#but he does really love and care for anders and they try to make it work

[kissingwookiees]

alistair & finn and dorian & brendan congrats on being the healthiest relationships in my da romance line up

[autumnleaves1991-blog]

My Home Is You Part 3/3

A/N: Thank you so much for everyone that has read the first two parts and left a comment or some type of feedback. I really appreciate all of it.

Thank you to @kingliam2019 for requesting.

Thank you to: @jellybeanstacey0519 & @mrsyixingunicorn10 @peyton-warren @affabletimelady @arctickat2400 @luftmenchz @mrsevans90 for commenting and leaving feedback! :D

Fandom: The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Pairing: Gus March-Phillips x Female Reader (she/her)

Warnings: 18+ for language, Nazi's, canon typical violence, possible spoilers for the movie, and mentions of sexual assault.

Part One Part Two

There is no time to bring up what Gus said with the mission looming so close, and in the morning as the sun streams through the gaps in the wood, you observe the man beside you. He looks so peaceful in sleep and you run your finger over his cheek, pressing a soft kiss to his cheek before you go to climb out of bed.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he grumbles sleepily pulling you back into his arms and pressing his cheek to your own.

“I wanted to make a cup of tea,” you giggle, leaning back in his arms and turning your head to kiss him, “but someone won’t allow me.”

“That’s right,” he nods giving a little hmph, “I’m the mean old man who keeps you trapped in his bed, so he can have his wicked way with you. No tea for you, darling, just debauchery day and night.” He gives out a fake laugh like the Wicked Witch from that Wizard of Oz movie.

“Gus!” you shout, laughing when tickles your side with a laugh. He stops, keeping you close as you catch your breaths. “You’re ridiculous,” you chastise playfully.

“Ah yes,” he agrees with a smile, “but that’s why you love me.” You tense in his arms and he rubs his hands up and down your own, “what’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” you let out an awkward chuckle, “I just need to use the ladies room.” He lets you go with a raised brow as you almost trip over yourself trying to get away.

When you’re alone, you lean against the wall and take a deep breath. Everything he said the night before comes back and you give a soft smile realizing that yes, that is why you love him. The man who liberated you from a living hell twenty-three days prior, who held you through your nightmares, that taught you how to shoot, and make you laugh till you cried. Fuck, you loved Gus with all of your heart. But now was not the time to make such declarations. Not when the fate of the British Empire was at stake.

“You alright, my little Tiger,” you nearly jump out of your skin as Anders comes to lean against the wall beside you. “You seem to be deep in thought.”

“No,” you shake your head with a sigh, “no deep thoughts. I’ve just come to a realization.”

“Do you care to share it with ze rest of the class?” he smiles sitting down on a barrel and patting the spot beside him.

You sink into the seat with a sigh, “I love Gus.”

“Yes,” he nods, “we know. Now what is the realization?”

“That was the realization,” you gape at him, “what do you mean, we know?”

“Oh, it’s obvious, both of you are madly in love with the other.”

“Gus loves me?” you wrap your arms around your waist and lean back, looking at the sea repeating the words back to yourself, “he loves me.”

“The first night we met,” Anders grabs your hand and holds it gently, “Freddy told us that Gus looks at you like he just realized what love was. We live a life filled with blood and death at every corner but somehow in all that mess, you found each other. A love like that does not come every day. But when it does, you need to seize it my little tigress, seize it, and don’t let it go.”

Tears stream down your cheeks and he squeezes your hand and leans forward to press a kiss to your forehead before walking away leaving you with your thoughts. Neither of you notice the figure in the corner. Gus clenches his fist and glances away before marching back below deck to prepare for the meeting with Heron.

The rest of the day passes steadily by and you drop anchor just as the sun begins to set on the coordinates. You’d spent the day tucked away, watching the sea go by as you thought of Gus and how the hell you were supposed to tell him you loved him when he might die the following day. “Someone’s coming,” Henry shouts, and you stand, taking unsteady steps as the pins and needles attack your legs.

Gus stands at the front, his shoulders drawn tight and you move to stand beside him. He quickly glances down at you, his jaw clenched before he looks away. You shrink back from him falling into place beside Apple. He looks between you both with a raised brow. But you don’t have an answer for the icy treatment from the man who's been nothing but kind since the beginning.

“Heron my old pal,” Gus grins, reaching across the two boats to shake his hand.

“Gus,” Heron replies, “may I introduce the Prince of Fernando Po, Kambili Kalu.”

“Don’t I know you from somewhere,” Gus puts a finger to his chin, “I could have sworn I’ve seen you before. Perhaps…do you play cricket?”

“I used to, at Eaton,” Bili poses and Gus laughs.

“Yes! I knew it, I remember seeing your portrait in the hall. Great to have you aboard old chap.”

“Glad to be of service. These Germans, they’re bad for business. I heard you could use a few more men,” he shouts something in another language and men come pouring out of every crevice of the tugboat. “Fourteen of my best men.”

“We have additional weapons,” Gus turns going to help Freddy hand over a box when Bili raises a hand with a laugh.

“I think we’re covered. You might want to borrow some of ours.” Bili shouts and the covers unveil an arsenal of weapons and bombs.

“Jolly good,” Gus grins, putting his hands on his hips. “Let’s get everything moved around and discuss the plan before it gets much later.” He turns back to you and the boys and gives the order, everyone moving to do a job but you.

“Gus,” you step towards him but he turns back towards the front of the boat to pull out the map laying it down on the small table. Heron comes aboard and pauses giving you a raised brow when you quickly say your name, “The boys found me with Appleyard.”

“Ah,” he nods, “well glad to have you with us, miss. Marjorie, my associate will be glad to have another woman around for company.”

“Where is she now?” you ask looking around, “did you bring her with you?”

“Oh no,” he shakes his head, “she is getting ready for the party tonight at my Casino. Her mission is different from our own I’m afraid. But we all have the same goal.”

“I see, well I look forward to meeting her when this is all said and done.”

He smiles, shaking your hand, “I’ll be happy to see you again, miss.”

“Heron!” Gus shouts, looking over at you but not keeping contact, “Come on. We have work to do, you can smile at the pretty girl later.”

That does it. “What the hell is your problem?” you shout, putting your hands on your hips. The rest of the men fall silent looking between the two of you. “What did I do wrong, Gus?”

“Nothing,” he lets out a tired sigh, “you did nothing wrong. It’s me that should be sorry.”

“What the hell are you talking about?!” you throw your arms up exasperated.

“I shouldn’t have pursued you, made you uncomfortable when all you wanted was Lassen.” Gus drops his shoulders, “it was wrong of me. You can move bunks and we never have to talk abo-”

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” Gus freezes watching you step over the ropes and boxes that litter the deck. “No seriously, did you hit your head?” You reach him, putting your hands over his head feeling for a bump.

“Uhm, no,” he grabs your wrists gently, lowering them back down. “I saw you two together.”

“What did you see? Hmm? What is it that you saw between me and Lassen that made you think I would be in love with anyone but you?” His eyes go wide but you’re on a roll, “and for that matter, when something is bothering you, you talk to me. You don’t ignore me and sulk like a child, do you understand me-”

He puts a hand to your mouth with a grin, “sorry darling, but could you repeat that last part?”

“Get off me,” you push his hand down, “what did you see between Lassen and I that would give the impression that I wanted to be with him?”

“That’s not what you said,” he frowns.

“Tell me!”

“I saw him kiss you on the forehead and hold your hand!” Gus shouts pointing back at Lassen.

“He was comforting me because I realized I was in love with YOU, you idiot!” Gus freezes, a smile slowly spreading across his face.

“You said it again,” he grins, cupping your cheeks, “you said you love me.”

“I do, you buffoon,” you say quietly, “I do love you, Gus. I just didn’t know how to tell you and then Lassen talked to me and I was planning to do it but you ignored me. You hurt me, Gus.”

“Darling,” he runs his thumb over your cheek, brushing away a stray tear, “Darling, please don’t cry. I never meant to hurt you. I was hurting, thinking you were choosing Lassen over me. God, I love you so much, woman. You are my sun and stars and everything in between.”

“You love me?” you whisper, moving closer to close the distance between you.

“More than you’ll ever know,” he presses his lips to your own and you melt into the kiss. The boat erupted in cheers from both sides and Bili slapped him on the back.

“Good show, old boy,” he shouts, breaking the two of you apart. Gus tucks you into his arms, a smile beaming on his face as he presses several kisses to your forehead. “Now,” Bili grins, “let’s kill some Nazis.”

As the night descends the chill sets in and you shiver, watching the harbor lights glow. A jacket drapes over your shoulders and you smile, as Gus puts his arm around you. “It’s a beautiful evening,” he presses a kiss to your cheek, “shame it’s going to be ruined by bloodshed.”

“Hopefully none of ours,” he holds you tighter sitting down and you turn wrapping your arms around his neck, straddling his waist. “I couldn’t bear to live without you, Gus.”

“I know Darling,” he runs his hands up and down your back, “the feeling is mutual. It kills me to know you could be in any danger tonight.”

“I chose this team,” you run your fingertips over the nape of his neck, massaging, “I chose to fight alongside them. To fight alongside you.”

“You remember the plan? You’re in charge of the boat, you have an arsenal of bombs to deploy if needed, otherwise when we give the signal you get the hell out of here.”

“I’ll be away from all the action, Gus. I’ll be safe.”

He nods, “I know, but can’t blame a man for worrying about the love of his life being in harms way.” You smile and he kisses you softly, pressing his forehead to your own, “I meant everyword of it darling. I love you and one day I’m going to make me your husband.”

“I like the sound of that,” you giggle, kissing him softly, “not you making me your wife but you my husband.”

“Well we both know who the boss is in this relationship, my love. You tell me where to go and I follow. Till death do us part.”

“Till death do us part, Gus. But please don’t let that be tonight.”

“I don’t make promises I can’t keep,” he kisses you again, “but I dare them to try to take me away from you.”

“The lights should be out any minute now,” Bili comes to stand beside you, “we should get ready.”

“We’re ready,” Gus stands putting you on your feet. Suddenly a bomb goes off, and the lights of the harbor fade into darkness. “Show time.”

“Wait,” you grab his arm, pointing in the distance at a series of flashing lights, “what’s that?” Suddenly the wireless goes off downstairs and you follow behind Gus down below deck, Bili hot on your trail.

Gus sits at the controls, taking notes and cursing with each word. “Shit,” he whispers, before looking up at the men and clearing his throat, “they’ve reinforced the hull, the ship is unsinkable.”

“We can’t sink it?” you repeat, sliding into the seat beside him.

“Not with the amount we have,” he shakes his head, “goddamn it.” Gus reaches for the headset and switches it off so we can all hear, “M? Come in M?” Static meets them before the signal clears, “we have a situation, the tin has been reinforced, the corned beef cannot be cracked, do you copy it cannot be cracked.”

“Copy,” a voice says from the other end, “standby.” We all wait on bated breath before a new voice sounds on the radio. “Gus March-Phillips, this is Admiral Parker, I order you to abort the mission, do you copy? Abort mission and return home at once. This is an unsanctioned, unauthorized mission. Do you understand?”

“S-ssorry,” Gus pretends to cut out the signal and you grin as he makes noises like static, “can’t hear y-y-you, please fu-fuck o-off.” With that, he turns off the radio and puts his head in his hands, “well, what do we do now?”

“When did they reinforce the hull? Like between the last report and now, when did they have time to do that?” Freddy asks, scratching his head.

“That’s not important,” Gus interrupts, “the problem is, they did it.”

“No, it is important,” Freddy argues, “I’d like to know when in the twenty-something days we’ve been sailing did they manage to reinforce the hull?”

“He’s got a point,” Henry agrees before Gus shouts, shutting them both up.

“It’s not important right now! We have a mission to complete and I have no idea what to do.” The boys shout out ideas, each one more ridiculous than the last before Apple speaks up.

“If we can’t destroy the ships, let’s steal them.”

“Say more,” Gus encourages, pulling you into his lap and running his hand comfortingly over your waist. You all listen with bated breath at Apple’s plan. “It’s just crazy enough that it might work.” Gus looks at you with a grin, “And we all know what a mad bunch we are.”

Mad they may be but their professionalism wins out when it comes to pulling a plan out of their ass. In minutes, Bili was filled in on the plan and the boys sprung into action. “You remember what I taught you?” Henry asks, gently touching your shoulders, “the boys and I won’t be here to help you.”

“I remember Henry,” you nod, brushing off his hands, “I got this. I know the plan.” Henry nods before giving you a quick hug. The young Irishman was almost like a brother to you, and you’d hate to lose him. You tighten your arms before letting go. “Eh, do me a favor?” He nods, waiting expectantly, “Don’t die.”

He laughs, “I’ll try, but what are you always telling us? Don’t make a promise that ya can’t keep.” Henry lifts his cap before walking to the tug boat and climbing inside.

“I guess this is the end,” Freddy yawns, “It’ll be a terrible bore if we came all this way and died.” Freddy gives you a tight hug before pressing a device in your hand. You glance at him quizically and he winks, “You’ll know if and when to use it.”

“I’ll try to keep an eye on the old boy,” Apple takes his place giving you a quick squeeze and a kiss to the cheek. “Keep yourself out of trouble, won’t you?” You nod, feeling the tears well up, before a Danish Hammer forcibly pushes Apple aside.

“Oh, my little lamb is now a fierce tigress,” Anders chokes up, pulling you in for a hug so tight you’re sure some of your bones crack.

“Let her go, Lassen,” Gus pushes him away, “If you harm a hair on her body I don’t care if you’re my friend you’ll go for a dip in the Atlantic.”

“Gus,” you chastise, before turning to Anders, “take care of yourself, my friend. Though I know you don’t need it. I wish you luck.” He smiles, turns to the tug boat freezing, and turns slowly around when you clear your throat, “Don’t have too much fun.”

He grins like a child, caught with his hand in the cookie jar, “I’ll try for you.”

“It seems they have all fallen in love with you as much as I have,” Gus grinningly wraps his arms around your waist. “It’s hard to imagine them not.

“You’re biased, my love,” you press your forehead to his own, taking in a shuddering breath and closing your eyes over the sting of tears. “Gus…I.”

“Shhh,” he runs his fingers down your back, “let’s not do the dramatic goodbye. Let’s just say I’ll see you soon. Because I will,” he pulls you back, one finger on your chin, tilting your chin up. You blink your eyes open and the look in his eyes renders you speechless, utter devotion and love shine back at you. “I will see you again, either in this life or the next.” He leans in pressing his lips to your own, he’s warm and the scent of leather and cologne invades your senses leaving you drunk on him. He licks inside your mouth, tangling your tongues together as you grab the collar of his coat, tugging him closer. Before he pulls away with several small kisses to your lips, his mustache twitches with a smile, “I’ll see you soon, my love.”

“See you soon, Gus,” you reply breathlessly, releasing him and watching till he disappears into the tugboat and they pull away.

The waiting is infinite and you jump with every pop of a gun. The sea sways like a mother trying to calm her young, and you tighten your hand on the control Freddy gave you. It’s almost impossible to follow the figures of Gus and Henry as they move on the dock, taking out as many soldiers as possible, but you follow like a hawk, stalking her prey.

“Come on, come on,” you whisper, waiting for the anchor to blow. It seems to take forever but when all falls silent, and the boats move into position the blast comes. It’s loud, sending a ripple through the waves and the dock becomes a fury of activity. Soldiers come pouring out of the only lit warehouse, like champagne pouring out of a bottle. “Oh fuck,” the shooting starts and you clutch the remote tighter. The lights are almost blinding and you stand going over to the wheel and holding yourself steady with the other hand.

The tugboats strain under the heavy weight of the ship, and bullets ricochet off the side. You can hear the shouts of the men, begging the boat to move and a pained cry has you on your tiptoes trying to get a glimpse of the injured party. The situation is grim and you look between the controller in your hands and the scene before you, take a deep breath, and press the button.

The blast is almost powerful enough to knock you over and you have to look away as the light from the explosion threatens to blind you. You slowly open your eyes, standing straight and mouth agape at the sight of the large ship coming straight toward you. “Fuck,” you manuver out of the way, falling into position behind them as you all make a mad dash out of the harbor.

“Those S-boats are gonna be on us soon!” One of the men shout from Bilis crew. Suddenly a second explosion rocks the boat and you turn wide eyed at the collection of S-boats exploding high into the sky.

The men cheer and you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding, taking the helm and leading the boat out into open water. You try to catch sight of Gus but it’s dark and the boats are moving at full speed. You turn to see the burning harbor when you notice one of the tugs waiting, a familiar head of hair, standing at one end looking off in the distance.

Lights appear across the water and you fumble for the gun Gus left you. You aim, looking down the barrel as the boat gets closer, you can hear Bili shout that they need to go but something gives Gus pause. “It’s Heron!” he shouts, “don’t shoot!” You let out a gasp and lower the gun, adrenaline humming.

They pull alongside the tug and Heron and a beautiful woman in a white dress climb aboard before the tug starts moving closer. When they get about two feet from the edge, Gus runs across the deck of the tug and jumps aboard.

“We did it!” He grabs you, throwing his arms around you and spinning you around with a laugh. He lowers you to the ground, kissing you with his arm wrapped around you with his right, and attempting to steer with the left.

“If you crash, my ship, I’ll kill you boss!” Henry shouts and you break apart, gasping at the blood soaking through the cloth wrapped around his shoulder.

“Henry! You’re hurt!”

“Eh, it’s just a scratch,” he shrugs with a smile.

“Nice timing sweetheart,” Freddy shouts with a smile. “I was worried you weren’t gonna press it.”

“Freddy, I’d blow up a hundred harbors to keep my family safe.”

“Your family?” Gus smiles, “I like the sound of that.”

“Do you?” you ask, wrapping both arms around his waist. “How about another title.”

“What’s that?” He grins.

“My husband.”

Gus keeps his arm around you the entire time, the clock ticking on your time together as the small blip that is the destroyer becomes larger and larger. The ants atop the ship become humans, all standing in crisp white uniforms in a row, one more decorated than the others with a scowl on his face.

“I see we meet again,” the Admiral puts his hands on his hips, “you disobeyed a direct order-”

“We have something for you,” Gus interrupts, “found this ship just abandoned in the Atlantic. Thought it might be helpful for you.”

The Admiral raises his brow looking around your ragtag crew, “I see you’re in cahoots with pirates now?”

“Excuse you,” Gus shouts, “show some respect, you’re in the presence of royalty!”

Bili lifts an imaginary hat with a grin and the Admiral seems less than pleased as he scoffs. “All of you are under arrest by her Majestys government. Come aboard at once.”

“Gus,” you whisper, holding tighter around his waist as he presses a kiss to your head.

“We knew this was coming, Darling, just follow my lead.” He unwraps from your hold and moves around the ship, helping his men aboard the ship till the last one is loaded. Bili’s men stay aboard the tugboat, awaiting his orders.

“Admiral,” Bili bows, “my men and I have finished our work here. Your army will regain control of the Atlantic. I just ask for me and my men to return home to Fernando Po so we may begin the cleanup. We have a nasty bug, that I would very much like to stamp out.”

The Admiral raises his head, his mouth agape from reading the manifest of the ship and two tugs before coughing to clear his throat. “Uhm, yes,” he nods, “I suggest you and your men leave before I change my mind.” He turns to the rest of the crew with a frown, “as for the rest of you, it’s the brig for you.”

Everyone bids Bili goodbye as they are slowly ushered below deck to the brig to await arrival back in England. “This one doesn’t belong,” the Admiral stops the progression pointing to you, “you’re not in the report as a part of the mission. Who is she? What is her purpose here?”

“She’s not a part of the mission,” Gus hurries, halfway pushing you behind him, “we saved her from a Nazi garrison, she was being held captive with Captain Appleyard. I couldn’t leave her behind on that island so we brought her along until we could safely return her to England.”

“Did she have any role in this nonsense?” the Admiral gestures to the three ships floating nearby.

“No. We kept her below deck, away from the action. She’s just a civilian.”

“Gus-” you interrupt but go silent when he gives you a stern look before he masks it with a charming smile.

“She had not role in the plot sir, she’s innocent.”

“Very well,” the Admiral nods, “find her a room. But you go to the brig, March-Phillips. I’ll see you locked away for the rest of your life for this.”

“Gus,” you reach toward him but one of the soldiers holds you back, “let me go!”

“Get your hands off her,” Gus shouts, brushing off the soldiers trying to usher him below deck. “Admiral,” Gus turns towards the man, looking back and forth between the two of you. “Are you able to perform a wedding ceremony?”

“What are you bloody on about March-Phillips?!”

“You said I’m going to be locked away for the rest of my life, right? Well if that’s the case, sir, I’d rather leave my home and all my belongings to someone that needs it. Since I won’t be needing it where I’ll be going, sir.” Gus locks eyes with you, “that is if you’ll have me, darling?”

“Oh Gus,” you shake off the soldier's arm, “yes, a million times yes.”

“This is utter madness,” the Admiral scoffs before turning to his second, “Go to my quarters and get the bible off my bedside.” The man runs off and Gus steps closer, reaching out for your hands.

“One more request sir,” Gus turns, “would our friends be able to attend? I would very much like Captain Appleyard to be my best man.”

“And I’d like Anders Lassen to stand at my side,” you add, turning back to Gus with a smile.

“Very well,” the Admiral says, less than pleased with the whole situation.

In ten minutes the entire crew, your friends, and the Admiral stand at attention as you and Gus say your vows overlooking the Atlantic ocean. Anders stands at your side, holding the makeshift bouquet one of the soldiers fashioned out of knotted rope. “By the power vested in me by the United Kingdom and her Majesty’s Royal Navy, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

Gus beams, pulling you close and dipping you into a passionate kiss as the ship explodes into thunderous applause. Anders sobs loudly, Marjorie handing him a handkerchief as he tries to muffle his tears. When Gus rights you, he presses another quick kiss to your lips, “I love you, and I’ll continue to love you for the rest of my life.”

“I love you too,” you cry, wrapping your arms around him, “I’ll be waiting Gus. I’ll wait forever for you to come home to me because my home is you.”

“Sorry to interrupt this happy moment,” one of the soldiers cuts in, “but you need to go back to the brig, sir.” Gus glares him down and he drops his head stepping away as Gus gives you a dozen more kisses before going with the soldier. He holds your gaze till the last second and you can’t help but feel a part of your soul go with him.

The rest of the journey feels endless, knowing the man you love and friends are below you locked in a cage awaiting trial. The men that call this vessel home are kind, bringing you meals and escorting you around the ship for a walk. And when the boat docks a week later you wait after disembarking hoping for a glimpse of your husband.

“Miss,” a man comes up beside you, “I’m Lieutent Fleming, I’ve been instructed to bring you home.”

“I want to wait,” you frown, “I want to see him.”

“I’m afraid that’s impossible, they’ve been instructed to wait till you’re gone before unloading the prisoners.”

You glare, “those prisoners, are the most loyal soldiers I’ve ever known. Do you have any idea what they’ve done for this country?!”

His eyes widen, “I assure you, I am well aware of their sacrifice. Please, let me get you home and safe and I’ll explain everything. We have a plan to get them out. Please,” he holds out an arm towards the waiting car. You glance back at the ship one last time before biting your lip to hold back the tears and follow him into the car.

As he drives the tears stream down your face and you try to keep the sob clawing at your throat at bay. “Don’t worry, miss,” Lieutent Fleming assures, “we will get them out.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” you whisper, burrowing down into the seat and closing your eyes.

The next six weeks pass in a blur of cleaning, coffee, and meetings with Ian. Lieutenant Fleming kept to his word and he’s been working alongside his boss, the mysterious M to get the boys and Marjorie from the military prison.

The day comes seven weeks and two days since you married Gus. “It’s time,” Ian quickly phones before the car arrives. You lock the door, pocketing the key and getting in.

“Good Morning Ian,” you smile, buckling up, and freezing when you notice it’s not Ian Fleming sitting across from you.

“Expecting someone else, were you?” Winston Churchill smiles across from you and you visibly swallow your mouth going dry. “Mrs. March-Phillips, I presume?” You nod, speechless, and he chuckles pleased, “you may call me Winston.”

“Oh, Mr. Churchill, I could never dream addressing you so informally,” you stumble over your words. “I just want my husband back, sir.”

“I understand,” he nods, putting his cigar back in his mouth and grinding down on one end while he talks. “You’re husband is a hero, and we need more like him. Men who are willing to take orders and give their own spin on them. Less yes sir, and no sir and more thinkers. I wish I had a hundred like him.”

You giggle, “I think theres no one out there quite like Gus.”

“Touche,” he grins, “I understand he’s been quite vocal about allowing visitors. The guards tell me they have a bag of letters for you upon arrival. He writes several daily but with the trial he was unable to send them. Another point he is most vocal about.”

The gate of the prison looms and your eyes widen as the car glides through and around the back out of view near the service entrance. “We can’t have anyone knowing I’m here.” You nod, following behind him as he gets out of the car and puts his hat on his head. A truck pulls up behind you and several soldiers disembark with baskets and silver tray ladden with rich foods. “I have to honor them somehow,” Mr. Churchill gives you a wink before he sets his face in the trademark scowl you’ve seen in the papers.

You follow as he walks down a dark corridor, his cane tapping on the floor almost soothing. “Stay here,” he stops just before the door, “you’ll be my last gift to them.” You pause, almost running around the corner but you know the anticipation is worth it. Mr. Churchills speech leaves tears gathering at the corner of your eyes and you ring your hands together as the soldiers carry in the food spreading it out on the table before them.

“And one last thing,” you perk up when you hear the chairs scrape across the floor as your friends prepare to dig into the feast. “Although this one is for you Captain March-Phillips than the rest of you. Come along, dear,” Mr. Churchill calls and you step around the corner, your heart nearly beating out of your chest.

Gus’s eyes nearly bug out as they trail over every inch of you, the tap of the cane fading as the silence grows. His hair has grown out and his facial hair is unkept but he’s still as handsome as ever. “Hello,” you whisper, your hands clenching at your side nervously, “did you miss me?”

Freddy snorts, “Miss you?! God woman that’s all he bloody talks about!” Marjorie slaps him up the back of the head and you laugh before Gus launches himself at you.

“Darling,” he shudders, holding you tight and putting his face in your neck taking deep inhales, “god, I was going mad without you.”

“Can confirm,” Freddy shouts.

“Shut up, you wanker!” Henry hits him in the shoulder, “They haven’t seen each other for seven bloody weeks.”

The room fades away as they quarrel at the table, but you only notice Gus. The feel of his muscle through the prison jumpsuit, the scratch of his facial hair against your skin, the warmth from his mouth pressing kisses to your neck. “Gus,” you whisper, running your hands through his hair as his mouth seeks your own, and he presses a kiss to your lips for the first time in nearly two months.

“Fuck,” he groans, “I missed you.”

“The feeling is mutual. Home is too quiet without you, and I can’t fucking sleep without you, Gus. I’m not sure I ever want to again.”

“You won’t,” he nuzzles your cheek before closing his eyes and keeping you pressed into his arms, “I won’t ever leave you again, darling.”

“Did you say home?” Henry interrupts, a mouthful of meat pie filling his mouth as he talks between bites.

“Yes,” you nod, “I moved into Gus’s home while he’s been away. Ian Fleming helped me.”

“Ah-ha!” Food splatters across the table as he points at Freddy, “You owe me ten pounds!”

“The bet was, she would go home with him at the end of the mission! He never went home, so actually you owe me ten pounds!”

“You bet on us?” you ask, with a chuckle, Gus leading you over to the table and pulling you into his lap.

“Ja,” Anders nods, “there were several bets actually.”

“And this bet was if I would go home with Gus at the end of the mission?” they both nod digging back into their dinner. “Well then, Henry would win,” Freddy opens to his mouth to argue but you hold up a hand silencing him. You take the fork out of Gus’s hand feeding him bites of pie as he leans against your chest with his eyes closed, a smile stretched against his face. “Because as soon as you completed I went home with Gus. Maybe not physically but I’m his wife and he’s my husband and wherever I go he’s in my heart and I his.”

“That’s not how it works,” Freddy pouts.

“Don’t bet on me then, if you don’t like the outcome,” Gus laughs opening his eyes and pulling you down for a kiss.

His eyes are warm as he rubs his hand against your cheek, his friends laughing and teasing one another surrounded by good food. All's right with the world and in an hour they’ll be free. Gus pulls you in for another kiss his lips lingering a second longer as he whispers against your lips, a smile splitting his face, “that’s my girl.”

Requests are open. Got another idea for this fandom? Send them my way! Thanks for reading!

[an-excellent-choice]

A random thought but I am what you would consider as a new fan in dragon age. So, for me the common discourse/hate surrounding Cullen in the games is really shallow.

(I am referring to the character not the voice actor, I do not give a shit about that guy and about his bullshit)

I see a lot of hate on cullen and how either he is so fucking bland or evil because he is a equivalent to a cop in dragon age. which while I can see the comparison it just go and shows how people cant really handle an overarching flawed character story arc when they aren't this witty or sassy person.

Cullen is great example of how a traumatic experience can sway you to extremism (you know like Bolin in Korra) He wasn't inherently bad, hell he trained in a very lenient and peaceful circle without any issue or complaints on his side.

(reminder that the Cullen trained in was very chill and balanced if you think about it. Anders stayed in that circle while doing his multiple escape attempts and they never made him tranquil. Other examples include all the kissing allowed in the circle and the fact the you can save the circle in DAO if you save the first enchanter)

Then everything went to shit in that relaxed circle.

Cullen was tortured and was forced to watch everyone around him get killed by the very things that he was warned what mages was.

If you think about it he probably blamed majority of what happened to leniency of the circle to the mages which is why it isnt a surprise that he would be supportive of strictness of the circle in kirkwall.

A lot of people hate on Cullen because of da2 which i understand but this part of the story is kind of like anders in da2 act 3 or loghain in dao for him.

He is part of his life where he is as closest to monster he could be but you know why he isn't the worst is because he has a line that he didnt cross which was killing allies/ civilians. He later also acknowledges in DAI the pain and atrocities he caused in DA2.

He is aware of his biases and is trying to redeem himself by helping in the inquisition as an independent faction. He left the templars.

He hates how the templars has treated him and his faith to be weapons of abuse. While he was a perpetrator of the abuses of the templars, people forget he is also a victim.

Templars are required to intake lyrium to be part of the order. This system literally uses these drugs to make them addicts and gain control on them. I dont know about you but that shit isnt really comparable to being cops.

He is literally a recovering drug addict in DAI and the reason why he is doing this is to show that templars can do it. They can leave the order.

Extra: I love cullen because he is so complicated and he is trying his best. Does this mean I want to see him in DATV? Fuck no. If him being brought back into story requires for the voice actor to be hired for it. no fucking thanks. His story is done and I'm happy with that

P.S also extra note about people saying he is creepy because he had a crush on the warden in DAO while he was a templar is a stupid point.

I dont care if the author originally wanted it to seem creepy, they completely failed on that mood and they forgot characters can also write themselves a story if you are not careful.

Cullen was incredibly shy and knew how inappropriate his crush was. He literally ran away from any flirting attempts. It is not bad to have a crush with someone you shouldn't have on, AS LONG AS YOU KNOW THE BOUNDARIES AND DONT LET ANYONE CROSS THOSE BOUNDARIES. which he didn't.

[vigilskeep]

Thoughts on Anders going from being very outgoing and flirty fun in the dlc to being a bit more introverted and careful in da2? Is it bc he and Justice has merged, his mental health degrading, or his new "freedom" turned into a new kind of prison?or anything else? Or all of them? God I love the anders meta

lots of thoughts! most prominently, i think anders has literally become a whole other separate person as well as himself, on account of being possessed. i do very much consider anders to also be justice throughout da2, not just when he starts glowing. imo that shows in, like, all their dialogue. i mean, let’s reverse the question: why is anders-justice’s dialogue in da2 so outgoing and flirty when justice is so serious and literal in awakening? because now anders is also there. so why is anders-justice more serious and literal than awakening anders? because justice is also there. here’s some quick comparisons of location comments from justice to anders-justice:

that’s justice, right? he’s in there! i’m not saying anders isn’t there, too, it sounds a lot more like anders in tone because it’s coming through anders, but these are just the ones i picked as being obviously justice-y when you make the comparison. you can see it in a lot of the companion banters, too. for example, justice finds it very difficult to agree to disagree or laugh off a challenge in the way anders used to be able to, which i think comes through most obviously with fenris and merrill, but a lot of the others, too. awakening justice often has several connected banters in succession; once he gets a thought into his head, once something distresses him abt one of his companions, he can’t let it go or leave it alone, because he’s still figuring out how to navigate the fact that people are complex and incongruous and so is the world they live in. he thinks everything is black and white and if he just explains enough then everyone can understand. which is far more like da2 anders-justice than something like this:

in da2 making these kinds of comparisons between others and himself is still his go-to method of trying to convince people, it’s a very anders move, but the way he backs off here is not something justice or anders-justice is capable of. awakening anders tries to let everything glance off him. having justice kind of cripples his ability to use that defence mechanism. i mean, that’s half the point of the whole possession. letting justice possess him was about taking the injustices done to the mages seriously and doing something about it. but it also makes him incapable of playing it off as a joke like he used to, he has to take everything personally

another example of justice in da2 anders-justice dialogue is the way he believes in atonement and retribution, that actions must have consequences even if he’s not always certain how it should actually happen in the real world and he struggles to understand real world context. justice has related conversations with nathaniel and sigrun about their criminal pasts, but for quick comparison’s sake, here’s banters with velanna and isabela:

a lot to say here but my point is not to make judgements, mainly just to compile evidence that justice is always a part of him? and the personality change really makes complete sense when you look at it from that angle. how would that not change how you act. anders-justice saying things that awakening anders would never have said is no less surprising imo than anders-justice saying things justice would never have said (and anders-justice does sound like awakening anders way more than people give him credit for)

otherwise, the mental health Situation is definitely also part of it. he’s not doing well. lirene says she’s never seen him smile. but i also think it’s a mistake to think awakening anders is even comparatively a paragon of mental health because, oh boy! he’s manic he’s so so angry right under the surface he’s fresh out of a year in solitary confinement. he NEEDS you to like him and to not take him seriously because people thinking he’s charming and harmless is literally the only reason he’s alive but also it would kill him to purposefully be what an authority figure who controls whether he lives or dies wants out of him so he’s settled for being funny with increasing desperation. you could make a whole other post out of this. my point is i just think it’s a misread of anders to be like “oh he was completely fine and normal in awakening and then it really went downhill between that and da2 and that’s why he’s not as funny now”. if that makes sense? the funnymanning was the symptoms all along i am afraid

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

It really gets me that since my canon Hawke is a mage, I'll never actually get to know Bethany.

Sure, I could just start an alternate playthrough with Hawke as a warrior or rogue and get to know her over the course of Act 1 before I have to decide if I want to take her on the expedition and make her become a Grey Warden, or leave her behind to be taken to the circle.

Except that's not my Bethany, just as it wouldn't be my Carver who died. My Hawke twins grew up with an older brother who was a mage. Their respective character arcs rely heavily on being the sole mage or non-mage of the siblings, so if my Hawke isn't a mage, they're not the same people... and unfortunately, we don't get to see the arc of the twin who shares Hawke's class. Y'know, because of the death.

The last time I tried doing an alternate run with a warrior Hawke, I had a conversation with Bethany where she said that Carver would've hated Kirkwall and probably would've gotten himself arrested the first day, and I sat there like.... I'm sorry? Are we talking about the same Carver?? Because the Carver I know would only get himself arrested for resisting and fighting back with any templars who tried to take his siblings away? He spent the entire first act being like, "Hey, don't do stupid shit or attract too much attention, or the templars will take you away!"

And that's when it really hit me that sure, I'm getting to know Bethany, but I'm getting to know a Bethany who grew up as the lone mage in the sibling group, and that's not the same Bethany that died in my canon run.

I want to know the Bethany who grew up with an older brother who also had the gift of magic but embraced it more than she ever did. I don't even get to learn much about her through dialogue, either. Carver doesn't talk about her nearly as much as Bethany talks about him when she's alive, and when someone does bring her up with him, Carver's usually super defensive about it.

I'll be running around and Bethany will just, "Yeah, my brother used to nail my braid to the headboard. I miss him so much. Hey, the Chantry, I lit a candle for Carver in there. Remember Carver's jig? He used to do that to make me feel better. I miss Carver so much."

Carver's just more reserved and defensive about his grief over losing her, and when he does willingly bring her up, you can feel him struggle to even get her name out; "These are blood mages, they're not like you or... Bethany."

That's why I love the Legacy DLC; Carver will talk about Bethany, and Malcolm, with Hawke without his guard up. At least he does with me, at that point I have his Friendship nearly maxed out so he's just softer in general.

But someone else brings her up, like Anders? Who was genuinely trying to be nice? Carver's response has the vibe of, "You didn't even know her, and you don't care about me, so you're only saying this because she was a mage. Just shut up, stop talking to me."

And I can't even bring her up to Carver in dialogue options the way I can bring him up to Bethany. You can ask her what Carver would think of Kirkwall. During the Legacy DLC there's a humorous option to do Carver's jib for her when she's sad. She brings him up in companion dialogue. It feels like there's more opportunities there, and perhaps Hawke just knows how Carver is and doesn't want to prod. Honestly, maybe it's just me, but my game always feels like that vine-

Hawke: Do you ever want to talk about your emotions, Carver? Carver: No. Anders/Fenris/literally everyone else in Kirkwall: We do! Hawke: I know, y'all. Anders/Fenris/literally everyone else in Kirkwall: We're sad! Hawke: I know, y'all.

I'm sure the differences in the starting Friendship/Rivalry also play into why Bethany's more open about it than Carver is in Act 1, and they're characters who have different grieving processes anyway.

I don't know, maybe you have an easier time merging them through different playthroughs, but DA2 is one that I struggle with deviating from my canon path, I can't do it... Which means poor Bethany's always dead, and I'll never get to be mage siblings with her or see the Hawke trio take over Kirkwall together because DA2 is just a constant "great, so what can we do this week to make Hawke extra sad?"

[radioactivespiderblood]

Jewish Damian Wayne thoughts

Ok gentile here

I'm trying to get back into writing fic and I'm working on a DamiJon fic featuring Jewish Damian.

Like, there are so many amazing possibilities for this! At some point in living with Bruce (who's canonically ethnically Jewish but was not raised Jewish) he decides to go to Sabot service one week. He ends up really liking it and going every week (or as many as possible) until he decides to get serious about being Jewish. Ra's would probably disown him for not bowing to him and valuing God above him. Good riddance if you ask them.

Eventually he would have a bar mitzvah (which would be a huge event because Wayne) and the entire Batfamily would be there. I guess Superman would keep an eye on Gotham for a bit?

Bruce, Alfred, Dick, Cass, Tim, Steph, Duke and Kate are all invited of course. (Jon and Lois too, a shame Clark couldn't make it)

Jason and Talia have to get creative. Talia is probably crouched in the rafters somewhere. Jason is security.

Mara al Ghul (Damian's cousin) might be hiding in the shadows somewhere. Who knows, does she love him? Does she hate him? Bruce's old friend from boarding school Oliver Queen is invited. Minhkhoa Khan somehow managed to get invited. Harley Quin and Poison Ivy are there, invited or not, cheering loudly. Cassandra asked to invite one of her model friends, Kori Anders. No one can stand to say no to Cass, not even Damian.

Everyone got very drunk at the party and Bruce did take Khoa home. He does not regret it. He does wish he remembered it. Barbra did not drink a drop, knowing she'd have to remove embarrassing pictures and videos from the internet. (If she keeps a little bit for blackmail no one would blame her. That shit was gold)

Damian doesn't care as long as no one gets murdered nothing gets set on fire and he gets to have one day where nothing goes wrong. He has way more fun than he expected.

[r0b1ns]

BOYFRIEND WHO GOES TO A PUBLIC SCHOOL - ELITE

X MALE READER

CHARACTERS: Samuel, Omar, Guzman, Ander, Polo, Patrick, Ivan, Valerio, Bilal

CW: none

WORD COUNT: 800+

°°°°°°°°′°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

SAMUEL

He doesn't care.

Obviously.

You went to school together but separated when he went to the rich kids school.

You meet every day after classes to gossip.

If you need he helps you with school work

He's smart

He was never ashamed to admit to everyone you're dating

You like sitting on a cliff near you at night while he tells you about the assholes he goes to class with

GUZMAN

It took him long enough to actually start dating you.

Both because you're a guy and because of your money status.

So he keeps you a secret.

Of course you don't like it, but you understand.

You meet up almost every day in a secret place only the two of you know.

Or in your house, if your parents or whoever you live with know.

Eventually you get sick of hiding and you get into an argument.

You break up and he feels too miserable without you so he tells his friends first

And than his family

The don't take it so well, not because you're a guy, but because you're not rich.

But they get used to it

He invites you to every party he goes to

And buys you expensive things

You always tell him not to, he listens but occasionally still buys you something

OMAR

If you go to school together you're unseparatable.

You sit together every class, and if you have different ones you meet immediately after.

You try to keep it down and look life regular friends

So his family won't find out.

If you go to different schools you both snick in the middle of the day to meet halfway and smoke

Sometimes you get in trouble cause you arrive late to class

You love making jokes about samu and Nadia, how they're both with the rich kids they used to make fun of.

ANDER

He really doesn't care

Neither does his mom

You practically live with them

She really adores you.

You always go clubbing together, and Guzman really likes you

You make him happy and encourage him to send you to his father

Ander, unlike Guzman, doesn't buy you expensive shit.

He understands it makes you feel weird and respects it.

POLO

It took him time to accept it

He did grow up rich and IS rich

But with that character development I believe he'll be completely ok with it

His moms obviously dgaf about you being a guy, but the fact that you're not rich?

They'll accept it eventually too

He brings you to every event

He takes big pride in you, and if you have a school dance or something he'll absolutely go with you

He likes buying you stuff, but you made a deal it won't be too often or too expensive.

He even picks you up from school sometimes.

PATRICK

He doesn't care, but he does use it as a rebellious act towards his father

He invites you to his house constantly.

Doesn't buy you things, but he does pay for dinner, clubs, drinks etc..

He's afraid you're with him only for his money

He has some trust issues

So he pushes you away.

But you're stubborn and don't give up easily

You constantly have to reassure him you live him and he deserves happiness

IVAN

He honestly doesn't even thinks about that sort of things

He likes you because of you, not your money.

After his dad accepts himself he's very chill with you,

If you like football you're his new best friend.

Ivan prefers staying at your house, to escape all that partying his dad does.

He likes your house, it's small and cozy, and quiet.

He sometimes wishes he was normal like you, not famous dad, no too much money on his hands, but you have to remind him that he's very privileged and he needs to appreciate.

Doesn't like showing up at your school, there are a lot of fans and he doesn't like the attention

VALERIO

Totally ok with it.

Likes to shove your relationship to his dad

He's very handsy with you no matter where or who you're with

Takes you to every club known to men

Buys you so many drinks

Treats you like a prince

If someone says something about you he's already there kicking their ass

He likes randomly showing up to your classes and getting you in trouble so he can have more time with you

BILAL

Doesn't give two shits

He wasn't interested in your money status before and does not now

He even feels more at ease with you because he's surrounded with a lot of rich people, and you make him feel equal

Idk where he lives but you two like going out more than staying home

Just sitting in a random park or abandoned site.

It takes the pressure off of him to be with someone who gets him

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

!GIFS ARE NOT MINE!

[gamergirl-06]

Michael Anders x Reader

This was requested by @hyunjinbiased-blog who wanted the reader to be dating Micheal and the reader is also a sibling to Emma, oh yes and this has a happy ending (out of the other option being an unhappy ending).

I did my best on this one.

How? You ask yourself as you look at Michael who is doing what he usually does best..being Michael.

You didn’t know how you got so lucky to find someone like him in the apocalypse, but by god were you grateful for the universe bringing you together.

Was it perhaps because the universe knew you would be lonely? Was it maybe because it knew he needed someone by his side the rest of his life? You aren’t quite sure but regardless it doesn’t matter.

You have everything you could ever need right here, in your arms as Michael walked over to the bed and you layed in his arms and he smiled pressing a kiss to your lips as you get comfortable.

You had kept your relationship on the down low because Your Sister, Emma, had no clue that you two were dating and you weren’t planning on telling her anytime soon.

I mean really You and her PA? She would freak if she found out the 2 closest people to her are screwing behind her back.

A part of you felt guilty for not telling her, she was your sister and siblings share shit about each other all the time.

Michael felt this way too since he was her closest friend and confidant (apart from you) and he felt bad that he had been lying to her since she noticed that you two were getting too friendly with each other.

Flashback

Emma eyes you both suspiciously as you both giggle at something on the tv screen in the lounge area as Michael arms his arm around you pulling you closer to him.

You two had been acting to friendly with each other a lot lately, especially when she saw you both.

She shrugged it off thinking that since you two were best friends that that’s how you acted, plus she knew most best friends acted like that.

She walks over to Andrea and sits with her near the couch sat the very small bar.

Andrea looks at her knowingly “You have your suspicions”

Emma nodded her head “I don’t know what going on, I feel like they are together, I don’t mind if they are I just…I don’t know I could be wrong, they haven’t really confirmed anything, does anyone know?”

Andrea shook her head “No I don’t think anyone has heard anything from them”

“Oh ok, thanks for telling me Andrea” Emma said as she placed her arm on top of the bar and rested her head in her hand as she watched you.

End of Flashback

The Survivors didn’t even know that you were with Michael, not that they would care because they have other shit to worry about, going on runs, trying to get information from the doctor in Santa Monica for a cure.

You were pretty close to all of them and they all had some sort of family figure roll in your life.

Dani was like a mother figure, Very supportive of you and what you want to do but will be authoritative when she needs too.

Jacob was like the uncle who brings the vibe and fun to the function, he makes you laugh with his humour and overall wacky.

Ryan was like the protective older brother, he always watched your back.

Carla is the older cousin that likes getting into trouble with you (after all she is an adrenaline junkie).

Amy is the older sister that always teases you about anything.

And Bruno is the younger cousin that just likes to join in on the trouble with you and Carla because “You only live once”.

A knock sounded at the door and Michael gets up from the bed and opens it to see Sam.

“Hey, uh I need you to do me a favour, could you..” Sam stops when he sees you.

You were terrified so you froze up as he stared at you but a smirk came upon his lips.

“My my Michael, looks like you have been fucking Emma’s Sibling behind her back” Sam chuckled.

Michael’s eyes went wide with fear “No that’s not-“

“Oh I think it is, I actually think Emma would love to know -“ he turned around and Michael tackled him…well jumped on his back.

Sam was taken aback by this “What the fuck man”

Emma runs up the stairs “Michael what in earth are you doing” she sees you

Before Poor Michael could respond Sam blurts out “Michael has been fucking them”

Fuck.

You look down not wanting to make eye contact with your sister as you sat there hopeless.

You looked out the window and planned an escape route if you could jump out of it.

You get up off the bed but Emma grabs your wrist “Are you two together?”

You didn’t answer and she sighed.

“I said are you two-“

“YES we are” you broke, and you fall to your knees sobbing.

Well you can’t back the pedal now the secret was out Michael looked fucking terrified because he didn’t know if Emma was gonna let him have it or not.

Emma grabs you up of the floor “I’m not mad at you guys, infact I kinda had a inkling but I wasn’t sure, so I’m happy that it was confirmed”

You gasped as she pulled you into a hug and you hugged back.

“I love him em and he loves me”

She pulls away “how long has this been going on” she point to you and Michael.

“Since the plane crash” you admitted

Flashback

You woke up surrounded by people all over the plane not moving.

You sit up and run your head “ow what the fuck happened”

You were confused as the last thing you remembered people everywhere screaming as the plane went down.

Oh you remembered now as you stood up and a hand grabbed ahold of yours. You jumped but are relieved when it was just Michael that was revealed as the person.

“Sorry to startle you are you ok?” He asked

You nod “yeah just a bruise, what about you?”

He nods “same, I’m ok nothing major, we need to get out and find the others”

You nod and try to find an opening to which you thankfully did and you both hoisted yourself into the open hole and jump down to search for the others.

Michael stopped and you look at him confused.

“Michael what’s wrong” you say

“I love you” Michael blurted out

You were taken aback by this but it made you smile nonetheless.

“I ugh..I’m sorry..I…I didn’t realise-“ but he was cut off by you kissing him.

He kissed back and you pulled away “I love you too Michael Anders”

Once you found the others you regrouped with Emma and the others

End flashback

She looks at you “oh, well then I guess you found something good that came out of this”

You laugh “I most certainly did” Michael wraps his arm around your waist.

“Emma I promise to do nothing but live and cherish them, I can promise you that” Michael said.

Emma smiles “well then if that’s the case I don’t have to worry about (Y/N)”.

She turns to walk away and then turns around again to face us

“But if you do anything other then that, you know what I will do” she said.

“I uh aha I won’t hurt her..I promise” Michael said nervously

“Good” she said and walked out of the room.

You kiss Michael and he says “there is no one else I’d rather be with”

Bonus:

“Hey Emma?” Michael asked her

“Yes” she replied

Michael swallowed nervously “ I have a question, it’s a very big one”

She turns around intrigued and looks at him “and what would that be?”

Michael breathed in and out and just said it “I want to ask you if I can have (Y/N)’s hand in marriage?”

Her eyes widened and her she gave the biggest smile “Michael, you have my blessing”

He looks at her surprised “really..I..thank you”

He runs off and Emma immediately run to the others in the other room “Michael’s gonna propose to (Y/N)”.

Michael led you to the balcony which was perfect because the sun set made the lighting beautiful for a proposal.

“(Y/N) I know we’ve had our ups and downs but I really want to be with you forever and I love you so much, I can’t imagine if I hadn’t met you, so…”

He grabs out a box with a shiny ring in it and gets down on one knee “will you marry me?”

Your hand went to your mouth as you cried and then you nod your head.

“Yes Michael I will marry you” you say and you laugh through tears as he put to ring in your finger.

You share a kiss in the gorgeous sunset but what you didn’t know was that everyone was watching the event and gave cheers to which you didn’t hear, they did t want to ruin YOUR moment.

[chronurgy]

10 characters, 10 fandoms

Thanks for the tag @rowanisawriter!

Tagging: @weavewithshadow, @bhaalsbabe, anyone else who wants to play!

Oooo this is going to be hard because I tend to get really into multiple characters from the same thing, but let's go! In no particular order:

1. Essek Thelyss - Critical Role

He's a war criminal. He's a prodigy. He's a traitor. He's a time and gravity wizard. He's a heretic in a theocracy where his mother is a living saint. He floats everywhere instead of walking. When the gang asks if they're going to have to kill him, he laughs and says "I'd like to see you try". He crushes someone to death with gravity simply by closing his fist. "My reasons [for treason] weren't good, but they were important". He goes from not having cared about anyone in 120 years to caring so much about a bunch of weirdos in like, 6 weeks. He made his father so mad during an argument that the guy stormed off and died. What's not to love? He makes me so insane.

Honorable mention: Caleb Widogast

2. Anders - Dragon Age

My favorite chaotic bisexual disaster man. The contrast between awakening anders and da2 anders is so fascinating for me. He's this carefree guy, except he isn't really that carefree, is he? He escapes over and over and over, swimming across the lake even. He hates the circle and hates the Templars just as much, he's just funnier about it. When you start adding up the year in solitary, Karl, the fact that he must have seen all the injuries in the circle as a spirit healer, it starts becoming very clear why he is the way he is. He also sucks! He's petty, he's mean, and he's so up his own ass about how right he thinks he is about everything. But he also runs a clinic for the poorest of the poor, dodging Templars and freeing mages all the while. He does the excellent wizard hubris thing of taking the future into his own hands, even if it kills people (suck my nuts elthina). He loves a romanced Hawke so much, even as he experiences this greater calling. Plus Grey wardens are cool as hell and he loves cats.

Honorable mention: mage!Hawke

3. Merlin - BBC Merlin

This show manages to be both ridiculous and sad. Merlin is such a happy go lucky, cheerful character at the beginning, then we watch as things just keep getting worse. He cannot seem to win. By the end, that cheerfulness seems much closer to a mask he's desperately clinging to than anything else. He's an expert liar and manipulator, he's a killer, and he's so, so alone. If he ever tells anyone that he's a sorcerer, he'll be executed. And he lives in the shadow of that for years, unable to be himself even with the people he's closest to. Also characters who have their eyes change colors when using their powers my beloved.

4. Daenerys Targaryen - ASOIAF

I love her chapters - there's so much interesting and human depth to her struggles (even when her struggles are fantastical). She struggles to know how to rule, and rule well. She takes hostages but loves them too much to kill them. She struggles to create and maintain a peace for her people even as that peace asks things of her she cannot bear. She worries what it says about her that her children are monsters and she both loves and fears them. She desperately wants a simple, loving life but is also so, so doomed to never have that. She's a queen and a dragon rider and a young woman trying to understand the world. She's great. (I don't care about the tv show I'm talking books here)

Honorable mentions: Jon Snow, Cersei Lannister

5. Gale Dekarios - Baldur’s Gate

Oh yeah, another hubris wizard. He's funny and has this easy, good natured charm that makes it possible to ignore that he's an absolute FREAK. He's got one of my favorite wizard traits - a strong ends justify the means streak. He points, very genteelly, at all the ways power and knowledge drive and corrupt. He's a sweetheart but he brags all the time. Except it isn't bragging, because he can back it up. He can really, genuinely, become a god. His relationship with the dark urge also makes me insane, because I think in some ways he's both the clearest eyed about what will happen to them and the one most willing to meet them where they are and also desperately wants to believe they're a good person, even when it's clear that they aren't. His line about how their life is no longer theirs to lead, only to follow to a dark urge who embraces Bhaal is incredible. The diverging paths of who he can become over the course of the game are fascinating and there's so much depth to him. He's great. Oh, he also excuses his cat's crimes. Love that in a man.

Honorable mentions: Enver Gortash, The Dark Urge

6. Camilla Hect - The Locked Tomb

She's the most composed, controlled, meticulous batshit fucking crazy woman in the world. Unstoppable force vibes. Instead of moving on after her necromancers death she pieced together tiny fragments of his skull and then shared her body with him. She's a genius and she can't let go of her insanely codependent relationship, even when it kills her (but honestly Paul seems pretty cool and I'm excited to learn more about them)

Honorable mention: Palamedes Sextus

7. The Jovial Contrarian - Fallen London

A little more niche, this one! I sometimes find that characters in fallen london can sort of pale in interest compared to the overall lore and happenings, but the Jovial Contrarian is one of my favorites. He loves arguing and will argue with anyone about anything at any time. If you have regular debating lessons with him, people will hide behind couches rather than face you. He's part of the calendar council and hates the masters but also wants a solution that isn't the liberation of the night. Anytime his name is mentioned you know you're about to read something ridiculous. Fun guy!

Honorable mentions: Poor Edward (incredibly narsty. great villain), The Eagle, Ascendant (they have like, 3 lines of lore and they're all fantastic)

8. Midna - Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

I remember playing twilight princess for the first time and I just immediately fell in love with Midna. She's snarky, she's mean, her design is cool as hell, and I really loved her arc as she grew to really care about people over the course of the game. She remains firmly the best Zelda companion in my mind.

9. Elim Garak - Star Trek

You always knew it was going to be a great episode when Garak showed up. He always feels 30 seconds from chewing on the scenery and it is fantastic. He's an exiled spy and maybe a little bit of a monster and he never pretends otherwise. His lines to Sisko in "In the Pale Moonlight," telling him that he must have known what Garak would do, and that if the price of winning the war is Sisko's self respect then he'd call that a bargain are some of my favorite in an episode that already has a lot of really good lines. Aw man I wanna watch DS9 now.

Honorable mentions: Julian Bashir, Captain Picard, Tasha Yar (but wasn't she lame and poorly written? Yes. But young me was extremely taken with this aggressive short-haired woman for reasons I could not articulate at the time 🥴)

10. Morgan Yu - Prey (2017)

Okay so if you haven't played Prey stop reading right now and go buy it. Don't look up any spoilers or plot or anything just do it. If you liked dishonored or deathloop you'll love it. Now: who IS Morgan Yu? Who WAS Morgan Yu? Are they even the same person any more? How culpable are they? How culpable were they? Part of the reason Morgan is so endlessly fascinating to me is because we'll never know. How integral are memories to the continuity of the self? Why did you do what you did? Did you, the person standing here right now, even do it? The game just delivers gut punch after gut punch to Morgan and I love it and I love them (whoever they might have been).

Overall honorable mentions: the outsider from dishonored, garrus from mass effect, vimes and vetinari from discworld, and all my dnd characters (shout out especially to Hermès Montclair who fucked a dragon, died (unrelated to said dragon fucking), then came back wrong and fucked the dragon again! No one's doing it like you baby)

[burr-ell]

🔥 Critical Role c1, please ? or TLOVM ?

I really don't care for how TLOVM is adapting Keyleth and Vax. Their relationship doesn't do a whole lot for me in C1, but I respect it, and I actually find it more interesting as this sort of legendary star-crossed tragedy, written in fables and shrouded in myth. We know who these characters were in canon—Keyleth was fierce, compassionate, self-righteous, naive, courageous, and stubborn; Vax was loyal, fun-loving, snarky, possessive, reckless, and foolhardy. Like, the dramatic irony between what we know about Keyleth and Vax and what the world knows about the Tempest and the Champion is great!

So I really feel like TLOVM is fumbling the ball here. Keyleth hasn't exhibited a single flaw other than "doesn't believe in herself enough, hasn't memorized the druid 5e spell list", and it strips her of what made her relatable and interesting. Gone is her contentious-yet-loving relationship with Percy; gone is her distrust for the gods; gone is her preachiness and willingness to be the moral compass. What's left is a Disney Princess who says fuck, who's just so endearing and likable, and it feels so sanded-down. Her moments of triumph don't feel earned, because what did she have to overcome other than self-doubt?

She doesn't even have the agency to change her clothes! That could have been a great moment where she swaps out green for red to honor her fallen people, not to mention excellent setup for her conflict with Raishan later, but instead it just...happens because of her doing magick-y stuff in the Fire Plane. It's a small thing, but it adds up.

Vax is just...frustrating. There's not a single moment that really makes him look bad; even him being mean to Percy is completely understandable and justified by the narrative. (Like, Percy killed his sister, man. It was an accident, sure, but he killed her. Vax has every reason to be mean to him!) He doesn't do something like knocking Kynan unconscious in one hit in a misguided attempt at tough love or charging into a trap in Anders' office and nearly getting Cassandra killed. The reckless "but did you die" attitude he often has in that stage of the campaign is nonexistent, leaving in its place a very nice YA love interest who traded his life for his sister's and follows the Raven Queen now. He's completely palatable and sympathetic the entire time.

There is one exception to this, and it's completely unintentional: the grove in the Fey Realm. Percy tells the group they have to project positivity, and right as Vax is grumbling that it's stupid, he gets attacked. Vax...immediately blames Percy, and even Percy says it doesn't make sense. But it does. Vax was openly and loudly showing negative emotions. Why is no one pointing this out? Why is Vax allowed to have the last word in this scene? Why is this a "Percy doesn't get the Fey Realm" or "there's something weird about Vax" moment? From the scene as it's written, Percy gets the Fey Realm just fine; there's no reason to conclude from this that there's anything special about Vax other than that he's being surly, doing exactly the thing Percy told him not to do. Now I get what they were trying to do here; this is, to be clear, a flaw in the writing, not some ontological element of Vax as a character. The fact remains, however, that it's poorly done.

The romance itself suffers as a result of this, and honestly almost feels a little phoned-in, at least on the part of the writing and boarding teams. These characters aren't challenging each other; they aren't moving each other; they just blush a lot. It's just not very interesting.

I get it, adaptation is hard, but they gotta push these guys more, because as it stands, they're the weakest links in the show by far.

[becauseanders]

Would you tell me about CYHMCYtSM: 3? ✨

yes! this is a post-arishok duel recovery fic! that hasn't updated since november 2022, whoops! i guess this one is taking a bit…

the next chapter is not at all done and is already over 5k, but it involves hawke fantasizing about having a mother to comfort her while she's unwell and having nightmares about it, trying to convince justice to make anders leave her because she's now absolutely terrified for his safety after meredith saw her use magic and assumes she was only made champion because she was pretty much on death's door and is scared about how much and for how long that's really going to protect her and if her new level of fame is going to put a bigger target on anders's head, and being a stubborn asshole and pushing herself to do things she's not ready to do and there being consequences to that (particularly involving me projecting an injury i had to have a couple of surgeries about back in 2020, and projecting the hell known as brainstem aura migraines, lol).

i also have it established in a post-canon fic that hawke has chronic pain issues for the rest of her life after the duel, and in the first chapter of this one it basically just goes that hawke was in way worse shape after the duel than varric was willing to tell cassandra.

and here's a snippet!

She catches the pale blue light from the corner of her eye, and she can’t help but turn towards it when she does.

“Anders? Justice?”

Her voice is wet and unsteady, and she decides there is no longer any point in continuing to actively avoid eye contact. The glow recedes.

She turns carefully onto her side, and Anders moves to lie on his side facing her.

“I’m here, love,” he says, cautiously grazing his hand across her cheek. “We’re here.”

“Justice, if you’re listening, you need to get Anders away from me. I can’t promise his safety or yours any longer. I’ve put us all in danger by exposing my magic to Meredith, and if either of you get hurt because of me…”

“No.” And that is distinctly Justice’s voice.

“Don’t you understand, I—”

“No.” More forceful, and this time it’s from Anders and Justice speaking as one.

“Love, I can’t keep you safe. I have a target on my head now, probably even larger than yours. If Meredith decides to investigate my friends, at least Merrill doesn’t fucking live with me. But if she decides my being Champion doesn’t extend protection to the people I love, not even to mention if she decides she can’t have an apostate in the city with power—for fuck’s sake, she probably only did that because apparently everyone thought I was going to die…”

“I’m not leaving you, Marian,” Anders alone says sternly. “I was so bloody terrified I was about to lose you, and now that I have you I’m supposed to walk away from that? You refused to heed my warnings, so you have to understand that I’m refusing yours.”

She is seething. Anders nearly flinches at the extreme change in her expression, and he thinks it’s Justice trying to reassure him that it’s not him she’s upset with.

“Anders. I would kill every single fucking person in this entire Maker-forsaken shithole city if I thought it would keep you and everyone I care for out of Meredith’s hands. But I can only do so much, and if they get to you before I can stop it—”

“Marian—”

“Anders. Stop and fucking think about this for one bloody second! I love you more than anything in the world and I never want to be without you, you have to know I don’t say this lightly. But I… Fuck, Anders, I…”

Anders knows she’s just afraid, he knows that feeling well, but he snaps despite himself. “Marian, I love you but if you want me to leave because you’ve finally come to your senses about me, tell me that and I’ll go.”

And she can’t tell him that, of course she can’t tell him that, but…

He continues, “But if you think for a moment that Meredith of all fucking people, if anyone fucking else is going to keep me from you—”

And that’s when she starts sobbing. Her previously steady soft crying transforms into weeping bordering on wailing, shaking and inconsolable.

“If anything happens to you because of me… I can’t ruin someone I love’s life again, I can’t…I can’t go through this again…”

Her words are barely intelligible through the howling she is desperately trying to suppress but can’t, every emotion she’s carrying coming out in full blast at full volume.

She carries so much on her shoulders, shoulders that now ache and twitch when she moves them.

“I can’t let you get hurt,” she says, whimpering. “I destroy everyone I love, and now you could be next. Anders, please…”

And Anders doubts it would help to remind her how the templars have been after him since long before he knew her and will be with or without her, he imagines that she’ll still insist it’s her responsibility somehow to ensure his safety. So he shows rather than continuing to tell, hoping he doesn’t hurt her in pulling her flush against him and gripping her shirt tight, concentrating on the fabric in his fists in an effort not to squeeze her.

He kisses her head, applying as little pressure as possible, over and over.

“It’s alright, love,” he mumbles to her, repeating what he knows are empty platitudes, but it feels better than silence.

[shivunin]

So I saw your tags on the types of love ask and I'm also obsessed with the first weeks and months after Fenris and Hawke break up lol!! I would love to hear more of your thoughts about what Maria and Fenris are feeling/thinking esp wrt fighting together, how the kirkwall group sees them, and just generally how they cope with not being "together" but still being around each other all the time.

Oooh anon, I tried to keep this a reasonable length and I failed haha. In my defense, I have 30k words of unfinished fic answering this very question and I pared it down as best I could.

So:

I think the immediate aftermath is, of course, the most painful--but it's also the most careful on her part. Analysis sets in for her pretty quickly about a day later, when her head is more clear: she loves him and she doesn't believe that loving him gives her a right to take his friends and home away. Hawke is very aware that she has the power to do this if she isn't careful.

What can she do about it? Give him space. Make sure he knows he's still welcome. Keep inviting him to things where many of her other friends are present. Never touch him unless she has no other choice, because she knows she'll give herself away. Look at him directly as little as possible (this one is for her own sake---watching him is like putting her thumb on a bruise to make sure it's still there). Be alone rarely, if ever, and if alone then at a great distance. No more walking home together; no more late nights reading in her library before the fire; no more long goodbyes at her door. She tries so hard to be careful with him and instead she is stiff and overly polite.

It hurts. For both of them. I've talked before about how friendship is the bedrock of their relationship to me, and for a while they lose that, too. Maria's fatal flaw is that she thinks she can perfectly read everyone around her. She assumes that the boundaries she's drawn are good for both of them and she never, ever asks Fenris what he thinks or wants---because that would mean talking about it.

Fighting is rough for a while, because one of them is now dedicated to not paying attention to the other. They both get hurt, badly, in the few weeks immediately after that night. Fenris occasionally slips and calls her Maria (he can't get it out of his head no matter how much he'd like to). Hawke occasionally slips and pats his shoulder or elbows him to make a joke before she remembers and pulls away again.

At last, they get in a really big argument over what Fenris says to Merrill during Mirror Image. Maria loses her temper (she usually keeps a very tight leash on it) and says some things she doesn't mean---the subtext being, if she is a monster then I am a monster. If you knew that before, then why did you ever pretend you wanted me? She does not say this explicitly, because I think she doesn't actually want to know the answer. She apologizes as best she can without actually acknowledging what happened, but now that is festering between them, too.

All of their friends definitely know what's going on. They had front-row seats to the budding flirtation, the tiny gestures of affection...and now they also get to see Hawke putting herself as far away from him as possible, Fenris's absolute refusal to discuss any of it, the pained way he looks at her when she isn't watching, and so on. How can they not know? I think Varric and Isabela try to discuss it with Maria, in their respective ways, and she laughs it off. I think Anders probably makes a pointed comment and she bats that away, too. (Actually, Aveline might be the only one who's still oblivious, judging by the dialogue in her Act 2 quest.)

She does eventually confide in Sebastian, because he's supposed to take confessions, isn't he? Surely this is not so bad a thing to carry, in comparison to everything else. In the end, all she really wants is her friend back and she doesn't know how to get back what they've lost. She blames herself far more than she blames Fenris (Hawke should be able to fix everything always, obviously). Before she can come to any conclusions about how to patch things up, Leandra dies and she really starts spiraling.

When she finally emerges from the big blank space immediately following the funeral, Hawke is erratic. She gets drunk and sloppy, she throws herself into fights she couldn't possibly win, and she stops being careful with Fenris.

(For the record--I think he prefers the minor arguments to Hawke being polite with him. Maria is polite with Meredith and Marethari and the Viscount and the Arishok. She is friendly or charming or crass with everyone else. Being on the receiving end of cordiality was far, far worse than anything she pulls while she's grieving.)

Again--it takes something big to knock her out of this spiral. Luckily, Kirkwall has no shortage of shitshows. Hawke faces down death, comes to terms with the fact that she's just going to have to be in unrequited love with Fenris forever, and acquires a new title, not necessarily in that order. Fenris watches her die, acknowledges privately that he would rather be with her than without her regardless of what they are to each other or what dangers they face, and is there with her when she needs him the most.

Some of those boundaries stick around--she doesn't look at him often or for too long, which he hates, and they don't spend much time alone together. But slowly, slowly, they rebuild their rapport. Hawke and Fenris respect each other deeply; I think that's what makes the rest of it possible. Love is one thing---messy and busy and too heavy by far---but respect is something they both understand, and it's a good enough foundation to build on. She does love him; if she could make it into a purely platonic love, she absolutely would. More importantly, Maria trusts him and he clearly feels the same. It takes time, but they get back much of what they lost.

I want to be clear: she never thinks of any of this as biding her time for him to realize he wants her; she knows that he never will. She also knows she has to be okay with that if they're going to be friends again, and that matters to her most of all. It would have broken her heart to lose him because she couldn't move on.

For Fenris's part--I don't know how much of his reaction is guilt and how much is being caught essentially flat-footed. I cannot imagine what it would be like to work up to wanting to be emotionally intimate with someone (physical intimacy entirely aside) and then have that comfort entirely ripped away because of something he feels solely responsible for.

So, anon, to answer your question:

They deal with it by letting what happened between them be the third party in the room, ultimately. They both know what happened; they know that talking about it by now is more likely to open up wounds than it is to heal them. What they have is immeasurably valuable to both of them. If he still dreams about holding her, if she measures every suitor at her door against Fenris, well---that's for them to handle alone. Nobody else needs to know.

[niofo]

I will never be normal about the multiplayer mages. There is not much about them, but what is there is really fun and i really hope that they bring some of those characters in dad, it would be great to have some of those former field agents of the inquisition running around, and they're blank slates enough to leave writers with quite a free range.

I always found it interesting how Cillian was obviously inspired by Fenris with his design, but also his opposite in the others. Obviously he's a mage, and an arcane warrior on top, someone who spent years just meditating in abandoned elven ruin, probably has an enormous knowledge about ancient elven lore - but also he's just this calm and friendly guy. He's so positive and full of wonder when looking at the world around him. Despite certainly being warned about templars by his keeper, he still calls Belinda da'len, bcos he sees that she's young and enthusiastic, and a bit naive. His vallaslin is June, which doesn't fit his character on the first glance (i would rather put him as a Dirthamen or even Falon'din guy), so i wonder if it was intentional to shine more light on Fenris' lyrium markings looking like June vallaslin. But also maybe there is some untold story to explain why Cillian picked June in particular.

Hissera was going to be a tamassran when her magic first manifested. Obviously there's not much about her bcos she doesn't have any dialogue, but i just find it interesting, that unlike Ketojan, she decided to live free from the qun after losing her arvaarad, i wonder if it has something to do with her previous priestess training. Her name means hope, which is also not something ever associated with saarebas. It would be nice if Bull too her under his wing after the Inquisition is done.

Neria is someone my Ilen Lavellan would love to hang out with, just talking about their respective clans, how it was as the First, perhaps reminiscing about past arlathvens where they met. She wishes to be back with her clan, but she considers defeating Corypheus too important to just let shems take care of it alone, she wants people to remember about dalish and not have them pushed to the sidelines again. I wonder is it was meant to be a neurodivergent trait, but Cillian remembers her as a little girl trying to solve an unsolvable puzzle, and that she was so focused she didn't even notice him leaving. Her vallaslin is Dirthamen, which is fitting for a future Keeper, but also shows her inquisitive nature.

I know most people hates Sidony, and for very good reasons, but i experienced her only after i created Idris, and the parallels were just too fun to let go. They're both necromancers specializing with ice magic, they are both not particularly nice and warm people, although Sidony certainly made it into an art. I think if idris wasn't the Inquisitor he would have a similar reputation, but as much as for him it's just his personality and actually he cares about people too much even, Sidony really seem to mainly care about the pursuit of knowledge and to be left alone. I would love to meet her as a grumpy hermit who lets us use her arcane book collection on the promise that afterwards we'll leave her alone and never come back. Maybe with a little treat that if the players decides to come back after all, she blasts the party with a blizzard.

And of course i have already way too many thoughts about Rion, de facto having him as one of the main characters of my fic. It all started just because he is from the Ostwick Circle, just as mage!Trevelyan, but he's an endearing character on his own. Hhe dresses in a same sort of feathery thing Anders does, for some reason. He makes a lot of jokes, including ones at his own expense, and it reminds me of awakening Anders - perhaps something to ease the tension, to make himself seem less threatening in eyes of the templars, just a silly little mage, yk. But also he is very much threatening, he throws fireballs at people and trying to show off this his spells. He really is dealing with years of complex circle trauma and it's not easy to shake it off. WoT2 also suggest that he was from a rich or even noble family, but refuses to speak about it - and considering he doesn't have any family name listed, maybe they disinherited him on the spot when he became a mage. Just another point of connection with Trevelyan, as they might even be from the same social circles before the Circle of magi.

[blairsanne]

Hi bb! 💗 I'm curious to know who are your top 3 favourite Deano characters and why? (To watch or read or write or just look at 😉)

Ahh, what a nice question, bb! 💛💛💛 I always need to form an emotional connection with the characters, so... while Deano is always nice to look at, this is really based on the character themselves.

This was honestly kinda hard to answer.

1. Anders Johnson (The Almighty Johnsons)

This was probably an obvious answer, haha.

I love his sense of humour and desire to have fun. I love how cunning and cynical he can be, despite clearly having his own ethics and hopes for the future. I love how protective he is of his family/Dawn - especially when they don’t realize/appreciate it. I love when he’s confident and self-assured, but I also love when he’s vulnerable/we see his pain points (which all seem to revolve around his bros and Dawn? This is a man who loves certain people quite fiercely even if it’s not a romantic love and even if it's not always realized).

I interpret him as someone who has spent a lot of his life appeasing people to get by (whether his toxic childhood, or PR work in general, or Bragi powered interactions) but that desires to be more open with a few closer people. He both “trusts” them with his snarkier side and uses it as a shield to keep them from getting too close lest they hurt him with rejection. A bit of “well I don’t even like you anyway so there” at times, even tho it’s bs lol and only Axl ever seems to fully buy into it.

I feel like he needs some unconditional love in his life because it certainly didn’t happen with his parents, and it’s a bit touch and go at times with his bros. (Though Olaf seems very unconditional-grandpa-love? Maybe that’s why he and Olaf get on so easily.)

I think of him as a character that both represents aspects of myself and aspects I find attractive in others.

So in short, he’s my favourite because I think he’s very lovable and interesting and in need of love and he’s in a story where I love the concept and all the characters and it’s very easy to write him and imagine lots of scenarios for. 💛 (Also I find him very attractive in this role, even if he hated those absolutely magnificently tailored suits.)

2. Iolaus (Young Hercules)

Also probably not much of a shock, given he's the other Deano I have a sideblog for! This was the first role I actually saw Dean in, and I loved Iolaus so much back when this was on air, so it was wild to realize this was the same person who played Anders after I got into him haha.

Iolaus is once again a very funny, cunning, cocky character who has some insecurities that I find rather endearing. Iolaus is very charming to me, with his playfulness and heroics. I don't think the other characters see him as heroic necessarily, but he clearly cares about his friends and has many moments of being just as protective of others as Jason and Hercules. 💛

Also I'm always impressed that Iolaus seems to be able to keep up with Hercules; I don't know that he gets enough credit for that. He also should, by all rights, probably get with girls easier than he does since he's such a flirt. (He does have a bad habit of lying, though... Insecure bb.)

Basically I want to be in that world and give him all the love he deserves! I think it helps that I like the universe/world building/conceit of the show already, so I enjoy all the other characters and how they interact too.

Plus: Leather Pants? Those curls? Come on. 😩

3. Jon (Pork Pie)

This is where I got a little stumped. I also considered Barnaby and Will Johnson for third spot. Even as I write this I'm second-guessing my choice haha.

I really root for Jon. He's a fuck up, but he's trying to fix it. He's trying to make amends, and he gets caught up in a crazy situation, but he's so good-hearted. He means well, and you want him to succeed.

I love that he's a writer, but like, clearly not able to write because of what's been messing with his head (and then the shenanigans of the movie). His behaviours are just so funny at times, like how he orders his burger, his rapping along to the radio, etc. Even though I feel like Jon isn't funny in the sense of like, trying to be funny, he's really endearing and makes me laugh.

Mostly I think what I like about Jon is how "soft" he seems. Like, not in a weak way; he certainly powers through a lot of messed up situations and pulls off crazy things! But the motivation for all of it is this deep love he has, and I feel like he shows that love to his cohorts as well. He can be quite vulnerable at times, even when he seems to believe he will be rejected. The way he seems so touched by every kindness, his attempts to be supportive, and accepting...

I just really want to give this man a hug, haha.

Although I haven't formally written for him, I have a sequel to Pork Pie outlined in my WIPs that feels a bit daunting; both because of the plot I have in mind and because of how great the movie itself is. I feel like there's a lot to live up to, there, so we'll see if I ever end up writing it out haha.

-

Ahh thanks so much for this ask, bb! 💛💛💛💛

[vigilskeep]

Hi, I'm sorry if this has already been asked, but I'm fascinated with your character Minerva and was wondering why she didn't betray Jowan to Irving?

ah good question thank u for it!!

minerva is a pragmatist about the circle. she's very aware that a certain number of mages die or are made tranquil and she's in the mindset, at that point in her life, where she's been taught to accept this as a necessary evil. which actually ends up meaning she knows more than anyone that if this is true irving will go ahead with it. she has a very realistic idea of who irving is and what he does. but it's been easier to conceptualise all those losses as um a statistic than it is to face the immediate threat to the person closest to her. especially when her way of dealing with it all has been to say that mages who die or are made tranquil didn't try hard enough, didn't study hard enough, didn't fight hard enough on their harrowings. she rationalises it that way because it means if she just tries hard enough and is polite and gifted and perfect as she always is then nothing's going to happen to her. but she knows how hard jowan tries. so it isn't right. it isn't fair!

the other thing is that in my canon, my amell, halliserre amell, was made tranquil a few months before dao starts. minerva had a bit of a fiery relationship with them (i'd like to summarise it as fierce academic rivals with benefits, jhghsfdgsk) and their tranquillity was a huge and sudden recent shock. that definitely affects minerva's decision-making here. though she tries to rationalise by blaming halliserre themself in that case (halliserre chose to submit to tranquillity rather than undergo the harrowing), she knows deep down there's more to it than that. it's a complicated and painful topic to come up again so soon, it makes her just that bit angrier with the templars and irving, and it makes the danger feel very real

but all of that is kind of blurring the main issue which is that jowan is like minerva's brother and she loves him. the above factors are kind of what allows her to actually do something about that, but the motivation is simply that she cares about jowan, he's her closest friend and the only person more important to her than irving, and she very much thinks it's her job to protect him. she's more skilled than he is, more socially capable than he is; it is and always has been her role to protect him from the templars, even if it that only meant helping him with his studies or calling in favours with senior enchanters. being able to do all that is what has made her feel comfortable with how much she's betrayed herself to be the ideal circle student in the first place. it proves keeping your head down to get influence works, that it's not just selfish, that in the long run it means mages are better off. so if she can't even protect him, then what's the point of it all? it's probably worth noting, too, that minerva's fatal flaw is arrogance: if she's always been able to look after jowan before, what's one more time?

i actually have this really fun um super rough dialogue snippet somewhere in my word doc from when she was little, um, talking to karl thekla actually. and she's being disapproving of anders while hes like benafflecksmoking.jpeg because that's the whole dynamic lmao. she's like, why would you spend time with someone like that, he's an escape artist, the templars hate him, he's not going to make it! (this last said in a kid's deadly serious tone where she expects it to be heard as a totally damning accusation.) and karl is like [in the voice of a very tired young academic] minerva what would you say if i told you, i don't know, your friend jowan wasnt going to make it. and she totally freaks out. shes like thats a lie, dont ever say that, hes trying with the spells, hes going to get it! she's only a kid she's nearly in tears over this immediately even though karl's the furthest thing from a threat and he barely meant anything by it. it's always been the one thing that makes her lose her head. she cares so much about keeping up this perfect image except this one thing, right, she's got this perceived weaker nobody mage trailing after her. she's supposed to be able to keep this one person safe and that will make it all worthwhile. and what she has to learn is that even for all her sacrifices and good behaviour, the circle simply does not care. there's nothing it won't take

[transandersrights]

Hey Leo! Hope you're having an excellent Friday. For DADWC this week, how's about something Handers-y, maybe based around the lyrics "The city is painted with memory / the water will never run clear / the birds and the bees and the flowers and trees / they know that we've both been here" (from The Beths song 'Expert in a Dying Field) Have fun!

(I take prompts! See info here)

Ty for the prompt and the lovely song! I used the lyrics and wrote 1.1k of m!Handers fluff for @dadrunkwriting. No trees were harmed in the making of this fic

“Wait, we’re really—” Hawke couldn’t help it; the laughter spilled from his lips as he looked at the dagger (where did Anders get that? He didn’t need a knife to defend himself, and Hawke had never seen him use one) and then at the tree. “I’m not saying no, but Maker, Anders, that’s the kind of thing I used to think about doing ten years ago.”

Anders pouted. “Does that mean I need to convince you?” He said it so playfully. Like he hadn’t already blatantly buttered Hawke up with the trek up out of Kirkwall and the painstakingly picked date spot and the food (a gift from a grateful patient, he knew, because Bodahn hadn’t reported any kitchen mishaps lately).

All leading up to this: a knife and the gnarled bark of a tree that watched over Kirkwall with all the benevolence the Gallows statues couldn’t manage. The confession of a childish fantasy Anders had clawed out of every life-long disappointment.

“No, not at all.” There was something romantic about it all — Hawke had been allowed to date when he was a teenager, mostly because his parents didn’t believe in stopping him, but that didn’t mean he had. He’d certainly never had anyone like Anders. Never anyone he’d dream of overlooking his home with and carving a symbol of their future into something that would live longer than both of them. “Do you want to start, or should I?”

Anders looked down at the knife in his hands, a sheepish smile spreading over his face. “Do you know how to carve?”

A giggle escaped Hawke’s chest, and Anders’ expression turned ever so slightly embarrassed, an adorable flush spreading over his cheeks. “Never change, Anders.” He held out his hand for the knife and Anders relinquished it easily, his fingertips lingering against Hawke’s for just a moment when he passed it over.

Hawke shuffled slightly towards the tree, trying to pick out a good spot. Needed to find somewhere the bark was thick, not too close to anything that would actually damage it. It would be a really bad omen for whatever this was if they managed to kill the tree with a promise (and besides, Merrill would shout at them both if she found out, and she’d be right to). Finding a likely spot, Hawke took a moment to size it and the knife up.

It was pretty sharp; definitely the tool of someone’s trade. Had Anders pilfered it from a mugger in Darktown? Whoever its original owner, they’d kept it sharp and well-cared for, even if the handle was simple and wrapped in battered leather. It was bought for smaller hands than Hawke’s — Carta? — but it would work.

“Well, here we go.” Hawke offered Anders a smile, returned in a dazzlingly beautiful mirror on Anders' own face, and brought the knife to the wood in a shallow line. The wood resisted, but not too much; the first line was easy, the second even more so. The third… ended a little slanted, making a decidedly wonky ‘H’, but it worked. “Your turn.”

Hawke accompanied his words with a kiss, passing the knife over as he did. Anders fumbled with it for a moment, hand taking a while to close over the handle. “I’m blaming that on you being distracting,” he complained, but his tone stayed light. “You might have to guide me through this one.”

Oh, this was getting excessive, and Hawke was absolutely going to keep playing along if Anders was so keen on this little game. There was no way at all that Anders was this bad with a knife, even if he’d never wielded one in combat. “Do you want me to hold your hand?”

“Maybe in a moment,” Anders confessed. “Give me a chance to get it right, though. Am I holding it okay?”

Hawke glanced at his hand. There really wasn’t an incorrect way to hold a knife unless you were trying. Fortunately, he was in fact holding the knife in a perfectly normal way. “You’re good,” he said. “I promise you, this isn’t that hard.”

“Sure, say that now.” Anders inched towards the tree, eyeing it almost warily. It was funny — sometimes, Anders was the most confident person Hawke knew. Sometimes it was more like this. “You might not feel the same when I produce the wonkiest letter known to man.”

“Just give it a shot,” Hawke said, laying what he hoped was a comforting hand on Anders’ shoulder. “You wanted to do this, right?”

Anders nodded. “I guess we can fix it if the first cut is bad.”

Hawke was almost tempted to point out that it was just a handful of marks with a knife in the bark of a tree, but he knew that wasn’t what this meant. Not to him and certainly not to Anders. “We can. So go on.”

Anders swallowed, staring at the trunk for a moment longer. He leaned in, making a tentative cut. He grimaced, then went back in a little deeper until an uneven diagonal line appeared next to the H. “This… isn’t that hard, huh?”

“Nope.” Hawke popped the p, waiting for Anders to finish off. His confidence in the knife restored, he made the other two cuts quickly, his hand steady. When he was done, he turned to Hawke with a grin that vastly outsized the triviality of what they’d done. In all fairness, Hawke returned it with exactly the same brightness. “There! Now we’re in the tree forever.”

“And the land will remember.” Anders smiled wider. “No matter what happens.”

His gaze didn’t drift back to the city, but Hawke knew what he was thinking about. It was hard to feel the walls closing in on them in the same way out here, but that didn’t mean the problems weren’t still there. Once this day was over, when they left this piece of joy behind, they’d be right back where they started.

Except… Hawke let his hand rest on Anders’, taking the knife back. When their fingers knocked together, it still felt like sparks shot up his arm, just like the first time they ever touched. The last bit was much harder than a series of straight lines, and it ended up looking decidedly wonky, but it was recognisable enough that Anders took one look at the heart carved into the bark and burst into laughter lighter than Hawke had heard in almost all the time he’d known him.

“I love you too,” he said, leaning to rest his head on Hawke’s shoulder, and he knew they had a little longer to just enjoy themselves. They deserved this much, at least.