#arthur recap

[forelsketparadise]

[rosalette-roxburgh]

Can i just say these are the cutest things ever…

[topoet]

Recap July 2024

The WP map shows my hits have come from 19 countries around the world, with Canada & the US still in the top spots. Most popular post was my review of the disastrous Hedda Gabler at the Stratford Festival. Being disappointed makes me more aware of what I do like – though in Hedda case I suspect it may be the text as much as the production that let me down.  Watched lots of great movies in July…

[cloudcountry]

watching you lose your mind over arthur today made me mentally visualize the image of you aggressively shaking the mirror and telling me about your confusing guy (tm)

-but even with that aside, does that imply that Arthur's family members are alive?? is it just his uncle??? what's going on over there bestie

OKAY RUBIA YOU DONT UNDERSTAND TEH SECOND FOUND OUT EDGAR WASNT AROUND I WOULD HAVE CALLED YOU AND CRIED ABOUT IT

honestly i have no idea. how many people in his family are alive. but i DO know that i got very freaked out when i saw his uncle. HE EVEN ASKED TO KISS MY HAND AND I DONT LIKE TOUCH IDK. I KNOW THATS NICE AND ITS MANNERS OR WHATEVER BUT HE GIVES A VIBE

i want him to come back soon :((( i want to have discussions about gummies :(((( if hes not weirdly flirting not flirting w me what do i even have in cradle :(((((

[fangirlmedstudentblog]

Ann's 2022 Wrapped pt 2(A)

So, here's part 2 with my yearly recap in fandom that I'm guessing you all will like more, the FANFICTION RECOMMENDATIONS!!

Top fics of this year

According the ao3 wrapped, I've managed to read as many as 3.5k fanfics this year, which roughly amounts to 10 fics a day 😱 and a total of 115 MILLION word over the span of a year, which is amazing, considering all the time I've spent working in the hospital (because yes I was an intern), studying AND playing Genshin.

Since I'm tasking myself to rec fics from as many of the fandoms i read fics for (of which there are many), I'll limit myself, and it proved to be as hard I had thought it would be.

My list is in no way even close to an exhaustive fic rec list for the pairing. It has some gems to get you started if you're new to the ship, or some fics to re-read, if you've already read these. If there is a podfic of the fic, I'll include that too! Podfics deserve more love and are a boon, allowing us to listen to our favourite stories while doing other work or playing games! They're one of the top reasons I've not fallen asleep while completing exploration in Genshin Impact lol.

In the m/m fics, i don't write the ship name with the top/bottom fixed in mind as i always headcanon them as versatile. (I know some people like to read fixed dynamics for certain ships, so this is just a fyi for them.)

Do check the tags of the fics before reading and check the author's pages for further fics to read!

All fics are complete unless mentioned otherwise.

Fandoms/Ships covered:

1. Draco/Hermione from Harry Potter

2. Merlin/Arthur from BBC Merlin

3. Peter Parker/Johnny Storm from Spiderman and The Fantastic Four comics

4. Stiles Stilinski/Derek Hale from Teen Wolf

5. Namjoon centric BTS fics

6. Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto

7. James Bond/Q from James Bond (Craig) movies

Covered in part 2(B) because too many links lol

8. Frank Hardy/Nancy Drew from Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series

9. Prapai/Sky from Love in the Air

10. Batman / Red Robin comics

11. Miscellaneous fic recs

Pairing: Draco/Hermione aka Dramione from Harry Potter

Fuck JKR and any and all transphobes. Her world of HP was the first serious series that i read and grew up with, so the emotional attachment i have with this series is a lot. So while i don't support her in any way or form, fanfics are fair game for me.

I discovered Dramione when i started reading fanfiction and came across this rather lovely dramione fanfiction called Simply Irresistible that opened my eyes to the pairing. I'd always liked Draco as a character with unrealised potential. And Hermione is and always has been my favourite character from HP. The sweet sweet potential of Dramione combined with the excellent fanfics on ffnet dragged me in and hasn't let me go even now, to be honest. This pairing has so many EXCELLENT fics i simply can't even think of picking my top fics. So I'm just listing the top 6 dramione fics i re-read every year.

1. Rewritten in Time series by ScotlandEvander Rated T

Scared and tired, Draco Malfoy decides to take matters into his own hands. Using a potion, he travels back in time, finds himself in his eleven year old body with all his memories from the past seventeen years. Using this knowledge, he sets out change time. His first mission: befriend Harry Potter. His second: Keep Harry from doing death defying acts. (Turns out harder than Draco had envisioned.)

A Draco centric Harry potter time travel fix-it! It's one of my favourite Harry potter fic to read, and offers the full experience from first to seventh year. Features an OC who is important to the story but not part of the main pairing. It's a fun series that is a slow burn with the dramione as they don't get together till a lot later.

The fix-it version of Harry is hilarious, especially as the years progress. Features lots of friendship moments between the characters and the romance is slow and subtle with hints throughout the series. I try to re-read this whole series atleast once a year.

2. Rewriting Destiny by WaitForTheSnitch Rated General Audiences

They all thought after Voldemort's fall that the world would get better. But they were wrong. The Death Eaters used politics to accomplish what Voldemort never could. And with the dwindling Wizarding population and no one left to fight, there's only one solution: to go back in time to before Voldemort rose to power, and fix what broke the first time around. Time Travel AU

Features Draco and Hermione as time travellers that go back in time to make sure Voldemort never rises to power. I love how the author writes the characters, and their interactions with each other. I'm a goner for good world building and this fic delivers in SPADES.

3. Measure of a Man by inadaze22 Rated E

To truly know someone is to differentiate between who they once were, who they are now, and who they're capable of being. Hermione realises the duality of one man as she rectifies what she knows of the past and begins to understand the pieces of who Draco Malfoy is now: a father, a son, and a man.

It is a post-hogwarts dramione EWE (epilogue what epilogue for those unaware of the term) fic with Hermione being tasked to take care of a rather unique case, and during the process, she learns and grows.

It is NOT a short fic at all, clocking in at almost 600k, and it is SLOW burn, that sometimes is a long low simmering roast. Narcissa in this fic is amazing. I personally wouldn't recommend this to be read in one sitting, and with having some fluff fics on standby for the in between breaks because it is heavy in places.

*Funnily enough all the fics I'm recommending above are LONG as fuck fics clocking in atleast 100k words or more. I really love reading long fics*

4. The Eagle's Nest by HeartOfAspen Rated E

Hermione's eighth year at Hogwarts is already going to be difficult in the aftermath of the war, but is further thrown into upheaval when Headmistress McGonagall orders a re-sorting of all students to promote inter-house unity. But when the Sorting Hat sends Hermione to Ravenclaw with Draco - and without Harry or Ron - how will she cope? [Epilogue? What epilogue?] Prevalent alchemy.

I love eighth year dramione fics! They have so many possibilities, with most commonly having Hermione coming back alone to Hogwarts without Harry or Ron.

In this fic, both Draco and Hermione discover the hidden depths in the other, especially Hermione, coming to know more about Draco as they progress through their eighth year at Hogwarts.

5. The Gloriana Set by ThebeMoon Rated E

The War is won, and Hermione Granger is back at Hogwarts as an “Eighth Year”, feeling reckless and determined to shed her prim bookworm persona. She will do as she pleases, and anyone who doesn’t like it will see the business end of her wand. Also returning is Draco Malfoy, universally hated but determined to restore his family’s name. Hermione’s hopes for a quiet school year are quickly dashed as she contends with mischievous First Years, killer plants, enchanted hair accessories, a totally inappropriate Moaning Myrtle, renegade Death Eaters, a nice vampire, a poorly named study group, a depraved party, and mysterious, threatening blood messages on the castle walls. We have redemption, partial redemption and (sadly or hilariously) no redemption at all. Throw in a snarky, disturbingly attractive Draco with his own secret agenda, and we have a very slow-burn Dramione with a side of who-dun-it.

This is one of my favourite eighth year dramione fics that keeps you engrossed throughout the fic and it also has a in progress podfic that can be found here.

6. Chronos Historia by In_Dreams

Hermione and Draco stumble upon a mysterious portal and find themselves hurtled back through time a thousand years. Forced to team up to find a way home, they quickly realize that much of the history they believed to be fact, wasn't true after all. A founders era, time travel Dramione.

As it says on the tin, with such an interesting take on the founders, i was intrigued. It was also my first founders era fic.

While this next fic isn't strictly a dramione but a Draco/Hermione/Theo fic so i couldn't resist but add this in, it's a personal favourite. It's spicy and a very well written throuple polyamourous fic, with the characters playing nicely off each other and another eighth year fic as well!

7. Sugar and Spice by InLoveWithForever

Contrary to what she claimed, it wasn’t grass and new parchment and spearmint toothpaste she smelled.

A mind-boggling amalgamation of confusion followed by a peripheral realization, and then instantaneous fear made her flush so severely that the room went fuzzy around the edges of her vision as she choked out the lie.

It was old parchment housed in the restricted section, tart green apples, and something spicy—not cinnamon, cloves?—that lingered inside her nostrils. She was woozy, her lids drooping heavily, even as a small part of her brain screamed at how wrong this was. A larger, louder part of her shoved the shame down in favor of baser instincts. Those instincts dampened and dissipated and the shame crowded in the further removed she was from the delicate, unmistakable scent wafting from the cauldron.

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

Pairing: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon aka Merthur from BBC Merlin

Despite knowing about this show since 2014 (blame this hellsite) i only got the chance to watch this show in 2016 and boy did i fall headlong in love with this show and it's characters. I love that the fandom still remains active to this day, even a decade after this show ended.

And we all cry hysterically every Christmas Eve because that ENDING 😭 or maybe that's just me lol and the i reread that one post canon fic because i want to feel. And that leads to my first rec,

1. And like the cycle of the year, we begin again by katherynefromphilly Rated E

Set after the Merlin Series 5 Finale "Diamond of the Day".

For many long years Merlin waited.

For the other part of his soul, for the other half of his life. He was born to serve Arthur. So that meant he was also born to wait. Even if it took a thousand years. Even if the wait seemed never to end.

Until one day, suddenly, it did.

When Arthur stumbles from the Lake of Avalon 1,500 years after his death, he finds a world unlike the one he knew. Faced with the loss of everyone he loved, and the threat of impending prophecy, Arthur must learn what it means to be not just a king, but the Once and Future King. Merlin does all he can to guide him, even as he struggles to hide his love for his king, and his fear of losing him again.

Story includes sass, banter, horseplay, & True Love

It is part of a lovely series, We Begin Again which i read every year atleast once, it's a classic masterpiece that fulfils my S6 dreams.

2. Evil Overlord, Inc. by Footloose, mushroomtale Rated E

Merlin is a recent graduate with a double doctorate in metaphysics and physics. Arthur is a low-level paper pusher with a desk in the sub-basement of MI5. They live in a world with ridiculous laws and restrictions against anyone who might be supernatural in any way, shape, or design.

Merlin has huge debts looming over this head, a few quid left in his bank account, and no job prospects. Arthur is pushing thirty, in a dead-end job with no chances of promotion to fieldwork agent, and is thoroughly bored with his life.

One ill-advised Craigslist advert, five pushy mates, one nosy all-knowing sister, and a hacked email account later, Merlin and Arthur take the world by storm.

(Or, more precisely, they take over the world.)

It is one of my most favourite Merlin fics coming from the minds of the godly duo of Footloose and mushroomtale with excellent story, GORGEOUS art and bamf!Merlin and bamf!Arthur.

I'm honestly down bad for the art in this fic, especially spectacled Arthur and the art makes me feel things. If you ever find any Merthur fic, with either of the two author's involved in it's creation, it's a must read.

3. Shadow lord and Pirate King by Footloose, mushroomtale Rated E

A fast ship, a good crew, a treasure, a Clan to lead -- that's all Arthur Pendragon has ever wanted. He sits on the Council, he supports his father's kingship, and he keeps an eye on the Imperial Conglomerate when they come too close to Pirate space.

One day the Conglomerate infiltrates the Clans and poisons the King. Arthur must search for a cure to keep his father alive and the Clans from civil war.

An escape route, a sharp knife, a target, the shadows at his command -- that's all Merlin has ever needed. He fulfills his assignments, he uses the Sterling to sustain his once-royal House in their exile, and wages a private war against the Imperial Conglomerate.

When he learns of an elaborate plot to assassinate him, Merlin does the opposite of what's expected. He flees onto a Pirate ship.

There's a saying among the Pirates: that one's fate is written in the stars. Destiny will always set to rights what has been made wrong.

Arthur and Merlin know that they were meant for the other from the moment they meet. They can feel it from across the galaxies separating them. Nothing can stop them from being together or from fulfilling an ancient prophecy.

Another beautiful fic with gorgeous art, featuring space pirate!Arthur, ninja assassin!Merlin, secrets, plots for revolution and so much more packed in a nice long story with sizzling chemistry and GORGEOUS art.

The art for this fic graced my phone as wallpaper for a long while and if shipping wasn't like sky high i would have bought merch for the fic art, I'm serious.

4. Loaded March series by Footloose Rated E

Captain Arthur Pendragon has put together the best team of specialists that the SAS has ever seen, but when his superiors assign Lieutenant Merlin Emrys as his communications officer, Arthur does everything to make him feel unwelcome. Arthur's job is to protect and guide his team through dangerous missions, and he worries that he can't do that when the newest member has a mysterious background and acts suspicious when he thinks no one is looking.

As their assignments become more dangerous, Merlin can't help but to use his magic to keep his team -- even his prat of a Captain -- safe from threats they couldn't possibly understand. But when they are sent on a undercover operation against a group of zealots intent on a magical apocalypse, Merlin needs to confront his fear of discovery and derision, and to finally trust his team with his secret.

Arthur and Merlin rely on each other for more than the sake of their mission. The entire world is at stake. When they learn -- from dragons, no less -- that they are prophesied to restore the balance of magic to the world, they fight on regardless of the outcome, because duty, honour and loyalty is a far stronger driving force than destiny.

A completed series featuring Arthur, Merlin and the other knights as part of an elite SAS unit with the varying adventures they face that clocks in at almost 1.3 million words, it's a good, LONG read that'll absorb you thoroughly if you aren't careful and you'll emerge as a changed person.

It also has a in progress podfic, which has the first 5 stories in podfic form, which you can listen to here.

Actually do yourself a favor and go to both of these author's ao3 pages and read ALL of their Merlin fic and also fics they've written for other fandoms if they interest you, because otherwise I'll just keep on listing their fics throughout lmao.

5. Gadarene by unpossible Rated E

“You’re the Prince?” Merlin says, eyeing him. He hesitates, then adds, defiant, “The Mad Prince of Camelot.”

Arthur doesn’t move. There’s quiet for a long time, then he says it. “I am.”

“You don’t seem mad,” he says.

The smile wells up from somewhere deep, and very sad. “Well, Merlin,” he says, “give me time.”

This is also a very unique Merlin fic, that deals with reluctant slave master Arthur and slave Merlin working together to take down the villian, with lots of intrigue, lot of sexy times and a little coup, for added flavour.

Also has a lovely podfic !

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

Pairing: Peter Parker/Johnny Storm aka Spideytorch from The Amazing Spiderman and The Fantastic Four comics

I've read the Spiderman comics as a teen and was introduced to the fantastic four via those. Peter's friendship with Johnny, especially their bantering is top class. Definitely see the spideytorch queen @traincat blog with their posts on Spiderman, fantastic four and Spideytorch, with this and this (being posts on why Spideytorch? and the second one has a brief comic book timeline of Spideytorch. I personally prefer comic book Peter Parker, fyi but i don't hate mcu!Peter. Also traincat has written many of the gems in this pairing so do check out their ao3 as well!!

1. Tales From The Back Pages by Traincat Rated T

Peter Parker was born with his words. Johnny Storm's been sure his will be said sarcastically since he was a child. Everything else more or less happens according to plan.

A first words soulmate AU.

This is a pretty good fic for those new to Spideytorch in general and is a rather lovely fic. It is basically Marvel 616 Spiderman and the Human Torch but with soulmates. I personally have read it soo many times i can recite parts of this fic from memory.

2. Work Song by Traincat Rated E

Peter Parker has his company, more money than he knows what to do with, and the echoes of a ghost in his head. Johnny Storm's lost his family, his home, and is clinging to the remnants of his old life.

"I’m here with you. That’s not nothing, right?”

“No,” Peter agreed. It definitely felt like something, all the way up here with Johnny so close they were almost touching.

Peter looked at him, at the full lips set in a slight frown, the sharp curve of his jaw, the way his hair fell across his forehead. He fit all the dazzling lights around them, warm like sunshine even in the middle of the night.

“Beautiful,” Peter said before he could stop himself.

This fic requires you to be a bit more familiar with the comic timeline, but in essence, (comic book spoilers ahead) in one of the comic book runs of Spiderman, there's a time when all of the fantastic four except Johnny Storm have vanished and Peter buys up the Baxter building (the F4's home) and he's pretty rich in this because a while before this he had discovered that doctor octavius had taken over Peter's actions via *science ish mind control' with him making a major company and everything.

It kinda has glucose guardian Peter vibes as well and some references to non con as well (not between the main characters). It is one of my favourite fics by Traincat and honestly if you're even somewhat familiar with the spideytorch comic book timeline, i can't rec this fic enough!

3. Always Glad You Came by aloneintherain Rated T

Spider-Man is a relatively new, controversial vigilante, and Johnny has a crush the size of the Empire Building. The Four - operating under the assumption that Spidey is an adult - do not approve.

“I just happen to think Spider-Man's cool,” Johnny says, matter-of-factly. “A hero can think another hero is cool without making it weird. I admire his aloofness. And his badass-ness.”

“His aloofness,” Ben repeats, chuckling into his mug of beer. It’s roughly the size of Johnny’s head. “Yeah, sure, I bet that’s all your admire, right?"

While i usually prefer comic book Spidey, this one is mcu Spideytorch, with teen!Peter and teen!Johnny that is one of my favourite mcu Peter fics.

4. Spideytorch series by mizzy

A series of unrelated fics about my OTP, Peter Parker/Johnny Storm.

This series has some of my favourite Spideytorch fics not written by Traincat and of all of the fics in the series, my personal favourite has to be without a hitch.

This series is based on comic book canon, rather than mcu so do keep that in mind! It's a must read collection of Spideytorch fics!!

5. Better in Picture by weekend_conspiracy_theorist Rated Teen and Up

In which Peter Parker has no interest in sleeping with Matt Murdock, no matter what anyone seems to think.

Despite what it seems, it really is a Spideytorch fic! It has representation of one of the most underrated friendships of Peter and that is his friendship with Matt Murdock aka Daredevil.

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

Pairing: Stiles Stilinski/Derek Hale aka Sterek from Teen Wolf

I've read fics for this pairing for a year of two before even actually watching the show a year or so back lol. Reading up on the history of the pairing, thankfully i wasn't the only one who saw this ship as possible in the show (before the makers betrayed us fans). But yeah, I've always been down for bad boys in leather jackets with a heart of gold and Derek was a perfect fit. Plus Stiles stole my heart in the first episode. Scott, while a fine character, was written with a bit too much of the protagonist's halo effect for my tastes, if that makes sense, but that's just my opinion.

1. Play It Again by metisket Rated T

In which Stiles goes along with one of Derek’s plans and ends up in an alternate universe as a result. He should’ve known better. He did know better, actually, and that means he has no one to blame but himself.

“Laura wants to lure the kid in with food and kindness and make a pet of him, like a feral cat. Derek wants to have him arrested for stalking. They’re at an impasse. (And the rest of the family is staying emphatically out of it in a way that suggests bets have been placed.)”

It's a time and dimension travel fix-it fic, featuring soft!Derek, kick-ass!laura and lot of realisations on Stiles' part.

Comes with a Podfic

2. Gravity's Got Nothing on You by zosofi Rated E

“Three weeks,” Derek says.

“Still don’t want to,” Stiles says.

“I’ll pay you,” Derek says, and that… that has Stiles interested. Alf’s Antique’s may be a great job, but it’s not a high-paying job, and half of Stiles’s tuition is coming from financial aid, so…

“How much,” Stiles asks, “are we talking here? Because I know your family, dude. And it’ll be kind of awkward after.“

“My family thinks you’re some sort of fucking gift to the world,” Derek seethes, like he’s jealous, “they’ll probably be pissed at me when we break it off, so don’t worry about that. Five hundred bucks.”

“A thousand,” Stiles says, because screw ethics. Also, the Hale family is loaded. Derek can deal.

Or, the one where the Hale fire never happened, Laura is a nosy sister, Derek is desperate, and Stiles is the only one that can help. It's a fake dating au that is a comfort read of mine.

Also as a Podfic

3. Stop Crossing Oceans by greenleaf Rated M

“There are no absolutes, Scott! No hard rights or hard wrongs! The world doesn’t fucking work that way and we can’t afford to think like that, because people are going to die! We signed up for that the moment we got involved with all this!”

“We? We?” Scott hisses. “Don’t you think you? Don’t forget that you’re the one who dragged us into that forest the night it all started, Stiles. So if it’s anyone’s fault, it’s yours.”

Something inside Stiles cracks, so strong and so deep that he practically hears it.

A look into a what-if Stiles and Scott's ideological differences are so much that it fractures the friendship between Stiles and Scott and Stiles chooses Derek over Scott.

4. Stuck in Reverse by crazyassmurdererwall (smartalli) Rated E

Look, Derek is the worst. Everyone knows that. Their fearless leader is a total and complete failwolf.

Which means the rest of them? Are kind of the worst too. They’re a ramshackle, slap dashed, sorry excuse for a pack that’s about a half second away from getting one of them killed. And this is a problem, because Stiles would really like to survive high school. Thanks.

Still, nobody deserves what Derek has gone through. Nobody.

And it’s about time somebody told him that.

Stiles decides enough is enough and somewhat ought to appreciate Derek and make sure someone cares for him, and in the process, makes friends with Jackson and unites the pack into a much more cohesive team.

5. Will to Follow Through by owlpostagain Rated E

“It depends entirely on how you look at it, I guess,” Stiles shrugs. “On the one hand, instant healing and the apparently inherited ability to pull off leather at all times. On the other, serious attitude problems and a suspicious disappearance of eyebrows.”

“Even Derek’s?” Danny snorts, “that’s a lot of eyebrow to lose.”

“I know,” Stiles agrees. “You should see, it’s so weird. Every time I want to ask him where they go, except he’d totally eat my face off.”

“There are worse ways to die.”

Deals with the in-transition state of Stiles' crush on Lydia to his crush on Derek, featuring a solid friendship trio of Stiles, Lydia and Danny.

Also has a Podfic (locked, so requires an ao3 account to access).

---------------–-------------------------------------------------------------

Pairing: BTS featuring Namjoon centric fics only

I'll admit that I haven't read much of new BTS fics since 2020, so this might be a bit dated, but all of these are solid gold. There'll be only 1 per Namjoon ship and 1 OT7 fic, which was a MASSIVE STRUGGLE I tell you, because there are SO MANY good ones, except for the OT7 fic, that one I knew instantly.

1. Kim Namjoon|RM/Kim Seokjin|Jin aka Namjin :

I cheated. I chose 2 by the same author metastacia BECAUSE I COULDN'T CHOOSE, both of these are SO SO GOOD. Both have excellent plot, world-building, pacing and will suck you in till you finish it all. I have followed both fics from their first chapter to their last and let me tell you each chapter update was an EVENT on my tl, with discussions, theories, everything. So many of us laughed and cried to these chapters and i personally remember the eager anticipation of reading it!

The Shaman and The Exorcist Rated M

Seokjin doesn't believe in ghosts. Which would cause a huge uproar if everyone knew since he's kind of a big deal at his university; he's a shaman who protects people from evil spirits. He doesn't remember where he got the idea to do this from, all he knows is that superstitious people pay good money.

Namjoon does believe in ghosts. Better yet, he can see them and he can expel them. But there's a certain phoney shaman at his university who's stealing all his clients in his exorcism business, and he's not happy about it because haunted people pay good money.

So, what do they do? Figure out whose closet is holding all the skeletons, of course.

KAIROTIC Rated M

The Grim Reaper, they called him. He was the weird kid in school who knew exactly when someone’s mother was about to die. They didn’t believe him when he’d said it, and they didn’t believe him when he said he wasn’t a psychic, and they didn’t believe him when he said he didn’t cause her death.

The Grim Reaper, they still sometimes call him. Legendary trial lawyer who became known for weeding out the bad guy no one else suspected and putting them in prison. It was almost like he had a sixth sense for it. Like no one was safe from him. Like the black cloud of death still follows him around and no matter how much he tries to shake it off, it doesn’t let go.

Seokjin wonders at what point death had stopped following him around, and at what point he’d started to become death itself.

in which Seokjin can see everyone's lifespan floating above their heads, numbers steadily counting down to their deaths. the numbers never change, or so he thought.

2. Kim Namjoon|RM/ Min Yoongi|Suga aka Namgi:

What rhymes with pug me by sequoiasem Rated T

namjoon and yoongi share a sweater (and also some feelings)

This fic is like a warm hug when you're feeling meh or like sitting by the fireplace wrapped in your cozy blanket with a cup of hot cocoa on a winter night.

THE FEELS

3. Kim Namjoon|RM/Jung Hoseok|J-Hope aka Namseok

The Universe Needs More You by AttilaTheHun Rated M

Kim Namjoon is in love, and Jung Hoseok is always dating someone else. This is perfectly fine, even preferable, because the universe likes to tell jokes and Namjoon knows it's best just to laugh along. He's certainly got nothing to complain about when it comes to the building blocks of his life, and dating is a lot of effort. Too much effort, really. So it's obviously fine.

But the universe's latest attempt at a comedy sketch, where Hoseok moves in with him, bringing the sun and a lot of tiny shorts, might actually make him insane.

We all need a little slow burn lovely namseok in our lives.

4. Kim Namjoon|RM/Park Jimin|Jimin aka Minjoon

things we turn away from by themarmalade Rated M

Jimin, beloved by thousands and starved for affection, finds what he craves so deeply in his massage therapist's hands and very intriguing side job.

This will feel like a long long hug, especially if you're feeling touch starved.

5. Kim Namjoon|RM/Kim Taehyung|V aka Taejoon

Hurt Locker by MmeIrene Rated E

Kim Namjoon, college student and outspoken omega, decides that he doesn't want an alpha to help him through his next heat.

Kim Seokjin, best friend, decides that is a Very Bad Idea.

This is my favourite Taejoon fic EVER, with soft and sexy times in equal quantities.

6. Kim Namjoon|RM/Jeon Jungkook aka Namkook

come take it (if you want a piece of me) by babyblue(rhnull)

Jimin forces Jungkook to make a Tinder, and there's no way that profile of Kim Namjoon is real.

Self indulgent, Namkook fluff with pining makes for a lovely read.

7. Kim Namjoon/Everyone aka OT7

What I Did On My Summer Vacation, by Kim Namjoon, Age 18 ½ by Runchrandom(infraredphaeton)

On his gap year, Kim Namjoon accidentally joins a gang, takes over that gang, becomes the leader of the South Korean Underworld, publishes his first mix tape and gets six criminal boyfriends. It's a busy twelve months.

-

"Hey, you're Rap Monster, right?"

"...Yeah."

"You're really cool, man! I've been listening to you for ages!" the guy practically bounces over the body, slinging an arm around Namjoon's shoulders. "You got a crew?"

Namjoon shakes his head slowly.

"Well, we can fix that."

My absolute favourite BTS fic of ALL time, that I re-read ATLEAST once a year. This author has written many excellent Namjoon centric fics, so rest assured you're in for a treat.

Features smart as hell Namjoon who somehow finds himself as the head of the Seoul underground and six boyfriends, and it all started with sucker punching someone in the face. Interested? Read on!

Pairing: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto aka Sasunaru from Naruto

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

A classic pairing, which for many, as well as me, was their first anime m/m ship, if not their m/m ship ever. There's something hilarious that kishimoto, who wrote the women in Naruto so inconsistently and despite never wanting to, created a friendship that was so deep and with such homoerotic undertones, it surpasses the bond that the 'canon' heterosexual pairings have 😂

1. Kizuna Hikari by YoungAndOverIntelligent Rated M

The only reason Sasuke keeps coming back to Konoha is because of that mattress. The bed is his only respite. And perhaps the dumbass who owns said bed might be worth it, too.

Or, another canon divergence 699 that showers Sasuke with too much (deserved) love and attention that we all need for these unprecedented times.

Title means "Bonded Light". It'll make sense when you're about 100K in.

Remember the trope, "there was only one bed" ? This author took the trope and fit in 204k words of healing and feelings and character growth along with it that just moves you.

Sequel has POVs from the other characters as this one is from Sasuke's POV.

2. backslide by blackkat Rated M

Naruto’s friends are gone, his lover is dying, Konoha is destroyed, and Madara’s second return has pushed the entire world to the brink. Hunted and harried, Naruto is sent back in time to upend Madara’s plan before it even starts, and sets about changing everything. Butterfly effect nothing: the world is at stake, and Naruto is hardly about to let it fall to ruin once more. Not while he’s still breathing.

It's a time-travel fix it fic that has a not exactly unique concept, but the author portrays the characters so vividly they will stick in your mind forever.

It also has a Podfic by the awesome Opalsong (who is a prolific podficcer, check them out as well!) that is one of my favourite podfics to listen to, especially while traveling.

3. An Invincible Summer by ShanaStoryteller Rated T

When Naruto is five, he's gutted by a drunken civilian and presumed dead.

Six months later a girl with ash pale hair and dark blue eyes enters the Academy.

As you can see by now, I love my canon fix-its and this is that as well, but involving the Sexy no jutsu in a way I didn't imagine before reading this fic.

Naruto (or as she's known in this fic, Natsu Nami) is a bamf whose bonds with genin team and kakashi are a highlight of this fic.

Also has a Podfic

4. Forces of Gravity by Anxiety_Pickle Not Rated

The Rinnegan is hardly well understood; at the end of the world, Sasuke Uchiha takes a gamble.

In one world, Madara Uchiha wins. Sasuke escapes by the skin of his teeth and flees to the nearest dimension. Unfortunately, he has quite a few unintended passengers. Stranded five years in the past with the Akatsuki and the all too real threat of global extinction at his back, he decides that he'll be the one to stop the apocalypse - even if that means taking on the Akatsuki himself.

A time travel-dimension travel-canon divergence Uchiha Sasuke centric fix-it fic that has pretty good world-building. My favourite part of this fic are Sasuke's hawk summons! They're so interesting and lovely to read.

5. Corporate Secrets by Kizukatana Rated E

Everyone knew that Uzumaki Naruto was a businessman you didn't mess with. He was charismatic and able to win deals that left others wondering how they'd been talked into what they'd just signed. He was held up as an example of everything an alpha should be: strong, charismatic, and commanding. What they could never have expected was that Naruto was not, in fact, an alpha. In a society run by alphas, it was a secret that he kept closely guarded. As long as he never encountered his True Mate, he could keep his identity concealed behind scent blockers and suppressants. And with billions of people in the world, he didn't really have to worry about finding his True Mate. Right? Even if he did, Naruto was sure he would just kick the guy's ass and move on. He'd never met an alpha he was attracted to, or one that could match him. He wasn't worried at all.

Requires an AO3 account to access, but TOTALLY worth it.

One of my favourite A/B/O fics ever that has a pretty good world-building with respect to the trope and the characterization.

But then again, it is by KizuKatana, who along with blackkat (author of fic 2 in the Sasunaru rec list) are some of the most prolific authors in the Sasunaru fic-dom, who have written awesome as hell fics, so do check out their profiles!

Pairing: James Bond/Q aka 00Q from the Craig James Bond movies

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

I love me some hardened spy and some bespectacled boffin being a pair of bamfs together. I'm still not clear why exactly why I started shipping this, oh wait, i know, that ENTIRE scene in Q's office where he calmly takes that gun from James.

1. Ordinary Numbers by BootsnBlossoms, Kryptaria Rated T

More than anything, Mike Taylor wanted to be ordinary. Being a genius, he learned early in life, meant people expected too much. A career at the MI6 Help Desk seemed the perfect way to guarantee a lifetime of obscurity, until he got a very unusual tech support call.

Requires ao3 account to read

🤌🏻 chef's kiss of a fic🤌🏻

Also has a lovely podfic which i love to listen to often.

2. Important Dates by AtoTheBean Rated E

After a brief attempt at retirement, James is back at MI6 and working hard to rebuild working relationships with his colleagues and friends. And he's making great strides.

Only Q continues to hold him at arm's length, maintaining a stubborn professionalism in their interactions that James remains unable to pierce.

But James doesn't want Q at arm's length, and so he takes a risk. But even a spy's instincts can run amok, and now James wonders just how long he'll be reaping what he's sown, and how many holidays it will take to win Q over.

A post Spectre fic, with Bond seeking to make amends with Q, but only to be met with resistance. A fic set in important holidays in Bond and Q's life, has groveling bond, something i enjoy reading any time.

3. Quriosity by dr_girlfriend Rated E

Bond finds himself increasingly curious about his enigmatic Quartermaster.

Excerpt:

"Your prior hotel is no longer secure, I will direct you to a new location. Your luggage has already been transferred. A field agent and medic from the Diréction Générale de la Sécurité d'État will be waiting at the side entrance. I have cleared them both personally." In contrast to his crisp dry English, Q's pronunciation of the French words was fluid and flawless, the throaty tone of the fricatives sending a surprising jolt of awareness straight to Bond's cock — all the more remarkable given his degree of blood loss.

"You're wasted on Q-branch, you have the voice for a phone-sex call-in line." The words slipped out of Bond's mouth without forethought, although he had plenty of time to think in the sudden pause that came afterward and stretched on for endless moments. Bond hadn't realized until now how Q was always there, with an immediate reply. In all their banter Q had never before been at a loss for words. Ever.

4. Redamancy by opalescentgold Rated M

If you write something on your skin, then it will show up on your soulmate's skin as well.

James doesn't quite fall in love over physics discussions and cheeky book quotes scrawled over his heart, coding and riddles inked onto his skin, but he comes close. He does.

And then he actually meets Q.

This is a soulmate AU with Holmes!Q that starts pre-Spectre and is a spectre fix-it that fits so many feelings in it, it's no wonder it's so long.

5. Red Queen to Overwatch by BootsnBlossoms, Kryptaria Rated M

After returning from the dead, James Bond moves into a new secure flat, only to find that his new neighbour is either: a scruffy teenager, a brilliant computer geek, a mad scientist, or the sexiest genius he's ever met. Two of these things turn out to be true.

Well, three, once the Red Queen gets involved.

Another beautiful, beautiful fic featuring Holmes!Q, that was one of my first 00Q fics and still remain in my top fics for this pairing.

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

Part 2(B) continued here

[yallemagne]

So, on a plane yesterday, I skimmed through the rest of P.N. Elrod's book, Quincey Morris, Vampire.

It's not very good. It's poor fanfiction. I do not support attacking fanfic writers or the stereotype of fanfiction being the epitome of bad writing (most of my writing is fanfiction and I'm rather proud of some of it [some bc a good deal of my older work is amateur]), but it's a rather amateur plot where Elrod spends the entire book rewriting the book she's supposed to be building off of, not desecrating.

Now, Elrod has quite a few vampire books, so I think this story is just a self-indulgent take on a neat lil idea she had, but she felt the need to discard all of Bram's vampire lore and all of Bram's plot and squish her own in. I respect Elrod as a fellow fanfic writer, but I don't respect her character assassinations of Jonathan and Renfield and the attempts to justify the assault of Lucy and Mina. Though I guess that Dracula was an unreliable source? Hopefully, the intention was not for the reader to take Dracula's claims seriously.

Since I skimmed, I cannot say that I am the best source. I did read the beginning part up until Dracula starts claiming Jonathan is an insane adulterer. Then I just couldn't take any of it seriously. I mean, I couldn't really take it seriously when Dracula and Quincey were just... having a calm conversation but whatever.

Spoilers of course.

So, in the story, Quincey's body is dragged from the sleeping team's side by wolves and they cannot find him once they wake. Why did the wolves drag him? Because Dracula is apparently alive and has figured out that Quincey is a vampire. Dracula blackmails Quincey into coming with him back to his castle. If he had refused, Dracula would have murdered Quincey's whole team.

And yet after that, the book tries to claim that Dracula was secretly in the right the entire time.

Dracula has green eyes. It has no plot relevance, I don't believe Quincey remarks on the change from red to green, it's just a dumb detail that keeps being shoved down our throats.

Through Dracula's guided questions, Quincey realizes that a woman he had sex with years ago that drank his blood and forced him to drink hers was a vampire (apparently she's also a character from one of Elrod's other books). Why didn't he change into a vampire sooner? Dracula claims there are two different types of vampires, and he's the cooler one while Quincey is the lamesauce one. So Quincey only has to drink animal blood. Quincey worries that his tainted blood may have killed Lucy but Dracula's like "... nah".

Quincey confronts him on everything, but Dracula has a bullshit answer for anything. I feel the only bearable way of reading this is the interpretation that Dracula is gaslighting Quincey. Quincey says "you killed Lucy, you fed on her repeatedly and she died of blood loss". Dracula says "no that was your fault. she would have gotten better if you just left her drained of blood". Dracula claims that Mina's still gonna become a vampire, but bc she wished hard enough I guess she got to not be hated by God anymore. And he claims he broke off his connection with her amicably, and they're totally cool now.

He claims that he was in the right to kill Renfield because Renfield was a madman and would have hurt the team... when he only attacked Dracula in defence of Mina. This is so damn ableist. Dracula, you can't claim self-defence when you are a fucking vampire with the power to hypnotize people. That was a gratuitous use of force against a mentally ill man that was of no great threat to you.

Worst of all, when told of Jonathan's account of the Weird Sisters assaulting him, he's like "oh, I didn't interfere. I watched. they had their way with him several times. and he liked it. I mean, he had an ensuing mental breakdown, but he was totally down with being raped in his sleep every night." He claims that Jonathan was just oversensitive to the paranormal and that everything he wrote in his journal was delusions. He gaslights Jonathan. Apparently, there were servants in the castle. Dracula, you fucking twit, that would be the strangest thing to fucking lie about, and you know it. When questioned why he locked Jonathan in his castle and left him for dead instead of taking him to Whitby with him, Dracula waves his hand like "eh. couldn't. don't ask me to elaborate. I'm still an amazing host."

Quincey later denies Dracula's claims about Lucy's death being all their fault, but he never contradicts the claims about Mina and Jonathan. In fact, he constantly repeats the part about Jonathan being oversensitive. So? He agrees with Dracula that Jonathan and Mina being assaulted was okay? He agrees with the ableist notion that Renfield needed to be "put down". Maybe I just skimmed over a part.

Dracula forces Quincey to drink animal blood and stuff. Shows him the ropes. Quincey goes out and actually finds Arthur and Jack still grieving him. He does not reveal himself. I was glad that Arthur and Jack don't have their characters assassinated. They end up shooting a wolf and Dracula gets mad and Quincey is like "you literally had my body dragged away by wolves, they were acting in retribution, you don't get to kill them for it".

Blah blah I dunno, Quincey moves back to London. He tries out his cool vampire powers to harass some lower-class people. He bites a sex worker (super uncomfortable with this part, he says himself that he felt betrayed by the fact his vampiric paramour forced vampirism onto him without his consent while he was in the throws of passion, and he does it to someone else?) He meets Elrod's OC.

Bertrice Holmwood is a Mary Sue. Okay? She's a manic pixie dream girl, she's a strong independent woman that needs no man (except that she sorta blackmails Quincey into sleeping with her), and she doesn't feel like a real human being.

She's yet another hastily shoved-in plot device. She's Arthur's older sister by exactly one year and her whole deal is that she's the black sheep of the family because she's a girlboss. Ugh. She's less of a character and more of Elrod's vague idea of a cool woman.

"Black sheep", Arthur loves her! They're on good terms and they're very protective of one another. She's not ostracized at all. But here's the thing, if she always existed and she and Arthur had such a close relationship, why was she never mentioned in the original book? Now, I'm not gonna get mad that Bramothy didn't make Elrod's OC canon. I'm gonna get frustrated that Elrod so poorly shoved her in. If Arthur is not an only child, why did all the managing of his father's funeral fall to him? Why was she never present or mentioned in scenes pertaining to Arthur's grief? Because she's not... real. And it doesn't fit the original story for her to be real.

I would have vouched for her role in the story if she had been Jack's secret sister instead. Jack having a sibling that he doesn't really interact with during the course of Dracula is realistic because he has a job and he's not a noble. You could even make her Quincey's sister visiting from Texas upon receiving news of Quincey's death. But. Well. They're not Alabamian so the sex would be out of left field then /j.

She is told the events of the book and is like "I'm gonna kill VH for hurting my baby bro" and like. Fair. Honestly, I appreciate that the book calls out VH's manipulation methods instead of trying to twist it like VH was the secret evil all along and Dracula was the good guy. It seemed like that was how it was gonna play out in the beginning, but Quincey empathizes with VH while still criticizing his methods. It's a human take on VH. Sucks what Elrod did to Renfield, Mina, and Jonathan, though.

Bertrice hangs out with Quincey a lot, but my eyes glazed over for those parts bc of all the written-out lower-class accents. Despite her being rich, she hangs out in exclusively the slums of London apparently. It makes her less likeable honestly. Stop gentrifying the neighbourhood, Bertrice. But one scene I did read was when she took him to a fortune teller that used tarot cards to explain his whole situation. One of them was "you've been lied to" and from Quincey's later insistence that Lucy's death was none of their faults, I think he rightfully took it to mean that Dracula was lying? But he doesn't apply that logic to his interpretation of Mina and Jonathan's story, nor Renfield's death...

Quincey reaches out to Arthur and Arthur is a bit spooked.

Arthur: You're dead! You're a vampire! Begone! Quincey: I'm actually a good vampire. 'Just drink animal blood. Arthur: You're lying! Quincey: I'm not. Arthur: Oh, okay. It's good to have you back.

Quincey tries to talk to Van Helsing, but Van Helsing refuses to believe him. Jack on the other hand...

Jack, on the other side of a door: Quincey, is that you? Quincey: Yeah. Jack: If it is you, open this door. Quincey: Okay, but don't freak out. VH: DON'T LISTEN TO HIM HE'S A MONSTER. Quincey: *opens door* Hey. Jack: Ah, hey bud, good to see you again.

It's funny how easily Jack accepts that Quincey is alive and totally chill, especially with VH screaming at him that it's all lies. You would think that he'd at least be equally as unsure as Arthur. VH storms out I think, and Quincey explains to Jack everything-- that VH is probably just defensive bc if Quincey is a vampire and totally chill, that opens the door to the possibility VH was wrong about Lucy. But he restates numerous times that Lucy was dead, she died of blood loss, the Bloofer Lady was not Lucy because that vampire fed off of children, and there was no part of Lucy left to reason with.

VH apparently kidnapped Arthur and Bertrice. Why? I dunno, because he was paranoid about Quincey. But he cages them and that's just super weird. Quincey tries to remedy this by having Jack reason with VH. When that doesn't work, Quincey tries to reason with him with a *bit* of hypnotism. It doesn't work. VH shoots him several times in the chest and, assuming Quincey is dead, crosses himself and leaves.

Quincey isn't dead, he's fine.

Uh? The End? The Harkers never show up, so they're unable to defend themselves against Dracula's claims against them. It really frustrated me. And of course, Renfield couldn't defend himself, and Quincey only barely argues on his behalf before blindly believing Dracula. VH serving as an antagonist felt okay seeing as he's not vilified, he's just painted as a grieving, irrational old man. That's realistic. Except for his kidnapping of Arthur and Bertrice... which was just... so melodramatic.

Also just... so I mentioned that Bertrice and Quincey have sex and it was kind of coerced. I don't recall when this happened, it's really that pointless to the plot. So Bertrice springs it on Quincey that she knows he's a vampire, and in the high stress of that confrontation, she asks him to have sex with her and bite her. He does. Eh.

All in all, the book kind of reads like a very self-indulgent work of fanfiction. Whatever Elrod wished to put into the story, she put in with disregard to the actual events of the book she was basing her work off of. It honestly wasn't the worst Dracula fanfiction I'd ever read, though the victim-blaming was atrocious. I appreciate that Bertrice was a bit more than just a fuck-buddy for Quincey. Her protectiveness over Arthur is a bit of a character trait. I also like that the Suitors are still bros. The conversations between Jack and Arthur that Quincey listened in on felt like I was reading a better story for a bit, their friendship felt real.

[sweet-vanilla-sims]

1500-1599 Recap Part 79:

Arthur became a child. 

Philip and Satoshi became toddlers and Joyce became a teenager. 

Frideswide became a toddler and now that the toddlers don’t look the same it is interesting to see the genetics of the cousins at play. 

Cuthbert and Matilda became children. Amy became a teenager. 

The Carlisles (and Carlisle descended) who died in the plague are: Wilmot Jaleel, Julian Laurent, John Ashtor, Bartholomew Ashtor, Gregory Blair, Glen Blair, Josian Blair (Carlisle), Nathaniel Watson, Asher Martin, Clemence Moyer, Christine Silversweater, Oliver’s son who I can never remember the name of, Jarod Upton, James Upton, Jordon Volkov, Bethany Volkov, Blair Volkov (Mayne), Guy Jernigan, Jase Vatore, Pedro Dalton, Johnathan Martin, Angelo Landgraab, Ronan Bell, John Moyer, Charity Moyer, David Ember, Laurent Ember(Margery’s husband), Giovanna Ember, Julianna Ember, Sophie Pancakes, Chanel Cahill, Deshawn Cahill, Thomas Cahill (Thomas Silversweater’s unseen son), Marielle Landgraab, Mack Landgraab (Marielle’s husband), Lilly Chopra, Athena Chopra (Stephen Tanaka’s daughter), Roxanna Patel (Dane’s illegitmate daughter), Randall Pancakes (Ruth’s son), Elisha Charm, Millicent Landgraab (Mayne), Dan Jernigan, Ellen Soto, Aleah Faba, Josef Oliver, Elaina Iona, Mackenzie Iona, and more that I probably accidentally skipped over from my notes. 

As you can see, I was quite busy.  

[awkwardplant]

relistening to malevolent, up to episode 20 and GOD season 2 is so good. all of it better now that i actually know what happening bc on my first listen i tended to zone out and forgot a lot. also amazing that harlan can do a character voice with a different accent yet still have it sound like them

[kahran042]

Random fun(?) fact: This episode is the only place I've seen that particular dessert referred to as a moon cake instead of a moon pie.

Arthur Recap Season 13 Episode 4 MacFrensky

Personally, I love it when classic literature is reimagined in different settings. West Side Story is Romeo and Juliet, 10 Things I Hate About You is The Taming of the Shrew, Clueless is Emma, and now MacFrensky is, well, MacBeth.

At the school carnival, Muffy convinces Francine to have their fortunes told by Prunella. Prunella makes her fortune based on the objects closest in proximity and tells Francine that she will have lunch with a stranger. “Stranger? I don’t know any strangers!” exclaims Francine. That’s sort of the point, kid.

Arthur and Buster enter the tent to ask if anyone wants to get lunch. Muffy gets excited and points out how Prunella’s prediction came true. Francine reminds Muffy that they already know Buster. “There’s no one stranger than Buster!” jokes Muffy.

Ratburn’s Student of the Month competition is coming to a close. So far, Francine is in the lead! Ratburn finally announces the special prize: lunch with local weatherman Thunder MacDuff! He also adds that the winner can invite a friend along. Muffy and Francine get excited because this has to be the fortune Prunella was talking about.

However, Brain comes in late and explains to Mr. Ratburn that he was helping another teacher change her tire and then he had to turn in a wallet to lost and found. He also turns in his science project a week early! Ratburn is impressed and moves Brain to the lead for Student of the Month.

I hope he verified Brain’s stories because what if Brain just rolled around in the mud for a couple minutes to cover up the fact that he overslept.

Because they are masochists, Muffy and Francine decide to drown their sorrows at the ice cream shop owned by their nemesis. Arthur and Buster are also there to show of Buster’s new toy. Brain admires the toy and Muffy gets an evil, awful idea. She suggests to Francine that they frame Brain for stealing the toy in front of Mr. Ratburn to knock him out of the running for Student of the Month. Francine is reluctant because she doesn’t want to steal Buster’s toy but Muffy convinces her that they’re just “moving” the toy and Buster will get it back and they will get their prize lunch back too.

Muffy distracts the boys by convincing them to go to class early, which gives Francine plenty of time to grab the toy. It squirts out green goo when she grabs it but no one notices Francine secretly stuff the toy into Brain’s bag. Muffy sets off the toy and Ratburn docks Brain points for interrupting class and stealing a classmate’s belongings. Since it’s the last day of the month, Francine wins the lunch with Thunder MacDuff instead of Brain.

Nevertheless, Francine is paranoid that they are going to get caught so Muffy takes her to see Prunella again. Prunella tells them that Francine will be Student of the Month until “the moon is swallowed”. Since that’s physically impossible, Muffy assures Francine they are in the clear.

Buster and Arthur don’t think Brain would have stolen the toy and think someone framed him. Now Francine and Muffy have to figure out how to deal with those two! Muffy suggests that they frame the two for cheating so no one will believe them if they accuse Francine.

Francine plants cheat sheets on their desks before lunch but in the cafeteria, Muffy sees Buster eat a whole moon cake in one swallow. Muffy realizes that Prunella’s fortune has come true and Francine, wracked with guilt, confesses to Mr. Ratburn what she and Muffy have done.

Ratburn strips Francine of her title and sentences both girls to cleaning up litter after school. Brain is awarded Student of the Month and he generously allows Muffy to be his plus one to the lunch meeting. Francine has learned her lesson and is no longer MacFrensky.

Grade: A (Love love LOVE the MacBeth parallels. Seriously, watch the episode and see how many references you can catch. I also love how Muffy gives Francine ideas on how to commit the crimes but when the girls discuss getting punished, she tries to distance herself. Thankfully, Francine calls her out on that shit. This gets major points taken off because Muffy got away scot free (hehe get it? ‘Scot free’? Like The Scottish Play?) and didn’t seem to learn a lesson.) But damn, Muffy had plans for how to frame people already up her sleeve. That was kinda scary.

Rating: 100% intense. Shakespeare references are intense.

[stateofsport211]

ITF M25 Heraklion (Nov 6) QF: Arthur Gea [JE] def. Yshai Oliel [7] 6-3, 6-4 Match Recap

Arthur Gea's point to *2-3 0-40 (left) and to take the first set 6-3 (right) (📸 ITF Media)

The action in this week's ITF M25 Heraklion continued with a quarterfinal match featuring seventh seed Yshai Oliel, who had a hard-fought revenge win against Niels Visker 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(7) in the second round, and a promising potential (entering with junior exempt) Arthur Gea, who previously defeated qualifier Sasa Markovic 6-1, 6-1, as well as becoming last week's runner-up. Knowing both players, the return game will play an emphasis with the balance as one of the most important aspects during the match, especially with their aggression.

It turned out that A. Gea had an interesting start to the match, controlling the flow from the baseline with a pace where it could be prone to Oliel's unforced errors. After five consecutive holds, Oliel's forehand errors resulted in the gate-openers to A. Gea's possible break, which was further confirmed when his pacing got Oliel into a backhand error in response to his preceding forehand while trying to get the angles, creating A. Gea's break point before it was eventually converted to 4-2. A. Gea then consolidated the lead to 5-2 and had the chance to serve for the set two games later, which he did at the cost of Oliel getting run over through the forehand side while trying to respond to A. Gea's preceding forehand to take the first set 6-3.

Arthur Gea's point to *0-0 0-30 (top left), to *0-2 30-15 (top right), to *2-2 40-ad (middle left, second break point of the game), Yshai Oliel's point to 4-3* 15-30 (middle right), Arthur Gea's point to *4-4 40-40 (bottom GIF), and to convert his match point to take the second set 6-4 (bottom video) (📸 🎥 ITF Media)

Oliel tried to step up and even had his chances in the second set, especially through his forehand side when he tried to find the lines. However, A. Gea's power and precision appeared indisputable under pressure, which left Oliel with lesser options to advance his offensives. A. Gea started his point construction tidily with a volley finish to set himself 2 points ahead right in the first game of the second set, eventually breaking early to 1-0 at the cost of Oliel's error before he went on consolidating the lead to 2-0. He even had two other break points in the subsequent game, one of which came from his inside-in forehand winner before Oliel ended up massively holding his service game to 2-1 before breaking back to 2-2 a point after A. Gea missed his backhand for Oliel's break point creation.

Both players then played some see-saw game marked by several breaks of serve before the ninth game, which became the crucial part toward the ending of the match. One of those involved A. Gea's forehand winner to create his second break point before he broke to 3-2, only to be broken back to 3-3 over several consecutive double faults. Ultimately, after two service game holds, A. Gea foiled one of Oliel's game points through another forehand winner to force a deuce before he broke to 5-4 due to Oliel's forehand unforced error, paving him the way to serve for the match. He sealed the second set 6-4 thanks to a working drop shot on match point, thus securing the path to his second semifinals within the fortnight.

In the semifinals, A. Gea will face Vladyslav Orlov, who earlier stunned second seed Francisco Forti 7-6(3), 7-6(2) in the quarterfinals. Knowing V. Orlov in singles, this could be a doable but tricky affair for A. Gea considering his deep capabilities, but knowing the latter's potential, it could be exciting to see how everything goes with the finals on the line, with a possible rematch against an in-form Guy Den Heijer, who just defeated Harry Wendelken 7-5, 6-2 in the quarterfinals later that day, should he successfully defeat fourth seed Cezar Cretu in the semifinals.

[ramblings-of-a-chaotic-neutral]

Hello again everyone! Since the "Merlin accidentally conquers Camelot" au won the continuation poll, here's part 2!

NOTE: Part 1 can be found here!

EDIT: Part 3 can be found here!

As a quick recap of this au, during the season 4 finale Merlin was caught by Morgana while trying to plant the burning doll curse that would temporarily lock away her powers, and they have a magic battle that ends with both Morgana and her army slain. Merlin thought that no one saw what happened, but Camelot's lords who serve on the council secretly saw everything. So, when Arthur storms Camelot, ready to take back his throne, he's met with the news that Morgana's already dead and a new sorcerer has claimed the throne of Camelot through the right of conquest, and the lords have unanimously agreed to make this powerful sorcerer king in order to appease him. To everyone's shock, Geoffrey then puts the crown of Camelot on Merlin's head, and Merlin promptly passes out.

And now, onto the new stuff!

When Merlin finally woke up, he jolted awake with a start, frightened by what must have been a terrible nightmare! And truly, it was one of the most horrifying scenarios Merlin's sleeping mind had ever conjured to torture himself with: everyone finding out about his magic, Arthur thinking that Merlin betrayed him, and unintentionally stealing Arthur's kingship!

If the idea wasn't so frightening, Merlin would almost laugh at the absurdity of it: Merlin, king of Camelot! What nonsense! Merlin was Emrys, the other side of the coin to the king; he was certainly never meant to be king himself.

Still, the idea gave Merlin a slight chuckle as he climbed out of his bed and changed into his usual clothes, the soft light of the dawn flittering in through his window. Thank every god out there that his outfit didn't involve a crown!

After he finished tying his neckerchief and pulling on his boots, Merlin opened the door into the main area of Gaius's chambers, ready to eat a quick breakfast with Gaius before collecting Arthur's breakfast and starting his work for the day.

Stepping out into the main chamber, he couldn't find Gaius anywhere, but that wasn't too unusual, given how busy Gaius could be with sudden injuries or illnesses popping up in the lower town at all hours of the night. Humming a bit to himself, Merlin began fixing himself a small bowl of porridge in the chamber's cooking pot, making sure to leave an extra portion for Gaius whenever he returned from his duties.

Merlin ate his breakfast quickly, enjoying the birdsong outside and the beautiful sunrise. Yes, this was exactly what he needed to wash away the awful ideas that his nightmare had conjured up.

After cleaning up their dining table, Merlin made his way towards the door, ready go about his day and do his job as a manservant to moderately acceptable standards! Besides, on the heels of Morgana's invasion, Arthur would need a supportive friend far more than a manservant today.

As Merlin opened the door from Gaius's chambers, however, something was conspicuously different. Namely, the fact that there were two armed guards standing on either side of the door, standing with their backs to the door.

The two guards stiffened and stood at attention as soon as he opened the door, uncrossing their polearms so that they would not be blocking his path as he left Gaius's chambers. Merlin froze at the sight of the guards, staring at their backs. What... what was going on?

"Is... is everything alright? What's this about?"

Was it just him, or did the two guards somehow stiffen up even more at Merlin's words?

After a tense beat of silence, one of the guards cleared his throat and replied, "We were assigned to stand guard over these chambers."

Merlin's brows furrowed with confusion for a moment before he figured out what must have happened, realization dawning on his face.

"Oh, I see! Arthur must have increased security around the castle since Morgana's latest attack. I'm not sure why he considers the physician's quarters to be a potential target, but I'll ask him about it later. Well, I'd better get going or else I'll be late to wake the prat up. Say hello to Gaius for me when he gets back!"

The guards looks confused at his words and opened their mouths to call something out to Merlin, but Merlin was already down the stairs and halfway down the hall before either of them could blink.

Merlin got a lot more strange stares than usual today as he made his way towards the kitchens, with many people outright stopping to gawk at him as he passed. Did he have something odd stuck to his hair or something?

Merlin shrugged off the strange stares for now. He'd have time to look in a mirror and figure out what was so odd about how he looked later, after Arthur had eaten and gotten dressed.

Merlin was still a few minutes away from the kitchens when a caped figure emerged from a servant's passageway and barreled into him, drawing him into a sudden hug. Instinctively, Merlin tensed up at the perceived attack, but he quickly relaxed at the familiar smell of ale and apples that surrounded his laughing "attacker".

"There you are! I've been looking all over for you, Merls!"

Merlin sighed with both relief at seeing his friend in one piece and in high spirits, but also is exasperation.

"Gwaine, I'm very glad to see you again, but what are you doing here? You just spent a week in captivity under Morgana, you're supposed to be resting and recovering, not ambushing unsuspecting servants!"

Gwaine pulled back at Merlin's words, wearing a look of confusion as he studied Merlin's face.

"Ah, but I'm not ambushing a servant, am I?"

"Yes, yes, you're ambushing your friend, since friendship gives you more rights to pull stunts like this and give me more reason to worry over your health."

At that, Gwaine's face pulled into an outright frown, a rare sight to see on the perpetually-grinning knight. Merlin shifted around a bit nervously, unsure of what exactly was happening. Finally, Gwaine spoke again, this time very slowly and gently, as if he was trying to calm down a spooked horse.

"Merlin, what do you remember from yesterday? What was the last thing you remember before falling asleep?"

This time, it was Merlin's turn to frown in confusion at Gwaine's odd questions. What did any of that matter?

"Well, I suppose the last thing I remember was... was storming into the throne room with Arthur and Gwen and being informed of Morgana's death anything after that... I don't quite recall."

He must have hit his head or something after that point, because everything after that was what happened in his nightmare, and there was no way any of that was real. Right?

Merlin watched as Gwaine's frown pulled into a strained smile, his confusion only growing. What was Gwaine so nervous about?

"Well, Merls," Gwaine began, slinging an arm around Merlin's shoulders as he started to lead Merlin away from the kitchens, "a lot happened in between then and now, including some great news!"

Gwaine turned to face Merlin, his smile genuine and mischievous this time, and Merlin knew that grin. That was the grin Gwaine wore right before he was about to get himself into some trouble for a noble cause but would hide it under the guise of "fun".

Merlin sighed deeply, not awake enough to deal Gwaine's antics, even if they was coming from a good place.

"Alright, what's this news of yours?"

If it was possible, Gwaine's mischievous grin grew wider.

"For starters, I got a promotion!"

Merlin stopped in his tracks with shock, halting their walk to... wherever Gwaine was leading him.

"A promotion?! How? Why? What's your new title? Will you be leading other knights?"

Gwaine just shook his head, his hair whipping around and smile still present on his face. He started leading Merlin again as he answered Merlin's questions.

"I know, I had hardly believe it myself! But I took some initiative when it really mattered, and I landed myself this new job! It's not really a leadership role, but I might be leading some knights, and probably some guards too!"

Gwaine finally started to slow their march down as they reached what Merlin assumed was their destination: the doors to the main throne room, where Arthur took his audiences.

As Gwaine stopped before the doors, he turned to look at Merlin again, his smile still bright, but his eyes, Merlin noticed, growing strained again, like there was something greatly troubling him.

"You still haven't told me what this new job actually is though."

This time, Gwaine's smile faltered a bit, and Merlin knew at once that this new job was what was causing Gwaine so much inner turmoil. What job could possibly give Gwaine of all people so much stress?

"Ah, silly me, how could I forget! You'll want to hold onto something before I tell you this, because this will blow you away my friend! I got promoted..."

Gwaine leaned in close, almost like he was about to share a secret with Merlin. Merlin leaned in as well, curious about what position Gwaine's surprising promotion had been to.

"to the king's official bodyguard!" Gwaine revealed in a stage whisper, playing the moment up for dramatic effect in a very Gwaine-like manner.

Merlin jerked backwards in surprise, startled by such unexpected news, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

Arthur did seem to be stepping up security in the aftermath of Morgana's latest invasion, so it made sense for him to appoint a loyal and trusted knight to look after Arthur's own safety.

Merlin was strangely pleased with Arthur's decision on this. Arthur was finally prioritizing his own safety, and he had picked a great knight for the job! This might make Merlin's own secret job of protecting Arthur much easier! Gwaine would certainly take any of Merlin's warnings of danger to Arthur seriously, and he trusted Merlin enough that he wouldn't question where Merlin got any of his information.

Merlin smiled back at his friend, happy about both this new opportunity for his friend and about the changes it would bring. Yes, this was great!

"That's amazing Gwaine! Do you want to stop by the tavern tonight to celebrate?"

Gwaine laughed a bit at that, still looking oddly tense. For some unknown reason, apprehension started pooling in Merlin's stomach, telling him that something wasn't right here. No, there was something else going on.

"Thanks for the offer mate, but I'm afraid that it wouldn't be a good look for me to be seen drinking on my first night on the job. Besides, I have a feeling that you'll be a little busy this evening too."

Merlin's confusion only grew with each passing second.

"What do you mean by that?"

Gwaine didn't answer him, only giving Merlin a small, almost sad smile. It looked disturbingly out of place on the boisterous Gwaine, ratchetting Merlin's confusion and dread up even further.

Without another word, Gwaine turned and opened the doors to the throne room, revealing the entire council of lords congregated within, giving Merlin rather violent flashbacks to his nightmare.

No, no, nothing as disastrous as Merlin being publicly announced as a sorcerer and then getting crowned king in front of Arthur and Gwen could ever happen in real life. It was simply too absurd.

Merlin watched, frozen at the threshold of the room, as the lords' heads all turned towards the door at the sound of it swinging open. To Merlin's rising dread, they all rose from their seats at the sight of him.

No no no no....

Merlin frantically looked around, hoping to all of the gods of the Old Religion that Arthur was somewhere nearby, because the council only rose for the entrance of the king...

Merlin turned around, hoping to find Arthur standing around somewhere, anywhere, as dread began closing its claws around his heart, which was beating at the rating that Merlin would be concerned about if he could process anything other than his own all-consuming terror at that moment.

Because it wasn't a nightmare, was it? No, that was real. His worst fears had come to life in the most horrifying way possible, and he was powerless to stop it now.

If the lords of the council noticed Merlin's frantic terror, they didn't acknowledge it. Instead, apparently, they decided to only confirm Merlin's deepest fears. After a tense moment of utter silence in the room, broken only by Merlin's jagged breathing, Geoffrey finally stepped forward.

"Ah, welcome Your Majesty! I hope you're feeling better now after you've rested and recovered from your battle against Morgana. There is much to discuss concerning these first crucial days of your reign, including your public coronation, having all knights who are willing to renounce the Pendragon line swear their fealty to you, and determining the fates of those who already refuse to accept your rule."

For what felt like an eternity, Merlin simply stood there, his mind refusing to cooperate or even process what he was being told. He couldn't move a single muscle in his body, paralyzed by horror. He was only snapped out of his fugue state by Gwaine taking ahold of his arm and guiding him towards the table.

Inhaling sharply as he was pushed by Gwaine closer to the lords, he finally processed what Geoffrey had told him. Oh gods, a coronation?! So all of Arthur's kingdom could see how he had stolen Arthur's throne?! Forcing knights to turn their backs on Arthur and renounce their loyalty to him?! This was madness and, not to mention, the exact opposite of what Merlin wanted!

And what was that about punishing people for refusing to accept him as king? Hell, Merlin should reward the dissenters if anything, since they were apparently the only ones who still had any good sense left in this kingdom! Who in their right mind would immediately accept Merlin as their king anyway?!

Right, Merlin thought as his eyes wandered over the faces of the lords, spineless cowards with no loyalty who would turn their backs on their true king to save their own hides, that's who.

Well, the applied to the lords at least, but that still didn't explain what Gwaine was doing here, by Merlin's side, when he should be with Arthur and the other knights!

... Where were Arthur and the other knights?

A jolt of fear once again shot through Merlin, this time alongside guilt. Where was Arthur? What had happened to him? The council had foolishly stripped him of his title, and then what?

Clearing his dry throat, Merlin finally responded, "Geoffrey, what happened after I lost consciousness yesterday? Where is Arthur?"

After Merlin was finished speaking, the lords started shifting around nervously, which began to set of warning bells in Merlin's mind.

Something had happened after he fainted yesterday. Something that involved Arthur.

"Well, Your Majesty, following your loss of consciousness yesterday, the former King Arthur lost his temper and began yelling, shouting everything from accusing us of lies and treason to cursing out the sacred laws of the land. He then ran throughout the castle and began calling upon his knights for aid, explaining the situation to them in crude terms and demanding that they take back the crown from you by force."

Merlin grimaced at Geoffrey's monotone explanation, horrific visions of Arthur calling for his execution as a sorcerer and traitor running through his mind.

"Many of Arthur's knights rallied to his cause, but there were some who were hesitant to turn their blades against you, no doubt recognizing your power and your true claim to the throne. It was from that group that your loyal Sir Gwaine arose, leading a small group of knights and guards in a surprise attack that concluded with the former king and his knights locked in the dungeon cells, awaiting your judgement."

Merlin eyes flew wide at Geoffrey's words, his heading whipping around to meet Gwaine's gaze. Gwaine had betrayed Arthur in such a terrible way? For him?

In response to Merlin's horrified stare, Gwaine simply gave him his most innocent smile, as if nothing was wrong at all and Merlin's world wasn't crumbling around him.

No, this wasn't happening. Merlin had to fix this, and he had to fix it now.

"Look, Geoffrey, I am honored that you and the other lords feel so strongly that I am supposed to be Camelot's king, but that is not meant to be. I was never meant to rule over anything. This is Arthur's kingdom, and I will not be the one to take it from him."

All of the lords around the table look utterly confused, as if Merlin was speaking a completely different language. That was expected, Merlin supposed, if they had never seen anyone willingly give up power. Gwaine, however, just looked amused, like he knew that this was exactly what would happen.

"While that is a most gracious sentiment Your Majesty, I'm afraid that it isn't that simple."

Merlin groaned at Geoffrey's words, bemoaning the fact that the world could never let anything in his life be simple.

"Shouldn't it be?! I'm apparently the king now, so I order you to release Arthur and the knights from the dungeons and to give Arthur his kingship back!"

This time, it was Geoffrey's turn to sigh deeply, as the old man pulled a rather hefty- and dusty- scroll from his bag.

"This," Geoffrey began as he unrolled the yellowed parchment, "is Bruta's code, written by the Great King himself. This set of laws are the foundation on which all of the five kingdoms are governed, and Camelot is no exception. All kings of this Isle, no matter how powerful, are subject to these laws, lest the entire realm fall into anarchy."

Merlin was valiantly holding back the urge to bash his head into the council table. Why couldn't he clear this situation up as painlessly as possible?!

"The code addresses many subjects, and both the right of conquest and the rules of succession are outlined within. I'm terribly sorry Your Majesty, but the code clearly states that when a king who is not of royal blood ascends to the throne through the right of conquest, the previous royal family loses any and all claim to the throne, alongside their lands and wealth, essentially leaving them with no titles or claim to nobility at all. This measure was originally put in place to ban the defeated family from endlessly challenging the victor of the conquest in a bid to regain their former throne and wasting the new ruler's precious time."

Merlin's heart dropped even more at Geoffrey's words. Great, he had not only stolen Arthur's kingdom, but he had also stolen everything Arthur owned! Gods, what did Arthur hate Merlin more for at the moment, being a secret powerful sorcerer ever since they met or inadvertently stripping him of his title, lands, and all his possessions?

"I still don't see why this would forbid me from freely giving Arthur the throne back."

"Your Majesty, the former king is no longer a noble, as the Pendragon line is no longer recognized as a noble house. As such, Arthur is now, by law, a peasant, and it is against Bruta's code for a ruler to cede their throne to anyone but a noble for any period of time."

Merlin bit back a frustrated scream. Why, why?! Why couldn't he just make Arthur a noble again and be done with this farce and-

Wait a minute.

There was a way to make Arthur a noble.

Oh no, Arthur was going to hate this. But, Merlin steeled himself, this was the only way to make things right.

And that's all for now! I had a lot of fun making Gwaine the ultimate "ride or die" bestie for Merlin in this situation lol! I'll definitely be doing a part three of this au soon to resolve this cliffhanger!

Please let me know what you all thought of this continuation!

A huge thank you to everyone who supported my last au post and asked for this continuation! I'll try to tag you all here, my apologies if I missed anyone!

@cookie-player , @miyriu , @nebulousconstellationwriter , @insane-multifandom-brainrot , @elementalpirate4 ,

@tidalwavesandthunderstorms , @gaiussleechtank , @arrowlovesdragons , @lordmushroomkat , @bucketheadpunk14 ,

@retro-wallflower , @ryeallytired , @verxen , @mind-of-a-crow , @aostrek-236 ,

@thedragonkinproject , @orliththedragon , @theroundbartable , @my-own-quiet-corner , @tireddruid ,

@coffee-shop-gay , @sable-nakahara , @deadhotpocket , @bennedict , @samwinjester ,

@linotheghost , @aerismoon , @merthurogies , @ahumoki0 , @chairwiththreelegs ,

@achillesuwu , @pancakesandpigs , @the-king-and-the-druidess , @sugar-coated-prat-dragon , @isaidno ,

@justaz , @auldsusie

And, as always, thank you for reading through my ramblings! :D

EDIT: A question for those of you I'm tagging, I'm not sure if this is a tumblr issue or if I'm screwing something up on my end, but after the first few tagged blogs, it shows up on my screen like the tags are just plain text and not linked to anything. So, for those of you that are tagged, can you confirm that you're getting a notification when I tag you? I want to make sure everyone who requested a continuation knows when it's posted!

2nd EDIT: I've tried to fix the tag problem, I'm very sorry if you already saw this post and then got a notification!

[kahran042]

"I have to say here that the salon lady looks eerily like Dr. Iris from the previous episode. Maybe they are sisters."

Not likely, seeing as Dr. Iris is a cat and the salon lady is a rabbit.

Arthur Recaps Season 1 Episode 1 Part 2 "Francine's Bad Hair Day"

Ugh, this is a Francine centric episode. I don’t know why but whenever there’s a Francine-centric episode, she somehow becomes less of a bitch and that’s supposed to make me sympathetic to her. Whatever, Francine. I just saw you called Arthur a “four eyes” less than ten minutes ago.

Anyway, the kids are now in their normal third grade classroom and Mr. Ratburn announces that school pictures have been scheduled. Muffy stands up and refuses to have her pictures taken “in these rags” but someone in the comments of the YouTube video pointed out that she was wearing the exact same dress for her picture.

Anyway, the continuity is still better than Glee’s and Degrassi’s combined.

Arthur breaks the fourth wall to talk about what not to do on picture day or else your picture will look like crap. This always bugs me in TV land–how picture day is SUCH a huge deal and you only get one shot of a good picture and you can do whatever you want in your picture.

That would never happen. Those people who take school photos take their job very seriously and at least try to make sure that you’re not blinking or sneezing in the pictures. Also, I remember this one time, my friend Nina wanted to wear a fedora in her picture but the lady made her take it off.

Fascist.

Keep reading

[topoet]

Recap June 2024

The WP map shows my hits have come from  16 countries around the world. Most popular posts was one of the photo blogs, with a music post almost at the top. Who knew Dan Hartman was still so popular. lol. June brought some wonderfully too hot days & days mixed with enough rain to get my garden off a good start. Plus we know our a/c is working lol. I also got my 2nd shingles shot – the only pain…

[happypeachsludgeflower]

Unrealistic that all these magic reveal merthur au’s out there have Merlin remembering enough of his life to be able to recap the entirety of the show to Arthur without leaving anything out all in one go.

magic reveal fanfic’s:

Merlin: my magic’s for you arthur. Its only for you. *proceeds to give chronological order of events starting at ep1 all the way up to the reveal*

10x funnier and more likely:

Merlin: *months or years after the reveal* so anyway, there I was, tied to a tree, and a serkhet stings me, right?

Arthur: *spluttering* I’m sorry what

[v5ttelfilms]

sweet dream was over ☽ mick schumacher

gossf1poutlet news of mick schumacher and y/n leclerc previously being in a relationship trends as the number one topic across social media, following an unfortunate leak from their private accounts. both the schumacher and leclerc's have expressed their opinion on this matter, via a strongly worded 'love letter' from legal counsels that represented their respective families. on a statement that was recently released, both parties have similarly urged everyone to refrain from making unnecessary assumptions and encouraged the public to rally against the spread of misinformation and baseless accounts of the pair's alleged relationship. their representatives also promises to pursue legal actions against the culprit.

username the whiplash i got from seeing this all over my tl still makes my muscles spasm😩

username extremely amazed at how they managed to keep it a secret for so long

username yes!!! no one expected little leclerc to REALLY pick one off of her dizzying number of suitors /gen

username thanks for adding the geniune tag op

username anytime🫡 we ride at dawn for little leclerc in this house

username please present your simp card at the checkout

username sure, do you accept the laminated one or does it have to be the government mandated one?

username so... timeline recaping anyone? 🤔

username they probably got together during 2019 or 2020

username seems that way, funny if you account the arthur and mick prema timeline aswell

username got together late 2019 or early 2020 and probably broke up late 2021 or early 2022, but that's only my intelligent guess 🤷‍♀️

username around the same time mick was having haas problems too? fcking brutal

username did the article say to not make unnecessary assumptions or did it not??!🙄

username this news has devastated me more than my own breakup... and that mothertrucker cheated on me with my bff. brb hurling and crying into the void.

username they were so perfect 🥺

username forever enchanted, my treasure. FOREVER enchanted MY treasure. FOREVER ENCHANTED MY TREASURE!!

username are u okay, do u need intervention?

username send all the help you could give my way tysm🥰

username rocking back and forth while hugging my knees to my chest type of thing

username pretending they never broke up for my sanity

username probably the reason she never had the guts to attend a grand prix

username she was getting educated and winning pageants, but yeah?

username these dts fans

username 💀💀

username tell me who was the champion year by year?

username where'd you get that from, netflix?

username so mick HAS game, but i never thought i'd learn it this way😞

username throwing up and shaking trembling and hurling and screaming crying

username love is NOT real

username it's literally the way mick coined the jewel/gem nickname for y/n before the rest of the world started calling her monégasque's pearl 🥺😭

username he has bragging rights forever

username he subconsciously knew it!!!

username never letting any man call me homie from now on

username girl—

2021, Switzerland

"y/n? what are you doing down here?" corinna asks you, mildly taken aback to see you down at the kitchen just around midnight.

you look up from blankly staring at the keys of your laptop, evidently surprised to see the older woman standing just a few steps away from you. you didn't hear her footsteps or anything.

"just..." you trail off, grappling for an appropriate response as to why you were sitting in the dark, barely awake, in the middle of the night. "files," you lie, unconvincingly.

corinna hums, and you knew she was barely convinced by your pathetic excuse, but she had too much tact to call you out on your lie. she wasn't blind, or oblivious as the kids these days would say; though she was considerably older, she still understood the worries and anxieties of the young heart.

"it's very late, schatz." she chides gently, touching your shoulder. "you shouldn't be working this late, it's bad for you." her tone was heavily laden with a motherly lilt.

"stunts my growth," you utter softly, smiling at her. corinna chuckles, pressing a chaste kiss to your cheeks. "and you can't be miss universe if you're short."

"you trust me too much." you remark teasingly.

"you ought to take over the world, darling." corinna laughs softly. "now, are you up for some warm milk and some- what do you children call it? tea sharing?"

"close, you're well versed with today's lingo. should i tell uncle michael that he should be worried?"

"he should always be worried." she says seriously, which made you tip your head back to laugh. she smiles at you, fondness clear as a day. "that's how you keep them on their toes. never make them feel comfortable."

spending the break with mick and his family in their summer home in switzerland has been a tradition of sorts. and alongside your fairy tale like romance with the youngest of the schumacher's, you had also become incredibly close with the rest of his family.

corinna grabs two glasses and neatly places them on the counter, she opens the fridge to get the carton of milk and pours a generous amount to each glass. she swiftly pops it in the microwave, before turning and giving her sole attention to you.

"i'm happy to see you laugh again, schatz. suits you better."

"that's very accusatory. i have been laughing, and smiling all week." you insist, light heartedly.

"maybe so, but not as pretty and geniune as now." she replies, "is there anything wrong? is it mick?" her tone was heavy with concern, looking both distressed and dreading your confirmation. it could have been her son that was the cause of the shift in your demeanor.

you look down at your lap, feeling the tears prick at your eyes upon her overwhelming bout of concern she plainly wears on her face. it reminds you so much of your own mother, and of which, corinna has easily become a substitute for when maman wasn't around.

"it's nothing." you clear your throat, "he's wonderful. he always is." you tried to smile in fake cheer.

"that's good." she smiles softly, "i was just about to say, that he loves you. he tells me everyday, he tells his father; he tells everyone willing to listen how much he could not fathom how you ever came to be in his life," she narrates earnestly, emotion heavy on her voice, "and he'll spend every waking moment of it to do right by you. to make you proud."

you closed your eyes, trying to will the tears at bay. "he tells me everyday too," your voice shook with emotion, throat welling up with tears. "and i know he means it. i do. but he— he never stops feeling like he constantly has to prove something, or be someone, or win everything." you weren't able to stop the tears, even as your eyes were closed. you finally open your eyes to see corinna's teary ones aswell, "and i— if i am the cause of it, i don't... i no longer feel worthy of his love."

you physically, felt all weight of pretense leave your body; finally being able to put to words the emotions, and complex thoughts you've bottled up, in fear of speaking it into existence. your shoulders sank, your defenses crumbling, as you broke down into inconsolable tears, weeping at your hands.

you felt arms wrap around you, weading through the shame and guilt you felt at your admission. you'd expected corinna's blame, but you never counted on her consolation. she held you. sympathetic and kind, and gracious; and understanding.

"it will be okay, schatzi." she says in the strands of your hair, "it will be. i promise you."

[aph-japan]

BONUS:

Hetalia Fox Tales can be watched in full here! (The RPG and fan translation is complete!)

(Note: This specific post is meant more as 'Friendship', so Friendship is OK to Tag here!!)

{H E T A L I A} F O X T a l e s {F a n m a d e} {H o r r o r R P G} + K I K U & G i l b e r t (F r i e n d s h i p) + G i l b e r t {c o n f r o n t s} K i k u inside {K i k u's [C h a i n e d-U p] H e a r t} ("We really ARE seen as {I m p o r t a n t} {to him}...")

("Therefore, There is only O N E T H I N G to DO {"That I can DO"}---") (I m p l i e d)

"Huh... I got it." - G i l "It IS 'All your {F A U L T}'!!!" - G i l, {T r i u m p h a n t} {S m i r k i n g}, to K i k u

"--{There is} H O N D A K I K U...." - K i k u

"...Don't come {back} to me if you {R E G R E T} This---"

Caps by aph-japan {DO NOT R e p o s t} {DO NOT C o p y} (P l e a s e A S K to U s e!!)

{D i s c l a i m e r: I do not own this f a n g a m e or H.W.S!!} (Check N o t e s for L i n k!)