse’s office.

So the concept of dating his closest friend was always a fanciful idea, an abstract notion that he’d considered but never actually thought to be within the realm of possibility.

At least, not until they moved in together.

Now that they’re under one roof, their relationship has changed - solidified, almost. There’s something about their involvement in each other’s lives that can’t really be touched, no matter how many blind dates she goes on, no matter how far he gets with Sayuri.

Because now, things like cooking together and movie marathons on the couch and sharing a beer on the balcony are a little less hangout-ish and a whole lot more domestic. She makes him scrub the toilet on Sundays, but in return he makes her take out the trash. He’ll be at the store debating between his favored laundry detergent scent of spring blossom and her favored lavender fields and decide to go with the latter, only because the former gives her a headache.

He thinks about how these exchanges are probably much more common with couples - couples who live together, to be specific.

The fact that they have a joint bank account specifically for rent and utilities is just the icing on the cake.

That what-if question… it’s not such a farfetched idea anymore.

He doesn’t have much more time to think about it, because somehow, in all his contemplation, they’ve already reached the apartment. She ushers him inside, shutting the door and the cold behind them. But he doesn’t want to lose this closeness. Not yet.

He holds her fast, one hand to the back of her head, another to her shoulder blades. Her keys clatter to the floor in her surprise.

“Toshiie? What’s wrong?”

It could be real.

“...What if I was your boyfriend?”

She stiffens in his arms, then relaxes, breathing out a laugh. “You might as well be, for all the time we spend together.”

“I’m serious.” Toshiie draws back a little, leveling his gaze to hers. He can see the mirth and jest in her eyes slowly dim, dim, then vanish at the gravity of his tone.

She swallows, closing her eyes for a long beat and then opening them again, wearily focusing on him. “I guess…” she begins in a whisper, and although he can hear her perfectly in the stillness of their apartment, he leans in close anyway. “We just never tried to be anything more.”

“Why didn’t we try?” He murmurs.

She shrugs helplessly. “Didn’t make sense to?”

“Really?” Toshiie lets out a low, self-deprecating chuckle. “Cause sometimes, I swear - you’re the only thing that does make sense to me.”

There would be no interview time, no break-in period. He already knows that it takes five alarms to wake her up in the morning, and she already knows that Thursday is his back and biceps day at the gym. He already knows that she seasons all her food with an atrocious amount of hot sauce because ‘it’s not a meal without it, Toshiie,’ and she already knows that he bought a motorcycle because he can’t be bothered to operate on bus schedules. He already knows that she’ll cry at the drop of a hat when she gets angry, and she already knows that it’s best to leave him alone for a day or two when he’s feeling down.

She gets him, just like he gets her.

It could be real.

Her eyes flutter closed, slow and arresting, but before he can inch forward, she mumbles a single name -

“Sayuri.”

And it feels like someone’s dumped ice water over his head. He takes a step back. Just one step, but it might as well be a mile.

Sayuri, who’s out of town for a friend’s birthday and probably missing him. Sayuri, who’s kind and selfless and likes him and trusts him.

Sayuri, who he swore he’d give it a shot with, no matter how on-again off-again they’ve been lately.

He says nothing, just lets his hands fall to the side. In measured movements, she crouches down, picks up her keys and puts them in her pocket. She can’t seem to meet his eyes, not that he can blame her.

“It’s getting late,” she says, voice small and resigned, and she retreats to her room.

The sound of her door closing echoes into the foyer. Toshiie slumps against the wall with a sigh, raking a hand through his hair.

It could be so, so real.

But not now.

#you ever want to smack the shit out of a fictional character #me too #slbp #samurai love ballad party #slbp fanfic #slbp fanfiction #inuchiyo #maeda toshiie #slbp inuchiyo

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feisty-mary · 7 years

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Reasons Why Marrying William Sloan Is the Best Decision of Your Life (Part 2)

Wow, Part 1 made me realize that there are more people who romanced Mr. Sloan than I originally thought! I just have to say, congratulations on your good taste in men. ;)

To those who have expressed interest in replaying the books to choose this sexy businessman, DO IT! YOU WON’T REGRET IT. Mr. Sloan is a total sweetheart who will sweep you off your feet and raise your expectations of partners so high it’s practically a crime.

Notes.

- From this point on I’ll refer to the businessman as Mr. Sloan, as he is more familiarly known.

- Read Part 1 before proceeding with this part. They both cover the first book, and most points are interconnected.

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4. Book 1, Chapter 3. During their date in Venice, Mr. Sloan takes MC to Ristorante Oliviero for the best Italian food in the city. Without asking MC, he orders for her.

MC readily calls him out on it. “excuse u?? I can speak for myself and vote and own land and open a checking account? why are you bossing me around like I wanna choke on your dick??? oh wait”

Mr. Sloan is unfazed, although he tells MC to trust him in this particular instance. We let it go begrudgingly, although to be fair, the food he orders turns out to be amazing.

You have to admit, this kind of behavior on your first date raises a lot of red flags. Who wants to be in a relationship with a guy who decides for you without your permission?

To make sense of this, we fast forward to Book 1, Chapter 11, where something similar happens. Here Mr. Sloan returns to the cruise ship for his second date with MC. Honestly at this point I’m not even complaining because he flies back to her as soon as he can just to take her to Paris for a date??

Admittedly, he surprises her under the assumption that MC will readily agree/has nothing planned for the rest of the day herself. (Although, to be fair, surprises do have a way of ruining your own plans. That’s kind of the point!)

Here we’re given the option to tell him that he can’t expect us to leave for the Paris trip at a moment’s notice. A good option, too, since we’re trying to be as lowkey thirsty as possible we get to remind him that respect for each other’s time is kind of a thing. Besides, if you’re going to start a relationship with someone you might as well establish a list of acceptable and unacceptable bullshit between the two of you early on, right?

When MC calls him out, his reaction is surprising; he looks positively contrite. The panels above show him acknowledging his mistake, his tone completely different from when we first call him out in Book 1, Chapter 3. What’s more, he inadvertently reveals that he’s been listening to MC, after all, particularly about that advice to “let loose”. We don’t see him dance until Book 1, Chapter 18 (refer to reason 3 in Part 1), but it is clear even at this point how he’s making an attempt to match MC’s adventurousness and spend more time with her.

Just to put that in perspective, it’s useful to remember that he’s a CEO. In that particular line of work there is very little room for anything messes with plans, blueprints, and established timelines. That he is willing to make time for MC despite his busy schedule (because those meetings were probably scheduled months in advance and rescheduling them would be hell) says something about how much he must really consider being with her as his priority.

What I really want to underscore is how these separate chapters show us Mr. Sloan’s learning curve when it comes to romancing MC - and it’s clear he learns pretty darn fast. I had misgivings about his reaction to us calling him out on his take-charge attitude in Book 1, Chapter 3 but I like how it seems to have been deliberately written that way so we can see how he learns from it several chapters later.

He gets even better at it by the time we reach Book 2, Chapter 16, the night when he proposes to MC for the second time. He surprises her when he shows up at Nomade, and what do you know, this time he directly asks if she has plans for the evening before inviting her to Casablanca.

Did you see that? Yes, that’s character development.

5. Because Mr. Sloan is simply the best kind of life partner anyone can possibly ask for. Book 1 Chapter 18 reveals a lot about what we can expect from him as MC’s husband. As I’ve pointed out in reason 1 of Part 1, one of the things I really like about him is his foresight and how it always comes into play even in his relationship with MC, consistent with his work as an investor. He’s always thinking long term.

One of the ways the conversation with Mr. Sloan in this chapter is so distinctively him is that he doesn’t talk much about feelings anymore. That’s not to say he doesn’t reiterate them, because he does, at least in the beginning. But they don’t take up most of the things that’s said between him and MC.

What do they talk about, though? Well, they talk about important questions in relationships, like where they will live in the future and what MC thinks of having kids (in fact, this surprises MC herself, as shown in the panels below). Perhaps not everyone will agree with me on this, but the way I see it is that this man is already absolutely certain of what he feels for MC. As far as he’s concerned, the dating phase is done, which is why he’s already set that aside and moved on to the next one: planning their future together. Whatever MC’s misgivings might be, it’s clear at this point that Mr. Sloan has given their relationship some pretty serious consideration.

It’s also worth noting that when MC asks him what he thinks their future will look like, he tells her that she can tell him what she wants and he will just make them come true.

In Book 2, Chapter 8, he even goes as far as asking her, “hypothetically speaking”, where his next vacation house should be located.

Going back to reason 4 above makes it easier to see how Mr. Sloan’s character develops - he changes from someone who will make MC’s dietary choices for her to someone who looks at her as a partner with whom he can plan a future life together. It’s these small things, these subtle changes in his words and actions that tell us he’s been paying attention and learning from his interaction with MC. That perhaps their time together has actually changed him, and as cliche as it sounds, maybe even changed him for the better.

6. Mr. Sloan owns a winery. That’s literally it; who the hell turns down someone who owns a goddamn winery? Oh, and by the way? He names a bottle of wine after MC.

7. Because he knows his priorities, and it’s MC above anything else. In Book 2, Chapter 9, Rashad, Mr. Sloan’s very own best friend, warns MC that there’s a very big price to pay in being in a relationship with a CEO.

As hostile as Rashad delivers his warning, he makes a very valid point. Book 2, Chapter 9 perfectly underscores this when MC asks Mr. Sloan to go back to bed with her but he sadly turns her down, telling her he has to prepare for another business trip.

Before the chapter draws to a close, MC considers this silently, wondering if Rashad is right for warning her after all.

Surprisingly enough, in Book 2, Chapter 17, we see Mr. Sloan bite the bullet and very openly discuss Rashad’s thoughts on his relationship with MC.

I admit I did not see this coming; I thought it would be one of the things they’d conveniently overlook to give some sort of disadvantage to a potential relationship with Mr. Sloan. I mean, at least give the other suitors a fighting chance, Mr. Sloan?? lmao~

True to his nature as a businessman who most likely considers all angles of a particular negotiation before proceeding, Mr. Sloan talks to MC about his work-life balance and asks her what she thinks of it.

We try to be subtle about it, but suddenly Mr. Sloan says these magic words: “Consider it gone.”

Even MC does a double-take. Because… well, he can’t do that! He can’t just set aside his businesses for MC! Excuse me?? That’s like… totally sweet and romantic I cannot believe?????

I swear I didn’t cry. Maybe.

8. Because his proposals are so on point! Mr. Sloan proposed twice to my MC Alyanna because I’ve been loyal to him since the first book hahaha. Let me just spend some time on these proposals because they’re both beautiful and so well-thought-out.

Book 1, Chapter 19. First proposal.

I didn’t realize this until I was almost done with this list, but all the points I’ve listed up until now are mentioned and/or alluded to in his marriage proposal. I don’t want to gloat (who am I kidding, I totally do), but I can say with 100% confidence that our businessman’s first marriage proposal is the best of them all.

For example, he gather’s MC’s family members to witness the whole thing. One of the key themes in Rules of Engagement is family, and the first book does a good job at letting us see the strong bond between the four siblings. This being said, I thought it was very smart and thoughtful of Mr. Sloan to call them to witness what is arguably one of the most significant moments in MC’s life. It appears he knows what’s important to MC and he considers them important to him, too.

He also talks about how being with her has changed him, particularly about him dancing, as I’ve discussed in Part 1. In the left panel below, he mentions how MC makes him laugh, but also that she calls him out, unlike other people who appear to be intimidated by “Mr. Sloan from magazines”. I found this to be a nice touch; it gives the feeling that we’ve gone full circle and the time spent with him really helped build up their relationship.

The (intended?) symbolism is a nice, touch, too - Mr. Sloan proposes in the same place where he first met MC. If we go back to Book 1, Chapter 2, his very own words on the night they meet is “I’m not proposing that we get engaged. I just want to take you out for a romantic night. No strings attached.” Funny how he comes to propose many chapters later, at the very same restaurant and to the very same woman whom he once said those words to.

This is equal parts adorable and amusing.

In the left panel above, Mr. Sloan recalls the unfortunate (but absolutely hilarious) mix-up during his date with MC in Paris. It’s funny because you can tell he’s been thinking about that little mishap since it happened, and yes, his thoughts all along must have been, “Holy shit that was very embarrassing I swear I will never do that in my life.”

And yet here he is, several weeks (?) later, proposing in front of MC’s family and friends and possibly other people from the cruise. And you know what? He does it anyway. He braves his embarrassment and his discomfort anyway, because he’s decided that it’s okay, because it makes him the happiest, too.

It’s also interesting how he says, “Now, I’d like to put myself out here on a limb for once.” If we want to be very technical about it, “putting someone out on a limb” means “being in a dangerous position” or “doing something risky”. Well, okay, you say. Proposing is inherently risky, isn’t it, because there’s always a chance you’ll get turned down? Mr. Sloan is just acknowledging that fact.

Except, you have to remember he’s a businessman. Taking risks is literally what he does for a living. And if his wealth is any indication, he’s a very successful risk-taker. I actually interpret this as a very subtle way of him telling us how compared to closing business deals, he considers proposing to MC as probably one of the riskiest things he has ever done in his life hahaha.

Book 2, Chapter 17. Second proposal.

I was kidding; of course both of Mr. Sloan’s proposals to MC are better than the others! ;) If anything, his proposal in the Sahara is even better than his first one, because not only does he mention the moments they share together, he also mentions the times they don’t - and how even those form part of the reasons why he wants to spend the rest of his life with MC.

The four panels above show just how much MC has changed him, and I adore it.

But, of course, just to be fair to Mr. Sloan, we tell him this isn’t necessary. My MC isn’t here to impose anything on him, so she tells him he doesn’t have to change for her. He gives what is arguably the best response, as shown in the panels below.

Thank you, Mr. Sloan, for wanting to be that person who will dance with me in my lame black dress in a piazza in Venice. *wipes tears*

The rest of his proposal is absolutely magic, just like how he sees MC in his life.

I told myself I would let the panels above speak for themselves but ohmygod can we just acknowledge how much punch they pack because you can definitely tell that Mr. Sloan is speaking from the heart. This is exactly their love story. It’s a simple tale of two people finding someone whom they can dance in a piazza with, whom they constantly think about even when they’re far apart, and whom they’ll willingly make sacrifices for, because they put them as priority above all others.

It’s not all that complicated, but then again whoever said the best love stories need to be? ;)

BONUS!

9. This isn’t exactly a reason but I just wanted to add that Mr. Sloan planned the second proposal for weeks! Planning is his thing, okay, he’s good at that and he has plenty of money to show for it lmao. Here’s his hella cute reaction when we point this out (MC: “You’ve been planning this for weeks?”).

Dear @ god just please let me marry him already??

Also hey isn’t it funny that Mr. Sloan proposed to us in the Sahara? ahahahaha was our thirst that obvious?????

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Okay, that’s it, folks! This took a while but I hope you enjoyed this because I did! Thanks for reading and please don’t hesitate to shoot me a holler if you wanna squeal about Mr. Sloan! ;)

#william x mc #rules of engagement #william sloan #playchoices #choices stories you play #reasons why marrying william sloan is the best decision of your life #i'm so fucking tired goddammit william i swear if i didn't love you as much as i do #i probably missed some points but what part of mr. sloan is perfect do you not understand #fucking finally i can focus on school because this is done ahahaha #leaving something unfinished stresses me out #seriously tho i can't wait to marry william sloan let me live pb!!#I have feelings

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