#because i was married to The King. there was drama about there being rumors the king was sterile

[pumpkin-padparadscha]

had a dream last night about a sexy genderqueer jester in neon drag makeup who was soooo sensually attractive, he had his kind-of-goatee painted neon yellow. i want him so bad... he did acrobatics and his group went to gay rughts marches to perform...

[synchodai]

HotD Episode 7 Live Reaction

But if you close your eyes, does it always feel like nothing's changed at all. But at least there be dragons.

I stiil don't like that Seasmoke fell in Addam's lap. Addam should have been the one to actively claim Seasmoke. I just really don't like HBO's insistence on "power is better wielded by those who don't want it."

"I may appear lowborn but I know much and more of service." Those two statements shouldn't have a "but" between them.

Maester Orwyle continues to be the surprise MVP of the greens.

The Master of Laws Iron Rod getting dialogue? The rumor mill works fast in Westeros.

I like that the nobility are putting so much resistance to lowborn claiming dragons. If there's anything that threatens highborn, it's social mobility.

For "20 years the lords of this realm levied insults against my sons," Jace confirmed to be 20. So he's just one year younger than Aegon? Now that wouldn't make sense because Rhaenyra wasn't even married during Aegon's first nameday during that hunt episode. Good to know Jace has been aged up though. He, Aegon, and Cregan are probably all in the same ballpark age.

I love Addam's acting, he's almost as expressive as TGC. But why are the interaction scenes on this show so short? "The family doesn't know how to communicate their feelings" yeah, yeah, but at least write down for them to have SOMETHING to say. Corlys came to this room literally just to say 6 words.

They should have given Oscar Tully red hair to make him stand out from the Riverlords. The scales on his armor are cool, but there should be more to visually signal that this kid is basically a petty king.

The camera following it's actors from the back is kinda...not doing it for me. I don't wanna see their hunched backs, I want to look at the sets and their faces.

"We honor the old ways." Most of y'all don't, though? Only certain houses in the Riverlands worship the Old Gods, one of them being the Blackwoods who are being accused of going against the "old ways." What do the HBO writers think the "old ways" mean?

Out of all decapitations on this series, this one had the least punch. Music and sound design did all the heavy lifting.

STOP SHOWING THEIR BACKS I DON'T WANNA SEE THE ACTORS' BACKS ANYMORE

Also, I can't imagine how this war will end if the Blackwoods aren't black loyalists. With Daemon executing their House head, I don't see them being that enthusiastic about supporting Rhaenyra anymore. Are they just gonna replace Benjicot with Oscar? And Aly is just...gone now? Who's gonna stop Cregan Stark then?

Again, we're just letting whoever inside the king's room even when he says they can't come in? Guards really suck on this show.

Alyn's voice is like honey. I could listen to this man read audio books.

And they just let the Targaryen princess run off like that? The guards on this show really suuuuuuuuck.

Poor Rickard Thorne dragged into Alicent's impromptu camping trip.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEY JACE, LOVE CLASSIST JACE. LOVE AEGON'S DREAM CRITICAL JACE. EEEEEY JACE AWARE THAT WHEN RHAENYRA DIES PEOPLE WON'T ACCEPT HIM. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT. Finally some character drama and juicy interpersonal conflict that makes sense with characters clearly stating their stance through dialogue and we don't have to fill in the blanks as the audience. I was so starved. They actually made what was in the book better with this one.

I like Hugh the Hammer's new storyline, sue me. It's a cliche call-to-adventure fantasy peg, but I like it.

"I need more dragons to end bloodshed." Rhaenyra, what do you think dragons do? Rhaenyraaaaaaa

Beautiful Vermithor shot. And of course they leave all these innocent poor people to the mercy of a merciless behemoth. Ugh, beautiful, blood sacrifice, cruelty, impressive sfx, yessss.

CLAIM THAT DRAGON. CLAIM THAT DRAGON. DO IT NAMED CHARACTER, you have a name and backstory so you can do it!

"Come on!!!" Vermithor: Well...when you put it like that, I suppose.

Nana Silverwing! She looks gorgeous.

WAIT, WHY DID THEY TAKE HER TO KING'S LANDING??? WHY IS KL AND DRAGONSTONE LITERALLY 5 MINUTES AWAY

[thevindicativevordan]

Anything to say on Aquaman ? Especially nowadays after the clumsy Kaldh'ur push killed the franchise and left Arthur without a series ?

Highest grossing DC movie ever and DC managed to completely kill the franchise.

Hasn't had a book in years, and we don't know when if ever he'll get another one. No DCU Aquaman rumors, his animated miniseries got removed from MAX presumably for a tax write-off, and there's seemingly nothing in the works for him any time soon. Not since the GL movie bombed at the box office have I seen a franchise fall off as suddenly as Aquaman has. He should be an easy character to sell, a warrior-king married to a waterbending assassin-queen, with 71% of the Earth to cover all by himself. Arthur is an extremely flexible character who is suited to a wide range of stories. He can be a wild Conan esque hero, the barbarian hero imposing some measure of order on the seabed wilderness. He can be a regal figure, King Arthur ruling over underwater Camelot and protecting the realm from threats. He can be the star of murky Game of Thrones politicking regarding the throne of Atlantis. He can be about family drama, his mother ditching him, his dad frequently dead, his half-brother often serving as his enemy, his wife having tried to kill him and her side of the family continuing attempts to assassinate him.

Yet DC has seemingly given up on him for now. Not so Harley Quinn whose comic sales appear to be just as awful and whom starred in several high profile flops across multiple mediums recently. People bitch about the New 52 but that era was a Golden Age for Aquaman. For the record, every moron on social media who whines about Johns tackling all the stupid memes surrounding Aquaman head-first as being the wrong approach, only outs themselves as a midwit.

NOOOOOOOO YOU CAN'T DO THIS IT'S INSECURE!!! - Dorks on social media who have no clue how to make characters popular.

Sales proved Johns had the right approach. Aquaman became cool after the Johns run. Various other writers from Peter David to Kurt Busiek had attempted to rehabilitate Aquaman and their efforts failed for a variety of reasons, but my personal opinion is they failed because they tried to pretend Aquaman's bad reputation didn't exist. They weren't willing to address the criticisms head on, instead opting to bury their heads in the sand, or have Arthur beat up more popular characters to increase his own standing. Aquaman in the New 52 worked because Johns had Arthur all but look directly at the readers and say "shut the hell up, forget all the dumbass memes for a second, and watch this." Shockingly, it worked!

Chalk it up to prime Johns' ability to make any C-Lister appealing to readers, or that a bunch of new readers jumped on with the New 52, but Aquaman ran for 52 consecutive issues. Not feeling optimistic about any Aquaman book repeating that feat anytime soon. Feel free to rate Jeff Parker’s follow up run as superior in terms of storytelling, I think it’s fantastic myself, and it does make Atlanna an interesting character rather than the cliche dead parent, but we never would have gotten Parker’s run without Johns. He built the fanbase to support the book. Wan's first movie owes a great deal to Johns, the same spirit of swashbuckling fun that made the movie connect is present within his run, and anyone who attempts to claim he deserves no credit isn't worth listening to.

Like it or not, there was a misguided attempt to de-emphasize Arthur as the lead character as part of the disastrous push for legacies during Infinite Frontier. Young Justice Kaldur was my second favorite character after Superboy, yet I don't feel the same affection for Earth 0 Kaldur. He was barely Arthur's sidekick before they tried to make him Aquaman, and the attempt to reform Black Manta was a terrible creative direction. Tempting as it might be to lay all the blame on Kaldur, I don't think it's only his fault. We got a BL Aquaman book by Ram V where Arthur plays side protagonist to a bunch of OCs, with the expected result of said book flopping. Aquaman is not a franchise strong enough where you can sideline the titular character or use him to prop up other characters, a fact that the Black Panther franchise has also struggled to accept post Chadwick's death.

DC needs to get their collective head out of their ass and give Arthur another push. No sharing the mantle, no fighting over the Throne of Atlantis for the 50th time, let's try something else. If they don't have faith in a mainline Aquaman title, at least put out an Absolute Aquaman book. This is no way to treat the guy who gave you the highest-grossing DC film ever.

[princesssszzzz]

do you think daemon would actually sleep with Rhaena?

Ummm idk

I don’t actually know if that rumor of Nettles being replaced is legitimate or not so 🤷‍♀️ Show Daemon I guess idk if that’s how they choose to portray his character as different than other Targaryens. Parent/child incest is not one of the normal or common relationships with Targaryens, and it’s not political because he’s not marrying Rhaena for lands or titles or anything. They aren’t having kids so it can’t be a “keep the blood line pure” thing. If they choose to add that, obviously they would for the Rhaenyra drama and from the setup of Rhaena saying Daemon ignores her.

That would add so many other questions to the show though like why would he want this relationship with Rhaena and not his favored child Baela. Because he’s a control freak during the war and Baela wouldn’t allow it?? How Baela, older Aegon, and Viserys would react to that? Why he would be so interested suddenly in Rhaena when his wives had a much different personality than her. If they did add that it would definitely be for shock value. Then post dance like how would Rhaena explain to two husbands that she slept with her dad because they aren’t Targaryens and would actually be weirded out by that. Phoebe seems like an ignored cast member so I would actually be surprised if that happened. Maybe there’s an early set up with Garmund and Daemon wants to sully her or something. Either way if that actually happened in HOTD they would just have to give up on any redemption for Daemon

I could see it happening if they don’t want to redeem him and continue how they’ve portrayed him in the trailers and ep. 10. Like he can only really get away with that domineering behavior with someone who wouldn’t be likely to argue with him, so it could be a grooming situation where he wants to keep her close to make him feel better about himself and his lack of power bc he’s not the king or allowed to run things however he wants

[finitefall]

That fight between the children probably would have never ended in Aemond losing his eye had he not went on a spiel about bastards but guess who put those ideas in his head ? What normal 10 year old says shit like that “come at me again and I'll feed you to my dragon”/“you will die screaming in flames just as your father did bastards” ?? Even before that, Aemond was speaking about treason, he literally told Aegon that Helaena would be his QUEEN ??? Why was Alicent spreading rumors and causing unnecessary drama in the first place ? Nobody told her to do all of that and now she wants to act surprised because there's consequences to putting the life of the heir and her sons in jeopardy ???

I don’t think that people realise that Viserys sweeping the whole eye situation on the rug saves Alicent's children much more than Rhaenyra’s because no one realistically was going to take Luke’s eye but both of her sons committed treason that night.

And keep in mind that in the previous episode we literally had Alicent telling Viserys “she expects us to ignore her transgressions”, “I have raised this matter before and you forbade me to speak of it, so I held my tongue. To have one child like that is a mistake, to have three is an insult”. Viserys knew damned well it wasn’t Aegon that got that in Aemond’s head.

There are multiple factors to take into account that led to Aemond losing an eye, but Alicent is definitely one of them. Of course, it's easier for Greens stans to blame Jace and Luke because they once took part with Aegon in that cruel pig prank (for which there's no excuse, but they grew up unlike others) than acknowledge the fact Alicent had her part of responsability in what happened.

Alicent has been telling her sons that they're trueborn Targaryens and that Jace, Luke and Joff are bastards. Aemond, conceived between two married people, with a Targaryen father, one of the sons of the King and Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, doesn't have a dragon. Rhaenyra's sons, conceived out of wedlock, with only a Targaryen mother, all have a dragon. Alicent is surprised their dragons' eggs hatched, both because of her religious beliefs (they're the result of adultery) and because of misogyny (since Aegon, Aemond, Helaena, Jace, Luke and Joff both have only one parent with Valyrian blood, the only difference is that her children have a Targaryen father). But somehow, Rhaenyra's bastards as his mother call them are worthy of a dragon while he's not?

So when Aemond manages to claim Vhagar, this is literally the best moment of his life. He's not just worthy, he's better than them because not everyone could claim Vhagar, this legendary dragon. And those bastards had dared to mock him when he's clearly superior to them? Of course he welcomes the opportunity to confront them when he lands. The girls who just lost their mother aren't important either: he's become the bully here and can insult them too. It's his turn. Jace and Luke want to defend them? They're nothing. They're bastards, and he's just proven he is more worthy than them, he is a trueborn Targaryen unlike them. He enjoys the fight, especially since he's still feeling the adrenaline rush after riding Vhagar.

Viserys protected his daughter and her sons when he threatened everyone who would question their legitimacy. Their lives would have been in danger, the four of them, if Viserys had listened to Alicent about Rhaenyra’s children. But when he decides not to punish Luke for the accident and tells Alicent to let it go, he does indeed protect Aemond. As the legitimacy of Rhaenyra’s children isn’t questioned by the King (whose word is law), Aemond attacked Jacaerys Velaryon, next in line after Rhaenyra in the succession for the Iron Throne, and Lucerys Velaryon, Heir to Driftmark. Even being the son of the King and Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, this isn’t something he can do.

And yes, when Aemond talks with Aegon earlier in the same episode, he's already saying Helaena would be Queen:

Aegon: We have nothing in common. Aemond: She’s our sister. Aegon: You marry her, then. Aemond: I would perform my duty, if mother had only betrothed us. Aegon: If only. Aemond: It would strengthen the family. Keep our Valyrian blood pure. Aegon: She’s an idiot. Aemond: She’s your future queen.

If Helaena is Aegon's future queen, it means Aegon is the future King. Which also means that Alicent didn't only tell Aegon he should be the one on the throne after Viserys instead of Rhaenyra, she also told Aemond the same thing. They were indeed already speaking treason.

[spvilers]

LAVENDER HAZE — S. BROWN

ღ summary; i just wanna stay/i just wanna stay in that lavender haze

ღ paring; stephanie brown x fem!queen!reader

ღ warnings; social media (yes it deserves a warning)

ღ song; lavender haze by taylor swift

FOR AS LONG as you could remember, Stephanie had always been there. Right by your side, in every single situation you could think of, the good ones and the bad ones.

You met her in elementary school, back when you still lived in Gotham, before Oliver Queen had decided to adopt you and you moved to Star City.

You knew about her father and you know how hard it was for Stephanie to see her father in jail, if she even saw him at all because he was absent most of the time. She knew about your parents car crash and about how you lived in an orphanage before the millionaire decided to adopted you

Stephanie was there for you when you first stepped foot into the world in which famous people lived, since being the adopted child of a millionaire made you also famous.

She was there when the media's attention on you started being uncomfortable, when they started criticizing and scrutinizing every single little thing that you did, and later, when it all died down again and they found someone else to give all of their attention to.

Stephanie was also by your side right now, literally. She was lying right next to you in your king-sized bed. The movie you two had been previously watching had ended, you turned off the television in front of you and got comfortable next to her. Her head was still on your chest and her arm was thrown over your stomach, clinging to you tightly.

The longer you stared at her, the more you started asking yourself what in the world you had done to deserve her and you tried to recall the exact moment when the lines between friendship and relationship had crossed but you couldn’t. It just had always been like this. You and Stephanie against the rest.

You lay there for a while, with your eyes staring up at the ceiling and a million and one thoughts flying through your head until you started feeling melancholic.

In an attempt to distract yourself, you looked at your phone for a little while but that had only worsened the situation. Every single website was filled up with things about you, but not really about you.

They were rumoring about you having flings with men, you had no interest in, seeing as you were only just friends with them.

Because, yes, you and Stephanie were out to everyone you know but you never officially stated it in the media that you were dating.

The websites were also wondering about when you’ll be finally marrying a man and who it would be because the only kind of girl they see is either one that has numerous ‘flings’ with different men or a wife.

Tears were welling up in your eyes and your nose started to clog up until you sniffled. Everything was just starting to feel like a little too much.

Apparently you haven't sniffled quiet enough because the arm around you tightened and Stephanie pressed a kiss against your temple. “Shhh,” She whispered. “It’s okay, it’s okay. Just let it all out.”

And that had only made you cry even harder, but not because you were sad, but because you appreciated her so much for putting up with you and all the drama that seemed to follow our every step and slowly, you could feel the lavender haze creeping up on you.

You and Stephanie had recently discovered the term ‘lavender haze’ when you were watching Mad Men and you have been obsessed with it ever since. Ironic, because purple is Stephanie’s favorite color.

You turned your head and buried it into the crook of her neck until you calmed down. “I’m sorry,” You sniffled finally. “I didn’t mean to wake you up. I’m sorry.”

Stephanie pulled your head away to look you directly in the eyes. “Never apologize for crying, okay?” She wiped the tears away from your cheeks. “If you’re not feeling alright you can always come to me. As long as I’m here you never have to do anything alone.”

The frown on your face turned into a sincere smile as you whispered, “God, I love you so much.”

Your girlfriend gave you her best smile, the one that has made you fall in love with her in the first place and she wiggles her eyebrows as she asks, “So what you’re saying is, you’re in a lavender haze?”

[jaijaitbinks]

This AU but reversed. Genos is the prince and Saitama is his personal guard because he's the strongest knight of the whole kingdom. That allows them to spend a lot of time together and get to know each other more. They eventually fall in love but they gotta keep it secret and act all serious and formal when they're in public (though they make up for it when Saitama visits Genos' chamber every once in a while). One good day Genos is suddenly engaged to the princess Fubuki. The best solution? Run away together.

While they're on the run Saitama trains Genos and they wander around fighting bad guys and saving people. Genos is living the time of his life because he's finally free to do as he pleases, and with the love of his life too.

As for the conflict, there are lots of possibilities. Maybe Saitama is accused of taking Genos away and becomes a wanted man. Or Fubuki feels insulted and is pissed the hell off so she allies with powerful enemies to take over Genos' kingdom.

(Or monsters start pooping out of nowhere and becomes Medieval One Punch Man XD)

That's a whole new au, my guy. I like it.

However, may I propose: Fubuki helps them run away cuz she has her own girlfriend to be with, and Kuseno (I assume he's the king and Genos' biological parents are dead) is aware of why they ran off.

Because Kuseno (again, assuming he was king) would never just. Arrange a marriage for Genos unless he had to. Which leaves me to think about Fubuki's kingdom being the one to pressure him to agreeing. Essentially: "you marry our daughter to your son, there won't be any problems between us". Of course, Genos protests when Kuseno tells him the situation. He let's his relationship with Saitama slip, but of course, Kuseno doesn't mind it. But that doesn't change the risks of denying the arranged marriage.

Saitama, when he's told about the situation, comes up with a plan.

They agree to the marriage, let the days tick by until the wedding comes, then he steals Genos away and they run. It gives Fubuki's kingdom the impression that Kuseno fully agreed to the marriage and some scoundrel decided to fuck both kingdoms over.

Of course, Kuseno worries that they'll be hunted for the rest of their lives, but Saitama doesn't give a fuck and Genos would follow Saitama to the ends of the universe. So he reluctantly agrees with their plan.

The execution goes off smoothly. The wedding day comes after weeks of meticulous planning, discussing, and packing. Saitama comes in and grabs Genos (literally. Picks him up and slings him over his shoulder), and flees before anyone has the chance to attack him or stop him. Fubuki's father and mother immediately call for a hunt on Saitama, the kingdoms errupt into chaos and a flurry of rumors and drama in the following weeks—months even. On their wedding day, Kuseno even pulls Fubuki aside to explain to her what happened, and Fubuki is, to his surpise, unbearably relieved, and tells him she had her own woman.

So. All went pretty well.

Following their escape, there's a wholeass conspiracy about what Saitama had done to Genos. Some think he killed the prince, some think he kidnapped him. There's even rumors that he got a wizard/witch to brainwash him into fleeing the kingdom with him. But, of course, that's not true, and Saitama and Genos are, in actuality, exploring the world—something Saitama has always wanted to do and Genos has always wanted to do with Saitama. They battle monsters along their journeys, sometimes people seeking a reward for taking Saitama in and returning the prince home. All the while, they bask in their free relationship—holding hands, kissing, making love and sleeping side-by-side between the training and running and fighting. They even spare some time to send letters back to Kuseno now and then.

Hell, maybe overtime, the story of the runaway prince and his knight become more of a legend or myth than an actual story. Like tales about midnight phantoms and such. No one seeing them ever again, or something along those lines.

And Saitama and Genos are happy.

[danwhobrowses]

House of the Dragon - Eps 7 & 8 Review

And there it is

The ever-thickening plot has begun its churn as the finale is in sight, all our backstory has built to this

The Tipping Point

Spoilers for the Episodes

Okay so, I loved episode 8, not so much episode 7. I think the reason is because of the character frustrations and drama, both have their flaws but 7 was a lot more glaring.

I think I've waited long enough to stop dancing around it all but: I am not on Rhaenyra's side. It's not to say I'm on Alicent's side either, but I think many understate or turn a blind eye to her manipulative and playing victim all the time. I'm sorry but this is the woman who on her uncle's wife's funeral went up to him and essentially pointed out that she's D2F, and then Fucked him, then planned the fake murder of her husband - whose whole speech about wanting to be a father falls flat given that he took the immediate out - and then married said uncle all in one episode, not to mention the several times she acts like her sons are no bastards calling it 'vile accusations' as she hides behind the authority of her father, even when he's on his deathbed she begs him to take her side as if that's not what he's always done. Also the 'we tried' thing is laughable, compared to Alicent who had to squeeze out kids from age 15/16 onwards as Vicerys' infection grew more pus-filled and septic, I doubt there was any 'joy' in her bedding either and yet she still managed 3 children. It's scummy of her to try and manipulate her father too, naming her incest babies after him and his son for flattery then bargaining with Rhaenys, all while calling the Hightowers 'vipers' when they were the ones who ran away from King's Landing because of the very true rumors about them. And overall they get away with it again, because Luke does become Lord of Driftmark, because Rhaenys decides to take Rhaenyra's deal for some reason even though she had the floor to do her planned action of having Driftmark go through Laena's children. It just annoys me that people cheer in support of Rhaenyra's lies and not Alicent's truth.

Daemon meanwhile still is a villain to me, he softened a bit in episode 8 but frankly I never buy Daemon's performances (Daemon being optimal, Matt Smith is acting great). I see through the deceit and his incessant desire to create or be the center of drama, and I don't give it a pass because I don't lust after him. Throwing away his brother's latest olive branch just so he could dramatically storm off for Rhaenyra to follow him, killing an innocent guard to fake Laenor's death, accusing Alicent of foul play with the Milk of the Poppy (which had been used on Ned to relieve pain in GOT so it isn't foul play, just that medicine is still Medieval and the Maesters - despite being the top physicians of Westeros - are set in their methods), it's all just plays, and he's only really content when he gets everything he wants: such as egging Vaemond to give him a reason to kill him - again with true accusations.

I am slightly annoyed by the timeskipping again, it feels like we glance over a lot of stuff which would've aided in developing the characters, specifically the children. Aemond's dragon flight was a good scene, which made it sucky that he immediately turns asshole. I can get Baela's reaction but for one, even though Vhagar chose Aemond just as much, but it seems out of character for Aemond to now act like this, he acted with a lot more compassion and restraint last time and he should be able to empathize with her, it kinda feels forced to make him seem as bad as Aegon just so we side with Jace and Luke - of whom brought a knife to a 4v1 fight when they are of the 4, tad excessive really, it's not like Aemond threw the first punch either.

And of course, the Bastard stuff. It annoys me mainly because people act like it doesn't matter; the room doesn't go silent for it not to matter, you don't draw knives for something that doesn't matter, you don't pretend to kill your husband and marry your uncle for something that doesn't matter, you don't cut your uncle-in-law's head for something that doesn't matter. I can't say I'm against Alicent when I share her frustration of Rhaenyra getting away with shunning her duty while everyone turns a blind eye to it. People treat Alicent like 'worse than Cersei', either by bookreading, wiki digging or blind and abashed bias towards Rhaenyra and Daemon, but right now she's just Frank Grimes from the Simpsons - driven mad by Homer's incompetence getting a free pass in such a highly sensitive position. It's not that I'm fully on her side, but I understand her distraught; ask any mother to see if they would accept the person who cut out their son's eye getting away with just an apology? No loving mother would, especially not a mother who consistently got told that her children would become targets for assassination by the family of the same culprit. Then by episode 8 she's driven again maddened by duty to protect her arsewipe of a son Aegon. Speaking of sons, I don't find it as believable that all of Rhaenyra's sons turned into humble boys while all of Alicent's boys turned into assholes and maniacs. Rhaenyra's sons are trained to succeed her on the throne while Alicent's children are not, and Aegon - the only one told he will take the throne of Alicent's children - has no interest in anything. I'm just saying there would be cockiness in the 'Velaryon' boys, they after all participated in bullying Aemond with the Pig.

Outside of Targaryen family drama I have to say Corlys lost me on episode 7, Baela as heir to Driftmark would've made history, but it's not the history that mattered to him, which is why it was confusing that Rhaenys ignored this agenda when Corlys was off-screen injured. Plus the 'night' scenes of episode 7 was done poorly, the blue hue made it hard to see anything. I will have to say finally that I did not like the way misunderstanding was played at the end: yes this puts Alicent's motivations to be more pure given that Alicent knew about Viserys' own prior vision of putting his son on the throne, but miscommunication is always a weak angle.

On positive notes, Episode 7's funeral setting was at least a clever one to put tensions to a head, since it also necessitated all the characters to be there. Episode 8's setting also foreshadowed the true calm before the storm, but also two sides of the fallout to come, because after the whole Driftmark debacle ended with the wife speaking for the will of the dying husband, it strengthens Alicent's position to do the same.

We spotlighted the children a lot more too, since they would become active in the wars more physically, including the conflict that costs Aemond his eye (even though Aemond did act out of character). Jace and Luke are meant to be the guys you side but they aren't really characters to me sadly, but Helaena's prophecies are adding intrigue without being turned into an asshole, although she is mostly absent in episode 8 save for the feast. Come the timeskip as well Aemond's actor is magnificently disconcerting, focused and dangerous-looking, as much a young reincarnation of Daemon who is both fascinated and bloodthirsty towards his targets (and Daemon even seems to respect that). One must admit that the roasting of Aegon does lighten the mood in one common goal, even if the kids are not mature enough to fully bury the hatchet, Aemond perhaps more reason to carry a grudge given the lost eye.

Also a shout out to that one extra mean mugging Alicent with the Blacks in ep 7, he knew his role o nameless one.

Alicent in episode 8 was great too, anti-Alicents kept waiting for a reason to jump on her; 'it's poison', 'it's a trap', 'they're keeping him sick', 'she's defending him', 'she's shutting Rhaenyra down', 'she's being unfair', 'she's gonna kill him in his sleep' all to be wrong. All in all she was very fair towards her people and has to answer to logic, let's be honest Luke shouldn't be Lord of Driftmark as both a child and bastard and she made sure Vaemond got to say his piece and gave Rhaenyra the platform to speak her own claim (which she then sulked about acting like it's a conspiracy), she even is willing to support Rhaenyra's claim and bury the hatchet and continually reprimands her sons for their shithousery. All falling towards tragic misunderstanding as she tries to carry out what she believes to be her husband's will.

I continue to say Fuck Otto, manipulator extraordinaire, he is Alicent's Daemon equivalent, of course a different dynamic at play but they are both poisonous influences on the main women working their own agenda. But at this stage it works to further the plot, including acting in ways Alicent doesn't intend which furthers disconnect.

Viserys, for all his now admirable ability to stay on the verge of living these past few episodes, remains the underrated gem of the show too. More Paddy is not something to be upset about, he deserves an award for his role, and considerable praise has to go to the makeup as well, they've aged him excellently to the point that in episode 8 I literally said 'good god' several times upon seeing him - it's as if Ser Criston is sucking out his lifespan because that boy does not fucking age. Paddy again puts on another terrific performance as the man reluctant to die as he valiantly - albeit in vein - tries to keep his family united. Alicent and Rhanyra's visible anguish upon seeing him is well-acted, but the top scene has to be Daemon helping his brother up the stairs, equal parts tragic but emotive as it showed a rare moment of Daemon being fully compassionate towards his brother without an ulterior motive.

It'll all go to shit, but at the very least one man got to die with a happy memory. And he will not live to see the bloodshed begin at full force.

[kewkyc]

Just finished with the episode and I have some thoughts on Daemon so I'm dumping them here.

His actions this episode were so interesting and so in character to me but I'm seeing a lot of different takes on his motivations so I'm adding mine to the mix. From the episodes before this, we've learned a couple of things about him a couple of which are especially relevant this episode: 1. He is largely driven by his own desires with little thought to things like honor or morals but 2. That doesn't mean those desires are necessarily selfish, especially where Raenyra is concerned. With Nyra being named heir, his desires are conflicted now and he still hasn't figured out how to handle that

In episode 2, we see him take an egg and trump up some drama because he wants attention from his family and to spark some change in his circumstances but when Nyra flies in and calls his bluff, he backs down because he doesn't want to hurt her.

He wants to prove himself to his brother, so he goes to war but he's also always wanted to be accepted in his family so when he gets back, he lays the spoils at his brother's feet.

When it comes to him taking Nyra out into the city and to the brothel, I think we see a lot of these tendencies show up in his motivations and a lot of things are true at the same time: he sees how alone she is and hears her talk about the pain of her mother's struggles so he wants to give her some freedom and show her the good side of baby making. However, he also wants her for himself so he's going to show her off at the brothel, leading her around with hair showing so lots of people see them and increasing the chance that rumors will start and weaken her reputation enough to make her a bad option for political marriage. He cares about her though, so he doesn't force her to actually do anything with him (but he doesn't care about playing fair so he takes her somewhere likely to get her in the mood and is right there for her as an outlet when she's worked up). Again, he cares about her so he can't bring himself to actually fuck her in such a public way but he wants her so he doesn't deny it when accused by his brother (he doesn't actually confess either, just talks around it because he doesn't want to lie to his brother).

Nowhere does the throne come into play in this because to me it seems a bit of an abstract goal - none of these actions directly get him closer to the throne and if he was trying to only marry Nyra for the throne then it's very risky to tarnish her when the king has a son readily available to become heir. Idk it just doesn't make sense to me as a main motivation though I can see Daemon using it to convince himself to enact the plan to distract himself from his feelings for Nyra beyond fucking her.

Basically, my point is I'm seeing a lot of people try to assign just 1 or 2 motivations to him this ep and I think it's more complicated than that. Was he trying to seduce her? Was he making a play for the throne? Did he genuinely care for her, want to give her a taste of freedom, and get carried away/freaked out? I think all of these can be true at the same time

[kiribaku-queen]

The Blood King and his Queen [1]

Pairing: Bakugou x reader

Romance, Angst, Drama

Word count: 2.4K

Summary:  From being a mere servant girl to marrying the scariest prince in existence, your world changed right before your eyes. Exchanging places with the princess, you knew, wasn’t going to be easy. But could you have found love on the way? Or was it never meant to be?

A/N: Hello my loves! And welcome back to another, rather long, series! I had so many inspirations for this piece that I couldn’t wait to share with you all! Be warned, this might be a 20 part series, maybe more maybe less but we’ll see what happens! I hope you fall in love with this story as much as I do!

And shout out to this amazing artist for the art! I am literally BLOWN AWAY by this art! I can’t stop looking at it! It’s so amazingly well drawn. Just... yes, yes, yes! Please support this artist if you ever want art done! Pricey but just look at this art. So worth it! Check out the end of the chapter for the full image without text!

Also!!!! Check out my side blog if you’re curious about what fics I’m reading! You’ll find alot of j u i c y stuff and please support my friends by reading and commenting on their stories as well! Love <3

                                                                                                         [next]

Nothing started your morning off better than the princess screaming her head off first thing in the morning. You, along with other servants, rushed to aid the princess in her time of distress. Although, it was never something to worry about with her. It was always something minor, like her hair was styled incorrectly or she didn’t like the color of clothes her servant picked out. Of course, this time, she was making a fuss that her perfume didn’t smell right.

“Your highness, I promise you, it’s the same one,” one of the servants who aided her in the morning pleaded for her life.

“No! You must have switched it out because it smells nothing like mine!” the princess screeched. The princess was so outraged that she started throwing everything and anything that was around her. Clothes, jewelry, candles, mirrors, anything she could get her hands on, she threw it. You and the other girls that just arrived could only watch in horror as her whole room becomes a mess with her belongings, some broken some completely shattered.

You wanted to say something. But you knew you couldn’t. If you stepped out of line or even talked back to any of the royals, you were surely to be punished severely later. Yet, you wanted to say something so bad. It was on the tip of your tongue. Because you knew the reason why it may smell different to the princess. To help your fellow friend in desperate need, you were going to say it. You pray to the gods that what you were about to say was right.

“Princess, if I may,” you started. The princess stopped what she was doing, midair, to give you the coldest stare you have ever received from her. You gulped. Well, too late to back out now. You bowed down your head respectfully while extending your hand to take the perfume. You don’t know why the princess decided to trust you at that moment, but she did. She nodded her head, allowing one of the servants to retrieve the bottle and place it in the palm of your hands.

“I believe it’s because your clothes already have a different perfume on it.” you explain. You pick up a different piece of clothing, one you knew was clean and free from previous scents, and spritzed the perfume onto it. “Here, does this smell like normal?” you offer the piece of clothing to the princess. For a moment, she stares at it, not believing your words. But she forcibly takes it anyway and smells it. The look of realization hit her harder than when she smashed her mirror against the floor. She spares you a second glance before handing off her perfume to someone and faces away.

“I would like to be left alone,” the princess states. After a synchronized bow from all her servants, you left the princess’s quarters and back to your own. When you were far enough, you let out a big sigh of relief. Man, that was scary. You probably shouldn’t be doing that again any time soon. Your friend hooked arms with you, the unexpected force made you loose your balance.

“Your intuition was spot on, once again,” she stated. You could only roll your eyes.

“I was just trying to help the situation,” you explained.

“Yeah, well if only the princess could use her brain once in a while, then she would have figured it out herself,” your friend puffed out her cheeks in annoyance.

“Well maybe her highness wasn’t feeling herself this morning,” you tried to defend her. But really, there was only so much you could defend her on.

“Oh, please, (y/n). You know that’s how she acts all the time. You act more like a princess than the princess herself,” your friend finally let the cat out of the bag. You quickly slapped her hand and checked your surroundings. Phew, no one of importance was in sight.

“Oh hush now. Don’t say things like that,” you scold her, giving her a stern look.

“What? You know all us girls think that. It doesn’t help that you look almost exactly like her. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought you were the princess instead.”

“Good gracious! Really? How could you say that so loud? What if someone overhears you? Then both you and me could get in trouble,” you warned. You knew your friend couldn’t care less. It was always gossip coming out of these girl’s mouths. That’s how news spreads fast around here. And you didn’t mind the gossip. Actually, you participated in the gossip too. There was a lot of downtime when you weren’t attending to the princess. So what do you do instead? Gossip. But you couldn’t have this type of gossip going around. This was dangerous.

The main girl who caused the princess to get upset, finally left the room. She was visibly traumatized by the whole event. Who wouldn’t be? Dealing with the princess is something else.

You noticed that the girl was bleeding from her finger. She must have gotten it when the princess was throwing glass around the room and it some pieces cut her.

“Come with me,” you gently grabbed her by the arm and led her to a room that was filled with different plants and bottles. The aroma immediately felt welcoming to anyone who stepped in. You went to a part of the room that you knew well and pulled out a bandage.

“This should do the trick,” you say as you finish wrapping her finger up.

“Thank you. How did you…”

“Oh, I learned a few things from the royal doctor. Sort of like an apprentice?” you explained. Being a servant isn’t the only task you knew how to do. On your spare time, you would come to the royal doctor and assist him whenever needed. In return for your volunteer, he taught you everything he knew about medicine. It was still a lot to process, but at least you knew how to do basic first aid.

“Are you even allowed to do that?” the girl asked. You thought for a minute. Was it? It wasn’t stopping you now.

“Well I guess it’s our little secret,” you put your finger to your mouth and gave a small wink.

After properly getting ready, you and the girls rushed to the princess’s side for it was your job to get her ready to be sent of and wedded. And she was not getting wedded off to just any prince. It was the rumored Blood Prince. Ah, yes. You heard much about this Blood Prince. He was the most vicious out of all the princes in the kingdom. Even more so than his eldest brothers. He was rumored to have sharp teeth and eyes that could kill with a single look. He was told to have scars marked all over his body from the battlefield. An ugly being, you imagined. Big, scary, intimidating, ruthless. God, you felt sorry for the princess for marrying such a man. You couldn’t imagine yourself marrying that type of person. Hearing stories about him made your blood run cold and chills down your spine.

You entered the princess’s room where a beautiful, white wedding dress, flowy, magnificent and perfect in all the right ways, was being fitted on the princess. You watched in awe because she looked absolutely fantastical in the dress. What a dream it would to be wear that dress only once in your life. At the same time her dress was being fitted, some servants were doing her hair and putting decorative pins and head pieces on. It was very chaotic in the room, with servants running everywhere, but it was all worth it for the princess to look this way.

You were preparing water for her hands and feet to soak while some of the girls that came with you were deciding which robe that best fits with her wardrobe.

“Your highness looks so lovely,” you commented, gently soaking her hands into warm bowls of water.

“Of course! I have to look my best for a special guest this afternoon,” the princess said in a cheery voice. You tilted your head slightly in confusion. You weren’t aware that the Blood Prince was coming to the palace. You thought the princess was being sent to him instead. You looked up and came into contact with a friend and she was speaking with her eyes.

She doesn’t know. She signaled to you. You frowned.

She doesn’t know?

She does not know.

Your mouth was left slightly ajar. The princess does not know that she is off to be engaged any moment now? This was a dilemma. She thinks a guest is coming. That’s why she’s dressed so much fancier than usual. But when she finds out that she is to be engaged, she’s going to wreck havoc in the palace. Now you really didn’t dare say anything now.

After finding out that very important piece of information, you could see that all the girls in the room knew, besides the princess. The tension in the room was growing increasingly more uncomfortable as time went on. But the princess was so air headed that she couldn’t read the room.

The princess was over the moon with happiness. And it was only because she could wear her fancy and expensive gowns that she can’t wear on the daily. She was skipping down the long corridors, humming a tune to only she knows as you and other servants follow behind her.

“Isn’t this dress beautiful? I feel like I’m in a wedding dress!” the princess exclaimed. You couldn’t help but raise a brow. Well, it’s because the princess is really in a wedding dress. But the princess did look beautiful beyond compare. She almost looked ethereal dancing in front of you like that. As the princess was dancing down the corridor, she passed by one of many large windows that gave a view of the front of the palace. A carriage was waiting to take her away to her fiancé, but she didn’t know that. Or did she?

She stopped in her tracks to take a better look at the carriage outside. A frown laid upon her lips and her eyebrows rightfully furrowed.

“Is that my carriage down there?” she questions. The ladies around you looked at each other, not knowing what to say. But even if they did know what to say, who was going to say it? One of your friends cleared their throat and bowed down to respond to the princess.

“It is, your highness,” she said.

“Whatever for?” a round of gulps could be heard from everyone there.

“For…your trip to your betrothed,” the girl’s voice shook from fear that the princess was going to blow up.

“My betrothed?” the princess repeated.

“Yes, your highness.”

“As in, to marry?”

“Yes, your highness.”

It was quiet. Nothing more came out of the princess’s mouth. And that scared all of you. This was not the normal reaction you were expecting. You expected her highness to rage, cry, scream, yell, destroy everything around her. But no. She was silent, like her tongue was ripped out of her throat.

In one quick movement, the princess turns around and dashes back to her bedroom. And who does she bring along? You! Before you could comprehend anything, the princess had taken you by the hand and now you were running down the corridor with the princess. The other ladies were running after you. When you turned back to look, you even saw a couple of guards running as well. But it was too late for them. The princess got to her room first, slammed the door closed, and barricaded the door with chairs to prevent anyone from coming inside.

“Your highness,” you call, out of breath from the sudden running. The princess didn’t answer you. She started taking off her dress, sending you into complete shock.

“Your highness! What are you doing?” you panicked. She only glared at you while not stopping what she was doing.

“Enough talking. Just take off your clothes,” she ordered you. You bit your lip. You had no idea what was going on but if she demanded it, then you had no choice but to obey. So, you stripped yourself of your filthy clothes and laid them on the floor. While you stood in front of the princess naked, she was getting the remaining of her clothes off. Then, she passed you her dress.

“Quick, put it on,” she said. You hesitated at first. You? Wear something only a princess could wear? But you couldn’t stall any longer. As quickly as you could, you put on the flowy wedding dress while the princess put on your peasant clothes. Banging was coming from the other side of the door, which only made both of you panic even more. If they came in while all this was happening, you would get into so much trouble. As soon as you both got situated in your new outfits, the princess gripped your shoulders so that you were looking her right in the eyes.

“Listen to me closely. You are going to take my place. I’ll be you and you’ll be me until you come back,” she shouted at you in a whisper.

“Your highness?” you began but she shut you up because she wasn’t finished.

“Your mission is to make this prince hate you so much that he calls off this marriage. Then you’ll return and everything will go back to normal,” she continued. It looked like she wanted to say more, but your time together was cut short. The guards had already pushed their way through the door and charging their way towards you. The princess, who was now dressed as you, quickly covered your face with the veil. The veil was thick enough that no one could see your eyes or face.

“Take the princess,” one of the guards ordered. The real princess bowed her head down, faking it until the end. The guards went straight up to you, grabbing you by both of your arms and forcibly escorted you out to the carriage.

And so there you were, on your way to some unknown kingdom, about to marry some man you didn’t even know. All because the princess ordered you to. No matter how much you hated the idea, you couldn’t even voice your opinions to her. You were in no position to do so. Before you left the palace grounds, you looked back, hoping that this was all some sort of sick joke. But the princess was looking down at you from the window, giving you a nod of trust. She trusted you. You had to fulfil her request.

This is how you found yourself in the presence of the most vicious Blood Prince, Bakugou Katsuki.

A/N: Let me know if you want to be put on a tag list! And leave your thoughts below about the first chapter! What did you think so far? How do you think the story is going to go? What did you think about the art? Speaking of art, here is the full image unedited! Are you in love with it just as much as I am?

[askandsmile]

i got all y'all's messages and i do think i have more to say, but at the same time i'm just like 🥴️🥴️🥴️

this season isn't great, but this episode was terrible. evan is a terrible writer. he's also a fucked up troll. he likes that he's the b*rchie king, he likes b*rchie, he projects onto them. and truly, the less we try to explain anything about this, the better.

i think i need to wait and watch what comes next (from better writer's hands tbh) until i say anything else regarding canon.

but long post ahead, cause i've been wanting to address something that it's not even coherent, but it's just making me insane lol.

we have 6 episodes ahead of us. 6 weeks. if you guys freak out with every single thing that happens, no one is going to enjoy anything anymore.

i don't have spoilers. all the spoilers i had, from when i was in the clubhouse with evan, i gave to you. the way i read the interviews, i told you. i don't have anything else to add. i never had inside info or anything like that, all my speculations were based on rumors going around *and* the bts we got.

all that i could speculate i already did.

"oh, but what if--"

well. when s4 ended, i said, "if they're gonna make veronica look like archie's second choice, i'm not going to watch s5 live". i carried on watching because they didn't, they made it quite clear that veronica is archie's first choice seven years later.

i'm saying it again, "if they're gonna make varchie go through some b*rchie drama/bullshit again, i'm not going to watch s6 live."

if i do watch it, it'll be the same by the end of it if they get a s7. you have to go episode by episode with this show until the entire journey makes sense.

that's all i can do! that's all i can control. that's all you guys can control: the time and dedication you're willing to give to this show.

(i write a fic that's never-ending and even with roughly 4 readers left, i am pushing through because i want to finish it. this is the time and dedication i'm willing to give to this show, writing this fic to those who still enjoy it and to myself, and to varchie.)

so my suggestion now is, let's watch the episodes. it's 6 weeks. are you going to be anxious for 4-5 out of 6 weeks because of something that maybe, possibly, perhaps will happen? are you going to try to make me and other people anxious because you are? i'm choosing, at this point, to trust my ship and the story they've been telling about them.

i know it's harder for bugheads at the moment (reminder that i, myself, am not one although i did love them back in s1 and do support their relationship in the core four context) because they've been dealing with another love interest, on top of cole and lili's breakup, on top of not getting a lot of content, or bts, etc, etc.

but as a varchie shipper...guys, i've been there!

i have seen reggie tell veronica they could be endgame. i have seen archie dance a duet with josie saying he'd fight for her. i have seen archie writing a song to someone else. i have seen veronica getting married to another guy, and then possibly sleep with him after sort of maybe getting back together with archie. trust me, no one in this fandom knows better what you guys are going through right now.

so yes, maybe jabitha will date, or maybe they won't. maybe bh will get back together this season, maybe they won't. it doesn't mean the end of bughead, not at all. look at all the shit other ships have been through (even b*rchies, really). you guys are fine.

is the show good right now? no, it's not. i thought it wasn't so bad until 5x08 (even with the b*rchie thing) but then it just went downhill, and 5x13 was the worst episode ever. no wonder it had 0.7 ratings. but like, does that mean it will stay so bad? i don't know. i haven't watched 5x14, 5x15, 5x16, etc. i don't know what's coming. it might be great! it might suck.

and you guys don't get it, half the varchie fandom left in s3 because there was no sight of varchie anywhere, and then we were pleasantly surprised with the best build up ever in s3C. but you know what? sometimes i wish varchie hadn't gotten back together then! so we would see more of that buildup, some actual reaction from archie seeing veronica choose reggie instead of him, etc. it would've opened a sea of possibilities for a good story.

and whether you like it or not, this is giving more space for other characters to be around. they're not developing them. they're not writing them well. but you can't deny that we have seen more of toni, reggie, fangs, even kevin and cheryl, than ever since...ever.

and it's okay if you just watch for your ship. but the show, and the writers, are not worried about you shdhshd. i think there has been a misconception about that. the ships exist within the show, and this season feels so weird because the core four is apart and bh is apart, but the show is ultimately about the characters and their good/bad decisions.

so, thinking about the characters, ask yourself: is archie in conditions to be with veronica right now? is betty in conditions to be with jughead right now? jug and archie are in their way to healing, it looks like, but betty still isn't. is veronica in conditions to be committed again atm? i don't know. will this change in a couple of episodes? maybe!

and it's same for other characters. choni are going through the exact same thing bh is, they just don't have the impending doom that is b*rchie hovering above, but i guess no one doubts choni.

but imagine if they get back to choni and just give them a few throw away lines and boom, it's all magically fixed. wouldn't they feel betrayed? don't you enjoy the aspect that bh is taking time for this reunion after they were completely shattered? i know i would've written varchie differently if i could.

anyway. it's useless to think "oh, zalben said this, evan said that, ras said this" when we can't control what they say, or how they think. we can only interpret it (90% of the time i've been right about them but whatever) and we can only watch the show in front of us and absorb something from that.

(which is hard when the episode sucks, but it's what we can do).

all this freaking out is making me stop enjoying the show, and the fandom. it's not giving anyone any joy. you guys have to calm down and i'm not being dismissive of how much a tv show can bring anxiety, but the only thing you can do is trust the process.

bughead has been a solid thing for 4 seasons. it's their first major problem. varchie has been not that solid but very, very present for 4 seasons. b*rchie has been whatever it has been for 4 seasons. jabitha is a new ship, but it's around now... but hasn't even really happened yet. like, all these characters have their stories to tell among them, and if we don't enjoy the road they take, we can only try to detach ourselves.

okay, i guess, that's it. i'm not sure if i make any sense, but i'm so exhausted of people not trusting what's being shown to them and only thinking about zalben, bdaily takes, evan, ras, yadayada, who the rvd writers liked on twitter, like... c'mon.

[its-chelisey-stuff]

He finally knows!!!! I’M SO HAPPY

Yup. Your Crown Prince has boobs. Congrats? lol

Sure, this is gonna make Jiwoon confused and shocked for a couple of hours, but I don’t see him getting mad, that’s not his personality and also, they’re being chased by Evil Minister’s minions led by Jiwoon’s father. No time to be angry or feel betrayed.

And besides, I don’t think this makes much of a difference to Jiwoon’s heart. He fell for the person, not for the gender. In theory, this makes some things “easier”, but also complicates a lot more. I don’t think, by instance, that he’s just gonna wait around and chill while they drag her back to the palace and make her King. I see a very anxious and scared Jiwoon in the near future. And maybe a broken hearted one as well, because girl is getting married soon. I guess some “adultery” is in the future as well. HAHAHAHA

I’m actually happy with the way this revelation was done. It didn’t feel rushed, didn’t feel dragged and didn’t feel like they had overdone the whole “he likes a man” aspect. In fact, I’m gonna miss that and I don’t think I’ll be the only one. I’m also super happy about the way they built up the story in general, especially how they took the time to develop the romance between the leads. I appreciate that it wasn’t “insta-love” and that it didn’t feel like they were still in love with their childhood loves. They remembered each other fondly but weren’t super obsessed about them since it had been whole decade and they had other things going on with their life and lots of problems. And I liked that when Jiwoon was told little Dami basically died, he was sad but not at all like “oh no!! My one and only true love has left this world! There’s no meaning in this life for me anymore!”. And after that, he started falling for the CP, without even once thinking they were the same person.

Side note: In the manhwa (yeah sorry, I can never shut up about it lol) the male lead eventually has an arranged marriage because there are MANY rumors that the King likes men, particularly ML. But my dude doesn’t show up to the wedding and instead goes to makeout with the King lmao I hope some of that happens in the drama, since they’ve been loosely following the story. A girl can dream.

[bjornswoman]

Goddess

Requested by none.

Author's note: Hey guys! I hope you like this one! Also, thank you so much for your support! About the gif I have chosen, I can't really decide if it's suitable or not but I loved it. I decided ro post this one today due to Valentine's day. I personally hate this day, but have a ggod day you all lovebirds out there! Happy Valentine's day to all of you!

Pairing: Hvitserk x Reader.

Genre: Romance, angst, drama, fluff.

Summary: People talking a lot about Hvitserk's woman and that's not you.

Warnings: Jealousy.

You laid on your bed exhausted from this day. You prayed to the gods for it to end. All day you were finishing some of the last works that had to be done before the winter comes. The warriors would come back too from their trips. They left the spring and came back summer. Then all winter people was talking about their trips and raids. Your heart was pounding to your chest every day and night. You missed him. The man you loved. Prince Hvitserk. The third son of king Ragnar Lothbrok. You were a common woman. The dauter of a farmer. Well, a dead farmer. You were all alone, with no family to care about. The person you cared about was Hvitserk. You were praying to all the gods for him to come back.

You had listened men on the market talking about your beloved prince. Well, not exactly for him, but for one succeed raid. A wanderer spread the word around Kattegat. You couldn't be happier, but that wasn't the only thing he said. He said that the young prince Hvitserk had found himself a woman, a foreigner. That broke your heart but you were happy for him. You knew that you weren't the woman he deserved. You had your fun, he had his fun with the most women of Kattegat, but he told you that all that stopped when he met you ans laid for first time with you. You loved this guy and you had to be, you were, happy about he and his new woman, but you needed some time, that you took. You were laying on this bed after a month and you were still praying for he and his brothers to come back safe and sound.

You slept peacefully, dreaming about a happy life married with Hvitserk and having a lot of children running around your house. Hvitserk was eating and you were holding your youngest child on your hands. He was happy seeing all those little beasts running hear and there. That dream was coming to you every night. It was a good dream but in some ways it was bad too. It hurt you because you could never have this live that you were dreaming about.

The next morning people cheered about the ships that finally were on the dock. Men came out of there and they reunited with their wives, children, mothers and fathers. You had none to reunite with. You just smiled ear to ear when you spotted Hvitserk from far. You saw that he and also his brothers were healthy, they were all standing and that made you smile even more than before.

You had already found all that things you needed and you retrieved back to your favorite spot, you little farm. You took care of your little house and some slaves that you treated them like your family, not your property. You loved them and they loved you back. They about the prince and your relationship with. It wasn't a secret.

He jumped out of that ship and his eyes run impatiently around just to find a familiar face, but he didn't found you. He frowned. You had always been there since he told you that he stopped seeing other women and you were the only one inside his heart, you were kind of together, but it wasn't official, not even to you. You both didn't know what it was that. You met at nights when everyone was sleeping or doing other things and laid together all night and when the sun came out you left him alone or he did it to you. It was just how things happened, but he wantes more. He needed you more. He needed you the bright hours of day when the sun was up. He had the night under the light of the moon, but he wanted you every single time of the day. That was kind of impossible, you had your jobs on your farm and he was messing around with his brothers doing what a prince do, when he did.

"Are you looking specifically for someone?" Sigurd mocked him and he frowned even more. He didn't like his brothers talking about you or talking to you. It just took out of him his jealousy, that it was kind of fun. You didn't have many chances to see him angry, he was always so flirtatious, but you liked him just the way he was and he liked you back. "I mean about that farmer of yours." He continued and Ubbe looked at him, like he was warning Sigurd stop talking. That last days he was more annoying than usual. He wasn't mean just to Ivar, like always, but he opened his mouth about his other brothers too. Hvitserk didn't mind him talking about himself but talking about you wasn't okey with him. He was about to attack him but Ubbe stopped him by pulling him away from Sigurd and closer to him.

"Just don't get bothered by Sigurd. You should be bothered about that woman of yours. (Y/N). Why isn't she here? Just go find her or first we should find out what's going on here and then you have all the time to spend with (Y/N)." Ubbe spoke to him smiling and Hvitserk did the same. He was dreaming about you every night too. Your hair, your eyes, your laugh, everything about you. Your name was music to his ears, not the music that Sigurd played.

You continued your jobs. Your clothes, face, hands, all of you were covered in dirt and mud. You didn't want to stop, you were far behind to stop. All that worry about Hvitserk left behind, but you didn't regret it. Hvitserk was worth it.

Everyone was talking about his new woman and why they hadn't seen her. Even your thralls were talking about her. Some people were saying that she was so beautiful, like no woman in all Norway. They said that her eyes were the most beautiful eyes that a human being had. They even said that she was a goddess or one of the Valkyries. You couldn't be compared to that woman. You could be compared to a goddess or a Valkyrie or even a princess.

Your hands wasn't soft like the hands that princesses or daughters of earls had. Your hands hurt and they were rough. The works your had to do to your farm wasn't allow you to have soft hands. You worked hard for your leaving and your slaves leaving. You could free them like you did to the most them. You didn't want to have people as property. You had only the closest ones. The only ones you needed their help.

When the night came, you laid to that bed of yours again, as exhausted as the day before this one, but a loud noice didn't let you sleep. Someone had entered your house. Your slaves listened it too. They were up. You motioned them to stop, you could handle this one. You would protect them, as a good master would do. You took an old sword that belonged to your father and has ready to attack whoever had entered here. The man beat easily. You were an awful fighter, you were no shieldmaiden, yoh were just a farmer. You weren't like Lagertha and that man wasn't just a man. That man was Hvitserk. He looked at the old sword on his hand and thenback at you, who stood up quickly.

"That old thing can't do nothing. I'll give you a new one, a sharper one, little shieldmaiden." He said playfully and a smirk was formed on his face. He dropped the sword on the ground, you took it on your hands and placed it where it was in the first place.

"I'm not a shieldmaiden and you know it. I'm just a farmer, my prince." You spoke softly. He was facing your back, so he couldn't see your eyes. You had never called him my prince, you had always called him just Hvitserk and listening to you calling him that was strange. He frowned in confusion. Something was going on for sure, now he know it too. First, you weren't on the docks to greet him, like any other time and now you were calling him your prince and not by his name. He stepped closer to you and turned you around so he could face you.

"Dismiss them. I need to talk to you, (Y/N)." He spoke and you did as he said by nodding at them. They did the same and they left you two alone. You turned to him again and waited for him to say something. You wanted him to leave. It was more painful to see him standing before you, wanting to say something to you.

"What is it, my prince? Did I do something wrong?" You muttered and he was furious now at you. He didn't understand what was happening. The only thing he could think about your change was that yiu had found another man.

"What's wrong with you?" He yelled and grabbed your arm, your eyes stuck there, on his hand on yours. He was angry, out of his mind. It was one of that rare moments that his jealousy was taking over him. "How is he? Tell me, I want his name. I want a name!" He yelled and you frowned. You were the one who couldn't understand him now. How could he thing such a thing about you, when he was the one who was about to marry another woman that people were talking about her like she was Freya? "Is he better than me right? What an idiot I am! Of course he is! I had always known you deserve someone worthy, not me, but doesn't mean that a can accept it, (Y/N)." He looked hurt. You had never seen him like that before. His hand left from your arm and placed to your cheek. He caressed it softly, like it was the most precious thing in Midgard. Something was off about all this.

"How can you say things like that? Do you think I have found another man? That's impossible Hvitserk! That's impossible when you are stuck in my head! You can't say things like that when you are the one who brought back that woman that everyone is talking about her like she is a goddess!" You yelled and let hot tears stream down your cheeks. He frowned again. He hadn't brought any woman back. He hadn't laid eyes on any woman there where he went. You were the only woman that he wanted. That things about that woman were just rumors. He wanted only woman and she standing before him, crying because of him. That scene broke his heart.

His hands moved to both your cheeks and his thumb wiped away your tears. You opened your eyes and saw his green eyes, that you loved so much.

"No, there is no other woman. You are the only woman for me, (Y/N). When we were in those cities I was thinking only about you, I was even dreaming you. You are my goddess, (Y/N). There is no other woman for me. I can repeat you that every day." He spoke and you smiled at him. He dared to smile too. He formed just a little smile. "But I took something back from the raids." He spoke. He didn't let you ask. He pressed his soft lips on yours and kissed you passionately after a long time ago. You missed this kiss. You missed him. His hands wrapped around your waist and you jumped, wrapping your legs around his torso.

"Will you show me?" You asked him, when you pulled away and your foreheads were pressed together. He smiled, he didn't answer. He started walking to you chamber and when you were there, he placed you to your bed and he came on top of you. You thought that he would kiss you, but he didn't. He left from you and laid next to you. You tried to understand what he was up to, because he was plotting something. He had that face, that mischievous face. You narrowed your eyes to him. "What is it? Hvitserk you are scaring me!" You screamed and he laughed. He kissed your mouth again the same way as before and when he pulled away, he placed a ring on your face. It was a strange ring. It had jewels on it. It was beautiful. You looked at it frowned and confused. You didn't know what to think. He wasn't doing what was on your mind. "What-what is this?" You asked speechless. You could form a single word. You just couldn't, that caught you off guard, but that was Hvitserk. He had always been doing the unexpected. He laughed.

"I am asking you to marry me, silly girl." He spoke and before he could even end his saying, you kissed him. You were on top of him kissing him. You didn't expect this. You dreamed of it too many times, but never thought that it would actually happened some day. "I think that's a yes, isn't it?" He asked when you pulled away and you smiled widely and nodded.

"It is." You spoke and he smiled back to you, before he pressed his lips on yours again.

He was finally and officially yours and you his.

[aegor-bamfsteel]

do you think daemon and daenerys were really in love or their love story was just propaganda?

I’ve addressed my feelings about Daemon/Daenerys in this response about Daenerys’ character, and briefly to a baiting anon who insinuated it was propaganda. This pairing is no Rhaegar/Lyanna, where multiple people have their own views on whether Rhaegar loved her or it was prophecy or she loved him or she was kidnapped; everyone, Black or Red, from Doran Martell (Daenerys’ descendant by Maron Martell) to Ser Barristan (Kingsguard knight, Targaryen loyalist, and killer of Maelys Blackfyre) to Eustace Osgrey (landed knight who supported Daemon I in the first Rebellion) believes those two were in love. It’s not enough for Yandel to dismiss Daemon/Daenerys as Blackfyre propaganda when high ranking Targaryen descendants/supporters believe the story as well. If I needed any more proof, GRRM himself said in a 2012 interview: “Despite Daemon and Daenerys being in love, her brother the king, Da3ron the Good, was more concerned with matters of state than matters of love.” So due to all the evidence in favor, I believe that Daemon and Daenerys were about as in love as a 14-year-old knight and a 12-year old princess who happened to be half-siblings/cousins could be (I have very different feelings on young teens falling in love than GRRM does, considering Fire and Blood) Due to age and the established characters as we know them, I believe the relationship was chaste and ended after Daemon married Rohanne.

However, just because the relationship ended long before obviously doesn’t mean it wasn’t used by both sides to understand some of the causes of the First Rebellion. GRRM has used a romance to hide the serious political issues of ASOIAF military conflicts elsewhere: how Rhaegar/Lyanna is referred to as the cause of Robert’s Rebellion, casting Rhaegar as a tragic figure, when it was really the arrest warrant for Ned and Robert after Aerys had unlawfully executed Brandon and Rickard among others. Criston Cole’s motivation is given similar ambiguity in AFFC (ignoring how F&B1 made most of the Greens 1D villains here): whether it was to control a weaker king, to respect Andal custom, or because Rhaenyra had been his lover who later spurned him. It’s not a stretch—given the parallels between Ned/Robert and Daemon’s situation—that Da3ron’s arrest warrant for Daemon as the immediate cause for the Blackfyre rebellion gets “softened” in public consciousness by a star-crossed romance between Daemon and Daenerys. The rebellion against Da3ron had been brewing for years due to a stacked court/nepotism, an unbalanced treaty, unaddressed issues left from Aegon’s reign, etc—but the idea that Daemon/Daenerys had a romance ignores that and turns a war that tore the continent apart into an easy to understand, spurned lover drama. And that goes for both sides: the Reds believed these rumors as well, in order to avoid considering why half the kingdoms rebelled for a young landed knight with an Essosi wife. Xenophobia/racism plays into it also, since Daemon/Daenerys erases the Tyroshi Rohanne (which makes it easier to believe the Reds welcomed this propaganda, considering the Blackfyre supporters in exile couldn’t very well ignore her, and those in Westeros wanted to crown her children.)

If you want a First Blackfyre-era romance that was probably entirely Red propaganda, consider Aegor Rivers/Shiera Seastar. Unlike Daemon/Daenerys, no Blackfyre supporter ever said Aegor was interested in her, only Barristan and Yandel obliquely mentioned it (though not enough for it to be a reason for Aegor to rebel, when Yandel is desperate enough to bring up his Bracken heritage as a factor). GRRM never said anything about Aegor in Shiera’s SSM and vice versa, let alone something as blatant as “despite being in love...” Furthermore, it turns someone with a very justified grievance against House Targaryen, and later spent 45 years of life trying to unseat their tyrannical regime for his adopted family, into a jilted lover who just exists for Bl00draven to defeat. (That the aesthetics resemble a mediocre Popeye cartoon makes it more ridiculous.) But I believe Daemon/Daenerys‘ love story—like several others told around ASOIAF military conflicts— had a kernel of truth that was used to mask the more complicated political situation.

[springday-aus]

Disney Prince!AU with Seonghwa

★ Seonghwa as Disney’s Prince Charming ★

moodboard link

Group: ATEEZ 

Member: Park Seonghwa

Genre: fluff, romance, hints of angst 

part of the Disney Prince Series - could also be a prince!au

Type: Bulletpoint AU 

Word Count: approx. 3k

A/N: I had to spice things up a bit bc after a rewatch of Cinderella, I have realized they have no flavor and got a bit carried away—so enjoy! 

Warnings: family death + mentions of abusive family - you know the classic princess storyline. 

Seonghwa….. is not your average prince

but it’s not depicted in a negative light

so, he’s the prince other nations wished they had

he’s very involved with the state of affairs, often spends time in the villages and conversing with the townsfolk, and often visits schools to read to them or just watch them and it’s so……...wholesome

*cut to him struggling to sit on the carpet with the kids bc his legs can’t fold*

basically everyone loves him because he’s got this angelic aura around him that just makes you feel like you can trust him with anything

and I mean anything

mothers would probably offer him their babies if that was appropriate

he’s just super sweet and tries to remember what he learns in order to take it back and make use of it with the current policies that the parliament is trying to endorse or something

obviously, this is the main image of him to the public

and it’s not fake

but those in the palace know he can get a bit mischievous and sassy

it’s only really seen by those who are close with him, or have been around for a longer time

like assistant!Hongjoong and head butler!Wooyoung

since they’re all close in age and grew up together too, they’re much more comfortable with one another

Hongjoong: *hits his head on a doorway*

Seonghwa: “......... are you an idiot?”

guard!Yeosang and butler-in-training!San: laughing

no, but for real, all of them know he’s basically an angel

the amount of shit he’s putting up with them, but like they make for great entertainment lmao

anyways

the older workers at the palace find him adorable

like when Seonghwa tried to sneak-eat the freshly picked strawberries

“my prince, did you just eat a strawberry?”

Seonghwa with a mouthful of them: “no”

he’s like the grandson they all want (and are trying to get, but we’ll get to that later)

other than his charities and visits and public outings, he’s also known to be a good horseback rider

like real good

Wooyoung: “this is the most princely we’ll ever see him”

he’s kidding, but he’s also not kidding

bc lbr: Seonghwa in a horseback riding fit with the shoulder pads and the helmet and the wind and

Wow

many gather to see him in his glorious, sweaty state afterwards

it’s funny bc he’s so handsome and there are times when he’ll acknowledge it and other times when he doesn’t

especially since the ateez boys just ignore him or tease him

now it just depends on how he feels that day as to how he’d react

since he’s got such a good reputation, you know what that means?

lots of treaties and lots of marriage proposals

on one hand, many nearby countries know how nice Prince Seonghwa is—and some thought he was naive enough to be deceived by them

and that led to a few wars, but they lost real bad bc they assumed he was too nice

when, in actuality, he’s very knowledgeable since he takes a lot after the king and the queen

that allowed much more respect for the kingdom, especially since he’s the first in line for the throne once he’s married

which leads to the second thing: he gets lots and lots of marriage proposals

have you SEEN him?????

do you know how CAPABLE he is????

helloo?????

anyways

the royal family kind of milks this—not in that way tho

it’s in the sense that it’s because they want him to find someone soon and there’s more time for them to learn the ropes about ruling a kingdom

that means lots of balls are thrown in hopes of Seonghwa finding someone to ~catch his eye~ and whatnot

but Seonghwa just uses this as a diplomatic advantage, you know? like a chance for him to meet other royals and build these relationships

and while he has good intentions, the rejected royals are kind of bitter, but they know better than to mess with the Royal Family

meanwhile, party planner!Yunho is lowkey racking in the dough from these events, so he’s fine throwing all these balls lmao

this is where you come in

but, it’s not how others might think

so, you used to be the daughter of a well-of-ish family—you had money for a house and caretakers who adored you and you with parents who loved you dearly

you lived in your own little bubble of love

but then your mother died

when she died, it was almost as if she had taken the lively atmosphere of the household with her

your father buried himself into his work, rarely making time for you anymore and…. there was a drift

one day he came home with a mysterious woman, proclaiming her as your stepmother

along with her came her two daughters, who were as ugly outside as they were on the inside

while you could have done without her passive-aggressiveness, it was nice to see your father happy

but lo-and-behold, you lucked out and he died on a business trip, leaving you alone with strangers to become your only family

it only got worse from there as they openly started to mock you, shame you and push you beyond your boundaries

as they could no longer pay for the staff, they also forced you to clean after them, cook for them, and make all the arrangements that they demanded

or, as your oh-so-lovely stepmother said “you’re below us and you will always be below us”

at first, you put up with it because there’s nowhere else for you

but, slowly, the idea of running away was starting to sound better

and the opportunity came as the palace was starting to look for more servants who would stay in the servants’ quarters

you immediately packed away your things, which wasn’t much to begin with—your mother’s locket being the major trinket you possessed

and ran off to work as a housekeeper, who hid away behind the palace walls and the public eye

since you clean for the palace, it also means cleaning after the balls

other than television appearances, you never really saw the royal family

even as you did work in the palace because……………. they’re running a goddamned country

but, of course, there are rumors and gossip with the other housekeepers which all come from reliable resources

**cough cough definitely Wooyoung cough cough**

so there’s a lot of what you heard, not really from what you’ve seen, despite what some might think when working in the palace

that was until you were called to work at your first ball

which meant you were cleaning after the tables and in the kitchens, going in and out of the ballroom and between dinner tables

getting glimpses of some of the royals

and picking up on some of their juicy conversations

(apparently this one duke almost had an affair with this king’s secret mistress… all the tea)

anyways

you get the point

every once in a while you have to work at the balls when they need the extra help

but, there was one that was…………. different

a lot of the balls are for the royals to take and engage and whatever, but there have been so many and Seonghwa………….

Seonghwa hasn’t been interested in a single one despite the purpose being to help him find someone

Hongjoong: “what’s wrong with them?”

Seonghwa: “there’s nothing wrong with them, I don’t want just someone”

Seonghwa: “I want it to happen naturally—call me old fashioned but if this is someone I want to spend the rest of my life with, it has to be someone who knows me”

Wooyoung, in the corner: “that is old fashioned, hasn’t he heard of tinder?”

advisor!Mingi: “I don’t think it would be a good look for the country if the prince is on tinder”

guard!Yeosang: “we should test it out”

butler-in-training!San: “omg reverse pretty woman”

Hongjoong: “everyone get out, you’re all useless”

okay, but like real talk: he’s such a romantic and the whole unofficial arranged marriage is just………. too much

so, his parents were like: so, you want more options?

Seonghwa: “not what I said”

and they expanded the invitation list for one night, meaning ANYONE had a shot with Seonghwa and

well

he is very popular, so you can imagine how many people were planning on coming and the staff (i.e. you) had to prepare for everything

for the week, the castle was bustling and you were running around to help out and it……. it was all so insane

and then it happens

you’re minding your own business and working and eavesdropping as one does when one works

because everyone is there and who doesn’t love listening to drama that isn’t just from fancy people

but since everyone is here

you failed to remember that a certain group of people were also there

the group of people being your step-mother and step sisters

instinctively, you ducked and hid, moving away from the main room that was swarmed with people who were all trying to obtain Seonghwa’s attention

(who was also trying to hide from everyone else and instinctively failing)

eventually, you found yourself in the gardens, where you tried to make yourself busy

but it ended up being a small walk through the gardens, picking up the occasional liter and small talk with the gardeners

the garden is huge, so you get a bit lost as you wander—physically and emotionally

meanwhile, Seonghwa managed to escape from the others with the help of the other ateez boys

major shoutout to Yunho and Jongho, who insisted on leading the cupid shuffle and cha cha slide

also Yeosang for blocking off people who were trying to shoot their shot with a tired Seonghwa who did not want any of this

he ended up in the gardens as well, walking down a small path with Yeosang trailing a bit farther behind

he spots you on a bench, admiring the flowers under the bright moonlight

and you were absolutely breath-taking

not wanting to disturb your peace, he tried to leave

only to knock into a garden gnome and catch your attention as he tries to not break it

You: “um”

Seonghwa: “I’m so sorry, I was just going to leave, I didn’t mean to disturb you”

You: he looks familiar

You: “I know you from somewhere”

Seonghwa: literally in the most extravagant suit and sparkle make-up as he’s still crouched on the ground trying not to break a gnome that cost like $5 at a Target

also Seonghwa: “have we met before?”

you exchange names and that’s when it clicks

You: “OH MY GOD. MY PRINCE.”

immediately, you try to curtsy or bow or whatever the royals make you do to the ground bc Seonghwa’s still at ground level

and Seonghwa’s just…………. scrambling to try to get you off the ground with flushed ears at you calling him your prince

Seonghwa: “please, you literally do not have to”

You: “I don’t want to be beheaded”

You: “plus, isn’t it like, illegal for me not to?”

Seonghwa: “well, I’m technically giving you orders not to…..”

You: well, can’t argue with that

you slowly get up and dust yourself off, unable to look at him in the eye

even from the corner of your eyes tho, you can see what the fuss is about

bc Seonghwa in that suit and hair swept back is hot™

You: “Prince,  I apologize if I’m speaking out of line, but shouldn’t you be inside?”

Seonghwa: “couldn’t I ask you the same thing?”

You: “but this is in your honor, not mine”

Seonghwa: “is it tho?”

Seonghwa: “I keep telling everyone I would like to fall in love on my own and yet………. everyone keeps meddling and making plans and now everyone in the kingdom is after me when I’m just trying to do my best for our citizens”

you’re a bit silent, unsure as to how to respond

Seonghwa: “I’m sorry for just dumping this on you, but, everyone keeps telling me I shouldn’t be so worried”

You: “well, Prince, I think what you need to hear is that your feelings are valid”

You: “it’s only natural for you to want to find someone on your own—freedom is something everyone wants, which is why it’s so hard to obtain”

there’s a bit of an awkward silence

for one bc you didn’t know what he was really like and if you were allowed to say something like that

two being that you didn’t know if you should leave

but he speaks up

Seonghwa: “you’re right—I did need that”

the air loosens a bit between the two of you

Seonghwa: “so, are you also hiding from an influx of suitors?”

you laugh a little, playing like a twinkling melody to Seonghwa’s ears

You: “no, but I am hiding from people”

Seonghwa: “it’s okay, you don’t have to share if you don’t want to”

you two get to spend a bit more time together, just chatting and getting to know one another

he’s really sweet, but also kind of goofy with a handful of cheesy pickup lines that definitely comes from spending too much time on the internet but also Wooyoung

the time is short but sweet

bc, before you know it, it strikes 12 and Hongjoong has a hold on him by bulldozing past Yeosang who just blinks at the small gust of wind

Hongjoong: “Seonghwa! your parents are looking for you! we gotta go!”

he greets you hastily, before grabbing a hold of Seonghwa and dragging him away—in which Seonghwa is still trying to get one last look at you before you disappear off into the night

or, in your case, back to the kitchen to avoid your stepfamily

the rest of the night passes as expected, at least for you as you busy yourself with washing dishes in the kitchen

but Seonghwa found himself like a mercat, poking his head around trying to find you every once in a while

the time you’d spent together was short, but it was the most fun he’s had at these balls

and it showed, as noted by Hongjoong and Wooyoung with the week that followed after

he was spacing out, wondering what could have been if things were different

basically, homeboy was sulking bc he didn’t know when he could see you again or if you had someone or if you were even interested

Hongjoong: “how are we supposed to help him when we don’t even know who it is?”

Mingi: “didn’t you get a glimpse?”

Hongjoong: “I was busy with other things”

Wooyoung: “so you didn’t even ask for a name?”

Yeosang: “it’s (Y/N)”

all the boys:

Hongjoong: “how do you know that?”

Yeosang: “I was eavesdropping”

San: “um—”

Wooyoung: “wait, we know (Y/N)”

Yunho: “so am I throwing another party or?”

Wooyoung: “we can find (Y/N) first and then throw a party”

so, they kind of hunt you down to where you’re cleaning for the day

and Wooyoung asks you about Seonghwa

lowkey bc he wants the tea but also bc he wanted to make sure you’re not one of those insane people that are completely obsessed with him

(considering what he had to witness during that last ball)

and after passing his vibe check

he sends you to the library “to clean”

which is odd because you already cleaned it for the week but

Wooyoung: “I’m technically your boss, so go”

You: weirded out

also you: “okay”

little did you know, Seonghwa was already there, occupying himself with some new books while Hongjoong and Yeosang were keeping an eye out for you

who was lowkey trying to hide in the shadows and failing miserably bc of all the goddamned windows

Seonghwa spots your shadow, quickly getting up and following you

Seonghwa: “wait! (Y/N)?”

you turn around, a bit startled from the call out

Seonghwa: “I thought it was you”

you give a small bow to greet him

You: “my prince”

Seonghwa: “you can just call me Seonghwa”

Seonghwa: “I didn’t know you were here”

You: “I didn’t know you were here either”

he lets out a small chuckle

Seonghwa: “I meant I didn’t know you were staying in the castle”

You: “I’m not just staying here, I work here prin—Seonghwa”

Seonghwa: “well I guess that makes finding you a bit easier around here”

You: “you were looking for me?”

Seonghwa: “well, I like your company”

You: flushed

Seonghwa: “do you enjoy mine?”

You: “I’d be glad to bask in your presence”

and for a moment, it’s just the two of you

*cut to Hongjoong and Yeosang high-fiving in the back*

after that, the two of you spend more time together

it’s cute bc Seonghwa also likes to clean (which explains why there were never housekeepers needed for him)

so it means he also helps you clean and still have fun doing it

speaking of which, you got to find out how domestic he is and it melts your heart every time

especially when he’s interacting with children who visit the castle

so you can tell he really wants a family

bc he’s so good with kids and knows how to take care of people and what more can you really ask for

he’s also a great listener 

like he really knows what you need based on what you tell him

and when you opened up to him about what happened at home

he was just such a big sweetheart about it, asking if you’re okay and checking with you emotionally and it 

I LOVE PARK SEONGHWA SO MUCH 

anyways

so his parents did find out bc Wooyoung has a big mouth and def blabbed to San and everyone else in the goddamned kingdom who knows Wooyoung

rip Seonghwa

also rip everyone in the kingdom who found out bc again

Seonghwa is very desired amongst many

which also led to a lot of jealous people who gossiped about you but jokes on them bc you still have Seonghwa at the end of the day and they have jack shit :) 

back to what I was saying 

when his parents found out, they were totally accepting of it considering how happy the two of you are

(also you were lowkey fearful they were just gonna straight up kill you bc you aren’t royal, but also, they’re good rulers who care about people) 

which also meant they wanted to train you to help him run the kingdom but that’s a different story

anyways, prince charming!Seonghwa is indeed very charming

and gentlemanly and all that other good stuff

[qqueenofhades]

Everytime I read "Nicolo di Genova" my brain glitches and I read "Nicolo do Genovia" instead so /whispers/ Kaysanova Princess Diaries AU?

...yes. Did someone say Gay Champagne Romcom? Because that is my Brand.

Nicolò is an Italian-American graduate student living in New York City with his widowed Italian mother and working on an engineering degree at NYU. He was thinking about joining the priesthood for a few years and recently dropped out of seminary and is feeling that Millennial Crisis that all of us know about. He has gone on a few Tinder/Grindr dates, but it’s hard enough to meet someone in this city even when you’re not a gay ex-priest engineering student living in his mother’s rent-controlled apartment in Morningside Heights because have you seen the property prices in New York. Plus WHENEVER he brings a nice boy home, HEY PRESTO there’s his mom waiting eagerly up in the front room, “NICOLÒ WHO IS THIS HANDSOME YOUNG MAN, DOES HE HAVE GOOD PARENTS, IS HE A CATHOLIC NICOLÒ” and of course that instantly kills any kind of romantic mood. Nicolò is like “let’s just go over to yours PLEASE.” But he tends not to see his dates again anyway, and it’s equally depressing, and it’s nice that his mom isn’t homophobic or anything, but he’d like to just meet someone without his mother instantly planning the Big Fat Gay Italian Wedding, and yes he knows this is a nice problem to have but STILL

Anyway, then of course the Dead Dad Circus rolls into town, and Nicolò learns that he’s not actually the son of a nice hardworking Italian immigrant, but of His Serene Highness Prince Domenico Grimaldi of Genovia, who wouldn’t you know it, has recently died too young from cancer and left no legitimate heir except the result of his rebellious teen fling with a cocktail waitress in Capri – which would be, you guessed it, Nicolò. While Nicolò is still processing the horrifying mental image of his mother being a cocktail waitress in Capri and having to look up Genovia on a map, the rest of the royal machine is kicking into overdrive. This involves a very awkward meeting in a very fancy Manhattan hotel with Nicolò’s magnificent but rather out-of-touch royal grandmother, Her Serene Highness The Queen Mother Maria Elisabetta Henrietta Julia Victoria Mignonette Grimaldi of Genovia. She’s basically Julie Andrews because obviously. She informs Nicolò of his Solemn Duty to return to Genovia and become Prince Nicolò and eventually be prepared to take the throne and submit to a fascinating life of minor European royal family ribbon-cutting duties. Oh, and getting married and producing more heirs to the throne, on pain of breaking a thousand-year-old bloodline, though she doesn’t say this out loud. Her loyal right-hand man, driver, and general bodyguard/fixer/man about town, Sebastien le Livre aka Booker, gives Nicolò various sympathetic looks but does not interrupt.

Nicolò obviously freaks out and runs off to call up his best friend at NYU, Andy. Andy is some indeterminate degree of years older than him, in some indeterminable stage of her Classics PhD, and sometimes says weird things like how badly the Library of Alexandria had already been defunded by the Roman emperors before it finally burned, like she was there and holds a personal grudge about it. She is a cranky vodka-drinking lesbian who rides a motorcycle, gets them into periodic scrapes, and understands his shit dating life. She deeply empathizes with all his “I’m not going to run away and leave my life in New York to become part of some creakingly antique regressive imperial monarchic system of racist and homophobic oppression, NO SIR!” Fight the power, Nicolò. Fuck those guys.

Of course, however, Julie Andrews Grandmother Maria prevails and Nicolò is forced to take Prince Lessons, which he hates but tries to be a good sport about, because, well, he’s Nicolò and he’s a good person. He is then whisked off on a private plane to Genovia, because they want to see him in situ before they make a final decision on accepting him as their prince. There of course we have the high-life palaces and parks and snooty clueless aristocrats who look at Nicolò like he’s a prize racehorse and have absolutely zero clue, none, nada, about the real world. Just as Nicolò is about to firmly decide that this is a complete crock of shit and he’s going back to NYU, he meets….

Prince Yusuf “call me Joe” al-Kaysani.

Joe is a minor member of one of the Middle Eastern royal families, some fictional tiny Gulf kingdom that is super SUPER oil rich. He has a title and a lot of money but doesn’t have a clearly defined role in the family, other than that he’s been ordered not to embarrass it. Nicky does not know this when they first meet, but obviously it’s not possible to be an out gay prince in a conservative Arabian-peninsula Islamic kingdom, and therefore the fixers have arranged for Joe to be publicly dating a daughter of the Malaysian sultan, Quynh. (We are making her Malaysian in this instance so she can also be Muslim and hence an appropriate match for Joe.) Except Princess Quynh is also hella lesbian and is getting the same thing out of the fake dating with Joe that he is, i.e. throwing people off the scent of their real selves. They spend their time together in private eating popcorn, commiserating about their lives and crazy royal families and the press invading their privacy, watching romcoms, and Judging the Straights. They’re actually best friends and text each other all the time, so at the royal function where Joe runs into the stiff and nervous and clearly overcompensating New Guy who’s evidently the New Prince of Genovia, and oh my god Q he’s the Most stuck up person I’ve EVER MET, Quynh is the first to hear ALL about it. She immediately suspects that Joe doth protest too much.

Meanwhile, Nicky meets Nile Freeman, another young American (from Chicago, obvs) who is working at some important EU institution currently headquartered in Genovia. They also hit it off and Nile tells Nicky about the things she wants to do to help change the world and why she’s here, and he is moved by her kindness and altruism and remembers that that was what he wanted too, and why he joined the priesthood in the first place. He opens up to her about the shock of learning the truth about his now-dead dad and the crazy whirlwind he’s been sucked into and how he doesn’t know what to do, and their friendship is beautiful and we love it.

Meanwhile, of course, Nicky and Joe keep running into each other and getting on each other’s nerves, Nicky is thisclose to calling up Booker and ordering him to deport Joe because why is he always here (Booker, of course, will eventually become a secret ally in helping them see each other, but that is not quite yet). There is some Shenanigan where they end up both getting into trouble, Grandmother Julie Andrews is not amused, and finally they are forced to sit next to each other for a whole state dinner and Be Polite, because Genovia is trying to forge better relations with Joe’s kingdom. (Genovia is tiny, ancient, and broke, Joe’s kingdom has obviously a ton of money, there are old historical ties between them, some Genovians traveled to the kingdom in the past, Genovia’s trying to improve its human rights record and take in more refugees, etc. Nile is also helping with this last). So Nicky and Joe get ordered to fake a highly convincing bromance and pretend they’ve been best buddies all along (think Red White and Royal Blue) and that means they have to actually learn about each other and spend time together and ugh, he’s a spoiled rich playboy brat, and ugh, he’s a clueless American who thinks he’s better than us, and…

Oh no.

Yes, of course they fall in love, they deny it as hard as they can, Nile and Quynh and Booker are all increasingly exasperated by their attempts to pretend they’re not, and finally they kiss and make love and admit their feelings and that they want to be together. Then of course they get outed by some scheming evil cabinet minister (Merrick) who doesn’t want Nicky to become king and disapproves of him dating (gasp) a MUSLIM WHO IS ALSO A MAN, and there’s a huge scandal and a ton of drama and the usual Romcom Breakup Angst as they decide whether they can still see each other. Andy flies out to Genovia to comfort Nicky, Booker has a Word With The Queen, and Joe hides in his room until Quynh (along with Nile, who she’s met and hit it off with) appears to tell him that he has to be brave, she’ll help.

Anyway, etc etc., Drama, “I love him no matter what, if you don’t accept him you don’t accept me and your STUPID BLOODLINE CAN CHOKE” speeches from Nicky, Julie Andrews sees the light, they decide that Nicky and Joe can keep seeing each other, and it’s all rather sweet. There’s a lot of public relations to be managed and whether Joe’s family is going to disown him and what this will mean for the whole international relations thing, but… one thing at a time.

Nicky agrees to become Prince of Genovia as long as he can be with Joe, Joe decides that hey, he likes Nile too and there’s plenty of meaningful work to be had here and the three of them can join forces to do good things and he’s going to stay, and the Genovian public obviously comes around and loves them. Nobody can find Princess Quynh. It’s rumored she ran off to America with a cranky vodka-drinking PhD student of indeterminate age and was last seen on the back of a motorcycle heading west.

Everyone lives happily and gayly ever after.

The End.