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batsplat · 8 months ago

Note

more thoughts? PLEASE

okay I'm gonna assume this is about my tags on the sete post and well when I was editing I cut out a lot from a bunch of different sections so there's not necessarily... uh. this isn't going to be a coherent addition. but I have a few more thoughts I might as well rattle through

1. reinvention

idk I just enjoy what he's doing with his style changes during that time... like in 2002, 2003 and 2004 you've got a different vibe going on each year. the whole point of that brno hair colour thing was that it was almost a step back into the past, of re-embracing the fun and the whimsy and escaping the constraints and pressures of the present. very much embracing a more youthful vibe when you compare it to 2002, getting back in touch with his inner teenager, all while he's plotting his crazy move to yamaha. and then 2004 obviously he inevitably changes up his colour scheme, but he also lets his hair grow out and it ends up nicely emphasising that this is a New Era for him. not really an original point but there's just something fun and playful to how he uses his cute lil visual storytelling elements, from the hairstyles to the celebrations... he makes it fun to analyse him, y'know? always thinking about The Narrative

2. the symbolism of it all

this bit was too vibes-based to make it into the post but it's basically linked to these bits in the conclusion:

and following on from the reinvention thing, I do think there's something narratively rich to how valentino had to change his approach as a result of the switch to yamaha. you have this... I wouldn't call it a regression necessarily but maybe a recapturing of this playfulness in the middle of 2003 with the whole brno thing, but then there's something a little tougher and hardened about him in his yamaha days that kind of comes from necessity because he just didn't have that margin for error anymore. from the mat oxley reference book:

Some racers think motorcycle racing is a high-speed ballet, others think it's a petrolhead's wrestling match. Valentino always had the killer instinct, but it's significant that he only became known as a warrior rider after he left Honda. Without the technical advantage of the RC211V, he needed to find another way to beat rivals. He found that way at the 2005 Spanish GP, where he battered into Sete Gibernau at the final corner to win the race. He used similarly aggressive tactics to beat Casey Stoner at Laguna Seca in 2008 and Jorge Lorenzo at Motegi in 2010, and to deal with Marc Marquez during 2015. It has been said that Vale invented this kind of racing, although a deeper look into the sport's history reveals that this isn't true. And yet there's no doubt that he loved the thrill of the chase and the thrill of the kill.

and yeah, crucially, he did always have it in him. he was a proper menace in his rookie 125cc season, to the surprise of absolutely no one. but it's a very valentino thing, isn't it... you've got this clown prince persona, you have this exuberance and joie de vivre and all of it, and it's not like any of that is a lie. it's also not like his friendliness to other people is a lie either: the anecdotes about this are pretty consistent in telling you about how he does take genuine interest in his fellow human beings, which is hardly something you can take for granted with the kind of socially isolated egomaniacs competitive sports tends to produce. (though he does also benefit in that regard from coming up through an era in which the sport was still a little less professionalised and he was afforded somewhat more time to develop into a generally more well-rounded character, not a bad thing lbr.) but then, back against the wall, the fangs come out. and in a way that's what the entire 2004 season was about for him - this period where he was actually facing real challenges, a period of transition and transformation where the winning was a little less easy and he changed as a competitor as a result of that

and there's just something... idk, fitting, about how it was sete specifically who ended up being the victim of this, the guy who had always been seen as a little too carefree and nice and soft to cut it at the sharp end of the sport. who valentino had befriended: he'd been happy to blur that line between competitor and friend back then, though obviously that friendship started before sete became a serious threat. if you really want to go off the deep end with this, you could say valentino ended up exorcising the softness within himself by crushing sete. he wasn't going to allow any weakness in his own competitive make up, not when it could actually cost him. and in a way he really did have to understand sete really well, to know how to get to him in the way he did, to know how to play all those little moments in front of the cameras... those moments where he's cold to sete and knows it will unsettle sete, where he extends his hand and knows sete will accept, all of it. targeted cruelty, based on a thorough understanding of sete's character. again, this is a bit of a reach but you could say the two feuds where he went the furthest with his cruelty were against the two blokes who were the most similar to valentino. and, well, sometimes you do have to understand someone to truly know how best to hurt them

the whole episode also ended up signalling something to his competitors, almost like a warning. it's not like his relationship with everyone else in the paddock changed from one day to the next and he still had good friendships with other guys after that - even those he was actually competing against, like nicky hayden or loris capirossi. but inevitably, it will have also shifted perceptions of valentino. after the feud with biaggi you could say he was really young and also a lot of people had problems with biaggi. but gibernau? if you need concrete evidence people took notice of valentino's behaviour, take casey in 2007 saying to valentino that he didn't want their relationship deteriorate the same way it had with biaggi/gibernau. one feud can happen to everyone, two starts looking a little suspicious - three was where it became a pattern

3. rivalries

y'know, I've seen that casey quote about valentino and gibernau and biaggi thrown around a fair few places over the years, but the thing I've always been kind of curious about is what valentino thought about casey telling him that. if this is a pattern of behaviour, then what's happening there is valentino being confronted with that pattern, right? I think an underlying question you have to address at some point with valentino and his rivalries is how aware he is of what he's doing. like, is he consciously engineering feuds or is he doing it subconsciously? and I think it can be a bit misleading if the first valentino feud you come across is the marc one, because it'll prime you to read all the other ones in certain ways that might not be entirely accurate. I've not quite figured out how to express this yet so bear with me here - but marc is the one who valentino felt the most hurt by and continues to feel the most hurt by and as a result it's the most emotionally charged feud from his perspective. but what that also means is it's the feud where he's the least consciously aware of how he himself has contributed to this whole nightmare situation they've got going on. because from his perspective he did treat marc differently from... well, basically from any post-sete major or even minor rival. he offered marc all that kindness and generosity and good will and graciousness in defeat as well as victory and had it thrown in his face

which makes it easy to assume this is all just... well, not just twenty years of feuding but also twenty years of self-delusion. and it's not quite like that - he has more self-awareness than that I think. when you read how he talks about biaggi in his autobiography (who he is kind enough not to completely erase from his narrative), even in 2005 he seems to have a pretty good handle on what that feud really was. okay, maybe he does somewhat shirk responsibility and somewhat overemphasises the role of the media as opposed to his own malice, but there's an awareness of how stupid and silly and mean-spirited the whole thing was. it was just a kind of nasty rivalry with a guy valentino didn't like much - but who, for what it's worth, wasn't exactly going out of his way to be nice to valentino either. sure, it ended up being torture for biaggi, and sure valentino did maybe relish inflicting said torture a little more than is morally appropriate. but y'know, in some ways, it's quite straightforward, this honest mutual dislike. uncomplicated, even

and this I did not include in the actual sete post because it's just complete and utter speculation, but I wonder to what extent the sete experience did end up changing valentino's approach to his competitors. whether he deliberately embraced that side of himself a little more and was a little more considered and calculating in how he treated his rivals, more in touch with his inner bastard, if you will. even if he just had in the back of his mind that something like with sete could happen again, even if he was just a bit more careful about keeping certain blokes at arm's length. because, remember, from his perspective this was also the first time a relationship with a rival deteriorated this drastically - now you can say 'yeah but it was his fault', but that doesn't change how it was a new experience for valentino too! he was also learning stuff about himself in the process, going through an important journey of self-exploration, etc etc. love crushing my enemies on the path to self-actualisation

and valentino did learn a lot from that whole experience on-track, he did learn useful skills in terms of managing rivalries - so maybe he also looked at what worked on sete in the psychological warfare department and, y'know, consciously made a note of it. when casey delivered that little spiel to valentino about not wanting their relationship to deteriorate, I assume valentino responded perfectly pleasantly in the moment... but I do also think he was extremely ready to deliberately sour their dynamic if he had to. zero self-delusion required

he's quite calculating with casey and jorge I feel... especially with casey, he really didn't waste his time feeling emotionally slighted or coming up with reasons why casey was the devil and needed to be destroyed. he wanted to destroy casey because he wanted to win, and was comfortable enough in his own skin to use the full bag of tools and tricks to do so, no complex internal narratives to justify the whole thing needed. for him, that was all just part of the game. it wasn't for casey, which is a topic for an entirely different post, but... well, casey and jorge in particular are the ones who have spoken about this valentino desire to create enemies, to give himself someone to hate etc. and in a way, ironically I would say they're the two for who that was the least true. yeah, they gave him a helpful target and he was perfectly happy to whip up drama where needed. but I don't really think he was going to any particular lengths to invent reasons to hate them (even his 2010 dramatics were really just faffing about). he found them both kinda annoying and he wanted to beat them. that's it

4. these photos of valentino and sete at sepang 2004

idk I just like photos that have nebulously bad vibes if you know the context. it would have been quite funny if they'd consistently used the same shade of yellow in sepang press conferences over the years

5. marc

all of the stuff above does to me really emphasise how... god. this is the thing about valentino and marc, right, as a tragic narrative - it feels inevitable in many ways that this had to somehow go wrong, but then at the same time the exact way in which it did end up going wrong was reliant on so many things playing out the exact way in which they did, that it feels like if you could have just slightly changed things... like, let's say for a moment my baseless speculation about valentino is correct and he did become a little more careful and deliberate in how he approached his relationships with his competitors after the sete experience. there's so much that had to come together for him to lower his guard around marc to the extent that he did. again, injuries, ducati, how he wasn't really competitive in 2013, how dominant marc was especially in the first half of 2014... all these things that came together to lull them both into this false sense of security, spurred on by genuine interpersonal chemistry - all of which allowed them to even become friends in the first place

think about what the early marc and valentino relationship looks like if you're casey (who, bless him, certainly wasn't paying close enough attention to motogp to be aware of 'press conference vibes') or jorge (who, bless him, was unfortunately unable to avoid said press conference vibes). isn't there a little part of you that goes 'what the fuck is all this then' when you see valentino act like marc is god's gift to motorcycle racing after spending years enacting elaborate hazing rituals any time particularly promising talent had come through? casey's little 'yeah he was fucking with me in practise in 2006' line, jorge... okay in valentino's defence, it's worth pointing out that their 2008 relationship was more cordial than literally anyone had expected, and things only really soured in 2010. but still, their camps did already start up a healthy habit of sniping at each other in the press in 2009 and they did have the whole cold war cosplay situation going on, so. jorge certainly wasn't being given the kid gloves treatment

and sure, 2014 was a pretty drama free year for everyone because the general consensus was 'what would be the point', and I suppose if you're jorge you might also just assume the old man's washed and has gone soft in his advanced age. but still! I think I'd be a tad peeved myself, especially given valentino immediately fell into a lovely little habit of taking marc's side in controversies from the very start of marc's rookie season. but that's kind of the point - valentino's entire approach to marc required that past history of feuding for him to fall back on, for him to imitate/echo when the moment arrived (as I talked about here)... but it also required valentino to have gotten enough distance from all of his past misadventures for him to not have that sort of mindset from the outset when it came to marc

which, another thing I feel like maybe can get obscured a little if you're looking back on past rivalries with the marc-lens - this concept of valentino 'switching up' towards his opponents. because I do actually think there is something categorically different between the sete + marc rivalries when compared to any of his other ones - and it's how deliberate that switch-up is from valentino's perspective, vs to what extent it's driven by 'genuine' emotion. I just think there were rivalries (for a given value of the word if we're including melandri here) between sete's era and marc's era where valentino decided he was going to create a little distance there - but it was all part of the game. he didn't hate those guys. he just wanted to win, and understood as much about himself

but he does hate marc, because that rivalry was never supposed to be like the other ones. which, in the end, is what made it far far worse

6. che spettacolo

'he was so happy after sealing his first yamaha title :)' I go, knowing he had just pulled off a pretty fucking nasty spite win against a bloke he'd recently put a curse on. he really did risk quite a lot in the penultimate round of the season, just because he could not bear to see sete win that race. revealing, isn't it? obviously he'd always try to win the race, but... at times he just couldn't help himself in how far he went

anyway, it's my favourite of his title-winning shirts. a deliberate departure from tradition - he told his team he didn't want logos or any other decoration or even any mention that he was world champion again. the reasoning he gave was that nobody would expect it from him, which... well, yeah, it's what that whole year was about, wasn't it? about doing the unexpected, about proving everyone wrong - and, in the end, about putting on a show. like all the best valentino celebrations, it gets the message across and explains to you quite clearly what he thinks the story of his victory was. memorable in its simplicity but tells you everything you need to know

one of his career highlights <3 it's in character that the whole thing was just a little bit evil

7. film

I cannot for the life of me remember when this was except it was post-2015, but one time in a presser valentino was asked which rivalry of his he'd make into a movie and his answer was biaggi. obviously it's hard to argue with the dramatic appeal of that particular story and it's certainly got a lot of very memorable moments, but my hot take is that the sete rivalry has got it beat by virtue of having a far clearer narrative arc. it's a slightly unusual, slightly odd story for a sports rivalry... like I said in the sete post, people aren't typically all that compelled by sports rivalries where you know from the outset which one of them is better. what's the point then, right? very much the indie flavour rivalry, a little more niche and philosophical and inscrutable and, y'know, darker. this is a feud that centres around a curse, after all. this one's for the girls who get it etc etc

valentino's erasure of sete is interesting for a lot of reasons, but it's a shame because it really is such a good narrative arc that adds so much to the transition to yamaha. the transformation valentino himself went through as a competitor, how he responded to real threats emerging, revealing your true nature in extremis and all of that... I'm not entirely convinced by how sete says valentino didn't need to do what he did against sete - he said it specifically about jerez, which I suppose is debatable, but I imagine he meant it more broadly too. there was a moment valentino could have lost that 2004 championship. and he'd already decided he would do anything to stop that from happening, which things like that assen last lap nicely symbolised. the thing about judging valentino for the foibles and the spite and the dishonesty and the competitive paranoia and all of it - well, at the end of the day they are key aspects of his make up as a competitor for a reason. you can judge him as a person... but as an athlete, more often than not they worked out in his favour. that's what's so interesting about sepang 2015 in a way - it's the only time the whole thing well and truly backfired

(I know casey has drawn the comparison between himself and marc before and argued valentino's biggest mistake was in making enemies but... well. was it? it wasn't against casey - valentino did not lose anything by making an enemy out of casey and he very well may have gained a lot, depending on what your read of the 2008 season is. very much a topic for another post... but this is the thing right, I think it's perfectly reasonable to object to valentino's behaviour on moral grounds, less reasonable to ignore why it was such a big part of who he was as a competitor and how it helped him succeed. I completely understand why casey wants to draw that comparison, but - perhaps unfortunately - it's a little too nice to be true that valentino's malice cost him as much as casey suggests it did)

valentino learns a lot from the sete rivalry in terms of his storytelling and self-mythologisation, not least in how he plays up the theatre of the sepang presser. one aspect that really stands out to me is the pointed cruelty of his celebrations after sepang. from the sete post:

revisiting his whole 'character arc' from the 2003-05 period here, you've got this reversion in 2003, right, this throwback to the antics of his teenage years, and then you've got him getting meaner in 2004... and these things are married here. the whimsy and fun inherent to his celebrations is being wielded in the name of humiliating his competitors, of making a joke out of them. there's this thin line between joy and malice, where throughout his career he seems so endlessly capable of both - even at the same time, clearly. he's obviously already shown himself capable of mocking his opponents in the biaggi days, but, I don't know, it really does feel like there's something to how deliberately the humiliation is incorporated into the theatre of victory here. what a spectacle indeed

8. rage and panic

but then again, I really don't want to pretend like valentino is perfectly rational or calculating in what he's doing here. remember where all this started - in qatar, a race where he well and truly lost his cool and he knows as much. I included the relevant autobiography section in this post, but just to put the bit here that's bit about qatar itself:

he knows his brain fucked him over! I also think it's interesting that this reads slightly differently from his immediate post-race quotes, which I included in the sete post:

was he angry or was he relaxed or, somehow, both? was that unfortunate moment of relaxation caused by the inevitable letdown from the anger - was it unsustainable to ride like that? either way, the key bit to me is the heightened emotions involved and how usually he has it under control, usually he can use all of this in his own interest to spur himself on... except when he can't. as I pointed out in the tags of the qatar post, there are elements of that race that do remind you of another 25 year old rider who had received a penalty he felt was unfair and was working his way through the field while running hot on emotion. it's all fun and games and smiling assassins etc etc, but if you get them really angry...

and, y'know, in a way there's an element of panic to his post-qatar media rampage. okay, sure, he was clearly furious and the whole thing did end up working out in his favour, but in the moment he must have also been scared he was going to end up losing a championship he'd thought he basically had wrapped up. it's funny because if motogp were a sane and normal sport, valentino (allegedly) vowing his title rival would never win a race again on live tv should have been a moment of foolishness and hubris and should have been remembered as such. it should have been him losing it for a moment there and saying a bunch of stuff he'd need to gloss over and hope everyone moves on quickly from. it is absolutely bonkers that it all played out the way it did post-qatar and it just like... all went in his favour. it could not have gone better for him. there's a world in which 2004 is remembered as the title valentino squandered. but sometimes hubris gets rewarded, I suppose

9. margin

sane and normal sport, huh? the thing about sports is that none of it is sane and normal. if you actually go through the races one by one and look at all the instances sete could have won a race post-qatar, it does feel just incredibly improbable that sete never won a single one of those damn things. I mean, there are five races where he's literally going into the last lap(!!) with a chance of winning. (in the name of journalistic integrity I do have to point out sete's fuel ran out in the last lap of brno so he didn't really have a chance of winning, but that just brings us back to the 'does motogp exist in a parallel universe where black magic is real' question.) in three of them, sete is ahead of valentino at some point of that final lap

one of the worst things about sports is that sometimes it can trick you into thinking the final outcome is in doubt when it actually kind of isn't. the fact that these two blokes are arriving at the last lap together fools you into thinking that both of them have a decent shot of winning. but obviously it doesn't actually work like that. call it skill and the extra margin of error a decisive performance edge will provide you, call it a clutch factor, call it how 'broken' sete was - it really was just the illusion of proximity, the illusion of tight margins. maybe it really was a test of wills. in two of those races, valentino risked quite a lot to win. phillip island for obvious title arithmetic reasons, jerez because he's literally throwing his bike against sete's in his desperation to prevent sete from beating him. in some ways, it feels unfair to judge sete's mentality too harshly - firstly because this is an insane person sport and I do think he has a point when he says it's maybe not a great idea to laud crash-happy riders for their 'bravery', and secondly because he was just fundamentally the worse rider, which obviously means it was always going to be harder for him to beat valentino than vice versa. but, and this is without any judgement, sete's problem was that valentino always would have been willing to go further than him in his desire to win. to be good at the insane person sport... you do unfortunately have to be insane

10. momentum

I'm not going to be able to do this justice here so I'll only address it very briefly. but I've referred quite a few times to what valentino 'learned' from those years and the sete rivalry and how it helped him acquire tricks he'd be able to use for his other rivals in the future, and there's one aspect of this that kind of stands out to me. you know this bit, right:

this is the thing to me, he becomes so much more proficient at managing momentum. take his 2001 season, he was just kinda doing stuff... panicked a little bit when he had a bad race at the sachsenring until jb talked him off the ledge and reminded him that neither him nor the bike were all that great there. poor thing. and then 2002 and 2003 didn't really have title fights, though I guess 2003 did have a mid-season turning point of sorts when valentino just decided he'd had enough of losing races. which is a nice thing to be able to do, I suppose

but yeah, obviously I already addressed at length how valentino did his whole show at sepang to stop sete's momentum cold, and then how he fatally undermined sete's self-belief and hope and conviction in jerez a few races later - basically stopping that title bid before it even got started. which is all well and good, but... okay, how do you actually manage to make your three most famous overtakes so meaningful? obviously the cause and effect relationship is a bit muddled here - just because they're his most famous overtakes, they're not necessarily his best, and we remember them particularly strongly because they had such a strong impact on his fortunes. but still, when you think about it... sepang was only a turning point that season because of the theatre and not because of the race itself, his overtake in jerez was 100% last minute desperation... but laguna and catalunya? he literally could not have scripted those races more perfectly

both happen at a time when he really, really needs a big win. in 2008, he might have had the points on his side but he sure didn't have the momentum, with casey's three consecutive wins on a ducati that finally seemed well-settled enough to fight for the title and with a lot of strong casey tracks to come. like, he basically wasn't the title favourite any more going into that race - even at the end of laguna one of the commentators still referred to casey as "the man to beat" for the rest of the season. in 2009, the situation was similarly dire. from here (I say like I'm citing something more substantial than my own tumblr posts):

they were both races that valentino went into at a time when he was in serious trouble - but on the flip side they also presented a serious opportunity. both laguna (a race casey must have felt completely certain he would win) and catalunya (jorge's home race) were ones where he could really hurt his rivals. at some point that weekend, whether before the race for casey or before the final corner for jorge, both of them would have been 100% confident they'd win... and valentino stole those victories from right under their noses. and the thing is, right, he couldn't have planned exactly how those races went. first of all because, contrary to whatever the italian public may believe, he is not literally a god. and second of all, the specific overtakes everyone remembers are also ones that inherently had a lot of risk attached to them you'd obviously prefer to avoid. at laguna you have the excursion into the dirt where he needed skill and also quite frankly luck to not crash. catalunya was a last corner overtake - and as we've established, valentino by this point had learned his lesson about leaving it that late if he had any choice in the matter

still, it's not like it was just fate or coincidence or any of that. obviously, he did get lucky that these races unfolded in such a perfect manner for him... but athletes do have a hand in creating their own luck. for laguna, and this is so very much a topic for another post, valentino deliberately deployed tactics to fuck with casey in a way that ended up generating that overtake - without getting into it too much, he basically knew he couldn't allow casey to be ahead going into turn 10 (the corkscrew's turn 8). so if you've decided in advance that come what may, you'll stick your bike in front of your rival's bike in a certain corner... well, if you get lucky, then maybe you can create a little magic. with catalunya, he said afterwards that he'd been imagining that overtake for the whole week before the race. incidentally, according to the commentators jorge had told them that if you're ahead going into the last two corners, you've won the race (which is obviously the kind of thing you should never say, are you insane??) - and that's the key, isn't it. here too, there's a meeting of skill and luck and jorge maybe not being as diligent in protecting the inside line as he should have been (a fact that casey, always polite, full of tact, ever helpful, was willing to repeatedly point out to jorge) and it could have very much ended up with two bikes in the dirt and some awkward conversations within yamaha that evening... but still, at the end of the day, you've got to "invent something" as the commentators put it, you've got to come up with that move and decide it's possible and visualise it again and again before eventually turning it into reality. both of those wins and both of the overtakes everyone remembers were at least to some extent built on tactics and prior planning and valentino deliberately producing something special when he really needed to

the other key bit is, okay, obviously it's not that remarkable that valentino immediately clocked they were important wins, given he'd intended them to be important wins going into the respective races and he knew full well how dramatic the duels had been... but he was still very adept at leaning into the theatre of it all. the idea that valentino came up with the idea of kissing the corkscrew during the race is very funny to me, but it is pretty plausible given he will have had time to do so while coasting at the front after casey's fall. and it's just very memorable, isn't it? sure, that corkscrew overtake helped him win the race, but so did the first lap move into turn 8 or that nifty move on the outside of turn 3 on the lap casey went down. the battle still continued for another twenty odd laps after that corkscrew overtake, but valentino had the shrewd showman's acumen to immediately pinpoint that as the moment of the race, the thing everyone would remember, the defining image, and paid tribute to it in his celebrations to ensure the association would stick in everyone's minds

obviously, he also goes for all kinds of over the top celebrations in catalunya, including wildly ecstatic fist pumping on the bike and breaking out of parc fermé to soak up the adulation of jorge's home fans and all that stuff. and he's a huge fan of the fact he got his 99th career win beating the number 99, because of course he is

also obviously he does that annoying thing where he goes up to both of them while they're doing their interviews so their reactions will be recorded for posterity. so yeah, that's the thing, right... it's about knowing immediately the wins are special and meaningful and signalling with your overblown celebrations how meaningful they are to everyone else so that everyone else is extra sure to remember them and talk about them forever and ever... obviously he got lucky here, obviously it's a little crazy that both those races worked out that well from his perspective. but, y'know. got to hand it to him, I guess. something pretty neat about how both times he went 'yes I am going to change the momentum of the season today'... and he did. plus you've got to give him credit for the fact that he actually capitalised on his momentum, which isn't always easy, and basically took control of both seasons from that point onward (if in different ways and to different extents). he knew he had to take advantage of how his rivals were on the back foot after his daring victories, and he did. you could almost say, right, he knew he had to bite harder when his opponent was already bleedi- *gunshot rings out*

bonus: valencia

so the thing about this whole 'back to back wins with different manufacturers' business is that, understandably, everyone focuses on the welkom side of the equation. very spectacular, very unlikely win, really shouldn't have been possible and somehow valentino did it anyway. but, y'know, that other side of the equation is noteworthy in its own right! he really was crap at valencia. eighth place in his 1999 250cc campaign, his worst result all year when he finished the race (1 dnf that season)... his 2000 title campaign died there when he crashed... eleventh place in 2001, his worst result all year when he finished the race (1 dnf)... in 2002, he got second place there, one of only five races that season he didn't win

but he really, really wanted to win that race in valencia. now, personally, my assumption has always been it was kind of supposed to be a 'fuck you' to honda, which I still completely believe btw. but this is how he himself frames it:

I was the one who worried. Saturday night I took pictures of myself hugging and embracing the RC211V. I wanted to say goodbye to my bike because I knew that tomorrow we would race our last race together. Leaving the RC211V was what hurt most. In fact, I now believe the reason it took me so long to say yes to Yamaha was because I was so attached to that bike. As I looked at the RC211V and thought that we would soon be separated, I genuinely feared that it would take a very long time before I once again tasted victory. That's why I decided I had to win that last race of the 2003 season. It would be a great way of saying goodbye of course, but also I wanted to stock up on victories, I wanted to have the taste of triumph fresh in mind because who knew when I would win again with Yamaha?

which, okay, setting aside for a minute what a freak he is about these bloody bikes, there's two underlying reasons he expresses here for why he's so desperate to win this race. first of all, yes, he really loves that bike and wants to give it the farewell their partnership deserves. and second of all, more poignantly (for the non-bike fuckers anyway), he really did not know when he'd win again. I don't know, it's something that stuck with me... I think we can talk all we like about how big a risk it was and what a step into the unknown it was and nobody believed he could do what he did etc etc, but to me this is just the most straightforward way of capturing that uncertainty. valentino wanting to remember the taste of victory, because he knew he might be giving it up for a long time. he loves winning so, so much, he's done so much over the years to win, he's never been able to stop chasing the high... and yet he walked away from that bike

"I decided I had to win that last race" is in itself funny because obviously a lot of people can't just 'decide' to win races. which, yes, it's just a thing people say, but it does capture the essence of that type of valentino win where it feels like he's won it through sheer force of will. a lot of the times, these are his spite wins - the phillip island 2004's and jerez 2005's of this world - hey, speaking of sete duels, we should include le mans and sachsenring and brno and qatar 2005 as well. various biaggi wins, perhaps most memorably the middle finger race in suzuka 2001 and his last lap overtake in phillip island 2001, where he won his first premier class title. when he beats spaniards in dramatic battles at catalunya like 2004, 2005, 2009, 2016. his fury at his penalty at phillip island 2003 that results in that spectacular fifteen second margin over the field. his desire to fuck with jorge in motegi/sepang 2010. let's throw in his dominant win in jerez 2016 in enemy territory, the first race win he'd had of that nature since... oof, let me have a think, maybe assen 2009? (incidentally, the race that directly followed catalunya.) like, man, this is not how he was winning races post-prime, it was always one hell of a struggle - with one glaring exception

which makes it worth pointing out that the second and indeed last time he won in valencia was in 2004, when he was in the process of dismantling sete. now, given sete ended up finishing fourth, it wasn't strictly necessary to get the win to ensure the curse continued doing its thing. but, y'know, there was a point where sete was in front of valentino on-track. then sete tries to overtake biaggi, pretty firmly it has to be said, and pushes them both wide allowing valentino to sweep right on through, which I found pretty funny icl. anyway, the best way to ensure your rival doesn't win a race is to win it yourself, right? after the frustration of qatar, he reacted by winning the last three races of the season spurred on by sheer spite. no wonder he took notes and learned a little something about how to best motivate himself

bonus 2: things that aged badly

october 2003, mind you. he really got those guys good

bonus 3: dovi

I mean, come on. it is a little bit funny that both valentino and marc acquire a new rival at age 24 seemingly out of nowhere who was their main rival for three years. (I don't care what the championship standings say, marco melandri was not valentino's main rival in 2005 - sete might have been extremely cursed but those were still The Battles that year.) said rival was 6-7 years older than them, known for being a particularly smart rider and a wet weather specialist, and announced themselves as a major threat in large part through winning two dramatic last lap duels against the all time great in the first year of that rivalry. both rivalries were (well, initially in valentino's case) notable for being significantly warmer on an interpersonal level than the ATG's previous major rivalry

both had previously been hrc riders but had been fired by the team. gibernau had one premier class win before 2003, dovi had two before 2017, and all three of those wins came in the wet. ofc dovi did have a bit more pedigree - the 125cc title, stronger results in the premier class, considerably more podiums. but both dovi and gibernau weren't really supposed to be the main rival to the ATG, not even within their own team - though, obviously, the reasons why they ended up assuming that mantle couldn't have been more different. with both of them, people said they'd changed their approach to riding, mainly in terms of their mentality - and that it had helped them grow into their new role as the primary challenger

there's not really a point here... I just think it's neat. obviously it is a little funny how differently those respective relationships unfolded, but I also wouldn't say it's fair to entirely pin that on the personalities involved, as opposed to circumstantial factors. that being said

#brr brr #//#sg15 #this post is very much just throwing stuff at the wall. lightly edited brainstorming from my notes #heartwarming: tumblr user proves they are capable of editing their essay-length posts by showing way worse was possible #no wonder I answer asks at a snail's pace... sorry if you've sent me something. may take a while #batsplat responds #heretic tag #curse tag #wall tag #essay tag

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fairytail-whathesays · 5 months ago

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Bickslow/Laxus Hcs please since hes officially number 2 best boyfriend?

I'm sorry for making you wait this long for this request, anon. I had started a Bixxus fic and wanted to get the first chapter written. In case you wanted to see it.

Each member of the Thunder Legion, Laxus included, is very particular about their grooming and appearance. Evergreen and Freed, obviously, like to dress rich, as does Laxus. Bickslow may have a more openly bizarre and off-putting presentation, but he is very much equally as careful about how he looks.

Consequently, Laxus is one of the only people Bickslow will let touch his face or hair, or make modifications of any kind to it. Laxus gets this privilege because Bickslow knows he likes the regular looks of his just fine. Laxus takes the time to learn Bickslow's routines and self care, and is pretty quickly trusted with helping Bickslow dye and chop.

Bickslow's dolls are hollow. If Bickslow ever actually needs to hide something or be discreet, he can stuff little notes into one of his 'babies' and float 'em over. This is how Bickslow asked Laxus to go steady with him that fateful day.

Bickslow's dolls also, although generally in league with him, can speak his mind without him meaning to if he isn't careful. Thanks to not being careful one day, one of the dolls blurted out 'I love youuuuu!' and Bickslow about died right then and there.

Laxus starts wearing reading glasses with no prescription in them so that Bickslow doesn't have to wear his visor all the time. Bickslow at first only allows this at night, when his visor is, ahem, in the way, since otherwise he very much likes wearing it. Laxus, though, has a desire to see Bickslow's eyes as often as possible. When they're not glowing green, they're a very pretty dark red.

Laxus likes to hold his man and Bickslow very much likes to cling. Their ideal spot is in a hammock where the only weight on them that matters is each other.

Remember when I said Laxus would learn to dance for Bickslow? Yeah, well, give it a couple years, and Laxus will know some great hip hop routines. Bickslow can do voguing, too.

Bickslow also has a strong creative bent and a love for authenticity. He's great at cosplay and could even try his hand at drag here and there. Relatively serious and masculine Laxus' only condition in relation to these is that Bickslow win any competition he enters (he does).

They sketch each other's tattoos and plan each other's piercings. It's very cute if you can watch them doing it.

When he decided Bickslow was the one, Laxus hid a very expensive ring inside one of the dolls. It drove Bickslow crazy for weeks, trying to figure out what that rattling sound was, until it finally occurred to him to check. He damn near fainted when he found an engagement ring box inside.

NS/FW section:

Laxus fucking loves Bickslow's ass, okay. Remember when I said he'd wear a speedo? Laxus loves that shit.

Bickslow likes it rough and he likes it k/nky. And Laxus is very happy to deliver. Hell, sometimes he surprises Bickslow when he's in the mood.

Bickslow did in fact underestimate his boyfriend's size once.

Bickslow kisses like a whΩre, even when he's trying not to. It's very wet and involved and Laxus slowly learns to like it.

Bickslow has his fair share of sΣx toys and is fairly open about them. Laxus dislikes him using them, since he's never needed toys and feels like Bickslow using them implies he's not enough on his own.

The only exception is when they have to be apart for long periods of time. In fact, Laxus has outright bought Bickslow the odd d/ldo when he knew they wouldn't have a chance to get nasty with each other for a while. He intentionally bought it at a size slightly smaller than his own cΩck, juuuuuust enough that he knew Bickslow would notice. And he did. And it drove him crazy and made him miss his man that much more--all according to plan.

Bickslow has outright begged Laxus to film some of their intimate moments together. Did Laxus ever say yes? I'm legally not allowed to reveal the answer to you.

#bickslow #bixlow #laxus dreyar #laxlow #bixlax #headcanons #fairy tail headcanons

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necarion · 4 months ago

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This makes me think of all the opportunities Star Wars is missing to have smaller, people-centric stories in their universe. Coruscant has a canonical population of a trillion people. There are people who have perfectly normal lives in that universe, and it would be great to see some of these. You can do basically any story subject you can think of, and set it in Star Wars (the problem being a CGI budget).

Some story ideas (either for a season, or a few episodes, or a whole show) just based on or around Coruscant:

High performing high school science team trying to win a competition that will let them go visit with the admiral in charge of the dockyard.

Teacher has to inspire a poor group of troubled youths in an undeserved neighborhood.

Hard-working father gets laid off and has to scrabble to make ends meet in the deep places. Either normal drama or Weird Shit can ensue there. But ultimately he finds himself and reconnects with his wife.

Coruscant Idol / other reality show. Focus on the people making the show and what it's like when they end up with some high-powered people. What the hell happened that time they scored Palpatine for "dancing with the stars".

Doctor who handles extreme alien minorities.

Robo-doctor dealing with weird Droid problems. (House, in Space, with Robots)

Law-and-Order in Sector 73-a-delta. Highest crime region, with a population of 10M. Case of the week, but slowly realizing there is crazy stuff going on with organized crime.

Life of the Jedi Temple janitors

West Wing, except it's Palpatine's office. Or, hell, the staff of Senator Number 32, who aren't actually in the rebellion but just trying to do good stuff.

More meta things, like in-universe fantasy or comedy shows. What does Coruscant watch holos of that's equivalent to Game of Thrones?

Behind-the-scenes drama of the actors on a 700 year-old long-running soap opera. (I wouldn't do the soap opera itself, although it could be hilarious to do out-of-context episodes, or things skipping around a lot. You could probably do this for way lower budget, because it isn't like the shows themselves would have a huge budget).

News reports and reporters (a bunch of shorts).

Sports dramas. Not just air bike racing (but that would be good too, if high budget) but, like, ordinary sports. I don't give a shit about football, but there have been some football movies I've loved.

Fuck it, just do a Shakespeare play and set it in the Old Republic era to have it be ye olde. Update all the place and people names but keep it iambic pentameter. Would I watch Titus Andronicus, set in early Coruscant? Yes. Othello? Also yes.

(Okay, not a good idea, but the thought of "Guess who's coming to dinner", and it's a Wookie, cracks me up.)

The scope of this universe is so large, but Disney keeps going back to the same things of "bad drama about people with lightsabers". But the only really successful shows have been Mandalorian (Space Western) and Andor (political/spy thriller).

If they write good stories and then set him inside Star Wars, they become good Star Wars stories!

Something that I think Warhammer 40,000 storytellers miss sometimes is the sheer scale of their setting. I mean, don't get me wrong - I love the big, dramatic clashes, the characters you can buy in mini form and their convoluted, interwoven lore, the dramatic combats against unstoppable foes across a thousand ruined worlds. But that's the top of the setting, as it were - the most powerful beings in the universe, all fighting for supremacy. And at ground level, the level of the ordinary person, are so many other stories.

Did you know that a Lunar-class void cruiser has a crew of 95,000? Nearly a hundred thousand people, aboard a spaceship five kilometers long. A city, flying through outer space to wage war. Many of those people are proper trained soldiers, fresh from some academy or veterans of long, grueling campaigns, and many more are pressed into service, begrudgingly laying their lives at their Emperor's feet. But, unless the ship is currently actively involved in a really bloody campaign, most of those people were born aboard that ship. Most of their parents were born aboard it. And their grandparents. And their great-grandparents. Lineages stretching back centuries, so far that the original soldier who came aboard has been forgotten. A lot of those people probably know, on some level, that they're aboard a ship flying through space - but a lot of them probably don't, and I guarantee you almost none of them understand what that means. This ship is their world. To look out the window means madness so often that they avoid it - not that windows are readily available anyway. Most of them probably barely even understand that they're fighting. All they know is that when the readouts on their analog instruments display like so, when they hurry to obey the blared orders through the klaxon, the Emperor is pleased with them. They were born into that world. When they were children they did smaller tasks the adults couldn't. Their entire existence was winding metal corridors, laid out according to some archaic design, any logic that might dictate their layout long since degraded after millennia of ignorant maintenance, lit only by emergency lights that have long since become the default. They learned how to read an angle readout or how to relay an order perfectly the way another child might learn history or math. When they grew up, their service was flawless, born of pride and ignorance, and when they grew old and died, their legacy was remembered until it was forgotten. Many were killed in battle, but who cares? They gave their lives to the Emperor - a name whose meaning they don't understand, but whose importance they believe in wholeheartedly, all but synonymous with the commanding officers up above.

Sometimes, the klaxons sound a specific command, and every person on board who understands what it means feels a deep, awful dread as they run to their battle stations. They don't know what a warp jump is. They don't understand they're going from one place to another by the fastest way available. All they know is that, for a time, the ship dips into hell. The corridors go wrong. Things and people might not be where or what they were before. Daemons stalk the halls, and must be killed by any who can hold a lasgun. The overcrowded berths, the little nooks that families find for themselves - they are not private anymore. They are not safe. Things drift through the shift that do not care about the laws of physics, but that delight in killing and torturing human beings. Vast energies shake the ship and tear parts of it away - their home, their world, their existence, the biggest thing they can imagine, assaulted by something bigger. Is it the Emperor's punishment for failure? Is this what battle is? What's going on? They don't know, and no one who does can be bothered to tell them. The dread of those who have seen this before is even worse, because they don't know how long it will be. It might be just a few hours. It might be days, or weeks, or months, or years, or decades. It might be centuries, as the captain of the ship goes hunting daemons deep in the warp - the officers live that long, after all, and have little care for those who don't. There will be people born in hell, who spend their entire lives fighting from the day they can stand, and who die in hell, as old age and need catch up to them and they curl up in a corner to perish. To them, it isn't even hell. It's just the world. The world is death and pain and cruelty, an infinite metal box through which monsters stalk, and sometimes you must run to a battle station and do as you're ordered to do. And sometimes, as they reach forty or fifty or even a ripe old sixty, the ship drops out of the Warp, and, for the final years of their life, they are granted a life of relatively safe service better than anything they ever hoped to dream of.

Those are the kinds of stories I want to see more of. Super-soldiers fighting each other is cool, yes, but I want to see this universe explored. I want stories from the perspective of those that keep the Imperium going, or the aeldar, or the tyranids, or anyone, really. There's just so much potential in this setting. It deserves it.

#Star wars #Warhammer #TV ideas #Media #Scope

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immortalityismymiddlename · 2 years ago

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Radiant!Agents(F!) Reacting to a Non!Radiant Reader! (Who's ridiculously good.) (Yes this is a xgn!reader)

Includes : Jett, Fade, Reyna, Neon and Sage!!

(might make a pt. 2 i made this half asleep btw so sorry bout that)

Sorry for not posting for a while, having trouble with the rime route..

Jett!:

"Okay- I'm not saying people who aren't radiants aren't capable- but it's just- how the hell?! How are they so good?! I mean- have you seen how fast they reacted??? They've barely even used their bullets and they've already killed everyone! I mean- that's just- crazy good! I gotta admit i MAAAY be a BIT. a bit, jealous of them..."

(Or in love with them..)

I'm not even gonna lie, she just WON'T shut up about you, to the point it gets annoying.

She would be very competitive and would probably make bets with you to see who's better.

Would definitely lose a lot (because she stares at you way too much in missions, even gets herself shot a lot.)

Probably confessed by accident after you kill five agents. "Damn, I think i just fell in love all over again."

Reassures you a lot, might even bring herself down just so she can prove a point to you. "Dude- you- you literally carried us all on your backs! Surprised you're not even tired! You barely broke a sweat! even if i couldn't do my job you still managed to get us all back! Without you, we probably wouldn't even be here thanks to you.."

Fade:

"I knew their potential from the start, but even so, they still manage to impress me time and time again. I couldn't even believe what was happening before my eyes,, And for someone like me,, I'd say that's a huge compliment. Job well done, (Y/N). You did good."

Like she said, she already knew a lot about you. I don't think she'd study you like the rest of the agents although i can see her trying to learn more about you so I'm assuming she already knows your potential. But it really doesn't matter whether or not she does. You still impress her.

You'll often see fade staring at you before a mission. Of course, when you look back she looks away. She wonders how good you can be even without abilities, i mean, don't get me wrong, she doesn't underestimate you because of that, she knows how hard it already is with radiant powers. How much harder can it be without it?

You'll often find her at the end of missions, waiting for you somewhere where she knows you'll walk by. Giving a compliment or two before fleeing. As if she was never there.

She loves admiring you from a far. If you're insecure about it, she'd be even more shocked. She might try to give you quick compliments whenever you feel that way. She just knows it from the look in your eyes.

Reyna:

From what i know, she wants to create a world full of radiants. (Correct me if I'm wrong!) She, of course is shocked. More than the others. She probably underestimates you. She knows there are agents without radiant abilities, but she still doesn't think someone without said abilities can be so.. good.

"Who knew (Y/N) could be so good, Quite the impressive play. Say, have you any experience before joining the protocol? Why am i asking?,, Let's just say,, you've intrigued me, in ways i never expected you to. So, are you just going to stare at me or are you going to answer me?"

She would definitely talk to you, try and know more about you. It's not every day she finds someone so,, intriguing as she says. You can often see her being in places you usually wouldn't see her at. Places where you normally go to.

Sometimes you can never tell if she wants to be friends with you or if she just wants your soul, maybe she thinks yours tastes better than the rest.

If she likes you enough, she might even start flirting with you. Might even shoot her shot with you, not that you mind. She is gorgeous.

Neon:

"Grabe ka naman (Y/N)! (Practically saying you're good/You're too much! I'm bad at translating sorry HAHA) You're killing it! Literally. Or.. yk, them. HAHA! you're amazing!"

Dude, she looks up to you and wants to be like you. It doesn't matter to her that you don't have abilities. She thinks you're amazing and she is REALLY vocal about it

"you don't need radiant powers, you're amazing with or without it! Hell, you'd be too overpowered if you had them! You could probably beat almost anyone with radiant powers!"

Loves practicing with you, more like watching you practice but nevermind that.

Might even ask you to teach her a bit.

(sorry I couldn't think much for neon)

Sage:

"Wonderful! You did amazing, Good job, (Y/N). I told you, you would. Now, would you like to join me? I made something for you in the kitchen. I think you'll enjoy it. Think of it as a,, celebratory gift."

I see her being friends with you even before she saw you in battle. Maybe even helped you feel a little confident in your abilities. I can see her helping you practice and teaching you everything you know.

She loves cooking and baking with you, for sure. She loves giving you baked goods as gifts after missions. Always telling you to relax and take a breather after a long mission.

You two would make such a good duo! She always has your back and if she had to choose only one person to revive over someone else in the protocol she'd choose you. (If she could.)

She loves you, abilities or not. You two probably get along really well and she knows that she can always count on you if she needs anything, and vice versa.

And she would always reassure you that no matter how different you are from the other agents that you are just as useful to the protocol as they are.

#jett x reader #valorant x reader #valorant x y/n #valorant x you #fade x reader #fade x reader valorant #reyna x reader #reyna valorant #fade valorant #neon x reader #sage x reader #valorant #valorant headcanons #x reader #headcanons

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its5amandimstillawake · 5 years ago

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Ok so this may seem random but I just binge watched bobs burger, all 10 seasons of it. And I had always heard it was like American Dad or family guy, hell when I googled "what to watch if you liked Bob's burgers" or looked for shows similar American Dad and family guy came up. Now I hated family guy and American Dad growing up, my dad watched it and I just never enjoyed it. But I watched a compilation on YouTube of Bob's burgers and it seemed decent so I decided to give it a shot and im glad I did. Unlike American Dad or family guy, two shows that have the goal to offend people, and who's humor heavily relies on steriotype or references, Bob's burgers doesn't feel dated, doesn't rely on steriotype, it bases it's humor on putting these likeable character that you love into different scenarios and having them reacting to the world around them. And unlike a lot of shows, like I said watched all 10 seasons and it never really got repetitive or boring or annoying I honestly enjoyed every episode, every episode felt new and fresh, even if the idea has been done before. Now there are several things I enjoy about Bob's burgers and I just kind of felt like talking about it so

First, they all, not only love eachother, but also actually like eachother. Now I feel like a lot of people don't quite get what I mean by that. I personally love my mom, I do not like her, I don't like the way she thinks or acts, I always say that If I had met her at school or at work or something and was not related to her I wouldn't like her. I've seen many siblings who love eachother, they'll defend eachother and take care of eachother but for the most part avoid eachother especially if they're at the same school, they don't go out of their way to talk or hang out with eachother. This family all seem to actually like eachother though.

Which leads me to my next point. The Belcher siblings are personally my favorite part of the show, I was actually confused when I first started seeing them all together, because most shows seem to have that sibling relationship of love but not like, and while that's fine and can be realistic, I don't very often see a show that shows a good healthy sibling relationship of siblings actually liking eachother which can also be realistic and is a good thing to teach kids. The Belcher siblings are great, they of course defend eachother and take care of eachother but they're also friends. They walk together in between classes, theyre all in the same friend group, they go out of their way to hang out with eachother and play togetherand have fun together, they eat lunch together and scheme together. Of course they also spend time by themselves and will hang out with their mutual friends without their siblings and have friends outside of the mutual friend group, and of course they get into arguments and disagree with eachother a lot, what siblings don't? But for the most part they get along very well. You won't see any of them embarrassed to be seen with their younger siblings in or out of school, even Tina, the teenager of the group who's going through a lot for the typical teen problems including being embarrassed often and caring a lot about what others in her grade think, will hang out with her little brother and sister, and take part in their mischief, and eat lunch with them and doesn't have a problem with it.

The kids aren't the only one with a uniquely healthy relationship when it comes to these types of shows, we also have their parents, Bob and Linda. Bob isn't the steriotypicaltypical husband that's often portrayed in these types of shows, Bob isn't the husband that complains about how his wife is always nagging or jokes about how being married is awful. Linda isn't the steriotypicaltypical wife, Linda doesn't complain about how her husband can't take care of himself, or seem disgusted by her husband or seem exasperated by the kind of person her husband is. Strangely enough they seem to actually love eachother, and support and encourage eachother and care about eachother and enjoy spending time together and enjoy working together. They enjoy making small fun competitions with eachother and having fun and laughing together. They seem to bring out the best of eachother. And yes they aren't exactly in their honeymoon phase, and may not have that "spark" they first had when they first got together, and they're not exactly the pinnacle of romance, they are however a good representation of a happily married couple who genuinely love and like eachother and have been married for years. And of course they each have their flaws and they have their disagreements and arguments but who doesn't?

And the Belcher kids love and like their parents as well and enjoy being with them and involve them in their antics as well.

And they love and like their kids as well. And given each of the children it would be expected in a show like this for one or two of the children to be considered "disappointments" or "not as good as the favorite child" there's usually a kid who's clearly the favorite and one or more kids who's looked down upon by the parents and everyone else in shows like these, however Bob and Linda genuinely love and are very proud of each of their kids and they both have good relationships with all of their kids. Even in the episode where they spent the entire time showing just how much of a screw up gene was, Bob took gene aside and said that while gene could get distracted and could mess up at times that he was still very proud of him and loved him.

Bob and Linda support their kids in everything they do, even in the episode where gene got interested in "table setting" and got into a competition and his parents didn't quite understand it or understood why someone would enjoy it they still helped and encouraged him and expressed how proud they were that he found something he enjoyed doing.

It's a very healthy family and it's enjoyable to watch.

The show itself, although it has 10 seasons, doesn't ever get annoying or repetitive, every episode seems fresh, like I said binge watched the entire show and was actually pretty sad when I got the final episode and realized I was done and couldn't watch anymore, although the first season was great it got better over time, and personally I thought each season was better then the last.

I like that all the characters seem realistic, their was several episodes with the Belcher kids where I could imagine my younger self and my friends and brother doing similar things. And like I said the parents though loving also seemed like a realistic couple that have been married for years.

I also liked the consitancy. A lot of characters over time will become an exaggerated version of their former selves. For example a character like Patrick star or homer Simpson or Cosmo from fairly odd parents, who start off the show kind of dumb and clueless but not annoyingly so and are still enjoyable, over time will become so damn moronic that you wonder how they've managed to go this long without accidentally killing themselves and it becomes annoying and frustrating and they're no longer likeable.

None of the characters in this show have a character flaw that becomes so extreme they become unlikable, in fact all of the characters in the belcher family are likeable, and stay consistent, thats the point, you want to see them go through these things and want to see them win and come out on top because of how likeable they are. Louise is mischief, she's a prankster, but it's never to the point where she's unlikeable, she's still a good kid who usually doesn't go to far and when she does shes quick to see her mistake, apologize, and try to make it right, if anything a lot of times her pranks are to help defend other people or "bring justice" to people who have been wronged.

She may be a bit extreme but she's still a good kid and you want to see her come out on top. Gene can be loud and extreme and not really get hints, but he wants to befriend people and wants to help people, even though he can be gullible and a bit clueless and as a result can easily get roped into stuff, he tries to help people and make things right when he sees things going south, he's a sweet kid.

And Tina can be innapropriate, and can be selfish at times and not always see the big picture, but like gene and Louise when she sees that she's messed up she immediately tries to fix it and make things right, she has a stronger moral compass then either of her siblings and usually the voice of reason and helps people out whatever situation they're in, including her siblings who can often end up in some pretty bad situations, and is willing to take the fall for the sake of others.

Bob can by cynical, and a bit extreme about things he cares about (work, turkeys, Thanksgiving in general) and when he gets extreme he won't think things all the way through he'll just react, but he means well, he cares about his family and will put aside his obsessions for his family and is willing to sacrifice those things for his family. Hell one of the things hes obsessed with is Thanksgiving, he will make sure everything goes PERFECTLY and will get very upset if they're not perfect and will go crazy trying to make it perfect, but the reason Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday and the reason he cares so much is because of his love for his family and because Thanksgiving to him is being with your family. And even he is willing to sacrifice his Thanksgiving to be there for his friend, teddy, who's alone and without his family.

Linda can also be extreme and not think things all the way through but like bob, she means well, the times she gets extreme is typically when it involves her family and trying to do everything in her power to make them happy, and to do what she considers the morally right thing to do, even if it means going a little crazy and taking things a bit to far while doing so. I think a good example of this was when Louise got in trouble at school for causing problems, she was causing problems because a couple of kids were picking on a smaller kid and she was attempting to defend the kid, Linda thinks it's morally wrong to punish Louise for defending a kid and breaks Louis out of detention from the window (also breaking the school's AC in the process) to get her some ice cream all while having to avoid mr.frond, the school counselor who's around the same area. It's a good example of how it makes for a funny episode and flawed characters because of how extreme they can get but how they're motivation and reasonings makes them likeable and makes you root for them.

Anyway. I know this is kind of random it just kind of bothered me that I don't really see bobs burgers being talked about very often and I see it being compared to American Dad and family guy when, from what I've seen of the two shows, it's not really similar at all

#bobs burgers #bob's burgers #american dad #family guy #gene belcher #louise belcher #tina belcher #bob belcher #linda belcher

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swordofpevensie · 4 years ago

Text

Anything I Do, I Know You're Gonna Watch

[Chapter • II]

warnings: mentions of strict parents, jane eyre appreciation, peter is being annoying but we still love him, i don't know why i made y/n's mother sort of a villain, y/n you go honey!

a/n: writing this chapter was fun! sorry for writing very slowly though :( it really takes some time for me to write because writing in english is can be hard sometimes :( but i sincerely hope you like it! and let me know if you want to be tagged in the taglist! ♡

word count: 2981

Books. Leather bound, thick, and beautiful books. Oh, how much you loved them.

You were in the library of the university. You had an essay to write, therefore you were looking for sources, such as encyclopedias or books that were related to your subject.

Walking between the shelves and wandering inside the library made you feel so good. Libraries were the places where you felt free and truly happy. Books were your saviours, they saved you from reality and took you to the places you needed to be.

This time you were in Thornfield, walking inside the hall with Jane. You knew you were supposed to read scientific researches right now and your mother would've been very upset and angry if she'd seen you reading a romance novel, however you couldn't resist the beauty of the book you were holding in your hands, and you were curious to learn what was going to happen in the next chapter. You gave yourself fifteen minutes to read it, then you were going to start doing some research about your topic.

You touched the page to turn it, your fingers caressed the paper, and you felt the beauty and antiquity of it. You loved to think that so many people had touched the same very page before you did. That idea was very romantic for you. You bit inside of your cheek not to smile. ‘If only my mother knew I am smiling while reading a romance.’ You thought and it increased your desire to smile.

You looked at your watch and saw that you have eight minutes left to read. You frowned a little and focused on your book again.

You changed your position, this time you leaned your right shoulder to the bookshelf. You read for the eight minutes you had left in that position. You were truly captured by the incidents that Jane experienced and it was really hard to leave the book the shelf it belonged, then left the book section you were in.

You walked through the desks, there were so many people studying or reading. You quietly walked and finally reached to the section you were supposed to have been when you first arrived at the library.

You took a short breath, pulled your bag’s handle to your shoulder (you probably didn’t notice it felt down from there while you were reading), and started wandering between the shelves. When you found a book that could help you, you took it and soon, you had a tower of books in your arms. That old but beautiful scent of the books was everywhere and it made you feel good. You loved everything about books, you couldn’t help it.

After collecting the books, you decided to sit down somewhere and take a look at them to see if they could actually help or not. You’d visited the library during summer a few times, for this reason you knew where the studying desks of this section were. You quickly walked there and tried to see whether there were any empty seats beneath your tower of books. Luckily, there was an empty chair and desk. You breathed out; you really were relieved to find a place to study. Otherwise, you would have to borrow them and go home to study. But you really liked to study in the library because the aura of the place had always motivated you.

As you got closer to the desk, you realized there was a boy sitting next to it. He was looking at the books he had on his desk, he seemed completely lost to you because he almost buried his head to them. He had a stack of books consisting of five or six books. He also had some opened and his hand was touching one of them.

You put your books to your desk, took of your bag and sit down to your chair. You took a short and silent breath, and then opened the first book you grabbed and immediately started reading.

At first, you forgot him, the rest of the library, and almost where you were because you were really captured by everything you were reading and also realizing the subject was actually a bit hard and writing an essay on it wouldn't be easy caused your stress level to increase. You were too busy with being stressed and panicking to pay attention to the boy next to you.

However, when you heard someone taking a really big breath brought you back to reality. ‘Oh,’ You thought. ‘At least someone is as stressed as me.’ You turned your head to your right, where the boy was sitting, and you saw that he was already looking at you.

You'd rather have deceased than seen him, and his blue eyes looking directly to you.

You knew what you must do was to look away but for some reason, you couldn't turn your head. Maybe you thought it'd be rude; he was your classmate after all.

It gave him courage to talk to you. Now that you weren't looking away, he could finally introduce himself properly.

“Hi,” He said in a low voice.

You almost couldn't hear him and you didn't know what the reason was. Was it your excitement that came out of nowhere or was he really speaking whisperingly?

“I think we are in the same department and class, aren't we?” He had a smirk on his face after he stopped speaking.

You nodded. You were scared of talking because you really didn't want to be one to bother others.

“Peter Pevensie.”

You saw his hand was waiting to be shaken. Normally, you weren't supposed to do this because your mother wouldn't approve, but you were scared of being that girl again because of your mother and her never ending demands, therefore you took his hand and shoke it quickly, and then let go of it.

“Y/N Y/L/N.” You whispered and turned your head to your book again.

But you couldn't focus at all. Why was he there? No, why on the earth must he be there at the same time you decided to visit the library? No, why the last empty chair was next to his? Why couldn't it be somewhere far away from him?

You put your finger to the page, hoping it'd help you to focus on what you were doing. You shouldn't mind him, at all. He was just your classmate and the person who'd been bothering you for a week.

Actually, you were trying your best to not take it personally or let him invade your mind. You needed to focus on studying, your lectures, and professors. But, oh God, that boy was trying his best to overshadow you during the lessons.

At first, he raised his hand to speak, and it was good. At least he was waiting you to stop talking. But then he started interrupting you in the middle of your speech and somehow, everything he said went counter to your ideas. He was looking down on the things you said and was making of them in a very sarcastic voice.

You were a competitive person and honestly, you liked being challanged. You never held back; you answered him and put him to his place when needed to be. You politely asked if you could continue to talk because you weren't done when he inturrupted you. You knew your calmness and kindness drove him crazy because you saw him breathing out furiously. You enjoyed annoying him and loved to be the cause of his rage.

You never showed it tough. You weren't allowed to get closer with any boy, even if you made them mad and they hate you. Your family was one of those families who didn't approve any interactions between a man and a woman unless it was for marriage.

For that long and tiring week, besides your lessons, duties, dealing with your family, and helping your father in the bakery, you had to put up with him and his hate towards you, whose reason you didn't know and couldn't understand.

It wasn't like you liked him, but at first you didn't hate him. Until he drove you crazy with everything he said. You never thought a person would be able to conflict with a person in the way he did. It felt like he tried to say and defend the exact opposite of everything you said, thought, and defended on purpose. It felt like he spent hours at home to find things to say so that he could put you out of temper.

The only time he couldn't object to you was when you said something he'd absolutely say to see what he'd do. And he did what you expected; he didn't raise his hand and he was quite for the rest of the lecture.

Well, he took his revenge by ruining all the other lessons but you still were happy to beat him.

Oh, God, you wasted minutes while thinking about him. No, not him. You thought the things he did all week and the things that bothered you.

You took a short breath and this time managed to focus on what you were reading.

After skimming through two books, you saw there weren't much information that could help you in them. Therefore, you put them away and grabbed a new book.

But wait, what was he reading so intensely? What was he studying? Was he doing the same assignment with you? You wanted to figure out.

You threw a glance at the books that were on his desk. You could see five books and all of them had titles related to the subject of your assignment.

Oh, how strongly and badly you wanted to hit him with one of those books. You didn't do it becayse you felt pity for the book you'd be hitting him with.

Maybe that was the reason why he introduced himself out nowhere, and although you knew each other already. Maybe he wanted you to pay attention to him so that you could see he was studying with the books you needed.

You clenched your left fist (because he couldn't see your left hand). You didn't react in any other way as you didn't want him to intuit you were pissed off. You wanted to leave and come back later when he set those books free but you couldn't because he'd guess why you left and you just didn't want to give this pleasure to him.

You were going to stay there, read anything you find, and wait until he was done with them. You didn't care if it would take hours for him to finish studying. You were going to wait and meanwhile make the best of the books you had.

You took your notebook and pen from your bag. After opening a page, you started reading again. Meanwhile you took some notes that could actually help you. You were relieved to find a book that really had some information you could use.

Throughout the time you spent reading and taking notes, you heard him and the noise he made. You heard the noise his pen made as he was writing. You heard his breathing. You heard the noise of the book page he turned. The library was so silent that you could hear his hands running on the pages.

You were distracted sometimes but never showed it. You kept your eyes on the words, never looked at him. Thank God, you were a stubborn person, otherwise you'd probably keep looking at his desk to see what he was doing.

You stood up to put the books you wouldn't use back to their shelves and also to see if you could find new books, or books that he didn't see yet.

You felt safe between the shelves. He couldn't see you and all you could see was book covers. You were happy now.

You wandered for a while, picking up some books hoping to find something. When you were done, you went to your desk with three books you held in your arms.

His eyes were on you. He wasn't even trying to hide it. He was watching you as you approached to your desk. He looked at the books. He looked at the ink covering your fingertips. He let himself gaze at your clothes.

You wore an brown skirt with pockets. The pockets had cream lines on them. Your shirt was also brown and it was simple. All the buttons were buttoned up. Your shoes were black, had short heels. Your hair was tied up in a loose bun on your nape. It was loose because you were playing with your hair while reading. He saw you mussing it.

Honestly, you were fine according to him. You were simple, but fine. There was nothing exaggerated or you weren't trying too hard. He of course didn't have any problems with people wearing fancy clothes or trying too hard; once upon a time he himself wore magnificent things. But he liked this simplicity on you. He secretly envied the way you could look fine without even trying.

When your eyes caught his, he immediately looked back to his book and pretended nothing happened. You couldn't understand why he was looking at you but you didn't mind and sit down. Then, you put your books to your desk and got lost in reading again.

Your notes took almost two pages when you were done. You felt good while you were making progress. You were going to start writing your essay at home with a clear and relaxed mind.

You actually weren't done with searching but you felt satisfied because of the things you'd managed to learn and find. After collecting them in a logical order at home, you were going to come back and continue searching and writing your essay.

Despite knowing you said you'd stay as long as he stayed, you also knew you had to go to the bakery and help your family. You were stubborn and competitive but you were also aware of your responsibilites. Besides, he couldn't piss you off enough to make you stay there for hours and forget about your other duties yet. Therefore, you quickly put your notebook and pen to your bag, and left your desk with the books in your arms waiting to return back their shelves.

You heard another chair moving. You didn't look back, and kept walking. You knew he was behind you and probably following you, however you didn't know why. Why on the would he stop studying and follow you? Despite being a girl knowing many things, you didn't know the answer of this question.

When you put the last book to its place, you decided to ask him why he was following you, yet the moment you turned, you realized it wasn't him. It was just a girl you didn't know looking at books.

Why did you think he was following you? Did you want him to follow you? Oh, no, you definitely wouldn't want that. Because if he followed you, he would just bother you and you'd had enough of him today.

After taking a short breath and calming down, you walked to exit door. You were really going to leave until you saw him standing in front of the circulation desk.

He was smiling to the staff member and he seemed having fun. Then you realized the books on the desk. You could see there were more than ten books. It dawned on you.

It was a really cliche and cheap move, even for him. Was he really flirting with the stuff member and trying to borrow books more than allowed? Oh, there was no way way you let it happen.

Besides reading very fast, being pretty witty, and baking really delicious pies, one of your superpowers was being extremely annoying when you wanted to be. Oh, how strongly you wanted to be annoying at that moment.

You walked there and stood next to him.

“Hi, classmate.” You said with a obviously fake smile on your face. “I was leaving but I saw you and didn't want to leave without saying goodbye. What are you doing?”

He was shocked and it was very clear. You wanted to smile so badly but could stop yourself. Victory seemed so close that you could almost taste it.

“Nothing.” He tried to sound casual and shrugged his shoulders. “Just borrowing some books.”

“Yeah, I can see. For our assignment?”

He nodded.

“But, Mr. Pevensie, I believe there are thirteen books. I thought we could borrow only ten, am I wrong?” You turned to the staff member when you finished your sentence.

“Yes, you are right ma'am.”

“Oh, I think you counted wrong then Mr. Pevensie.” You used your most irritating voice.

“Yes, yes, Miss Y/L/N, I think I might have counted wrong.”

He seemed so angry and annoyed that it made your whole day.

“To help you, I think I could borrow these three. Would you mind if I did? I sincerely hope you wouldn't Mr. Pevensie. I'm just a classmate trying to help you.”

He took a short breath and you saw his jaw clenching for a moment.

“You can borrow whatever you want, Miss Y/L/N. Thank you for your help.”

You grabbed three of the books.

“You are very welcome, Mr. Pevensie. I'm always here to help you. Have a nice day!”

He didn't say anything and you weren't expecting him to speak. You left him behind you and walked to the door.

You looked at the books. They seemed they could help you.

You couldn't stop smiling until you arrived at your bakery. You loved that sweet taste of victory and weren't going to let it go easily.

Peter Pevensie wanted a battle but now you declared a war.

•••

taglist: @thegrxywitch @generalblizzarddreamer @bast-s

#peter pevensie #peter pevensie fanfic #peterpevensie #peter pevensie imagine #peter pevensie fanfiction #peter pevensie fic #peter pevensie x you #peter pevensie x reader #peter pevensie x y/n #andreaiswriting #academic rivals to lovers

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randomdcfangirl · 5 years ago

Text

You're On

(A/N): Kind of a part 2 to Rescue Mission but more random fluff, not really a mission.

(Disclaimer): Anything I write has nothing to do with the comics or movies it is my perception and opinion on how the batboys act and look.

(Tags): @rosewood-1302 @fandoms-and-sunshine (won't let me tag you but thank you for the prompt, this is what I came up with) @hottchocolatte

WARNINGS: CURSING,

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

You were 16 now, had been living with them for 2 years now. It was very strange to adapt to living a life that had the slightest bit of normalcy to it. Although the people you live with now are far from normal. But you loved them. You'd never admit it though.

You were sitting on your bed trying to sketch a bird you saw, Damian was always the better drawer, when Damian busted in your room.

"(Y/N)? How many knives do you have?" He asked.

"76, mostly collected from my time in the league." She said.

"Damnit, how many do you carry on your person?" He asked.

"Usually 17, on patrol 30." You responded.

"I have decided to start a competition. Whoever can hide the most knives on your person without it being noticable wins." Damian explained.

"Okay, how many knives do you have?" You asked him.

"76, same amount. I usually only carry 7, on patrol I carry 30 as well. But this is a out of costume challenge." He explained further.

"You're on." You smirked.

"I expect the best from you sister. The competition will go on within the week until someone notices. Good luck." With that Damian left your room and you couldn't help but get a little excited for the rest of the week.

Not wanting to waste any time you got up off your bed going to where you kept your knives. You started adding more to your person in the most unnoticeable ways. You were winning this competition.

Over the next week things got a little crazy. You and Damian were both coming up with some interesting places to hide them. Strapping them to the inside of your elbows when wearing a long sleeve shirt, in your bra, you hid one in your armpit at one point.

Unknowingly to you Damian came up with some interesting places as well. One of those places he doesn't want to talk about (keep your guesses tame ya nasties, wasn't that bad). But also had done the armpit, as well as the inside of his arm, those were pretty basic places, but strange to a normal person.

The first person to notice something was weird was Dick. They were in the living room. It was the end of the week and their siblings needed a few hints.

"Do you see anything different about, Damian?" You asked Dick, who looked up to look but saw nothing.

"Uhh, no why? Is he sick?" Dick asked confused.

"No, God you're so blind. Jason would do better at this." You replied, then got an idea that Damian got at the same thing.

"Don't you dare! I thought about it first!" You said starting to run out of the living room to find Jason.

"That's not fair! We thought of it at the same time!" Damian exclaimed running after you.

"I thought of it a few seconds before! Sorry little bro! Game's in my favor!" You yelled.

"You're older by 3 minutes! I thought of it first!"

That went on for a few more seconds when they finally ran into a half asleep Tim and a very awake Jason. They kind of cornered Jason and he was very confused.

"Notice anything different about us!" Damian and You yelled at the same time. Jason took a second to look them over more confused.

"Neither of you have your panties in a bunch for once." Jason said like it was so obvious.

"What? No. On our person's, Todd!" You said.

"More weapons then usual? I don't know?" Jason replied, but they hinted he was on the right track. "Knives?"

"Yes but on where and on who?" Damian asked.

"I don't care." With that Jason left them and they looked at each other.

"Soooo? What do we do now?" You asked.

"Father?" Damian asked.

"No, he's in a mood and would ruin it. Alfred wouldn't care. I think were should call a tie." You suggested, you and Damian were very competitive and that word hurt your soul to say.

"F-fine. I guess until next time sister."

With that you both dramatically parted ways and went on with your days. It was a strange week.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Oh my God I finally posted a fic. Anyway I'm going to be spending more time writing my Jason book on Wattpad but I hope you enjoyed this random thing lol.

Self promo lol

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addictofsupernatural · 5 years ago

Text

Mind Readers

Harry Hook x reader

Soulmate au

Based on: this request

Requested by: @descendantofthesparrow

Summary: Soulmates can read each other's minds, so you and your soulmate communicate with each other, no matter how far apart you two are.

Warning: some angst (lots of fluff tho)

Word Count: 6305

Everyone has a soulmate, one that's always connected with you by mind. When you have a soulmate, you are able to read each other's thoughts. And that's what you did all your life.

Being the daughter of Moana felt a bit lonely. You would always voyage everywhere, so it would make sense for you to be connected with your people, but you weren't. You felt like the odd one out, especially when you announced that your soulmate is from the Isle.

You tried talking to your mom, but she was always busy. She would get even more distant with you when you'd ask about your father. She said that she loved him, but they couldn't stay together. She wanted to continue voyaging, and he wanted to stay.

So all you had left was the sea, Pua's children, and your soulmate. If felt better to talk with a person than a bunch of pigs though. It started off when the two of you were kids.

Hey again.

Hiya. You could hear the Scottish accent.

I wish I could see you, so I could give a big hug.

I've never gotten a hug before.

It's okay, because once you and I are together, I'll always give you hugs whenever you ask for them.

I don't think we can, y/n. I'm a villain, and yer a hero.

That's not true! It'll happen, promise.

You grew up talking to him through your mind. You also felt connected with him by the sea. You dreamed about going on a ship with him, sailing the sea together and enjoying the ocean. The ocean was a friend of yours.

One day your mother told you that you won't be voyaging anymore, and instead going to school in Auradon. This was your chance. You had tried talking to people about the Isle of the Lost, tried to convince that maybe the children shouldn't be in there. But no one listened. They saw you as a freak, and made jokes of you being a villain. All you had was Harry, and you were fine with that.

But someone finally did listen. Ben talked to you about it, and agreed. He said that when he would be crowned king in about a year, he'll have some children of villains to attend school with us to show others that they aren't the bad ones.

You were ecstatic.

Harry~!

Why ye thinkin so loud, princess?

So I just made my first human friend, apart from you of course, and he said that he agrees with me. His name is Ben, and he's the King's son.

Ben, hm? Is he as good looking as I?

I don't know how you look like, but you're probably more handsome than anybody I know. But sh, listen! He's going to be king in about a year, and he said that he's going to bring some VK's to Auradon to show that they can be good!

I have to wait a whole year?! I want to see ye now princess.

We just have to be patient. We'll be together, Harry. Don't give up hope. Please, for me?

Fine. But when I get there I'm showing em how a pirate can truly be.

He heard your amazing laugh ring through his head. You got yourself a deal, pirate. But just not too much, okay? I want to stay with you once I got you.

Like a fish on hook, eh? You could practically hear the smile from that.

Exactly. I gotta focus on homework now. Talk to you later hookie.

Bye fishy.

"Harry!" The angry voice of Uma snapped him out of his conversation with you. "You wanna cut the daydreaming and get to work?"

This would happen a lot. Harry would be talking to you when he was supposed to be doing stuff. He didn't really care, as long as he got to hear your voice. Usually when you weren't talking to one another he would just block out what you were thinking.

You're the reason that he's usually so cheerful, although in a bit of a crazy way. You always talked him out of his fits of rage, reassuring him that he'll always have you.

He'd make the excuse that his dad had the same levels of anger, but you told him that he was better than his father. That's why he listened to you. Everybody on the isle tried to live up to their parents, but here you were saying that his dad could live up to him. That's how he knew that you were worth waiting for.

As he was occupied with his crew, you had made your first friend, Ben. It was nice having someone to physically talk to, at least until Audrey showed up. She didn't like you, and you didn't like her.

"You know what y/n, I'm sure you wouldn't want to be sitting here with us." She said cheerfully one day at lunch. "You'd probably rather be talking to your soulmate, since that's really your only friend, right?"

You looked at Ben, who didn't say anything. "Um, okay."

When you left, he decided to speak up. "I don't see what the problem is with her sitting with us."

"Ben, she has been filling your head with crazy talk of villain kids being good. You've heard, right? That her soulmate is a villain?"

"Yeah, and I don't see a problem with that. As long as they love each other, it shouldn't matter."

She annoyedly shook her head. "Let's just eat, kay?"

Meanwhile, you went to your unshared room and began to tear up. You just didn't understand why nobody liked you. Although you didn't realize it, you were thinking about how horrible Audrey was.

What's wrong princess? Those are a lot of nasty thoughts about this Audrey girl.

Sorry Harry. It's nothing.

Hard to believe that when ye were sayin some not so nice things.

I know, and I shouldn't be thinking that way about anyone! Ugh, I must be a bad person for thinking this way about people.

Bad person? You heard laughter. Las, you're my hero. It's okay to be thinkin those things about people. Nobody but me will hear ye.

Tears silently fell as you sat on your bed crying. You didn't have to pretend to be anything around him. I just lost my only physical, human friend. All because of his horrid girlfriend who loves to comment on how amazing she is. She isn't even his soulmate.

Well I guess I don't have any more competition for ye now.

You never did hooky. You know you're the greatest thing in my life, but it was nice to have company. I just hope that she doesn't fill his head with dumb stuff about villain kids being bad.

It'll be okay princess. Some day we'll be together, remember?

Yeah. Thanks for listening Harry. You're the best, as always.

Ye welcome love.

A few months later, Ben had been trying very hard to talk to you. You didn't know why, especially now, but you didn't care. If he wanted to leave a loyal friend for some bully, then he wasn't worth your time. At least that's what Harry told you.

Until he followed you to room without you noticing. Before you closed the door, he ran up to your room and stopped you from closing it. "Y/n please. I want to talk."

"Talk to your girlfriend." You tried to close the door again, but he wouldn't budge.

"Audrey wouldn't understand." He looked a little sad, but dating her was his choice.

"Ben, you're a prince. You could talk to all of your other friends, since you probably have so much."

"No, I really don't have that many friends."

You fake smiled. "Gee, I wonder what that's like. Bye now!"

"Y/n please, it won't be more than ten minutes." He said. He sounded desperate. "Please."

You said nothing, but opened the door wider and gestured for him to come in. He came in, pacing back and forth until he noticed you just staring at him. He then stopped but still antsy. "Uh, take a seat."

"No, it's okay. I'm okay. Sorry, I'm just nervous-"

"Ben sit. What's wrong?"

He took a seat at your chair where your desk is. "I'll be king in two months, and I have no idea what to do or how to lead. A king should be able to know what decisions to make and how to help his people."

You sat at the edge of your bed. "Well, what do you think would be good for the people?"

"The Isle. The people there will also be my people too, and it's not fair to the children on evil people to be stuck there. When you talked to me about that for the very first time, I was already thinking about it. For my first proclamation I need a citizen to agree with what I propose."

"And what are you going to propose?" You were praying for what you think he's going to say.

"For some of the villain kids to be brought to Auradon. I want you to be my citizen-"

You ran up to him and gave him a hug. "I'll do it. I'lldoitI'lldoitI'lldoit!"

He laughed. "That's great news. We'll finally get to meet our soulmates."

You were out of breathe for some reason. "Yeah!" Then you thought again about what he said. "Wait, what do you mean we?"

You both talked some more, and you understood why he saw what you saw. His soulmate was a VK. He didn't know which VK, since she tried blocking out her thoughts when discovering that he was the son of the king. You told him that you'd talk to Harry about it to see if he knows anything.

Harry pulled a few strings, but found out that her name was Mal, the daughter of Maleficent. Ben was ecstatic, saying that he would have her be one of the people who come, and will slowly get to know her so she would realize that they're soulmates.

"Go ahead and pick your three people, and those three, along with Mal, will be the ones that I choose." You quickly chose the daughter of Ursula, son of Gaston, and most importantly, the son of Hook.

You were so excited to be able to hold Harry and look into his eyes and kiss him whenever you wanted. You waited for two months, time going by slower that you could ever think. Finally the day had come, and you were in the room when Ben announced his first proclamation to his parents. They were unsure, but allowed it. Everything was going to be written and delivered for the limo to get them, until Audrey showed up.

"I'm sorry, but I found these notes regaurding Ben's first proclamation, and I don't think this is a good idea!"

"They already agreed. The deal can't be undone or else they will be dishonest and untrustworthy about their word." You argued.

They told her that you were right, but she was ready for that. "If you can't undo this, then I have a better way to rearrange this."

She proceeded to talk about how the daughter of Maleficent didn't get along with the other three from what an anonymous source told her. She said that it was most important to gain the trust of the daughter of the evilest villain, so the three VKs would have to be changed. To Mal's three friends.

Bell and her husband agreed. You ran out of the room, Ben running after you. You made it outside before you began to breathe hard, finding it harder and harder to maintain breathing. Ben rushed to your aid and calmed you down as you had a panic attack.

Meanwhile, Harry didn't take the news too well either. He was heartbroken. He was angry, but more importantly devastated. He shoved his way to his small room on the ship and went inside, laying down and crying his heart out. He wanted to be with you, feel you, love you with all his might. But good things didn't happen to villains.

Once you were okay Ben made you another deal. If the four VKs coming so good with their stay at Auradon, then it'll be easy for him to bring others once he's king. You nodded.

When the four of the villain kids came, Ben had asked you to be there as well. You found them fun and easier to be around than the fake, royal students at Auradon Prep. As you showed Mal and Evie to their dorm, you joked with them about Auradon and Audrey.

"You know, you're not like other princesses here." Mal said.

"Oh, I'm not a princess. I'm the daughter of the village chief, and it's not like I have my own castle or anything. We're voyagers, so we go where the ocean takes us."

"Eh, must be tiring to always travel with your people. But whatever, you here are all probably full of friends wherever. You just enjoy yourself anywhere you are with your buds."

You let out a laugh. "Hardly. The only friends I have are pigs, chicken, the ocean and Ben. Nobody likes to be around me after they found out about my soulmate." It just slipped out of your mouth. You didn't know why you were nervous since they're villain kids, but you still felt that people wouldn't like you for it.

"Who's your soulmate?" Evie asked.

"Um, the son of a villain." You said nervously.

Both stopped you. "Your room should be right there." You pointed.

"Back up a second, your soulmate is one of us?" Mal asked. You nodded. "Is it Jay or Carlos?"

"What? No, it's someone else. He was originally supposed to come, but Audrey, being the home wrecker that she is, changed that."

"Come on, we need to talk about this is private." Evie said, the two of them dragging you to the room. They pushed you inside that closed the door.

"So, who is it?"

"Um, Harry Hook."

They looked at each other. "Harry Hook?" Mal asked. "As in Uma's little henchman?"

"I think he's think of cute." Evie said.

Your ears perked. "Is he?! It's not like I've ever seen him, so I was just wondering." You said very fast, voice full of hope.

"He's no prince, but he's nice to look at." Evie said, taking your hands. You smiled and went back to your room to talk to Harry. He had rarely left his room.

Hey Harry.

...

So today I heard that you were handsome. I guess I hit the jackpot. Kind, funny, and attractive. Who would've known?

That doesn't matter.

I know, it's just a bonus. The sound of your giggles filled his head. He weakly smiled.

How are ye so hopeful?

Because if I give up, then I won't be able to have you in my arms. You're my soulmate, which means that we're perfect for each other. I don't wanna give up on my perfect match.

He felt better. He felt special. Somebody cared for him that much. I like ye.

I like you too.

Over the course of a few months a lot happened. The four VKs, who you befriended, decided to be good, Ben was made king, and Mal was going to be a lady of the court. Until she decided to run away. That's when everything went downhill, and Ben ended up captured.

You were walking to your dorm and passed by Carlos and Jay's room. Their door was open, and they were talking to Chad. "Look, Ben's been captured." You stopped in your tracks to listen. "And if we tell anyone he's dead meat, so we don't have time for your weirdness." With that you took off to grab swords from the supplies closet and waited outside.

When you saw the two outside you stepped out of hiding. "I'm coming."

They both jumped and turned around to see you with swords in a bag. "What are you talking about?" Jay asked. "We're going...to the... Waffle House."

"Nice try. You guys are going to the Isle to save Ben. I'm coming, period." You stared them down, and they reluctantly agreed. You excitedly walked to the limo. "Let's go!"

As you focused on preparing yourself for a fight, your mind slipped off of the fact that you were going to the place that your soulmate was. When you got there you gave Mal and Evie a hug. "Y/n, there's something you should know," Evie said.

"There's no time, E, we gotta go." Mal said.

You smiled at her. "You can tell me after."

You then all went to where Ben was being held captive. A pirate ship. You looked at the others. Jay spoke up, looking down. "We didn't know how to tell you."

You were taking bigger breathes now, not knowing how to handle this. "Let's just, let's just get Ben."

They nodded. Carlos side hugged you, and you side hugged back. He was always the sweet one. You then started to focus on Harry's thoughts. They were about Ben, and Mal, and the wand. He was thinking about being with you when they get the wand.

Harry.

What are ye doin up so late princess?

I know about everything your doing right now.

...

Harry this isn't the way to do things.

Love, I'm tired of waiting. We'll be together y/n. Don't ya want that?

Of course I do, but not like this.

It'll be fine, I'll have them go easy on yer friends.

Harry you know I'd protect my friends. One of them being Ben.

I'll talk with ye later. And with that he blocked you out. You huffed. He's always been so one track minded.

You all got there. Mal and Uma were arguing, and soon she took notice of you. "I see you brought one of your little princess friends. Hope none of us villains smudged your tiara."

"I'm not a princess." You said, voice sturdy. "I'm a Voyager."

Harry's smile that he had on quickly fell. "Is that..."

Ben heard his mumble. "Yes, it is. That's y/n, your soulmate."

Before he knew it, Uma called out for him. He snapped out of his thoughts, tugging a tied up Ben with him. Uma had him cut the ties, and gave them the wand. In a blink of an eye there was a sword fight. The wand was a fake, and they couldn't let the heroes go. They were villains after all.

Harry's mind went off of you as he fought, and he was at his overly bubbly self. That was, until he made his way to you. Immediately he put down his sword.

"Y/n." He said. You looked at him confused, until you looked down and saw that he was holding a hook. You looked up at him. "Princess, it's me."

You drop the sword and run up to him, immediately wrapping your arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around your waist in return. "You don't know how badly I've wanted you." He said lowly in your ear.

"Do you trust me?" You asked. He looked at you, confused. Please say yes.

"Of course I'll say yes, las." He smiled as he looked down at you.

"Good." You slip out of his arms and grab his hand, jumping off the dock and into the water, taking him with you. Harry expected to crash into the sea, but the water went up, gently putting you in the ocean.

As you both floated in the sea under the docks, Harry pulled your waist and brought you in for a kiss. You put your hands on his face as he tilted to deepen the kiss. You pulled back for breath, putting your hands on his shoulders. "I've waited all my life for that." You said as both your foreheads were pressed against each others. "I figured we shouldn't be seen."

"How do you plan on gettin back up las?"

"The ocean's a friend of mine." You gestured to the water that was moving up on its own, waving at the two of you. Harry smiled in awe and hesitantly waved.

"I don't want to let ye go princess." His blue eyes gazed down at you.

"It'll be okay Harry. I'll ask Ben to bring you with me. Now that he's seen the island he'll sympathize."

He looked away from you. "Are ye sure? I may have threatened him a bit." He pressed his lips together.

You brought your hand to his cheek, having him look back at you. "Yes, I'm sure. He forgave the other four for trying to steal fairy godmother's wand, so I'm sure he'll forgive you."

"What if he won't let me there?" He looked like he was in pain. Soulmates are supposed to be together, having them apart puts an emotional strain on each other.

"Then I'll come back and stay here."

"Princess-" you cut him off with a kiss on the corner of his mouth. You knew he wouldn't want you staying here. But you didn't care.

"I want to be together. I don't care where I live." You heard Evie calling your name. "Dip your head under the water to make it look like you fell."

You both did so, the ocean gently bringing you both back up. He grabbed your hand. "So beautiful."

You gently squeezed his hand. "Bye hooky."

"Bye fishy." You then went back to your friends. You looked back, the smudged eyeliner on him making his bright eyes even more piercing.

As you went back to Auradon in the limo, you sat in the front with Jay, looking out the window as silent tears fell down your face. Evie wanted to make you feel better, and designed a dress for you to go to cottilion. Although you didn't want to go, she was convinced that this would make you happier.

As you were in a white and peach dress at cotillion, you stared out at the sea, wandering what it would be like if Harry was there with you. If he took your hand to dance with him. If you were in his arms. If he leaned down to kiss you.

Harry heard all these thoughts, and was so excited to finally be with you. He shut out his thoughts from you temporarily, and got ready. He put on red leather pants with his red long sleeved jacket. Underneath he had a white button up with ruffles and a loose red tie, as well as fingerless gloves.

Meanwhile, you sucked up your sadness and out on a smile as you saw Mal come down. A moment later Ben came down, and, to the horror of everyone present, Uma as well.

As you questioned her, she dropped a surprise on you. "I figured that you deserve happiness too, y/n, so I didn't come alone."

Everybody watched as Harry stepped out, walking straight up to you, bowing and kissing your hand. He smiled as he came up. You hesitated, not knowing if this was a dream or not, then brought him into a big hug. He hugged back, feeling complete.

"Harry, what's going on?" You said as you pulled back.

"I can be with ye now, princess." He smiled, putting his hands on your waist.

You put your hands on his face gently. "You know that's not what I mean. What's going on with Uma? Is she planning something?" He looked away from you. The only ones who were next to you were Mal and Evie. Harry!

You tried to read his mind, but couldn't. He blocked his thoughts from you. "I can't betray Uma."

"Hooky," you said quietly. "Look at me." His sad eyes looked into yours. "Please. Do Uma and Ben really love each other?" He didn't say anything, and that was all you needed. You understood, that was his friend who was probably just as loyal to his as he was to her. You then faced Mal. "Does she know how to use love spells?"

It seemed like something clicked inside Mal's head. "My spell book! I left it on the island. She must have gotten it."

After Mal confronted Uma and Ben, she and him kissed, breaking the spell. True love's kiss. Uma and Mal were about to fight after turning into an octopus and a dragon, but Ben stopped them. Uma left, feeling bad and leaving Harry.

After the Cotillion, you talked with Ben about bringing more VKs to Auradon, with Harry right behind you. He was trying his best to behave himself, in fear of losing you again. Ben agreed and even allowed Uma and Gil to come as well.

After this, Harry didn't let you out of his sight. Everybody seemed to be afraid of the impulsive pirate, but you didn't care. You were always on your own, you didn't care what the others thought. As long as you were with your soulmate, you didn't care.

He had two periods with you, sitting next to you in both since everyone was afraid of him. About a week later, the new VKs arrived. Gil greeted Harry with a hug, while Uma looked around. Her eyes then landed on you. "You don't seem like much, princess."

This took you by surprise. How were you supposed to respond to that. "Sorry?" You squeaked.

Harry walked behind you, grabbing your waist and putting his head on your shoulder. "Oh, but she is Uma. So much." He gently squeezed you, igniting a giggle from you for being ticklish. You smiled and put a hand on his cheek.

As it turned out, Ben arranged for you to share your room with Uma. You put on a weak smile and thanked him. He was just trying to be a good friend, but something told you that Uma wasn't going to be the kindest to you.

Day after day, she tried everything to push your buttons. She wanted you to get angry. There was no particular reason why, she just wanted to see it. She's never met someone so shy and nice before, it got on her nerves.

She would never pick up, use your stuff, 'accidentally' break things, leave wet towels on the floor, and laughed you off every time you kindly asked her to please stop.

But that wasn't the worst thing. Worst of all, she never let you sleep. She would make noice or leave the light on. Sometimes she would train at night.

This took a big toll on you. Everyone noticed, but you brushed it off. Of course, nobody believed you. Harry confronted you about it, especially because you too tired to block your mind from the thoughts of what Uma was doing.

When he did confront you, you were so out of it that you just hugged him, snuggling into his chest and taking in his warmth. "You're so warm Hooky."

His flustered mind didn't know what to do, so he just hugged back. When you pulled away you kissed his cheek, caressing the other with your hand. "What can I do to help ya, princess?"

You shook your head with tired eyes and a gentle smile on your face. "Nothing. It's okay though, I'm fine. I have to get to class."

After you took off Harry went over to Uma. He opened the door to your dorm room to see a mess everywhere. But it was all Uma's stuff. "Bit of a mess we got here, isn't it?"

She looked up from her tv. "Harry, hey. Just living life in Boradon with your girl."

"Why is she so tired Uma?"

Uma laughed. "Right, that. That's because I want to see how long until I break her. She's always little miss perfect shy princess, but everyone's got their bad side. I just want to see hers."

"Uma let the las be. Ye know she means a lot to me."

"Don't worry Harry, I'm just having a little fun."

Harry huffed, not knowing what to do. He exited the room as he thought over the situation. He went to class, not really paying attention to what the teacher was saying, but more on you.

When he returned to his room after class he was in for a pleasant surprise. He found you curled up on his bed, sound asleep. This then happened frequently, not that Harry or Gil minded. Harry found your sleeping form cute, and you and Gil had become good friends.

There was one particular night where you had it with Uma, and you spoke up. "Turn the music off Uma, I'm trying to sleep."

She looked up from her phone that blasted out music. "Oh, I'm sorry princess. Did I mess with your beauty sleep?" Her smile made you angrier than ever.

"What the hell is problem with me? What did I ever do to you?" This made her sit up.

"Oh princess, you've done nothing wrong. I'm just simply evil, in case your royalty brain forgot that."

You stood up from your bed and put on your normal clothing. You couldn't stay here, not when Uma was trying to drive you crazy. "You don't have the right to call me that!" You said as you put on your shoes. "I'm not a princess, and I'm not royalty!"

She scoffed. "I was wondering when that whole nice girl act would wear off."

"It's not an act, it's called a personality Uma! You should try to get one."

She then stood, anger coming to the surface. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me! Every VK here is happy here. Just because your parents are villains doesn't mean that your a villain too. The four original VKs are living honest lives that they love, Gil finally doesn't have to try to be tough since he could never hurt a fly, and Harry is the sweetest person I've ever met. They're all so happy to live their lives here. But not you Uma. You just want to make others miserable to satisfy yourself! Let me give you some advice, people will like you more if you stop messing with their lives and start living one of your own!"

And with that you slammed the door, leaving a speechless Uma. You stomped over to a certain dorm and knocked, being greeted by Gil. "Oh hey y/n. Everything okay?"

Harry stood from his bed. He heard your fast and frustrated thoughts running through his mind. "Yeah, yeah I'm good. Um, is it okay if I sleep here? Please?"

Gil immediately understood. "If you want I could sleep in your room and you could take my bed."

You hugged him. "You're awesome Gil. Thank you." He smiled and headed to your room. Harry stared at you the whole time. "Did you hear everything?" You said quietly with your head down.

He nodded, walking toward you and wrapping his arms around you. It was then you fully realized that he was shirtless. The warmth of his skin made you feel safe and able to talk. "Maybe I shouldn't have said those things." You didn't look at him.

You couldn't help but feel bad about what you said. You barely had any friends, and you felt self-conscious about your personality. Maybe this was the reason why people stay away from you.

"Fishy, look at me." You looked up at him with sad eyes. "It's not a bad thing for ye to stick up for yourself. Don't feel bad for it. I'm proud of ye."

You smiled and kissed his cheek. "I think you're rubbing off on me Harry."

He then pecked your lips. "I think you don't have anything to wear to sleep y/n." He was right. You had put on your normal clothing to go to the dorms. "Don't worry princess, I'll let ye borrow some of mine."

So there you were, coming out of the bathroom, feeling extremely shy as Harry sat up from his bed to stare at the huge shirt on your short figure. You felt your face burn up as he didn't take his eyes off of you for a second. "What?" You laughed nervously.

He got up and took your hands in his. "You look beautiful las. So beautiful."

He then walked backwards and lead you to the bed. "Wait, Harry-" Do ye trust me? You smiled. "Of course I'll say yes."

"Don't worry princess, I just want to hold ye." He smiled at you as you both laid down on the bed. He didn't need to tell you that he was touch starved, you knew. He buried his face in your neck as you ran your fingers through his hair, both of you dozing off.

When you woke up you let out a content sigh as you kissed the top of his head. Mornin' las.

You smiled. Morning Harry.

I'm a bit hungry. How about we have ourselves a little breakfast date, hm?

"Sounds like a plan." You felt him smile against your neck and hug you, rolling you over and causing you to giggle. You got up, putting on your clothes but leaving his shirt on, which he loved.

As you two were enjoying yourselves by the docks eating your plates of breakfast, Audrey came stomping by. "Sorry to bother your little low budget date, but King Ben wants to see you both."

You both came into his office with Audrey leading the two of you, head held high. Uma and Gil were standing inside as well. "Ben, what's this about?" You asked.

Audrey spoke up instead. "There's a chance that these pirates could be getting sent back to the isle."

"What?" You all exclaimed.

"Now, hang on a minute." Ben said, standing up from his chair. "Let's not act too rashly about this Audrey."

She chose to ignore this. "It's against the rules for any males to be sleeping in the female dorms, and the same goes for girls in the boys dorms. I saw with my own eyes Gil go into your dorm room last night, and people have seen you frequently go into their room." She crossed her arms. "Care to explain yourselves?"

"We're sorry, we didn't know that it was against the rules." You said. "There wasn't any harm done anyway."

"Aren't you two weirdos soulmates? Who's to say that you two aren't doing anything gross when you sleep in his room? And is that his shirt you're wearing?"

"First of all, asking what we do at night is the creepiest thing ever Audrey." She gave you a look. "Which is, for the record, nothing. People say that their going to sleep somewhere to sleep." You then pointed at her. "You're disgusting."

"Hey, guys let's be civil." Ben meekly said, offering an awkward smile.

"She was never civil with me. I'm done trying to be nice to someone who only cares about herself."

"You dare speak to me like that? I am a princess. You are some traveler who never stays in one place for long. You've lived on a boat." She then scoffed. "No wonder why you're friends with pirates."

"Excuse me?" Uma was now offended.

You put a hand on Uma's arm, giving her a smile. "It's okay Uma, I know how to deal with girls that have a silver spoon up her ass." Audrey gasped. You then turned to her. "Gee Audrey, it's so weird that you're trying to insult us, when we're all happy with our lives. You, on the hand, find it necessary to try to make yourself happy by having others below you." You put a hand to your heart. "It makes me sad that you can't just go on with your own life. I mean, it must get boring to do nothing but sit and judge people all day in your palaces. I encourage you to get a hobby, but, trust me, involving yourselves in other's lives isn't the right one."

She looked at you angrily before running out of the room. Sweet innocent Gil spoke up. "Um, can we go now?"

"Unfortunately, no." Ben said. "A rule was still broken and action must be given. Why were you sleeping in each other's dorms?"

Uma looked at you, ready for you to speak up and cause her to be punished. But you didn't. You were silent. Gil cleared his throat. "Um, so Uma-"

"It's my fault." You said, your expression blank. "The full story doesn't matter. It was my idea, and accept all responsibility."

"Are, are you sure?" Ben asked. "Honestly the only one who could be punished is Uma. I've seen how tired you've been." Uma looked at you, a tiny bit of fear in her eyes. She didn't want to go back.

"Uma didn't do anything. Like I said, I accept full responsibility." You smiled at him, and he nodded his head.

You ended up getting a three day suspension. You silently thanked the Gods that your mother was busy at sea to know this. As you were going to walk back to your room, Uma grabbed your wrist. "Hey. I just wanted to say thank you. I went too far."

"It's fine." You smiled at her, and she smiled back.

"Well las," Harry said. "You have three days off. What are we gonna do?"

You put your hands on his cheeks. "You have class."

"Eh, I got my soulmate right here. That's all I need." He wrapped his arms around your waist.

"You are positively evil, Harry Hook, and I love you for it."

"And you, my wee little princess, are the love of my life. I love you too." He then kissed you, with ever ounce of love and devotion in it. It felt right. He was your soulmate, after all.

-------

Author Note: So I just watched Descendants 3 and this kinda contradicts it, but this is set kinda between 2 and 3

#descendants x reader #descendants fandom #descendants fanfiction #descendants 2 #descendants #harry hook x reader #harry hook

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estrxlar · 3 years ago

Text

The Ghost Of You

16 - Is This A Good Idea

This chapters songs:

These Days - The Wallows

Stay away (it's like that) - TV Girl

Verbatim - Mother Mother

- Y. L. Perspective

It was Monday once again, and I was sitting down at the freakishly clean lunch table, where I nervously waited for my friends' long-awaited responses. "So? Do you guys wanna...say something?"

Everybody sat with their eyes wide, surprised at my explanation of how the other night came to be.

"You're telling me...that...you and Sugawara..were a thing this whole time?!" Giki slams her palms onto the table, catching the attention of a few people around us. "AND YOU DIDN'T THINK TO TELL US...?!"

Toruku puts his finger over her mouth, still keeping his eyes on me. I wasn't very confident that my friends would understand that Koushi and I had loved each other for quite a while. But I had to tell them sooner or later. And before anything is official between us, I'd like to tell them. They're my family, after all.

"Are you guys boyfriend and girlfriend?" Hikishi curls his brows, fishing out some rice on his chopsticks, and shoving it into his mouth. "Damn, I knew something was going on between you guys!"

Giki slaps Toruku's finger away, rolling her eyes. She twirls her short black hair in her fingers, still curious about my relationship with a boy they had only met a few times. "I thought that you said you were just friends? Not that I'm against it.. but.. how come you didn't tell us?"

Toruku chimes in, "Is this why you talk about him so much? Or why you've been so distant recently?" His words make me think back to the many times I had listened to their conversations more than discuss with them anything that happened with me.

"I guess I was just scared you guys would think I'm getting myself into trouble or something. I mean, none of you have got your eye on anyone, right?" I look at the three as they all shake their heads. "Look, we're not a couple or anything. We're just... overthinking things."

I loudly, laying my head down on the table. Truth was, I'd been wondering whether or not being in a relationship with Koushi was a smart idea. All I needed was a chance to go through my options and stop to think. Thankfully, Hikishi taps my head, pulling my attention towards him, Giki, and Toruku.

"Hey, we're still your friends, you know. It doesn't matter who you like, we're always here to talk and give you advice. Besides, we all like Sugawara! He's nice and treats you good," Hikishi says, turning to his friends for reassurance. "Right guys?"

They nod, leaning close towards each other to make a small oddly shaped circle. "Yeah, of course. Now, spill, Y/n! What has been happening ever since the party?"

"Uh, yes. On a walk home, we had both agreed to wait a little bit to figure out our feelings, but it was more so that I could realize mine. It wasn't so bad, though. I had time for myself and to spend some time with the volleyball team. They're loud and crazy, but they're fun. I can't believe they're all so respectful considering they're teenage boys. Anyway, we kept talking casually as two people who liked each other would!" I take a sip of my juice box, taking a deep breath from explaining so much. Still, my friends were all ears, leaning back to hear the frightening love story of Koushi and me. "After Oikawa had seen me at the party, he tried texting me a few days later, saying he wanted to talk. I brushed it off casually as any other person who's been in drama with him would and told him I was busy. But on the day of the practice game, I saw him there! He and Oikawa. Supposedly, they're the two best players on the Aoba Johsai Volleyball team."

"Oh..does that mean you have beef with them not only because of that party and because of volleyball?" Giki asks. By "you guys", she meant Toruku and me.

I nod, slapping my forehead. "Yup. And that's not even the worst part! We have to play in a spring tournament with them, which means seeing them more than what I'm comfortable with. On the day of the game, I bumped into Hajime in the hall. He didn't cause any trouble! He was nice and apologized and everything, surprisingly. I explained how I was there as a manager, not some creepy stalker, and even got to talk a bit about how life's been treating us. As for Oikawa, he didn't say much. He saw that I was at their game as a manager, but never confronted me about it. I'm sure Hajime had enlightened him on how I was a part of the volleyball team. Still, he could have told me something if he claims he wanted to talk so badly! Koushi noticed how I was acting strange when he entered the room and confronted me about it when we got to my house."

Toruku raises a brow, asking, "your house? So he spends the night now?"

"N-no! Well, he's never actually stayed an entire night. He usually just comes over towards night and leaves around two or three in the morning. I think his dad might be strict about him staying out late, so that's probably why he has to sneak back home. Anyway, after I had told him what happened, he understood, and eventually, we began talking about ourselves. God, it felt so good to tell him how I felt. And I know now that I didn't just like Koushi, I was in love with him. He just makes me feel safe and knows me so well. If we weren't separated by an entire school year, I'm sure I would have realized it sooner, but I do love him. A lot, actually. And if I'm being brutally honest, I don't care we only have a year to be together." For a second, I forgot that my friends had opinions of their own and began to blabber on about how much I liked Suga. They all looked as if they were just given a box or issues to solve. "So...do you guys think I should?”

None of them mutter a word and instead trade worried expressions, then look back at me. "Look,

Y/n. I don't think any of us have ever experienced this entire 'love' thing except for you and Toruku, so I don't think that our opinions would help very much. But..we can all agree that you've cheered up ever since you started hanging out with Sugawara. Hell, even your chords have been getting better. We've never seen you so happy before. So if you really love him, then we respect your decision to be with him." Hikishi smiles brightly at me, as Toruku and Giki nod along with his words.

I sigh, very relieved that I had such wonderful friends. They were here for me before I even got to find myself and my talents. How could I doubt that they wouldn't be supportive? It's them, after all. "That amazing, thank you, guys." I smile back, looking down at the poke bowl I'd brought in my bento today. "Now that that's over, we should probably make plans for our schedule. It's been quite some time since we've talked about it."

"Ah, yes!" Giki exclaims, shoving her hands into her school bag and fishing out a large piece of paper. "So, I just got this flyer for a band competition coming up. It's in about a month, so that gives us some time to come up with some ideas for songs and practice."

Each of us passes around the flyer, observing its letters. Although it was written in lazy lettering and small pictures, we knew it wasn't something to brush off. Booking gigs and getting our name out to the public was what we needed. Ever since we had published a small album of some scraps from a few songs we'd written, we've only gotten people from our families, school, and some friends we knew in the industry. And before we would sign with my aunt, she wanted for us to gain a few more supporters and fans to help us get the word out further.

Giki nods, happily drumming her fingers on the table. "Yup! I already signed us up. Since the festival has gotten much more popular, I'm sure there will be a lot of people there!"

"Great, that gives us something to look forward to. Now, for what to choose as the song..." I lean onto my elbow, stared down by my band members. They all raise their brows at me. "...what?"

"Word on the street is that Summer's Amp Fest is looking for more than just what people can cover. They're looking for authenticity. We think it would be best to come up with something of our own, " Toruku explains. Still, I'm confused as to why they look to me for help.

"So..?"

"So... do you wanna come up with some lyrics?" In surprise of Giki's question, I began choking on my salmon. 'Write a song? I hope they only mean words and not notes as well. I've never been asked such a thing from my band.' I think to myself, choking in distress while Hikishi handed me a cup of water.

I down the entire thing, steering the coughing to a halt. And not long after do I ask, "you mean, like, write an entire song?! Look, I'm flattered and all, but I'm not very good!"

"Come on! You're the one who knows their way with words, Y/n! You've written a few others in the past, why not do it now?" Toruku pleads.

"Because it's so stressful! And only in a month? Can we even be prepared by then?!" I yell out. "Besides, what would I even write about? It's not like my life is any more interesting or sad than you guys!"

"Tch, you're in love for Christ's sake! That's what most artists write about! Take a look at TV girl— all they sing are songs about being addicted to cigarettes, sex, and heartbreak. You can do it, Y/n!" Hikishi claps his hands together. "As long as it's impactful and sounds good, then I think we'll be fine."

"Yeah! If you'd like, you can even talk to Suga about it! Maybe he can help too," Giki suggests.

I frown, scared that when the time comes, I'll disappoint my friends. All I've ever written are a few words and such. Almost all our songs are instrumentals with one or two verses. "I don't know, you guys. What if I make something super cringe and bad?"

"Y/n, you've got everything you need to write a full song. All we're asking for is authenticity and emotion. Not much! Look, me and Hikishi will take care of the chords and notes. Giki can get everything prepared for us, and you can write the lyrics! A good song will get us in the spotlight," Toruku explains.

Although I had doubts about my talents, I had hope that I could grow a pair and put in some effort into a song.

"Okay then. It can't be too hard, right?"

"Koushi, this is so hard! There's nothing I have in mind!" I whine to him as we walk to the clubrooms. School had just ended and volleyball practice was next on our agenda. Today, the so-called so "guardian" was to come back from some kind of secondary school he attended.

The boy pats my back as I throw my head back. "Don't stress it, Y/n. They said it was around a month away, right? That gives you a lot of time to come up with something. And if you'd like, I can even help you. Though, I'm not sure I'm very good with words," he chuckles, running his hand through his hair.

"Really now? Your little letter says otherwise," I say, turning Koushi's cheeks crimson. As much as I wanted to go further into the playful argument, locker rooms were just up ahead. We departed before continuing.

Before I enter the girls club room, the sound of two girls talking came from inside. 'Whatever. Other sports teams have things to do too, right?' I straightened my skirt, hoping that my being there wouldn't be an issue.

I carefully open the door, peeking my head inside of it. I could only recognize Kiyoko changing into her sweat pants, but not the other girl. Once reassuring that it wasn't a crowd of people, I fully entered, closing the door behind me. "Uh—hello," I utter, awkwardly smiling while walking towards my locker.

The stranger turns quickly, revealing her figure. 'Who is this chick?!' I ask myself. She had straight dirty blonde hair, smooth milky skin the covered her body, and deep green eyes. I was surprised such a beautiful and classy girl was here in a gym locker room.

She looks me up and down, attempting to return the smile. "Oh—hi! You must be the new manager. My name is Eclair, it's nice to meet you!"

Vote pls and ty ok bye ily

- estrxlar

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