#Mc either competes with her sister

[masked-alien-lesbian]

Our Summer Crush MC and LI

Tori and Rhea

[kaciidubs]

Hiii i’m new here so let me guide you through my chan brain rot so you can decide if this request is worth it or not☝️🤓

Ok so i’ve been thinking about bff Chan picking up fem swimmer!reader from late night practice and getting there a bit early so she’s still in the pool. He gets horny seeing her legs (i’m a simp for swimmers’ legs IM SO SOREY) and soaking wet and they fuck in the dressing room (just bc i think pool sex is too messy but this part is wtv for me).

Honestly i just think Chan is such a but/legs guy, i imagine him going insane between them and fucking the mc so hard to fulfill his horny and sentimental needs towards her.

- 🎃 (pumpkin anon if i may??)

Swim Practice

Oh lovely, I've got Chan brain rot 24/7 so let's get into it!!! And of course you can be pumpkin nonie! Sorry it took me so long! 💕

❣ Summary: Chris, your best friend who picks you up after late night swim practices. Chris, your best friend who might just have a thing for your legs. ❣  ❣ Word Count: 1.2k ❣ Warnings: Smut, fluff, slight humor, unprotected sex, slight public sex [locker room], slight leg kink [Chris], Reader knows how to swim, Reader is also kinda sassy, Chris being a slightly annoying best friend [lovingly] ❣  ❣ Female! Reader [No use of Y/N] | You/Your pronouns ❣  ❣ Additional Tags: Chan is referred to as Chanstopher, Channie, and Chris, Reader is referred to as Littlest Mermaid and Baby, Chris' dad is mentioned once ❣ Stray Kids Masterlist ❣ General Masterlist

Littlest Mermaid 🪸: Channie! You’re still free to pick me up after practice, yeah? Chanstopher🐺: Yeah, I’ve got you Chanstopher🐺: What time do you get out again? Littlest Mermaid 🪸: I’ve got the place booked till 10 Chanstopher🐺: Late practice again? Littlest Mermaid 🪸: Mhm- Mr. Bahng told me I could since all the little kiddos are in their summer lessons Littlest Mermaid 🪸: I owe you big time I swear!! Chanstopher🐺: Yeah yeah, I’ll see you later!

Chris checked the text chat one last time as he pulled open the door to the community center, checking the time at the top of the screen - 9:34 PM, sure he was a bit early, but there was no way you were actually using the whole reservation time.

You and Chris had been best friends since he accidentally pushed you into the pool during your beginner swim lessons, and when he tried to help you out, you’d used all your 9-year-old strength to pull him in instead - from then on, you both have been attached to the hip. Where he was taking swimming lessons to compete in the local swim meets, you were taking swimming lessons because it was either that or gymnastics, according to your parents.

Still, despite your differing reasons for being in the swim classes - proudly led by his parents - you two managed to turn an unfortunate meeting into a friendship that would stand the test of time; from supporting him in his swim meets to supporting him in award shows, you remained a constant in his life.

Of course, he did his best to reciprocate the same support through sending you a wall of text when he learned you’d be taking up swim meets casually in your own division, and staying up late to watch the recordings of said swim meets that his mom and sister sent on your behalf. 

It was only when he went home one time two years ago that the tradition of him picking you up from late practices began; one surprise pop-up turning into him being your designated ride for as long as he was in Australia.

Walking down the all-too-familiar halls, the smell of chlorine slowly seeped into the air before he reached the double doors of the pool room, various warnings and rule lists plastered across the front. He pushed through the doors, the sound of splashing water proving him wrong as he spotted your form floating in the shallow end - eyes closed and limbs splayed out like a starfish, most likely relaxing after a few laps.

Smirking to himself, Chris snuck toward the edge of the pool you were closest to before bending down, putting his hand in the slightly cold water, and splashing water in your direction - laughing as you slipped back into wading.

“What the actual-?!” Wiping your face free of the droplets - ironically making your face even wetter in the process - your fiery glare landed on a familiar face, “Christopher! What the hell was that for?!”

“You looked too peaceful,” he taunted, tongue peaking out of the side of his mouth before a cheeky grin brightened his features.

You rolled your eyes, dipping your hand in the water before flicking some water back in his direction, “Oh whatever - what’re you doing in here anyways? You usually wait outside.”

He shrugged, “I didn’t think you’d still be in the pool - figured I’d just come in and wait this time, haven’t been inside since last year, you know?”

Puffing your cheeks, you waded your way over to the edge before resting your arms on the tiles, “I guess.. Give me one final lap then we can head out, okay?”

“Knock yourself out - we’re still on for Hungry Jacks after, yeah?”

“Of course! There’s no way I’d pass up food after a practice - or food in general.”

With that, he watched as you shuffled your way through the deep end before swimming toward the other half of the pool where they kept laned off for swim meets.

He had to admit, part of him missed competing and the rush of adrenaline when the buzzer went off and all he had to think about was ‘go’, but watching you set up for a lap made that bitterness just a bit sweeter - knowing that you were able to grow from a kid who claimed swimming like a frog was the best form, to earning a few medals in the breaststroke and butterfly stroke category.

The sound of splashing broke him from his reverie, his eyes locking onto your form as you broke into a breaststroke - simple, effective, a good choice to leave off with after hours of practicing with almost perfect technique.

By the time you had turned to finish out your lap, he was already walking toward the pool chair that had your towel draped over your bag, snatching the cloth in preparation for your grand exit.

Oh, how grand it was.

What he wouldn’t give to be the beads of water dripping down the curve of your hips and thighs, skin glistening under the fluorescent lights of the pool room as you pulled yourself out of the pool with hard-earned strength.

Now that you were up close, he could finally notice how your bathing suit was snugly hugging your shape, each bead of water acting like glitter to catch his eye effortlessly - well, almost effortlessly, as he thrusted the towel in your direction without a moment’s notice.

“Uh- Here!”

You took the towel gratefully, shooting him an earnest smile as you took the time to wipe down your arms and chest, “Thanks - just give me a second to rinse off and change, then we can head out.”

Chris meant to answer you, truly he did, but all thoughts of a reply fizzled out into nothing as his eyes began the exciting trail down your body once more - god, he never noticed how wonderfully shaped you were until now, especially your legs.

Curvy, sculpted, from your thighs to your calves, he could only imagine how strong they were - how they’d feel wrapped around his head.

He was a simple man, if he found someone attractive, it was because of a multitude of things, but those legs - your legs, were making him feel like he was a teenager going through puberty again.

“Channie?”

His eyes snapped up to yours, immediately clocking the sparkle of humor mixing with something unfamiliar - it made his stomach flip.

“I could use some help getting out of my bathing suit, if you don’t mind?”

Of course, as a great best friend, who was he to deny you help when you asked?

He could only assume that he was an even greater best friend from the way you were quivering underneath him, your hands holding onto the edge of the towel-covered bench for stability as he fucked you into next week.

“Fuck, look at you,” he groaned, one hand keeping your right leg pressed against his chest while the other gripped your hip, bathing suit laid in a wet heap somewhere along with his sweats and underwear. “You’ve got no clue how many times I’ve dreamt of this.”

Your cunt clenched around him, a shuddering moan falling from your lips as you nodded, “S-Same- fuck, wanted you so bad, Chris- E-Every time you visit.”

“You-” An incredulous scoff escaped him, lips pulling into a cocky smirk, “You waited until now to make a move? Baby, I could’ve been fucking this sweet pussy ages ago?”

You wanted to reply, maybe offer him an apology of some sorts, but his thrusts didn’t let up and the sight of him ducking his head down to press a fleeting kiss to your ankle made your brain evaporate.“It’s fine - we can make up for lost time, yeah?” Dropping his hand to the back of your knee, he pushed your leg up to your torso, mirroring the act with his other hand and your other leg, “After here, after Hungry Jacks, I’m spending the rest of the night with you, between these gorgeous legs of yours.”

[casperslibrary]

{Finnick Odair x Reader} To Survive The Ocean, First You Must Swim- CHAPTER SIX

[“Hey, I’m Thalia.” She holds out her hand, obviously expecting me to shake it. I only look and stare but Emery gladly takes my place and gives her a handshake. Of course he does, why wouldn’t he want to shake the hand of someone that will be trying to kill us in under a week? This is why I volunteered, he's too kind for these games.]

A/N: WARNING: there will be a memory of the mc trying to drown herself, if you don’t want to read that, skip the paragraph in italics.

Anyways I really love this chapter! It’s really cute, but also a little sad, but that's what makes it fun! Also they're moving pretty fast, but I’m just trying to build up a relationship before she enters the arena, once she does things will probably start to slow down. Anyways Happy Holidays!

Chapter five | all chapters

WARNINGS: MINOR CHARACTER DEATH | MENTIONS OF SEX TRAFFICKING | MENTIONS OF ATTEMPTED SUICIDE | DEPRESSION | RUDE LANGUAGE | HEAVY THEMES  | SEXUAL THEMES

Today is the first day of training. During breakfast, Finnick questions us about what we’re good at.

“Both of us can tie knots and make nets, though I’m better with knives since I fillet the fish, and I’m pretty good at throwing them as well. My father taught me for self defense after my sister's game. Emery on the other hand is far better with a trident than I am, since he actually does the fishing.”

I think back to those moments of learning with my dad, it was in the second week of Cornelia being in the arena. She had managed to get her hands on a knife but was far less skilled with it than she would have been with a trident. I think that pushed him to teach me as much as he could, waking me up at six am and forcing me to throw knives at makeshift targets. While the practice was grueling, I loved the time we spent together.

Finnick nods, and Emery stays silent. He can tell there's something different between Finnick and I then there was before, I no longer lace my words with venom or my gaze with hate. If Emery questions me on it though, I’ll just say I’m being nice because he’s our mentor. I have no energy for another argument and I’m not planning on talking about our time on the roof last night, that moment will forever just stay with Finnick and I only. Sure the game makers probably saw us up there; but it was especially windy yesterday and I doubt they were able to hear what we were saying.

Finnick tells us to focus on learning survival skills, snares, different plants and their effect, knowledge that could be the difference between life or death. Listening intently I stuff my mouth, while the food is much better here than at district four, my appetite is not the reason for my two massive portions of breakfast. Carbo loading is a necessity considering the fact that I don’t know when the next time I will eat after the beginning of next week.

“Knives are the most common weapon found in the arena; so it's always beneficial to train with them. Though if it's something you’re already particularly good at, I would recommend focusing on other areas as to not let the other tributes know of your advantage. Emery however, I want you to practice with knives more, at least until you have some basic foundation of the skill. Besides from that, learn survival competence that you may have not picked up in district four. While our district is at an advantage by being better fed and therefore stronger, districts like eleven and twelve know how to starve. Consequently, they know how to survive. This knowledge will be imperative in the games.”

We go down to the training level, and I finally have the time to take in the other tributes. Most of them are either older or younger than us. I notice one girl in particular, probably only fourteen years old at most, with the number eleven pinned on her back. She has blonde hair, blue eyes, and is quite skinny as well. I feel bad for her, but try not to, while I am prone to caring about those who are weaker than me, it is not a good habit for the games. Both of the tributes from one are eighteen, and admittedly quite scary looking. From district two there is a seventeen year old boy and an eighteen year old girl. I don’t pay as much attention to the other tributes, it is quite apparent these four will be our biggest threat. While it is not uncommon for tributes from four to ally with the primed - a name we have for tributes in the first to districts who train and volunteer - Emery is quite frail and undaunting so I doubt they’d want him, and I don’t plan on allying with the volunteers, it's too risky. The primed want to win, and they know that to win you have to be the only one alive. In these games you can’t be the second person to betray your group.

After being dismissed by Atala, Emery and I alternate between stations until we find ourselves sitting next to the girl from eleven while learning about plants. The trainer tells us about leaves that can help wounds, and what to look out for while picking berries to eat. The girl from eleven answers the trainers questions with ease, and it is clear she already has quite a bit of knowledge in this area. Unsurprising really, as she is from the district of agriculture. What is surprising is her turning around and talking to me. 

“Hey, I’m Thalia.” She holds out her hand, obviously expecting me to shake it. I only look and stare but Emery gladly takes my place and gives her a handshake. Of course he does, why wouldn’t he want to shake the hand of someone that will be trying to kill us in under a week? This is why I volunteered, he's too kind for these games.

“My name's Emery.” Emery tells her my name as well when her eyes fall on me. From my glare she can tell I’m not too fond of her though.

“No need to be suspicious, I was just curious as to why you volunteered, you don’t look like a career.” Career? That must be what they call the primed in the lower districts. 

“I volunteered to join Emery.” Is all I say, purposefully not using the word ‘protect’, all that will do is highlight him as an easy target. But I tell she is able to read between the lines of my words, I mean he doesn’t exactly look like the next victor of the hunger games.

“That’s really selfless of you.” She gives me a smile, one that reminds me of my sister. Cornelia was about the same age entering the games, and I wonder if Thalia has any siblings at home hoping that against all odds, she’ll make it.

“Good luck, I mean it. I’d much rather one of you two winning than the careers.”

Thalia says before walking off. 

“Shame, she’s not even hoping to win.” Emery quietly speaks.

“Yeah, I just hope whoever kills her makes it quick.”

The rest of the training for the first day is, admittedly, quite uneventful. I try to teach Emery some knife skills, and while he starts to pick it up eventually I doubt he’ll be able to hit a moving target, not to mention in the games he’ll be shaky, scared, and disoriented.

Though I can’t say much, because at least Emery was doing better with the knives than I am with a trident. It’s too heavy and in the way, and I can barely move with it without hitting someone - usually Emery. After accidentally striking him on the head for possibly the third time, we decide to call it quits for the day, dinner is in half an hour, and most people have already left.

During dinner Finnick isn’t his usual, easy going self. We eat in silence but even after I finished my third helping (still trying to carbo load as much as possible) he still doesn’t leave the table. What little food he has left on his plate has gone cold and it’s almost as if he was trying to prolong the evening, almost as if he were trying to stop the night from coming. 

It is only when everyone else leaves the table that I realise the likely reason why. I rise from my seat and move to where Sona was sitting, next to him. His eyes don’t diverge from his plate though, and it seemed like he was trying his best not to look at me. Not knowing what to say, my hand almost moves to touch him, but I realise he might not want to be touched. While he seemed fine with me hugging him yesterday, it’s probably best not to assume. 

After a few moments of silence between the two of us coinciding with internal conflict, I finally decide to ask him, though only pushing the boundaries to hand holding.

“Can I hold your hand?”

He looks up from his plate and into my eyes for a moment before nodding. I take his hand into mine and squeeze it, just as Emery does when I feel nervous. We sit for a moment, hand in hand, while I try to come up with a better solution to comfort him. Whenever I feel sad or upset, people always comfort me through physical touch. That's how my sister and dad aided my pain, and since Emery was always around he quickly picked up on that and did the same. Though because it was always affection that made me feel better, I never learnt what to do when the person might not want to be overly touched. Thinking back to last night, hoping it will shine a light on what to do, I remember him tying knots in the lounge, it seemed to help him calm down.

“Could you teach me how to tie knots? I know the basic ones but it's been a while since I’ve been on net duty.”

That wasn’t actually true, making nets and tying knots on the boat before it leaves is one of the few things I can actually do without touching water, so I am given net duty a lot. He pauses for a second, and I almost think he realises I’m bluffing, but then a small smile touches his face.

“Sure.”

Grabbing a knife, he takes me to his room and pulls out a long piece of rope before cutting it in two. 

We spend the next few hours in his room, at first I have to feign my lack of knowledge, at some point he starts to teach me more advanced ones and I actually find myself learning.

“Here let me show you,” He laughs and takes one that I was particularly struggling with, but then looks at it confused.

“How did you… I didn’t even think it was possible for someone to mess this up so badly! This looks like a wasp's nest!”

I can’t stop myself from going into a hysteric fit of laughter before snatching the rope from him the moment he untangles it.

“Let me try again!” I say and start focusing on doing exactly what he told me to do, but I’m distracted when I hear him laugh again. 

“What!” 

“That face you make when you’re concentrated,” he says in between laughs, “How do you not swallow a fly when you stick your tongue out like that?”

My mouth opens widely and I exaggerate my offense to his comment.

“I'm out!” I throw the rope across the room.

“No! don't leave, it's cute!” He laughs and all I can do is laugh in return while picking up my rope from the floor.

We continue laughing and tying knots. At some point I consider asking him about himself, but I know he’ll probably have to bring up home and I don’t want to talk about that right now. Suddenly he checks the clock and his face becomes dimmer, but he recomposes himself so quickly I consider that I might have imagined it.

“You should probably go back to your room, it's getting late.”

I check the time, 11:23 pm. I suppose he’s right, though he didn’t seem to have any reservations about me being up late last night. I choose to not question it though and smile at him before getting up.

“Goodnight Finnick.” I say while trying to muster up the most comforting tone I can, but while that was something my mom and sister excelled at it wasn't exactly my area of expertise. Still, he rewards my efforts with a smile.

“Goodnight, Bugs.”

Just like that, I leave. Stripping off my clothes so that I am just in my underwear and sleeping bra, I lay in my bed trying to get some sleep.

I am falling, I am falling and there seems to be no end, until there is. Water comes crashing over me all too quickly, and suddenly I am being pushed and pulled and spun around without even being able to tell which way is up. A particularly large wave pushes me into the side of the cliff and-

“Bugs! Bugs! Wake up!” I gasp for air as Finnick shakes me awake.

“What…” I lose my words while trying to regain my mind, “What happened?”

Finnick sighs of relief as I calm down. “You were screaming, I came in to make sure you were okay.”

“Oh.” The clock on my bedside table reads 4:37 am. I choose not to think about why Finnick is awake at this time of night, nor why he is in day clothes instead of pajamas.

“Nightmares?”

I simply nod, he gives me a knowing look, and I can imagine he gets them as well.

“Is there anything you can do that helps it?”

“Emery spends the night at my house often, if I get nightmares while he is around, he’ll hold until I fall asleep again. It helps.” I sigh before continuing. “But I can’t wake up him at his time of night, it's unfair to him.”

Finnick looks down at the ground for a moment, then returns his eyes to me.

“If you want, and if it would help, I can sleep here tonight.”

I feel guilty for the relief that washes over me, I could imagine that right now all he would want is to sleep in his own bed, by himself. But I don’t want to be alone tonight, I won’t be able to sleep knowing what awaits me in my dreams. So, selfishly, I accept his offer.

“That would be… that would be really helpful, thank you.”

Finnick takes off his jeans and coat, leaving him in just his boxer shorts and shirt. Quickly, I look away. I know that all he is doing is trying to get comfortable enough to sleep, but I can’t help but feel flustered anyways.

Finnick slowly climbs into the bed with me, giving a cautious look as if I am the one at risk of being uncomfortable and not him. Tentatively, his arms wrap around me. We don’t say anything; though as time goes on I feel his hold on me get tighter, but never tight enough for me to actually find it uncomfortable. For some reason, this feels better than when Emery holds me, even though Em has been my crush for God knows how long. Yet being here with Finnick, it feels good. It feels right. Though suddenly, I come to the dumbfounding realisation that I am in bed with Finnick, in my underwear, and he is HOLDING ME. Wasn’t it just a few days ago when I despised his guts? Though if I knew what I know about him now back then, I doubt I would have.  I find myself wondering, did I ever really hate him? Or did I just tell myself I hated him because it was easier than knowing my sister was destined to die from the moment Sona picked her name, and there was nothing that could have been done to stop it. Either way, the answer eludes me as I very quickly drift off into a deep, peaceful sleep.

[sailorstar9]

F/N's Groom Called F/N's Sister's Name During The Wedding Vow, F/N Threw Bouquet And Changed The Groom To His Cousin

A/N: Please come home, Mr. Worldwide

At the wedding, F/N's fiancé tried to win Bogdana's favour by deliberately shouting her name at F/N, “ Bogdana, I love you.”

Infuriated, F/N smashed the bouquet in his face and called out to his cousin, “Ajax, I love you.”

“Do you love me?” the ginger chuckled. “F/N, how about getting engaged?”

“Alright.” F/N nodded.

After F/N's fiancé was severely beaten by his father and kicked out, the wedding turned into an engagement ceremony with the same guests.

Today was F/N's wedding with Olexa.

The MC on stage passionately asked, “At this moment, groom, what do you want to say to the bride?”

“I love you, Bogdana.” Olexa said, causing F/N to freeze; Bogdana being F/N's half-sister who just reunited with F/N's father recently.

Silence fell over the crowd.

F/N's parents and Olexa's parents all looked extremely displeased; some guests even stared in disbelief, some whispered to each other and some couldn't help but giggle.

Olexa then shouted into the microphone, “Bogdana, I love you.”

His grooms man, his cousin, Ajax, stifled a laugh behind him.

Furious, F/N viciously smashed the bouquet on Olexa's head, making him correct himself. “I shouted the wrong name. It should be F/N. I love you, F/N.”

F/N sarcastically remarked, “Bogdana, F/N, can't you tell them apart?” turning to his cousin, Ajax, she yelled, “Ajax, I love you.”

“Do you love me?” Ajax paused, then smiled. “F/N, I love you, too. Let's get engaged first.”

“Deal.” F/N gave the 'okay' gesture.

As the guests were confused by their complicated relationship, F/N's mother handed her her phone with a disapproving look and F/N saw a notification on her phone; the bed in her bridal suite was slept in by someone else. F/N checked the remote monitoring and saw Bogdana lounging in her bed in a bright red silk nightgown: the one F/N was supposed to wear on her wedding night. Then, she read the unread message, “F/N,Olexa doesn't love you. He only married you under the pressure from both families. F/N, you must feel heartbroken hearing your husband calling someone else's name at the wedding. Let me tell you; he did it on purpose, just to please me.” Bogdana probably didn't know that F/N's phone could be connected to the large screen. In retaliation, F/N changed the dynamic album with Olexa to the chat interface of her phone.

Everyone was shocked when the message was displayed and Ajax walked up to F/N. “Where did this shameless woman come from?”

Before F/N could respond, her friend, Chesna, realized it, slammed her cup on the table, shattering it. “Have you ever seen such shamelessness? Uncle, did you invite us here just to open our eyes?”

F/N's bridesmaid entourage also chimed in. “Uncle, when did you family suddenly gain another daughter? I can't stand for F/N being bullied at her wedding.”

Ajax adjusted his earring and sneered, “Bullying my fiancee? I won't stand for it either.”

Ajax's family background was either in par with F/N's or even better; coupled with the fact that he was also one of the executives of Snezhnaya Multinational, this meant that no amount of protection for Bogdana could save her.

Olexa's father had arranged a match with F/N's because Olexa was the second son and he was aiming to compete with Ajax's father. But Olexa's antics caused an immediate fight with them rushing on stage to beat him up.

“Dad, mom, I love Bogdana.” Olexa was running around with his head in his hands, shouting his true feelings.

“Get them out.” F/N's mother turned to the security guard team and Olexa's family of three were escorted out.

Ajax's father immediately took a seat of honour, beaming and giving F/N a thumbs-up.

With all of Olexa's family and F/N's family and friends present at the wedding, F/N's father was compelled to make a statement in front of everyone. “Don't get any ideas, we only have one daughter, F/N, and this imposter pretending to be F/N's sister is nowhere to be found.”

F/N's mother coldly snorted, “Birds of a feather flock together.”

Just like that, Ajax and F/N inadvertently got engaged.

After the engagement...

Bogdana, with red eyes, sat on the sofa as F/N and Ajax dealt with the defiled million-dollar mattress.

F/N's father, sat on the other side of the sofa, coughed and sighed; he couldn't even bring himself to acknowledge Bogdana was his daughter, not after all the prominent families stood behind F/N at the banquet. She was the maid's daughter.

F/N's father distanced himself from Bogdana and she couldn't hold back, “Dad...”

“Who do you think you are?” F/N's father shot her a fierce look.

F/N then added fuel to the fire, “Bogdana, feeling provoked? Your own dad won't even admit you.”

“Aren't you the maid's daughter?” F/N's mother remarked coldly, coming down from the stairs. “Your shameful actions today have brought disgrace to our family. Do you even realize how much the company will lose tomorrow?”

“I am sorry, Auntie.” Bogdana sniffled. “I was wrong. I've never slept in such a comfortable bed before or worn such exquisite pyjamas. I just got carried away and wanted to experience it for once. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have envied everything my sister has. I shouldn't have felt so resentful and unfair about why she has things that I don't have.”

While Bogdana seemed to be explaining to F/N's mother, her eyes were fixed on Ajax. She walked over to Ajax, tugging at his sleeve and shaking it. “Ajax, don't you understand me yet? It's you I'm interested in, not Olexa.”

Ajax abruptly shook his sleeve. “Who are you? Are we that close?” he took off his coat and handed it to the maid. “It's dirty. Burn it. F/N, your mattress is dirty, too. Burn it along with the coat. I'll have a custom made one worth tens of millions for you.”

F/N chuckled, “One with 24k gold trimmings.”

“Diamond trimmings are also fine.” Ajax said, pulling F/N against him.

F/N suspected Ajax was intentionally provoking Bogdana because her eyes were full of resentment as she looked at F/N.

F/N's mother then turned to her husband, demanding that Bogdana and her mother be kicked out or she would divorce him.

F/N's father conceded as he couldn't bear the thought of divorce.

Three days later, both Bogdana and her mother left the mansion.

Before leaving, Bogdana stood at the gates with her luggage, her eyes full of venomous hatred. “F/N, I hate you. Why do you get to have what I can't? Those things that should've been mine. Why do you get to live proudly in the sunlight while I am left scrounging like a rat in the sewer? F/N, just you wait. I'll take everything that belongs to you.”

A few days later...

It had barely been a week since Bogdana and her mother were exiled from the house when Bogdana,using a sob story involving traffic car accidents, demanded F/N's father transfer a powdered milk company to her name. She even brazenly called out right in front of F/N's mother, “Dad, how much longer are you going to hide me? I am your daughter; yours and mom's daughter.”

F/N had to watch her mother's face turn pale; with trembling lips and a bitter, ironic smile, the older woman clutched her fists and said quietly, “Give it to her.” however, she also added a stipulation that the company is to be set up separately without the production line.

Bogdana then moved into the guest room, all the while watching Ajax direct workers to remove the mattresses from the backyard, cutting them into shreds with an electric saw. “F/N...” she turned, only to have F/N grab her collar and give her two sharp slaps in a row; one for being shameless and stealing someone else's husband, two for being a disgrace and sleeping on someone else's mattress.

Ajax, surprised to hear the crisp sound of flesh hitting flesh, turned to F/N and gave her a thumbs-up as she stood there, holding Bogdana's head by her hair and pressing it down. F/N sneered, “Bogdana, were you still referring to those days that belong to you living like dirty rat in the sewer? Or are you are claiming back a scumbag who left his ex to climb the social ladder and then cheated on her with a woman who intervened in others' marriages for over 20 years?”

“F/N.” F/N's father stepped out.

F/N smirked at him oddly, “What, Dad? Feeling sorry? Finally regretting? And now you feel sorry? Will you faint every time you feel sorry?” she let go of Bogdana.

Finally standing up, Bogdana adjusted her hair, her eyes filled with a hatred that seemed ready to swallow F/N up. She held back her anger, bit her lip just right and tears welled up in her eyes, “Dad, I know I was wrong to sleep on F/N's mattress, but I didn't mean to provoke Olexa. He insisted on showing his affection. Dad, am I not your child, too? Isn't F/N being too harsh? My mom just went to heaven a week ago.”

Just as F/N's father was about to scold her, Ajax walked over, frowning, “F/N, that's not like you. How could you hit someone? Remember to call me if you need to hit someone. I'll do it for you. And if you dare to provoke my fiancee, I won't hesitate to break the norm and hit a woman.” with an icy and fierce look, he stared at Bogdana.

A week later...

The mattress took an entire week to completely burn, leaving Bogdana so frustrated that she ended up demanding a villa and moved out on her own.

One week later, F/N returned home from work to find the house decorated with various coloured rose petals scattered all over the floor and colourful balloons were floating on the ceiling. Ajax walked over the petals and knelt down on one knee. “Marry me? Let's go register tomorrow.”

During the following week, Ajax picked F/N up from work every day and took her out to different seafood restaurants.

“How about giving you a month to observe closely?” Ajax suggested, noting F/N's hesitation and handed her the ring box.

F/N's mother made the decision for her daughter and put the ring box into her pocket, “Mother thinks Ajax is more reliable than Olexa.”

That night, F/N's mother packed up F/N's belongings and forcibly kicked her out of the house so that she could move into her company's dormitory.

The next day...

Ajax showed up at the company.

F/N's mother smiled, “Let me introduce you; this is our company's Vice President, Ajax. All financial and personnel decisions will be handed over to him.”

A month went by and F/N's mother was very pleased with this prospective son-in-law who had been a lot more attentive and doting on F/N than Olexa ever was. Therefore, right after the one month probation, Ajax and F/N secretly went to register their marriage and F/N moved out of the company dormitory and into Ajax's studio apartment.

Two months later...

F/N's mother and Ajax held the company's annual meeting and invited various media to publicize the event.

Just as F/N was about to take a gulp of her beer in an alfresco bar, Bogdana suddenly appeared within her eyeline and took a seat opposite her step-sister.

“F/N, do you know why I'm here today?”Bogdana's makeup was meticulously done with shiny rhinestones on her eyelids.

F/N just looked at her smug expression and replied calmly, “I have no idea.”

Bogdana held her head high like a victorious rooster, “Ajax invited me here. He said that he doesn't actually like you at all. He only married you for the sake of Snezhnaya Multinational. The person he likes is me.”

F/N's answer was cut off by someone exclaiming, “Breaking news!”

Everyone turned to see the big screen to see Ajax take the stage, talking about the next year's development plans.

With a calm smile, F/N opened the hot search app and was not surprised to find that three out of the top 10 spots were dominated by Ajax. A comment had also caught the netizens' attention: the previous subsidiary of F/N's company was taken over by Bogdana. They say this Bogdana might be F/N's father's illegitimate daughter. Would F/N's mother actually agree to let the illegitimate daughter take over the subsidiary?

Seizing the moment while the netizens were actively discussing, F/N posted a marriage certificate online. Turning to Bogdana, she sighed, “Ajax has always been pure and has never been involved with other women.”

Several of the bar's customers recognized Bogdana. “Is this woman crazy? Why is she fixated on F/N's man?”

Bogdana clearly noticed her newfound infamy as she heard the curses from the other customers and her face turned extremely unsightly, “F/N, you're truly cunning.”

F/N smiled and replied. “Bogdana, didn't I learn all of this from you? How can you blame me for how things turned out like this?”

Bogdana lunged at F/N to slap her, but F/N firmly held her wrist.

A customer captured the moment when Bogdana tried to hit F/N on video

That night...

F/N returned home and wrote down a vivid account on how Bogdana, the maid's daughter, instigated her father into beating her when they were still students.

The next day...

F/N woke up in the afternoon, Ajax was preparing seafood soup for lunch. “F/N, I've taken a leave for you. You don't have to go for the next few days.” he covered the stock pot with the lid.

That night, another big news broke out; the infant formula company with Bogdana as the legal representative, was in trouble. Expired milk powder was rebranded with new production dates to be put back on the shelves and enraged parents gathered in front of Bogdana's villa with banners to protest.

It took only three days for Bogdana to go mad and hospital staff from the psychiatric hospital sent her into the medical facility, kicking and screaming.

Ajax had also given the evidence of Olexa's and his uncle's false accounts to the police and leading to them getting arrested.

[mdhwrites]

Jumbled Thoughts: Romantic Rivals With Spy x Family

"What do you mean you love him!? You may be best girl, the tsundere and the one who spends 90% of your screentime with him but I'm in love... With..." "You want to go get a drink as a consolation prize?" "Yes please." And then I'm going to poison her drink so he can be all mine!

A lot of good, long term romance works have what can easily be identified as the romantic rival, regardless of how actually effective those rivals are. A character essentially designed to be an obstacle between the main couple and true love. There's a lot of forms this can take and luckily, anime has given us two great examples recently with Spy x Family's Yuri and Nightfall... But first let's get a few things out of the way.

Despite my bit at the beginning, a romantic rival actually doesn't need to be a direct competitor. Quintessential Quintuplets' romantic rival is the 5 girls' father and it'd be real creepy if he was actually trying to bang him.

"SIS!"

We'll... We'll get to that. No, instead the point of a romantic rival is simply to be someone who has to lose if the main couple ends up getting together. Their happiness and desires are essentially impossible if the main couple's happiness is achieved. That's why they're a rival since there can only be one winner. The most direct way to do this is with someone else who loves one of the two MCs but it can take on a lot of forms.

Secondly: For them to be a rival, they do actually need and investment in the potential of the two MCs being together. The best rivals are likely going to relish in destroying what might have been just as much as they'll enjoy either capturing the one they love or dooming them to misery. For their role to function though, they can't be unaware of what they're doing. Otherwise, they fall more into cruel twists of fate or comedic interventions depending on the severity of the moment and the tone it's portrayed with. Like Joe from Big Time Rush moving for her work isn't because her agent is a romantic rival, whoever they are doesn't care about the romance going on, it's just business. One that tragically breaks up the head of the band and her.

We did get one hell of a song out of it though. (Yes, I loved this show as a teenager and still think their music slaps incredibly hard. Also, I'm linking this video because it portrays more what happened but I do think the 2020 acoustic version done during lockdown is better.)

Another thing necessary for the character to be a rival though is that they are inherently a bad option. While one could call all the girls in your typical harem romance rivals to each other, it's better to call them contestants. They all have a real, viable case for taking that spot of best girl/boy, both in the hearts of our MC and of the audience. You are supposed to be okay with any of them getting with the main character. They are simply a competing ensemble.

A romantic rival is a villain. Even when not explicitly portrayed as one, you're supposed to want them to lose. They VERY rarely are real people besides maybe a sob story but that's not really the point of them. Romantic rivals are meant to elevate something into soap opera levels of drama, not for a nuanced discussion of love. A way to heighten the stakes and force the cutesy, potentially eternal lovey dovey elements of a work into what will be an even more satisfying conclusion.

Or for some EXTREMELY funny jokes. Speaking of, let's get into Spy x Family.

Nightfall versus Yor.

Yuri versus Loid.

Or, er... Well, see, why these two are so useful is that we actually have an incredible romantic rival and one that mostly entirely falls flat on his face in the role and is arguably the worst element of the show to me. As such, let's start with him: Yuri. Yor's baby brother.

He is a member of the secret police, the best at what he does despite such a young age and has a sister complex. Like... 80% of his character is sister complex. 19% more of that is screaming about his sister and then 1% of him makes you remember "RIGHT! This guy actually claims to be a functional human being!" Yuri's inability to actually function as a person is one of his biggest flaws because that single minded obsession makes it hard for him to really have more than a handful of jokes, all of which just increasingly become more stale (at least for me) as the show went on. That's a real shame too because as a rival to Loid, he's actually about as good as you could ask for.

See, while I have problems with Yuri, his failure in this role actually has a lot more to do with Loid than himself. A rival is meant to push the couple out of their comfort zone, potentially make them fuck up and do something that will upset the other, or challenge some aspect of a person's love for their partner. Loid... Doesn't have any of these traits. His whole gimmick is being the man with a thousand faces. To have so many layers, you'll have cried an ocean by the time you get to the core of this onion. That also means he has no comfort zone to push him out of, only fuck ups because of himself and...

Well actually, this is the one way I think Yuri does screw up as a potential rival to Loid. He makes big declarations about whether or not Yor and Loid's love is real but his love isn't real either. He doesn't actually know his sister. He doesn't engage with her genuinely, just like Loid doesn't. He has this nostalgic, permanent image that would take literally seeing his sister kill a loyal citizen to the country in order to even crack. That's not actually more genuine than Loid using her like he does. The only difference is that one will never ask Yor of anything and want to stay by her side while the other will only stay until the job is done. It'd be much more effective, in this role, for Yuri to genuinely know his sister and be able to call things out because of the genuine care versus Loid's artificial care.

Otherwise, what Yuri really does is be a reminder of the world these characters exist in. Someone who genuinely can NEVER find out the secret between the main couple, that they're not married nor actually in love, or else Loid is a dead man and Operation Strix is over. That's because Loid is an enemy of the state so while Yuri would lock him up for the wrong reasons, he is still one of the few people who could actually cause trouble if only he knew the truth. Too bad Yuri has been a spy for like an entire decade less than Loid and so Loid can run circles around him also making this tension somewhat tenuous at best.

He is only a threat in essentially the same way anyone is. In that he cannot know the secret. That is the exact opposite of Nightfall, Yor's rival.

Nightfall is a fellow spy from Loid's agency. She actually was a pupil of Loid's and mistook being told you can't have emotions on a mission to mean she must deaden all emotions. She is also a super spy on a similar level to Loid, making her the idea working partner for him.

But that lack of emotions is also why she can never be Loid's romantic partner. Yor is a bundle of energy and a precious cinnamon roll who wears her heart on her sleeve and couldn't help but be earnest even if she tried not to be. She is exactly the sort of warm, open person that Loid needs to ever make him consider retirement. To peel back the layers so that he can one day be himself instead of one of the many faces that he has. She will only ever love Loid... Not Loid's job or codename: Twilight.

Immediately we have the reason why these two contrast and why you will never root for Nightfall. Nightfall loves Twilight. Loves the image and ideal of Loid as this unstoppable super spy who she could essentially conquer the world with. Who she could help alleviate the woes of before they both get back to work. She'd be devoted but to all the wrong needs of Twilight. We even know she has the skills with which to do it, something Yor very clearly lacks as putting her in the kitchen is a surefire way to attempt mass genocide.

Not to say Yor is incapable of challenging Nightfall in a more practical way like how Loid entirely destroys Yuri. Yor is still superhuman in her physical capabilities which is why despite how clumsy and dumb she can be, she's still a very capable assassin. It's just that being an assassin is essentially all she's good at, besides empathy that is. Yor's care runs deep, just like how deep the tennis ball she sent into God only knows where is or the ball she played with Anya with when she did her own signature shot. Since Nightfall can't convince Loid to drop Yor due to her wifely duties, she does only have this and one other tactic to use against Yor and here she fails ENTIRELY.

The other one she's a lot better at. See, in her eyes, Yor is a bad wife. Yuri thinks the same about Loid but as a bad husband. Unfortunately for our cinnamon roll, she does not have Loid's confidence or the homely skills to back that up and so questions about her capabilities, especially with a smooth motherfucker like Twilight, shake her to her core. Luckily, she has the empathy and care that helps with Anya and makes her not just a good wife but what is even more important here: A good mom.

Here is where we get Yuri's last failing. See, a good romantic rival should be like any good villain. They oppose not only the couple but the whole premise and theme of the show. Yuri and Nightfall both do actually attack the themes to some extent by asking for stagnation and pulling the two back to their past where they will be trapped in the violence they have known all their lives. This is attacking the Spy part of the title. Only one of them actually says anything about the Family part of it though.

The most disappointing moment of the entire series for me was when Yuri finally interacted with Anya, Loid and Yor's adopted daughter, and hated her. Now, admittedly, his goal of arresting and killing Loid would pretty much certainly mean Anya's death too since she was adopted by Loid. Best case scenario for Anya if Yuri wins is going back to the orphanage but... That's the same case for if the operation that brought these three together fails in anyway. He adds nothing new with this that the base premise of this being a sham family doesn't already add.

Meanwhile, Nightfall knows from go about the operation and her opposition to Yor is specifically so that she can take the place of Loid's wife for the operation. This introduces two new elements that very, VERY few other characters can so directly. The first is that if Nightfall wins, it dooms Anya. Her desire to keep Loid as Twilight, rather than as himself, means that the warmth that Yor and Anya are forcing out of him will likely shrivel back up and die so that when the operation fails, Anya will go back to an orphanage and the family will end.

You also might have noticed that I said WHEN the operation fails, not if. While we haven't gotten it in the anime directly, we know a lot of Loid's methods for getting Anya to succeed fail and Anya at least likes Loid enough to try. Yor has made monumentally better strides in getting Anya to listen, be better and try harder than Loid ever has because, well... Anya is six. She doesn't need a cold, calculating spy, she needs parents and Yor's earnest and honesty makes her a great parent who is constantly trying to do the best for her child. From the brief glimpses we get of what Nightfall would try to employ as a parent, we have good reason to assume she'd fail just as hard as Loid has and so either Anya would run away, happy to be away from a family that no longer has Yor's warmth and has a slowly deadening Loid, or she'd be sent away once the stress and pain of that environment crushed her.

It is a unique threat that quite only someone from Loid's agency can present and it's a much more interesting reason to hate Nightfall and want to see her fail than Yuri just hating Anya regardless because he sees her as an extension of the sister stealer. It makes her a genuine villain that the regular populace can't replicate. It also allows her more dynamism as she'll do whatever she has to to gain the place of Loid's wife, even act kind to Anya, until finally she no longer needs to. She's a spy after all and this is her mission.

There's one other element here though I want to give a shout out for that is actually easy to overlook for romantic rivals: I want Yor, Twilight and Nightfall to be in a polycule. For Loid and Nightfall to finally have a real conversation and fix the lesson that has poisoned Nightfall so thoroughly. For Yor's kindness to help Nightfall see herself as a real person and not a slave to her image of Twilight. Hell, I even do want to see Nightfall be able to help shore up Yor's skill weaknesses and give Loid someone who can 100% understand his worldview, even as they both fight against keeping up those barriers. Nightfall is mostly a joke, mostly played for comedy but her genuine care for Loid, and how much it devastates her to fail, makes her into a more complex, sympathetic villain who you don't want to see be splattered on the pavement.

I... Well, I won't say Yuri is such a bad character that I want him literally dead but if he got shipped over to this world's version of America for the rest of his life, I would not miss his presence. He is a creep, a man child and quite frankly the best ending for him is probably to literally never be able to see his sister again so as to grow up as a person. Even that implies I even care enough to want to see him grow though as two seasons in, I don't really care. He has ONE truly great sequence that shows his potential and even it shows his critical flaw as a romantic rival: It has literally nothing to do with Loid or Yor. He is only an interesting character outside of the context of those two.

And for a narrative role who's whole job is to complicate and add excitement to the context of the main couple, that makes him a complete failure. So for as great as yuri is in most contexts, make sure you don't write the character Yuri if you're trying to make a good romantic rival. Not unless you wish for night to fall on your story and leave it in the dark.

======+++++======

It's kind of fun how much romance anime I've watched in the like past six months. It's still only three series, Kaguya, Quintessential Quintuplets, and Spy x Family (the last of which is SO many genres) but it did help me have some actual examples when I finally sat down and wrote this. Also, I'm currently poking at theoretically going back to my roots and writing a harem story, though also keeping it PG-13 like my current stylings so honestly, have any anime recommendations for me?

Also, this is probably another Jumbled Thoughts post that goes too much into the example, even if highlighting how Nightfall is a good contrast to Yor is so important to understanding what a good romantic rival looks like.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[zealouscanonindeer]

Hii 🥰

I‘m back with some questions 😍

So I was wondering if there are any Halloween traditions your MC / Li loves to celebrate. Whether it’s from their childhood or from their adulthood.

If they have any special Halloween traditions what are they? And how do they celebrate?

@peonierose Thank you so much for this ask! 😄

Sorry for the late reply, here are a few ideas off the top of my head

For Ethan, Halloween is one of the few holidays he holds close to his heart. Obviously, Dr Grumpy doesn't do costumes but in the past, when it was only him and Alan, they would be out trick or treating for hours on end. They would chat, catch up, have an amazing time together and Ethan treasures those memories. When they both were home, they would munch on the candy, competing who could eat more and end up in bed the next day almost always accompanied by a tummy ache.

So while Ethan has moved on from the costumes and trick or treating etc, he still loves Halloween, for him the essence of the holiday is those moments.

As for Aspen, she longed to go out on Halloween night as a family, having decorations up over at their house but with both her parents on call or busy with work she rarely got to experience that. It was either her Nan or her uncle who would accompany the two sisters for trick or treating.

After they got together and Ethan learned of Aspen's fear of horror movies, he coaxed her into watching one. He secretly loved how she clung to him, jumping and startling every single time and shutting her eyes for most of the time.

Despite that, they always cuddled up on Halloween night, first watching a horror followed by a classic romance. And Ethan would make sure that he would take her mind off the movie afterwards.

When their daughters were born, Ethan once again donned costumes! He would take them trick or treating, knowing how it created a special bond between him and his father. Aspen also never missed a single Halloween, she wished to have those nights which she missed as a child and wanted to give that to her girls.

Aspen and River would scare are each other the entire month and that continued with Ethan. They both love a good competition and try to one up the other every year. And soon their girls joined in too.

Also Chef Ramsey would make cute little Halloween treats and recipes.

The Ramsey's Halloween costumes

And i have to do a few baby Ethan costumes.

[rf-interactive]

Some random facts about ROs?

Roman:

He has a brother named Lucian that is younger than him by six years. They were pretty close as kids, but they drifted apart over time due to Roman being so much older than him.

He comes from a rich family; his father is the CEO of a biotech company called Apricca which primarily specialises in the medical field. He used to be on the board of directors because his father had planned for him to take over the company eventually but because he was always more interested in politics, he decided to leave and put his own career first.

His father never hid the fact that Roman was his favourite but as soon as he left the Apricca, he began to focus more on Lucian.

He got into politics because he’s always had the desire to make an impact and build a legacy for himself that wasn’t handed to him.

Because of his wealthy upbringing, he can be a bit pretentious and somewhat delusional at times but he generally means well.

Nadia:

Her father, who was a child psychologist, inspired her to study psychology. He had a passion for helping people that he passed down to her and he was a single dad so she idolised everything he did.

She’s always been unsuccessful in love; she’s been in dozens of relationships that either broke her heart or ended before they could begin. She eventually stopped trying to date in her mid-twenties and she hasn’t looked back.

She adores cats and has two of her own; a siamese named Goose and a ragdoll named Princess. She adopted Princess as a kitten from a shelter and Goose was a stray that just showed up one day and never left.

She developed a fear of cars and driving after her father died in an accident when she was 19 and she’s avoided them like a plague ever since. She will either cycle or walk everywhere, no matter the distance.

She actually hates chocolate. She can’t stand the taste and she finds that it makes her feel quite sick the very few times she’s eaten it.

Carina/César:

Both of their parents were Agents at I-DIE but they didn’t want to join the directory simply to follow in their footsteps. They instead joined Europol and worked there for a few years before they were approached by the directory and offered the job.

They come from a very big family and are the middle child of seven. Their siblings, four sisters and two brothers, all work in law enforcement though not all of them are Agents and the ones that are, don’t necessarily work for I-DIE.

They love surfing. They even won a few competitions while they were in high school but they didn’t really enjoy competing all that much.

They never had a lot of friends growing up and the friends that they did manage to make have all gone their separate ways. Their friendship with the mc was the first real connection they ever had and the fact that they're no longer as close has definitely hurt them.

They are fascinated with plants and even study botany when they have time off. They have a room in their house that is pretty much all windows and filled to the brim with a variety of plants and flowers, which they have very aptly named ‘the green room’.

Ailbhe:

They are the youngest Agent to ever be made head of the directory but due to them being their success rate as an Agent, it was only natural for them to step into the role when it was offered to them.

They met their ex, who is a journalist, randomly at a coffee shop in their early twenties. They were reluctant to date anyone but they give the relationship a chance and got married after dating for five years. They eventually got divorced when they realised they both wanted different things from the relationship and that they’d grown apart.

They’re a big fantasy nerd and in their spare time, they often play DND with a small group of friends from high school.

They love classical music and are trained in both piano and violin. Their parents had hoped for them to make music their career given their talent for it and were extremely disappointed when they found out what they really wanted to do. Their father got over it pretty quickly but their mother never did and their relationship is still strained because of it.

They rarely show it, least of all to anyone at the directory, but they actually have a very childish sense of humour and they love harmless practical jokes.

[suckmybussy]

okay i got interesting take

in my opinion, like 90% of straight romances/ships are FUCKING BORING, and usually try to spice it up, by adding more girls, this opinion i hold so dear, that i was on verge from.trying to strangle my friend, for saying <insert harem name> was really good romance.

But why could that be so? because lots of straight romances just follows base line of, "cute/shy" or whatever girl, and more dominant than her guy with interests like "i literally just exist in this series with no other purpose than wanting gf", and follow most basic set gender standards, and most basic made up relationship dysmorphia where girl is clearly bottom, and guy is the top/he "leads" the relationship, you get what i mean? 100% not, it wont stop me tho.

While yuri/yaoi ships always derive from most boring version of relationship that church people gaslit us into thinking is only valid way, by sheer fact that either both character fill same role or one of them has to not follow the most basic made up gender rules, like bottom.guy, or maybe huge girl who searches for little bunny girl etc. Like, just taking most basic romance plot ever, and genderbending one of characters by itself changes whole vibe so much!

But ofc, not all straight romances are bad, that would imply any romance is bad (i mean, there are few bad romances, like wanting to date children, but for sake of this ride of a post, we are talking about 2 consenting people of either similar age for teenagers, or just 2 consenting adults ok?), but the only good straight romances i saw, were the ones that just didnt really gave much fuck about being the most generic romance plot, and doing that would make any romance good (m/m, m/f, f/f etc), one of my favourite examples, would be violet evergarden! yeah, it does for the most part follow the rules of strong protective man, and small fragile girl (except for the fact that violet absolutelly kicks ass), but series itself isnt about 2 charcaters dating, Its about violet learning what love is, and not just romantic one, she learns about sibling love, parent/child love, love for world, love for work and many more! What makes it good is not us seeing them dating, its how we togehder with Violet slowly learn more about love, slowly growing attached to him, this love story is very beautifull, because its not focusing on that part.

(at this point i had hard time finding more proof of good hetero romances, so i had to dig throught list if stuff i watched etc) Also, one of my fave mangas of all time, was domestic na kanojo, where the romance being interesting, was enforced by, lemme check my notes, 2 sisters competing for their step brother, where 1 is his teacher and other is girl he lost virginity with. You can see im streching my arguments at this point huh. Whatever, in this series, what makes it actually interesting love story and not easy porn material, is all the hardships charcaters go throught, and questions it gives! Natsuo wanting hina, but knowing its just some stupid kids love, constantly hurting rui as resoult of his inner conflict about hina, wanting to get close with rui, and suddenly cutting it off because he is just a kid who is scared, of what might be, as i used to be kid, i very much know the feeling od wanting to do something, but being scared to commit, constantly swinging between wanting it, and being afraid, only hurting other in process.

okay this one is quite boring romance, but in interesting way so as per last argument, lets talk about "Rascal does not dream about bunny girl senpai" where mc gets the girl after like 2 episodes, and then we just see them, chill like cute couple, or get a bit jealous, its not much, but i find it interesting to see quite realistic (from standpoint of someone who's longest relationship lasted 2 months, including 1 month breakup), but she anime isnt about it, so seeing them being nice, realistiy behaving couple is nice addition

In conclusion, straight romances fucking suck and dont recomend them to me without 3 pages explanation why it doesnt suck, harems get instant no-no tho

[bookwyrminspiration]

hi! 1. i have been on the road for hours but am finally getting close to home and oh man quil it is so good to see all the familiar landmarks and foliage again, i forgot how absolutely homesick i was but this is such a place to be homesick for, and 2. this is not about found family AND i still haven't. actually finished the entire series really so i don't even know how satisfactory the ending is (or if i've already recommended it haha) but the false prince, which is part of the ascendance series, might be a fun read for you! i remember reading tgl for the first time and the main character's Voice reminded me SO MUCH of sage, the mc from that book, that i had to sit down and check if the authors were the same (they were not). it's abt this orphan kid who gets kidnapped so he can compete w a handful of other boys to impersonate the late prince who had been killed years ago and become a, i think it's called a puppet ruler? for some guy. it is EXTREME amounts of fun from what i remember of it haha--my brother and i didn't know there were other books until like this year though, which sucks because it's like!!!! i think like four other books!!! that's so wild!!! it was one of our favorites!!! so i mean it's your choice if u would ever read the entire series bc i can't guarantee the quality of it but i genuinely love the entire tone of the first book it's just so well done :)

Hello! 1. I am so so glad for you--when I was coming home a couple weeks ago it was so nice to see the streets and know where we were, how the traffic flowed, the kinds of stops and lights you'd find, the way's the streets looked. In CA it was so green everywhere and I was just like. what the fuck where are my Rocks and Dirt and why do we have to take so many uturns. wishing you pleasant dreams back in your own place with your own food and clothes and atmosphere <3

2. !!! I have that series!! I own the first three--though I think my sister's had the first book for a few years, because she borrowed it a while back and never gave it back. same with the lightning thief. and I didn't realize until like a year ago that there's a book 4 + 5 now, so I haven't finished the series either. I actually. Don't know if I ever read past book 1--I think I started book 2, but stopped a few chapters in? I can't say for certain because it was so long ago--I read the false prince almost a decade ago, in elementary school for battle of the books, so I've forgotten nearly everything.

And I remember I really loved the voice as well! I might've even stopped partway into book 2 because the voice didn't feel the same, but again. it's been a while. I remember very little except for the final twist, with the fools gold thing. But I know elementary me was blown off her fucking feet with that I was SO astonished and blind-sided.

But!! Because I own books 2 + 3 but haven't finished them, I do fully intend to reread the false prince at some point in the future so I can read those! on my quest to read all the books I own! so while I can't have any meaningful conversation about any of it (i forgot his name was sage, for example...), I will be able to someday!! i don't know if I've ever seen anyone else talk about or mention the series--and I didn't know that was its name--so very cool that you have!

[hpowellsmith]

Facts 1-10, including cat pics:

Amato the cat's looks are based on my cat Orlando:

But her personality is based on my cat Blueberry. Jerome the cat is the other way around (though is much more competent and wild than either of them).

2. Fiore, Catarina, and Simone were the first characters I thought of for the game, and they were very quickly followed by Raffi and Korzha. Denario was the last major character I made and fleshed out.

3. At the very early stages of planning, I thought of making Savarel and Raffi as be a polyamorous pairing for the MC, but I quickly changed my mind.

4. Viola, Pietro, and Andie are very, very loosely based on three genderswapped, aged-down, and edited-out-of-recognition versions of TTRPG characters I've played. The "Viola" character was a homebrew Monsterhearts skin, "Andie" was a Monsterhearts werewolf, and "Pietro" was a Daeva from Vampire: the Requiem.

5. After the events of Chapter 4, Korzha wrote a personal condolence letter that took them a long time to write. They almost didn't send it at all.

6. Savarel fell off a horse at a young age and despite living in a place where there were a lot around, is nervous around them as a result.

7. One of Matia's most treasured possessions is a pair of gloves given to them by a deceased colleague.

8. Raffi's older sister is very high up in the Teranese spy network, but she doesn't drop the smallest hint about it because Raffi.

9. Despite being a plant biologist, Fiore is not great at keeping houseplants alive at all and really appreciates having the money to hire someone to look after them.

10. When they were children Denario took the fall for something the PC (on purpose or accidentally) would have got in trouble for, and has never said what it was.

OK I thought of this last night but my wife took my phone away so I wouldn't stay up too late

With every like on this post, I'll share an Honor Bound fact, with every reblog I'll post two!

[ecargmura]

A Magic Steeped In Poison - Book Review

AAPI heritage month already passed, but I’ll be reviewing a book written by an Asian author! Well, I chose to read this book not because of the special month, but because I wanted to read more books written by Asian and Asian American authors. I think my fondness for Asian authors stemmed from me liking manga and also Tablo’s Pieces of You.

I found this book when I was book shopping in Walmart. Yes, I shop for books at Walmart. I held off from reading it for a while since I had other books to read. When I finally got to it, I was excited.

Fortunately, the premise of the book is good. Magical tea magic with Chinese mythology? How unique! I am an avid tea drinker, so I was immersed in the world Judy Lin created with tea magic having the power to do anything from discerning truth from lies, peering into the future, etc. It felt like I was a Shennong-shi in this alternate reality of China.

The main character Zhang Ning wants to find a cure for her poisoned sister, so she decides to head to the capital where they are holding a tournament for tea magic apprentices, shennong-tu, in order to become acknowledged by the Princess. However, the catch is that she’s actually not a true apprentice and that she’s only taking her sister’s place because competing is the only choice she has. However, she still has a vast knowledge of tea magic and capable, which is why she’s still able to survive in the tournament.

What I love most about this book other than its premise is Lin’s detailed writing. She is very detailed when describing things and it helps me paint a visual picture of what the world, food, characters, and tea all look like. Her flowery descriptives are amazing to read. Despite her flowery words, I think my favorite portion of the story was when Ning was healing Ruyi, the princess’s handmaiden. Inside Ruyi’s body contained a very grotesque three-headed snake that could be or could not be a spirit. The way Lin described how it looks and its movements really grossed me out. I commend Lin for being able to write beautifully.

While the premise and writing style are strong, it doesn’t mean it’s perfect. There are many flaws in the overall writing execution. The story starts off with Ning on her way to the capital. I sort of wished the story started a bit before her travels, precisely, the moment she had realized she had poisoned her sister Shu. All the moments of Ning mentioning she had poisoned her did not compel me as much since it was more “told” than “shown”.

The tournament was a bit of a miss for me. Tournaments story arcs in general can be a hit or miss. Especially in manga, they’re either a hit or a miss, depending on the execution as they can be a rinse and repeat of the same thing but written by different authors. How was this tournament arc? It was a bit of a slog to read, honestly. I think what it lacked was more distinctive characters? Like, I wanted to see a rival for Ning or someone who’s always one step ahead of her and pushes Ning to her upmost potential. It was interesting, but given that 90% of the story focused on this one tournament felt like a bit of a let down. However, I did like the sudden twist at the end of it.

The characters that aren’t Ning are quite interesting. Lian’s sassy; she’s my favorite. Princess Zhen has something going on with her handmaiden Ruyi and I love it. Kang’s a bit iffy for me. I do like how they’re all essential for Ning to develop and none of them seem out of place or just there for a need of a minor character.

The ending of the story definitely shows the need for a continuation. There is a sequel, A Venom Dark and Sweet. I’ll try to buy it when I can after I take a break. While I want to read it, I’m dreading over the fact that the last few chapters was building up for a revolution arc. In all honesty, I dislike revolution arcs. I just feel like they’re the same thing. MC gets dragged into revolution, teams up with people to stop the big bad, big bad turns out to not be the big bad and there’s an even bigger bad behind the big bad, and biggest bad gets destroyed and everyone lives happily ever after. I think reading Mockingjay made me dislike revolution arcs. I just hope this one won’t be rushed like how that book kind of was.

Overall, I give this book a 4/5. I think it’s a perfect representation of the capabilities of what Asian-American authors can do! The book industry is rough for us Asians and I’ll support them by reading more AAPI books! If possible, give me a recommendation! Also, let me know your thoughts on this book if you have read it!

[masked-alien-lesbian]

What are some headcanons for your OCs x LIs?

Oooo...I really need to find one of those lists things so that people can ask me about Hana x Raelyn and Verity x Aislinn.

Hana Lee x Raelyn Lee

Raelyn's birthday: December 22nd (Fun fact: despite being twins, Riley was born several minutes before Raelyn on December 21st making her a Sagittarius while Raelyn is a Capricorn) Which is just ammo for Riley to tease Raelyn all the time with lol. Hana is a Pisces making Raelyn a perfect match for her.

I headcanon that their relationship progressed much faster than it did in the series. In the series, MC is competing for the Prince's hand and could potentially romance 2 other guys as well as Hana, so I could see Hana being more wary about MC's feelings for her. But in my hc, Raelyn is an OC made solely for Hana. For Raelyn, there's no one else but Hana so that devotion captured Hana's attention and she was able to fall for Raelyn faster than canon.

The Lee Children: Jasmine Lee and Juniper Lee 6 years apart

Raelyn low key really would like to not be a duke/chess. They don't like the fancy outfits, all the balls and galas, and playing nice to backstabbing nobles but feels obligated by their sister to help get Cordonia on the right track, to give Hana the fancy life she only ever known and a good life for their daughters. Hana catches on and the two have a serious talk about their future. Once their children are almost adults, they pass the duchy title to them and live more simply, and are much happier off.

Aislinn Tanaka x Verity Wright

Star signs: Aislinn is a Cancer and Verity a Virgo.

After getting married they decided to share a hyphenated last name: Tanaka-Wright

There are bars specifically for vampires that humans in the know can go to donate blood either the normal way, the same way you donate blood at a blood drive or in a more intimate way, veins straight to the vampire's mouth. When Aislinn learns of the existence of these bars, she gets jealous, lol. Although Verity is the vampire, Aislinn can be a little more territorial. Verity explains that they only buy their blood stock from there, and rarely ever drink straight from the source, and since meeting Aislinn, they only drink from blood bags, since drinking straight from a human is an erotic experience. If it was completely up to Aislinn, Verity would only drink from her but Verity needs more blood than is healthy to drink from one human so she is fine with Verity drinking from donated blood from time to time but absolutely loves when Verity feeds from her.

Child free lifestyle: They both would be open to adopting a child if the other really wanted kids but they both are very busy people and end up preferring to spend all their free time and love on each other instead. Perhaps a child may fall into their laps in a century or so, or maybe not, who knows 🤭. Their lives are happy, full and complete without children anyway.

Thanks for the ask! Feel free to ask more specific questions if you want! I love talking to you guys! 🫶🏽

[mirrorcatcreditcard]

So, off the top of my head, we have:

Juana (demiromantic, lesbian) and Lelei (unlabeled)

Bonus: Giselle because she's a girl boss and I love yapping about her

Juana and Lelei are my OG otp doomed lesbians. They were created by pure accident. My MC for the main story had an older sister who died, and I thought "someone should be alive who remembers the older sister other than the MC" so Lelei was created as Juana's former assistant. It got gay so fast I don't think there was ever a time in my planning that they were not in a relationship. They're kinda cringe but love each other to bits. Juana had a Twilight phase Lelei never lets her live down, and Lelei refuses to read GL because she thinks it will make her expectations in a partner unrealistic. Juana is the eldest daughter of an organized crime syndicate leader, who's a woman btw. Lelei has a background nobody cracks into but learns how to do stuff incredibly fast and becomes a competent assistant in a year. They're so casual and awkward in my head because the most story I've written on them is the teenage years/first time either tried dating. After Juana dies in a factory accident, Lelei shows herself able to do all her tasks as well as her partner's, indicating she always held herself back in order to be able to spend time with Juana.

Giselle, I wasn't going to add originally because she's married to a dude (at least, I think he's a dude? I last wrote about him when I was still in the closet and in denial, but I'm pretty sure he's enby something). Then I remembered she's honorary lesbian relationship mention because 75% of her life is spent in the embrace of a woman and her preference for feminity outweighs her preference for androgyny to the point I sometimes wonder if she was even attracted to the dude she had a kid with 😭 my OCs don't actually follow the blueprint I give them for romance and ships smh. Anygays, a quick backstory on her is she got pregnant as a teen, transported to another world, and learns that because she was the last chic to bang the ruler of that world (mind you, he was also a teen when it happened) she's now the temporary ruler until he returns from his missions. (Please keep in mind I created her years ago, and historically speaking I have no chill when it comes to backstories.) So she's dealing the best she can with this weird world, but the biggest hurdle is the harem. Because the mf has a huge harem that actually doubles in size by the time he's back because it's like free room and board in there. And it will take multiple paragraphs to explain but while she's handling the smaller section (the female section; because of course the dude she planned to marry has a preference for dudes while she has a preference for females 😂) and she meets this one girl there and just goes head over heels. And there's this whole thing about it because she feels like she shouldn't drag the girl into her tumultuous life meanwhile the girl is openly accepting of her affections because nobody gave Giselle the memo that polyamory is so normal there that monogamy is considered strange. I never actually named her female lover now that I think about it, but it's like the "handmaiden that is incredibly close with her mistress" troupe. Also, Giselle's son acknowledges the girl as "second mom" and openly denies relation to his ever-absent dad so that's something, raising a whole kid together and getting the approval of the child as other parent.

I need more lesbians. RIGHT NOW.

[venusimi]

It's special again

*Takes place after some indefinite time in the storyline.

Mammon and Tabitha finally share their first kiss but the happy ending never comes unless there is an issue.

Mammon x OC, implied/referenced Mammon x GN!MC

Fluff, romance, first kiss, angst, mentioned sex

PART 1 // PART 2

Tabitha watches from the sidelines as Mammon counts the money he received that day from the gambles he's been doing.

She thinks about you, does he always do this? He does.

Does he always look this occupied? No.

Is it me? No.

She wonders what you would be doing if you were here. Would you lay down on his lap? Would you play with his hair? Or would you also sit down and watch like what she's doing? Or would you help him count?

Tabitha is at a loss, she feels so pathetic. So useless.

"MC used to bring me snacks sometimes whenever I get back from work. Homemade snacks! And sometimes, they'd come home with all sorts of baked goods from the castle!"

He boasts about your closeness with the king, the butler...

Today is their anniversary and yet, he doesn't seem all that excited for it.

He's occupied with something else and it isn't about her.

It hurts.

But he loves her. She can feel it.

"Tabi?" She was cut out of her trance, she sees he had stopped counting to look at her with worried eyes.

"Mammon... What's wrong?" She shifts slightly to face him.

"Nothin' wrong with me. What 'bout ya? Ya look like somethin' is buggin ya." He sets the cash aside and takes her hand, it makes her wonder if you held his hands softly or firmly.

She didn't know what to do.

"I'm okay, but Mammon... I... Never mind, it sounds really stupid." He keeps his hands firmly on hers.

"Nothin' is stupid if it's buggin' ya. Everyone has a different level of endurance y'know?"

"Mammon... I think... I think we should take a break. It's been so long since MC has passed and yet it feels like I'm only here to help you get away from the hurt." Tabitha pulled away from him, she curls into herself.

Mammon was stunned.

Was he only running from your death?

Has he even ever cried for you?

"Tabi... I-"

"The way you look at me... You look at me with disappointment but pure love and I don't know what hurts. the disappointment because I'm not them or the love you feel for me is just love you could no longer give to them? Mammon, you can mourn. You can love again. But don't make others feel like they're only there for a replacement."

"Tabi, yer not a replacement! Is that how you feel?" He inches closer but she moves away.

"I know! But... I can't help it. You always mention MC! Can't we go a day without hearing you mention their name in everything we do? It's not easy trying to make you happy when all you do is think of them! Think of me? I'm here! Sitting in front of you and yet you keep looking back. You miss them, and I do too! We all do but- ah fuck..." Tears continued down her face.

It hurt so much.

"...How can I compete against them? It would have been different if it were Lilith, she was your sister, but MC... They were your ex lover. Am I just their replacement? Am I just someone to pass the time with? Mammon, I've been with you for years! And not once do I remember going to bed without hearing their name... You still can't kiss me either..."

Tabitha stands up, "We'll talk again once you're ready." She said nothing more so she left leaving the greedy demon to sit and let the words sink deeper than 6 feet below.

His mouth becomes dry with realization.

Pain and absolute anger. At himself.

He hurt her.

For how long has she kept it to herself?

For how long did she lay on his chest, crying to herself softly as he mutters your name?

How badly did it hurt when he called your name when they had sex?

How was he able to fuck her but not kiss her?

How could he allow himself to pretend she was you, while loving her at the same time? Has he gone mad?

Had your loss drove him towards insanity?

He thinks to himself, head tilted back on his couch.

He wanted to run after her but he felt like this situation was more than just an 'I'm sorry', it was more than that. He had to think about others that aren't his brothers, you, or himself anymore.

He was the reason Tabitha came into his life.

He let her in, and he made her fall in love with him.

Days eventually turned to weeks.

The hurt came back again, and it kept him glued on his bed despite the burning desire to spend. To gamble.

To gamble his life away until he is nothing but a useless shell of a prince. It felt like he was going insane, the hot prickly feeling was foreign.

The ragged breathing.

The bright golden eyes.

He couldn't lose control, he never had so why now?

Then he realizes.

It was Tabitha that kept him calm when you passed.

It wad Tabitha that held his hand when you no longer could.

It was she who loved him more than he could ever learn to love, she loved him despite knowing his real intentions.

Despite knowing the hurt she might get.

She loved him.

And he hurt her.

The feeling hadn't fully sunk until tears finally streamed down his face.

Until the burning sensation eventually turned to fire.

Until his vision finally turned red with the lack of sin indulgence. He was going mad.

No.

He already is.

"MAMMON!" Lucifer called out as Beelzebub held his older brother back, but even he couldn't hold on much longer.

His brother's speed was too fast.

His strength was nothing compared to the overwhelming speed of his brother's greed and hurt.

Golden tears streamed down his face, but he is contorted angrily. Or tearfully. It changes depending on who you had asked.

"Asmodeus! Can't you charm him!?" Leviathan begged.

"You think I didn't try that!?" Asmodeus retorted back, sweat glistened his skin.

Belphegor stood silently beside Satan who only stood stunned at the scene. He has never seen Mammon lose control, but honestly, who has?

"Mammon!" Satan called out.

"Mammon!! Listen to me!" He calls out again, demon form and all.

Lucifer looks at Satan with disbelief, "Do you plan on taking him down? You can't! Even Leviathan couldn't-"

"You think I don't know that!? I'm trying to get him to be calm!" Which was stupid because he was always in tune with his emotions so clearly, he is in control. (He's not.)

"That won't work, he's too far gone..." Belphegor muttered helplessly.

"Mammon!! You dummy!"

Mammon's growling stopped.

He turns slowly at the sound, "...Ta..bi...tha?"

Tabitha stood in front of him, she looks at him with sadness. Sympathy. How did it turn to this?

She brings her hands up to his face very slowly.

The gold tears stung her like boiling water, but regardless, she wipes all tears away.

"Shhh... It's okay. You deserve to finally mourn."

He cries harder.

He cried on your funeral.

But it never lasted long enough to release the actual hurt.

His cries echoed horrifically.

"Ta-Tabitha!" He calls out.

"Mm..." She hums as his head collapses onto the crook of her shoulder blades.

"I'm- I'm sorry! *hic* I- I hurt you a-and made you feel like a-a replacement f-for mc!!" He cries pathetically like a child. His reputation as a lord be damned.

Tabitha is silent.

"N-No words could tell you honestly h-how sorry I am! You- *hic* You deserve so much better, Tabi, but I'm so greedy!!"

"Then be greedy! Be as greedy as you want! Show me that you are truly sorry, and tell me that you want me for me!" She cried out to him.

They both were a sobbing mess.

But the silent stare was enough to speak volumes.

"Tabi..." He whispers through ragged breath.

"Mammon..." She whispers back.

Slowly.

Their lips touch.

It felt blissful.

Like paradise where nothing hurts.

Where it's just them.

Paradise where there is freedom but the fire doesn't burn.

A place where they can hold hands, kiss, and live their lives as free as they could.

The lips was soft. Gentle.

Her sweet cream tasting lips was a perfect fit against his own.

His touch on her back, and her hands on his cheeks.

It reminded him of you paradise.

They pull back, "...I want to stay that way forever."

"...Me too."

[tsrookie]

Always In My Heart

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Dr. Alyssa Brooks)

A/N: On today’s episode of ‘I have no idea wtf I’m doing’, we have something that I cooked up because I had terrible WiFi and no other app but Google docs would open up.

Trope: Fluff, but a tiny bit of angst?

Rating: General

Word Count: 2.3K

Warning(s): Mentions of character death

Summary: Their son has a very important question to ask.

——————————

The delicious aroma of chicken and rice wafted through the Brooks-Ramsey household. The couple worked side by side in the kitchen as they had all those years ago, the only difference being that it was now a dinner for five and not just two.

Allison Dolores Brooks-Ramsey came into their lives nine years ago, and while it was earlier than they would have wanted, they didn’t regret a second of their lives ever since they first heard her voice.

The twins on the other hand, were planned, but nothing had prepared them for the chaos that Nathan and Natalie would bring. A new broken object every week, a dozen fights for the TV every day, and yet were nothing short of tiny tornadoes when they joined forces.

It couldn’t be more perfect.

“What time did Jackie and Emilia say that they would bring the girls back?”

“6:30, I think.”

“Ah. So we have time till 7:00.” They shared a knowing smile. Two aunts taking their nine and six year old nieces to the mall meant a complete raid of the toy store, and a new guitar.

“You need to stop letting everyone spoil the girls just because you have a soft spot for them, Ethan. Ally’s grown old enough to understand that she has her daddy wrapped around her finger, and we don’t need Nat coming to that realisation as well.”

“I don’t- I can’t believe you would accuse me of not loving all my children equally!”, he exclaimed in mock offense.

“Mhmm. So why did I have to come up with an explanation to tell Nathan why his dad wasn’t on board with ordering dessert when he asked for it, but relented once his sisters kept bugging him for another five minutes?”

He opened his mouth in protest, but decided against saying anything for his own good. “Well what can I say? They’ve inherited their mother’s persuasiveness. And I can’t really say no to you, can I?”

Alyssa’s lips curved upwards at that. The playful look in her husband’s eyes caused her to finally break into a grin. “At least you’re self-aware.” Stuffing the rice into the bird she added, “But I can’t exactly tell our son that his dad is too in-love with his mom that he sees her in his daughters and hence can’t say no to them. He’d gag in disgust.”

He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her, resting his head in the crook of her neck. “That he would. Alright I’ll try a little harder to resist their charms. Wouldn’t want my only son to end up hating me.” He said it without a hint of worry over it becoming true someday. Over the years, he’d learned to put aside his fears of not being a good father, and with the help of some therapy, and Alyssa’s unwavering love and support, he’d locked up his insecurities in a box and let it sink to the bottom of the ocean.

They took the stuffed chicken and put it in the oven, washed their hands and plopped down on the couch for some rare downtime.

“Crap.”

“Everything okay?”

“Fred’s mom got called in, so she’s dropping Nate off on her way to work.”

Ethan sighed. “There goes the hour I planned to spend with my wife, who I barely get to spend enough time with these days.”

“I swear, you were never this busy when you were chief. I have no idea why my workload’s ten times bigger.”

“I do.” Ethan smiled with pride. “One usually does have a lot of work when they’re at the front lines of the battle for making free healthcare accessible for every single person in the country. My brilliant wife, though she could choose to leave most of the work to her very competent team, opts to take it all upon herself. So that’s probably the cause behind all the extra workload she complains about.”

She smirked and perched herself onto his lap. “Well your very brilliant wife also knows that you called my team very competent just to avoid hurting my feelings, and that you and I both know that they’ll be running around like headless chickens without me taking care of things.”

“I know, love. But you can still make them do a little more instead of working yourself to the bone while still making sure that you have at least one meal with the kids every day.”

She sighed. “Yeah, to make sure that they don’t forget what I look like.” She leaned in closer. “Besides, are we really going to spend our last few minutes of peace talking about work?”

Just as she uttered the words, the door burst open, and Nathan kicked off his shoes and jumped onto the couch as Alyssa slid down from Ethan’s lap. She shot him a look that very clearly meant What did I just say?

Ethan gave her an apologetic look and ruffled his son’s hair. “Hey buddy. How was your day at Fred’s? I know you wanted to spend more time with him.”

“I did, and we were just about to open his new LEGO set when Mrs. Watson told us that she had to run up to her office for some emergency meeting.”, he pouted. “But it was a nice day. We watched Thor: Ragnarok and Luca, and we would’ve watched another movie if his dad didn’t tell us that two movies were enough for a day.”

Alyssa shot him a mildly stern look. “Well he was right. You’re too young to have movie marathons just yet. Two are more than enough, unless you want to have a headache.”

“But mom, I’m not too young! I’m a big boy! I can swing along the monkey bars at the park faster than Natalie, and soon I’ll swing across buildings just like Spider-Man!”

“Well Spider-Man got bitten by a yucky spider before he swung across buildings. Do you want to be bitten by a gross and poisonous spider?”

“Mommy, not all spiders are gross and poisonous. Dad told me that when I was four and got scared of them at the zoo.”

She rolled her eyes. Leave it to her husband to convince her kids that insects were anything short of creepy and disgusting. In reality, they were, but as someone who ran a mile away at the sight of a butterfly, she wasn’t going to accept that.

“That’s right, Nate. Some of them are certainly very poisonous and dangerous, but that doesn’t mean that you should be scared of them. If you maintain your distance and admire them from afar, there should be no problem at all.”, he said with a pointed look at Alyssa, who just huffed in annoyance.

Nathan giggled, his brown eyes lighting up with amusement. He loved watching his parents playfully bicker. It was way better than seeing them- ugh, kiss.

“We were pretending to be superheroes and Fred used his full name for his pretend name cause it sounded cool, and it is. Fredrick Anthony Watson sounds like something from that show you and mom watch with the guys in the stuffy suits.”

“When did you see us watching the show with the guys in the stuffy suits?”, asked Ethan with a slight hint of concern. Whatever he and Alyssa watched on their free nights was definitely not kid-friendly.

“I don’t remember. Maybe a few months ago.”

Their year old puppy, Ivy, woke up from her nap and bounced into the living room to jump onto her favourite person. Nathan squealed with joy as the fluffy hair of the dog tickled his nose.

Ethan and Alyssa smiled at each other. Getting another dog after Jenner was a decision that took a lot of convincing, but their kids were responsible enough and it was impossible to say no after two years of constant pestering.

“Fred told me that he was named after his great-grandfather William, and that he was this really cool guy who saved a bunch of guys from getting mugged in a dark, dark alley.” He turned to look at his parents as Ivy snuggled into his lap. “Who was I named after mom?”

The question caught her off guard, and she glanced at Ethan for backup.

When they knew that they were having a boy, they immediately knew what to name him. They hadn't, however, anticipated Nathan Daniel Brooks-Ramsey to ask such a question this soon.

Seeing his wife at a loss for words, Ethan spoke up. “C’mere Nate.” He pulled him closer and pressed a kiss atop his head. “We once had a friend named Daniel. He worked at the hospital as a nurse, and he was close to your mom and Aunt Sienna when they were interns.”

Having found her voice, Alyssa joined in. “He was an amazing friend. He was the only nurse in the hospital who helped me out when things got messy, and cheered up Aunt Sienna when no one else could. He’d join us for picnics and movie nights, and you could always count on him if you needed something at the hospital.” She took a deep breath, and Ethan nodded. “Things were going well, but then in my second year, something really bad happened.”

“Oh no.”

“There was this bad guy, who wanted his revenge on another bad guy, and he was ready to risk his own life, and the lives of everyone around him to do so.”

“That’s horrible! Who would want to do something like that?”

Ethan smiled wistfully. “A lot of people in this world actually do. You’re a good person, so you know that it’s wrong. But some people aren’t, and they don’t care about other people getting hurt because of their actions. That night at the hospital, Danny tried to tell the bad guy that it was wrong, and to think things through. But he didn’t listen, and did something that hurt both himself, Danny, Uncle Raf, another friend of ours, and your mom.”

His little eyebrows creased with worry, Nathan asked, “What happened then?”

“He… he died. Along with our other friend, Bobby. Do you remember what we once told you about an autopsy?” Nathan nodded his head. “Well Danny asked for his body to be autopsied, and thanks to him, we were able to find out what was wrong with mom and Uncle Raf.”

He fell silent for a moment, remembering the horrors of the day, and how eternally grateful he was to Danny for being the reason he didn’t lose everything. He couldn’t imagine a life without the love of his life and his children, and he wouldn’t have either if not for the sacrifices that were made.

He looked up at Alyssa, and she squeezed his hand in support. “We’ll tell you more when you’re older, but to make it short, you’re named after a hero too. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have you, your sisters, or mom here with me.”

Nathan wriggled out of his dad’s arms, and set Ivy down so he could hug his mom as tightly as he could.

“Well… if you can hear me Mr. Daniel, I just wanna thank you. Thanks for saving my mom. I love her so much and I’m so thankful that I got to meet her because of what you did. I wish I could’ve met you, you sound like a really cool person, and I’m sure you were. So yeah, thanks. A lot.”

Alyssa’s eyes glimmered with unshed tears, and she held her son as she expressed her silent thanks along with Ethan.

What they had was precious.

Fifteen years had passed since they first met, and yet each day they fell in love a little more like they did when they held hands for the first time in the dim light of the NICU watching over little Ethan, or when she finally got to see the real him the first time she visited his place; the first time in years he let someone know a little of the worries residing deep in his heart.

With all the odds against them, it was a miracle that they survived, even more so that they managed to raise three perfect children who had more love to share than they could ever comprehend.

And they’d never forget all the reasons that made it possible for them to survive.

Ding!

The timer on the oven went off, and they got to their feet to get the chicken.

“Was he a good cook dad?”

“I… don’t really know, Nate. Your mom knew him better than I did.”

“Well there was this one time where he helped Aunt Sienna bake an amazing cake, so I guess he knew his way around the kitchen.”, Alyssa recollected fondly. It was for Jackie’s birthday, one of the few nights where the competition was completely forgotten about.

Nathan’s face melted into a glowing smile. “I love cake. So I guess I really would’ve loved him.”

She mirrored his radiant expression. “You definitely would’ve.”

“Why don’t you go play with Ivy while mom and I get the food ready? You can help us with the dessert later.”

“We’re having dessert?!”

Ethan grinned at his son’s excitement. “You bet we are.”

“Yay!” They watched as Nathan ran off to go play fetch with Ivy in their enormous backyard.

Ethan pulled Alyssa in for a sweet, lingering kiss as soon as he was out of sight.

“You’ve been wanting to do that for a while now hmm?”

“Something like that.”, he murmured as they broke apart.

She could see the ever-increasing strands of silver in his brown hair, and the faint wrinkles along the sides of his forehead, but his clear blue eyes were just as loving and devoted as she remembered from over a decade ago.

“We have a pretty good life, don’t we?”

Ethan kissed her again. “No, we have the perfect life.”

——————————

A/N 2: Aaaand I’m going MIA again. Honestly though, to everyone who’s read so far, thank you so much for sticking around. Means the world💙

P.S: I finally chose Chyler Leigh as my face claim!

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[ready-to-obeyme]

[OM!] Mother!MC with Demon Brothers + Luke Headcanons

Scenario: Instead of a younger human, the Devildom welcomes a mother (with a 3-year old son in tow) into the exchange program. 

intro + headcanons about how the brothers would interact with her 

no romance… just uwu

bonus how the brothers would treat the son (why son? Perhaps because I too want a son)

Female reader!! (MC is referred to as she in this post) 

bonus character: Luke :3c

I JUST WANT THEM TO FEEL LOVED OK

Lucifer wasn’t prone to believe in fate-- and the beginnings of the exchange program was just another reason why he did not. He let the breeze-- the wind pick a human applicant for him; and if he had gone through every application (though he wasn't completely sure he'd be sane by the end of it all) maybe this situation wouldn't have happened. 

"What do you mean you can't be one of our exchange students?" Diavolo inquired, more curious than anything, an amused smile gracing his lips.

"I have a son," she said hesitantly. And there he was, peering around at the assembly room in his mother's arms that were wrapped protectively around him.

A mother and her human child, Lucifer thought blearily. One could only imagine what would happen if both of them remained here. (Which is why he never cut corners in anything he ever did ever because the one time he does, things go to shit. Damn Diavolo for enabling him.)

--

Lucifer

disgruntled by the adjustments made to accommodate a human child and his mother; mf will he ever rest

probably has to worry about babysitting duties delegated to his brothers 

however, pleasantly surprised by MC's calm demeanor and reliable personality; finally another competent person in the house he doesn't have to really pick up after

...actually adores her and her son

accidentally does things to please her without really realizing it and hates the slight disappointment or worry he sees when he goes through sleepless nights or lashes out from anger

doesn't remember the last time he's been chastised, but he's as embarrassed as he can be when she fusses over him

the hell coffee she makes for him every morning and the snacks she brings during his breaks makes him lowkey wanna cry-- he doesn’t know how to deal with a selfless, unconditional love

is used to being a single parent ngl so taking care of her son is kinda… easy especially if the son is compliant

finds himself pressing a kiss to his forehead absently and catches himself only after he's done it (bonus points if Barbatos takes a pic of it and sends it into their trio gc) 

“Barbatos, please delete this picture.”

“Oh, are you sure about that?”

“................”

ah he's attached, and so are his brothers, which kind of perturbed him a little but he’s kind of in the same boat after a short week or so

(if there was one brother who had a chance of harboring feelings for a mother mc, it’d be Luciiiiiiii uwuwuwuuwuuw; what can I say? He can’t resist the milf) 

eventually, he opens up to her about the war-- because if there was any human he’d trust with his secrets, it would be MC

Mammon

he's crying 

he doesn't think anyone has ever talked or held him as gently as MC

similar to the game, absolutely adores her and can't even lie about it

ok jk he's still a tsundere, but blushes every time MC looks at him with a knowing look because he can't lie convincingly enough that no, the head pats dont feel nice and no, he's just eating the lunch she made because it'll be a waste otherwise, ok?!

Her son definitely thinks he’s related to Mammon

Definitely the first one to accidentally call her “mom” 

But hey don’t blame him-- he’s weak to how MC looks at him endearingly as she brushes hair out of his face motherly, like he can do no wrong 

Nothing can compare to how Mammon feels when MC tells him she’s proud of him

feels legit guilty when she calls him out on his habits of stealing things to the point he remembers her voice when he tries to do it again-- basically his conscience ngl

she's like a cold hand to his feverish forehead, a cooling balm to the burn on his hand

when she defends him from his brother's insults, swears he'll protect her and her son 

on that note, adores her son too and her son adores mammon!

surprisingly (or not) good with kids and treats them well; plays with them, very lively and dynamic

takes babysitting pretty seriously-- makes him consider the fact that he might actually want to be a father in the future if possible

not that he doesn’t have reckless endeavors with her son... they just end up okay so no one is none the wiser until it shows up on someone’s devilgram or spoken about through Barbatos/Diavolo

Leviathan

Honestly doesn’t know how to to react 

A little miffed tbh that he finds it so easy to talk to her about…. Everything??? 

When he enlisted her (and her son) to get his money back from Mammon, did he expect to rant to her about all his animes and gush about his figurines to her because that was one of the first time someone’s allowed him to indulge in his hobbies and listen patiently?

No, and now he’s crying 

And the fact she gently addresses his self-deprecating comments and urges him to see how she sees him (smart, witty, forgiving)---

Will probably do anything for MC and anything she says at this point; the pact is just a formality LOL

Listens to her and genuinely thinks the things she does for him is in his best interest 

Had a hard time knowing how to deal with her son for a while, simply because he doesn’t know what he could do to actually entertain the child

Then finds out he could literally put up TSL or any of his favorite animes and the kid will watch it-- and ABSORB

Levi might as well be the kid’s best friend at this point-- dubbs him ‘Henry’-- which is really the greatest compliment MC thinks her son can get from him

Honestly volunteers to babysit him and proceeds to spoil him rotten

Satan

Slightly annoyed at how motherly she is at the beginning-- he takes her care and actions as if she treats him like a child

Finds it frightening how soothed he feels when he’s around her

There’s something about an older, calming presence that saps the anger from him and makes him feel like he can be himself around MC

Surprisingly the second person to accidentally call MC by “mom” probably an hour after he makes fun of Mammon for doing it (lol karma)

isn't one to seek out her attention like with levi, mammon, or asmo but is pleased whenever he does have time to spend with her because she always seems to have insight on everything and a strange wisdom that all mothers apparently do

has a lot of late night talks with her about her life, her career, what it's like having a child

often finds himself asking her for advice, and even if she doesn't have the answer, he always comes out of it thoughtful and clear minded 

always willing to take care of her son; delights in reading him his favorite books and enacting the exciting scenes 

always treats him like an adult to the point that their conversations are really funny to listen to

"So would you say the author's intent of the blue door was to convey the agony of grief?"

"I like the color blue."

"As did the protagonist; hm, you bring up a good point."

the son is Satan's partner in crime against Lucifer 

"It's better if we do this, isn't that right?"

"Yeah!" MC’s child says, happily chewing on his favorite snack that Satan always gives to him and honestly not caring about the conversation at hand at all

"See? He agrees with me!”

And Lucifer just sighs bc he always loses in these arguments and Satan is unbearably smug

Asmodeus

similar to Satan, finds her presence in Devildom to be very pleasant and calming

she never seems to be disapproving of his past times, and Asmo is endeared by the way she never fails to say "stay safe" or "have fun!" or even "do you want me to leave the front lights for when you come back?"

the little motherly ways in which she shows she cares makes Asmo adore her

loves taking her shopping; always has a good time just gossiping, trying new clothes, or having a girls night out with self careeeee

when her son tags along, loves to have him dress up too or try on make up and it's too adorable NOT to post on devilgram

pretty sure MC's son has trended on devilgram before-- but that was the first and last time because Lucifer yelled at him for advertising the fact there was a human child in Devildom

which Asmo thinks is silly because he's pretty sure the caption under the selfie of the three of them ("So adorbs! I've only had MC's son for a day, but if anything happened to him, I would kill everyone in Devildom and then myself. Teehee!") would have deterred any demon from laying a finger on him

When Asmo has him for babysitting duties, always loves to bathe him and play with bubbles, morphing his hair into an afro or an equally fashionable hairdo

actually very attentive to the child!!

Beelzebub

Not much changes from how Beel treats MC, but does view her actions in a more motherly manner 

I think one thing that would change is that-- considering MC is a mother of her own child, is actually very protective of the brothers and sensitive to their changes in moods

When Lucifer gets angry at Beel and Luke, MC is furious and furiously protective, not yielding one bit or hesitating to put herself in front of them because of her instincts-- Beel has never admired her more 

Physical strength has always something he can easily understand, but it is the strength of wills and of bravery that surprises him every time 

After Mammon and Satan accidentally calls you “mom” Beelzebub has no qualms with calling you by mom either-- I mean, what’s the shame in that? Everyone already thinks of you as their mother-figure anyways

MC helps him deal with the loss of his sister

With MC’s child… You know that one meme with the two ways dad deals with kids: one is softly kissing his child on the forehead as he sleeps and the other is carrying his kid by the leg with one arm

Both of them is Beel 

carries the kid around in the weirdest ways sometimes, including on his head, in one hand like he's holding a trophy, upside down (dw the kid thinks it's funny)

main transport is on his shoulders though; thinks it's kinda cute how the kid puts his arms around his head

wouldn't love anything more but to nap with him, but Beel is afraid of hurting him when he sleeps

Is the softest with MC’s son--- he’s not used to being the older brother, so he takes this responsibility kind of seriously 

Always makes sure the food that MC’s son eats is appropriate so he tastes/tries it first… and sometimes ends up eating all of it, but he always manages to succeed in feeding the kid so it’s all good

Belphegor

Wants to hate MC so badly the first time they meet when he’s in the attic

He’s supposed to HATE humans, damn it-- why the hell is MC trying to be so motherly and understanding, huh?? How dare she make him guilty after he lied to her like wlkjaflksjfkjasdlfj

Out of all of them, seeks MC the least; whether it’s from guilt or the fact that her presence reminds him of the things and resentment he used to hold against her 

Takes a little more cajoling from MC to talk to her and explain how he’s feeling so they can move past it

He’d rather die than let anyone else know that he teared up when they talked about Lilith and how he felt about everything; urges Belphie to talk to Lucifer and seek reconciliation with him individually (because it may be a family problem, but the feud was between the two of them, don’t you think?)

Finally gets the redemption arc he deserves and feels a lot lighter knowing that everything that has happened is now in the open and he’s ready to start healing 

In avoiding MC after the whole debacle, Belphie ends up spending more time with her son because he thinks Belphie is fascinating and Belphie has no clue why 

Similarly to Satan, treats the kid like he would anyone else but does find it amusing if the kid chases after his tail like a cat

Always ends up napping with him whenever MC’s son takes a nap-- after all, what’s easier than looking after a kid if you’re BOTH asleep?

Keeps an eye on him by putting a hand on his torso as they nap together

Uses MC’s son as an excuse to not do something, especially when Lucifer tells him to do something he doesn’t like to do

Honestly the son is a part of his arsenal-- he knows how weak everyone is for this kid (and so is he tbh but more lowkey) so cute pics of him is like… currency (Mammon WISHES he thought of this first) 

Bonus:

Luke

MC practically adopts him the moment she lays eyes on him-- how could she not? Luke may as well be her other son

Luke can’t say no, especially after she saves him from Lucifer

Definitely calls her mom by accident and the brothers tease him-- only for him to retort back that “don’t you ALL call her by mom?” and they shut up lol

Simeon still gets to tease Luke though heheh 

Really really really tries hard not to refer to MC as mom, but it slips out sometimes and no one even bats an eye 

Baking together is such a family bonding moment

Treats MC’s son most like his younger brother almost automatically and makes sure he doesn’t get into any trouble while he’s taking care of him (though he does anyways) 

Kind of likes the responsibility of babysitting MC’s son; makes him feel trusted

(MC takes the cutest pics of them together when they fall asleep; starts thinking about maybe having another child wouldn’t be so bad)